There seems to be a stalemate with Iran about war or peace.   The U.S. now has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, with the WTI price of petroleum stabilizing at around $93/barrel.   The Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up past 50,000 in February, but had already settled to around 49,000 just as the war began, dropped further to 46,500 at the beginning of April, but rose to 48,218 yesterday, and seems to be settling at around that number, awaiting further news. Gold hit an all-time high of $5,589/oz on January 28, dropped to $5,200/oz as the Iran war began, and has settled to $4,800/oz this month. Iran offered to delay nuclear development for five years, but the U.S. is demanding 20 years, I've long felt that invasion of Kharg Island was the key to disabling Iran into the future,   Watch this video ,  Why here?  Read  Wikipedia. The Marriott Marquis charges a lot because of its location at Times Square,  However, we are provided free se...

Before I get into the topic of the day, plus our current cruise activities, a few newsworthy topics of the day This article indicates that the  annual joke of today, April 1 in the media, began only in 1957 when the BBC claimed  that spaghetti trees in southern Switzerland near the Italian border had reached harvest season. I recall being in Japan on numerous first of Aprils. Japan Times  usually has a front-page April Fool's Joke.  Not sure about today.  Google AI couldn't find anything. However  Tokyo Paladin  with Jake Adelstein  published an article yesterday ( March 31 ) about new bicycle laws to be enforced from today. First you wonder if this is one of those spoofs. Then you realize this could really be true. Under any circumstances, though, very funny and worth your while to  read the entire article . Has to do with 113 new ways to break the law on a bicycle. Many say the Japanese are wise, and their wisdom as a collective decision co...