Archive for July, 2024

Defenestrated
07 27th, 2024

äääDefenestrated

Happy Saturday morning. There are mornings where whatever pent-up stuff is regarded worthwhile and writing comes in an amazing flush. Then, sometimes mere moments later, there comes this “huh?” moment. As a result, whenever it’s a ‘huh’ moment it’s likely a second mug of coffee which allows for some settling in. This is a two-mug morning.

Now that I’ve poured a #2, let’s get busy.

 

Quotation – Here’s a modernized, but very timeless, quotation from Machiavelli’s The Prince (completed in 1514, published after his death in 1532):

Generosity” funded by debt or currency devaluation is the opposite of generosity: it is the ultimate taking.

This quotation was especially poignant when Marcia and I swung through our local Aldi’s. This week it was noticeable; comparing equal amount of dollars spent two or three years ago now appears to result in about 35-40% less product in the cart – the difference I’ll treat as a ‘gift’.

Palace Coup – If we read about the events of last weekend occurring in any other country our esteemed media and leadership would assign a list of labels beginning with “Banana Republic”. Yet here we are. And by and large these same groups are either silent or sitting around with an “all’s Okay, nothing to see here” demeanor.

Timeline – Last week all began to unfold with the President attending another ‘shuffle round the stage’ event.

Next morning, he was declared to have come down with Covid—19, and so President Biden was isolated to what can be equated as in ‘house’ arrest.

The President in isolation Tweeted: “Here’s my plan for the first 100 days of my second term.

Within the week, The President; “it’s time to pass the torch to a new generation.”. This via text and              email was sent to staff, media, and the world. The operative word to each and all was ‘blindsided’.              Maybe Party ‘high rollers’ delivered a kick in the pants, a Party Putsch?

Magically (coup?), a day later, totally UNDEMOCRATIC but very OLIGARIC, 100% of the Biden delegates had switched votes to Kamala Harris.

This is the same group of cheats which, Tammany Hall style, previously knocked leading candidates (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Bernie Sanders) out of contention – no debate, no discussion, actually, no voters required!

Wait, it’s been done before when in 1968 (also in Chicago) Hubert Humphrey was quietly ‘crowned’; without any of the pain of campaigning.

I guess we’ll see where this all will lead.

Two Powerhouses Discus – attached is a Master Class where two of the leading thinkers/doers in the world talk with each other – Jordan Peterson PhD Psychologist/Professor with Elon Musk founder of Tesla, Neuralink, SpaceX, Giga Factory and more. This last section deals with the direction of our nation.

Just a FYI, Peterson is a Canadian & Musk was born in South Africa – mentioning this since you’ll get a bit of an outsider’s perspective.

Set the video to the 1-hour, 26-minute mark. The first part deals much with Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, and History – the kind of stuff I live for – which you might want to also view. Else, just appreciate the discussion.

View podcast here

 

Singaporeans – now boast the world’s most powerful passport once again, as nationals are now able to visit a record 195 travel destinations visa-free. This I spotted during my week’s readings.

 

The Olympics and our town – The woman’s US Olympic 8-man crew is Coxed by a young lady from our neighborhood. As a youth, she was a team member in Dinah’s rowing club.

Then it’s with immense pride that Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) music Director Designate Cristian Macelaru  conducted the Orchestre National de France at the Opening Ceremony to an estimated 1.5 billion viewers worldwide.

“plunge for distance”– were they to bring the, turn-of-the-last-century-Olympics-event, back as an event – I do believe I’d try out. In lieu of that event’s return I’ll just watch the 2024 Olympics a time or two.    Click here to grasp the fine details of the “plunge for distance“.

 CHANDRA, NASA’s X-ray telescope — This week is the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Chandra’s launch, NASA is releasing 25 never-before-seen views of a wide range of cosmic events taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Approximately 60’ in length it was almost the heaviest payload ever put into orbit on July 23, 1999 by the space shuttle Columbia. It’s in a large sweeping elliptical orbit from near the earth to about 1/3 of the distance to the moon. To date it’s made over 25,000 observations. Most impressive is that in the pursuit of knowledge, 700 individuals have earned their PhDs through the information gained through Chandra.

Weekend Highlight – Now I had best start to get ready. Grab my ‘geezer-pass’ for a quick bus ride to the city center. Then a walk across the Purple People bridge across the “Big Muddy” (pretty clear these days) and into Newport Kentucky. It’s their annual Goetta Festival.

