Drop this Rambling quickly and then head for East Fork Lake (about 45 minutes away), cowbell in hand, to watch row Dinah row. It’s another weekend and another regatta.

Now, I first should open up ‘Chatgpt’ to have the system inform me which would be the quickest, easiest, simplest way to make the best morning coffee. Since it’s A.I. it’ll be easy to also include best ground, coffee type, water temperature, and method of brewing etc, all for the sake of coffee perfection.

If I’m not happy with the A.I.’s ensuing answer it wouldn’t be all too crazy for me to run over to White Castle with my thermos. Yes, we do have our own coffee; just thinking of alternatives.

Hi-Heels Sneakers – Tuesday evening it was “Jazz at Fountain Square”. This week it was the Michael Mavridoglou Quintet with an evening of ‘60s Jazz, Soul, and Gospel. So what did all this all translate into? As an example, they played ‘Hi-Heel Sneakers’ by Tommy Tucker written in 1964 – this number has been covered by folk such as Chuck Berry, Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, Elvis, and Ramsey Lewis to name a few. It was a great evening.

5 of us, (two couples plus me) total strangers when we arrived, for two hours shared a table. And for that whole time had wonderful conversation alongside great music. Quite an evening. Here’s how Janis recorded ‘Hi-Heels’ with her band, Big Brother and the Holding Company – this definitely not a jazz rendition.

Also spotted on Fountain Square was this dog, a breed I’d never seen before. Talking with the owner, it turns out that it’s an Italian breed, a Cane Corso, and looks much like a Mastiff.

Climate Change – part one; 500,000 years ago – i.e. well before man, and when fossil fuels were still in the developmental stage, our area was massively affected by Climate Change, temperature and when accompanying glaciers reworked our landscape:

”We [Cincinnati area] are a Landslide Area, one of the top four in the nation.” ~ Laure Quinlivan former anchor for the local ABC affiliate news and filmmaker – “Living With Landslides”

Earl Pitts came out of the woodwork. Actually, he ‘musta’ happened on the scene because of the fact that our region is dead center in the world of racing and some of the guys were just ‘jawing’ around.

Days ago it was The Derby a little south of us. Then next weekend it’s the Indy 500 a little to the west, and all of this followed by a worldwide audience. So yes, these events are really hyped in these parts.

Anyway, I happened to record Earl‘s ‘take’ on it all, so have a listen:

A Canoe Life – At Vai’s Clark Montessori Highschool we attended their annual Festival. Marcia spotted, then went wild, and finally bought a bunch of raffle tickets, for a student made 13’ Canoe. We did not win.

Thursday evening she got a call. The gist of it was that the winner of the canoe took a pass, so another ticket was drawn. It was one of Marcia’s tickets! She had to yell (in delight) into a pillow so as not to scare the neighbors.

Yesterday afternoon we picked it up and it is gorgeous.

Art visited –. I promised a week ago that I’d fill in on his visit, so here’s more detail. Art was on business nearby and wanted to do brunch. He also wanted to make certain that Vaioleti would join our Brunch gathering at First Watch.

Now let’s go back in time. Vai was supposed to arrive in December 2008. In actuality she arrived August of 2008; she surely was a wee little micro-preemie.

At the time, Marcia and I were in Canada. Brother Art happened to be in Indianapolis for business. That next morning he drove to the ‘Nati and the ‘NICU‘ at Good Samaritan Hospital, there talked his way into the micro-preemie ward. He took a photograph of the 1-day old Vai and placed his Blackberry on the incubator as a size comparison. We’ve always loved that photograph.

Fast forward to last weekend.

Vai was surrounded by mom Adrianne, dad Tevita, and brother Vili as uncle Art pulled out of a bag a professionally mounted and framed copy of the picture he had taken that day. Mounted above the photo was the actual Blackberry which he had saved all this time. It’s stunning and an instant heirloom.

I saw a very emotional Vaioleti do some serious swallowing and give some serious hugs.

It was a beautiful moment!

Fin –

It’s common knowledge that Southwest Airlines has ‘grab-any-seat’ boarding (with a few exceptions). Now here’s a trick, for a mysterious ‘healing’ experience board in a wheelchair. It’s amazing how many people board a Southwest flight requiring a wheelchair and somehow get healed enroute, and walking off.

Cincinnati has the first pro Baseball team in MLB, The Reds. But immediately across the river we have the Florence Y’alls baseball team part of the Independent Frontier League. One of the crazy (but I love it) differences in that league is that any foul ball caught by a fan is an immediate out for the batter. Thought you’d want to know.

Last evening I listened to a live-stream of the opening performance of our May Festival’s 150th season; on my studio headphones – UNREAL! The Festival kicked off with Bach’s Manificat! Plus the premier of two commissioned works. The choral portion was by the voices of the local May Festival chorus, youth choir, and boys choir. I think I actually swooned. 

Just discovered that the ’fraddies’ and ‘nerdish’ at MIT have written and created a file which contains around 35,000 Japanese style 3-line Haiku’s – their subject? ……… each one written about the ‘killer’ luncheon meat we affectionally call “SPAM”! This Haiku came straight from the ‘can’:

SAS sent out
To destroy the SPAM missiles
Fear in Tel Aviv — Angus

Now my final coffee and a little breakfast all with my feet up. Mid morning, assuming the weather (i.e.rain) clears, it’ll be a drive to East Fork Lake to watch Dinah race in yet another regatta. Row Dinah Row!

Ciao. Stay strong, appreciate Life, and just so you know, the A.I. was not much help with brewing my morning coffee.

Keep on storming the castle. Pray for Peace.

Dirk

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

Saturday morning, and with our just missing the coldest-May 1st-on-record the current change is for the better, temperature that is. The warmer weather makes for me to come out of the gate spritely and upbeat. So let’s get started, with a smile and sparkle in the eye – even more so now that my coffee is ready.

Word of the Day: dryasdust: A boring, pedantic speaker or writer. Dull and boring.

‘Dryasdust’, I hope not with this morning’s read. For us the town will be hopping, actually running. See, it’s the weekend of The Flying Pig marathon. Between the 5K, the 10K, and the full marathon, there will be 40,000 runners on the streets, add to that about 8,000 volunteers and 100,000 spectators and, yup, it’ll be a hub-bub of activity. Tomorrow morning I’ll be one of those ‘squeelers’ (keeping with the ‘pig’ theme) cheering the marathoners on.

