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...

Japan had the first bullet train more than 60 years ago.  It was 10October1964, when the opening ceremony was held in Tokyo in anticipation of Japan's first-ever Olympic Games, which began that day. The  Shinkansen,  meaning  new mainline , with a separate track, arrived when normal train traffic had reached the limit for carrying passengers and freight.   A train trip between Osaka and Tokyo dropped from 6 hours and 40 minutes to 4 hours, shortened to 3 hours and 10 minutes by 1964, and is now 2 hours and 30 minutes.  From the Shin-Osaka Station to the Shin-Yokohama Station only takes a little more than 2 hours. In 1964 the track was 320 miles long.  Today, it's up to 1484 miles.  The original itinerary incorporating Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka now carries 159 million passengers/year.  In this 6 decade period, more than 10 billion passengers have been safely handled.  CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT NOT ONE PASSENGER HAS YET BEEN KILLED IN A DERA...

President Donald Trump's 90-day tariff reprieve, with China being the only exception, spurred the stock market to soar yesterday, the S&P by 9%, the third-largest gain in a day since WW2, the Dow Jones had its biggest percentage gain since March 2020 and the Nasdaq the biggest one-day gain since January 2001, and second largest ever. However , noting that this 90-day delay will still mean a 145% duty of all goods from China, 25% tariffs targeting much from Canada and Mexico and 10% levy on all other imports from the world over, the market sank again today:  S&P dropped 3.46%, Dow Jones down 2.5%  (1,015) and Nasdaq Composite declined 4.31%.  Gold rose to $3117.60/ounce, 3.2% higher.  Bitcoin fell to just under $80,000, Coinbase fell 6%, while Ether and Strategy lost 8%.  Tomorrow?  Depends on what Trump does to further his insider options. Time  magazine speculated : Other Democrats raised more serious concerns. Sen. Adam Schiff of California t...