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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