Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, November 8, 2020
through
Saturday, November 14, 2020
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It’s Saturday, November 14, 2020
Welcome to the 937th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Nicole Kidman au festival de Cannes
Georges Biard
I enjoyed Big Little Lies and am enjoying The Undoing.
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2.0 Commentary
Weather’s changing.
So’s the government in Washington DC.
And the thrall in which covid-19 has held us.
One, immediately.
The second, within twelve weeks.
The third within six months.
Sometimes the status quo works well.
Sometimes it don’t.
Just like sometimes you feel like a nut.
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3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
One of the surprises of my research is the looseness of the names of the works of art I’m researching.
Maesta
Ognissanti Madonna
Madonna Enthroned
Santa Trinita Maesta
At one time or another during my research these names had to be used to call up critiques I depended on.
Frustrating
Always ended up on the side of the Uffizi which houses the piece.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
I don’t need a parachute to go skydiving.
You need a parachute to go skydiving twice.
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5.0 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 southern friend, Tommie T:
I love you for your goals of staying within your weight parameters, but I also am resolute in the belief that we need to love and embrace life - meaning, of course, good food and wine. So, dealing with this issue, I have decided, at our wonderful age of life, that a few pounds are okay as long as we are exercising and staying healthy otherwise! My friend, Mariyn from Trio, SC, reminded me recently, "We can't lose too much weight because at our age, we get wrinkles." So there you have it from SC. In the meantime, I have downloaded the Keto diet for me for a month. I need to lose 10 pounds! 😂
Blog meister responds: A very good point!
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Thursday night was leftover night.
For the roast pork, I sauteed peppers and onions and chili and added in the pork. I used two TB of garlic olive oil, more than needed for the saute, to invite the use of a great baguette to sop up the extra.
For the red lobster sauce from the Diavolo, I simmered a quarter-pound of squid. I had a small handful of cooked linguini and served that on the side.
Delicious.
More than enough.
Emptying the refrigerator a good prelude to eating out tomorrow night.
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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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Nicole Mary Kidman AC (born 20 June 1967) is an American-born Australian actress, singer, and producer.
She has received an Academy Award, one Primetime Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards for acting.
She was listed among the world's highest-paid actresses in 2006, 2018 and 2019. Time magazine twice named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world, in 2004 and 2018.
Kidman began her acting career in Australia with the 1983 films Bush Christmas and BMX Bandits.
Her breakthrough came in 1989 with the thriller film Dead Calm and the miniseries Bangkok Hilton.
In 1990, she made her Hollywood debut in the racing film Days of Thunder, opposite Tom Cruise.
She went on to achieve wider recognition with lead roles in Far and Away (1992), Batman Forever (1995), To Die For (1995) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Kidman won the Academy Award for Best Actress for portraying the writer Virginia Woolf in the drama The Hours (2002).
Her other Oscar-nominated roles were as a courtesan in the musical Moulin Rouge! (2001) and emotionally troubled mothers in the dramas Rabbit Hole (2010) and Lion (2016).
Kidman's other film credits include The Others (2001), Cold Mountain (2003), Dogville (2003), Birth (2004), Australia (2008), The Paperboy (2012), Paddington (2014), Destroyer (2018), Aquaman (2018) and Bombshell (2019).
Kidman's television roles include the HBO biopic television film Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012), the HBO drama series Big Little Lies (2017–2019) and the BBC Two drama series Top of the Lake: China Girl. Kidman currently stars in and serves as executive producer on the HBO psychological thriller miniseries The Undoing (2020–present).
Big Little Lies earned Kidman the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress and Outstanding Limited Series (as executive producer).
Kidman has been a Goodwill ambassador for UNICEF since 1994[9] and for UNIFEM since 2006.[10] In 2006, she was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia.
Since she was born to Australian parents in Hawaii, Kidman has dual citizenship of Australia and the United States.
In 2010, she founded the production company Blossom Films.
She has been married to Country singer Keith Urban since 2006, and from 1990 to 2001, was married to American movie actor Tom Cruise.
