THE OLD RUGGED CROSS

Not sure where my posting today is headed, but I'll start with the history of religion in less than two minutes.   Gives you a good sense of how religion developed.

The Khan Academy has a You Tube on the five major religions.  You don't need to donate anything.  Just scroll down and click on the play icon.  In some of these videos you might hear no sound.  Sometimes the sound logo is covered with an X.  Just click on it, and you can hear again.  Of course click to skip the commercials.  The Khan Academy was created in 2008 and now has 8000 video lessons used by 70 million people, now seen 2 billion times.

Next, the five major religions by John Bellaimey.  Can you even name them?  Most of you will have difficulty.  There are common themes.  Visit his TEDEd page.  He's had more than 10 million pings.  Or his CredibleMind blog site.  He is an Episcopal Church chaplain from Harvard Divinity School.

Then, a musical version about the history of religion by Jeremy Klaff.  Just an ordinary guy and father who found his niche.

Wait, you say, there are at least 12 major religions?  Here they are in song.  But there are others, around 4200, says Wikipedia.  Perhaps a more appropriate term than religion is belief system or faith.

Perhaps a more appropriate term than religion is belief system or faith.  Will there ever be a single one...or none?

Here are 2 hours of the greatest Buddhist music.  Or 1 hour of traditional Hindu music.  The best of Jewish,  Yiddish, Hebrew and Klezmer music and songs, including the 30 greatest hits.  The best of Islamic music.

Well, maybe not so religious, but Thus Spake Zarathustra provides Nietzsche a reactive platform that lives today even though he is dead.

While my parents were Buddhists, I don't remember any of their music.  Could be because we lived a block away from a Christian church, which had a lot of activities for the community.  This is where I went to Sunday school and sung songs like The Old Rugged Cross.  I don't today see this song on any current list of songs sung in church of Sundays.

• 
  I see Amazing Grace usually at #1.
• In this top 100 I note Three Wooden Crosses at #42.
• Aha, at #79 is Old Rugged Cross.

I went to Wikipedia for more information:

• Written by Reverend George Bennard in 1912.
• Became really popular from Ernest Tubb's 1952 gospel album.  I was 12 years old.
• More recently, 150 or so versions, including last year by Carrie Underwood, plus Johnny and June Cash in 1975, Loretta Lynn (1968), Dinah Shore and Gene Autry (1959), an early one  by Mrs. William Asher and Homer Rodeheaver in 1921 and the original in 1912 by Bennard and Ed Mieras, maybe.

Day 11 of the Blood Lily:

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WHEN WILL WE REACH 8 BILLION PEOPLE?

Sorry for being a little late today.  I went to Shimazu Shave Ice and had a Ling Hing Mui flavored shave ice, topped with condensed cream...for $7.

Looking at the Worldometer data of yesterday, Japan remains #1 with 230,555 new cases.  The USA is #2 at 99,061.  The pandemic epicenter has shifted from Europe to Asia/Oceania.  Ranking of major countries in terms of new cases/million population:

• #1  Japan  1831
• #2  Australia  1733
• #3  South Korea 1660
• #4  New Zealand  1579
• #6  Singapore  1335
• #7  Taiwan  974
• #8  Italy  909
• #9  Austria  831
• #10  Germany  783

The average for the U.S is 296 new cases/million.

Most think global warming is our biggest problem.  Over-population is also way up there as a concern.  According to the United Nations, the World will hit a population of 8 billion on November 15. 

• The World reached 7 billion in 2011.
• Our global population is growing at its slowest rate since 1950, increasing at a rate of less than one percent growth rate/year.

• 
  Fertility in two-thirds of the world is now below 2.1 births/woman, roughly a level for zero growth rate.  This was 4.5 in mid-70's.
• The COVID-19 pandemic dropped global life expectancy at birth from 72.9 in 2019 to 71 last year.
• But longevity is expected to rise to 77.2 in 2050.
• More than half of the projected population increase will come from eight countries:  Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines and Tanzania.

• 
  By 2050, there will be twice the number of those 65 years and older than children under 5, and about the same as those up to 12 years old.
• World Population day was July 11.  No one seemed to have cared.

World growth:

• It took hundreds of thousands of years for the world to reach 1 billion in 1804.

