Here’s Carlos Alcaraz (21, 🇪🇸) and Rafael Nadal (38, 🇪🇸) in their red shirts.
The unseeded team from Spain are off to a great start with a 7-6, 6-4 win over Maximo Gonzales (41, 🇦🇷) and Andrés Molteni (36, 🇦🇷) , seeded 6th, today.
Nadal was a surprise torch bearer during the opening ceremony.
He won Olympic golds in singles in 2008 and in doubles in 2016, and is scheduled to play in the first round of singles on Sunday against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics (32, 🇭🇺).
‘An emoji for Nadalcaraz?’ asks Alcaraz this tweet on X. [Picture by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images]
Well, I watched some of the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony this morning as it happened.
The Eiffel Tower must have been spectacular to see during the light show.
As for other parts of the ceremony, I suspect it was a challenge for the choreographers to pull all the pieces together to make for compelling TV viewing.
The rain certainly did not make it easier, least of all to the camera crews that needed to keep the rain drops from their lenses and from getting into their expensive equipment.
The Eiffel Tower emitted beams of light during the climax of the opening ceremony. [Photo by Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times]
‘At Trocadéro, opposite the Eiffel Tower, where the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948, Mr. Macron awaited the athletes before a crowd that donned ponchos and huddled under umbrellas in the unrelenting rain. He told the French newspaper Le Parisien this week that he had felt some “vertigo” as the Olympics, a decade in the making, were set to begin’. – Roger Cohen reporting from Paris for the NYT
Veepstakes is an informal term for the quadrennial process in which candidates for president of the United States select a running mate.
If the ticket wins, the running mate becomes the vice president of the United States— and first in line to the presidency.
-Wikipedia
The Trump campaign announced that their candidate is backing out of the second debate that had been scheduled for Sep. 10 (that would have been with Pres. Biden, but would now be with Vice Pres. Harris).
We should know in two weeks who the other name on the Democratic Party’s ticket is, for the Nov. 2024 election for president of the United States.
Seattle Public Library suffered a ransomware attack on its network just before Memorial Day weekend. (Libraries in Toronto and London also suffered cybersecurity breaches recently. The disruptions to their services lasted several months).
Services at the 27 branches of the library are slowly returning, but have still not been fully restored.
Workstations at the Capitol Hill branch of Seattle Public Library were still offline as of today.From the magazine rack: the latest issue of Analog magazine. Analog Science Fiction and Fact is a renowned magazine that combines captivating science fiction stories with scientific exploration. ‘Established in 1930, it has become a premier publication for enthusiasts of imaginative storytelling and cutting-edge science’. -magzster.com. After the ransomware attack, Seattle Public Library issued books and items in analog mode for awhile, using pen and paper to record what was lent out.
We had 18 consecutive days above 80°F (26°C) in the city by Sunday— a record number of consecutive days.
The run ended on Monday, which brought a high of only 68°F (20°C).
I found these lilies here on Capitol Hill during my walk tonight. If I have it right, these are Lily Muscadet or Lily Oriental Muscadet, a cross between a Korean and a Japanese lily.
Kamala Harris speaking at her first campaign event at the Democratic campaign’s headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware. President Biden (still recovering from COVID-19), called in. [From the New York Times online]The Associated Press reported late today that Harris had secured the backing of more than the 1,976 delegates needed to capture the nomination in the first round of voting.
On Day 1 of her campaign, she drew endorsements from her final possible rivals, hauled in record sums of cash and attacked Donald Trump.
Should the Democrats have spent more time and effort to hold a mini primary, or townhalls, or debates, to encourage challengers to Kamala* Harris to step forward? Probably not. *Pronounce comma-la as in ,-la
Says Lydia Polgreen from the NYT: I think Harris will be fine. We are all overestimating Trump’s strength. Our colleague Jamelle Bouie has been saying for a while that the vibe feels very 2016, with the soothing sense of inevitability on the G.O.P. side rather than the Democratic side. I agree. I think there is a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for anyone but Biden or Trump, and it might matter a lot less than we think who the person who stands in is.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term. For my part: my very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump.”
– A message from President Biden on the Biden-Harris campaign website
To be sure, Vice President Kamala Harris is not officially the candidate for President yet— that is what the upcoming Democratic National Convention is for, which starts Aug. 19.
There is no formal rule-based structure that transfers pledged delegates from one candidate to another (Biden to Harris) ahead of the Democratic National Convention.
Under the Democratic National Committee rules, pledged delegates are bound to initially vote for the candidate they’re assigned.
Since Biden has left the race, delegates are now free to support whomever they choose.
Biden’s endorsement will nudge them towards voting for Harris, though.