The ‘Nati’s Jewel – has to be our Mercantile Library and yes, you may pronounce it MercanTILE or MercantTEEL (wanna sound local?, just call it “the Merc”). Founded in 1835 by a few young business types. since then it’s grown and also assembled a number of fine art pieces.

The Merc is a remainder of earlier of membership libraries (which were around before there were public libraries). Anyone is welcome and visits are free.

Over the years there have been an annual series of speakers. Looking back, how about Herman Melville, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Harriet Beecher Stowe (who grew up nearby). More recently notables such as Rabbi Isaac Wise, John Updike, Salman Rushdie, Robert Caro, David Brooks, Julia Child, and Doris Kearns Goodwin have given lectures.

With membership the events are open as is the ability to peruse amongst the more than 80,000 book collection – many of historical value from a bygone era – the oldest dates to 1641.

What is truly amazing is that the place has survived two fires and the space it occupies on the 11th and 12th floor of the downtown Mercantile Building has had the library there since inception. There under a 10,000 year lease (yes, you read correctly; ten-thousandyears)

Want to see a recent event on video? Click on this Crowdcast LINK.

All this woke Bud Light stuff and in-your-face virtue signaling advertising needs to chill. First, they came for Uncle Ben (a credit to his rice) and I said nothing. Then they came for Aunt Jemima and I said nothing. Then they came for Dylan Mulvaney, and I said, “Whatever.” ~ Ron Hart, libertarian op-ed humorist, this on Dailey Caller

G°G°R 2022 or ‘On the Minnehaha’ – The 36′ boat, Minnehaha or “The Laughing Waters”, is a very special older boat – it just finished a global circumnavigation of 30,000 miles winning the quadrennial 2022 Golden Globe 2022 (G°G°R 2022) race in first place. (this race started September 4, 2022 – finished April 27, 2023).

My own love for sailing has me quickly connect to these massive races. In 2000 it was the Vendée Globe, now it was the G°G°R 2022 which I could track and follow. Over the years I did some lake sailing and racing and it must be that these races fulfill a small piece of my wish list. Besides, I just love the sights and sounds.

Sailing solo with just two quick (video card transfers only) stops, South African sailor Kirsten Neuschäfer, the only female in the 16-boat race, won the race. First of the only 3 boats that completed the race.

1st place even after diverting 95 miles to rescue a fellow sailor who was bobbing on his life-raft. Finish sailor, Tapio Lehtinen, had 5-minutes to activate his EPIRB device, grab his logs & sim cards before his #6 boat, Astria, completed its Titanic-style maneuver. He then floated for 24-hours in a raft before Kirsten was able to rescue him. As an aside, he was later transferred to a cargo ship which had also responded.

Neuschäfer’s boat had to be reworked and retrofitted. By race rules, everything has to be as it was on the first Golden Globe Race of 1968. Sealed ‘emergency only’ gear and a couple of minutes a day of telephone contact only is mandated. No restocking of supplies — Kirsten even collected and used rain water for drinking. Even to where CD’s are not allowed only cassetes because the CD wasn’t available in 1968. Plus, all navigation is by the stars only – no GPS. To rework the boat she spent almost a year on Canada’s Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) town of Baltic where she worked alongside the locals to get her Minnehaha ready.

A while back Marcia and I spent time in Canada’s Maritimes including P.E.I. and, like Neuschäfer, also loved the place and its people. Enjoy the short video and music by P.E.I’s  folk singer/songwriter Lennie Gallant and townsfolk as backup singers.

Fini –

• A quickie from our corner of Chaos & Mayhem comes this visual of a wrong-way tow – nice try though.

• Former Budweiser Bud Light marketing vice president, Alissa Heinerscheid, following her Dylan Mulvaney fiasco has re-surfaced. This might be a limited trial run with, possibly, her new employer?

• Watching everything WOKE, especially with high school and college aged kids I can’t help but wonder. Wonder if kids these days could muster the fortitude of those of The Greatest Generation of WWII. Think of a young kid climbing into the Ball Turret on a rattling B-17 Bomber. Gunners were squeezed into a suffocating totally exposed bulb, withstood bitter cold, hours on an oxygen mask (ok, we’ve had two years of the mask thing), and cramped in a fetal position. Your thoughts?

• Dinah raced in Saratoga, New York at the Toga-Invitational. A first place in the 8-person and 4th in the 4-person boat. With 1,500 athletes registered that becomes ‘most excellent’.

• Does anyone have a cogent answer as to exactly why the IRS needs to spend $10-million on weapons and ammunitions? I certainly haven’t got a clue.

• Our dazzlingly amazing veep (alongside Dan Quale & Walter Mondale) Kamala is now our A.I. tsar. I suspect it’s due to her stellar performance managing similar ‘tsaristic’ duties as Border ‘bozo’ and abortion ‘goat’. To formalize, this week a meeting on A.I. was held in the White House Roosevelt Room – the room’s portrait of the great namesake man himself seemed to come to life; it appeared he began rubbing his temples.

• Dutch is my original tongue. During my school years I’ve had a discussion or two about the fact that The Netherland’s most northern Province, Friesland, has its own language which is more closely related to English than to Dutch. This week I came across a chart which clearly details just how I’ve been correct all along. ‘Checkmark’ for Dirk.

• Last Saturday as mentioned last week, we made an excursion to Ikea. Actually, Ikea ‘shopping’ is a day-long event, hence it’s no wonder they built a restaurant and the halfway point. That aside, the ‘gravadlax’ salmon salad was amazing!

Ciao. Stay happy, stay connected, run your own life’s ‘marathon’ in whatever form suits you best – just keep on going! Be safe and be healthy.

Keep on storming the castle. Pray for Peace.

Dirk

Saturday morning, and we’re on the ‘doorstep’ of the Merry Month of May. Is it me or is time no longer creeping but has begun to accelerate into a full sprint?

Word of the Day: Torschlusspanik: The fear that time to act is running out.

In any case, enjoy the weekend and since it’s still dark here feel free to tape your eyelids open to read The Ramblings. An accompanying mug of coffee should also do you well.

