Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, August 23
through
Saturday, August 29
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It’s Saturday, August 29, 2020
Welcome to the 869th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Hurricane Laura - August 26, 2020
NOAA - https://console.cloud.google.com/storage/browser/_details/gcp-public-data-goes-16
Hurricane Laura on August 26, 2020 in Gulf of Mexico.
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2.0 Commentary
The happy news: positivity testing in Massachusetts dropped to 1%.
When we drop to .9%, pop open a celebratory bottle.
I love eggplant.
Have had mixed results preparing it.
On Thursday morning on television I saw a woman broil a whole eggplant,
collapsing the vegetable within itself.
The skin easy to peel away from the meat of the eggplant.
I tried it: opulent; creamy; delicious.
I converted it to baba ghanoush.
Am going to make it again, this time a la parmigiana.
I’ll share the recipe of course.
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3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
Some initial thoughts on accommodations.
To begin, the countryside offerings are all reasonable.
For the car trip destinations, those not in Florence, we may choose accommodations based entirely on comfort: luxuriousness, proximity to dinner.
In Florence, we will choose first on centrality, then on price, and finally on comfort.
We will share rooms.
Can we fit three in a room?
Probably not smart: too many variables.
The choice of rooms must consider one or more of us unable to get to sleep.
Where does that sleep-deprived traveler work his/her computer?
Or read?
Without disturbing roommate.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
However (political parties) may now and then answer popular ends,
they are likely in the course of time and things,
to become potent engines, by which
cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be
enabled to subvert the power of the people and to
usurp for themselves the reins of government,
destroying afterwards the very engines which have
lifted them to unjust dominion.
~George Washington
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5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
Two notes describing wonderful trips to Italy, one to the Amalfi Coast, the other to Rome.
Wonderful food, natural beauty, cheerfulness.
Why did I pick Tuscany?
Blog Meister responds: So many people in the world, each with a unique set of parameters delineating his perfect trip. Tuscany is my own: the art, restaurants, countryside, Florence. That’s all. Not better choices than others make, but suits me well.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Thursday night Kat gone back to NYC.
Cousin Lauren visits.
We share spare ribs, big sale on them, and I try my hand at baba ghanoush as a vegetable.
It was delicious.
So were the ribs, with a gochujang paste.
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7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
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Hurricane Laura is currently a weakening tropical depression
moving through Arkansas that recently tied the
record for the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana
as measured by maximum sustained winds,
along with the 1856 Last Island hurricane.
Laura is the thirteenth tropical cyclone,
the twelfth named storm,
the fourth hurricane, and
the first major hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.
The hurricane originated from a large tropical wave that moved off the West African coast on
August 16 and became a tropical depression on
August 20. It intensified into a tropical storm
a day later, becoming the
earliest twelfth named storm on record in the North Atlantic basin, forming
eight days earlier than 1995's Hurricane Luis.
Laura first
hit the Lesser Antilles and
brushed Puerto Rico as a tropical storm, before it
moved across the island of Hispaniola.
The storm killed
21 people in Haiti and
four in the Dominican Republic.
The storm later moved across the length of Cuba, prompting
tropical storm warnings and the
evacuation of more than 260,000 people in the latter country.
The outer rainbands extended into the
Florida Keys and South Florida. Laura moved across the
Gulf of Mexico, strengthening slowly at first, before a period of rapid deepening on August 26.
That day, Laura became a
major hurricane, and later attained
peak winds of 150 mph (240 km/h), making it a strong
Category 4 hurricane.
Early on August 27, Laura made landfall near peak intensity on
Cameron, Louisiana.
Hurricane Laura made the tenth-strongest U.S. hurricane landfall on record.
Seven people in the U.S. died, and it inflicted
significant damage to southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas.
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It’s Friday, August 28, 2020
Welcome to the 868th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Villa Cornaro, Andrea Palladio
(begun 1553) combined rustic living and an imposing space for formal entertaining
Hans A. Rosbach - Own work
Villa Cornaro at Piombino Dese by Andrea Palladio
Permission details
Own work, copyleft: Multi-license with GFDL and Creative Commons CC-BY-SA-2.5 and older versions (2.0 and 1.0)
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2.0 Commentary
Saturday night I presented a brief urging the formation of a committee to
bronze and install a memorial to Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti as a
reminder that
social injustice is not confined to black people,
to people of color.
Social injustice pervades American society and
must be fought wherever it is found.
The upshot of the event was that on September 1
I will host a dinner with four prominent social activists
to set an agenda for the process.
