Crucible - A Novel

Crucible by John Sayles, 2026. Yesterday I finished this incredible work of historical fiction based on 15 years in the life of Henry Ford and the violent rise of the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. The book follows the stories of several people involved with Ford's many endeavors of the time including his auto plant assembly lines in Detroit, his Fordlandia rubber plantation and village in Brazil, his private security army, his fight against the efforts to unionize his factories, his supporting the war effort, etc. All this happening during the times of the Depression, the War, race riots, the Great Migration, his antisemitism and support for fascism. Lots of real historical figures throughout the book too.

This was a very fascinating book although sometimes it was hard to follow what was going on since there were no chapters and dates of the incidents as they happened. This novel would make a really good television series.

This is the first time I've read a book by this author but I've seen lots of his movies.

Furnace Time

It's been getting chilly the past few days and especially at night. It has been in the 60s during the day and 50s at night. Most of the time it was getting chilly in the house and we were wearing a second layer. We also needed to wear a coat yesterday on our walk. It feels like Fall is here and we have been talking about turning on the furnace soon.

Last night the temperature got down into the 40s and this morning when I came down it was 62 in the house. I turned on the furnace. I set the thermostat for 68 since it was going to be sunny and in the 60's today. The warm air from the furnace felt good and the temp quickly rose to 68.

We'll see how it goes...

Ultra Chilled 04 - Kitchen Listening

Ultra Chilled 04 is probably the last of these chill compilations I'll be playing for awhile. I certainly have been enjoying these sounds over the past few days but it's time to move on although I do have several other chillout compilations album in my collection that goes right with this stuff. They were also used extensively in my Night Chill mix series.

I'm not sure what I'll be playing tomorrow but it will be good but different.

And what's with the album cover photos?

Gnocchi alla Sorrentina for Dinner

Tonight Becky made something quick and easy for dinner. It was very tasty too. Gnocchi alla Sorrentina... a frozen dish from Trader Joe's. It's been in the freezer for a a while and this evening seemed to be a good time to try it out. We had never had this from them before. Becky cut and cooked some veggies that were added to the gnocchi. Everything tasted great.

During dinner we agreed with having this again sometime and that it would also be a good thing to take with us on vacation in the Adirondacks next year.

This is how it looked out of the bag while still frozen. The large blobs with the gnocchi was the frozen sauce. 

The dinner was imported from Italy.

The Fix - MAGA Dystopia Book

The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government by Barbara  McQuade, 2026. I just finished reading this book earlier today. Another Trump MAGA Dystopia book. I liked that after going through the many anti-democracy corruption activities of the current fascist administration the author details some incredible activities for implementing solutions for the problems of the grift and mob behavior detailed throughout the book. 

It's like she read my mind to come up with some of the fixes like... getting rid of the electoral college, representatives based on popular vote and not winner takes all, term limits and age limits for congress and the courts... especially the supreme court, ban gerrymandering and no district changes allowed by politicians, enforcing govt corruption laws, protecting the free press, etc., etc.

I read this book in a little over a week. I'd like to read her book Attack From Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America from 2024. 

Ultra Chilled 03 - Kitchen Listening

More Ultra Chilled Kitchen Music on the stereo today. Volume 3. Another 2 cd set running a little over two hours. Sounds laid back and cool. Nice background too.

Trump Friends - MAGA Dystopia

"Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." ~ Thomas Jefferson

Ultra Chilled 02 - Kitchen Listening

Played more of that Ultra Chilled compilation sets today. Volume 2. Another two hour collection of relaxing ambient groove trance electronica. Features remixes of Radiohead, Coldplay, Thievery Corporation, Bebel Gilberto, Royksopp, Zero 7 and more. 

