TOMORROW WILL BE OCTOBER 1

Today, a little bit of everything, beginning with the return plans for our stranded astronauts.  I've had several postings on their plight, and at one time their rescue would not be until February of next year.

• SpaceX launched NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, their 4-seat Crew-9 capsule docked with the International Space Station yesterday.  I guess the USA and Russia are still cooperating on something.
• But, whoops, there will be no early return.
• NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore have been stuck on the ISS since June 6.
• The four will return to Earth in February.

The death toll from Hurricane Helene is now up to 119, and will continue to grow, for there are 600 or more still unaccounted.  Most of those killed, 73, are from the Carolinas (46 in North Carolina, where as much as 30.78 inches of rain fell), 25 in Georgia and 13 in Florida.  Several million are still without power.  At this point the total damage estimate has risen above $100 billion.

Tomorrow begins October, when JD Vance and Tim Walz have their first and only debate.  I don't think I have ever watched a Veep debate, but will this time.

• Starts at 9PM EDT from the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City.
• Will run for 90 minutes.
• Moderators will be Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan of CBS.
• No audience.
• Open mikes.
• Here is something I did not know:  Walz is nervous about this event and says he is a bad debater.

What is Israel doing?  They are creating a second front in Lebanon, assassinating Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah in an air strike of Beirut, and even bombing Yemen, while awaiting the involvement of Iran.

Last week I suggested that 67-year old Shigeru Ishiba, on his fifth try, would be selected as the next Prime Minister of Japan.  He won.  My favorite was 43-year old Shinjiro Koisumi, but only because of his youth.  John F. Kennedy became president at that age.

The Major League Baseball season ends today with two previously postponed games to determine which two of the Braves, Mets and Diamondbacks will enter the playoffs, beginning tomorrow.  Easy to explain, but you wouldn't be interested in the details anyway.  On the other hand, the Mets beat the Braves in game one, and has qualified.  The management has the pleasant task of winning to eliminate the Braves, allowing the Diamondbacks to get in, or losing, to face Milwaukee instead of San Diego.

My three ESPN fantasy baseball teams did well:  one will end up in second place, another will be first, and the third is currently tied for first, and the two games today will decide who is champion.  I want my players to steal bases and hit home runs.

Kris Kristofferson passed away at the age of 88 at his home on Maui.  What a life.

• 
  A Rhodes scholar at Oxford.
• Captain and Ranger in the U.S. Army.
• Got married in 1961, but divorced in 1968, relegated to sweeping floors at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville.
• Commercial helicopter pilot for oil platforms off Louisiana, and even, unannounced, landing one in Johnny Cash's front yard.

• 
  First big hit was Me and Bobby McGee in 1970.  He sang it, but the more popular version was by his then lover, Janis Joplin, who died that year of heroin overdose at the age of 27.

• 
  Sunday Mornin' Coming Down, about one hangover too many, recorded by Ray Stevens in 1969, but made more popular by Johnny Cash in 1970.
• For the Good Times, recorded by Bill Nash in 1968, Kristofferson in 1970 and also that year, by Ray Price, who took it to #1 on Billboard.

• 
  Can't believe it, but also in 1970, wrote Help Me Make It Through the Night, inspired by  Frank Sinatra, and later that year performed by Sammi Smith, becoming her signature song.
• Did some acting, in a 1974 Martin Scorsese film, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, with Barbra Streisand in the the 1976 A Star is Born, alongside Wesley Snipes in the 1998 Blade and others.

• 
  Married Rita Coolidge in 1973, had a daughter, difficult relationship, divorced in 1980.
• Was the founding member in 1985 of The Highwaymen alongside Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings, and the song I best remember is Desperados Waiting for a Train.

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THE FIRST 84 YEARS OF MY LIFE

The first half of my life was spent preparing myself for my final 42 years.  This was a mostly trying and stressful period involving a less than ideal youth, then struggles to get through school, my first few jobs and accompanying life, ending two months later on a Sunday with Part 15E, so it was a spiritual conclusion to my final transition.  I never did count the number of actual postings, but I suspect it was around 25 parts.  The ending had to do with golf, the disappearance and re-appearance of an  8-iron cover.  That was the final clue to whether the beyond after death would be eternal gloom or Heaven.

Today, I provide only one transition, but hint about a final one, for this, after all, is Sunday.  I'm 84 years old, so let me summarize what happened during the first phase, from 0-42, and follow with the years 42-84.  As this is 2024, that key transition year was 1982.

I can't seem to find this photo, but as a one-year old baby, I was fat.  Most of my actual first half of my life I was skinny.  Certainly not athletic, and  somewhat sickly for the first 15 years.  However, my only hospital experience had to do with taking my tonsils out.

I was born in Honolulu and never left the state until I was 18 to go to Stanford University.  You can read those above transition postings for details.  IFor example, TRANSITIONS: Part 7--Return to Hawaii and Naalehu, the Southernmost Community in the USA. 

Spent almost seven years in the sugar industry with C. Brewer as a process engineer.  By far, the most difficult years of my life, although I did meet my wife in Kau on the Big Island, and was sent to Kilauea Sugar company, Kauai, where we lived next to the Slippery Slide, made famous by the movie South Pacific.  Pearl and Pepper in our backyard.

Was sent by my Hawaii company to get a sugar graduate degree at Louisiana State University in 1969.  Tiger football, Pete Maravich, Mardi Gras and more.  However, in that period, also was in the Army reserve to avoid being drafted and sent to Vietnam, and life in the South was a whole new experience.  I picked a topic for my PhD dissertation that had to do with building a tunable laser before one could be bought, to focus on Escherichia coli in a micro reactor that was most challenging.  Toss into this the comprehensive exam and needing to pass the College Board language requirement...I feel fortunate that I was able to accomplish it all for a PhD in biochemical engineering.  

Then I luckily was hired by the University of Hawaii in 1972, spending later summers at the NASA Ames Research center on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on laser fusion, twice.  In 1979 I was asked to work on the staff of U.S. Senator Spark Matsunaga, where I drafted original bills on ocean energy and hydrogen.  These topics inspired me to develop the Blue Revolution.

So I'm now into that fabulous transition year, 1982.  I have had several colonoscopies, but those were the only time I've been a patient in a hospital.  A life-changing event in 1982 had to do with headaches.  I remember getting regular migraines, but got by taking Empirin.  Here is something I found about this pill:

• Early forms came from the UK around 1912, but Burroughs Wellcome & Company began selling Empirin in the U.S. around 1938.
• Then in 1982, I read that this product would be banned.  I don't know what really happened, but because I thought my remedy for this ailment was disappearing, suddenly, my headaches also stopped.  Turns out that Empirin, as a product, kept being sold (although I haven't seen it for more than 40 years).  Here is something from this source:  Empirin's active ingredients were caffeine, aspirin, and phenacetin, which was removed and replaced with acetominophen.  Phenacetin, it turns out, caused Howard Hughes to die from kidney failure.  Excedrin and Anacin were also reformulated.
• Aside from minor headaches from drinking too much red wine, I have not been bothered by this ailment during the second half of my life.

From DC, returned home to the University of Hawaii in 1982 to begin the second, and more enjoyable second phase of my life.  There was that transition when I owned two homes in the DC area, my apartment in Honolulu, which was leased out, so I had to somehow qualify for the best I could find, a penthouse at 2101 Nuuanu Avenue.  I was able to sell the other three with a small profit, and had an incredible view of Honolulu for 32 years until I moved into the adjacent 15 Craigside, where I now live.

But from 1982 to 1999, all those years of schooling and working prepared me for a wonderful life of accomplishments and experiences.  Won national awards in energy, hydrogen, ocean and administration, and developed the Blue Revolution.

Retired in 1999, and have spent the past quarter century with freedom to travel and better enjoy life.  Publishing three books was a grind, but that led to starting this blog in 2008 to Save Humanity and Planet Earth.  The analogy I like to use is this:

• We all go through kindergarten, elementary/intermediate school, high school, then for the more fortunate, college.
• As students we have weekends, holidays and spring/summer vacations off.
• I have been writing this blog every day for nearly 16 years.  That is the equivalent starting kindergarten, and now soon to be a senior in college.  Daily!

So from 1982 when I left the U.S. Senate, to today, my life with the University of Hawaii and in Hawaii has been....can't find the right term....awesome, fantastic, marvelous, wondrous, with long periods of euphoria.  I still maintain an office on the Manoa Campus, but otherwise spend most of my time at 15 Craigside, which, if you read my blog regularly, is Paradise, or more likely, Purgatory.

• Been on around the world trips at a least dozen times, the latest earlier this year, I acronymed OMGA, and the next one planned for a year from now, to be called OMEGA, for it could well be my final global adventure.

• 
  Approaching 3 million miles traveled on United Airline flights.  But United's program and quality of service have so much declined the past few years that since even before the pandemic, I now avoid them, for other airlines allow you to use their executive lounges if you fly business class or higher.  Still have several hundreds of thousand miles to use on United.
• My final professional activity was probably the TEDx talk I gave on the Blue Revolution.

Yes, considering my start of life in Kakaako and status in society then, compared to what I am today, I couldn't possibly be more satisfied and happy.  

• Will there be a third 42 years?  Nope, because Jeanne Calment of France lived to the age of 122.  
• Another 42 would make me 126.  
• The Social Security Agency says an 84 year old person will live for 6 more years.
• This Average Life Expectancy calculator gives me:
• One chance in 4 to live 10 more years.
• One chance in 10 to live 13 more years.
• And a 3.3% chance of living to the age of 100.
• More than anything else, though, quality of life must come with longevity.  That is my hope.

