Sunday, November 10 to Saturday, November 16 2019
Today’s lead pic shows Union soldiers destroying telegraph poles and railroads, and freeing slaves, who are assisting Union soldiers in making their way to safety.
______________________________________________________________________
Lead Pictures
Engraving depicting Sherman's march to the sea
Alexander Hay Ritchie -
For more information see Thumbnail section of this post.
For details, see the Thumbnail section of this post.
Video credit: Jason Wang et al.; edited by Benjamin Hunt and Jan-Eric Nyström
Label: Dogiel, 1891, Human Retinal Ganglion Cells
Ratio: Dundee Hills Pinot Noir 2016
See Tasting Notes in Thumbnail section of this post
Roseanne Roseannadanna
Read more in the Thumbnail section of the blog.
Les Grandes Baigneuses ('The Large Bathers')
is an oil-on-canvas painting by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, produced between 1884 and 1887.
Read more in the Thumbnail section of the blog.
Leaf celery, also known as Chinese celery
WingkLEE - Own work
Chinese Celery, photo taken in Hong Kong
Read more in the Commentary section of the blog.
The blog? Features a daily three to four-minute excursion into photos and short texts to regale the curious with an ever-changing and diverting view of a world rich in gastronomy, visual art, ideas, chuckles, stories, people, diversions, science, homespun, and enlightenment.
Observing with wit and wisdom, Dom Capossela, an experienced leader, guides his team of contributors and followers through that world, an amusing and edifying conversation to join.
Note that the blog is also the first place that posts the "Hello! my friends," videos and the
“Conflicted” podcasts.
Every Sunday we start a new seven-day post, every day adding new ideas to the post.
A new chapter of the podcast is added on Sunday.
A video is added on Monday.
When you're running down the street on fire, people get out of your way!
______________________________________________________________________________
Commentary
_________Added Today: 16 November:
So what is our country not coming to?
Fifty years ago, that’s 50, cinquanta, fifty, no women had lunch in expensive restaurants.
Fifty years ago I operated a high-end restaurant and can attest to that first hand.
And then forty years ago, some cracks were made and women began to seep in.
As was the case with many exclusive restaurants, women were generally excluded from dining at Locke-Ober's until as late as 1970.
Before then, women patrons were only allowed on the second floor's private dining areas, or on the first floor if Harvard won a home game against Yale.
We thought things were changing, irreversibly.
Until a couple of years ago when the Democrats nominated Hilary (I admit to being a supporter) and disaster struck.
I had sushi today in a nice but not pricey Japanese restaurant. In a dining room of thirty customers, four of them were women.
Anecdotal?
I think not.
From my recent experiences, a verifiable sociological slice.
What is our country not coming to?
________________________________________________________________
Published earlier this week: 11/15
It’s not that I don’t enjoy having lunch with an attractive female friend of long-standing; she knows I do.
What’s odd is that nature does not allow us extra time for such social events, however lovely.
So when the event is over, so is the time segment in which I’ve normally done work on the blog, podcasts, or videos.
So I have to accept a delay in one time-post or another or work manaically to catch up.
It’s allus something.
Published earlier this week: 11/14
Spent the morning at the recording studio.
Fun.
I recorded Chapter Seven of Conflicted.
I’ll post it on Sunday.
The sound quality of the studio-recorded is substantially higher than my home-grown efforts.
I’d stopped producing home-grown videos in anticipation of gaining approval to produce the videos as well as the podcasts in studio.
Today I got the green light to record my videos in studio, starting next week.
I’m excited.
The videos, coupled with the podcasts, will contribute to our efforts to continually improve the quality of the blog.
So many times I’ve thanked my followers for their loyalty.
Thank you.
Again.
_____________________________________________________________________
Published earlier this week: 11/13
So continuing to grapple with the ssue of highlighting new entries in the weekly post to make it easier for followers to find what’s posted today.
We’ll try the date-highlight that’s posted just above this commentary.
And to visually simplify the blog we’ll delete other dates in favor of the simple heading: Published earlier this week:
Meanwhile, we’ll push forward continuing with our efforts to improve the blog.
______________________________________________________________
Published earlier this week: 11/12
Single fathers of little girls encounter issues for which we don’t always plan.
“Excuse me, but would you make sure my daughter doesn’t need help.
Her name is Katherine. She’s seven.”
This spoken while standing at nervous attention outside the ladies’ toilet.
Help always given.
When she was one or two, no issue.
Come right into the men’s room with me.
At some age, I’ve forgotten which, taking her into the men’s room became dicey and I had to permit the toilet monster to swallow her up.
And sweat out the entire time.
As Roseanne Roseannadanna used to say, “It’s always something.”
____________________________________________________________________________
Published earlier this week: 11/11
Cold weather isn’t intrinsically obnoxious.
We can always dress for cold weather.
But cold weather+?
Now that’s a horse of a different color.
Shades of “The Wizard of Oz.”
The plus, for me, being strong, insistent winds.
I don’t care what you’re wearing.
Like Mother Nature’s scythe, the wind will penetrate, will find openings, and will freeze your privates.
Sunday was a cold day.
But lovely.
Negligible wind.
Sunny.
Warming as the day progressed.
If we could define winter as this day I wouldn’t mind the winter.
Unfortunately, only a foolish New Englander would call such a day as being typically winter.
_________________________________________________
Published earlier this week: 11/10
Celery (Apium graveolens) is a marshland plant in the family Apiaceae
that has been cultivated as a vegetable since antiquity.
Celery has a long fibrous stalk tapering into leaves.
Depending on location and cultivar, either its stalks, leaves or hypocotyl are eaten and used in cooking.
Celery seed is also used as a spice and its extracts have been used in herbal medicine.
A Dirge, by Dom
Celery leaves
So delicious
Refreshing
Raw
In a soup
In a salad
So difficult to find.
Heads of bunches sold bald
Cleaner
Free of wilt
How sad
_________________________________________________________________
“I had to stop drinkin, cuz I got tired of waking up in my car driving ninety.”
Richard Pryor
________________________________________________________
News re: volunteers to work on the blog
Looking for someone or two who would like to help with some part of the blog.
Are you interested?
domcapossela@hotmail.com
________________________________________________________
Richard Pryor:
“I never met anybody who said when they were a kid, I wanna grow up and be a critic."
_________________________________________________________
A “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a 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.
In Chapter Five Dee had her first conversation with her parents since her abduction.
Later she met Isabel Guffy, attorney for her recently killed beloved aunt, Clara.
Auntie Clara has left Dee a fortune.
Dee asks Isabel Guffy, her aunt’s attorney, to take her on as a client.
Isabel is delighted.
In this, Chapter Six, we meet Dr. Mike, her new psychiatrist.
He ends their first interview by asking Dee a startling question that prematurely launches Dee into battle.
In next week’s podcast, Chapter, Seven, we’ll meet two Boston police officers who, on Dr. Mike’s recommendation, bring an unusual case to her.
Chapter Seven will be posted next Sunday, November 17, 2019
Links to the Podcasts
From here, within the blog, you can access all podcasts with this link:
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331
The podcasts are also available on iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Sound Cloud, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search all media: dom capossela AND conflicted
Dom’s website: existentialautotrip.com
_________________________________________________________
A “Hello, my friends!” video.
A tie, Infidel 2 minutes
Talk about selling snow to Eskimos
________________________________________________________________________________________
I'm not addicted to cocaine. I just like the way it smells.
Richard Pryor
______________________________________________________________________________________
Meals
_________added 16 November:
Thurs: Roast/Seared London Broil
Came out very well.
Check out recipe within on Recipe Blog.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday Dinner:
Leftover Duck.
Delicious.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Monday Dinner
Roast Duck.
I served it without a gravy.
I also served butternut squash mashed with butter, honey, salt and pepper.
Also delicious.
To the letter, I followed the recipe for slow-roasted duck I’ve posted on this blog.
Perfect.
Find the recipe by clicking the magnifying glass and typing: Roast Duck.
Then press ‘enter.’
Or scroll the Pages to Recipe Blog and find it there.
Sunday Dinner: Posted on Tuesday:
Had a porterhouse steak.
Delicious
Use same recipe as Broiled/Seared Sirloin found on this blog in the Recipe Blog section or
by clicking the magnifying glass and typing Broiled/Seared Sirloin.
Saturday dinner: Posted on Monday
Tuna Salad Sandwich.
The baguette from Tatte, so crusty and delicious as to make one swoon.
Recipe for Tuna Salad: On this blog in the Recipe Blog section
or by clicking the magnifying glass and typing in Tuna Salad
Posted on Saturday: Thursday’s Dinner
Slow-roasted Cornish hen.
