Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, January 2, 2022
through
Saturday, January 8, 2022
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It’s Saturday, January 8, 2022
Welcome to the 1,320th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Cheek to Cheek, the album
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga holding hands and looking to the front
The cover art can be obtained from Interscope Records.
This is the cover art for Cheek to Cheek by the artist Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga. The cover art copyright is believed to belong to the label, Interscope Records, or the graphic artist(s).
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Commentary
Progressive Democrats sometimes lose sight of the big picture. In today’s thought I reference the survival of the conservative wing of the Republican Party. These are the people opposed to any abortion and in favor of zero gun control. Whether you are for or against these values, all Americans, especially the progressive Democrats, must accept these as legitimate political views for debate.
The alternative, the victory of Trump/Nazi Republicans who desire power and the end of American democracy as we know and love it.
The alternative, the reconfiguration and return of Adolf Hitler to the world stage, this time hosted by the United States.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
~Henry David Thoreau
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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 Tommie Toner, our friend from So Carolina:
Love the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo wine. I had it shipped after I visited the vineyards. Amazing.
You teach me so much, Dom. Thank you.
Happy New Year! Wishing you much joy, success in your writing, and great adventures. Even at our age, I think we are in store for wonderful adventures near and far. Of course, there will be bumps in the road, but we have to move forward.
love,
tommie
Blog meister responds: Those bumps in the road make me know I’m still alive.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Wednesday I had Grilled Salmon for dinner. Salmon is so good.
And so reasonable.
I loved it.
I put some cooked cabbage and beans in a food chopper with some chicken stock
and served a bean soup as
Window Display NYC December 2021
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
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Short Essay*
Cheek to Cheek is the first collaborative album by American singers Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, released on September 19, 2014, by Columbia and Interscope Records. It is Bennett's fifty-eighth studio album, and Gaga's fourth. The two first met at the Robin Hood Foundation gala in New York City in 2011, and later recorded a rendition of "The Lady Is a Tramp" together, after which they began discussing plans of working on a jazz project. Cheek to Cheek consists of jazz standards by popular composers such as George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, and Irving Berlin. It was inspired by Bennett and Gaga's desire to introduce the songs to a younger generation, since they believed these tracks have a universal appeal.
In January 2013, the album was announced by both artists and started its recording process after Gaga recovered from a hip surgery. It was recorded in New York City, where Bennett and Gaga were accompanied by a live band and jazz musicians associated with both artists. Gaga deviated from her previous contemporary pop albums as she wanted instead to create a jazz record. The release date of the album was delayed multiple times, and the final date was announced by Bennett and Gaga on The Today Show. The full-length track listing and cover artwork was released thereafter; including the track lists for many alternate editions. The artists promoted Cheek to Cheek through multiple performances in and around New York, a "behind the scenes" program detailing the recording of the album on the Home Shopping Network (HSN), and a televised concert titled Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga: Cheek to Cheek Live!, which aired on PBS in October 2014. The album was preceded by the release of two singles: "Anything Goes" and "I Can't Give You Anything but Love", which both reached number one on Billboard's Jazz Digital Songs Chart in the United States.
Cheek to Cheek received generally positive reviews upon release, with critics praising the vocal chemistry between Bennett and Gaga. At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, the album won Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Cheek to Cheek debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, with 131,000 copies sold in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan, and has since sold 773,000 copies in the United States. The album became Bennett's second number-one album and Gaga's third consecutive number-one in the US; Gaga became the first female artist in the country to have three number-one albums in the 2010s decade, while Bennett extended his record as the oldest artist to achieve a number-one album on the chart. The album also reached the top ten in Australia, Canada, Greece, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The duo's second collaborative album, Love for Sale, was released on September 30, 2021.
* 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, January 7, 2022
Welcome to the 1,319th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum
Cathie Bird - https://www.flickr.com/photos/seabird7/8572439623/
Calico aster 25 September 2012
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Commentary
We all have to be delighted with the swap of the Delta virus for the Omicron. The Omicron virus is less dangerous than the flu. In Sports trading, such a trade would be considered a steal.
