March 29 to April 4

Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, March 29
through
Saturday, April 4

It’s Saturday, April 4, 2020
Welcome to the 729th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com

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1.0   Lead Picture
Francis Marion (c. 1732 – February 27, 1795) was a military officer who served in the American Revolutionary War.

Anonymous - James Dabney McCabe (1876) The Centennial Book of American Biography, P. W. Ziegler & Company, Philadelphia

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2.0   Commentary
We have Howard’s letter in today’s mail that provides the scientific basis for why and how we should take care of ourselves and the people around us.

I will content myself with this thought:
Hand-washing and hand-sanitizing are rights that must not be abridged.
Hand-washing and hand-sanitizing are rights that must be expanded.

We are already seeing an explosion of mini-stations in stores and restaurants offering takeout.
These small, temporary stations are a great initial reaction to our crisis.
But although an exponential growth, such solutions are not universal, and
all businesses, especially small businesses with their thousands of outlets,
must get in step.
Why haven’t the authorities mandated this change?

For large spaces, we need laws mandating hand-washing or hand-sanitizing stations at every entry and exit.
Why haven’t the authorities mandated this change?

Now an illustration of bad decisions.
It’s axiomatic that citizens must constantly wash or sanitize their hands.
Now it should be considered treasonable to reduce the number of hand washing facilities.
Now, during this crisis.
And, in the near and not-so distant future.
Hand washing and hand sanitizing are rights that must not be abridged.

So why has the Prudential Center closed their public toilets?
How contra-indicated is that?
How against public policy?

Now I can see real estate managers’ mouths forming to explain cost benefits.
Shut up!
We don’t want to hear it.

We need tens of thousands of accessible sanitizing stations.
Quickly.
We do not need decisions based on profit that impede our efforts to cleanse our society.

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4.0   Chuckles/Thoughts
Those who are ready to sacrifice freedom for security ultimately will lose both.
~Abraham Lincoln
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5.0   Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com

This from our dear friend, Howard D:

Subject: corona cautions

My dear good friend:

I’ve been, as always, following your blog, though far more silently than what had become an increasingly infrequent wont.

I revelled a couple of weeks ago to read the news that your sage eldest son berated you for your gallivanting habits. I had refrained myself from doing so (“am I my brother’s keeper? How much should I scold?”) several times, at intervals for a couple of weeks while I read about your log of peregrinations.

I won’t belabor this. You’re an adult, a mature adult. I know you know the precautions and you are following them as assiduously as you can, despite whatever seeming transgressions you recorded faithfully and candidly in your journal.

Some facts:

This is a disease of droplets (which can be smaller than is usually visible to the naked eye) The virus itself measures about 100 nanometers (that’s a billionth of a meter), and it would take take 600 million viruses right next to each other – no social distancing – to fill the six foot “safe” distance we’re supposed to maintain from one another. The critical fact is, a droplet of moisture containing even just one virus need not be very much bigger.

This is a disease of surfaces. Droplets contaminated with virus can remain moist, and the virus viable on hard surfaces (any plastic, metal, stone, concrete, etc.) for days, at least three, and I’ve read of some preliminary studies that hypothesize an even longer life that that.

The virus spreads among humans by entering the respiratory system of the target. Its transport is a droplet, usually of saliva or mucous or some other respiratory secretion.

Droplets are portable. An object (a gloved finger let’s say) can pick it up and carry it somewhere else. It may somehow get deposited on another surface, and picked up later (along with its viral passenger(s)) by some other unsuspecting surface… like the skin of yet another human, on a hand gripping the rail of an escalator).

We are constantly touching things. It’s normal. It’s part of normal life. Worse for us is the universal habit of touching our faces, which are the immediate neighborhood of the portals to our personal respiratory systems. We don’t think about it. There’s an itch, it gets scratched. We have other long-developed habits that involve touching various parts of our faces.

I could go on and on and it’s not any more fascinating to relate than it would be to read. So I won’t. You know the story.

The only way to curtail the risk of contamination is to stay away from other people, because they are the vectors (especially if they are infected, with or without symptoms) of the droplets that might carry the virus. The virus is infectious even if the carrier is (and in many cases apparently remains permanently) asymptomatic.

If you want to increase the percentage of risk of bringing droplets to your face for you to place there with your own fingers, spend time with people whose surfaces have been places you couldn’t possibly track. The only way to avoid this happening is to stay away from other people. Some you just can’t or really really really don’t want to.

Well, then you have to agree to a set of protocols that we should all be familiar with, and adult enough to adhere to strictly. We’ll have to do that until there is either a vaccine that is over 97% effective for everyone, or there is a cure, or there are drugs that lessen the impact of those most badly affected in their lungs when they get infected. None of these alternatives exists. Likely, none will for some time, if ever.

You mentioned that your sweetheart Grace is now a part-time resident of your house, which suggests the other part of the time she is a resident of elsewhere. She has to get to your house, and she has to get to her elsewhere.

Same for Lauren, who apparently will be traveling some distance (from Texas, which so far has had very lax standards for its citizens in terms of maintaining social distancing, congregating, and traveling publicly among many others, more often than not strangers). All vectors for the virus. And she’s coming to your house, for a visit. Apparently may do so again, for the occasional weekend.

