Looking back in time, my  posting on 28February2020  summarized my return from Thailand: The fearsome factor was that Thailand had the second-most cases of   covid-19   when I left Honolulu on February 12.  Today, it is #9.  No new cases appeared after I arrived in that country.  No one is known to have died. (Interestingly enough, today  Thailand  is #33 in total cases and #143 in cases/million population.) But on  11 March2020 the World Health Organizaton declared the coronavirus to be a global pandemic .   This was the first time that a pandemic was caused by a coronavirus. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1200 points, the worst since 2008.  The eleven year bull market came to an end. China and Italy were locked down. Tom Hanks posted on Instagram that he and his wife Rita Wilson had contracted this virus.  They were in Australia. Two Utah Jazz players tested positive and the NBA canceled the rest of the season. While thousands of schools would shut down by the end of week,

According to a Pew Research Center global study of 230 countries and territories, 84% of people in the world are affiliated with a religion.  Most of the 16% non-believers reside in China and Russia, where religion is actively discouraged.  It is thus believable that most of Humanity thank some form of God for their blessings.  I don't express my feelings to anyone in particular, but appreciate the efforts of friends, family, colleagues, teachers, freedom fighters, medical profession and certain organizations. What can Americans be thankful about?  He has his supporters, but the majority are relieved that Donald Trump is no longer PUS ( P resident of the U nited S tates ).   This makes TV news channel watching now a bore, but I'll take that over the end of democracy.  The COVID-19 pandemic has killed around 2.7 million so far, and this number could reach 5 million by the time it's over.  However, history has seen worse ( and remember, the population has increased ): Traffi