The demise of the Delta variant in favor of the Omicron, a substantially milder illness, must lead to the end of the shuttering of schools, the prohibitions on indoor dining, the closings of Broadway and sports events. The combination of vaccines and Omicron’s apparent mildness means that, for an individual, Covid increasingly resembles the kind of health risk that people accept every day. Of course, the elderly or immunocompromised people have reason to be extra cautious.
For sure, we must continue to take all precautions: booster shots, wearing of KN95 or N95 masks in crowded areas, and mandated vaccinations. In fact, carrying a vax card should be as routine as a driver’s license: proof of vaccination should be mandatory at all indoor dining, sports events, theaters, and other closed spaces.
But it is time to adjust to the reality of a post-pandemic world. New routines must be established, and many of these will include newly accepted safety precautions. For example, will any of us ever again use crowded metro trains without wearing a mask? Omicron or flu or not, given our newly acquired habits and knowledge, such exposure would be reckless. We will mask up in crowded places. And wash our hands, much more frequently than in the past. Job descriptions will change. Minimum wages will rise. We will accept new realizations of the important roles ALL people play in our lives and we will show newfound respect for each other.
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Reading and Writing
The titles of my two manuscripts must change to reflect that I have now authored two and not one book. So I’ve adopted as working titles, “Filling Hell,” for Book One in the “Conflicted” series, and “Go to Hell” for Book Two.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
Don't be distracted by criticism.
Remember — the only taste of success some people get
is to take a bite out of you.
~Zig Ziglar
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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 emails today were filled with encouraging remarks from readers re: the splitting of my manuscript in two.
Blog meister responds: I found it all inspiring.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
I had the Coq au Vin last night and must say this is the first recipe from Recipetineats (a web recipe source) that has been unsatisfactory. Next time I make it I will look for other input.
The consistency of the sauce was fine but the proportions of stock to wine was wrong. Next time, less stock, more wine. Perhaps I under salted, a flaw of mine.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Dom at Caviar Russe
One of the most memorable moments of my recent trip to NYC. I took my daughter Katherine and her boyfriend William to eat at a Guide Michelin one-star. And it certainly lived up to its award.
Katherine’s wine palate exploded this day. Her enjoyment of the several different types that we shared was memorable.
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Short Essay*
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum is a species of flowering plant in the aster family (Asteraceae). Commonly known as calico aster, starved aster, and white woodland aster, it is native to eastern and central North America. It is a perennial and herbaceous plant that may reach heights up to 120 centimeters (4 feet) and widths up to 30 cm (1 ft).
The flowers of calico aster are small compared to most Symphyotrichum species. They have an average of 7–15 short white ray florets, which are rarely tinted pink or purple. The flower centers, composed of disk florets, begin as cream to yellow and often become pink, purple, or brown as they mature. There are roughly 8–16 disk florets, each with five lobes that strongly reflex (bend backwards) when open. The mostly hairless leaves have a characteristic hairy midrib on their back faces, and branching is usually horizontal or in what can appear to be a zigzag pattern. Flower heads grow along one side of the branches and sometimes in clusters at the ends.
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum is a conservationally secure species and grows in a variety of habitats. It can be found throughout most of the eastern and east-central United States and Canada. There is also a native population in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. Its late-summer and fall appearing flowers are visited by small pollinators and nectar-seeking insects such as sweat bees, miner bees, and hoverflies. As well as occurring naturally in several varieties, S. lateriflorum has multiple cultivars and has been grown for at least 250 years in Europe. Some modern-day cultivars are 'Bleke Bet', 'Lady in Black', and 'Prince'. It has been used by indigenous Americans as a medicinal plant.
* 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, January 6, 2022
Welcome to the 1,318th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Trump and Allies, Traitors
The January 6 sneaks who egged on the foolhardy to overthrow our democracy did more damage to our country than draft dodgers ever thought of doing.