Just think, over 50 Goetta themed food items to taste + two or three stages with live music.

As an aside, Marcia will NOT be attending.

Life is AMAZING!

May Peace prevail! Shalom.

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

What did the middle initial in President Ulysses S. Grant’s name [‘S’] stand for? 

1) Standiford

2) Studebaker

3) Simpson

4) Swafford

5) He didn’t have a clue

6) Salsbury

I’ll accept two answers from the list as being correct


CSO – Pops Brady Block Party

Happy Saturday morning. Last evening was our local block party. Marcia and I went and we had a great time. So, this morning, getting up I was gob smacked when I saw Marcia sitting on the couch with her second cup ‘du café’ — she beat me to being upright. Now that I’ve poured mine, let’s get busy.

Thursday at 3:00 pm I took Adrianne, Tevita, and the kids to the airport. They were off to Boston for the annual Polynesian Days weekend – it was ‘Tongan’ focused this year. I mention the whole time-thing because the traffic was horrid! Almost an hour for a trip what normally hovers around a half hour.

The reason? The new Superman movie is being filmed in town. Union Station is one of the backdrops  for the film. But, it’s the Lytle Tunnel (I-71 into downtown) which was closed to all traffic for 15 minute intervals all afternoon long that was the real problem.

Apparently, Superman has clout.

Traffic being a mess anyway I swung by Costco. Here is one purchase from the place. As you can see, we’re supporting the town of Traverse City. But, if you’ve never tasted Great Lakes potato chips from Traverse you’re truly missing something.

Politics – stormed into our lives front and center. We witnessed the horror of the assassination attempt on former President Trump. The sanest reference on how it could have happened comes from Erik D. Prince, who has had a career in the military, US Navy SEAL officer, and afterwards founded a private military company named ‘Blackwater‘:

“DJT was not saved by USSS brilliance. The fact that USSS allowed a rifle armed shooter within 150yds to a preplanned event is either malice or massive incompetence…………In my old business of providing Diplomatic Security in two active war zones we were expected to execute the basics or we would be fired. Clearly USSS failed at the basics of a secure perimeter and once shots were fired their extraction was clumsy and left DJT highly exposed to follow on attacks. It looked like they had never drilled together because those responses should be effectively autonomic. Will there be accountability? That’s not the Washington way. “

Political junkie – means that I pay (what Marcia calls “way too much”) attention to the matters that impact all our lives. This week it was the watching of the RNC 2024 convention.

It was unlike any political convention I’ve seen in the past. This was upbeat, fun, and offered a huge variety of people of differing backgrounds: College ‘frat’ boys, Gold-Star families, a spry 98 year old WWII veteran who had hit the beaches of Normandy, business types, and even ‘Hulk’ Hogan. To me it was a political event for the history books. Now we’ll see how the Dems fare.

JD Vance – is now officially running as Trump’s VP running mate. Here is a snippet of why I am paying special attention. ‘Special’ not necessarily because he’s our State’s junior Senator, nor that he hails from the little town of Middletown a mere 20 miles up the road. But, here’s why.

Attached is a picture of the cover of one of my graduate school projects and the title will give a clue as to why I’ve been following J.D. Vance since he began his run for the senate. Coming from probably the poorest backwoods ‘hollow’ in Kentucky and a drunk mother to being raised by grandparents up the road here in Middletown.

Do read his book, “Hillbilly Elegy“, it’s the all-American story of how drive, mentoring, and love can get even the poorest to be lifted up.

Block Party – was where Marcia and I were last evening. Several hundred neighbors and friends got together, got caught up, had dinner from Food Trucks (including a ‘cakes & cupcakes’ truck), and music by the city Symphony’s Pops Orchestra. All that on a perfect evening (the temps had lowered and the humidity dropped)

     

     

The music offered something for all of us. I took a few clips and put them together. You’ll see an AMAZING local highschooler play her Cello. A local gal singing from George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, to music from the Godfather of Soul, James Brown (who recorded at the old King Studios about a mile away). All this in the fresh air, sitting in a bag chairs with sunlight dancing in faces; it really doesn’t get any better.

Life is AMAZING!

May Peace prevail! Shalom.

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

Which one of these Presidents have everyone in their family with the same initials?

1) WHH
2) JKP
3) RBH
4) LBJ
5) USG
6) CAA
7) WHT


Wit – Zwart
07 13th, 2024

Wit – Zwart

Happy Saturday morning. Had I only been invited to the White House and the impressive NATO meetings there earlier this week, I would still be tasting one of many Double Espressos. Sadly, that wasn’t the case, no invite and therefore no Double Espresso offerings. Still, my own morning brew is just lovely.

What I also don’t think I lost much on were the vast array of speeches; speechifying on any number of topics. Considering the importance of the folk in the gatherings these speeches just had to be important, uplifting – especially those on drawn out wars, and long.

In fact, the renowned Babylon Bee wrote this satire piece on the keynote address: “U.S. — In a much-needed surge in popularity after disastrous debate performances and gaffe-filled public appearances, President Joe Biden’s popularity skyrocketed overnight after he announced Donald Trump as his vice-presidential running mate.”

Personally I would urge these NATO aficionados to pay less attention to the fancy-dinner circuit, and a little more to what powerhouses such as the following two bring to the ‘table’.

Aleksandr Isayevitch Solzhenitsyn – (1918 – 2008) author and Soviet dissident. Spent 8-years in the Soviet Gulag and then in internal exile for criticizing Joseph Stalin. In 1970 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. This is one of his countless shrewd insights:

“We know they are lying
they know they are lying
They know that we know they are lying
We know they know we know they are lying
But they are still lying”

 

Nelson Mandela – (1918 – 2013) South African political anti-apartheid activist. Jailed for 20-years and later became the first leader of democratic South Africa.

“Our world is not divided by race, color, gender, or religion. Our world is divided into wise people and fools. And fools divide themselves by race, color, gender, or religion.”

A Film’s Loss – Most who know me know that I am not huge into movies. Other than several old silence black and white flicks my appreciation revolves around maybe a couple of dozen or so films.

In that small listing are two, The Shining and Popeye. One of the prominent characters in each was Shelley Duvall. In Popeye she played the character of Olive Oyl – and it’s been stated that it was Duvall’s portrayal of her character that pushed the movie into being a massive popular hit.

As we journey around this infinite universe at over 50,000mph it’s no secret that some of us will fly off every day or so as we spin through our galaxy and its beyond. This week it was Shelly Duvall’s turn to explore what lies beyond.

Zwart – Wit – was spotted on the shelf of the Aldi’s (Aldi Nord) in Amsterdam, and my eyes opened wide. Have you ever had a flash-back of some very long-ago sight, smell, sound, or taste? How about one with sight, and smell, and taste all in one package?

There it was on that Aldi shelf just as what I remembered getting as a kid. The white powder delight was then also sold in a cone shaped wrap as it was still. I remember enjoying it by licking your finger, putting it into the stuff, and then into your mouth. Nothing like it. Ever!

Made of anise, salt, powdered sugar, and licorice and my ‘white’ powder came through US Customs without a hiccup. After decades of only remembering this was marvelous!

The Remains – played their ’60 and ’70 sounds a couple of days ago; for two hours straight (without intermission). Two hours with The Remains at a cemeterySpring Grove Cemetery that is. This surely was one perfectly fine evening.

 

Urban Jazz – was also on the platter this week. An outdoor concert on the city’s central square complete with a sandwich from Potbelly’s and a can of Heineken was most excellent.

Excellent except for the guy at whose table I found an empty seat; he had one additional ‘add-on’. My new urban tablemate friend advised me that he too loved Jazz, but enjoyed it even more with some ‘weed’; did I mind if he lit a ‘doobie’?

I advised him that this was the new America, and so to proceed as he wished.

Turns out that this guy was schooling wise barely pitiful; however, street-smarts and insight-wise he was brilliant. I ended up hearing some great music and having a fantastically insightful discussion.

I took a picture of him (it was his Tee I liked) and sent it to Marcia who was home. This resulted in her getting worried and calling me to check if all was OK.

Mentioning Marcia. Last Saturday the Kroger grocery delivery came early, and this gave me time to dash off to Findley Market where, on Saturdays Marin’s Blue Oven Bakery sells their restaurant quality breads. If you’re not early enough, then it’s the ‘empty rack’ syndrome.

