“After tonight, I don’t think Donald Trump will be insisting on another debate.”
– Whit Ayres, Republican Pollster
“Trump looked angry, scowling, and old”
– Chris Wallace on CNN tonight
“I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election.”
– Taylor Swift in an Instagram post to her 283 million followers
By all accounts (that matter), Vice President Kamala Harris acquitted herself very, very well during the debate tonight with Trump.
Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer writes for The Washington Post: Harris’s strategy was to get under Trump’s skin, a campaign official said, and she did that. A few examples: She said people leave his rallies early “out of exhaustion and boredom.” She said military leaders have told her he’s a “disgrace.” She said 81 million people fired him and “he is having a very difficult time processing that.” She said Russian President Vladimir Putin would “eat you for lunch.”
The picture that went with Taylor Swift’s Instagram post that contained her endorsement of Kamala Harris. The cat’s name is Benjamin Button, a Ragdoll. (Ragdolls have a distinct colorpoint coat and blue eyes. They are large and weighty cats, with a semi-long and silky soft coat). Swift signed her post as ‘Childless Cat Lady’— a reference to comments made by Trump’s running mate Senator JD Vance of Ohio, about women without children. (Hint: He wasn’t praising them). [Picture from Instagram @taylorswift]
Apple has announced the new lineup of iPhones today, and I can order one this Friday.
I have an iPhone 13 Pro (three years old), so it’s a happy coincidence that my upgrade this year catches the Apple Intelligence-enabled (aka Artificial Intelligence-enabled) phones.
What will that mean, eventually? (Not all the AI features will be available right away).
Well, the AI tools will fall into three main categories: a smarter Siri (the voice-enabled assistant); assistance with text (proofread your text, rewrite it to adjust the tone and wording, or summarize selected text with a tap); and assistance with images (tools to create original images based on text prompts, or from a rough sketch, and powerful editing functions for photos).
As usual, there are two phone sizes at the high end (the ‘Pro’ phones). I’ll stick with the smaller one, the 16 Pro, and with the dark gray that’s called Black Titanium. On the far right is a new bronze color called Desert Titanium. There is a new camera control button on the side, and the ‘action’ button from last year’s iPhone 15 is still there. [Screen shot from The Wall Street Journal online]
The results of the US Open 2024 are in.
Men’s Singles:
Jannik Sinner (23, 🇮🇹 ) def. Taylor Fritz (26, 🇺🇸) 6-3 6-4 7-5.
Women’s Singles:
Aryna Sabalenka (26, *) def. Jessica Pegula (30 🇺🇸) 7-5 7-5.
*Lives in Florida but is from a country involved in the invasion of Ukraine.
It was great to see American players in the final, but in both cases it would have been a surprise if they had managed to best their opponents.
The beautiful people were out in full force, and here is the other Taylor, Taylor Swift, arriving at the US Open today with beau Travis Kelce. [Still from video clip posted on X @usopen]
Ahead of a key Federal Reserve meeting to set interest rates, employers added 142,000 jobs in August, fewer than economists had expected, and previous months were revised downward.
– The New York Times
Not a lot of new jobs in August, but unemployment ticked down to 4.2% (July: 4.3%), and average hourly earnings rose 0.4% in August compared to July. [Graphic from the New York Times]
My little ultraviolet lamp arrived today: one that is specifically designed to inspect postage stamps. (My pictures below).
Starting in 1969, South Africa began to add phosphorescent frames to stamps from its first definitive series of stamps*. Starting in 1971, the phosphorescent element appeared throughout the paper. It is almost impossible to distinguish between these two types of stamps without the aid of an ultraviolet lamp.
*Definitive series of stamps for the Republic of South Africa. The Union of South Africa became the Republic of South Africa in 1961 when it gained its independence from Great Britain.
