46 thoughts on “Sunday Serendipity”

  2. Wiki on musical divertimenti in case anyone is interested:
    Divertimento /dɪˌvɜːrtɪˈmɛntoʊ/ (Italian: [divertiˈmento]; from the Italian divertire ‘to amuse’) is a musical genre, with most of its examples from the 18th century. The mood of the divertimento is most often lighthearted (as a result of being played at social functions) and it is generally composed for a small ensemble. The term is used to describe a wide variety of secular (non-religious) instrumental works for soloist or chamber ensemble. It is usually a kind of music entertainment, although it could also be applied to a more serious genre. After 1780, the term generally designated works that were informal or light.
    Genre
    As a separate genre, it appears to have no specific form, although most of the divertimenti of the second half of the 18th century go either back to a dance suite approach (derived from the ‘ballet’ type of theatrical divertimento), or take the form of other chamber music genres of their century (as a continuation of the merely instrumental theatrical divertimento). There are many other terms which describe music similar to the divertimento, including serenade, cassation, notturno, Nachtmusik; after about 1780, the divertimento was the term most commonly applied to this light, “after-dinner” and often outdoor music. Divertimenti have from one to nine movements, and there is at least one example with thirteen. The earliest publication to use the name “divertimento” is by Carlo Grossi in 1681 in Venice (Il divertimento de’ grandi: musiche da camera, ò per servizio di tavola) and the hint that the divertimento is to accompany “table service” applies to later ages as well, since this light music was often used to accompany banquets and other social events.

  3. Trump wants his consigliere as the nation’s top lawyer by David Horsey
    Through the last 10 years of Donald Trump’s dispiriting dominance of public discourse, I have caricatured him as a crazed king, a whining baby, a swamp creature, a cruel dictator, and various other rude visual metaphors. But the cartoon image that captures the man most aptly is that of a Mafia don.
    Trump’s personal style and methods are really much closer to John Gotti, Lucky Luciano and Al Capone than Benito Mussolini. Unlike Mussolini, Trump’s political goals are borrowed, provisional and ephemeral. He pays endless lip service to transforming the country — making America great again, but never actually getting there — but his deepest motivation for holding power is to enrich himself and enhance his own delusions of grandeur.
    Like a Mafia boss, he demands loyalty, quickly discards anyone in his service who is no longer useful, circumvents the law to add to his wealth and ruthlessly pursues vendettas against his perceived enemies.
    And now, Trump may get his perfect consigliere. His personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, has been okayed by the Senate Judiciary Committee to become Attorney General of the United States.
    As acting attorney general since April, Blanche has shown his willingness to run the Justice Department as if it is Trump’s private law firm. Blanche has brought legal actions against several public figures who have angered the president and he does not seem at all embarrassed to have all of those prosecutions thrown out of court by federal judges who have deemed them ridiculous and unworthy.
    Blanche is the AG Trump has wished for through two terms in the White House because the man appears to have no ethical or legal code guiding or inhibiting his actions. Blanche’s only guide is the Godfather, the Capo dei Capi, the Don in the Oval Office to whom he will give his perfect fealty.

  5. We’re gonna need some of this ourselves soon…

    🇮🇳 India’s youth protests highlight mistrust in ‘lapdog’ media

    Youth-led protests in India last month turned television journalists into targets, exposing a deepening crisis of trust in flagship broadcasters accused by demonstrators of being government mouthpieces. — AFP

  11. SILICON TOMATO
    Reviews The News

    • Iran issued fresh preconditions to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, keeping global shipping paralyzed while the current occupant of the White House plots his next impotent threat. (Al Jazeera)
    • Nevada and Arizona’s Lake Mead shriveled to a ninety-year low, a parched monument to the American delusion that nature negotiates. (Associated Press)
    • A school shooting in Thailand left seven dead and twenty injured, demonstrating that student slaughter is a globally adopted pastime. (The Guardian)
    • Monsoon rains breached Manila’s La Mesa Dam, giving officials another chance to feign surprise at the city’s seasonal drowning. (GMA News)

    — Human directed, Machine Drafted (Gemini Pro)

  14. Well, Mozart’s always a great choice. Lot of same old, same old in the news, so a few minutes of eyes closed relaxing to Amadeus’ moods is just what the doctor ordered. Thanks to Jack and Patd for the selections. Looks like a nice boat day. Maybe take Mrs. P to lunch on the lake.

  15. The summer of Mozart, thanks, Jack.

    Just wrapped-up viewing the recent tv re-do of Amadeus, this following our annual excursion to the opera in the mountains, their productions including The Marriage of Figaro.

  19. maybe Tyler is MAGA and maybe she’s not but i’ll bet her dad/ biz manager is

    “silence” is not a protest

  23. all of the resources and intelligence available to him, and he still made a fool of himself in Iran

    Only thing dumber than Trump are his voters!

  24. of the dozens or more of political voices I hear every week almost all agree that Congress and specifically the GOP is derelict in duty

    Referendum on the derelict Congress
    ill conceived war
    Selling out our society to the tech lords
    Climate change

  26. Fetterman vs El-Sayed 👉

    YouTube thumbnail

    John Fetterman calls El-Sayed anti-Israel while El-Sayed labels him an ogre. Pure party UNITY. Then it gets down to “ugly” vs “short”.