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It’s Friday, November 13, 2020
Welcome to the 936th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Armistice Day page from the New York Times, 1918
Charles Ransom Miller - The New York Times; Version 3 downloaded from https://newspaperarchive.com/new-york-times-nov-11-1918-p-1/
Armistice Day page from the New York Times
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2.0 Commentary
Hoping that the street demonstrations for social justice give impetus to civilian civil greetings of uniformed members of any of our defense forces.
To military, “Thank you for your service.” Or even a shortened,
“Thanks for serving,” works.
Passing police on the street should not be awkward.
“Good morning, officer,” works well. (Or “Good afternoon/evening.”)
It’s not embarrassing.
It’s nice.
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3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
Worked on Cimabue’s Maesta.
Not a lot of material but enjoyed what I read.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
I threw a boomerang a few years ago.
I now live in constant fear.
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5.0 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 JCG:
It’s nice to read some humor on your blog during these dark times. I have hope for a better, brighter tomorrow.
Joyce
Blog meister responds: I agree with all you say, express and implied. God bless!
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Lobster Fra Diavolo.
The easy way if you happen to have a delicious Marinara Sauce on hand.
On Wednesday evening I did.
I first dispatched the live and kicking with a knife-thrust into its throat.
All the while keeping the lobster’s body intact, using my fingers, I removed and discarded the sac behind its eyes.
Then I removed the tomalley and added it to the Marinara Sauce along with
the entire lobster.
The idea is to poach the lobster in three inches of Marinara Sauce,
encouraging the trapping of the pan’s juices within the body.
When it’s eating time, sucking those juices from the various parts of the lobster is heaven.
Making no mention of the sauce ready to spoon onto linguini.
Life is good.
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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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Armistice Day is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France at 5:45 am, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning—the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918. But, according to Thomas R. Gowenlock, an intelligence officer with the U.S. First Division, shelling from both sides continued for the rest of the day, only ending at nightfall. The armistice initially expired after a period of 36 days and had to be extended several times. A formal peace agreement was only reached when the Treaty of Versailles was signed the following year.
The date is a national holiday in France, and was declared a national holiday in many Allied nations. However, many Western countries and associated nations have since changed the name of the holiday from Armistice Day, with member states of the Commonwealth of Nations adopting Remembrance Day, and the United States government opting for Veterans Day. In some countries Armistice Day coincides with other public holidays.
On 11 November 2018, the centenary of the World War One Armistice, commemorations were held globally. In France, more than 60 heads of government and heads of state gathered at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
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It’s Thursday, November 12, 2020
Welcome to the 935th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Ognissanti Madonna, Giotto
Around-1337 - Maestà - Google Art Project
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2.0 Commentary
Trump knows how to keep himself in the limelight.
Now saying he’s not leaving.
Come get him.
Sowing fear in democrats of all parties.
Will he really refuse to leave?
Will rogue officials from the judiciary or armed forces back him?
How will it turn out.
The thing is, even if he conceded tomorrow, irreparable harm has already been done.
Trump has exposed the fragility of our government.
Has put fear of grave loss inside many of us in America.
And all around the world.
Democracy crumbles.
Hitler arises.
Dictatorship results.
And fear.
It isn’t only Trump.
It’s the Republican establishment that is standing by encouraging the monstrous.
These are smug men, entrenched, foxholes protected by the lunatic fringe.
Gun-toting, lie-espousing, lunatics.
On the fringe of society.
Protecting Americans plotting to wrest control of two hundred years of democracy from our body politic.
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3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
I went up a couple of dead ends before I landed on and researched Giotto’s Ognissanti Madoona.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
You’re not completely useless.
You can always serve as a bad example.
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5.0 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:
"abstemious"
One of only a few words in which the vowels are in alphabetical order.
(Not that it matters one whit ...)
😁
Sally
Blog meister responds: Glad the comment was academic.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
You don’t eat pork chops as good as that.
Unless you are a slow-roaster.
Tuesday night.
A pork chop.
Slow-roasted then Broiled/Seared.
The juice?
The sear?
Wow!
In the next few days I’ll publish a Slow-Roast How to Sheet.
