In the previous post I mentioned The American Revolution series on PBS. I watched the credits and discovered it was (still) being narrated by the super-narrator Peter Coyote. Since he's been doing that for a long time, I wondered how old he is. Turns out Peter is 84.
This is somewhat what he looks like around the time of now.
This being the 250th anniversary year of the founding of the United States, there's lots of history being discussed.
I was watching the The American Revolution documentary series on PBS last week, and it happened to be Episode 4, which included both the American defeats and retreats from around Philadelphia (not Washington's finest hour, nor was it Britain's, particularly focusing on the Paoli massacre), and also the Battle of Saratoga.
That's what I'm briefly talking about here. I've been there, and I've seen the monument to a leg. The leg, belonged to Benedict Arnold, of course.
A case could be made that had it not been for Arnold's bravery and courage at Saratoga, where his leg was significantly injured, the American Revolution would not have resulted in a victory for the newly formed republic, or it would have been a much longer slog. As the episode described and as something I was aware of before, the victory at Saratoga and the surrender of a large British army gave Benjamin Franklin, who was staying in France, a good reason to go to the French government and convince them that the USA was a worthy ally, and was strong enough to defeat the British, with some help in the form of arms, troops, and above all, MONEY. And France provided all of that, eventually.
Prior to Saratoga, Arnold, an army commander, also directed the construction of a fleet on Lake Champlain. Though in its one major engagement in the lake it lost, it did delay the British from taking over Fort Ticonderoga until some time in 1777.
The other details about his life are fascinating, and of course his vanity and his grudges led to his treasonous actions, but if Arnold has not done what he did before the betrayal, we might still be acknowledging the King or Queen of Britain as our sovereign ruler.
This interest in Arnold led me to wonder where his grave site is. That's a fascinating story, too.
Benedict Arnold's Body Lies in the Wall of a British Kindergarten
"When the British invasion from Canada did come, Arnold was a field commander as the Continental Army met it at Saratoga, New York. Arnold was wounded twice in the defense of Saratoga, but the American victory led to French intervention and, eventually, American independence -- but the credit for Saratoga went to Gen. Horatio Gates." (As I said.)"Arnold died in 1801 and was interred at St. Mary's Church, Battersea, London, England. The basement crypt of the old church is where the Sunday school classes are held and, on weekdays, is rented out to a private kindergarten.
Somewhere along the walls, amid the books, crayon drawings and fish tanks is a tombstone that reads "In this crypt lies the bodies of Benedict Arnold, 1741-1801, Sometime general in the army of George Washington and devoted wife Margaret Shippen and their beloved daughter Sophia Matilda Phipps. The two nations whom he served in turn in the years of their enmity have united in enduring friendship."
The marker
The church
While I really enjoy strawberries, as many other people do, I recently wondered if they really are a good, healthy fruit to consume.
It turns out, they are.
Strawberries 101: Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits
"Strawberries are bright red, juicy, and sweet.There's more specific and quantitative information in the linked article. Or you can look below.
They’re an excellent source of vitamin C and manganese and also contain decent amounts of folate (vitamin B9) and potassium.
Strawberries are very rich in antioxidants and plant compounds, which may have benefits for heart health and blood sugar control."
A few months (years, maybe) ago I discovered what cashew nuts look like growing on the cashew tree. If you don't know, look below. If you do know, good for you!
It's a bit complicated how they actually grow, so I recommend Wikipedia. The fleshy yellow thing above the nut is called the "cashew apple". It's a pseudocarp, or false fruit. But it is edible.
I remembered that when I decided to post about this, but even though I knew it was edible, I didn't know how it was used in food products. So Wikipedia told me:
"The mature cashew apple can be eaten fresh, cooked in curries, or fermented into vinegar, citric acid, or an alcoholic drink. It is also used to make preserves, chutneys, and jams in some countries, such as India and Brazil. In many countries, particularly in South America, the cashew apple is used to flavor drinks, both alcoholic and nonalcoholic. In Brazil, cashew fruit juice and fruit pulp are used to make sweets, and juice mixed with alcoholic beverages such as cachaça, and as flour, milk, or cheese. In Panama, the cashew fruit is cooked with water and sugar for a prolonged time to make a sweet, brown, paste-like dessert called dulce de marañón (marañón being a Spanish name for cashew). Cashew apple juice, however, may be used for manufacturing blended juices such as cajuína."
Now I want to see what it tastes like, but I don't have any travel to Brazil planned. Or Vietnam.
Cashew harvesting and processing:
I didn't say anything prior to now about the Australian Open (tennis) championship, which ended a week ago. As one review said, it was pretty boring, with most of the matches going according to the seeding.
It got mildly interesting on the men's side when Djokovic went five sets to defeat Sinner, setting up a final against Alcaraz, which was different than the expected Sinner-Alcaraz final. And, as expected, Alcaraz prevailed in the final, with Djokovic respectably taking a set. Now, Alcaraz-Zverev was pretty epic, with some amazing points from both players, and the drama of Djokovic managing to defeat Sinner was pretty good, too.
The women's side ended up both the way I expected it would and the way I wanted it to, with big hitters Sabalenka and Rybakina (sigh) going to the final. I thought Sabalenka had it when she went up 3-0 in the third, but Rybakina surprised me (and her). Jessica Pegula, who I think will end up winning one Slam eventually, gave Rybakina a challenge, but Rybakina was tuned in for this one. Even though this is only her second Slam, I think she's been both unlucky and slightly injured in previous events since her Wimbledon win, so Swiatek and Sabalenka came to the fore. The big three should be those three, with Coco Gauff still struggling to put her whole game together right now.
So, thank you Elena Rybakina, despite the fact that in victory or defeat you look just about the same.
She can definitely play.
And she can smile, too.
Covid-19 was a big scare a couple of years ago, and killed numerous people. Vaccines were developed that saved numerous lives. Influenza (the flu) kills lots of people every year, but getting the flu shot can save your life. Everybody is really scared of Ebola. If bird flu mutates, it could be really, really dangerous.
So malaria tends to be forgotten, because it's not a First World problem, in general. In the Third World, primarily Africa, it is estimated to kill around 600,000 people, predominantly children, every year. Furthermore, if you go to a place where malaria is endemic and you don't take your malaria prevention pills, you could catch it, like Cheryl (Cole) did. And clearly getting it is NOT fun.
So news about a malaria vaccine tested in humans should be really BIG news, right?
I can't understand why it's not.
OK, it's not quite a vaccine. It's a monoclonal antibody treatment. Maybe that would be a little more difficult to administer all over Africa.
But still -- it works.
New Malaria Antibody Yields Full Protection in Human Trial
"Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are laboratory-made protein clones that mimic the body’s natural immune defenses. MAM01 targets a highly conserved region of the Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein — a protein on the parasite’s outer surface — to block infection before it reaches the bloodstream.
The Phase 1, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial enrolled 38 healthy adults aged 18 to 50 with no prior malaria exposure. Participants received one dose of MAM01 or a placebo, and were then exposed to mosquitos carrying malaria, several months after dosing. This was done under carefully controlled conditions known as a challenge study. After the malaria challenge, none of the participants who received the highest dose of the monoclonal antibody developed infection, compared to all the participants in the placebo group."
I emphasize the words "none" and "all" in the above. That's like a perfect test - that's phenomenal.
See why I said it's big? Now, I don't know if there are special storage or preservation procedures that make this hard to distribute or administer, but it sure sounds like a potential game-changer in the malaria battle.
Reference: Lyke KE, Berry AA, Laurens MB, et al. Human monoclonal antibody MAM01 for protection against malaria in adults in the USA: a first-in-human, phase 1, dose-escalation, double-blind, placebo-controlled, adaptive trial. Lancet Infect Dis. 2025:S1473-3099(25)00481-5. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(25)00481-5
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| Kill the blue blobs. All of them. |
For historical reasons, I was poking around the coast of Argentina recently. So even though this Lighthouse is a bit late for last Week, I'm still going to use it.
Argentina has quite a few lights, but from what I can see in the Directory, not a lot of them are the traditional tower variety. Many of them are the skeletal kind, or little boxes.
However, this one is quite handsome. So as is my habit, first the location, which is here on the coast of Argentina. It's "in the middle" of the coast, well south of Buenos Aires.
So now about the lighthouse, let's learn:
"1925 (Santiago Orengo). Active; focal plane 78 m (256 ft); four white flashes, separated by 5 s, every 32 s. 27 m (89 ft) square brick tower with lantern and gallery, painted white; lantern and gallery painted black. ... Located about 13 km (8 mi) north of Comodoro Rivadavia, the southernmost city of Chubut."
I acquired three pictures and a video, which are shown below. The video shows that the lighthouse is breathtakingly isolated.