• 
  While this is controversial, the eruption of Mount Toba in Indonesia around 74,000 years ago might have dropped our population to as low as 1000 breeding pairs, possibly all in Africa, which is why we all have original roots from that continent.  This eruption was 12 times greater than the largest in recent history, which was Mount Tambora, Indonesia in 1815.  This is Lake Toba today.

• Then by 10,000 BC, our population grew to somewhere between 1 and 15 million.
• From 1 billion in 1804 it took 207 years to reach 7 billion.
• Maybe 10 billion in 2058?
• 2100?  Perhaps 11 billion.

What is the optimal population of Planet Earth?

• In 1994 when the world population was 5.6 million, Paul Ehrlich and his colleages said 1.5 to 2 million.
• Then in 2021 Sir Partha Dasgupta of Cambridge University said:  from half to 5 billion.  
• In both cases, the matter of limited resources was why.  From Dasgupta:

Finally, humans versus others.

• If a virus was the size of a 5 cent coin, a bacterium would be about the size of a dinner plate, and Danny Devito would be 656,168 feet tall.
• Viruses  more than a quadrillion quadrillion.
• About one nonillion, which is 1 followed by 30 zeroes.
• Ten times more than all the bacteria.
• Ants  perhaps 1 quadrillion, which is 1000 trillion or 1 million billion.
• Cockroaches  up to 3 trillion.
• Chickens  26 billion.
• Humans  8 billion.
• Cattle  1 billion.
• Pigs  0.8 billion.
• Blue whales, the largest creature ever--somewhere between 10,000 and 25,000.
• Northern White Rhinos  2 (yes, two, both female)

Finally, there are 550 gigatons of carbon life in the world.  Of that humans are only 0.06 GTC.  All the bacteria are 1,166 times more massive.  Another way of looking at this is that humans make up just 1/10,000th of Earth's biomass.  We are virtually insignificant.

From National Geographic:

A dazzling, multicolored cuticle. A shiny chitinous armor. Photos taken with a microscope lens reveal the hypnotic beauty of the critters we usually dismiss as bugs. 

These colors come from chitin, a substance that forms an insect’s hard outer covering as well as its wings and other flexible parts. The chitin, which has been in arthropods for as long as 550 million years, is behind the metallic-colored scales of the Chrysiridia butterfly’s wings, or the thousands of lenses in a hornet’s compound eye.

You can have a ringtail cat as a pet.

Blood Lily at 10 days:

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LIFE AT 15 CRAIGSIDE

     From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

          DAY  USA  WORLD    Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9     1093     4732         1185        246       82

July    22      1205     7128         1293      1120     572

Aug    12      1504     6556        1242        835     130

Sept     9      1208      6222       1136       1168       82

Oct     21      1225      6849         571        703       85

Nov    25       2304    12025        620        518      118

Dec    30       3880    14748       1224       299      465

Jan     14       4142    15512       1151        189     712

Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398

Mar      2       1989     9490        1726       110      194

April     6        906    11787         4211       631       37

May     4        853     13667        3025      3786     59 

June    1        287    10637         2346      3205      95

 July    7         251      8440        1595        817      411

Aug     4         656    10120        1118        532      423 

Sept   22      2228      9326          839       279     124

Oct      6       2102      8255          543       315       59

Nov    3        1436      7830         186        458       23

Dec     1       1633      8475          266        477       28

Jan     7        2025      6729         148         285     140

Feb     2        2990   12012          946        991      175

Mar     2        1778     7756          335         173       28 

Apr     1          439      4056         290          52       12

May    5          225      2404         151            ?        64

June    2          216      1413         130          10       31

July    6          316      1627         335           35       12 

         13          407       1742        388           38       12 

         14          231       1721         292          47         8

         22          251       1785         271          69         3 

         27          397       2326         308          44         5

         28          260       2088         276          47       10

Summary:

• Certainly looks better.
• Japan still #1 in new cases yesterday with 207,236 and USA #2 at 93,216.
• Brazil #1 in new deaths with 276 and USA #2 at 260.

