I'll start with what happened over the past 24 hours: The China Xi - USA Trump summit in Beijing was not a disaster.   Not much was agreed to, but no huge problems resulted. Xi admonished Trump about Taiwan, and his response was muted.  China could play a role in settling the Iran War.  It appears that Xi Jinping will return a visit to the U.S. in September. In a Star Advertiser poll: What should the U.S. do in the war against Iran? May 14, 2026   D. Just “finish the job” with military action (235 Votes) A. Current ceasefire/diplomacy is working (126 Votes) B. Call on NATO for active role (105 Votes) C. Call on China for active role (54 Votes) Oil prices went up: Brent crude futures gained $3.35, or 3.17%, to $109.07 a barrel by 12:34 p.m. CDT (7:34 a.m. Hawaii time). West Texas Intermediate futures were up $3.85, or 3.81%, at $105.02. So on to my topic of the day.  May 15 is the135th day of 2026, so there are 230 days left this year.  Thus far, ...

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...