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Felix Jumper
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My dentist said he needed a hand like this...
3,526 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 3201 – 3400 of 3526 Newer› Newest»Re screwing the Kurds, I'm wondering if he thinks his time is short, so he's got to hurry through the list he's been given.
With the example of the Kurds the President teaches the world that you better not ally yourself with the US.
I'm sure that Trump political appointees in OMB and out in the agencies are working feverishly to de-regulate, privatize, cut off the poor, subsidize Republicans, and ensure that the next administration won't be able to revive past alliances.
I must be officially elderly. Decided to remeasure my height for passport renewal. I've shrunk nearly two inches since the last book & wall measurement.
I too shrank two inches which of course changed my BMI for the worse. No, I did not put on weight.
I don't quote often, but Gail Collins nails it -- "This isn’t just a guy who makes stupid decisions. It’s a guy who’s off his rocker. Whose great pal is Rudy Giuliani, the talking head whose TV appearances can terrify toddlers. I’m not saying Trump is the only unbalanced person in this story. Just that he’s the only one who controls our nuclear weapons."
I loved this election bumper sticker: 2020 - any functioning adult.
Google's getting dumped. Despite some very useful features, their recent practice of directing to advertising rather than to the requested link is something I won't tolerate.
A great day for ISIS.
Will the yellojkts be seeing this play? "For Sondheim, Raúl Esparza Protects His Voice. For ‘Seared,’ His Fingers":
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/14/theater/raul-esparza-seared.html
Heather Cox Richardson, a professor at Boston College who's been summarizing the impeachment situation daily at Facebook concluded today:
"I have spent more than 30 years studying political history, and I have nothing to which to compare the craziness of today. I have no idea what will happen in the hours after I hit the send button. But it does feel like the political tide is turning."
Yeah Dave, one doesn't even dare post a question to WaPo's "Fix" chats before they begin any more, because the situation is so fluid.
I wonder if the G-7 members dare to refuse an invitation to attend the meeting in the president's Doral hotel.
Miami in June? If a hurricane don't get 'em, the heat/humidity will.
The Guardian broadcasts live the discussion of the Brexit. One of the arguments against it is the promised trade deal with the US, which will expose the Brits to American chlorinated chicken. Those chlorinated chicken pop up in the German press, too. They stand for everything that is wrong with our mass-produced food. I must admit that before Brexit I didn't even know that our supermarket chicken were chlorinated.
Yet another reason I'm glad to be a long-time vegetarian, gmbka!
No chlorinated chicken for the Brits any time soon.
Another potential attraction for Broadway-bound boodlers. "'Freestyle Love Supreme' Makes The Audience An Integral Part Of The Act":
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/10/22/freestyle-love-supreme-hip-hop-broadway
I saw Freestyle Love Supreme at its recent run at the Kennedy Center. It's cute and funny and kinda short. The whole show runs about 90 minutes. There is no real set or any other signals of a 'Broadway' show. It's more of an improv troupe set to music which is what it started life as pre-In The Heights with MLM and his buddies.
They do have a no-phones policy. Any phone or camera you carry in is locked into a pouch which is unlocked for you after the show.
Bravo for the no-phones policy!
Have the Jkts done any traveling lately? The Parkers have stayed home all year (with no prospects for sojourns, due to health issues), so I'd vicariously enjoy any photos or accounts you'd care to share.
Especially for Dave. "Michiganders Get A Late Autumn Surfing Opportunity With Lake Waves As High As 13 Feet":
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/22/772368930/michiganders-get-a-late-autumn-surfing-opportunity-with-lake-waves-as-high-as-13 (transcript and audio already available online)
Reminiscent of "Surf's Up On Lake Superior," which I posted some years ago:
https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2013/03/09/sufs-up-lake-superior
I met a Great Lakes surfer at the rip current symposium in Miami a decade ago. The guy had driven all the way to Miami with his surfboard.
At the NY Times, an explanation of why some officials are obeying Congressional subpoenas to testify at the impeachment investigation:
"While senior White House advisers have a reason to claim they legally can ignore a congressional subpoena because of executive privilege concerns, that is not the case with career employees, legal experts said.
As a result, civil servants within the bureaucracy that Trump decries as the Deep State are giving Congress a series of damaging accounts about the extent of the effort to pressure Ukraine."
Trump announces that special forces killed Abu Bakar Al-Bugatti[sic].
Considering how Trump disdains pet ownership, and loves to use the expression "...like a dog" as an insult, I wonder if he'll host the hero Belgian Malinois dog (that found al-Baghdadi) at the White House, and how Trump will look if he has to pet the dog.
My comment on the Post's Vindman-sliming story. Not being a political-legal strategist, I might have it all wrong.
I suppose that during the Senate trial of Trump, Republicans will pull out "unitary executive theory" to show that executive power is vested in the President by Article 2 of the Constitution, and that Trump was acting within his prerogatives by assigning his personal lawyer and a few other hand-picked individuals to carry out Ukraine policy, including demands to announce investigations of the "corrupt Bidens" and "Hillary's emails" or whatever, and to withhold Congressionally approved Ukraine defense funding to enforce those demands. Objections by staffers at the State Department and NSC were acts of insubordination.
Today's conservative Supreme Court might perhaps find opportunities to adopt this newly fashionable doctrine of "the Executive Branch, it's me!" doctrine.
Dave, I know you hope you're wrong. Then there's this, in the alternative:
"President Trump may have violated criminal provisions of the Hatch Act / It’s a felony to order federal government workers to further a partisan political campaign":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/10/29/president-trump-may-have-violated-criminal-provisions-hatch-act/
I also hold out hope that Chief Justice Roberts might place SCOTUS institutional values above partisanship, should this wind up there.
Here are the 11 Representatives are who voted AGAINST acknowledging the Armenian genocide: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/116-2019/h591
AL 3rd R Rogers, Mike
IN 4th R Baird, James
IN 5th R Brooks, Susan
IN 6th R Pence, Greg
IN 8th R Bucshon, Larry
MD 1st R Harris, Andy
NC 5th R Foxx, Virginia
NC 11th R Meadows, Mark
OK 4th R Cole, Tom
TX 8th R Brady, Kevin
TX 13th R Thornberry, Mac
That includes the VP's brother and three of their fellow Hoosiers.
"A Republic, if you can keep it." -- Benjamin Franklin
If you haven't already voted, please do so Tuesday, November 5, 2019.
Longtime Portland radio host (and writer) Lars Larson named the suspected Whistleblower on Fox News. Hmm.
Today is the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I remember watching it happen that night on CNN. A wonderful event!
Dave,
Did you see this article in today's Post about the greening of the Florida citrus industry?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/11/09/end-florida-orange-juice-lethal-disease-is-decimating-its-citrus-industry/
Wonderful to see you again, PJ! Any travels (especially for classical music) lately? Hope so.
Pretty much the same-old same-old Chez Parker, which beats the alternative. The latest book I worked on is coming out late this fall (an academic press, which is a real step up for me; my ego may never recover!).
PJ,
Regrettably, the news is all too old. Preparation for the inevitable arrival of "greening" was utterly inadequate. Breeding of resistant varieties tends to require GMO techniques, which of course are anathema to the general public. In my county, it doesn't help that no one wants to eat grapefruit anymore. USDA is doing some clever research on ecological control of the psyllid, i.e. encouraging its natural enemies.
I remember sitting in front of the tv watching the people from East Berlin streaming to West Berlin by the thousands. They told the guards that they would be back and then enjoyed the jubilant welcome with champagne in many cases on the other side of the wall.
