JANUARY 26, 2026: Be Happy and Secure

Woke up this morning.  I felt happy to be home and secure about my short term future.  Long term?  I'm old and there is not much time left.  Unlike most of you, I don't believe there are such things as Heaven and Hell.  Purgatory, perhaps, as 15 Craigside, where I live, is perhaps one of the locations for this test period.

So I asked Google AI about the nature of Purgatory.

Purgatory is often described as a mix of intense suffering and profound hope. 

• Purification by Fire: Traditionally, this is seen as a "cleansing fire" that burns away the stains of venial sins and the temporal punishment due to forgiven sins.

• 
  The "Dentist" Analogy: Some theologians, such as C.S. Lewis, compared it to a necessary but unpleasant visit to the dentist—a painful process that results in a "clean bill of health".

• 
  The Pain of Loss: Souls in Purgatory experience the "pain of loss," which is the temporary deprivation of the Beatific Vision (seeing God face-to-face).

• 
  Absolute Certainty: Unlike hell, Purgatory is temporary and filled with the absolute knowledge that the soul is destined for Heaven. 

Google AI also updated the response to today:

While not strictly defined by the Church as a physical place, various interpretations offer different images: 

• A "Waiting Room" or "Antechamber": A place where souls are prepared for the "Wedding Feast of the Lamb".
• 
  Dante's Mountain: In The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri famously pictured Purgatory as a mountain in the Southern Hemisphere, which souls climb to reach paradise.
• A "Hallway" or "Car Wash": A modern, functional analogy where souls wait and are cleansed before entering the door to Heaven.
• A "Refining Pot": A metaphor for removing impurities from metal, similar to how sins are removed from the soul. 

Got that?  I guess I'm eventually going to Heaven if there is one.

The withdrawal of my 2-month trip left me with nothing much to share.  Not sure what to blog on today.  I checked the world-wide-web.

• Hey, this is kind of important.  The U.S. and Russia's nuclear weapons treaty is set to expire.  Yes, but that day is 4February2026, not today.
• Antonio Guterres (who runs the United Nations) warned that law of the jungle is replacing rule of law.  Yes, but that is so general as not to be particularly newsworthy.

• 
  The World Health Organization, from which President Donald Trump officially withdrew on 22January2026, reported that the Marburg virus disease epidemic is officially over in Ethiopia.  Whoopie.
• India is celebrating its 77th Republic Day.  Not worthy of your linkage.
• That U.S. Snow-pocalypse is not quite over.  But that's old news.
• 
  This is Bubble Wrap Day in the USA.
• But this is so because it is the final Monday in January.
• Created by Marc Chavannes and Alfred Fielding in 1956 when they sealed two shower curtains together  to created a smattering air bubbles in the town of Hawthorne, New Jersey.  

• 
  Come on, you've all gone ahead to burst those bubbles.
• They thought that their invention would make a great wallpaper.

• 
  No sales, so they they tried to sell the product as greenhouse insulation.
• Those two inventors then worked with Sealed Air Corporation to trademark Bubble Wrap in 1960.

• 
  In 1961, protected IBM's 1401 computer during shipment.
• In 2001, Jim Webster of Spirit WVNI radio in Bloomington, Indiana created National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day.  He apparently is still on the air at that station.
• Now has an annual revenue of more than $3.5 billion.

• 
  Speaking of wallpaper, Play-Doh was originally created to clean wallpaper, and became, well, Play-Doh.  But not on January 26.  Around 80 billion cans have been sold since converted in the 1930s, for about, now, $1.50/can.

I further checked Wikipedia about what happened in the entirety of January 26 throughout history.  Essentially, like my mind today, not much.  

• So tried OnThisDay.com:  This is Generation Alpha.  Chinese Zodiac:  Snake.  Star sign:  Aquarius.  But nothing happening today of any true relevance.

• 
  InfoPlease provided a quick history of January 26:
• 1802, Congress created the Library of Congress.
• India gained independence in 1950.
• Andrew Lloyd Weber's Phantom of the Opera opened in 1988 and became the longest-running show in Broadway history:  13,891 performances over 35 years at the Majestic Theater.
• Lot of birthdays:  Douglas MacArthur, Paul Newman, Ellen DeGeneres, Wayne Gretzky, etc.

• 
  Of course, Wikipedia had a bunch of old stuff, but nothing of earth-shaking consequence, as for example.
• A 1531 earthquake of Mw 6.4-7.1 (they don't really know) and, killed about 30,000 people in Lisbon.  
• Doesn't sound like much, but in that year, the population was around 60,000.  
• Today, 3 million.  
• Thus if this same earthquake struck today, the death total could be around 15 million.
• 
  On January 23, 1536, Shensi (also called Shaanxi) Province in China experienced a 7.0-7.5 Mw earthquake.  
• Killed 830,000, when the population was around 2 million.  
• This was the greatest-killing earthquake in history
• This region now has around 40 million people.
• In other words, today, an equivalent event could kill 24 million.
• 
  China has a lot of people, a lot of area. 
• So they have the two-greatest death tolls by natural calamity:  4 million in 1931 and 2 million in 1887, both caused by floods.
• #3 is the 1970 Bhola Cyclone of Bangladesh, killing half a million.

So to close, what have I reported in the past on this day, January 26?

• My first January 26 was in 2009, and the posting was titled, PEAK OIL DEBUNKED.  In that article I ended by noting that the Huffington Post just an hour ago published my contribution on Where is Wind Energy Today.
• The second, in 2010, I'M BACK IN SAIGON.
• I was staying in the new wing of the Sheraton, and the Executive Lounge was the best I'd ever experienced.
• On January 29, SCENES FROM ANGKOR WAT.

• 
  Let me skip on to 2012, A POSSIBLE BREAKTHROUGH IN MARINE BIOFUELS?
• Essentially, the answer was no.
• However, algae remains as a promising renewable transport fuel for development in the future.
• In any case, I did ask Google AI if marine biomass was the most efficient way to convert sunlight into biomass:

Marine biomass—specifically algae and seaweed—is considered 

one of the most, if not the most, efficient ways to grow biomass in terms of land use, water consumption, and growth rate. It is often categorized as a "third-generation" biofuel source because it overcomes many limitations of terrestrial crops. While typical terrestrial plants have a photosynthetic efficiency of about 1.8%–2.2%, marine macroalgae (seaweed) can reach 6%–8% efficiency. 

• 
  In 2016, HOW DO YOU JUSTIFY ANYTHING?
• The problem with Hawaii today is that nothing can be justified.  For any possible great idea, we have NIMBY (not in my backyard) types, ancient-thinking Hawaiians, environmentalists and more to prevent any progress.

• 
  From the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea to the Hawaii Superferry to ocean resource development, nothing ever happens.
• This same attitude prevails in 2026, a decade later.
• Go to a place like Busan, South Korea or Adelaide, Australia and you will experience what can happen if people work together to get something done.
• One more.  Five years later, 26January2021, A SIMPLE LIFE.  Nothing was happening to my lifestyle.  But I was happy and secure.  How much better can it get?  Well....

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