And Then There Were None

Steven Guccione

I was wondering about all of the original Russian Oligarchs who got fantastically wealthy in the “free market reforms” after the fall of the Soviet Union.

I suppose if you have money, you want power.  And if you have power, you want money.  So conflict was inevitable between the Oligarchs and their rulers.

The Mafia-style economy and government of Russia led to Mafia-style conflicts and, ahem, resolutions.  It seems none of the original Oligarchs are left.  All died in mysterious circumstances.  Some good folks did the work for me and put together a list.  I wonder if Elon Musk and his ilk are fans of history.  I suspect not.

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.