Some 27 ships loaded with grain have left Ukraine’s Black Sea ports since August 1 under an export deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, which has laid “the groundwork for a permanent peace environment,” Turkey’s Defense Minister said in a speech on Saturday.

“Since August 1, a total of 53 vessels have sailed for grain shipments, 27 of which have departed from Ukrainian ports,” Hulusi Akar said at Istanbul’s Joint Coordination Center (JCC) alongside United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. (CNN)

Let’s hope he’s right!

The center is made up of Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and UN officials overseeing the Black Sea exports of Ukrainian grain and fertilizer.

Two pilots are believed to have fallen asleep and missed their landing during a flight from Sudan to Ethiopia on Monday, according to a report by commercial aviation news site Aviation Herald.

The incident took place on board an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 en route from Khartoum to Addis Ababa, the report said, “when the pilots fell asleep” and “the aircraft continued past the top of descent.”

Data obtained by the website indicates that the aircraft was cruising at 37,000 feet on autopilot when it failed to descend at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, its scheduled destination, on August 15.

Air traffic control were apparently unable to reach the crew despite making several attempts at contact. However, an alarm was triggered when the plane overshot the runway and continued along the route.

The aircraft subsequently began to descend, landing safely around 25 minutes later.

Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data shows the aircraft overflying the runway, before beginning its descent and maneuvering for another approach. (CNN)

It’s amazing this doesn’t happen more often.

Pilots put in many hours on boring flights they have performed hundreds of times.

You and I are descendants of our ancestors who arrived on Ellis Island, shown above.

We are a nation of immigrants.

The diversity created by immigration is our strength.

It keeps us ahead of the rest of the world because all immigrants bring traditions from their countries that allow for innovation and creativity.

Today, some of those who are are immigrants themselves are opposed to immigration, which is the lifeblood of American ingenuity.

If we continue this trend of opposing immigration, we will reject what has made America the greatest country in the world.

We must not do that.

Many people in the world still “yearn to breathe free!”

Do you and your spouse use good manners in your marriage?

You were probably on your best behavior while dating.

Well, the same best behavior should continue throughout your marriage.

Let’s begin with “please” and thank you.”

They are common courtesies that should also be often used with your spouse.

And just think about the impact of good manners on your kids.

You can’t expect them to practice good manners if you don’t!

You show respect for your spouse when you thank them for something they have done.

Even though that good deed just performed is expected of them, it is still appropriate to say “thanks.”

We live in an “uncivil” society.

At least in our marriage, we can practice civility!

My wife believes that good manners are one of the secrets to a long and happy marriage.

If not today, when?

The wood-walled conference room has a sterile quality, and the men in muted suits seated around the wide central table are eerily alike, as if duplicated.

But this photograph of a high-level corporate meeting has one outlier — a woman with short, curled hair seated on the far left.

She lines up perfectly with the group’s symmetry, but she’s conspicuous in her jewel-toned blue dress.

Taken in New York City in 1975, the portrait of the former Washington Post publisher and eventual CEO, Katharine Graham, is just one of countless images that follow a similar visual formula: the only woman in a composition of men.

It’s now featured among a collection of such images, in the book “The Only Woman,” by the documentary filmmaker and first-time author Immy Humes. (CNN)

Although women have fought hard for their rightful place in the business world, the fight is far from over!

I think most people are in favor of clean energy.

But, it can’t replace the volume of energy produced by natural gas, oil and coal for many years.

So, America’s power grid could shut down for lack of the traditional fuels.

America could be in the dark with no energy to heat our homes.

Also, we’re not producing enough diesel fuel to run our industries, trucks and  container ships.

The rush to clean energy is politically popular, but not realistic.

Clean energy can only replace a small percentage of the power needed to keep America going.

So cool heads must prevail when making our energy decisions.

If not today, when?

I’ve noticed a falloff in church attendance by younger generations.

I look back on the night when Jesus would be betrayed and handed over for crucifixion. He found his disciples asleep.

He approached them and asked: “Could you not keep watch with me for one hour?”

That question by Jesus prompts many to spend one hour at church services each week.

I know we live in a secular world and there are many influences and temptations for our time that we face each day.

I simply believe there is a GOD who loves us,

We should love HIM back!

If not today, when?

Do you live by your system of values or by the beliefs passed on to you by your friends or by current trends?

Will you stand up for your beliefs of just follow the crowd so that you’ll be accepted?

If you allow others to dictate your values, you will no longer know who you are.

That is not unusual today.

And if you have children, what example are you giving to them?

It is your job as a parent to instill certain values in your children that will help them stand up against all the craziness in modern society.

If you don’t provide that needed leadership, they may follow the bully at school.

Social media can adversely impact your life and the lives of your kids if you let it happen.

There is still right and wrong.

There is still good and bad.

There is still the truth and a lie.

There is still loyalty and disloyalty.

There is still honesty and dishonesty.

Which of these do you live by and teach your kids?

Tonight’s sturgeon supermoon could have you dancing in the moonlight — the type that only happens three to four times per year.

Named by the Native American Algonquin tribe after sturgeon fish that were more easily caught in the Great Lakes and other bodies of water during this time of year, the sturgeon moon ends 2022’s series of four supermoons, which began in May, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

After sunset, look toward the southeast to watch this supermoon rise.

It will reach peak illumination at 9:36 p.m. ET Thursday.

“At certain times of the year, the moon is at its closest point to Earth and these are called supermoons,” said Mike Hankey, operations manager for the American Meteor Society, via email. “It’s just a natural point of the moon’s orbit.” (CNN)

Enjoy one of the wonders of our world tonight!

Promises of freedom and riches are made to convicts in cramped jail cells.

Frantic phone calls ensue between relatives and inmates weighing the offer.

Then prisoners vanish, leaving their loved ones to sift through reports of the wounded arriving in hospitals.

This scene is playing out in the convict communities across Russia.

With a regular army stretched thin after nearly six months of a disastrously executed and bloody invasion of Ukraine, there’s increasing evidence that the Kremlin is making ugly choices in its ugly war and recruiting Russia’s prisoners to fight. (CNN)

It looks like Russia got more than it bargained for.

The regular army has reportedly lost 80,000 soldiers killed in Ukraine.

So, they have to find someone to put in harm’s way.

I guess the lesson is: Don’t bite off more than you can chew!