Doesn’t seeing that policeman shoot his victim
at point blank range,
seven times,
infuriate you?
Getting involved in a tangible,
effort with a single, simply defined purpose is a
good way to express your anger.
With a durable result.
Email me at domcapossela@hotmail.com and
I’ll blend you into the effort.
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3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
Am investigating whether we’ll have reasonable access to
any works designed by Andrea Palladio in our trip to Tuscany?
He was Venetian and perhaps something in Padua?
I’ll look.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
Everyone may not be good,
but there's always something good in everyone.
Never judge anyone shortly because
every saint has a past and
every sinner has a future.
~Oscar Wilde
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5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
A flurry of communications from the Sacco and Vanzetti crew regrading our first meeting of five.
Blog Meister responds: We talked about the guest list, the agenda, and the menu. Oh! And directions.
Good stuff, not earth-shaking.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Wednesday night my daughter Kat, her boyfriend Will, and I ate Chicken Cacciatore,
a very easy dish if the butcher cuts the chicken up for you.
Which he did.
And the sauce was pretty darn good.
Fitting for their last meal here.
Thursday they are off to NYC where they live.
School starts soon for them.
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7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
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Palladio is known as one of the most influential architects in Western architecture.
His architectural works have "been valued for centuries as the quintessence of High Renaissance calm and harmony".
The basic elements of Italian Renaissance architecture, including Doric columns, lintels, cornices, loggias, pediments and domes had already been used in the 15th century or earlier, before Palladio.
They had been skilfully brought together by Brunelleschi in the Pazzi Chapel (1420) and the
Medici-Riccardi Palace (1444–1449).
At the beginning of the High Renaissance in the early 16th century,
Bramante used these elements together in the Tempietto in Rome (1502),
which combined a dome and a central plan based on a Greek Cross.
The architect Baldassare Peruzzi had introduced the first Renaissance suburban villas, based on a Roman model and surrounded by gardens.
The Farnese Palace in Rome (1530–1580) by Sangallo introduced a new kind of
Renaissance palace, with monumental blocks, ornate cornices, lateral wings and multiple stairways. Michelangelo had made a plan for a central dome at Saint Peter's Basilica and
added a new loggia to the facade of the Farnese Palace.
All of these plans already existed before Palladio; his contribution was to refine, simplify, and use them in innovative ways.
The style of Palladio employed a classical repertoire of elements in new ways.
He clearly expressed the function of each part of the building by its form,
particularly elevating giving precedence to the piano nobile, the ceremonial floor,
of his villas and palaces.
As much as possible he simplified the forms, as he did at Villa Capra "La Rotonda",
surrounding a circular dome and interior with perfectly square facades, and
placing the building pedestal to be more visible and more dramatic.
Palladio was inspired by classical Roman architecture, but he did not slavishly imitate it.
He chose elements and assembled them in innovative ways
appropriate to the site and function of the building.
His buildings were very often placed on pedestals, raise them up and make them more visible, and so
they could offer a view.
The villas very often had loggias,
covered arcades or walkways on the outside of upper levels, which gave a
view of the scenery or city below, and also gave
variety to the facade.
When he designed his rustic villas and suburban villas,
he paid particular attention to the site,
integrating them as much as possible into nature, either by sites on hilltops or looking out at gardens or rivers.
The Sarlian window, or Venetian window,
also known as a Palladian window,
was another common feature of his style,
which he used both for windows and the arches of the loggias of his buildings.
It consists of an arched window
flanked by two smaller square windows,
divided by two columns or pilasters and often
topped by a small entablature and by a small circular window or hole, called an oculus.
These particular features originally appeared in the triumphal arches of Rome, and had been used in the earlier Renaissance by Bramante,
but Palladio used them in novel ways, particularly in the
facade of the Basilica Palladiana and in the
Villa Pojana.
They also became a common feature of later Palladian buildings in England and elsewhere.
In his later work, particularly
the Palazzo Valmarana and the Palazzo del Capitaniato in Vicenza,
his style became more ornate and more decorative,
with more sculptural decoration on the facade, tending toward Mannerism.
His buildings in this period were examples of the transition beginning to what would become Baroque architecture.
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It’s Thursday, August 27, 2020
Welcome to the 868th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Abbey di San Miniato
One of the most beautiful churches in Italy.
Read in 11.0 Thumbnails
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2.0 Commentary
I will be happy to see the last of the political conventions.
I will be happy when the elections are three days away.
I can stand three days of political bs.
No more than.
On the other hand, I’ve found most movies with a political based theme fun to watch.
