Saturday/ the northern lights
We were treated to a rare display of the northern lights here from Seattle on Friday night.
I took the first two pictures from my back porch around midnight on Friday.
The third picture was taken by my friend Thomas from Kitsap Peninsula. Look for the grouping of stars called the Big Dipper (a big ladle, left-of-middle, top of picture).
Friday/ lost in cyberspace 👨🚀
Happy Friday.
Joe Biden arrived in Seattle late in the afternoon.
I hope he raises lots of money for his campaign because he might (will?) need it.
I have had no internet all day, and it is still out. (There is an outage in my neighborhood).
Plan B is to use my mobile phone as a hotspot, which I did, until AT&T texted me late morning and said I had used 75% of my hotspot data.
I guess I will go read a book now and go to bed early.
Thursday/ a jaunt to downtown 🏙
I had lunch at the Washington Athletic Club on Sixth Avenue today, and then stopped by the Seattle Public Library.
Wednesday/ snack time
From today’s Seattle Times
Photographer: Robert Denney
Photo taken: March 30, 2024, at the Center for Urban Horticulture wetlands, near Husky Stadium.
Photographer’s description: “Herons are great. I came upon this heron at the Center for Urban Horticulture. He/she let me get pretty close, and we bonded. It fished while I photographed. In the span of about an hour, it got a pretty good meal of three or four little fish. The center is a lovely place to roam and see birdlife.”
Tuesday/ Loeloeraai 🛸
Hey! Amazon opened its online doors in South Africa today.
The Books section has a language filter— necessary for a country with 11 official languages.
I searched for Afrikaans books, and specifically for the beloved Afrikaans poet and author C.J. Langenhoven (1873-1932).
I did find the book Loeloeraai, but right now it is out of stock on amazon.co.za.
Monday/ another day in court 👨🏽⚖️
Reporting from Jonathan Alter, Contributing Opinion Writer for the New York Times:
At the end of the day, the judge asked Josh Steinglass of the prosecution team how much longer he expected the D.A.’s case to take.
When Steinglass said “very roughly” two weeks — to May 21 — I saw Trump raise and lower his arms in exasperation, like a 6-year-old told to clean up his Legos.
Then he went into the hallway and whined to reporters, “I thought they were finished today.”
Trump never thought anything of the kind.
He’s a caged animal (to use his word for immigrants) and wants out ASAP.
Good luck with that.
Sunday/ rhododendrons
Saturday/ Mystik Dan by a nose 🏇
Congrats to the owner and team for Mystik Dan, the winner of the 150th Kentucky Derby, by a nose.
Friday/ a zebra on the lam🦓
A zebra primer
Zebras are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats.
There are three living species: Grévy’s zebra (Equus grevyi), the plains zebra (Equus quagga), and the mountain zebra (Equus zebra).
Zebras share the genus Equus with horses and asses, the three groups being the only living members of the family Equidae.
[Source: Wikipedia]
Happy Friday.
We have a zebra (named Z, a mare) on the lam here in western Washington State. Hopefully Z is not too far from where she was last spotted in the North Bend area.
How did this happen?
Owner Kristine Keltgen recently bought Z and three other zebras and was transporting them from Lewis County to Montana, where she runs a petting zoo.
At about 2 p.m. last Sunday, the trailer driver hauling the four zebras stopped near Exit 32 & I-90 (in the North Bend area), to better secure the trailer doors at the back.
In the process the four animals got out of the trailer.
By Sunday night, three of the four had been recovered.
Update (late Friday night):
The last of four zebras that escaped from a trailer in North Bend, Wash., was safely corralled on Friday with the help of a former rodeo bullfighter, a lookout on a mountain bike and a package of white bread.
-Reported by Emmett Lindner for the New York Times
Thursday/ caveat emptor 🙇♂️
Caveat emptor
– Latin for ‘buyer beware’: the buyer’s responsibility to do due diligence before purchasing a good or service.
I’m happy to report that the inflation rate (over the last quarter) for my favorite breakfast cereals is 0%.
