IT'S A STERLING FRIDAY...AND THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE TODAY

Although I've now been retired for more than 20 years, Friday remains as my best day of the week.  My apartment is cleaned, bed remade and towels replaced. I tend to have my best meal of the week on Friday nights.  I once golfed a lot on this day.  I'm happier on Fridays.

This morning I awoke, turned on the TV to Classic Arts Showcase, and first on were Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli singing Con Te Partiro.  That was Tuscany in 1997.  Did you know she's already 60 years old?  He is 62 and became blind from a football (soccer) accident at the age of 12.  His duet with Celine Dion of The Prayer came the following year.

The World is today a better place because the U.S. not only just rejoined the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, but also the global humanity.  President Joe Biden virtually met with other G7 leaders and made progress on pandemic recovery and vaccine plans.

Next, NASA success.  The Perseverance rover landed exactly where it was supposed to on Mars, and sent a photo back to Earth.  From the New York Times:

• Perseverance, NASA’s advanced new rover, touched down on Mars. Here’s what you need to know about its mission and the experimental “Marscopter” on board.

Further:

• It took around 7 months to get to Mars, but a signal with that photo came back in only 13 minutes.  
• This is why the size of our Milky Way and Universe are so mind-boggling.  Light, or an electronic signal, would take 100,000 years to get from one end to the other.  And we are only one of 125 billion or so galaxies.  
• A message from our nearest neighbor Andromeda would take 2.5 million years to get here.  Homo sapiens, us, appeared 250,00 years ago.

• 
  You can see the Orion Nebula.  If you wanted to communicate with a civilization there, it would take 1500 years for a signal to reach them.  Then if some intelligent life did detect it and responded, another 1500 years to get back.  Those 3000 years would equivalently take us to 1000 BC when:
• The world population was 50 million.
• David became King of Israel.
• Phoenicians invented the alphabet.

Texas snowstorm?  Donald Trump would have joked about global warming.  One conspiracy theory has Joe Biden manipulating the jet stream to punish Texas for not supporting him.

Well, blame the polar vortex, again.  The term originated in 1853.  I would try to explain to you what this is, but it will only further confuse you.  Anyway, it seems that rapid heating of the Arctic does push frigid air away from the north pole.  So global warming is causing abnormally low winter temperatures further south.

I've been posting on Naomi Osaka the past couple of days, so here is one more:

• Two years ago I introduced Naomi Osaka.  
• She was born in Osaka, Japan of a Haitian father, Leonard Francois,  and Japanese mother, Tamaki Osaka.  Living in Japan, Naomi and her older sister Mari had to use the the name of the mother.  
• At the age of 3 the family moved to New York to stay with her father's parents.  Interestingly enough, Francois, who didn't know how to play tennis, read that the Williams sisters were taught by their father, who also was not a player.  
• 
  A few years later, the family moved to Florida to be closer to real coaches.  
• Two years ago, Naomi made the choice to play for Japan in the Summer Olympics.
• 
  The World Tennis Association (WTA) has Ashleigh Barty of the Australia as #1, Osaka at #3 and Jennifer Brady, (right), 25, of the USA, at #24.  Should you want to watch the Osaka-Brady women's finals of the Australian Open, this match will be on ESPN2 Saturday morning at 10:30AM (EST, or 5:30 AM in Hawaii).
• Something you no doubt didn't know.  Sophia Kenin is the ONLY American female in the top 10 WTA ranking.  Serena Williams is #11.
• 
  Here is something even more disconcerting.  The Association of Tennis (this is the entity that ranks men's tennis) has Novak Djokovic at #1.  He is from Serbia and is 34 years old.  
• Best American?  John Isner at #24.  He is 35 and 6'10' tall.
• In 2018, 25 Americans were in the top 200, the most since 2002,  All but three are older than 28.
• Only one American made the list of 10 newcomers to watch in 2021.  Brandon Nakashima (right) is 19, originally from San Diego and ranked #133.

• 
  This is the same John Isner who in 2010 beat Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in game 5 of their Wimbledon match.  I've been in 10-8 games, but 70-68?  Amazing.  Here is a short video of this longest game in tennis history.  Of course, if you have 11 hours and 55 minutes to spare, this is the entire match.

• 
  The U.S. hasn't won the Davis Cup (determines best tennis nation in world) since 2007.
• We have been world champs 32 times, while #2 Australia has 28 victories.  So at one time we were at the top.

• 
  What happened to the USA?  Read a 2013 article:  Why is American Tennis Dying?
• Had to show a photo of Trump at tennis.
• It's not the money, because Roger Federer is second to Tiger Woods.
• Four of five richest female ATHLETES are tennis players.

• 
  Here is a hopeful Forbes article from 2019.
• Coco Grauff of the USA as a 15-year old defeated Osaka (right) in the third round of the Australian Open last year.  Earlier, she upset Venus Williams (who was 24 years older) at Wimbledon in 2019.  Grauff lost in the second round this year in Australia.  She is ranked #48 today, and is struggling.  However, she is still only 16.

I'll end with a Did You Know:

On the other hand, according to this article, there is no black rose.  Halfeti became a new place in 2001 when the country dammed the Euphrates, flooding the town.  In a way, this so-called black rose is a tourist attraction, partly to support their economy.  But here is the real look of this Turkish black rose.

Well, that was a disappointment.  What about this photo of a dog running back into a burning home to save a kitten?

However, the consensus opinion from Reddit is...nope, not true.

Okay, what about this one?

Snopes responds yes and no.  Sure, a person could be kept alive for an indeterminate period of time on that diet.  But some nutrients are missing, and remaining alive and remaining healthy are two very different things.  I've also checked other sources, and no one mentions the need for water.  But potatoes are 80% water, so I guess the potatoes/butter combination might be enough.  Certainly during a drought or famine.

But I need one Did You Know which is 100% true, so what about?

Yes, this is true.  An interesting question is, does the human eye or the best cameras have more pixels?  The answer today is us.  Our competition:

• Hasselblad H6D-400C Multi-Shot = 400 Megapixels.
• Fujifilm Phase One XT = 151 MP
• Sony A7R IV = 61 MP

• 
  my iPhone 7 = 12 MP

But that Hasselblad costs $48,000.  If you can't afford that, you can rent one for $480/day.  I'm not sure what I paid for my iPhone 7, but today it costs around $100, and takes great photos.

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