Did you know that as of 23December2024 there were  44 active volcanoes on Earth ?  I would imagine that they're almost all still erupting today.  Except for five in Africa and Europe, all the others are in the Pacific, or close to it. Three are linked to the U.S.:  Ahri ( Marianas, Pacific Ocean ), Sitkin ( Aleutians, Alaska ) and Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Here is a  live multi-cam from Haleakala Crater . As I predicted, the volcanic gases wafted over to Honolulu this weekend: But air movement shifted, so it's okay now.  Our windows are regularly cleaned. As I still actually golf, next, the Sentry on Maui, won by Hideki Matsuyama ( always wears yellow on the final day of play ) of Japan with a score of -35, which is the lowest round ever played in PGA history.  Not that the Kapalua Plantation Course is easy.  It's unique. The 17th hole is a par 4 of 550 yards, the longest on the tour. The 18th is a 678 yard par 5, the longest on t...

Yesterday was a big sports watching day on TV, with the Gonzaga win over UCLA the most exciting.  The Pac-10 did well this year.  For the first time in my memory, not one team East of the Mississippi River made the Final Four.  To solidify the return of the West, the two women's team in the championship game are Stanford and Arizona.  And, oh, in my ESPN Tournament Challenge I did predict Gonzaga against Baylor for the men's championship, which comes on tomorrow night: I also watched a lot of Major League Baseball, and the star no doubt was Yermin Mercedes, a rookie for the Chicago White Sox, who started his career with eight straight hits.  No one in the modern era, which means from 1900, has ever done that.  So impressed me that I picked him up on all four of my fantasy teams.  You can see him on ESPN after the women's NCAA basketball championship today.  About Mercedes, he is already 28 and has done nothing much in minor league baseball for th...