For those regulars of this blog site, I will get to our American Melody cruise on the Mississippi River.  But first, my topic of the day: the  Cicada . This is not a travel site.  No city/town has that name. Not about those swarming insects from 13- or 17-year broods.   Anyway, this happens not to be one of those springs when they emerge .  Although there will come a few stragglers, like this one shown.  Brood XXIII will strike in 2028.  In prime cicada years, you can more readily find chocolate chip cicada cookies. The Cicada I'm referring to today is the  new COVID variant . This will be an encore, for this variant first appeared in 2024. Cicada is nickname for BA.3.2, which first infected people in South Africa. Cicada is responsible for 30% of Europe's COVID ailments. More: Scientists say that Cicada carries   70 to 75 new mutations   in the spike protein, the portion that the human immune system recognizes and targets. That's m...

  On this nostalgic Tuesday, I return to our first Diamond Princess cruise that was close to starting the   Covid Pandemic.  As you know if you read this blog, two weeks from today we again board the Diamond Princess for a 9-day cruise around Japan. But first, just one news flash.  The U.S. House of Representative remained paralyzed when Congressman  Jim Jordan lost the vote today to become speaker .  In a way, this was embarrassing, for he walked unto the floor with a sense of confidence, but was rebuffed by 20 Republicans who voted for someone else.  Democrats all voted for Hakeem Jeffries, who beat Jordan, 212-200.  But with no majority vote of 217 or more, no winner.  Next vote will come at 11AM on Wednesday.  I said yesterday there was no way he could prevail, and GOP sources today said that opposition to Jordan could actually grow in future votes.  I still think that Kevin McCarthy will ultimately return to the speakership, wi...

Remember the parable of the  Blind Men and an Elephant?   Well, the Republican Party is at a crucial crossroad about where they're headed. First Republican presidential debate?   Read this .   And this . Japan releasing nuclear contaminated wastewater into the Pacific?   Read this .  Dumping of radiated fluids will need to go on for the next forty or so years.  International relationships?  Totally screwed up.  A quote: Bob Richmond of the University of Hawaii (we are in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology), scientific advisor to the Pacific Island states, which like China and most countries are adamantly opposed, analogized that Japan's extensive monitoring plans do not actually mitigate health risks posed by duming the wastewater into the ocean: Its' the same thing as saying, 'I'm going to smoke three packs of cigarettes a day, but I'm not worried because I'm gonna get a chest X-ray every year.  That's m...