But before going into my topic of the day, I wondered why that huge  (#6 on all-time list ) earthquake did not produce a gigantic tsunami ( from the  Star-Advertiser ): The most recent event had an estimated magnitude of 8.7 or 8.8 on the scale scientists use to measure the strength of earthquakes.     By contrast, catastrophic tsunamis in the past, including a wave that struck Indonesia in 2004 and another that hit Japan in 2011, were generated by a quake of about magnitude 9.   That might sound comparable to Wednesday’s quake, Melgar said, but it is significantly bigger. That’s because the earthquake scale is logarithmic: A magnitude- 9 event possesses about 10 times as much energy as a magnitude-8.7 event, and about three times as much energy as a magnitude-8.8 event.   Also, current models suggest that Wednesday’s earthquake occurred across a stretch of seafloor that was hundreds of miles long. The longer the quake, the more energetic the...

During the pandemic, Thursday was my day for COVID-19.  Looks like there is a new variant that could become serious, so I return today for an update.  But first, yesterday I ended with input from Elon Musk.  Today I will start with him.  From the  New York Time s: Elon Musk is leaving Washington . In a post on X last night, he confirmed for the first time what has become increasingly clear for weeks — that his work with the Trump administration and DOGE is coming to an end. He thanked Trump “for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending. ”   One more matter dealing with politics.  The  New York Times  this morning also showed the following graphic, which is startling: Trump won because many counties shifted from Democratic to Republican.  Ironically, Democrats improved in mostly richer counties.  What has happened is that Republicans are now making gains in working-class areas.  Wonder what will happen in November 2026 when t...

The Los Angeles County firestorms are now a week old.  While four of the seven fires have been contained, the largest, Pacific Palisades, is still only around 15% contained, and the most deadly in Eaton, with 17 of the 25 deaths, remains two-thirds uncontrolled.  Worse  Santa Ana winds of up to 70 MPH will return later today , with red flag warnings extending for the counties of San Luis Obispo to San Diego.  While other states (including Republican Texas) are pledging assistance to California, looks like the incoming pathologically vengeful  President Donald Trump  will continue to lie and criticize enemies in his second term, for he blamed Governor Gavin Newsom and President Joe Biden for the fire.  Of course they are Democrats, and California did not vote for him.  States like Hawaii will also be in big trouble in the four years to come, for Harris, percentage-wise, got more votes from Hawaii (61%) than California (59%). More about Trump regard...

In a word, yes, you should continue to worry about Covid-19 when you travel.  Although we luckily avoided getting sick on our 53-day world journey, just around the time we returned, three of the residents at 15 Craigside where we live came back from trips and tested positive.  I also learned that we have a resident who traveled outside of Hawaii on three occasions after the pandemic was declared over, and each time contracted this virus while on the road.  They were all up-to-date in every Covid vaccination, including the latest booster.  But because of that, symptoms were mild. As I once devoted Thursdays to this disease, let me today bring you up to date on the latest info. In 2017, the leading causes of deaths in the USA were heart disease, cancer and accidents. During the pandemic, Covid-19 replaced accidents at #3. In 2023: Heart disease:  702,880 Cancer:  608,371 Accidents:  227,039 Covid-19:  186,552 Stroke:  165,393 Respiratory causes...