I got hot soft Pretzels straight from the onsite oven, a loaf of salted Rye Sourdough, and an apricot/walnut Loaf.

Marcia had a pretzel and a slice of the apricot/walnut bread. Within the hour she was on her back on the couch and couldn’t get up – something about stomach and being so full of bread.

Life is AMAZING!

May Peace prevail! Shalom.

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

We all have been exposed to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, author and the grandfather of modern fantasy. Question; what was he also known to have done:

1) wrote on scientific subjects
2) held the position of Postmaster General
3) was his town’s Mayor
4) wrote part of the Oxford English Dictionary
5) Fought in the war of 1812


Harmolodics
07 6th, 2024

Harmolodics

Happy Saturday morning. Getting my coffee ready this morning I realized just how quickly we’re working our way through the coffee I brought back from Germany, Caffè Gustoso . It’s a bit of a sad realization.

So, here is your ‘word of the day’; nadir; the lowest point in something – “could it be that once we finish up this batch of coffee that we’ll quickly reach the nadir of what is our Saturday morning’s delight?”

“Harmolodics” – Early in the week I took the bus into town for a late afternoon/evening concert on our downtown Fountain Square. My plan was to brave the heat and listen to a jazz concert by a little known group, the Justin Dawson Quartet. It wasn’t so much to hear the group as it was to listen to what they were going to play.

The whole concert was devoted to the music of Ornette Coleman. In fact, their second set was the playing of Ornette’s complete 1959 – Jazz altering – album; “Changing the Face of Jazz”.

It was a wonderful performance.

Some might ask, who is Ornette Coleman? Rather than me blather on, here’s a YouTube to give you some insight:

A strange Fourth – It was a joint decision; we weren’t going to head out to grab one of our surrounding area Fireworks shows. This proved to be a great decision when, exactly at eight O’clock, the rain came rolling in.

Then it got better. Across the street was a porch party and they were loaded up with beer and Fireworks. They were not to be deprived! So, every few minutes, with nearby thunderclaps and sheets of rain, a ‘volunteer’ would dash out with some piece of barely legal Firework (not certain – maybe these weren’t legal).

Through and above the trees we could see the colorful explosion to be immediately followed by the street filling with smoke. This explosion-noise-sparkle-smoke scenario continued till sometime after we fell asleep.

A strange Fourth (part deux) – Mid week my ‘homey’ buddy and I were off to a nearby Kroger’s for some grocery shopping. So, here we were, two grizzled senior types, one loud because the other is hard of hearing, trying to decide on the best hotdogs to buy.

I don’t think our presence was at a level where moms would remove their children from the aisle.

After pass number two through the store, and a little nonplussed, I asked a clerk where the bread aisle was. Turns out it was at the other side against the wall with 3-foot lettering overhead – whoops.

After pointing out the signage and me thanking the young man, he replied with a: “thanks for your service!”.

Me, looking totally nonplussed glanced over at my neighbor buddy and realized he was sporting his ‘Veteran’s’ baseball cap. Yup, that was a first for me. I thanked the lad on behalf of my friend who hadn’t heard him.

Yes, we are a good team!

Life of Brian – During the Seventies I delighted in anything put out by Monty Python. Even solo stuff such as Faulty Towers starring the brilliant comedian John Cleese was all part of it.

In 1979 they made a wonderful satirical movie. Ok, so it was also a wee bit irreverent, but still, as the Brits would say; “brilliant” – Life of Brian.

Anyway, what I want to get across that what we enjoyed as being great satire in 1979 has now become reality — now merely 45-years on our society is just catching up.

It’s not simply reality, but should you laugh at it today, in various parts of the country you can get slapped with a healthy fine. We’ve come a long way baby!

And, Marcia is up. Now, with this week’s Ramblings nearly complete I can join her and be on the lookout for Kroger to deliver her grocery order. Are you beginning to also realize that much of retirement revolves about food? Food to eat, foods to select, food to order, and food to discuss?

Life is AMAZING!

May Peace prevail! Shalom.

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

Question: Independence Day is not all parades, grilling, flag waving, and fireworks. It also has a darker side. Which three of these former Presidents all died on July 4th?

1) James Monroe
2) John Quincy Adams
3) John Adams
4) Thomas Jefferson
5) Andrew Jackson
6) Martin Van Buren