MEMORIAL DAY 2022

Every few years I delve into the meaning of Memorial Day. I did that last year. Our Freedom was not free. We are what we are today because of those who died protecting us.

Ever wonder what the difference is between Memorial Day and Veterans Day? Read my posting of 2016.

What should you do on Memorial Day? You already missed the PBS telecast of the Concert on the Mall. But click on this for a You Tube recast. This was a different kind of show, for it was lacking in stars, but more than made up for it with stories of patriotism.

In Hawaii, I sometimes went to the Shinnyo Lantern Floating ceremony at Ala Moana Beach That has changed, and today will occur on their temple grounds. However, you need reservations, and there are none anymore. There will be a live broadcast from 6:30 to 7PM on KHON2.

I could again walk up to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific inside Punchbowl, but will not.

This the 60th anniversary of the official opening of the USS Arizona Memorial (left). There will be Taps Across America Tribute at the Battleship Missouri Memorial. This Moment of Remembrance is an annual event for Americans, wherever they, at 3 PM local time on Memorial Day, to pause for a minute to remember those who have sacrificed their lives in military service to the country. It does cost $35/person to board of ship, half price for 4-12. Every 15 minutes from the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center at 1 Arizona Memorial Place, you can catch a free shuttle to get you to the Aviation Museum, where the historic Ford Island Control Tower (red and white tower above, and below) just opened.

Otherwise, can report on two events happening on Thursday this week, June 2:

The nearly century old Scripps National Spelling Bee, will not be on ESPN, but on Ion, Bounce, Laff and TrueReal.

Here is how to get the program on Ion. In Honolulu:

I looked it up for Spectrum for my zip code, and was led to Channel 27 and 1027, KPXOHD.
Semifinals at 7PM on Wednesday, with Finals at 7PM on Thursday.

Also on June 2 will be first game of the 2022 NBA Finals, with the Golden State Warriors hosting the Boston Celtics. On ABC or fubo TV at 9PM EDT. The odds are Warriors -160, Celtics +140.

A minus means the team is favored, or plus is the underdog.
Go to the right column of this blog to out what these numbers mean.

This site says that if you bet $100 on the Warriors, you will get a total of $162.50 back.
Or the implied probability is that the Warriors have a 61.54% chance of winning.
If you bet $100 on the Celtics, you win a total of $240.
Or the implied probability is that the Celtics have a 41.67% change of winning.

Tom Cruise is back.

His sequel, Top Gun: Maverick. will probably earn $156 million this 4-day weekend in the USA, and $280 million worldwide, even though the movie is not yet playing in China and Russia.

The original came out in 1986. Rotten Tomatoes reviewers did not think much of this production, giving a 57% rating. However, the audience said 83%. That was 36 years ago, with Take My Breath Away by Berlin going on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
TG2 was completed two years ago but this release was delayed because of the pandemic. Rotten Tomatoes bestowed 96/99 ratings. The song this time is Hold My Hand by Lady Gaga.

Hurricane Agnes is a Category 2 storm, and poised to strike Oaxaca, Mexico over the cities of Puerto Angel and La Crucecita. While earlier today she was up to 110 MPH, there is a weakening trend. One potential danger is that, after moving on to Tabasco, Agnes could enter the Gulf Mexico and threaten the Yucatan. Being an A means this is the first hurricane of 2022 in the East Pacific. Next will be Blas. In the Atlantic, the first will be named Alex.

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicio...

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for...

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These a...

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