Sunday Serendipity

By Jace, a Trail Mix Contributor

Bach for a beautiful Sunday morning interlude. A bit longer than usual but worth every last note!

Enjoy the music and above all enjoy your day.?

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58 thoughts on “Sunday Serendipity”

  1. jace, a great big thank you from your loyal researcher and her ever dependable pal wiki:
    A chaconne (/ʃəˈkɒn/; French: [ʃakɔn]; Spanish: chacona; Italian: ciaccona, pronounced [tʃakˈkoːna]; earlier English: chacony) is a type of musical composition popular in the baroque era when it was much used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line (ground bass) which offered a compositional outline for variation, decoration, figuration and melodic invention. In this it closely resembles the passacaglia.
    The ground bass, if there is one, may typically descend stepwise from the tonic to the dominant pitch of the scale; the harmonies given to the upper parts may emphasize the circle of fifths or a derivative pattern thereof.

     [don’t even ask what the heck a passacaglia is… risks going down a real rabbit hole on that one]

     

  2. from the guardian:

    Madeleine Albright: ‘The things that are happening are genuinely, seriously bad

    […conclusion of a very interesting interview ….]
    “The things that are happening are genuinely, seriously bad. Some of them are really bad. They’re not to do with Trump; it is the evolution of a number of different trends. All the various problems that we have, they can’t be solved by simple slogans. But it’s easier to listen to some simple slogan.”
     
    Albright is far from alone in worrying about the future of liberal democracy. This anxiety is felt more acutely by a woman who was born in the time of Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin, who reached the peaks of international diplomacy when freedom seemed ascendant and has since observed the unravelling of so much hope. At the end of our conversation, I am left unsure whether she thinks democracy has the resilience to survive this testing time.
     
    “You ask if I’m an optimist or a pessimist,” she responds. “I am an optimist who worries a lot.”
     
    That is probably as sensible a position as any in today’s troubled and troubling world.
     

  3. Ahhhh, Bach.

    I kinda like Bach.

    Well, this weekend is a welcome break from the swelter. Yesterday I woke up to a very cool sunny 55 degrees with low humidity and it topped out at a very comfortable 82.  Today is starting out the same, but with a little more humidity and a forecast high of about 85.  I’ll take it.  The upcoming week promises to be a return to last week’s heat so I’m taking advantage of the cooler weather while it’s here. Hope you all are also getting a break from the heat.

     

  4. Ok, one more post then I’m going to lurk for a while.

    It appears that the NK talks are not going as well as SFB suggested after his kiss kiss session with Kim.

    TOKYO — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shot back against North Korea on Sunday, saying the regime’s criticism that U.S. negotiators acted in a “gangster-like” way during his two-day visit to Pyongyang was unfounded.

    “If those requests were gangster-like, the world is a gangster,” said Pompeo, noting that U.S. demands for North Korea to denuclearize were supported by a consensus at the U.N. Security Council.

    The secretary of state also said that despite a critical statement released by North Korea’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday night, he thought the two sides had made progress during the meeting and that his North Korean counterpart, Kim Yong Chol, negotiated in “good faith” during the meeting.

    Pompeo added that the U.S. and world powers would maintain economic sanctions against North Korea until full denuclearization was achieved.

    * * *

    As Pompeo left the North Korean capital Saturday, he told reporters that the trip had been “productive” and that progress had been made on a number of issues.

    However, the North Korean Foreign Ministry ilater released a lengthy statement that criticized the U.S. focus on nuclear weapons. “The U.S. side came up only with its unilateral and gangster-like demand for denuclearization,” the North Korean statement said.

    from WaPo.

  5. Ok, ok, one more.

    And in the sports world

    -Russia lost to Croatia on PKs in the WC quarterfinals,

    -Wimbledon is in full swing with ranked players dropping like flies, and

    -the Tour de France started yesterday – without the prologue time trial. Last year’s winner, Chris Froome is 1:01 behind after the first stage. Tomorrow the team time trial returns. What a helluva convergence of giant sporting events.

