Two days ago I posted  The Story of Netflix .  For those who read it--as, for some reason, there were a lot of readers--here will be the  new 2024 programs  on this streaming channel, courtesy of  Time  magazine.  Also, to aid in your watching plan, what series and films will be departing.  One series in particular caught my attention, starring Michelle Yeoh in eight episodes of  The Brothers Sun .  Who is she? Best Actress Oscar for  Everything Everything All at Once . Also in  Crazy Rich Asians ,  Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon  and  Tomorrow Never Dies . Was Miss World Malaysia 1983. She's 60 years old. I was planning to spend today doing my prediction of what would be occurring next year.  I got depressed, for it looks like Donald Trump will dominate.  So my choice of this posting today came only after I stayed in bed all morning to watch  Radio Days , a 1987 film written, directed and voiced by Woody Allen.  The story itself was nothing much, but the cast was noteworthy. Dann

  Did you know that only   2.3 billion people live in a democracy?  That's 29% of 8 billion.  Donald Trump wants to lower this number by a few more percent.  One thing about the global population is that no one knows for sure.  So will the number of people reach 8 billion today?  No, we're already past that number.     Time  magazine says the world will reach 8 billion on January 1 :   WORLD POPULATION UP 75 MILLION THIS YEAR, STANDING AT 8 BILLION ON JAN. 1 . Officially, the United Nations announced that 8 billion was reached in mid-November of last year. On  30 July 2022  my posting reported that the world would reach 8 billion on 15 November 2022. Then on  19 November 2022,  I confirmed that the world hit 8 billion on 15 November 2022.  This number and date  were announced by the United Nations Population Division .   Watch Rachel Snow of the United Nations Population Fund on November 11 make this video about reaching 8 billion . AP  also came out with the same announcement

All of the  cable streaming channels  are charging more and more, or asking you to pay a premium if you don't want to watch commercials.  They are also cracking down on password sharing.   But today I will focus on Netflix, which began in 1997 as a DVD-by-mail movie rental service.   Silicon Valley carpoolers, Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings, with Patty McCord also in the car, admired Amazon and their large category of items selling on the internet.   During those days, VHS was the dominant mode, but they heard that DVDs, smaller, less delicate and cheaper, were coming, so they took this path. Jeff Bezos of Amazon initially offered to acquire Netflix, but Randolph and Hastings persevered, changing from from cost/rental to a monthly subscription for unlimited rentals without due dates or shipping. Then came the dot.com bubble, hurting their company, so they tried to sell Netflix to Blockbuster, which did not think much of those prospects. Patty McCord was also involved, and  here sh

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 several months.  This is caused by stress more than anythi

To catch a Christmas European River cruise in 2024, I made two itineraries involving cruises, sailing east from Honolulu to Europe and west from Europe back to Honolulu. Unfortunately, couldn't find a cruise to the West Coast from Honolulu.  Something to do with the Jones Act.  Possible to sail to Vancouver, but no options coming or going during these two itineraries for the Fall and Winter of 2024.  Also, no cruises from the West Coast of North America to Honolulu during this period.  Well, there is one loophole that comes at the end of this posting. So we start with a flight from Honolulu, and the only cruise heading south, then east, was on the Holland America, from Vancouver to Fort Lauderdale on the Nieuw Amsterdam.  Thus, beginning in September of 2024. Fly from Honolulu to Vancouver on September 26.  Stay a couple of days at the Marriott Pinnacle Downtown. Board the  Nieuw Amsterdam on September 29 for a 21-day cruise . Verandah cabins start at $5509/person with beverage pac