We are so in tune with the realization that we’re in the midst of the allergy season; I noticed that we magically now have a shelf-full of Kleenex. From the book of survival Marcia has alerted me that; “its bad form to throw dirty garments into the wash without first checking for used tissue”.

What a dinner – we had last Sunday. This to celebrate and honor Viliami and Jason’s Birthdays. Carefully chosen was Gyu-Kaku Japanese Barbeque (meaning “Horn of the Bull” in Japanese). Selected was a private space, large table and two in-table grills.

Food was great. One minor ‘hiccup’ was some difficulty getting one of the grills operational. Twice a young Asian person had to dive under the table to perform some magic. For a moment, only momentarily mind you, I envisioned us watching a ‘Rick Pitino moment’. Soon all was fine and we had a blast – the photo of Marcia absolutely proves it.

A sad occurrence – should this proceed. At the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill 673 professors signed a letter of protest. Reason? The North Carolina legislature has legislation which would mandate all public university students to take a 3-credit course that focuses on the history of America and its founding.

The course has as required reading “the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, no less than five essays from the Federalist Papers, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address, and Martin Luther King’s letter from the jail in Birmingham.” (House bill 96, as reported on by American Greatness)

The letter by the 673 professors states such a law would violate the school’s “academic freedom.”

Stop providing a new generation of leaders the pertinent details of American exceptionalism and in short order we WILL be doomed continuing as the extraordinary nation that we are.

The Bailey – Mid-week Jason and I headed out to the new soccer stadium to catch a FC Cincinnati soccer match from on ‘The Bailey’. In case you missed it, The Bailey is an all-aluminum, 3000 ‘rabid’ fans strong, standing room only area. At a 34-degree angle it became an amazing place to be. Even standing for a complete soccer match was not noticeable as the time flew by.

The short video clip does give a sense of just how frenetic the experience was, with drums, flags, song, cheering, smoke, and beer. I made video shortly after our boys scored the game winning goal. Enjoy! We did!

Dante’s Inferno – Dante Alighieri, nearly 700 years ago, was exiled from his residence in Florence. Through the remainder of his life he traveled about and stayed with friends as a guest.

It was during his exile where he used his time to write an epic poem which has become a standard in literature, The Divine Comedy. The poem, an allegory, details an imaginary passage through the afterlife; hell (the Inferno), Purgatory, and heaven (Paradise) meeting up with friends, loved ones, and enemies.

This week we lost Jerry Springer and likewise I envision Jerry, somewhere, busily writing away his own epic life’s poem, his own Divine Comedy.

Born in London, his parents had escaped the Holocaust. He become a city council member here in the ‘Nati, staying until a prostitute displayed a check for ‘service’ rendered payment.

The net result was him becoming the Mayor of Cincinnati. Next was a climb to the number one TV news anchor in the city – closing each broadcast with a short bit of philosophy.

A hiatus (actually it was a failed run for the Ohio Governorship) and he was on to Television, First a legitimate format (it died) and on to create the nation’s number one hillbilly fight garbage TV show – a show which made him a multi-millionaire. RIP Mayor Springer

“Jerry-Jerry” – “Jerry-Jerry”

Thanks a Lot ‘Tuckah’! – Mark Steyn giving homage to Tucker Carlson. Seems both of them, true additions to the national discourse and wellbeing, were canned for being just a wee bit too vocal.

Carlson was a mainstay of my listening/viewing repertoire. Now I’m trusting he’ll be back in some format bigger and better and without constraint. Enjoy a piece of Steyn’s reflection:

Care to listen to Steyn’s whole show (it’s quite good)? Follow this LINK.

Fin –

• As most countries are busily scooping up their citizenry in strife-torn Sudan, am I wrong or is Captain America missing? Shades of Afghanistan maybe?

• Not my photo, but I came across this wonderful photo of the town of Houten in the Netherlands. What is interesting is that the main road through the town was first laid out by the Romans.

• The end of decade’s long entertainment provided by Australian comedian Barry Humphries; always in character as Dame Edna came this week. Humphries died at age 89. Hunt up some of the video clips, these pass the test of time in comedy.

• Dinah is racing this weekend in Saratoga, New York at the Toga-Invitational. I’m told that the rowing athletes are amongst the very fittest athletes in any sport. Go Dinah!

• And, a very Happy Birthday to Marlene. Catch up soon (in the meantime, say hello to Clair LePaige!)

• We know that the WOKE advertising scheme by Anheuser Bush blew up in their face. Think this WD-40 advert better?

Now it’s organizing for a morning excursion to Ikea – actually, if we wait a bit we could grab lunch at the place (possibly a salmon gravadlax salad plate?).
Anyhow, ciao. Stay happy, stay connected, stay involved. Be safe and be healthy.

Keep on storming the castle. Pray for Peace.

Dirk

So, it was a short night, and both a busy day and busy weekend lies ahead. Hence a slightly more criptic Ramblings. It was a hot week and after yesterday’s rain its quite a bit cooler. So, let’s get started!

Paragraph of the week:

“America is in a similar position to where it was in 1861, 1929, 1941, and 1968—only perhaps worse, given in all those cases, there was at least a president and Congress that identified and reacted to the crisis, whereas today our elected government is what caused the crisis.…” ~ Victor Davis Hanson, historian

To add a little gravitas to Dr. Hanson’s uttering, here are some ‘creds’. First, he’s a farmer. He received his B.A. with highest honors in classics and general college honors, from Cowell College, at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His PhD is in classics is from Stanford University.

Then to round out his background, here are a few of his ‘secondary’ bits; visiting Shifron Professor of Military History at the US Naval Academy. Visiting Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine University. Presented the Manhattan’s Institute’s Wriston Lecture. Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution; his focus is in classics and military history.

So, when Dr. Hanson puts ‘pen to paper’ we just might want to pay a little attention!

Frabjous – adjective – delightful, joyous.
The night before last the young ladies of the family, Dinah and Vaioleti, went to bed full of frabjous expectancy. Dinah left yesterday for a regatta this weekend held in southern Tennessee. Two weeks ago, her 8-man boat got Silver in the standard 2,000 meter race and her 4-man boat got Gold at that same regional regatta.

