REMINISCENT AT 80

From Worldometer,  COVID-19 new deaths:

           DAY USA   WORLD   Brazil      India   South Africa

June      9     1093    4732        1185      246         82

July       5       251    3572          535       421       173

             7       993    5504        1312       479       192

           12       380    4118          659       500       108

           15     1001    5760        1261       614       107

           19       412    4606          715       675         85

           22     1205    7128        1293     1120        572

           26       450    4307         556       715        114
Aug      1    1462     6429       1191       765        193
            3       467     4430         514       514        213

            5     1362     6292       1394       849        345

          10       534     4813         593     1013        198
          12     1504     6556       1242       835        130
          16       522     4525         582       961        162
          18     1358     6312        1365    1089        280

          24       510     4356          679      854        100

          25     1290     5856        1215    1066        149

          30       369     4182         398       960          47
Sept     3     1094     5886          830     1083       174
            4     1033     5814          855     1066       115   
            5       707     4822          646     1044       101

Summary:  Okay, but weekend numbers are always low.

From The New York Times today:

College towns around America are becoming coronavirus hot spots.

About 100 college communities across the country have seen an increase in coronavirus cases in recent weeks as students return for the fall semester. The potential spread of the virus off-campus has deeply affected workplaces, schools, governments and other institutions in local communities.

I am today 80 years old.  What a life.   I marvel at the fact that I'm still alive...better yet...into my 15th month of euphoria.

How did I get here? A lucky life is best as I can determine.  Growing up in Kakaako, a lower class neighborhood of Honolulu, no amount of dreaming could have got me to where I am today.  Clearly, I was not going to be an athlete, nor an entertainer.  I was just above average for most of my youth.

Good health was a factor.  The one time I was in a hospital was to have my tonsils out.  In the almost half a century of service at the University of Hawaii I never had a sick day.






Through what must have been some kind of wormhole, I found myself at Stanford, leading to an academic life as full professor of engineering and research director, with nice experiences in the U.S. Senate, at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in laser fusion and NASA Ames Research Center on SETI.  Meeting my wife Pearl, where she was an equal partner for 47 years, was no doubt a key factor.  Fragments of promise, confidence and vision, with time and experience, made me more capable, so at least I was able to plant seeds of progress in hydrogen, rainbow pearls and the Blue Revolution.

More than my profession, though, just absorbing what the world had to offer, stimulated by flying more than 2 million miles on Star Alliance to just about everywhere, thus gaining friends from the world over, learning about different cultures, tasting the range of cuisine, being inspired by ancient and next generation artifacts and thoughts...they all made for a fulfilling life.  Thus, from just trying to stay alive, I was able to evolve towards my current self-appointed quest to Save Humanity and Planet Earth.  These 80 years have been an enjoyable adventure, with more to come.

To close, here is, in ten-year increments, how I developed into what I am today.  As on September 21 I will start counting down my favorite songs, starting with #100, and getting to #1 at the end of the year, I have begun by inserting my most memorable tune of that particular decadal year.

• Birth:  A little more than two months before I was born Billboard published its first best selling retail records list.  #1 that week was I'll Never Smile Again, by Tommy Dorsey.  On September 6, it was still #1.  You, too, can find your song by clicking on THIS.

• 10 years old:  Nothing special.  I guess I had thoughts about dentistry.  My grades were okay, I was clearly not NFL football material and my family life growing up in Kakaako was sometimes trying, but not in poverty.  My unique advantage is that my mother was the oldest in her family with six siblings.  My older brother was born a decade before me, so I was the only child in the entire clan.  As such, I was pampered and a favorite of everyone, and this group of relatives got together every Sunday at her father's home.  I think that more than being spoiled, I learned to also be nice to others.  I can't remember why, but something in my early youth around the time of this photo ingrained Wakare No Isochidori, a sorrowful tune, into my memory.  #1 for 1950 was Goodnight Irene by theWeavers.

• 20 years old:  I was a junior at Stanford, where I overcome the shock of being at the bottom in terms of finances, intellect and sociological experiences.   I learned how to cope, and even thrive.  Again, I did not excel at anything, and graduated in less than four years, mostly with confidence and nothing much else.  Can't believe I will pick Running Bear by Johnny Preston as most memorable for 1960.  Not because of that song in particular, but just the memories of piling into a car on Friday nights to drive across the bay to the Garden of Allah, which was a large barn where college students came from throughout the area.  There was always a hitmaker featured, as was Preston one night.  This song actually was the #4 for 1960.  #1 was Theme from a Summer Place.

• 30 years old:  I was in the middle of my 3.5 years of graduate school at LSU in biochemical engineering.  The value was again being thrust into an alien environment.  Life was actually wonderful, for my wife worked as a nurse and I was on a full fellowship.  In our 47 years of marriage we were never so financially secure, for my sugar company which sent me there, C. Brewer, was also continuing to pay my salary, until I told them I was staying on for a PhD.  Venus by Shocking Blue.  Why?  Don't know.  Maybe I'm confusing this version with the Bananarama release in 1986.  #1 in 1970 was Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkle.

• 40 years old:  In 1980 I was on leave from the University of Hawaii in my second year working for the U.S. Senate, and originated legislation in wind power, ocean thermal energy conversion and hydrogen, the latter two leading later to my quest for the Blue Revolution.  I stayed there three years, given the opportunity to see a different part of the country, and in a very competitive environment, re-educating myself for rest of my professional life.  I can still remember being told to write a 15-minute floor speech for Senator Matsunaga, and given a whole hour.  Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2, by Pink Floyd.  #1 in 1980 was Call Me by Blondie.

• 50 years old:  I became director of the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, and with Paul Yuen, who was the dean of engineering at the University of Hawaii, we created the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research, where I developed $25 million projects in OTEC and methanol from biomass.  I had two jobs, and PICHTR development resulted in my traveling the world several times to build relationships and programs.  Nothing Compares 2U in 1990, composed by Prince, with Sinead O'Conner.  She was an oddball, but the song is strangely haunting.  A more meaningful tune the following year was Try a Little Tenderness from The Commitments, a film that reflected my life at that time, because I was trying to get 25 faculty members to work together on a $25 million NSF proposal.  The term herding cats comes to mind.   #1 in 1990 was Hold On by Wilson Phillips.

• 60 years old:  My wife and I both just retired to do something else for the rest of our lives.  Initially, we were worried that from full employment to no salary would be challenging.  Turned out to be just the opposite, for we did't know what to do with the accumulating funds.  I wrote three books and we traveled the world.  The University of Hawaii gave me emeritus status, which resulted in a large office and free parking, something that continues today.  I remember most in 2000 Smooth by Santana, featuring Rob Thomas.  #1 for the year was Breath by Faith Hill.

• 70 years old:  My wife just passed away after 47 years of marriage.  That month in 2009 was the worst of my life, but it turned out that she gave me a final phase to do whatever I wanted.  Read my Huffington Post article on Gratitude...Not Grief.  We kept separate budgets, so I used her portion to travel the world several times, dropping her ashes at 50 sites.  I also worked with the city/county councils of Oahu and the Big Island to plant the Gold Tree at various municipal golf courses in her honor.  I almost couldn't think of a song in 2010, but settled for I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas.  #1 was something I've never heard before, Tik Tok by KeSha.

• 80 years old:  each subsequent decade has been better than the one before.  Life balances out, so I should probably anticipate a worsening, if nothing else, because of age and health.  However, I'm well and looking forward to one more global journey in 15 months.  Perhaps there will be a decade of euphoric pleasure, if not two, to reach 100.  There have been a host of memorable coronavirus performances by groups throughout the world.  However, afflicted with Parkinson's, the most memorable is Hands, Washing Hands.

Finally, here are the 12 Commandments for people like me:

Typhoon Haishen has weakened to 85 MPH, is easing by Nagasaki, and should make a direct hit over the Busan area today.

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