Delicious.
Use same recipe as Roasted Chicken found here on this blog in the Recipe Blog section or by clicking the magnifying glass and typing in Chicken or Slow-Roasted Chicken.
Tuesday’s Dinner (Posted on Thursday)
Clam and Mussels steamed in Bouillabaisse
Delicious.
Sunday’s Dinner posted on
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Dinner on Sunday was an “I come in peaceaparty, featuring pizzas and arancini from Umberto’s, stuffed clams, and pumpkin pie. Everything was readied the day before.
And tasted like it.
I won’t do that again.
Fortunately, my guests were all kind and ate across the board.
We did enjoy watching escapist fare: I Come in Peace, aka, Dark Angel.
Recommended only for fans of Dolph Lundgren and really bad script writing.
I Come in Peace.
To check out our recipe: Click the magnifying glass on the top right of the screen. Type Slow-Roast Chicken and then hit “Enter.”
Or scroll through our Recipe Index.
____________________________________________________________
Chuckle of the day:
The more recent posts are on top:
From Richard Pryor:
Two things people throughout history have had in common are hatred and humour.
I am proud that I have been able to use humor to lessen people's hatred.
__________________________________________
We love getting mail.
Contact me at domcapossela@hotmail.com
From Sally C:
"Only a foolish New Englander," huh?
Only a foolish New Englander would claim that anything weather-related is typical.
The only thing typical about it is its atypicality. (Is that a word?) (It is now.)
Web Meister Responds: It’s a great word.
From: Kali Lamparelli <kali.lamparelli@gmail.com>
To: dom capossela <domcapossela@hotmail.com>
Subject: Commentary
Good Morning Dom,
What an emotionally intense week!
Enjoy and I'm sending love :)
Language Could Kill
By Kali
Thirty years and the landscape has already been assembled.
If someone locks eyes with me, my insides shudder.
If a plate isn’t spotless, I visit the eye doctor to make
sure I haven’t gone blind. I check the lightbulbs in the kitchen.
I jump when keys hit countertops. My body hides; I go blank inside.
Sometimes when I hear my name, it is a bullet
and sometimes it is a song.
When he slammed me into the wall, I thought
years later, well at least that was easier to heal
than the words my father used.
I’ll sit across from her and talk about the radius of abuse.
Well he never swore at me…
He only left me alone to go do fun things with friends…
He was kidding when he said he’d push me down the stairs…
When he humiliated me in front of his friends he’d ask me
Why are you doing this to me?
Always too stupid and always too much to love, he made me the weapon.
When we traveled, we always did what he wanted but that was okay
I am dreamless.
Web Meister responds: Kali is too young for such insight.
__________________________________________________________________
Thumbnails:
Sherman’s March to the Sea: _________added 16 November___________
Sherman's March to the Sea (also known as the Savannah Campaign or simply Sherman's March) was a military campaign of the American Civil War conducted through Georgia from November 15 until December 21, 1864, by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army.
The campaign began with Sherman's troops leaving the captured city of Atlanta on November 15 and ended with the capture of the port of Savannah on December 21.
His forces followed a "scorched earth" policy, destroying military targets as well as industry, infrastructure, and civilian property and disrupting the Confederacy's economy and transportation networks.
The operation broke the back of the Confederacy and helped lead to its eventual surrender.
Sherman's bold move of operating deep within enemy territory and without supply lines is considered to be one of the major achievements of the war and is also considered to be an early example of modern total war.
______________________________________________________________________________
Quo Vadis is an Italian film made directed by Enrico Guazzoni for Cines in 1913, based on the 1896 novel of the same name written by Henryk Sienkiewicz.
It was one of the first blockbusters in the history of cinema, with 5,000 extras, lavish sets, and a lengthy running time of two hours, setting the standard for "superspectacles" for decades to come.
A worldwide success, it premiered in Germany at the opening night of the Ufa-Pavillon am Nollendorfplatz (Berlin's first purpose-built, free-standing cinema), on 19 March 1913.
In an unusual departure from normal cinematic practice, the crowd scenes were reinforced with "special mobs" of live costumed actors in the auditorium.
Quo Vadis was the first film to be projected in a first-class Broadway theater (the Astor Theatre), where it was screened for nine months from April to December 1913.
The film's first screening in London was for King George V, in the Royal Albert Hall, who complimented the performers.
