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A DIFFERENT KIND OF WORLD NEWS

President Joe Biden zoomed President Jinping Xi of China for three and a half hours.  Here is what they discussed:

  • Exchanged pleasantries, with Xi calling Biden "my old friend.
  • This was a virtual meeting, for Xi has not left China in two years and did not go to the Rome meeting.
  • There was that initial "agreement" between the two countries at COP26 that set a tone of cooperation.
  • Biden was in a favorable position having just signed the $1.2 trillion bipartisan bill.
  • The hot button is Taiwan.  Xi warned the U.S. on this matter.
  • Biden brought up the standard human rights issues, and tried to open the door to closer international investigation of the pandemic.
  • That photo to the right was when they met in China in 2013.
  • Xi did not invite Biden to join him at the February Beijing Winter Olympics.
  • Healthy debate, but no breakthroughs.
  • From all reports, China won.

How different is China from the U.S.?  To control COVID-19, some extreme measures are taken.  For example, government officials have entered the homes of quarantined patients and killed their pets.  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (or CDC) has said that the probability is low that patients can transmit this virus to their pets, and even lower for pets to infect their owners.

As populations age, societal norms shift.  Japan is aging, and now elders, because of incontinence, use more diapers than babies.  In the town of Houki, diapers are 10% of the trash.  So they converted an incinerator to heating water for their onsens.  The local people do not seem to mind.  In 2030 those 65 and older will be around one-third the national population.  The present U.S. population of 65 and older is 17%.

I remember during my years in the sugar industry when fields were burned, rats were found everywhere.  Well, in Egypt there is the Arabian fat-tailed scorpion, or Androctonus crassicauda, which translates from the Greek to man-killer.  Recent floods forced these creatures out of their hiding-places and in the province of Aswan more than 500 were stung, killing three.

Jake Shimabukuro and friends just released a new album.  He is now world famous as perhaps the best uke player ever, and he even has entertained us here at 15 Craigside.  All of these entertainers have a Hawaii connection.

A project that took two years to accomplish, it started well with Willie Nelson as the first friend, where he selected his signature song, Stardust, first recorded over 40 years ago, around the time Jake was born.

Bette Midler, born in Honolulu, wanted to re-record her Golden Globe-winning classic, The Rose.  It comes from her 1979 film by the same name, her first, where she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar.  Sort of depicted the life of Janis Joplin.  Midler won the Grammy for this performance, beating out that year Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer.  The song was selected to the #83 spot in AFI's 100 years of 100 songs.

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