Today is the day when, a year ago, the enemies of American Democracy, traitors, tried to overturn the democratically elected government and replace it with a mentally unbalanced dictator, an idea so preposterous as to cause a temporary paralysis within the government enabling the disgraceful exhibition of a mob gone mad.
This is what Trump said to his followers gathering for a confrontational walk to the Capitol where Biden’s election would be confirmed: "If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore". He also promised to join them, which he never did.
Coward.
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Commentary
I can never forgive the Trump family and their associates for their roles in the events of that day.
I hope their fall into disgrace is long and painful and serves as an illustration of what awaits traitors.
Think Benedict Arnold. Judas Iscariot.
Think Adolf Hitler. Idi Amin.
Think and let your stomach turn in disgust and fury.
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Reading and Writing
In preparing the manuscript for presentation to an agent, I discover that I have two books.
The manuscript as written is 145,000 words, pretty close to double the size book that publishers will entertain from a new author.
Fortunately, there is a natural break in the story just about halfway through.
I will split the book in two and present the pair as part of a series.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
~Walt Disney
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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
A message from my daughter.
On New Year’s Eve, she and Will, against their combined better judgment, attended a party with some dear friends of theirs.
On Tuesday, four days after the event, they both came down with mild cases of the pandemic.
Mild because they are both fully vaccinated.
Blog meister responds: Nothing daddy can teach here.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Tuesday for dinner I made a Coq au Vin, first time.
It was very nice.
I added to much stock. I should have stayed with mostly or even exclusively wine.
I will next time.
My anger at the traitors is so upsetting I had to print the flag burning twice for emphasis.
And to quote Merle Haggard:
You're walkin' on the fightin' side of me
Runnin' down a way of life
Our fightin' men have fought and died to keep
If you don't love it, leave it
Let this song that I'm singin' be a warnin'
When you're runnin' down our country, hoss
You're walkin' on the fightin' side of me
Creeps.
Traitors.
Not in this lifetime.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
U.S. flag being burned in protest on the eve of the 2008 election
Jennifer Parr - originally posted to Flickr as US Flag Burn
United States flag being burnt in protest, in New Hampshire on the eve of the 2008 election. References for this description (or part of this) or for the depiction in the file are not provided.
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Short Essay*
On January 6, 2021, a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump attacked the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. They sought to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election by disrupting the joint session of Congress assembled to count electoral votes that would formalize then President-elect Joe Biden's victory. The Capitol Complex was locked down and lawmakers and staff were evacuated, while rioters assaulted law enforcement officers, vandalized property and occupied the building for several hours. Five people died either shortly before, during, or following the event: one was shot by Capitol Police, another died of a drug overdose, and three died of natural causes. Many people were injured, including 138 police officers. Four officers who responded to the attack died by suicide within seven months.
Called to action by Trump, thousands of his supporters gathered in Washington, D.C., on January 5 and 6 to support his false claim that the 2020 election had been "stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats" and to demand that Vice President Mike Pence and Congress reject Biden's victory. Starting at noon on January 6, at a "Save America" rally on the Ellipse, Trump repeated false claims of election irregularities and said, "If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country any more". During and after his speech, thousands of attendees walked to the Capitol and hundreds breached police perimeters as Congress was beginning the electoral vote count. Many in the crowd broke into the building, occupying, vandalizing, and looting it, assaulting Capitol Police officers and reporters, and attempting to locate lawmakers to capture and harm. Gallows had been erected west of the Capitol and some rioters chanted "Hang Mike Pence" after he rejected false claims by Trump and others that the vice president could overturn the election results. Some vandalized and looted the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D‑CA) and other members of Congress. With building security breached, Capitol Police evacuated and locked down both chambers of Congress and several buildings in the Capitol Complex. Rioters occupied the empty Senate chamber while federal law enforcement officers defended the evacuated House floor. Pipe bombs were found at each of the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters, and Molotov cocktails were discovered in a vehicle near the Capitol.