Thinking: Advise and Consent; John Travolta’s Primary Colors, and Diana Lane’s The Contender.
And on another hand, isn’t binge watching a great TV series awesome?
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3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
When traveling through France and Italy I spend freely when it comes to food.
I’m penurious when it comes to wine which otherwise can double the cost of a meal.
I focus on buying the local wine.
Local.
The dictionary definition of ‘relating to a particular area or neighborhood, typically exclusively so,’
is not precise enough for this paragraph: one could be in Biondi-Santi hundreds-per-bottle neighborhood
and I certainly do not mean that.
Rather, local, meaning either not fine enough to export or too delicate a constitution to survive the rocking and extra aging in transport.
We’re talking decent wine,
with distinctively local traits,
priced at a bargain.
We quaff it admiring its small town characteristics.
And, after dinner, its hardly noticeable impact on l’addition.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
When you get into a tight place and
everything goes against you,
till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer,
never give up then,
for that is just the place and time that
the tide will turn.
~Benjamin Franklin
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5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
This from Tommie T:
My mouth is watering as I think about the restaurants in Tuscany.
I have NEVER had a bad - or even, mediocre meal- in Italy.
One of the best lunches on my last adventure was
white bean soup with rosemary and prosciutto, local wine and fresh baked bread!
And sharing meals with you would be so much fun as you know wines and how to dine! 🥂
Blog Meister responds: They sure know how to cook!
Of course if your time and circumstances permit, we’d love to have you along!
Find a note about travel and wine in #4.0 above.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Last night my friend Alexa, her husband Milind, and daughter Amisha (she in her twenties) joined me for dinner.
I’ve known Alexa from her infancy, her father (deceased) and I were best friends.
It was a great visit over a meal of vegetable antipasto and baked ravioli casserole.
Nice courses.
But the highlight of the meal was Alexa’s fruit tart.
She took a great deal of care and talent to produce it and it was
well worth her effort.
Totally delicious.
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7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
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11.0 Thumbnail
Abbey di San Miniato
San Miniato al Monte (The Abbey of San Miniato al Monte) is situated at
one of the highest points in the city of Florence, Tuscany.
Many people refer to this building as one of the most beautiful churches in all of Italy.
It is a fine example of Romanesque architecture and is truly, a sight to behold, for all visitors.
The construction on this famed church started early in the 11th century.
The construction took place over an Oratory which had been
constructed by Saint Miniato, himself.
He was the first Christian martyr in Florence,
who became a victim of the persecutions of Emperor Decius.
St Miniato or Minas, was rumored to be an American prince, who had served in the Roman army.
Thought to have betrayed the emperor, Miniato was thrown in the Amphitheatre to be devoured by the panther present there. However, the panther refused to devour Miniato, which led the emperor into giving the order of beheading him. It is a fabled tale which states that Miniato was beheaded in front of the Emperor, but then picked up his head with his own hands, crossed the River Arno, and climbed up the Mons Fiorentinus hill, to his hermitage. He was said to have died in the cave of Monte alle Croci.
Later on, at the very spot, where this evangelizer had passed away, the Oratory and the Church were built. Bishop Ildebrando’s efforts lead to the commencement of the church’s construction in the year 1018, which was completed by 1207. White Carrara and green Prato marble were used in building the façade, which was divided into two orders. Inlaid work using a rhombiform made it possible for these orders to be linked with one another. It was accomplished with such skill and mastery that the artists of the following eras used this idea in many of their works; Leon Battista Alberti used this to construct the base of Palazzo Rucellai.
The artistic intellect shown by the architectural designs is magnificent and breathtaking. The 13th century mosaic of Christ is situated above the upper order. On each side of Christ are the paintings of Madonna and St. Miniato. At the top of the pediment is an eagle, made out of pure copper; it is the Arte di Calimala’s symbol, which was responsible for distributing and administering the wealth of the Benedictine convent.
The facade of Santa Maria Novella was an inspiration derived from the façade of San Miniato. Alberti was so inspired by this façade that he used it, not only in the aforementioned work, but also in building the facades of Santa Croce and Duomo.
When the sunlight hits the outer part of the monument, a brilliant array of light is created which holds a majestic glamour, the likes of which, has not been seen at any other place.
Even the interior has been ingeniously designed to let the light play its magic on the eyes. Every person, who sets foot in this church, gets mesmerized by the scenic beauty it holds.