Needless to say, the euphoria dissipated when it came to the nitty gritty of restructuring the socialist economy. Many enterprises were closed down, others were taken over by Westerners, and the unemployment numbers skyrocketed. Qualified workers moved to the West. Large numbers of Western academics took over the universities, the chance of a lifetime for an academic career and a dead end for the people from the GDR.
Even now, thirty years later, the Eastern states lag behind on every metric, which partly explains the large number of followers of the extremist right wing party AfD. This is not exactly a success story.
The Post had a column on the problems integrating East and West Germany. It mentions the rise of AfD as well as the rise of other right-wing nationalist parties, which have had a lot of success in Europe and, unfortunately, here as well. It sounds like the East doesn't have much recognition in Merkel's cabinet/advisors, so they may feel like their voices aren't being heard. That would make a group like AfD more attractive.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/11/09/thirty-years-after-fall-berlin-wall-divide-remains-germany-leading-rise-far-right/
In Kentucky, the Republican governor actually conceded. News stories indicated that by state law, the Kentucky legislature has the last word on election results, and I'd expected that some way would be found to declare the governor the winner.
NP,
To answer your question about travel plans, I'm in France right now. Flew over last Friday, in Avignon for another two days, and then in Paris for five before heading back to DC next Monday. So far it has been a nice trip combining seeing historical sites in Avignon with some lovely French food and lovely French wine. In Paris we will hear some fine music, too. There is a large exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci that just opened in the Louvre. I don't know if we will get to it. We will get to the Musee d'Orsay, which is a museum I have wanted to visit for a long time, as with the Rodin Museum.
What a fabulous itinerary, pj! Have a baguette with Camembert for me.
Also, if you come across a Breton-style pastry called Kouign ("queen") Amann, do try it, preferably the original type (as opposed to a flavored one).
Willie Nelson will be appearing in Tampa and Orlando in big venues. In Melbourne, at the less enormous theater at the state college. So I snagged a second row seat.
The Leonardo show is indeed highly praised. I'm missing Paris this season for London. Probably a poor trade.
I saw Willie Nelson a few times at Wolf Trap. A second row seat in that college venue sounds great, Dave. Enjoy the show! Willie would tie off a few bandannas and toss them into the crowd. Maybe you'll snag one of those.
I worry about him being healthy enough to do all that touring.
I admit to loving going to Radio France's auditorium in Paris, even if squeezing into the seats is sometimes problematic. Also Quai Branly museum. I wonder how Rodin got his hands on that magnificent mansion and its garden with views.
Saw a book on Napoleon as the Roman emperor of Paris, evidently trying to present the art and architecture as serving a coherent political program I have a hard time seeing his tomb as much more than vandalism of Louis XIV's grandest building. Of course the dictator wasn't responsible for that tomb.
Elon Musk will be tried for defamation of a cave explorer who contributed to a successful rescue in Thailand. Our president should take note.
We had first light on the 8' Bromeliad Tree last night at the Botanical Garden. The results weren't fit to photo, but encouraging. I'll have to recall several little spotlights from their current assignments to reinforce the lighting.
The little Target spotlights from several Christmases ago (dirt cheap the day after) are real treasures. The neat little spots of light do things that big blobs don't.
Dave, we look forward to your photos, once the display is ready. Good luck on the preps.
Wishing everyone a serene and happy Thanksgiving.
A happy Thanksgiving to all!
I have this image of Bill Barr as the Kool Aid Man. He’s certainly drunk enough of it.
This caused me to read the whole gruesome story of Jonestown. Shudder.
I looked back at Jonestown a month or so ago. Long ago, it turned out I was one degree of separation from one of the victims.
The whole thing is almost beyond belief. I suppose there's some way to explain how so many did what they were told, relatively passively. I'm sure someone's looking at ways to pull off something similar. I guess that it would be difficult. Isolating a large number of people in a remote location where they're utterly dependent on a nutty leader takes some doing. Most religious groups whose members choose to live somewhat apart from outside society are pretty good at group preservation.
Dave, when will you be posting photos of holiday garden lights? I look forward to your pictures.
The Garden of Lights is pretty much like last year. A color-changing oak in the main lawn (16 spotlights that turn on and off, just like in a bamboo clump), a window with flowers, and far more attention to placing lights in the Bonsai Gallery are major changes. The instigator of the bonsai lights was recovering from cancer last year, and still quite fragile. This year, she's had a number of new ideas, some different kinds of lights have been deployed, and more trees are lighted. It's totally unorthodox. It's also the largest permanent display of bonsai in the country. The gallery is the trees' permanent home, except for some that go into shelter for the winter.
Despite a serious disease problem with some of the ficus trees, the gallery is looking quite a bit different from last year as pruning and training has proceeded at a pretty fast pace. The photos were taken mostly when the Garden was empty, giving it a weird, abandoned feeling. We had 4 inches of rain today, probably about 3 at the Garden, with showers expected to continue into Friday night. Not a good prognosis.
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmJfSAr8
Beautiful pictures, Dave, as always. Especially these dreary days we are having it is a delight to watch them. Thank you.
Dave, you all do such a lovely job every year. Thanks for posting!
Of course we're thankful for not having been obliterated about September 2. I returned to Orlando Airport from South Africa at what seemed the last day of operations for the airport before shutdown.
Now I am waiting for pictures from South Africa.
Mostly cute little flowers. The scenery was mostly relatively modest.
Happy holidays to all! Hope everyone's having pleasant weather, and enjoying some good meals.
No progress on the South African plants, but a bunch of happy surfers from Monday. I removed nonessential cards from my wallet since I was expecting to be on the beach with wallet left in car. Today, it was time to restock the wallet. Cards? Nowhere to be found. Eventually turned up in a shallow dish at the entrance to the garage, with a piece of cloth hiding them.
Flickr beach album here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmKeJTQk
Amazing, people in swim trunks. How cold is that water? Also, with these high waves I'd rather not be at that beach. But surfers keep amazing me. Somehow photos of them impress me more than videos because they catch the moments of absolute mastery by the body.
As to credit cards. I had it last at the computer, I did not put it back into the wallet. Where is it. Panic sets in, even after having had this experience umpteenth times.
That monday at the beach was a chance for the surfers to look graceful. Lots of days when that's not possible. It's like gymnastics with somewhat unpredictably moving equipment.
" gymnastics with somewhat unpredictably moving equipment" is the best characterization of this sport I've ever seen.
By the way, the weather on Monday the 23rd was warm, but chilled when clouds went by. Water somewhere between 70 and 75.
Esp. for Dave, but also anyone else who's interested.
"Kelly Slater’s Perfect Wave Brings Surfing to a Crossroads":
https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-new-yorker-radio-hour/kelly-slaters-perfect-wave-brings-surfing-to-a-crossroads?verso=true
Nosy, I picked up Finnegan's views a while back. It was good to hear his actual voice. These artificial waves are possibly great training tools. Bur actual beaches, with a few exceptions (Oregon's Otter Rock being a wonderful one, with a rip current ferrying you out to a highly predictable takeoff spot), are complex affairs.
I heard a radio report on artificial waves a while back, where a surfer explained that there is much more to surfing than staying upright for the longest possible time. It starts with the knowledge of when and where to go and know a bit about the behavior of the waves at particular locations and then make the best of it. None of that is required for artificial wave surfing.
Happy 2020 to everyone, I hope we'll all feel much better this time next year.
