MY MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF 2019

Note that these are not memorable moments of the world in the year 2019.  These are my moments.  However, if you do go to the media, Donald Trump trumped the headlines.  For example, just glance at Dave Barry's 2019 chronological summary by month.  

From Mueller to Impeachment to China trade to Kim Jong-Un to Greta Thunberg, our PUS (President of the United States) surely deserved to be Man of the Year, as Hitler was in 1938, who Time did not even put on the cover.

What must have particularly irked Trump was that he was bypassed by Time for Greta Thunberg.  Here is Greta exhibiting some anger as The Donald walks by.

Donald J. Trump

‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump

Donald J. Trump Retweeted Roma Downey

So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!

One of my prime momentous moments of 2019 came in February when four of us from Hawaii went to Chateau Lafite Rothschild (CLR), where they proceeded to serve us a whole bottle of 2004, which, according to Wine Searcher, averages out at around $1082/bottle today.  What made it particularly monumental is that you can go into any wine store, buy any decent red wine (for less than $10), and they all taste about as good as CLR.

We made a stop at Tattinger for champagne, then, perhaps the most memorable tasting of this adventure to France was this:

 We went to a special area where we couldn't take any photos.  She opened a keg and sucked out around 10 ounces of cognac soon to be marketed.  We carried that around in our glasses as we toured.  She opened a door and said that this room is visited only 13 times per year, and we were being specially honored, possibly because of Mystery Lady.  Then again, perhaps because of the macadamia nut candy gift.  Only a few staff members have been allowed to enter.  This was the room that protected all their original products and bottles of historical significance.  Even Jeroboams and Methuselahs of Louis XIII.

The average price of this bottle is $3247.  As 700 ml is 23.7 ounces, we then must have tasted $1096 worth of Louis XIII.

Which then logically leads to fine cuisine.  Lunch at La Tour d'Argent in Paris was unforgettable.  The epicurean servings certainly, but the view from our table was of Notre Dame (to the extreme left), which exactly a month later, had a tragic fire.  The latest word is that the entire church might need to be razed.

May 1 was notable because the day began with a visit to the new Emperor and Empress of Japan, who that day moved into the Imperial Palace.  We were not specifically invited, we just went in as tourists.  Then, the final evening before returning to Honolulu, we dined at Robuchon, one of the premiere restaurants in the world.  This a view from our room at the Tokyo Westin.

My favorite Japanese wagyu beef restaurant is Iseya at the Sendai Station.  The whole meal costs only $80.  This could typically set you back several hundred dollars in Tokyo.

On that same Orient cherry blossom trip, I had my best day ever in Seoul with four mystery ladies.  Lunch was at Dooreyoo of celebrated chef Tony Yoo, with five kinds of alcoholic beverages. Mind you, this was lunch.  Different species of seaweed infused each dish because the hostesses wanted to help cure my knee pains.  They also took us on a cherry blossom ride.  After a tour of the city, dinner was at a kalbi restaurant which featured Korean wagyu, the equivalent of Japan.

Usually, when you train from Hakata (Fukuoka) to Miyazaki, you take the Shinkansen to Kagoshima, then transfer to a local.  Not sure how this happened, but we took a different route  through Beppu and Oita.  For two hours the mountains were full of Sakura, the most I've ever seen by far anywhere.  Unfortunately, my camera was set wrong, and about the only retrievable shot was this to the left.

One thing about travel is that you get surprised a lot.  I did not again expect to see Pearl's Black and White Koi, led to this viewpoint by my Blue-Bar Pigeon, plus this cherry blossom scene at this pond of Sukkeien, a Japanese garden in Hiroshima.  We did not see her Gold Koi at Matsumoto Castle, so to unexpectedly be visited by this almost bluish koi was so fulfilling.

Hard to pick just one fall colors photo, but, in Yokohama, at Sankein Garden:

Likewise, how can it be possible to show just one photo of the entire Diamond Princess cruise.  However, whale sharks at Churaumi Aquarium on Okinawa:

I had the good fortune to see Mount Fuji from a half dozen different locations.  One from the air on a flight from Seoul to Tokyo:

A few other memorable moments from 2019.  Katelyn Ohashi, scoring a 10 in gymnastics:

My best movie of year?  I went to a hundred this year, and Knives Out is the most entertaining.  Rotten Tomatoes gave it one of its higher ratings, 97% by reviewers and 92% by audiences.

A whodunnit in the spirit of Murder on the Orient Express, with Daniel Craig as Hercule Poirot.  There are twists, turns and unexpected consequences.  The cast is fine.  Christopher Plummer pulled most of the strings, but I can't tell you if he, in fact, committed suicide.  You'll need to go see the movie.