The interior has been designed with clear cut precision; divided into three naves, the floor in the interior of the church is made of marble. The whole marble floor is decorated with Zodiac symbols from the 11th century. The altar, square pulpit, lectern; all of the Romanesque style sculptures hold such brilliance, that other pieces of art pale in comparison. Giovanni di Gaiole and Francesco di Domenico, are famous for designing and making the pulpit. The eagle of St. John is exceptionally stunning, and the crypt is covered with frescoes of Saints and Prophets. The work was done by Taddeo Gaddi. The Chapel of the Crucifix – designed by the famous architect Michelozzo – is beautiful and refined in essence, placed right in the middle of the aisle.
The Cappella del Cardinale del Portogallo is universally considered “one of the most magnificent funerary monuments of the Italian Renaissance”, which was built in 1473 as a memorial to Cardinal James of Lusitania, who died in Florence in 1459. This chapel was designed by Brunelleschi’s associate, Antonio Manetti, and finished after his death by Antonio Rossellino. The tomb was made by Antonio and Bernardo Rossellino, while the chapel decoration is by Alesso Baldovinetti, Antonio and Piero del Pollaiolo and Luca della Robbia.
The church is a masterpiece of the Renaissance period and contains the remains of St. Minato, which were transferred here, one year after its completion. To visit Tuscany, and miss out the chance to see this place of beauty, would be a huge mistake. It is an illuminating sight and must definitely be visited.
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It’s Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Welcome to the 867th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
The Café de la Paix
at the Boulevard des Capucines
User: (WT-shared) Riggwelter at wts wikivoyage
Café de la Paix, Paris, France.
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2.0 Commentary
Watching the local news.
A yayy! And a boo!
The positive:
the positivity rate of testing for covid-19 infection in
Massachusetts has fallen again,
standing now at 1.1%.
We’re holding .9% to be a point of celebration.
The negative:
the financial woes of the T.
Ridership on the subway is only 20% of normal;
on buses, only 40%.
So the planners huddling.
Regarding the T,
we at the blog
continue to hold to a single, simple truth:
we must not return to the
manic crowding of
trains and buses as in
the days of yore.
For one,
I am sad to see summer slip sliding away.
I have enjoyed working my laptop at
Thinking Cup’s outdoor café on Newbury Street.
I am committed to pre-ordering Microsoft’s soon-to-arrive
Surface Duo.
I use their large screen Studio device at home.
It’s wonderful.
For working split screens, for Zoom meeting, for streaming, for touch screen.
Use their Surface laptop for café work:
loving especially its touch-screen.
Now comes the Microsoft Duo:
a foldable smart phone that, unfolded,
doubles the size of the working surface of the device.
So you get a keyboard the size of your present-day smartphone.
Making it very easy to type text messages.
You get a computer to use in front of a work of art
to call up notes you have on the piece,
without carrying the laptop.
Revolutionary.
Three devices to use for every circumstance.
Neat.
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3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
I spent my trip-planning time on specifying the restaurants that we’ll patronize on the countryside part of the trip.
So much fun.
So revealing and educational.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness;
to an opponent, tolerance;
to a friend, your heart;
to your child, a good example;
to a father, deference;
to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you;
to yourself, respect;
to all others, charity.
~Benjamin Franklin
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5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
This from Ann H: (Yan is a homeless person who is well-loved by the Prudential Center group of friends).
The trip sounds like it is coming together nicely.
Saw Yan again today outside the pru
- she has lost a lot of weight
- her legs look better
xoxo
Ann Heimlicher
Boston Spot-Lite, Inc.
"The Concierge Specialists"
617-247-0001
visit our website at www.bostonspotlite.com
Blog Meister responds: The trip sounds like it is coming together nicely. Saw Yan again today outside the pru - she has lost a lot of weight - her legs look better.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Monday night I had a simple dinner: roasted chicken drumsticks.
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7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
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11.0 Thumbnail
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee
(of various types, e.g. espresso, latte, cappuccino).
Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks such as iced coffee and iced tea;
in continental Europe, cafés serve alcoholic drinks.
A coffeehouse may also serve food such as
light snacks, sandwiches, muffins or pastries.
Coffeehouses range from owner-operated small businesses to
large multinational corporations.
Some coffeehouse chains operate on a franchise business model, with
numerous branches across various countries around the world.
While café may refer to a coffeehouse, the term "café" generally refers to a diner,
British café (colloquially called a "caff"),
"greasy spoon" (a small and inexpensive restaurant),
transport café, teahouse or tea room, or other casual eating and drinking place.
A coffeehouse may share some of the same characteristics of a bar or restaurant, but it is
different from a cafeteria.
