THE FIRST SIGN OF POSSIBLE EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE?

 MY WORLD IS CHANGING.  THE SHIFT TO A NEW SYSTEM BY GOOGLE IS LIMITING THIS BLOG SITE.  I WILL CONTINUE A WHILE IN THE PRESENT FORM, BUT THIS LOCATION WILL SHORTLY BECOME THE SITE OF MY FUTURE BOOK DRAFTS FOR YOUR COMMENT.  MOSTLY, THOUGH, I WILL JUST TOSS IN INTERESTING STUFF.  THIS WILL CONTINUE AT LEAST UNTIL I REACH #1 OF MY FAVORITE SONGS AROUND THE EVE OF  THE NEW YEAR.

YOU ARE INVITED TO MY NEW BLOG SITE IF YOU WISH TO CONTINUE READING WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING FOR MORE THAN A DOZEN YEARS:

     WHY ARE WE HERE?  WHERE WILL WE GO?

From Worldometer:

           DAY USA   WORLD   Brazil      India   South Africa

June      9    1093    4732        1185       246          82

July     19      412    4606          715       675          85

           22     1205    7128       1293     1120        572

Aug      1    1462     6429       1191       765        193

          10       534     4813         593     1013        198
          12     1504     6556       1242       835        130

          30       369     4182         398       960          47
Sept     3     1094     5886          830    1083        174
            6       432     4129          456    1008        110
            9     1208     6222        1136    1168          82
           13      392     3905          389    1140          20
           14      480     4374          454    1054          52
           15    1197     6001        1090    1283        142

           16    1012     6085          967    1139          64

           17      879     5568          857    1174          67

           18      958     5464          826    1221          85

           19      657     5141          708    1149          83

           20      294     3891          330    1135          13  

           21      384     4129          455    1056          39

           22      979     5725          809    1056        126

           23    1112     6328          906    1152          88

           24      942     5872          818    1144          77

           25      895     5819          826    1093          29

           26      737     5306          732    1123          64

           27      276     3933          335    1040          22

           28      355     3837          385      777        188

           29      977     5846          849    1178           81

Summary:  Clearly, this pandemic will not be soon going away.

As I'm completing this posting last night soon after the first presidential debate, I'll hope to get reinforced by non-partisan polls, but my sense is that Joe Biden did okay, but Donald Trump bullied himself to extinction.  There will be a VP debate next Tuesday, followed by two more presidential skirmishes, but it would be best for Biden to just move and maybe avoid that travesty.   Trump needed to make a difference to pull in undecided voters.  He miserably failed.  All Biden had to do was hold his own.  That he did.  No need to do it again.

The speculation for extraterrestrial life:

• Began over 2000 years ago in Greece:
• Then Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler, who had to be careful because of The Church, helped pave the way for these creative thoughts.
• In 1686 Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle wrote Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds.  A paperback version today from Amazon costs $20.
• Much of the search even in those days has been for intelligent life.

• 
  1869:  French inventor and poet Charles Cros (right) imagined using a parabolic mirror to flash coded messages to Mars and Venus.  That is, to communicate.
• Today, radio dominates the sending and receiving efforts, usually in the microwave.
• Even Nicola Tesla got into this field, saying in 1901 he thought he got strange signals from Mars, and Gugliemo Marconi in 1920 said he detected radio emissions from outer space.
• Albert Einstein felt that some visual means of communication made more sense.

• 
  Finally in 1959 radio-based SETI began with Giuseppe Cocconi (middle) and Philip Morrison writing about powerful radio transmitters.
• 1961:  Frank Drake (right) offered an equation for this search.

If we luck out and detect an intelligent signal, fabulous.  However, I've long felt that the best we'd ever do was find some kind of life in the Universe, and that the first success would be microbiological.  It was in 1960 when I attended a lecture by Joshua Lederberg (photo when he won the Nobel Prize in 1958) at Stanford where he effectively said:

Exobiology is no more fantastic than the realization of space travel itself, and we have a grave responsibility to explore its implications for science and for human welfare with our best scientific insights and knowledge.

