Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, August 7, 2022
through
Saturday, August 13, 2022
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It’s Saturday, August 13, 2022
Welcome to the 1,535th consecutive daily post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Barbary Pirates
A Sea Fight with Barbary Corsairs by Laureys a Castro, c. 1681
Lorenzo A. Castro - Art UK
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Commentary
Clean-energy industries, where labor shortages are already a problem, will have trouble finding enough trained workers to support Democrats' massive new climate package, Ben Geman writes in Axios Generate.
The package — once finalized by the House and signed by President Biden — will finance more renewable power, clean-energy equipment manufacturing, installation of home heat pumps, efficiency upgrades, electric vehicles, and hydrogen development. 750,000 new jobs, union jobs, mostly, unions with an excellent record of expanding membership rapidly to meet growing demands in one area or another, now, in the clean energy sector. Higher paying jobs; with benefits; security.
Taken as a whole, UMass researchers estimate the President’s soon-to-be-passed Deficit Reduction Bill’s mix of tax credits, grants, and loans — and the private sector capital they enable — will create an average of over 900,000 jobs annually over 10 years.
More equitable taxes on slippery tax-avoiding corporations will more than pay for this, reducing inflation while pumping up the jam.
Federal Reserve take note.
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Reading
Am now entering the notes I took from my book on Japan Customs and Culture. My reading is in Shogun.
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Word of the Day: furo (Japanese)
For definition, see below, immediately after the Short Essay
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Chuckles and Thoughts
All right everyone,
line up alphabetically according to your height.
~Casey Stengel
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
From my daughter Kat:
Daddy, I’m hooked on Extraordinary Attorney Woo!
We went on talking about details that we loved about the series.
Blog meister responds: A father has diminishing opportunities to add to a twenty-something’s life. Delighted to be of help.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
On Thursday night I had a slice of Prime Rib Roast from Abe and Louie’s. Dinner was fine but they did not offer a slice with bone-in. What a drag.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
sun setting on public garden
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Short Essay*
The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. This area was known in Europe as the Barbary Coast, in reference to the Berbers. Their predation extended throughout the Mediterranean, south along West Africa's Atlantic seaboard and into the North Atlantic as far north as Iceland, but they primarily operated in the western Mediterranean. In addition to seizing merchant ships, they engaged in Razzias, raids on European coastal towns and villages, mainly in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, but also in the British Isles, the Netherlands, and Iceland. The main purpose of their attacks was to capture slaves for the Ottoman slave trade as well as the general Arab slavery market in North Africa and the Middle East. Slaves in Barbary could be of many ethnicities, and of many different religions, such as Christian, Jewish, or Muslim.
While such raids had occurred since soon after the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in the 710s, the terms "Barbary pirates" and "Barbary corsairs" are normally applied to the raiders active from the 16th century onwards, when the frequency and range of the slavers' attacks increased. In that period, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli came under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire, either as directly administered provinces or as autonomous dependencies known as the Barbary States. Similar raids were undertaken from Salé (see Salé Rovers) and other ports in Morocco.
Barbary corsairs captured thousands of merchant ships and repeatedly raided coastal towns. As a result, residents abandoned their former villages of long stretches of coast in Spain and Italy. Between 100,000 and 250,000 Iberians were enslaved by these raids.[citation needed]
The raids were such a problem that coastal settlements were seldom undertaken until the 19th century. Between 1580 and 1680 corsairs were said to have captured about 850,000 people as slaves and from 1530 to 1780 as many as 1,250,000 people were enslaved. However, these numbers have been questioned by the historian David Earle. Some of these corsairs were European outcasts and converts (renegade) such as John Ward and Zymen Danseker. Hayreddin Barbarossa and Oruç Reis, Turkish Barbarossa brothers, who took control of Algiers on behalf of the Ottomans in the early 16th century, were also notorious corsairs. The European pirates brought advanced sailing and shipbuilding techniques to the Barbary Coast around 1600, which enabled the corsairs to extend their activities into the Atlantic Ocean.[3][unreliable source?] The effects of the Barbary raids peaked in the early to mid-17th century.
