Trump vs The Catholic Church, New Mexico Edition

Steven Guccione

Probably more of a local story from KTSM.  The last line sort of cracked me up.

The Diocese says this property is part of a holy site. Atop the mountain sits a 29-foot-tall limestone statue of Jesus Christ “that serves as a shrine to thousands of faithful in the El Paso and Southern New Mexico area.”

…

KTSM has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment and about the government’s plans for the statue of Jesus Christ that sits atop of the mountain.

Federal government seeks to condemn Mount Cristo Rey for border security

Albuquerque vs Alburquerque

Steven Guccione

We are planning a trip to Portugal later in the year.  I was googling around and found out there was a famous Portuguese explorer responsible for much of that country’s success in that era named Afonso de Albuquerque.  I’ve heard of Henry the Navigator, Vasco de Gama and maybe some other Portuguese explorers, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of this Albuquerque fellow.  He seems to be quite important to the Portuguese success during those times.

I also learned there are two different Dukes, one in Spain and one in Portugal that spell the name differently:  Duke of Alburquerque (Spanish, with an “r”) and Duke of Albuquerque (Portuguese, without the “r”)

These days I live just outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico and it definitely has a Spanish history, but the name of the city follows the Portuguese spelling.  It also seems the city changed its spelling at some point.  Around 1858 a French priest began to use the Portuguese spelling and somehow, inexplicably, it stuck.

I admit I still probably would have trouble spelling either version, since I mostly rely on auto-complete for this one.  BTW, spell check flags the “r” spelling as incorrect.  I suppose that is mostly right.

Renewables growth cut Spain’s electricity bills by 24.2% over the past two years

Steven Guccione

The real reason solar and wind power keeps getting deployed is that it is cheap.  Very cheap.  So places that use lots of solar and wind should be seeing cheaper electricity.   In Spain it’s happening that way.  Oh, and they have cut their dependence on imported fossil fuels by over 50%.

Renewables growth cut Spain’s electricity bills by 24.2% over the past two years