I had a little FOMO (fear of missing out) at home this morning, and took the train down to Pioneer Square and Seattle Stadium* nearby just to feel the excitement, and take a few pictures.
*Lumen Field’s name for the next few weeks, capacity for 69,391 spectators.
The Belgium vs. Egypt game had already started at noon by the time I got to Pioneer Square. Everyone with tickets was packed inside Seattle Stadium, of course. There was a screen and outdoor watch party in Pioneer Square, and insides ones at all the bars nearby.
From a vantage point outside the stadium, one could see the large jumbotron screen inside, as well as some of the cheering fans.
It was warm outside today, with a high of 88°F (31°C) here in the city.
I went down to Myrtle Edwards Park on Elliott Bay for a few sunset photos.
The park has refreshed landscapes with new lawns, meadows, and trees that flourish in coastal conditions.
It also offers improved access to two beach coves and enhanced pedestrian and bike trails.
The stamp albums from Japan that the proxy buyer Buyee.jp had bought for me, arrived on my doorstep a few days ago.
I will post a few pages from the albums in due course.
2003 Japan: Letter Writing Day (ふみの日 Fumi No Hi ) Issued Jul. 23, 2003 Perf. 13 x 13¼ | Stamp 28 x 37 mm | Printing: Photogravure | No watermark C1898 50 ¥ | Multicolored | Cat holding letter and camera [Sources: 2027 Sakura Catalog Of Japanese Stamps, colnect.com]
Happy Friday.
The coverage of SpaceX’s gigantic IPO (initial public offering) on CNBC this morning was wall-to-wall, with hyperbole reaching the moon.
Could orbital data centers running on solar power one day beam information back to Earth using lasers?
Time will tell.
Here is Ron Lieber, writing for the New York Times about missing out on SpaceX’s IPO:
Elon Musk may be about to become a trillionaire. Many of the people who work for him at SpaceX are about to hit seven-figure jackpots — or more — via the company’s initial public offering. And individual investors are lining up for a chance to buy shares for the $135 opening price. There are so many of them that some brokerage firms are, in effect, running a lottery for $135 tickets. Do you have fear of missing out? That’s natural, maybe inevitable. But this is a fine time to remind yourself that you can in fact win if you don’t play this week. JOMO, the joy of missing out, is a reasonable alternative to FOMO.
Lieber goes on to suggest that we revisit our medium- and long-term goals.
You might be surprised to find how many of them you have reached.
He mentions members of his immediate family that had survived cancer, that investing his savings in index funds over many years have paid off, that he has never bought shares in an IPO, and that he still works without boredom or fear of termination.
Illustration for Ron Lieber’s ‘Your Money’ column in the New York Times.
Two amigos and I went down to the Seattle waterfront at noon to check out the watch party for the first World Cup match— Mexico vs. South Africa.
Bafana Bafana* was up against it, playing in the home stadium of the Mexican team, and lost by two goals to nil.
*The South African team’s nickname, meaning ‘the boys, the boys’, from South Africa’s Nguni languages (Zulu and Xhosa).
A summary of the game by Luke Brown from The Athletic in the New York Times. xG stands for Expected Goals. PPDA stands for Passes Per Defensive Action. It is a modern soccer analytics metric used to measure a team’s pressing intensity and aggressiveness.The view from the steps next to Seattle Aquarium. The screens could have been larger, we thought— but maybe the space on Pier 62 did not allow that. To the right of Pier 62 is a barge for more people ,with another screen.Ferries and sailboats on the water in Elliott Bay.Washington State’s ferry system celebrates its 75th anniversary this month. The ferry system began operation on June 1, 1951, after the state government acquired routes, vessels, and terminals from the Puget Sound Navigation Company, a private company that had a virtual monopoly on ferries in the region.A view of the barge by Pier 62 that allowed for another screen and watch party viewing area.The Cunard Line’s luxury cruise ship, Queen Elizabeth, is at Pier 66 today before setting sail for Ketchikan, Alaska. Launched in 2010 and refreshed in 2025, the ship accommodates up to 2,081 passengers and features a formal ambiance with elegant, Art Deco-inspired decor.A closer look.
Inflation accelerated for a third straight month in May amid a stalemate in negotiations to end a war with Iran that has pushed up energy prices, adding to the burden on already strained consumers.
