I never previously thought that Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash had much in common about their lives.  Just watched on Amazon Prime the 2006  Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash:  The Road Show , featuring 30 performances of their early careers.  There are definite parallels. EP born in Tupelo, Mississippi, 1935 and lived for 42 years.  JC, Kingsland, Arkansas, 1932, 71 years.  Well, not so similar, but this comes later. Elvis Presley. Twin brother was still-born. Family moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1948. Did not read music. Began singing for Sam Phillips of Sun Records in 1953. Made his only appearance in the Grand Ole Opry in 1954. Signed up with Colonel ( who was never a military officer ) Tom Parker in 1955.  Elvis was 20. First hit single was  Heartbreak Hotel  in 1956, after which he made his first film,  Love Me Tender .  Soon was playing in Las Vegas. In his second Milton Berle Show, launched into his famous exaggerated body movem...

But first, an assessment by the  New York Times  this morning of what just happened in Germany: Germany’s next chancellor is likely to be Friedrich Merz, a former corporate lawyer who has promised to crack down on migration, cut taxes and regulation and adopt a hawkish policy toward Russia. Merz leads a center-right alliance  (the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, or CDU)  that finished first in yesterday’s election, with 29 percent of the vote. A far-right party, Alternative for Germany ( the party that Elon Musk supported) , that promises even tougher immigration policies — but is friendly toward Russia — finished second, with 21 percent of the vote.   The center-left Social Democrats, who led the government for the past four years, tumbled to third place, with 16 percent of the vote. It was their worst showing in a national election since at least 1890. The percentage of the current population born in another country is now 20%, which was only 12.5%...

  The  Dow Jones Industrial Averag e gained 0.4% on Friday, and broke its all-time high, rising 189 to 44,911.  The S&P 500 also got to a record high, increasing 0.6%. Donald Trump is also on a roll .  Amazon has a wide assortment. I go to the Orient a lot, and the  dollar to yen exchange rate the past year has been great .  Up to 160 yen/dollar.  Today, still a good 150 yen to the U.S. $. I'm in Europe, and the $ to Euro rate is now close to parity. Well, not quite today, for you need to pay $1.05 to the Euro..  But equality occurred in 2022 after a period of 20 years, and remains in this range.  So both Europe and Japan are good places to visit these days to get value for your dollar if you live in the USA.  Unfortunately, this good fortune does not work the other way around for those in Japan and Europe Okay, the Viking Tir was repaired, I think, and we are on our way to Melk, Austria.  A few photos.  Last night we had ...