One more craziness about the frozen Iowa caucus today.   Republican candidates have spent $123 million in advertising so far.   With such low temperatures throughout the state tonight, it would not be surprising if only 123,000 show up to vote.  $1,000/vote????  In the  2020 presidential election, $14.4 billion  was spent to gain 155.4 million votes.  That calculates to around $10/vote.  Does this make any sense?  Incidentally, the first official primary election state for Democrats is South Carolina, although only Joe Biden will get votes.  Bet you did not know that  President Grover Cleveland is on the newest $1000 bill , which has been discontinued.  The  appraised value if you have one is $5000. We're better off in the USA than anywhere else.  I say this on the basis of the following from  Wikipedia  ranking household expenditure per capita/year: #1      United States          $43,931 #2      Hong Kong             $37,893 #3      Luxembourg           $33,647 #4      Bermuda   

The implosion of Titan opens up the age-old question of how much risk should anyone take.  The standard blowback is to stay in bed and certainly avoid leaving home if you want to avoid risk.  True, whether it's merely falling or getting into a traffic accident, security is compromised when you venture forth.  Did you know that  second only to motor vehicle accidents is falling , which itself accounts for 15% of all accidental deaths in the U.S.   But why even live if you do nothing, something only a very few rich souls can enjoy.  So we all proceed through life in school, work, family stuff, watching TV, traveling, and the like.  Then there are those who hang glide, savor bungee jumping, do night scuba diving, and, if you can afford it, take Titan to see the Titanic or, like  Jeff Bezos , three years ago boarded his New Shepard rocket on an 11-minute journey on July 20 to coincide with the 52nd anniversary of Armstrong stepping on the Moon.   Odds were made before he left, and beca

President Joe Biden tested negative for COVID-19.  The four shots and Paxlovid worked well. Authorities don't know how best to  de-stigmatize Monkeypox , but: The global   monkeypox outbreak   appears to mostly affect men who have sex with other men.   A study published   in the   New England Journal of Medicine   found that 98% of people diagnosed with the virus between April and June in more than a dozen countries identify as gay or bisexual men, and   the WHO says   that 99% of U.S. cases are related to male-to-male sexual contact. Maybe the best policy is to just focus on this community. As of a week ago there were  14,000 cases and only 5 deaths.   While in the past  monkeypox  had a 5% mortality rate, the strain that is currently dominating has a much lower death rate, similar to COVID-19 before vaccinations.  There is a vaccine, and if given within four days of exposure, protects about 85% of the time.  There are also antivirals and immunoglobulins to treat the disease. The