Republic of South Africa First Definitive Series, Redrawn Issued 1969-1972 Perf. 14×13½ Photogravure, chalk-surfaced paper, printed with phosphor bands 282 168 ½c New blue, carmine-red and yellow ochre | African Pygmy Kingfisher [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps, 2016 Edition]Republic of South Africa First Definitive Series, Redrawn Issued 1969-1972 Perf. 13½x14 Photogravure, chalk-surfaced paper, printed with phosphor bands (LEFT, issued 1969, with bands badly misplaced! ) and without phosphor bands (RIGHT, issued 1971) 277 169 1c Rose-red & olive brown | Coral tree flowers [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps, 2016 Edition]Republic of South Africa First Definitive Series, Redrawn Issued 1969-1972 Perf. 14×13½ Photogravure, chalk-surfaced paper, printed with phosphor bands 284 132 1½c Red brown and light purple | Afrikaner bull [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps, 2016 Edition]Republic of South Africa First Definitive Series, Redrawn Issued 1969-1972 Perf. 14 Photogravure, chalk-surfaced paper, printed with phosphor bands 285 133 2c Ultramarine and yellow | Pouring gold [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps, 2016 Edition]Republic of South Africa First Definitive Series, Redrawn Issued 1969-1972 Perf. 14 Photogravure, chalk-surfaced paper, printed with phosphor bands 286 134 2½c Violet and green | Groot Constantia wine estate [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps, 2016 Edition]Republic of South Africa First Definitive Series, Redrawn Issued 1969-1972 Perf. 14 Photogravure, chalk-surfaced paper, printed with phosphor bands 287 135 3c Red and deep blue |Burchell’s gonolek [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps, 2016 Edition]Republic of South Africa First Definitive Series, Redrawn Issued 1969-1972 Perf. 14 Photogravure, chalk-surfaced paper, printed with phosphor bands 293 138 10c Brown and pale green | Cape Town Castle gate [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps, 2016 Edition]Republic of South Africa First Definitive Series, Redrawn Issued 1969-1972 Perf. 14 Photogravure, chalk-surfaced paper, printed with phosphor bands 294 139 20c Turquoise-blue, carmine and brown orange| Secretary Bird [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps, 2016 Edition]
We’re going to warm up to 88°F (31°C) tomorrow here in Seattle: warm for late summer.
Our summer temperatures are nothing compared to a place such as Phoenix, Arizona, of course.
At 11 a.m. local time this morning, temperatures in Phoenix hit 100° F (38°C) for the 100th day in a row. The longest previous 100-degree streak was 76 days in 1993.
Posted by the National Weather Service for Phoenix on X @NWSPhoenix. Today’s high in Phoenix was 108°F (42°C). Night-time temperatures do not bring much relief. The low last night was 88°F (31°C).
WHIDBEY ISLAND STATION, Wash. — Residents of and near Whidbey Island witnessed a weather phenomenon on Tuesday as “wave clouds” lined the horizon.
Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds or fluctus clouds, as the formations are named, are very rare over Washington, according to KING 5 Chief Meteorologist Mike Everett. The clouds look like literal waves in the sky, a series of rounded crests that are worthy of a double-take. Often referred to as “wave clouds,” the clouds signal a difference in wind speed and density between two layers.
– Reported by Olivia Sullivan for king5.com
“Wave” clouds, or Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds, seen from Whidbey Island toward Possession Point on Sept. 3. [Photo courtesy of Cathy O’Keefe, posted on king5.com]
Here are my pictures of a ride today on the new northbound extension of the Sound Transit light rail system to downtown Lynnwood.
Here it is: the $3 billion extension from Northgate to Lynnwood with four new stations, 16 years in the making. Voters approved it with along with Obama’s election in 2008; planning was done from 2010-2016, design from 2016-2019, and construction from 2019-2024. The 1 Line extension hugs 8½ miles of Interstate 5 and crosses over it north of the Mountlake terrace station. A fifth station will open in 2026 at NE 130th Street. [Map from Sound Transit website]Northbound and approaching the existing Northgate station here. Interstate 5 traffic on the left. Much of the extension is elevated compared to Interstate 5, though, due to the uneven terrain there.Here is the view from the elevated rail and platform at the Lynnwood City Center station. There is a large parking garage at the back (not visible here), a parking lot on the left, and the canopies and bus stops of the Lynnwood Transit Center. Buses can be taken from here to Everett in the north, or to either of the ferry terminals at Edmonds and Mukilteo.Glass mural artwork on the boarding platform at the Lynnwood City Center station. The artist is Preston Singletary. The art was inspired by his Tlingit heritage and family, and influenced by his father’s recent death.Here’s the train at the Lynnwood City Center station, with the parking garage at the back of it.One of two identical sculptures called “Shift” down on the grounds below. The artist is Claudia Fitch and are a nod to the lamps from Lynnwood’s Interurban trolley system, which operated from 1910 to 1939.Here is Claudia Fitch’s “City Hummingbird” and “Kitchen Window Curtain” at Lynnwood City Center Station, to honor the history of neon road signs that once lined Highway 99 as well as the nature Pacific Northwesterners see in their own backyards. [Description of artwork and text from Seattle Times]Getting ready for the 30-minute ride back to Capitol Hill train station. The overhead graphic of the 2 Line (blue) and 1 Line (green) shows that more stations will open in the near future. Stations have numeric identifiers as well, which should make it easier for foreign language speakers and visitors to find the stations that they need to use.A peek into the future, looking at a little section of rail north of Lynnwood City Center station that has already been constructed. The next push north is scheduled for 2037 with stops at West Alderwood near the mall, Ash Way, Mariner, Highway 99 in South Everett (possibly) and Southwest Everett Industrial Center near Paine Field. Two final stations at Evergreen Way and downtown Everett are aimed for 2041, depending on funding.
It’s September, which means we will soon learn which new products Apple will introduce. It’s time to upgrade my phone.
Here’s a cute cartoon from the Seattle Times Sunday.