Vai in ‘mucho’ anticipation of the school play put on last night, A Night of One Acts, which I went to – and was glad I did. Vai was part of the Crew.

A major difference is that since 2009 Clark Montesori High School has put on these plays under the name of EPIC Productions as a totally run by students event.

This means that students choose the plays, procure them, cast them, and the plays are then performed by, produced by, and directed by the students without teacher involvement.

The Plays — Four of them, ranged from hilarious, almost slapstick – A Tale of Two Balconies (Off the Wall Plays) which juxtaposed a Shakespearean Romeo and Juliet and a modern day R & J couple on the same stage to the more intense. In Romeo and Juliet both couples were ‘star-crossed’ and of course there came the disastrous ending.

One of the other plays, “A Slippery Slope” (Blue Moon Plays) was cutting edge and explored a current look at human sexuality. The setting was a science classroom in a conservative Christian Middle School. Two students had to give a report on the nesting behaviors of the same bird, the Albatross, but each gave with a different take. Pretty powerful dialogue, insights, and right vs wrong discussions.

Results: The 5K – The Matt’s 5K Pursuit, had me feeling pretty good about my effort. In my age category (walkers 60 – 99) we had 57 ‘chipped’ walkers and as the ‘elder’ of that category, I came in 9th overall.

Weather was great. I even got another walker (the runners were probably finishing by then) to take my picture pointing at my parents’ grave as we passed it.

The whole event (approaching somewhere between 4,500 & 5,000 people) couldn’t have gone better.

The Foundation which receives the profits works with regional Police agencies and their K9 units – 100 dogs placed and over the years $1-million raised which includes having temperature sensing and reaction devices in K9 cruisers. In appreciation 50 or so dogs and handlers were present and an exciting demonstration was put on.

As a bonus, for that morning I was probably at the very safest place in town.

Link to a short video from the start of the 5K:  IMG_0141

Happenings – This shortened Rambling is because soon I’ll be assisting with the logistics of Adrianne and Tevita’s move to their new home. Currently our truck is parked out front to keep space for the moving truck.

Tomorrow evening it’ll be a nice dinner to celebrate both Viliami and Jason’s Birthdays.

Fin –

• What is it with the middle of April as a period of disasters. April 15, 1865 President Lincoln was assassinated. April 18, 1906 was the the massive San Francisco Earthquake. April 15, 1912 is when the unsinkable Titanic floundered on her maiden voyage. April 19, 1993 was the Federal Bureau, the ATF, raided the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, TX. After a lengthy siege it escalated and a massive fire broke out resulting in the deaths of 76 people, including children. The Oklahoma City bombing (April 19, 1995). Not to forget the (April 20, 199) Columbine High School shooting, the Virginia Tech shooting (April 16, 2007), and the Boston Marathon bombing (April 15, 2013).

• Even the Notre Dame Cathedral fire (in Paris) occurred in mid-April April 15, 2019).

• Tax Day was this past week; remember that it was Cincinnati’s own, President William H Taft, who during his single term of office introduced a “TEMPORARY” national Income Tax in 1913. The original tax had a base rate of 1 percent with a first $3,000 exemption. This meant that fewer than 2% of the population had to pay. Where exactly is the difference between Joe Average today and the serfs of medieval times?  Yup, always trust government!

• On a lighter note, also this time period in 1968 Robert P. McCulloch bought the London Bridge for $2.4 million and had it shipped across the ‘pond’ to reassemble it in Lake Havasu City, Arizona

Ciao. Stay strong, Especially during this mid-April, keep looking over your shoulder. Be safe and be healthy.

Keep on storming the castle. Pray for Peace.

Dirk

All week it’s been stunning weather, sunshine and low eighties. Today it’s a transition day and this evening the rains will start. Tomorrow morning at 9:00AM I will start on my first 5K since my eye ‘thingy’ (and the rains won’t stop till noon).

In the meantime I’ll continue to be outside and smell the flowers. Enjoy this springtime photo of Clinton Springs place du 798, home sweet home taken from the infamous corner of Chaos & Mayhem.

It’s early, no sound in the whole building, very few cars on the road, and a large cup of steaming coffee next to me. It’s a perfect time to be alive!

Round & About the Neighborhood – during springtime is an adventure. Little needs be said, just enjoy the visuals (click to enlarge):

Paragraph of the week:

“Virtue gives birth to tranquility, tranquility to leisure, leisure to disorder, disorder to ruin… and similarly from ruin, order is born, from order virtue, from virtue, glory and good fortune” ~ Niccolò Machiavelli, in his Florentine Histories

Cyclical – Machiavelli was right, as was Plato, and many more after him. History is not a straight-line progression; history is cyclical.

Currently we’re reaping the results of half a century of government organized single parent households often run by a mother who is still a child herself. We’re observing a portion of the cycle where education by many parents and schools and churches are catering to the whims, foibles, and oddities of an upcoming generation.

A portion of the current cyclical fallout is the continued voting into office of ideologues funded by subversive types (those at odds by furthering the values we’ve been built on); think Governors, State and city AGs and DAs, many of them elected and reelected by a population of slackers, loafers, and goldbrickers; each chanting the current mantra of entitlement; “we want it OUR way, we want it FREE.”

This leads to the question of gun violence; why was there virtually not one mass shooting as recent as the 1950s; this at a time when guns were about as readily available as today? Could it be that possibly we need to look at the 45-year span since we’ve paid serious mind to a creeping Mental Health problemcombined with a lack of parenting? Is that what’s changed?

This isn’t just a reaction to today’s world of WOKE-ness and headline grabbing characters named Mulvaney or Lia. Take note that over the years I’ve tapped my ‘toes’ into the past worlds of the Beatnik, the Hippie; yes generations do go through phases.

But this has a difference, more and more, a booked law breaker, be they murderer, robber, thief, a criminal of any type, is back on the street before the cop has finished the required paperwork.

That’s why I love this song by Toby Keith & Willie Nelson where they offer a brilliant solution. Remember the suggestion the song proffers is posted by me, a nearly really old geezer, but it’s one that works really well:

The 5K – has been approved by my surgeon; with the promise of ‘walking only’, no jogging or jog-and-walk. The event is through the grounds of Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum, which even in the rain should be stunning this time of year.

