Thank you so much; I'm very humbled and honored that you would say that; I'm trying very hard to deliver insightful or thought-provoking content, so your words affirm my effort! :)
To answer your first question, yes, I do think the correlation is stronger between XRP/BTC due to rising general interest in crypto. This occurred mostly in recent months. Prior to that, XRP was doing its own thing, as determined by the low correlation relative to the lifetime average.
Also yes, I'm suggesting it could be cyclical, but just as my own idea. I could be dead wrong about this. Unfortunately, I just don't have enough data to better determine the next piece of the puzzle. But it's just something to consider as you build your XRP portfolio.