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Canis Jumper
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Felix Jumper
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My dentist said he needed a hand like this...
3,526 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 3001 – 3200 of 3526 Newer› Newest»Lin-Manuel Miranda has perhaps the easiest path ton EGOT since he just needs an Oscar. He would not have been able to get one this year since he didn't write any of the Mary Poppins songs.
Actors who need a Grammy have the toughest path because the spoken word awards can be pretty competitive.
"Go Inside the Fake Rehearsal Studio in Exclusive Clip From Documentary Now!'s Parody of Stephen Sondheim's 'Company'":
http://www.playbill.com/article/go-inside-the-fake-rehearsal-studio-in-exclusive-clip-from-documentary-now-s-parody-of-stephen-sondheims-company (can't view on my computer, alas)
Just marking March 1st after a couple of weeks without any posts.
You OK, Jim? Things are about the same Chez Parker, which beats the alternative.
NP, the snow was covered on TV, but none right here (450' elevation).
Glad you're safe, Jim.
Does anyone ever hear from boodler Vukovar? I worry about how close last night's tornadoes came to his place.
Apparently all (ok, well many) of my friends went to the Shinyribs concert at the new City Winery in DC. They lost power toward the end of the show, but they continued on acoustic & lit by cellphones. Shinyribs is a soul/country/funk band that features the Gourd's Kevin Russell's explosive personality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9ksxeCORMw
While we were watching Trump in Vietnam and Cohen at the House committee, Venezuelan opposition leader and "interim president" Juan Guaidó was touring Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Ecuador. He took a commercial flight from Panama to the Caracas airport, was greeted by ambassadors from Germany, Spain, and other countries, and was escorted into the city by a convoy of diplomats.
The situation remains difficult and dangerous, but is looking far better than before.
Guaidó's tweet: Ya en nuestra tierra amada! Venezuela, acabamos de pasar migración y nos movilizaremos a dónde está nuestro pueblo!
Yup, instead of getting arrested for illegally leaving the country, he passed through immigration.
Dave, I was terrified that Guaidó would be welcomed back to Venezuela the same way that Benigno Aquino Jr. was to the Philippines in 1983.
Guaidó's tweet (translated) helps explain: We thank the ambassadors of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, USA, Germany, Spain, France, Netherlands, Portugal and Romania, who accompanied our arrival to Venezuela in a demonstration of the firm commitment of the world with our Democracy.
He might yet get arrested. He's subject to a 30 year term for leaving the country. But Maduro's poll rating is 20% and there's obviously a lot of passive cooperation with the opposition in the military (Guaidó has expressed thanks).
An FTB sighting on Ted Lindsay's obit on WaPo. She reports that she'll be undergoing her second hip replacement five weeks from now, making her "triple-bionic."
Disney will be opening parts of its Star Wars attractions at Disneyland and Hollywood Studios at Disney World earlier than expected. For Orlando that probably means a soft summer then madness for Labor Day weekend. Perfect setup for 20 inches of rain.
It's much easier to visit the Imperial Household's properties in Kyoto. It seems they've stepped up the number of tours, so I submitted an online application to participate in the lottery for an English language tour (a novelty) of Katsura Imperial Villa's garden on March 29. Next day, an email comes back telling me I'd been approved. Some lottery.
Now to see if the cherry blossoms cooperate. The air fare, Melbourne, Florida to Narita (Tokyo) was $640. So much for economizing on travel this year.
That's actually a great price for airfare to Japan. Any foreign travel under a $1000 round trip in high season is a good deal.
Dave, I think we're both at the stage in life where we'd better do as much traveling as we can while we're still able, because it might be sooner rather than later that we'll need at least to cut back, if not stop entirely.
Bon voyage!
Nosy, I'm cutting back next year, party budget, party too much nuisance. Do have what will probably be the Portland group's final Japan trip.
New New York Times word puzzle. Can you solve this with only two words? Took me a while.
https://www.nytimes.com/puzzles/letter-boxed?action=click&module=Play&pgtype=Homepage
Bubba The Love Sponge was a Tampa Bay phenomenon. I never heard him. He's gone. There must be lots of giggling over his ability to elicit certain comments from Tucker Carlson. Bubba was a hardy perennial until suddenly he wasn't.
Bonjour bunker-boodlers.
This past month has been winter torment a la unusually heavy and frequent snow and blizzards.
Another arrives tomorrow. In these parts it should start as mostly rain which is a change, but snow on rain and ice isn't good news either. In addition they're saying the pressure is low enough winds may approach a category 1 hurricane, right on the Midwest.
That's a "Day After Tomorrow" sort of weather projection. Fortunately it won't persist as long as a real hurricane would, but it still will make a mess from Texas to Canada and everywhere else. So if you are prone to barometric change-triggered ailments, plan to have them now.
Our local surfers have been discontent for lack of waves. The Atlantic has lacked the right kinds of storms.
Maybe the surfers should head to Minnesota: https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2013/03/09/sufs-up-lake-superior
Better wetsuits have done wonders for winter surfing. Indeed, it's become a winter activity because that's when the waves are. Think of Ireland.
When I was a kid in Au Sable, Michigan, Lake Huron was for enjoying the beach and looking at the water in summer. A small lake with semi-warm water was for swimming.
Jim, didn't you live a while in NZ? We have a friend who spent a couple years at U/ChCh, and is in shock over the mosque massacres.
No, NP, I was in Sinny, Oz. Lots of Kiwis there, though. South Island seemed to produce more than its share of geniuses of various sorts, who would leave looking for wider horizons.
"Sunny, Oz"? Ooh, I love when you talk Strine to me!
SCC: "Sinny, Oz"!
Hey HP, maybe Hastings and a couple of his colleagues might be interested in doing this (I don't know if you're an endurance runner, but perhaps you know someone who is, who could use their company):
https://www.npr.org/2019/03/18/704562412/blind-runner-and-his-trio-of-guide-dogs-make-history-in-nyc-half-marathon (transcript online tonight or tomorrow)
The governor of Kentucky sent his kids to a chickenpox party. I suppose this doesn't yet qualify as child abuse.
yello, was that you who won the prize on today's WaPo "Flight Crew" travel chat? ;-)
https://live.washingtonpost.com/talk-about-travel-032519-new.html
Wasn't me. I have at best two degrees of separation from the Philly Naked Bike Ride. I know a guy who knows some participants but that is as close as I get.
Especially for yello, on All Things Considered yesterday:
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/01/708856161/irrational-exuberance-audiences-love-broadway-hit-greenspan
NP, just got around to listening to the ATC April Fools piece.
The "composer-director" Cristylez Bacon is a real musician (http://www.christylez.com) in the DC area. I'm betting NPR/ATC collaborated with him to make the music for the piece. I've seen him a couple times. His music isn't really my style. But he's very charismatic and I could definitely see him going far.
Glad you enjoyed it, HF! I was unfamiliar with the composer (perhaps a function of my older generation).
Joel reported on the miserable situation at Mexico Beach and vicinity in Florida.
I've seen the effects of wind like that only once, south of Miami in 1992. Despite knowing exactly what to expect, it was shocking.
The disaster relief bill is being held up a bit because Democrats see it as their only possibility for getting funding for Puerto Rico. Because there's been so much damage in red states, it's a must-pass for Republicans and the President presumably wouldn't veto it out of spite for PR.