He in effect invented the field of astrobiology, which NASA adopted.  All those projects they sent to Mars looked for signs of microbial life.

When Charles Townes and I proposed in 1976 to the NASA Ames Research Center a technique to not only for the first time detect an extrasolar planet, also measure the atmospheric composition, we were rebuffed.  This concept could also have found compounds like phosphine.

Which leads me to what was announced two weeks ago by an international team of scientists using a telescope on Mauna Kea:  a possible detection of life in the atmosphere of Venus.  What they discovered was a rare gaseous compound, phosphine, which can ONLY be produced by microbes in the natural conditions found on Venus.  Phosphine:

• 
  Is a toxic gas (smells like rotting fish) with the chemical formula of PH3, that is, one phosphorus and three hydrogen atoms.
• The measurement these scientists made at 31 miles from the surface of Venus was 20 parts per billion, which, on that planet, can only come from "life".
• This gas is destroyed by ultraviolet radiation, and thus must be self-replenishing.

Of all the coincidences, there is a New Zealand company, Rocket Lab, working on a mission to Venus...now to discover life.  Their Electron rocket will deliver a satellite, called Photon, to that planet in 2023, which has a probe to crash on the surface.  Quoting Peter Beck (left), CEO:  This mission is to go and see if we can find life.  They have already launched a dozen rockets, putting satellites in orbit for the private sector, NASA and U.S. military.  This effort will cost tens of millions of dollars, and they are seeking partners.  NASA has two larger missions, DAVINCI+ and VERITAS, in their Venus plans.

Of course, I have a special interest in this heavenly body because my next book might be entitled The Venus Syndrome.  I now have a storyline because of these recent developments.

My countdown is at #91, and there are two songs in contention, both by the Chiffons:

• He's So Fine
• One Fine Day

Here they are more recently on PBS.

Now how could these two songs rate higher than something from the Beatles?  The overriding factor is meaningfulness and emotion.  They were released early in 1963 when I was in boot camp.  To recap, I got married late in 1962, worried about being drafted, so joined the Army Reserves, where they sent me to 8 weeks of sheer agony at their Helemano Military Reservation.  I had never before been so physically challenged.  Maybe because of these songs, I survived, and even volunteered for another 8-weeks of advanced infantry training.  After 16 weeks I was in the best condition of my life.

So what is #91?  I'll just select both.

-

A BIG DAY IN THE USA

MY WORLD IS CHANGING.  THE SHIFT TO A NEW SYSTEM BY GOOGLE IS LIMITING THIS BLOG SITE.  I WILL CONTINUE A WHILE IN THE PRESENT FORM, BUT THIS LOCATION WILL SHORTLY BECOME THE SITE OF MY FUTURE BOOK DRAFTS FOR YOUR COMMENT.  MOSTLY, THOUGH, I WILL JUST TOSS IN INTERESTING STUFF.  THIS WILL CONTINUE AT LEAST UNTIL I REACH #1 OF MY FAVORITE SONGS AROUND THE EVE OF  THE NEW YEAR.

YOU ARE INVITED TO MY NEW BLOG SITE IF YOU WISH TO CONTINUE READING WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING FOR MORE THAN A DOZEN YEARS:

     WHY ARE WE HERE?  WHERE WILL WE GO?

From Worldometer:

           DAY USA   WORLD   Brazil      India   South Africa

June      9    1093    4732        1185       246          82

July     19      412    4606          715       675          85

           22     1205    7128       1293     1120        572

Aug      1    1462     6429       1191       765        193

          10       534     4813         593     1013        198
          12     1504     6556       1242       835        130

          30       369     4182         398       960          47
Sept     3     1094     5886          830    1083        174
            6       432     4129          456    1008        110
            9     1208     6222        1136    1168          82
           13      392     3905          389    1140          20
           14      480     4374          454    1054          52
           15    1197     6001        1090    1283        142

           16    1012     6085          967    1139          64

           17      879     5568          857    1174          67

           18      958     5464          826    1221          85

           19      657     5141          708    1149          83

           20      294     3891          330    1135          13  

           21      384     4129          455    1056          39

           22      979     5725          809    1056        126

           23    1112     6328          906    1152          88

           24      942     5872          818    1144          77

           25      895     5819          826    1093          29

           26      737     5306          732    1123          64

           27      276     3933          335    1040          22

           28      355     3837          385      777        188

Summary:  Let's see how it looks tomorrow.