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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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Madonna Enthroned, also known as the Ognissanti Madonna, or just Madonna Ognissanti, is a painting by the Italian late medieval artist Giotto di Bondone, housed in the Uffizi Gallery of Florence, Italy
The painting has a traditional Christian subject, representing the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child seated on her lap, with saints and angels surrounding them on all sides. This particular representation of the Virgin is called a Maestà, a popular representation at the time. It is often celebrated as the first painting of the Renaissance due to its newfound naturalism and escape from the constraints of Gothic art.
It is generally dated to around 1310. While historians have had trouble finding specific information for indisputably attributing many of Giotto's works to the artist, Madonna Enthroned is one piece for which there are a few documents supporting its creation by Giotto. There are many sources that show he spent many years living and creating in Florence. However, the main source that documents Madonna Enthroned specifically is artist Lorenzo Ghiberti's autobiography, I Commentarii (1447). An earlier manuscript document of 1418 also attributes the painting to Giotto, but it is Ghiberti's autobiography that provides the most solid evidence.
One of Giotto's later works, Madonna Enthroned was completed in Florence, upon the artist's return to the city. It was originally painted for the Ognissanti church in Florence. Built for the Humiliati, a small religious order at the time, the church had many acclaimed paintings designed for it. Specifically, Giotto's Madonna Enthroned was designed for the high altar.
Influences
The Madonna Enthroned shows the numerous styles of art that influenced Giotto. In both the gold coloring used throughout the artwork and the flattened gold background, Giotto's art continued the traditional Italo-Byzantine style so popular in the proto-Renaissance time period. The altarpiece represents a formalized representation of an icon, still retaining the stiffness of Byzantine art, and Giotto retained the hierarchy of scale, making the centralized Madonna and the Christ Child much larger in size than the surrounding saints and religious figures.
Giotto's figures, however, escape the bounds of Byzantine art. His figures are weighty and are reminiscent of three-dimensional sculptures, such as those in classical Roman sculpture. The Madonna's intricately decorated throne, which itself is an Italian Gothic design, has a very specific use of colored marble as a surface decoration. This method of decoration, based on a style called Cosmatesque or Cosmati, was popular in Rome since the Early Christian period and in Tuscany in the Late Middle Ages.
There were, additionally, a number of specific artists whose styles heavily influenced the Ognissanti Madonna. The influence of Cimabue, traditionally recognized as Giotto's teacher, is shown first in the very symmetrical composition of the piece.[2] Historians are not sure whether it is true that Cimabue taught the young Giotto. However, Giorgio Vasari, recognized as the first art historian, referred to Cimabue as being Giotto's master. [3] While the use of that word is not clear, Italian stems directly from Latin. The Latin word magister has two meanings, "master" and "teacher", and it is not improbable that Vasari had meant the second definition of the word. Cimabue portrayed the same subject of symmetry in his 1280 Virgin and Child Enthroned, and both pieces share aspects of the Italo-Byzantine style, with Cimabue's having more Byzantine attributes. Additionally, the two depictions of the angels' wings in Giotto and Cimabue's pieces clearly resemble each other. Both pieces share a similar, initial feeling of severity, yet there is more to each piece than the drama. Giotto adopted from his teacher the importance of, and the concern for, volume and forms in space.
The tranquility of Giotto's figures resembled also the style of Pietro Cavallini. From this artist, who painted neo-Byzantine pieces, taking cues from both mosaics and frescos from Roman and Early Christian times, Giotto took important lessons in the technique of painting, and in rendering figures as statuesque and calm.[4]
Lastly, Giotto took cues from many contemporary sculptors, including Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, whose work shares influences of Northern Gothic art. In the work of these artists, Giotto saw great, dramatic compositions that would certainly influence his Ognissanti Madonna.
