He fell ill as soon as he landed in Rome for the consistory. As I show in my post, the pope talked about it at the consistory.
ALAS, he was NOT to be a cardinal for long. He died EXACTLY 3 months after he was created. Yes, created August 27, 2022, died November 27, 2022. 3 months. Appears he had heart issues — had had heart surgery & had only been released from hospital a few days before he died. HE WAS YOUNG. Just 63.
So, why am I talking about him today?
He is the LAST Cardinal Elector to have passed away.
He passed away 17 months ago (i.e., 523 days).
That was the last time we had attrition of a Cardinal Elector — other than from aging out.
Click toENLARGE. Sorry I blurred out all the ‘useful’ bits. {smile}
Click images to ENLARGE. With Judge Landya B. McCafferty (who was incredibly nice & awfully impressive).
After 38 years as an alien (100% legal to boot) it takes time to sink in — especially in my old age. The kids think it is funny. Nobody, but nobody, has asked me of my nationality, directly, in that year. [Yes, I have to answer it if I apply for a credit card — which I do, occasionally, when I want to exploit all the 0% APR offers I get.]
I have voted in two elections — one Primary & the other local. In the Primary, to the surprise of many (& the disgust of my kids) I voted for a Republican! Ironic, BUT there is some symmetry. I only became a Democrat in 2004 (thanks to the younger ‘Shrub’ (who, to be honest, I vaguely like). Prior to that, for at least two decades I had been an ARDENT Conservative/Republican. I adored Regan. I so wanted the ‘Shrub’ to win in 2000. Then he totally disappointed me. My politics have changed over the year! Yes, I am still 70% a Democrat. But, I will NOT vote for Biden. That is a given. He has disappointed me too — & I used to be such a HUGE fan. But, I also have some major conservative tendencies. I am fiscally conservative, I WANT BORDER CONTROLS, I have some conservative leaning views when it comes to current social issue — BUT, I am 100% Pro-Choice. But, I can live with this. From what I can see, come November, I will NOT be voting for a President — but, I will vote down ballot (and many of those are likely to be Democrats). SMILE. It is NOT easy being I. SMILE.
So, during this last year:
>> I turned 70. Shortly afterwards, having waited 61 years to be told so, I was told I was Pre-Diabetic. NOT HAPPY. Doing my darndest to try & control it — though without much success. I have lost close to 25lbs ( 11Kg). I now weigh LESS than 140lbs (63.5 Kg, 10s). That is the LEAST I have weighed in all my adult life. I am delighted. I weighed myself this morning — & was quite SHOCKED! I am still losing weight. I am OK with that. Just surprised because I am eating like the glutton I am. Must be old age.
>> My youngest daughter (my youngest (of 4)) got her driver’s license in September 2023. [I think I got her a car.]
>> My youngest (i.e., daughter) turned 18 in March 2024. All my kids are grown up. Wow. I had to wait till 70 for that.
>> I had to call 911 twice — but fortunately nothing to do with us per se. One was to have a deer, trapped on a frozen lake, rescued & the other was when a truck caught fire across the road from us.
>> On April 8, 2024, I got to see the TOTALITY of the Solar Eclipse. That was cool.
>> I published 3 books. 2 in 2023, & one last week. SMILE. Kind of par for the course, i.e., 2 or 3 books a year. I think that was the 42nd as the SOLE-AUTHOR. I think I have 3 or 4 more as a joint author. I don’t count those.
So, those were the highlights. Wasn’t a bad year. Did a fair amount of trips. Met all my ambling goals — without missing a single. That makes me happy. So, I ambled in EXCESS of 6 MILLION STEPS as a citizen. Over 2,800 miles!
So, here is to the next year. Maybe this time next year, I will be more attuned to being a citizen.
Click to ENLARGE. Base charts, of course, from ‘MarketWatch.com‘.
I have worn eight (8) Dexcom G7 sensors — for a total of around 75 days. It is NOT the full 80 you would expect (i.e., 10-day lifespan x 8) because I threw away a couple BEFORE they expired because they were so, so, so inaccurate. There is NO point, whatsoever, of wearing an inaccurate blood glucose monitor. Actually it is harmful — even DANGEROUS. You are being given FAKE RESULTS. What the G7 reports is NOT your actual blood glucose level. Much of the time it is just a RANDOM NUMBER.
I just couldn’t believe HOW INACCURATE the readings were. They were bad. Many times they were not even in the same ballpark. Crazy. Stupid. DANGEROUS. Harmful. Should NOT be allowed. I gave up on the G7. Will never get a DexCom product again. I spent HOURS calling and talking to their support. I bought 3 sensors (for $320 of my OWN money (since it was not covered by insurance) & DexCom support sent me FIVE (5) as replacements because they ‘acknowledged’ that I had DUFF sensors. That is how I ended up with 8 sensors. Dexcom has all my data & knows they screwed up. Hence the 5 free sensors.
