One more condemnation of Russia: Junk mail is of course now digital as well. Nearly 300 billion emails are sent and received every day, and spam messages accounted for more than 45 percent of email traffic in March 2021, according to   Statista . Which country is most responsible for invading your inbox without permission?  Russia, where nearly 25 percent of unsolicited emails originated .   Most spam emails are benign if annoying, but a growing number of variants include spyware, trojans, ransomware, and other malicious agents designed to damage systems or compromise recipients’ personal information. It was a so-called   “phishing” expedition   by Russian hackers that famously led to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s emails in 2016 when a fake “account reset” claiming to be from Google sent to Clinton campaign manager John Podesta was opened . By the way, did you know that  SPAM is called SPAM  because it is a contraction of spiced ham, invented by Hormel Foods in 1

Something to worry about if you live in Alaska: Ever wonder what happened to Justin Bieber?  Discovered at the age of 13, he went through drugs, depression, Lyme disease, mononucleosis...then found God, wife...Hailey Bailey, happiness, is on tour and will turn 28 tomorrow.  Here he is with  Baby . So I picked crunchy nuts as my topic of today.  Turned out that the title is flawed.  Nuts works as a statement, but not as what you consume.  Did you know National Almond Day was February 16? Everything you need to know about almonds : Not a nut. Filled with vitamin E, magnesium, phosphorous, riboflavin, biotin, calcium and fiber. Claimed by the FDA to reduce heart disease if  you eat 1.5 ounces/day.   Anyone tell you how many almonds you need to daily eat to meet that requirement?  35!!!   This weight of almonds has 20 grams of fat, but mostly unsaturated, and supposedly good for your health. Also combats obesity, diabetes and lowers the risk of cancer because of antioxidant and anti-inflam

About the Ukraine matter, here is another explanation, by  VOX , of why Putin invaded.  In short: Putin believes that Ukraine is an illegitimate country that exists on land that’s historically and rightfully Russian. Zelensky’s willingness to move away from Moscow and toward the West is, in Putin’s mind, an attempt to legitimize the “false” regime in Kyiv. The existence of an anti-Russian regime in what he views as rightfully Russian territory populated by rightfully Russian people is unacceptable to him — so unacceptable that he is willing to wage a costly and bloody war over it . I haven't been paying much attention to chess for quite a while, so with nothing better to do this sparkling (the view of Honolulu from where I sit is fabulous) Saturday morning, I will attempt to crystallize the essence of the field.  Click on  this  to see the world ranking: #1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway is only 31 and has already been World Chess Champ for five years.  His peak rating of 2882 is the hig

  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 Mar     2        1989     9490        1726       110      194 April   6         906     11787         4211       631       37 May    4         853    13667        3025      3786      59   June   1         287    10637         2346      3205      95  July   7          251      8440        1595         817     411 A