Long after Europeans had abandoned oar-driven vessels in favor of sailing ships carrying tons of powerful cannon, many Barbary warships were galleys carrying a hundred or more fighting men armed with cutlasses and small arms. The Barbary navies were not battle fleets. When they sighted a European frigate, they fled.
The scope of corsair activity began to diminish in the latter part of the 17th century, as the more powerful European navies started to compel the Barbary States to make peace and cease attacking their shipping. However, the ships and coasts of Christian states without such effective protection continued to suffer until the early 19th century. Between 1801 and 1815, occasional incidents occurred, including two Barbary wars waged by the United States, Sweden and the Kingdom of Sicily against the Barbary States. Following the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15, European powers agreed upon the need to suppress the Barbary corsairs entirely. The threat was finally subdued by the French conquest of Algeria in 1830 and subsequent pacification by the French during the mid-to-late 19th century.
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Definition of Today’s Word of the Day:
Furo are part of the Japanese ritual of bathing, not meant for washing but rather for relaxing and warming oneself. Washing is carried out separately outside the yubune. The bather should enter the water only after rinsing or lightly showering. Generally Japanese bathrooms are small by Western standards, so the bathroom is set up much like a walk-in shower area but containing the furo. Since the bathroom is a complete wet area, in modern buildings and ryokan heating is provided by air conditioners overhead. The water is hot, usually about 38 to 42 °C (100 to 108 °F).
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Friday, August 12, 2022
Welcome to the 1,534th consecutive daily post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
A League of Their Own
Photo provided by Tucker J
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Commentary
The crazies are at it again.
Social media calling for physical responses to the seizure of documents from Mar a Lago.
Real threats against specific people.
More generic threats of civil war.
Calls for revenge.
Of course.
This country is split.
But this country has always been split.
From before the Revolution.
During.
And after.
The Civil War.
The aftermath.
Today.
Has always been split.
We have survived.
We will survive.
Why doesn’t Justice tell us why the records seizure?
Standard operating procedure.
Are the reasons for secrecy surrounding the seizure nefarious?
No.
The secrecy is to protect the privacy of the defendant, in this case a former President.
Note that Donald Trump has a detailed copy of the search warrant.
All he’s got to do is release it to the media.
He hasn’t.
He chooses not to.
His right.
But not his right to say he doesn’t know what and why the search and seizure.
He knows.
He’s not telling.
His right.
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Reading
I finished my book on Japanese culture and customs. Now I’m going to gather up what I’ve learned.
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Writing
I should have my writing back on track in a couple of days.
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Word of the Day: haragei
For definition, see below, immediately after the Short Essay
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Screen time
I watched the just-released episode 13 of Extraordinary Attorney Woo.
Extraordinary.
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Social Life
August ramped up, again: two coffee appointments and one dinner date.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
If you could kick the person in the pants
responsible for most of your trouble,
you wouldn't sit for a month.
~Theodore Roosevelt
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from our own movie critic, Tucker J:
Hi Dom,
Was able to get an early glimpse at the upcoming amazon version of A League of Their Own and it’s pretty terrific.
I wrote a piece about it for the blog if you’d like to post! I’ve attached a photo as well if you want to include it.
Blog meister responds: Tucker’s review is terrific. Find it in the short essay section of today’s post.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
On Wednesday I had a Turkey Club Sandwich for dinner. It was okay. I’m enjoying my absences from the kitchen but the quality of my meals has suffered a bit.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Church in Fitzwilliam, NH
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Short Essay*
A movie review by Tucker J.
“There’s no crying in baseball!”
Like many movie lines before and after, Jimmy Dugan’s (Tom Hanks) exclamation from 1992’s A League of Their Own became something almost bigger than the film it came from. Hearing men and women alike shout it at pick-up games, backyard barbecues, and along with the movie itself while it plays on tv does a good job of cementing the movie in the annals of American culture. However, as a movie line is quoted more and more the meaning behind the line falls away. The context of “there’s not crying in baseball” at this point has been boiled down to a simple joke. The idea that during something as “important” as a baseball game one of the players lets loose emotionally is widely understood to be funny. Within the context of the film though there’s a lot more behind the moment when Evelyn (Bitty Schram) wells up after being screamed at by her coach. In that moment we consider how that same message would have been delivered if Evelyn was a man. Would the coach’s words have been as harsh? Possibly. We’ve seen plenty of tough love sports monologues in American movies. But Evelyn and the rest of her teammates on the Rockford Peaches are dealing with quite a bit more than simply playing organized baseball. They’re women in 1943. Their situation socially, financially, and professionally is far from great. Their treatment as human equals to men is far from just.
That’s why when A League of Their Own hit theaters back in ’92 it was a runaway success. Lowell Ganz and the late, great Penny Marshall delivered a film that was simultaneously a feel-good crowd-pleaser, rip-roaring sports drama, and classic ensemble comedy. But it was also an emotionally resonant drama about headstrong women getting their shot at the big leagues in an era when they’d otherwise have been confined to the kitchen or secretarial pool.
Three decades later, Amazon Prime is returning to 1943 Rockford, Illinois, with this series adaptation. Like the movie, it follows the members of the Rockford Peaches, a real-life team in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, a short-lived organization that was founded during World War II to keep the national pastime alive while many male players were off fighting overseas.
Co-created by Abbi Jacobson (Broad City)—who also stars—and Will Graham (Mozart In The Jungle), the new League follows the team through its first season. But don’t expect facsimiles of Geena Davis, Lori Petty, and Tom Hanks’ iconic characters. This is a whole different crop of Peaches. And since times have (thankfully) changed since the film premiered, the series doesn’t shy away from exploring the racism that was rampant in 1940s America, as well as the reality that a lot of these women who grew up honing their pitching arms instead of their baking skills were very, very queer.
The comedy-drama centers on dual protagonists who take very different paths to the baseball diamond: Carson Shaw (Jacobson), a white woman from Iowa who, while her husband is away at war, hops a train to Illinois to join the Peaches, and Max Chapman (Chanté Adams), a Black woman with a killer pitching arm who gets iced out of the AAGPBL because of her skin color. While Carson rises through the ranks of the team, Max struggles to reconcile her frustrated ambitions with her duties at her mother Toni’s (Saidah Arrika Ekulona) hair salon.
While these two women’s lives look very different, they have one big thing in common: they’re both queer and closeted, embarking on romantic adventures and coming into their own while also doing their best to protect themselves in an era when so-called “sexual inverts” could find themselves committed to psychiatric asylums—or worse.
The series’ scope is wide, however, and it devotes time and care to a vast array of characters. To name just a few, there’s Greta (D’Arcy Carden), Carson’s love interest whose natural charm conceals a lifetime’s worth of baggage; Max’s best friend Clance (Gbemisola Ikumelo), who dreams of drawing her own superhero comics; and Lupe (Roberta Colindrez) and Esti (Priscilla Delgado), the Peaches’ only Latina players, who must navigate a whole different brand of racism than the series’ Black characters.
That the show effortlessly weaves this diverse tapestry of women’s stories is no easy feat. But League is funny as hell to boot, using a quasi-contemporary conversation style and modern slang that feels oddly at home in the 1940s setting. That also extends to the show’s soundtrack, which features artists from the era like Benny Goodman mixed in with rock bangers from Heart and the Runaways, plus ’70s soul from Maxine Weldon and Irma Thomas.
This mashup of styles and genres lands largely thanks to the series’ MVP cast. Jacobson basically plays a 1940s version of her Broad City character, but it works: Like Abbi, Carson is caught between her ambitions and insecurities, only facing much higher stakes. She shares a crackling chemistry with The Good Place breakout D’Arcy Carden, who’s magnetic as Greta. Meanwhile, small-screen rookie Adams proves herself to be a rising star to watch, carrying her half of the series with style and pathos. The ensemble is a mix of comedy faves (Kate Berlant, Nick Offerman, Nat Faxon) and acting stalwarts (Dale Dickey, Saidah Ekulona, Roberta Colindrez) that, together, make for a compelling rogues’ gallery.
Maybe most importantly for fans of the original movie, this League is also a good old-fashioned underdog sports drama, complete with training montages, rousing locker room speeches, and edge-of-your-seat home runs. Directors like Jamie Babbit (But I’m A Cheerleader) and Anya Adams (Fresh Off The Boat) create a compelling, dynamic visual style, tracking fastballs and back-room trysts with equal interest. And don’t worry: we do get a reminder that there is, in fact, no crying in baseball. Only now the iconic line carries the weight of dozens of women’s struggles that are impossible to ignore.
Tucker
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Definition of Today’s Word of the Day:
Haragei: A Japanese expression of a gut feeling towards another person.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Thursday, August 11, 2022
Welcome to the 1,533rd consecutive daily post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Black-faced monarch
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Commentary
I filled in my Mail-in Ballot and dropped it in the mail.
So much easier than walking out to a polling place and waiting in line.
Not only that, but, looking at particular races, I found I needed additional information.
I simply walked over to my computer and did the research.
It was great.
Why should we go through the expense of maintaining polling places?
I’m all for the expansion of the mail-in balloting.
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Word of the Day: Zen
For definition, see below, immediately after the Short Essay
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Social Life
A dear friend who worked with me on our Sacco and Vanzetti escapade is meeting me for coffee n Friday. That’ll be great.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
I don't deserve this award,
but I have arthritis and
I don't deserve that either.
~Jack Benny
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
Got this from a hitherto unknown reader:
Hi, I’d like to write an article for your site, if you’re open to it.
I’d like to write about best practices for choosing an eco-friendly rental (home, apartment, condo) by looking for amenities like: solar panels or proximity to work, as well as suggestions for updates you can make to your rental to help save energy and money.
Would this be a good addition to your site?
Thank you for taking the time to read this!
Lisa Walker
lisaw@neighborhoodsprout.org
neighborhoodsprout.org
Blog meister responds: Yes, of course. We’d love it. Wonder if you’d like to send an outline to share thoughts? Not necessary.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
I had a leftover turkey dinner. Not wonderful.
But I have grown to love baked, mashed sweet potato.
Nothing added.
Pictures with Captions from our community**
La Voile duck breast
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Short Essay*
The black-faced monarch (Monarcha melanopsis) is a passerine bird in the family Monarchidae found along the eastern seaboard of Australia, and also New Guinea (where most birds migrate to during the austral winter; May to August).
The black-faced monarch was originally described as Muscicapa melanopsis by Louis Vieillot in 1818 from a specimen collected in New South Wales. The species is now placed in the genus Monarcha that was introduced by the naturalists Nicholas Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1827. The specific name is from the Ancient Greek words melas "black" and ops "face". English naturalist William Swainson described it in 1823 as Muscipeta carinata, or "keel-billed flycatcher", unaware of Viellot's earlier description.[6] In his 1848 work The Birds of Australia, John Gould called it Monarcha carinata "Carinated flycatcher".
Australian amateur ornithologist Gregory Mathews described a paler specimen from Cape York as a distinct subspecies pallidus,[9] though this was not recognised subsequently.
"Black-faced monarch" has been designated as the official common name for the species by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC). Alternate names include the "black-faced flycatcher", "carinated flycatcher", "grey-winged monarch" (particularly in New Guinea to distinguish from black-winged monarch), "grey-winged monarch flycatcher" and "pearly-winged monarch".
The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognized. Within the genus, it is most closely related to the black-winged monarch (Monarcha frater).
The black-faced monarch is grey, with rufous underparts and mature birds have a black patch on the face. The preferred habitat is rainforest and wet forest.
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Definition of Today’s Word of the Day:
Zen emphasizes rigorous self-restraint, meditation-practice, insight into the nature of mind "perceiving the true nature" and nature of things (without arrogance or egotism), and the personal expression of this insight in daily life, especially for the benefit of others. As such, it de-emphasizes knowledge alone of sutras and doctrine, and favors direct understanding through spiritual practice and interaction with an accomplished teacher or Master.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Wednesday, August 10, 2022
Welcome to the 1,532nd consecutive daily post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Omakase
Omakase at a restaurant
Greg Ma - originally posted to Flickr as Omakase at Blue Ribbon
Omakase at Blue Ribbon Omakase (お任せ) is a Japanese phrase that means "It's up to you" (from Japanese 任す, entrust). The expression is used at sushi restaurants to leave the selection to the chef.
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Commentary
Lisa, David, and I spent 36 hours together.
The hallmark of the visit was leisure, devoting the 36 hours to doing only what we thought of as fun.
Casual, it was.
