THE TAYLOR SWIFT-TRAVIS KELCE ROMANCE

There are  two prime NFL games this weekend, Dolphins-Bills at 1PM and Chiefs-Jets at 8:20PM.  As my posting today is on that intriguing romance, I'll just focus on that second game.

• She is filling MetLife Stadium, for Swift is scheduled to again be in the Chief's suite box, and prices have increased.  Once at $168/seat, resale prices have jumped 25% each day and and as of Wednesday, was up to $245.

• 
  Even though this will be an away game, you can expect a lot of red #87 jerseys, as Travis Kelce's uniform sales went up by 400%.
•  The proximity is convenient this time, for she lives in Manhattan.

You might say that Taylor Swift and Don Knotts are exact opposites.  She is a very much alive 33-year old, and Knotts, who I feature this week,  passed away in 2006.  He is the ultimate wimp, and she is at the top of her entertainment game.

Who really is Taylor Swift?

• Born in 1989 in Reading, Pennsylvania, she was named after singer-songwriter James Taylor.
• Here is one of her high school photos.
• Started professionally at the age 14 as a country singer.
• First #1 hit was We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together in 2012 when she was 16.  She also co-wrote that song.

• 
  Now, she just topped Maroon 5, Rihanna and Katy Perry with her 12th #1 hit, Cruel Summer, on Billboard's Pop Airplay chart.
• Has sold over 200 million records and is the most-streamed female artist on Spotify.
• Won 12 Grammy Awards.
• Has 101 Guinness World Records.
• Is an advocate for women's empowerment.

• 
  Known as a music chameleon, as she ventures into various genres.
• Possesses a mezzo-soprano vocal range with a soft timbre.
• Has been referred to as one of the greatest songwriters of all time.
• Her tours shows her showmanship and stage presence.
• Is reluctant to publicly discuss her personal life.
• 
  Taylor might have gotten married to Joe Alwyn, but most probably not.
• Owns three cats, and Benson is the third richest pet animal in the world, with a net worth of just about $100 million.
• She is worth $740 million.

Okay, okay, what about Travis Kelce.

• Born in 1989 in Westlake, Ohio, and is around two months older than Swift, both 33-years old.
• Both he and his brother Jason, who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles, went to the University of Cincinnati.
• One of the greatest NFL tight ends of all time, with the Kansas City Chief.  Was a third round pick by the Chiefs, and has been with them for a decade.
• Has a popular podcast with Jason on the NFL.
• Never married. 

Swift's Eras Tour , her sixth, began on 17 March 2023 in Glendale, Arizona, and will conclude on 24 November 2024 in Toronto, Canada.  There is a break from August 26 in Mexico City to November 9 in Buenos Aires.  Will be Tokyo and Australia in February 2024, then to Singapore and all of Europe in May to August in Europe, return to Miami in October.  Tickets?  Forget it, but go to for resale on StubHub and Vivid Seat, meaning a much higher cost/seat.

But not to particularly worry, for her Eras Tour film will open on October 13 in 100 countries.  No Rotten Tomatoes ratings yet.

But on to the budding Swift-Kelce relationship.  Even Donald Trump has an opinion:  “I wish the best for both of them. I hope they enjoy their life, maybe together, maybe not — most likely not,” Trump said.  Watch Steve Kornacki of NBC with the stats.

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MY WAY

First, yesterday President Joe Biden gave a talk about democracy in Arizona.  This was his most blistering attack yet of Donald Trump and his MAGA extremists.  Did you know that Joe introduced John to Cindy, his wife?

And speaking of Trump:

• His civil fraud trial trial in New York could begin as soon as this coming Monday.  
• Also, his pool of funds to pay legal bills for his cronies is running out.  
• Trump won't bother to even seek a transfer of his case from Georgia to a federal court.

Finally, that House quagmire about the government shutdown tomorrow. 