The Tallahassee Democrat reports that the Florida House's proposed budget-cutting for Medicaid will severely hurt what's left of rural hospitals in the area hit by hurricane Michael. There will be impacts statewide, but some of that will simply mean that people with health insurance will be stuck with higher premiums to pay for indigent care.
The state Senate is more willing to spend on health care, but apparently seems unlikely to prevail against the House. In recent years, Gov. Rick Scott would have vetoed additional spending anyway,
We have the smallest state government in terms of per capita spending. Not coincidentally, Orlando has the lowest wages of any city in the US, apparently even below El Paso. Housing is relatively cheap, but wages are so low, it's unaffordable.
And of course the average Orlando resident can't afford the theme parks.
My photo albums at Flickr from a cherry blossom visit to Tokyo and Kyoto are gradually coming up. This one is the splashiest. https://flic.kr/s/aHskQhSNw8
Marvelous, Dave. Thank you for sharing.
"Broadway Review: ‘Oklahoma!’":
https://variety.com/2019/legit/reviews/oklahoma-review-broadway-1203182746/
Not sure how I feel about the economizing of the orchestra. Guess it's not as bad as Patti Lupone playing tuba in a revival of Sweeny Todd, though!
SCC: Sweeney
Circle in the Square is a very intimate theater with only 651 seats and only one tier of in-the-round seating. I've seen three shows there, Putnam County Spelling Bee, Fun House, and Once Upon An Island. It's well suited for small spare productions.
And Linda Holmes of NPR tweeted "I am concerned about anybody who ever thought "Oklahoma!" wasn't dark."
Those cherry blossom photos are amazing. Japanese parks seem so organic even if they are completely man-made. What an amazing trip at the perfect time of year.
Earlier today, I checked ticket availableilty for Oklahoma! for the Saturday evening when I could see it. A bit taken aback by price.
I'm kinda shocked how many tickets are available. Those prices ($170-$200) are going rate list price for Broadway. We've been keeping our powder dry lately because we just haven't seen anything out there worth that plus the travel costs.
It's very likely you could get TKTS discount tickets the day of the show. But that is always a gamble. I've seen plenty of good shows buying same-day, especially if you only need one ticket.
The hot show right now is Be More Chill which is a mediocre show with a huge teen following. Who knew they had so much disposable income?
Circle in the Square is almost exactly the same size as our local theater, a nonprofit that does very safe versions of musicals and some productions of more recent stuff, lately "Next to Normal (2008) and "The Last Romance" (Joe Di Pietro).
Thank you for your post.
Joel got to do the Black Hole story. The picture doesn't look like much, so I imagine there might be a tweet about wasting money on useless Science.
Joel has a couple more... one on why the Black Hole looks like the Eye of Sauron, and one on how the Kellys fared on land vs. in space.
This Game of Thrones finale is getting entirely too much coverage in the press, IMHO. As an example, the Post has 5 stories on the front page. Really, for a TV show??? The pending redacted Mueller report only has four. I get that GoT is a thing. I’d probably be into it if I had HBO. But this all seems like overkill on a News platform. This isn’t E!.
The Notre Dame fire is looking catastrophic. Fire is out of control in the north belfry, on the west front. Check to see whether it's controlled by about 5:15. It's entirely possible the tower could collapse.
Especially to Dave and gmbka:
Appropriately, but tragically, the Pulitzer Prizes announced today for Public Service and Breaking News Reporting were awarded respectively to the South Florida Sun Sentinel (coverage of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS massacre) and the Staff of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (coverage of the synagogue massacre): https://news.columbia.edu/pulitzers2019
Now that I see how much of Norte Dame survived, DT's criticisms of the firemen seem especially sophomoric. Apparently the fire was largely confined to the roof, and firemen were waiting below for burning timbers that fell. It sure looked worse, though.
DT's plan would've destroyed most (if not all) of what the knowledgeable firefighters managed to save of ND. Imagine if Mar-a-Lago gets consumed in a massive conflagration aomeday, and DT wants water-bombers to put it out.
Looks like five years might suffice for rebuilding Notre-Dame's vaults, installing modern roof trusses, and possibly erecting a high-tech spire. Lots of restoration details would presumably take many years.
NPR is speculating about the Muller report endlessly. The rest of the world must have come to a standstill.
I am getting cranky about the American way of navel-gazing. The other day a person in my history class stated boldly that the US won WW II in Europe. Seems that those 11 Million Russian soldiers killed in that war died for nothing.
All the speculation is annoying. And now all the potted interpretations, that were prepared before the report was released.
The New Yorker and another organization, The Tracker, have co-publshed Mike Spies' story on the N.R.A.'s financial mess and spectacular internal corruption. He previously reported on the N.R.A.'s remarkable Florida lobbyist. How does a non-profit have a potent political lobbyist who has in effect become part of the state government?
I was within a mile of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School this weekend. A rather new, nondescript, wealthy area.
The latest small Flckr album from Japan is here. I should have the final ones today. https://flic.kr/s/aHsmCY7FRS
Radio France has organized a big outdoor concert at the Invalides for Saturday night. I'm sure it'll be broadcast.
NY schedule looks complete. Dialogues of the Carmelites (the outcome of a cheap ticket at the Theatre des Champs-Elysées for what turned out to be a splendid performance, even without titles), Rigoletto (an additional $40, why not), Norma Jeane Baker of Troy at The Shed with Renee Fleming (sounds odd, but ticket no worse than Rigoletto), Oklahoma! (chili at the intermission). The whole deal is expensive--about the only justification for visiting NY is affordable air fares. This will be only my second trip to NY as an adult.
I'll be in Philly briefly this summer, too. Somewhat weirdly, I could possibly see "Legally Blonde" again, the same production that opened Tuesday here is going to the Walnut Street Theatre.
It's amazing to have annotated Mueller Reports available.
I remain concerned that Trump will run successfully next year as our protector against the Deep State, Venezuelan Socialism, Cuba, Central American bad people, unstraight people, unwhite people, bad trade deals, environmental extremists (joining Iran, which is jailing its conservationists), and of course wicked northern liberal fake Christians. Gotta pay attention to the messianic rabbi who portrayed Hillary as Jezebel, the baby-killing Baal worshiper (and northern Methodist) who ruined a promising Bill Clinton (a.k.a. Ahab).
As willfully incompetent as the Trump administration is, the campaign to disable and dismantle the regulatory state and major bureaucracies seems to be going well. The State Department is disabled, Defense appears adrift, EPA a ghost of itself, Interior repurposed. I suspect the intelligence agencies are not in good shape. The chaos of trade policy may not be productive, but it does reflect Trump's distaste for foreigners. I think he'll find a way to make it difficult to move goods across the border with Mexico. Maybe Canada, too.
I may have grabbed my Oklahoma! ticket just in time. Then again, the New Yorker review might repel as much as attract.
Over at Notre-Dame de Paris, it looks like there's substantial wood braces already shoring up fragile parts of the building. The building's set of large 17th and 18th century paintings were all removed on Friday, perhaps soggy but not otherwise damaged. They were trucked to the Louvre.
It looks like Hexagon Geosystems has the late Andrew Tallon's laser scanning data of Notre-Dame and is making it freely available.
I'm sure it won't happen, but the church has always been dark. The vault over the crossing fell, and it would be simple enough to design a medieval-looking stone vault with a lantern, something that other, usually smaller cathedrals have. Thank God for LED lighting.