Book Arts, Downtown & Cafe 59

Becky and I went last night to an art opening downtown at Book Arts. It was a Friday evening and we thought we would go have some dinner down the street from the gallery at Streetlight Brassier then go to the gallery. The traffic was a little crazy heading downtown... very busy. We got a parking spot down the street at the square across from the library. This was about 5:30. We walked down to the restaurant and saw that it was closed for a special event. That explains why there were no reservations when I checked it a couple of days ago. We had also seen that Mohawk Place was closed for an upcoming Octoberfest Party. That was where we usually park down there. So we walked further down the street and saw there was a street party and band playing on the sidewalk in front of Tappo Restaurant. We were heading a little past there to get something to eat at the Big Ditch Brew Pub but unbelievably we saw that the place was jammed. No tables in the restaurant but a couple outside. Now it was also windy and cool downtown. Becky had a jacket but I was wearing a short sleeve shirt and thinking I should have brought something more.

We then saw that there was actually the Curtains Up street party happening that night and it was going to get much more crowded soon. We saw some other restaurants all full of people and lots of tents and stages set up throughout the area. We decided to head back over to the gallery and check out the art show which was a friend... Kathy Sherin. We got over there around 6 and had a great time talking with lots of friends. It was very busy there too. 

After a while we decided to get in the car and leave downtown for another restaurant. We thought we would go up Franklin street to Allen and check out Cafe 59. We parked nearby and got a nice table. There were people there but it was after the main dinner time and not crowded.  We had a couple of our usual sandwiches... I had the Harvest Wrap and Becky had a chicken finger sandwich. I ordered a side of potato wedges that we split. We loved our dinner. Then we went home.

Trump & the News Media

Donald Trump has announced in a fit of rage that he's banning CNN, MSNBC, and Politico from the White House entirely, over what he called their constant fake reporting.

Trump posted the announcement himself, declaring that effective immediately, three major news organizations are banned from the White House.

So the President of the United States, using the powers of his office to decide which journalists are allowed to cover him based on whether their reporting flatters him. 

He also mocked MSNBC's recent name change as proof of failure. He then posted that he will soon ban other so called fake news media outlets.

A sitting president is openly threatening to keep expanding a media blacklist, one outlet at a time, based entirely on whether their coverage of him is favorable.

This isn't how a free press is supposed to work in America. Journalists exist to hold power accountable, not to serve as approved messengers for whoever happens to occupy the Oval Office. The moment a president gets to personally decide which news organizations are allowed in the building depending on how nice their coverage is, that's not journalism anymore. That's state propaganda.

And Trump isn't hiding it. He's saying it outright, in writing, with more bans promised to come.

The CNN news network responded to Trump’s announcement that he’s “banned” CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO from the White House with a statement of defiance, vowing to stand strong against Trump’s authoritarian urges and delivering an implicit threat of legal reprisal.

The press release reads, “CNN stands fully behind our White House team and their fair and accurate reporting. We have a right under the U.S. Constitution to do that reporting without hindrance or interference from the government. Should the ban which President Trump threatened go ahead, it would be an illegal assault on that fundamental and constitutionally-protected right.”

Reading between the lines is a clear and obvious threat to bring immediate legal action against the White House if this “ban,” which Trump has tried and FAILED to implement in the past, ends up being more real than just a Truth Social post.

We hope to see similar statements from MS Now and POLITICO post-haste. Trump cannot be allowed to get away with this flagrantly illegal attack on the free press and violation of the Constitution that he swore to uphold.

A Neighborhood Walk & Molly's Video

We were out for our usual walk around the neighborhood and we went passed our neighbor and old friend Molly's house which we often do. Occasionally she is out front and we stop and talk. This time she was out taking pictures of her house and I wanted to let her know about Tom's recent passing. She was part of that group of young families that hung out together back in the 80's and 90's. 

She was happy to see us and wanted to bring us into her home to show us something. We hadn't been there in many years. She wanted to show us her new few months old cute little puppy named Lola.

After a bit I told her about Tom. She did know a lot about his recent problems and we were not sure where she was getting the information but she wasn't surprised by the news. I showed her some photos on my phone which we had come across this week and one with her and her son along with us, Dave & Donna and Tom & Diane. She was thrilled to see it. 

She told us that she had found an old video recently that included our kids playing with her kids. She had it uploaded into a online video site. She gave me the link on the phone. I also sent her the picture to her phone.

The link to Molly's Video.

Ultra Chilled 01 - Kitchen Listening

Ultra Chilled Kitchen Listening. 

