An American Pope! Wow. I was a fan of Pope Francis. Looks like Pope Leo XIV will be of a similar mold. Missionary, for the poor. But that's my secular view.
In my view, we and the rest of the world have been given someone who can display an alternative vision to Trump's America. Not really escape, though, nor is it about addressing secular politics as such. Rather, I see the gift as hope, timely assurance that moral high ground still exists and will have champions.
An alternative to Trump's U.S., Putin's Russia, MBS's Saudi Arabia, Castro's Cuba, Khameini's Iran, and every other system of the world rulers of the present age.
Also an alternative to the ethos of selfishness, cruelty, and falsehood that is the source of so much current dismay. Proof that it's also possible to flood the zone with humility, compassion, and truth. These virtues can be propagated by anyone who chooses them, but it's helpful for the world to see a prominent standard-bearer who's in it for the right reasons.
Chilly here today, back to sweaters, which is good, because too soon to switch clothes...
Judging the 4H public speaking stuff was very much fun, and I would do it again. The whole going to the basement due to a tornado warning, and driving in severe thunderstorms, not so much
Hopefully I am done with crises and stress for a while
What is the correlation or even casualty, between Risk and Return? A look at hundreds of cases? How would business risk be predetermined a priority, before investment? Is there a screen of analysis like in FMEA? RPN ?
Depends on the situation, but typically we use historical data to model what risk will be for the present situation. Actuarial tables are based on historical records, but run with sophisticated models.
Investors demand (but do not always get) higher returns on risk. So the causality is risk helps determine risk.
Thanks Jay. Having worked at $100B BigCorp; 250M mid cap (IMHO too small to be tied to quarterly stock exchange..); $20M ESOP, zero risk zero debt well managed; $15M 20 yr old startup struggling and a ground up startup, I honestly can report the smaller companies didn't have directors or investors or CEOs evaluating business risk. Around product market fit, robustness of the product, it's development and manufacturing.
Perhaps you are looking at larger scale investors and stock ? Vs business management risks?
> the group uses a single location to urinate, and over generations, large concentrations of urine can crystallize in these middens. Pack rats do this, too. “Hyraceum” is used in medicines and perfumes <
To think that members of our species laugh at or disdain dogs for rolling in other animals’ excrement. Outrageous!
For nearly the past 20 years I’ve done book reviews for the American Library Association. It’s not a bad gig. They mail me a book, I read it, and then I write a review (200 words). I do 2-4 a year for them. I just finished one when an editor asked me for one on short notice. Sure! I had a week for a 400+ page book. 😬
And not just any book. An academic oriented critique of Frank Knight’s work on uncertainty. Frank Knight is sometimes called the father of the Chicago School of Economics, and had three students (including Milton Friedman) win the Nobel in Economics. Knight’s most influential work differentiated risk (known probabilities, such as a coin flip) from uncertainty (unknown probabilities). He argued profit can only occur from uncertainty, not from risk.
This book wanted to relax some of Knights rules, then apply them to venture investing. I found it fascinating, you, on the other hand gentle reader, probably would prefer to chew off a limb instead. 😢
I read the book twice, walked a few laps (feet still hurt from the mini marathon) when inspiration hit me (don’t worry, it didn’t leave a bruise). I jotted down thoughts. It’s 11:32 pm; the editor will understand if I am late; but can I get it done in 28 minutes? I wrote, I edited, I wrote: 7 words too long! I gotta cut something, but it’s beautiful (at least to me; gentle reader, you may prefer to chew off a limb, instead). I edit, re-work something, re-read, hit the word count! I click send…at 11:59pm, getting the automatic thank you note from the reviewer software system before midnight! I made it! 😀
Actually, I thought about inquiring to MarqueG to see if he'd like 1-2 "dispatches" from Rome during my trip in July. I had fun two years ago writing them. Plus, with the 6 hour time zone difference I can sleep in and still be early! 😀
Please do. I'll be at the beach next week and won't be sending new content, although I plan to pull some items out of the archives before I go, in case MarqueG needs filler.
Yes, please do send stuff! It’s a break for readers from my meanderings…
I’m glad—and grateful—to feature whatever you’d like to see featured on the front page.
Yeah, not sure I’d have the attention span for the Knight book personally, unless it included a lot of personable details in the narrative. These days, the biggest challenge is that I can’t stay awake to read much philosophical or otherwise abstract theoretical stuff.
Good morning. 55 and cloudy with a high in the 60s. No rain.
The mothership reporters on the Trump administration’s efforts to cut off Harvard from federal funding. The FP is headlining a story about the suicide crisis in the Chicago police department. And I understand all eyes are on a certain chimney in Rome, waiting for smoke in a color other than black to emerge.
It was 48 at sun up. Supposed to be low 70s, partly cloudy.
It’s sad to learn of another suicide crisis. Suicides are known to have a social contagion feature to them. When someone prominent or someone with prestige is known to have committed suicide, several others who have been toying with the idea will feel they’ve been given a sort of endorsement to go ahead with it.
I read a piece about the Chicago PD. I know a lot of officers in there. It's way bad. The mayor and his people are anti-police, and the wheels have come all the way off.
On the plus side, Snelling is pretty good at his job and the rank and file seem to have confidence in him. So I hope he gets involved in dealing with this problem.
Yes. It was close but recount after recount verified the result. Reporting is hard to sort out, as there is strong anti-Republican bias and has been for a long time. The appearance of bias might have something to do with frustration with what seems, at a distance, to be a Republican disinclination to say anything that might hint at complexity beyond party talking points.
People followed the rules. Maybe the rules need to be changed, but that comes for the next election.
Funny how the memory works. I don't believe I thought about the hyrax since reading about them in my Andrew's "Nature's Ways" maybe 55 years ago! My ideal for future Eternity includes being able to directly observe nature's evolutionary history in fast forward.
Thanks again, CynthiaW, for these wonderful distractions!
You're welcome. There's interesting stuff in the articles about how hyraces process water. Some biologists believe its evolutionary history includes an aquatic or semi-aquatic phase, like manatees.
Spring is tea season over here. Fresh tea is absolutely amazing. I've learned that even a couple months takes the edge off tea. When it's only a few days old and fresh out of the dryer, the flavors are incredible.
The only flavor-ish teas that get any traction here are black or red teas that have a few flower petals tossed in. The fresh tea here is so remarkable, you don't want to mess it up with anything. And now....tariffs.... :-(
Good morning, everyone. I slept late. Later, I'm going to the podiatrist. I stopped by the office on Tuesday while D was at her art class, so all the admin stuff is done.
In China, there's all sorts of native brands that are made in the same factories as Nike, HOKA, etc. They're around $30-40 a pair, and they're excellent, essentially the same shoes as the brand names.
Yeah. All that stuff. There's really nothing to differentiate the cheap stuff from the high end brand names other than approximately $100 a pair...but you have to accept swooshes that are backwards and other variations of the obvious brand imagery.
I have to wear shoes of some kind, and all reasonably sturdy shoes are pretty expensive. I order online and get a version that's two or three years out of date. Black-on-black, so they're basically unnoticeable.
Back from a day with my granddaughter, so her parents could pack for the trip. She's heavy!
Eating with a purpose!
An American Pope! Wow. I was a fan of Pope Francis. Looks like Pope Leo XIV will be of a similar mold. Missionary, for the poor. But that's my secular view.
Here's a story just up, in hyperlocal media: https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/05/08/pope-leo-xiv-named-first-american-pope-and-hes-from-chicago/
Wowser! Some people will do anything to escape from Trump's America! 😬
In my view, we and the rest of the world have been given someone who can display an alternative vision to Trump's America. Not really escape, though, nor is it about addressing secular politics as such. Rather, I see the gift as hope, timely assurance that moral high ground still exists and will have champions.
An alternative to Trump's U.S., Putin's Russia, MBS's Saudi Arabia, Castro's Cuba, Khameini's Iran, and every other system of the world rulers of the present age.
Also an alternative to the ethos of selfishness, cruelty, and falsehood that is the source of so much current dismay. Proof that it's also possible to flood the zone with humility, compassion, and truth. These virtues can be propagated by anyone who chooses them, but it's helpful for the world to see a prominent standard-bearer who's in it for the right reasons.
And he was born in Chicago, as was I. He is a few years younger than me, but of my generation.
Blessings to him and all our Catholic friends.
The welkin is ringing at the Hispanic Volunteers WhatsApp group. "What Chicago?" they say. "He's Peruvian!"
Seems to me he can be both.
As for me, I say "he's a boomer!" Also, it'll be interesting to hear a pope speak American English with a Chicago accent.
He is a boomer, but he's not especially old as popes go: 69.
It's a good news kind of day.
AP reports white smoke.
I’ll fetch the bucket!
Chilly here today, back to sweaters, which is good, because too soon to switch clothes...