Before the Sinhalese-Tamil struggle (there had been one bombing, about 6 mos before, but no major outbreaks) we spent a couple of weeks in Sri Lanka. Our contact, who had been at a class in Holland with my sister, introduced us to her sister, Prof of Buddhist Studies at Peradeniya Uni in Kandy. (It appears in Bridge Over River Kwai). I was surprised to hear her uncharitable opinion of Tamils, which was not gentle stereotype Buddhism. I also had a sense of mild xenophobia in the country as whole. Certainly nothing like mass church bombing, but in that direction.
The Hindu Tamil minority endure racism and lack of civil rights, some of them don't even have citizenship although they have lived in Sri Lanka for generations. How this fits in with Islamists I cannot figure out.
The bombings and attacks were evidently the work of a relatively few radical Islamists who needed enemies, and must have figured that Christians, generically, are the Enemy. So now there's photos of trainloads of Sri Lankan Muslims being taken to purportedly safer places.
Some IS-type group might have figured Sri Lanka contains soft targets, given the recent government disfunction, and enough Christians to find critical mass. I'm assuming this is primarily tit for tat for Christchurch, where victim selection is based on their religion, not on their connection to any other issues.
The local classical music station seems to be undergoing a makeover. The proportion of the most familiar and popular stuff has increased markedly, and some shorter pieces start without announcement at the beginning, like how Private Ryan throws you into the action without any external structure - "Here's some music, kid; see what you think." I wonder if I'll get tired of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.
In early June, the Jacksonville (other one) Symphony is doing Mahler 5th along with Berg's suite from Lulu. Probably worth the 6 hours of driving.
In early June, the Jacksonville (other one) Symphony is doing Mahler 5th along with Berg's suite from Lulu. Probably worth the 6 hours of driving.
Jim, we canceled our subscription to the local symphony because they kept playing the same old pieces over and over again. I felt that if I had to listen to one more Haydn I'd run out screaming.
We switched to chamber music which provided more variety.
Back to Notre-Dame, the Grand Organ is reported to merely be dusty. It won't need to be disassembled. Amazing.
The roof has its initial tarp, which will be replaced pretty soon by a long-term protective cover intended to shelter construction work.
The building will be vulnerable to wind through the summer. Loss of the roof and some of the vaults leaves walls and flying buttresses without crucial support. So it'll take months to provide temporary stability. Maybe a system of beams in the nave and transepts?
I don't see the idea of a glass roof going anywhere. Not traditional and it might cause thermal problems for the vaults--too hot, too cold. But a part-glass roof might be something wonderful. It looks like there's space for a walkway around the perimeter and the views would be wonderful. Rebuilding the wooden trusses would bring back the fire risk, and it seems the now-destroyed trusses were the last survivors of their kind. The others all burned at one time or another. I wonder
gmbka, the Haydnesque pieces are what I like the most! For instance, Beethoven's 2nd concerto because it's his take on the conventions of the time rather than something revolutionary. Fortunately I have a lot of CDs to fall back on if the station's fare becomes too disconcerting.
The Brooklyn Public Library has an exhibit on Jews who fled Hitler via Shanghai. One of my mother's high school friends was one of them. I only know of her from one incident, an impromptu civil rights demonstration in the Times Square area, I think Howard Johnson's. The three girls had sat down but weren't served (one was from a prosperous Harlem family). They decided to wait. The Daily News came to visit.
Another Dave, the President of a software consulting company I worked for for 15 years, was a kid when they went from Russia to Manchuria and finally Shanghai under occupation. Then they were resettled in Bolivia, which had a few cities with Jewish refugee communities. Later, California.
The late Thomas Eisner, who founded "chemical ecology" at Cornell, had a migratory youth. His family managed to escape Germany and were living in Paraguay when he applied to Cornell to be an undergraduate. He kept the rejection letter and had it, framed, in his office.
He was busy at the Archbold Biological Station here in Florida, with the Dicerandra mints, which smell like anything from super breath mints to Vicks Vape-o-Rub, as his favoriite subjects.
"‘Hadestown’ and ‘Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations’ lead Tony nominations":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/hadestown-and-aint-too-proud-the-life-and-times-of-the-temptations-lead-tony-nominations/2019/04/30/df829004-6ac7-11e9-a66d-a82d3f3d96d5_story.html
More thorough Tony listing:
http://www.playbill.com/article/2019-tony-award-nominations-hadestown-and-aint-too-proud-lead-the-pack
Its really helpful for me, awaiting for more new post. Keep Blogging!
A little engineering problem. A 500g paper box of Ahmad brand Ceylon tea. The tin from earlier Ceylon Special is just a little larger, so the entire package fits neatly into the tin. However... the fines that were formerly on the bottom are now on top, and I want to avoid them when making tea. I'm considering simply shaking the tin to sift them down toward the bottom, repeating as needed.
Headed or Utah today for work. HFGF will join me at the end of the week for a side trip to Grand Teton and Jellystone. It’s strange packing for winter again.
Lab notebook entry: I shake the tin a few times every pot, and the top where I take the tea from is free of fines. The non-fine leaves are gradually packing down and being knitted together, where a future equilibrium may see further downward sifting blocked. For now, this is quite satisfactory - I was going to say fine.
I find it difficult to get out and about, so I applied for an absentee ballot, and make that permanent vote-by-mail for me. The irony is the current election, the immediate cause of the application, is one that I might well skip otherwise - only one vacant seat, and a bond issue, likely to get maybe a 10-15% turnout (including a higher % of those opposed to every bond issue).
I forgot to say, only one vacant School Board seat, and a school bond issue.
Back from NYC, my first visit since Feb. 12, 2005, when I showed up for unfurling of The Gates, the Christo project in Central Park. The artists had done (fund-raising) presentation at the local art museum and came across as likable, if slightly crazy.
This was the Dialogues of the Carmelites trip with Rigoletto ($40 ticket), The Shed, and Oklahoma! thrown in for good measure.
Dialogues was very well presented but not the stunner that Paris had been. Maybe something about the guillotine stuff not having been done about a mile away from the theater.
Some checking at the Met website showed they would be having $25 rush tickets at 8 am Saturday for Rigoletto at 11 am. A bit foolish, but I bought a nice orchestra seat to replace my $40 nosebleed one. The experience with figuring out the website led me to expect that at 10 am sharp, there might be a few standing room places for Götterdämmerung at 6 pm. Yes! Middle of the Dress Circle balcony. $52. So I stood 6 pm to 11:45 (two intermissions).
Wagner is not my favorite composer, but the inventor of movie music is worth paying attention to. $52 to hear one of the world's best orchestras and a dream cast was a privilege and amazing bargain (Christine Goerke as Brünnhilde got wildly good reviews and certainly sounded wonderful). That said, a tale that ends with dead hero, dead heroine, roasted horse, roasted gods must be the prime example of Teutonic pessimism. At least the Rhine maidens lived, along with slimy little (in the figurative sense) people.
Oklahoma! apparently didn't touch the lyrics or score (apart from a fresh orchestration) but takes the Curly v. Jud situation with dead seriousness. The intimate theater (seats 600 in a U), inviting the audience onto the thrust stage for chili and cornbread during intermission during the interval, before things take a dark turn, pulls audience members into the action in a way that's almost impossible with a conventional proscenium theater. The show's already extended what was to have been a limited run.