A much more forceful endorsement would have been for Biden to resign as President, handing over the reigns to Harris, and vaulting her to the top of the ticket that she has been on all along.
Then there is the latest political parlor game: trying to guess correctly who Harris will pick as her running mate once she has secured the nomination.
It was another beautiful blue sky day here in the city— 85°F (29 °C).
Here’s a view of downtown Bellevue, taken from my passenger seat at the top of the Ship Canal Bridge as we were heading north on I-5. That’s the Portage Bay body of water in the foreground. Vessels have the Montlake Cut to get to Lake Washington (visible at left, middle of the picture). Downtown Bellevue is on the east side of Lake Washington, and those are the Cascades mountain range in the distance.
Happy Friday.
The amigos met at Chuck’s Hop Shop in Central District for a beer and a bite.
The streak of warmer-than-usual-but-not-unbearable weather here in the city will continue through the weekend— 83°F (28°C) today and up to 88°F (31°C) tomorrow.
Today the Washington Post reported that former President Barack Obama has said (in private conversations), that President Joe Biden’s chances at a successful presidential run in 2024 have declined and that he needs to examine whether it’s the best choice for him to remain in the race.
I am trailing badly against the bot called Zoey. Should I play PREZ— slang for president, and allowed— but netting only 15 points? Maybe I should trade in my letters, get 0 for this turn, and hope that it will put in a better position to win after the next round or two. It’s a tough call.
This morning, it was reported that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), his party’s nominee for Senate, called on Biden to step aside. Schiff is a prominent Democrat, but also closely aligned with ex-speaker Nancy Pelosi, making his words carry even more weight.
Later in the day, Biden’s covid diagnosis was reported.
Here’s Dan Balz in today’s Washington Post: Biden has rebuffed all calls for him to step aside, has retreated to what is described as a shrinking inner circle of advisers and remains confident in his ability to win the election even if two-thirds of Democrats nationally say he should pass the torch, according to a new AP/NORC poll. The covid diagnosis adds to Biden’s string of bad luck, possibly drawing more attention to his age and physical strength. Since the debate, he has stepped up his schedule and his travels, holding rallies, doing interviews and conducting Zoom conversations with different groups from his party. At times, he has been vigorous and energetic. At other times, not so. Even at his best, he has not put to rest concerns about his capacity to win the election and serve another four years.
Tuesday has become my grocery shopping day.
(Part of the reason: most weeks I have an Amazon Fresh coupon that expires on Tuesday).
I’m doing my part to keep food inflation down by shopping around for the items that I buy lots of: coffee, eggs, breakfast cereal, dairy products.
A floor display here at my local Safeway grocery store on Capitol Hill. Cool: the shark floatie. (Careful: You will scare the living daylights out of bathers if you use that thing in the surf at the beach! 😱). Not So Cool: the stacks of bottled water. It’s 200% better for the planet to use a stainless steel water bottle and fill it up with water straight out of the faucet.
There was cloud cover this morning, but it was gone by late morning.
Today was the 12th day in a row with a high 80°+ (27°C+) recorded at Sea-Tac.
(The record is 15 days in a row, and it will be broken).
There has also been no rain in July, and we have a real shot at reaching the end of July with no rain at all.
Normally, July ends with about 0.67″ of recorded rain.
What has been the driest July on record? I wondered.
Here is what the Office of the Washington State Climatologist says about July 1960: ‘All of the climate divisions of the state were exceedingly dry in July 1960 (ranging from 0.01” in the Puget Sound Lowlands to 0.05” in the East Slopes Cascades region). Some stunningly low amounts of precipitation occurred in spots that normally get a fair amount of rain. For example, in the coastal region of WA, Forks checked in with only 0.04” and Hoquiam got completely shut out with 0.00”. The 1981-2010 climate normal for Forks and Hoquiam in July is 2.47 and 1.14”, respectively’.
These daisies here on Capitol Hill are looking good, in spite of the warm weather and lack of rain.
Wimbledon 2024 is in the books, as is the Euro Cup 2024.
It was a good day for Spain in the international sports arena.
First Carlos Alcaraz ( (🇪🇸, 21 yrs old) won his second Wimbledon title in straight sets over Novak Djokovic (🇷🇸 , 37).
The score was 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4).
Shortly after that, Spain 🇪🇸 beat England 🏴 2-1 in the Euro Cup 2024 Final.
Posted by Bastian Fachan @BastienFachan on X. Rod Laver (🇦🇺, 85) won 11 Grand Slam singles titles and remains the last man to win all four of the biggest tournaments in the sport (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open) in a single calendar year (1969).