Now that the coronavirus pandemic has claimed its millionth life, how long will it last?  Politico obtained the views of eleven experts in the field, and here is what they say on how it will end.  Read my posting on what this death toll will be at the end of this year.  You'll be shocked!

Note how quickly Donald Trump's initial knee-jerk reaction to The New York Times article about his taxes changed from fake news to the illegality of this all.  Why?  Then he'd need to release them himself to prove them right.

So why is this a big day?  To begin:

The first presidential debate, moderated by Chris Wallace of Fox News, starts tonight at 9 Eastern (3PM Hawaii). It will last 90 minutes and feature six topics that Wallace has chosen: the candidates’ records; the Supreme Court; the coronavirus; the economy; race and violence in cities; and the integrity of the election. Wallace has said he will not fact-check the candidates during the debate.

More than anything else, the fate of American democracy could be at stake.  Note that the environment is not on his agenda.  However, there are yet two more of these to come.  We are five weeks to November 3.

Remember how much betting there is on the Super Bowl?  Well, welcome to gambling on this Super Debate.  The bettors favor Joe Biden.

First US Presidential Election Debate Odds 

Candidate	UK Odds	US Odds	Implied Probability	% Of Bets This Week
Joe Biden	4/11	-275	73.3%	35%
Donald Trump	2/1	+200	33.3%	65%

Better yet, Draftkings has a $50,000 presidential election debate pool.  Enter for FREE:

Click here to enter the DraftKings $50,000 Presidential Election Debate Pool

Here are what entrants need to predict:

1. 
   How will Joe Biden and Donald Trump first greet each other?
2. Who will speak first?
3. Who will say the word “China” first?
4. Which former candidates will be mentioned first?
5. 
   
6. 
   Who will be mentioned first by name by either candidate?
7. Will Donald Trump say the exact phrase "Law and Order" during the debate?
8. Who will be mentioned first by either candidate?
9. Who will mention Dr. Anthony Fauci first?
10. Will Joe Biden mention his Corvette?
11. How many of his children will Donald Trump mention by name during the debate?
12. 
    

From Australia:

There are plenty of bookmakers around the world taking bets on the first US Presidential election debate, with each taking their own slant on market. One Australian bookmaker is offering a 55/1 (+5500) on Joe Biden falls asleep during the debate, which implies there’s a 1.8% chance of this happening. To put those odds into perspective, the bookmaker thinks there’s more chance of Joe Biden falling asleep in the first debate than the Philadelphia Eagles winning the Super Bowl.

Despite hand shakes being ill-advised in the current climate, the same Australian bookmaker are offering odds of 7/1 (+7000) on Joe Biden and Donald Trump greeting each other with a hand shake.

The other "big" event is the Major League Baseball playoff:

After the end of a shortened season, the Major League Baseball playoffs begin today. For the first time, 16 teams enter the postseason — a departure from the usual 10. ESPN has a guide breaking down the teams. For a recap of the regular season’s highlights, click here. I have acquired three CDM teams.  And, by the way, I did poorly in ESPN fantasy baseball this year, and will probably do worse in my NFL fantasy leagues.  So why am I wasting my money (the CDM teams cost around $50 each)?  It makes watching those games more meaningful.  There is also that eternal hope that you will win something.

