Yesterday I featured Part 1 of this posting.  I left at #9, Supervolcanoes.  Here are the remaining eight ways Humanity could go extinct.  I will today particularly focus on what I've all my adult life feared most, nuclear war. #8  Solar Storms The most intense storm peaked in the September 1-2 period of 1859, and is known as the  Carrington Event .  Carrington was a British astronomer. The aurora borealis over the Rocky Mountains was so bright, that gold miners thought it was morning. Even Hawaii saw this phenomenon . Telegraphs gave operators shocks.  However, there is a much-publicized conversation between two operators in Boston and Portland ( Maine ) who were able to communicate without using batteries to power the line. If this were to happen today, the USA alone stands to lose $3.35 trillion to our general economy. Researchers examining carbon-14 tree rings and beryllium-10 in ice cores found two other major solar storms:  in the years 774-...

During the pandemic, Thursday was my day for COVID-19.  Looks like there is a new variant that could become serious, so I return today for an update.  But first, yesterday I ended with input from Elon Musk.  Today I will start with him.  From the  New York Time s: Elon Musk is leaving Washington . In a post on X last night, he confirmed for the first time what has become increasingly clear for weeks — that his work with the Trump administration and DOGE is coming to an end. He thanked Trump “for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending. ”   One more matter dealing with politics.  The  New York Times  this morning also showed the following graphic, which is startling: Trump won because many counties shifted from Democratic to Republican.  Ironically, Democrats improved in mostly richer counties.  What has happened is that Republicans are now making gains in working-class areas.  Wonder what will happen in November 2026 when t...

Before I re-enter the world of diseases, first, a couple of updates on another one, the first cabinet meeting President Donald Trump presided over yesterday: He said he wants school policy to be left to the states, so the  Department of Education will be abolished . Of course, he needs congressional approval to do this, and education secretary, Linda McMahon, was hired to do just that. Like most of Trump's dictatorial announcements, this created confusion and alarm. Democrats expressed huge concern. The Education Department distributes funding for K-12 schools serving more than 50 million students in almost 100,000 public and 32,000 private schools Project 2025 advocated this, and to end  Title 1  funding in phases.  Title 1: Was created in 1965, and reauthorized by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The act emphasizes equal access to education, aiming to shorten the   achievement gaps   between students by providing federal funding to support schools wi...

Status of the two prominent wars: Peace on the Gaza Strip.  How will it be possible for any kind of treaty, for the goal of Israel and the U.S. is to eliminate the Hamas from this site, with they being the other participant in the negotiations?  At least President Trump's off the wall solution for the USA to gain control is one possible solution for a longer peace.  What he did was set the terms so ridiculously against the Hamas, that some other Middle East country might be able present a more logical pathway to a longer peace. On the Ukraine War, with President Trump so anti-Ukraine (he said Ukraine started the war and Zelensky is a dictator, while blackmailing the country to give us their rare minerals or else), no doubt Russia will get what it will want for peace.  Meaning holding on to winning territory and preventing Ukraine from joining NATO.  Trump is also upset at many NATO nations not allocating sufficient funds to the Organization, and in this he is ri...