Even assuming you and Kath, the only blood relative living with you, and her boyfriend, are keeping scrupulous adherence to the protocols thst needn’t be elaborated, it’s safe to assume also that there is no way to know to what degree Grace and Lauren, and also whoever they’ve contacted (even if it’s a hand on an escalator rail shared with a stranger) have increased their exposure. And as soon as they are in your house, that venue has a potentially raised level of risk of contamination. When someone from outside enters your home, they are entering with possible remnants of every point of contact they’ve with others for a significant period.

It’s your life (quite literally my friend), and theirs of course, and all dear and priceless. And unless you are persuaded that within the bounds of reason (that is, short of complete nuttiness) you and each of these folks is willing scrupulously to follow procedures to keep themselves as contamination free as possible, including decontaminating themselves after travel, especially in public conveyances among others, I’d say you are putting these lives at a greater stake of risk than may have occurred to you.

If you want to know what we in our house do, and we do go out, usually daily, for a walk in our beautiful park next door. And I go out with increasing rarity to shop, because it’s necessary (I began, just days ago, ordering groceries delivered, but Whole Foods is now not delivering, because of a perfectly justifiable work action by their delivery people who are not being protected). If I do go out, I wear disposable examination gloves, and now I’ve begun wearing a mask for outings to the grocer or the drug store (again, glitches prevent the pharmacy’s ability to deliver certain classes of medication by law; I have to pick them up). I wipe down all surfaces I’ve touched when I arrive home (including auto door handles, dashboard, etc., even if no one is with me inside the cockpit) with disinfectant wipes, and I squirt hand sanitizer on my gloves and scrub, and then dispose of the gloves. If I touched items in the store while shopping, I wipe down all items I purchase with disinfectant wipes before putting them in the pantry. It’s easier to do this with delivered groceries left at the closed front door. And I shower.

The hardest thing I’ve had to try to master, frankly, is not touching my face. Not because I think there is a real serious risk of having picked up droplets in my very rare forays (the drug store staff are all gloved and masked, and my latest visit to pick up a prescription, I’d say 75% of the customers were also masked). I want to get into the habit of not touching my face, because at some point, there will be a degree of relaxation of “the rules” and no matter how scrupulous I continue to be, more and more people will not be.

I’m sure this is enough, probably way too much, for you to have gotten the gist.

This is the most serious threat to our individual lives I will likely encounter in my lifetime, You were still alive when WWII was raging so maybe, maybe not, you can’t say that. But I’m pretty sure, you were safer in the North End even in the spring of 1943 than you are now, once you step outside the door of Harbor Towers. And soon you’ll have companions who may or may not be bringing that outside inside.

Take care my friend, and stay safe.

Blog Meister responds: Nicely put, my friend. Thanks for sharing.

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6.0   Dinner/Food/Recipes
Last night Grace and I had a nice dinner: hers a mixed plate created on the Cava website, and
mine, a prepared Beef Wellington I bought from Whole Foods.
Both were very well done.

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11.0 Thumbnails
Francis Marion (c. 1732 – February 27, 1795), also known as the Swamp Fox, was a military officer who served in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783).

Marion used irregular methods of warfare and is considered one of the fathers of modern guerrilla warfare and maneuver warfare, and is credited in the lineage of the United States Army Special Forces, also known as the "Green Berets.”

Acting with the Continental Army and South Carolina militia commissions, he was a persistent adversary of the British in their occupation of South Carolina and Charleston in 1780 and 1781, even after the Continental Army was driven out of the state in the Battle of Camden.

Marion showed himself to be a singularly able leader of irregular militiamen and ruthless in his terrorizing of Loyalists.
Unlike the Continental troops, Marion's Men, as they were known, served without pay, supplied their own horses, arms and often their food.

Marion rarely committed his men to frontal warfare, but repeatedly bewildered larger bodies of Loyalists or British regulars with quick surprise attacks and equally sudden withdrawal from the field.
After the surrender of Charleston, the British garrisoned South Carolina with help from local Tories, except for Williamsburg, which they were never able to hold.
The British made one attempt to garrison Williamsburg at the colonial village of Hilltown but were driven out by Marion at the Battle of Black Mingo.

Cornwallis observed, "Colonel Marion had so wrought the minds of the people, partly by the terror of his threats and cruelty of his punishments, and partly by the promise of plunder, that there was scarcely an inhabitant between the Santee and the Pee Dee that was not in arms against us.”

When Major General Nathanael Greene took command in the South, Marion and Lieutenant Colonel Henry Lee were ordered in January 1781, to attack Georgetown but were unsuccessful.
But in April they took Fort Watson and in May they captured Fort Motte, and succeeded in breaking communications between the British posts in the Carolinas.

On August 31, 1781, Marion rescued a small American force trapped by 500 British soldiers, under the leadership of Major C. Fraser.
For this action he received the thanks of the Continental Congress.

Marion commanded the right wing under General Greene at the Battle of Eutaw Springs.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s Friday, April 3, 2020
Welcome to the 728th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com

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1.0   Lead Picture
Surrender of Lord Cornwallis by John Trumbull

This painting depicts the forces of British Major General Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (1738–1805) (who was not himself present at the surrender), surrendering to French and American forces after the Siege of Yorktown (September 28 – October 19, 1781) during the American Revolutionary War.
The central figures depicted are Generals Charles O'Hara and Benjamin Lincoln.
The United States government commissioned Trumbull to paint patriotic paintings, including this piece, for them in 1817, paying for the piece in 1820.

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2.0   Commentary
Thank you my friend.
corona has forced our household into closer quarters:  
daughter kat and boyfriend taking up residence here after Swarthmore College shutdown.
sweetheart grace here part-time, no place else to spend necessary time together.
and cousin lauren expected back from Texas over the weekend for an occasional visit.
Festive.

Tucker sent this thought:
“Microsoft has actually begun a lot of emergency operations for us retail employees so many of us are working from home and we're actually pretty busy!” 

Well, I’m happy Microsoft is figuring things out.
They might keep some of the ideas developed during corona as permanent business solutions.

What if corona inadvertently leads to a significant reduction in traffic jams?
A slowing of climate change?
More civilized cities?

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4.0   Chuckles/Thoughts
The most reliable way to predict the future is to create it.
~Abraham Lincoln
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5.0   Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com

This from Sally C:

Dear Dom,

Hey, don't kick yourself in the butt over having missed inserting yesterday's post yesterday.  It's not the end of the world, and you're not an ass.  How many times have the rest of us forgotten to attach something before hitting "Send"?  For me, more times than I'd care to admit to.  

Your friend Ann H.'s submission of a warning against eating only one (large) meal a day is valid.  A friend of mine told me about this 40 years ago, and he tried it out on himself, wishing to slim down.  He ended up eating six meals a day, most of which would be considered a snack:  a handful of nuts here, a banana there.  He did lose weight, for the reasons posted in the article.  When the food supply is steady, the body relaxes and doesn't go into "hoard" mode, saving calories against what it thinks is an impending famine situation.  It's worth considering.  

I have another comment on scheduling meals, not original to me: Eat like a king at breakfast, like a prince at lunch, and like a pauper at supper.  The idea is that you are providing your body with food when it needs it most - to provide energy to get through the day.  I tend to eat little, if anything, in the evening.  I have a late breakfast and a big lunch and usually no supper at all.  Without the evening meal, I am not feeding energy into my system when I want to go to sleep.  (I've also found that  big meal within two hours of bedtime leads to extremely active dreams, and I wake up exhausted in the morning, glad to get up and go to work so I can get some rest!)  Now and then, I'll want a little something in the evening, but a few crackers take care of that.  Indeed, I prefer to be slightly hungry at bedtime.

Adjusting pretty well to work from home.  I have all I need, the most recent addition a memory-foam kitchen chair pad for my folding chair.  (There's no room, with the rest of what we have in the home office, for an ergonomic chair.)  After two weeks of eight hours per day on the thin cushion, my sitting bones told me I needed to do something different.  A trip to Kmart and a few dollars took care of that, and my butt is much happier now.  Meeting through video-conferencing options (Zoom, Skype, WebEx, Google Hang-Outs, etc.) is definitely a plus in this world of isolation and distance.  Lots of good stuff going on out there!

Go well and stay well, my friend!

Sally

Blog Meister responds: Rich in ideas. Thank you, my dear.

And from Tucker:
Hey Dom,

I hope you're doing well. Your posts are a constant reminder that despite the lockdown life is going on quite well despite me being trapped inside four walls.
It's comforting so thank you!

Microsoft has actually begun a lot of emergency operations for us retail employees so many of us are working from home and we're actually pretty busy! 

I did manage to fit in another episode though. Here are my thoughts with full publishing permission haha.

Blog Meister responds: Your welcome, my friend, for your kind thoughts. Your reviews always show me something I missed during my viewing.

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6.0   Dinner/Food/Recipes
Had a rack of lamb for dinner and
some pickings from Grace’s dinner, oriental vegetarian.

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10.0 Movie Reviews
My Brilliant Friend
Through the eyes of Tucker Johnson

In the course of telling any story through small, sequential segments, there will come a time when one has to simply get things done - that's what this episode felt like to me. That’s not to say that “Le Scarpe (The Shoes)” is joyless, or lacks a story to tell. It’s not, and it has story. But while there have been abrupt moments, this is the first episode in this young series that feels like a means to an end.

The series continues to focus on Lenu and Lila's possible paths out of Naples: For Lenu the path is educational though her insecurities constantly weigh her down. For Lila the goal has always been financial independence. Her path started with writing a book but now it has shifted to designing and making shoes.

One of My Brilliant Friend’s most persistent aches radiates from the reality of Lenu and Lila’s respective home lives, and how their families directly affect their futures. It takes a lot for Lenu's mother to finally be supportive of her even leaving the neighborhood for a short time. 

Lila never gets the same support even begrudgingly.  Her father demands to maintain the mantle of being the shoemaker in the family. The episode even begins with what seems a moment of love and tenderness, until it’s revealed to be a literal stocking full of coal. Neither girl has a storybook home life but when a door opens for Lenu her parents help her through it. At the very least they don't stand in her way. Lila? No. Lila asks for an education and gets tossed out a window. 

Lila seems to stir up madness wherever she goes. She has men's love declared at her left and right though none of them ever really considers her feelings in the matter. Only one, Pasquale's, is in any way sensible but it stands in stark contrast to everyone else who act irrationally, and often violently, with the beautifully, counter-intuitively scored fight outside a shopping center as the most obvious example of the eruptions of misdirected rage that seem to follow Lila throughout her life.

Most of the action surrounding Lila feels like it means to feed the next episode. She defies her father's intentions for her to marry a man she despises. It's a straw breaking the camel's back situation though too. Her precious shoes are her ticket out of Naples but her father is only interested in them when they catch someone else's eye and Lila isn't fooled for a second.

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11.0 Thumbnails
Charles, Earl Cornwallis (1738–1805) was a military officer who served in the British Army during the American War of Independence.
He is best known for surrendering his army after the 1781 Siege of Yorktown, an act that ended major hostilities in North America and led directly to peace negotiations and the eventual end of the war.

Born into an aristocratic family with a history of public service, Cornwallis was politically opposed to the war, but agreed to serve when it became clear that Britain would require a significant military presence in the Thirteen Colonies.

First arriving in May 1776, he participated in the Battle of Sullivan's Island, before joining the main army under General William Howe.
He played a notable role in the partially successful New York and New Jersey campaign when George Washington successfully eluded him after the Battle of the Assunpink Creek and inflicted a decisive defeat on troops left at his rear in the Battle of Princeton.

Cornwallis was also involved in the Philadelphia campaign (1777–1778), leading a wing of Howe's army, before he became one of the leading figures of the British "southern strategy" to gain control of the southern colonies.
In that role he successfully led troops that gained a measure of control and influence in South Carolina before heading into North Carolina.
There, despite successes like his victory at the Battle of Camden, which burnished his reputation, wings of his army were decisively defeated at Kings Mountain and Cowpens.
After a Pyrrhic victory at Greensboro, North Carolina, Cornwallis moved his battered army to Wilmington to rest and resupply.

From Wilmington, Cornwallis, in a move that became a subject of contemporary and historical debate, led his army into Virginia, where he joined with other British troops that had been raiding economic and military targets in that colony.
Ineffectually opposed by a smaller Continental Army under the Marquis de Lafayette, he was eventually ordered to establish a well-defended port by General Henry Clinton.

Poor communications in the British establishment and French naval superiority over the Chesapeake Bay caused him to become entrapped at Yorktown without the possibility of reinforcement; he surrendered after three weeks of siege, on October 17, 1781.
He was released on parole, and returned to England in December of that year.
He and General Clinton engaged in a highly public exchange after the 1781 campaign in which each sought to deflect blame for its failure.

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It’s Thursday, April 2, 2020
Welcome to the 727th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com

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1.0   Lead Picture
Cover of sheet music for "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" words by Mrs. Dr. S.G. [Julia Ward] Howe, Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co., 1862

No image credit - The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Good Old Songs We Used to Sing, '61 to '65, by Osbourne H. Oldroyd - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/21566.

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2.0   Commentary
Wondering what will stay with us when we’re finally free of this pandemic.

First, ‘finally free?’
We’re talking years.

When we’re finally released from house arrest, do we think life goes on as before?
Gov. Baker, a seriously terrific job he’s doing, has extended the stay-at-home advisory to May 4.

Best case scenario, restaurants can open.
We can all pour onto the streets.

But are we going to accept a return to what we realize now are overcrowded, dangerous conditions?
Baristas talking face to face with three hundred people a day?
Packed like sardines on the T?
Crowded bars?

If we do, how long will it take before we’re back to a viral situation again?

I don’t have solutions.
Except for the most simple.
Plastic shields between café customer and order taker.
Many more cars for the T.
Legal bar capacities reduced to reflect crowding concerns and not
How safely can we evacuate in case of a fire.

I’m sure thousands of ideas will be floated.
Hundreds will be tried.
Tens will make it as part of a revamped society.

It will be a fascinating evolution.

While we’re on the subject, one of my pet peeves has always been the design to lavatories.
Not the toilets, but the handwashing that follows.

Such an obvious goal: permit me to wash and dry my hands and then
permit me to exit this disease-laden place without forcing me to touch communal handles
which then infests my hands with the germs from every past patron
which necessitates a hand sanitizing.

The paper towel dispenser and receptacle must be at the exit.
Dry my hands.
Use the towel to pull the handle to open the door,
Dump the towel and step out.

Or, even better, design the space for no doors.

Make it another of the post-corona-laws that we will be, must be, adopting.

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4.0   Chuckles/Thoughts
How many husbands have I had?
You mean apart from my own?
~Zsa Zsa Gabor
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5.0   Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com

This from Ann H:

An old article I found while I was cleaning my drawers.
Not sure how old it is or even where it came from but I found it.
Not sure if it is still what the experts are saying.
xoxo

Blog Meister responds: Fun reading.
I listen to anyone these days.
Just that diet’s such a personal thing.
What’s good for the goose not at all what may be good for gander.
When I diet I am all in.
No cheating.

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6.0   Dinner/Food/Recipes
Leftover turkey dinner. I loved it.

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11.0 Thumbnails
The "Battle Hymn of the Republic", also known as "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" outside of the United States, is a lyric by the abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe using the music from the song "John Brown's Body".

Howe's more famous lyrics were written in November 1861 and first published in The Atlantic Monthly in February 1862.
The song links the judgment of the wicked at the end of the age (through allusions to biblical passages such as Isaiah 63 and Revelation 19) with the American Civil War.
It is an extremely popular and well-known American patriotic song.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.

(Chorus)

Glory, Glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.

(Chorus)

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal";
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on.

(Chorus)

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.

(Chorus)

In the beauty of the lilies[14] Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Our God is marching on.

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It’s Wednesday, April 1, 2020
Welcome to the 726th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com

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1.0   Lead Picture
A collection of public domain images of the American Revolutionary War, together in a montage.

Excel23 (montage) Charles McBaron - File: Battle of Trenton by Charles McBarron.jpg
Domenick D'Andrea - File: BattleofLongisland.jpg
John Trumbull - File: Surrender of Lord Cornwallis.jpg
United States Army Center of Military History - File: Battle of Guiliford Courthouse 15 March 1781.jpg
John Trumbull - File:The death of general warren at the battle of bunker hill.jpg

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2.0   Commentary
Am enjoying the new role of ‘takeout’ in my kitchen.
The joys of restaurant dining taken from us, we find an alternative tool for our meal planning.
‘Takeout’ provides great dining options.
Meals that others prepare for us.
Meals that provide variety, from ethnic foods to fancy sandwiches,
from desserts to three-course dinners.

'Takeout by pickup' as a reasonable alternative to
the more expensive delivery:
Even ‘free’ delivery implies a tip,
from 10% to 15% of the bill.

‘Takeout by pickup,’ as a destination for a trip out.
As opposed to the unbroken monotony of being home 24x7.
We’re ‘stuck’ home?
Not really.
Consider 'takeout by pickup' as a release.
It’s easy to keep a safe distance from others when walking outside.
Especially these days wherein personal caution and governmental decrees keep people indoors.
And the site contact is almost zero, with barricades, face masks, and prepay – just hand over the bag and Goodbye.

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4.0   Chuckles/Thoughts
I learned in school that money isn’t everything.
It’s happiness that counts.
So momma sent me to a different school.
~Zsa Zsa Gabor

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6.0   Dinner/Food/Recipes
Monday night we enjoyed sushi that we bought at Fins and at Whole Foods.
Tuesday will feature leftovers, turkey and The Gravy, the meat-based tomato sauce, the Spaghetti and Meatballs we all love so well.
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7.0   Video
My daughter Kat teaches two yoga classes a week at Swarthmore and the school asked her to tape a class her students and others might like to follow at home.
Kat taped this last night if you’d like to take a peek.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82-5Z-2AimQ&feature=youtu.be

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10.0 Movie Review
Tucker Johnson, our zealous and incisive movie buff, reviews an episode of My Brilliant Friend.

Le Smarginatura

This is an episode that spends its time shifting character's perspectives. The episode's title which translates to "Dissolving Margins" refers specifically to one such shift where Lila sees her brother Rino in a new light (figuratively as well as literally). 

I feel that what makes the writing staff's approach so unique is that they make this series as interested in why characters have the perspectives they have as it is in why they suddenly saw things in a new way. Lenu shrinks from attention and praise and she can't see that people are interested in her the way they are in Lila and no amount of people remarking on how pretty she is can change that. 

Similarly, Lila is so eager to work in the pursuit of her shoe design can't see that Rino is driven by something much messier. Her vision of him as a partner and defender is dashed on a rooftop full of screaming men and once Lila sees this it can't be unseen. The status-quo in relationships can be a potent force, but a new perspective emits a pull no less, and sometimes far more, powerful.

That’s certainly the case with Lila and Lenu. Jealousy and a sense of competition have driven them together as often as it’s pushed them apart.

This episode also offers much more insight into the political and societal forces in the neighborhood in a way none of the previous entries have. Even though the run time is dominated by two different parties these supposed joyous occasions are filled with long histories and inherited bad blood. Pasquale is the last character to have a perspective shift. His friends stumble upon this new view when they try to understand Stefano's intentions. The children of a murdered man and the children of the man jailed for that murder forge a new peace, and the Solaras fire explosives into that peace.

But the fireworks aren’t the source of the the scene’s stomach-churning anxiety. The credit there goes to Rino, who shows a young man whose simmering anger, resentment, fear, and feelings of hopelessness erupt on a rooftop like a self destructive volcano. Previous chapters of My Brilliant Friend have ended on a turning point in Lila and Lenu's relationship, but here we simply watch Lila watch her brother until his death seems all but certain; then she drags him below and we’re left alone, unable to see through the fog.

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11.0 Thumbnails

The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also known as the American War of Independence, was fought primarily between the Kingdom of Great Britain and her Thirteen Colonies in America; it resulted in the overthrow of British rule in the colonies and the establishment of the United States of America.

After 1765, growing constitutional and political differences strained the relationship between Great Britain and its American colonies and fueled the resentment that led to the American Revolution.
Patriot protests against taxation without representation followed the Stamp Act and escalated into boycotts, which culminated in 1773 with the Sons of Liberty destroying a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor. Britain responded by closing Boston Harbor and passing a series of punitive measures against Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, and they established a shadow government which wrested control of the countryside from the Crown.
Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, establishing committees and conventions that effectively seized power.