I'm now down to #92, which is one of the most derided tunes of all time, You Light Up My Life, by Debby Boone.  Saccharine and reprehensible, no wonder, as I quote from an earlier blog:

Here, there are good reasons for hating the tune, for Debbie in 1977 was inserted into overvoicing it only after Kasey Cisyk (left), who performed the original, rebuffed Joe Brooks, who wrote the song for a film of the same name.  Boone was told to mimic the Cisyk version.  Oh, Brooks in 2009 was indicting on 91 counts of casting-couch rapes.  He was never really convicted, for he committed suicide in 2011.  I should note that You Light Up My Life broke the BillBoard Hot 100 record by staying #1 for ten consecutive weeks.

Yet, this song does light up my life.  Makes me happy.

-

DOWN GOES TRUMP! DOWN GOES TRUMP! DOWN GOES TRUMP!

MY WORLD IS CHANGING.  THE SHIFT TO A NEW SYSTEM BY GOOGLE IS LIMITING THIS BLOG SITE.  I WILL CONTINUE A WHILE IN THE PRESENT FORM, BUT THIS LOCATION WILL SHORTLY BECOME THE SITE OF MY FUTURE BOOK DRAFTS FOR YOUR COMMENT.  MOSTLY, THOUGH, I WILL JUST TOSS IN INTERESTING STUFF.  THIS WILL CONTINUE AT LEAST UNTIL I REACH #1 OF MY FAVORITE SONGS AROUND THE EVE OF  THE NEW YEAR.

YOU ARE INVITED TO MY NEW BLOG SITE IF YOU WISH TO CONTINUE READING WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING FOR MORE THAN A DOZEN YEARS:

     WHY ARE WE HERE?  WHERE WILL WE GO?

From Worldometer:

           DAY USA   WORLD   Brazil      India   South Africa

June      9    1093    4732        1185       246          82

July     19      412    4606          715       675          85

           22     1205    7128       1293     1120        572

Aug      1    1462     6429       1191       765        193

          10       534     4813         593     1013        198
          12     1504     6556       1242       835        130

          30       369     4182         398       960          47
Sept     3     1094     5886          830    1083        174
            6       432     4129          456    1008        110
            9     1208     6222        1136    1168          82
           13      392     3905          389    1140          20
           14      480     4374          454    1054          52
           15    1197     6001        1090    1283        142

           16    1012     6085          967    1139          64

           17      879     5568          857    1174          67

           18      958     5464          826    1221          85

           19      657     5141          708    1149          83

           20      294     3891          330    1135          13  

           21      384     4129          455    1056          39

           22      979     5725          809    1056        126

           23    1112     6328          906    1152          88

           24      942     5872          818    1144          77

           25      895     5819          826    1093          29

           26      737     5306          732    1123          64

           27      276     3933          335    1040          22

Summary:  Don't get too happy about any Monday report.

Borrowing from Howard Cosell in 1973 when George Foreman knocked down Joe Frazier for the first of six times, winning by a TKO in the second round, yesterday, President Donald Trump was floored by The New York Times, reporting on ten years of his tax returns, then later into the night a Showtime miniseries, The Comey Rule, put him down again.  The third knockdown could well be tonight when part 2 of The Comey Rule will be shown.

For those who subscribe to Showtime and missed part 1, it plays in Hawaii at 4:25PM today again, with part 2 to immediately follow at 6PM.  If you don't have a recorder and can't make those times, Showtime 2 repeats from 8:30 PM in Hawaii through 12:15AM.  I think the West and East Coast times are three hours later.  That is, on Showtime at 7:25PM for P1 and 9PM for P2 tonight.  If you don't have Showtime, you can get a free month trial, then pay $11/month if you continue.  If you want to quit...good luck.  Nah, just kidding.

The miniseries is based on James Comey's A Higher Loyalty:  Truth, Lies, and Leadership, The Comey Rule.  ViacomCBS originally indicated that the first showing would be after November 3.  However, Showtime, no doubt influenced by the film makers, especially Comey, prevailed for this timely viewing just before the first presidential debate tomorrow.  A more apt title for the effort could well have been The Comey Revenge.

