Olde Posts Addenda (5)

  Since all of the news is "breaking" these days, here are some more stories which have broken and are related to older news items in MM.

War Is Also Bad For Animals
  Back in the spring of 2019 in MM I called to your attention the "Factlet" that in the fall of 1939 the pet-loving Brits chose to "put down" around 400,000 of them. The grim details are found in: Factlet (2) - The Brits and Their Pets.  Such an astonishing figure will need verification and it is found in a book mentioned in that post: The Great Cat and Dog Massacre: The Real Story of World War Two’s Unknown Tragedy by Hilda Kean.

   To the library of books about awful things that have happened to animals, another can be added: Humans and Other Animals in the Deadliest Conflict of the Modern Age, John M. Kinder. It is published by the University of Chicago Press where this description is found:
   A new and heartbreaking history of World War II as told through the shocking experiences of zoos across the globe. As Europe lurched into war in 1939, zookeepers started killing their animals. On September 1, as German forces invaded Poland, Warsaw began with its reptiles. Two days later, workers at the London Zoo launched a similar spree, dispatching six alligators, seven iguanas, sixteen southern anacondas, six Indian fruit bats, a fishing cat, a binturong, a Siberian tiger, five magpies, an Alexandrine parakeet, two bullfrogs, three lion cubs, a cheetah, four wolves, and a manatee over the next few months. Zoos worldwide did the same. The reasons were many, but the pattern was clear: The war that was about to kill so many people started by killing so many animals. Why? And how did zoos, nevertheless, not just survive the war but play a key role in how people did, too?"
The author of the book was asked five questions which are also available and answered in the related U of C blog.
  For a review of the book see: "With World War II on the horizon, animal keepers in cities around the world had to face one question: What would happen to their charges?" By Sophy Roberts, Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2025.

War Is Certainly Bad For Humans

   Although the Vietnam war ended fifty years ago, even those of you born in this century will certainly have seen at least one of the two photos provided in: "Napalm Girl" and "Napalm Girl" (Again). "Napalm Girl" is still alive and is living in Ontario. The photos mentioned can be seen in the posts above and will not be shown again here. In the second post, it is noted that questions have been raised about the "authorship" of the "Napalm Girl" photo. Since it was written, the questions have been addressed and the 97 page report is linked in this article:
"The Associated Press Won’t Change ‘Napalm Girl’ Photo Credit: A documentary called “The Stringer” called into question whether Nick Ut actually took the famous photograph in Vietnam. The AP’s year-long probe couldn’t prove otherwise," Scott Nover & Jada Yuan, The Washington Post, May 6, 2025.

The End of the Crickets

Like Buddy Holly They Are No More

   De Bono, one of the last of the local reporters, has been dutiful in his reporting on the demise of Aspire, the London cricket factory. I also have been devoted to this subject and a future historian will find in this post all they need to know about the failed aspirations of this London enterprise. I will offer first, the latest and surely the last cricket story which is provided by Mr. De Bono. Then follow the MM posts which are largely based on his reporting. I did contribute a bit about Kricket Krap, a by-product the Aspire folks may have overlooked. And, if you are still not interested I should mention that the company was seen to be part of a conspiracy. 
   Mr. De Bono is a professional and his titles are clearer and first sentences better than mIne:
"Cricket Producer in Receivership: City Plant Still Going as Aspire, Reportedly $41.5M in Debt, Seeks Buyer or Financing," Norman De Bono, The London Free Press, May 14, 2025.
"By Jiminy, London's cricket dreams have run into a financial roadblock as menacing as, well, a massive can of Raid."
  Now, here is one of my titles and you will likely spot the difference:

"ENTOMOPHAGY"
  I will skip my first sentence and go to the second paragraph by the professional:
 "Norman De Bono (the reporter) revealed that, London will become home to the world’s largest indoor cricket farm with Aspire Food Group opening a 100,000-square-foot plant here that will act as a launch pad to bring bugs, as food, to the North American market....At the plant, crickets will be hatched and grown on-site and will become a tasteless, odourless protein powder that will be sold as a food additive, and will also be used to make protein bars.
That post is the one that mentions Kricket Krap which is sold by a company in Georgia so you shouldn't buy any right now.
  Here is the post which reveals that this cricket business is just part of a scheme by Davos-types who want to force us to eat insects in communist Canada.  Crickets and Conspiracies.

