Big Bird still has its feathers . . .
Wednesday, April 15, 2026. It's Odin's day . . . The forecasts for Green Country and TulseyTown indicate strong Southerlies and a 60% chance of thunderstorms during the afternoon with upper 70's.
The Hungarian version of Trump and MAGA hopeful Victor Orbán was overwhelmingly rejected on April 12th handing victory to Péter Magyar and the center-right, pro-European Tisza party. The event is fueling signs of political change elsewhere. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.
Stephen Miller's Strait of Hormuz – Robert Reich on substack, 4.14.26
Years from now, if the world order collapses, historians will trace it back to something more mundane than a nuclear war or a deadly pathogen. “It began,” they’ll write, “with a single man’s insatiable need for chaos.” A weapon of mass distraction, if you will. – MilesTaylor, in Defiance, 4.14.26
Today is the birthdate of Henry James, born in 1843 New York City. He was a prolific author of 20 novels, 112 stories, 12 plays, and several books of travel and criticism.
Leonardo da Vinci was born on this day in 1452 Vinci, Italy.
At least for now, Big Bird is alive and kicking. – Joyce Vance, in Civil Discourse.
Decades of grapes . . .
It's Tiw's day . . . a mostly cloudy day in Green Country. Forecasts for TulseyTown indicate moderate to strong Southerlies bringing increasing thunderstorm chances by evening and tonight. Low 80's afternoon.
This evening in 1865 Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was shot at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. He died the following day.
Tonight in 1912 the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg on its way from Southampton, England, to New York City. Of the 2,000 aboard, an estimated 1500 died.
Inflation is rising and likely to get a whole lot worse. The tip of Trump's ice-berg. – Heather Cox Richardson in Letters From An American.
Here’s a thought experiment: if your boss is a danger to himself and other people, who do you go to first? His family? His friends? The police? And what if your boss is the president of the United States? JD Vance should be asking himself these questions. – Miles Taylor, Tracking Trump's Mental Breakdown, Defiance, 4.13.26
Trump's God complex. – Robert Reich, It's Getting Worse, substack post. 1.13.26.
The Human Genome Project ended after 13 years of extensive research with the publication of results on this day in 2003. But that wasn't the end.
The international screen actor laureate Julie Christie is 85 today. born in 1940 or 1941 Assam, India.
The English actor, producer, and director, considered one of the greatest performers of his generation on stage and screen, particularly in his Shakespearean roles, John Gielgud was born on this date in 1904, London, England.
John Steinbeck's classic novel The Grapes of Wrath was published on this day in 1939.
Ralph Ellison's debut novel, Invisible Man, was published in 1952. Ellison was born in Oklahoma.
And, it's Loretta Lynn's birthday. The country music singer and songwriter, in a career spanning six decades was born in 1932, Butcher Hollow, Kentucky.
April is Poetry Month … so …
Carbon Dating
He tried it once
as a last resort,
but most of the women
were a million years old.
– Billy Collins, “Carbon Dating,” from Musical Tables: Poems. Random House, 2022.
Waiting for the moon . . .
Monday, April 13, 2026. It's the Moon's day … Moderate to strong Southerlies are in the forecasts for Green Country and TulseyTown. An afternoon in the 80's with mixed clouds and sun.
“A finger points to the moon. What are you looking at?”
No teacher or text can give you enlightenment; awakening can only be experienced directly. Words are a raft you can use to get to the other shore, but then let them go. Ultimately, there’s no way to explain direct experience.
The creative path can feel remarkably distant and elusive: to create is to betray your home and set off into a distant unknown place. That's why, sometimes, we feel stuck and alienated from the very work we are trying to embrace. – David Whyte, “The Creative Path.” This is an invitation to a three-Sundays workshop in May with Whyte and Rick Rubin. Fee based, but Whyte's invite provides real insight which is why I elected to post it.
The week ahead. – Joyce Vance, in Civil Discourse
Over the weekend, Trump bashed Pope Leo and then took credit for the Pontiff's selection. The Pope, showing his Chicago inheritance did not back down.
Yesterday in 1861, at 4:30 a.m. Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter and the American Civil War began. – Heather Cox Richardson in Letters From An American.
How did we get here, and what can we do about it? It’s time to eschew the myths that contributed to the reelection of the most dangerous person ever to occupy the White House. – Robert Reich, Sunday Thought.
Today is the birthdate of Thomas Jefferson. He was born in 1743, Shadwell, Virginia.
The Irish playwright, author, critic and Nobel Prize laureate Samuel Beckett was born today in 1906 Foxrock, County Dublin, Ireland. He is best remembered for his play Waiting for Godot. Yers trooley had the good fortune to have acted and directed in Godot several times over the years.
Eudora Welty was born on this day in 1909 Jackson, Mississippi. Novelist, short story writer, Pulitzer Prize and Presidential Medal of Freedom laureate.
And, it's the birthdate of the British/American author and social critic Christopher Hitchens, born in 1949 Portsmouth, England.
The wildness of mind that we experience when we sit quietly, noticing our body and breathing for five minutes, is the result of everything we’ve been doing before those five minutes. That wildness is a habit. Regularly taking five can go a long way toward an equinamity – a higher quality habit.
Finding a place to stand. – Fr. Richard Rohr, Meditations, at The Center for Action and Contemplation. 4.12.26.