BSR

My aunt recalls how giddy she was when her CDs in the 70s/80s hit a 14% interest rate. She and my uncle were exceptional savers and kept all their money in CDs because of my uncle's mistrust of the stock market. But high interest rates rob Peter to pay Paul. Sure, she was getting 14% interest, which she could see in her bank statements. But the bank statements did not show that the principal was being eaten up by inflation. As awesome as it was to get $140K in interest, my aunt ignored the eensy weensy detail that the $1 million principal had shrunk in value to just $830K. Plus you're paying taxes on that $140K. Seniors might have felt like they were making money, but they weren't. As for your prediction that inflation will ease soon, we can only hope. We heard the same thing back in January ("relax, it's only temporary"), yet here we are 6 months later with the highest inflation rate in 40 years. Correct, the US is nowhere near hyperinflation, but I question your argument that people just learn to live with it. Hyperinflation can cause a person's life savings to diminish to almost nothing. Most people figure out how to forge on, but recovering from such devastation requires a helluva lot more than just learning to live with it.

A local gelato spot used to make gelato with coconut milk. It had the perfect texture -- silky, smooth, creamy -- but every flavor tasted like coconut, e.g., strawberry tasted like coconut ice cream with just a hint of strawberry flavor. You couldn't even taste the vanilla at all; it just tasted like coconut. Even the dark chocolate, the strongest flavor, tasted like coconut. The gelato-maker gave up & started using nut milks, which didn't have the same great texture but at least the milk source (usually almond) didn't overpower the other flavors.

I saw a Netflix movie worth watching, Below Zero, about a prison break that turns out to be something else. It's a good thriller with enough twists to keep you guessing. One disappointment was The Cook of Castamar, a Spanish period drama set in (I'm guessing) the 1700s. It was great mostly because the bad guy is so deliciously evil. You love to hate him, which makes the series so much fun. But when the bad guy ends up as most bad guys end up, I realized everything else about the series was kinda boring. The first 10 episodes when the bad guy is diabolically ruining everyone's life gets a 9 out of 10. The last 2 episodes all about the other characters gets a 4 out of 10.

Most of the people in Kyrgios's box are not his team; I think most of them are his family/friends. Nick has no coach, maybe he has a fitness guy & an agent, but that would only account for 2 people in his box. The rest must be family (his father & sister were pointed out) or friends (his girlfriend was the women sitting front row, far right). I kept thinking, "Those poor people traveled all the way from Australia to support him, and Nick treats them like this??" I'm sure he is much nicer to them otherwise than he is during matches, but still ... One wrinkle in the non-vaxx issue that isn't that well known: French player Jeremy Chardy claims that ever since he got vaxxed, something went wrong and he has not been able to train in the gym, practice, or play matches. Chardy has spent most of his career ranked between 40-80 with a career-high ranking of 25, but he hasn't played since last year's US Open and is currently ranked #661. Novak has never cited Chardy as a reason for refusing the vaccine, but I'm sure Novak is aware of Chardy's claim.

Novak wins #21! Kyrgios played better than I expected. I thought he would be more overwhelmed playing his first Slam final, but he managed the nerves & pressure OK. As usual, he served great (30 aces), but once Novak got a read on his serve, the match was over. It cracked me up that Kyrgios kept berating his box for not showing enough support, yet every time the camera showed them, they were giving him a standing ovation. What more did he want ... back flips? cheerleader pyramids? It also cracks me up that Novak & Nick are brand new BFFs. For years, Kyrgios said things that I thought were very rude & disrespectful to Novak, to which Novak responded that he has no respect for the guy. But in Australia when almost none of the other players supported Novak, Kyrgios was very outspoken in his criticism of the government's handling of the situation. They became friendly after that, and as Novak said in his acceptance speech, "This is officially a bromance."

I was rooting for Jabeur as well. Unfortunately, she stopped playing her style (lots of dying slices and drop shots) and instead tried to pound groundstrokes with the Russian, er, Kazakhstani. Not sure why Jabeur ditched her usual playing style ... nerves? lost confidence? I do know that if you're super-nervous, delicate touch shots are tougher to execute because of the stiffness in your arm.

Some countries, like Switzerland, have avoided high inflation because they practiced macroeconomic discipline -- no crazy lending or moneyprinting. Yes, they have some inflation (~2.5%) because of the factors you cite (supply chain, oil & gas shortage), but nowhere near the inflation rate we're facing.

In theory, what you say is true, but in practice I have my doubts. Interest rates were too low for too long, which allowed companies to borrow like crazy. Plus we printed waaaaaaay too much money out of thin air. The crazy borrowing and moneyprinting were so extreme that I fear that recession will hit hard & deep regardless of the Fed's response.

Hmm, I have to disagree. A recession is the market's response to an overheated economy. Because interest rates were ultra-low for years and because the government printed $trillions out of thin air, the economy overheated. Recession was inevitable, regardless of what people believe.

Whoever scouts talent for the Russian tennis federation has some serious egg on their face now that a player they dismissed as not worth developing has just won Wimbledon. How ironic that if the Russian federation had supported Rybakina in the first place, she would have been barred from entering this year's Wimbledon. I heard that the British government put some heavy pressure on the LTA to ban Russian & Belarusian players because they didn't want the PR "disaster" of Princess Kate awarding the trophy to a Russian/Belarusian player. Then we end up with a ladies singles champion who is Russian through & through, just with a Kazakhstani fig leaf. If I were Rybakina, I would have spoken Russian in my acceptance speech just to be a smartass.

Althea Gibson was a great champion who was born in the wrong time. Despite 5 Slam singles titles, Gibson was denied many opportunities due to racial discrimination. She ended up giving up on pro tennis because too many doors were closed to her. Contrast that to today, when Coco Gauff was reportedly earning $1 million a year at 15yo even before her big breakthrough win, upsetting Venus Williams in the 1st round of Wimbledon 2019. Gibson suffered serious financial hardship in the 1980s due to some major medical expenses. The tennis community rallied behind her and donated almost a $million to help her out. I heard that Venus and Serena quietly gave her money so that she could live out her final years in dignity.

OIC, she switched nationality to get support, like Bublik. Either the Russian tennis federation is terribly short on funds, or there are so many promising young players that a lot of them are denied support, much like the situation in Spain. Well, good for Rybakina, from being treated as not worth investing in by her own country's federation to the Wimbledon final.

Thanks for this info. Since I don't follow the women's side as closely, I was wondering about Rybakina. When I saw her in the latter rounds, I thought, "Wait, isn't she Russian?" So she's born & raised in Moscow but wears a Kazakh fig leaf.

Yikes! Rafa's abdominal tear was worse than I thought. He has withdrawn from his semifinal match, giving Nick Kyrgios a walkover into the final. I thought he would at least wait until tomorrow morning to see how the abdominal feels, but the tear must be too great to even think about playing. I can't remember the last time a player withdrew from a Slam semifinal. Of course, the other semi has yet to be played, but forgive me Cam Norrie for anticipating a Novak-Kyrgios final. Novak is playing great and looked very impressive in the last 3 sets against Jannik Sinner. Note that Kyrgios won the only 2 matches he played against Novak.

If Kyrgios had half of Novak's or Rafa's discipline and work ethic, he'd be number one in the world, he's that talented. Let's see what kind of condition Rafa and his abdominal tear are in tomorrow. Even a 100% fit Rafa might struggle against Nick. An injured Rafa is toast.

Groupthink drones get very testy when someone refuses to toe the line. Groupthink demands that we worship and glorify drag queens. Anything less or other than that the drones condemn as "hate." I find the comparison of drag to clowns and mime interesting because I don't like clowns or mime either. Clowns are creepy and I can't figure out what's entertaining about them, and mime is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. I find drag queens tiresome, and like clowns, I can't figure out what's entertaining about them. Perhaps if they actually did something besides lip-sync, which is second only to mime as the stupidest thing I've ever seen.

OK, this is the craziest Wimbledon in recent memory. First Wimbledon bans Russian and Belarusian players. Even if none of the banned players was a favorite or even a particularly strong contender for the singles titles, it still had a huge impact because so many players were shut out. Now seeds on the men's side are dropping like flies, whether due to Covid like Berretini (my favorite to make the final from the bottom half) and Marin Cilic (my dark horse pick), unlucky 1R matchups (Felix Auger-Aliassime losing to the only true serve & volleyer in pro tennis), or too-high seedings (clay-courter Casper Ruud clueless on grass). Hurkacz, my favorite to make the semi against Novak, got upset by Alexander Davidovich, who lost his 2R match because he got a point penalty on match point! A softy like Mo Lahyani might have pretended not to see that Davidovich hit a ball into the stands (which is supposed to be an automatic code violation) given that it was match point, but by-the-book Carlos Ramos (the umpire famous for giving Serena a point and game penalty in the US 2018 Open final) was umpiring the match. In the humblest and quietest way possible, Davidovich asked Ramos why he got the point penalty, Ramos gave his explanation, and Davidovich walked away & took his lumps. No screaming, no calling for the tournament supervisor, no racket-breaking tantrum -- just a surprising absence of drama following such an odd end to a match Perhaps unexpected but not that crazy is Serena's 1R loss to #115 Harmony Tan. Even when she was dominating women's tennis, I doubt Serena could be sidelined for a year and come back to win a Slam without any warm-up tournaments. And whaddya know. Tan frustrated the hell out of Serena by chasing down so many balls, returning them deep with lots of slice but no pace. Besides Tan, Serena was also fighting rust and nerves, and fighting all three at once turned out to be too much in the end. Wow, with tons of drama, this Wimbledon feels like a roller coaster, and we haven't even gotten to the 3rd Round!

I've been to the Vineyard a few times but never Nantucket. Must confess, I assumed they were pretty similar. What are the major differences?

I just finished The Innocent, a Spanish mystery thriller based on a Harlan Coben novel. Wow, one of the best series I've seen on Netflix. I'll rank it a strong #2 behind Money Heist. The protagonist is a guy who is provoked into a bar fight in which he accidentally kills a man. After he gets out of prison, he tries to put his life back together and does a good job of it until his wife gets a phone call and needs to go to Berlin for work. But instead of going on a legit business trip, she mysteriously disappears. Since I don't want to give away any spoilers, I'll leave it at that, but The Innocent is definitely worth watching. Available in English dubbed and subtitles.

The priest's 10 inches is a gift from the divine and should never be put to waste. He should get some special exemption from his vow of chastity, like a papal indulgence or something.

What I've heard from my fellow Catholics is that priests, even ones not nearly as attractive as Padre Heriberto, often have to deal with parishioners who are attracted to them because they see the priest as kind, understanding, and good. Looking like he does, Padre Heriberto must have to beat them off with a stick, or something.

With just 1 week before Wimbledon starts, the only 2 withdrawals on the men's side (don't follow the women as closely) are Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem, both injury-related. Zverev wrecked his ankle at Roland Garros, and Domi's wrist still isn't right, poor guy. On the women's side, the most notable name in the draw is 7-time champion Serena, who hasn't played since she withdrew from Wimbledon last year due to injury. Also, despite Rafa's chronic foot injury, he is planning to play. If you're halfway to the calendar year Grand Slam and your archrival in the Slam race is playing Wimbledon, you're going to play even if you need to be wheeled onto Centre Court. I haven't read anything about sponsors pulling out, but Wimbledon did increase prize money significantly, 15% more than last year and 6.2% more than 2019, the previous record-high year. That's a good sign that sponsors stayed put.

I always read the IMDB user reviews before starting a series, and the ones for The Kingdom were interesting. Viewers seemed to either love it or hate it, depending on whether or not they liked the series' condemnation of evangelicals. I loved the series, but didn't see it that way. Instead, I saw it as a study in how power and money corrupts. The pastor loses his soul as he stashes vaults of cash in the temple walls and lusts for the power of the presidency while his disciple, the dirt-poor Tadeo, lives a true and pure life. Controversy aside, the series is brilliant. An evangelical pastor drawn to politics is thrust into the spotlight when his running mate (for president, the pastor for VP) is murdered. It turns out to be a mistake since it's soon discovered that the assassin had intended to kill the pastor. The series exposes the sordid underbelly of the church and the equally sordid backroom deals of politicians as we learn why the pastor was targeted. The whole cast is good, but two performances really stand out. Chino Darín plays the pastor's son-in-law and right-hand man. It's a complicated role (can't say more than that, don't want to give away spoilers) in which Darín really shines. I was pleasantly surprised since he was totally wooden and awful in a series I saw him in 6 years ago (The Embassy). Maybe Chino decided to buckle down & hone his craft instead of living off his father's name (dad's a very famous actor). Even better was Diego Peretti, who plays the pastor. The cash hidden in the temple walls is just the tip of the iceberg of this guy's wrongdoing, yet he preaches the gospel as if he were living and breathing every word. In other words, yeah, the pastor's a nutjob. But to be able to play the role without sinking into parody or caricature is a helluva feat. The Kingdom isn't easy to watch. It presents a very dark and cynical view of human nature. If you're looking for something fun, skip this one. If you're in the mood for romance or comedy, run away as fast as you can. But if you know what to expect, the series is well-done and well worth watching.

Crapfest! I got all excited when I found Merli (the original series, not Sapere Aude) on RTVE, Spain's public TV channel, all 3 seasons available via the Internet. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered they had no subtitles or dubbing! The RTVE app has an icon for subtitles, but when the menu pops up, it's blank. So the series is available, but only in its original Catalan *grumblegrumble*

Valeria is supposedly a Spanish version of Sex and the City (just what I read, can't say since I've never seen SATC), with Valeria instead of Carrie and Madrid instead of NYC. Since expectations have a big impact on how much you end up liking something, I'm glad I read some IMDB reviews of the series beforehand. Yeesh, as user reviews warned, the protagonist is insufferably self-absorbed at times and insufferably angst-ridden all the time. That's the big annoyance. Minor ones as well: Valeria and her friends are always broke yet manage to live in big, beautiful apartments in Central Madrid, dress fabulously in new, smart outfits every episode, and go out for drinks, sushi, etc. every night. I had no idea being poor was so easy. That's the bad. The good is that all the other characters are terrific: interesting, funny, likable, and lovable. The male protagonist is played by the impossibly beautiful Maxi Iglesias, whose green eyes alone make the series worth watching. As a bonus, he took his clothes off almost as much as he did playing a male stripper in Toy Boy. The acting is all-around top-notch, much better than you'd expect from a fluffy series. And they shoot Madrid in a way that makes you want to move there forever. So far, 2 seasons of 8 40-minute episodes are available on Netflix. Valeria is definitely worth a binge. I'm looking forward to the 3rd and final season.