It’s called the Matt’s 5K Pursuit to benefit the Matt Haverkamp Foundation which was set up to both provide animals and secure training for K9 and Rescue/search dogs. To date just over 100 dogs have been provided to our regional and city Police agencies.

The location, Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum was set up as a nonsectarian, nonprofit corporation by a special Act by the Ohio General Assembly back in 1845 and is the 3rd largest cemetery in the nation. Aside from the spectacular lakes and scenery there are two other ‘bits’ on the 5K. First, the route is such that it will pass right by my parents’ grave site (yes, I am planning to give a wave). Then, upon completion, there is scheduled to be an exhibition where some of the dogs will have a chance show off their skills.

See why I had the talk with my surgeon and why the nod of approval was given?

The Bailey – On the 26th FC Cincinnati MLS soccer will face off against Louisville in a run-up to the 2023 US Open Cup. Cincy is currently super HOT and leads the MLS Eastern Conference..

The Bailey portion of the stadium is a 3000 person behind the opposing goal standing only section angled at 34-degrees. All aluminum (for noise), and its where all the foot stomping, drumming, singing, horns, smoke takes place.

Now the exciting part, to experience The Bailey has been a ‘to-do’ for me for quite a while. Tried to drag Marcia along (won’t note her answer but somewhere I heard her use the word; “crazy NOT”). However, Jason was different; he too is excited and will join me.

I forgot to mention that it’s ‘tradition’ for the Bailey crowd to first enjoy a couple of beers at the nearby Samuel Adams brewery, then march ‘en-mass’ to the stadium. The linked short video will show how it all looks.

I am super stoked!

Gordo’s – is by far and away our favorite Pub/Café. It’d been a while since we’d stopped by, and last night was the night.

What struck me that we literally drank ‘suds’ (beer) from our personal histories. Marcia had a ‘Stout’ brewed in Holland, MI while I had a ‘Lager’ brewed in my birth-town of Enschede, a bottle of Grolsch.

Fin –
• Is there any doubt seeing why our nation’s rail system can’t gain proper footing?

• This coming week we’ll celebrate two (not one, but two) Birthday’s. Viliami who can hardly wait to step into his next year. And Jason, who’s now realizing that he’s on a path where he’s quickly chasing me down.

• Eight days ago the world marked the passing of Ben Ferencz at the age of 103. Mr. Ferencz who was both the youngest and last living prosecutor of the Nuremberg trials. He secured convictions against 22 Nazi death squad commanders. A 60-minutes interview from six years ago (when he was 97) showed a Mr. Ferencz swimming, doing push-ups, and working with weights – not bad for someone who barely cleared 5 feet. He led an amazing life. Click here on “60-minutes” to link to the interview.

• Vai demonstrating a beautiful piece of art glass which she created, including the colors embedded in it. What the picture can’t show is that after completing the piece she went back to school, and that shortly after she left her instructor the Police showed up and arrested him for murder. He’s accused of murdering his, then, fiancé a decade ago. Wow!

• Last weekend Dinah rowed her first Regatta of the season. Her 8-man boat finished Silver and her 4-man boat got a Gold. Quite the start kiddo!

• Adrianne and Tevita signed a ream of paper yesterday and now (in partnership with their bank) are now the proud owners of their new home. More busyness in their already busy lives as a move looms near.

Ciao. Stay strong, wouldn’t it be special if everyone took just a few minutes this week to climb a tree? Low hanging branches are OK. Be safe and be healthy.

Keep on storming the castle. Pray for Peace.

Dirk

What is it with my ‘body clock’? Yesterday was a busy and long day running well into the late evening. The plan I had was to just sleep in and get started on The Ramblings at the ‘whenever-I-wake’ hour.

4:05 in the AM and I was ready to get started. No other day of the week would I fall into that kind of crazy trap, but this being Saturday I had little choice.

Now, a bit of writing, then some coffee, then a bit more of that; and so it goes.

In the meantime, wishing you an Easter celebration that moves you well beyond the banal commerciality of chocolate Easter-bunnies. And to all, a great Passover remembrance over this weekend too.

Easter 2023 occurrence – Dr. Sheldon Roth, M.D., Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, author of “Psychologically Sound: The Mind of Donald J. Trump.”

During this time of Easter and Passover Dr. Roth provides more insight than the yokels in the New York DA’s office ever realized with the timing their persecution of Trump

The list of persecution attempts:

• Operation Crossfire Hurricane
• Mueller Probe
• Impeachment 1
• Impeachment 2
• January 6th Committee
• Mar a Lago Raid
• Manhattan DA Indictment

As Trump was hauled in front of a very biased and weak AG during Easter/Passover week it reminded Dr. Roth of another persecuted individual, Jesus Christ. Jesus, charged and who was hauled in front of a weak and biased Roman judiciary. Jesus tried on charges to ensure a conviction 2,000 years ago. Now here is Trump on trumped (pun) up and cobbled together charges in 2023. Both, with little to no possible outcome of anything resembling fairness.

Dr. Roth goes a step further addressing our Jewish family and friends with the botched timing of Trump’s arraignment, Passover. Passover as you might remember commemorates the story of the Israelites’; escape from slavery from Egypt. Their leader was Moses – also a persecuted character.

However you think of Trump, these legal fiends in their ignorance and awkward timing, bringing charges during Easter and Passover week have created much empathy for Trump. By virtue of the season, they have established sympathy for Trump even if nothing more than subconsciously.

Now that they’ve made their move they can’t erase that. As early polling data shows, Dr. Roth was probably correct.

Paragraph of the week:

”(I) compare our election choices (of late) to “Which disease would you rather have?” much to the dismay of certain readers. I’ve long thought we could do better when it comes to the person who holds the loftiest office in the United States….But indicting a former president (any former president) on ridiculous charges to keep him out of the next race is a bridge too far.” ~ Daisy Luther writing an article under the Headline: If Political Prosecution Can Happen to Trump, It Can Happen to Any of Us – April 6, 2023

Tiny Us – We [at least the media and by default us] love to ruminate on and on, on ‘tempest in a teapot’ issues. Then bounce from one of those to the next; be they real or invented. By the hour it’s jumping from the drivel in NY, then in the next breath the botox overkill on some starlet, as so it goes, day in and day out. Week in, and week out.