Jeff Daniels plays Jim Comey.  Could have been someone more lanky and younger.  Trump is by Brendan Gleeson.  He is not shown much in part 1, but will become prominent in part 2.  Interesting that the Vladimir Putin character appears, and looks around 6'3" tall,  The real one is 5'7".  Otherwise, an effort was made to have actors look like the originals.  Rotten Tomatoes reviewers gave it only a 62% rating, while the audience upped it a bit to 71%.  I thought the first half was lethargic, with too much uninteresting details.  However, all those key encounters and controversies are inserted, especially one suggesting that Trump owes Russian oligarchs a lot of money, plus rigged ownership of those incriminating sex tapes.

About the Trump tax returns bombshell, from CNN:

A stunning New York Times exposé of the President's tax returns Sunday revealed a pitifully inept businessman and a serial tax avoider crushed by massive debts that could expose him to conflicts of interest given his position as President and power to help undisclosed lenders.

To summarize from TNYT and U.S. News and World Report:

• Trump calls this false news.
• Has not paid any federal taxes in 10 of 15 years since 2000.
• One deduction is $70,000 to take care of his hair.  Plus $95,000 for Ivanka's.
• In some years he has contributed more taxes to several foreign nations than to the U.S.

• 
  This alone could explain why he is so malleable by Putin.
• Is in huge legal trouble and could actually go to jail as soon as next year.
• The last two years covered showed he did pay something:  $750, exactly, per year.  He is not being challenged by the IRS for those years.

• 
  From 2000 to 2017 he averaged $1.4 million/year in federal taxes, but he is supposedly among the top 0.001% of Americans, and those in that category ANNUALLY paid $25 million in the same timeframe.
• He has due something approaching half a billion dollars in loans in the next few years.  Where is he going to get that kind of money?  Incredibly, on balance, I could well be be worth more than him.  You too.

• 
  This is another gift to Biden, especially in reinforcing his working honest man versus rich criminal opponent tactic.
• Oh, you can add his bungling of the coronavirus pandemic causing all those deaths, critique by generals and former staff members, attitude about science and global warming, and the list keeps increasing.

• Trump will maintain his core base even with this particular flim-flam, but if he loses just 2.5% of his voters, which means a 5% voting difference, especially in battleground states, he is super-doomed.
• I've searched, but can nowhere find how The New York Times got all this tax information.  A deep throat?  Or Mary Trump?   Governor Cuomo?

Next, if you're new to this blog site, I'm counting down my favorite songs.  #93 is Hanohano Hanalei (The Glory of Hanalei) by Bunny Brown and the Hilo Hawaiians.  Ideal link to #94 yesterday about a mythical Hanalei.  

Way back in 1963 Pearl and I were sent to the Kilauea Sugar Company by C. Brewer.  There were two classes of people there.  The administration and the laborers.  While I was a trainee, I still mingled with the privileged.  

A typical week had a party or two, where a dozen to two dozen of us ate all kinds of puu-puu (Hawaiian appetizers) and drank Ten High Bourbon or beer.  People here bought Ten High, which was the cheapest whisky, by the case, and many were functional alcoholics.  You can still find this brand (formerly by Hiram Walker, now Sazerac) and it costs less than $10/bottle.  Can you imagine what it was 57 years ago?  Interestingly enough, something about sugar plantation societies, but when I then moved to the Hutchinson Sugar Company in Naalehu on the Big Island the following year, there was a bar across the street from the factory which only served beer and Thunderbird wine.

So anyway, on weekends some of us drove to Coco Palms, which was the classiest hotel on Kauai.  Elvis filmed Blue Hawaii at this location.  There was a nightclub here, and we showed up to dance and listen to mostly Hawaiian music.  The most popular group was Bunny Brown and his Hilo Hawaiians.  As Pearl is from Hilo, Hanohano Hanalei became our favorite.

The song was written in 1924 by Alfred Unauna Alohikea, who grew up in Hanalei, and went on to sing for the Royal Hawaiian Band.  Here is a 1927 recording by the South Sea Islanders.  A more modern rendition by the Royal Hawaiian Band.  What I'm leading to is that I can't find the one by the Hilo Hawaiians.  Someday, I will find it and Hanohano Hanalei by the Hilo Hawaiians will be inserted here.

