100 Little Boys (fell on Hiroshima) actually are almost nothing today. That one 1961 Tsar Hydrogen Bomba thermonuclear explosion of the Soviet Union imparted the energy of 1570 times those Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs combined. Keep in mind, though, that this was only 25% the yield of the 1883 Indonesia Krakatoa eruption. So nature can be worse.
Scarily enough, nine countries have 13,400 nuclear weapons, all more powerful than Little Boy. 1800 of those weapons are held in high alert. That was old news, for the latest this year is that number is now 12,700, 90% owned by the U.S. and Russia. The U.S., China and Russia are actually spending huge sums to modernize their warheads and delivery systems. Remember those trillion dollar spending bills being derailed by Republicans? Well, the U.S. alone plans to spend up to $1.5 trillion to overhaul our nuclear arsenal, with no debate.
Yet, disarmament has worked. Just before the end of the Cold War a third of a century ago, the Soviet Union had ten times more warheads. Our peak was half a century ago.
But no one is thinking about nuclear holocaust as a solution for global warming. The temperature in Antarctica here and there reached an astonishing 40C (70F) above normal this weekend, and March is their equivalent of Fall. Near the South Pole (Concordia Station--which is two miles above sea level), a record high for the day was attained, 10 F, 70 F above normal. At the same time, spots near the North Pole, in this early spring, showed signs of melting, with some temperatures 50F higher than normal.
Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson is before the U.S. Senate. Empire Stakes gives her a 69.2% chance of being confirmed. At this time, Kamala Harris is at 2% and Hillary Clinton at 1%. Note, though, that someone will someday be confirmed. These odds are not the odds of her passing through these specific Senate hearings.
Casino.org gives her just a 13% chance of receiving confirmation by April 1. By the way, only last June, Jackson's confirmation to the judgeship she now holds passed 53-44. The three Republicans were Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.
But most believe she will ultimately become the next Associate Justice. A filibuster cannot be used and Democrats have the majority, with Veep Harris being the 51st vote. No noisy Manchin on this issue. On the other hand, some Democrat or two must be negotiating behind the scenes to get something for future consideration.
Finally, a bit more about the American Song Contest tonight, which of course is a spinoff of the Eurovision Song Contest. Past winners there have been ABBA and Celine Dione, while Julio Iglesias participated in 1970 and finished fourth. The difference in America is that the show developers just went out and selected participants from each state/territory to balance the platform. In Europe, each country has some form of competition, and ends up sending a star or a fabulous new talent. Citizens are thus invested in their candidate.
In the USA the 2022 program organizers must have felt that an idiot was needed to balance someone like Michael Bolton. So they discovered Bronson Varde from Hawaii. Here is a video I found. I think he is the one who kicks first. To be fair, a song of his without he actually being shown. Ah, finally, Bronson performing. And you get to know something about him.
All participants need to sing an original song so the producers will have no problem later releasing some version of it. I Also read that in Europe no live instruments are allowed. I noticed they had a backing orchestra. I watched a couple of their past finals and saw that the judging by the full jury (50+ individuals) was an integral part of the package.
Maybe some day American Song Contest will produce a song like Domenico Mudugno (right) did in 1958 with Nel Blu Di Pinto Di Blu, which is Eurovision's most covered song ever, known in the U.S. as Volare by Dean Martin. However, Modugno only placed third. In 1974 Abba sang Waterloo to prevail. The 1988 winner was Celine Dione with Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi. See what she looked like 35 years ago. Or Julio Iglesias in 1970 at the age of 27 with Gwendolyne. Last year it was Maneskin with Zitti e Buoni.
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