Monday Musings - December 12, 2022

 

1. It is Monday again. It is their second Monday of December and there are two Mondays remaining in the year. Important safety tip: There are 13 days until Christmas!

2. Family NFL Report. It was a mixed week for the family teams which went 2-1, with one team on a bye.

   Ravens (9-4) edge Steelers (5-8), 16-14

   Cowboys (10-3) squeak past Texans (1-11-1), 27-23

   Commanders on BYE

3. I set a personal distance record yesterday riding my bike. I managed 24.32 miles in 1h 53m 11s. I have logged over 80 miles for the month on just five rides. 

Sailboats Pass on the Horizon
Jupiter Island, FL
December 11, 2022

4. Not having any interest playing in the 4 PM NFL games yesterday, Chris and I escaped to the beach to enjoy the sunset. I have to admit, it was very cool. Almost cold at 76 degrees. The wind off the ocean was cool. We watched to sailboats pass each other on the horizon until the sunset. 

5. Chris and I took a drive last evening to look at Christmas decorations. Some people really do the lights up in an over-the-top manner. But, I was a bit surprised that there are fewer Christmas decorations that there were Halloween decorations.

6. Another week in the sun and warmth of South Florida and then it is back to the north to enjoy the warmth of family and Christmas!

7. Today in History. On December 12, 1980, American oil tycoon Armand Hammer pays $5,126,000 at auction for a notebook containing writings by the legendary artist Leonardo da Vinci.

The manuscript, written around 1508, was one of some 30 similar books da Vinci produced during his lifetime on a variety of subjects. It contained 72 loose pages featuring some 300 notes and detailed drawings, all relating to the common theme of water and how it moved. Experts have said that da Vinci drew on it to paint the background of his masterwork, the Mona Lisa. The text, written in brown ink and chalk, read from right to left, an example of da Vinci’s favored mirror-writing technique. The painter Giuseppi Ghezzi discovered the notebook in 1690 in a chest of papers belonging to Guglielmo della Porto, a 16th-century Milanese sculptor who had studied Leonardo’s work. In 1717, Thomas Coke, the first earl of Leicester, bought the manuscript and installed it among his impressive collection of art at his family estate in England.

Slowing Growth Edges Out Inflation as Top Concern - The Wall Street Journal

Utility Bills Rise as Americans Pay Off Storm-Recovery Costs - The Wall Street Journal

Ukraine launches missile attack on Russian-occupied Melitopol, explosions reported in Donetsk and Crimea - CNN

China scraps virus tracking app as country braces for Covid impact - CNN

The Fed will raise rates again. But it's playing with fire - CNN

Nigerian Army massacred children in war against Islamist insurgents, witnesses say - Reuters

U.S. opioid crackdown hampers some patients' access to psychiatric drugs - Reuters

Queues form at fever clinics as China wrestles with COVID surge - Reuters

South Korea urges China to support dialogue with North Korea - S.Korea ministry - Reuters

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL