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BAD NEWS...PLUS

              From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):


        DAY  USA  WORLD   Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9    1093     4732         1185       246       82
July    22     1205     7128         1293      1120     572
Aug    12     1504     6556        1242        835     130
Sept     9     1208      6222       1136       1168       82
Oct     21     1225      6849         571        703       85
Nov    25      2304    12025        620        518      118
Dec    30      3880    14748       1224       299      465
Jan     14       4142    15512         1151        189       712              
Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398
          25       2414    10578        1582        119      144
Mar     2        1989      9490       1726       110      194
          31       1115      12301        3950       458       58
April   6         906     11787         4211        631       37
May    4         853     13667         3025     3786      59 
         26         607     12348         2399     3842     101
June    1         287     10637        2346      3205      95
          30        249      8505        2127        991      383
July     7          251      8440         1595        817      411
         28          483    10136          1366       641      520 
Aug    3           516    10057         1238        561      555
           4           656    10120        1118         532      423
          11          614    10352         1123          519      573  
          18        1055   10574          985         511       384
          24        1134    10462         885         787      369
          25        1287   11301           901         608      516

Summary:
  • The USA had 171,737 new cases yesterday and the most number of new deaths since February.
  • New cases and new cases/million by states:
    • USA                           518
    • Florida  26,203       1219
    • Texas  21,961            757
    • California  13,583    344
    • Georgia  22,400      2113
    • Louisiana  6,619     1423
    •  
    • Hawaii  573              409
    •  
    • World                         95
    • Japan                        166
    • China                            0.014
I rarely feature bad news.  Today, I offer a glimmer of hope with the addition of ...plus.  COVID-19 has been bad news for a year and a half, and the only positives I can offer are that the official approval of vaccines, compounded by a booster shot, should bring the world out of pandemic status some time next year.  Those who choose not to be vaccinated will diminish when they are faced with the loss of medical coverage if they contract this illness.  The courts will side with medical plans because costs do go up with COVID-19.

Kabul Airport is getting dangerous, as a suicide bomber today attacked, killing dozens of Afghans and at least 12 U.S. service members.  Another bomb went off at Abbey Gate near the Baron Hotel.  Apparently not the fault of the Taliban or al-Qaeda.  Another islamic terrorist group identified as ISIS-K was said to be responsible.  Who are they?  An offshoot of the Islamic State, the K stands for Khorasan, and they appear to be well financed.  They are said to be a threat to the Taliban leadership.

The U.S. will get around 100,000 evacuated by the August 31 deadline, but that means at least 150,000 Afghans and their families will be left behind.  Really bad news for them. 

9/11/01 was almost two decades ago.  I still remember that morning, when my wife and I stayed in bed all day to see the cataclysm unfold.  The only good news is that America will be out of that 20-year war.

Like my Indiana Jones adventures tending to be mundane, I've also recently been laced by assorted mistakes and misfortune, but not of consequential relative to those global crises.  It began earlier this week when in the process of throwing personal things away to make room for my travel partner moving into my apartment, I made two bags:  a large one with more than 25 pairs of footwear to discard, and a smaller one with maybe a dozen for keeping.  Well, I threw both of them away, leaving me with 3 pairs.  The last time I was down to this number was when I left Hawaii for the very first time to start college at Stanford.

So on Tuesday I went shopping for shoes.  I was particularly concerned that planning for this TEDx event would create a need for dress shoes.  I've had a couple of these meetings the past month and for the first time in maybe years actually wore dress trousers.  I first went to Ross' because it has cheap house slippers.  Did you know that their outlet on Ward is gone?  I grew up in Kakaako just a few minutes away.  So I went to Ala Moana Shopping Center to try Skechers, because they make comfortable shoes.  Bought three pairs, one being for golf, which means two of my six are now for this sport.  My dress shoes are more for leisure walking, but they will do for now.

My idea of the best bread is a loaf from Assaggio, an Italian restaurant located near where my car was parked.  So for $1.99 I bought one.  Mind you, I've been avoiding bread and rice during this pandemic period, not because you can get this disease from them, but to check my weight.  My justification was that I was safely below 155 pounds, and life is too short to not enjoy as much of the remainder as possible.  Did you know that the Honolulu Satellite City Hall has moved just across the fountain pond and escalator from Assaggio's?


I had thoughts, even during this Delta-variant surge to perhaps have pork tonkatsu at Rokkaku Hamakatsu.  However, driving by it appeared to be closed, perhaps forever.  

So after I got my shoes and bread, I was walking to my car, and close by was a food mall.  I went in, looked around and saw that Musubi had pork tonkatsu on chicken curry.  So I bought a bento.  I had a small amount of ahi sashimi delivered by a friend, so had a good lunch at home.  Well, the pork tonkatsu was marginal.  But it's safer to eat at home.

Yesterday I used my new white golf shoes to walk at the Ala Wai Golf Course.  Somehow, I lost my wrist blood pressure device, which I use to control my pulse rate.  So I did not want to stress myself and rested after hole #3 to await John on the 5th.  I was in the shade and got a severe pain under my knee.  An ant bit me and several more were on me.  Killed six.  Moved to another shady spot which looked safe, and soon thereafter I saw three more on my new white golf shoes.  Killed a couple more.  I now see an advantage of white golf shoes.  After the 6th hole I went to the starter office, and asked if....yes someone did, so I was pretty much able to walk the rest of the way.  From bad to good news.

Went home, took a bath, had a great spaghetti dinner and finally got a phone call from my travel agent.  First she was in quarantine from having contracted COVID-19 (which explained why she had not returned my request last week for a phone call).  Wow, the first person I now know who caught this dreaded virus.  But she was actually okay, and went on for the bad news:  Princess has cancelled their world cruise.  What do I do about the Dubai Expo, which appears to still be scheduled to begin in October and end in March?   Well, we can still consider the Star Alliance Global ticket.  Let's see how goes the pandemic.

I then got a follow-up notice that if we transfer our deposit to their 2023 world cruise, and let them know by August 31, we would get:
  • Onboard spending money.
  • Rountrip airfare.
  • Specialty dining.
  • Premier Beverage Package.
  • Wi-Fi.
  • Gratuities
Something worth considering.


Can't end on such a downer, so here is Pearl's Sunburst on the fifth day of blossoming:


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