BSR

If the timing is right, can you ask him what's a leopard? He describes himself as a "big hairy leopard." According to Urban Dictionary, a leopard is a classier version of a cougar (a woman of a certain age who is very much into sex). Doubt he means that.

I wouldn't say vulgar. It sounds like Kylie K is a a bit overexcited by her new toys to the point that she's willing to drive a half hour to take her private jet to a spot she could have driven to directly in 40 minutes. As the novelty wears off, I'm guessing (hoping?) common sense will rein in such questionable decisions. With a net worth of $900 million, it sounds impossible that Kylie K could burn through all her money. But you never know. After all, it sounds impossible that Mike Tyson, who had earned $300 million, could end up bankrupt, but he managed to do exactly that, even without the staggering expense of a private jet. Sure, Kyle's cosmetics and skincare businesses are flourishing now, but empires don't last forever. Who knows where those businesses will be in 10 years, if they're still around at all. And given that Kylie burns through cash faster than her shiny new jet burns fuel, I have to wonder about her financial future.

Were people actually buying them, or did they just snap photos of the prices and post the pix to their Instagram??

Maybe not underrated, just not that well-known is the annual Calcio Storico staged in Florence on the feast day of the city's patron saint (John the Baptist, June 24). Calcio Storico is a Renaissance-era Italian sport that most closely resembles rugby for its violence but soccer for strategy with elements of wrestling. Henri III of France put it best: "It's too small to be considered a war but too cruel to be considered a game." Don't bother to trying to understand it, just enjoy the shirtless Italian guys in cute 16th century shorts pounding the absolute sh*t out of each other. After every brutal tackle, the tackler helps the tacklee up, and the two men kiss each other on both cheeks. Outside of the Gaiety Theater, it was the most homoerotic spectacle I've ever seen.

Girl from Ipanema was translated into English and became a huge hit in America so long ago that it almost shouldn't be in this category. Nonetheless, since I don't understand Portuguese, it technically qualifies. I love this version performed at the Rio Olympics opening ceremony, sung by the son of the songwriter, with Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen playing the role of the girl from Ipanema. The song is great in English, but the sultry lyrics sound even better in Portuguese.

@cougar, I've read that key limes are difficult to find outside the areas where they're grown because they bruise easily (the rind is much thinner than that of Persian limes). Certainly I've never seen key limes in a Las Vegas supermarket. I've also read that there is a big difference in flavor between key limes and the more common Persian variety. Is that true? If so, what's the difference?

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.