I was expecting the Met's Rigoletto in Las Vegas to be fluff. I'd seen the production via movie theater video. The Met auditorium's acoustics and an excellent cast/orchestra brought out Verdi's magnificent, entertaining music. Lots of duets. No solos to flatter individual characters. And yes, the whole thing is slimy, just like the traditional performance I saw in Portland a year ago.
On the side, I took a look at B&H Camera in New York; the physical store looked like it does in their in-store photography videos. It's sort of a sales machine, complete with conveyer belts, but in a good way.
At Columbus Circle, on the north side, I noticed a tall building with a cheap-looking imitation Unisphere (the metal globe from the 1964-65 New York World's Fair) in front and a gold canopy on the side. It looked like the Trump version of tacky elegance. Turned out it was. Much better, the other side of the circle has a Kayser bakery, evidently a clone of the popular Erik Kayser boulangeries of Paris.
Thanks for such a thorough travelog, Dave! I can't imagine standing all the way through Götterdämmerung (especially being a Verdian rather than a Wagnerian).
In terms of epic, I suspect Berlioz has Wagner beaten. It was a remarkable opportunity to hear Les Troyens and Götterdämmerung within months of each other, even if the Troyens production (set in the 21st century) was strained, with Troy as a battered Beirut and Carthage a cheerful rehabilitation center for wounded veterans.
Poulenc's music for Carmelites is a marvel. It was pointed out in the program notes that rather than do a pastiche of late 18th century music, he used expressive musical ideas from whenever, seamlessly. Multiperiod music where you instead listen to what the singers are expressing is something I suppose we're used to in musicals. With Poulenc, it's very effective. A bit later, Schnittke used "polystylism" in orchestral music as a provocation. With Poulenc, the past and present are simply intertwined.
"Fun Facts About All 41 Broadway Theatres":
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Fun-Facts-About-All-41-Broadway-Theatres-20190511
So now I have to go back to NYC and wander around the theatre district. Goofily enough, I have pretty good command of where theaters are in London, not closer to home.
"Big storms, bigger waves / Warming oceans have created a golden age for surfing, but the sport’s athletes worry about what the changes mean":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/05/09/warming-oceans-have-created-golden-age-big-wave-surfing-leaving-surfers-conflicted/?utm_term=.dc7ad8ee2659
It was a nicely done story. Largely a matter for the southern hemisphere, but the North Atlantic is extraordinarily stormy in winter, resulting in heroic-size surf in places like Nazaré, Portugal, southwest France, Cornwall, western Ireland. There was just a hairball competition at Shipsterns, Tasmania.
I confess I'd never heard of her, but I'm impressed.
"Donna Marie Asbury on Saying Goodbye to Broadway's Chicago After 20 Years":
https://www.broadway.com/buzz/195933/donna-marie-asbury-on-saying-goodbye-to-broadways-chicago-after-20-years/
The pix of hundreds queued for the last hundred yards to the ttop of Everest are amazing.
The last thing I would ever have expected. The line at Everest looks longer than the one for Slinky Dog at Disney.
Then again, crowds at the Newport Wedge seem as inexplicable as the ones at Everest, though the cost of entry is far lower. In summer, just trunks and swim fins. Winter, add wetsuit. Bodyboard is not a bad idea. Much easier to do, if that's the correct word. The potential cost can include death (there have been a few), broken neck, broken collarbones, ankle damage, broken arms, scrapes.
Brent Weldon is an excellent videographer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBd8PTCv83s&t=9s
Hands up, those that thought Mueller had retired & closed his office months ago when the report was released. Didn't he release all the other prosecutors at that time?
Trump's cloak of immunity continues to amaze. I suppose the American public is happy to consider him a fake whose political positions happen to be popular, and who somehow deals with foreign leaders the "right way" unlike those horrible Democrats and wimpy fake Republicans. If only he smoked cigars.
The supposed claim by Bannon that revealing Trump's taxes will strip him of his "smart billionaire mystique" seems misplaced. I suspect everyone's been in on Trump as fake-rich. Then again, there was the New York Times story on artist Peter Max and the big business in auctioning more or less worthless art done in his name on cruise ships. Norwegian even has a Peter Mas ship. The story involves dementia and greed, so it's not merely droll.
I think that with the Mexico immigration ultimatum and tariff, Trump may jumped the shark. His presidency has been all about show, but this time there were already trade agreements (complete with protection for the auto industry) and a need for Congressional action. Trump comes along and claims national security overrides everything.
It looks like the Post heard a lot from unhappy Administration people.
After this, I suspect the Trump administration will be effectively in caretaker mode, with an assortative McConnell and a not-very-visible Pence trying to get appropriations done (very important because failure means huge mandatory budget cuts come October).
Trump is kicking off his reelection campaign on June 18 in Orlando, an odd choice since it's a fairly safe state for Trump and Ohio and Pennsylvania probably aren't. But the Mexico tariff followed by what promises to be an embarrassing British trip might soften Trump's hold on the party. Check Tom Cotton and Cruz and Rubio. Maybe Kasich. None of them will openly announce, but they'll start talking more or less coherently about policy matters, relatively speaking.
From a Dutch friend. I thought the wave-lovers here would especially appreciate this video (29 minutes, but dramatic):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfiJrSMaAcY&feature=youtu.be
"Broadway Musicals Confirmed For Tony Night Performances":
https://deadline.com/2019/06/broadway-musicals-tony-awards-performance-1202628216/
...Confirmed to perform during the CBS live broadcast are Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations, Beetlejuice, The Cher Show, Choir Boy, Hadestown, Kiss Me, Kate, Oklahoma!, The Prom and Tootsie....
Be More Chill continues to be snubbed.
I'm interesting in seeing the Hadestown performance.
I think Beetlejuice has very elaborate sets. Might be a challenge. Oklahoma! will be really easy to do, and was a delight for its straightforwardness. Ain't Too Proud looks like a genuine hit. Not bad for a jukebox.
Having finally dropped into Broadway, I suppose I might again. Still very fond of London.
A comment on Trump's awful white-tie and tails outfit noted that he seems to have gained a lot of weight in the past few months. I'm not a Trump watcher, but if that's so, it's an alarming sign. I would, as an amateur health care worker, suspect stress.
I thought he had gained weight steadily since he won. He may have been wearing a girdle and bullet proof vest under that white vest, and the vest was too tight, and the jacket was long on sleeve and short much else-- sign of a borrowed tux or a tailor who knows he won't be paid on time or ever.
Stress is a given, I'd say.
I'm a bit surprised I've not checked here for nearly 3 months straight, but it has been a stressful few months. GnomeDate had to relocate to a new facility who was giving me trouble about seeing him, since resolved and we've been making up for time and between that and summer chores and a heat wave I'm run ragged.
Sorry to miss replying on the guide dog post. I can't think of much to say about running in general. It's hard to get the right tempo with a dog as they have four feet to people's two and you need to get that just right. Wilbrodog used to pretty much walk or pace and he'd put his feet down same time as mine.
Mr. Hastings, when I biked him to a trot, turned out to walk much faster and also to trot around twice as fast as Wilbrodog could. I had problems getting my bike fast enough to keep him at a trot. Granted I'm not the fittest biker around, but the difference was significant; I estimate he trots faster than many dogs his weight class can run because of his lanky long-legged and long-bodied build. Straigt as an arrow. I can easily see him pulling a dogsled at a steady clip.
