Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics.  Thursday was my pandemic day for years.  Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments.  All these  subvariants  derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms.  One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell.  From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant,  BA.2.86,  also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to  lose hair  for...

Seventeen days into the Hamas attack into Israel, one of the core goals was an insurance policy to protect them from wholesale retribution.  Found was a  Hamas abduction manual  detailing instructions on how to take civilian hostages.  That is page one to the left.   No releases today, but more should be coming if Israel continues to delay their military plan to enter the Gaza Strip to eliminate the Hamas.  As long as this prospect remains, and there is no serious participation of the Hezbollah to the north, the next few weeks could well be driven by these hostage negotiations.   Donald Trump's reputation and effectiveness are as good as already lying in a coffin with daily events hammering more and more nails for his permanent doom.  In a New Hampshire speech, he compared himself to Nelson Mandela.  He just might be right and could well spend a good portion of his life in jail.  The following developments certainly are condemn...

For soccer fans, the USA plays Vietnam at 9PM EDT ( 3PM Hawaii ) on your Fox channel.  So far, there have been four games, and both New Zealand and Australia won their initial matches. Lionel Messi makes his American debut tonight at 8PM EDT ( 2PM Hawaii ) with the Miami FC against Cruz Azul in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  You need to have access to Apple TV and have an MLS season pass, plus will be in Spanish on Univision.  Team is appropriately dressed in Barbie Pink. The Open at the Royal Liverpool Golf Course has completed day 2, and Brian Harmon of the USA leads by 5 strokes over Tommy Fleetwood of Scotland.  The cut was +3, 8 strokes behind Harmon, and includes the following players:  Adam Scott, Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka, Padraig Harrington, Rickie Fowler and Patrick Cantlay. At +2 was Cameron Smith, who won this tournament last year. Missing the cut were Keegan Bradley, Collin Morikawa ( 2021 winner ), Tony Finau, Billy Horschel, Justin Rose, Shane ...

Today, I bring you up to date on what is happening around our world.  First, did you know that  our world population reached 8 billion  on November 15?  Historically and into the future: Population Milestone Year Reached 1 Billion 1804 2 Billion 1927 3 Billion 1960 4 Billion 1974 5 Billion 1987 6 Billion 1998 7 Billion 2010 8 Billion 2022 9 Billion 2037 10 Billion 2058 Other facts: Notice that it took 12 years from 2010 to reach 8 billion. However, growth is slowing, and the expectation is 15 years to get to 9 billion and another 19 years to attain 10 billion.  Certainly too many people for the available resources and the threat of global warming. Worrisomely, 96% of the global population growth since 2010 has occurred in less developed countries. Our exponential growth could, though, before 2100 begin declining; The World Cup begins tonight at 7PM in Doha, Qatar, and we board the Regent Seven Seas Explorer in Dubai for Qatar tomorrow.  Well, no, because th...