  6. Bishop Curry (from last month’s royal wedding) is leading a prayer vigil outside of a TX detention center.

    For any Republicans claiming that the US is a Christian country while praising Donald J. Trump’s immigration policy…well it can’t be done.  And for Republicans like the candidate in Iowa who thinks the non-Christian world is a failure, well, he should realize that the folks coming over our southern border are Christians.  Out treatment of this folks is decidedly un-Christian.

     

    Even Yertle can’t eat his turtle chow in peace.  Somebody shouted him down while he was trying to eat.    I doubt it had any impact on him…prolly just pulled his head into his shell.

  7.  

    2m ago 07:51

     
    updating from the guardian:

    Contradictory reports circulate regarding emergence of two trapped boys
     

    Various contradictory reports are circulating regarding the emergence of two of the boys.
    Reuters says, citing a local official, that the first two members of the Thai football team have been recovered from the cave.
    ITV’s John Irvine says that a local police chief has just told him that two of the boys are out of the cave complex. They are apparently safe and reasonably well.
    The Bangkok Post, meanwhile, says the first 2 boys are on their way to the entrance of the cave suggesting that they have completed the swim and are now walking through the chambers.
    The Guardian cannot confirm any of these reports.

     

  8. I’m glad the Thai boys are being freed from the cave & will be reunited with their parents.

    It’s beyond ridiculous that our government can’t (or won’t) do the same for the children who were kidnapped by those acting on behalf of our government.

    Apparently, it’s harder to get a kid out of a cage than it is to get a kid out of a cave.

  9. Thank you Jace,

    Bach was a genius at the mathematics of sound to create something entirely new and brilliant.  As always an excellent choice for our Sunday refreshment.

    Patd beat me to the research and Pogo to the “Ahhh Bach”.  Teach me to sleep in until 4:30 AM.  I did look up “passacaglia” and nope not worth the effort.  lol

    Four boys about to walk out of cave.

     

     

  10. CNN just reported that the first three boys were escorted out of the cave . Great news.

  11. In regards to the narcissist – Albright has it about right.  The only way this is going to end is for Congress to take away some of his powers and put him in place.  And the only way for Congress to act is if they get thoroughly spanked at the polls in November.  Many are betting that if they blindly follow the narcissist they’ll be re-elected.  If this happens, they’ll follow SFB blindly off a cliff – and take a piece of this country with them.

    In the meantime, it’s been about 95 degrees here every day – with dew points in the low 70’s.  Getting 1/2 inch of rain every day.  The grass in the back yard is about 2 feet high – and I’m going to need mosquito netting and a machete to take it back.  God!

  12. DV, btw have fun with the grass. I just went through that rain & 90+ degree cycle and the sound of the grass growing kept me awake at night.

  13. Pogo, I was watching msnbc.  It turns out that 2 were out and 4 were in the last dry mile walk.  Looks like 4 are out now.  They’re covering this as if it was the start of the gulf war.  I had to turn it off.

    I’m about 25 miles from the gulf in Texas.  We went through 6 weeks of drought – no rain – everything browning out – NO grass cutting – then WHAM we got 14 inches of rain over 4 days – and now afternoon rain.  Total mess.

    I cannot find, however, what month the Spaniards first landed on the Texas coast.  I have to think it was in like October.  If they would have landed here in June or July – they most certainly would have turned around and left.

  14. Hi dvitale300,

    The only problem with Congress to “take away some of his powers” is that this will extend to future Presidents, Democratic included. How do they ( & in extension, we, as Congress is our representative ) spay & neuter our Commander in Chief? Perhaps the Presidency should become nothing more than ceremonial, a la most European monarchies. Is this necessarily a bad thing? We have precious few Washingtons, Lincolns, Roosevelts. Rare birds, these capable men. As the song goes, today we have clowns to the left of us, jokers to the right, stuck in the middle with … mediocre weenies.

     

  15. I’d be happy if Congress just retook its Constitutional powers sacrificed over the years — treaties, trade authority, war making, etc.

  16. It takes Bach, a brilliant pianist, and Jace to make D minor seem upbeat in the face of Texas, Europe, and the DPRK. Jace, you done good. And, go Thailand!