Trump resisted sending the National Guard to quell the mob. Later that afternoon, in a Twitter video, he reasserted that the election was "fraudulent", but told his supporters to "go home in peace". The Capitol was clear of rioters by mid-evening, and the counting of the electoral votes resumed and completed in the early morning hours of January 7. Pence declared President-elect Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris victorious. Pressured by his administration, the threat of removal, and many resignations, Trump later committed to an orderly transition of power in a televised statement.
A week after the riot, the House of Representatives impeached Trump for incitement of insurrection, making him the only U.S. president to have been impeached twice. In February, after Trump had left office, the Senate voted 57–43 in favor of conviction; because this fell short of a two-thirds majority, requiring 67 votes, he was acquitted for a second time. The House passed a bill to create a bipartisan independent commission to investigate the attack, modeled after the 9/11 Commission, but it was blocked by Republicans in the Senate, so the House approved select committee with seven Democrats and two Republicans to investigate instead.
Dozens of people present in Washington, D.C. on the day, including some who took part in the riot, were found to be listed in the FBI's Terrorist Screening Database, most as suspected white supremacists. Over 30 members of anti-government groups, including the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and Three Percenters, were charged with conspiracy for allegedly planning their attacks on the Capitol, but the majority of the people charged with crimes relating to the riot had no known affiliation with far-right groups.
* 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, January 5, 2022
Welcome to the 1,317th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Montepulciano d’Abbruzzo Wine
Montepulciano grapes growing in the Abruzzo region of east-central Italy
Ra Boe - selbst fotografiert SP-550 UZ
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Centrale" in Pescara
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Commentary
I’ve settled into the New Year, on an optimistic note, or two.
My dinner schedule is now firmly in my control and I’m learning to balance the increase in fiber in my diet with the high caloric content usually found in high fiber foods like beans.
My manuscript will be completed well ahead of the Valentine’s Day schedule I had originally hoped for, and the ‘end game’, getting the manuscript attractively presented to agents has been given a tremendous push forward with the help of several close friends.
I’ve done little to no entertaining. None planned for the foreseeable future.
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Reading and Writing
I’ve received the latest copy of “Guide to Literary Editors” and have started reading it.
It’s not my first time around this rodeo.
Yet, I feel optimistic.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
Success is not final;
failure is not fatal:
It is the courage to continue that counts.
~Winston S. Churchill
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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
My daughter texted and called.
We reminisced about my three-day visit to NYC.
Fun.
She is really loving NY.
Blog meister responds: Bless her.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Monday night, I heated a pan of cabbage and beans with the rest of a leftover game hen.
The meal was delicious.
A food thought to share.
Cabbage and beans is a usually healthy dinner.
But for me, calorie conscious, I opt to look at any cabbage and bean recipe and
cut the quantity of beans in half.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Ice Sculpture Dec 2021
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Short Essay*
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is an Italian red wine made from the Montepulciano wine grape in the Abruzzo region of east-central Italy. It should not be confused with Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, a Tuscan wine made from Sangiovese and other grapes
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo was first classified as Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) in 1968. The Colline Teramane subzone, established in 1995 as a DOC in the province of Teramo, was promoted to separate Denominazione di origine controllata e garantita (DOCG) status in 2003 and is now known as Colline Teramane Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. In the late 20th and early 21st century, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo earned a reputation as one of the most widely exported DOC wines in Italy. It is typically dry with soft tannins and often consumed young.
In addition to Montepulciano, up to 15% Sangiovese is permitted in the blend. Wines aged by the maker for more than two years may be labeled Riserva.
* 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, January 4, 2022
Welcome to the 1,316th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Stacey Abrams
Former Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives Stacey Abrams speaking with attendees at a conversation at the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona. Please attribute to Gage Skidmore if used elsewhere.
Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America - Stacey Abrams
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Commentary
Omicron.
