The hidden woman behind the dictionary man

I knew nothing about Dr Johnson before hearing this podcast, and it is fascinating

But what interested me more than this intellectual is his relationship with Mrs Thrale, the wife of Mr Thrale who took in Johnson as a houseguest.

But what caught my eye is Mrs Thrale: an arranged marriage, an unfaithful husband, and constantly pregnant, and losing many of her children, including her beloved sons.

But once she and her husband had invited the chronically ill Dr. Johnson to supper, he became friends with both of them, and when he had a nervous breakdown, they invited him into their home, where he loved the food, the suppers with his literary friends the care by Mrs Thrale, the friendship of her husband, and the fact her kids would play with him.

But what was interesting: After the husband died, she closed up his business and the house, essentially leaving Johnson on nis own, and he died soon afterward, so maybe she is to blame, but then why should she spend her time and money on a house guest that she essentially cared for in the same way she cared for her children, as a nanny not a lover, making sure he was comortable and fed and entertained.

He did have other friends and he was the one who broke the friendship.

A more serious charge is that she also left her children behind, although the older girls  who were teenagers  in school also condemned her marriage (but one book notes she took the youngest one with her to live).

  after she turned him down for a year, she was into a deep depression and the doctor told her oldest bossy daughter she would die if this continued, so the daughter gave her permission. So she married an Italian musician (who was condemned as marrying her for her money, but actually he was from a good family and independently wealthy).

 

So a woman who for 20 years obeyed her husband and spent her time running his home and having guests and having children, once free, she married for love, and happy.

and Johnson? Died of dropsy without her loving care for him. Would her care have lengthened his life? Maybe not (a rich diet similar to what he ate at her house would have made his dropsy worse at an earlier date)

There are lots of books about Johnson on line, and ironically her books are also on line for example Thraliana, a book of anecdotes. The Book Dr Johnson and Mrs Thrale is on line, and gives the back story of the dictionary man and the woman whose hospitality kept him comfortable for nearly 20 years. LINK

longer version here.

another day another volcano

south of Manila, not near us. But hard for people in the area. https://t.co/Lf7ydvSs7b

— tioedong (@tioedong) May 3, 2026

King Charles attends a pot luck

The @RoyalFamily decision to celebrate Appalachia & placing it equal in importance with visiting New York City tells you how much our culture has shifted towards the middle of the country. And let's be honest few things are as American as a potluck dinner during a block party🇺🇸 https://t.co/349XPWRP1G

— ZitoSalena (@ZitoSalena) April 30, 2026

 

so how do you make coronation quiche?

well it could be worse.

FDR served the King hot dogs:

civility or sarcasm: we haz that

I just got another notice that one of my tweets was asking for violence so would be limited.(but not removed) WTF? 

What happened is that someone said Iran was the good guy, and I commented that  Iran should just nuke Tel Aviv. This was sarcasm of course. I should have written the thought more clear: That it looks like they thought it would be fine if Iran nuked Tel Aviv.

 but I forgot to add the sarcasm to it so the computers tagged it as I was suggesting violence instead of that I was being sarcastic in telling someone that their tweet was approving of a regime that would do such things if allowed to continue to process uranium etc.

The tweet was limited and since I don't know how to remove it or change it I guess I will have to let things go. But that shows that I really really shouldn't tweet early in the morning before my second cup of coffee.

But accidental sarcasm is not the problem:

 The paranoid media narrative is out there, but it is being pushed not just by the fringe types but by the media, and by those who are leaders in the Democratic party, which is my party.

How bad is it?

It is so bad the Barney Frank, who represented an area that included Brookline where I used to live, is now in hospice, and is publishing a book saying the Democratic party lost it's way: 

From Politico

The former Massachusetts lawmaker says progressives in his party have “embraced an agenda that goes beyond what’s politically acceptable.”...                   

He’s hoping “to use my reputation and my record of being on the left to give courage to many of my colleagues who I know agree with me but are inhibited from saying so.”

this is good: Someone is able to push back on the radicals because he is dying. 

He insists some of their policies against the police etc are not popular so should not be pushed because it is not a good policy and might lose them votes. But what he doesn't say is that some of what the party is pushing is venomous.

Frank knows about such venom since he was a  target of aa lot of criticism when he came out as gay years ago. But that criticism was a lot less than what I read every day from his party.

