A reader sent in this set of photos to the South African newspaper Die Burger (The Citizen).
Kitty of the Kgalagadi The reader Estelle Jordaan writes: “A once-in-a-lifetime experience .. we were in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (in the Kalahari Desert region of Botswana and South Africa, bordering Namibia to the west). On our early morning drive from Nossob (at Marie se Draai) we came across seven young lionesses who came walking up the road from the front. One was very curious and approached our vehicle. The next moment she first stood with her paws on our pickup’s runner board, and then upright against the pickup with a ‘high five’ with one paw against the window (luckily the window was closed!). Then she decided she wanted to explore the side mirror more closely and taste it… the damage to the mirror? A small tooth hole, and a few light scratches– but we rather see it as lasting evidence of the best memory so far.” [Photos by Estelle Jordaan. Published in Die Burger newspaper online, Thursday Jul. 10, 2025]
Happy Friday.
It is Nelson Mandela International Day— the annual international day in honor of Nelson Mandela, celebrated each year on 18 July, his birthday.
Inauguration of President Nelson Mandela (May 10, 1994) Issued May 10, 1994 Perf. 14½x14 | Des. Liza van der Wal | Litho. | No Watermark 882 A293 45c | Photo image of Mandela [Source: 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 6A]50th Anniversary of the Rivonia Trial Issued Nov 26, 2013 Perf. 14¾x14½ | Des. Marie Vermeulen‑Breedt | Litho. | 12 Booklet panes of Rivionia trial defendants with 1 stamp each | No Watermark 1510 A547 Standard Postage (R2.80) | Photo image of Mandela as defendant at Rivonia Trial [Source: 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 6A] P.S. From Wikipedia: The Rivonia Trial was a trial that took place in apartheid-era South Africa between 9 October 1963 and 12 June 1964, after a group of anti-apartheid activists were arrested on Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia. The farm had been the secret location for meetings of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the newly-formed armed wing of the African National Congress. Speaking in the dock of the court on 20 April 1964 during the trial, Mandela said: During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
Clarissa Brincat writes in the Science section of the New York Times of July 15, 2025: Researchers at Cocha Cashu Biological Station in southeastern Peru set up a camera trap to study bird behavior, but they got a surprise guest appearance instead: an ocelot trailing an opossum through the jungle at night.
The ocelot, a wild cat slightly larger than a house cat, and the common opossum, a marsupial, are usually predator and prey. But in this video, they moved in tandem— like two old friends walking home from a bar.
Intrigued, they contacted researchers in other parts of the Amazon who turned up three additional, nearly identical videos from different locations and years.
… Opossums’ attraction to ocelots remains a mystery, but Dr. Damas-Moreira and her colleagues suspect there’s something that draws both animals. One hypothesis is “chemical camouflage.” “Opossums have a strong smell, and a close-by ocelot might help hide the opossum’s scent from bigger predators, or the opossum’s odor might mask the ocelot’s presence from prey,” said Ettore Camerlenghi, an evolutionary biologist and ecologist at ETH Zurich and an author of the study. Opossums are also resistant to the venom of pit vipers, a snake that lives in the Amazon. Ocelots lack that defense, and teaming up could give both animals an edge when hunting, Dr. Camerlenghi said. In North America, a similar alliance exists between coyotes and badgers, who buddy up to hunt squirrels.
[Stills from videoclips in the New York Times article ‘Videos From the Amazon Reveal an Unexpected Animal Friendship’]
We did have the hottest day so far this year here in Seattle, with a high of 91°F (33°C). I waited until it was almost dark before I ventured out for a walk.
Sunset is now at 9.02 pm.
No, my phone’s camera was not malfunctioning. I found this coneflower (genus: Echinacea) tonight. They usually come in purple and pink varieties. This is likely a hybrid, perhaps the ‘Green Twister’ (Echinacea purpurea) that features a distinctive two-toned appearance with lime green and magenta petals.
We had 88°F (31°C) here in Seattle today.
The National Weather Service issued a Heat Advisory for today and tomorrow for the Seattle area— with potential for temperatures in the mid-90s (35°C) on Wednesday.