Relaxed.
“What do you want to do, Marty?”
What we did do, among others, was to have a delicious meal out in a restaurant overlooking a golf course. The meal was delicious and relaxed, the menu including a triple-cheese slice half-pound burger, 20 chicken wings, it was chicken wing special day, and a steak and cheese. Of course, French fries, fried onion rings, etc.
What we did do, among others, was watch three episodes of a terrific Russian series centering around the Bolshevik Revolution. We also watched an episode of the Extraordinary Attorney Woo.
What we did do, among others, was to communally cook Lobsters Diavolo.
What we did do, among others, was get pushed around by sporadic showers that seemed to occur where we were. We felt special.
What we did do, among others, was enjoy an hour’s event at a museum preserving the way of life of the wealthy in the 1900s.
What we did do, among others, was enjoy a cup of espresso and
have a musical breakfast together and
take several walks and collect a luscious handful of chanterelles.
And enjoyed the rides to and from the house on Scott Pond.
We never rushed.
We never felt like we had to be here or there, or do this or that.
Leisure.
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Word of the Day: okonomi
For definition, see below, immediately after the Short Essay
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Social Life
Next event in August: spending a day with my nephews and nieces.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
~Albert Einstein
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from our dear friend Jim P. He’s an out-of-the-box thinker.
Dom,
I thought this was interesting and a bit unsettling. If not for the blog, then FYI.
Love,
Jim
Blog meister responds: This is the current hot debate and this article has a take on it. Kind of unsettling, right.
BTW: You may have to copy and paste the link into your address bar.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Sunday night was sipped drinks and wine, chatted, and killed three lobsters, turning them into a great dinner.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
David and Lisa in the shadows
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Short Essay*
The phrase omakase, literally 'I leave it up to you', is most commonly used when dining at Japanese restaurants where the customer leaves it up to the chef to select and serve seasonal specialties. The Japanese antonym for omakase is okonomi, which means choosing what to order. In American English, the expression is used by patrons at sushi restaurants to leave the selection to the chef, as opposed to ordering à la carte. The chef will present a series of plates, beginning with the lightest fare and proceeding to the heaviest dishes. The phrase is not exclusive to raw fish with rice and can incorporate grilling, simmering and other cooking techniques.
The Michelin Guide said "few formal dining experiences are as revered or as intimidating" as omakase.
Customers ordering omakase style expect the chef to be innovative and surprising in selecting dishes, and the meal can be likened to an artistic performance. Ordering omakase can be a gamble, but the customer typically receives the highest-quality fish available at a lower cost than if it had been ordered à la carte. According to Jeffrey Steingarten, recounting in Vogue a 22-course "memorable feast" that required several hours:
In the U.S., omakase usually refers to an extended sushi dinner, ideally eaten at the sushi counter, where the chef prepares one piece of fish at a time, announces its name and origin, answers your questions, and guesses what else you might enjoy and how much more you'd like to eat. You expect to be brought the most perfect seafood available at that time of year, fish that will be handled as carefully as a kidney awaiting transplantation and as respectfully as a still-living thing. You marvel at the endless training of the dedicated staff, the precision of their work, their incredible concentration for hours at a time, their lack of pretense, their quiet. And the beauty of their knives.
Food writer Joanne Drilling compared the omakase experience to prix fixe but said it was "slightly different. It involves completely ceding control of the ordering process and letting the chef choose your dinner." Like Steingarten she recommends omakase dining at the sushi counter. The Michelin guide called omakase the "spiritual companion and counterpoint to kaiseki", an elaborate multi-course highly ritualized meal.
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Definition of Today’s Word of the Day: okonomi
The Japanese antonym for omakase, leaving the ordering to the chef, is okonomi, the diner chooses what to order.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Tuesday, August 9, 2022
Welcome to the 1,531st consecutive daily post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney, Vice President of the United States.
Image from the U.S. Air Force website, but likely made by office of the President. - http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/060413-F-0000J-011.jpg
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Commentary
Democrats who supported Trump Republicans got their wishes recently in the spate of primary victories for the extreme right.
Did the Democrats do the right thing?
We don’t have to wait until November for that answer.
The Democrats lost.
The country lost.
Those Democrats undermined the Loyal Opposition.