Flu.
Common cold.
Ye shall always have with you.
Adjust.
Hands washed. Masked in crowds, in or outdoors. And vax cards for any indoor attendance.
The Boston Bruins are requiring that. Yippee.
Stacey Abrams is a healer in the Georgia Democratic Party.
It will piss me off no end if the Progressive Wing drags its heel in supporting her race for Governor.
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Reading and Writing
In the next ten days I will receive a set of edits from Tory.
Then I will start a final line by line edit of the entire manuscript,
a two to three week process.
It’s 145,000 words.
So by early February the hunt for an agent will commence.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
I find that the harder I work,
the more luck I seem to have.
~Thomas Jefferson
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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 Sally C:
Dear Dom,
Happy New Year!
It’s great that you report so frequently about your writing progress. I’m celebrating a breakthrough on my own novella-in-progress this week – the completion of its story arc. The rough draft is now ready to fill out, develop further, coordinate the chronology, and revise. It’s great to celebrate milestones with others with similar milestones. We can empathize with each other’s joy.
Your photo of last evening’s ice-skating in Boston made me think about the rare occasions when my family would drive to Boston, only two or three times a year, one of those trips often being at Christmas time. Because of the colored lights all over the trees (to say nothing of the urban street lighting), I called the whole greater-Boston area “Lighty-Town.” I remember these trips from about age 4 until I was about ten years old.
The whole suburban into urban journey was quite different from the nighttime ambiance of our rural neighborhood outside a small (pop. 3000) town in southern Maine. The endless road construction as we neared and entered the city added to those decorative lights: small, fuel-filled black iron balls, about two-thirds the size of a basketball, with open flames that marked the edges of the construction areas. I don’t know what the professional construction crews called them, but my brothers and I called them “fire bombs.”
No doubt we continued such trips after that age, but by then I was more familiar with them and perhaps they impressed me less. I think, too, that the fire bombs went out of use, replaced by sawhorse barriers with battery-operated warning lights.
Sally
Blog meister responds: We are very lucky to have Sally C as one of our contributors. Her store of New England history is sans pareil.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
As a change of pace, I decided to have a pizza. I bought a whole wheat vegan pizza from whole foods to ensure I got plenty of fiber. Then I added a leftover meatball in small chunks, some slices of salami, mozzarella cheese, and an EVOO mix with red onions, pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.
Delicious.
Indulgent and healthy.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Beacon St homes on a dreary Jan 2 2022
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Short Essay*
Stacey Yvonne Abrams (born December 9, 1973) is an American politician, lawyer, voting rights activist, and author who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017, serving as minority leader from 2011 to 2017.
A member of the Democratic Party, Abrams founded Fair Fight Action, an organization to address voter suppression, in 2018. A voting rights activist, her efforts have been widely credited with boosting voter turnout in Georgia, including in the 2020 presidential election, where Joe Biden narrowly won the state, and in Georgia's 2020–2021 U.S. Senate election and special election, which gave Democrats control over the Senate.
Abrams was the Democratic nominee in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election, becoming the first African-American female major-party gubernatorial nominee in the United States. She lost the election to Republican candidate Brian Kemp, but refused to concede, accusing Kemp of engaging in voter suppression as Georgia Secretary of State. In February 2019, Abrams became the first African-American woman to deliver a response to the State of the Union address. On December 1, 2021, she announced she would run for governor again in the 2022 Georgia gubernatorial election.
Abrams has also found success as an author of both fiction and nonfiction. Her nonfiction books, Our Time Is Now and Lead from the Outside, were New York Times best sellers. Outside of politics, Abrams has published eight fiction books, using the pen name Selena Montgomery until 2021. Her latest work of fiction, While Justice Sleeps, was released on May 11, 2021, under her real name.
* 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, January 3, 2022
Welcome to the 1,315th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Black-and-red broadbill
https://www.flickr.com/photos/79492850@N00/8725283348/in/album-72157628555719299/ → Jason Thompson - Extracted (crop) from File:Cymbirhynchus_macrorhynchos_by_Jason_Thompson.jpg which is a Flickr image.
