I'll get  to the pizza part later, but will begin with this pandemic, using a few graphics from the morning   New York Times : If you've forgotten how to read graphs, the results are clear.  Those states voting for Donald Trump are killing themselves by avoiding being vaccinated.  How serious is this?  Almost a factor of 5. Further from the  NYT : Since Delta began circulating widely in the U.S., Covid has exacted a horrific death toll on red America: In counties where Donald Trump received at least 70 percent of the vote, the virus has killed about 47 out of every 100,000 people since the end of June,   according to Charles Gaba,   a health care analyst. In counties where Trump won less than 32 percent of the vote, the number is about 10 out of 100,000 . How do these numbers compare with the world in deaths/100,000 population? U.S.  21 Hawaii  and Vermont  5  ( lowest in  nation--yet, Hawaii's governor still refu...

To start, a tidbit from  OZY Sunday Magazine : If the problem is the U.S. border with Mexico, is the solution an alligator-filled moat? In 2019, former President Donald Trump   reportedly asked aides   to explore that idea. In a response worthy of Jonathan Swift, defense strategist and author Peter W. Singer worked out the costs of replacing border fences with a moat filled with alligators and snakes. Spoiler alert: It’s   surprisingly doable , costing $2.5 billion to acquire the reptiles and $1.8 billion a year to maintain them as a “border force.” The Rio Grande is 1255 miles of the 1954-mile long U.S.-Mexico border.  If Donald Trump had succeeded in totally building a wall at a projected cost of $20 million/mile, the cost would eventually have been $39 billion.  He was planning, though, to only construct 576 miles at a cost of $11 billion, using the Rio Grande as part of his barrier, and some previous walls to suffice.  Gobal warming has made it eas...

I happened to read an   article on the 10 greatest film directors from Japan .  Of course on the list were Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu and Kon Ichikawa.  I thought Masaki Kobayashi deserved to be there.  So I went to   another ranking and he was #8 .  His memorable films are highly rated: Harakiri  ( 1962 ), Rotten Tomatoes  100/97. The Human Condition  ( 1959 ), RT  /94 ...but only for Part 2. Kwaidan  ( 1964 ), RT 91/90. I am focusing on  The Human Condition  because I am into the first hour of Part 1 of this trilogy: Part 1:   No Greater Love . Part 2:   Road to Eternity . Part 3:   A Soldier's Prayer . Let me quote  Wikipedia : The Human Condition   ( 人間の條件 ,   Ningen no jōken )   is a   Japanese   epic film   trilogy made between 1959 and 1961, based on the six-volume   novel   published from 1956 to 1958 by   Junpei Gomikawa . [3]  ...

Earlier this week, I saw a half-page ad on page A5 of the   Honolulu Star Advertiser,   indicating that the Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act was alluring but dangerous. My initial reaction was, why would any organization deprecate an attempt at peace?  Never heard of One Korean Network ( OKN ) or the Korean Conservative Political Action Conference ( KCPAC ).  The ad was coincidental to  South Korea President Moon Jae-in meeting at Pearl Harbor  with Admiral Aquilino, U.S. Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. One Korea Network:   Our mission is to awaken and inform the powerful cohorts of American politicians and also thought leaders worldwide of the little known demise of South Korea. And how the dominance of China poses the real threat to freedom and democracy in the North East Region of Asia .  President is Andrew Crilly, and as I'm today featuring humdrum videos, here is a  half an hour statement from him .  So I'm still ...