Biggest news of the day? The House of Representatives voted to oust Keven McCarthy as Speaker of the House, 216-210. Never happened before in our history. So what's next?- At the beginning of his speakership, McCarthy filed into the record (kept secret) a list of names in priority order to the House Clerk to act in the case of his vacancy.
The person highest on the list shall act as Speaker pro tempore.- The first task will presumably be to vote on a permanent speaker. But not necessarily. There is no legal time frame for anything.
- Could McCarthy run again?
- Sure.
- Probably won't win a normal vote, so could well work out a deal with Democrats.
- But he has said enough, and won't run again.
- Could Democrat Hakeem Jeffries run?
- Sure.
- But he won't get that position.
- Could Matt Gaetz become the next speaker.
- Nope.
- Why? Republicans are not idiotic as Gaetz.
The second big newsworthy item is that no one won the Powerball jackpot last night. Thus, you have until...well, depends on where you live, for the deadline will be 9:59PM EDT in New Jersey and 10PM in New York, etc., tomorrow, Wednesday night, to enter your bet. A $2 investment can win you $1.2 billion, but you can add another buck to qualify for other options. The odds remain one in 292.2 million against your hitting the jackpot. There have been 33 consecutive drawings since the previous winner on July 19. Powerball is played in 45 states, but not Hawaii.
Mega Millions will be drawn tonight at 11PM EDT, but is only at $315 million.
- The odds of winning the jackpot here is 1 in 302.6 million.
- Remember that your odds of getting struck by lighting once in your lifetime is only 1 in 15,300, and wonder why you bet anything at all.
Or, how about this? If you bought a lottery ticket for every drawing over 80 years--twice per week for Mega Millions and thrice/week for Powerball--you are FAR LESS LIKELY TO Win than to be struck by lightning once. Reminds me on being in a lighting storm on a van from Delhi to Agra. I almost died.
One more: imagine driving half a mile to buy your lottery ticket on a one mile roundtrip. You 4 TIMES MORE LIKELY TO DIE in this car accident on your short trip than to win at these lotteries.- Mind you, there are all kinds of tiers, where you can win as little as $2 and $4. But the odds of winning any prize at all is about 1 in 24.
- However, buying a $2 lottery ticket has entertainment value. I play fantasy sports for nothing to win nothing, and still do this annually. And, by the way, I this year placed first in the league with a team, and twice in second place, for my three teams. The time spent daily was enormous, but just placing so high without winning any money was worth the effort.
I last night watched Elton John Uncensored on Netflix. Maybe a tad boring, but the program inspired me to choose this topic nostalgic Tuesday, for I did go to two of his concerts, and his hits seemed come at key points of my life.
But first a bit about him:
Sir Elton Hercules John (yes, he was knighted) was born in 1947 in a London suburb.- Won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied for five years.
- In 1967 formed a partnership with Bernie Taupin (lyrics). Elton wrote the music.
- Taupin called it a non-sexual love affair. He has been married four times, all to females. Now lives in Santa Barbara, California.
One of their compositions, Your Song, was first released by Three Dog Night in 1970, but only for an album.- Elton's released the single, and this became his first hit. Billboard in 2022 ranked Your Song as number two of Elton's 75 greatest songs.
- What was I doing in 1970? I was well into my PhD research on Tunable Organic Dye Laser Irration of Escherichia coli.
In 1972 came Honky Cat. I graduated from LSU with a PhD in biochemical engineering and got a job at the University of Hawaii. 51 years later, I still have an office on the Manoa Campus. On that same album was also Rocket Man, the title of that film. Tiny Dancer also was released in 1972.
Daniel was released in 1973, and on side two was Crocodile Rock.
- Here is another version of the story behind Daniel.
- And, yes, Daniel is the name of my brother.
- Also in 1973 was the album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, with four highlights, the song of the same name, plus Saturday Nights' Alright for Fighting, Bennie and the Jets and Candle in the Wind for Marilyn Monroe.
John sang Goodbye Yellow Brick Road in his tour of that name for about the fifteen hundredth time in his 50 years of performing. I actually went to that concert in Honolulu not that many years ago. Also around 40 years ago at the Forum, the Breaking Hearts Tour in Los Angeles.
In 1974 sang Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, with John Lennon. The Beatles had recorded this tune in 1967, which in 1974 was playing in celebration of the uncovering of an Australopithecus afarensis specimen, maybe the oldest known human ancestor, and so Donald Johanson and Maurice Taieb named the skeleton Lucy.
- Philadelphia Freedom was released in 1975 as a favor to Elton's friend Billie Jean King, who led the professional tennis team of that name.
- Pinball Wizard was also a hit that year.
In 1976, Don't Go Breaking My Heart, with Kiki Dee. Also that year, Sorry Seems to be the hardest word. This was the period I spent my summers with NASA's SETI and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory laser fusion programs.
- Elton was married to Renate Blaul in 1984. No children. I had recently returned from to the University of Hawaii from working the U.S. Senate, and helped form the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research.
Mid-1980s was the time for Sad Songs and That's What Friends Are For, with Dione Warwick, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder. This latter song was a cover of a 1982 hit by Rod Stewart made for the film, Night Shift, and was organized to earn funds for AIDS research. I became director of the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute.- I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues returned in 1990 with Mary Bilge.
Elton and his husband, David Furnish, have been together since the early 1990's. They were legally married in 2014, and have two songs by the same surrogate.
In 1997 Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a Paris car crash.
- Her funeral came on September 6, the day of my birth, where Elton John and Bernie Taupin rewrote the earlier 1973 version to Candle in the Wind '97 or Goodbye England's Rose for her.
Originally, Taupin was moved by Clive Davis' tribute to Janis Joplin using Candle in the Wind.- Known as a threnody, the song was a metaphor for fame and dying young.
- On side two was Something About the Way You Look Tonight.
In 1994 Elton John wrote the music, with lyrics by Tim Rice, for Disney's animated The Lion King. Can You Feel the Love Tonight was the biggest song, and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1995. I recall that year addressing UNESCO in Paris on the Blue Revolution.
In October of 1997, Candle in the Wind 97 became John's ninth U.S. #1, where it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 weeks, and is the best-selling single in history, although there is debate whether Bing Crosby's White Christmas holds that title.- He performed the song only once, at Diana's funeral, and never again. His tour version remains that of Marilyn Monroe.
I'm thinking back to my life in 1997, and my only thought is that I was beginning to take steps to retire from the University Hawaii, which I did in 1999. That was almost a quarter century ago.
- #1 Rocket Man
- #2 Your Song
- #3 Tiny Dancer
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