Yesterday I put this various artists compilation on the stereo around dinnertime. It's an album I that I hadn't listened to in many years. Ultra Chilled 01 from Ultra Records. This 2 CD set is the first of several of their compilation albums in my collection. This one is from 2001. I got four volumes from this series in 2004 but there are many more.

It's a nice collection that runs a little over two hours of what I guess you would call downbeat, electronica, house, trip-hop, techno, trance, downtempo and various alternative indie/pop/rock. The series all have sleezy covers too.

Well, I enjoyed listening to this and I'm sure I'm going to play a few more of these albums over the next few days. I've used a lot of songs from this album on my various Night Chill series of mixes.

Birthday Dinner

Becky and I had a wonderful birthday dinner tonight at Trattoria Aroma on Bryant which is one of our favorite restaurants and nice that it is close by. We had reservations at 6:15 and we spent almost two hours there. The service was wonderful as usual but a little slow because they were a little short staffed tonight and they were busy. It was a beautiful evening and the patio in front was full. We were close to the patio but inside.

We had their incredible Pappardelle Bolognese which we split along with a delicious Spicy Pepperoni Pizza with red sauce, fontina, pickled hot peppers, cup & char pepperoni, fresh herbs, pecorino romano. So good. Becky had an NA beer and I had a couple of glasses of chianti. For dessert we had a couple of their freshly made cannoli. 

Overall a very good night. Some nice leftovers too.

Tom's Body and Soul Mix

Tom's jazz mix. I put this four hour mix together at the request by Dave after he had a request from Tom's wife to have some jazz music playing during his funeral wake visitations and memorial service. Dave doesn't have any jazz in his collection so he asked me. Tom and I listened to jazz a lot over the years and I know what he likes and I also have a sense of what to play in the background during a wake.

The music here is mostly very quiet and there are lots of familiar tunes including jazz standards, covers and some film soundtracks... all instrumentals.

There are 40 pieces of music running about 4 hours. I put created a playlist file and copied it to a flash drive along with some photos of Tom I found. I also put the playlist on YouTube Music and put a link to it below.

Tom's Body and Soul - A Jazz Mix

1. Body and Soul - Lee Konitz
2. All Blues - Miles Davis
3. I Remember Wes - George Benson
4. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - Charles Mingus
5. Misty - Grant Green & Brother Jack McDuff
6. Greensleeves - John Coltrane
7. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes - Thelonious Monk
8. Night Train - Jimmy Smith & Wes Montgomery
9. Song For My Father - Horace Silver
10. The Madison Time (Pt.2) - Ray Bryant
11. Willow Weep For Me - Dexter Gordon
12. On A Clear Day You Can See Forever - Shirley Scott & Stanley Turrentine
13. My Favorite Things - John Coltrane
14. Blue In Green - Bill Evans
15. Summertime - Miles Davis
16. God Bless The Child - Sonny Rollins
17. A Day In The Life - Wes Montgomery
18. Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile) - Gato Barbieri
19. Amarcord - Nino Rota
20. You Go To My Head - Bud Powell
21. My One and Only Love - Pepper Adams
22. There Will Never Be Another You - Jimmy Smith
23. Take Five - George Benson
24. On Green Dolphin Street - Ahmad Jamal
25. Stella By Starlight - Jim Hall
26. So What - Miles Davis
27. Waltz For Debby - Bill Evans
28. Autumn Leaves - Cannonball Adderley
29. My Little Brown Book - John Coltrane
30. Blue Monk - Thelonious Monk
31. Exodus (Main Theme) - Eddie Harris
32. Promise Of The Morning - Jon Mark
33. A Lotus On Irish Streams - Mahavishnu Orchestra
34. Love Theme From Blade Runner - Vangelis
35. Midnight Rendezvous - Suzanne Ciani
36. Red's Good Groove - Red Garland
37. Satin Doll - McCoy Tyner
38. Ruby, My Dear - John Coltrane & Thelonious Monk
39. Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club
40. Willow Weep For Me - Grant Green

YouTube Music - Tom's Body and Soul Mix

Looking at Old Photos

Earlier this week Becky and I have been going through boxes of old photos. This began because we were looking for pictures of Tom Loonan after his passing. Dave had asked for some to be displayed at Tom's funeral service.