Some good news, as it was announced that the updated COVID-19 boosters shots by Pfizer and Moderna will now be made available around the middle of September.  This latest will be targeting both the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants, which are super contagious and have become the dominant infection problem, making up 90% of all cases.

• 
  I got my second booster on 25April2022, so the third booster in late September would be a period of five months.
• Currently, only those over the age of 50 and others with immune deficiencies are eligible for the second booster.
• The confusion will come as to how soon this third booster can be taken after the second.  This will sort out over time

I am now in my 9th year at 15 Craigside, which I jokingly call a nursing home, but is really a senior's community with one building up Nuuanu Avenue in Honolulu.  We have an older (more than half a century) sister called Arcadia.  Our second floor is essentially for extended care, plus we have a clinic and wellness center, with exercise devices and stuff.

There are essentially several types of retirement center, here described in 2013 by HONOLULU Magazine, with my emendations.  They all have shuttle services to take you around, and provide 24-hour security.

• 
  Kahala Nui
• You buy from $1 million + to own the apartment, for which your family essentially gets 80% or so back when you pass away.
• You still need to still pay $5000+/month, whether you stay there or not
• Essentially, this fee is for security, three meals/day (or less), weekly cleaning of apartment with change of towels and change of bedding.
• There is a wait list of 2-4 years to get in.
• Lifetime care is mentioned, but I hear you need to relocate for certain medical conditions.
• As best as I can tell, it is managed by Greystone operating out of South Carolina.
• 
  Arcadia (photo to the right)/15 Craigside
• You provide a $400,000 fee to move in.
• An additional $5000+/month for the same services.
• If you die in two months, all the money is owned by the administration, which is run by Central Union Church.
• There is full lifetime care under any circumstances, even if you run out of money.  Of course, they don't let you in unless they feel comfortable that you will not face that problem.
• 
  Various Plazas 
• Plaza assisted living centers opened in 2004 and now have 6 of them.
• I don't know much about them except:
• There is no entrance fee.
• You pay a monthly amount of around $5000/month for the same services.
• If you get severely ill you need to move out and find a care facility, which will cost from $8,000 to more than $12,000/month.
• 
  Pohai Nani Good Samaritan Society
• Located on 16 acres in Kaneohe, is essentially like the Plaza, a rental center starting at around $4000/month for a studio up to more than $5000/month for a 2 bedroom, with full service.
• Has been owned by the South Dakota-based Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society since 1980.
• There are of course smaller facilities providing similar services for around the same monthly price or lower.  Need to find a care center if seriously ill.

So back to 15 Craigside where I live.

• We are currently in a mild pandemic status where you can eat in the dining room or pick up take-out for free to dine in your apartment.  We are currently eating at home.
• I try to go golfing on Wednesdays.  I now only ride a cart.
• The bulletin board of the my 12th floor shows three new residents and our elected officers:

• 
  We have a plethora of activities.
• Around 40-50 exercise classes/week, including balancing, strength, yoga, tai-chi, etc.  Of course our wellness center has all kinds of devices you can use at your own leisure.
• There are other opportunities for worship, dance, singing, bingo, tea, photography, poker, art, etc.
• Several films per week on our own channel.  Films and documentaries are also shown in our theater.
• I took photos at two of these activities this week.
• Bon Dance and Drumming.  Turns out that my camera had a smudge on the lens, so these are less than optimal.

Note that everyone is wearing a mask, save for one lady who is a problem.  A class here in ikebana made those flower arrangements.

We were provided treats:  spam musubi and andagi (an Okinawan donut ball).

The second was a monthly Aloha Hour to honor new residents, where wine, beer, etc. and a desert were featured in our Solarium:

If you saw my Blood Lily flower yesterday, you'll be surprised how the seven upcoming blooms are growing so fast.  This now day 9.