The weather camera by Hansville out on Kitsap peninsula picked up noctilucent clouds early this morning (the faint, bluish-silver or electric blue streaks above the orange colors of twilight). These are also called night-shining clouds or polar mesospheric clouds. They are composed of ice crystals and form in the mesosphere, the atmospheric layer above the stratosphere, at extremely cold temperatures. [Still image from a video clip posted by Skunkbayweather @Skunkbayweather on X]
The stamps of last of the four South African homelands that issued stamps, made it into my album: those of Venda. (A sample below).
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s parents were of the Venda ethnicity. The Venda people reside primarily in the Limpopo province of South Africa, near the border with Zimbabwe. They have a rich and distinctive culture, including a unique language called Tshivenda or LuVenda (I see it is simply called ‘Venda’ on Google Translate).
Venda, officially the Republic of Venda, was a Bantustan that was declared independent by the apartheid regime of South Africa in 1979. (In the far north of South Africa on the map). On 27 April 1994, independent Venda ceased to exist as it was reintegrated into South Africa to became part of modern-day Limpopo Province. Venda’s stamps were still valid for postage, though— the 16c stamp below on the last page has a 1997 cancellation.
Three amigos ran out to Marymoor Park by Redmond this morning— the site for the Electrify Expo Seattle 2025.
The all-electric 2025 Lucid Gravity SUV has a starting price of $79,900 for the Touring model and $94,900 for the Grand Touring model, according to Lucid Motors. The Touring model is expected to be available for order in late 2025. [Source: Google Search Labs | AI Overview]2025 Tesla Model 3 in Quicksilver, with white seats.2025 Tesla Model S in Red*. This is the newest Model S, now with a front bumper camera as part of their hardware refresh. *Or maybe it is the Red Multi-Coat: a premium version of the standard Red, offering a more vibrant and lustrous appearance.The Tesla Bot. (Google Search Labs | AI Overview: No, the full-sized Tesla Optimus humanoid robot is not yet for sale to the general public. While Tesla is developing Optimus, it is currently focused on internal production for use in its own factories, with external sales planned for 2026.)A Cybertruck fitted with an after-market camping add-on (mostly providing additional sleeping space). That’s a metallic green wrap on the truck (all Cybertrucks are offered with a raw, stainless steel exterior).A different kind of metallic wrap on a Cybertruck, with a rainbow reflection in the bright sunlight. (The high in Seattle was 87°F/ 30.5 °C today).These Teslas are dressed up in sporty, race car attire, but now starting to show their age/ The new ‘Highland’ Model 3 has been available since early 2024.Several other electrified means of transportation were on display as well. The well-known Seattle power bike maker Rad Power Bikes is showing off its latest line-up of power bikes (bike with electric motor to assist the rider’s pedaling, and a battery that provides the power).Look Ma! I’m flying through the air. A young rider demonstrates gravity-defying freestyle stunts that he can do with his electrified moto-cross bike. (There is a steep up-ramp on the other side that gets him into the air).A staffer from the booth with electric unicycles (EUCs) showing how it’s done. (It’s much harder than he makes it look). These unicycles are self-balancing personal transporters with a single wheel. Riders control their speed and direction by shifting their weight and using built-in sensors.I’m in the back seat of a Cybertruck, and we’re just doing a little circuit laid out around Marymoor Park. The center console is a little dusty. There is a Cybertruck ahead of us. A white Tesla (at the top right of the display) is behind us: the view provided by the rear-facing camera on the tailgate. The rearview mirror cannot really be used when the rear glass of the truck is covered.All done, and we’re heading back to Seattle across the SR-520 floating bridge (that floats on Lake Washington). There is not a lot of snow on the Olympic Mountains this time of year.
Poor Amanda Anisimova (age 23, 🇺🇸) suffered a ‘double bagel’ defeat against Iga Świątek (24, 🇵🇱) in today’s Wimbledon Women’s Singles final.
Anisimova struggled with her serve, and made way too many unforced errors. She skipped practice on Friday because of fatigue and felt pain in her right shoulder while warming up before the match.
From BBC.com/ sport:
The rarity of a 6-0 6-0 score line in a final underlines Swiatek’s dominance.
This is the first 6-0 6-0 win in a Grand Slam final since Steffi Graff (19, 🇩🇪) beat Natasha Zvereva (17) in just 34 minutes at the 1988 French Open.
