It's about time (seriously)

 

I'll keep this short -- lovely model, indeed supermodel, Barbara Palvin, has accepted the marriage proposal of her long-time (five years??) boyfriend, Dylan Sprouse. If you didn't know, Dylan grew up on the Disney vehicle The Suite Life of Zach and Cody. And it seems like ever since then, he's been dating Barbara. I think he graduated from college somewhere in there. (Yes, he did, at New York University, majoring in video game design. Seriously, that's a major. Brother Cole went a more traditional route, majoring in archaeology.) 

Dylan's also been acting a bit, but not much, though he does have a recent movie on the resume. I'm not sure where this one ended up. (It's on Amazon Prime, and it's not free yet.)

I mean, if your girlfriend is Barbara Palvin, why do anything else?  

Dylan Sprouse and Barbara Palvin Confirm Engagement: 'Sprouses to Be'

Now, I expect Dylan has likely seen more like this (and perhaps less, as that would be expected), but I noted Barbara's fetchingness in this Valentine's Day - themed post.

For review purposes, I found these in my archives.

Katie Cassidy finds love in a love movie

 

Actress Katie Cassidy, who starred on several seasons of Arrow, and who has been in a few other things, found employment making a Hallmark Christmas movie. I like her, so I'll have to see if I can find that one when the annual onslaught of Hallmark Christmas movies begins.

She was married, and quickly divorced, a couple of years ago, so it was heartening for the course of true love that while making the romantic holiday confection entertainment, she fell in love with the leading man.

Now, perhaps it was the environment of romance and love and kissing (but no sex scenes! this is Hallmark) that led to their mutuality of Cupid target practice, but hey, they took a beach vacation together, so it has to be official. 

I hope it lasts.

Katie Cassidy, 36, shows off her very slender frame in a gold swimsuit... after confirming relationship with her Hallmark co-star Stephen Huszar

(The name of the Hallmark piece is A Royal Christmas Crush, by the way.)

Major league pandering

 

After long and careful deliberations and decision-making, the U.S. government and U.S. military decided that they would change the names of military bases, aka forts, which after the Civil War had been named after high-ranking traitors.

Wait -- don't get me wrong, the Civil War of the United States was an epic, bloody, fascinating, horrible, tragic, historic, ugly, noble, magnificent, devastating ... I could go on ... chapter of American history. I'm fairly well-versed on that history, and I've been to many of its battlefields.  Given where I live, some of those battlefields are just a short drive away, some even closer if you count skirmishes and conflicts around the perimeter of the Washington defense zone (some of the defense zone forts are now Metro stops).  

And there was both bravery and cowardice on both sides. But to be clear, one side broke away from the existing United States and attempted to establish a separate country. And those leaders that learned their war-making at the expense of those United States, and who then chose to lead forces in armed conflict against it, were traitors. (Several of them also were likely slave-owners or came from slave-owning families.)

So -- having made the decision to change the names, which would involve effort and expense, this process has been implemented. One of the more recent name changes was that of Fort Bragg, named after Braxton Bragg, not one of the best generals of the Confederacy, but indeed he was one.  The name of this fort was designated to be Fort Liberty, and there's a reason for that. Read on. And note that I used the same word in MY title, because I fully agree.

Even by Trump-era GOP standards, this is a base pander

"In the Fayetteville, N.C., area, near what was then Fort Bragg, there was long but inconclusive discussion of worthy alternative names — until a Gold Star mother, Patti C. Elliott, spoke up at a 2021 community meeting.

She suggested labeling the base, home to the elite 82nd Airborne Division, after the cause for which her 21-year-old son, Spec. Daniel “Lucas” Elliott, gave his life in Iraq on July 15, 2011: “Liberty.”

Her idea persuaded the special commission Congress had established to rename the bases, and earlier this month, Fort Bragg officially became Fort Liberty."

So Fort Bragg is now Fort Liberty.

But wait, there are Republican Presidential candidates.

"And yet this outcome is unsatisfactory to Republican presidential candidates Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence, who, in separate speeches at the North Carolina Republican convention on June 9, branded the name change “political correctness” and promised to undo it if elected."

That's right, ridiculous. And pandering of the highest and most heinous kind. Especially since, as the article notes, renaming the bases was a bipartisan process. Oh, not everyone agreed. But enough of Congress did, even overriding a Trump veto (but admittedly that wasn't real hard, considering that the bill he vetoed because of the base renaming provision was also a military funding bill). 

Now, you could read the rest of the article; I invite you to do so, as it is both enlightening and depressing.  But I'll finish with how the article finishes.

"The naming of Fort Liberty culminated a congressionally mandated, deliberative process whose intention, however imperfectly achieved, was to unify the country and recognize true patriots."

Right. So somebody ought to tell DeSantis and Pence what an idiotic idea it was to change the name back to Fort Bragg.

Or you could just tell them that they're idiots.

I would.

 

Look what's in the basement!

 

This made the national news, when a family in Los Angeles found out that their father-in-law had followed the "penny saved, penny earned" rule quite literally, having saved around a million pennies. That adds up to $10K, or so, but there might be some rarities in the haul, so it might be worth even more.

That is, if someone or some group is willing to sort through them all, which could take a bit of time.

They Found a Million Pennies. Now They Need Someone to Take Them.

"The U.S. Mint struck a limited number of copper pennies, and some have turned out to be particularly valuable. According to the Mint, very few 1943 copper-alloy pennies, made in error, are known to remain in existence, and one sold in 1996 for $82,500. Another sold for nearly $300,000 in 2022."

Update: they found a buyer. I hope there will be a story if this treasure turns out to have a real keeper in the stacks.

Grab a shovel

 

I was fascinated a few years ago when the bones of King Richard III of England, immortalized in a Shakespeare play and the last English king to die in battle, were found under a parking lot. 

It turns out that several other kings and notables have been lost. England needs to learn not to pave over their former holy places. Better record-keeping would be helpful too -- and sheesh, this is England, they ought to be able to do that.

This article from the Daily Mail lists the lost, and provides a short update on the search for Henry I, who might also be located under a parking lot in Reading.

From the vanquished King Harold to the Princes in the Tower: The rulers whose resting places are unknown… as academic who found Richard III believes she knows where Henry I is

One of Henry I's noteworthy accomplishments is that he holds the record for fathering the most illegitimate children of any English king. I'm not sure what the European royalty record is, but the most recent contender has been Albert II of Monaco. (Sorry, Princess Charlene, but that's the truth, as I'm pretty sure you're aware.)

Henry I

England should at least raise a monument to him, as apparently he was pretty good at raising his own monument. 

Lighthouse of the Week, June 25 - July 1, 2023: Faro de Orchilla, Canary Islands, Spain

 

I checked back this week to see if I had featured lighthouses in the Canary Islands before (suspecting that I had), and it turns out that I had done so.  However, I featured two very modern lighthouses, the Punta del Hidalgo lighthouse on Tenerife and the Arenas Blancas light on La Palma. There are a few other islands, and several other lighthouses, so I went with a more traditional design, and a different island, El Hierro, which is the westernmost island in the archipelago.

Because of its location, the Lighthouse Directory indicates that this is the most remote lighthouse in Spain. Judge for yourself by clicking here to see a map.

One thing interesting about El Hierro;  several years before the destructive-but-beautiful eruption on La Palma, there was an offshore eruption offshore of El Hierro. Nothing ever broke the surface, but the eruption included the formation of steaming floating pumice blocks on the ocean surface.  (See below.)

The submarine eruption was south of the southeastern point of the somewhat triangular island; as you can see on the map, Faro de Orchilla is on a point (Punta Orchilla, naturally) at the southwestern end.  You could argue that there is also a northwestern point as well as a northeastern point, the way the island is angled, but I'll leave that to the geography-minded.

Now, about the lighthouse. The Lighthouse Directory, previously mentioned, tell us this:

"1933. Active; focal plane 132 m (433 ft); white flash every 5 s. 25 m (82 ft) octagonal stone tower with lantern and double gallery, rising from a 2-story square stone base, attached to a 1-story U-shaped keeper's house. 1st order Fresnel lens in use. The tower is unpainted gray stone; lantern dome is gray metallic. This is probably Spain's most remote lighthouse."

The entry in the directory continues that at one point, this western point of El Hierro was the end of the world (for medieval Europeans, at least).

So having said all that, below are pictures of this lighthouse. You may have noticed that on the Google Map link, there are over 400 pictures, so this place is reasonably well-visited.  Not all the pictures listed there show the lighthouse, but a lot of them do.  The third picture shows that there isn't much around this light, except for a lot of cinder cones (switch to satellite view on the Google map if you're into volcanism and want to see more), also explaining why it's a good place for stargazing at night.  Just don't stare at the light from the lighthouse.

"Evening Wear" or "I Wonder What He Sees in Her"

 

Despite some apparent internal family conflict (apparently his mother didn't always get along cozily with his wife, but they're better now), Brooklyn Beckham is apparently very smitten with his wife, pretty woman and sometime actress Nicola Peltz.

And based on her choice of garment for a recent dinner date, his attraction and devotion to his young wife seems fairly easy to explain, on a somewhat basic level.

Nicola Peltz makes jaws drop as she flaunts her VERY svelte figure in a see-through catsuit for date night in LA with Brooklyn Beckham

You can see what he sees (well, most of it, anyway). 

Deficit and spending crisis? That was last week

 

If you haven't kept up with the recent news, for months the GOP rabble rousers in the House of Representatives were grousing and complaining about how big the USA's budget deficit was (is), and they used the threat of economic catastrophe to force some modest (ultimately) budget cuts and slower budget growth in lieu of setting the world economy on fire.

Plenty of GOP senators were on record, sanctimoniously, about how bad the budget deficit was, despite voting for irresponsible tax cuts proposed and promoted by the previous Presidential administration.  This was totally expected, as Republicans only get concerned about how big the deficit is and how much domestic spending needs to be cut when there's a GOP-controlled Congress and a Democratic President.

All of that has been said before.  And so they, the righteous GOPers, got the deal (and not much out of it, thanks to some savviness on the Presidential side), and proceeded to ...

what? propose legislation that would add substantially to the budget deficit?

Of course they did.

With debt debate finished, House GOP unveils new bills to cut taxes

“It’s Republican clockwork. Not even a week after their manufactured default crisis and it is back to tax cuts for the wealthy and well-connected,” charged Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee. The congressman also faulted the GOP for trying to repeal clean energy-focused policies at a moment when “Americans are sheltering inside to avoid the fallout of climate-spurred wildfires.”

Let's add some more to that. I'll underline a couple of things. 

"In reviewing the legislation, the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the three GOP bills together would add about $21 billion to the deficit over the next 10 years. But some budget experts said that figure tells only part of the story, since Republicans relied on a series of timing and accounting maneuvers to create the impression of a low price tag."

For one thing, the three bills extend Trump-era tax breaks targeting businesses only through 2025, even though Republicans have said they hope to make them permanent. During that period, the GOP plans actually add about $300 billion to the federal deficit, much of which they offset through the repeal of climate-focused tax credits that aren’t scheduled to take effect until 2027.

To that end, the Tax Policy Center concluded in its own recent analysis that these business provisions alone could cost the government about $500 billion over the coming decade if they are extended indefinitely, as Republicans seek."

The GOP.

Being the GOP.

Again and again and again.

Epitome of shortsightedness

 

Presidential candidate Nikki Haley recently got on record about American energy issues. She said that the Biden administration is "demonizing" energy producers, and that the United States needs to have an all-of-the-above approach to energy production.

Why doesn't she mention nuclear energy?  Maybe the article is too short. But in kissing the rings of oil producers, she isn't showing much of a commitment to alternate energy sources, i.e., renewables.

" “They’re picking what kind of energy they think is best for Americans,” Haley said as she lambasted the EPA’s timeline for power companies to shift away from fossil fuels.

“Do we want renewables? Sure we do, but we want to make sure we have every other type of energy possible,” she added."

and

"Haley has previously said she would “roll back Biden’s wasteful green energy subsidies and regulations” but in this appearance she focused more on the energy producers seated next to her onstage and the impact new EPA rules could have on their customers."

See, that's shortsighted. The approach of all-of-the-above, which I indeed advocate (more nuclear, with modular reactors) needs to also be a rapid phase-out of fossil fuels, which she doesn't appear to be pushing for with much vigor.

More of the Milky Way

 

Winners of the Milky Way Photographer of the Year contest were featured in the Daily Mail a couple of weeks ago.

Pictures that will leave you starry-eyed! From the wilderness of Wyoming to an enchanting Spanish castle, the 2023 winners of prestigious Milky Way photo competition revealed

Here's the contest website: 2023 Milky Way Photographer of the Year

There are a lot of spectacular star photos in this article (or on the website). Selecting one for just a sample is tough, tough, tough. I choose "Wind River Nights" by Brandt Ryder, because of the great reflection. The prominent flat-topped mountain is Squaretop Mountain.

Lighthouse of the Week, June 18-24, 2023: Nobska Lighthouse, Massachusetts, USA

 

In my recent post about lighthouses for sale in the USA, I noted that the Nobska Lighthouse might be a good pick-up for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which is just a couple of miles away.  To illustrate that, I'm going to have two location maps in this post, one a closeup, and one a bit further out to show where Woods Hole and Falmouth are in relation to eastern Massachusetts.

So here's the closeup (click on that).

And here's the long view (click on that).

So is this lighthouse a good one to invest in?  Let's get more information on it from the Lighthouse Directory below. It's somewhat cool that it still has a Fresnel lens. 

"1876 (station established 1828). Active; focal plane 87 ft (26.5 m); white flash every 6 s, day and night; red sector covers dangerous shoals. 40 ft (12 m) "Race Point" round cylindrical cast iron tower (brick lined) with lantern and gallery, attached to 1-1/2 story wood keeper's house. The buildings are floodlit at night. Fog horn (2 blasts every 30 s). 4th order Fresnel lens (1888) in use. Buildings painted white, roofs red, lantern black. Oil house and utility buildings also preserved. ... The keeper's house was for many years the residence of the commander of Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England. In November 2013, however, the Coast Guard announced that the house needed $550,000 in repairs. It offered to lease or sell the building to any organization that would restore it. In December 2014 a new nonprofit organization, the Friends of Nobska Light, formed to work for preservation of the lighthouse. In March 2016 the Town of Falmouth accepted a management license from the Coast Guard and in April management was transferred to the town. The Friends planned to restore the lighthouse and open it to the public with a museum in the keeper's house. A drive began to raise $4 million for the restoration. Exterior restoration of the tower began in September 2017. In March 2021 the contractor DellbrookJKS completed its work restoring the interior. In 2023 the lighthouse became available for transfer under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act (NHLPA); the Town and the Friends will apply for ownership."

So I guess WHOI probably won't add it to their real estate holdings. 

More links about this one:

Friends of Nobska Light

Nobska Point Lighthouse (Lighthouse Friends)

Nobska Point Lighthouse - Falmouth (New England Lighthouses)

Now for the picture section, including the lens. Looks like they were about to put the Christmas wreath on the lighthouse when one of them was taken.

Coffee futures forecast

 

With El Niño now clearly underway in the Pacific Ocean, you may wish to determine how to invest in coffee futures.

El Niño is coming. What that means for your morning coffee.

"This year’s weather disruption could spell trouble for the coffee market, which [World Bank economist/commodities analyst John] Baffes said is still recovering from a “major shock” associated with a recent drought in South America that damaged Brazil’s crop and sent the prices skyrocketing. Meanwhile, prices for food commodities more broadly have also been rising. The combined pressure from these factors may force coffee companies to increase prices, he said."

So, drink up. 

If it's not the same music, it won't be the same

 

How to Train Your Dragon was a remarkably good animated movie, and the sequels were good too. One thing all three had in common, but especially the first one, was a superb heroic Viking-flavored score by John Powell. An Oscar-nominated score, and I have never thought highly of the winner that year for The Social Network (even if was composed by Trent Reznor). 

So now I read about a live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon. OK, I'll accept that they're going to do it, but if they don't get John Powell to adapt the score, it won't have that same feeling.

How to Train Your Dragon live-action reboot adds The Black Phone star Mason Thames and The Last of Us star Nico Parker as Hiccup and Astrid

Republicans being Republicans in Republican-ruled Texas

 

The Washington Post had an article about how the Republican-controlled Texas legislature passed a law that allows the Republican-controlled state government to toss out election results they don't like -- applicable to domiciles, i.e., Houston, where there is a Democratic majority that might have the temerity to vote for a Democrat.

Can't have that in a Republican-controlled state, can we?

Texas Republicans pass voting bills targeting large Democratic county 

The new law would single out Houston, with its sizable Black population, for a different election process

How's that going to work, anyway?

"The measure gives the secretary of state under certain conditions the power to run elections in Harris County, home to Houston and 4.8 million residents. It follows a bill approved days earlier that shifts the oversight of elections from its appointed elections administrator to the county clerk and county assessor."

What are those certain conditions, you are bound to be asking your shocked self?  (I added the italics down below.)

"The quick transition could easily lead to problems, opponents of the measure say. If problems do occur, Secretary of State Jane Nelson could use the provisions of the other newly passed bill to oversee elections in Harris County. That would mean Nelson, a former state senator appointed as secretary of state by Abbott, would be in charge of the 2024 presidential election for the county."

"And if Nelson did not believe that the new officials in charge of elections — Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth and County Assessor Ann Harris Bennett — had rectified problems, she could initiate legal proceedings to remove them from office under the legislation. Local officials said it would be unjust to allow the secretary of state the power to take action against two Black women but not those who hold equivalent positions in the state’s 253 other counties.

Under the bill, Nelson could oversee elections in Harris County if she found “good cause to believe that a recurring pattern of problems with election administration or voter registration exists in the county.” She would get to sign off on all of the county’s election procedures and could install members of her staff in Harris County offices."

Doesn't that sound just like Texas?  Sometimes I wonder why we actually wanted the state in the first place. We could have just let Mexico have it, or let it be an independent country.  Actually, the latter would have been a good idea, because then all the other disgruntled MAGA conservatives in the rest of the country could move there AND LEAVE THE REST OF US ALONE. Then they could even elect Trump their President and we could just leave him exiled there.

If you want to buy a lighthouse

 

Since my blog features the Lighthouse of the Week, usually weekly, I thought I'd mention the annual sale and auction of lighthouses by the General Services Administration of the United States of America.

There are some nice pick-ups here for those of you who might be seeking a coastal address.

2023 Lighthouse Season

Here are the lighthouses for sale to the public; the first one is a downtown address in Cleveland (but you need a boat to get there).  Links to each one are on the page at the link above.

• Cleveland Harbor West Pierhead Light in Ohio
• Keweenaw Waterway Lower Entrance Light in Michigan
• Penfield Reef Lighthouse in Connecticut
• Stratford Shoal Lighthouse in Connecticut

At this link, there are lighthouses available for no cost (but they need to be maintained) to "federal agencies, state and local governments, nonprofit corporations, educational and community development organizations."  Notwithstanding why a federal agency would need to do much to get a transfer from another federal agency, if you have such an affiliation, get your application in.

The Nobska Lighthouse looks like a pretty good property; I'm surprised that WHOI doesn't snap it up for something useful that's ocean-related.

I think I'll feature Nobska as next week's Lighthouse of the Week. Here's a preview.

Teagan O'Dell is quick in the pool

 

Swimmer Teagan O'Dell from California recently set the national high school record (USA) in the 200 individual medley. She broke the record set by Torri Huske, who just happens to be a world champion. This is a really fast time for a high school swimmer.  Also note that she's only a sophomore.

TEAGAN O’DELL REFLECTS ON 200 IM NATIONAL HS RECORD, TALKS GOALS FOR THIS SUMMER

Here's the race.  It's even more impressive considering it was outdoors, and the sun was bright, which can be a distraction on the backstroke leg.

I guess she was going so fast that the person who filmed the video didn't catch up to her until half of the butterfly leg was over.

Of course it's Abbey

 

Abbey Clancy was recently modeling some Victoria's Secret sporty underwear.

Of course I paid full attention.

EXCLUSIVE: Abbey Clancy looks sensational as she shows off her taut abs and cleavage while modelling lingerie for new Victoria's Secret UK collection

No wonder her husband Peter Crouch (former footballer) keeps sending her eggplant emojis.

Remember, this underwear model is the mother of four kids.

Sheesh. 

Umm, yes, we knew this

 

This Daily Mail article undertakes to explain why transgender women -- which means people that were born as biological males and who have experienced the maturing benefits of puberty -- have an advantage in most sporting competitions where strength and speed are involved.

But most of what they say is quite obvious.

The NIH-published study that exposes the gulf between trans athletes and women in sports: Male-to-female transitioners are faster, stronger and fitter than most women even AFTER taking hormone drugs

"Findings showed trans women had greater muscle mass and bone density, which aid strength, power and durability, plus bigger lungs and higher oxygen levels, which help with endurance, as well as increased connections in the brain responsible for spatial awareness, which could help with agility."

OK, I wasn't aware of the brain connection advantage.

The diagram helps explain what many of us already knew. But it bears repeating for those in the sporting world who think this is an issue of inclusion and not one of fairness.

  

Lighthouse of the Week, June 11-17, 2023: R'as Serani Rear Range Light, Mombasa, Kenya

 

It isn't common for people thinking of Kenya to think of its oceanic coast, given the big volcanoes and wildlife and Rift Valley and all that other stuff that is in the country.  But Kenya certainly has coast, and the main port is Mombasa.  Up the coast, Lamu Island is famous for colonial architecture and beaches.

Kenya has lighthouses, most of the active ones modern and small. But Mombasa has one, the R'as Serani Rear Range Light, that is the more traditional variety.  That's the one featured this week.  As you have discerned from the foregoing discussion, it's in Mombasa, and this is where it is located (it's called "Watchtower" on the map.

Let the Lighthouse Directory tell us about it.

"Date unknown (1920s?) (station established 1902). Active; focal plane 45 m (148 ft); white flash every 5 s. 33 m (108 ft) round stone tower with lantern and gallery, painted with black and white horizontal bands."

That's all there is, and there aren't a lot of pictures of it -- three are below.

Isn't that convenient?

 

Just a note about Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court Justice who has a bit of an ethics kerfuffle recently.

GOP donor denies influence over Clarence Thomas, despite lavish gifts

In an interview with the Atlantic, billionarire Harlan Crow said he didn’t see any impropriety in his actions

Now, here's the quote that begat this note:

"Thomas has acknowledged he befriended Crow after he joined the Supreme Court in 1991,"

So, he got on the Supreme Court, was known to be conservative-friendly and a Scalia acolyte, and after he was on the court, a rich conservative billionaire became his friend and started giving him gifts and great vacations?  A conservative billionaire on the board of major conservative think-tanks who were (and are) frequent amicus briefs with SCOTUS cases?

That truly is convenient.

Streetview View of Sunset Crater

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument hosts Sunset Crater, a relatively young and fresh cinder cone in Arizona.  It's actually not far from Meteor Crater, which was formed by an impact event from an extraterrestrial piece of iron-nickel, but due to the proximity of volcanic activity, the impact origin was argued for decades.

I wondered if you could see Sunset Crater from the nearby roads with Streetview, and it turns out it is visible.  So if you haven't been there, take a look at the view.

Sauron lives

 

Sauron, the Dark Lord of Middle Earth, who lived in the tower of Barad-dûr in the land of Mordor (all of which is in the Lord of the Rings), was pretty much dispensed with by the end of that book, but you'll have to read it find out how, if you don't know.'

But Sauron isn't all gone -- there's a butterfly named after him.

New Butterflies Are Named for Sauron, ‘Lord of the Rings’ Villain

"A new genus of butterfly, with dark, eye-like spots on its distinctive orange wings, has been named after Sauron, the arch-villain of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings, whose gaze lingers malevolently over the lands of Middle-earth."

Meet the butterfly:

Lighthouse of the Week, June 4-10, 2023: Ned's Point, Massachusetts, USA

 

Let's go domestic again and take a look at Ned's Point Lighthouse in Massachusetts.

What's the point, you ask?  Maybe you should be asking where the point is, which is shown here.  It's east of New Bedford on Buzzards Bay.  Falmouth is on the other side of the water.

So, let's learn what we can about it.

"1838 (Leonard Hammond). Reactivated (inactive 1952-1961); focal plane 41 ft (12.5 m); white light, 3 s on, 3 s off. 39 ft (12 m) round rubblestone tower with lantern and gallery. 250 mm lens (1996). Lighthouse painted white, lantern and gallery black. ...

The Coast Guard sold the land surrounding the lighthouse to the Town of Mattapoisett in 1958. The lighthouse was restored through local efforts in 1993-98 and is maintained with the help of the Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 6-3. Auxiliary members worked on renovations to the lighthouse in 2011. In 2019 lead contamination was discovered in the lantern and the lighthouse was closed. It reopened in October 2021 after lead was removed and the lantern restored. In 2022 a campaign launched to raise $270,000 for a through restoration of the tower, and the town's Select Board expressed interest in taking ownership of the lighthouse."

Of course there will be pictures, and a video, below.

Big Bang (cont.)

 

Astronomers are watching the biggest explosion in the Universe. And it just keeps exploding.

The Biggest Explosion in the Cosmos Just Keeps Going

"Now an international group of astronomers reports that it is observing one of the most violent and energetic acts of cosmic cannibalism ever witnessed, perhaps the biggest explosion seen yet in the history of the universe. Eight billion light-years from Earth, in the darkness beyond the constellation Vulpecula, a black hole perhaps a billion times as massive as the sun seems to be gorging on a humongous cloud of gas. A study of the phenomenon appeared Friday in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The study began on April 13, 2021, when the Zwicky Transient Facility, a small telescope that was busy looking for exploding stars, or supernovas, spotted a bright flash that did not fit expectations. Most supernovas fade after a few weeks; this one, known as AT2021lwx, kept going — and has continued to explode for three years now."

So, we'll just have to go take a closer look.

Or maybe not.

 

The (sad) state of North Carolina

 

Extremist Republicans are flaunting democracy everywhere in a power bid to take away the power of the vote and the power of the American people. This trend is on display in North Carolina.  The gerrymander map above, upheld by the Republican majority state supreme court, shows why they're getting away with it.

Republicans Are Running Wild in My State

by Frank Bruni, former NY Times opinion writer

"They [Republicans in the NC legislature] They have already relaxed restrictions on firearms. They want to prevent teachers from talking about systemic racism. ... On Wednesday the House also passed a bill that would change the state’s current ban on most abortions after 20 weeks to a ban on most abortions after 12. That’s just a snapshot of Republicans’ agenda.

“They have immediate plans to use their supermajorities to reduce tax rates to levels that the governor’s office estimates would reduce our general fund revenue by 25 percent per year, causing the state to fall billions of dollars short of our obligations,” State Senator Graig Meyer, a Democrat, told me. “Surprisingly to me, they are also pushing all sorts of legislation that chips away at our previously bipartisan efforts to develop a clean tech economy.”

And they may well succeed, because Republicans in North Carolina have used “both skillful political maneuvering and brutal legislative tactics to develop supermajority power in the legislature and complete control of our courts, even though our state is about a 50-50 split politically,” Meyer said. “Policies that the G.O.P. base is demanding are getting farther away from what average voters will tolerate.”

But average voters don’t matter — that’s the lesson of and message in so much of what Republicans are doing in states around the country."

So, the next time you hear a Republican politician say something like "that's what the American people want", you can be sure that's not what the American people want, it's what extremist Republican politicians want.

Dancer Witney Carson has her second child

 

I haven't followed the US version of "Dancing With the Stars" recently, but may have to revisit that decision with Julianne Hough tapped as the new host.

After Julianne moved on from both dancing and judging, one of the more delightful dancers was Witney Carson.  She combined the moves with the smile and the blondeness into a great package.

Well, she's also married (she's a practicing Mormon), so she married young, and she's now just had her second baby.

Witney Carson announces arrival of baby number two! DWTS star shares sweet snap of her bundle of joy after giving birth to second son

Brief post on the French Open at the end of the halfway weekend

 

My quick takes on the French Open 2023 men's and women's singles, at the halfway point.

Men's Draw

Sentimental favorite: Zverev
Most Likely to Win: Djokovic
Most Likely to Break Through: Tsitsipas (if he can get past Alcaraz)


Women's Draw:

Sentimental Favorite: Svitolina (2nd: Gauff)
The French Open has a new darling, and she’s French! (Well, by marriage.) 

Most Likely to Win: Swiatek
Most Likely to Break Through: Sabalenka

Olive oil suffers from drought in Spain

It's getting more expensive:

Spain has been experiencing dry conditions for a few years, and particularly this spring. That's affecting their olive oil production.

Even if you associate olive oil with Italy, Spain is the world's largest producer of it.  So when their olive harvest is down, the world knows about it.

Climate change’s latest victim: the olive oil you cook with

The world’s largest olive-oil producer is expecting a dismal harvest this year

"Spain has been experiencing lower than normal rainfall since October. In April, the country reported the driest and warmest conditions for that month in Spain’s history. It only received about a fifth of average precipitation, according to the country’s weather agency, or AEMET for its acronym in Spanish.

As a result, the olive oil powerhouse is set to harvest half as much this season compared to last. Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is predicting the country will produce only 680,000 tonnes from the 2022-2023 season — compared to nearly 1.5 million tonnes the previous year."

I'm not sure that the finger of certainty regarding climate change causation can be pointed at this drought. That requires study and statistical number crunching.  It's definitely a drought.  Is it longer and more intense than a "normal drought" in Spain?  I'm not sure.

Quick check on Google Scholar ........ here's a possibility.

The Rise of Atmospheric Evaporative Demand Is Increasing Flash Droughts in Spain During the Warm Season

Thank you VERY much

 

Incredibly gorgeous British actress Michelle Keegan, whose praises I have sung numerous times on this blog (you can check), is involved in fashion.  She's previously worked with Lipsy London, and also has her own swimsuit (not a line, just a swimsuit that can be worn in various styles), and now she has a fashion line with Very UK.  

This is good, because she poses in her fashions when there's a new season out.

Michelle Keegan flaunts her toned abs in a blue crop top before slipping into a skintight nude dress as she launches her stylish Very summer collection

To get to the actual collection (there's a lot of MK featured), go here:

Michelle Keegan - Very.co.uk

She poses more for the camera in the Daily Mail article (the first link) than on the Very website -- but either one is worth the time.

This shot from the article is fairly warm.

And I like this dress (and the coy pose).

If you're married to Abbey Clancy

 

Former footballer (soccer player) Peter Crouch is married to model/hottie/especially hottie after having kids Abbey Clancy.  I have continued to note her marvelous maturity on this site for years.

There's a documentary out now about them, and at times it delves into their personal home life.

Which is one that make others (like me) a tad envious.

So if you're married to Abbey Clancy and you want to get marital, IYKWIM, here's how.

"She got candid about the couple's love life during an episode of their podcast The Therapy Crouch.

Abbey told how her footballer beau will often send her a beaver emoji followed by an aubergine emoji whenever they're alone in the house.

She said: 'I just don't know how long I can go on with these sexual emojis that you keep sending me.

'If the kids go to school and he hears me like, put the key in the door I'm in and no one's in the house, I just get a beaver and an aubergine emoji text. I'm not even gonna say the last one but you can imagine what it is.'

Peter laughed and confirmed: 'There's three emojis.'

'I've got a bit of hydration in there,' Abbey said, referring to the splashing sweat emoji as Peter continued laughing.

So, if you're signaling your readiness for bedtime pleasures with Abbey Clancy, this is how Peter does it: