‘Goodbye 50, hello 100’
– Financial analyst, commenting on the expected Fed hike rate next week (in basis points)
Inflation was still above 8% in August, and pervasive, found in service sectors as well as consumer goods. Gas prices were down, but not nearly enough to offset the increases everywhere else.
I took the Wall Street Journal’s quick survey to estimate my personal inflation rate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has a CPI basket of 80,000 items which are grouped into categories broad (such as food) and narrow (like bananas).
The BLS revises what it tracks every two years based on the spending habits of volunteers who keep a purchase diary. Everyone’s inflation rate is a little different, of course, because we buy different things and services.
There it is: my inflation rate is closer to 10%, and not the official 8.3% for August. (It was actually above 11%, then I threw in Computers, peripherals and smart home assistants for the laser printer I had bought recently, and that dragged it down to below 10%. Yes- I don’t buy a laser printer every year, but I do buy technology products now and then). Look at chicken (up 16.5% year-over-year), cheese (up 13.5%) and milk (up 17%). Yikes.
I was on duty again tonight as coordinator for the Seattle Tennis Alliance’s Tuesday night social doubles.
I had to put some skilled players with some very green ones on the same court tonight (a combination I try to avoid), but everyone seemed to be fine with it.
The view from my perch on the wooden benches at the Lower Woodland Park tennis courts. It’s approaching 9 pm, and in just a few minutes I am going to take down the Seattle Tennis Alliance banners from the fences, and put my tennis racquet & kit bag in my car, along with the case of Penn tennis balls.
Apple’s iOS 16 and watchOS 9 were released today, and I updated my iPhone and my watch.
I picked Apple’s Astronomy | Earth Detail dynamic lock screen that uses one’s location and the time of day to generate the image of Earth. I added widgets for temperature, calendar and Cape Town time (below the time). The playful ‘marshmallow’ digit characters of the new ‘Playtime‘ watch face float around and float on and off the screen as the time changes (the time it shows is 8:20; presumably the wearer of the watch knows it is morning, afternoon, evening, or night time since there is no 24 hour display option).
Carlos is the winner, and became the youngest No 1 in the 50 years that the ranking system of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) had been in place.
Yes, he is supremely talented and had worked tirelessly in his young career for this achievement, but as Christopher Clarey explains in the NYT, there was timing and extraordinary circumstances that also came into play:
At 19, Alcaraz is the youngest No. 1 since the ATP rankings were created in 1973. That is quite a feat in a sport that has had plenty of prodigies: from Bjorn Borg to Mats Wilander, Boris Becker to Pete Sampras, to Alcaraz’s Spanish compatriot Rafael Nadal, who also won his first major at age 19 (at the 2005 French Open).
But Alcaraz’s meteoric rise to the top has not been due simply to his genius — though the word, which should be used very sparingly in tennis or anything else, does seem to apply in his acrobatic case.
His coronation is also due to timing:
To Novak Djokovic’s refusal to be vaccinated for Covid-19, which kept him out of this year’s Australian Open and U.S. Open and four Masters 1000 events in North America.
To Nadal’s limited schedule because of a series of injuries.
To the extraordinary situation at Wimbledon, which Djokovic won again in July but which earned him no ranking points; the tournament had been stripped of points by the men’s and women’s tours because of Wimbledon’s ban on Russian and Belarusian players over the war in Ukraine.
Carlos Alcaraz, of Spain, holds up the championship trophy after defeating Casper Ruud, of Norway, in the men’s singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022, in New York. The score was three sets to one: 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-3. [Photo by Matt Rourke/AP]
Carlos Alcaraz (19, Spain) has played three phenomenal five-set matches this week to reach the US Open Men’s Final.
He beat Marin Čilić (33, Croatia), the 2014 U.S. Open champion, at 2:23 a.m. on Tuesday;
he beat Jannik Sinner (21, Italy) at 2:50 a.m. on Thursday after surviving a matchpoint, and
he beat Frances Tiafoe (23, USA) shortly before midnight on Friday. (There was American royalty in the stands, watching this match: Michele Obama).
(Yes, New York City never sleeps— but what a ridiculous state of affairs, with the evening matches obviously starting wa-a-ay too late).
Alcaraz is playing against Casper Ruud (23, Norway). For the first time ever since the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranking list was established in 1973, will the outcome of a major final will also determine who of the two players will become world No 1.