The artificial waves allow practice of moves under uniform conditions, something that's never been possible. Surfing consists of initials catching the wave, usually doing a bottom turn, often enough doing some kind of maneuver on the face of the wave, and often ending by going up and over the wave, which these days has become an excuse for doing so at high speed and going aerial.
Of course there's all sorts of styles.
gmbka, was that you in the Petri chat recommending Pittsburgh?
For yellojkt, and anyone else who might be interested:
"What’s Coming to Broadway in 2020? From new musicals like Mrs. Doubtfire and Flying Over Sunset to revivals of Tony-winning plays like Take Me Out, here’s what’s coming to Broadway in the new year":
http://www.playbill.com/article/whats-coming-to-broadway-in-2020
I've got "The Visit" and "The Seven Streams of the River Ota" and "Jack Absolute Flies Again" at the National Theatre (London) and "Far Away" at the Donmar Warehouse. Locally, the big deal is "Thoroughly Modern Millie"
Hi HF,
no it wasn't me. What was it about?
Somone (else) was asking for suggestions of places to travel over xmas/ny next year. Similar to what HFGF & I do. I thought you might have made the suggestion "Come visit us up in Pittsburgh!..."
https://live.washingtonpost.com/compost-live-chat--december-31.html
I don't think I'll make it to Broadway this year, but each of my brothers gave me a gift certificate to the Kennedy Center. So I know I'll be going there this year. Since it's the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, I should be able to find concerts to go to. The National Symphony is doing all nine of his symphonies at the end of this season from the end of May to the middle of June. A couple of those are good possibilities.
2020 is lean year for us as we deal with the death of my father and the health problems of my mother.
A year and a half ago we saw Jagged Little Pill in Boston and we loved it even if WaPo didn't. So that is our horse in this year's Tony race. Mostly we've just been seeing local productions of things, often with some sort of multicultural angle. The most recent thing we saw was Miss You Like Hell at Center Stage Baltimore. That Manual Lin-Miranda adjacent show is now being put on by Olney Theater.
At Olney Theater we saw a comedy about Asian-American kids trying to get in touch with their roots called Tiger Style! (exclamation point in the title). It had a hilarious first act but the second act was a little too broad.
Studio Theater in DC puts on good shows. There we saw White Pearl which featured a cast of five women, each from a different Asian culture. It was hilarious with masterful casting. When Hollywood keeps yellowfacing actresses, this show shows you can be do much better.
yellojkt, please accept my condolences on the death of your father. This must be so hard on all of you, especially your mother. Hugs.
pj,
since my doc told me recently that I have "not yet afib", I was thinking of you. How is yours behaving? Could they do something about it?
Yello, so sorry to hear about your dad and your mom's health. It must be very difficult to take care of people and matters over such a big distance. As I am experiencing, life goes on, but there is a shadow over everything.
Part of this ongoing life is my curiosity, leading to new experiences. Iranian music? African music? I cannot say that I necessarily like them, but I can say with certainty that I like being exposed to them.
The name of the person responsible for coordination of deployments against the fires in Australia is Andrew Crisp. My response while reading this was very inappropriate.
My own a-fib (a byproduct of appendicitis) amounts to "a floppy heart rhythm, and gets treated with statin, a tiny dose of beta blocker, and warfarin. The last is a big nuisance. One visit a year to the cardiologist.
Dave, you don't require monthly blood tests while on Coumadin?
The warfarin (coumadin) requires monthly checks if my monitoring levels remain steady, which they usually don't, so I have the curse of often doing visits every other week.
I wouldn't mind the necessary blood work with Coumadin, but I have a tendency to nick myself while cooking and to stop the bleeding can take a long time.
This especially made me think of the Jkts, although also PJ and Dave.
Cité Internationale de la Gastronomie of Lyon:
https://citegastronomielyon.fr/en
WaPo has an article that links to it. "In Lyon, a new museum celebrates a longstanding culinary tradition":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/getting-a-taste-of-lyon-a-world-capital-of-gastronomy/2020/01/09/6f0f71f2-2039-11ea-bed5-880264cc91a9_story.html
Sacre bleu!
Yellijkt, isn't L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges the restaurant where you and Mrs. Jkt. dined extravagantly outside Lyon?
"In France, an iconic restaurant loses its third Michelin star — pushing national strikes and Iran off the front page":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/in-france-an-iconic-restaurant-loses-its-third-michelin-star--pushing-national-strikes-and-iran-off-the-front-page/2020/01/17/3b0df608-3939-11ea-a1ff-c48c1d59a4a1_story.html
...He said the iconic chef’s restaurant remains an exemplary destination — just no longer a destination that merits the three-star designation. “The difference between two and three stars is that three means a true culinary experience of irreproachable quality,” Poullennec said.
“This is a variation in the level of the cuisine, but it remains excellent,” he said...
gmbka,
My afib is indeed behaving. I saw the cardiologist at the end of December and my heart is still beating in normal rhythm. I am on Eliquis and a drug called dofetilide or Tikosyn (brand name). The Eliquis is nice in that I don't have to get any blood work done or have any particular dietary restrictions. I had three cardioversions where they shock your heart and one ablation where they went up through a vein in my leg to my heart and zapped a bunch of misbehaving heart cells. What fixed it was the dofetilide/Tikosyn and a cardioversion. Does that information help?
Yes. We did eat there. We had the signature whole chicken roasted in a pig's bladder. Bocuse's style of French cusine had gone out of fashion. It was pretty much assumed that the place would lose a star once he died.
It's still a pretty fancy place. But at least I get to say I ate there while it still had three stars.
yello, I was pretty sure that was the place. And apologies for mis-typing your name before.
PJ, it's good to know you're doing well. We always look forward to reading about your travels (and musical programs you attend).
Pretty much the same-old, same-old here, although I'm currently numbing both my mind and derrière with proofreading galley pages for the novel I've worked on editing etc. intermittently for several years, that's due out as soon as the (academic) press can manage it! Perhaps late winter, early spring?
Hi PJ,
thanks for the info. I think it helps a lot because if my stumbling heart decides to develop full blown afib, I'll be more inclined to turn to medication as opposed to more invasive measures. This seems the way to go. When a friend of mine suffered a heart attack, the doctor recommended to treat her with meds, in combination with an exercise regimen, and not insert a stent.
There is just the minor issue that my body tended to dislike about a third of the pills ever prescribed for me, which always lead to fits of eye-rolling and sighing by my poor doctor.
I am rather sorry that you had to undergo so many procedures before you got relief, but I'm really happy that you are now free of symptoms and that you can enjoy life unencumbered.
Thanks again.
Is everyone OK? I'm about the same, except for having worked harder lately than I'd have liked. ;-)
Rooting for the 49ers in the Super Bowl.
New Yorker has a photo story on the new Broadway version of "West Side Story." Radical. Looks worthwhile. I have no idea when, if ever, such a production would hit the road, and I have little appetite for road shows in even a rather nice theater like Orlando's new Dr. Philips, which seats a couple thousand (I more or less by accident got a seat up front for "Hamilton").
Ever been to Nazaré? Me, neither.
"Big wave surfer Alex Botelho hospitalized after terrifying crash at Nazaré":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/02/12/alex-botelho-nazare-surfing-crash/
HF, ever seen knitted glass? (Milne's in Seattle, so I wonder if she's influenced by Chichuly).
"Loose Knits Flow from Hands and Needles in Glass Sculptures by Carol Milne":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/barr-pushes-back-against-trumps-criticism-of-justice-dept-says-tweets-make-it-impossible-for-me-to-do-my-job/2020/02/13/7ff5f308-4e7c-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html
Nazaré has become a popular surfing and water sports destination thanks to the fame of the big waves. One of the most active photographers of the wild surfing, Rafael Riancho, died suddenly a month or so ago. He was in his 60s. Heart disease, I suppose.
