EGGS....and SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES

Okay, why are eggs so expensive? Actually, if the media did not inform me, I would not have noticed. However, the average person in the U.S. eats nearly an egg a day (278/year), and is troubled by a doubling of the price. From the New York Times this morning:

One reason is the price of feed:

But grain prices were higher a decade or so ago, and there was no effect on the cost of eggs then.

So what about avian flu? Yes, there were outbreaks last year, and 44 million egg-laying hens were killed. 43 million similar birds were sacrifice eight years ago, and the price of eggs did jump, but not quite as much now. Further, 44 million hens only account for 10% of all egg-layers.

Some might actually turn to alternatives, but eggs are eggs and can't really be substituted. Anyway, people today go shopping and barely notice a $5 item. We'll survive this crisis.

Oh, another piece of news. There are reports that 200,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded in the Ukraine war. President Vladimir Putin, on the 80th anniversary of their triumph in World War II, vowed that Russia will be victorious again.

However, Wikipedia shows lower numbers. Maybe when you add wounded this could be.

Changing the subject again, I've always liked Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. The song was written by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach for the 1933 musical Roberta. The first recorded performance was by Gertrude Niesen (left), under the orchestral direction of Ray Sinatra, Frank's second cousin. The B-side was Jealousy, another of my favorite. Well, not this one. The song I remember was actually titled Jalousie, composed by Jacob Gade in 1925. The first hit recording of SGIYE, however, was by Paul Whiteman and his orchestra in 1934.

My all-time favorite is by Irene Dunne, who performed the song in the 1935 film Roberta, co-starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Randolph Scott. If you click on that, you can see the whole film, rated 86/66 by Rotten Tomatoes. Here, Dunne singing Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.

Lovely to Look At was a 1952 film remake, with Kathryn Grayson's Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. My second favorite.

Most remember the 1958 Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by the Platters, which hit #1. I used this version because it has the lyrics about what the song is all about. This second version shows them singing.

There have of course been numerous also popular renditions:

Benny Goodman Orchestra.
Glenn Miller recorded this song in 1944, but soon died in World War II, and this performance wasn't released until 1995.

Nat King Cole sang it.
Jo Stafford.
Blue Haze in 1972.

By now you know that the the so-called greatest of all-time Tom Brady finally retired from football as the oldest starting quarterback at the age of 45. Well, there is a new film, 80 for Brady, with his participation, and starring Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Sally Field and Rita Moreno. Their combined age is 335. Now you know the reason for the title. Rotten Tomatoes reviewers did not like it, giving it 64%, but audiences scored it at 88%. Good preparation for the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 12.

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...

OSAKA EXPO: Day One

Well, the day finally came for us to go to the Osaka Expo. We were told ahead of time that the long walks would be fearful, giant lines will need to be tolerated just to get into the Expo, with those ocean breezes, it would really be cold, and so forth. Maybe it was pure luck, but we avoided all the above warnings We had a grand day, and are looking forward to Sunday, our second day at the Expo. So come along for an enjoyable ride. Our hotel is adjacent to the Tennoji Station, a very large one with several lines. We upgraded our Suica card and caught the Misosuji red line towards Umeda. Transferred to the Chuo green line at the Hommachi Station. This Osaka Metro train took us to the Yumeshima Station at the Expo site. It was a very large mob leaving the train and heading to the entrance. Took only a few minutes to get to the entrance. This mob was multiplied by at least a factor of ten of those already waiting to enter. However...

WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO A JAPANESE HIGH TECH TOILET

Did you know that Oktoberfest in Germany is mostly in September? The very first day of Oktoberfest 2021 was supposed to be today, September 18, extending into October 3. Well, as in 2020, Oktoberfest was cancelled. So why is it called by that month when it is held mostly in September? The first celebration in 1810 was in October. Did you also know that Oktoberfest is held only in Munich? These days seven million drink more than a liter ( about three typical cans ) of beer each, costing around $11. Except for my wife and I when we followed the crowd to board the S-Bahn to the fairgrounds near Old Town. It was drizzling a bit. We bought a large pretzel outside of a typical barn where beer is served. We did not know that you needed to get this inside the hall. So no one came to serve us beer. After a while we decided to have lunch, and the restaurant we settled on only served wine. Thus, we might have been the ...

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