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THE WINDMILLS OF KINDERDIJK AND CITY OF DORDRECHT

I'm doing well.  The world seems also to be okay, with no weather calamities and the wars in Ukraine and Gasa Strip in some  kind of stalemate.  Will Iran take revenge?  Will there be a truce and hostage exchange?  The ship daily provides the USA Times.

On the Donald Trump front, nothing much.  The hush money criminal trial will proceed in New York City on April 15, the Supreme Court will on April 25 hear oral arguments about his immunity request and Fani Willis is still on the Georgia RICO case.  Who leads today, Trump or Biden?  Who cares.  These trials will make the difference on November 5.

In sports.

  • March Madness came and went, with Connecticut repeating as men's champs, and South Carolina returning to the top for women.  
  • I haven't seen any Major League Baseball game this year on TV and I've missed making roster adjustments with regularity, but my three ESPN fantasy teams still lead their leagues at #1.
  • The Masters begins in a few hours.  Tiger Woods is schedule to tee off at 1:24PM EDT with Jason Day and Max Homa.
  • Nobel Laureate Peter Higgs of boson fame passed away at the age of 94.
  • The total solar eclipse came and went.  Best photos:
  • Kendall Rust.
Okay, we're still in the Netherlands, or is it Holland?  Well, the Dutch government from 2020 began to promote the Netherlands as its name. You can use Netherlands or The Netherlands.
  • Netherlands literally means "lower countries," in reference to its low elevation and flat topography, where 26% of the country is BELOW sea level.  Land reclamation began in the 14th century.
  • So what is Dutch?  This is the language spoken by 25 million in the Netherlands as a first language. You could say that Dutch is roughly in between English and German. Shares a root with the German deutch, which means belonging or relating to Germany.
  • Country has a population of 18 million.  Capital is the Hague.
  • It's a parliamentary constitutional monarchy.
  • First country to legalize same-sex marriage, in the year 2001.  The U.S. came around in 2015.  There are now 30 countries.
There was a Dordrecht walking tour.  Has a population of 120,000.  This is the oldest city (founded around 1120) in Holland, rich in history and culture.










The 19 windmills of Kinderdijk were built around 1740 to remove water from land.  Has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.  These devices generate between 7.5 and 20 kW of power, which is a small wind turbine by today's standards.  The Goldwind rotor of China, for example, is rated at 16 MW, or 16,000 kW.  At high wind conditions, this modern machine can generate energy to power 170,000 homes.  However, the traditional Dutch windmill is only able to power a large home today.

We tonight will have a gala dinner and are asked to dressed formally.
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