a weblog of whereabouts & interests, since 2010
There was sun today, but it does not feel like spring yet here in the city.
It was only 47 °F (8 °C) as I went for a quick walk after dinner.
All right, it’s time for a quick update on the happenings at the Indian Wells 2024 men’s tennis tournament.
Raphael Nadal (37, 🇪🇸) had actually withdrawn from the tournament before it even started, simply stating that he was not physically ready to play again at the highest level. Will he play French Open in May? We don’t know.
World No 1 Novak ‘No Vac’ Djokovic (36, 🇷🇸) was back for the first time in four years, only to fall to ‘lucky loser’ Luca Nardi (20, 🇮🇹) in the third round.
(A lucky loser is a player given a spot in the main draw even though he lost in the final round of the qualifying tournament).
Daniil Medvedev (28, His Country Invaded Ukraine— but not his fault) and Holger Rune (20, 🇩🇰) are the likeliest from the top half of the draw to make it to the final on Sunday.
In the bottom half it will be Indian Wells 2023 champ Alcaraz (20, 🇪🇸), Jannik Sinner (22, 🇮🇹) and Alexander Zverev (26, 🇩🇪) battling it out for a spot in the final.
Update Sun 3/19: It was Alcaraz vs. Medvedev in the Men’s Final, with Alcaraz winning 6-3, 6-2.
Are Americans better off than we were four years ago? ask some Republicans, trying to score political points.
Well, yes. Hell, yes— we’re better off.
Exactly four years ago, the WHO declared COVID-19 a world-wide pandemic.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans died in 2020, the economy ground to a halt, started up again, inflation spiked, but is now coming down while unemployment is staying low.
On the topic of pandemics and epidemics*: we do have a fentanyl epidemic.
Per a report in The Economist, ‘America’s ten-year-old fentanyl epidemic is still getting worse’.
*While an epidemic is large, it is also generally contained or expected in its spread, while a pandemic is international and out of control (from Columbia University Public Health’s website).
The film honored at the Oscars told a very specific story, but countless other lives trace back to that day, too.
In one way or another, no one emerged untouched.
We are all living downwind of that first momentous blast.
– Ariel Kaminer referring to the opening scene in this year’s Best Movie Oscar winner ‘Oppenheimer’, in a guest essay in the New York Times print edition that is due out Monday.
Her uncle had worked for the US Army and became an atomic veteran many years after 1946— veterans developing radiogenic health issues that may have been precipitated by their exposure to ionizing radiation while participating in a nuclear weapon test detonation, or a post-test event.
Of course: in the year before 1946 there was Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Just on the border of your waking mind
There lies another time
Where darkness and light are one
And as you tread the halls of sanity
You feel so glad to be
Unable to go beyond
I have a message from another time
– Lyrics from ‘Prologue’ on the album ‘Time’ by Electric Light Orchestra, 1981
It’s time to fiddle with our clocks again here in the United States.
Daylight Saving Time starts Sunday morning at 2 am.
Yeah, an hour extra daylight at the end of the day— robbed from the daylight in the early morning.
So we’re not really saving any daylight now, are we?
Happy Friday.
President Biden delivered a feisty State Of The Union speech tonight.
Here is a slice of reporting from the New York Times.
My package with blank stamp album pages, from a supplier based in the town of Otterup in Denmark, arrived today.
They stock Leuchtturm products (the best) and get it to me within a week via DHL.
Good stuff.
Millions of Americans in 15 states and one territory went to the polls today for primary contests that will set the stage for November’s elections. We call it Super Tuesday because it’s the busiest voting day before November, and typically it plays a central role in the presidential nomination process.
This year, however, is different. President Biden faces no major challengers, making him a lock to win every Democratic primary. Donald Trump is competing only against the dwindling campaign of Nikki Haley, whom he is expected to defeat in most or all of today’s contests.
– Matthew Cullen writing for the New York Times
So: no surprises out of Super Tuesday, really. (Haley eked out a win in Vermont, but that was it).
The 2024 presidential election that nobody had wanted (a Biden-Trump rematch) is still on track for November.
I’m not the best player in the history of tennis. I think I am among the best, that’s true. That’s enough for me.
– Rafael Nadal, Mar. 2023
The second big tennis tournament of 2024 has started: the Indian Wells Open in California. Celebrated veteran and champion Rafael Nadal (Spain, 37) is back after missing the Australian Open due to a hip injury.
Rafael Nadal is seeking a fourth Indian Wells tournament win here, but faces a very tough draw (assuming the seeded players win their matches):
R1 – Raonic
R2 – Rune
R3 – Shapovalov/Musetti
R4 – Fritz/Baez
QF – Medvedev/Dimitrov
SF – Djokovic/Hurkacz
F – Alcaraz/Sinner/Zverev/ Rublev
It was time for a grocery run today, and I picked Amazon Fresh to go to.
They had most of what I usually buy, but were just a little short on their selection of fresh vegetables.
That is not a problem— frozen vegetables are almost as good as fresh (I think).
‘Alien-looking lobsters, sponges, urchins, sea stars and sea lilies are among the creatures deep-sea explorers found off the coast of Chile.
Deep-sea explorers searching below the waves off the coast of Chile may have found more than 100 species completely new to science.
The potential discovery of the new creatures across 10 seamounts in the southeast Pacific does more than just add to the depth of understanding of the sheer diversity of ocean life. For the researchers, it shows how ocean protections put in place by the Chilean government are working to bolster biodiversity, an encouraging sign for other countries looking to safeguard their marine waters’.
– From a report by Dino Grandoni for the Washington Post of Feb. 24.
– Pictures are stills from a video by the Schmidt Ocean Institute.
Happy Friday.
Time marches on for 2024, and my vote for the Washington State Presidential Primary election is in the mail.
I voted for Biden.
For me as a 2024 Democrat, it is unthinkable to vote for an independent or a Republican candidate.
That said, the primary election ballot has an ‘Uncommitted’ option on the Democratic side, and some Democrats tick this box to protest against Biden for not opposing the Israel response to the Hamas terrorist attacks more fiercely.
Here’s Volunteer Park today.
It is definitely still winter— 41° F (5 °C) with a little wind chill. Brr.
The hyacinths (picture below) and daffodils provided a little color amid the grays of winter.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to decide whether former President Donald Trump can claim presidential immunity over criminal election interference charges, adding a new hurdle to a trial taking place.
The court said in a brief order it would hear arguments and issue a ruling on the immunity claim. In the meantime, the case is on hold, meaning no trial can take place.
The order said the court would hear the case, which could take months to resolve, the week of April 22. That timeline allows for a ruling by the end of the court’s regular term in June, which is faster than is typical when the court hears arguments but not as fast as prosecutors wanted it to be.
– Lawrence Hurley writing for nbcnews.com
A batch of South African stamps that I had ordered from a seller in Germany arrived yesterday.
This set is one of my favorites.
My weekend in San Diego and California was over on Monday morning, and I took Alaska Air back to Seattle.
The sun came out this morning, but was gone again by late afternoon.
Even so, it was great to walk along the surf on Del Mar’s main beach.
Here are today’s pictures— from the Del Mar area north of San Diego.
I was off to San Diego for the weekend on Friday.