Trashy News
  That is a more attractive title than "News About Trash", about which I have provided many posts since there is plenty of trash. The new title about trash is all you need and I will spare you the details which are hardly needed: "On a Remote Australian Island, the Birds Are So Full of Plastic They Crunch: Seabirds Have Been Fishing Plastic From the Ocean and Feeding it to Their Chicks, Researchers Say. One Bird Was Found to Have Ingested 800 Pieces," Victoria Craw, The Washington Post, May 16, 2025.
For more proof that the plastic is piling up and that there is now something called "sea snot", see below:
Flotsam and Jetsam
More Flotsam
More Trash
Marine Mucilage in the Sea of Marmara 
Polluted RIvers

The Bonus:
  I couldn't help but notice that one of the authors in the articles cited above provides an example of an inaptronym (Kinder in the article about killing) and another an aptronym (Craw in the last article about birds ingesting plastic.) About that subject see: Aptronyms. 
Amen

   

"Napalm Girl" (Again)

     Back in 2022 there were many stories about the photograph of a naked girl running down a road in Vietnam. It had been taken fifty years before and it appeared on the front pages of many newspapers in the summer of 1972. You will be spared from seeing the photo here, but if you want to view it, see the post I did about the "Napalm Girl" and the 50th anniversary of that photo. 
  Prurience or sensationalism were certainly not the motivators behind that post, nor are they now.  I chose the subject because the "Napalm Girl" is Kim Phuc, who is living in Ontario and wants her story to be known. She and here husband were actively involved in promoting peace and supporting refugees. See Napalm Girl for all the details. 
  The picture is very much in the news again, which is why I am posting about it, yet again. I will summarize the current publicity about the picture and provide the sources you need to read about the issue involved.
   There is no dispute about the authenticity of the photograph, but a controversy has developed about who took it. A documentary appearing at the Sundance Festival with the title, "The Stringer", claims that a stringer, Nguyen Thanh Nghe, took the picture, not the AP staff photographer, Nick Ut, who won a Pulitzer Prize for it. Details about how the film was attributed are apparently outlined in the documentary and are discussed elsewhere, including in a 23 page report by the AP (provided below.) The AP stands by the photo as does Ut and Kim Phuc: 
  "In a statement to CBC, Kim Phuc said she doesn't have a clear memory of the day where she was burned, but rejected claims raised in The Stringer. She said she clearly remembered Ut as the only journalist willing to stop shooting to take her to a nearby burn unit, saving her life. That combined with memories from her family and other eyewitnesses, she wrote, convinced her of Ut's role." 
The source for that statement and others are included at the end of this post.

Another Photo
   Since the authenticity of the photograph of the "Napalm Girl" is not questioned, I will turn briefly to another picture from Viet Nam which was also widely displayed. It was taken on Feb.1,1968 and on its 50th anniversary there were also many stories about it.  Although it was taken four years before "Napalm Girl" and both photos were important, the Vietnam War continued for many more years and that leads one to question somewhat, the title of this article: "A Photo That Changed the Course of the Vietnam War," Maggie Astor, New York Times, Feb.1, 2018.
   "Fifty years ago today, the national police chief of South Vietnam calmly approached a prisoner in the middle of a Saigon street and fired a bullet into his head. A few feet away stood Eddie Adams, an Associated Press photographer, eye to his viewfinder. On a little piece of black-and-white film, he captured the exact moment of the gunshot.... By morning, this last instant of his life would be immortalized on the front pages of newspapers nationwide, including The New York Times. Along with NBC film footage, the image gave Americans a stark glimpse of the brutality of the Vietnam War and helped fuel a decisive shift in public opinion. “It hit people in the gut in a way that only a visual text can do,” said Michelle Nickerson, an associate professor of history at Loyola University Chicago who has studied the antiwar movement during the Vietnam era. “The photo translated the news of Tet in a way that you can’t quantify in terms of how many people were, at that moment, turned against the war.... A police chief had fired a bullet, point-blank, into the head of a handcuffed man, in likely violation of the Geneva Conventions. And the official was not a Communist, but a member of South Vietnam’s government, the ally of the United States.
“You can talk about ‘the execution photograph from the Vietnam War,’ and not just the generation who lived through it but multiple generations can call that image to mind,” said Susan D. Moeller, the author of “Shooting War: Photography and the American Experience of Combat,” and a professor of media and international affairs at the University of Maryland. “It was immediately understood to be an icon.”