British attempts to disarm the Massachusetts militia in Concord led to open combat and a British defeat on April 19, 1775.
Militia forces then besieged Boston, forcing a British evacuation in March 1776, and Congress unanimously appointed George Washington to command the Continental Army.
Concurrently, the Americans failed decisively in an attempt to invade Quebec and raise insurrection against the British.

On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted for independence, issuing its declaration on July 4.
Sir William Howe launched a British counter-offensive, capturing New York City and leaving American morale at a low ebb.
However, victories at Trenton and Princeton restored American confidence.
In 1777, the British launched an invasion from Quebec under John Burgoyne, intending to isolate the New England Colonies.
Instead of assisting this effort, Howe took his army on a separate campaign against Philadelphia, and Burgoyne was decisively defeated at Saratoga in October 1777.

Burgoyne's defeat had dramatic consequences.
France formally allied with the Americans and entered the war in 1778, and Spain joined the war the following year as an ally of France; by the end of September 1779, Spanish troops composed of Puerto Ricans, Venezuelans, Dominicans, Salvadorans, Nicaraguans and Mexicans had cleared all British settlers located in the entire region along the Mississippi.

The British mounted a "Southern strategy" led by Charles Cornwallis which hinged upon a Loyalist uprising, but too few came forward.
Cornwallis suffered reversals at King's Mountain and Cowpens.
He retreated to Yorktown, Virginia, intending an evacuation, but a decisive French naval victory deprived him of an escape.
A Franco-American army led by the Comte de Rochambeau and Washington then besieged Cornwallis' army and, with no sign of relief, he surrendered in October 1781.

Whigs in Britain had long opposed the pro-war Tories in Parliament, and the surrender gave them the upper hand.
In early 1782, Parliament voted to end all offensive operations in America, but the war against France continued overseas.
Britain remained under siege in Gibraltar but scored a major victory over the French navy.
On September 3, 1783, the belligerent parties signed the Treaty of Paris in which Great Britain agreed to recognize the sovereignty of the United States and formally end the war.
French involvement had proven decisive, but France made few gains and incurred crippling debts.
Spain made some territorial gains but failed in its primary objective of regaining Gibraltar.
The Dutch were defeated on all counts and were compelled to cede territory to Great Britain.

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It’s Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Welcome to the 725th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com

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1.0   Lead Picture
Statue of Nathan Hale in New York City's City Hall Park.
Nathan Hale was an officer for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.
Widely considered America's first spy, he volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission, but was caught by the British and hanged.

“I only regret, that I have but one life to give for my country.'"'“

Sculpture by Frederick MacMonnies (1863-1937); photo by poster (User:Americasroof). -
Sculpture provenance from NYC Parks Department; photograph is original work of poster
Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by User: NotFromUtrecht using CommonsHelper.

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2.0   Commentary
The bubble burst.
The skein of downward trending weights is over.
The lowest registered weight was 7.2 pounds lower than where I started the fast.
For the last several days my weight backpedaled to 6.0 pounds lower and
I’m now ready to acknowledge that my current diet has reached an equilibrium:
no more weight to be gained or lost.

Because I hoped I’d found a magic slide,
a fast that would take me non-stop to a desired weight,
I’m disappointed.

But thinking about my situation a mere three weeks ago,
I should be elated.

Then, fear of being caught in an irreversible, steady weight gain,
I despaired of bringing my weight under control.
Over these past two years I had tried a myriad of diets,
some reported here,
to no avail.
Every month, I added half a pound to my weight.
Half a pound.
Not much.
But two half-pounds?
In a year, six pounds.
Twelve pounds in the last two years.
Noticeable on a smaller person.

Then came the fast and a precipitous drop.
And even if this is, in fact, the end of the drop,
I’ve rolled back a full year’s weight gain.

So, take stock.

I can stand pat.
While I have four pounds I’d like to lose,
I can stand pat.
I can still wear all of my jeans.
And I have a diet I can live within.

Or I might take a further look at what I’m eating for dinner.
I’ve been pretty free: pasta, chocolate cake, etc.
But I’ve also delineated eight-hour spans in which I eat virtually nothing.
And I deserve a little indulgence.

Q. Do I want that indulgence or lose the four pounds?
No decision yet.
I’ll hang for a couple of more days to see if
magically the weight will come off without further effort.

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4.0   Chuckles/Thoughts

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6.0   Dinner/Food/Recipes
Sunday night Kat, Will and I shared an extraordinary steak dinner: a three-pound bone-in rib roast.
With roasted asparagus.
MMM!
Monday we’ll shae a sushi takeout.
Tuesday, Kat and Will are heading to Kat’s mother ‘s for several days.
Dinner just Grace and I; turkey for me and vegetarian takeout for Grace.
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10.0 Movie Reviews
Tucker Johnson, our zealous and incisive movie buff, reviews an episode of My Brilliant Friend.

Third episode down:

Puberty is well-trodden territory but I really love that this series doesn't waste time with low hanging fruit like zits or silly hairstyles. It is too busy being consumed with telling these two girl's stories. Growing up in a world where two intelligent women aren't given value or space is a much more interesting and original path to follow.

This episode felt a tad disjointed to me and i'm trying to get at the heart of why I feel that way. The cast change (a major undertaking considering the amount of regular players) is part of it though I can't possibly blame the new girls or the way they transition from young to slightly older. I think changing the guard through that dream sequence was masterful. 

It may be adapting book to screen. I haven't read the novel(s) so I can't be certain. To me the first and second episodes had clear, engaging places to end. This third episode spent a lot of it's run time putting the pieces back on the board. Not to say any of it was bad. Just...off.

I do like though that the because the show worked so hard to show us a world from two little girl's points of view it was an easy transition into seeing the world from a teenage girl's POV. We look for threats like they do. We wonder what characters are thinking. Puberty is disorienting and scary and I think the show makes us live those feelings right alongside Lila and Lenu. 

In a weird way I think the awkwardness I found around this episode works on a metaphysical level. It's just one more way, whether intentional or not, for the show makers to pull us into these girl's world.

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11.0 Thumbnails
By all accounts, Hale comported himself well before the hanging.
It has traditionally been reported that his last words, either entirely or in part, were: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."
Over the years, there has been a great deal of speculation as to whether or not he specifically uttered this line, or some variant of it.
The line may be an abbreviation of:
"I am so satisfied with the cause in which I have engaged that my only regret is that I have not more lives than one to offer in its service."

The story of Hale's quote began with John Montresor, a British officer who witnessed the hanging.
Soon after the execution, Montresor allegedly spoke with the American officer William Hull about Hale's death.
Hull later publicized Hale's quote.
Because Hull was not an eyewitness to Hale's speech, some historians have questioned the reliability of this account.

If Hale did not originate the statement, it is possible he instead repeated a passage from Joseph Addison's play Cato, which was widely popular at the time and an ideological inspiration to many Whigs:
How beautiful is death, when earn'd by virtue!
Who would not be that youth? What pity is it
That we can die but once to serve our country.

No official records were kept of Hale's speech. However, Frederick MacKensie, a British officer, wrote this diary entry for the day:
He behaved with great composure and resolution, saying he thought it the duty of every good Officer, to obey any orders given him by his Commander-in-Chief; and desired the Spectators to be at all times prepared to meet death in whatever shape it might appear.

It is almost certain that Hale's last speech contained more than one sentence.
Several early accounts mention different things he said.
These are not necessarily contradictory, but rather, together they give an idea of what the speech might have been like.
The following quotes are all taken from George Dudley Seymour's book, Documentary Life of Nathan Hale, published in 1941 by the author.

From the diary of Enoch Hale, Nathan's brother, after he went to question people who had been present, October 26, 1776:
"When at the Gallows he spoke & told them that he was a Capt in the Cont Army by name Nathan Hale."

From the Essex Journal, February 13, 1777: "However, at the gallows, he made a sensible and spirited speech; among other things, told them they were shedding the blood of the innocent, and that if he had ten thousand lives, he would lay them all down, if called to it, in defence of his injured, bleeding Country."

From the Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser, May 17, 1781: "I am so satisfied with the cause in which I have engaged, that my only regret is, that I have not more lives than one to offer in its service."

From the memoirs of Captain William Hull, quoting British Captain John Montresor, who was present and who spoke to Hull under a flag of truce the next day:
"On the morning of his execution," continued the officer, "my station was near the fatal spot, and I requested the Provost Marshal [William Cunningham] to permit the prisoner to sit in my marquee, while he was making the necessary preparations.
Captain Hale entered: he was calm, and bore himself with gentle dignity, in the consciousness of rectitude and high intentions.
 He asked for writing materials, which I furnished him: he wrote two letters, one to his mother and one to a brother officer.
He was shortly after summoned to the gallows.
But a few persons were around him, yet his characteristic dying words were remembered.
He said, 'I only regret, that I have but one life to lose for my country.'"

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It’s Monday, March 30, 2020
Welcome to the 724th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com

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1.0   Lead PictureChop suey, made with garlic chicken and snowpeas, on fried rice

Eli Hodapp from Naperville, United States - Flickr

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2.0   Commentary
I make a lot of errors (typographical, mostly) and
the few that you call me out on are always done in a kindly way.
Thank you for that.
I can always claim the pressures of getting the blog out daily
force me to publish without editing, or
at least editing carefully.
Oh well!

Ozark started its third season.
I’ve enjoyed the first two and am looking forward.
My daughter introduced me to Modern Love yesterday and
I enjoyed two of the episodes.
Mondays are great for me: I enjoy Better Call Saul and am head over heels for
My Brilliant Friend.
With our movie reviewing madman now a fan,
we can expect great critical analysis in the future.

Sleep for the last week, seven days, has been terrific.
Without the pain in my knee to distract me,
I’ve settled on 16mg of melatonin as my sleep aid and
that works wonderfully.

My weight program has hit a severe glitch.
Will report on it in the next day or two so
I’m better able to determine whether this is an aberration or
a bust out.
Best guess: I’m reaching a point in my weight loss program (60% there) wherein
I must be careful: no deviation.
At all.
We’ll see.

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4.0   Chuckles/Thoughts
Prediction is very hard,
particularly when it's about the future.
~Yogi Berra
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5.0   Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com

Here’s Sally C responding to an expressed need of a kitchen coordinator when
many guests are coming for daily dinner, each with her own idiosyncrasy.

Dear Dom,

With regards to my comments and your response about the need for a kitchen coordinator:

I must apologize for my disregard of those who might, in these uncertain times, make a career shift from whatever they have been engaged as into the profession of curators, no matter the topic. 
As you point out, I have been careless and cruel. 
Let us not stamp out anyone’s aspirations! 
One day, I, too, may need someone to help me find the cereal!

Blog Meister responds: Try leaving trails, like cereal flakes. But neatly: flour, breadcrumbs, etc.

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6.0   Dinner/Food/Recipes
Last night we had Chinese takeout.

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11.0 Thumbnails

Chop suey is a dish in American Chinese cuisine and other forms of overseas Chinese cuisine, consisting of meat (often chicken, fish, beef, shrimp, or pork) and eggs, cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery and bound in a starch-thickened sauce.
It is typically served with rice but can become the Chinese-American form of chow mein with the addition of stir-fried noodles.

Chop suey has become a prominent part of American Chinese cuisine, Filipino cuisine, Canadian Chinese cuisine, German Chinese cuisine, Indian Chinese cuisine, and Polynesian cuisine.
In Chinese Indonesian cuisine it is known as cap cai (mixed vegetables) and mainly consists of vegetables.

Seventy years ago, E Gray’s, a precursor to modern supermarkets, opened in a low-rise building adjacent to the Haymarket pushcarts.
For five cents, my mother would buy us a Chicken Chop Suey sandwich at a Chinese stand in E. Gray’s.
They were delicious.
Next time I order Chinese takeout I will buy some Chop Suey.
I think they don’t sell nickle sandwiches.

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It’s Sunday, March 29, 2020
Welcome to the  723rd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com

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1.0   Lead Picture
Midtown Manhattan in 1932, showing the results of the Zoning Resolution: skyscrapers with setbacks

Samuel Gottscho - This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ppmsca.05841.

Empire State Building, New York City. [View from], to Chrysler Bldg. and Queensboro Bridge, low viewpoint

For more information, see below in 11.0 Thumbnails.

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2.0 Commentary

We’re settled into a routine.
Not that we like it.
But we understand the exigencies of our situation and
Want to fully cooperate with the medical authorities who
Themselves are scrambling to cope and to find solutions.

And one wonderful piece that will come out of this is that
some of the policies that are being forced upon us might
prove to be worthwhile routines to adopt even after the corona virus threat is gone.

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4.0   Chuckles/Thoughts
If my father was alive to hear that,
he'd turn over in his grave.
~Yogi Berra

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5.0   Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com

Several comments came in agreeing with the idea of a daily box score, similar to the reporting of a baseball game, of the status-details of the virus, how many tests, how many infected, etc.

Blog Meister responds: Such reporting will give us a sense of how effectively we are coping with the pandemic.

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6.0   Dinner/Food/Recipes
Last night’s traditional turkey dinner was delicious.
Going to repeat it again for myself, buying some Chinese takeout for the others.
I am a drumstick man.

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7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy/political story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.

Today we post Chapter 24 in which Laini hovers near death and the demon challenges Dee to a midnight showdown.

The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Twitter, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both

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11.0 Thumbnails
The 1916 Zoning Resolution in New York City was the first citywide zoning code in the United States.
The zoning resolution reflected both borough and local interests, and was proposed after the development of 120 Broadway (the Equitable Building) in Lower Manhattan.

It was a measure adopted primarily to stop massive buildings from preventing light and air from reaching the streets below, and established limits in building massing at certain heights, usually interpreted as a series of setbacks and, while not imposing height limits, restricted towers to a percentage of the lot size. The chief authors of this resolution were George McAneny and Edward M. Bassett.

Impact
The 1916 Zoning Resolution had a major impact on urban development in both the United States and internationally.
Architectural delineator Hugh Ferriss popularized these new regulations in 1922 through a series of massing studies, clearly depicting the possible forms and how to maximize building volumes.

"By the end of the 1920s the setback skyscraper, originally built in response to a New York zoning code, became a style that caught on from Chicago to Shanghai," observe Eric Peter Nash and Norman McGrath, discussing the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building, which rose in isolation in Brooklyn, where no such zoning dictated form. The tiered Art Deco skyscrapers of the 1920s and 1930s are a direct result of this resolution.

Legacy
By the mid-century most new International Style buildings had met the setback requirements by adopting the use of plazas or low-rise buildings surrounding a monolithic tower centered on the site. This approach was often criticized.

In 1961 the city reformed its zoning ordinance.
The new zoning solution used the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) regulation instead of setback rules.
A building's maximum floor area is regulated according to the ratio that was imposed to the site where the building is located.

Another feature of new zoning solution was adjacent public open space.
If developers put adjacent public open space to their buildings, they could get additional area for their building as a bonus.
This incentive bonus rule was created because of the strong influence from two representative skyscrapers.
The Seagram building by Mies van der Rohe with Philip Johnson, and the Lever House by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill introduced the new ideas about office building with open space.
These buildings changed the skyline of New York City with both the advent of simple glass box design and their treatment of adjacent open spaces.
The new zoning encouraged privately owned public space to ease the density of the city.

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12.0 Diary of the Surrender of a Private Car
Three months into being carless and I haven’t missed it a bit, but
thoroughly enjoying the $53.00 daily savings, times 91 days, $4823.
I do wish we had restaurants open so I could enjoy the fruits of the savings.