Looks like Keven McCarthy lost his battle to pass anything only with Republicans.  Democrats in the House say that if only 5 Republicans vote with them, all this nonsense can be avoided.  But if McCarthy makes that move, he will lose his speakership.  So be prepared for at a short shutdown.  Will this be terrible?  Nah.  The USA has had 21 of them over the past half a century.  Most of them end after a couple days.  The longest?  35 days when Trump was president in 2019.

Oh, the U.S. Senate reversed its decision to let members wear anything on the floor.  They voted to reverse that freedom, now saying that men shall include a coat, tie and slacks, or other long pants.  Members of the other gender can still wear anything they want.  Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer thanked John Fetterman for working with him to come to an acceptable agreement.  Said Fetterman:

If those jagoffs in the House stop trying to shut our government down, and fully support Ukraine, then I will save democracy by wearing a suit on the Senate floor.

I always thought that Paul Anka wrote My Way, a song popularized by Frank Sinatra in 1969.  Turns out that Anka changed the 1967 French song, Comme d'habitude, by Jacques Revaux/Claude François/Gilles Tibaut.  Record was released by Claude François in 1968.  Paul Anka also in 1969 recorded My Way.

The French and American lyrics have different meanings.  Anka's version is set at the end of a lifetime, approaching death and looking without regret.  In many ways, this theme is much closer to Edith Piaf's Non, je ne regrette rien.

It's possible that My Way is my favorite karaoke song.  Not because I can sing it well, for I can't, but because of the meaning.  My karaoke career, if you can call it that, began in Japan.  I noticed that My Way was particularly popular for one simple reason.  In that country you can't live your life "my way."  You are beholden to company and family and cannot wander off to do what you want.  In the USA, you can, and in many ways, might well be an attribute in the spirit of independence.

In fact my whole life has been somewhat successful and more enjoyable because I did things that seemed to go my way.  But in afterthought, maybe I've just been really lucky.

Who from Kakaako ever goes to Stanford?  Then, why come back to Hawaii to work in a dying sugar industry?  Why go to LSU for a PhD in biochemical engineering?  There is a reason.  I've spent time with NASA on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on Laser Fusion and three years working for the U.S. Senate in DC.  I've been on specific around the world trips perhaps a dozen times.  Took early retirement at the age of 59, but somehow was able to retain an office on the Manoa Campus a the University of Hawaii for nearly a quarter century.

While I was doing things my way during my professional career, much of what I actually did was to help others succeed.  Further, I don't personally know anyone else who has given more time and money. 

However, several years ago I truly took My Way to another level.  I now live mostly for myself so that I can truly enjoy the rest of my life with no responsibilities and few regrets.

Worse America's Got Talent yet.  Too many dance groups, and few finalists actually were from the USA.  The winner was a dog with owner.

I thought Indonesian Putri Ariani would win.  She came in fourth.

My favorites, actually, rarely prevail.  Take Jackie Evancho, for example.

Another non-winner was Susan Boyle in Britain's Got Talent.  She later did well.  From a frumpy 50ish-looking old maid to now a net worth of $40 million.  

Adrian Stoica and Hurricane will thus join at the Luxor in Las Vegas previous stars like Kodi Lee, Deadly Games, Duo Transcend, The Clairvoyants Light Balance and The Sihouettes.

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GET YOUR COVID UPDATED VACCINATION

Got to start with Donald Trump.  There are so many court cases pending that I've lost count.  Here was one I did not know even existed:

Judge rules Donald Trump defrauded banks, insurers

I'm a bit confused, for New York Attorney General Letitia James has a wide-ranging non-jury lawsuit against Trump and his family, which is scheduled to start anytime soon.  But Judge Arthur Engoron (right) somehow made a pre-judgement, I think.  Read this article.  Maybe you can better comprehend what exactly is happening.

About that second GOP presidential debate yesterday, nothing much happened.  Here is NBC News' take on the five biggest moments.  Or, Time's assessment of the biggest moments.  I once visited the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Library in Simi, California, as my attire shows:  Air Force One jacket and cap, which I bought when I was there.

