POTD: The Tallest Volcano in Europe

From 2022 10 30 Mt Etna and Taormina

This photo-of-the-day shows Mount Etna. It's an active volcano, by far the largest and tallest volcano in Italy. Its height varies from eruption to eruption, the last of which was in 2017. It's in Sicily, an island and a world apart from Italy.

A bonus photo is after the jump.

The Diplomat (TV 2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Diplomat (TV 2023): Explosion kills 41 British sailors in Gulf. Who did it? Iran? Russia? US ambassador in London works to find out, complicated by politics in both capitals, and a love/hate triangle with Keri Russell in the middle. Intrigue and personal drama. A-

POTD: Portrait and Cityscape

This photo-of-the-day is from the Meadows Museum at SMU in Dallas. It shows two paintings in the exhibit "In the Shadow of Dictatorship: Creating the Museum of Spanish Abstract Art".

Fifty points if you can say which painting is a portrait and which a cityscape. Extra credit for knowing which person the portrait is of and which city the cityscape is of. Muchisimo puntos if you know the model in the middle.

Texas Chain Saw Massacre: Promising Change

After apologizing for the "Texas Chain Saw Massacre", the City of Richardson pledged on Facebook, "We will also do everything in our power to make sure this never happens again."

Random Thoughts: Mike Pence is Connor Roy

2023-06-01: Mike Pence is the 2024 presidential campaign's Connor Roy.
Headline: "Mike Pence is a man without a constituency."

2023-06-01: Ted Lasso series finale (with spoilers): True to the end, Ted Lasso stays nice win or lose. Laughs were never the main goal here (warm fuzzies were), and became less a goal as the series wore on. Series could continue without Ted, with a sharper edge (I'd watch that), but won't. B-

2023-06-04: TIL: "In a typical year, the country builds more three-car garages than one-bedroom apartments."
How Parking Ruined Everything - The Atlantic