-

THE PANDEMIC WILL GET WORSE NEXT YEAR

MY WORLD IS CHANGING.  THE SHIFT TO A NEW SYSTEM BY GOOGLE IS LIMITING THIS BLOG SITE.  I WILL CONTINUE A WHILE IN THE PRESENT FORM, BUT THIS LOCATION WILL SHORTLY BECOME THE SITE OF MY FUTURE BOOK DRAFTS FOR YOUR COMMENT.  MOSTLY, THOUGH, I WILL JUST TOSS IN INTERESTING STUFF.  THIS WILL CONTINUE AT LEAST UNTIL I REACH #1 OF MY FAVORITE SONGS AROUND THE EVE OF  THE NEW YEAR.

YOU ARE INVITED TO MY NEW BLOG SITE IF YOU WISH TO CONTINUE READING WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING FOR MORE THAN A DOZEN YEARS:

     WHY ARE WE HERE?  WHERE WILL WE GO?

From Worldometer:

           DAY USA   WORLD   Brazil      India   South Africa

June      9    1093    4732        1185       246          82

July     19      412    4606          715       675          85

           22     1205    7128       1293     1120        572

Aug      1    1462     6429       1191       765        193

          10       534     4813         593     1013        198
          12     1504     6556       1242       835        130

          30       369     4182         398       960          47
Sept     3     1094     5886          830    1083        174
            6       432     4129          456    1008        110
            9     1208     6222        1136    1168          82
           13      392     3905          389    1140          20
           14      480     4374          454    1054          52
           15    1197     6001        1090    1283        142

           16    1012     6085          967    1139          64

           17      879     5568          857    1174          67

           18      958     5464          826    1221          85

           19      657     5141          708    1149          83

           20      294     3891          330    1135          13  

           21      384     4129          455    1056          39

           22      979     5725          809    1056        126

           23    1112     6328          906    1152          88

           24      942     5872          818    1144          77

           25      895     5819          826    1093          29

           26      737     5306          732    1123          64

Summary: The shock follows.

On Sundays I normally post something spiritual.  I will do so next week.  I just stumbled across a World Bank projection that stunned me so much that I just had to share this bit of info with you.

The World just experienced its one millionth COVID-19 death.  With 4% of the global population, the USA has a little more than 20% of all deaths.  We've recently experienced between 500 and 1000 deaths per day, but I just noticed a World Bank projection (updated on 24 September 2020) showing that the United States on 1 January 2021 will be getting:

• 1,185 deaths/day if there is universal mask-wearing.
• 3,059 deaths/day if we maintain our current state of mask-wearing.
• 6,618 deaths/day if we open up our economy.

The highest one-day deaths peaked on 16 April 2020 at 2,323 deaths.  

Further, the U.S. had 43,206 new cases yesterday.  The peak new cases per day of 283,236 occurred on 29 March 2020.  As projected by the World Bank for 1 January 2021:

• 263,694 new cases/day with universal (95%) mask-wearing.
• 363,204 new cases/day with current (48%) mask-wearing.
• 1,281,349 new cases/day with an opened economy!!!

What about the World, which had 5,306 deaths yesterday?  The World Bank predicts for 1 January 2021:

• 17,456 deaths/day with universal (95%) mask-wearing.
• 33,272 deaths/day with current (43%) mask-wearing.
• 72,700 deaths/day with opened economy.

With the return of all those professional and college sport leagues, you would think that this pandemic is close to being over.  This got to be the most depressing comment I've made in any of my blogs ever:  if the World Bank is right, and there is no reason to cast any doubt, THE PANDEMIC WILL GET WORSE NEXT YEAR!!!  Then, hopefully, by the spring into the summer an effective vaccine will begin to make a difference.

Paving the way for Trump's eagerness to release a COVID-19 vaccine, China has already inoculated a large number of citizens with an untested vaccine.  Priorities?

