I decided to skip summarizing our city stops on our 60-day journey.  You can read those postings at  Seattle ,  Chihuly Museum ,  Amsterdam  and  Zurich. As would be expected,  Time' s  2024 Person of the Year will be Donald Trump .   Is it  because he was the most fabulous individual of the year? Nope.  To quote. A person, group, idea, or object that "for better or for worse ... has done the most to influence the events of the year". [ 2 ] Time   points out that controversial figures such as   Adolf Hitler (1938);   Joseph Stalin   (1939 and 1942);   Nikita Khrushchev   (1957); and   Ayatollah Khomeini (1979) have also been granted the title for their impact on events. [ 16 ] Here, read the  Time  2January1939  article about Adolf Hitler .  Turns out that the just-elected president of the USA is now ALWAYS the Person of the Year. Other noteworthy selections. The first...

All my ancestors are from Japan. Read about my father's father,  Kenjiro , who I was named after:  I did not learn much about him until I started my roots search after I retired.   That colored symbol says a lot, and  is explained in a 2019 posting about my visit to Utashinai , located north of Sapporo on Hokkaido, from where he left in around 1890 to the USA.  On his way back to Japan, he got married on Kauai, had a son and daughter.  This is why I grew up in Hawaii. About Utashinai, JR does not today have a station there anymore because this once coal town has dwindled into a skiing and wine spot.  Once up to 46,000, it is now down to 3000.  It was Japan's smallest city when I visited four years ago when the population was 3500. It is possible that I've landed in Japan more times than any non-airline employee in Hawaii.  At least a hundred times, and maybe 150, or more.  One reason why is that I've gone around the world so many ti...

According to the New York Times this morning: More than   100 U.S. colleges   will require in-person students to be vaccinated.   As far as I know, the University of Hawaii is still thinking about it . The Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill   to clean up drinking water , a moment of bipartisan cooperation.   This is a test of how infrastructure can serve as the foundation for President Joe Biden's next $4 trillion Build Back Better plan.  You know how much money this is?  See graphic. Amazon reported   over $8 billion in profit   in the first three months of 2021, more than triple the figure a year ago.   No wonder Jeff Bezos is the richest person in the world, now worth $171 billion. The Jacksonville Jaguars selected Trevor Lawrence, a quarterback from Clemson, first in the N.F.L. draft.   Here’s the rest of the first round .  Alabama had six players selected, tying the University of Miami for most ever.  Jalen Waddle ...