It is the first time it has been done in a Wimbledon final in the Open era, which is when tennis became professional (1968).
In 1911, Dorothea Lambert Chambers (32, 🇬🇧) beat Dora Boothby (29, 🇬🇧) by the same score line— but that was in the challenge match era, where the defending champion played just once.
Happy Friday.
The stock markets in the US closed the week out with the world’s first four trillion dollar company: Nvidia (NVDA), listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
Here’s Tripp Mickle reporting for the New York Times from San Francisco: Nvidia spent three decades building a business worth $1 trillion. It spent two years turning itself into a $4 trillion company. On Thursday, the world’s leading provider of computer chips for artificial intelligence became the first public company worth $4 trillion, after its stock ended the day trading just above $164 a share. It achieved the milestone before an array of better-known tech heavyweights, including Apple and Microsoft. Nvidia’s rise is among the fastest in Wall Street history, and a testament to investors’ belief that artificial intelligence will deliver an economic transformation that rivals the Industrial Revolution’s.
From Tripp Mickle’s report for NYT: Apple and Microsoft, the market’s two largest companies in recent years, have led the way toward the $3 trillion mark. But Nvidia’s rise is unprecedented. In two years, it went from being valued at $1 trillion to becoming the first company with a market capitalization of $4 trillion. … Early this year, its shares fell 17 percent and it lost $600 billion in market value on a single day after the Chinese company DeepSeek claimed it could train a cutting-edge A.I. system with a tiny fraction of the Nvidia chips U.S. companies were using. Investors’ fears proved to be overblown, and Nvidia recovered. But the breakthrough showed the volatility that comes with being an A.I. bellwether. [Graphic by Karl Russell and Blacki Migliozzi/ NYT]
Funny— that these two stamps were on the envelope from Great Britain containing my Ebay stamps, yesterday.
Paul McCartney (83) announced yesterday that his “Got Back” concert tour later this year in the USA is a go.
(He’s not coming to Seattle).
Paul McCartney in the Studio Issued May 28, 2021 Perf. 14 | Engraving: International Security Printers Ltd. | 2 stamps from a miniature sheet containing 4 stamps 4376 ENK 1st Class Mail | Black & white photo image | McCartney in the studio, 1970 4377 ENK 1st Class Mail | Black & white photo image | McCartney recording ‘RAM’ album, 1971 [Source: stampworld.com] P.S. McCartney was 27 in 1970. That was also the year that The Beatles broke up. From a Facebook page called ‘This Day in Music’: On 10th April 1970, 27 year-old Paul McCartney issued a press statement, announcing that The Beatles had split, (one week before the release of his solo album). McCartney said, “I have no future plans to record or appear with The Beatles again, or to write any music with John”. John Lennon, who had kept his much-earlier decision to leave The Beatles quiet for the sake of the others, was furious. When a reporter called Lennon to comment upon McCartney’s resignation, Lennon said, “Paul hasn’t left. I sacked him.”
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell posted this picture on X today, of new US citizens and Seattle officials who attended the 40th annual Independence Day (July 4) Naturalization Ceremony held at Seattle Center.
Over 500 new US citizens were sworn in.
The officials in the picture are: –David G. Estudillo (fourth from the left), Chief US District Judge for the Western District of Washington: Judge Estudillo presided over the ceremony and administered the oath of allegiance to the new citizens. –Maria Cantwell, US Senator for Washington State (to his right): Senator Cantwell gave the congratulatory address to the new citizens. –Miss Washington is Hermona Girmay, who was crowned in July 2024. She is also a University of Washington School of Public Health alumna and is using her platform as Miss Washington to champion health equity. –Bruce Harrell, Mayor of Seattle: Bruce Harrell delivered welcome remarks at the ceremony.
Alma Franulović Plancich, the ceremony’s long-time coordinator, was recognized for her 40 years of dedication to the event.
Posted on X by Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell— “While the other Washington challenges basic principles, we forge a different path. It was an honor to celebrate Independence Day at the Naturalization Ceremony, welcoming 501 new U.S. citizens and honoring Alma Franulovic Plancich for her decades of leadership”.