Judging the 4H public speaking stuff was very much fun, and I would do it again. The whole going to the basement due to a tornado warning, and driving in severe thunderstorms, not so much
Hopefully I am done with crises and stress for a while
Cute Hyraxes, though now I am worried about Trevor...lol....
I’m concerned he’ll turn to a life of crime and substance abuse.
HA HA...
What is the correlation or even casualty, between Risk and Return? A look at hundreds of cases? How would business risk be predetermined a priority, before investment? Is there a screen of analysis like in FMEA? RPN ?
Cheers
Depends on the situation, but typically we use historical data to model what risk will be for the present situation. Actuarial tables are based on historical records, but run with sophisticated models.
Investors demand (but do not always get) higher returns on risk. So the causality is risk helps determine risk.
Thanks Jay. Having worked at $100B BigCorp; 250M mid cap (IMHO too small to be tied to quarterly stock exchange..); $20M ESOP, zero risk zero debt well managed; $15M 20 yr old startup struggling and a ground up startup, I honestly can report the smaller companies didn't have directors or investors or CEOs evaluating business risk. Around product market fit, robustness of the product, it's development and manufacturing.
Perhaps you are looking at larger scale investors and stock ? Vs business management risks?
> the group uses a single location to urinate, and over generations, large concentrations of urine can crystallize in these middens. Pack rats do this, too. “Hyraceum” is used in medicines and perfumes <
To think that members of our species laugh at or disdain dogs for rolling in other animals’ excrement. Outrageous!
Good observation.
For nearly the past 20 years I’ve done book reviews for the American Library Association. It’s not a bad gig. They mail me a book, I read it, and then I write a review (200 words). I do 2-4 a year for them. I just finished one when an editor asked me for one on short notice. Sure! I had a week for a 400+ page book. 😬
And not just any book. An academic oriented critique of Frank Knight’s work on uncertainty. Frank Knight is sometimes called the father of the Chicago School of Economics, and had three students (including Milton Friedman) win the Nobel in Economics. Knight’s most influential work differentiated risk (known probabilities, such as a coin flip) from uncertainty (unknown probabilities). He argued profit can only occur from uncertainty, not from risk.
This book wanted to relax some of Knights rules, then apply them to venture investing. I found it fascinating, you, on the other hand gentle reader, probably would prefer to chew off a limb instead. 😢
I read the book twice, walked a few laps (feet still hurt from the mini marathon) when inspiration hit me (don’t worry, it didn’t leave a bruise). I jotted down thoughts. It’s 11:32 pm; the editor will understand if I am late; but can I get it done in 28 minutes? I wrote, I edited, I wrote: 7 words too long! I gotta cut something, but it’s beautiful (at least to me; gentle reader, you may prefer to chew off a limb, instead). I edit, re-work something, re-read, hit the word count! I click send…at 11:59pm, getting the automatic thank you note from the reviewer software system before midnight! I made it! 😀
Sometimes being an academic is just fun!
That made me grin!
You could contact MarqueG about posting your review here. I'd be sincerely interested.
Actually, I thought about inquiring to MarqueG to see if he'd like 1-2 "dispatches" from Rome during my trip in July. I had fun two years ago writing them. Plus, with the 6 hour time zone difference I can sleep in and still be early! 😀
Definitely! I enjoyed it before.
More Travelogues!!
Please do. I'll be at the beach next week and won't be sending new content, although I plan to pull some items out of the archives before I go, in case MarqueG needs filler.
I vote yes.
Yes, please do send stuff! It’s a break for readers from my meanderings…
I’m glad—and grateful—to feature whatever you’d like to see featured on the front page.
Yeah, not sure I’d have the attention span for the Knight book personally, unless it included a lot of personable details in the narrative. These days, the biggest challenge is that I can’t stay awake to read much philosophical or otherwise abstract theoretical stuff.
I'll be excited to do that, and will follow up about the logistics.
Good morning. 55 and cloudy with a high in the 60s. No rain.
The mothership reporters on the Trump administration’s efforts to cut off Harvard from federal funding. The FP is headlining a story about the suicide crisis in the Chicago police department. And I understand all eyes are on a certain chimney in Rome, waiting for smoke in a color other than black to emerge.
It was 48 at sun up. Supposed to be low 70s, partly cloudy.
It’s sad to learn of another suicide crisis. Suicides are known to have a social contagion feature to them. When someone prominent or someone with prestige is known to have committed suicide, several others who have been toying with the idea will feel they’ve been given a sort of endorsement to go ahead with it.