Dave, I checked just now and there are two non-stops daily from MIA to LIS on TAP. Boa viagem!
Carol Milne's work is interesting. I hadn't seen it before. It's possible there's some Chihuly influence there, he's a big gun in the glass world. But she's doing kiln casting, which is something of a different animal than Chihuly's blown work. A closer influence would probably be Toots Zynski.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVKO8Jpup48
Hello all. My laptop died before Christmas so it took some hustling to find this again.
Yello, a quiet year always seems desirable after a loss, but life decides how things actually go. For me it was essentially living life at warp speed for around 7 months. Here's wishing you a much easier time.
I've been mostly housebound since mid-November. Despite a flu shot, I got something that hit hard. I recovered right before Thanksgiving and then started getting cold-induced bronchospam which was diagnose as unlikely asthma but I got an inhaler for it. I was suggested to stay in and exercise indoors as much as I could, as it'd be better. No arguments, coughing, painful constriction and nausea isn't my thing.
Mr. Hastings had to take a month off work anyway, so we planned on a very quiet holiday season. Everytime I went out, I seemed to worsen again. Then a touch over two weeks ago, I started getting a much wetter, different cough and called it in.
Z-pack solved that cough AND the cold sensitivity. I am guessing walking pneumonia (symptoms of head cold, headache, and chest issues fit), since that depends on flu virus to really infect people.
I am slowly getting energy back but not pushing it too much in the cold quite yet. I don't fancy getting sick from another flu virus, cold, whatever for a while.
I sure hope that coronavirus doesn't come along up here anytime soon. Once I get clear and healthy, (spring likely) I'm insisting on getting pneumonia shots as soon as possible.
Yikes! We had a tied record high temperature for the 13th, 87 degrees. What few azaleas we have are flowering (too far south for them to be really happy), caladiums are starting to come out of dormancy. Native viburnums and lyonias are flowering.
I've had all the old folks' shots: pneumonia, extra-dose flu, hepatitis A (it's a growing problem in Florida), shingles.
New research looks at the Deepwater Horizon oil release beyond what can be seen from the "satellite footprint." Lots more oil. https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/7/eaaw8863
This makes me feel better about still avoiding shrimp and other Gulf of Mexico seafood (mostly price. I buy tilapia, whiting and salmon mostly.) but it's sad that it is ongoing and there's not enough buried under sediment yet. That is a very long term impact on the fishing industries there.
I finally did my long desired Cuba trip and was not disappointed. To learn about how people live under a different economic system was most interesting, although the system is quite a bit distorted due to the seemingly eternal embargo, which deprives people of many things. For instance they have all the electric machines and gadgets in their homes, but once they malfunction they cannot have them repaired because the necessary parts are not available. The only lines I saw where at gas stations and ice cream parlors, the essentials of life.
At the airport in Havana I met a woman who disabused me of the idea that we only can visit Cuba when using an organized and US government approved trip. We all can go, as long as we find private lodging. Airbnb has very nice offers.
Especially for Dave: https://www.surfertoday.com/surfing/the-best-surf-spots-in-the-azores
The official Treasury information on visiting Cuba is thoroughly confusing. Of course you aren't supposed to commit Acts of Tourism. More importantly, there's a long list of hotels and businesses, largely in Havana, to be shunned because the government (mostly the military) owns or invests in them.
So to be properly compliant, you have to keep receipts and presumably take accurate notes, perhaps backed up by photos, to document your boycott-compliant activities. In fact, Treasury doesn't seem interested in investigating travelers. The loss of flights from the US to cities other than Havana is a big loss; I guess you can go to places like Camagüey or Santiago via Mexico City or some other neutral airport.
I think to some extent, getting around Europe cam be done by flying to a relatively cheap destination airport (like London Gatwick this spring) and booking relatively cheap flights from there. I'm trying out Flybe from Newquay (Cornwall) to Gatwick in March.
Portugal is mostly a pretty expensive destination from Florida, less so from New England. We've seen recent affordable fares to Rio de Janeiro in August, when their winter waves might be going off, but who wants to try out beaches likely suffering from sewage? I will be in Portugal (Sintra) in late August, hurricanes permitting.
The approved trips are run under "support of the Cuban people". Airbnbs are private, so we are allowed to support those.
All hotels in Cuba are jointly owned by hotel chains and the government, with the exception of the Hotel Nacional, which is owned by the government alone. A palace-like construction in a park-like setting with fountains and statues, overlooking the sea. All very pompous and impressive, marble floors throughout, huge flower arrangements in the foyer, beautiful woodwork and stained glass, but everything has a touch of decay because they don't have the means and materials for the upkeep. The decades of embargo made sure of that.
I was in Sintra in May last year on a day trip from Lisbon. It is really lovely and the Palacio Nacional is most impressive. In May the town was overrun by tourists and I expect it to be worse in August. :-(
We were all set to go to Cuba in February of 2017 but then I broke my elbow and my wife twisted her hip walking the dog. So we cancelled the plane ticket before we we even made hotel reservations.
The AirBNB alternative sounds like a good idea if we ever get the time and money to go again.
Yello, when you get to go to Cuba, look up the listings for paladares, the privately owned restaurants. During my 1-week trip we had the best meals in those, otherwise Cuba is a good place to lose weight. The Cubans love deep-fried food and I don't, I love vegetables, they don't. Even fruit is in short supply.
Also, they love to fleece tourists, which is understandable because the average monthly income of a government worker is $38, and 70% of the economy is run by the government. But there is no street crime, you can safely walk the streets at any time day and night.
In Cienfuegos we stayed in a Melia hotel, a Spanish hotel chain, jointly owned with the government of course, which was the most beautiful old hotel I've ever been to, with three marvelous inner courtyards, one of which housed the pool. Pricey, though.
Also, in a country where you have to use bottled water to brush your teeth you better not eat anything that is not cooked or cannot be peeled.
I love Cuban food and have some every time I'm back in Tampa but there is nothing green in the Cuban culinary food palate.
Hey yello, do the jkts have tickets yet for the new West Side Story production? Saw a report about it on 60 Minutes Sunday, but can't determine whether it will be brilliant and ground-breaking, or a disaster. Your thoughts?
The 60 Minutes videos suggest that the projections used for West Side Story need work--they were distracting from the dance numbers. Still, the notion of using projections instead of sets is interesting and could be productive. Then there's the whole matter of all-new choreography.
The Post has an enthusiastic review for West Side Story.
So I saw, Dave.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/this-gutsy-new-west-side-story-is-unlike-any-youve-seen--and-its-exhilarating/2020/02/20/3f3533e6-5017-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html
I think I may defer to the NY Times' less enthusiastic review. BTW, yesterday's National Theatre broadcast of "Cyrano de Bergerac" from a London West End theatre was quite a deal. The text was pretty faithful to the original late 19th century French play, but 1640 has become rather hip-hop. Martin Crimp, who did the interpretation, is described in Wikipedia as "in yer face". Yes.
Steve Martin did get a line.
Hey Dave, I just spotted some daffodil foliage a couple inches tall poking up out of the ground! Are you in full-fledged spring already? Pictures? (hint, hint)
This is a good weekend to visit Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales or Leu Gardens in Orlando, though it seems early for Winter Park's psychedelic streets of purple azaleas and yellow tabebuia trees.
We're far enough south to have few azaleas (they don't like it) and fewer camellias (a carefully chosen Japonica 'Royal Velvet' in the front yard is finishing up a fine performance that fed some native bees). But our coast doesn't have much in the way of spring. This is normally the dry season, so native plants are typically coping with drought, waking up in late May. This has been a wet winter, so lots of beach sunflowers are up and doing, and in the flat woods, pawpaws and lyonias.
I do recommend beach sunflowers as annuals for up north. The US Botanic Garden welcomed me with a big bed of the bushy Gulf coast variety; the more vining Atlantic coast ones are nice, too.
http://www.floridawildflowers.com/products/Helianthus-debilis-%252d-Beach%C2%A0Sunflower%2C%C2%A0East-Coast-Dune-Sunflower.html
HP, I had no idea until I read this article. "How America developed two sign languages — one white, one black / In black sign language, a relic of segregation has become a sign of solidarity":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/02/21/how-america-developed-two-sign-languages-one-white-one-black
Dave, we live nowhere near a beach, and our summers are muggy, so I think we'll pass. However, those sunflowers are certainly beautiful.
With respect to sign languages, I'm not surprised. I suspect that radio, then television might have thwarted the development of a full-fledged African-American spoken language based on English.
BTW, beach sunflowers don't need beaches, though they are fond of sand.
We have heavy clay soil, the antithesis of sand. Even 40+ years of amending with compost can only do so much to improve the texture. :-(
Gypsum can help. Also lots of perlite or vermiculite.
Several years ago we saw a Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Weber's "The Woman in White" which used projection screens for scenery. The lack of physical sets and backdrops encouraged the director to make scenes shorter and choppier and make faster transitions. I t was all very confusing and chaotic. It didn't help that the show sucked as weil.
Dave, our vegetable plot is ¼ acre, so no, we won't be buying those substances to spread/till in.
yello, thanks for the info. I'm sure there are occasions in a show where projection screens are effective, but in general I'd rather see the performers directly, and in three dimensions.
Back to Bernstein, today I heard for the first time the Chichester Psalms and was very impressed.
The local movie theater re-ran the Met's broadcast of Porgy and Bess on Saturday. I'd never experienced the whole thing, just the hit songs. I'd looked into going to New York in January, but it's a busy month. Also missed the live broadcast and Tuesday evening rerun.
My main impression is how much the show relies on a large chorus that can dance--very Broadway. The production brought the Catfish Row community to life. It was a stellar cast. There may be issues with meandering plot, authenticity, stereotypes, and so forth. If you want to get fussy that way, Puccini should be banned. The Met's production (I think based on one at the English National Opera?) is a labor of love.
Dave, the plot of Tosca is a royal fluster-cluck, too. ;-)
"Verdi opera: Conductor stops performance over 'phone miscreants'" [Welsh National Opera]:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-51605675
NP, I saw that story too.
A small aside, re comments sections: I'm tired of a gang of(probably non-American) trolls who seem to think mentioning black people's history in black history month to a metropolitian area centered around "Chocolate City" is somehow nasty and identity politics or racist. Report them if you see them.
Anyway I did answer some sourdough questions you had on the old Hax chat re the writer not notified of deaths in the family. Hope you find them when you are up and fresh as a daisy.
Thanks for the sourdough info, HP! Will relay to DH.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/advice/carolyn-hax-what-the-familys-last-to-know-needs-to-know/2020/02/27/d0ce8c08-4f63-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html?outputType=comment&commentId=1867a43d-818c-46eb-9b02-bc4420df6cd2
Speaking of phones at the concert... my parents told me that once Stokowski got annoyed at the audience not paying attention during Philadelphia matinee concerts so he had the orchestra members eat lunch, play cards, etc., when not playing.
Orchestra members playing pinochle would catch my interest, but then I find symphonies to be less than enthralling visually.
Once I get past ogling the lovely instruments, I usually wind up reading a book instead. (My parents were once too cheap to pay for babysitters while they attended my siblings' concerts, so my butt got familiar with a lot of hard folding chairs for a while instead of my preferred reading chairs.)
"Matt Gaetz made light of coronavirus by wearing a gas mask. Now one of his constituents has died":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/07/matt-gaetz-coronavirus-florida/
Everyone holding up OK in the Age of Coronavirus?
We're well provisioned, are largely self-isolated anyhow, and all our utilities are on, so it's business as usual Chez Parker. Mr. P has made a start on late-winter pruning of blueberry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees, hedges, etc.
The highlight of a seven-night London trip was a little bundle of other sharp green needles at the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew. It was the Florida Torreya tree, obviously grown from a cutting. The label indicated it was from 2011 and hadn't grown much. But at least they now have at least two specimens of this beautiful tree that looks a bit like a yew, and is not coping with life in the wild.
Any relation to the Torrey Pine?
John Torrey was a distinguished early 19th century botanist who taught at Columbia. His somewhat greater contemporary was Asa Gray at Harvard. Gray in turn had a long correspondence with Darwin. One of Gray's interests was the obvious similarities, with differences, between the floras of Europe, North America, and east Asia. His conclusion was that these areas must have been connected, long ago. A bit of support for evolution as a historical fact.
The local annual outdoor art sale opened today. The organizers decided about 4 pm that it had to be closed, so I scurried around and went home with a ceramic octopus to join two starfish, a ceramic tile in Arts & Crafts style to join two others, and an exquisite glass toothpick holder.
Tonight's orchestra concert, cancelled. The Jacksonville Symphony won't be going to the Kennedy Center, or performing at home. An on and on.
A Nicholas Kristof collaboration in the NY Times suggests the epidemic will peak around June. Yuk.
Local music venues are cancelling performances by the day. I got four announcements today, and more yesterday. The smaller rooms are soldiering on; probably because (a) they can, as they're small enough to fit under health restrictions, and (b) because they can least afford it.
There Rhodes Tavern Troubadours, one of my favorite local bands, had a "pre-quarantine Dance Party" last night. Jake Flack introduced his new Coronavirus song "We'll All Be Dead In a Week".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfN30GOcRn4
One of Gray's interests was the obvious similarities, with differences, between the floras of Europe, North America, and east Asia. His conclusion was that these areas must have been connected, long ago. A bit of support for evolution as a historical fact.
How much have his observations been borne out in modern times by DNA? I believe that a few of Linnaeus' classifications based on resemblance have failed.
DNA comparisons have made for some major changes. The "woody lilies" are much rearranged, and the old snapdragon family, the Scrophulariaceae, has been dismembered. But at the level at which Gray worked, an oak is an oak is an oak. A good example would be Torreya, with a distribution in China, California, and Florida. Or Gordonia, beautiful members of the tea family, from China and the southeastern US. It's apparently unclear whether "Gordonia" should be one genus or two, but in any case our loblolly bay has close relatives on the other side of the planet. Same with fringe trees (Chionanthus) and dogwoods (Cornus).
The western plant explorers who found Asian relatives of familiar plants were often intrepid, colorful people. Some of the new plants were problematic, others perhaps valuable. I think there's every reason to use Chinese chestnuts and genetic engineering to move genes for disease resistance into American chestnuts.
oak is an oak is an oak
Hey, that's kinda catchy!
Dave, I always thought Meyer, the "discoverer" of the Meyer Lemon in China, had the best job in the world, traveling the world for USDA on the lookout for new useful plants and animals.
Hi Jim,
for once I am happy not to be living in California. At least for now I can leave the building and go shopping myself.
