The price of giving false alarms: cautionary tales from three continents

From the Kamba ethnic group of Kenya:

A man named Ndothya would go out drinking every night. On his way home, just before reaching his house, he would call out to his wife Mbuti, yelling that a hyena was attacking him. His wife would come running with fire to drive off the hyena. Instead, she would find her drunk husband and no hyena.

One night, the man really did run into a hyena on the way home. He called for his wife, but Mbuti, thinking that it was one of her husband's usual lies, ignored him. Ndothya was bitten by the hyena.¹

From China:

The 8th century BCE King You of the Zhou dynasty was a debauched man. He divorced Queen Shen in order to install a beautiful lower-ranking consort, Bao Si, as queen in her place.

Now Bao Si had never smiled since the day she arrived at the king's palace. King You a offered thousand taels of gold to anyone who could make her laugh. The evil courtier Guo Shifu suggested lighting the alarm beacons that summoned the king's vassals to defend the capital in event of an attack.

King You did as Guo suggested. When Bao Si saw that the dukes and marquises of the vassal states had rushed to the capital with their armies only to find no threat, she started laughing. In this manner, King You made fun of his vassals multiple times.²

One day, the father of Queen Shen, angry at the way his daughter had been treated, attacked the capital with the military support of Quanrong nomads. The king tried to summon aid using the alarm beacons, but the vassal lords ignored him, thinking it was another trick. King You was killed by the Quanrong, who looted and burned his capital.³

Note that this story is probably more legend than history. Historical records have a different narrative of the conflict between the Lord of Shen (the deposed Queen's father) and King You. False alarms were not part of the historical account.⁴

From Greece:

The Boy Who Cried "Wolf"

Notes

1. "Ndothya and Hyena", East African Folktales, Dr. Vincent Muli Wa Kituku
2. 烽火戏诸侯, Baidu Encyclopedia. Web. 15 October 2017
3. Bao Si, Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 15 October 2017
4. Guo Shifu, Baidu Encyclopedia. Web. 15 October 2017

Let's show some love to Puerto Rico

My friend Gloria, a Puerto Rican artist/scholar, was doing research in P.R. when Hurricane Maria cut all power to the island in September. She was able to return to mainland U.S. safely after a number of very challenging weeks.

Puerto Rico is on a long road to recovery after being hit by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Please consider donating or volunteering to help Puerto Rico. Volunteer lawyers, tech experts and medical staff are needed.

Despite numerous stories of people inside Puerto Rico selflessly helping their neighbors, some people have put out a false narrative that Puerto Ricans are not doing anything to help themselves and are only sitting around waiting for the U.S. government to help them. (We've probably heard the same false narrative applied to other groups of people, but that's a topic for another time.)

If compassion cannot move us to extend a hand to Puerto Rico, perhaps self-interest can motivate us. Puerto Rico is one of the world's biggest centers for pharmaceutical manufacturing. It supplies the rest of the U.S. with medicines.  Now the medicine supply in the U.S. may be impacted by the disasters that struck Puerto Rico..

Btw, do check out Gloria's artwork on Etsy. There are some fun holiday cards that you can color. And other cool stuff too.

Melody

Inspired by, but NOT claiming to be an accurate representation of, the people and wildlife of South Africa. The lady's attire is influenced by Xhosa clothing designs. The birds are inspired by malachite kingfishers. As for the gemsbok, you can read the rest of the story below:

Three uniquely interesting graphic novels

Escape to Gold Mountain presents the stories of 19th century North American Chinese in a fast-paced, accessible format.

The partially fictionalized saga of the Wong family is interwoven with actual historical events, such as Chinese farm workers murdered while they slept in their tents in Issaquah, Washington and the the mutilation and brutal killings of Chinese miners by white miners during the Rock Springs Massacre in Wyoming.

In I See the Promised Land: A Life of Martin Luther King Jr. , African American writer and blues performer Arthur Flowers tells the story of Martin Luther King in musical prose, while Indian scroll painter Manu Chitrakar illustrates this American story in the style pf Bengali Patua art.

In this video, Arthur Flowers narrates the story of their collaboration.

The Pack follows a group of Egyptian and Nubian Werewolves as they travel through a fantasy version of Africa.

Creator Paul Louise-Julie's says, "...as an American-born, French-Caribbean kid growing up in Europe; I couldn’t fully connect with [European fantasy] stories... I was an interested tourist, nothing more."

The Pack was created out of Louise-Julie's wish to "see more originally Black fantasy completely unrelated to racism or social commentary".

3 video games that make a difference

Cameroon's first African role-play game: Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan, takes inspiration from across the continent to create its fantasy setting.

Game developer Madiba Olivier wanted to break 'the exotic world' image of Africa. It is showcased at Africade, the first art exhibition dedicated solely to African video games.

Never Alone is a collaboration between 8 Alaskan tribal communities and game developer E-line media. The platformer set in the harsh, challenging landscape of Alaska won the Best Debut Game at BAFTA Game Awards.

Eco is an online game where players must collaborate to build a civilization in a world where everything they do affects the environment. Work together through the player-run government and economy without polluting the world and destroying it.

A Panda's Day (Part 3)

Watch Part 1 here.
Watch Part 2 here.

A Panda's Day (Part 2)

I got the idea for the panda-pushing scene when I was visiting someone who subscribed to China channels on cable TV. My hosts were watching a program about captive-born pandas being released back into the wild.

A Panda's Day (Part 1)

The (negative) inspiration for this comic came in part from a Hollywood movie that shall remain unnamed in this post.

The House of Enlad

Prince Arren with his parents - Rose and the Prince of Enlad. Fanart for Usrula Le Guin's "The Farthest Shore", though the Arren depicted here with his parents a little younger than he is when he was first introduced in the novel.

Inspirations used for the clothing and designs of Enlad: Coast Salish and Qing Dynasty Chinese.

"Buried" by Injunuity

Buried, a great animated short about the shameless destruction of sacred native sites by corporate interests in the Bay Area.

Baby cemetery destroyed to make room for movie theater and parking garage.

Autumn Cat

See this kitty on masks, laptop skins and other products!