I buy these online, though.
The difference between the online and in-store price can be enormous, at least here in my neck of the woods (neck of the city).
Kellogg’s All Bran: $4.98 online vs. $8.49 in-store (+70%).
McCann’s Steel Cut Oatmeal: $6.98 vs. $13 in-store (+86%).
Wednesday/ here’s May 😉
The Federal Reserve has signalled that a series of disappointing inflation readings are likely to mean US borrowing costs remain higher for longer.
The Federal Reserve bank held interest rates at 5.25 per cent to 5.5 per cent, a 23-year high that has been in place since the summer of 2023.
– Reporting from the Financial Times
So – six months to go to the 2024 general election here in the United States.
Will a convicted felon be on the ballot for President of the United States?
Will the Fed have started to cut interest rates by then?
Will the Israeli hostages be free— and the war in Gaza be over?
What about the war in Ukraine? (I don’t think so).
Will the highly pathogenic bird flu virus A(H5N1) have mutated and become a threat to humans?
Tuesday/ stamps with tulips 🇧🇪
Hey, and the envelope with my latest order of stamps (from a seller in Belgium) has stamps with tulips on.
Windmills
Issued 2002, Jul. 15
Perf. 11½ Photolithogr.
1925 A824 0.42€ Multi-colored Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Lombeek windmill, Azores
[Source: Scott 2018 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 1B]
Belgian Castles
Issued 2002, Jun. 10
Perf. 11 ½ Photolithogr. Mini-sheet of 10
1918a A821 0.42€ Multi-colored Ecaussinnes-Lalaing
1918c A821 0.42€ Multi-colored Corroy-le-Chateau
1918d A821 0.42€ Multi-colored Alden Biesen
1918e A821 0.42€ Multi-colored Modave
1918f A821 0.42€ Multi-colored Horst
1918j A821 0.42€ Multi-colored Wissekerke
[Source: Scott 2018 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 1B]
Issued 2023, Jan.23
Perf. Die Cut 11½ Litho. Self-adhesive
Registered Mail Multi-colored Red-Knot Sandpiper
[Source: Scott 2018 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 1B]
Monday/ the last of the tulips
Sunday/ 30 years after 1994
Here is a summary of what is going on in South Africa and its politics in the final few weeks before the election there on May 29.
From the Washington Post Editorial Board, written for the newspaper’s Opinion column on April 17, 2024:
South Africa’s ANC is headed for a reckoning at the ballot box. That’s good.
There’s a lot of good news coming out of Africa. Eleven of the world’s 20 fastest-growing economies are African, and the continent’s overall gross domestic product growth is expected to outpace the global average this year and next.
Unfortunately, the good news doesn’t extend to South Africa, the continent’s most industrialized economy and its leading democracy. Growth is flat, and the country barely avoided a recession last year. Officially, nearly one-third of working-age South Africans are unemployed, but the real rate is likely higher. Crime is staggering. South Africa has the highest income inequality in the world. Its productivity is hampered by a nationwide electricity shortage leading to daily rolling blackouts. Last month, the country’s largest city, Johannesburg, was hit by an unprecedented water shortage partly because of crumbling infrastructure.
The African National Congress bears most of the blame. South Africa’s ruling party for the past 30 years, since the country’s first all-race elections, the ANC was once unassailable as the party of the country’s first Black president, Nelson Mandela, and the vanguard of the liberation movement that ended the abhorrent apartheid regime.
But after three decades of unchallenged power, the ANC has become ossified, unresponsive, and tainted by corruption and failure to deliver basic services. Kickbacks for state contracts have become rampant, especially during the disastrous administration of Jacob Zuma, who faced multiple indictments and allegations of corrupt dealings and who was briefly imprisoned before being questionably paroled. Last month, the powerful speaker of the national assembly and ANC member, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, was accused by prosecutors of taking $135,000 in bribes when she served as defense minister. She resigned Wednesday.
Now many young South Africans appear to be turning against the ANC. National elections are due May 29, and most signs and surveys suggest the ANC might for the first time lose its absolute majority in Parliament. That would be a good thing.
What happens after the election will be a crucial test for the country’s young democracy and will have implications across the continent for other struggling democracies. South Africa has no experience with a coalition government. How the various parties navigate the uncertainty — and even if the ANC would accept a loss of its complete control — point to a fraught post-election period.
To be sure, the ANC is still a massive voter turnout machine that commands loyalty among the older generation. Its leaders, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, like to remind voters that many of the country’s problems stem from the inequalities of the repugnant apartheid regime. But among younger voters, that message falls short.
If the ANC lands just a few seats shy of a majority, it could assemble a coalition with independents and tiny parties. But if its losses are bigger — and some projections put its support as low as 40 percent — then the ANC will need to join forces with one of the larger established parties to maintain its hold on government. Which way the ANC turns will determine its economic direction as well as its future foreign policy, including relations with the United States.
The current main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, is expected to come in second. An ANC-DA alliance would likely ensure a centrist-liberal economic policy scaling back the state’s heavy role in the economy. The DA has also been more critical of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine than the ANC, which has adopted a neutral position. The DA runs the provincial government in Western Cape, considered in public opinion surveys to be South Africa’s best-run province. But the Democratic Alliance suffers from the stigma of being seen as the party favored by the country’s White minority.
Another party poised to do well is an ANC offshoot, the Economic Freedom Fighters, which advocates a blend of Marxist economic policies and land confiscation. Its fiery, charismatic leader, Julius Malema, is also given to harsh, violence-tinged rhetoric. An ANC alliance with the EFF would mean a sharp turn to a far-left, socialist and anti-Western agenda.
The wild card is Mr. Zuma, who has formed a new party, uMkhonto weSizwe, which is expected to peel away votes from the ANC in Mr. Zuma’s native KwaZulu-Natal province. Mr. Zuma retains a significant base. His supporters have also shown a penchant for violence, as in 2021 when Zuma supporters rioted against his arrest. There are fears of a repeat of violence if his new party fares poorly.
Some within the ANC are sanguine about the party losing its majority, calling it the natural evolution of a vibrant democracy. If South Africa’s leaders cultivate this sort of perspective, the country is likely to weather the uncertainty, emerge stronger and — once again — serve as a democratic model for others to emulate.
Saturday/ the new 2 Line 🚄
Eight new light rail stations opened today, on the Eastside. I went out to ride the train and take a few pictures.
Friday/ a thick black coat 🐶
Thursday/ about presidential immunity 😇
The long-awaited hearing about Trump’s claim to ‘presidential immunity’ was held before the Not-So-Supreme-Anymore US Supreme Court today.
(Trump’s lawyers are arguing— implausibly— that the federal charges accusing him of plotting to overturn the 2020 election must be thrown out.
There is no mention of immunity in the US Constitution.
The country had been doing just fine for 248 years).
Here are excerpts of a report from Charlie Savage and Alan Feuer in the New York Times:
Several justices seemed to want to define some level of official act as immune.
The arguments signaled further delay and complications for a Trump trial.
The hearing revolved around two very different ways of looking at the issue, one from the conservative justices (some immunity may be needed) and another from the liberal justices (no absolute immunity).
What happens next?
There did not seem to be a lot of urgency among the justices — especially the conservative ones — to ensure that the immunity question was resolved quickly.
That left open the possibility that Mr. Trump could avoid being tried on charges of plotting to overturn the last election until well after voters went to the polls to decide whether to choose him as president in this election.
And if he is elected, any trial could be put off while he is in office, or he could order the charges against him dropped.
Wednesday/ twilight 🌆
Tuesday/ a warm summer predicted ☀️
It was a warm spring day topping out at 69 °F (21°C), but high temperatures will drop down to a more seasonal 58°F (14°C) tomorrow.
The National Weather Service is predicting a toasty last half of summer, due to an expected La Niña climate pattern.
We will get more upper-level ridges of high pressure (heat domes) than usual. These are common in summer but tend to be most persistent during La Niña.