Bird Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos in Kaeng Krachan National Park, Phetchaburi, Thailand, from Jason Thompson on Flickfr.
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Commentary
It’s another dreary New Year’s Day in Boston.
But that’s only the weather.
What’s inside us, the hope for the coming year, the people that we love?
Hey, man. That’s a Happy New Year.
Some famous people have passed. For their friends and family, the New Year doesn’t start so well. Our sympathies with you my friends.
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Reading and Writing
I am ahead of schedule on the manuscript. After my work on NY Day all that will hold me back is the editing being done on Part One of the manuscript by a specialist. When that is sent to me, in a week, I hope, I will review the suggestions and then set about a two to three week process of final editing by myself, line by line. 145,000 words.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
The secret of success is
to do the common thing uncommonly well.
~John D. Rockefeller Jr.
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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 friend, Howard D:
Just a little reminder that even more efficacious than being sure to carry around your vaccination card, is making sure you have a proper, properly-fitting mask that you know how to use.
Cases being reported are now at a new all-time high, in this country, and in many other developed countries.
We’re far from being out of the woods.
xo
h
Blog meister responds: I am not convinced that we need to mask outdoors under normal conditions. On the other hand, masking when in a crowd is now becoming common sense and will likely stay as a habit with us even after we relegate covid-as-a-disruptor to the status of the flu.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
New Year’s Day I had small cups of two leftover soups: beef and turkey.
I also spatchcocked a game hen and grilled it (after a solw-roast) with a gochujang paste.
Lovely.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
New Year’s Eve on the Boston Common.
So festive.
Lovely to simply walk through.
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Short Essay*
The black-and-red broadbill (Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos) is a species of bird in the Asian broadbill family, Eurylaimidae. It is the only species in the genus Cymbirhynchus. A large, distinctive bird, it has maroon underparts, black upperparts, a maroon neck-band, and white bars on the wings. It also has a large, two-colored, blue-and-yellow bill. The species shows slight sexual dimorphism, with females being smaller than males. No other bird in its range resembles it, though the black-and-yellow broadbill has a similar call.
It is found in Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Inhabiting lowland riparian forest throughout its range, it can also adapt quite well to disturbed habitat, such as secondary forest growth and degraded habitat near rivers. The black-and-red broadbill is mainly insectivorous, supplementing its diet with aquatic creatures such as mollusks, snails, fish, and crustaceans. It also takes leaves and seeds incidentally.
Breeding takes place during the dry season throughout its range, with the nest being a large, conspicuous structure that usually hangs over water. Nests are built by both sexes, out of creepers, fungal hyphae, moss, and other plant matter. Eggs are laid in clutches of two to three, occasionally with a fourth runt egg, and incubated by both parents. The black-and-red broadbill is evaluated as a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to its large range and the lack of a severe decrease in its global population. However, the species has experienced declines in several parts of its range, and may face threats due to deforestation, trapping for the songbird trade, and hunting.
* 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, January 2, 2022
Welcome to the 1,314st consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Origen
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Commentary
Despite the excesses and diminished control of my meal selection during this season. I managed to hold steady with my weight. I consider that a great victory and an augur of good things to come if I continue to try.
For those who are faced with wanting to lose the added holiday weight, the most important thought is: do not give up. Do not ever give up. Remember the words of our inimitable Frankie boy:
I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet
A pawn and a king
I've been up and down and over and out
And I know one thing
Each time I find myself
Flat on my face
I pick myself up and get
Back in the race
That's life.
The genius of dieting is that you wake each morning with a new opportunity to work towards the person you are happy with.
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Reading and Writing
The writing is going very well. There is a twist. See below in “Mail.”
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Chuckles and Thoughts
Internet users, that blue screen of death you were looking at this morning?
That's the sky.
