Today, a little bit of everything, beginning with the  return plans for our stranded astronauts .  I've had  several postings on their plight,  and at one time their rescue would not be until February of next year. SpaceX launched NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, their 4-seat Crew-9 capsule docked with the International Space Station yesterday.  I guess the USA and Russia are still cooperating on something. But, whoops, there will be no early return. NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore have been stuck on the ISS since June 6. The four will return to Earth in February. The death toll from  Hurricane Helene  is now up to 119, and will continue to grow, for there are 600 or more still unaccounted.  Most of those killed, 73, are from the Carolinas ( 46 in North Carolina, where as much as 30.78 inches of rain fell ), 25 in Georgia and 13 in Florida.  Several million are still without power.  At this point the total damage estimate has ris

The first half of my life was spent preparing myself for my final 42 years.  This was a mostly trying and stressful period involving a less than ideal youth, then struggles to get through school, my first few jobs and accompanying life, ending two months later on a Sunday with  Part 15E , so it was a spiritual conclusion to my final transition.  I never did count the number of actual postings, but I suspect it was around 25 parts.  The ending had to do with golf, the disappearance and re-appearance of an  8-iron cover.  That was the final clue to whether the beyond after death would be eternal gloom or Heaven. Today, I provide only one transition, but hint about a final one, for this, after all, is Sunday.  I'm 84 years old, so let me summarize what happened during the first phase, from 0-42, and follow with the years 42-84.  As this is 2024, that key transition year was 1982. I can't seem to find this photo, but as a one-year old baby, I was fat.  Most of my actual first half

The death toll for Category 4 Hurricane Helene is now up to 64 .  Surprisingly enough, South Carolina is up to 23, with Florida at 11, with 10 of them from the Tampa Bay area.  Perry and Tallahassee had none.  Note that the dangerous quadrant is to the northeast ( 0 to 90 degrees ).  These numbers are expected to further rise.  There is particular worry about North Carolina.   4.8 million lost power.   Notice how the eye of Helene has circled back to Tennessee. I read an article by John Crisp on  Live on Mars? How about life on Earth? What should be the priority of NASA?  Send people to the Moon and Mars?  Or minimize mammoth expenses by focusing on telescopic explorations to find life in our solar system and beyond? I once worked on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence at the NASA Ames Research Center, and eight years ago Harry Jones, who works there, speculated that the  cost of the first human mission to Mars would be $500 billion . When President G.W. Bush in 2004 announced

SORRY, BUT THIS IS CONFUSING.  I FORGOT TO CLICK THE BUTTON TO SEND MY POSTING OF YESTERDAY.  THIS IS IT BELOW.  THE POSTING OF TODAY CAN BE FOUND BY CLICKING ON THAT TITLE BELOW: THE BLUE EVOLUTION Two countries could well have their first female national leader in office next year, the USA and Japan.  Of the G7 countries, only the U.S. and Japan have not had a female head of government.  In Japan: 67-year old Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will step down from a series of minor scandals, and his Liberal Democratic Party will today ( it is already September 27 in Japan ) select the country's next Prime Minister. Nine lawmakers are competing for the LDP nomination for the next general election, which will not occur until October of 2025. The nine candidates running in the LDP leadership election (left to right): Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, former Economic Security Minister Takayuki Kobayashi, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, former Environment Minister Shinjir