You know that old chestnut how a totally broken watch, that doesn’t run, is better than a watch which is 1 second too slow/fast BECAUSE the broken watch AT LEAST shows the correct time TWICE a DAY whereas the slightly inaccurate one NEVER (ever) shows the right time. That is the story with the DexCom G7. Much of the time it just generates garbage results.
Some of this {maybe much of it} probably has to do with the rampant corruption in the upper echelons of the government. Sri Lanka has been plagued by corruption & mismanagement for at least the last 50 years — & they have only been independent (from the British) for 76-years. I don’t think it was always the case. I think the first batch of leaders we had, straight after Independence {i.e., the ones I were personally familiar with}, weren’t totally corrupt. From what I could see {& I had quite a good & privileged vantage} they genuinely cared. They wanted to make something of the much sought Independence.
I could be wrong, but I think the corruption crept in during the late 1960s.
I, obviously, have no skin in this game. I gave up my Sri Lankan citizenship in 1983. I haven’t been back since 1992. So, this is all kind of academic. Historic.
I think China should TAKEOVER Sri Lanka. They own much of the Sri Lankan debt. Sri Lankans aren’t doing a very good job taking care of their country.
Anu’s Picture of the Day: Click to ENLARGE for FULL-SIZE ENLARGEMENTS.
The other 6: In smaller-size here in gallery, for FULL-SIZE (i.e., to ENLARGE) click on an image. You can then SCROLL through all 6 images ENLARGED.
| All taken with my (January 3, 2023)Google Pixel 7 Pro. | Post processing limited, at most to just adjusting brightness, if & when required. | Attribution will be strictly ENFORCED. |
Click to ENLARGE. News snippets from ‘Google News‘.
Successful, high-flying HIGH TECH stocks never gave dividends.
This goes back to the ‘dot.com’ era of the late 1990s — which I was lucky enough to live through & benefit from.
Amazon still does NOT do a dividend & unlikely to do so anytime soon.
Announcing a dividend (along with a massive stock buyback) is a ‘cheap’ way to make one’s stock attractive.
That Google is doing this now makes me leery. IF all is GOOD when it comes to AI etc. they didn’t NEED to do this. Unnecessary. This feels like an attempt to prop up the stock because they are concerned that they might be losing ground.
Oh, I own Google. So, this is NOT sour grapes. But, it is because of this that I am concerned. So, we are GOOD for now, but what about next year? That is the question.
Click to ENLARGE. News snippets from ‘Google News‘.
As a proud ex-IBMer, who made 90% of his income during his working career thanks to my in-depth knowledge of IBM technology — & who used to claim that “IF cut deep, I bleed ‘blue‘” — I found this headline most distressing, BUT I fully understood why it was posed.
IBM, alas, is NOT what it used to be — the computing behemoth that had 70% of the datacenter market. Those were the days. I was lucky enough to be a part of IBM in those halcyon days though I started to see — & write about — its decline in the late 1990s.
The last CEO, viz., ‘gin-and-tonic’ Rometty (who was an unmitigated disaster) and the current clueless clown have run IBM to the ground. Have no idea what IBM is all about. Shame. Well, I could wax lyrical for days. It is very distressing.
I am so GLAD that I managed to enjoy working for IBM — both as an employee and then as a consultant.
IBM is still dear to my heart. I always wish IBM well.
Anu’s Picture of the Day: Click to ENLARGE for FULL-SIZE ENLARGEMENTS.
The other 6: In smaller-size here in gallery, for FULL-SIZE (i.e., to ENLARGE) click on an image. You can then SCROLL through all 6 images ENLARGED.
| All taken with my (January 3, 2023)Google Pixel 7 Pro. | Post processing limited, at most to just adjusting brightness, if & when required. | Attribution will be strictly ENFORCED. |
Amazon’s shipping REALLY hasn’t got that much better over the last 6 months — despite their claims that they are using more & more Artificial Intelligence (AI). They have got better at playing games.
The above was beyond stupid. I ordered 12 copies of the SAME BOOK (as author copies). They SPLIT the order in TWO. Yes, split it in TWO — but not even 6 + 6. Instead 11 + 1. They printed 11 in one location & ONE in another. Shipped them SEPARATELY.
How does that make SENSE?
Two shipping costs to THEM. Stupid.
This, alas, is NOT the only example. I have talked about others too. See below.
Click to ENLARGE. News snippets from ‘Google News‘.
I happened to hear of this 3-year suspension of the Priest who attended poor “Alexei Navalny’s” burial on the BBC yesterday — & was quite shocked. I don’t pay that much attention to this Church and as such had NOT realized that it was flagrantly & unashamedly partisan. Wow. Quite the thing.
I know that Pope Francis has had some dealings with ‘Patriarch Kirill‘. I find it hard to comprehend how the Catholic Church could reconcile this level of partisanship — in the 21st century. But, then again they had the Papal States. Plus, as we kind of suspect, Francis is somewhat sympathetic with Russia.
Well, this is outside of my real scope of interest & coverage — BUT I wanted to make sure that you heard about it. Now you have.