Many coffeehouses in the Middle East and in West Asian immigrant districts in the Western world offer shisha (actually called nargile in Levantine Arabic, Greek and Turkish),
flavored tobacco smoked through a hookah.
An espresso bar is a type of coffeehouse that specializes in serving espresso and espresso-based drinks.
From a cultural standpoint,
coffeehouses largely serve as centers of social interaction:
a coffeehouse provides patrons with a place to congregate, talk, read, write, entertain one another, or
pass the time, whether individually or in small groups.
Since the popularization of Wi-Fi, coffeehouses with this capability have also become
places for patrons to access the Internet on their laptops and tablet computers.
A coffeehouse can serve as an informal club for its regular members.
As early as the 1950s Beatnik era and the
1960s folk music scene,
coffeehouses have hosted singer-songwriter performances, typically in the evening.
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It’s Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Welcome to the 866th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Enoteca Pinchiorri, a Guide Michelin three-star restaurant in Florence, Italy.
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2.0 Commentary and 3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
Had an exciting planning day yesterday:
I selected the countryside towns that we’ll be sleeping in or near.
The primary consideration was the location of quality restaurants.
Not counting our stay in Florence (Florence has a plethora of Michelin Guide restaurants) or
the flight over and back, there will only be four.
The first will be Arezzo.
While there are a number of nearby restaurants that hold the fifth and lowest level of Guide Michelin endorsements, there is only one, Da Alighiero, that ascends to the fourth rank, the Bib Gourmand, the rank described by the Michelin Guide as
“Good quality, good value” cooking.
I would describe the fifth level (the entry level into the Michelin Guide) restaurants as
having some of the best Italian food most of us will ever eat,
providing food experiences to be remembered, and
much more accurate than selecting restaurants randomly.
Restaurants singled out for the Bib Gourmand designation, the fourth level, provide memorable meals at amazing prices.
For example, the price range of Da Alighiero is from 25 to 45 euros, making it one of the least expensive restaurants in the area.
Like Arezzo, Assisi has a number of the fifth level and one fourth-level Bib Gourmand: Perbacco-Vini e Cucina.
The price range is an absurdly low 26 euros to 34 euros. We will certainly seek that out.
It isn’t until our third dinner in Italy (our fourth if we include dinner on the airplane), that we are treated to our first starred restaurants.
And that is in the town of San Gimignano, that town boasting 15 Guide Michelin restaurants, among them, three single-star restaurants (Guide Michelin describes its one-star restaurants as ‘high quality cooking worth a stop’) and a single two-star restaurant (Guide Michelin describes its two-star restaurants as ‘excellent cooking, worth a detour’).
The prices of the starred restaurants are amazingly wide-ranging: 55-95 euros for the lowest price, 90 to 170 euros for the most expensive. Note, the most expensive is not the two-star. Note that comfort level usually accounts for the price discrepancies.
Our last non-Florence sleepover will be in Padua, which boasts 18 Guide Michelin listed restaurants, among them, a three-star restaurant (135-225 euros), a two-star restaurant (70-250 euros), and two one-star restaurants, (25-100 euros and 60-115 euros).
Once in Florence, we will choose from among eighteen starred-restaurants. We can stay in any part of the city that we want and still be in walking distance of our dinners.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
The best things in life are unseen,
that’s why we close our eyes when
we kiss, cry, and dream.
~Helen Keller
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5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
We received more communications regarding my Sacco and Vanzetti presentation
to a meeting sponsored by Boston’s Community church.
All positive.
Blog Meister responds: Sweet. Thank you.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Last night we had a high-value restaurant week dinner at Aqua Pazza.
The meal included orate, short ribs of beef, and grilled octopus.
While the food was very good,
the service was outstanding.
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7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
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11.0 Thumbnail
"For decades Pinchiorri has represented luxury and haute cuisine at the highest level in Italy.
The restaurant has a number of dining rooms, including a historic room,
which has an almost museum-like feel.
Highly attentive service from the legendary owners, Annie and Giorgio, and
an excellent menu featuring the best of Tuscan, Italian and international cuisine.
The wine list is renowned across the globe."
The prices for a fixed chef’s dinner range from 180 to 340 euros.
For the food.
Service is included.
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It’s Monday, August 24, 2020
Welcome to the 865th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
German State Police officer in Hamburg
with the rank of Polizeihauptmeister mit Zulage (Police Chief Master with upgraded pay)
Daniel Schwen - Own work
A senior police officer of the Hamburg police on assignment at Hamburg city hall, Germany.
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2.0 Commentary
I think that as a group, we citizens do not show enough respect for the police.