Another Italian director, Giovanni Pastrone, would direct Cabiria (1914) – which holds many similarities with Quo Vadis, but is longer, more thematically complex, and visually spectacular.
______________________________________________________________________________
HR 8799 is a roughly 30-million-year-old main-sequence star located 129 light-years (39.6 parsecs) away from Earth in the constellation of Pegasus.
It has roughly 1.5 times the Sun's mass and 4.9 times its luminosity, and is part of a system that also contains a debris disk and at least four massive planets.
Those planets, along with Fomalhaut b, were the first exoplanets whose orbital motion was confirmed via direct imaging.
The star is a Gamma Doradus variable: its luminosity changes because of non-radial pulsations of its surface.
It is also classified as a Lambda Boötis star, which means its surface layers are depleted in iron peak elements.
The lead video shows the HR 8799 planetary system across a period of seven years, with motion interpolation used on seven images captured between 2009 and 2016 by the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii.
The light from the star, in the center, is obscured to allow the four orbiting planets to be seen.
From innermost to outermost, the planets are designated e (center right), d (bottom right), c (top right), and b (top left).
The wine’s purple is thin, not saturated, indicates delicacy: no extra aeration, not even decanting.
I see a slight tinge of orange, indicating readiness.
pale to medium ruby-purple
citrus scents forest floor berries and herbs .
purity of dark red cherries on the nose here.
cinnamon, elusive mint nutmeg? reaching
with a nose of warm red cherries, dried cranberries and crushed blueberries with accents of Earl Grey tea, dried leaves and earth.
rich, spices
Light to medium-bodied, with supple, smooth and silky mix
The palate is immediately red and nervy with a mineral quality that draws to a long, juicy finish with lingering floral and spice notes.
forest/earthy touches and cinnamon suggestions
Long, noble tannins., with a good frame of fine-grained tannins and lovely juicy acidity, finishing long and spicy.
Ripe, well-integrated tannins are balanced by the graceful structure.
Harmony of tannins, fruit, and acidity on the palate
harmony fine supple elegant gestalt eminently quaffable
will last but it is perfect right now
One of my favorite wines ever
an all-star
best 24 dollar wine I ever tasted
Will keep second bottle for next great meal
Stated goal of winemaker: classic, age worthy wines with vibrant acidity and singular expression
They have certainly achieved that.
Congratulations!
_______________________________________________________________________________
Roseanne Roseannadanna
is one of several recurring characters created and portrayed by Gilda Radner on Weekend Update in the early seasons of Saturday Night Live (SNL).
She was the segment's consumer affairs reporter who, like an earlier Radner character Emily Litella, editorialized on current issues, only to go off-topic before being interrupted by the anchor.
Unlike Litella's meek and apologetic character, Roseannadanna was brash and tactless.
The character was based on Rose Ann Scamardella, a former anchorwoman on WABC-TV's Eyewitness News in New York City.
The character also appeared later in Radner's live one-woman shows.
Les Grandes Baigneuses ('The Large Bathers')
is an oil-on-canvas painting by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, produced between 1884 and 1887.
The painting depicts a scene of nude women bathing.
In the foreground, two women are seated beside the water, and a third is standing in the water near them.
In the background, two others are bathing.
Renoir's intention was to reconcile the modern forms of painting with the painting traditions of the 17th and 18th centuries, particularly those of Ingres and Raphael.
The painting is now in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
_________________________________________________________________
Why get killed when you can run ... your ego will heal much faster than a broken jaw.
Richard Pryor
____________________________________________
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Kali L for sharing her latest poem.
And to Sally C for her quick thought.
And to those who appreciated the quality of the Chapter Six podcast, the first one made in studio.
And to Ian and Adam for their help in the creation of my first podcast in a studio.
Thanks to Richard Pryor for the chuckles.
Thanks in general to the Microsoft team at the Prudential Center for their unflagging availability to help with a constant flow of technological problems.
Always thanks to Wikipedia, the Lead and the Thumbnail sections of the Blog very often shaped from stories taken from that amazing website. They are truly worthy of public support.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Good Morning
So, this is the second of the week-long daily posts.
With the certainty of more changes to come, am liking the path it’s on.
Where was I when that wine tasting was going on?
Do I overdo my perfume?
But now? Gotta go.
Che vuoi? Le pocketbook?
See you soon.
Your Taeyeon