The body electric

 When we were out and about all around town today, we talked with a woman who told us she was age 69 and whose lovely abundant hair reached all the way down to her waist. She said her own mother's hair had grown until it had actually reached as far her feet. She was like Rapunzel. 

Just heard from my daughter in Honolulu yesterday that the city's electric power had gone out, though it was only 3 pm, so not yet an emergency. I am actually quite familiar with power outages. 

When I was living in Honduras and not so long before that, traveling all around Cuba, power sometimes remained off longer than it actually was on. With a refrigerator, you simply avoided opening it until the power returned.  At night, without electricity, we used flashlights, candles, and kerosene lamps. Women made clothes using pedal sewing machines. We would always go to bed early. Reliable electric lighting has changed all that for me now.

But there was an hour-long electrical outage 

happening

 much closer to home 

during a recent spate of thunderstorms around here.

Appalachian Power outage in Montgomery, WV,  until 4pm

So, what is electricity? Google says: Ancient Egyptians wrote about electric fish in 2750 BC, and static electricity was noted around 600 BC. Practical electrical power for public use and homes began in the late 19th century with commercial power stations in 1882. 

How It Works

Electrons move: Tiny parts of atoms shift from one place to another
Electricity is the flow of tiny particles called electrons carrying an electrical charge. It is a secondary energy source made by changing primary sources like coal, gas, nuclear, wind, and solar into electric power. 
The first known form of electricity noted by humans was static electricity. Around 600 BCE, the ancient Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus discovered that rubbing amber with animal fur or cloth caused it to attract lightweight objects like dust and feathers. 
Electricity is a natural physical phenomenon rather than an invention, so it has existed in nature—such as in lightning and electric fish—long before humans ever recorded it.


Wikipedia milestones:
"I Sing the Body Electric" is a poem by Walt Whitman from his 1855 collection Leaves of Grass, written before electricity was in common usage.
Thomas Edison is credited with perfecting the light bulb in 1879. 
Between 1880 and 1890, electricity began to be used in industry and for public nighttime lighting.
Electricity started being used in everyday American homes in 1920's.
 
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Google summary: Ancient Egyptians wrote about electric fish in 2750 BC, and static electricity was noted around 600 BC. Practical electrical power for public use and in homes began in the late 19th century, with commercial power stations in 1882. 

 

In June 1752, Benjamin Franklin flew a silk kite with a metal wire and a key during a thunderstorm in Philadelphia, proving that storm clouds carry electrical charges. Contrary to popular myth, a direct lightning strike would have been fatal; instead, the wet string gathered ambient electrical charges from the clouds, producing safe, small sparks and proving that lightning is electricity

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Wash. Post, Recalls surge for millions of vehicles as parked cars are bursting into flames

Modern vehicles don’t need to be moving — or even turned on — to catch fire.

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Trump votes by mail again in his home state of Florida

At the same time, Trump denounced mail-in voting as facilitating fraud.

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Let's go back now. 

Google:-Checking All of the Mysteries Surrounding Donald Trump and Penn

Why is everything about Trump’s time at Wharton shrouded in secrecy? We set out to uncover the truth.

Trump's academic record

AI Overview

Donald Trump graduated with a Bachelor of Science in economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School on May 20, 1968, after transferring from Fordham University. However, several myths, claims, and controversies have surrounded his time at the Ivy League institution. 

Academic Standing: "First in His Class" vs. Class Records

The Claim: Trump has repeatedly asserted over decades—beginning with profiles in The New York Times in the 1970s—that he graduated "first in his class" or at the very top of his class at Wharton. 
The Fact: Archival records contradict this. The published 1968 Wharton Dean's List (which included the top 56 students) and the official commencement program do not list Trump with any academic honors (such as cum laude). While individual grades and exact ranks are kept private under federal student privacy laws, public commencement and honors data show no proof of top-tier academic standing. 

The Admissions Process: "Super Genius" vs. Family Connections

The Claim: Trump has claimed he entered Wharton "quickly and easily," describing it as one of the hardest schools to get into.
The Fact: Admissions officer James Nolan, who interviewed Trump in the mid-1960s, stated that the interview was arranged following a call from Trump’s older brother, Fred Trump Jr., who knew Nolan.
So that how Trump was admitted and was prevented from flunking out, but he was never "first in his class."

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I myself was cum laude at UC/Berkeley back in the day, where I received BA just after turning 20 and later an MA. It's not something I would ever brag about, especially now at age 88, as it was such a long ago.  

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Wash. Post, Hegseth travels to Iowa in his ‘personal capacity’ amid 2028 speculation

Pete Hegseth, a blatant, shameless, very annoying war criminal elevated by Donald Trump far beyond his meager credentials, actual work experience, and professional capacity, now has the unmitigated gall to perhaps consider himself ready for the presidency !? This man is a murderer who actually belongs in prison! If he dares to present himself as a presidential candidate, even I, now at my advanced age, will have to campaign loudly and often against him. He may qualify as these days a dog-walker, but nothing beyond that. 

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Wash. Post, Kindergarten vaccine exemptions hit new high as White House pushes for immunization overhaul

Coverage among kindergartners for major vaccines fell in more than half the states, continuing a years-long trend, as measles cases climb.

RFK Jr. is another idiotic Trump designee. He, like Hegseth, might also do better just as a dog walker. 

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Here's a correction now from a reader for a photo in the previous post titled, "Deliver us from evil."

Barbara, The woman in the photo is another volunteer, not me 🤣

So, now I stand corrected, as that was not my friend and former colleague being shown there. though we really don't see the face of the woman in that photo, so how would I have known?

Here is what else my friend tells me regarding that photo, taken where she regularly volunteers:

St Francis House, Monday- Friday 10 am-2 pm, offers a simple meal like donuts, peanut butter or cheese sandwiches to those who need it. The facility receives donations but no government funding. Once a person is registered, they can shop for 15 items every six months: household items, shoes, clothes, etc. 

 So many nonprofit organizations rely on volunteers and could never

 get along without them! I've signed up for many volunteer assignments, including as an election observer, an Amnesty International Caribbean coordinator, and a Peace Corps volunteer. You work as hard as a volunteer as on any paid assignment.  

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Vice President JD Vance discussed anti-fraud initiatives during a visit to the Wisconsin Air National Guard's 128th Air Refueling Wing in Milwaukee on July 8. 

 Reuters

Here's the Reuter's article: 

One of the Trump administration's biggest problems in extracting itself from the Iran war is the list of very absolutist goals that President Donald Trump and his team laid out. The goals have included complete Iranian surrender, regime change, Iran never getting a nuclear weapon and ending Tehran's support for its Middle East proxy groups like Hezbollah.

As the war — now in its sixth month — has dragged on, this list of goals has conspicuously shifted and been pared back. And Vice President JD Vance appears to have pared it back recently in a remarkable way, offering the latest indication that the administration might be preparing to settle for less — maybe even a lot less.

Appearing on Fox News on Thursday, Vance was asked how the war might end. And he laid out two goals. "It's ensuring that the Gulf countries continue to send oil and gas to the world economy so that we have energy price stability," he said, adding: "That's goal number one: Keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country. And then, obviously, goal number two is ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon."

Hmmm

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Here now is big news from the Virginia Tech School of Architecture in Blacksburg, Virginia, which my late brother Robert Currie attended and where he and my father Leonard Currie also taught classes. The following estate news has made local headlines, so is being highlighted here below.  

Our family has also supported a number of female architectural students at Va. Tech. (Not being sexist there, just encouraging more young women as well as men to become architects, since architecture is not a field that many women now enter.)

Unprecedented $20 million gift made to the School of Architecture

Professor of Architecture Emeritus Salahuddin Choudhury and his wife, May, have committed a $20 million estate gift to support the School of Architecture — the largest estate gift in the school's history. So congratulations now to the School of Architecture at Virginia Tech! ======================================================= //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// At age 80, is Donald J. Trump getting tired of being president? His slumped demeanor and shuffled gait indicate his growing fatigue.

AP News,  Supreme Court again rebuffs Trump's push to toss out verdict in E. Jean Carroll case https://apnews.com/live/trump-news-pentagon-updates-08-17-2026?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=share Aug. 17, 2026

This was Trump's second try at getting a reversal of the verdict in the Carroll case and, once again, the Court did not agree to review the case.  As before, he had expected the justices he had named to decide in his favor, but not all of them did and none had changed their position this time around.  So will Trump keep banging his head on a wall?

Supreme Court rejects renewed Trump appeal in E. Jean Carroll case

Carroll's $5 million judgment is just a pittance for Donald Trump, but represents a significant sum for her, not sufficient compensation for having been raped by him, but at least partial redress. Trump, who doesn't want this black mark to remain on his record, had expected the justices that he had named to all side with him, which once again some did not. So then how can he be considered the greatest US president ever since Abraham Lincoln unless this verdict is tossed?  Meanwhile, Carroll is apparently still thinking about how best to use her award. She is a champion for the many women raped by men who, like Donald Trump, may never even have gotten a slap on the wrist.

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Wash. Post, Kindergarten vaccine exemptions hit new high as White House pushes for immunization overhaul

Coverage among kindergartners for major vaccines fell in more than half the states, continuing a years-long trend, as measles cases climb.

And measles can be deadly or leave youngsters with lifelong health problems. so RFK Jr,, like Hegseth, is an unqualified, incompetent, and completely destructive "public servant."
Of course, even Donald Trump himself is blatantly unqualified to be president, so what would we expect? Kamala, like Hillary before her, was so much smarter, more compassionate, and more creative than Donald J. Trump ever was, even now losing the very modest smarts that he once had possessed. The electorate has simply made a colossal mistake. It's enough to make me want to leave this country, never ever to return again. Many ordinary citizens and voters--folks just like you and me-- could do a much better job than these completely incompetent fools.

Wash. Post, Iran deal presents political nightmare for Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu is yet another blatant criminal who--at least until now--had been faithfully protected by Donald J. Trump. Now in his eagerness to the end the war that he had started only at Netanyahu's own urging, Trump seems to have forgotten all about his pal's upcoming  trial. So now Bibi must face the music. Unfortunately for Netanyahu, Trump has a very short memory, so  our president seems to have completely forgotten all about him. Trump may have forgotten a whole lot of things, even like having raped E. Jean Carroll. So Netanyahu can no longer count on being rescued by Trump. 

Donald Trump seems totally unaware of his past criminality and even now of his rapidly failing mental capacities,  never particularly sharp to begin with.

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Elvis Presley is no longer here with us these days, but Elvis impersonators abound, including many now right across the pond in the UK. Here are just a few of them there. It's like Elvis has metastasized all around the globe. 

                                                       

                                                     And here was the real Elvis.

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Metabolism is the total set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in the body. 

It changes food and drink into the energy needed to breathe, move, grow, and repair cells. This continuous process balances the breakdown of nutrients for fuel with the building of tissues.

My son and I obviously have different metabolisms. At age 88, I eat 3 meals a day and do very little exercise. mostly just walking around our house, or letting the dog in and out. My son, who is, of course, much younger, eats only dinner at night, often walks laps around a track, and regularly steams up in the local hot-springs thermal baths. As a result, we both just basically maintain our own current weight. I stay thin and he, being somewhat overweight, does not gain, but neither does he lose. We both just stay at status quo.

Here again are our photos, same ones just posted here last time.

I actually think my son looks fine just as he is. He was always chubby as a child, so let's just continue

what we are already doing. 

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If you like flowers, as I certainly do., here are some favorites to plant. But pay no attention to the states linked to them here, as they will grow well  just about anywhere.