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READ THIS BLOG IN AWE

Some tell me that they read my blog  daily to vicariously enhance their lives.   From an issue of Time magazine I am now reading by Angela Haupt: YOU DON’T NEED TO BOOK A FLIGHT to see the north­ern lights or watch a total solar eclipse to exper­i­ence awe. All you have to do is look up at a sun­set, down at the veins of a leaf, or deep into your morn­ing cof­fee. Exper­i­en­cing just a few minutes of awe a day is linked to less stress, anxi­ety, and depres­sion; lower inflam­ma­tion; less loneli­ness; and more gen­er­os­ity and con­nec­tion, research­ers have found. “I don’t think there’s any­thing you can do that’s bet­ter for you than a few minutes of awe,” says Dacher Kelt­ner, a psy­cho­lo­gist at the Uni­versity of Cali­for­nia, Berke­ley, and author of Awe: The New Sci­ence of Every­day Won­der and How It Can Trans­form Your Life. Awe is the feel­ing you get “when you encounter things that are vast and bey­ond your frame of ref­er­ence,” Kelt­ner says, shift­ing ...
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THE CRUISE TO THE TOTAL ECLIPSE CONTINUES

Nothing much has changed since my reportage yesterday of the Iran, Ukraine and Gaza Strip Wars, the uncontrolled wildfire in British Columbia and weather. To continue our Azamara Journey cruise, I last stopped after lunch on Day 1. The good news is that all is well on this ship.  Dinner was okay, late night dancing fine and I had a terrific night of great sleep. Dinner was at the Windows Cafe buffet, and we coincidentally sat at the same table as lunch.  A whole section of sushi, with a Heineken and chardonnay. Went for after dinner drinks in The Den, where Jose was on the keys,  Then onto the show for the evening in the Cabaret Lounge, where Vinyl Records was the feature. The time was around 11PM, and the only place open was the Living Room for late night dancing.  Shore Thing, a band from the Philippines played loud and fine.  Like the music.  Did some dancing. Chatted with their leader, and he promised to play Anak tomorrow night.  I featured this s...

WE HAVE BOARDED THE AZAMARA JOURNEY, AND ARE ON OUR WAY TO THE COMING TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE

There is not much military activity diirectly related to the War with Iran today, but: Iran insists that the U.S. agrees to all concessions before opening the Strait of Hormuz. No serious peace talks are occurring. The Houthis continue to cause problems with Saudi Arabia. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally rejected the U.S. proposal for the Gaza Strip. In other news: Todd Blanche was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as U.S. attorney general. Typhoon Dolphin made landfall over Okinawa at 101 MPH, causing damage, but, at this time, no known deaths.  Next, on to Zhejiang. While not threatening Hong Kong, this storm was deemed responsible for the record high temperature today of just about 98.5 F. As we are expecting to stop through Vancouver after our cruise ship docks in Montreal, I asked Google AI whether the latest British Columbia wild fire is also impacting this city: Yes, there are some active wildfires and smoke in British Columbia , including a small local fire in Metro V...

FINAL DAY IN REYKJAVIK AND ON TO THE AZAMARA JOURNEY

Never gets fully dark at night in Reykjavik in early August. 16-hours of daylight. Sun sets at 10:30PM or so Sung rises at 4:30AM or so. Daily highs around 55 F, with lows in the mid-40s. According to Google AI: Reykjavík is widely recognized as one of the safest capitals in the world . It frequently tops global safety rankings, such as the Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection report, which has named Reykjavík the world's safest city. Violent crime is exceedingly rare, and the city boasts a high level of social trust, low property crime, and a relaxed community atmosphere compared to most major global capitals. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ] However: Traditional outright taxi scams are not common in Reykjavík , but recent changes to Iceland's taxi laws have led to a rise in complaints regarding inflated fares, unmetered overcharging, and opportunistic drivers targeting tourists—especially for airport or late-night trips. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] Our tour guide warned us to be car...