  17. Agree Craig!  A president shouldn’t have war powers unless there’s a missile coming at us over the North Pole.

    I’ve always been an opponent of term limits – but I’m re-thinking that position.  Elections should be government funded and should last no longer than 3 months.  You should be able to register the day of an election, and voting should be open for a week – and by mail.  Or, perhaps, we should pick our representatives similar to how we pick juries?  What we have now is one big corrupt money sucking self serving machine.  And let’s not get started on the electoral college – right wing bible waving sheep loving Wyoming and its’ 3 electoral votes – right.

  18. Pat……..if, in your daily perusifications, Ye should come across the title of that particular Piet rendering I’d be curious to know it…..curious to know the actual size…..I can’t seem to dig it up, he painted so much stuff

    Jaces Aces strikes again.

  19. Jace….  good one!

    DV… I too have vacillated if any positions other than president should have term limits.  Too many old farts with too much power in government right now.

    Glad to read the kids are getting out.

  20. Have to wait until tomorrow for more rescue news.

    More rescues were expected for the eight remaining players and their coach, who have been trapped since June 23 by floodwaters in a dark, six-mile-long cave system. Because all the rescue equipment was used up in Sunday’s attempts, the next push would have to wait until Monday morning, Osatanakorn said.

     

  21. Mondrian dress by Yves Saint Laurent in 1965 = big bucks

    hopefully a Mondrian set of draws by sturgeone will be just as valuable

  22. I saw trudi  On Dana Bash’s show just a little while ago. God is that man an idiot or what?

  23. pogo, has anyone asked about the twit bugging that meeting room? that gives participants deniability that they told him about it.  hard to frame the question just right to catch him or them for perjury.

    excerpt from nbc
    Giuliani emphatically stated on Sunday that the president’s hypothetical testimony about a key Trump Tower meeting with Russians in June 2016 would “be exactly the same” as those who attended, including Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner, but noted there is “real, real hesitation” about letting the president provide that testimony.
    An individual working on behalf of Russians ahead of that New York meeting told Trump Jr. that the Russians had damaging information on then-candidate Hillary Clinton.
    “The president is very anxious to testify because he’s done nothing wrong,” Giuliani said, adding: “Please be clear. President Trump wants to testify. We have to hold him back.”
    “There was no discussion with [President Trump] about this [meeting], and nothing happened from it,” he said.
     

  24. These are a little out of date, but opera is usually welcomed here on Wednesday

     

  25. Thanks Jace as always something to look forward to on Sunday morning besides a ramos fizz

     

    So SFB has commented on the North Korean’s remarks about the style of the US and the fact that clearly no deal has been made? Yet another case of his delusional view of himself and the world

  26. delusional or lying

    is his real talent purposeful self-delusion learned while young and impressed by “power of positive thinking”  Norman Vincent Peal?   believe it and it is so salesman?

    or is he a pathological liar

    or both

  27. trump has lies like the Bachs had musical notes.  Whether he believes the lies or not will only matter in the courts, when they consider the question of intent. At least one in 12 is likely to find him not guilty by reason of insanity – except regarding the tax fraud charges. They almost always find the tax fraudsters guilty.

  28. Speaking of trump, over the 4th Sweetie and I went up to Sandstone, MN, where your Uncle Sam detains many criminals. I was able to visit an old pal. He’s had a heart attack and cancer, but is back in fairly good health now. He’s confident that later in the year will be free to move around the country again. He’s very lucky that his wife waited for him through their separation.

    Driving home, I pondered about the wisdom of holding old guys, who can get pretty damned expensive for the tax payer. Of course, to thrive private prisons need all the public facilities to be full. sigh.

  29. these one on one chats must blow the minds of the linguists at state.  the twit can barely speak English yet he’s conversing about life and death matters with dangerous despots who speak it as a second language.  the possibility of mistakes, misunderstandings, intentional misleading and mendacity is mind-boggling.

  30. interesting depiction by  tweeter Liem   and response from elon musk about the kid-sized subs he’s sending along with engineers and other necessary equipment.

    I assume this is for those boys who are too weak or are too ill to come out like the 4 did today.

  31. Sturg – I am in need of someone who knows cabinet making.  One on my boat came apart, the door ripped off the side, it is poorly constructed, faced with living in ocean conditions during the last thirty-five years..  Still I expected better.  I do not have pictures yet.  Can you help?

  32. BiD, she probably wasn’t in the best of health to begin with when (law enforcement suspect) she and her gentleman friend (who lives in a hostel for the homeless) picked up something discarded by those who poisoned the skripals that was contaminated.

  33. excerpt from the guardian:

    [….]
    The US delegation to the World Health Assembly in Geneva reportedly deployed threats and other heavy-handed measures to try and browbeat nations into backing off the resolution.
     
    Under the terms of the original WHO text, countries would have encouraged their citizens to breastfeed on grounds that research overwhelmingly shows its health benefits, while warning parents to be alert to inaccurate marketing by formula milk firms.
     
    The New York Times first reported how the Trump administration reacted forcefully to the resolution, which otherwise had the consensus support of all other assembly members. It pushed to remove a phrase from the draft text that would exhort governments to “protect, promote and support breast-feeding”.
    The administration also used its network of diplomats to lean on member states. Turning on the delegation from Ecuador, the US government said that unless the South American nation withdrew its backing of the resolution it would face punitive trade moves and even the potential loss of military help in its battle against gang violence.
     
    The resolution was eventually passed with US support, but only after the Russian government reintroduced it using a modified text.
    […continues…]

  34. Dear SFB, go for it, call her Queenie. Her favorite tease from Americans is, “hey, Lizzie, can I see your Tin hat? har, har, har.”

  35. I hope she gives him the bums’ rush & I hope he’ll be turned away from the country houses he tries to visit.  They should be completely inhospitable to the Cheeto.

    ps – We don’t want him back.

  36. more from that article in case you didn’t click on but still want to know why we’d do such a dastardly thing:
    A Guardian investigation with Save the Children earlier this year found that formula milk firms were using aggressive methods to skirt around the regulations in order to press mothers and healthcare professionals to choose powdered milk over breastfeeding. The measures were particularly intensively deployed in the poorest regions of the world, where most growth in the baby milk formula business is now concentrated.
     
    A plethora of studies have shown the stark health improvements brought about by breastfeeding in the US and around the world. A Harvard study in 2016 estimated that 3,340 premature deaths a year among both mothers and babies could be prevented in the US alone given adequate breastfeeding.
     
    The milk formula industry has been struggling against stagnating sales in recent years, but is still worth $70bn annually. The small number of giants that produce it are concentrated in the US and Europe.
     
    One of those giants, Abbott Nutrition, is part of the healthcare multinational Abbott Laboratories that contributed to Trump’s inauguration ceremonies in January 2017.
     

  37. also in the guardian:

    Brexit secretary David Davis resigns plunging government into crisis

     

    Secretary of state’s resignation was followed by two other Brexit ministers, forcing a mass reshuffle

     

  38. Pat the Gates’ Foundation will outmatch SFB, especially when you add Buffet’s billions that he ultimately controls.

  39. I forgot to give the farm news from Virginia.  The wheat has been harvested, a few fields have a second crop of soybeans started.  Many fields have been left fallow.  The big surprise was seeing two large fields that had been planted with soybeans had been sprayed with glyphosate (vegetation killer) when the seedlings had come up.  The farmers had made a rational decision to kill the crop rather than let it grow.  I did not see any signs of another crop having been planted either, so the fields are going fallow.  That is extreme.

  40. The war on pussy has been upstaged by a new war on breasts. The wars on Indians & children continue. Pretty soon America be at war with anyone or anything that doesn’t gratify trump with money, power, or servicing.

  41. With these threats over breast milk against a nation with a democratically elected government, I’ve now changed my mind.

    First, allow me to explain what changed my mind. Milk has been ‘repurposed’ by the trump despotate. You thought that milk was meant to nourish children, right ? Maybe that was so at some time in the past. However, we now know that the purpose of milk is to enrich the big bankers that own and run abbott and nestle. In the future there’ll be no such thing as a free lunch anywhere, not even for newborns.

    Therefore, I now agree with Mr Flatus that trump is the worst White House occupant ever.

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