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DIAMONDS

     From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

          DAY  USA  WORLD    Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9     1093     4732         1185        246       82

July    22      1205     7128         1293      1120     572

Aug    12      1504     6556        1242        835     130

Sept     9      1208      6222       1136       1168       82

Oct     21      1225      6849         571        703       85

Nov    25       2304    12025        620        518      118

Dec    30       3880    14748       1224       299      465

Jan     14       4142    15512       1151        189     712

Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398

Mar      2       1989     9490        1726       110      194

April     6        906    11787         4211       631       37

May     4        853     13667        3025      3786     59 

June    1        287    10637         2346      3205      95

 July    7         251      8440        1595        817      411

Aug     4         656    10120        1118        532      423 

Sept   22      2228      9326          839       279     124

Oct      6       2102      8255          543       315       59

Nov    3        1436      7830         186        458       23

Dec     1       1633      8475          266        477       28

Jan     7        2025      6729         148         285     140

Feb     2        2990   12012          946        991      175

Mar     2        1778     7756          335         173       28 

Apr     1          439      4056         290          52       12

May    5          225      2404          151            ?       64 

June   2          216       1413         130          10       31

July    6          316      1627         335           35       12 

         13          407       1742        388           38       12 

         14          231       1721         292          47         8

         22          251       1785         271          69         3 

         27          397       2326         308          44         5

Summary:

• The World retrogressed back to May 5 of this year, when there were 2404 deaths, compared to 2326 yesterday.  However, it was 12,012 on February 2 of 2022, only about six months ago.  The world high in deaths/day occurred in January of 2021.
• Japan had by far the most new cases, 180,226, with the USA at #2 with 114,116.
• New cases/million population
• #1      Wallis and Futuna  16,062
• #2      Micronesia  5,931
• #3      Cook Island  4,944
• #4      Brunei  3,537
• #5      Anguila  2,422
• #6      South Korea  1,951
• #7      Australia  1,899
• #9      New Zealand  1,838
•           Hawaii  1455
• #14    Japan  1,434
• #17    Germany  1,235
• #19    Taiwan  1,074
• #29    Hong Kong  591
• #35    Israel  442
• #41    USA  341
• #73    Thailand  39
• #88    South Africa  6
• #109  China  0.08
• More than a hundred locations did not report new cases yesterday, so the above rankings are not as bad as the above shows.
• Note that Japan, which was #1 in new cases, is #14 in new cases/million population, and Hawaii is slightly worse than Japan.

The biggest news of the day was Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin announcing a deal on a whole bunch of Democrat liberal desires, including climate change, tax credits for electric vehicles, higher taxes for corporations and really rich people, medicare medications and subsidies for Obamacare.   

• Amounts to $369 billion (or $430 billion, depending who is reporting), and far less than the $2 trillion plus originally proposed.
• Normal bills require 60 senators to pass, but this budgetary item will use reconciliation, which only needs a majority  (50 senators and the Veep) upon Senate Parliamentarian approval.

• 
  But what about Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and a few other recalcitrant Democrats?  No comments about them, but the fact the announcement was made must mean something.
• Should pass the Senate next week.
• Interestingly enough, this agreement was reached after the Senate passed another bill to subsidize the domestic semiconductor chip industry.  The House will soon concur.
• McConnell and Republicans are supremely pissed about what happened.

Apparently, a larger one was found 300 years ago, but a 170-carat pink diamond named Lulo Rose was recently discovered in Angola from gravel and sands found on riverbeds.  

• Only one in a 10,000 diamonds is colored.  
• And only one in every 100 diamonds is greater than 10.8 carats.

• 
  Not certain what Lulo Rose is worth, but Angola's biggest diamond, dubbed the 4th February Stone (a colorless diamond three inches across, right) discovered on 4 February 2016, was 404.2 carats and sold for $16 million.  It is the 27th largest diamond ever found.

• 
  The largest diamond ever was the Cullinan on 25 January 1905 in Pretoria, South Africa at 3106 carats and weighing 1.33 pounds.  
• Sir Thomas Cullinan owned the mine.
• Sold to the Transvaal provincial government and presented to Britain's King Edward VII as a birthday gift.

• 
  The Cullinan was cut into 9 large stones and 100 smaller ones.
• The largest is called the Star of Africa I, or Cullinan I, and is at 530 carats, the largest in the world.  It is mounted in the British Sovereign's Royal Scepter.
• The Scepter was made in 1661, with Cullinan I added in 1911.

There are two tropical storms in the East Pacific.

Frank will reach Category 2 strength, but move north and dissipate:

Georgette will just continue to meander in a circle.

Day 8 of the Blood Lily bloom.  Notice that six or seven more are in the process of appearing.

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