Warren Buffett, the American billionaire who recently freed himself of some of his worldly goods in a well-publicized donation to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has taken another big step: He’s tied the knot with longtime live-in Latvian girlfriend Astrid Menks.

The two married in Omaha, Neb., on Aug. 30, the billionaire’s birthday. Buffett just turned 76, while Menks is 60, according to a story in the Omaha World-Herald.

Susan Buffet, who died in 2004, left her husband in 1977 but never divorced him. Menks, who was born in Latvia, was hand-picked by Susan to be the businessman’s girlfriend. At the time, Menks was working as a waitress in Omaha. All three remained friends.

Buffett is CEO of Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Sure it’s summer in the northern hemisphere. And even though Jāņi was celebrated a month ago, we still can enjoy plenty of light before the sun sets each day.  In the eastern Latvian town of Gulbene, for example, the length of time between sunrise and sunset on July 24 was 16 hours and 44 minutes.

Six months from now it will be a different story, as the Web site Gaisma informs us. On that day in January, the sun is to rise at 8:30 hours and set at 16:20 hours, for a total daylight span of just 7 hours and 50 minutes.

The Web site lets visitors learn the sunrise, sunset, dawn and dusk times of various locations around the world.

The site is the creation of Matti Tukiainen, who lives in Vuorentausta, Finland. He was lucky enough to grab the domain www.gaisma.com and notes on his site that gaisma is Latvian for light.

Thanks to Jānis Zeltiņš in Minnesota for alerting us to the site.

Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga has not said she is interested in the job of general secretary of the United Nations. Her name is not among the declared candidates. And even if she were a candidate to replace Kofi Annan, it would not be surprising to see Russia—a member of the Security Council—use its veto to nix the chances of the pesky president of Latvia.

But at least she has the support of folks in Kentucky, according to a lengthy article in The Courier-Journal of Louisville.

“An international campaign has been launched to make the next U.N. chief a woman,” writes James R. Carroll in the June 18 article. “Vīķe-Freiberga is among those being promoted by Equality Now, as is Mynamar’s democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest by the junta that rules that country. Vīķe-Freiberga has a foot in the door at the U.N. already. Last year, she was named special envoy to the secretary general on reform of the world body.”

Among the Kentuckians who said they think the Latvian president would be a good choice to head the United Nations were Catherine Todd Bailey, the U.S. ambassador to Latvia, and Sen. Mitch McConnell.

Thanks to Pēteris Burģelis for alerting us to the story.