Wow, time travel, backwards. While I've left Japan at 6PM and arrived in Hawaii roughly seven hours later on the same day, I've never left anywhere to return on the previous day. My flight from Auckland departed at 11AM on July 10, and landed in Honolulu after an 8 hour flight at 9PM on July 9. This was a grand and enjoyable trip. I learned a lot. If you skip everything else, please go to #10 and challenge me on my simple solution for our broken government. My top baker's dozen highlights in no particular order:
1. Among the best meals of my life, and, in particular, Pierre Gagnaire (why it was so memorable, above--click on the restaurant for why) and Sepia (a sushi plate below, with crispy duck skin and no wasabi below):
I remained healthy, experienced a minimum of expected stresses and feel compelled to return to Australia and New Zealand one more time.
Among the news items from some Pacific nations:
3. Japan found large deposits of rare earth minerals at the bottom of its Exclusive Economic Zone. I told them that a third of a century ago when I was the Senate staff lead for the Hard Minerals Act.
5. Visitors to Thailand will reach 71 million this year. Actually, most are just in transit. Tourism should be around 20 million this year. Hawaii struggles to exceed 7 million, and the all time U.S. record was last year, with 62 million.
6. There is an uncomfortable sense from editorials throughout the region that China and the U.S. are heading toward a course of conflict. China still spends only one-sixth as the USA on their military, but the trends are of concern. I guess the military industrial complex affecting news is world-wide, for the following graph is from The Economist:
7. What is the sound of Paradise? "For the Balinese, the clashing cymbals and beating of gamelan metalophones at temple festicals induce a trance-like state of calm."
8. While Chinese restaurants throughout the region still serve shark fin soup, China is close to prohibiting this from official banquets. Why so long, for the announcement is that there will be a three year transition period, and only for State functions. South Korea, incidentally, will be using the Japanese loophole by going after whales. Mind you, this is all for research. Sure.
9. Tokyo is #4 and Singapore is #5 to #1 New York in political, economic and cultural clout. This from the Mori Foundation. The Asia Competitiveness Institute says that Singapore has the third highest index to Geneva for cities with clout and comfort. New York is not even on this second list and no other American city is in the top ten of either. Singapore also has the highest proportion of millionaires (Qatar is #2) and the USA is #7. Singapore is at 17% while the U.S. is 4%:
10. Thomas Friedman has it right. Moderate Republicans still exist--Down Under. That's right, the extremes from conservatives to liberals can be found in Australia and New Zealand--inside the U.S. Democratic Party. Australia has a carbon tax and New Zealand legislated cap and trade, plus is anti-nuclear. (I should add that these global warming edicts are very soft, and you only learn this by being here.) They both, of course, have single-payer national health care systems. New Zealand has approved civil unions and you get fined if you don't register to vote. Well, only 65% voted last year, for there is a loophole that says voting is not compulsory. I have a solution on how to fix our broken government. First, the American Sociological Review recently announced that in 1974 conservatives in the U.S. had the highest confidence in science (yes, higher than liberals). Today, conservatives are deeply skeptical. For example, only 30% of conservatives believe our Earth was warming as a result of greenhouse gases (it was 50% only two years ago). The liberal belief is 74% (72% four years ago). Something terrible has happened to the Republican Party. My simple solution? Eliminate the Republican Party.
11. Native rights is a numbers game. One of 7 in New Zealand is Maori. They have gained significant concessions from their federal government. In the U.S., one in 775 is a native Indian. They only get to run casinos. One in 14 in Hawaii are native Hawaiians. They are beginning to make headway in their demands. One in 2000 in the USA are native Hawaiians. Nothing seems to be passing the U.S. Congress.
12. On the matter of religion, Indonesia might well have the highest score on belief in God (93%). This is mostly a country of Muslims. About 92% of those in the U.S. believe in God, but this number was up to 98% half a century ago. Only 34% of the French do, with 39% being non-believers. However, in Australia, skeptics now rank #1 in numbers, followed by Catholics and Anglicans. Nearly twice as many women as men think there are angels (63% to 37%) and 53% believe in some life after death. The U.S. percentage varies, but an average would be 74%. New Zealand falls in between at 62%. The world average could well be 50-50.
12 plus 1. Guiness just made it official: the largest crocodile, Indo-Pacific saltwater, lives in the Philippines. Lolong is just a bit more than 20 feet long and weighs 2,370 pounds.
This giant is kept in the Bunawan Eco-Park and Research Center in Barangay Consuelo. How would you like to be that guy measuring the length? I don't think that enclosure height is high enough. Note that they can jump their length. This one needs a height barrier of 21 feet! Here I am to the left acting pretty stupid in Bali. Lolong gets 500 visitors/day. If you say, oh, how cruel, how can they keep this beast in captivity, keep in mind that it was hunted and captured because it probably ate two people.
A car ride from Manila would take 42 hours. You can fly to Davao City (second largest city in the Philippines), which is relatively close to Bumawan. Be careful, though, as the U.S. State Department has warned of Muslim terrorist attacks on Mindanao, the island of Lolong.
There are three storms in the East Pacific, but only Emily appears to be important, now at 110 MPH. She is heading towards Hawaii, but is expected to soon weaken:
9. Tokyo is #4 and Singapore is #5 to #1 New York in political, economic and cultural clout. This from the Mori Foundation. The Asia Competitiveness Institute says that Singapore has the third highest index to Geneva for cities with clout and comfort. New York is not even on this second list and no other American city is in the top ten of either. Singapore also has the highest proportion of millionaires (Qatar is #2) and the USA is #7. Singapore is at 17% while the U.S. is 4%:
12. On the matter of religion, Indonesia might well have the highest score on belief in God (93%). This is mostly a country of Muslims. About 92% of those in the U.S. believe in God, but this number was up to 98% half a century ago. Only 34% of the French do, with 39% being non-believers. However, in Australia, skeptics now rank #1 in numbers, followed by Catholics and Anglicans. Nearly twice as many women as men think there are angels (63% to 37%) and 53% believe in some life after death. The U.S. percentage varies, but an average would be 74%. New Zealand falls in between at 62%. The world average could well be 50-50.
12 plus 1. Guiness just made it official: the largest crocodile, Indo-Pacific saltwater, lives in the Philippines. Lolong is just a bit more than 20 feet long and weighs 2,370 pounds.
A car ride from Manila would take 42 hours. You can fly to Davao City (second largest city in the Philippines), which is relatively close to Bumawan. Be careful, though, as the U.S. State Department has warned of Muslim terrorist attacks on Mindanao, the island of Lolong.There are three storms in the East Pacific, but only Emily appears to be important, now at 110 MPH. She is heading towards Hawaii, but is expected to soon weaken:
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