There are 4 types of solar eclipse. Total  Partial  Annular  Hybrid  About the above graphic. On the left is a total solar eclipse. In middle is an annular solar eclipse. A hybrid eclipse appears as either a total or an annular eclipse depending on the observers location.  These only occur once in a decade. A partial eclipse is to the right. A total solar eclipse occurs about every 18 months.  However a specific location will see a total eclipse only once every 375 years.  So if you recently saw one, you'll need to travel to see another.   My wife was born on July 11.  She found out that there would be total eclipse over her Big Island on that day in 1991, so off we flew to Kailua-Kona and stayed at the King Kamehameha Hotel.  Turned out that if we had just watched from the hotel beach, we would have had the best view.  But we had a friend who lived high up on Mauna Loa, so off we went to join him.   But it was so clo...

The wine world knows that France, Italy and California produce the best red wines.  The top two wine producers switch between Italy and France, with Italy now #1.  #'s 3 and 4 also change, with Spain today producing more than the USA.  Australia is #5.  China is rapidly rising, and is  affecting wine prices in other ways,  too.  Interestingly enough, though  world wine production is dropping , and  is lower than 1961.  Some blame climate warming. Today I will focus on the best red wines.  Some day I'll talk about the finest white wines. France:  Bordeaux and Burgandy. More specifically, there are two blends of Bordeaux, the left bank uses mostly Cabernet Sauvignon and right mostly Merlot. Burgandy is almost always Pinot Noir, although White Burgandy is Chardonnay. Italy:  Piedmont for Barolo and Tuscany for Brunello de Montalcino. California:  Napa Valley and parallel Sonoma Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon and red blends. ...

Donald Trump met with President Joe Biden at the White House today .  Four years ago, Trump was the first president in a long time not to have invited the incoming president.,,,Biden.  Worse, Trump did not bother to show up for Joe's Inauguration, the first absentee outgoing president to do this since Andrew Johnson's skipped Ulysses Grant's 1869 swearing-in ceremony.  Apparently all went well today. Senate Republicans voted on their new majority leader and picked  John Thune  of South Dakota. John Cornyn of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida also ran.  Mitch McConnell was the longest serving leader in Senate history.  Scott was the only MAGA endorsed candidate, so Thune might not be what Trump will desire. One significant change to be instituted by the re-elected President Donald Trump will be to create at least one new department to allow for only true loyalists to serve in his bureaucracy.  This new one will be called the  Department of Gover...