You can give a lot credit to Rian Johnson, for he wrote, produced and directed the effort.  Never heard of him?  He only wrote and directed the 2017 version of Star Wars:  The Last Jedi.

Only 69 minutes long, but Rotten Tomatoes reviewers has it at 100% at this point.  Opening on Friday, January 3, is Don't Be Dick a About It.

Scientifically, the most monumental?  The Event Horizon Telescope finally photographed a black hole.  At the center of Galaxy M87, a mere 55 million light years away, this monster is 6.5 billion times the mass of our Sun.  There is probably a black hole at the center of all galaxies, and you would think this would have come a long time ago.  But here it is.

Okay, I need to close with something so awesome as to make Donald Trump insignificant.  This song is addictive, and is singularly responsible for the greatest sports achievement of the year.  I dare you to click on Baby Shark.  This comes from my Christmas posting:

But the recent inspiration came from South Korea.   Here is the group Black Pink and their version.  Red Velvet and Baby Shark.   And here you thought you had permanently disposed of Gangnam Style.

Baby Sharks spurred the World Series champs, the Washington Nationals, with chomping hands.  Give credit to Gerardo Parra, he started this all in DC.

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MY FAVORITE DOCTOR

I have had many doctors in my life.  My next door neighbor, John, is one, but we have no professional relationship, only a personal one, so he does not qualify for this analysis.  My personal physician, Joey, is another, who graduated seven years ago from the University Hawaii.  He will outlive me.  My previous one, Melvin, was some years younger, but one day got tired of what he was doing and just retired.  I'm using first names to somewhat respect their privacy.

I thank Kristi, my colonoscopy specialist, more correctly called a gastroenterologist, and dermatologist Ryan, for with their procedures showed nothing cancerous from their excisions, catalyzing more or less a constant state of euphoria since early June.  There are more, but not as many as most I know at 15 Craigside, for they in sum experienced all chapters of any anatomy book, the most common subject discussed at dinner.

My favorite doctor is new.  I've had a number of postings on cutting nails.  Here is just one with a quote:

15 Craigside actually has a foot doctor that comes a couple of times a month, and several residents have her cut their toenails.  When you get old, it is painful to do this yourself.  However, I think that is too much of an insult to have a medical doctor do this.  Plus, I hear that she does a terrible job.

So I was referred by friends and my personal doctor to Dr. Ricky Sukita (those are my feet, and I can use his full name because I asked if I could).  He is among the best podiatrists in Hawaii.  More so, he is one of the top three.  

As I more and more had difficulty bending down to cut my toenails, I went to a series of manicurist/pedicurist shops, some costing as much as $50, for it seemed too menial to use a real physician just for toenail cutting.   But desperation has a way of overcoming embarrassment, so I finally succumbed earlier this year.

One of the best decisions I made in my life.  For one, my medical plan pays for this service.  Also, too, Ricky is one of the nicest people you can meet.    

He solved one of the bigger problems in my life.  In addition I made a friend.  With the others, all we talk about is my body and health.  With Dr. Sukita, during my 15 minutes every five weeks with him, we discuss our lives and philosophies.  He is my favorite doctor because we have this more personal relationship

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THE FUTURE OF RELIGION

First, a glorious Sunday, for my Honohono Orchids bloomed this morning:

I've never seen these orchids flower in December!

I've been delving more and more into religion since I wrote a chapter on this subject in my SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity, and I just noticed that while the belief in God percentage of Americans is very high, we are not particularly religious compared to the majority of countries in the world.  The logic of this somewhat eludes me.

Gallup has regularly been polling Americans on their belief in God and importance of religion.  About God belief, from roughly 97% from the 40's into the mid-60s (confirmed by a Lou Harris poll), this percentage dropped to 86% in 2014. and rose to 89% in 2016. 

In that Gallup survey of 2016, where belief rose to a simple YES/NO question, also provided was this graph:

Those numbers show a direction, but people who believe in God, apparently, are not necessarily very religious, as also from Gallup:

Why aren't those two number nearly the same?  Shouldn't there be a close correlation?

Frank Newport, Gallup's editor-in-chief, who also wrote that book to the left, indicated that these numbers don't tell the whole story, as in the forties he felt that Americans were obliged to say they were religious.  Today, people are more comfortable saying no.  Thus, there might not have been any real decline in belief.  But why the wide discrepancy of 40 percentage points between belief in God and importance of religion?

