On Thursday, a friend mentioned that the following list should have indicated cases, not deaths.  Thus, again: From  WHO , most covid (not deaths) cases: #1      USA  103,436,829 #2      China  99,238,850 #3      India  44,997,710 #4      France  38,997,490 #5      Germany  38,437,756 #6      Brazil  37,717,062 #7      S. Korea  34,571,873 #8      Japan  33,803,572 #9      Italy  25,977,012 #10    UK  24,704,113 Then I took a closer look at the data, and said to myself, there is no way that the USA had more covid cases than China.  For example, at the end of December 2022  CNN  reported 250 million in infections, just that month , which would be double the total of the U.S. for the entirety of the pandemic.  More so,  The Guardian  reported in January of this year that  Eight in 10 People in China caught COVID since early December, Say Officials .  That would be 1.14 billion cases, more than ten times that of the USA, and only from the end of last year into January.  What is the truth?

Season 21 of American Idol has two weekends to go.  Last night three contestants were eliminated and now 5 remain.  The show also had a scoop of a lifetime, for on walk in King Charles III and Queen Camilla.  He was only crowned Saturday.    Lionel Richie and Katy Perry   had joined Nicole Scherzinger, Andrea Bocelli and others in just entertaining them.    Watch this all here .   One of the five finalists is Iam Tongi, a Kahuku High student from  Hawaii.  The next show will be on May 14 to whittle the number down to three for the final on Sunday, May 21. About the topic of today, here is a headline you might have missed...from the  United Nations : UN DESA Policy Brief No. 153:  India overtakes  China as the world’s most populous country Some time last month--can't find the exact day--both their population reached 1,427,775,850.  But India is growing, while China is declining. Both countries had close to 6 births/woman in 1970.  This number has dropped closer to 1 for China and 2

65% of U.S. adults 21 and over drink alcoholic beverages.   This Gallup poll annual percentage dipped to 55% in 1958 and rose as high as 71% in the 1970s.   However, for households annually earning $100,000 or more, this rate is 80% for 18 and over adults.  Those homes earning less than $40,000/year has a rate of 49%. While in 1992 beer was favored by 47%, with 27% for wine and 21% for spirits, in 2022 this disparity narrowed to 35% beer, 31% wine and 30% spirits. Drinks international released its annual list of the  most popular liquor ( or distilled spirits ) brands  in the world.  In this list of the top 30, only 2 gins made the cut.  Here are a few of them, and you will be surprised. #30 Aperol:  a bright orange Italian bitter, it was created in 1919 and is used in spritzes. #29 Jagermeister:  a German digestif, I noticed it was able in South Korean movie theaters. #28 Gordon's Gin:  dates back to 1769, a bottle is sold every six seconds. #24 Ballantine's Scotch Whisky. #23