Technique
Giotto was the first artist to depict three-dimensional figures in western European art. Additionally, he used a much smaller space than other contemporary artists, further emphasizing the importance of the bodies in the artwork. Giotto did away with many aspects of Byzantine art that would flatten the painting. Within Cimabue's Virgin and Child Enthroned, there is the use of gold tracing to delineate the folds of the fabric. In contrast to this, Giotto's fabric folds are more realistic, and instead of lines he used light, shadow, and color to create the appearance of fabric. Contours of the body underneath these fabric folds are also visible, specifically in the Virgin's knees and also around her breasts.
Giotto used a value scale, a distinct range of light and darks, to create a sense of volume in his figures, giving them the slight smokiness that is usually characteristic of Leonardo da Vinci and later Renaissance artists.
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It’s Wednesday, November 10, 2020
Welcome to the 934th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Head of Christ, 1175
Unknown Tuscan Master
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2.0 Commentary
On my diet of some weeks ago my weight kept going up, approaching the high end of a six-pound parameter, threatening to break through into ‘buy new pants” territory.
One morning took a good moment to figure out what was going on.
Decided I had become lax and announced on these pages a rededication to keeping my weight down.
So I reembarked on my quest for good health by approaching my eating habits with renewed vigor.
My eating has become disciplined but not abstemious.
Not abstemious: I do eat the occasional bite off the menu.
A couple of nights ago, a late night slice of pizza.
Awake later than usual thanks to the molasses-ballot count.
After three weeks of this diet, I have succeeded in bringing my weight back from the high end of my self-created parameter of desirable poundage to the low end.
But not below.
And I wanted below.
I wish I could achieve a range of 141.2 to 145.8, down from my range of 146.0 to 151.0.
My growing fear is that I can’t get into that lower register without really depriving myself.
And I don’t believe I want to impose anything more on my lifestyle than discipline.
Being a natural hedonist, abstemious is not in my vocabulary.
I will go forward sticking with this diet.
Disciplined.
Hoping against experience.
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3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
A poor day today.
Worked on two pieces, Veronese’s The Holy Family and Head of Christ by an Unknown Tuscan Master.
Neither of them engendered the copious notes I hoped my research would turn up.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
I threw a boomerang a few years ago.
I now live in constant fear.
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5.0 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 someone remaining nameless.
I’m realizing this about the Trump presidency.
His hurtful ways hurt.
Biden’s calm press meetings transcended anything he said.
He wasn’t mimicking someone’s illness or casting aspersions on the John McCains of the world.
He’s way ahead of the game.
Blog meister responds: I agree with that.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Monday night I picked the meat from the carcass of a roast chicken and shared Roast Chicken sandwiches with my cousin Lauren.
I tossed the meat in a bit of my excellent chicken gravy and spread avocado-mayonnaise-blue cheese on the toasted Iggy’s Francese Loaf.
I added lettuce and chopped, dressed heirloom tomatoes, salt and freshly-ground pepper.
Made a Caribbean throwback: Private Stock Captain Morgan’s Rum, ice, splash of soda, squeeze of lime.
Haven’t had that in a long while.
Loved it.
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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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A painting best-known due to its inclusion in the introduction of EH Gombrich’s seminal Story of Art, this early depiction of the head of Christ is a fascinating insight into a neglected period in the history of art.
It was painted before idealized naturalism became the defining mode of art (one that would persist for centuries) that allows ornamentation and the depiction of emotion to take precedence over realism.
This gives the work an exciting air of expressionism that would not return to art until the 20th century.
To see this work is to see how the history of art could have taken a very different direction indeed.
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It’s Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Welcome to the 934th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Mitt Romney
United States Congress - https://www.romney.senate.gov/about-mitt
US Senator Mitt Romney of Utah.
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2.0 Commentary
Niche political entities dot our landscape, much to the detriment of our body politic.
Nothing to do with free speech.
All of us favor that.
Everything to do with intolerance.
Militiamen being the worst example,
touting guns, not subject to American values of freedom and diversity.
Trump’s encouragement of this fringe being the most outrageous act of his Presidency.
“Be ready.”
Is that what he told them?
Close.
President-elect Biden on Saturday night used the word ‘compromise’.
Sounded lame; to some.
Not to me.
We need to resurrect America’s strong middle, both the Republican’s ‘silent majority’ and
the Democrat’s mainstream.