Sometimes when I try to bike him he decides to play sled dog and try and cut in front and pull the bike, which is a major no-no, so I have to keep him at my side. This basically means very short bike sprints for me off the roads only so he can actually get up to a canter or gallop.
So basically, forget running with him even if I were a runner. This improvement on the harness is great, though. https://www.outsideonline.com/2395758/ruffwear-unifly-dog-harness It's more cane-like. Perhaps it could be useful for counterpull mobility assistance, as well, although I'm not sure it will work for side to side balance issues. I wonder if the handle can be clipped on various harnesses with a D ring.
I'm sure dog sledders designed harnesses, but it seems a bit surprising that the general public seem to have gotten interested in harnesses only relatively recently.
I'm talking about guide dog harnesses. Different from mushing harnesses in that they are supposed to give tactile feedback like a stick and the dog doesn't pull, but rather walks in a forward position with slight pull but not much. A leash can work very limitedly for that but the dog cannot signal a stop or up or down motion ahead with a leash.
In the general public: Many people use "anti-pull harnesses" which isn't that great, considering that a harness actually is supposed to enable pulling, and these harnesses basically work by hurting the shoulders and elbows.
Harnesses are recommended for walking over collars in small dogs at risk of tracheal collapse from pressure on their neck.
And of course, skijoring, bikejoring, and other sports which the dog runs and pull or paces owner on skis, bikes, etc. require the dog to be on harness to pull with the correct equipment for their own safety. There's also carting too.
Increased interest in harnesses is probably partly due to the greater overall interest in dogsport and exercising high-energy dogs to make them sane to live with in the city or such.
I can see it now, Nike x athletic dog equipment.
Ruffwear. Dogbooties.com (for sled dog stuff) Quite a few athletic dog accessory suppliers are out there.
Great to see that Ali Stroker got a Tony for her performance in Oklahoma!
I hadn't exactly mentioned her, somewhat on grounds that what she was doing shouldn't be a rarity. She was of course a highlight of the showl. The recognition for both the production and the actor is well deserved.
She was on The Glee Project several years back and won a guest appearance on Glee itself. It's great to see her succeeding.
The great charm of the production was that it was relatively unpretentious, regular folks, a setting in which Stroker's extraordinary energy was right at home.
Some House hearings on Mueller Report begin this week. Anybody watching them? I'll be checking C-SPAN and other sources for highlights and transcripts.
Fifty percent of American voters seem to think Trump should do whatever he wants, perhaps short of setting fire to an American flag (or worse, a Confederate one) at the Fourth of July party he's hosting on the Mall. So I don't have much hope for Mueller report-related investigations. The fifty percent think it's all witch hunt and illegal persecution. Prosecutors should be indicting members of Congress and the FBI needs to be purged, something Barr might actually do.
An item from Bloomberg: "Firearms distributor United Sporting loaded up on guns ahead of the 2016 presidential election, expecting a surge in sales after the predicted election of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. She lost, and now United Sporting has filed for bankruptcy."
Oy, the Pentagon reports that the Japanese tanker was attacked with some kind of mines, the Japanese crew talked about flying objects. The difference between this and the second Gulf of Tonkin incident is that the tanker actually was attacked. As reported by BBC, the aggressor is most likely Iran, or somebody who is interested in making it look that way.
A war president can be sure to be reelected.
My reactions too, gmbka.
Bolton's going for his second war.
Dave, the Miami Herald is doing good work reporting on the Chinese madam and Mar-a-Lago. How much is that permeating down in Florida as far as you can tell?
Also, what is the local reporting on Gov. DeSantis forgetting to mention the GBLTQ community on the Pulse shooting victims proclamation?
I personally think it will take something drastic like Mitch McConnell or a major Trump cabinet member being arrested, etc. to really grab the attention of the apathetic, but I would say the average voter is a lot more aware now than 4 years ago. Not saying much, I know, but more is better.
So, Chao is under investigation by House Transportation Committee.
Mitch McConnell is trying to pick a fight with Jon Stewart. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICnUJl0t0Xw over 9/11 responders, after Jon Stewart went on Fox News and shamed him in particular.
Alex Jones sent child porn when he turned over discovery to the Sandy Hook families' lawyers.
SCOTUS said the doctrine of separate sovereigns continue to apply (meaning State and federal prosecutors can continue charge people for the same criminal act, as the laws they apply are different. The dissent was written by Ginsberg and Gorsuch, oddly enough.)
House can enforce subpoenas with criminal charges. I'm waiting for the first ones.
Barr and Trump continue fuckery and Iran reports they have uncovered a massive CIA sting. That probably was information sent to them from the WH. I'm fed up with traitors running things.
The Atlantic has an interesting and I think smart article prodicting extraordinary voter turnout for next year's election. That could go in Trump's favor, but I doubt it.
The recent leaked polls are suggesting the possibility of a Democratic landlsicde, though I suspect the Senate will remain Republican. Even if not, the Senate Republicans will block attempts to undo the Trump legacy.
We must be vigilant with respect to Republicans taking ever more desperate, draconian measures in 2020 in order to suppress the votes of those most likely to vote Democratic.
He only learns 150 people may be killed at the last minute, not when the mission is being planned and approved?
No telling what the tweet's relation might be to reality.
Either Trump created this problem (attacking Iran) for the express purpose of "solving" it at the last moment, or he's so inept and impulsive that he didn't think to check with his generals for adequate briefing first. Nothing like "playing chicken" with WW III.
Both, NP. Both. And I think he was briefed by somebody out of the U.S.A. on how to back out.
Felix Sater was slated to appear before a House committee today, he "overslept" because he was sick. With this summer cold going around, that is actually somewhat plausible. But he'll be subpoenaed now.
Hope Hicks refused to say anything and there's hope that her blatant contempt will be leverage in court to compel her and bigger fish to testify (such as Don McGahn.) A pattern of Omerta does not look good.
Anyway, happy Summer Solistice! The days will get shorter now.
The people from Istanbul made it very clear whom they wanted, and it was not the strongman who had the support of our president. Yeah.
American voters strongly rebuked Trump in 2018, and if we're able to resist voter suppression while getting out the vote in 2020, we can send Trump packing. I'll vote for ANY Democratic candidate for President, no matter how (comparatively) conservative.
But in the primaries, let us vote for the best possible candidate. I'm not worried about conservative as much as I am worried about:
1) ability to field good people to work for the President
2) Focus on the crises facing us-- climate, national security, treason.
3) Will not downplay Russia threat
4) Cannot and will not pardon Trump or his flunkies.
5) is basically NOT a Russian plant on the left.
Pup, Who do you think falls into (5)?
The Trump rebuke of 2016 was a bigger than average midterm, but Obama got an equivalent shellacking in 2010 and got re-elected. Here in Florida, the Republican candidate for governor won as a big buddy of Trump. It was discouraging.
I would watch Pence over the next year. Trump will likely want him on the ticket (obsequious, works on domestic policy without getting his hands dirty), but a few ambitious actors in the party might figure on Trump not lasting long if re-elected, so want to position someone else to take over.