The Consumer Price Index rose 4.2 percent in May from a year earlier, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Wednesday, a sharp rise from the 2.4 percent annual increase before the conflict started in February and the fastest pace since April 2023. Over the course of the month, overall prices jumped 0.5 percent.
-Lydia DePillis reporting for the New York Times
Officially at 4.2%, inflation is A LOT HIGHER for you if you fill up your car’s tank frequently (+40% for all types of gasoline), buy lots of meat at the grocery store (+7.6%), or fruits & vegetables (+6.1%), travel by air (+27%) or use a lot of electricity (+5.9%).
It is Day 102 of the war with Iran (the war that is not a war, right?).
More than two months have passed since Trump’s announcement of a ceasefire.
We’ve been hearing every few days that the two sides are close to a deal .. but besides the Strait of Hormuz, there is the issue of Iran’s nuclear program and the spillover skirmishes and strikes elsewhere in the Middle East.
We’ve also been hearing that the price of oil may hit $150 per barrel ‘soon’, but instead it has stuck to a price ranging from $80 to $100.
Economists talk of ‘demand destruction’: if the world learns how to get by with 15 million fewer barrels of oil per day, the price of oil may not go up by much more. (The world consumes about 103 million barrels of petroleum and liquid fuels every day).
Reporting from the New York Times about the sea drones that rescued the two pilots from the helicopter that was shot down. The sea drones are officially ‘Task Force 59 unmanned surface vessels’. The U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopter was struck and brought down by an Iranian Shahed one-way attack drone while patrolling international waters off the coast of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz.
The San Antonio Spurs earned their first win of the NBA Finals, claiming a 115-111 victory over the New York Knicks in Game 3 at Madison Square Garden.
So far, the road team has won all three games in the series.
New York still leads the series 2-1 with Game 4 scheduled for Wednesday. Victor Wembanyama led the Spurs with 32 points, while Stephon Castle had 23.
Jalen Brunson paced the Knicks with 32 points, and OG Anunoby had 28.
– Daniel Shirley, reporting for The Athletic in the New York Times
The San Antonio Spurs star player Victor Wembanyama (22 yo) stands 7’4″ tall and wears size 20.5 (55) shoes.
He grew up in the western suburbs of Paris, France, and honed his skills in the French basketball system, playing for teams like Nanterre 92 and Metropolitans 92, before being selected first overall in the 2023 NBA Draft.
His nicknames are ‘Wemby’ and ‘The Alien’.
These screen shots are from ABC Network’s broadcast of tonight’s game.
LET’S PLAY SEA ’26 is the campaign developed by Visit Seattle, to market and celebrate the FIFA World Cup 26™ games that will be played in Seattle.
Seattle Center (by the Space Needle) will be one of the anchor locations for Seattle’s fan celebrations. There will be music, art, culture, and opportunities for fans to gather and engage around the tournament.
Closer to Seattle Stadium*, the street blocks in Pioneer Square will be transformed into a free pedestrian-only fan zone for the World Cup matches, with large screens, stages and beer gardens.
Here are a few pictures I took today around the Amazon spheres in downtown.
Happy Friday.
It is almost time for the World Cup.
The June 11 opener game will be Mexico 🇲🇽 vs. South Africa 🇿🇦 in Mexico City.
Seattle will host 6 games in total, and the first two are— June 15: Belgium 🇧🇪 vs. Egypt 🇪🇬 (12:00 p.m. PT) June 19: USA 🇺🇸 vs. Australia 🇦🇺 (12:00 p.m. PT)
The dome of the Space Needle has been painted in the white and black hexagons of a soccer ball. Fun fact: A standard, classic soccer ball has 20 hexagons.
Pictures from the Seattle Times, courtesy of the Space Needle.
Check out the air mail envelope that contained my purchases of Japanese stamps from a seller in Asaka, Japan (in the Tokyo metro area).
He wrote my name and address in perfect print— something I absolutely cannot do with Japanese characters!
.
