SPAM, WAGYU, MATSUTAKE AND BREAD

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

           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

           27      276     3933          335    1040          22

           28      355     3837          385      777        188

           29      977     5846          849    1178           81

           30      955     6203          952    1179           67

Oct 1    1      920     5583          805    1096         132

             2      864     5603          664    1071           43 

             3      755     4795          580      937           29

             4      332     4066          364      902           38

             5      421     4259          398      886           40

             6      790     5553          798      991           87

             7      930     5901          733      930         145

             8      957     6420          730      967         160

             9      909     5806          658      929         139

Summary: Not good.

Financial Times provides frequently updated electoral college information on Biden vs Trump.  Ignore all the hype you will hear.  Go to this site for the true data.

Here is an interesting graphic by The New York Times:

Donald Trump actually leads Joe Biden in the age category from late forties to mid sixties, then also high seventies to low eighties.  Interesting.  Further:

But winning only a couple of slices of the country’s age spectrum isn’t enough to win a presidential election. The CNN and NBC polls both showed Trump trailing by double digits nationwide. New polls yesterday showed him losing in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

From Slate:

...he’s on that monoclonal antibody cocktail that we don’t even know the side effects to, because it hasn’t been well studied. Then he’s on the remdesivir, which is really a brand new medication in the context of COVID, which itself can cause alterations to your brain and your behavior. And then add on the steroids. It’s just very hard to parse out in the context of lots of different things happening and having a potential effect on his brain right now.

About steroids:

We tell people that it can make them feel really hyper. It can make them behave very strangely. I’ll warn family members that they may see a personality change just so that people are aware. If somebody already has a preexisting condition like anxiety or a psychotic disorder, we’re very, very careful about that decision to prescribe steroids, because for some patients, it’s actually not worth it. I’ve had patients who say, “I have terrible anxiety and steroids, even though I need it for my asthma exacerbation, steroids are actually worse.”

I was sent this 8 min 30 sec clip on how important SPAM is to Hawaii, so I thought I'd revisit this processed meat, which I reviewed two and a half years ago:

     IS THERE ANY FOOD WORSE THAN SPAM

That can of Spam in this photo from that posting?  Still have it.  The expiration date is next month.

Thus, I felt compelled to take my meal enhancement to the opposite extreme.  I had a piece of Japanese Wagyu Beef from Miyazaki in my freezer, and noticed the first appearance of Matsutake Mushroom at Marukai.

The wine:

As Japanese Wagyu Beef sells for $100/pound at Marukai, note that this Matsutake Mushroom only went for $60/pound.  But this is because the quality was low.  I did not get that sought after essence of fragrance that in Japan can command $1,000/pound.

Sticking to food, I add this heart-touching tale about bread, an old lady and wisdom of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia:

I tend to question this sort of tale, so went to Snopes.  If you have any time, read that very long review.  Their conclusion was that there was something close to this story that might have happened in Indonesia, but they found no conclusive proof that LaGuardia, of later airport fame, was involved with this story.  At one time I placed this landing site as the worst in the world.  However, it is being upgraded for re-commissioning next year.

I'm now at #80 of my favorite tunes, and it is To Know Him is to Love Him, by the Teddy Bears.  The song was released just when I was starting my freshman year in college, and transitions tend to be emotional.  My roommate thought the Him was God or Jesus.  Only when researching for this posting did I learn that TNHitLH is on the gravestone of Phil Spector's dad, who committed suicide.  Phil not only wrote the music, but was one of the three Teddy Bears, the only group he ever joined.

Seven years ago I published an article that became one of my most popular:  The 60's--Girl Grooves.  Here are a couple of quotes:

The Ronettes began as a family act and originally were of African-American, Cherokee, Irish-American and Puerto Rican heritage.  The lead singer, Veronica Bennett, changed her name to Ronnie, from which came the Ronettes, and she certainly took a roller coaster of a life, beginning with their linkage to Phil Spector.  In 1963 they recorded Be My Baby, featuring Phil's Wall of Sound. 

Cher performed her first back-up vocal for this song.  She was then the girlfriend of Sonny Bono, who was working for Spector, who began living with Ronnie.  They eventually got married.  The Ronettes accompanied the Beatles on a 14 stop tour through America in 1966.  But Phil kept Ronnie home in jealousy, so the group had to completely reconform.  His mental illness was already undoing him (to the right more recently).  RS after divorcing PF reformed an entirely new Ronettes, but that failed.  Ronnie Spector  (above photo) continues to tour today.  She turns 70 on August 10.  

 

She is now 78, but, apparently, still tours.

Of course, there is that recent turmoil in Phil Spector's life, who in 2009 was convicted of second degree murder.  Here are Helen Mirren as his lawyer and Al Pacino as PF in the 2013 movie entitled Phil Spector, suggesting that, perhaps, there were extenuating circumstances.  

He is now 81 years old and will be eligible for parole in 2025.

Typhoon Chan-Hom brought a lot of rain to Japan, but the eye turned away from Japan:

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