I did find about 20 photos I sent over to Dave. Files, not the actual pictures. Most were old and many going back to the 80's.

This was also an opportunity to look at our old family photos too and it was a lot of fun. We pulled out a few to share again.

Trump and Women

From Substack commentator Robert Harrington.

On Thursday, with hatred twisting his snarling face, Trump lunged at a woman reporter. For a moment, it looked like he was going to physically assault her. “Not you. Not you,” Trump said. Then came the lunge and the monstrous face, “Hey, not you!”

The lunging incident grew from a single moment. It happened when a woman reporter tried to ask Trump a question.

The previous day Trump had promised every American citizen a $5,000 stimulus check after the midterm elections. The next day on the tarmac of DFW Airport in Dallas, the woman reporter asked Trump why the American people need a £5,000 incentive to turn out to vote if Trump’s economic policies were so successful.

Trump denied that it was an incentive to vote, even though that’s exactly how he’d framed it the previous day. Then Trump told the woman it was a “reward” for people having to put up with “a horrible situation caused by Biden.”

The lunge happened after the woman attempted a follow-up question.
“Hey, not you!”

The reporter was ABC’s Rachel Scott. Ms Scott is an intelligent, highly competent reporter.

She’s also Black.

This isn’t the first time Ms Scott has attracted the unjust ire of Trump. During the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Conference in late July of 2024, Scott asked Trump why Black voters should trust him given his past rhetoric. Trump called the question “horrible,” “hostile,” and “disgraceful.” He later labeled her “the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place.”

Trump has a long, ugly history of abusing women reporters, especially when they’re women of colour.

For example, Yamiche Alcindor, Abby Phillip, Akayla Gardner and Weijia Jiang are highly intelligent and competent women reporters of colour. They have all felt the vicious lash of Trump’s racist tongue, a tongue he uses only on women, especially women of colour.

But women of colour don’t have to be reporters to attract Trump’s invective. Kamala Harris, Maxine Waters, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Michelle Obama, “The Squad” of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib, are particularly favourite targets for derision by racist Trump.

Trump isn’t merely racist, either, he’s above all a misogynist. Women of any race routinely receive excoriation for their looks, their weight, their intelligence and their right to speak their minds. Trump abuses women in ways that he rarely uses against men, particularly white men.

Trump clearly hates and fears and feels inadequate around smart women. Where does this come from?

In 2015, psychologists Tali Mendelberg and Christopher Karpowitz at Princeton University, studied how men respond to intelligent women in group settings. The study revealed that men with fragile masculinity showed measurable anxiety and hostility toward women who outperformed them.

Trump has the most fragile masculinity of anyone I can think of. He also obviously has an advanced case of SPA.

SPA, or Small Penis Anxiety, is a persistent worry or distress about penis size. When Trump brings up his obsession with the size of his hands, a psychological misdirection known as “displacement” or “deflection,” he’s really talking about his tiny penis.

The revelation from Stormy Daniels that Trump’s penis is minuscule is dismissed by Trump who says that he never had any relationship with her. But that’s an obvious lie.

Trump’s history of adjudicated rape, alleged child rape, sexual assault, unwanted touching, inappropriate comments, physical and verbal abuse toward dozens of women would put a less powerful man in prison, if not on the National Sex Offender registry. Trump has always gotten away with these crimes against women, in part because the Republican Party has evolved into a safe place for rapists and woman haters.

Violence and hatred of women is deep in the MAGA DNA.

It’s the real reason Roe v Wade was repealed. Not out of concern that a bit of microscopic protoplasm might be a fully-formed human soul, but because some men are outraged that a woman can get pregnant by any means but theirs.
It’s why women whose lives are in peril, who were raped by their fathers, who will die if they give birth, are denied life-saving or sanity-saving abortions in some American States.

Neither is it any accident that the so-called online “Manosphere” is Trump-aligned either. Violence against women is becoming a cultural norm among insecure little men who take their frustrations out on all women because their egos can’t handle a little rejection.