And until the dehumanization stops, the spiral into violence will not be stopped.

Here is the  Body Language guy who brings it up:

I think this might have been inspired by people mocking her because when she evacuated the meeting that was attacked, that she looked upset.

WTF?

She should look upset. So why are they mocking her?

Not my party, but the personal attacks on her seem almost diabolical. Why?

The murder of Charlie Kirk is similarly being distorted far beyond a criticism of his opinions. Again diabolical.

what was his sin? That he dared to bring conservative opinions to college campuses, openly debating those who disagreed with him.

and beyond politics: He dared to promote Christianity and emphasized the need to take responsibility, and emphasized the importance of marriage.

One wishes a couple of the PC bishops would do such things, which they won't (with one or two exceptions).

You know what would happen:

  Jordan Peterson's talks were openly attacked by mobs trying to shut him down, and nearly every day one reads about other conservative voices who discuss traditional values who are openly attacked by mobs, and no one says anything. 

Mocking and dehumanization.

the social media makes these voices louder, and this goes beyond politics.

My sister in law refused to let her daughter from using facebook because she was on a skating team and was getting people mocking her for being fat posted on her facebook page (she wasn't fat: She was wearing a back brace for her scoliosis). 

I stopped Facebook because nearly every day I received posts on my page mocking Christians and Christianity.

And that was 15 years ago: I understand things are now worse.

Twitter is in danger of becoming another pest hole full of people tweeting talking points that are lies or distortions.

Sigh.

One is reminded of Yeat's poem:

Come let us mock at the great

Come let us mock at the great

That had such burdens on the mind

And toiled so hard and late

To leave some monument behind,

Nor thought of the levelling wind.

 

Come let us mock at the wise;

With all those calendars whereon

They fixed old aching eyes,

They never saw how seasons run,

And now but gape at the sun.

 

Come let us mock at the good

That fancied goodness might be gay,

And sick of solitude

Might proclaim a holiday:

Wind shrieked—and where are they?

 

Mock mockers after that

That would not lift a hand maybe

To help good, wise or great

To bar that foul storm out, for we

Traffic in mockery. 

musical interlude of the day

 

Family news

We all have a nasty cough, probably a virus.. Not too sick and a low fever so not influenza. But it has exacerbated my asthma so the medicines make my mind too fuzzy to do much.

this weekend is that City fiesta: the city's patron is Mama Maray, the holy shepherdess (in Spanish La Divina Pastora). May 1 is the feast day, but the parade is the day before.

Lots of people return home for the fiesta, so the relatives will probably visit, and lots of parties.

Killer Lakes, methane for electricity and other central African stories not in the news

 Last Year, Rubio and Qatar got Rwanda and the DRC to sign a peace plan. 

A lot of this has to do with local tribal issues and the city of Goma. Of course the peace has since been broken by a Rwandan rebel group, but they are still talking so maybe things will settle down again.

 but hey it's hard to find out what is going on there in the English media but luckily Al Jazeerah covers it (Note they are from Qatar, and Qatar worked with Rubio for the original peace plan).

Well, anyway, I am familiar with the Rwanda refugees, the minerals in the area, and the danger of nearby volcanoes to the city of Goma because I try to keep an eye on African news and sometimes place these stories on my Mugabe Blog..

what I was not aware of was that in addition to the problems of disease, Volcanos, rebel attacks, and refugees, there is another problem: Lake Kiva has the potential to be a killer lake: 

but it also has the potential to provide electricity via methane extraction to the entire region:

He discusses the problem of CO2 release in smaller lakes but notes it is a danger in Lake Kiva, near the city of Goma, as he explains at the end of the video.

But the solution? 

As he explains, the project to harvest Methane for energy also releases the CO2 safely,

from the company's website:

Since 2016, our Kivuwatt facility has been safely and sustainably extracting this biomethane gas, converting it into electricity in our 26 MW plant. This significant contribution represents approximately 30% of Rwanda’s current energy capacity and an accumulated generation of almost 2 TWh since COD. To put it in context, KivuWatt’s electricity production has avoided the emission of 1.1 million tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere, making a real positive environmental contribution while, at the same time, reducing the risk of uncontrolled methane release to the environment.

this is from four years ago: