There is tennis in Cincinnati, Ohio this week: the Cincinnati Open (also going by its sponsor’s name, the Western & Southern Open).
The hardcourt season is in full swing, in the run-up to the year’s last Grand Slam tournament that starts on August 28— the US Open in New York City.
The Cincinnati Open was first held in Sept. 1899, and is the oldest tennis tournament in the United States that is still played in its original city. Action from last night: Stan ‘The Man’ Wawrinka (Switserland, 38 yrs old) rolls back time by ten years with this incredible pickup way, wa-ay out wide. He outplayed Francis ‘Big Foe’ Tiafoe (USA, 25) in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. [Screenshot from TennisTV streaming service]
I drew the blinds and even blocked the sunlight from coming through the glazing in my front door today. It was 94 °F (34 °C) outside, and besides— I had my biannual checkup at the ophthalmologist and my eyes were very sensitive to light.
“We hear they’re shredding thousands and thousands of ballots,” Trump said on the call.
“Mr. President, the problem you have with social media, they — people can say anything,” Raffensperger replied.
Defendant Donald John Trump lost the United States presidential election held on November 3, 2020. One of the states he lost was Georgia. Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump. That conspiracy contained a common plan and purpose to commit two or more acts of racketeering activity in Fulton County, Georgia, elsewhere in the State of Georgia, and in other states.
– Introduction of the indictment against Trump and 18 others brought in Fulton County, Georgia
And there it was, late Monday night— the fourth indictment, long expected, and a sweeping one, that documented all that Trump and his allies did in Georgia to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election results there.
Fulton County district attorney, Fani T. Willis, has extensive experience with bringing racketeering cases, and 18 other conspirators were charged along with Trump.
It was warm today, and it will remain warm until Thursday (highs up to 92 °F/ 33 °C).
Granted: residents of the South or places like Phoenix or Las Vegas are allowed to say ‘Yeah— that’s not warm’.
Phoenix had seen highs of 110 °F/ 43 °C for 18 days straight, this summer.
Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta ‘Irish Eyes’) from a P-patch here on 20th Avenue in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.
Here is the news Coming to you every hour upon the hour Here is the news The weather’s fine But there may be a meteor shower
– From Electric Light Orchestra’s 1982 concept album “Time”, about a man from 1981 travelling into the far off future of 2095 and having to deal with the stresses and setbacks of the future.
In this song, a news program is playing all the hourly (and quite depressing) headlines, some of which do have basis in reality.
It is a great year to look for Perseid meteors entering Earth’s atmosphere (and burn up), and this weekend is the peak time to do that.
There is a crescent moon in the sky, meaning the sky will be dark.
The best time to catch them is just before dawn— around 3:30 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. local time (eek!).
One can expect to see a Perseid every minute or so, or roughly 40 to 50 an hour during the peak, though rates could be even higher under ideal viewing conditions.
A Perseid meteor makes its entrance to the Earth’s atmosphere, seen looking east at 6,000 feet on top of Table Mountain near Ellensburg. [Photo by Steve Ringman, published in The Seattle Times, 2010]
There was a Rivian R1S electric SUV parked in front of my house today.
I went back into the kitchen to tend to dinner on the stove.
When I went back to take another look at it, it was gone.
This summer is no exception when it comes to apocalyptic scenes of fires and floods, worsened by the changes in the planet’s climate.
There is very bad news out of Hawaii, as well, now— of destructive firestorms that started yesterday and continued into today.
Thomas Fuller, reporting for the New York Times: From the air, the town of Lahaina looks incinerated. Charred palm trees are reduced to slender matchsticks protruding into the smoky sky. Homes are ash. Streets are deserted. The firestorm that tore through the western shores of Hawaii’s Maui island on Tuesday and continued on Wednesday has killed at least six people and forced the evacuation of more than 2,000, the authorities said. It was the deadliest wildfire in the state’s history, according to Clay Trauernicht, a tropical fire specialist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Fast-moving wildfires wreaked havoc on the island of Maui, trapping locals and tourists. Strong winds linked to Hurricane Dora several hundreds of miles to the south fanned the flames, but as of Wednesday it was not known how the fires had started.The hall of Lahaina’s historic Waiola Church and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission, on fire. [Photo by Matthew Thayer/The Maui News/AP]
The estimated $1.55 billion Mega Millions jackpot for the Tuesday night drawing is one of the largest in U.S. history.
The odds to win the big prize is about 1 in 302.6 million.
Yes, you could buy 10 tickets and make it 1 in 30.26 million, but you would still be much more likely to be killed by an asteroid (1 in 1.6 million).
Update Tue 8/8: The largest jackpot in Mega Millions history, worth an estimated $1.58 billion, was secured in Florida on Tuesday night.
The winning ticketholder can choose between the massive $1.58 billion jackpot paid in annual payments or a one-time cash option worth an estimated $783.3 million.
The winning numbers were 13, 19, 20, 32, 33, and the gold Mega ball 14.
– From the New York Post.
The sign in the 7-11 store on 15th Avenue East here on Capitol Hill. Is $ 1.55 billion too much of a good thing? That $5.2 million prize for the Washington State Lotto would come in handy. Should one take the lump sum, or the annuity option? From CNBC: Andrew Stoltmann, a Chicago-based lawyer who has represented several lottery winners, says 95% choose the lump sum option, which he describes as a “big mistake.” There are three “big drains” on lottery winners: bad investments, relatives who ask for money and overspending, according to Stoltmann.
A goal is scored in soccer when the ball completely passes over the goal line, between the goalposts, and beneath the crossbar at either end of the soccer field. It first appeared that US goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher had successfully stopped Lina Hurtig’s penalty kick, but a video review revealed that the ball had crossed the line, by a hair. Of course: one could argue that it should not have come to a penalty shootout in the first place— that the US team should have bested Sweden by at least one goal in regular time, or in extra time. [Images from Fox Soccer @FOXSoccer on X]
Sweden won the penalty shootout, 5-4, to eliminate the United States from FIFA’s 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The American team was billed by some as the favorite to win yet again, after winning two consecutive champion-ships, in 2015 and 2019.
Fridolina Rolfo scoring Sweden’s first goal of the shootout, past the outstretched arms of U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher on Sunday. [Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images]
“I am trying to be philosophical about it, given the scope of so many people’s problems, but it’s been pretty crushing,” Mr. Anthony said. “There must be a word to describe those peculiar things that happen to us as a result of the most mundane little mechanical intricacies of life.”
“I think I feel better having lost this myself than I would had it been stolen,” he said. “And I remind myself that people lose all sorts of valuable things, including loved ones in floods and fires. I suppose, ultimately, on a certain level, this was just a piece of paper with signatures on it of people who were, and are, no more intrinsically valuable than any of us.”
– Historian Carl Sferrazza Anthony (64), describing his feelings to NYT reporter Michael Levenson, after inadvertently losing an engraved card he had had for decades, with signatures of US presidents and of their spouses, on.
The newest signatures added to the card are those of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. Mr Anthony still wanted to track down No 45, and Melania, for their signatures. Further reporting from the NYT: After he had collected the card with Mr. Biden’s signature at the White House Historical Association on July 24, he said, he walked across the street to Teaism. He was holding the manila folder gently, careful not to crush the card inside, he said. Mr. Anthony, who lives in Los Angeles, was in Washington to read and sign copies of his latest biography, “Camera Girl: The Coming of Age of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy.” After lunch, he walked along H Street to St. John’s Church. It was hot, and he stopped inside for a rest and sat in a pew where President Lincoln had sat, in the back corner. He then walked to McPherson Square, where he stopped to take a photograph of the equestrian statue of James B. McPherson, a Civil War general, with birds perched on its head. It’s possible the signed engraving slipped out there, he said. He continued to walk to Thomas Circle, where he stopped to take another photo, this time balancing a bag of salty oat cookies from Teaism and the manila folder in one hand and his camera in the other. He thinks that was most likely where he dropped it. When he got back to his hotel room, at 1400 M Street, Northwest, he went to admire the engraving again and saw that it was gone.
Judge Upadhyaya arrived for the hearing 14 minutes late — creating long periods of awkward silence and pen-twiddling as Mr. Trump and his team sat across from equally antsy prosecutors.