Who won the debate?  Maybe Donald Trump in another successful boycott.

I'm nearing the end of my Thursday Covid summary, for there were only 148,860 new cases in the World this past week, and 221,582 cases the previous week.  In January of last year, the USA alone had more than 5 million cases per week.

About what Covid vaccinations, does it matter if you get a booster or the new update? 

• Both are mRNA-based.
• Both are made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech.
• Both are approved for 12 and older.

• 
  The updated vaccine targets the XBB.1.5 subvariant, even though the EG.5 and BA.2.86 subvariant are now the most prevalent.  But not to mind, for this update works for all of these variants.

• 
  Novavax's vaccine has not yet been approved by the FDA and is based on recombinant viral proteins.  
• So when it does get approved, can you mix and match?  The answer is yes.
• However, the best medical advice is NOT TO WAIT.  As only the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech versions are currently available, get one of them now.
• Finally, should you get old booster or new update?  The CDC recommends the new update.

As vaccines and past cases have made herd immunity now the world condition, and those who do get infected rarely die anymore, with the mortality rate approaching that of the seasonal flu, one of the remaining fears is LONG COVID, which now is found in 7.5% of new cases.  Researchers are working on a specific test for this ailment.  Long covid patients tended to have significantly lower levels of a hormone called cortisol, which causes profound fatigue.  Further, dormant viruses, such as the one that causes mononucleosis, sometimes awakens for some.

It was thirty years ago that the USA Ryder Cup team beat Europe 15-13 at the Belfry in Warwickshire, England.  Remember Bill Clinton in the White House.  It was that long ago.  Over half the 2023 team wasn't born yet.  Since then, they have lost in Spain, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and France.  Play begins in Rome on Friday.

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SERIOUSLY NOW, ARE THERE UFO'S?

Some real science:  August was earth’s hottest on record. June and July also broke records.  More so, summer of 2023 was Planet Earth's hottest by a large amount.

This is science Wednesday, and flying saucers are considered to be so far from reality to NASA SETI researchers, that this posting today might reduce my credibility with them.  But, after all, NASA did finally create a position for UFO Czar, so maybe this would be a good time to assess where we are with unidentified flying objects (UFOs), now re-termed UAP for unidentified anomalous (or aerial) phenomenon.

Some history about czars:

• Czar Nicholas II abdicated in 1917 and that was the final one, although they later had Stalin, and now Putin, so the authoritarian nature of their leadership has not changed at all.

• 
  President Woodrow Wilson selected Bernard Baruch to head the War Industries Board during World War I, only a year after Nicholas went.  Thus, Baruch was the War Czar.
• Wikipedia actually has a list of U.S. executive branch czars, and this term jumped under Franklin Roosevelt for he had eleven of them, who were largely confirmed by the Senate.
• George W. Bush had 33 czar titles, 28 of them confirmed by the Senate.
• Barack Obama upped this to 38, and he had 39 actual confirmations.
• Donald Trump had 42 such appointees, 40 confirmed.
• Joe Biden...??  Surely John Kerry is Biden's Climate Czar.  However, he is only referred to as the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, who was not confirmed by the Senate.  His salary is a secret, and Republicans are not happy with this position.
• Some Czar areas in the past included AIDS, poverty, asian carp, auto, bioethics, bird flu, border...and this goes on and on.

But back to NASA, looks like Mark McInerney is the world's first-ever UFO Czar.  And, by the way, NASA did not use that term, only officially listing director of UAP research.  McInerney has previously also worked at Goddard Space Flight Center, the National Hurricane Center and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

His job will be to study the sightings, advancing the science to confirm anything extraterrestrial, while protecting national security.  Over the past 20 years there have been more than 120 official sightings, all made by an unimpeachably reliable source:  U.S. military pilots.