Sources: 
  The AP Report has the photograph on its cover: "Investigating Claims Around 'The Terror of War' Photograph," Jan. 15, 2025.
["The Napalm Girl" photograph is also known as "The Terror of War" photograph.]
   “For the past six months, aware that a film challenging this historical record was in production, the AP has conducted its own painstaking research, which supports the historical account that Ut was the photographer. In the absence of new, convincing evidence to the contrary, the AP has no reason to believe anyone other than Ut took the photo.”
   "Sundance Doc, 'The Stringer' Challenges Who Took Napalm Girl Photgraph," Lindsey Bahr, AP, Jan.27, 2025
   "Controversial Doc, 'The Stringer' Investigates Famous Vietnam War Photo,Jada Yuan, Washington Post, Jan.27, 2025.
   " 'Napalm Girl' Photographer Nick Ut, Responds to Claim That He Didn't Take Famous Photo: 'A Slap in the Face', Tracy Brown, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 12, 2025.

On Memorials

 It's Not Bronte It's Brontë

   Many public memorials and statues have been destroyed or removed in the past few years, if it was felt that the subject displayed should be "cancelled." In Mulcahy's Miscellany such destruction has been opposed. See, for example, the post about "Brock's Monument", or the one about the Vietnam War Memorial, in "Speaking of Statues", and especially the one that suggests a British solution to the problem, which is "Retain and Explain", found in "Simple Solutions." 
  Such a simple solution has been applied to the stone plaque found in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey which was installed about 85 years ago. Apparently those involved may have been in a bit of a rush since in 1939 there were other things to worry about. Diaereses have now been placed over the "e" and readers will know that they are the Bront-tay sisters not the Bronts.

Source:

  I know about such things because I read this morning this article: "Westminster Abbey’s Brontë Plaque Had a Typo for 85 Years. It’s Fixed Now. Punctuation delayed, but not denied: A memorial to Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë at Poets’ Corner in the celebrated London church finally gets its accent marks," Lynsey Chutel, New York Times, Sept. 27, 2024.

Post Script:

  The reason they are the Brontës and not the Bruntys is an interesting one.
   "But the accent mark was actually the result of some poetic license by the writers’ father, Patrick Brontë. Originally Patrick Brunty, he made the change upon arriving at Cambridge University as a student, in an effort to indicate a higher social standing and eschew prejudice against his Irish roots, said Sandie Byrne, a professor of English at the University of Oxford."

    Problems with statues and memorials continue to be a vexing issue for those easily vexed. A new, very plain one erected in Belfast displaying the late Queen Elizabeth, has been criticized because Her Majesty looks too much like a "Polish Washerwoman" or "the lady behind the counter at a "Fish and Chips Shop." 

"NAPALM GIRL"

 

Although the war in Vietnam was long ago and fought far away, there are many who are now in Ontario because of it. One of them is Kim Phuc Phan Thi, who is pictured above. She is better known as the “Napalm GIrl”, pictured below.

   In early June there were many articles about the “Napalm GIrl” because it was fifty years ago on June 8, 1972 that Kim Phuc was set afire. There are many horrible pictures and news stories about the current Russo-Ukrainian War, so you may have avoided reading about the older Vietnam one. It is worth doing so, however, and some articles are provided below. The “Napalm Girl” “wants her story and work for refugees to be a message of peace.” She and her husband were recently on a humanitarian flight that brought over 200 refugees from Warsaw to Regina.

Post Script: 

   Kim Phuc lives in Ajax with her husband and mother!

   I did not realise, or had forgotten, that she was a victim of “friendly fire”, in that her village was mistakenly targeted by the Republic of Vietnam Air Force. 

   Over the years, her attitude toward the photograph has changed, as you will learn from the sources below. There are also debates about whether such a graphic photo should be displayed. About a half dozen years ago, Facebook censored the photo and a controversy ensued. The photo was taken by the AP photographer Nick Ut and the official title of it is “The Terror of War”, not “Napalm Girl.” Mr. Ut received the Pulitzer Prize for the photo.

   I also am in Ontario because of the war in Vietnam, as is a Vietnamese friend of mine here in London. I will question him about Kim Phuc’s name which appears in various forms in this post and in the sources provided. The Wikipedia entry is under Phan Thi Kim Phuc, but as the author of the first article below her name is given as, Kim Phuc Phan Thi.

The Bonus:

   The Vietnam War was covered extensively in Canadian sources. The Globe and Mail reporter, Eric Reguly, has just produced a book about his father, Robert, who covered the war for the Toronto Star. For a review see: "Ghosts of War: Chasing My Father's Legend Through Vietnam, Review: Eric Reguly's Ghosts of War Shows the Cost and Rewards of Investigative and Combative Journalism," David Moscrop, The Globe and Mail, April 22, 2022.

