Much of today brings back memories.  Let me start with the possible  return of COVID-19 , which served as the theme of my Thursday postings for years.  According to the CDC, there has a been a spike in COVID-19 cases of 18% this past week, and 24% hike in hospital admissions. From  Worldometer,  173 Americans died of COVID this past week and 277 in the previous week.  Of course, last year 550/week died from the flu, and this rate tends to jump in the winter, so flu deaths today are considerably higher than from COVID.  And few take the seasonal flu seriously. This alarms professionals like  Ashish Jha . More people tend to die 21 to 28 days after cases begin to increase. 60% of Americans did not get boosted. And look at how politics can make a difference. About that New Orleans terrorist attack by 42-year old  Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar , he was inspired by ISIS, but probably acted alone.  Donald Trump was wrong again, blaming Jabbar as an...

The end and beginning of the year are a transition celebrated worldwide.    The first nation to celebrate New Year 2025  was Kiribati, at 5AM ET.  This is because the International Date Line where the day begins is in the Pacific Ocean. At 6AM ET came New Zealand. Then at 8AM ET, Sydney, Australia.  More than million watched, live. 10AM, Tokyo, Japan. 10AM ET, Seoul, South Korea. 11AM ET, Hong Kong. 11AM ET, Beijing, China. 11AM New York, Taipei, Taiwan, their tallest building, Taiwan 101. Midnight New York, Bangkok, Thailand. 3AM New York, Dubai, UAE, Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the world. What are the final places to see the new year? Baker Island and Howland Island.  However, no one lives there. 6AM ET, American Samoa hits midnight. 5AM ET, Hawaii. 4AM ET, French Polynesia and Alaska. 3AM ET, the Pacific Coast of U.S. and Canada. Maybe the most seen new year celebration occurs at Times Square in New York City.   The following list is from...

SORRY, BUT MY POSTING ON THE LIGHTER SIDE OF ENERGY WAS MISTAKENLY NOT PUBLISHED YESTERDAY.  You can link to it HERE .  But about today, first a digression into Donald Trump, who is on such a roll.  Looks like sentencing on the New York conviction will be delayed until after he un-becomes president again, and the trials in Georgia are in trouble.   So why would he and Elon Musk want to close down the country ?  The bipartisan agreement announced yesterday to continue to fund the government was derailed by the two of them.  Maybe not such a big deal because all essential services will continue, and only the not-so important services will be stopped, like the closing of national parks.  I guess if they kept this up until the new Congress steps in on 3January2025, Democrats can't appoint any new judges, and stuff like that. I was sent the following this morning about Donald Trump.   https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3141422...