Hope everyone's staying safe and social-distancing. Mr. P went out briefly for milk yesterday, otherwise we were already fully provisioned. As long as Social Security keeps direct-depositing our monthly checks into our checking account, we'll get through this. (And Mr. P keeps pruning)
I'm hoping I can snag an Amazon Fresh delivery slot before I run out of groceries. They seem to be rather swamped, with all slots perpetually taken for the visible next three days. Amz Prime has come through with the dog food, so maybe the way to go is to buy case boxes of 12 and 24 from them.
I've been holding off on purchasing anything physical. But I guess things are still moving. I've never done groceries online. I know a friend had no luck getting a delivery time from Amazon.
Went into a Lotte market the other day for supplies, and most everything seemed normal (apart from everyone's facemasks). There were plenty of fresh vegetables, meats, & seafood. Nothing sanitizing among the cleaning supplies though. My bleach stock is rather low and I hoped... after the initial rush...
Amazon promised to deliver TP sometime in May, so I got some at CVS right away.
Amazon promised to deliver TP some time in May, I think 2020 but cannot be sure. After that I picked some up at CVS.
And here is Fauci:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmSasG_vRh8
Locally, Target remains stripped of anything resembling paper towels, toilet paper, or bags.
My little county now has 12 known positives for coronavirus. I assume that means far more in reality. The only way to go to the beach, it seems, is to rent a hotel room. That, or go to New Smyrna Beach and hope for a parking space.
There's been some productivity in the yard. Some big, spent bromeliad rosettes got removed, along with a fairly large gardenia bush that had become increasingly shaded, which is very bad for flowering. They need sun. The space opened up is big enough for two or three small cycads and an orchid rack. I've begun planting caladiums, a problem because a spring dry spell has taken hold. I'm noticing lots of 'ginger land' plants from two or more years ago coming up, so far no 'cranberry star' from last year, so I'm going to order a second batch of 'gingerland'. The plants are problematic for native plant people because they're from the Amazon, but the cultivated varieties were almost all developed in Florida and nearly all the "bulbs" (actually tubers) are grown on areas of muck soil near Sebring and Lake Placid.
Pssst, anyone? Hope everyone's OK. We're in total self-isolation from the rest of the world, except for Mr. P working outdoors in the garden on days when the weather's decent. My work continues as usual.
'Vector in chief' in NY Review is pretty good.
John Prine has died due to complications from COVID-19.
Also jazz legends Ellis Marsalis, Bucky Pizzarelli and Wallace Roney.
In today's paper here in L.A., most of the letters to the editor include a snarky aside implying or stating outright the President is an ignorant jerk. Yet he remains in office! Makes your head spin. Makes you want a parliamentary system.
I saw Ellis at Jazzfest in 1999, I think. It was a rainy weekend, which mostly wasn’t a problem. Once you were soaked through, it couldn’t get any worse, and it was warm enough not to be terribly uncomfortable. But at one point some of us took refuge in the Jazz tent. There was some free jazz band playing. Jazz is a genre I’m a bit finicky about, but free jazz has just never appealed. I remember making all sorts of snarky comments with whoever I was with. When the set was over the guy next to us said (of the set, not us, I think) “That was cold, man… cold.”
Anyway, Ellis Marsalis was up next, and then everything was right with the world. I don’t think “trad” jazz was really popular in New Orleans among jazz aficionados at the time. It was kind of looked down on as the past or for the tourists. But this was good. I knew of Ellis and the rest of the Marsalis clan. Certainly Wynton was famous then; and Branford was playing for Jay Leno. Ellis had Jason and Delfeayo along. It was a lovely set and a refuge from the rain.
I'm pretty sure I saw Bucky Pizzarelli with Pat Metheny atAU about that same time.
It's all tragic. But Prine hit me hard. Such an amazing songwriter. I loved this quote from the WP obit "Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who called him 'the closest thing I could imagine to ever being around Mark Twain.'" I never got to see him live. He was supposed to play Wolf Trap with Emmylou Harris this June. I was watching a live FB concert by the David Wax Museum when the news broke. They, we all, had to take a break. They were in the middle of reprising one of their old albums. And after taking a beat, they did a version of 'Angel from Montgomery' in tribute before continuing.
Hope everyone's doing OK. We've been in total isolation since March 20, when Mr. P made his last foray grocery shopping. On days with good weather he works in the garden, and has also begun a bumper crop of vegetable seeds indoors under lights.
Best wishes to all, under trying circumstances.
Saw a story about Stansted Airport in UK so I looked at the air photo. Parking lots, all of them, are totally full -- it's as if everyone took a charter to Spain, although of course they didn't. Maybe it's expats who have fled to their home country for the duration? Will they be able to return after Brexit is final?
When I left Orlando airport on March 11, its parking was looking almost deserted. Now, the airport has very few passengers. They're now building what was, in February, a badly needed $3 billion new terminal.
Come to think of it, some airport parking lots are full of rental cars that aren't being rented out. At one of the Southwest Florida airports, I think Fort Myers rather than Punta Gorda, fire broke out in a grassy field with parked rental cars. Some 3,500 burned. It was quite a spectacle.
Orlando's grandest mall expects to reopen, at least mostly, on May 11. Behind that, there's a problem in that with the local economy frozen, no tourists, no conventions, no trade shows, why would those mall stores need to be open?
I remember when you had to have a yellow smallpox passport to travel to many international places. At least then if you lost it and were from an almost zero risk place like USA, they could give you a vaccination on the spot and let you go. (Happened to me in Japan in 1965 after the inevitable huddle to make it a group decision.) But now there is no vaccination (yet) and no clean places to go to or come from.
I had booked two flights for this month, way back in early March. A couple of weeks ago Delta canceled my flight to Europe with the generous offer to take an e-credit or something like that. Clicking through their website I finally found the refund request form, very elaborate with all the data. My request was granted and I was told that they will refund me in about 2 months!
My second trip I booked with a German company. They told me that my trip was canceled and that I will get my refund this month. No further action on my side required.
Why on Earth does Delta think it is okay to make me fill out a form for refunding my ticket when they canceled the flight I cannot understand, or better I can understand why they do that but I cannot understand why they are allowed to do that.
I've been shopping relatively frequently, mostly using Sam's Club, Target after 8 pm. Home Depot for house paint.
The yard has been cleaned better than for several years. The site where a huge bromeliad flowered last summer has finally been cleared of its big stump, and the big glazed clay pot emptied. The pot in turn had been encased in retainer-wall blocks to keep it from falling over. That construction, held together by construction adhesive, was too sturdy to disassemble, so I lifted the big pot and relocated it, then put an inverted pot inside, and put a pretty big bromeliad pot on top of that. It looks more or less intentional.
Removing a medium-size old gardenia bush that had become too shaded to flower well (and the area too crowded with plants for it to look good) opened a good area for orchids and a few bromeliads and cycads.
Now, most of the house's exterior has been cleaned to kill mold and algae, slathered with anti-mold primer, and repainted. Looks great. Now to place fresh gravel or pavers around the perimeter. Also need to replace little pavers with big stone ones at the main bromeliad bed.
BTW, American was very good about refunding a cancelled flight to England.
Reading the description of your activities gave me a backache.
Dave, would you believe we had snow flurries here this AM? Mr. P is glad he still hadn't transplanted any of the seeds he started under lights in the basement. Our weather should be "out of the woods" by next weekend, however.
A Murray State University herpetology professor who's also a flight instructor posted some Facebook photos of a dusting of snow on the crest of the Smokeys. We've been having outdoor air conditioning in Florida. Madly working the yard while it lasts.
"American Gardens Stamps Available Nationwide [Now]":
https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2020/0512-american-gardens-stamps-available-nationwide-tomorrow.htm
...This pane of 20 stamps features 10 different photographs taken between 1996 and 2014. The gardens include: Biltmore Estate Gardens (North Carolina); Brooklyn Botanic Garden (New York); Chicago Botanic Garden (Illinois); Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (Maine); Dumbarton Oaks Garden (District of Columbia); The Huntington Botanical Gardens (California); Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park (Florida); Norfolk Botanical Garden (Virginia); Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens (Ohio); and Winterthur Garden (Delaware)...
Went to the Post's coverage on YouTube and there was Joel. Lots of showers are filling in. So far, at 45 minutes ahead, looking like go.
Adrian Higgins had a good story on public gardens reopening. I kind of know someone at the Norfolk Botanical Garden via Facebook. Wish I'd made it up there, but I am unwilling to risk flying at present and I'm not big on a 13 hour or so drive.
Garden dept: Brent and Becky's Bulbs is still having some caladium "bulbs" (tubers) at 50 % off.
Solid blob of clouds between us and the Cape.
Good to see you, Dave! We've been enjoying leafy salad greens from our kitchen garden lately.
Mr. P has already planted the entire main vegetable patch with seeds and transplants. He plants early and late sweet corn varieties at the same time, for a fairly continuous harvest starting in late July.
Plea for help from H. Poirot or any other boodlers:
Is there a name for a specific figure of speech for contradictory statements like these lyrics from "Oh Susanna"? Thanks.
It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry;
The sun so hot I froze to death—Susanna, don't you cry.
Settled on "paradoxical construction."
Yoo-hoo?!?!? Anybody home? Hope everyone's safe and healthy, especially those of you in Coronavirus hot-spots.
Sure have been missing you guys during this extended lockdown. (Except for Poirot, whom I have the pleasure of seeing over in Haxville).
Hope this works better than Google Translate does, because the potential for misunderstandings seems riskier.
"UCLA Scientist Develops Gloves That Translate Sign Language":
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/02/886487228/ucla-scientist-develops-gloves-that-translate-sign-language
Jun Chen is an assistant professor of bioengineering at UCLA who just developed a wearable sign language interpreting glove. He hopes it can be used by the deaf community to communicate with anyone.
Blueberry bushes have already yielded 9 gallons, not even halfway done yet.
Mr. P cut three trash-bags full of Swiss chard yesterday (surplus will be blanched, then frozen for winter).
Early corn was waist-high by the 4th of July. Beets are baseball-sized.
Had an 8-day heat wave with drought, so Mr. P had to water, but now we're in a normal spell in terms of both temps and precip.
Remember when YELLOJKT recounted his and Mrs. Jkt's three-star Michelin meal in Provence, featuring this dish? There's a whole story about the recipe now online (both audio and transcript) from today's Morning Edition on NPR!
"Cooking Chicken In A Pig's Bladder (It Sounds Better In French) With Bill Buford":
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/15/891290856/bill-buford-discusses-his-culinary-journey-in-new-memoir-dirt
Maybe THIS'll lure a few of you out of lockdown! Gardeners? Francophiles? Bueller?
3D Google Earth view of the gardens at the Palace of Versailles.
https://earth.google.com/web/@48.80314551,2.12038264,138.60994119a,529.03403623d,35y,32.19112797h,44.71281118t,360r/data=CogBGoUBEn8KJTB4NDdlNjdkODQzNTc3MWJlOToweDdhOWZmODI1ZTVjNDI3NGQZdYe5SbFmSEAhQBcNGY_yAEAqREphcmRpbnMgZHUgQ2jDonRlYXUgZGUgVmVyc2FpbGxlcywgUGxhY2UgZCdBcm1lcywgVmVyc2FpbGxlcywgRnJhbmNlGAEgAQ
Especially for Head Fool, "Photo feature / Preparing to shape a glass bauble":
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/preparing-to-shape-a-glass-bauble/article_02fc124a-e3f2-11ea-b0e7-cfb20ba2220c.html
Hope everyone's safe and healthy.
Glass is amazing stuff. Considering the difficulties of creating and handling it, the existence of vast amounts of cheap high quality glassware is one of the miracles of human technology. Consider the humble molded drink glass. Then consider the spiffy French Duralux tempered glass models that I just picked up. Of course they've been making the things for more than 70 years, so all the details are no doubt worked out, but they seem nearly perfect.
Nosy Parker, missing you over at Haxville. A few others, too. Hope you are well and not down with anything at present.
Wonderful you have blueberry bushes and such a vast garden that Mr P handles. I'm considering planting blueberry bushes for my yard. Any tips?
I sure wish I had a resident gardener, as I have to avoid sun so it's been interesting this summer now I have sun hat, gloves, and way too many mosquitoes that like the taste of me.
My pumpkin/squash are finally fertilized fruiting and it's just weeks from frost so I may need to coddle them for a few weeks and pray they ripen earlier than Halloween. This is my first time trying fall squash and it's been interesting! Hot summer, but fall might be colder than average. I just hope La Nina hits in November, not October.
Thanks for the shout out, The Pup! I'm OK, doing about the same, but with lots of writing and editing on my plate. And a book's galley proofs due in my inbox any day now (always a tough slog).
Scritches to Hastings.
He thanks you and invites a little more work on the base of his tail, the shameless hound.
That's a lot of work. I'm working on the rough draft of a nonfiction book right now. I expect it'll take months or a year before I finish it, but at least it is interesting and keeping me busy on a regular basis. So many citations already and so many more.
If you ever want to drop a private line when the slog eases, inbox me at (no spaces at all in the following) Jenn Philly 1 (at) mail dot com. I promise not to let Hastings send you overly revealing photos.
Thanks! Duly noted, and test message sent.
Oct 4 is the 50th anniversary of Janis Joplin's death. She was 27.
I remember hearing the news on the radio. She was younger than Mr. P.
Jimi Hendrix had just OD'd three weeks earlier; we'd been camping at Mt. Rainier, so heard the news on the car radio when we emerged from the Park heading for Bremerton (i.e., Seattle media market).
Eric Van Halen passed October 6.
Hopefully we don't have a rock star's death anniversary for every day of October. That would make nonstop feast days for these who have rock 'n' roll as their religion.
I'm reading Terry Pratchett and considering Harry Potter for this month. I need some kind of distraction to get through the next month and ummm... next 104 days.
This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving and also an anniversary of that Mysterious Affair at Styles where I and Hastings first met for a case.
Thinking of gmbka and her community on this second anniversary of the massacre at Tree of Life. Hugs.
Tony Norman: The Tree of Life tragedy finds a voice in the ruins
'Bound in the Bond of Life: Pittsburgh Writers Reflect on the Tree of Life Tragedy' doesn't succumb to the banality of evil.
https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/tony-norman/2020/10/27/Bound-Bond-of-Life-Trump-militias-white-supremacy-Pittsburgh-Tree-of-Life/stories/202010270022
Especially for Dave. What do you think?
"Scott opens wallet for Trump in Florida / The first term senator is eyeing his own White House bid in 2024":
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/28/scott-helps-trump-in-florida-433347
I think Rick Scott has already blown much (most?) of his wealth on getting to be governor, then senator, and I don't think he can self-finance a presidential bid. He has no personality, no empathy, and I think Jumper could reptilianize him. I think he got both positions because he could outspend his Republican opponents in the primary. The Democratic nominees, typically, failed. The Florida Democratic Party is inept. They will probably lose the presidential election on Tuesday despite favorable polls.