Reporting from the New York Times. It’s winner takes all: the winner will lift up his maiden Grand Slam trophy and become the new World No. 1 men’s tennis player.
The skies around Puget Sound have been clear for most of summer this year.
There was some smoke haze in the air today, though— with a warm weekend in the forecast:
Saturday 89 °F/ 32 °C
Sunday 83°F / 28 °C
I found myself on the 5th floor of an apartment building in Ravenna at sunset (near Roosevelt light rail station), attending a Seattle Tennis Alliance board meeting. That’s Green Lake on the right edge of the picture.
Buckingham Palace said the queen, who was 96, died peacefully Thursday afternoon at Balmoral Castle, her estate in the Scottish Highlands.
Her son became Britain’s new monarch, King Charles III.
– From the New York Times
A rainbow emerged as the Union Jack flag was lowered at Windsor Castle, following the news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday. [Photo by Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson Collection, via Getty Images]
It was a beautiful and mild blue-sky day (73 °F/ 23 °C) here in the city.
The amigos played a little pickleball before going for a beer and a bite.
The amigos in action at the Mt. Baker Park Pickleball and Tennis Courts today. The pine needles and grit had been swept or blown from the courts, which was great. We also had standard pickleball nets with sturdy frames provided by the Seattle Metro Pickleball Association.
Here’s tomorrow’s The Sun newspaper, having some fun with Elizabeth the Prime Minister meeting Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
The Queen may have said ‘Hello, Liz’ but the Prime Minister definitely did not.
So it’s goodbye to Boris Johnson, and Britons have their fourth prime minister in six years, in Liz Truss. She is Britain’s third female leader, after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.
The new PM will have to deal with inflation, Ukraine, energy security with winter approaching, the NHS, the contrails of Brexit and a general election that isn’t too far away.
Liz Truss is announced as the new Conservative Party (‘Tory’) leader and Prime Minister, after Boris Johnson had been ousted by his own Conservative Party in July. In Britain, prime ministers are not directly elected by the public. General elections work more like congressional elections in the United States: the public votes for local representatives to send to the U.K.’s legislature, the parliament. The leader of the party that wins the most seats in the parliament generally becomes the prime minister. [Still from BBC video clip]
It was a gray Sunday— no sun— and terrible news broke later in the day, of a seaplane crash in Puget Sound.
The plane was a De Havilland DHC-3 Otter with 10 people onboard, nine adults and one child. The US Coast Guard said the plane was traveling from Friday Harbor to Renton Municipal Airport when it crashed into the waters of Mutiny Bay.
The crash was reported at 3:11 p.m. One body had been recovered and nine people were still missing as of around 9 p.m. The cause of the crash is still unknown.
Update Mon 9/5: The Coast Guard recovered several large pieces of aluminum and smaller pieces of debris smelling of fuel, but “very little” of the actual plane had been found as of midday Monday, said Scott Giard, search and rescue program director for the Coast Guard in the Pacific Northwest region. Both the Coast Guard and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife sent divers to the island, and the Coast Guard will use an underwater drone to try to find the wreckage and come up with a plan to retrieve any remains from the fuselage. Officials believe the wreckage is on the seafloor, which is between 150 and 200 feet deep in that area. – from the Seattle Times
Update Thu 9/29:
The wreckage of the floatplane was found on 9/12, on the seafloor. Today, some 80% of the wreckage was recovered off Whidbey Island, as well as an undisclosed number of bodies of the 10 victims. Crews began recovering pieces of the wreckage on Tuesday, and recovery is expected to last several more days.
The seaplane crashed in Mutiny Bay off Whidbey Island in Puget Sound, on the way to Renton Municipal Airport. Witnesses on the shore saw the plane descend rapidly, and hit the water.
There was a little rain on the ground this morning.
It’s Labor Day weekend, which means that summer is over— unofficially.
Hopefully there are still enough bugs buzzing about for Mr. Spider to catch in his web.
Serena Williams (40) bowed out of the US Open tonight, losing in the third round against Ajla Tomljanovic (29) of Australia. She had indicated before the start of the tournament that this would be her last.