South African newspaper Die Burger (‘The Citizen’) reports that Cape Town has had a very successful 2024/25 cruise season. A total of 83 cruise ships visited the cruise terminal at the V&A Waterfront , of which 11 were there for the first time.
The cruise terminal saw an increase of 16% in terms of passengers and crew numbers over last year. (The 2023/24 season generated US$ 67.4 million for the regional economy and supported 2,000 jobs. The numbers for 2024/25 are still being compiled).
A sign at the cruise terminal at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. [Picture from Facebook/Wesgro]The 2024/25 cruise season in Cape Town concluded with the departure of the Crown Princess from the cruise terminal at the V&A Waterfront on June 29. The Crown Princess is currently on a 60-day world cruise that began on May 31, 2025, in Auckland, New Zealand. She is scheduled to arrive in Dover, England, on July 30, 2025. The ship’s itinerary was adjusted last week due to stormy weather conditions around Cape Town and Walvis Bay. As a result, her arrival in Walvis Bay, Namibia, was delayed until July 1, and she subsequently bypassed Mindelo, Cape Verde (Cabo Verde). [Picture from Facebook/ Wesgro]
Hydrangea is derived from Greek and means ‘water vessel’ (from ὕδωρ húdōr “water” + ἄγγος ángos or ἀγγεῖον angeîon “vessel”), a reference to the shape of its seed capsules. [From Wikipedia]
Day 7 at Wimbledon is done.
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz (22, 🇪🇸) is still on track, with a great win today over Andrey Rublev (27): 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Alcaraz will play Cameron Norrie in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Norrie (29, 🇬🇧) is British, and was born in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Rublev must have thought he had the point in the bag, but no— Alcaraz not only gets to it by sliding on the grass (the way he does on clay)— he hits a passing shot from there. [‘Shot of the day’ by The Athletic from the New York Times]
My set of Bophuthatswana stamps are in the stamp album.
Below are the first two pages of stamps, including the colorful set of first definitives that feature stylized African animals as totems for Bophuthatswana clans.
Bophuthatswana was a homeland in South Africa that gained nominal independence in 1977.
Its citizens suffered a number of political crises during its existence (see below).
By 1994 the homelands experiment was over, and Bophuthatswana was reincorporated into South Africa along with all the other homelands.
• Self-government 1 June 1972
• Nominal Independence 6 December 1977
• Coup d’état 10 February 1988
• Coup attempt 1990
• 1994 Bophuthatswana crisis
• Dissolution 27 April 1994
Bophuthatswana (lit. ’gathering of the Tswana people’), officially the Republic of Bophuthatswana (Tswana: Repaboleki ya Bophuthatswana; Afrikaans: Republiek van Bophuthatswana), and colloquially referred to as ‘Bop’ was a Bantustan (also known as “Homeland”, an area set aside for members of a specific ethnicity) that was declared (nominally) independent by the apartheid regime of South Africa in 1977. However, like the other Bantustans of Ciskei, Transkei and Venda, its independence was not recognized by any country other than South Africa. [Source: Wikipedia]
U.S. commemorative stamp from the “Special Occasions” definitive series Issued Apr. 20, 1987 Perf. 10 on 1, 2, or 3 sides |Booklet panes of 10 |Quantity Issued: 76,303,125 |Design: Corita Kent |Photogravure |Engraving: Bureau of Engraving and Printing |No Watermark U.S. #2267 |22c First-class rate |Yellow, deep blue, light blue, white and pink |Fireworks and ‘Congratulations!’ Postmark from Buffalo, NY, July 2024. [Source: mysticstamp.com]
I feel so downcast about this bill passing, and yet I’m not someone who is likely to suffer directly from it. The tax cuts benefit my family. Oh well. Rural Americans have only themselves and their Congressional representatives to blame.
– ‘Dean from USA’ commenting in the New York Times about Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ with its tax cuts and cuts to health care
If the headline says ‘Victory for Trump’, you just know it is bad.
America’s national debt is 36,200,000,000,000 (36.2 trillion) US dollars.
That’s 123% of the US Gross Domestic Product.
Our Congress is adding another 4 trillion to it.
Where does the 4 trillion that we cannot afford come from?