If you're still confused, look it up on Wikipedia tomorrow.
~ Stephen Colbert
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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
Several friends who are advising me in my writing project have begun a discussion on the writings that are necessary once the manuscript is finished: deciding on a genre, a query letter, a synopsis, and a Foreword, to be specific.
Blog meister responds: Although these discussions pull time from my work on the manuscript, I am moving so fast on the completion of the manuscript that working on the next phase, selling the manuscript to an agent, seems appropriate.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Friday’s dinner was a serving of caviar, a moderate piece of grilled salmon, and a small bowl of cabbage, lima beans, and pork feet.
A delicious and satisfying meal.
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Community Photos**
NY Eve Ice Skating at Boston Common
Downtown Boston was a festive place to be. The mildness of the night contributed to the size and joy of the attendees.
Origen sought martyrdom with his father at a young age but was prevented from turning himself in to the authorities by his mother. When he was eighteen years old, Origen became a catechist at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. He devoted himself to his studies and adopted an ascetic lifestyle as both a vegetarian and teetotaler. He came into conflict with Demetrius, the bishop of Alexandria, in 231 after he was ordained as a presbyter by his friend, the bishop of Caesarea, while on a journey to Athens through Palestine. Demetrius condemned Origen for insubordination and accused him of having castrated himself and of having taught that even Satan would eventually attain salvation, an accusation which Origen vehemently denied. Origen founded the Christian School of Caesarea, where he taught logic, cosmology, natural history, and theology, and became regarded by the churches of Palestine and Arabia as the ultimate authority on all matters of theology. He was tortured for his faith during the Decian persecution in 250 and died three to four years later from his injuries.
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Short Essay*
Origen of Alexandria (c. 184 – c. 253),[5] also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Alexandria. He was a prolific writer who wrote roughly 2,000 treatises in multiple branches of theology, including textual criticism, biblical exegesis and hermeneutics, homiletics, and spirituality. He was one of the most influential and controversial figures in early Christian theology, apologetics, and asceticism. He has been described as "the greatest genius the early church ever produced".
Origen was able to produce a massive quantity of writings because of the patronage of his close friend Ambrose of Alexandria, who provided him with a team of secretaries to copy his works, making him one of the most prolific writers in all of antiquity. His treatise On the First Principles systematically laid out the principles of Christian theology and became the foundation for later theological writings. He also authored Contra Celsum, the most influential work of early Christian apologetics, in which he defended Christianity against the pagan philosopher Celsus, one of its foremost early critics. Origen produced the Hexapla, the first critical edition of the Hebrew Bible, which contained the original Hebrew text as well as four different Greek translations of it, and one Greek transliteration of the Hebrew, all written in columns, side by side. He wrote hundreds of homilies covering almost the entire Bible, interpreting many passages as allegorical. Origen taught that, before the creation of the material universe, God had created the souls of all the intelligent beings. These souls, at first fully devoted to God, fell away from him and were given physical bodies. Origen was the first to propose the ransom theory of atonement in its fully developed form, and he also significantly contributed to the development of the concept of the Trinity. Origen hoped that all people might eventually attain salvation, but was always careful to maintain that this was only speculation. He defended free will and advocated Christian pacifism.
Origen is considered by some Christian groups to be a Church Father though he does not have this status in Orthodox Christianity. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential Christian theologians. His teachings were especially influential in the east, with Athanasius of Alexandria and the three Cappadocian Fathers being among his most devoted followers. Argument over the orthodoxy of Origen's teachings spawned the First Origenist Crisis in the late fourth century, in which he was attacked by Epiphanius of Salamis and Jerome but defended by Tyrannius Rufinus and John of Jerusalem. In 543, Emperor Justinian I condemned him as a heretic and ordered all his writings to be burned. The Second Council of Constantinople in 553 may have anathematized Origen, or it may have only condemned certain heretical teachings which claimed to be derived from Origen. His teachings on the pre-existence of souls were rejected by the Church.
*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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