Brown Motion

 Such a joyous title. But not quite a Tintin comic. A recent trip to the earliest of Euro bloc political alliances called Benelux was the reason to run into the above mentioned art. Benelux so named for the three countries that formed this union allowing free travel across their respective borders eventually merging with the EU and adopting a single currency circa 2000. The Thanksgiving break is a good time for wife and I to hit the proverbial road not traveled and has happened each year barring covid. With no family or tradition to hold us to our base camp coordinates we have found this time works for us with generally mild climes across the planet and less of a crowd. Or so it used to be. This time the crowds were out with a vengeance as witnessed by the clogged arteries of cities in the Benelux when we visited. So this Benelux is made of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. Belgium is bigger in size and curious sights; Netherlands is a sinking ship - quite literally half the cou...

 This autumn the weather gods cooperated as we took a family trip in the northeast to see six states that qualify or makeup what is known colloquially in America as New England. Mass, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island (tiniest state in the union). The outing helped tally up the states we either lived in, visited or have worked in to 47. Guess which three have eluded this intrepid traveling family. Any rate the drive was all in about 1,800 miles and included some memorable geographic wonders or points of interest.  Easternmost part of state of Massachusetts being one.  Furthest drivable road east in Mass being another. Visit to all Ivy League schools (term harkens to a collegiate athletics conference and generally regarded as elite academic institutes of some repute worldwide) is another random bucket list item of which this trip afforded the chance to knock two more of the list.  Dartmouth in Hanover, NH and Brown (and its sister institute t...

 We moved to the Charlotte area not knowing where exactly our new home would be. Turns out it was by a popular lake formed by the damming of the Catawba river which flows north to south in the Carolinas. Local electricity generation utility built a series of dams along the waterway for hydro and couple nuclear plants as well to supply the state grid.  The lake our house butts into is Lake Wylie. While tract home build has picked up in the Carolinas the developer often carves out parcels that they can get their hands on leaving behind privately owned lots that the individual owner may not want to sell. Our house is part of a subdivision but backs into actual lake front yardage that has always been part of legacy family owned properties who chose to build a cabin or getaway and did not sell to a corporation wanting to build in the hundreds. As such we can see the water through the year but it does not afford actual water access.  That privilege is to our neighbors who still...

 City by the lakes. Two big ones.  Mendota and Monona. State capital of WI.  Madison.  A school town. Largely just that and seat of government.  The Capitol itself, a 100 some years old sits on a high hill in the middle of an isthmus that separates the two lakes that straddle the land on the north and south ends.  The city is compact otherwise. The Capitol is like many US state buildings a sight to see.  This one claims to have the largest dome by volume among the 50 capitols including the one in DC. Dome is topped by a statue of lady Wisconsin. Her motto 'Forward'.  by day and night It is also a unique design where it has four wings, one each in the primary cardinal directions. One holds the Assembly, another the Senate, one has the Supreme Court and another a hearing hall. All in all it has some pretty impressive stats and features.  Marble from six countries adorns its interior walls as well as featuring a variety of tropical woods and a b...

 I like to wear comfortable clothing based on the climate I am spending time in. It is functional and to a degree soothing to my own eye in terms of its color and assembly. Some might describe the latter as style. Okay so be it. Beyond that to me clothing is not a topic of interest or discussion. Of course affordability of said item is critical but here again the functional aspect manifests. More durable the item the more value I derive from its lifespan spent protecting me from the elements. To a large body of humans that is not as cut and dry. Garments worn take the form of self expression and to a degree help in defining these people. Dress for success is the slogan.  Always wear clothing for who you aspire to be one exhorts. And so on are cliches I have heard growing up and they echo a certain reliance on vanity of the species to make sure you are heard in a crowd. While I might not subscribe to such silliness I do appreciate what the authors of that expression were trying...

 As unimaginable it might sound the British are at it again. After a 70 year gap they have the temerity and chutzpah to crown another dude a king of Britannia. Charles went from being in line to the throne - that's right a glorified chair if you ask me - unclear how comfortable this old wooden contraption is given these days you could spend few more shillings and get yourself a NASA developed space age foam padded brand with massagers and what not to make work easier - to being anointed King of England and her territories. But wait. He does not work.  He merely wears a funny hat. That is called a crown. And pretends to have powers. And asks people refer to him as King Charles.  LOL. The spectacle to put him in timeout for a long time on this chair, wearing all manners of weirdo sashes and uncomfortable garbs and garlands must have really tested his 80 year old heart. Then some even more wizened dudes wearing even funnier robes and frocks show up and ask him to hold on to ...

 Brands have staying power. Some do. Some not so much. There is even a value assigned to a pop brand (in the case of Coke literally) that is shown on balance sheets as either Goodwill or some such entry that can offset some of that businesses' liabilities. There is yet another wondrous ranking of most valuable brands that some marketing so and so publishes to rank these companies. As one can imagine the top 10 are worth their weight in gold. Or crypto or whatever their worth one wants to measure it in. As of 2022 the collective value of top 100 brands topped out at a cool $3 Trillion.  That is 3,000,000,000,000. The top 10 represent largely well known entities that also happen to command some of the largest market caps and are purveyors of smart technology that runs our daily lives. Some happen to be more pedestrian like Coke and Nike. graphic courtesy Interbrand I got to thinking what life during the prior yugas (aka time periods so vast and prehistoric that no tangible recor...