It was at the 1999 US Open where Serena won the first of her 23 Grand Slam titles*— at only 17 years old. She defeated in succession Grand Slam champions Kim Clijsters, Conchita Martínez, Monica Seles, and defending champion Lindsay Davenport, to reach the 1999 US Open final. In the final, she then defeated world No. 1, Martina Hingis, to become the second African-American woman, after Althea Gibson in 1958, to win a Grand Slam singles tournament.
*The most by any player in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time (behind Margaret Court’s 24).
Williams was a power player: an aggressive baseliner, whose game was centered around her powerful serve and forceful groundstrokes.
Serena Williams, of the United States, motions a heart to fans after losing to Ajla Tomljanovic, of Austrailia, during the third round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Friday, Sept. 2, 2022, in New York. [AP Photo/Frank Franklin II]
My top-of-the-line paddle for pickleball has arrived.
The CRBN ¹ Elongated Paddle is slightly longer than others (but also approved by USA Pickleball).
It has a carbon fiber face with a honeycomb polypropylene core.
dive bar noun
a small, unglamorous, eclectic, old-style bar with inexpensive drinks, which may feature dim lighting, shabby or dated decor, neon beer signs, packaged beer sales, cash-only service, and a local clientele (from Wikipedia)
The amigos went to Twilight Exit tonight, off Cherry Street in Central District. It was toasty outside today (88 °F / 32 °C) but there was a welcome breeze outside on the patio.
That’s Jimi Hendrix (b.1942- d.1970) on the artwork by the entrance— Seattle native and guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His mainstream career spanned only four years, but he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music.
My uncle sent me these images of nocturnal animals.
They were captured by a LtlAcorn® camera trap he had set up in 2009 at the Shalimpo camp in Botswana.
Shalimpo is located at the very east-most point in Botswana (at the right edge in the picture), in the wildlife preserve called the Tuli Block, at the confluence of the Shasi and Limpopo rivers.Bush pig (Potamochoerus larvatus), perhaps not quite as well-known as the other wild African hog, the warthog.Rusty-spotted genet (Genetta maculata). Genets are viverrids (a family of small to medium-sized cat-like mammals). They are omnivorous: catching small prey, but also subsisting on fruit and insects.The unmistakable form of a Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta). Hyenas were made even more infamous (unfortunately) by Disney’s The Lion King (1994). There are four species, and this one is also known as the laughing hyena. Hyenas are unique and vital components of most African ecosystems.Cape porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis) showing its black-and-white quills. These are amongst the largest living rodents in the world. The capybara and some beavers might weigh a little more.Leopard (Panthera pardus). ‘The Leopard Hunts in Darkness’ (1984) is a novel by Wilbur Smith set in the early days of Zimbabwe’s independence and is the fourth in Wilbur Smith’s series about the Ballantyne family of Rhodesia. When it was released it was banned by the Zimbabwe government.
Here’s the first definitive series of stamps issued for the Republic of South Africa.
This is the original set that was issued in 1961.
Slightly updated versions of the stamps with redrawn images and fonts for the lettering were subsequently issued and printed until 1973, when the set was retired.
Republic of South Africa, First Definitive Series, 1961 ½c Natal Kingfisher, 1c Coral Tree flowers, 1½c Afrikaner bull 2c Pouring gold, 2½c Groot Constantia, 3c Crimson-breasted Shrike 5c Boabab Tree, 7½c Maize, 10c Entrance to Castle, Cape Town 12½c Protea, 20c Secretary Bird 50c Harbour, Cape Town, R1 Bird of Paradise Flower
At 7 tonight, I walked to Madison Street, along 17th Avenue.
A woman driving an ‘electric blue’ Tesla Roadster (the 2011 model) turned into the Trader Joe’s parking garage just then.
At the Shell gas station across the street, the sign says $5.39/ gallon, some 50c down from July.
Hopefully, gas prices will become irrelevant in a few more decades.
Washington State is going to follow California’s lead and ban sales of ICE (internal combustion engine) cars starting in 2035.
Looking west from the top of John Street, at 15th Avenue, about 20 minutes before the sun set at 7.57pm. There is definitely an end-of-summer vibe in the air.
It felt like fall this morning (high for the day only 71 °F /22 °C), with a spritz of rain on the ground.
This year’s summer brought stretches of hot weather, but no smoky skies from wild fires.
Gladiolus (sword lilies) making their last stand here on Capitol Hill. The gardens are dry and lawns are yellowed, but they will come back, of course.
