I'll start with the San Antonio Spurs beating the Oklahoma City Thunder last night, a tense finish, because the game at the end was much closer than the score of 111-103.  Want to see emotions?   Watch how Victor Wembanyama reacted .  The Spurs now play the New York Knicks beginning Wednesday.  First team to win four games becomes the NBA champion. That was only a game.  In Laos, five gold miners were rescued yesterday .  However, two remain missing. Moving on to my topic of the day, we had dinner with another couple in the dining room of 15 Craigside last night.  As this was our first meal together, we shared what we all did to get us here.  That made me further reflect on my life, especially, what turned out to be three 27-year periods leading to what I am today. I was born in 1940 at Queen's Hospital in Honolulu.  That's a more modern sign to the right.  The first five years of my life were okay, but I don't remember much. My mot...

I'm on a cruise, so that determines what I post.  However, I'll maintain a sense of order by continuing these daily themes whenever possible. Monday:  top news of the day and politics. Tuesday:  nostalgia. Wednesday:  science and technology. Thursday:  COVID-19 pandemic. Friday:  something more lighthearted. Saturday:  entertainment. Sunday:  spiritual. So far, yes, yesterday, continuing into today, something newsworthy, which was the Academy Award ceremony.  But first today I reach into my past, and my mind at this moment, is way back into 1958 when I went to Stanford instead of Cal Tech, because I just read in  Quora  the following about my second choice. Yaear Ben Follow   BS in Physics, Caltech 09 8y What should everyone know about Caltech? It's small. REALLY small People(including students) often don't understand how small, and how it changes everything. The deans know EVERY student by name. If you want to change something...

 I'll start with some news of the day: The FDA approved its first Alzheimer's drug  to delay dementia. Aducanumab by Biogen, to be sold as Aduhelm. However, it comes with an annual cost of $56,000, plus an additional major diagnostic test expense.   Of course Biogen stock value shot up.   More than 6 million Americans have Alzheimer's, with more than a doubling expected by 2050. All this after somewhat inconclusive tests about the effectiveness of this drug. What this means is that the FDA has effectively concluded that targeting that sticky brain compound, beta-amyloid, is a worthy solution. But the cost and lack of convincing data will mean that medical plans and doctors will show huge reluctance to proceed. My reading of the politics of the Senate and Biden Administration is that the White House has pretty much given up passing liberal and filibuster-killing legislation because of Senator Joe Manchin , who, while a Democrat, barely got elected the last t...