We need to prepare this majority to unite against splintered groups that demand extreme positions on issues.
To erode their bases.
To make it impossible for extreme candidates to usurp our major parties.
The Democrat Party seems to have it right.
Early in the process the far-left fielded a bevy of qualified candidates clamoring for the nomination.
They aired out their views.
But the centrist won.
In opposition, the Republican Party’s far-right fielded only one candidate.
The center was nowhere to be found.
Trump garnered more than 70,000,000 votes.
This is wrong.
The Republican center is behaving cowardly.
We need more Republicans like Mitt Romney who stand for wholesome values and
have the temerity to show independence from the far-right.
We need the Bush family to actively return to the Republican halls of power.
These and a thousand more like them.
There will be political blood.
But the Republicans have come so close to shedding real blood (Be ready!) they owe it to the country to be counted mainstream, whatever the personal cost.
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3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
Today worked on Rogier van der Weyden’s “Entombment of Christ.”
Discovered that the Uffizi website’s search engine is not working properly.
Because the museum has closed?
Because it’s the weekend?
We’ll see.
Meanwhile, have gleaned information from other sites.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
I broke my finger last week. It hurt.
On the other hand, I’m okay.
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
Not a surprise that much of the correspondence centers around the election.
Blog meister responds: I do not believe the Republican Party stalwarts agree with the policy of withholding acknowledgement of Biden’s victory. I believe they are simply lacking the fortitude to move against Trump and his strident backers.
Too bad.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Sunday night I prepared two duck legs, slow-roasting and finishing them under the grill.
Delicious.
I had a bevy of vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, and string beans.
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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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Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman and former presidential candidate who has served as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019. He previously served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and was the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 election.
Raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, by his parents, George and Lenore Romney, he spent over two years from 1966 in France as a Mormon missionary. He married Ann Davies in 1969; they have five sons. By 1971, he had participated in the political campaigns of both parents. Romney earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1971 and a joint JD–MBA from Harvard University in 1975.[2] Romney became a management consultant and in 1977 joined Bain & Company in Boston. As Bain's chief executive officer (CEO), he later helped lead the company out of a financial crisis. In 1984, he co-founded and led the spin-off company Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm that became one of the largest of its kind in the nation. Active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) throughout his adult life, Romney served as bishop of his ward and later as a stake president, for an area covering Boston and many of its suburbs.
After stepping down from Bain Capital and his local leadership role in the LDS Church, Romney ran as the Republican candidate in the 1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts. After losing to longtime incumbent Ted Kennedy, he resumed his position at Bain Capital. Years later, a successful stint as president and CEO of the then-struggling Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics led to a re-launch of his political career. Elected Governor of Massachusetts in 2002, Romney helped develop and later signed a health care reform law that provided near-universal health insurance access through state-level subsidies and individual mandates to purchase insurance. He also presided over the elimination of a projected $1.2–1.5 billion deficit through a combination of spending cuts, increased fees and closing corporate tax loopholes. He did not seek re-election in 2006, instead focusing on his campaign for the Republican nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Though he won several primaries and caucuses, Romney ultimately lost the nomination to Senator John McCain. Romney's considerable net worth, estimated in 2012 at $190–250 million, helped finance his political campaigns prior to 2012. Romney again ran for and won the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, becoming the first LDS Church member to be a presidential nominee of a major party. He was defeated by incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election, losing the Electoral College by a margin of 206–332 and the popular vote by a margin of 47–51%.
After re-establishing residency in Utah, Romney announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring Orrin Hatch in the 2018 election; he defeated state representative Mike Kennedy in the Republican primary and Democrat Jenny Wilson in the general election. In doing so, he became only the third individual ever to be elected governor of one state and U.S. senator for another state (the others being Sam Houston and William Bibb). Romney was sworn in on January 3, 2019. In the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, he voted to convict the president of abuse of power (over Trump's attempts to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce an investigation into his political rival Joe Biden), becoming the first and only senator in U.S. history to vote to convict a president of his own party.