– Reported by the New York Times
Trump appeared in federal court in Washington D.C. today for his arraignment.
He pleaded ‘not guilty’ on all four counts of the charges against him.
The magistrate judge said the prosecutors should file recommendations for the trial date and length in seven days, and that the Trump team should respond within seven days after that.
The first hearing before the trial judge, Tanya S. Chutkan, is scheduled for Aug. 28.
This trial with its 4 charges is likely going to take precedence over the other trials (for two indictments with 74 more charges, so far 😱) that Trump also faces.
That’s Special Counsel Jack Smith on the far left (the prosecutor for the United States Government and We The People). Trump stands in his signature red tie with his lawyer John F. Lauro to his right. Judge Moxila Upadhyaya (on the far right) oversaw the proceedings. [Courtroom sketch by Bill Hennessy for PBS NewsHour]
It was Seattle Night Out last night— an annual event that encourages neighbors to meet each other, and to increase neighborhood support in anti-crime efforts.
Young admirers (and a few older ones) checking out a fire truck from the Seattle Fire Department that had stopped by in the block next to mine, for Seattle Night Out.
Toe Vader slaap, toe Moeder droom,
is ek uit by die hek langs die appelboom.
En ek ry op die spierwit perd se rug
bo-oor die heinings en bo-oor die brug.
En niemand weet dat ek daar was
met elwekinders op die gras.
As Father slept, as Mother dreamed, I slipped out the gate by the apple tree. I rode on the back of the snow-white horse over the hedge and over the gorge. And on no one ever, will it dawn that I’d been there with elven children, on the lawn.
– From ‘Die Spree met Foete’, reworkings of Annie M.G. Schmidt’s Dutch verses into Afrikaans, 2002.
Verses by Piet Grobler and artwork by Philip de Vos.
The rough translation into English is my own.
August is here, with a full moon tonight.
There are two full moons this August, both of which are supermoons—
The Sturgeon Moon that reaches its peak today, August 1st;
The Blue Moon that occurs on Wednesday, August 30th.
More history in the making— the indictment for Trump’s crimes (OK, alleged crimes at this point) after the 2020 presidential election, was returned by the grand jury in the District of Columbia today.
There are four charges in the indictment (see below). Trump’s co-conspirators are not identified by name in the indictment, or charged for now, but it appears Rudolph W. Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Trump lawyer John Eastman are among them.
Special Counsel Jack Smith is seeking a speedy trial, with just 18 months to go to the 2024 election.
Is all of this still not enough to disqualify Trump with Republican voters?
What will happen if Trump is found guilty in October 2024 .. and then appeals his conviction (as he is sure to do)?
We don’t know— but boy, are we going to find out.
The four charges in the Jan. 6 indictment. Some of these crimes carry prison sentences of up to 20 years: a life sentence for a 77-year old criminal. Trump’s ‘Fight like hell’ speech on the Ellipse on Jan. 6 is not listed as a specific charge (for say, incitement to violence). The indictment notes that Trump’s lies about the 2020 election outcome are protected by the First Amendment, but that his other actions to conspire and subvert the outcome went way beyond that and constitute crimes. [Infographic by the New York Times]
There was a small musical ensemble, with a few couples were dancing to their tunes, in Volunteer Park tonight.
The scene at the little public plaza by the Black Sun artwork. Black Sun is a 1969 sculpture by Isamu Noguchi, located between the Asian Art Museum and the Volunteer Park reservoir.
All days seem to be sun days this time of year.
These at the end of July are the driest on the calendar— meaning that it almost never rains on these days in the Pacific Northwest.
The mountain is out (Mount Ranier)— seen with a waxing gibbous moon from over Lake Washington on Friday. Here in the city of Seattle we have had mild and calm weather all along so far this summer, with very little wildfire smoke to deal with. It’s just been very dry, drier than usual. [Posted by NWSSeattle@ NWSSeattle on X on Fri 7/28]
I found this feline at the West Exit of Shinjuku Station in Tokyo during my recent visit there (stills from a giant video screen).
The entrance to the Studio Alta building right next door is one of world’s famous rendezvous points.
Some 3.6 million people pass through Shinjuku Station every single day.