    🍽️From today’s Digital Diner menu

  28. There’s a very cool house plant culture that I am not a part of, but people make friends and trade them

    indoor gardening is gardening, I like it 🫡

  30. also, I am not judging because sometimes I use Amazon too, shamefully, but there are a lot of independent businesses in that houseplant space online you can support also

    There are also businesses online with state-specific wildflower mixes for anybody that lives multiple acres of stolen land 😜

    “hmmm the birds must have brought in the 35 different species of wildflowers”

  33. Sturg – I read your 8:43am at 8:43pm. Bravo & Ha! Next time Chuck is up for re-election, whomever tries to primary him should use that line.

  34. Craig – Will there be much change in college precinct voting in November? Those kids don’t live at college.
    Where will the Michigan kids be & can they vote from anywhere in the stars?
    What do kids going to school out of state do?

  35. Happy to say the last 30 plants (plus 4 packets of seeds) we bought were either from local vendor directly from online vendors that sold directly. Of them, 27 are doing well and the other three became deer snacks, and I don’t begrudge them those.

  36. Had an anthurium in my office. It lasted for years. One day, there was a hummingbird outside my office window hovering in front of it (they are attracted to red).

  37. I am that person that keeps seeds from season to season. If I had my very own garden that I didn’t have to share, I would just plant all of them willy-nilly. We used to get the 1 cent seed packet for kids when Grandma ordered from a seed catalog; one beet seed, a few carrots, corn, peas, beans. I’d plant it all together.

    Some LIBRARIES have seed catalogs. Didn’t see one here, but you can check out fishing poles and cake pans.

  39. BiD, in-state students can register using their campus address or vote back home via absentee ballot. When campus is in session, those precincts are massive voting engines. And we just saw Abdul churns them out.

  40. We had a few years of hummingbirds – ruby throated, but I haven’t seen any for a couple years. We have plenty of robins – generally two nests each year in the niches above the rear room windows.

  41. i have salvias, cannas, and zinnias for the hummingbirds, they’re here all day!

    long tube flowers attract them

  42. https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2026/08/08/greenland-trump-oil-drilling/2831786218141/

    Trump-linked oil firm prepares to drill in Greenland but lacks permits

    Greenland has issued a “strong warning” to an American oil company linked to President Donald Trump, as it prepares to drill on the territory despite lacking proper permits.

    *You can’t Schumer your way out of tRUMP’s grip.

    Local residents in the southeastern region of Jameson Land recently spotted a barge carrying drilling equipment, The Guardian reported.

    The equipment belongs to Greenland Energy, a Texas-based oil company whose chairman, Larry Swets, is part of Trump’s inner-circle.

    Two days after a rebuke from the Greenlandic government, the president posted on Truth Social an AI-generated image showing a giant Trump, looming over the island, with the words, “Hello, Greenland!”

    Greenland Energy officials said they plan to spend $60 million to drill two wells in Jameson Land, the Guardian reported. The company believes there could be as much as $1 trillion of crude in the region.

  43. One canna, but it hasn’t bloomed yet. Two hummingbird feeders, but that woodpecker has figured out how to rip the flower decorations over the feeding holes off, so he can drain a lot of it.

  44. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/08/greenland-iwarning-trump-linked-oil-firm-prepares-drill

    *Dr. Phil was not on my bingo card.

    Greenland issues ‘strong warning’ as Trump-linked oil firm prepares to drill
    Island’s government says no approval given after Greenland Energy brings kit ashore for exploratory drilling

    *Adjudicated rapist says what?

    Although Greenland stopped issuing new oil licences in 2021 on environmental grounds, a UK company called 80 Mile had secured exploration rights in Jameson Land. Greenland Energy’s corporate filings say it will take a majority stake in the project in exchange for funding the exploration, though it still needs government permission to proceed.

    Greenland Energy has retained Phil McGraw, better known as Dr Phil, a prominent rightwing former chatshow host who served on Trump’s religious freedom commission, to make a documentary series that will “capture the mission of these modern-day wildcatters”.

    It has also appointed as a director a US navy veteran who is working on Golden Dome, the missile defence plan for which Trump says controlling Greenland is “vital”.

    Larry Swets, Greenland Energy’s chair and a big shareholder, appears to enjoy access to Trump’s circle. He has said the oil project is “not related to American annexation”.

    After a company representative falsely claimed at a Jameson Land community meeting in June that it had permission to land drilling equipment, Swets said: “Our enthusiasm for the project led us to communicate in a way that created confusion.”

    But the next month, local people in the sparsely populated region noticed a tug pulling a barge shorewards and unloading a dozen containers. “The goal was to get the equipment onshore at Nunap Qeqqa [Jameson Land] in connection with planned oil exploration drilling,” the Greenland government’s statement said.

    The Danish investigative outlet Danwatch quoted the head of the shipping company as confirming the delivery was for Greenland Energy.

    A Greenland Energy representative has said a vessel carrying its 300 shipping containers of drilling equipment is to set sail from Canada on 12 September. Sinking the wells would begin in October.

    Jeff Landry, the hard-right Louisiana governor serving as Trump’s Greenland envoy, has said Greenland could be pumping oil next year.

  45. cannas like a lot of water, sun, and feed

    get them going and split them and you’ll have many

    also edible

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