‘Are we too old (for doing) this sh–?’ inquired the old-timer next to us,
while also unloading lots of yard waste from his truck into the bay at the North Transfer Station. ‘Yes— we are!’ said I.
North Transfer Station (aka ‘The Dump’) in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood is a facility open to the public, designed to handle many kinds of waste efficiently and safely, while providing many opportunities to bring in materials and items for recycling, as well.
Thanks to Bryan for all his help today 🤗 This is the 240 lbs (108 kg) of yard waste that we had just dumped at the Transfer Station. There are leaves and shoots clipped from my laurel hedge, as well as a few branches and twigs, from two trees.
Stamps (from South Africa) that I had bought in March (on Ebay) from a seller in China, showed up in my mailbox today.
The sender used a greeting card envelope with a preprinted red stamp on (far right). The cancellation mark shows that the envelope was sent on June 14 from the city Anqing (pop. 4 million) in Anhui province. Anqing is some 250 mi due east of Shanghai. My name and address were very neatly written in print style. At the end, a nice reminder for me as to how to write ‘USA’ in Chinese: 美国 Měi guó (or ‘Beautiful country’, literally translated).Let’s take a closer look at the stamps: Insects (II) From a set of 4 stamps issued Aug. 23, 2023 by China Post in the People’s Republic of China Perf. 13 with syncopated perf. left and right edge (one larger hole) |40 x 30 mm |Offset lithography printing Colnect Code:CN 2023.08.23-01 |80 分 (fēn) |Multi-colored |Atlas moth (Attacus Atlas)Special Greeting Card Stamp Issued Aug. 8, 2013 by China Post in People’s Republic of China Perf. Die Cut 13½ x 13 with syncopated perf. left and right edge (one larger hole) |30 x 30 mm |Photogravure printing Cat.Code Mi:CN 4501 |3 ¥ (yuan) |Multi-colored |Bamboo plant
It’s only Wednesday, and it’s been a rough week for the Biden campaign.
How long will this go on? This is not sustainable.
So far: Nine House Democrats and one Democratic Senator have publicly called on President Biden to drop out of the presidential race; Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker emerita, said this morning ‘The President needs to decide what to do’ and avoided expressing explicit support for him; George Stephanopoulos (news anchor that interviewed Biden after the debate) appeared to say to a passer-by on a New York City street that he does not think Biden can serve four more years (per a video clip from TMZ);
Actor and filmmaker and Democratic fundraiser George Clooney calls for Biden to drop out, in a very direct and brutally honest op-ed for the New York Times.
Clooney writes in the op-ed: ‘But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can. It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe “big F-ing deal” Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate’.
This ‘Double-sided Big Head’ yard sign is from the Joe Biden campaign website ($25). Biden with the laser eyes is called Dark Biden. Biden’s team has embraced “Dark Brandon,” reappropriating a right-wing conspiracy meme* that depicted the president as a menacing force and used a nickname, “Brandon,” that become an in-joke among conservatives for insulting him.
*meme \MEEM\ noun. an amusing or interesting item (such as a captioned picture or video) or genre of items that is spread widely online especially through social media.
We had 97°F (36°C) here in the city of Seattle today, record for this day on the calendar.
The sunny weather and clear skies will persist, but the high should come down by some 10°F (5.5°C) tomorrow.
Picture posted by Ted S. Warren @tedswarren on X. (I reduced the pixel size of the picture). He says: ‘Thanks to a great heads-up from @NWSSeattle Sunday, I was able to get the crescent moon and Mercury in a frame looking west in Idaho’.
.. being President of the United States*— or to collect stamps. *President Biden sent a cease-and-desist letter of sorts to House Democrats today, telling them to support him in the election.
In the mean time it’s Christmas in July for me, because my latest two purchases from the UK landed on my porch today.
These are old labels used for registered letters or mail pieces in South Africa. (Obsolete: printed barcodes without the sending city or town’s name on the label, are used nowadays). I am still deciding if some of them will make it into one of my stamp albums. Look for the label VERWOERD- BURG 1 at the bottom of the picture. Verwoerdburg in Gauteng Province, now goes by Centurion. It was named for H.F. Verwoerd, prime minister of South Africa widely seen as the architect of apartheid. Verwoerd was assassinated in 1966. Then there is TECOMA— not to be confused with Tacoma, Washington State 😁— a post office in East London, Eastern Cape Province, that has been permanently shuttered.This is just part of a massive collection of mint issues from the 50s , 60s and 70s for South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia). I have almost all of these already, but some in my album are used stamps with heavy cancellation marks, and I can add a few control blocks to my collection (four stamps with the margins from the original printed sheet).