Meanwhile, the White House (acting chief of staff Mark Meadows, who flogged the Balanced Budget Amendment while in Congress) seems to be in a logjam with Senate Republicans over next year's budget and raising the debt limit. Meadows, at least for a while, though that a non-raised limit would be a fine temporary tool to force balanced budgets until the permanent protection of the constitutional amendment kicked in. Meadows might be operating like one of those airliner pilots who deliberately crashed a planeload of passengers.
An incoming Democratic president will likely face a hostile Senate, and appointment might be delayed/denied. There could also be a Supreme Court decision declaring the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. Possibly, other court decisions cutting back on Congressional delegations of power to federal administrative agencies to develop and enforce regulations. A recession is possible. Republicans will be suddenly keen to slash civilian federal spending.
Restoring federal regulations and the bureaucracies that enforce them will take lots of effort at a time when agency budgets are shrinking.
Restoring foreign relations will possibly be even more difficult. It's not possible to go back to 2016. Maybe not even possible to fully restore the State Department.
Health care, student debt, immigration, climate change, treatment of minorities, etc? The Mexican border will need lots of attention, but the rest of those worthy concerns may founder. High expectations, low likelihood of Congressional action. Trump's (or Meadow's) negative agendas are so much easier. A mere White House staffer overrode two cabinet members to get a ban on research using fetal cells.
"The EU immigration policies are as inhuman as Donald Trump". Headline in Spiegel online.
Darryl Fears has a super story on containing a nasty oil leak in the Gulf off of Louisiana. Note the authority given to a Coast Guard captain.
Headfool,
#5:
1) Bernie is an usual suspect. He has longstanding Moscow ties and sympathies. He also voted against Russian sanctions.
2) While I have no specific proof-- I'm going to say somebody from Hawaii running for the nomination sounds a lot like a Trump apologist, and she has some odd connections. Fortunately she didn't do much in the debates.
Also, this is pretty obvious, but I'd steer clear of anybody whose ego seems to be unsubstainated by any real achievement, just as a rule of thumb. Love conquers all, but some plans, policy, and actual skill all help.
At the NY Times, Linda Greenhouse examined the census citizenship question. Lawyers are working today. The Friday phone call with the federal judge should be even weirder than the Wednesday one.
The Post has a story on the Atlantic's long piece on the Durham investigation into FBI "spying" on the Trump campaign in 2016. That story is in turn linked to Post reporting. The investigation could turn into a big propaganda win for Trump in time for the election. At the least, it could be retribution against Comey et al.
Across the pond, at least $1 trillion in assets has left London management already. The City is losing its status as the world's most important financial center, fast.
Reportedly, the head of the Federalist Society, the outfit that selects federal judicial nominees for the Trump administration, is urging the president to put the citizenship question on the census form. So how about an executive order at 2 pm, twenty minutes ahead of the scheduled phone call with the judge?
First a couple of large branches fell on the roof. Then neighbors with their pre-4th fireworks. Then an earthquake. More fireworks, and now another earthquake! The dogs are going nuts.
Wow, you were up early, Jim! (Or was it really, really late?). News is reporting last night's quake was 7.1 (i.e., considerably stronger than Thursday's). Stay safe.
This triggered my first laugh of the day:
From the Times: Holocaust denial: A high school principal in Florida was removed from his position after refusing to say that the World War II-era genocide of six million Jews was a factual historical event.
Now there is a true believer in denial, and a man who sticks to his principles.
Then again, a lot of high school type American history relative to African Americans was fake. I recall being taught that the good Ku Klux and Knights of the White Camellia redeemed Florida from the horrible carpetbaggers. No mention at all of the practice of renting out convicts (the exposé book was "America's Siberia") nor of Florida's prolific lynchings, which continued into the mid 1950s.
Killings of black war veterans, also never, ever mentioned.
On the plus side, the removal of Seminoles because they offered a degree of refuge to blacks fleeing slavery (and the acquisition of Florida from Spain in part for the same reason) was mentioned. Today, history of St. Augustine explains the Carolina slave raids in great detail. The Charleston people were very big on taking and enslaving captives, mostly claiming such people were runaways.
Hope Jahren's "Lab Girl" arrived from Powell's. I flipped it open. Chapter 7 showed up.
AFTER WE FOLLOWED Dumpling's directive to Monkey Jungle and received the directive that we were all just monkeys working in a monkey house, everything started to make sense....
I'd bought "Fight Club" from Powell's. This looks at least as entertaining.
So there goes my long promise to read Timothy Snyder's "Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin" and more recent plan to read a timely geology book culminating in the most horrific mass extinction.
https://cup.columbia.edu/book/carboniferous-giants-and-mass-extinction/9780231180979
Bad Nosy can only think of The Producers after reading this headline: "Broadway Investors Set To Lose $100 Million As A Dozen Shows Close":
https://www.forbes.com/sites/leeseymour/2019/07/11/investors-set-to-lose-100-million-as-broadway-undergoes-huge-market-correction/#7dacf34847d2
HFGF and I went to a benefit on Tuesday for Eileen Carson Schatz. She's the founder of Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, which is a performance dance & music troupe, which does performances and teaches globally. Their music and dance tends to lean toward bluegrass/clogging/flatfoot and Irish. But they do a lot more. They've sort of acted as an incubator. Kristin Andreassen from Uncle Earl is a graduate. One of the principals at Dance Place (in DC) is still a dancer with Footworks. Danny Knicely and Mark Schatz (her husband) are regular musicians in their band.
Anyway, Eileen contracted cancer and this was the 2nd (I think) benefit to support her. The lineup was lead by Jerry Douglas (dobro) and included Bela Fleck (banjo), Sierra Hull (mandolin), Stewart Duncan (Fiddle), Danny Paisley (guitar) and husband Mark on Bass. They're all notable in bluegrass circles and beyond. The Footworks dance crew was there to perform as well. Eileen was at the show but on the opposite side of the venue from where we were seated. So I didn't see her, but she did speak (un-mic-ed) about how much love she felt that night.
Wednesday, I heard she passed. She must have willed herself to stay alive through this show. RIP, Eileen.
Maureen Dowd has a striking Sunday column on Nancy Pelosi (who she admires) versus the far left in her party.
I'd like to strike Maureen Dowd.
HF, what a sad story.
Joel has a story on my front page on the conspiracy theorists that believe the Apollo landings were faked
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/50-years-after-apollo-conspiracy-theorists-are-still-howling-at-the-moon-hoax/2019/05/23/ca5b4a3a-700e-11e9-9f06-5fc2ee80027a_story.html
It hits adjacent to home for me. HFGF's brother is one and is managing to convince her mom. The thing that gets me is how they can get away without explaining basic things.. like why we have different sunrise/sunset at different places on the earth. With a flat earth... it would be uniform. When night happens, does the sun just go out? How does GPS work?
What's odd from the WP side of things, the article is from late May. Comments are closed. Why's it on my front page now?
HF, JA's article reran because this week marks the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. I'm sorry that HFGF has such deluded family members. Have you ever asked them where Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins went during that week, between launch and splash-down, without being detected, if it wasn't to the moon and back?
Netflix has a glassblowing reality show. Just thought that might be of interest to some.
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a28395668/blown-away-netflix-glassblowing-competition-show/
I haven’t seen Blown Away yet, but I’m cautiously looking forward to it. There is talk on one of the glass forums about the show; it sounds a bit less obnoxious than most reality tv.