Men like Trump are terrified of what they can’t control, and Trump is clearly terrified of smart women. Trump’s lunge at a brilliant and skilled black reporter has given another increment of permission to the worst and ugliest and most violent impulses of weak men.

In a split second, Trump showed us exactly what he is and what he’s capable of.

Paint Recycling

Paint recycling for Erie County. I saw they had this event coming up and decided it was time to get rid of some paint in our basement. I gathered together about a dozen cans and after going through them all I decided to keep two. The rest could go.

I also gathered together a bunch of cans of varnishes and stains. I registered for the recycling and got an appointment to deliver the paint at 10:45 am over at the UB South campus. The collection was happening in the parking lot right off Main Street near the subway station.

First I collected the cans and brought them out of the basement and out to the table by the shed on Friday. Then Saturday morning I loaded everything into the back of the car over top of a large plastic bag. There were 9 regular paint cans, a box of 6 varnish cans and a bag of 5 cans of stains and 1 bottle.

I left a little early because I expected a crowd. And there was a crowd but the organization of the event was amazing. I got there about 10:30 and was directed into a line in the lot. There were at least a dozen cars in front of me and there were actually two lines of the same amount of cars. We actually moved forward quickly and it didn't take very long for my car to get emptied of paint cans when I moved alongside a table where everything was sorted. There must have been at least 30 people working the recycling including controlling traffic and putting sorted cans in their proper place. It was incredible how organized everything was here. 
 

After the car was emptied, but they did put the empty bag and box back in, I was directed along a path to Bailey Ave where I left the campus. I was home in my driveway by 11 am to the surprise of Becky.

I was so amazed at this process I took a few photos. The last one was the line of cars I saw as I first entered the campus. 15 minutes later I was leaving the campus with no more paint and varnish in my car.

Canalside and Liberty Hound

Becky and I went down to Canalside this evening and had a wonderful time both at dinner and walking up and down the waterfront. We drove downtown around 3:30 pm and were surprised by the traffic. I guess we don't drive around time on Friday afternoons during the school let out rush hour very much. The traffic wasn't too bad once we got downtown and close to the waterfront. We parked in our usual spot near the entrance to the Naval Park and then walked over toward the Erie Basin Marina to check out out the new restaurant Sully's Harbor Bar & Chowder House. The place was hopping and looked over the menu. We already had plans for dining at Liberty Hound. The configuration of bars, restaurants and ice cream stand has recently changed and their is live music at the site regularly.

We then continued along the Erie Basin Harbor Walk checking out the gardens and the many boats taking on passengers along the way. There were also many sailboats and tour boats on the water. So we continued on down through the Naval Park and around 4:45 or so we wandered into the Liberty Hound for some dinner. We were surprised it wasn't very crowded and we had no problem getting a nice table on the patio but in the shade. 

The first thing I did was order a draft of Resurgence Pilsner. Becky got an NA. Then we ordered food. Becky got a Shrimp Po'boy sandwich and I got a Blackened Chicken Sandwich which was a special. It was good but later I was thinking I should have ordered the Fish Tacos that I had originally planned. Next time. We sat there for almost an hour. I had been planning to have a second beer there but we decided to continue along the waterfront to the Resurgence Beer stand further down Canalside. We walked down there but were disappointed to find the beer stand closed. Maybe now that it's September and no long summer they cut their hours but it was still a Friday evening. We decided to walk back up the Erie Basin Harbor Walk to Sully's and have a beer there sitting out a table overlooking the Buffalo Lighthouse and Lake Erie.

We really enjoyed the walk again but when we got there it was a little after 6 pm and the place was very crowded. There was only one place to sit and it was nice a comfortable spot with the sun in our face and very close to the stage. There was live music happening. Very loud and not very good. It was one guy... Maui Jim who sang and played his guitar over a full band soundtrack of yacht rock. It was very much like a personalized version of karaoki. We didn't stay and have that beer. We turned around and headed back toward the Naval Park and the car.

It was a beautiful late afternoon and evening, we did a lot of walking on the incredible waterfront and enjoyed every moment. We had a wonderful dinner overlooking the waterfront too.

It was hard to believe that this was our first time this season down at Canalside. We will need to make sure we get back down their earlier in the summer next year and actually make it there a few times. We also didn't get down to RiverWorks this year either. That will change.

9/11 - 25 Years Ago

It's hard to believe that terrible terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11 was twenty five years ago today. We remember that incident every year on the anniversary day and the follow-up attacks on the Pentagon and the related airline hijackings. I remember the shock of that day like it was yesterday even 25 years later.

I can never forget. I was working at the Canisius College Library that morning and I was working down the stairs to the lower level I heard a student cry out. There was a TV near the bottom of the stairs in a little lounge and I usually had CNN on the TV. There was a group of students crowded into the lounge watching the news of the plane that had just crashed into the World Trade Center tower. It was very shocking and I stood their watching the coverage.

A little while later I had gone over to the Old Main lunch room and lounge. There was a TV there too with student, faculty and staff watching the events unfold and we saw the 2nd plane strike the other tower. It was shocking. 

I also couldn't help thinking about two weeks earlier me and my son Sean were on the observation deck of that very same World Trade Center tower while in NYC looking at colleges for Katie. She and Becky were doing some shopping while me and Sean went down to Wall Street and decided to check out the top of the towers.

It had just happened that during the 20th anniversary of 9/11 I was reading a biography... The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden.

More Basement Cleanup

I've been doing more cleanup work in the basement. One project is the tool room. A lot of water has seeped in there and damaged the couple of shelves I put there a number of years ago. The damaged shelves were some old CD storage units that I emptied out. They contained CDs of albums I burned and then later put on my hard drives and portable drives.

One shelf that was located on the right side of the picture here I took apart and got rid of a few weeks ago. Now I got the other shelf emptied out. The shelf will go out in the trash soon. I've have it in pieces and outside. 

There is still a lot more stuff to throw out. I'm gathering together all of the old paint cans that were on the floor and varnish and stain cans on the shelves. There is a paint recycling day coming up and I'm registered for it.

Project Hail Mary - The Film

It has been almost a year since I read the novel but I finally got around to watching the movie of Project Hail Mary on TV. I enjoyed it very much but I did watch it in four segments. It was a long movie... about two and a half hours and very entertaining. I especially liked the portrayal of the alien. Ryan Gosling was very good in the movie and funny too.

My post about the novel Project Hail Mary.

UB40 - Kitchen Listening

Some Kitchen Listening with the reggae sounds of UB40 from albums in my collection. I have especially loved their reggae cover albums they've put out over the years and this set has three of them. Labour of Love I, II and III. The cover albums have great selections. I ended the set with their live album from 1983 which consist of songs from their first three studio albums and no covers.

It is fitting to listen to some UB40 on Labor Day. Their band name comes from the unemployment form used in the UK during the recession of the late 70's and early 80's. Unemployment Benefits form 40. 

I think my next set of their music will be their early albums and then maybe a compilation.

This set:

• Labour of Love, 1983
• Labour of Love II, 1989
• Labour of Love III, 1998
• UB40 Live, 1983

Friday Night Dinner @ Coles

This evening we had dinner at Coles. We had a busy day and this is always a great way to enjoy ourselves. We usually go a little early if it's a Friday and we got there a little after 5:30 and sat at a booth in the bar area. It was crowded at the bar with a happy hour crowd and a little noisy but the dining room was crowded too. By 6 pm we got our dinner and the place was really getting crowded. A lot of people were there for a party on the 2nd floor balcony.

I was excited that they had a draft beer on the menu that has been one of my favorites over the years but I hadn't seen it anywhere on tap recently... Flower Power IPA from Ithaca Brewery. Of course I ordered one and then later another one.

We had a great dinner there as usual. I had their classic Fish Fry with sweet potato fries and honey. Becky had a Thai Chicken Sandwich. The service was great too. Overall we had a wonderful time and left the restaurant getting close to 7:30.

Shango Closed

It was very sad to get the news that our one of our favorite restaurants Shango Bistro was closing. Now it's closed. We were there recently right before the closing announcement but we didn't get there one last time. It probably would have been very sad there having our last meal. Now we can look back at the last time we were there and it was great as always.

I've posted our visits to Shango here at least a dozen times over the past few years.

They closed at the end of August.