2015 Japan: Fauna, Flora and National Parks Definitives Issued Feb. 2, 2015 Perf. 13 x 13¼ | Stamp 22 mm x 26 mm | Printing: Photogravure | No watermark 3791 A3351 10 ¥ | Multicolored | Japanese crested ibis (Nipponia nippon) [Sources: colnect.com, 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue Vol. 4A]2026 Japan: Invitation to Stamp Collecting III : Ukiyo-e Issued Mar. 11, 2026 Perf. 16½ | Design: Maho Shimada | Stamp 50 mm x 35 mm | Printing: Offset Lithography | Printer: Toppan Edge Co., Ltd. (Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.) | No watermark JP 2026.03.11-01c 500 ¥ | Multicolored | Woodblock print by Utagawa Hiroshige “Arashiyama in Full Blossoms: Famous Places of Kyoto” [Sources: colnect.com, Google Gemini Flash]
The daylight hours are still stretching longer, and we have reached the first 9:00 p.m. sunset of the year here in Seattle.
There were soft pastel colors in the sky tonight, as the daylight dwindled. I am standing on the corner of East Thomas St and 13th Avenue East and using a 4x telephoto lens.
Francesca Forquet reports for the New York Times from Palm Springs, California: When Marilyn Monroe sang “I Wanna Be Loved by You,” she would have never expected that one day, 1,037 people would gather beneath her giant statue in downtown Palm Springs to dress as her in celebration of her 100th birthday.
In doing so, they set a Guinness World Record in the very place where her career began. Palm Springs — whose identity is inextricably linked with the star — likes to claim Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jeane Mortensen, and the feeling was mutual.
“This was always her escape,” said Mariah Pryor, a Palm Springs resident who was carrying a Marilyn-themed handbag she once rescued from a lost-and-found box.
Picture by Francesca Forquet for The New York Times
I took the No 8 bus to Westlake Avenue and walked up along Lake Union, hoping to still catch Mark Zuckerberg’s megayacht there.
Alas, she was gone.
Someone there told me she was out in the open waters of Elliott Bay.
Checking out the Boeing 747 fuselage ‘public art’ installed between the apartment towers of 1200 Stewart Street. (I’m still on the No 8 bus).A new eight-story banner installation designed by Seattle artist Ernesto Ybarra on the east façade of the 9th & Thomas building in South Lake Union. It is called ‘The Hostess’, and celebrates Seattle’s role as a host city for the World Cup soccer matches this summer.Once upon a time many years ago, I brought my 1996 Toyota Camry to this building at 400 Westlake Ave for new tires. The Firestone Auto Supply & Service Store building was constructed in 1929 with concrete and terra cotta details in the art deco style. The façade was kept when a new 15-story commercial tower was built on the property.Nearby is the 2021 artwork by Patti Warashina called ‘Dreamer’. It was sculpted with aluminum and painted in geometric patterns.This corner of South Lake Union’s waters is for rowers and kayakers. That’s the MOHAI building in the background (Museum of History and Industry).The Marina Mart building is still there. Constructed in the early 1940s, it has deep ties to Seattle’s maritime heritage. It has transitioned from an industrial maritime site into a major dining and recreation hub.With Memorial Day behind us, sailing season is now officially open. There was a light breeze around and lots of sunshine🌞.
“For those who either missed the four-hour-and-53-minute piece of art, in which Fonseca rallied from two sets down to upset Novak Djokovic, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5, in the third round at Roland Garros — or for anyone looking for a cheat sheet on why they should be excited about this 19-year-old Brazilian whose matches draws some of the biggest crowds on the ATP Tour — watch the 5-5 game in the fifth set.”
– Ava Wallace writing for The Athletic in The New York Times
She goes on to explain that while João Fonseca has a sledgehammer of a forehand, he broke Djokovic’s serve at 5-5 by with deft drop shots that won him three of the four points in the game. He held his own serve to clinch the set 7-5 and with that, win the match.
Fonseca will play Casper Ruud (27, 🇳🇴) in the fourth round.
The 2026 French Open title is beckoning for a brand-new champion, with the injured Carlos Alcaraz (23, 🇪🇸) missing the tournament, and tournament favorite Jannik Sinner (24, 🇮🇹) crashing out in the second round with cramps.
Happy Friday.
I’m reading up about the stamps from Greenland that had I bought at the stamp show from a friendly guy from Nuuk, at the Greenland booth at the stamp show.
2025 The 75th Anniversary of the SIRIUS Patrol Issued Jan. 31, 2025 Perf. 13 | Design: Miki Jacobsen | 40 mm x 30 mm | Offset Lithography | Printing: Gutenberg AG | Paper: FSC SecurPost 110g/ m2 | No watermark 01100788 19.00 Kr | Multicolored | SIRIUS Patrol with provisions and dog sled
The headquarters of the SIRIUS patrol is Daneborg, located on the east coast of Greenland, close to 74 degrees north latitude. The headquarters is completely cut off from the outside world. To get there, you have to fly in a small propeller plane from Iceland. At the station, twelve men and 80 sled dogs are each other’s only company for a radius of about 250 kilometers. There are not many distractions outside of work. There is mail from home six to seven times a year. SIRIUS’ northernmost station is called Station Nord. Five men are stationed here year-round. The main task is to keep a large runway free of ice, but there are also many other tasks. On the patrols, the menu is freeze-dried food, powdered milk, chocolate and rye bread, but after arriving at the station, there is food in abundance, as well as videos, music and even a shower. Everything is in sharp contrast to the patrols’ harsh living conditions. Station Nord is therefore a very popular place to stay for the patrols. In a modern era, when surveillance of Northeast Greenland could easily be carried out using satellites or aircraft, the SIRIUS patrol may seem redundant. However, the fact is that, according to international conventions, sovereignty can only be enforced by entering the areas that a country possesses. So the unique Danish military unit will probably continue to operate in Greenland’s northernmost regions in the future. [Sources: stampworld.com, stamps.gl/greenland-collector, Google AI]2025 Greenlandic Dog Sleds Issued Jan. 31, 2025 Perf. 13 | Design: Konrad Nuka Godtfredsen | 56 mm x 33 mm | Offset Lithography | Printing: Gutenberg AG | Paper: FSC SecurPost 110g/ m2 | No watermark 895 AEK 3.00 Kr | Multicolored | East Greenlandic sled 896 AEL 38.00 Kr | Multicolored | Greenlander with East Greenlandic sled [Sources: stampworld.com, Google AI]2025 EUROPA Stamps – National Archaeological Discoveries Issued May 26, 2025 Perf. 13 | Design: Maya Sialuk Jacobsen | 30 mm x 40 mm, 40 mm x 30 mm | Offset Lithography | Printing: Gutenberg AG | Paper: FSC SecurPost 110g/ m2 | No watermark 902 AER 25.00 Kr | Black and white | Boy with animal skin clothing from the Thule culture More: Qilakitsoq is an abandoned Inuit settlement on the Nuussuaq Peninsula on the West coast of Greenland, about 450 km north of the Arctic Circle. The settlement is renowned for the discovery of eight mummified bodies from the Thule culture in 1972. The discovery was made by two local reindeer hunters, Hans and Jokum Grønvold. In two graves were the mummies of six women and two boys. They comprise three generations with close familial links across the graves. Although the causes of death are unknown, they probably died at the same time in the Autumn shortly after arriving at the Winter settlement. They were wrapped in animal skins and fully clothed. They were equipped for a long journey to the underworld, carefully prepared according to ancient, traditional rites. They had extra skins and clothing to afford them a safe journey and a good life in the realm of the dead. The five oldest women have almost identical facial tattoos that can express both kinship and social status. The youngest woman of about 20 years is not tattooed. Perhaps she was either unmarried or childless. Tattoos have been in common use among Inuit women for thousands of years. There were amulets on and among their clothing. The Inuit probably employed these amulets to muster strength and protection from evil spirits. The mummies from Qilakitsoq have since afforded valuable insights into the life of the Inuit who lived in the area some 500 years ago. The stamp reproduces the most recognisable and most iconic of the eight mummies. It is presumed to be a small boy of about six months. While the gender is based on the clothing, the age has been ascertained from the development of teeth and bones through radiographic examination.
903 AES 28.00 Kr | Black and white | The Kingittorsuaq rune stone More: The Kingittorsuaq rune stone was found in 1824 by a man called Pelimut. The discovery was made on top of the mountain on the small island of Kingittorsuaq about 20 km north of Upernavik. At the highest point of the island, he saw three collapsed cairns placed in a triangle formation. Near the largest of the cairns, he spotted a stone with several markings that he did not recognise. The stone, which is known as the Kingittorsuaq Runestone, bears medieval rune inscriptions. It is conclusive evidence that Norsemen in Greenland on their fishing trips along the West coast of Greenland reached as far North as North of the present-day town of Upernavik. The stone, which currently resides in the National Museum in Copenhagen, has been dated to the Middle Ages between 1250 to 1333 AD. The last part of the runic script remains undecipherable as it appears to be a group of meaningless characters. However, the first part of the writing on the runestone translated from Old Norse reads: “Erling, son of Sigvath and Baarne Thordar’s son and Enriði Á’s son, on Saturday before Rogation Day raised this stone and rode…” [Sources: stampworld.com, europe-stamps.blogspot.com, Google AI]2025 Dove of Peace Issued Sep. 12, 2025 Woven cloth with embroidery | 100% Recycled polyester | 55 mm x 42 mm | Mfg. by Hämmerle & Vogel (Austria) | Self-adhesive 909 AEY 75 Kr | Stylized, white-and-blue embroidered dove carrying an olive branch Part of an international joint initiative where multiple postal services worldwide issued identical embroidered stamps. It features the exact same dove motif across over a dozen postal organizations (including the UN, Switzerland, Austria, and the Faroe Islands) with only the country name and local currency varying. [Sources: stampworld.com, Google AI]2026 Boston World Expo Issued May 23, 2026 Perf. 13 | Two stamps in minisheet (140 mm x 80 mm) | Design: Martin Mörck | Stamps 40 mm x 30 mm | Offset Lithography | Printing: Gutenberg AG | Paper: FSC SecurPost 110g/ m2 | No watermark 01100819 25.00 Kr | Multicolored | Leif the Lucky’s discovery of Vinland* 01100820 37.00 Kr | Multicolored | Thor Solberg’s flight aboard the Leif Eriksson biplane**
*Leif Eriksson, also known as Leif the Lucky, was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to set foot on continental America, approximately half a millennium before Christopher Columbus did. Vinland is the coastal region of North America (Newfoundland & eastern Canada) explored and temporarily settled by Norse Vikings around 1000 CE. **Thor Solberg was a Norwegian-born aviation pioneer who made the first successful flight from the United States of America to Norway in 1935. He made the journey, which started in New York City, in an open-cockpit single-engine aircraft with no landing instruments. [Sources: stampworld.com, stamps.gl/greenland-collector, Google AI]
Sunset is now at 8.55 pm here in the city.
It was summery today, with the high at 81°F (27°F ).
Clouds are moving in for a cooldown and a little rain tomorrow, though.
One can see Mark Zuckerberg’s megayacht on south Lake Union from the Melrose Avenue & East Harrison St overlook at Interstate 5, where I was.
Built in the Netherlands by Dutch luxury shipbuilder Feadship, the yacht is 387 ft (118 m) long and goes by the decidedly unromantic name (in my opinion) of Launchpad.
Looking out towards Queen Anne Hill.Look for Climate Pledge Arena in the center, and the twin peaks in the Olympic Mountains called The Brothers (they are not the tallest peaks; the peak of Mt Olympus is). Low at the right is Saint Spiridon Orthodox Cathedral, a Russian cathedral.There she is: the megayacht called ‘Launchpad’.
I’m going to have to find another way to get my summary of the day’s calamities, now that the Stephen Colbert Show is over.
(Background: The cancellation announcement in July 2025 closely followed a legal settlement in which CBS paid Donald Trump $16 million over a controversial 60 Minutes interview. Because Colbert was a relentless and high-profile critic of the Trump administration, many media critics and fans speculated the cancellation was tied to political and corporate dynamics. At the time of the announcement, CBS’s parent company, Paramount, was navigating a complex, multibillion-dollar merger that required government approval from the Trump administration — Google AI Overview).
Here is how Edward Norton (American actor and filmmaker), described the difficulty for the individual following the news, on the Stephen Colbert Show, Mar. 18, 2026.
“The anxiety of these times is particularly intense right now. We know the world is effed up in ways that are unprecedented in our lifetimes. We live in this unbelievable onslaught of information. We see genocide being livestreamed to us. We see American citizens being killed by paramilitary people in our own streets for standing in solidarity with their neigbors. We’re seeing Epstein’s abuses titrated to us on a daily basis. And it is such a conundrum, because we know – we know there is a value, we know that it is good in some ways to know what is exactly happening, to know what is happening in Gaza, to know what is happening in Ukraine and Sudan and Minneapolis, but at the same time it is very difficult to know what we as an individual person can do about all of that while moving through our day.”
