But I'll start with the New York Knicks.  According to the New York Times , the Knicks gave their city something new, IMPOSSIBLE JOY .   It is different because New York’s mass unifying events tend to imply unbearable tragedy: 9/11, Sandy, Covid. Their best player, Jalen Brunson, was small (for basketball), underestimated (by his last team), conditioned (by his father, a former Knick) to know that winning here would mean more than winning anywhere else. This place has cheated bankruptcy, built (and rebuilt) towers, raised Jay-Z and J. Lo and J-Seinfeld. It has been told to drop dead and refused. It has elected a billionaire and a socialist and a Bill de Blasio. It has processed Donald Trump as a 20-something curiosity, a chattering pooh-bah, a steak salesman, a defendant and a president whose attendance in Game 3 had Knicks maniacs of all political persuasions wondering about an executive curse. Then from Sports Illustrated : Some of the greatest athletes in sports history hav...

The big news of the day is that, according to President Donald Trump, Israel and Iran have agreed to a ceasefire. Of course, he has made similar statements in the past, on 2April2026 and 8June2026.  We'll know in a day or two if this latest development will last, leading to an opening of the Strait of Hormuz and success in peace talks. However, yesterday: When Welker mentioned what local (California) officials have said about the process, Trump said, “They’re crooked. Just like you’re crooked. Your press is crooked and Meet the Press is crooked.”   Then, President Trump stormed out of an interview with NBC's Kristen Welker yesterday , after being challenged on false claims about California's ongoing elections and the 6January2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, something he has done in the past, like the CBS 60 Minutes interview with Lesley Stahl in 2020, and several more instances in the past.  Presidents Biden, Obama, both Bushs' and Clinton never did so in anger. To b...

Yesterday, I featured the West Kowloon Cultural District as the future of Hong Kong.   Here is a video with details. Breakfast was at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, of a bowl of noodles, with orange juice and cappuccino. Had a nap.  Went to dinner in our Club Lounge.  From twilight to night.  Note that there is air pollution in Hong Kong .  Quite serious, as caused by industry and vehicles.  There are also 7.6 million people here on space much smaller than the island of Oahu, Hawaii.  Never seemed to go away during the day. That spherical gold structure is the Golden Egg, or Charles K. Kao Auditorium, locatd in the Hong Kong Science Park. First course, two soups, plus seared tuna soba.  Springbank single malt scotch.  Costs around $250/bottle in the USA. Main dish was Vietnamese Hang Nha Noodles, and salad, with a Cabernet Sauvignon. Desserts. That was about it for last night, for we will be picked up at 10AM to be taken to the airport tomo...