I have met a couple people involved including Eric Meek from CMOG and Janusz Posniac, one of the competitors. Janusz has to be a bit of a ringer... he’s been blowing for a long time professionally. I met him at the Chrysler museum in Norfolk where he was working with Ben Moore (not the paint guy) and Dante Marioni... both big names in glass.
Seeking for asylum is still possible for Canadians, Mexicans, and those fortunate people who can afford to fly into the United States. I am not sure whether this would have to be direct flight.
gmbka, isn't it possible to fly in on a tourist visa. I gather some undocumented migrants do this, then overstay their visas.
The Post really put its people into the opioid crisis. Including Joel.
Chris Thile and collaborators cover "Good Vibrations." They probably had minimal rehearsal time and were also probably limited to the instruments at hand. I picked this up from a weekend extended radio intro to the "Live From Here" show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9skURlILxRo
Hope everyone's come through the heatwave OK (including Hastings).
Dave, I love what Chris Thile has done with the show. His enthusiasm and eclecticism are infectious... and his Snoopy dances. Yeah, I wish they had a theremin, but that was fun.
When he plays with Jon Batiste, it's magic. I think they're cut from the same cloth.
Endless Love (apologies for the a-seasonal Christmasy lyrics)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc9jp2pAT4w
The idea with Thile is to whip up something fresh every week. Not to present pickled perfection. In fact, in his interview, he singled out pianist Charles Rosen's observation that performance anxiety was a result of believing that perfection is possible. Thile set up a show where deadlines loom (writing and performing a new song every week!) and things are cooked up fresh. There's plenty of touring musicians performing museum pieces.
Is it an accident that American Public Media's other entertainment show is "The Splendid Table"?
Did a certain regular boodler live here? Based on the photo, definitely too old to be a suspect.
"FBI-wanted 'Pink Lady Bandit' robs bank in Hamlet, officials say":
https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/fbi-wanted-pink-lady-bandit-robs-bank-in-hamlet-officials-say/970574160
Joel's story on the Post's lawsuit to get the opioid database made public is heartening. For a number of reasons, the Post didn't hire a big law firm, but rather went with a former journalist who had earned a law degree and passed the bar in her spare time, then set up her own law practice.
Thoughts and prayers again, and then again. Sigh.
Tin soldiers and Trump is comin'
We're finally on our own
This summer I hear the drummin'
Nine dead in Ohio
...
"Officers neutralized him in under a minute" (Post). So much for quick response, though the extremely fast response at the Gilroy garlic festival perhaps saved many lives.
Universal released minimal information on their new theme park this week. an image indicated a hotel overlooking it. I assume security folks were consulted about ways to keep guests from shooting out the windows. Disney is replacing theme park entrances, probably mostly to handle rapidly growing attendance, but...
In Florida, casual slaughters are far more important than fancy ones. Shootings happen for seemingly no reason at all, seemingly encouraged by the self-defense law. But so far the million or so concealed weapons permit holders seem well behaved.
#!$!% Blago, really?
HF, maybe Trump relates to ridiculous hair.
Documentary especially for Broadway musical fans!
'Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles': Film Review:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/fiddler-a-miracle-of-miracles-1225486
The Germans are discussing to increase the tax of meat from 7% VAT to 19%. Two aspects feed the discussion: the environmental cost of raising cattle and its consequences relating to climate change and the unhealthy habit of Germans to eat 60 Kg of meat per person/year. I am so glad I had a nice portion of tender and juicy pork roast for a reasonable price when there last spring.
Betcha yellojkt can get ALL of these! Everybody else?
"32 Theatre Terms Everyone Should Know":
http://www.playbill.com/article/32-theatre-terms-everyone-should-know
Vom I've never heard of.
yellojkt, was this guy the most famous Rambling Wreck of modern times?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/kary-mullis-unconventional-nobel-laureate-who-unlocked-dna-research-dies-at-74/2019/08/12/e6391612-bbed-11e9-b3b4-2bb69e8c4e39_story.html
The Kennedy Center Opera House will be showing the Maurice Sendak production of Mozart's The Magic Flute. The production is from Portland Opera, no doubt the one I saw there twenty years ago.
So, our president was told that Greenland is not for sale. Now his visit to Denmark is canceled.
That'll teach those uppity Danes, right, gmbka? LOL!
The Greenland thing would seem enough for the Cabinet to replace Trump on grounds that he’s lost his marbles. But as I understand it, Trump would merely need to write a letter stating that he’s feeling fine, return to work, and then fire the Cabinet.
Why not give Puerto Rico back to Spain? US Virgin Islands back to Denmark?
Truman negotiated with the Danes about Greenland before, but the style and reason were quite different.
https://www.npr.org/2019/08/22/753192368/fact-check-did-harry-truman-really-try-to-buy-greenland-back-in-the-day
Also, the visit Trump canceled also was initiated by him, the Danes politely complied when he invited himself.
So Trump got ambushed at the G-7 by Macron bringing in Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif, and has "no comment" until his puppetmasters tell him what to think/say. Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.
Property owners in Florida are worried about a hurricane and among the our President. He canceled his trip to Poland.
gmbka, Trump's probably warming up his paper towel-throwing arm.
Dave, will you be safe during Hurricane Dorian? Sure hope so.
Everything depends on Dorian following something resembling the dotted line, which hurricanes are not prone to do. It it comes close to land or makes landfall anywhere pithing a hundred or so miles, we're in a mess. The house is reasonably sturdy and the trees around it recently pruned
South of us, it looks like Dorian is pretty much over for southern Palm Beach County, Surfline has videos of some nice 3-4' waves and is predicting flat conditions tomorrow. Miami Beach has cute little waves. Sebastian Inlet, messy 6' and no one around (mandatory evacuation),
Surfing going on in messy, windy conditions at Jacksonville Beach, St. Augustine Beach but not farther south.
My fingers are crossed for you, Dave. Glad to know the trees around your place are well-pruned.
All OK there now, Dave? Hope there's minimal damage to people, infracstructure, plants, etc.
Our biggest wind gust was 43 mph. Never even lost Internet.
The biggest yard mess is two dead laurel oak branches, fairly hefty ones, that fell during the two weeks I was gone to South Africa. Working on a Flickr album, but slowed by a bad cold.
You went to South Africa? Have never bee there, but have seen lots of nature specials about it on PBS. Am looking forward to viewing your photo album online (know there'll be a special emphasis on things botanical!).
I almost always catch a cold (or worse) when I travel, so commiserate with you, and hope you're feeling better soon).
I'm betting we'll see CBD related deaths in the near future; just like these vaping deaths. The rush to make all sorts of new products in an unregulated grey area just begs for the scammers and those looking to exploit short cuts safety-be-damned to jump into the market.
Probably most of the "CBD" is something else, or watered down.
I would suspect the solvent, not the CBD or THC.
Poirot, are you still around? How was your summer? How's Hastings? Is Gnome-date feeling any better? Same-old, same-old here, which beats most of the alternatives. DH has had a good vegetable garden this summer, thanks in part to plentiful rains. I keep on working on my writing projects (with the work habits of a tortoise, not a hare). Sending you virtual hugs.
Resistance from the National Weather Service and the career side of NOAA is showing up; it looks like Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is facing investigation from his department's inspector general and from the House.