"In Ghosts of War: Chasing my Father’s Legend Through Vietnam, The Globe and Mail’s European bureau chief Eric Reguly follows his father’s coverage of the Vietnam War through the archives and into the country itself. The small volume reads as a study of a historical moment and of the costs and rewards of investigative and combat journalism. The apogee of the book is the 1960s, but the take-aways – war is hell; the powerful seek to obscure the truth but good journalists must find it nonetheless; effective reporting requires shoe leather – speak to our moment."

Sources:

This article is written by Ms. Phan Thi.

"It’s Been 50 Years. I Am Not ‘Napalm Girl’ Anymore," New York Times, June 6, 2022

By Kim Phuc Phan Thi. Ms. Phan Thi is the founder of the Kim Foundation International, which provides aid to child victims of war. Here is how it begins:

"I grew up in the small village of Trang Bang in South Vietnam. My mother said I laughed a lot as a young girl. We led a simple life with an abundance of food, since my family had a farm and my mom ran the best restaurant in town. I remember loving school and playing with my cousins and the other children in our village, jumping rope, running and chasing one another joyfully.

All of that changed on June 8, 1972. I have only flashes of memories of that horrific day. I was playing with my cousins in the temple courtyard. The next moment, there was a plane swooping down close and a deafening noise. Then explosions and smoke and excruciating pain. I was 9 years old.

Napalm sticks to you, no matter how fast you run, causing horrific burns and pain that last a lifetime. I don’t remember running and screaming, “Nóng quá, nóng quá!” (“Too hot, too hot!”) But film footage and others’ memories show that I did...."

Growing up, I sometimes wished to disappear not only because of my injuries — the burns scarred a third of my body and caused intense, chronic pain — but also because of the shame and embarrassment of my disfigurement. I tried to hide my scars under my clothes. I had horrific anxiety and depression. Children in school recoiled from me. I was a figure of pity to neighbors and, to some extent, my parents. As I got older, I feared that no one would ever love me.

Meanwhile, the photograph became even more famous, making it more difficult to navigate my private and emotional life. Beginning in the 1980s, I sat through endless interviews with the press and meetings with royalty, prime ministers and other leaders, all of whom expected to find some meaning in that image and my experience. The child running down the street became a symbol of the horrors of war. The real person looked on from the shadows, fearful that I would somehow be exposed as a damaged person.

Photographs, by definition, capture a moment in time. But the surviving people in these photographs, especially the children, must somehow go on. We are not symbols. We are human. We must find work, people to love, communities to embrace, places to learn and to be nurtured.

It was only in adulthood, after defecting to Canada, that I began to find peace and realize my mission in life, with the help of my faith, husband and friends. I helped establish a foundation and began traveling to war-torn countries to provide medical and psychological assistance to children victimized by war, offering, I hope, a sense of possibilities."

The CBC interviewed Ms. Phan Thi: You can read it here.

"50 Years Later, 'Napalm Girl' Has a Message for Children in Ukraine: Kim Phuc Phan Thi, Now Living in Ajax, Ont., Was 9 When She Was Burned by Napalm in Vietnam War," Sylvia Thomson · CBC News · Posted: Jun 11, 2022. The picture below is from the CBC interview.

The Facebook controversy was reported in Time:

"The Story Behind the 'Napalm Girl' Photo Censored by Facebook," Time, Sept. 9, 2016.

"This week, Facebook briefly removed and quickly reinstated one of the most powerful images to emerge from war—a 1972 photograph of a nine-year-old Vietnamese girl—after initially saying the image violates the company’s policies on displaying nudity. A censorship battle ensued. Espen Egil Hansen, the editor-in-chief of Norway’s Aftenposten, slammed Mark Zuckerberg for a perceived abuse of power, calling the CEO of Facebook “the world’s most powerful editor.” On Friday, the company reinstated the picture and said “the value of permitting sharing outweighs the value of protecting the community by removal.” An initial Facebook statement recognized its iconic status but said “it’s difficult to create a distinction between allowing a photograph of a nude child in one instance and not others.” The picture, taken by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut, has become an icon of conflict photography. The faces of collateral damage and friendly fire are generally not seen. This was not the case with nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc."

The Associated Press offers a story about the Ukrainian refugee flight:

" 'Napalm Girl' Escorts Ukranian Refugees on Flight to Canada," July 4, 2022.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — "Phan Thị Kim Phuc, the girl in the famous 1972 Vietnam napalm attack photo, on Monday escorted 236 refugees from the war in Ukraine on a flight from Warsaw to Canada. Phuc’s iconic Associated Press photo, in which she runs with her napalm-scalded body exposed, was etched on the private NGO plane that is flying the refugees to the city of Regina, the capital of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan."