Month: June 2017

The snap ‘Brexit Election’ in Great Britain resulted in losses for Prime Minister Theresa May.  She lost the first outright majority that the Conservatives had had for 18 years in Parliament.  As for Brexit – since Article 50 has been triggered, there seems to be no turning back.  However, the start of the Brexit negotiations may now be delayed, or what could have been a ‘hard’ Brexit may now become a ‘soft’ Brexit.

The difference between ‘hard’ Brexit and ‘soft’ Brexit is as follows (from the Independent newspaper):
A hard Brexit arrangement would likely see the UK give up full access to the single market and full access of the customs union along with the EU.
The arrangement would prioritise giving Britain full control over its borders, making new trade deals and applying laws within its own territory.

A soft Brexit approach would leave the UK’s relationship with the EU as close as possible to the existing arrangements, and is preferred by many Remainers.
The UK would no longer be a member of the EU and would not have a seat on the European Council. It would lose its MEPs and its European Commissioner. But, it would keep unfettered access to the European single market.

Tuesday marked the 73rd anniversary of D-Day: the largest seaborne invasion in history, the operation that began the liberation of German-occupied northwestern Europe from Nazi control, and that contributed to the Allied victory on the Western Front.

Wow.  With Bryan’s help (thanks Bryan!), I sold my 1996 Toyota Camry in less than 24 hrs after we had placed an ad for it on Craigslist.   Yes, it is an old car, but it had lots going for it: one owner, no accidents, ‘only’ 114,000 miles on the clock, clean inside.

I paid $18,895* for the Japanese driving machine in 1996.

*At 3% annual inflation the 1996 dollars come to about $35,000 in 2017, which is about what one would pay for an equivalent car (and hopefully with some great new technology).

And did I get a $35,000 new car?  Well, no.  I don’t spend nearly enough time driving a car to work, or in the city (with plenty of public transportation options), to justify that.  I ‘upgraded’ to a 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid that I bought from a friend.   And let’s see what electric car options are out there, in a few years, is what I am thinking.

Cape Town finally got some rain on Saturday night, and there is much more on the way for Tuesday.   This is the start of the rainy season for the Western Cape, and sustained rainfall is very badly needed, so that the dams in the area can be replenished.   The city and surrounding area is dealing with the worst drought in living memory.

Here’s the New York Times’s notes of Saturday’s terror attacks in London, overlaid on a Google Map.  (Note to self: London Bridge is a different bridge from the Tower Bridge).   Should cities spend more money on security or their police force? I”m not sure if that will help a lot. The three assailants on Saturday were shot dead within 8 minutes of the start of the attacks.  It’s a very difficult problem to solve.

There was a tornado in the town of Three Hills, Canada (northeast of Calgary) on Friday. Here’s a guy that mowed his lawn in the middle of all this, ignoring pleas from his family to come inside. ‘The wind is moving in the other direction’, he told his wife.

Here is the YouTube link that shows the monster as it moves.  No one was hurt.

What a disgrace, and what a sad day for American leadership.

As Daniel Larison notes in his tweets: Trump reneges on international agreements that he cannot possibly improve on, while congratulating himself with his deal-making prowess.