I have friends who are Australian. I blame them partially for the decline of America, or at least its music. Australia gave us the BeeGees.

Right after crossing the finish line of the 13.1-mile foot race, the man collapsed and died. I wondered if running a half-marathon was the last thing on his bucket list.

I was going to borrow one from a friend, but he suggested that I might find it useful to have my own. Normally buying a power tool seems manly, but purchasing a trickle charger sounds only old manly.

Fawns wander into our yard with the mother nearby. Cute. But I wonder whether it is called venison veal.

Ivana Trump, the wife who preceded Marla Maples, died, the medical examiner said, from blunt trauma injuries, apparently by tumbling down stairs. The death was ruled “accidental.” As a result, Donald Trump along with Ivanka and Donald, Jr., who have mightily resisted testifying, did not have their scheduled, under-oath depositions. Hmmmm.

I came across a legal prediction I made in May 2017, which has been all too accurate: “In the next few years, the Supreme Court will expand First Amendment free exercise of religion rights and essentially ignore that Amendment’s establishment of religion clause. Religious organizations will more easily get state moneys, and less state money will be available for non-religious organizations. And people and organizations claiming religious rights will be able to discriminate more readily.”

A wise person said: “Real patriotism is the sort that understands that this is a nation and not a denomination.”

Another legal prediction: In the next few years, the Supreme Court will expand First Amendment free speech rights. The overwhelming beneficiaries of these decisions will be corporations and conservative entities.

“People of the same trade seldom meet together but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some diversion to raise prices.” Adam Smith.

I have been trying to understand probabilities better yet again and thinking about some famous problems that once stumped me such as what are the odds that two people share a birthday in a group of people. And, of course, the famous Monty Hall problem. He was the host and co-creator of “Let’s Make a Deal.” At the end of his show, a contestant was offered a wonderful prize and two clinkers. They were hidden behind three doors. The contestant would pick a door. Hall, who knew what was behind each door, did not immediately open the selected door but would instead first open one of the two remaining doors to expose a booby prize. Contestants would then be allowed to keep their selected door or switch to the remaining door. Should the contestant switch? I remember reading Marilyn vos Savant’s column in Parade magazine where she maintained that the contestant’s odds of winning the big prize were two-thirds if the contestant changed the pick to the unselected door. The column caused a storm with many people, some highly educated, saying the odds were 50-50 no matter what the contestant did. But, of course, vos Savant was right.