Centrist Republicans have a difficult enough road to regain control of their party from the far right than to have some Democrats throwing more obstacles in their paths.
Among those Republicans who lost to the far right there were likely those who will not participate in the process anymore.
The Republicans lost.
The Democrats lost.
The country lost.
Ask not for whom the bell tolls.
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Wellness
Of all the nights, my sleep eluded me the night before I am spending the next 36 hours active with David and Lisa in NH. Will work around it.
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Social Life
I’m writing this on Sunday morning on my niece’s porch in Fitzwilliam, NH. Am overlooking Scott Pond, a lovely home to a variety of herons, geese, land birds, and ducks. The temperature is a lovely, lovely 80*. We’ll be walking in the woods and going to a local museum.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
A day without sunshine is like,
you know, night.
~Steve Martin
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Word of the Day: dilettante
For definition, see below, immediately after the Short Essay
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Today for dinner the three of us made Lobsters Fra Diavolo with Spaghetti. Cooking as a social event is really terrific fun. With a tangible result.
East Hill Trail
The waterfall is dry.
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Short Essay*
Richard Bruce Cheney (born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former U.S. vice president, following the death of Walter Mondale in 2021.
Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Cheney grew up there and in Casper, Wyoming.[2] He attended Yale University before earning a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in political science from the University of Wyoming. He began his political career as an intern for Congressman William A. Steiger, eventually working his way into the White House during the Nixon and Ford administrations. He served as White House chief of staff from 1975 to 1977. In 1978, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and represented Wyoming's at-large congressional district from 1979 to 1989, briefly serving as House minority whip in 1989. He was selected as Secretary of Defense during the presidency of George H. W. Bush, and held the position for most of Bush's term from 1989 to 1993.[3] During his time there, he oversaw 1991's Operation Desert Storm, among other actions. Out of office during the Clinton administration, he was the chairman and CEO of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000.
In July 2000, Cheney was chosen by presumptive Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush as his running mate in the 2000 presidential election. They defeated their Democratic opponents, incumbent Vice President Al Gore and Senator Joe Lieberman. In 2004, Cheney was reelected to his second term as vice president with Bush as president, defeating their Democratic opponents Senators John Kerry and John Edwards. During Cheney's tenure as vice president, he played a leading behind-the-scenes role in the George W. Bush administration's response to the September 11 attacks and coordination of the Global War on Terrorism. He was an early proponent of invading Iraq, alleging that the Saddam Hussein regime possessed a weapons of mass destruction program and had an operational relationship with Al-Qaeda; however, neither allegation was ever substantiated. He also pressured the intelligence community to provide intelligence consistent with the administration's rationales for invading Iraq. Cheney was often criticized for the Bush Administration's policies regarding the campaign against terrorism, for his support of wiretapping by the National Security Agency (NSA) and for his endorsement of "enhanced interrogation techniques" which several critics have labeled as torture. He publicly disagreed with President Bush's position against same-sex marriage in 2004, but also said it is “appropriately a matter for the states to decide”.
Cheney, often cited as the most powerful vice president in American history, ended his tenure as an unpopular figure in American politics with an approval rating of 13 percent. His peak approval rating in the wake of the September 11 attacks was 68 percent.
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Definition of Today’s Word of the Day: dilettante
a person who cultivates an area of interest, such as the arts, without real commitment or knowledge:
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Monday, August 8, 2022
Welcome to the 1,530th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Battle of Oriskany
An oil painting titled Herkimer at the Battle of Oriskany. Although wounded, General Nicholas Herkimer rallies the Tryon County militia at the Battle of Oriskany on August 6, 1777.
Frederick Coffay Yohn - Painting at the public library of Utica, New York. Images widely available on the web.
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Commentary
This past was a great week for Joe Biden.
An enormously positive jobs report, 580,000+, as well as accelerating wages. Do not whine “But inflation…”.
He okayed the successful drone strike that killed Al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahri.
He got the Chips Act passed that will encourage chip-manufacturing in the US.
He got the burn pits bill passed requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to concede, for the purposes of health care benefits and wartime disability compensation, that a veteran was exposed to certain toxic substances, chemicals, and hazards from burn pits if such veteran served on active duty in a covered location during a specified time frame.
And he got Manchin and Sinema on the same page to pass one of the momentous bills of the last several decades:
a deficit reduction package that
addresses climate change,
shore ups the Affordable Care Act for three years,
provides prescription drug reform,
lower the cost of health insurance and prescription drugs, and
ensures our country invests in the energy security.
If only he could take getting-across-your-message lessons from Trump.
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Reading
I am halfway through my book on Japanese culture. It’s excellent. Thank you, Jim.
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Writing
My new computer from Microsoft, the GO3 series, is brilliant. It is very light but solid to use for less ambitious work. I use it away from home to stay ahead of my emails and for short editing sessions of my sequel. I use it when I don’t want to lug the substantially heavier Surface laptop that I love so well.
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Screen time
I have finished bingeing Extraordinary Attorney Woo and am up to the current releases. It is a lovely series ranking in the top viewing echelon of television.
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Social Life
continues apace. Saturday sees some preparation for my near 48 hour overnight with Lisa and David. Then comes the actual days with them and just a couple of days later, prep for the annual Cousins party.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
Get your facts first,
then you can distort them as you please.
~Mark Twain
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
Blog meister responds:
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Friday I had my main meal at La Voile. It was terrific. A classic French bistro serving well done French classics (I had a chicken liver pate, a duck breast, and a chocolate mousse) at reasonable prices. I had two glasses of an excellent value wine: an Alsatian Riesling.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Daughter and grandchildren several years ago
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Short Essay*
The Battle of Oriskany was a significant engagement of the Saratoga campaign of the American Revolutionary War, and one of the bloodiest battles in the conflict between the Colonials and Great Britain. On August 6, 1777, a party of Loyalists and several hundred Indigenous allies across several nations ambushed an American military party that was marching to relieve the siege of Fort Stanwix. This was one of the few battles in which the majority of the participants were Americans; Rebels and allied Oneidas fought against Loyalists and allied Iroquois in the absence of British regular soldiers. There was also a detachment of Hessians in the British force, as well as Western Indians including members of the Mississaugas people.
The Patriot relief force came up the Mohawk Valley under the command of General Nicholas Herkimer and numbered about 800 men of the Tryon County militia plus a party of approximately 60 Oneida warriors. British commander Barry St. Leger authorized an intercepting force consisting of a Hanau Jäger (light infantry) detachment, Sir John Johnson's King's Royal Regiment of New York, Indian allies from the Six Nations, particularly Mohawks and Senecas and other tribes to the north and west, and Indian Department Rangers, totaling at least 450 men.
The Loyalist and Indigenous force ambushed Herkimer's force in a small valley about six miles (10 km) east of Fort Stanwix, near the Oneida village of Oriskany, New York. Herkimer was mortally wounded, and the battle cost the Patriots approximately 451 casualties, while the Loyalists and Indians lost approximately 150 dead and wounded. The result of the battle remains ambiguous. The apparent Loyalist victory was significantly affected by a sortie from Fort Stanwix in which the Loyalist camps were sacked, damaging morale among the Indigenous allies.
The battle also marked the beginning of a war among the Iroquois, as Oneida warriors under Colonel Louis and Han Yerry allied with the American cause. Most of the other Iroquois tribes allied with the British, especially the Mohawks and Senecas. Each tribe was highly decentralized, and there were internal divisions among bands of the Oneida, some of whom also migrated to Canada as allies of the British. The site is known in Iroquois oral histories as "A Place of Great Sadness." The site has been designated a National Historic Landmark; it is marked by a battle monument at the Oriskany Battlefield State Historic Site.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Sunday, August 7, 2022
Welcome to the 1,529th consecutive post to the blog
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Tokyo
View of Shinjuku skyscrapers and Mount Fuji as seen from the Bunkyo Civic Center in Tokyo
Morio - Own work
CC BY-SA 3.0
File:Skyscrapers of Shinjuku 2009 January.jpg
Created: 25 January 2009
Location: 35° 42′ 28.44″ N, 139° 45′ 7.84″ E
About Media Viewer
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Commentary
528,000!!
Five hundred and twenty-eight thousand new jobs.
The geniuses at the Federal Reserve did not expect that!
Back up, fellas and gals.
