Tom Faranda's Folly

Blue Super Moon Wednesday night from Elmore Ave

About 9:20 in the evening as we returned from a glorious evening with the always charming Doreen and Paul.

Cool lighting!

Super Moon!

 

Public High School ratings released

Thanks to Maria for sending me this -

"U.S. News Releases 'Best High Schools': Croton Harmon, Ossining Ranked The annual ranking released by U.S. News and World Report evaluates schools based on graduation rates, academic performance and more."

OSSINING, NY — Croton-Harmon High School ranks No. 47 in New York, while Ossining High School is ranked No. 404 in the state according to the 2023-2024 Best High Schools rankings released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report.

CHHS ranks No. 353 nationally, while Ossining is ranked No. 4,349 on the national list.

The magazine reviewed 25,000 schools and ranked 17,680 of them, including 1,376 in New York State.

Wednesday wordle

Disney stock is in the toilet - at nine year low

Maybe it's because of this -

"Disney Stock at 9-Year Low, Anti-woke Boycott Continues"  but the article is on NEWSMAX which is a very conservative news site. That may have something to do with it but more likely it's

• People priced out of going to Disney Parks
• Bad movies
• A major money losing Disney Plus streaming service

And the stockholders are hurtin' -

The company's market cap has fallen from $350.09 billion on March 22, 2022, to $154.04 billion. That's a decline of $196.05 billion — or a 56% drop in market cap.

 

Tuesday wordle

90 seconds.

"Two Fordham Prep grads honor a third who took a different path"

This is a lovely article.

Two Jesuit grads who fought in Vietnam honor their classmate who protested it

In 1960, three young men graduated from Fordham Preparatory School, a Jesuit high school nestled on the historic Rose Hill campus in the Bronx alongside Fordham University, and set out on paths that would painfully clash as the Vietnam War unfolded. Jack Geraghty ventured south to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and Jack Bergen headed north to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Brendan Walsh enrolled at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., where he studied under a pacifist faculty member, Daniel J. Berrigan, S.J.

Monday wordle

Back on the CT Appalachian Trail

Yesterday - Tim drove up in his car, so I was able to park mine at the end of this about 4.5 mile section. Funny thing - Tim had asked me if I was bringing bear spray and I have misplaced mine. I told him that black bears are pretty harmless UNLESS you get between a bear cub and the mother! And then Tim as he drove home - there was a fuss on the road as a bear cub walked across the lane.

This is a continuation of my effort from last summer to section hike the entire CT. section of the Appalachian Trail. I'm hoping next week to do an overnighter on the trail to do the northernmost section in Connecticut.

Pix - the first one early in the hike and pretty typical terrain.

These two are from the highest point - at least the highest point with a view. Pine Knob (at 1,158 feet, it is on the AT and can also be reached by it's own trail), with views into the Housatonic Valley.

 

Sunday wordle

Trump facing another felony; lied about his weight on the jail booking form

Haha. And not only that, he made himself one inch taller! I hope the Babylon Bee steals my headline...

 

Saturday wordle

WSJ: "China’s 40-Year Boom Is Over. What Comes Next?"

Several day's ago Wall Street Journal had a very comprehensive look at China's economy. This has been much commented on in the news and business press.  I've posted a few paragraphs below the link.

The economic model that took the country from poverty to great-power status seems broken, and everywhere are signs of distress

What worked when China was playing catch-up makes less sense now that the country is drowning in debt and running out of things to build. Parts of China are saddled with under-used bridges and airports. Millions of apartments are unoccupied. Returns on investment have sharply declined.

********************

Economists now believe China is entering an era of much slower growth, made worse by unfavorable demographics and a widening divide with the U.S. and its allies, which is jeopardizing foreign investment and trade. Rather than just a period of economic weakness, this could be the dimming of a long era.

********************

The outlook has darkened considerably in recent months. Manufacturing activity has contracted, exports have declined, and youth unemployment has reached record highs. One of the country’s largest surviving property developers, Country Garden Holdings, is on the cusp of a possible default as the overall economy slips into deflation.

****************

Unlike Japan, however, China would be entering such a period before reaching rich-world status, with per capita incomes far below more advanced economies. China’s national income per person reached about $12,850 last year, below the current threshold of $13,845 that the World Bank classifies as the minimum for a “high-income” country. Japan’s per capita national income in 2022 was about $42,440, and the U.S.’s was about $76,400.

*********************

The transition marks a stunning change. China consistently defied economic cycles in the four decades since Deng Xiaoping started an era of “reform and opening” in 1978, embracing market forces and opening China to the West, in particular through international trade and investment.

During that period, China increased per capita income 25-fold and lifted more than 800 million Chinese people out of poverty, according to the World Bank—more than 70% of the total poverty reduction in the world. China evolved from a nation racked by famine into the world’s second-largest economy, and America’s greatest competitor for leadership.

***********************

The most obvious solution, economists say, would be for China to shift toward promoting consumer spending and service industries, which would help create a more balanced economy that more resembles those of the U.S. and Western Europe. Household consumption makes up only about 38% of GDP in China, relatively unchanged in recent years, compared with around 68% in the U.S., according to the World Bank.

Changing that would require China’s government to undertake measures aimed at encouraging people to spend more and save less. That could include expanding China’s relatively meager social safety net with greater health and unemployment benefits.

Xi and some of his lieutenants remain suspicious of U.S.-style consumption, which they see as wasteful at a time when China’s focus should be on bolstering its industrial capabilities and girding for potential conflict with the West, people with knowledge of Beijing’s decision-making say.

***********************

Instead, guided by a desire to strengthen political control, Xi’s leadership has doubled down on state intervention to make China an even bigger industrial power, strong in government-favored industries such as semiconductors, EVs and AI.

**********************

Last week, just as Beijing released a barrage of disappointing economic data, the party’s premier journal, Qiushi, published a speech made by Xi six months earlier to senior officials, in which the leader emphasized the importance of focusing on long-term goals instead of pursuing Western-style material wealth. “We must maintain historic patience and insist on making steady, step-by-step progress,” Xi said in the speech.

Friday wordle

Two minutes -

My town named best place to live in NY State

Yup. Croton on Hudson. Thanks to RM for sending me this. The article is in USA Today and they joined with 24/7 Wall St. to work out the ratings. Hit the link below and then scroll down to ratings.

24/7 Wall St. created a weighted index of over two dozen measures to identify the best city to live in each state. It considered all boroughs, census designated places, cities, towns and villages with at least 8,000 residents.

Affordability, economy, quality of life, and community were all weighted.

These cities tend to have much in common beyond the index components upon which they were ranked. For one, these communities are often within commuting distance of a major metropolitan area. This is no coincidence, as close proximity to a major city provides residents with access to more job opportunities, which in turn can help lower unemployment and improve financial security.

Best cities to live in every state across the US

Or you can hit this link   Croton-on Hudson named best place to live in NY State

Croton-on-Hudson Named Best Place To Live In New York State

Read More: Hudson Valley Hometown Named 'Best' Place In New York State | https://hudsonvalleypost.com/hudson-valley-hometown-named-best-place-in-new-york-state/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

Croton-on-Hudson Named Best Place To Live In New York State

Read More: Hudson Valley Hometown Named 'Best' Place In New York State | https://hudsonvalleypost.com/hudson-valley-hometown-named-best-place-in-new-york-state/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

  and skip the other 49 states to just read about us.

A few recent pictures off my phone

Half Moon Bay -

My office - the second floor -

These guys are all over the neighbor!

 

Thursday wordle

Yay! Yankees (finally) win another game & Judge, big night

After, was it eight straight losses? And they are 4 games under .500 with 35 to play. On Judge 2nd home run, look where the pitcher grooved it - right down Home Run Alley.

 

Wednesday wordle

Same vowel words can be difficult.

Putin again assassinates one of his enemies.

The moral of the story "If your going to kill the king, don't miss."

60 days after the mutiny ended - along with nine other people on the plane. Putin didn't mess around. No "Oh he fell out the window" or "He drowned in the swimming pool". Prigozhin was founder and head of the mercenary "Wagner Group", made up mostly of hardened criminals told their sentences would be wiped clean if they fought for six months. They've fought in Africa, the Middle East, and especially Ukraine.

"Dead in plane crash: Yevgeny Prigozhin who led mutiny against Putin"

BB - Poll: "70% of Republicans say Trump more trustworthy than Jesus"

At publishing time, a group of loyal Trump voters was circulating a petition online to have the national motto revised to be "In Trump We Trust."

... an astonishing 71% believe former President Donald Trump is more trustworthy than Jesus Christ.

"I'll believe anything Trump says," said conservative voter Ned Irwin. "If he told me the world was ending tomorrow, I'd take it as gospel. He hasn't ever let me down, and since I prayed to win the lotto last week and Jesus didn't come through for me, that puts Trump higher on the trust scale with me."

Trump has long enjoyed strong support from Christian conservatives, but the results of this new poll show another level of fanaticism. "It's amazing to see how easily they believe him," said Professor Blake Rumsey of the Institute of Polling People for Things. "If Trump came out tomorrow and told his supporters that he was a time-traveling alien named Nagoh Kluh from the planet Xorvus Prime, this poll indicates a vast majority of Republicans would buy it."

With his claims of election fraud still inspiring loyalty from his voting base, Trump has used his standing among Christians to increase his lead over his GOP primary rivals. "EVERYONE KNOWS HOW HONEST I AM," Trump said in a post to his Truth Social account. "IF I SAY SOMETHING, IT'S TRUE. JUST LIKE JESUS. JESUS IS A WONDERFUL FRIEND. HE HAS TOLD ME MANY BEAUTIFUL THINGS. I TALK TO HIM EVERY DAY. HE WANTS EVERYONE TO VOTE FOR TRUMP. MAGA!"

Tuesday wordle

Lucky again and took about two minutes.

How today's "Queenship of Mary" Feast ties in with her Assumption celebrated on the 15th

This is an interesting brief article (hit the link!) and shows how the Church ponders these mysteries. Unlike the Feast of the Assumption today is not a Holy Day of Obligation.

In the Roman Catholic Church, the liturgy celebrates two principal Marian feasts in August. The first is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary on August 15, and the second is the Feast of the Queenship of Mary on August 22.

When it came to the Assumption, it had an octave celebration for many centuries. Then on May 4, 1944, Pope Pius XII established the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on August 22, the octave day of the feast of the Assumption. He did this so that by her intercession may be obtained “peace among nations, freedom for the Church, the conversion of sinners, the love of purity and the practice of virtue.”

However, Pope Paul VI decided to switch the feasts of the Immaculate Heart and the Queenship of Mary. The feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was joined to the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (celebrated on the Saturday following the feast of the Sacred Heart, typically in June) and the Queenship of Mary was moved to August 22.

"Irish Nachos"! Who knew?

Actually sounds pretty good and I guess I'm the only one who didn't know - hit the link for the full recipe.

Whether it's March, the big game, or you just need a hearty snack, go ahead and give this dish a lash. These always ready, easy to prepare, Irish Nachos will be a new favorite for your lucky crew. The four-leaf fortune of the crispy kettle-style potato chips, topped with crumbles of salty bacon and melted cheese, will be the pot of gold you have been looking for.

Monday wordle

Got lucky. Took 90 seconds.

Vivek Ramaswamy Surprising answer to LGBTQ Reporter

Very well handled. A respectful interaction. This is from the Catholic Vote youtube channel.

 

Sunday wordle

Women's Soccer World Cup final highlights - Spain v. England

Five minutes long; Spain in red.

 

The recipe for "Tommy's Margarita" (it's the real name)

A real mod (one of many) of the classic margarita - made some last evening and pretty good!

The traditional Margarita recipe features tequila, fresh lime juice, and orange liqueur, but as with most classics, bartenders and enthusiasts have found ways to riff on the original formula. One such twist has become a modern classic: Tommy’s Margarita, which was created by the legendary Julio Bermejo in the early ’90s at his family’s San Francisco restaurant Tommy’s Mexican.

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces blanco tequila

• 1 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed

• 1/2 ounce agave nectar

• Garnish: salt rim 
  
  

Saturday wordle

Only three different letters!

 

Last weekend's Adirondack adventure

Last week from Thursday August 10th to Sunday the 13th we were staying in a place called Schroon Lake well up in the Adirondack Park, west of Ticonderoga and close to the Vermont border. We met up with our great friend Laurie from Vermont - it had been many years since we'd all seen each other.  We stayed at the Paradox Lake campsite which was basic but fine. Managed to knock off two bottles of wine Thursday night while talking for several hours in the LLBean tent. 

Here are the arrangements - the ladies got the nice Bean tent while good ol' Tom got the blue tent. It was raining really hard when we arrived in the late afternoon on the tenth but we were able to set up relatively easily. And both tents held up very well despite heavy rain on the Thursday night and then again Saturday night into Sunday morning. My tent was actually an Amazon Essentials tent that cost $22. I have other tents but decided on a whim to try it out. It was fine, no leakage. It might be a little too heavy for carrying on an overnight hike - at least for me.

The next day we climbed Mt. Severance - a mile and a quarter hike with a 700 foot rise in elevation. The peak is at 1693 feet. You can see the picture I posted earlier this week here and these are two more from the top. My hiking skills do deteriorate after imbibing a fair amount of wine the night before...

 

And here are a selection of more pictures over Friday and Subday. You will have no trouble figuring out hiking photos from pictures taken at the Paradox Brewery. We went there Friday and Saturday.

Brigid took the next 5 pictures - note Laurie's mosquito net! We were told it was one of the worst years ever for mosquitoes, because of the heavy rains. Other hikers were so jealous of Laurie!

 

At the Brewery Friday afternoon

The Brewery Saturday evening

These are a mixture of Brigid and my pictures.

 

We think this is a beaver dam. Not the clearest picture I've ever taken.

We went to Mass at the very nice Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Schroon Lake  Saturday evening. We briefly spoke to the Pastor (good homilist!) and he is also pastor of the Catholic Church in Ticonderoga. Quaint.

Last view of our tents as we packed up Sunday morning -

After leaving the camping site we did the "Lost Pond" hike - some of the pictures above -and then drove to Ticonderoga for lunch. As we descended into Ticonderoga the view was spectacular and Brigid managed to get this picture.

Before we split up we exchanged booze gifts with Laurie. And we are making plans for next summer. Probably stay in another nearby campsite, and maybe, climb Whiteface Mountain!That would be cool.

Back at our hacienda, sampling Vermont gin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday wordle

Great story - thank you Susan! "One life can change the world"

This article came via a facebook posting which got to me from my friend SK. It's from the NY Times a few days ago, about a priest in Nashville. Hit the link for the whole article - a five minute read.

That understanding seemed to have been inborn in Father Strobel, but his role as this city’s moral gadfly began in 1985, when he was a priest assigned to Holy Name Catholic Church in East Nashville. One cold night he looked out the rectory window and saw people sitting in cars in the church parking lot, trying to keep warm. He went outside and invited them in.

With the help of kindred souls, he managed to shelter and feed his unhoused neighbors all winter long. As he did, an idea bloomed. What if all the houses of worship here — all the churches and all the synagogues and all the mosques and all the temples — opened their doors to people without homes, too? Was it possible for Nashville, the self-described Buckle of the Bible Belt, to become a place where “Love your neighbor” meant something literal?

Father Strobel wrote a letter to the editors of both of the city’s daily newspapers proposing the idea. By December, four congregations were opening their doors to people experiencing homelessness, and a program called Room in the Inn was born.

Two weeks later, tragedy struck: Father Strobel’s mother was kidnapped and murdered by a man who had escaped from a Michigan prison. Mary Catherine Strobel was a beloved figure in the community, a role model for service to others. Her murder shocked the city.

Always an opponent of the death penalty, Father Strobel spoke for his family when he said, at his mother’s funeral: “We are not angry or vengeful, just deeply hurt. We believe in the miracle of forgiveness and extend our arms in that embrace.”

***************************

Today more than 200 congregations take part in Room in the Inn, and 7,000 volunteers help to shelter more than 1,500 people experiencing homelessness each winter. Every night from November through March, church buses and volunteer drivers arrive at the Campus for Human Development, as the program’s 64,000-square-foot headquarters is called, to pick up people experiencing homelessness and take them back to their own places of worship. There their guests find a hot meal and a warm bed. After breakfast they are transported back downtown with sack lunches in hand.

************************

his friends at Room in the Inn remained at the center of his life. Until about six months before he died, of complications from Parkinson’s disease, Father Strobel remained a near-daily participant at communal meals.

Thursday wordle

Is the US Administration downplaying the threat of nuclear war?

Yes I agree with this - I saw the Tony Blinken interview referenced here. Nuclear weapons are the REAL existential threat. At least one Democrat agrees with me - Jamie Dimon the well respected CEO of Chase Bank. Every time he's asked what the biggest threats are, he says "Nuclear War" and "Ukraine".

Wednesday wordle

Dueling vids: Definition of "fascist" & is Trump a fascist?

"We report, you decide". One of these was sent to me by a fanatical Democrat friend of mine. The other I had just recently seen and easily found. Oddly enough the commentators on both of these have the initials RR.

Here's the 25 second video -

And the second - laying out the case -

"We Report - you Decide"

BONUS - A little Trump steak. It's just a picture ... Nothing more ...

 

 

 

Tuesday wordle

"CNN Overhauls Programming Lineup, Aiming to Lift Ratings"

Good luck. They have nowhere to go but up. It's an eight paragraph article.

CNN has struggled to turn around its ratings this year as it has dealt with the rocky tenure and eventual departure of Chris Licht, the network’s former chairman and chief executive. CNN is currently running behind longtime ratings leader Fox News and MSNBC, its chief cable news rivals, in total viewership.

 

Monday wordle

Took a few days off from wordle last week, since there was very spotty internet while we were in the Adirondacks.

Been Adirondack camping the last several days

Brigid and I car camped with our great friend Laurie (from Vermont - had not seen her in years!) at the Paradox Lake Campground near the town of Schroon Lake (The h is silent). No internet or cell service in the campsite - and spotty in many other places. Made it almost feel like1983...

Here are three pictures - the first from Mt. Severence. That is Laurie in the foreground.  Mt. Severance tops out at 1,693 feet, which is where the picture is taken from. The walk has a 744 foot elevation gain, which is tough over a 2.5 mile round trip hike.

This is the Paradox Brewery Company, where we knocked back a couple of drinks Friday and Saturday. Relatively recent micro-brewery which looks to be quite popular. Nice place - the food as well as drink were quite good.

And here is Brigid a little after noontime on Sunday at Lost Pond.  This was about a three mile round trip hike.

We all got lots of fine pictures, a selection of which I will try and post later this week.

 

Sunday wordle

Friday and Saturday's i did not do - I had no internet service where we were camping the Adirondacks.

How IT (Information Technology) folks fix stuff in one diagram

Very straightforward.

This is a variation on the old story about the three guys in the car that suddenly stops. The electrical engineer says "I think it's the battery", the mechanical engineer says "Must be the cylinders", and the IT guy says "let's get out of the car and get back in".

My Babe Ruth League baseball team - 1964 I think

My brother Jim sent me this picture in 2015. I just came across it again. The boy next to me - was a very good pitcher. My bad - his name is escaping. Two of my grammar school classmates, Ralph Mazzacone and Tom Fallacaro, are in the picture also. OFD stands for Ossining Fire Department, sponsor of the team. Babe Ruth League used to be the name for the league that comes after (age-wise) Little League.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I was not at all much of a baseball player.

Perfection - Picture by Brigid!

While walking along the Hudson at the Half Moon condos  -

Leanne Morgan - short - "Why I could never Home School"

Funny and only a minute plus -

"Why I could never Home School"

 

 

 

Sad - Walking / Hiking / Trekking can be dangerous!

FULL DISCLOSURE: We are in the Adirondacks (near Schroon Lake) camping and trekking around with our great friend Laurie.

Here's an unfortunate article from Scotland. Evidently rugged terrain (see the picture), but deaths on basically a day hike?

Police Scotland said concerns were raised shortly after 9pm on Saturday when the trio did not return from their walk of the Aonach Eagach ridge in Glen Coe. Coastguard helicopter and mountain rescue teams searched the area and three bodies were found.

The ridge is one of the narrowest in mainland Britain and stretches for six miles on the north side of Glen Coe, climbing to a height of 1,100 metres (3,608ft). Police Scotland called out the coastguard due to the inaccessibility of the area and the Inverness search and rescue helicopter was dispatched. A search was carried out in difficult weather conditions, with low visibility caused by mist and fog.

The bodies of two men and a woman were located and the coastguard helicopter from Prestwick arrived in daylight to help mountain rescuers recover the bodies.

*********************

Seven people have lost their lives on the Aonach Eagach ridge since 2014. Previous fatalities in the area have included a 63-year-old woman in September 2014 and a 44-year-old man in July 2016. Walking website Walkhighlands describes Aonach Eagach as the “narrowest ridge on the British mainland”.

Last month John Meechan, an 80-year-old from Glenrothes in Fife, died on Coire a’ Bhasteir in Skye’s Cuillin mountains. Skye mountain rescue team and a coastguard helicopter were involved in the rescue operation. Meechan’s family said he had climbed all over the world and was passionate about the sport.

"Trump Indicted For Mocking US Women’s Soccer"

"The sanctity of U.S. Women's soccer is never to be made fun of," said Special Council Jack Smith after reading the charges. "Every one of those highly attractive and beautiful women is both stunning and brave. We believe Trump violated the constitution somehow by making fun of them on Truth Social, and we will prove it as soon as we can figure out which law he broke."

According to sources, Trump posted the words "Nice shot Megan" shortly after Megan Rapinoe's terrible shot in which she kicked the ball like a girl and missed a penalty kick by a mile. "Such cruel, calloused, sexist behavior from Trump must be an obstruction of justice somehow. Or maybe a violation of some obscure 18th-century federal law governing sporting events. We'll get back to you," said Smith to reporters.

Sources within the U.S. Women's team confirmed all the players were distraught by Trump's mockery and are begging authorities to arrest him before it can happen again. "Please," said one anonymous source. "Our democracy depends on it."

At publishing time, the U.S. Women's Team had demanded higher pay to compensate for their emotional suffering following Trump's social media post.

Wednesday wordle: YIKES - two misses in a row!

I think the same thing happened right before my recent run of 46 correct answers. Correct word - LOVER

Bidenomics success - Average American now has two jobs instead of one!

White House Says Bidenomics So Successful The Average American Has Twice As Many Jobs As They Had Two Years Ago

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a press briefing this morning, the White House praised the overwhelming success of "Bidenomics," as the average American now has twice as many jobs as they had two years ago.

"Thanks to the President's wonderful economic policies, most Americans have at least two jobs," said gay, black Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to the raucous applause of hand-picked journalists in the room. "Our economists ran the numbers and found that's twice as many jobs as people used to have just a few years ago. So many jobs! Success!"

"Wow! Thanks, President Biden!" said local barista/hardware store clerk/landscaper/drive-thru worker/Uber driver Brett Barnes. "I'm just swimming in jobs right now! Just a couple more jobs and I'll be able to afford bread, eggs, AND milk! Bidenomics works!"

Vice President Kamala Harris also weighed in, saying: "Jobs are important. A job is what you do for a job. Especially now, at this moment in our history, jobs are now a very important part of our history. Because jobs are what we do in history! You know what I mean? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

At publishing, Ukrainian President Zelensky had also touted Biden's economic plan as "working pretty great."

Tuesday wordle - bummer - a miss

This breaks my 46 day streak. Correct word as shown - BULLY

 

 

Burglar stops to play with the family dog

Haha. Brigid's dog back in Jamaica would have done the same thing. In fact, Feisty did - a funny story...