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[Photos: Sebastian Weiss]

More photos of La Muralla Roja here.

I posted last week on the case of the Chinese boats fishing illegally in North Korean waters. Faced with demands for huge bribes from the North Korean authorities, the Chinese instead rammed and sank one of the offending patrol boats.

Well, the situation seems to be escalating nicely. The North Koreans have now struck back:

A North Korean patrol boat recently fired live rounds at a Chinese boat illegally fishing in North Korean waters, leading to multiple deaths, Daily NK has learned.

“On Aug. 11, a North Korean patrol boat opened fire on a Chinese boat that was fishing illegally in North Korean waters,” a China-based source told Daily NK on Friday. “Three Chinese fishermen were killed in the incident.”

According to the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons, the Chinese boats were fishing illegally in coastal waters off the North Korean west coast, near Haeju and Ongjin County in South Hwanghae Province. 

Chinese vessels usually work in groups, and on this occasion there were around 10 boats fishing together when one was followed by the North Korean patrol and fired upon.

Three of the Chinese fishermen on board were reportedly killed on the spot.

“Up until last year, North Korean patrol boats had never gone beyond making threats so they could receive bribes,” the source said. “In the past, they would fire warning shots which, of course, could hit the other boats. This time, however, they fired directly at the fishermen and killed them.” 

The source believed there is a high likelihood the shooting was retaliation for an incident in July when Chinese fishing vessels rammed a North Korean patrol boat in the Yalu River delta. 

The Chinese vessel that received the barrage of shots was towed away by other ships in the fleet, and Chinese authorities have reportedly been trying to ensure news of the incident does not leak. 

From the D.C. Street Survey Collection in the Library of Congress, at Shorpy:

"Virginia Avenue at Sixth Street S.W., showing street and railroad tracks in the foreground near the Adams Express Co., and the Washington Monument in the distance."

"An elevated view of rowhouses, probably in S.W., showing laundry hanging on clotheslines in back yards."

"View of Grace Alley S.W., between D & E and 8th & 9th streets, looking west."
[Photos: Shorpy/D.C. Street Survey Collection]

An interesting marker, as the tectonic plates in the Middle East continue to shift after the Israel – UAE agreement:

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks with a senior Hamas delegation on Saturday.

The gathering was understood to have been timed to coincide with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to Israel and the Middle East, which begins today.

Hamas’s military wing has been designated by the UK and the EU as a proscribed terrorist organisation since 2001.

The Gaza militant group said it briefed Mr Erdogan on the “Palestinian cause” and complained about Israel’s annexation plans.

Hamas head Ismael Haniyeh said he “congratulated Erdogan on the advent of a new Hijri year, discovery of a new natural gas field and the reopening of the Aya Sofia Mosque.” The Aya Sofia is one of two ancient churches the Ankara regime recently turned into mosques, prompting uproar in the West.

I think "prompting uproar in the West" is considerably overstating the case. It was noted, certainly, but mainly with a shrug of the shoulders.

The meeting was the latest in a series of meetings between Hamas and members of Mr Erdogan’s government.

Both Hamas and Turkey’s ruling party have roots in the Islamist movement the Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned in several Arab states.

The Ankara meeting comes in the wake of the Israel-UAE agreement to establish diplomatic and economic ties.

Hamas, Iran and Turkey all oppose the deal and see it as a threat to their ability to influence the region.

Turkey reportedly wants to unite Hamas, Qatar and the Government of National Accord in Tripoli in as part of a grand coalition against the UAE, Israel, Egypt, Greece and others.

It's not a hugely impressive coalition: Turkey, Hamas, Qatar and the Government of National Accord in Tripoli.

m: he did yoga. The rest all turned out to be lies.

Despite the smoke and mirrors, he spearheaded a movement that became an improbable cult. Improbable because if you’ve ever done Bikram yoga, you’ll know it means spending 90 minutes in a 41-degree sweat-box with your head in someone else’s crotch.

Yet something about it appealed to people, especially people who felt broken and believed it fixed them. As chronicled in the Netflix documentary, titled Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator, this is exactly what he wanted – to take advantage of, and attack, the vulnerable women who most believed in him.

The cars themselves are shimmering and beautiful. Bikram loved vra-vra-vroom. There are boy-racer Bentleys lavishly trimmed with acres of leather and wood – some convertible, some two-tone, some with embossed seats and glossy walnut dashboards.

Amongst the shiny Rolls-Royces are a Silver Shadow, five Silver Clouds, two Phantoms and four magnificent Drophead Coupe Convertibles – one in soft baby-blue with softer white-leather seats. Estimates for each of these motors range up to $90,000.

There is a 1973 Ford Mustang Convertible, slick as a bullet in deep, pooling blue, a bright orange Pontiac Le Mans Convertible from 1971, and a 1969 Intermeccanica Murena 429 GT with striking angular sides, in startling red. It was the first Murena ever produced, is one of just 10 ever built and is estimated to sell for up to $75,000.

My favourite is a white 1966 Jaguar Mark X with bubble curves, a white exterior and red leather seats. Tantalisingly, all the cars are being offered without reserves.

It’s tempting to wonder what such ostentatious cars reveal about the man who owned them. Bikram was never shy about his vulgarities. He famously (and, in hindsight, grimly) taught his yoga classes wearing only tiny black Speedos and a Rolex. Outside he wore Fedoras, leather jackets and alligator-skin shoes.

Bikram liked bling. His daughter Instagrammed pictures of their matching white Ferraris on Rodeo Drive and posed beside their seven-strong fleet of Bentleys – all in red, black or white. (Bikram was OCD about colours, famously banning green from his classes.)

You can register here for the auction, to be held in Auburn, Indiana from 3- 5 September.

From Ant Lab – takeoff and flight sequences of insects spanning 8 different taxonomic orders captured at 3,200 fps, filmed by Dr Adrian Smith of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnn9CfsYJqc&w=550&h=309]

Street railway scene. Business district of Rockford, Illinois.

[Photo: Shorpy]

Has the photographer misjudged the speed at which these new-fangled motorised vehicles travel?

At least the photograph survived.

ements of other women from around the world. It is promising to know that women, historically, have managed to accomplish so much, despite all odds stacked against us. I wish to hold on to those moments, and pass that strength on as a reminder to others like me. There is so much to feel proud about in being a woman!

With my film, too, my hope is to break this cycle of flight afflicting my sex and beseech young girls to stop hating womanhood itself. In India, a lot of Western pop culture is consumed so voraciously. Whenever we will observe a spike in the ROGD cases in India, through self-declaration via Twitter, of course, I bet the social media influencers and American TV shows will play a huge role. No doubt the errors, damages, and horrors are about to repeat themselves here, too – I hope to potentially mitigate said problems, at least to some extent, through this film.

Gender dysphoria – Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria – is, it seems, yet another of those solutions seized on by desperate and confused young girls as they navigate their way through puberty and adolescence in an increasingly sexualised world. Like anorexia – another drastic response to the same situation. In Ella Whelan's article, she looks back at the founding of the Tavistock Clinic by child and adolescent psychiatrist Domenico Di Ceglie, who proposed that gender dysphoria, rather than a problem, should be seen as a statement by the individual setting out their goal: ‘a process analogous to the development of a vocation, such as an early calling to the priesthood or an enduring and compulsive ambition to pursue particular professional roles’. If anorexia wasn't so clearly harmful, I imagine some smart child and adolescent psychiatrist would have proposed something similar to Tavistock's gender clinic, for drastic weight loss – an Anorexia Clinic, helping young girls on their vocation to lose weight until they reach their skeletal goal.

What's that you say? There already is the equivalent of an anorexia clinic? – the world of fashion. Yes yes, I know…

Sinatra holds the nightclub crowd in the palm of his hand:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWbO_n48DWc&w=550&h=309]

From the 1952 film Meet Danny Wilson.

Sinatra was in a career slump at the time, had money issues, and was in a volatile marriage to Ava Gardner. He was, as a result, losing weight. His co-star Shelley Winters, never a particularly svelte figure, started to worry that she was looking bulky in comparison. Plus the two stars hated each other.

Here's Shelley, with nasty gangster Raymond Burr, watching Frank perform When You're Smiling.

Performing together in A Good Man is Hard to Find.

And the great She's Funny That Way.

That Old Black Magic was a 1942 song, by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, covered by, well, just about everybody. Here's Spike Jones with one of the odder versions.

Nicole Reed

The Sosan Hotel is famous for its colourful karaoke rooms which, by all accounts, have the best song lists in Pyongyang © Nicole Reed

Traditional and non-traditional garments are on display for guests at the Koryo Hotel © Nicole Reed

A worker at the Haebangsan Hotel, Pyongyang’s oldest hotel © Nicole Reed

A relaxing day at the pool for one guest at the Changwangsan Hotel © Nicole Reed

Haircut options on the wall inside a barber shop at the Rangnang Hotel © Nicole Reed