Season 21 of American Idol has two weekends to go.  Last night three contestants were eliminated and now 5 remain.  The show also had a scoop of a lifetime, for on walk in King Charles III and Queen Camilla.  He was only crowned Saturday.    Lionel Richie and Katy Perry   had joined Nicole Scherzinger, Andrea Bocelli and others in just entertaining them.    Watch this all here .   One of the five finalists is Iam Tongi, a Kahuku High student from  Hawaii.  The next show will be on May 14 to whittle the number down to three for the final on Sunday, May 21. About the topic of today, here is a headline you might have missed...from the  United Nations : UN DESA Policy Brief No. 153:  India overtakes  China as the world’s most populous country Some time last month--can't find the exact day--both their population reached 1,427,775,850.  But India is growing, while China is declining. Both countries had close to 6 births/woman in 1970.  This number has dropped closer to 1 for China and 2

For the next few days I will focus on China, for Sunday, January 22, is Lunar Chinese New Year, and a whole lot of things are tormenting that country today.  To begin, is China the oldest civilization?  The answer is no. Well, then, shouldn't Africa be where early versions of us first settled?  This answer is yes, for  Australopithecus goes back perhaps 7 million years . and the  first  Homo sapiens  developed at least 300,000 years ago  on that continent, and maybe even several hundred thousand years earlier. However, if you do a thorough search for the oldest serious human settlement, Africa does not dominate.  It  all depends on what is really a civilization, or country . Historians seem to be in agreement that a true civilization/country needs to have a managed economy with infrastructure and political alliances.  A mere city is not good enough, for these have in history tended to disappear, sometimes by drought or armed conflict.  What did not qualify? Athens, Rome and Chichen

                     From  Worldometer  (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):     DAY     USA    WORLD      Brazil      India      South Africa June     9     1093     4732         1185        246       82 July    22      1205     7128         1293      1120     572 Aug    12      1504     6556        1242        835     130 Sept     9      1208      6222       1136       1168       82 Oct     21      1225      6849         571        703       85 Nov    25       2304    12025        620        518      118 Dec     30       3880    14748       1224       299      465 Jan      14       4142      15512        1151        189      712 Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398 Mar      2       1989     9490        1726       110      194 April     6        906    11787         4211       631       37 May     4        853     13667        3025      3786     59   June    1        287    10637         2346      3205      95  July    7         251      8440        1595        81

   We have suffered  five COVID-19 waves .  Will there be a 6th? Initially, cases were dominated by large cities, which are mostly Democratic.  Thus, the first wave experience a lot fewer Republican deaths.  Later waves gravitated towards fewer Democratic deaths. A higher percentage of Biden-voters get vaccinated.   Over 91% of Democrats have had at least one shot, and only 60% of Republicans . The primary reason is  vaccination , as per million population, 250 deaths occurred in Trump counties, compared to 78 in Biden counties. About that possible 6th wave?  Most likely, when the Omicron Stealth B2 subvariant creates a mild bump in April.  Then, WHO can pretty much declare the end of this pandemic.  But I've now said this at least three times. Incidentally, just about 25% of Americans have been infected with COVID-19.  World?  Only 6%.   Of course, this is where asymptomaticity and under reporting come into play.  If it turns out that the asymptomatic rate is 50%, then 50% of Amer