As a group and individually, take it upon ourselves to greet police whenever we pass them.
Last night the Community Church held a memorial meeting remembering the injustice of the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti.
I delivered this presentation:
People,
Anglo-Saxons, Jews, Africans, Irish, Italians
have continuously inhabited Boston’s tiny North End (.36 sq miles)
since its settlement in the 1630s,
putting it among the nation’s oldest continuously inhabited neighborhoods.
Hello, my friends
My name, Dom Capossela.
I’m from Boston,
From the North End,
there born
in 1942,
and raised,
attending the local schools:
St. Anthony’s Grammar and
Christopher Columbus High.
Hundreds of years,
tens of generations
of continuous North End habitation
have produced a bevy of historical moments.
Here are three that, as a North Ender interest me,
all from the 20th century, and yes,
all before I was born.,
In 1918, the Spanish Influenza Pandemic struck and Boston’s school children, devastating the crowded North End,
orphaning so many of them that the city, community and clergy
created the Home for Little Children which, over time, became the Home for Italian Children, dedicated to caring for them.
The following year, 1919,
the Purity Distilling Company's
2.3 million gallon molasses storage tank
explosively burst open,
causing the Great Molasses Flood.
A twenty-five ft wave of molasses flowed down Commercial Street towards the waterfront,
sweeping away everything in its path.
The wave killed 21 people, injured 150, and caused damage worth $100 million in today's money.
In 1920, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti,
Italian immigrants, anarchists,
were arrested for murder.
We North Enders shared so much with them.
They were from Italy, Nicola in fact from Puglia, not far from the roots of most of us North Enders.
They were working class,
They had integrity and dignity
and they were loyal to what they believed.
In a blot on the history of Anglo-Saxons in America,
the ensuing trial
became one of the most flagrant examples of social injustice in the
history of the American judicial system.
proof that
in America,
who you are
is often more important
than justice.
That trial,
perhaps the most famous
in the history of the American judicial system,
remains a blot on that system,
a blot for our enemies and detractors
to point to as an example of failed American justice.
Innocent,
the accused Sacco and Vanzetti came before a blindfolded Lady Justice.
Innocent.
And before a blindfolded Lady Justice
Sacco and Vanzetti were never proven guilty.
Missed by a mile.
In Boston,
throughout America and the American continents,
in every major city in Europe,
throughout Africa, and
all over the rest of the world
starting from the commencement of this caricature of a trial
and continuing well after the pair were executed,
millions of protestors took to the streets screaming for fairness.
And,
starting from the commencement of this caricature a trial
and continuing to this day,
the horror of the vile prejudice unleashed against these Italian men,
they, to the Anglo-Saxon judge, intruders,
culpable because they spoke a heavily-accented English,
held unorthodox beliefs,
that abiding hatred precipitated explosions of outrage from brilliant artists in every medium,
movies,
music,
novels,
plays,
opera,
drawings,
paintings,
sculpture, and
poetry.
Poetry.
Like this stanza from her poem,
Justice Denied in Massachusetts:
Forlorn, forlorn,
Stands the blue hay-rack by the empty mow.
And the petals drop to the ground,
Leaving the tree unfruited.
The sun that warmed our stooping backs and withered the weed
uprooted—
We shall not feel it again.
We shall die in darkness, and be buried in the rain.
Edna Saint Vincent Millay
And why shall not Sacco and Vanzetti ever feel the warm sun on their laboring backs?
They were electrocuted on August 23, 1927.
Killed.
Dead.
Maintaining their innocence to the end;
Maintaining their dignity to the end,
but the end of the process,
their end.
As their unresponsive bodies lay in coffins for two days
in the Langone Funeral Home on Hanover Street in the North End,
twenty thousand people filed past, paying their respects to these men.
Although Boston under martial law against the event, and
although Beacon Hill cordoned off,
two hundred thousand people filled the streets along the way to the cemetery to pay their respects
to these accidental martyrs in the cause of social justice.
Many years later, a different governor, Mike Dukakis, he, perhaps in our audience tonight,
and wouldn’t we like him to be the sitting President of the United States today,
Governor Mike Dukakis issued a proclamation attesting to the lack of a fair trial in the Sacco and Vanzetti case, ending with this exhortation,
“I hereby call upon all the people of Massachusetts to pause in their daily endeavors
to reflect upon these tragic events, and
draw from their historic lessons
the resolve to prevent the forces of intolerance, fear, and hatred
from ever again uniting to overcome the rationality, wisdom, and fairness
to which our legal system aspires.”
So the past.
cries out to the present
to create a memorial to these two victims
as a pointer for those who need direction.
The Community Church and the Boston Public Library each has a plaster sculpture by the famous artist, Gutzon Borglum,
creator of the presidential sculptures in South Dakota,
now the highlight of the Mount Rushmore National Park.
The Gutzon Borglum sculpt displays half-figures of the two men along with Bartolomeo Vanzetti’s words:
"What I wish more than all in this last hour of agony is that our case and our fate may be understood in their real being and serve as a tremendous lesson to the forces of freedom so that our suffering and death will not have been in vain."
The library’s plaster casting was formally accepted by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino,
who was accompanied by Massachusetts Governor A. Paul Cellucci, in 1997
on the 70th anniversary of the executions of Sacco and Vanzetti.
The idea was to cast the plaster into a bronze low-relief sculpture that
would be hung in a public place.
Where does this project stand now?
Adrienne Naylor’s thoroughly brilliant article, Memorializing Sacco and Vanzetti in Boston, covers the history of the sculpture.
But as of this moment, the project needs a jump start.
We need a dynamic group to set an agenda to bring past efforts to fruition.
My name is Dom Capossela
domcapossela@hotmail.com
I am looking forward to joining such a group.
If you have the same sympathies,
Please respond to the efforts of the Community Church.
If you would like to reach me,
domcapossela@hotmail.com
God Bless this meeting and the Community Church under whose auspices we are called to gether.
I love you.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
The best and most beautiful things in the world
cannot be seen or even touched -
they must be felt with the heart.
~Helen Keller
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5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
We received a flurry of supportive emails from friends who watched me
speak on Saturday night.
Blog Meister responds: Thank you.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Last night we enjoyed three dozen $1.00 oysters @ Provisions.
Briny and cold.
Delicious.
Then we returned to apartment for a roast chicken with gochujang sauce/paste which I thinned out with honey and soy sauce.
Also put some in the mashed potatoes, replacing dairy cream with coconut milk.
Perfect for my lactose intolerant daughter and well-received by guests.
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11.0 Thumbnail
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder.
Their lawful powers include arrest and the use of force legitimized by the state via the monopoly on violence.
The term is most commonly associated with the police forces of a sovereign state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility.
Police forces are often defined as being separate from the military and other organizations involved in the defense of the state against foreign aggressors;
however, gendarmerie are military units charged with civil policing.
Police forces are usually public sector services, funded through taxes.
Law enforcement is only part of policing activity.
Policing has included an array of activities in different situations, but the
predominant ones are concerned with the preservation of order.
In some societies, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, these developed within the context of maintaining the class system and the protection of private property.
Police forces have become ubiquitous in modern societies.
Nevertheless, their role can be controversial, as some are involved to varying degrees in corruption, police brutality and the enforcement of authoritarian rule.
A police force may also be referred to as a police department, police service, constabulary, gendarmerie, crime prevention, protective services, law enforcement agency, or civil guard
Members may be referred to as police officers, troopers, sheriffs, constables, rangers, peace officers or civic/civil guards.
Ireland differs from other English-speaking countries by using the Irish language terms Garda (singular) and Gardaí (plural), for both the national police force and its members.
The word "police" is the most universal and similar terms can be seen in many non-English speaking countries.
Numerous slang terms exist for the police.
Many slang terms for police officers are decades or centuries old with lost etymology. One of the oldest, "cop", has largely lost its slang connotations and become a common colloquial term used both by the public and police officers to refer to their profession.
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It’s Sunday, August 23, 2020
Welcome to the 864th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Electric chair at the Florida State Prison
Like the one used ti kill Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti ninety-three years ago to the day.
Photo credit to: Florida Department of Corrections/Doug Smith. - http://www.dc.state.fl.us/secretary/press/1999/elechair.html
Newly-constructed Electric Chair TALLAHASSEE - In response to numerous news media inquiries, the Florida Department of Corrections is providing the attached photograph of the newly-constructed electric chair.
The electric chair is made of oak and was constructed by Corrections Department personnel in 1998.
It was installed at Florida State Prison in Starke earlier this year,
replacing the chair constructed in 1923.
It should be noted that the only aspect of the current electric chair that is new is the wooden structure of the chair itself.
The apparatus that administers the electric current to the condemned prisoner is the same that has been used in recent years.
It is regularly tested to ensure proper functioning.
A high-resolution photograph of the electric chair is also available at the bottom of this page.
Media questions about the electric chair, the execution process, Death Row or the Department of corrections should be directed to the public affairs office at (850) 488-0420.
