INTERESTING TRIVIA

Trivia can not only be interesting, but could also well save or extend your life, but this is Friday, so let's begin with one that is extravagant:

1.  For those billionaires I regularly feature, an all diamond ring, 150 carats, for a cost of $70 million:

2.  If you live in Hawaii or plan to come here, you might want to be able to distinguish the Aedes aegypti (left) from the more prevalent Aedes albopictus (right), known as the Asian Tiger mosquito:

If you say, gee, they look the same, yes, they do.  The size does not matter as each can vary from 2-10 mm depending on the environment.  Looking closer, you will note, though, that the aegypti has two stripes at the back of the head, while the albopictus has a white stripe running down the middle of its back.  The bite from the aegypti is more dangerous, for it is known to spread dengue and yellow fever.  Thus, if you see two white stripes on the head stinging you, and in 3-6 days you come down with fever, chills, headaches, muscle aches, vomiting and backache, you might want to worry about yellow fever.  I'm one of the few in Hawaii vaccinated for this ailment when I trekked (but only in the sense of flying over) to Mount Kilimanjaro last year.  If you're planning on visiting this 50th State as a tourist, don't bother to get any shots, as airport authorities recently just found some eggs.  No one has seen a natural flying aegypti since 1949.

On the other hand, you can contract dengue, yellow fever, West Nile, and that dreaded Chikungunya, from both kinds.   I thought I encountered the albopictus infecting people with Chikungunya when I visited Reunion, but this info on the left says aegypti, yet shows what looks like an albopictus.   But, again, don't fret too much, for the life cycle of these mosquitos depends on whom they suck, and ailing humans from these diseases are largely nonexistent in Hawaii.  Do worry, though, for animal hosts can factor into the equation.


In case you were wondering, eggs (left are aegypti, right are albopictus) typically hatch in 24 hours so that any recent rain can turn into an immediate epidemic, for even wet soil can serve to incubate, and a typical female lays 200 eggs.  These mosquitos are actually relatively new to the USA and Europe, and some blame products from China (like water in tires), which gets hit for anything bad by American PR.  At least be thankful that the Aedes (unlike Anopheles) don't transmit malaria!  Read about my nightmare in Papua New Guinea.

3.  Wimmie Wong Lui reports that we spend 9.3 hours/day sitting.  However, only sitting more than six hours/day increases your chances of death by 40% over the next 14 years, compared with someone who sits less than 3 hours/day.  Interestingly enough, this was even if you exercised regularly, smoked or had a high body mass index (i.e., are fat)  Yeah, but find me a person who sits less than three hours/day.  Apparently, sleeping is okay, and, in fact, a positive factor in lengthening your life.  I suspect lying in bed watching TV is more like sitting than sleeping, but I did not see specific details, and the researchers only had limited data.  Okay, for some of you, like me, this is yet another piece of advice that could well change your life, for these doctors are not doing this work to jerk you around.

4.  Well, it is Friday, so let me end with something truly trivial, hailstones.  Kailua last this month got a 4.25 incher (length).  First, that one looked like an agglomeration of smaller stones.  However, last year South Dakota boasted of one 8 inches in dimeter with a circumference of 18.5 inches.  See the video.  It came right through the roof of a home.  Again, though, the ball looks like a composite of smaller hailstones, like an icy snowball.

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The Dow Jones Industrials rose 35 to 13,081, with Asian markets mostly down by 1%.  Gold jumped $18/toz to $1663, with the WTI crude at $107/barrel and the Brent Spot at $125/barrel.

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