For one, Planet Earth is hot.    Europe had more heat deaths last year on record .   The tally was  61,000 deaths .  Will it be worse this year? A high-pressure system from north Africa called Cerberus could bring temperatures exceeding  113 F degrees  this weekend, particularly in the the Mediterranean region.  Sicily and Sardinia could reach the highest ever recorded here,  118.5 F !!! On July 9 Death Valley National Park's Furnace Creek Visitor Center hit  130 F (54.4 C),  beating the previous high set here in 2020.   In comparison, medium-rare steak has an internal temperature of 130-135 F. The hottest temperature ever, however, is contentious, for the 136.4 F (58 C) reading from Al Azizia in 1923 was officially decertified. Thus the current official world record is 134 F (56.7 C) set on July 10, 1913 in Death Valley. Yet, experts today insist that those early records are 100% bogus, and there seems to be some reluctance by authorities to initiate a re-look of the Furnace Cre

The continuing saga of the Russian mini-revolt is well-explained by  Leonid Bershidsky,  a former columnist of  Bloomberg Europ e.   He is a 51-year old Russian journalist now based in Berlin, having moved there in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea.  Has previously worked at  Newsweek  and  The Moscow Times .  He has written several books.   But to the topic of the day, is this that impactful summer that will finally convince decision-makers to take global warming seriously?  Possible, but unlikely, for a key reason to be provided. The  New York Times  yesterday said: Today, New Orleans will reach 113 degrees in the heat index. Houston will reach 111. Mobile, Ala., and Jackson, Miss., will also surpass 110. And those are only a few of the places that will experience dangerous heat this week. Summer technically just began, and parts of the U.S. are already seeing the unusual heat that   experts warned about   and that is becoming more common as a result of climate change. About 45 millio

 From  Worldometer , COVID-19 cases this past week (in parentheses, cases in the last 7 days/million population): World  3,626,189 (453) #1  Japan  1,029,587 (8198) #2  S. Korea  455,268 (8869) #3  France  396,007 (6038) #4  Brazil  299,204 (1389) #5  USA  294,280 (879) #6  Germany  221,956 (2646) #7  Italy  130,145 2160) #8  Taiwan  106,827 (4472) #9  Hong Kong  206,806 (14,045) #10  Australia  103,147 (3957) I can generalize in various ways.   Sure, China did start the pandemic, but the two epicenters quickly became Europe and USA.   Countries of the Orient and Oceania fared well for the first two years. Today, the leading COVID centers are Europe, the USA, the Orient and Oceania. Early on, pundits remarked that countries like Japan did not get badly infected because they wore masks and culture provided a higher responsibility factor, plus, perhaps, some variation of the coronavirus must have reasonably recently somehow infected the general population (cold or flu, probably), leaving

I'll answer that question at the beginning.  NO!  I've long felt that someday, some cataclysmically hot summer will finally convince the world to be serious about global warming.  While there is no doubt temperatures are continuing to go up, this summer is not showing that decisive sign. Sure, London finally hit 104F, the highest in recorded history.  I remember I one day landed at Heathrow when the temperature was only 100F.  And there were problems.  I went on to Dublin, and it was only 98F, but the hot topic of the day there was a warning for farmers to place sunblock on cow udders.   To quote : Of course, I thought about protecting myself, too, so I went to a department store but couldn’t f ind any for humans. After much scurrying around, I finally was able to purchase a small tube of Johnson and Johnson for a ridiculously high price. It went on fine, although it seemed to stain everything white, but just wouldn’t come off, even with soap. I think I bought something for cow

    From  Worldometer  (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):            DAY    USA    WORLD      Brazil      India      South Africa June     9     1093     4732         1185        246       82 July    22      1205     7128         1293      1120     572 Aug    12      1504     6556        1242        835     130 Sept     9      1208      6222       1136       1168       82 Oct     21      1225      6849         571        703       85 Nov    25       2304    12025        620        518      118 Dec     30       3880    14748       1224       299      465 Jan      14        4142    15512        1151         189      712 Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398 Mar      2       1989     9490        1726       110      194 April     6        906    11787         4211       631       37 May     4        853     13667        3025      3786     59   June    1        287    10637         2346      3205      95  July    7         251      8440        1595        817      411

  From  Worldometer  (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):          DAY     USA      WORLD     Brazil       India        South Africa June     9    1093     4732         1185           246            82 July    22     1205     7128         1293         1120          572 Aug    12     1504     6556        1242           835          130 Sept     9     1208      6222       1136          1168            82 Oct     21     1225      6849         571           703            85 Nov    25      2304    12025        620           518           118 Dec     30      3880    14748       1224          299           465 Jan      14       4142     15512        1151           189            712                  Feb      3       4005    14265       1209          107           398 Mar     2        1989      9490        1726          110           194 April   6          906     11787         4211          631            37 May    4         853     13667         3025        3786           59   June   1