What are the largest companies in the world?   Nine of the top ten are from the USA.  We have long been the greatest. Note that #5 shows Google in parentheses next to Alphabet, and #7 has Facebook as part of Meta.  What happened? Google, as you know reinvented the way the world accesses information.   Why restructure? Without much warning in 2015, Google renamed itself Alphabet. This allowed the parent, Alphabet, to expand into domains outside of internet search and advertising. Google now runs a lesser risk of antitrust violations. You might get confused by GOOG and GOOGL, stock ticker symbols of Alphabet.  I won't try to explain it, but  you can click here for details . 52-year old  Sundar Pichai ( originally, Pichai Sundararajan ) is the CEO of Alphabet,  while founders Larry Page ( 52 ) and Sergey Brin ( 53 ) no longer are involved in daily operations.  Sundar's compensation last year was $10.72 million. Note that Alphabet is the 5th...

Before mostly basketball and some baseball, a couple of news items of the day: Donald Trump will talk on the phone to Vladimir Putin tomorrow, and probably announce some sort of  cease fire regarding the Ukraine-Russia War .  Whatever eventually occurs, it will not be particularly favorable for Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine. Donald Trump's popularity is below 50% , but  only 27% of voters have a positive view of the Democratic Part y. I unabashedly brag about how great Hawaii is.  Well, from station KHON,  Hawaii is the #10 least desirable state in the USA . Skyrocketing cost of living. Poor employment prospects. People here don't like outsiders.  Not only newcomers, but  visitors, too .  Those who work in the tourist industry appear to be nice, but are told to do so. West Virginia was the most undesirable, Mississippi second worst, then Louisiana and Alaska. NCAA basketball March Madness begins tomorrow, March 18, for men and 19 for women....

  Well, the good news is that we're back in Honolulu, and all is well.  Started off in New York City. Hotel said there was a set $70 cost of the taxi ride to JFK Airport.  Well, when you add the toll charges and tip, it was up to $90.  That in itself was okay.  So we checked in for our 1PM departure time, which was ticketed more than three months ago.  After we picked up our tickets, we went to the excellent Alaska Airline lounge and was beginning a leisurely breakfast when we found out that we needed to board the plane at 11:05, which was less than half an hour away.  We never got any notice for this change.  We came extra early to be safe, and it turned out that we only barely made this flight. Some photos. Bloody Mary and champagne in Alaska Air lounge. Here is about when we learned we had only a few minutes rather than a couple of hours in the lounge.  Our plane. Goodbye Manhattan from air. Then noticed the plane we were on was the  ...