Don’t look at micro-tampering with our economy..
The real issue here is to keep America working AND raise real wages by 25% across the board, stopping at the Boards of Directors. Those bastards are already overpaid.
To the Feds: Do not hoist unemployment on us. No more interest raises. Or at least very small. Very small.
The CPI is due out next week. Let’s hope that inflation is abating. Gas prices certainly are.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
Who are we?
We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star
lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which
there are far more galaxies than people.
~Carl Sagan
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Wellness
A full week has passed and I’ve gotten full nights sleep every night. Wonderful. Twice, when I woke at about 12.30am, I popped 5mg of melatonin. Each time I felt I would not get back to sleep without them. I did get back to sleep. Don’t know if it was the melatonin or the Dumbo-feather effect.
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Social Life
I mean to take full advantage of the next two days which are entirely free of in-person social contacts.
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
The acquaintance who wrote a book and wanted to know how to get it published may be giving up hope.
Blog meister responds: Discouraging him was not my intention. I simply stated that having a manuscript in hand is your entry ticket to the world of publishing. Likely the editing process will take as long as the first draft. And then comes the search for an agent. Another process. Don’t be discouraged. Expect it
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
With my dry-aged steak I made a baked eggplant with a gochujang-based spread. Very tasty as was the steak.
I always zebra-peel my eggplants. Not crazy for the texture of the skin. I cut the eggplant into thick slices and cross-score the slices on one side. Then brush the eggplant with sesame oil and bake @ 400* until tender. Then brush on a paste of tiny quantities of soy and gochujang sauces, with some additional sesame oil. Sprinkle with garlic powder and broil for several minutes to get a bit of a char.
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Community Photos**
Nordstrom’s: our annual visit readying for school
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Short Essay*
Tokyo is the capital and largest city of Japan. Its metropolitan area is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 million residents in 2018. Its metropolitan area is the largest in size and the most populous, with an area of 13,452 square kilometers and its city proper has a population of 13.99 million people. Located at the head of Tokyo Bay, the prefecture forms part of the Kantō region on the central Pacific coast of Japan's main island of Honshu. Tokyo is the political and economic center of the country, as well as the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the national government.
Originally a fishing village named Edo, the city became a prominent political center in 1603, when it became the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate. By the mid-18th century, Edo was one of the most populous cities in the world at over one million. Following the end of the shogunate in 1868, the imperial capital in Kyoto was moved to the city, which was renamed Tokyo (literally "eastern capital"). Tokyo was devastated by the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, and again by Allied bombing raids during World War II. Beginning in the 1950s, the city underwent rapid reconstruction and expansion, going on to lead Japan's post-war economic recovery. Since 1943, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has administered the prefecture's 23 special wards (formerly Tokyo City), various bed towns and suburbs in the western area, and two outlying island chains.
Tokyo is the largest urban economy in the world by gross domestic product, and is categorized as an Alpha+ city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Part of an industrial region that includes the cities of Yokohama, Kawasaki, and Chiba, Tokyo is Japan's leading center of business and finance. As of 2021, it is home to 37 of the Fortune Global 500 companies. In 2020, it ranked fourth on the Global Financial Centres Index, behind New York City, London, and Shanghai. Tokyo has the world's tallest tower, Tokyo Skytree, and the world's largest underground floodwater diversion facility, MAOUDC. The Tokyo Metro Ginza Line is the oldest underground metro line in East Asia (1927).
The city has hosted multiple international events, including the 1964 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in 2021 and three G7 Summits (1979, 1986, and 1993). Tokyo is an international center of research and development and is represented by several major universities, notably the University of Tokyo. Tokyo Station is the central hub for Japan's Shinkansen bullet train system, and the city is served by an extensive network of rail and subways. Shinjuku Station is also the world's busiest train station. Notable districts of Tokyo include Chiyoda (the site of the National Diet Building and the Imperial Palace), Shinjuku (the city's administrative center), and Shibuya (a commercial, cultural and business hub).
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Definition of word of the day: ryokan
a type of traditional Japanese inn that typically features tatami-matted rooms, communal baths, and other public areas where visitors may wear yukata and talk with the owner.
*The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Community Pictures with Captions are sent in by our followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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