There is a La Mancha in Spain, but there is no real Man of La Mancha. This all began with Miguel de Cervantes. Was born in Spain in 1547  (?, maybe ) and passed away in 1616 at the age of 68. Considered to be the greatest Spanish writer, best known for what is said to be the first modern novel,  Don Quixote , perhaps even the best book of all time.  As translated by Edith Grossman, widely regarded as one of funniest and most tragic  books ever written. Cervantes spent most of his life in relative poverty and obscurity. At the age of 22, moved to Rome, where he worked for the household of a cardinal. Enlisted in the Spanish Navy infantry a year later, 1570, and got severely wounded, losing use of his left arm and hand. There are no portraits of him, but this one to the right is generally used. In 1575 was captured by Barbary pirates, and ransomed to Madrid five years later. First significant novel, published in 1585, was  La Galatea . Don Quixote  was publis...

Here is something you almost certainly did not know.    Pascale Christine Baeriswy l of Switzerland is now President of the United Nations Security Council.  Do you know who she replaced?    Vasily Nebenzia , Russia's ambassador to the UN.  Somehow, the World survived his month in office.  Another thing you did not know.  This position changes monthly.   Surely you must know that the ninth Secretary-General of the UN, who took office in 2017, is Antonio Guterres of Portugal.  But if this position is for 5 years, why is he still in office?  Because you can get a second term.  So he's good until the end of 2026. Next, a graphic from the morning  New York Times .  The previous  Great Recession  was from December 2007 to June 2009. The U.S. GDP did not recover until the third quarter of 2011.  Unemployment rose to 10% in October of 2009 and took until May of 2016 to drop back to 4.7%.  The...