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It’s Monday, November 9, 2020
Welcome to the 933rd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Van Jones
speaking at Politicon in Pasadena, California.
Gage Skidmore
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2.0 Commentary
Tortuous but done.
We gave birth to a new President and congratulate him.
We wish his enormous talents in government and the Senate bode well for his programs.
Wishing equally his programs lead to a better society.
And wish our losing President finds the love within
to graciously pass over the reins of government.
Not to say that he should forego any rights he has to appeal.
Legal challenges are telling the chef she messed up the dinner.
Makes the chef better, even if you get thrown out of the restaurant for it.
Finally my sleep pattern can return to normal.
Normal, for me at least.
The weather is ridiculously fine.
Am loving every degree and every moment of it.
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3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
So I was well into the research when I opened the Uffizi Gallery website and discovered two negatives: one was they are not listing Fra Angelico’s Coronation of the Virgin as being in their inventory (every other reference to the altarpiece lists it there) and two, the Uffizi is now shut down.
Thank you, covid.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
My wife laughed when I said I still had the body of an 18 year old.
Until she checked the freezer.
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
Three friends of the blog texted within minutes of CNN’s announcement that Pennsylvania had gone to Biden:
One said,
America spoke up this week. Time to get back to work.
Another, more exuberant, said,
Yay---I knew it would happen:)
Sometimes the good guys finish first.
Congratulations on your new president!
Enjoy the beautiful weather and thanks so much for the wonderful walk and talk on Thursday. It was so great connecting with you, enjoying the weather, the city and the shop talk.
Rest easy tonight!
Cheers,
And the third,
This is not over.
Blog meister responds: It’s amazing how quickly the present turns into the past.
What have you done for me lately?
In January comes a double election for control of the Senate.
Immediately, the President-elect will be selecting staff.
The President-elect and Mitch McConnell will see if their friendship makes legislating easier.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Saturday night I roasted a superior chicken and ate it with a baked potato and a couple of glasses of Chablis.
Lovely.
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11.0 Thumbnail
Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones (born September 20, 1968) is an American news commentator, author and lawyer.
He is the co-founder of several non-profit organizations, a three-time New York Times bestselling author, a CNN host and contributor, and an Emmy Award winner.
Jones served as President Barack Obama's Special Advisor for Green Jobs in 2009 and a distinguished visiting fellow at Princeton University.
He founded or co-founded several non-profit organizations, including the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Color of Change, and the Dream Corps.
The Dream Corps is a social justice accelerator that operates three advocacy initiatives: #cut50, #YesWeCode and Green for All.
Jones hosted or co-hosted CNN shows including "Crossfire", "The Messy Truth", "The Van Jones Show" and "The Redemption Project with Van Jones". He is the author of The Green Collar Economy, Rebuild the Dream, and Beyond the Messy Truth; all three books rank as New York Times bestsellers.
He is the co-founder of Magic Labs Media LLC, a producer of the WEBBY Award-winning Messy Truth digital series and Emmy Award-winning The Messy Truth VR Experience with Van Jones.
He is a regular CNN political commentator.
Jones led the fight to pass the bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation known as the First Step Act.
Jones is currently CEO of the REFORM Alliance, an initiative founded by Jay-Z and Meek Mill to transform the criminal justice system.
He was also a longtime collaborator and colleague of the musician Prince.
Jones was live on CNN when the station announced Biden’s victory. He spoke a few words and then his joy and tension released and he full-cried on national television.
It was moving.
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It’s Sunday, November 8, 2020
Welcome to the 932nd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Donald Trump
Official White House portrait.
Head shot of Trump smiling in front of the U.S. flag,
wearing a dark blue suit jacket with
American flag lapel pin, white shirt, and light blue necktie.
Shealah Craighead - White House
President Donald Trump poses for his official portrait at The White House, in Washington, D.C., on Friday, October 6, 2017. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
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2.0 Commentary
No.
We’re not going to do this.
We have a President with issues that need professional help.
He does not need the world peering into his personal life and
filling the social media with his indiscretions.
We need to search ourselves for that last modicum of humanity that dwells within each of us.
To mobilize our innate sense of decency and feel sympathy for anyone demon-afflicted.
Damn!
We each have had such moments.
This man ascended to our nation’s highest rung.
He’s President of the United States.
Until January 20, 2020.
He deserves sympathy.
Not ridicule.
Separate from that thought, where are his intimates?
His children and closest friends?
They need to huddle around him and protect him.
From himself.
Nothing to be done about his Twitter account.
It’s mother’s milk to him.
But compared to public displays, the social media are not so important.
The public displays are what they must guard against.
Not so easy to do when the subject is a man who thrives on live, friendly audiences.
But these audiences are looking for theater.
For entertainment.
At what cost?
They do not care.
Ask the Romans.
Bread and circuses.
Donald Trump, President of the United States of America, is not a circus.
Come on, kids.
Ivanka.
True friends.
Circle the wagons.
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3.0 Tuscany, extracting its essence
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4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
To the person who stole my glasses:
I will find you, I have contacts.
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5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
Did you see Trump last night?
This question introduced the idle talk surrounding the President’s rant in which he widely flung baseless accusations of chicanery, specifically at those counting the ballots.
The performance was indeed pathetic.
Blog Meister responds: This may be the start of the disassembling of a human being. Let’s not make it the start of a mass ridicule.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Friday night, Lauren and I, using a couple of large ladles of the Bouillabaisse I had turned into a Soupe de Poisson, simmered several oysters and enjoyed a bit of Poached Oyster. Then we poached open six Little Neck Clams and enjoyed a Clam Soup. Finally, we simmered a pound of cod in more of the Soupe de Poisson and had Fish Soup.
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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 Thumbnails: The following is taken entirely from Wikipedia.
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is the 45th and current president of the United States. Before entering politics, he was a businessman and television personality.
Born and raised in Queens, New York City, Trump attended Fordham University for two years and received a bachelor's degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He became president of his father's real estate business in 1971, renamed it The Trump Organization, and expanded its operations to building or renovating skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. Trump later started various side ventures, mostly by licensing his name. Trump and his businesses have been involved in more than 4,000 state and federal legal actions, including six bankruptcies. He owned the Miss Universe brand of beauty pageants from 1996 to 2015, and produced and hosted the reality television series The Apprentice from 2004 to 2015.
Trump's political positions have been described as populist, protectionist, isolationist, and nationalist. He entered the 2016 presidential race as a Republican and was elected in a surprise electoral college victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton while losing the popular vote.[a] He became the oldest first-term U.S. president[b] and the first without prior military or government service. His election and policies have sparked numerous protests. Trump has made many false or misleading statements during his campaign and presidency. The statements have been documented by fact-checkers, and the media have widely described the phenomenon as unprecedented in American politics. Many of his comments and actions have been characterized as racially charged or racist.
During his presidency, Trump ordered a travel ban on citizens from several Muslim-majority countries, citing security concerns; after legal challenges, the Supreme Court upheld the policy's third revision. He enacted a tax-cut package for individuals and businesses, rescinding the individual health insurance mandate penalty of the Affordable Care Act, but has failed to repeal and replace the ACA as a whole. He appointed Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. In foreign policy, Trump has pursued an America First agenda, withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Iran nuclear deal. He imposed import tariffs which triggered a trade war with China, moved the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and withdrew U.S. troops from northern Syria. Trump met three times with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, but talks on denuclearization broke down in 2019.
A special counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller found that Trump and his campaign welcomed and encouraged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election under the belief that it would be politically advantageous, but did not find sufficient evidence to press charges of criminal conspiracy or coordination with Russia.[c] Mueller also investigated Trump for obstruction of justice, and his report neither indicted nor exonerated Trump on that offense. After Trump solicited Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden, the House of Representatives impeached him in December 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Senate acquitted him of both charges in February 2020.
Trump reacted slowly to the COVID-19 pandemic; he downplayed the threat, ignored or contradicted many recommendations from health officials, and promoted false information about unproven treatments and the availability of testing. Trump ran for re-election in the 2020 U.S. presidential election for the Republican Party.
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