I'm a bit surprised. Until now, Trump has utterly dominated the Republican Party and his appointees, no matter how incompetent, have terrorized federal agencies. I wonder whether Secretary Ross will carry out a purge.
I am a bit surprised that anybody pays attention to what he is saying any more. The last number for "falsehoods" he spread was 12 K, according to WaPo.
Supposedly, most Republicans think the Post is fake news. In Fox they trust.
Today's NYT front page is extraordinary:
U.S. Secretary Said to Coerce Science Agency
Rescue of C.I.A. Spy Left Blind Spot at Kremlin
Military's Stay at Trump Hotel Draws Scrutiny
And then there's the story about how the wilderness status of some US volcanoes makes it super-difficult to place seismic monitoring equipment on them. Like Hood and Rainier. This is a glitch that Congress can and must fix.
A chance for scheming. This year, I got a good seat (front row center, balcony) for Berlioz's Les Troyens (website, 2 am), and later snagged a well located standing room spot for Gotterdammerung ($50) by hitting the website at precisely 8 am, day of performance.
Got an email from London's National Theatre. Virgin Atlantic was offering really cheap nonstop flights from Orlando, so I picked one up for early March. On Oct 11, 3:30 am, their website starts selling tickets to a 7-hour "masterpiece" from 1996 that fits my dates.
Looking like the chance of tropical storm winds for us might have peaked this morning; the 5 pm from the National Hurricane Center moved the most likely track for the expected tropical storm a bit farther east. Bahamas look to get soaked.
You must be in good shape when you can stand through Goetterdaemmerung, which I find hard to get through even when sitting. But then I'm not a Wagnerfan.
Congrats to your various trips. I'll go to Cuba in Feb. and I'm sure that opera will not be offered.
The Met gives standees posts with subtitles to lean on. Standing (or leaning) for that long a time was an ordeal. I am not exactly a Wagner enthusiast, but was in town for Dialogue of the Carmelites--I'd seen an extraordinary performance in Paris )a low budget one) without titles, and wanted to get a closer look. Also booked Rigoletto, buying a much better seat for $25 at the last minute--the matinee hadn't sold well. The Wagner monster was a surprise; I had no idea how their day-of-performance online ticket sales worked.
The Met had a terrific Brunhilde indeed. In fact, it was a marvel to hear three splendid performances. But Oklahoma! just about stole the weekend. It was a lesson in how to freshen a classic on a budget in a pretty intimate theater, I think only 600 seats.
Berlioz's Trojans was a musical marvel, never mind the pretty silly staging, with Troy made into a modern Middle Eastern city with a pretty stupid ruling class and Dido's new city of Carthage transformed not a rehab facility for wounded warriors, complete with a vending machine to be kicked. Aeneas was played by a vigorous guy from Billings, Montana who got to do an intense fight scene.
I've done a long weekend in Cuba, pretty strenuous field trip for palms in their habitats. I was much impressed. But not by the roads.
Whistleblower complaint not handled as the law requires... drip... Barr's Justice Dept involved... drip... The subject involves the President promising something to a foreign leader... drip... the promise involves Ukraine... drip... One can guess the other side of that call...
Little Margie Clark passed away a couple days ago. She may be most famous as one of the Fabulous Jewels a girl group from the 60s. I don't think they ever particularly did well. But they were still around playing the occasional gig. Margie did her own thing too, mostly Blues and Jazz. She released an album (At Last) in 2001. It's a solid album, but it doesn't really capture her personality. Live she was a firecracker, very playful and engaging. There's not a lot of video (and maybe no quality video) of her online either, but here's a taste from a Memphis Soul tribute show of DC area musicians:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM7X9TJouIU
HF, with the last drip the glass flowed over. Now it will be apparent that the Rs in the Senate do not distance themselves from a crook. The base will be happy.
Thomsas Edsall column, NY Times:
"As the 2020 election approaches, we can expect Trump not to be deterred by the prospect of impeachment. He will embrace it. He has proved repeatedly — compulsively, really, both in business and in politics — that he is willing to gamble on his ability to profit from a climate of chaos and threat, to rely on ever-present sense of crisis to fortify and expand his base.
What we don’t know, and don’t want to find out, is how much damage he is prepared to inflict."
With the EPA actions against California, we may be seeing the first actions of a president truly run amuck.
I remember with Nixon the case gradually grew in scope and strength as new facts emerged. Will they stick to Ukraine, or also bring up some other stuff.
The guessing seems to be that the House will stick to Ukraine and not do the 1973 kitchen sink approach. I doubt that anything will arrive so neatly researched and packaged as Ukraine, unless Trump goes out of his way to do an outrage. Being dubious of advice, he could do that intentionally to show off his theory of executive power, or just by accident.
With Ukraine blowing up, I suspect CIA and FBI personnel detailed to the White House have been sent back (and the agencies are likely preparing for purges). Staff are apparently not numerous, are kept busy reacting to Trump's latest tweets, and have little opportunity for policy, which Trump doesn't seem interested in, anyway. I suspect the Executive Office of the President is close to crisis. Perhaps Pence's staff is filling in?
With Trump living in a fantasy world (Hillary's email server in Ukraine), heaven shield us from anything serious happening. I suppose Pence could take over as informal acting president, but Trump would scarcely agree to that.
Mitch McConnell, interviews on CNBC, said the Senate would have no choice but to try President Trump should the House pass articles of impeachment. So much for speculation that the Senate wouldn't do anything.
Re McConnell: I'll believe it when I see it (sorry to be so cynical).
Dave, on the surfing front: I wonder how the waves are in the Azores this week as Hurricane Lorenzo bears down.
Also, I heard a piece on NPR yesterday about ways that Saudi Arabia's trying to gussy up its image, including through tourism, and the interviewee said the following, inter alia:
...Their lobbyists have reached out to Surfer magazine, for example, in the hopes of trying to bring the sport of surfing to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I have no idea how good the waves are in Saudi Arabia.
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/30/765653391/since-khashoggis-death-saudi-arabia-struggles-to-repair-its-reputation
Apparently Rick Perry is now implicated (by Trump) in the Ukraine story.
I keep flashing back to the Douglas Adams quote about Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox by Ford Prefect:
“Yeah, you go to pieces so fast people get hit by the shrapnel.”
HF, according to what I just read there are more people implicated. Poor Mr. Trump.
Careful not to sprain your tongue from planting it so firmly in your cheek, dear gmbka! ;-)
I did live a couple of blocks from The Pub at the End of the Universe, which closed this summer.
E. J. Dionne (fresh column) has the optimist's case for Trump's base being far smaller and vastly less motivated than the Democratic base. Sen. McConnell is of course promising Kentucky residents that he'll assure Trump won't be convicted.
If the Supreme Court rules Obamacare unconstitutional, members of Congress will lose their health insurance, which is provided through the D.C. Obamacare exchange.
Disney just opened part of their new gondola-car transportation system at the World. Last night at 10, one line stopped abruptly. It took as much as four hours to extract everyone. No injuries, but really humiliating and it might put some pressure on the state to regulate.
Members of Congress are not the only ones losing their health insurance, but this time at least they'll experience how it feels.
Did Boeing manufacture this transportation system?
Germany came up with climate change laws that fall short of what is required. As somebody put it, it's more a parcel than a package.
I suppose that in Germany one can assume a law will be implemented, and Mrs. Merkel isn't going to decide she doesn't like it and not enforce it.
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