Skip to main content

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.
-
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE ENIGMATIC PHIL SPECTOR

The first presidential debate of Donald Trump and Joe Biden ended up in a near tie.  Both lost.  However, it was an unmitigated disaster for Biden, who just might be too old to win this re-election. For Trump, it was a reinforcement of what he does all the the time, lie.   There will be significant calls for the Democratic Party to work out "something" to replace Biden as their presidential candidate.  Suddenly, Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom and Michelle Obama are added to the spotlight.  But what can "legally" occur at the August Democratic Convention? The situation is different on the Republican side, as Trump is the Republican Party, and no matter if he gets 4 years at his felony sentencing on July 9, or even if the Supreme Court determines he is not immune next week or later, he will be the presidential candidate. Trump is a damned boastful liar and convicted felon, but that is the only option for Republicans.  His vice-presidential choice now become...
Post a Comment
Read more

ON THE MATTER OF PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

Hawaii today celebrates King Kamehameha the First Day as a public holiday.  Next Monday, June 19, or  Juneteenth,  is a Federal holiday.  However, 22 states, including Hawaii, do not recognize this as a public holiday.  Four of these will begin to honor this day next year, not Hawaii.  Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery.  Here are the Hawaii holidays, and note three that only we have: New Year’s Day: 1st day in January Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: 3rd Monday in January Presidents’ Day: 3rd Monday in February Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day: 26th day in March Good Friday: Friday before Easter Easter:   Calculating Easter Memorial Day: Last Monday in May King Kamehameha I Day: 11th day in June Independence Day: 4th day in July Statehood Day: 3rd Friday in August Labor Day: 1st Monday in September Veterans’ Day: 11th day in November Thanksgiving Day: 4th Thursday in November Christmas: 25th day in December There are  11 paid Fede...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE NEXT TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE

There are 4 types of solar eclipse. Total  Partial  Annular  Hybrid  About the above graphic. On the left is a total solar eclipse. In middle is an annular solar eclipse. A hybrid eclipse appears as either a total or an annular eclipse depending on the observers location.  These only occur once in a decade. A partial eclipse is to the right. A total solar eclipse occurs about every 18 months.  However a specific location will see a total eclipse only once every 375 years.  So if you recently saw one, you'll need to travel to see another.   My wife was born on July 11.  She found out that there would be total eclipse over her Big Island on that day in 1991, so off we flew to Kailua-Kona and stayed at the King Kamehameha Hotel.  Turned out that if we had just watched from the hotel beach, we would have had the best view.  But we had a friend who lived high up on Mauna Loa, so off we went to join him.   But it was so clo...
Post a Comment
Read more