Happy Mothers Day Celebrating Moms Everywhere.

Well, well, seems like a day or two that’s all that has gone by and now it’s Saturday already. Maybe it was my anticipation for events later today, but that usually makes it appear that time has slowed. I should have had a conversation with Albert Einstein on the subject when I had the chance. Now it’ll have to be with Dr. Michio Kaku; but more on that later.

A morning mug of coffee anyone?
Sit back, relax, and enjoy these few moments of tranquility and leisure. Just do not discuss should these Ramblings put you back to sleep.

Word of the Day: apothegm: Just stating, “everything points to the number 42” is not an apothegm. An ‘apothegm is merely a short, sweet, phrase that incorporates a life lesson.

42 – Mid-2020, mid Covid, the Trump Whitehouse invoked Title-42 which allowed immigration officials to quickly return illegal aliens to their native countries for the sake of public health – 2.5-million illegal entrants were removed that way.

Yesterday Title-42 expired and according to NBC News; “DHS is now preparing a memo that will direct Customs and Border Protection to begin releasing migrants into the United States without court dates or the ability to track them…”

A week ago Jordan Neely, an out of control criminal type, was causing mayhem on New York’s subway. He was restrained and subdued, as a result he died. Turns out he had 42 previous arrests on his rap sheet.

Ok, good, finally, the number 42 shows up. But wait, here’s more….

Any of you ever read, ”The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams? No?
Well, in the ‘Guide’ the “Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and of Everything” was calculated by an enormous quantum supercomputer named ‘Deep Thought’ over a period of 7.5 million years. By then, no one remembered what the actual question was, and thus they were utterly stupefied when the computer (after 7.5 million years mind you) spit out the answer, which was……………………………………42.

It appears, that (much like the number 15) the number 42 is one of those cosmic numbers which keeps the Universe in balance and thus keeps us little peons guessing.

Vili and his Saxophone – have become a team. Last Tuesday evening his school, North Avondale Montessori, held their spring event with dancers, choir, bongo percussion, and a full band.

Like many of these events and my cynical self, I did not expect all that much. I was wrong! We all had a great evening.

Next year Vili will join Vaioleti at Clark Montessori High School. He’s already informed Vai that he won’t join her playing a steel drum, he’s going to try out for the school band and is hanging on to his Saxophone. He knows what he likes and what he wants.

”Anywhere you can dream is good, providing the place is obscure, and the horizon is vast.” ~ Victor Hugo (1802 – 1885) writer (Notre-‘Dame de Paris, ‘Les Misérables’) Politician

A spectacle shown – as last week the ‘dream’ continued in London, but was it good? Much like an old movie house movie reel that kept on breaking, was as how I saw the coronation of King Charles. Never saw the full video, just a series of ‘stop-start’ photos.

I caught snippets of a figurehead, with no purpose, and a person who is not likable. I have no issue with a monarchy per se, but I interpreted this event as an over-the-top fiasco, a bit of a sad fairy tale. Considering what England has devolved into, what it has become; to me what I spotted was akin to an old Monty Python joke.

Platos allegory – In Plato’s famous ‘Allegory of the Cave’, a group of prisoners have been chained to the floor of a cave all their lives such that their heads cannot move. All they can see is the wall opposite them, upon which they observe shadows in constant motion.”

“The shadows are of people and objects moving behind the prisoners, which are projected onto the wall by the light of a fire that is constantly burning. But the prisoners cannot see any of this. For the prisoners, the shadows are their reality. It is the only reality they have ever known.

If they could turn around, they would see the world as it really is. But they are incapable of doing so.” (from article by Mike Bedard)

“Crazy” you utter, “Dirk, what in the world are you driving at”?

The video (10-minutes) mentions politicians and the news media. It mentions the overt slanting of their utterings. However, what’s even worse, what is even more insidious, is what they do NOT say.

As anexample, this week a Congressional Committee had a Press Conference which detailed and made available Bank statements (from 4-banks), e-mails, whistleblower statements; all detailing in depth the corrupt financial dealings of the Biden family. To date, “ABC, CBS, NBC devote(d) ZERO Seconds to Oversight Committee’s Bombshell Findings on Biden Family Corruption” (headline from an article by Debra Heine in ).

And so dear readers, that’s how we truly are the chained, kept in the dark, much as the ‘prisoners’ Plato wrote about.

Row, row, row that boat – Dinah is busily finishing her school year (think ‘tis the season of exams). At the same time, she is practicing 3-hours a day, 6-days a week rowing.

This has also meant that already this year one week she rowed locally, then in
southern Tennessee, followed by a weekend in Saratoga, New York, with more regattas to follow.

And what does she gain? Physical fitness, goal setting, life-long relationships, winning graciously – losing graciously, getting along, cooperating/sharing, time allotment, just to name a few. With all of that, I thought I’d share a write-up mom Cathy shared the other day.

Fin –
* I began by using the word ‘anticipation’. Here is what all that is about.
Brother Art had business in Columbus yesterday. This morning he’s
hightailing it to Cincy. I will be taking him, and Vai (by his special request)
to lunch. Next week I’ll be able to fill you in fully.

* Then right after lunch Vai has to perform at school, an all afternoon Clark
Community Festival. I’m hoping Art can stay a bit to watch. Marcia will join
at that time.

* The Flying Pig Marathon weekend ran on time as scheduled. Saturday with
the ‘half’ the 10 & 5K were held in absolutely perfect weather conditions. I
think we all got a little too smug. Because………..

* Sunday the full Flying Pig Marathon started exactly at 6:30. Ten minutes later it was curtains of rain blocking vision, thunder, and lightning. A 40-minute break and then it was round two. It was horrible. A cadre of weather people hunching over screens, the management team from the Boston Marathon, fire, and Police, were all in on one HUGE confab. In the end, most of the starting crowd of 20,000 finished – and all went well. Me? I sat in front of the ‘telly’.

* Never heard of it? It’s still going on so hurry down. The ‘Nati is hosting the
2023 APP Vlassic Classic Pickleball Open tournament. With almost 900
players it’s much larger than I had suspected.

* Yesterday (May 12 th ) in 1963, Bob Dylan walked off the set of the Ed Sullivan Show. His “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues” was not to be sung. I guess Bob showed the ‘power-set’ who was in charge.

* Three Pedal offerings – A quickly-dying breed, stick shift cars can still be found in the US. Car and Driver compiled this list:  

* Tomorrow will be the 30th anniversity of the horrific Carrolton, KY bus crash on I-71 – killing 27 youth on a church outing. A drunk driver hit head on a school bus. The kids were returning from a day long fun trip at our nearby King’s Island ammusement park. Anytime I travel to Louisville a roadside marker reminds me of that horrid event. Don’t drink and drive!

* Citroen meet-up in Enschede / East Holland (my birth city)

Ciao. Stay strong, stop by and have a little of my self-made Sauerkraut (contains more probiotics than found in anything else) – appreciate Life.

Dirk