To get you to think on just how pitiful all the nonsense we ‘stew’ over is in the grand scope of things, I’d like to introduce Dr. Brian Cox to you. Dr. Brian Cox CBE FRS, professor of particle physics School of Physics and Astronomy at the
University of Manchester.

In the next short minute he’ll detail to us just how both ‘significant’ and ‘insignificant’ we are. Have a quick listen:

Our Poet – Vaioleti is one of those kids who is happily immersed in High School life and all its activities. One of those ‘extras’ is her involvement in ‘Slam’ poetry. Last night she represented her school in the city-wide finals held at our Memorial Hall.

’Slam Poetry’, “a form of performance poetry that combines the elements of performance, writing, competition, and audience participation. It is performed at events called poetry slams, or simply slams. The name slam came from how the audience has the power to praise or, sometimes, destroy a poem and from the high-energy performance style of the poets— Encyclopedia Britannica.

Vai placed well in the top tier. Loved how she and everyone else did and had a blast. We, friends, parents and grandparent loved what all these kids did. We hooted and hollered, sometimes appropriately and sometimes not. And had a blast!

I should point out that I bought her a bouquet of flowers when I stopped by Trader Joe’s. The checkout clerk, making small talk, asked if it was going to be an active weekend. I mentioned that I was heading to watch my granddaughter at a Poetry Performance later in the day.

His reply? “Trader Joe’s would like her to have this bouquet as our gift!” Now how cool is that. It’s marketing genius at the max to empower the frontline people to make quality decisions. Hooray for Traders!

Walking – I am back to walking and exercising now that the ‘gas bubble’ has cleared my eye (held a tiny ceremony cutting my medical alert bracelet off).

It’s great being round and about. Springtime on the campus of Xavier University is a time I am glad I didn’t miss – both, seeing and walking.

Now that life is back to normal I will be walking a 5k (no mixed jogging/walking yet) later this coming week at the Matt’s 5K Pursuit. Monies raised will go to deceased police officer Matt Haverkamp’s foundation for the procurement and training of rescue and K9 dogs; over 100 dogs have been funded so to date. The event will be held throughout Spring Grove cemetery and Arboretum – this time of the year with shrubs and flowers in full bloom the place is stunning.

As an aside, our part of the 5K route through Spring Grove goes directly past my parents’ grave site. I’ll wave!

Fin –
• This front yard sign spotted on a walk earlier this week had me puzzled.

• Finally the little pin converter arrived. Up to that time I had never realized just how good an experience listening is as when using Studio quality headphones. Brilliant!

• Today in 1979 the final episode of All in the Family aired. This hugely successful comedy sitcom dealing with topics of sex, bigotry, race and gender could never be made/aired today, and that is beyond quite sad.

• When someone who doesn’t drink tea does you a favor. Marcia came home with two boxes of herbal tea for my afternoon refresher moment. Lovely. One small detail; we do NOT have a Keurig coffee/tea maker.

Ciao. Stay strong, ever stay focused on that which is important and that what is right. As I said last week, keep moving keep active. Be safe and be healthy.

Keep on storming the castle. Pray for Peace.

Dirk

Somebody paid somebody something serious to insert a lovely day into the mix. Thursday I took Vili and Vi to the Reds Opening Day parade – and it was a glorious day. Then yesterday back to a ‘good-for-nothing’ day; nothing for either spring or winter aficionados – even the rain was nothing to relish. After a ‘supposed’ night of more ‘heavy’ weather, today we’re now promised that the heavier stuff will actually pour in shortly.

But for now, today it’s a new day and a new beginning, a look into our future. So, let’s kick it off with a solid mug of coffee. Are you ready?

An Anniversary – Today is the 23rd Anniversary of Kirstin’s and Vince’s wedding. I still reflect on a very happy day when a substantially ‘heftier’ (i.e. thick-bodied) me walked our eldest down a grassy aisle.

I also remember the differences between families. Over dinner, what I thought was a lovely time of bonding with my brothers, a time of ‘sharing the love’ was by another segment of the extended family viewed as just an all and out ‘food-fight.’

And later on that evening, the hotel security showing up at poolside was a bit of overkill.

Paragraph of the week:

“What is coming into being is a new form of government and social organization that is as different from mid-twentieth century liberal democracy as the early American republic was from the British monarchism that it grew out of…..the war against disinformation can be expressed in a single claim, it is this: “You cannot be trusted with your own mind.””?” – by: Jacob Siegel—[senior editor of News and The Scroll, Tablet’s daily afternoon news digest];

Both the highlighted article and the magazine link directly to each distinct site.

You should know that the article the above was quoted from should be a Must Read for every thinking person. Also, that at 13,000 words it is not for the faint of heart.

First Pitch – Professional Baseball got its start 159 years ago right here in our little town (1866) as the ‘Resolutes’ and quickly changed to the ‘Redlegs’ and now just as the ‘Cincinnati Reds’. Early on the game was pitched underhand and without gloves. Aaargh, tough times!

Anyway, it means that the day the first pitch of the season is tossed is an informal city-wide holiday. Somewhere in the fogs of history a parade starting at Findlay Market was begun. As mentioned, Thursday I took Vili and Vi to watch all 156 parade segments float on by. This was followed by a late lunch at ‘Taste of Belgium’ (Vili chose a very late Breakfast while I had some Goetta Hash). In life, some things are just too important to miss (even for those who like the sport but aren’t aficionados).

Enjoy Opening Day through pictures. The first one was taken by one of the news groups’ drones.

We had heard that as the National Anthem concluded a fly-over of F16 fighter planes would happen. I got excited and somehow imparted that excitement to others. For 15-minutes we parked ourselves in front of our building waiting to spot the things zip on by. We thought that maybe we heard them, clear skies, but nary a F16 was sighted.

To help you get into the mood for the next piece this bit of music is background to those paragraphs. Enjoy:

It’s a Party – We’re lucky that right across the River in Newport, KY is a place called The Party Source. It’s touted as being the largest, 100% employee owned, beverage alcohol store in the nation. Throwing a party, any kind of a party, and they can furnish ‘A’ to ‘Z’.

Yesterday they celebrated their 30th year in business; tastings, sales, a band, and all around good time. To all of this Marcia and I can attest. The two of us moseying around with the rest of the crowd made me think we were steering bumper cars.