Tax cuts for the rich and the mega-rich, and shredding healthcare and social safety net programs for poor people.
From the New York Times:
The House on Thursday narrowly passed a sweeping bill to extend tax cuts and slash social safety net programs, capping Republicans’ chaotic monthslong slog to overcome deep rifts within their party and deliver President Trump’s domestic agenda.
The final vote, 218 to 214, was mostly along party lines and came after Speaker Mike Johnson spent a frenzied day and night toiling to quell resistance in his ranks that threatened until the very end to derail the president’s marquee legislation. With all but two Republicans in favor and Democrats uniformly opposed, the action cleared the bill for Mr. Trump’s signature, meeting the July 4 deadline he had demanded.
There is an interstellar comet in our solar system, only the third known time it has happened.
Kenneth Chang writes for the New York Times: For only the third time, astronomers have found something passing through our solar system that came from outside the solar system.
This interstellar object, known as 3I/ATLAS, is still pretty far from the sun, currently located between the orbits of the asteroid belt and Jupiter but heading toward the inner solar system.
“This thing is traveling pretty fast” said Paul Chodas, director of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
Relative to the sun, it is currently moving at about 130,000 miles per hour and it will continue to accelerate as the sun’s gravity pulls on it. The first known interstellar object was Oumuamua, which traveled through the solar system in 2017. In 2019, Borisov, a comet of interstellar origin, passed by.
A diagram shows the projected trajectory of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, labeled C/2025 N1 here, as it travels through our solar system. It is not yet known how big it is, but it will pass well clear of Earth. Its closest approach to Earth will occur in December, at a distance of 160 million miles. [From an article in the New York Times. Diagram by NASA/JPL-Caltech]
From Google Search Labs | AI Overview:
Rainfall in Seattle during June 2025 was 0.40 inches, which is significantly below average.
This amount is 73% less than the 30-year average for June, which is 1.49 inches.
For comparison, here is a summary of June rainfall in recent years:
2024: 2.02 inches
2023: 1.42 inches
2022: 4.98 inches
Historically, June is one of the drier months in Seattle, with the average rainfall being around 1.6 inches. The wettest June on record saw 3.90 inches of rain in 1946.
Too much of a good thing? 🤗 I marveled at the lushness of this lawn– for a newly remodeled house here on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. The lawn started out as tiles of green sod, and there must have been a sprinkler system watering it every day for the last few weeks.
Strawberryheads in the stands— a nod to the traditional treat of strawberries and cream that is served up every year around the grounds. (Nice to keep the sunlight at bay, but man! I hope those berries offer a little ventilation as well.) [Image from the official Wimbledon website]June is done, the year 2025 is at its midpoint, and the Wimbledon tennis tournament at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet* Club in London SW19 got underway today.
*Yes, there is still croquet, played on three dedicated lawns, but they are converted into practice tennis courts during the championships.
Here are a few random notes for today: – The hottest day ever recorded at the Wimbledon tennis tournament was July 1, 2015, with a temperature of 35.7 °C (96.3°F). This record was matched today on the first day of the 2025 tournament, Monday, June 30; – Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (21, 🇫🇷) hit a serve that clocked in at 153 mph (246 km/h), the fastest ever recorded, anywhere; – World No 733 Oliver Tarvet (21, 🇬🇧) won his first round match as a qualifier in the main draw. He must now spend most of his £99,000 winnings to retain his amateur status on the NCAA Tennis circuit (he plays college tennis at the University of San Diego and wants to continue doing that for another year or two); – Tarvet will play Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday in the second round.
Alcaraz needed five sets today to eliminate Fabio Fognini (38, 🇮🇹) 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1. Fognini is retiring after this season and asked Alcaraz for his shirt after the match to give to his son Frederico (he got it; they are good friends); – On No. 1 Court, Jiao Fonseca (18, 🇧🇷) became the first 18-year-old to reach the second round since a certain Carlos Alcaraz did it in 2021. Fonseca needed only three sets to get past Jacob Fearnley (23, 🇬🇧); – Line judges have been a part of Wimbledon since the very first Championships in 1877, but this year the humans have been replaced with Hawk-Eye Live (a system of up to 18 cameras equipped with AI that analyzes footage from the cameras to determine if a ball is in or out).
