Tom Faranda's Folly

Saturday's wordle

This is the first time I've ever had an opening like this. Took 90 seconds to finish - there are plenty of words ending RATE. I could have been unlucky and not gotten it.

The 5 most common regrets of the dying and what we can learn

Good short article from Great Britain.

Bronnie Ware, a former palliative care nurse and bestselling author, shares the five most common regrets of the dying—and her advice on how to live a life full of happiness and joy.

Here are the first two:

I Wish I’d Lived a Life True to Myself, Not the Life Others Expected of Me

and

I Wish I Hadn’t Worked so Hard

Worthwhile short article.

The Friday wordle

Another home run chase - Albert Pujols has hit his 700th home run!

Albert Pujols annoinced athe beginning of the year that this would be his last season. He's now the 4th player in baseball history to hit 700 homers (Barry Bonds, Henry Aaron and Babe Ruth) - and the first from the Dominican Republic. Pujols is 42 years old.

 

 

NY Times: "Aaron Judge Joins a Pinstriped-Only Party of Three"

All Rise!

By joining Roger Maris and Babe Ruth as the only A.L. players with 60-homer seasons, Judge showed once again that no team does big moments quite like the Yankees.

It was one of those nights, the kind that reminds you of the fundamental rule of the last baseball century: There are the Yankees, and then there is everyone else. From sepia tones to high definition, no other team does history, then or now, with such grandeur and resonance.

In the ninth inning on Tuesday in the Bronx, Aaron Judge became the third player in American League history to reach 60 home runs in a season. The others were also Yankees: Babe Ruth in 1927 and Roger Maris in 1961, and both had slugging teammates pushing them along. For Ruth it was Lou Gehrig, for Maris it was Mickey Mantle.

So what else could have followed Judge’s 60th homer but a game-ending grand slam by Giancarlo Stanton, later that inning, to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-8? No other active slugger can relate to Judge quite like Stanton, who once belted 59 homers in a season for Miami. It had to be Stanton to cap a night like this, with a screaming low liner into the left-field seats.

"Just Don’t Do It: 10 Exercise Myths"

This is a pretty good article from the Guardian (UK) written by a Harvard evolutionary biology professor. I'm excerpting two "myths"

I think we can do better by looking beyond the weird world in which we live to consider how our ancestors as well as people in other cultures manage to be physically active. This kind of evolutionary anthropological perspective reveals 10 unhelpful myths about exercise. Rejecting them won’t transform you suddenly into an Olympic athlete, but they might help you turn over a new leaf without feeling bad about yourself.

Myth 1: It’s normal to exercise

Whenever you move to do anything, you’re engaging in physical activity. In contrast, exercise is voluntary physical activity undertaken for the sake of fitness. You may think exercise is normal, but it’s a very modern behaviour. Instead, for millions of years, humans were physically active for only two reasons: when it was necessary or rewarding. Necessary physical activities included getting food and doing other things to survive. Rewarding activities included playing, dancing or training to have fun or to develop skills. But no one in the stone age ever went for a five-mile jog to stave off decrepitude, or lifted weights whose sole purpose was to be lifted.

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Myth 7: It’s normal to be less active as we age

After many decades of hard work, don’t you deserve to kick up your heels and take it easy in your golden years? Not so. Despite rumours that our ancestors’ life was nasty, brutish and short, hunter-gatherers who survive childhood typically live about seven decades, and they continue to work moderately as they age. The truth is we evolved to be grandparents in order to be active in order to provide food for our children and grandchildren. In turn, staying physically active as we age stimulates myriad repair and maintenance processes that keep our bodies humming. Numerous studies find that exercise is healthier the older we get.

Thursday wordle

 

"9 Innovative Ways Martha's Vineyard Is Handling It's Border Crisis"

Some thoughts from the BB. As you no doubt know, the Vineyard people already have handled the problem with the second "way". Got the National Guard in and packed 'em off to Cape Cod military base.

The people of Martha's Vineyard are facing a border crisis, with immigrants being shipped in from Florida by the planeload. But the fine people of the wealthy community have come up with some unique and innovative ways of handling the crisis. Here are the 9 steps they are taking to solve the issue

1. Building a wall - A big, beautiful wall.
2. Deporting people who are there illegally - They've already been shipped out by bus. Smart!
3. Employing mounted border patrol to whip migrants away - It's not humane, but it is effective.
4. Firing cans of tear gas - This was Obama's idea.
5. Pulling down their "Immigrants are welcome here" signs and replacing with ones that say "Go away or we will taunt you a second time." - Just to avoid any confusion!
6. Putting the migrants to work on the hedges and baseboards - If you can't deport 'em, employ 'em!
7. Building cages for the migrant kids - Gotta separate them from their parents for processing, of course.
8. Declaring a border crisis and calling in the military - It's time to get tough!
9. Reminding people that there are legal paths to citizenship and that having a strong immigration policy is not the same thing as hating other cultures - A unique take no one has ever thought of before.

Yankee Tuesday 9th inning: First Judge, then Stanton...

Wow. If you're a Yankee fan a great video. Yankee haters, not so much. The long version (whole inning) and below it is the short version (3 minutes) just showing the homers.

 

3 minute version -

 

California couple adjusting to life in Texas

But with difficulty - latest from BB

 

 

 

 

The Wednesday wordle

My friend Karen Allen - solo art show at the Croton Library

And it will be good! I'm sure Karen would love to see you - even if you're not local!

-I will be having a solo painting show in the Ottinger Room of the Croton Library- the opening is Sunday November 6th from 2-4 pm-pencil it in, as I would love to see you there if you are local. 

 

Best,

Karen

 

And this is a screen shot of Karen's recent newsletter - sorry, type is small; best I could do.

 

 

Short essay: "Crime is a construct...", off Common Sense with Bari Weiss

The Park Slope Panthers, yada yada. If you're wondering, Park Slope is a well off neighborhood in Brooklyn.  Pretty good short essay. You should be able to access it for free.

A Brooklyn man with politics ‘to the left of Lenin’ tries to organize a neighborhood watch. It didn’t go quite as planned.

 

Tuesday wordle

Martha's Vineyard v. Del Rio Texas

                                        POPULATION                    MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS

Martha's Vineyard                    17,000                                    50

Del Rio                                    34,584                                   49,563  (Del Rio, Custom and Border Protection numbers for July)

 

Martha's Vineyard 2020 median household income - $77,370

Del Rio 2020 median family income - $45,561

This woman should close her yapper - she's said a bunch of things that are up on youtube embarrassing to Martha's Vineyard. At least I hope Martha's Vineyard folks are embarrassed.

 

 

The Monday wordle

Another "Everyone loves Elephants" video

These elephants live at an Elephant Rescue enclave in Thailand. They are Asian Elephants of course (Compared to African Elephants they have smaller ears, only males can grow tusks and Asians have double domed heads).

Pope Francis: "Countries have a right to self defense".

Returning to Rome from Kazakhstan Sept. 15, Pope Francis discussed the morality of wars of self-defense. With Ukraine in everyone's mind...

"Defending oneself is not only licit, but it also is an expression of love for one's homeland. Those who do not defend themselves, those who do not defend something, do not love it, instead those who defend, love."

But the Pope emphasizes that dialogue must be done, even if "it stinks."

 

 

 

Sunday's wordle

France - a walk around where we stayed - Piriac sur Mer

So having bloviated about our travel day France - Wednesday the 24th to Monday the 29th.  which started Wednesday the 24th and ended Thursday the 25th in Piriac sur Mer , we had all day Friday until the pre-wedding dinner Friday evening. So in the morning we walked through Piriac and down to the harbor.

From our window Brigid checking things out while my shirt tries to de-wrinkle.

Here is what Brigid is looking at -

so then we took off on a walk.

Other side of the bay - probably 4 -5 miles away  - wind farm!

You can tell from the sun in the east, it's still fairly early in the morning.

Wow. I need to iron my face. But at least no nose hairs ...

Off the waterfront and into town

St. Pierre Church where the wedding is held the next day. See the sailing ship hanging from the roof? There have been a series of Churches on this spot since 570! The current one dates from 1787.

I was the only person wearing a FRANCE hat. But these hats were all over France!

BUT THERE'S MORE!

Then for the afternoon we looked on the map and decided to take a drive to Le Croisic, although we'd no idea what the place was like. And we made a detour on the way to Hotel Barrieire L'Hermitage, where that evening's drinks and dinner was to be held. It turned out to be well worth the drive - Le Croisic, very cool place, further south down the coast at the end of a short peninsula. And historic re: WW 2 - see my note at the bottom. But will limit to three pictures.

 

There was a big art exhibit going on in there (very pricey) - we visited but no pictures allowed.See Brigid?

Ok four pictures. I fibbed.

Five. Do you see Brigid?

NOTE

A few miles south from Le Croisic a very famous WW II British commando raid took place in March, 1942 - St Nazaire Raid . Very successful, but with very high commando casualties. They came by sea and had to slip past a German radar site in Le Croisic, which they succeeded in doing.

 

 

 

Saturday wordle

Back on the right track after this - Friday's wordle - my third miss!

Croton K of C honors first responders and volunteers

Nice and well attended event held on September ninth.

Each year the Knights acknowledge an individual in our community as the “Person of the Year”. Like so many other things this got put on hold during Covid. This year the Knights choose these amazing organizations and individuals not just for their work every day but particularly for how they have all served and the sacrifices they have made during the Covid Pandemic.

The Knights acknowledge that there are other worthy professionals and volunteers that deserve recognition for their work and sacrifice that we have not specifically included today. Our social workers and mental health professionals, delivery workers, our clergy our shop workers to name a few all deserve special recognition. For many the challenges they face will only increase as we transition to a post pandemic world.

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Our appreciation extends to members of our community who serve on NYPD, the Sheriff’s Office and other areas of law enforcement, the New York Fire Department or other local Fire Services, medical professionals, nurses, doctors, teachers who live here in our community but serve throughout the local area.

Friday's wordle - my third miss!

Oh well. I never heard of the word PARER. My first miss was on the word FORAY months ago and the second one was on August ninth - PATTY. Patty is also a name and they generally don't use names. Not too shabby though since I've been doing wordle virtually every day since March.

Tucker Carlson discussion on Florida sending immigrants to Martha's Vineyard

I'd like a t-shirt with the corrected Vineyard sign partway through this monologue. Nothing wrong with a little tent city action on Martha's Vineyard, paid for by the multi-millionaires who have vacation compounds there. Like this picture which I took in January 2021, in Washington DC. A few blocks from Union Station and from the Supreme Court. Tucker is below the picture.

 

The Thursday wordle

"England Study Confirms 100 Myocarditis Deaths After COVID Shots"

Hmm. And note who published the study.

In the largest study to date on myocarditis deaths related to COVID-19 vaccination, researchers found that 100 people in England died of myocarditis soon after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

The study, published Aug. 22 in the American Heart Association’s journal, Circulation, found more than half (51) of the deaths occurred within 1 to 28 days after receiving a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and just under half (49) of the deaths occurred within 1 to 28 days after a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The AstraZeneca vaccine, not authorized for use in the U.S., uses an adenovirus technology similar to that used by Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J), or Janssen) COVID-19 vaccine, which is authorized for emergency use in the U.S.

Prior research has underscored the risk of fatal myocarditis associated with the mRNA technology used in the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. This study showed the technology used in AstraZeneca’s vaccine poses a similar risk.

Ex Governor Cuomo files ethics complaint against NY attorney general - and gets to keep his book deal $5 million

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo filed an ethics complaint Tuesday against state Attorney General Letitia James, reiterating his oft-repeated complaint about the way she handled a sexual harassment investigation that led to his resignation last year. Cuomo questioned the accuracy and credibility of the investigation’s findings, alleging James, a fellow Democrat, used the probe to tarnish him and further her own political interests.

James’ office declined comment. In the past, she has dismissed Cuomo's complaints as the sour grapes of a man who “has never taken responsibility for his own conduct.”

Legal victory for Cuomo over book deal:Cuomo wins lawsuit against now-defunct JCOPE, won't have to pay back $5.1M from book deal

Wednesday's wordle

Florida Governor sending two planeloads of illegal immigrants to "Sanctuary" Island -Martha's Vineyard + what NYC is doing for their bused-in migrants

UPDATE: Here is the care the bused illegal migrants are receiving in NYC. Thanks to Paul (you know who you are!) for this. https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/about/dear-colleague-migrants.pdf

Been there - they can afford to help them out. It's only fair.

Florida governor sends migrants to Martha's Vineyard as part of program 'to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis followed through on his promise to drop off illegal immigrants in progressive states, sending two planes full of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday.

A video provided to Fox News Digital shows the migrants deboarding the planes at Martha’s Vineyard Airport in Massachusetts.

"Yes, Florida can confirm the two planes with illegal immigrants that arrived in Martha’s Vineyard today were part of the state’s relocation program to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations," the governor’s communications director, Taryn Fenske, told Fox News Digital.

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        "It is not the responsibility of Floridians to subsidize aliens to reside in our state unlawfully; we did not consent to Biden’s open-borders agenda," the governor’s office said at the time.

Yesterday's stock market train wreck

Well at least it was an orderly wreck. S & P down over 4% and the tech heavy NASDAQ down over 5%. The reason - surprise that the inflation rate barely dropped. I think the market is gradually adjusting to the reality of rising interest rates, the likely drop in company earnings and a slide into recession. I will do a posting later this week on the stumbling stock market (the antidote!) and why we are very likely headed into a bad economy.

I've been following Dan Stiles (manages a hedge fund; he is originally from Sri Lanka and was trained as an electrical engineer) all year and he's been dead on in his commentary. Sorry for the commercial at the beginning, no way to get around it. Because he runs a hedge fund it's virtually impossible for a retail investor to do what he's doing - but his big picture view of the market is worth hearing and sobering if you are heavily into the stock market or holding long term bonds.

 

 

The Tuesday wordle

This was a tough one - I really got lucky on my ALPHA pick/guess. 

HA! Gavin Newsom's in-laws donated to DeSantis campaign - and moved to Florida!

Too funny. From ABC. Maybe they moved because Newsom helped his mother commit suicide  and they don't want to share that fate?

California Governor Gavin Newsom's in-laws not only donated money to his political rival,Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, but they also relocated from California to The Sunshine State at the start of the pandemic, voting and property records reportedly show.

 

 

 

Monday wordle

Brigid's Blaze poster

 A Brigid poster production. The Blaze opens to the public later this week and my posting this was embargoed (by Brigid...) until it was put up in a couple of places in Croton. And it's a submission to her photographer's group.

Sunday's wordle

Amusing - a one minute very funny Queen Elizabeth moment

Theresa May - former Prime Minister of the UK - on a picnic with the Queen...

 

9/11 - twenty-one years - my friend Tommy Knox

Like for most people today is a sorrowful day. Below is a posting I first put up in 2006. Tommy should be 51. The comments on his Legacy Tribute page are 100+ pages. 

I knew seven people killed on 9/11. But I only knew one of them real well.

I knew Tom Knox ("Tommy") because I coached him for five years at the North Jersey Rugby Club. He was a great kid. Funny, quick witted, really sparkling personality. The sort of fellow you enjoy hanging around with; you're glad he's your friend.

He was an intense rugby player and wonderfully coachable guy.

  Tom was married to Nancy for less than a year. He was thirty years old. The youngest of six children. He worked at Cantor Fitzgerald. No trace of him has been found. 1,000 people attended his funeral Mass. It is still painful to even write about this.

If you have time, go here  Guest Book - Thomas Patrick Knox and read some of the 21 pages of tributes Tommy's friends wrote.

Saturday's wordle

This was tough - took me over 20 minutes.