And yes, we had a fine time – accidentally timed so that we were on the road heading home right as a lightning rain storm moved in.

Passing by — the ‘Corner of Chaos & Mayhem’we see busses rounding by. At some point I began to take note just how many are festooned with the white toothed (some smiling others stern) faces of the leadership of the personal injury industry, aka ‘slip-‘n-slide lawyers. One is even pictured cross armed sporting oversized boxing gloves (he’ll do ‘battle’ for you).

All this provided the: Phrase of the Week: “jury duty, ……….. more akin to a community service sentence than a Jeffersonian rite of citizenship. ” – RT Restoring Truth.

Fin –
• Brother Art will celebrate an ‘O’ trailing birthday number (much behind mine) in a couple of days. Happy day guy.

• Sticking with the birthday theme, a mere few days later we’ll be celebrating Dia and Neanners’ birthdays. Enjoy your special day ladies.

• My new batch of homemade sauerkraut has already had a place of honor on my dinner plate (though it seems like I am the only one eating the stuff).

• This weekend 42 years ago President Ronald Reagan was shot.

• On April 1, 1700, English pranksters begin popularizing the annual tradition of April Fools’ Day by playing practical jokes on each other.

Happy All Fools Day

“Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the New Year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes.”

“These pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as ‘poisson d’avril’ (April fish), said to symbolize a young, “easily hooked” fish and a gullible person.”

Ciao. Stay strong, ever stay the lighthearted prankster, keep moving, keep active. Be safe and be healthy.

Keep on storming the castle. Pray for Peace.

Dirk

Sleeping with rain hitting the windows isn’t all bad; in fact it’s pretty good. Outside at the corner of Chaos & Mayhem it’s about as quiet as I’ve ever seen. That too is good; although a bit forbidding too.

So let’s get going and change our focus.

Phrase of the week: “People, what the f**k happened?” – frank-talking, half-Irish leader of the Dutch FarmerCitizenMovement (BBB) party , Caroline van der Plas, at her victory speech last Wednesday. The BBB was formed just three years ago and had jumped to first place in the Dutch Provincial elections. The European Union and their extremist edicts should be concerned.

Wednesday saw me wandering the neighborhood in shorts. Yesterday, actually starting Thursday, the hoodie was back on and the umbrella raised. Now the weather ‘gurus’ predict that later today when the numbers are released our big Muddy’, the Ohio River, will have risen 14’ and the three local feeder rivers 20’. This includes the Licking River where Dinah practices her rowing almost daily. Let the flooding begin.

Then later this morning wind gusts hitting 55mph will roar through. It’ll be a fun weekend, maybe even exciting.

Anyway, of greater import, it was just announced that soon Christian Moerlein beer will be back in the stores; that’s very good! Christian Moerlein beer has been around for over 150 years using centuries old German recipes and methods.

But, in the meantime I’ll slurp my hot morning coffee loaded with a dollop of Irish Cream. Life is good.

CCJO meets Gospel – was the concert I wrote about earlier. Last Sunday we experienced everything we had hoped for; great music, wonderful song, and a powerful presentation. It truly was a stunning afternoon. I know that some of you have seen a bit of video I captured. In case you haven’t seen, enjoy the Jazz orchestra and choir’s version of Aretha Franklin’s Amazing Grace.

Bailout? – As I’ve read; “if it looks like a Bailout, if it walks like a Bailout, it probably is a Bailout.”

When Fed Chair Yellen says that; “Uninsured investors will be made whole in that Silicon Valley Bank (SVG)” That means many small banks will end up paying and guess who those extra fees get passed on to? Could it possibly be you and me? Sure sounds like a ‘bailout’.

Have we ever been lied to? Nah, when have we ever been lied to? Surely not in regards to border security, not when giving word that not a single person wanting out would be left behind in Afghanistan, not in a single ‘one-for-all justice system’. I even trusted the sincerity of the “three weeks to flatten the curve.” Wanna talk energy security? Nah, all is fine, all is good!

And so it goes. The latest being ‘no bailout’ Janet Yellen Dropping a bombshell on the Silicon Valley Bank Bailout Scandal with her: “the Fed Can’t ‘Discriminate’ Against Chinese Investors.”

Word of the day: schtum as in ”Dinner conversation between the Trudeaus and the Biden’s was a classic schtum, leaving the other collected guests in utter confusion”; i.e. to not say something about something.

Bless the Mothers – We’re really in a ‘betwixt & between’ period – in more ways than one. In the UK they held Mother’s Day a week or so ago (March 19). Our US Mother’s Day won’t be till May 14th. However, counting the barrage of jewelry ads, primarily for diamonds, used Rolex watches, and fancy colognes, it’s got to be a massive event.

Growing up I remember little about the diamonds and Rolex stuff, just some warm and fuzzy ‘Mother’s’ songs on the radio. In case you’ve forgotten, especially the period from WWII through the 1950s, think of names like; Eddy Arnold, Allan Sherman, Don McLean, the Carter Family, or even Abba.

However, we now live in ‘fluid’ times and the whole concept of a Mother’s Day is under scrutiny. Interesting names such as “gestational parent” and “chestfeeding” are making an exciting entrance into the vocabulary.

Hence I am bridging the gap with a piece from the 1970-80s. Enjoy Pink Floyd doing Mother from their album The Wall:

Cincinnati Food Groups —
I know, I know, there is a large world of ‘Tofu and salad’ lovers out there. At times I too enjoy Tofu. Nevertheless, here in the ‘Nati we have our own list of ‘Faves’ and ‘tofu’ is not on the list. I thought I’d share:

1. Montgomery Ribs ~ the Ted Gregory family
2. Ruby’s Steak Houses/Precinct ~ Jeff Ruby
3. LaRosa’s Pizza ~ Buddy LaRosa
4. Skyline Chili ~ Nicholas Lambrinides and family
5. Jean-Robert de Cavel [RIP Dec. 2022]~ set up his own group of French restaurants (was ‘chef de cuisine’ at The Maisonette – Mobil 5 star rating). I also have to point out that Jean-Robert was the proud owner/driver of a Deux Chevaux.
6. Then for dessert what about: Graeters Ice Cream ~ Louis Charles Graeter

STEM – Had our Vili involved. He and a few other students from his school, since the New Year, were invited to spend one afternoon a week  learning about 3d printing, and modeling design software.

