As I write this, the Tour de France is doing a special Stage 3 due to a nearby large wildfire. The public was asked not to watch from the roadside.
They're getting into the last couple of climbs in the Pyrenees right now.
Anything can happen, but what's still most likely to happen is that Pogacar will win it again.
(Yes, I'm back. More on that later. Lots to post.)
Well, maybe a little more than halfway, actually. Stunning surprises on the women's side, with Sabalenka, Swiatek, and Rybakina all knocked out. So, is this Jessica Pegula's year? Maybe. Gauff has weaknesses, everybody knows that, and Pegula is smart enough to exploit them.
Still, I think it's Naomi Osaka's comeback that's going to capture the headlines and the title. Great to see Jasmine Paolini still playing (like she is right now), but I don't see her winning on grass. I wouldn't mind being wrong about that.
On the men's side, as long as Sinner is playing, nobody else is. Taylor Fritz could make it through to the final, but I'm afraid Sinner is to Fritz what Federer was to Andy Roddick, i.e., unbeatable.
Now on to the Tour de France.
This Instagram account belongs to Olya Abramovich. I checked, and the rich Russian oligarch that used to own the Chelsea football club, Roman Abramovich, has a son named Ilya, but no daughters named Olya.
So, Olya Abramovich for your viewing pleasure. And she is pleasurable to the eyes. And she has a reasonable resemblance to Angelina Jolie.
Yes, I am well behind on the news, but I have to report this sad loss of a famous and romantic geological feature.
Italy's famous 'love arch' collapses on Valentine's Day as storm lashes the country
Supposedly, if lovers kissed under the arch, they would be in love forever. Well, maybe love lasts, but coastal landmarks are subject to the forces of wind and wave, and have a finite existence.
The arch, called the Torre Sant'Andrea, was located on the coast of Puglia, locatable as the heel of the boot of Italy. Here's a 'before' picture:
Because of the current World Cup, I was looking at various countries that are participating that would have lighthouses. I checked and discovered that I have never featured a lighthouse from Uruguay, and it has a few -- some very handsome ones, too. So as I catch up to the present time (which might still take awhile) I'm going to do a Uruguay series.
I'm starting off with the Faro de José Ignacio, which I presume is named after a gentleman named Ignacio. Now, remembering that Uruguay is on the eastern coast of South America south of Brazil, this map shows where this lighthouse is. It's up the coast from Montevideo, which is really the only urban center of note in Uruguay.
As is customary, here's the excerpted basics from the Lighthouse Directory:
"1877. Active; focal plane 32 m (105 ft); white flash every 2 s. 25 m (82 ft) round brick tower with lantern and gallery rising from 1-story keeper's house. Tower unpainted except for three narrow white horizontal bands; lantern and watch room painted with red and white vertical stripes. ... Located on a rocky point in a popular resort area on the coastal road (national route 10) about 55 km (35 mi) southwest of La Paloma."
As is also customary, pictures of this lighthouse are below.
The lists go on ... this one, from Fodor's Travel, lists the 10 Best Burgers in America (like that one hasn't been done before). Still, they are intriguing. The nearest one to Maryland is in Boston, so I'm not taking a road trip just for that purpose. But if you're in the neighborhood and don't mind dishing out some serious cash for fancy ground beef, go right ahead.
The 10 Best Burgers in the United States
The one that intrigues me the most is from Pasjoli, in Santa Monica, CA, and I won't be visiting there anytime soon.
Now, for something simpler and easy to find, I just found out that the Texas Roadhouse franchise has a "Texas Roadhouse Roadkill" dish. A picture of what purports to be the actual restaurant version is shown below. Apparently this one is fairly easy to imitate at home, and some of the picture of the homemade imitations look pretty darned good. It's basically just ground beef, egg, onion, mushrooms, cheese, and a mix of steaky spices. I've never been to the Texas Roadhouse, but I'm tempted to try making this myself. Maybe there should be a "Top 10 Texas Roadhouse Roadkill Copycat Recipes" list.
Just found this out: depending on the weather (specifically the humidity), sweat bees can change color from blue to green.
Sweat bees change color based on humidity levels
I figured that since the video says scientists discovered this in April 2026, there must be a paper about it. So I went and looked ... These Bees Change Color With the Weather and Scientists Finally Know Why. This article has a link to the actual paper in the journal Biology Letters, and I've got that linked below.