First, workers at state-owned companies got dosed. Then government officials and vaccine company staff. Up next: teachers, supermarket employees and people traveling to risky areas abroad.

Note that there is no mention of the most vulnerable, the elderly, nor school students.  Further:

It is not clear how many people in China have received coronavirus vaccines. Sinopharm, a Chinese state-owned company with a vaccine candidate in late-stage trials, has said hundreds of thousands of people have received its shots. Sinovac, a Beijing-based company, said more than 10,000 people in Beijing had been injected with its vaccine. Separately, it said nearly all its employees — around 3,000 in total — and their families had taken it.

Signs are that Russia is also headed in that direction.  In desperation, expect Donald Trump to pull a similar stunt.

Switching subjects to the politics of the USA, only 37 days to November 3 and 2 days till that first presidential debate, which will be moderated by Fox newscaster Chris Wallace.  Nothing much has changed since my speculative posting of 19 September 20 about Republican/Democratic strategies to replace Ruth Ginsberg.  In Joe Biden's response to Donald Trump's nomination of Amy Barrett to the Supreme Court, the challenger focused on the end of Obamacare when she is confirmed.  The New York Times today also added:

Judge Barrett’s vote record is almost uniformly conservative on abortion, gun rights, discrimination and immigration. If she is confirmed, our Supreme Court reporter writes, she would move the court firmly to the right, making compromise less likely and putting at risk the right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade.

It's also becoming clear that Biden should become the next POTUS.  However, Trump has virtually announced that Republican-controlled state legislatures have the freedom to do whatever they want in choosing electoral voters, adding yet another degree of uncertainty, which could lead to a Supreme Court decision.

My favorite song #94 will come from the folk era:

• Different Drum   Linda Ronstadt
• Guantanamera   Sandpipers     
• Greenfields   The Brothers Four  
• Mr. Tambourine Man   The Byrds  
• Hang On Sloopy   The McCoys  

Plus:  The 100 Essential Folk Songs from National Public Radio (I've deleted those on my list):

1. "This Land Is Your Land" - Woody Guthrie

2. "Blowin' in the Wind" - Bob Dylan

4. "If I Had a Hammer" - Pete Seeger

5. "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" - The Kingston Trio

12. "Tom Dooley" - The Kingston Trio (Trad)

13. "Both Sides Now" - Joni Mitchell

15. "Goodnight Irene" - The Weavers (Trad)

19. "Sounds of Silence" - Simon & Garfunkel

22. "Turn, Turn, Turn!" - The Byrds (Pete Seeger)

23. "Puff the Magic Dragon" - Peter, Paul and Mary

36. "Freight Train" - Elizabeth Cotton

49. "Amazing Grace" - Odetta (Trad)

79. "Eve of Destruction" - Barry McGuire

84. "Mr. Tambourine Man" - Bob Dylan

87. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" - Simon & Garfunkel

98. "The Times They Are A-Changin'" - Bob Dylan

100. "Leaving on a Jet Plane" - John Denver

Again, there are so many choices.  For an imaginative reason, my pick for #94 is Puff the Magic Dragon.  The song has nothing to do with Hawaii, but the mythical Honalee, as I heard it, was, to me, Hanalei, close to where my father was born.  I once lived on Kauai and remember those days at Hanalei with Pearl and Pepper.  What I recall most had to do with our dog, Pepper:

• 
  Once I threw a stick into the surf, he went for it, a big wave came, towed him under, and he disappeared for a full minute.  But he recovered, strolled back and gave me the stick.  
• Another, I was fishing on a close-by reef and caught an inedible fish, a hinalea.  Gave it to him, and he walked back to the beach, dug a hole, and buried it, coming back for more.
• A few miles away was Kaloko Reservoir.  We went up to it once, and while Pepper was yet a puppy, no more than 6 months old, he jumped into the water and swam to the middle, which must have been at least a 100 yards away, then swam back.  

 Memories have a lot to do what is meaningful to you.

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