I read a piece about the Chicago PD. I know a lot of officers in there. It's way bad. The mayor and his people are anti-police, and the wheels have come all the way off.
On the plus side, Snelling is pretty good at his job and the rank and file seem to have confidence in him. So I hope he gets involved in dealing with this problem.
My hope is that Brandon is shown the door in the next round.
I think the mayor is already toast, and even he knows it.
Yeah. His own people know he's toast, for sure.
The NC Supreme Court election is finally over!
https://www.wral.com/story/republican-concedes-long-unsettled-north-carolina-court-election-to-democratic-incumbent/21996287/
It is to be welcomed anytime a MAGA-inclined candidate can concede defeat rather than resorting to the “I was robbed” crybaby tactics…
We've had 5 months of this mess.
Was that the desired outcome?Or are you just glad the court case is over?
Yes. It was close but recount after recount verified the result. Reporting is hard to sort out, as there is strong anti-Republican bias and has been for a long time. The appearance of bias might have something to do with frustration with what seems, at a distance, to be a Republican disinclination to say anything that might hint at complexity beyond party talking points.
People followed the rules. Maybe the rules need to be changed, but that comes for the next election.
Funny how the memory works. I don't believe I thought about the hyrax since reading about them in my Andrew's "Nature's Ways" maybe 55 years ago! My ideal for future Eternity includes being able to directly observe nature's evolutionary history in fast forward.
Thanks again, CynthiaW, for these wonderful distractions!
You're welcome. There's interesting stuff in the articles about how hyraces process water. Some biologists believe its evolutionary history includes an aquatic or semi-aquatic phase, like manatees.
I process water by jumping in it.
I make tea with it.
Spring is tea season over here. Fresh tea is absolutely amazing. I've learned that even a couple months takes the edge off tea. When it's only a few days old and fresh out of the dryer, the flavors are incredible.
I'm happy if I can get Earl Grey that has fresh-ish bergamot flavor.
The only flavor-ish teas that get any traction here are black or red teas that have a few flower petals tossed in. The fresh tea here is so remarkable, you don't want to mess it up with anything. And now....tariffs.... :-(
The Hyrax. Made me think of the Lorax, except the Hyrax isn't endangered and doesn't fit into the environmental theme of The Lorax.
Interesting little critter though. Those fangs...
Good conversation about ‘Raxes, Hi and Lo. *sniff*
Hyraxes don’t speak for the trees, which seem to be rare in their environment in any case.
My mind went there, too.
Things that end in X have a vibe.
Theodor said The Lorax was his personal favorite of all his books. Maybe it was the vibe.
I support trees, too.
I never thought about it, but you're right. X's do something. I have to think about this.
Good morning, everyone. I slept late. Later, I'm going to the podiatrist. I stopped by the office on Tuesday while D was at her art class, so all the admin stuff is done.
Morning. I slept later! Good luck with the foot doctor.
One word: Birkenstocks
I have HOKA sneakers and Keen hiking boots.
Wife is into the HOKA. I'm Keen.
My PT son has me wearing HOKAs. I at least like to tell myself they're worth the $. Think they are.
In China, there's all sorts of native brands that are made in the same factories as Nike, HOKA, etc. They're around $30-40 a pair, and they're excellent, essentially the same shoes as the brand names.
It's like store brand food products are often made in the same plants as name brand ones.
Yeah. All that stuff. There's really nothing to differentiate the cheap stuff from the high end brand names other than approximately $100 a pair...but you have to accept swooshes that are backwards and other variations of the obvious brand imagery.
I have to wear shoes of some kind, and all reasonably sturdy shoes are pretty expensive. I order online and get a version that's two or three years out of date. Black-on-black, so they're basically unnoticeable.
I wear Hoka. Since I have more than one pair I consider myself a Hokamaniac! But I don't ever tear off my t-shirt, brutha!
"But I don't ever tear off my t-shirt ..."
Funny, neither do I. Maybe we're related.
I also wear black on black as much as possible. Although in my case it's because it's the only color I know how to match. 🤦♂️
Two words: Birkenstock Knockoffs.
The originals are too damn expensive.
I hope you find so relief!
Thank you. I expect I'll need to go back to physical therapy, too. My goal is to be highly functional by my 60th birthday in July of 2026.
Best of luck! Somehow, at this age, just using it doesn't keep you from losing it. I am pondering a gym membership once I am finished at my mom's.