Let me first dabble into those wars: Gaza Strip. Hamas has agreed to disarm . Israel maintains skepticism. Palestinians mistrust both Israel and Hamas. Iran War . Iran accused U.S. of escalating tensions. Commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is still down by 95%. Houthis blocking the passing of Saudi ships through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Both the old and new versions of this blog site have seen a jump in readership from March of this year, when we flew from Honolulu to Las Vegas for a few days, then on to Memphis to visit Elvis' Graceland, followed by a cruise down the Mississippi to New Orleans.  A short stop there, then on to New York City, followed by a Viking cruise from Manhattan to Toronto.  We then boarded a train towards Vancouver, catching another train to get us there. Original blog: As I compose this posting, first one on 29April2008, this daily blog has had just under 10.5 million viewers over 6669 days, or 1574/day. However, the first ten years avera...

This is our nation's 247th birthday.   Time  magazine this morning had two articles providing a slightly different view of what really happened in 1776: July 1776 Was a Shotgun Wedding .  In effect, the Continental Congress saved Democracy from almost certain civil war by finding a way to cooperate. America's "Real" Independence Day is not July 4 .   That day should have been 2 July 1776.  Why?  Read the article. The  New York Times  this morning said: Drones and lasers are becoming   more popular as an alternative to fireworks , minimizing wildfire risks.  Also pet friendly and will not cause any air pollution. Coco Gauff lost in the first round of Wimbledon. Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo are favored to win today's Nathan's hot dog eating contest. There was a two-hour delay because of weather, but Chestnut ( only ate 62, not the record 76 ) and Sudo ( 39.5, before the delay ) did win their Mustard Belts.  I find this compet...