A lot more happening in Brazil: On Sunday, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva beat Flavio Bolsonaro for the presidency, 51.79% to 48.21% Flavio was favored, and the victory of Lula for his fourth presidency, was a shock to the system. Flavio, who is a Senator, was immune from prosecution until February when his term  will expire.  So he left the country. His father, Jair Bolsonaro, also went after the loss of his 2022 presidential election.  But Jair eventually returned and was given a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup.  He is still serving this sentence, but currently at home because of "health" issues. Thus, it's no surprise that Flavio escaped, probably to the USA.  This story is just developing. The USA, so far, has been relatively peaceful about the fate of former presidents.  South Korea, for example, has tried and judged guilty 4 out the past 6 presidents.   Going back to Syngman Rhee in 1948, becoming president there has been an adventurous challenge...

In a series that began on 31May2026 as MY LIFE:  Part 1 , I've been serializing my life from youth to retirement.  MY LIFE: Part 3i--Incredible Journeys during Reti... MY LIFE: Part 3h--Incredible Journeys during Reti... MY LIFE: PART 3g Pearl's Ashes--Machu Picchu MY LIFE: PART 3G Pearl's Ashes--Mount Kilimanjaro MY LIFE: PART 3G Pearl's Ashes--The Taj Mahal MY LIFE: Part 3F: Gratitude....Not Grief MY LIFE: Part 3e Pearl's Ashes MY LIFE: Part 3d MY LIFE: Part 3c MY LIFE: Part 3b MY LIFE: Part 3a MY LIFE: 2b MY LIFE: Part 2a MY LIFE: Part 1b MY LIFE: Part 1 Fifteen episodes later, I was into some of those incredible journeys I had in my retirement.  These will continue for a few more chapters, but today, I will crystalize the essence of my life into a few highlights.  So I titled it Part Alpha. On 30September2026, my post was titled:    MAGIC CAN HAPPEN IF YOU TRY This article focused on a magical period from high school into Stanford.  So if you want ...

This blog site is into my 18th year.  Thought I'd glance at how many partly written articles were in storage and  spent yesterday discarding many of them.  There were around 450.  After a hundred or so I gave up, and still have around 350 drafts.  However, one was the basis for my posting today. I was born and grew up in Honolulu, but did not spend any school time at the University of Hawaii until August of 1972, when I was hired by the College of Engineering as an assistant professor.  So it's been 53 years since I first came to the main Manoa Campus. I originally taught Fortran IV Programming and a couple of other computer courses.  This is the textbook I used.  I knew the co-authors, Paul Murrill and Cecil Smith.  Murrill went on to become president of LSU. After a couple of years, I joined the Civil Engineering Department.  Environmental Engineering and Technology & Society were two courses where I had more than a hundred student...