What does the current occupant of the White House have in common with John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison and George W. Bush? They all were elected president after having lost the popular vote. In the 2000 election, Al Gore received over a half-million more votes than Bush. In 2016, nearly three-million more votes were cast for Hillary Clinton than the winner. As we all know, the only votes that count are those cast by the Electoral College.
Fun fact: According to the Brookings Institute, the fewer-than-five-hundred counties that Clinton won nationwide combined to generate sixty-four percent of America’s economic activity in 2015. The more-than-twenty-six-hundred counties that Trump won combined to generate thirty-six percent of the country’s economic activity last year.
Gore lost the Electoral College vote when the Supreme Court stopped vote counting in Florida, giving the state’s decisive electoral votes to George W. Bush.
“The fad started with the hippies. I saw them in Haight-Ashbury. Wearing a beard or a mustache or long hair doesn’t necessarily make anyone look like the scum I saw there but it gives an empathy for a movement that certainly is the direct opposite of what we strive for in college football.”
– Ara Parseghian, Notre Dame
February is Black History Month. Ellen DeGeneres kicked it off a couple days early with DeAndre Arnold as her featured guest. The high school senior from a small town near Houston Texas has been in the national news for refusing to cut his dreadlocks. School officials told him that if he didn’t cut his hair they would not allow him to participate in graduation. Arnold said no, dreadlocks are part of his Trinidadian heritage.
To show support for the student, who — depending on whose story you believe — may or may not have been suspended from attending class, DeGeneres introduced Alicia Keys who came onstage carrying a giant check for $20,000, payable to Arnold, as a scholarship contribution for his college education. (DeAndre Arnold obviously is a student of history, one of the few in his generation who wouldn’t need to ask “What’s a check?”)
“Ike Turner is one of the most dehumanized figures in rock history.”
– allmusic.com
“Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” has been well-received by reviewers since opening on Broadway in October, 2019. Critics have especially praised Adrienne Warren in the title role. Warren reprises her performance in the London West End production that opened April, 2018.
A major musical number in the first act is “River Deep – Mountain High,” recreating on stage a Phil Spector production from 1966.
“The industry has reached the point of acute oversupply due to diminishing volumes sold. That will lead to vineyard removals — and fallowing in some cases — and reduced returns for growers.”
When I moved to Sonoma County in 1995, it seemed every bare patch of ground — and acres formerly planted with apples, hops and other crops — was being planted with new vineyards; until 2008, that is. The wine business recovered from the recession, but is now facing another downturn.
The Jimtown Store is closed. Not to reopen. On Highway 128, nestled amongst the vineyards of Alexander Valley, Jimtown has for nearly three decades been a stop for wine-country tourists as well as Sonoma-County locals.
James Patrick opened the store in 1893. He called it the Patrick Store, but locals referred to it as Jimtown. (Not “Jamestown;” Californians were less formal than their eastern counterparts.) The store was the beginning of a small community, soon with a post office, a blacksmith and wagon shop, a church, hop yards, orchards, vineyards, wineries and a half-dozen homes. By 1913, Patrick put in a gas pump to service the occasional automobile that traveled the rough, unpaved road.
The shaded patio behind the store was a pleasant place to enjoy a Jimtown sandwich, made to order, finished off with their homemade cookies. The catered special events in the adjacent barn. They produced condiments and spreads that were sold in stores along the west coast. (Jimtown Fig & Olive spread, has been described by discerning erpicures as “yummy.”)
While the Trader Joe’s store in nearby Santa Rosa was closed for a year and a half from damage by the devastating fires in 2017, Jimtown was unscathed. It also escaped fires in 2018 and 2019. What it didn’t escape was the loss of business from people avoiding the area during what was now seen as fire season. Their catered-events business suffered greatly.
Power outages finally did them in. Pacific Gas & Electric, liable for billions of dollars damages from fires sparked by their inadequate equipment maintenance, has recently been shutting off power when fire danger is high. (Yes, the same PG&E of Erin Brockovich and San Bruno-pipeline-explosion fame.) No power means no cooking. And no water. The store’s water requires pumping from its well.
Wonder why Spirit Airlines charged you $26 for your carry-on bag one time but $45 on another flight? It’s called dynamic pricing, constant adjustment of prices based on demand, in general and, more specifically, what their algorithms determine is how badly you want to buy it.
It’s also why if you check flight prices for a particular itinerary and come back a couple days later to discover the fare has gone up. The airline remembers you — think “cookies” — and it will likely cost more the next time you check. They want you to decide you’d better buy now, before the price goes up more.