They had to think of a project, plan it, design it, and then print it. Yesterday morning, on the University of Cincinnati campus a couple of hundred student – of all grades, plus a few hard core users such as people from UC Children’s Hospital, got together to demonstrate their work. Surely such a great opportunity was one I wasn’t going to miss.

Vili’s piece was a bookmarker. Not just any bookmark, but one which pointed to the last page and the  last sentence read. How cool is that!

Nature at work – Just so that you don’t ‘hang your hat’ on that tired bit of ‘man made climate change’ gobbly-goog department; remember that the climate has been changing naturally each and every day since eternity. In light of that, here are the two events for this week (quoting Business Insider), please make note:

1. “The sun is getting more active than it has for a decade. Reaching it’s Maximus — and it could lead to power outages, grounded flights, and stunning auroras.”

2. “An asteroid nearly the size of a skyscraper will whiz between the Earth and the moon sometime later today in a once-in-a-decade event. The newly discovered space rock, named 2023 DZ2 could look like a “slow-moving star.””

Fin –

Liberal Democrat, attorney/professor Alan Dershowitz eviscerated NY DA Bragg’s potential Trump indictment as a “Mickey Mouse event”.

A head of cabbage, slivered carrots, some ginger, and a sprinkling of fennel equals? Answer; the 2nd batch of my homemade sauerkraut. Batch No. 1 flew out of the frig.

Last weekend Marcia looked over her shoulder, there, about 8 feet from the window was a group of 5 deer. Leisurly as you please they slowly walked by. Then, looking both ways, crossed the street and disappeared between the houses. We live in the core of a decent sized city and see more deer here as we do in the North Woods in Canada.

In case you want to know, with Dr. approval I have re-joined my twice weekly Zoom exercise group with my brothers and family (no overhead stuff especially with weights). Also, back to daily walking – easy pace 3 to 5 miles. And, I have signed up for a 5k in mid-April; Matt’s 5k Pursuit.

Ciao. Stay strong, never stop learning, never stop moving. Be safe and be healthy.

Keep on storming the castle. Pray for Peace.

Dirk

The first mug of Dunkin’ coffee, with that a very happy Saturday morning to everyone. We ran out of Tim Hortons and so did Costco – not a bad changeover at all.

Although, at this end, we’re all still smarting from last weekend’s time shift – when will that nonsense end?

Now that Spring is here the 1st ¼ of the year passed successfully, even after my eye blowout and surgery. I’m almost back to normal and started the Zoom exercise program with my brothers and Jolene – just no overhead stuff with weights. That and back to walking, It all feels right!

With Spring now here we’ve begun the planning process for the opening of Northern Comfort at the lake. Like everything else, its one step at a time and each step has to be decided on, practiced, and perfected. First on the list is the proper way to exit the ‘Nati.

Phrase of the week; “on the lam”. This because it seems that in our area not a day went by where we weren’t apprised of the fact that one ‘perp’ after another was “on the lam”.

2CV – with the change of seasons, its time to break out “the Duck”, our little Deux Chevaux – 2CV, roll the top down, and grab a little sunshine.

For any new readers, here is the history of ‘the Duck’ in about a minute.

Enjoy – Karambolage:

Dora – aka “Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area”. The ‘Nati loves to celebrate and St. Patrick’s Day nears the top. Overnight most all pubs became green-beer havens!

On the riverfront in their Dora area all could participate in the shenanigans by taking part in the State’s shortest St. Patrick’s Day race. Participants ran 0.1 miles while holding a beer (any beer would do, Guinness gave you a yard or so head start). Before the race, people celebrated with Ohio’s shortest St. Patrick’s Day parade – 100 yards and carrying multiple beers (green was encouraged).

Propaganda – Lord Arthur Ponsonby was a British diplomat and politician (1871–1946). He was a member of the House of Lords. Being a keen and cagey fellow he pinpointed 10 rules of propaganda. Wherever around the world we look at past and current despots, the rules apply.

Springing forth to here, look at how disagreement to edicts and then how the disagreement is addressed in media and on microphones in the West. Do Ponsonby’s rules apply here too? Think of the many Covid edicts, our Ukraine involvement, Social Media constant spin, or even the handling of the Freedom Convoy in Canada; all require we give them careful thought.

These are Ponsonby’s ten rules:

1. 1. We don’t want war, we are only defending ourselves.
   2. The other guy is solely responsible for this war.
   3. Our adversary’s leader is evil and looks evil.
   4. We are defending a noble purpose, not special interest.
   5. The enemy is purposefully causing atrocities; we only commit mistakes.
   6. The enemy is using unlawful weapons
   7. We have very little losses, the enemy is losing big.
   8. Intellectuals and artists support our cause.
   9. Our cause is sacred.
   10. Those who doublt our propaganda are traitors.

Dutch politics – The activities currently seen in the Netherlands came about because the European Union in collaboration with the Dutch politicians have been pushing (forcing) rules the farmers couldn’t possibly meet. And, where the proposal was to mandate centuries old family farms (businesses) be sold to the government. This quickly brought about a, sometimes ugly, uproar.

This past week that nation had Provincial elections. A startup party (2019), the
Farmer Citizen Movement (BBB) or Farmers Party in the Netherlands from went from zero members in the Senate to now the majority – my observation is that sanity prevailed!

Were Ponsonby’s rules in play here? Will the farms stay?

Fin –
• Brother Pieter and I managed a quick get-together for lunch in Louisville, KY. A really fun time in a lovely (100+ varieties of Bourbon) pub restaurant.

• Of our local College teams only one, Xavier, is still on track towards the peak of basketball’s March Madness. Marcia, she being the College Varsity player of the sport, can hardly stand it and spends half the night scouring the radio dial seeking one game after another on radio. I think she’s hoping to catch another upset.

• Tomorrow we’re off to join our Contemporary Jazz Orchestra with about as much anticipation as possible; CCJO Meets Gospel: Amazing Grace. Hallelujah!

Ciao. Stay strong, be observant, and question all. Stay safe and healthy.

Keep on storming the castle. Pray for Peace.

Dirk