Steve

Hopefully the Vatican understands that, for our part, Americans’ knowledge of Austrian nuns starts and ends with those in “The Sound of Music” who hid the von Trapp family and sabotaged the pursuing Nazis’ cars. So we’re pretty much automatically rooting for the nuns, here, for what that’s worth.

Apparently it’s a common unsolved problem for Billionaire Bunker Builders: Once you assemble a team to run the place, how can you keep them loyal? I.e., after the apocalypse, when money means nothing? Short answer: You can’t. I wonder if they’ve asked the same question about their AI.

One has to admire the sheer audacity of hope that it takes to be bringing new planets into the universe in times such as these

Gen X is the Phil Collins generation. We slow-danced to ”In the Air Tonight” and cranked up “Take Me Home” on the car stereo for a mood lift. If you know what those songs are about, you have a glimpse of how we’re not quite right.

In mid-Nov. 2016, singer-songwriter David Wilcox recorded this poignant cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Urge for Going,” taking some lyrical liberties: “I knew a girl in summer, with summer-colored skin; her flower-scented summer songs could fight the fall and win.” Fight the fall, indeed.

Plaques on City Hall, Vilnius, Lithuania

Holding cell with celebrated (anticipated?) guest, in basement of the former KGB building, now the Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights in Vilnius, Lithuania

Cafe door sign in Vilnius, Lithuania, 2023. These were a common sight and likely still are.

The Scottish Parliament knows which end is up. In addition to the Union Jack and the Flag of Scotland, they’re also flying flags of the EU (of which the UK is no longer a member) and of Ukraine. Edinburgh, Dec. 2024

Bluesky in late 2024 reminds me of Usenet before Eternal September: lots of people chatting, few rules, and no one trying to sell me anything.