 In 2018 Gallup again asked, and the response, somewhat surprisingly, depended on how you asked:

Wording A gave the expected 87% response to a simple YES/NO question.  However, only 64% said yes to the C wording.  So perhaps a simple answer to the difference is that it's all in how you ask the question.  Thus, in comparison with other countries, you should consider this variation as a factor.

On a related question, from a WIN/Gallup International poll, here are the least religious countries:

•    1  China    7%
•    2  Japan   13%
•    3  Estonia 16%

China being so low might not reflect true personal feelings.  Being ignorant of the reality, when I gave a lecture at a university in Hangzhou a quarter century ago, I asked how many of you believe in God and the Afterlife?  A couple of students tentatively raised their hands.  Later, I was told don't ever ask this question in China again, for there invariably will be someone in the room who will report those who are religious.  Till today I wonder how many I sent into obscurity.

From Wikipedia, the darker the more religious:

Least religious (China was NOT polled):

•    1  Estonia          16%
•    2  Sweden          17%
•    3  Denmark        19%
•    6  Japan              24%
•    8  UK                 24%
•   11  France           30%
•   16  Russia           38%
•   25  Germany       40%
•   38  Israel             51%
•   45  USA              69%

Most religious:

•    1  Somalia,  Oman, Niger, Ethiopia, Bangladesh (all 100%)
•  13  Thailand, Myanmar, Morocco, Laos, Guinea
•        Egypt, Comoros, Afghanistan (all 97%)
• 
  
•  45  Saudi Arabia  93%
•  
•  59  India               90%
•  
•  76  Puerto Rico    85%
•  
• 111 United States  69%

With 150 countries in this list, the USA is the 111th most religious country.  Explain to me how this can be when almost 90% of those in the country believe in God?  Well, the answer must be that much of the world has a belief in God rate higher than the us.  

Yet, Friendly Atheist released a survey that said 63% of people around the world are religious, while there are 11% convinced atheists.  The Washington Times reported that 84% of the world population has faith.  Faith?  Belief?  Church affiliation?  God?  Religion?  How are they related?

I would surmise (I haven't yet found the definitive answer) that through much of human history, for those cultures that believed in a God or Gods, the belief rate was nearly 100%.  I guess our educational system and progressiveness have diminished the God belief rate.  Countries in Europe, if nothing else because they have been around longer, have, over time, gone even further away from that 100% ultimate.   

But why are people so religious?  I provide this answer by asking you to read this BBC explanation, from where comes this photo to the right. 

BBC further analyzes this field and adds:

• How and why did religion evolve?
• Will religions ever disappear?
• What would it mean for AI to have a soul?

To close:

S

Siri, do you believe in God?

“Humans have religion. I just have silicon.”

Siri, do you believe in God?

“I eschew theological disquisition.”

Siri, I insist, do you believe in God?

“I would ask that you address your spiritual questions to someone more qualified to comment. Ideally, a human.”

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FOOTBALL, ANYONE? AND MORE FOOD.

This has to be the most important weekend in college football:

• Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl:  LSU vs Oklahoma
• Play Station Fiesta Bowl:  Ohio State vs Clemson

Yet, those commercial sponsorship names have certainly tainted the historical meaningfulness of the six major bowls:

Could it be that the College Football National Championship has NO sponsor?  Well, the trophy and ESPN ads are linked to Dr. Pepper.  The company paid $35 million for the 2014-2020 years to gain this privilege.  So what it comes down to is money.  Dr. Pepper recently extended this sponsorship into 2026.

Oh, the game itself between the winners of those two playoff games mentioned above will kickoff at 8 PM on Monday, January 13, 2020, in the New Orleans Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

But about today, as I was a student at LSU in the early '70's, and the second Popeye's opened in Baton Rouge, guess what I will be having for my tailgate before the LSU/Oklahoma game?  The first restaurant, in New Orleans.  However, ownership shifted to Florida, there was bankruptcy in 1991, with the headquarters now in Toronto.  

Interestingly enough, Al Copeland's (who passed away in 2008) son, Al Copeland, Jr., is now in general control of this chicken operation.  There are now more than 3,000 outlets in 31 countries.  Return for photos of my feast.  Maybe I'll try their chicken sandwich.



Drove all the way to Kapahulu Popeye's and paid $18 for my Louisiana tailgate:

Two kinds of chicken, their infamous sandwich, corn on the cob, jalapeno, red beans and rice, plus beer and a splendid 2013 Stanford Ridge Cabernet.  Probably can't get it anymore, but this particular vintage is spectacular.

About the game, it is halftime, and LSU is embarrassing Oklahoma, 49-14.  Yes, halftime.  So LSU for sure in the Championship game on January 13. 

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