As a presidential candidate, Scott would likely stand out for a certain chilly nastiness. I think he enjoys his job, or at least the social status that goes with bing a senator. Follows a pretty extreme anti-government agenda. Don't regulate anything, don't spend money on anything. Especially health care or anything environmental.
Thanks for your analysis, Dave! Have you read these?
Henry Olsen picks Florida to go blue for Biden:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/11/02/henry-olsen-2020-president-congress-election-predictions/?arc404=true
AND
"US election set to be £1bn betting event with Biden firm favourite":
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/02/us-election-break-betting-records-joe-biden-favourite
P.S. We voted by mail early, and our ballots are listed online as logged in.
"'It feels like we're under attack': Car thieves using new techniques to steal SF surfers' vehicles":
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/It-feels-like-we-re-under-attack-Car-15767494.php?IPID=SFGate-HP-CP-Spotlight
It is unfortunate that nobody back in the plague times happened to wear a mask and notice its effectiveness. If that had happened and led to a town all wearing masks, that would be famous (the practice might be named after the town) and become the default first response still today, and it would work.
The somewhat odd thing is that masks have been standard operating procedure in east Asia for a long time, and western medical people failed to take it seriously until last year. Why?
$305 air fares, Orlando/Hawaii. Of course the pandemic is getting worse, not better, and covid testing might easily cost at least half as much as the plane ticket.
Florida has 22 known cases of the highly infectious "English" coronavirus variant, which was likely spotted in England because they do so much testing. So many cases in Florida, which does little testing, is scary. The other state with a bunch of cases is California, 26.
Hey Dave and Jim, I bet it's full-blown Spring where you each live, right? We're finally getting a late-Winter thaw, although I can't detect any new foliage yet (not even on crocuses or daffodils). Must. Be. Patient.
Best wishes to all, and hope everyone's well. NP.
The Texas calamity entirely missed Florida, except for cancelled flights and deliveries. We've had a relatively wet dry season so far, so more than average flowers are up. I'm hiding thanks to a huge oral surgery procedure on Monday. Thanks to dry mouth and acid reflux (appreciated too late), my teeth went into rapid decay, so everything in the upper jaw was taken out in prep for an implant. The temporary denture is no fun.
But yes, I should have driven over to Winter Park, where the camellias, azaleas, and tabebuia trees should be underway.
I think I'm cutting out a planned short trip to the Outer Banks next weekend, should go ahead with a spectacularly cheap visit to Maui in late March, and another cheap trip, to Yellowstone National Park, in May. My vaccine status is hidden: I'm participating in the enormous Novavax clinical trial, supposedly a 2 in 3 chance of having received real vaccine rather than saline solution, but there was no reaction, so I'm betting it's saline. Novavax is hoping to submit their vaccine for emergency FDA approval in the 2nd quarter (maybe April). At that time, participants will be cross-vaccinated, everyone getting whatever they didn't get initially. For some reason, it's useful not to let anyone know too soon whether they got the vaccine early or late. I read the info but still couldn't figure out the reasoning.
Best wishes on your dental adventures. Hope it's all fixed soon.
I initially misread "participants will be cross-vaccinated" as "participants will be cross-pollinated." Oops!
Take care. NP.
Yikes on the teeth issue, congratulations on being a vaccine pioneer, although it's a shame you have to wait to know what you got and thus to be (re/cross) vaccinated if needed.
I think part of it is that controls need to be the same as the vaccinated in behavior, and telling people would change their behavior while they're still in the 3 month study period, which could skew the results.
Not that you're about to roll around in COVID just for kicks if you knew you were fully vaccinated, of course.
But somebody who knew they got saline might rush to get a vaccine as soon as they were eligible, or otherwise be extremely careful, which might show the vaccine doesn't perform as well over control as hoped for. They want as much juicy results as possible, of course. :D.
Stuff I could never make up: "Portuguese man plays violin while surfing Nazare, brings tear to famously curmudgeonly surf journalist’s eye!"
https://beachgrit.com/2021/03/watch-portuguese-man-plays-violin-while-surfing-nazare-brings-tear-to-famously-curmudgeonly-surf-journalists-eye/
That was around for quite a while and rates as inexplicable behavior. The enormous waves are all about survival. A somewhat different bit of inexplicability is here. These guys have shown up lately in Youtube land, Hawaii surfing lifestyle. In this case, purporting to explain to beginners how to swim in waves. Well, the waves are at the expert level. Would you explain beginning skiing on the black diamond run?
https://youtu.be/_0RSTVqFGcw
The Speedo drew lots of comments. This was the most relevant. " I was sitting on the beach at Pipeline a few years ago and some old dude wearing speedos walked by me holding a pair of fins. He proceeded to swim out at back door and body surf massive waves. It was really inspiring for me because I'm getting up there in age. The "old dude" turned out to be Mark Cunningham." Cunningham was raised to be a banker or lawyer, was varsity water polo at UC Santa Barbara and instead took up a career as a lifeguard.
BTW, I should have cancelled the Maui trip but am going ahead. Some of the current coronavirus variants seem far easier to catch than the original and the Florida state government has not released whatever data it has (probably not much. The governor doesn't like testing). Epidemiologists who should be
I'll be staying in the cheapest room at a nice place on Napili Bay, next over from Honolua Bay at the NW corner of the island. Lovely area, think I'll forego extensive drives and vegetate.
I'll get another covid vaccine shot in mid May, then another after that, making a pair of real and a pair of placebo shots, with no one supposedly knowing which pair was which.
Cool, so you'll be fully immunized with Novovax one way or the other. Hang in there, as well as hang ten!
I got harpooned with Moderna a week ago. I definitely had a reaction to that. Will see if second shot is worse or not in mid-April.
I'm afraid my plugging of Matt Gaetz as the likely next Republican nominee for president was too close to reality for comfort. But Gaetz doesn't have the experience, or the unmitigated gall, to turn the accusations he's facing into a personal triumph.
Alexandra Petri has a fine, humorless column today. It should perhaps be part of the introductory ethics kit incoming members of Congress, the Florida legislature, fraternity pledges, all sorts of men. But there are still powerful counterexamples, never mind that Weinstein is on the same Washington Post online front page as Petri's advice.
Long ago, my major college-choice decision was whether to apply to a university in Philadelphia where I might have had a decent chance of admission. I really didn't want to have much to do with what seemed an unhappy, declining city, even if it did have some charms. So now there's Idris Elba with "Concrete Cowboy."
Petri did have some flashes of humor (the visual of the guys with MOM tattooes, etc) but that was pretty biting. Loved it, who the heck doesn't slap him one and say "Dude, you would lower the tone of a brothel, and you're in The. Congress. Of. The. UNITED. STATES here. You don't deserve it."
Instead Republicans are acting like excerpts from Profiles in Mother Courage. As usual. Well, your hating the vibe of Philly ain't wrong. It's way too far from the ocean, for one thing.
Gaetz is a privileged, overeducated moron pervert who happens to be the kid of a big-shot Florida Pol who has lots of legal trouble himself right now. It's a disgustingly accurate commentary on the state of the GOP that he not only seemed plausible even in jest, but in fact is right on brand lately.
Oh, and happy Easter Monday! This was the first time I checked in a while. Looks like synchrony.
My parents were quiet believers in not exploiting other people. I took that ethic for granted. I was jarred by blue-collar Penn State but suspect I might have been disillusioned if I'd actually gotten into an elite college stuffed with the country's future leaders. I'm sure I wasn't even an average applicant, so that's strictly a hypothetical.
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