Let me begin with President Donald Trump, for he is on the  cover of the current  Time  magazine . His biggest problem today?   Says he won't be extorted by Democrats to end the government shutdown, which tomorrow will tie the record of 35 days his administration set in 2018-2019. His record will also be tested tomorrow when several states vote. His unpopularity in these races has kept him away, but his funding assistance will be helpful to Republicans.  He does have a tele-rally for those governors races tonight at 7PM EDT.  Interesting that, while he has endorsed Ciattarelli, he has not quite officially said so for Earle-Sears. The most watched is for Mayor of New York City. Pits 34-year-old state Democratic lawmaker Zohran Mamdani against former state governor 67-year-old now independent Andrew Cuomo and 71-year old Republican Curtis Sliwa. At last check, Mamdani held a  +14.7 point lead  over nearest rival Cuomo. Two are for governor. In...

We leave today for San Diego.  Probably will go to the zoo, some rank as  #1 in the world .  Here is another video of  how to visit the zoo .  There is also a hop-on-hop-off trolley system, with a stop at our hotel, the Marriott Marquis. But our primary purpose for this trip is Paso Robles to taste Petite Sirah.  We have relatives in the San Diego area, and four of us will drive from San Diego to Paso Robles, then back a few days later. The cities are 332 miles apart, a drive of 6 hours without stopping.   If you're a fan of this blog, you know by now that my favorite wine is Petite Sirah from Paso Robles.   There is a lot of history going back more than half a century . I tasted a very early version of this wine when it was not yet bottled.  I was spending a summer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the early 70s and knew a colleague whose last name was Concannon.   James Concannon founded the company in 188...

Kiko remains a hurricane , but should by tomorrow weaken into a tropical storm.  If the eye went over Hawaii, there would still be some devastation and a lot of flooding.  However, the track has been predicted to pass sufficiently north of the state such that high surf and associated damage might well be the only problem. In the West Pacific is  Typhoon Tapah,  which just attained typhoon strength today and made landfall over China well away from Macao. The Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of America are eerily quiet as high season begins.  No serious ocean storms are predicted for at least the next week. In the East Pacific is  Post-Tropical Cyclone Lorene  so inconsequential that it is not even shown on the map. She was a hurricane on September 3, strengthened to 85 MPH on the 4th, but later that day lost hurricane status. Almost all ocean storms in the East Pacific threaten Mexico, especially the Baha Peninsula, but only very rarely extend into California....