The best news of all for us on the Silver Whisper, two days away from arriving in Hilo, is that Hurricane Lowell came, caused relatively minor damage, and left.   Hurricane Karina is now a post-tropical cyclone, with eye west and north of the Hawaiian Islands, while moving away, and Hurricane Marie is a post-tropical cyclone at 40 MPH and continues north, away from Hawaii. Our ship is located just about where the eye of Karina was a couple of days ago,  Good timing.  The seas around us are supposedly of 7-foot waves, but these must be large swells, for I can't see any wave-like formation.  For the past few days we have had difficulty walking around, for there is considerable rocking and rolling. Other news of the day: The NFL season kicks-off tomorrow at 8:25PM EDT on NBC with the New England Patriots at the Seattle Seahawks. Bet you forgot that the Seahawks won the last Super Bowl? Predictions?  They are mostly wrong. Read this.   And Yahoo used Ar...

  The history of Labor Day is too, too boring to detail, but: President Grover Cleveland  in 1894 signed the bill recognizing the first Monday of September as Labor Day, providing a new holiday for federal workers.  If he looks a bit rotund to you, he had a Body-Mass Index of 34.6, #2 to Howard Taft at 42.3.  Want to know your BMI?  Look to the right, scroll to near the bottom, stop at Calculate Your Body-Mass Index, insert those details, and the odds are high you will be a lot lower than Cleveland.  The NFL always kicks off their season the Thursday after Labor Day, which this year features the Ravens visiting Chiefs in Kansas City on September 5. While there will be picnics, a few parades and the like, this three-day weekend is the official end of the summer, where consumers spend a lot of money, only next to the Christmas season, and travel. 10,000 workers in 24 cities  are striking this weekend  against Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt hotels. Presi...

I don't feel particularly spiritual today, so will turn to sports.  The NFL season officially starts on September 5, so one more weekend of pre-season games remains.  This opener on September 5 will be held on a Thursday in Kansas City as a Super Bowl rematch between the Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens at 8:20PM EDT on NBC.   Which leads me to ESPN Fantasy Football.  I have drafted one team, and plan to add two more.  If you're interested,  click on ESPN  and play for FREE.  If this is new to you, I'll provide some advice. Join a Public League Click on Beginner. For Scoring, either reception option should be okay. For Draft Type, Snake would be easier.  This is the method where the computer assigns you your draft position, and the draft snakes along. Click on Draft Now to decided when you want to do the drafting. Then Join a League. The time shown is your home time. There will be ten teams in your league. While you wait, you can adjust the d...