We are familiar with the 1947 Roswell Incident, but the recent government history started in 2007 when Congress established the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program Task Force.  

• 
  It was disbanded in 2012 due to lack of funding.  
• But a plethora of sightings influenced President Donald Trump to use funds from the Covid-19 relief bill to have the DOD look into this matter.  
• This group reported in a year, and said there was no proof that those objects were extraterrestrial in origin, but also none that they were not either.
• Thus, UFO's remained unidentified.

• 
  In October of 2022 NASA independently announced that it was establishing its own UAP study team, and named 16 members, including retired astronaut Scott Kelly.
• This group earlier this month released a 33-page report, calling on NASA to work with other branches of government, and name a czar.
• The panel tried to keep his name out of the limelight, but NASA finally said that McInernany was the lead.

Said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson:

There’s a global fascination with UAP.  Now, NASA has a statutory authority to look for life in the universe. Do I believe there's life in a universe that is so vast that it's hard for me to comprehend how big it is? My personal answer is yes.

But are UFO's really real?  That is, a flying object from an extraterrestrial intelligent source?  Here is a standard refrain starting with first sightings 400 years ago.  But what about the science?

From SciTechDaily:

The closest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri. It is about 4.25 light-years away, or about 25 trillion miles (40 trillion km). The fastest ever spacecraft, the now-in-space Parker Solar Probe will reach a top speed of 450,000 mph. It would take just 20 seconds to go from Los Angeles to New York City at that speed, but it would take the solar probe about 6,633 years to reach Earth’s nearest neighboring solar system.

How much energy will it take for an actual flying saucer at that size getting here from light years away?  Keep in mind that the closest (there are a lot of dwarf ones closer) galaxy to our Milky Way is more than 2 million light years away, so that same object mentioned above would take 35 billion times longer.  There are something like 2 trillion galaxies out there, and furthest is 13.5 billion light years away.  We live in large universe.

Thus, the best options for interstellar travel are things physicists can only dream about, beyond anything we know, but not impossible.  Essentially, we need to go faster than the speed of light using almost no energy:

• 
  Passing through worm holes.
• A wormhole conceived by Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen allows movement from one place to another by passing into an extra dimension of space.

• 
  Say you want to explain a worm hole in space to a 7-year old.  From Quora.  Print out a map of the USA. Say space is like driving from Los Angeles to Jacksonville. Show them your finger going from Los Angeles to Jacksonville. Then, fold the paper so that Los Angeles and Jacksonville are next to each other, and take a pencil and make a hole through the paper connecting the two cities. Explain that, using that hole, you can get between the two cities instantly. Tell them this is how a wormhole works.

• Physicists have created a holographic wormhole using a quantum computer.  The team was led by Maria Spiropulu of Caltech.
• Remember time machines from movies?  Well, this same wormhole can theoretically send you back in time.  Can you imagine restarting time?  All of this is beyond my ken.

• 
  Using warp drive.  
• Sort of compressing space and time.  
• One problem is that you need negative energy and or mass.  
• But we know nothing about dark energy and mass, so who knows.  
• In 1994 Miquel Alcubierre first propose his Alcubierre Drive.
• And some researchers are hopeful.  Read this paper.  Or this one.

So much for the science of UAPs.  What do other countries feel about them?  Glocalities (Global Nation of the Netherlands ) published a study of 24 countries:

• 61% believe in some form of life on other planets.
• 47% believe in the existence of intelligent alien civilizations in the universe, 60% of them say we should try to contact them.
• 25% belive that the first form of life on earth arrived here from another pace.
• By country:
• Russia, Mexico and China:  more than 60% believe in UFO's.
• USA at 45%
• Australia at 44%, South Africa and Turkey at 36%, Netherlands 28%.
• Nothing to do with UAP's, but do read Global Nation's 2023 Global Solidarity Report.

Another poll, from Statistica:

Statistica also had a poll of the USA, finding that more Americans now believe in aliens.

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