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2.0 Commentary
Another drop in the positivity rate for corona testing, down to 1.2%
Hooray for that.
And Boston schools are opening fully remotely.
I don’t think calling the next step a ‘hybrid’ accurately describes what the next step would be.
Hybrid implies that it is a model.
What it is actually is simply an intermediate step on the way to normalcy.
Seems petty but it feels more optimistic to me.
On Friday, several of us visited Lexington and Concord and enriched our understanding
of the first battle of the Revolutionary War.
Fun and easily accessible.
And few visitors.
Better for us.
Although we all wished our society were healthier and
we had to search for a parking space.
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3.0 Tuscany, extracting its essence
Pending my presentation on Saturday night, August 22nd,
I’ve postponed more work on the trip.
Tomorrow.
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4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
“The journey of a thousand miles
begins with one step.”
~ Lao Tzu
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5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
Responding to my request, an associate of Microsoft sent me a link to a video
demonstrating what the new Microsoft Surface device, the Microsoft Duo,
It’s a terrific video of a terrific new smartphone-laptop-tablet all-in-one.
Here’s the link:
https://youtu.be/R1CNwBzYqRs
Microsoft Surface Duo | Press Briefing, August 11, 2020
On August 11, 2020 Microsoft Surface hosted a press briefing with Microsoft Chief Product Officer Panos Panay and other product leaders to talk about the new...
youtu.be
Blog Meister responds: This device makes computing accessible on the T or waiting in an office. Pricey @ $1500.00 but life changing.
Thinking, on trip to Tuscany, how sweet to recall my notes on the art without carrying a tablet.
The smartphone-sized Duo makes it so easy.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
We ate the restaurant week menu at Grill 23 on Friday day.
It was very good.
Sad that at 6.30pm on a Friday night at a well-known and well-run steakhouse,
the dining room was only 25% filled.
Our return to normalcy will be hard-fought.
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7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy/political story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
Today we post Chapter 22 in which Dee presents to the world her personal take on Christian mysticism.
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Twitter, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
Here’s the link:
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
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11.0 Thumbnails
Execution by electrocution,
performed using an electric chair,
is a method of execution originating in
(and almost exclusively employed in) the United States in which the
condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and
electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg.
This execution method, conceived in 1881 by a
Buffalo, New York dentist named Alfred P. Southwick, was developed throughout the 1880s as a "humane alternative" to hanging, and first used in 1890.
This execution method has been used in the United States and, for several decades,
in the Philippines.
While death was originally theorized to result from damage to the brain,
it was eventually shown in 1899 that it primarily results from
ventricular fibrillation and eventual cardiac arrest.
Once the person (usually with head and leg shaved) was attached to the chair,
various cycles (changes in voltage and duration) of alternating current would be passed through the individual's body in order to cause fatal damage to the internal organs.
The first, more powerful jolt of electric current is intended to cause immediate unconsciousness, ventricular fibrillation, and eventual cardiac arrest.
The second, less powerful jolt is intended to cause fatal damage to the vital organs.
Although the electric chair has long been a symbol of the death penalty in the United States,
its use is in decline due to the rise of lethal injection, which is widely believed to be a
more humane method of execution.
While some states still maintain electrocution as a legal method of execution,
today it is only maintained as a secondary method that may be chosen over
lethal injection at the request of the prisoner,
except in Tennessee,
where it may be used without input from the prisoner if the drugs for lethal injection are not available.
As of 2014, electrocution is an optional form of execution in the states of
Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, and Virginia,
all of which allow the prisoner to choose lethal injection as an alternative method.
In the state of Kentucky, the electric chair has been retired,
except for those whose capital crimes were committed prior to March 31, 1998, and
who choose electrocution;
inmates who do not choose electrocution and
inmates who committed their crimes after the designated date
are executed by lethal injection.
Electrocution is also authorized in Kentucky in the event that lethal injection is found unconstitutional by a court.
The electric chair is an alternate form of execution approved for potential use in
Arkansas, Mississippi, and Oklahoma if other forms of execution are
found unconstitutional in the state at the time of execution.
On February 8, 2008, the Nebraska Supreme Court determined that execution by electric chair was a "cruel and unusual punishment" under the state's constitution.
This brought executions of this type to an end in Nebraska,
the only remaining state to retain electrocution as its sole method of execution.
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12.0 Diary of the Surrender of a Private Car
Yesterday we used my cousin’s car for our day trip and
for our evening dinner.
In deference to the cost of owning an automobile,
we treated Lauren to dinner last night.
A win-win moment.
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