First, on Trump and War. Ukraine-Russia War has not been solved in one day. Israel-Hamas War is getting worse and worse.  Trump's attempt to convert the Gaza Strip into an American resort was taken by the Middle East to be a big joke. He has initiated a global trade war . The bear market woke up today . Dow Jones:  - 1630  3.9% drop S&P 500:  -274  4.84% drop Nasdaq composite:  -1050  -6.97% Countermeasures and retaliation will of course occur. Ordinary households will be most affected, for they will be hurt by higher prices on everything, with a higher unemployment rate. Stagflation, inflation and recession are looming. Read this article released today in The Economist,  President Trump's mindless tariffs will cause economic havoc. Shingles can be terrible, and could be hurting you for up to a month.  I was tempted to show a few photos, but will save you the horror. Early Symptoms:   Burning, tingling, or shooting pain in a s...

The pandemic is over, and because of vaccinations, the mortality rate for COVID-19 is approaching that of the seasonal flu.  The World weekly  case count dropped 25% this past week .  Then again, some countries are faring better than others.  For example, regarding the weekly case % change over the past week: #1    Costa Rica  +92,800% #2    Guinea Bissau  +26,400% #3    Estonia  +23,900% #14  Canada  +534% #25  Brazil  +73% #30  Thailand  +39% #36  South Korea +14% #44  Denmark  +2% #45  Mexico  -2% #70  Germany  -30% #89  USA  -55% Deaths in the past week per million population. #1    New Zealand  11 #2    Denmark  8 #3    Hong Kong  4 #4    Germany  4 #14  Canada  1 #17  S. Korea  1 #25  USA  0.7 Okay, but what about China ?  Still, pretty much careful ...

    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     ...

I promised to post Part 2 of my SETI series today, but I'll again delay it. Tomorrow for sure. Today, back to the pandemic.   The   Star Advertiser   this morning had a startling front page headline: FLU PROVES DEADLIER THAN COVID   Essentially, here is what the article said:  In Hawaii, on an annual basis, the combined deaths for flu and pneumonia are higher than the 12-month death total for COVID-19.  Keep in mind that the death rate of this pandemic virus is 10 to 66 times that of the seasonal flu, so the latter higher than the former is a bit scary.  And why such a wide range? Using data from  Worldometer: The world mortality rate of COVID-19 is 2%.  This means that 2 die for every 100 cases. Depending on who you ask, the mortality rate of the seasonal flu is anywhere from  0.03%  to  0.1% . The matter of asymptomaticity causes a lot of confusion, for that 2% fatality figure for COVID will someday be much lower when th...

 The last day of 2020, and it's getting worse.   From  Worldometer  (new 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    ...