I close today with last night's cold opening of Saturday Night Live on Harris and Trump Rallies.  Jim Gaffigan played Tim Walz, Andy Samberg was Doug Emhoff, Maya Rudolf appeared as Kamala Harris, Austin Johnson returned as Donald Trump, Bowen Yang stepped in as JD Vance and Dana Carvey as confused Joe Biden.  NBC will celebrate this 50th season with a three-hour special on Sunday, 16 February 2025.

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WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO LIVE ON MARS OR ON THE MOON?

The death toll for Category 4 Hurricane Helene is now up to 64.  Surprisingly enough, South Carolina is up to 23, with Florida at 11, with 10 of them from the Tampa Bay area.  Perry and Tallahassee had none.  Note that the dangerous quadrant is to the northeast (0 to 90 degrees).  These numbers are expected to further rise.  There is particular worry about North Carolina.  4.8 million lost power.  Notice how the eye of Helene has circled back to Tennessee.

I read an article by John Crisp on Live on Mars? How about life on Earth?

• What should be the priority of NASA?  Send people to the Moon and Mars?  Or minimize mammoth expenses by focusing on telescopic explorations to find life in our solar system and beyond?
• I once worked on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence at the NASA Ames Research Center, and eight years ago Harry Jones, who works there, speculated that the cost of the first human mission to Mars would be $500 billion.

• 
  When President G.W. Bush in 2004 announced his vision for Space Exploration, which was about going to Mars, the estimated cost was close to a trillion dollars (value in 2024).
• In comparison, the Manhattan Project would today have cost maybe $50 billion, or 5% of a future Mars Project.
• The entire Apollo Project to land on the Moon cost $280 billion in current dollars.

• 
  The American Interstate Highway system cost $500 billion.
• The value of New York City land is around $1.4 trillion, while the global real estate value is $217 trillion and investment in derivatives somewhere between $544 trillion to $12 quadrillion.
• The Gross Domestic Product of the USA is $25.5 trillion.
• 
  There are advocates for the colonization of Mars, like Elon Musk (left), Richard Branson and Robert Zubrin (right, former chairman of the National Space Society).
• Mars has all the raw materials to support life.
• Will be a power-rich economy based on the availability of deuterium fuel for fusion reactors.

• 
  Musk guessed it would cost between $100 billion and $10 trillion to build a new Mars city.  Further, he thought a round trip trip to Mars and back might cost $200,000.  His goal?  1 million on Mars by 2050.

So about the colonization of Moon and Mars:

• In 1492, the motivation of Columbus was to find a shorter route to India, China, Japan and the Spice Islands.  The attraction was to trade in silks and spices.

• 
  In 1961 President John F. Kennedy asked Congress to dedicate $7-$9 billion for the moon project.  The Soviet Union had a month before sent Yuri Gagarin into space, and the race to the Moon became the a goal of significance.  This gamble worked, for space helped bankrupt the USSR into collapse in 1991.

• 
  What is the motivation to colonize the Moon?
• First no nation can claim anything on the Moon, but that Moon Agreement has not been signed by any exploitive nation.
• There is an Outer Space Treaty that has mostly been ratified to prohibit space wars, but hints that the use of outer space should be for the common benefit.
• Any product developed would cost too much to return to Earth.
• The Moon would mostly be useful as a more efficient site to get to Mars.
• Why colonize Mars now?
• From Wikipedia:

Justifications and motivations for colonizing Mars include technological curiosity, the opportunity to conduct in-depth observational research, the possibility that the settlement of other planets could decrease the probability of human extinction, the interest in establishing a colony independent of Earth and in economic exploitation of its resources.

Settlement of Mars would depend on permanent migration of humans to the planet and the exploitation of local resources. Both are demanding, with large investments needed and people to be ready for life threatening conditions, since the planet is hostile to human life. Its barren surface is subject to intense ionizing radiation and is covered by fine, toxic dust, making the surface more toxic than Earth after a hypothetical nuclear war.^[5] Mars has an atmosphere that is unbreathable and thin, with surface temperatures fluctuating between −70 and 0 °C (−94 and 32 °F). While Mars has frozen sub-surface water and other resources, windand solar conditions are weak for electricity generation, and resources for nuclear power are poor. Mars' orbitis relatively close to Earth's orbit, though far enough from Earth that the distance would present a serious limitation on importing goods and people to travel.

• 
  The Martian day is 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds.
• Atmosphere of 0.16% oxygen, versus 21% in the atmosphere of Earth.
• The surface temperatures ranges from 70 F to -225 F.  If you stand on the surface of the planet at noon, your feet would will be at 75 F and your head at 32 F (water freezes at that temperature).  Why this difference?  The atmosphere is so thin.
• Sunlight is too weak to grow crops.
• 
  Robotic cameras haven't seen water, and none has been measured, but there is speculation that liquid water should be available in the outer crust of the planet.  But this verification relates to seismic signals from Mars quakes.
• Natural radiation is high.
• Communication with Earth will take from 3 to 21 minutes (speed of light).
• The total volume of Mars is 15% of Earth.  The Moon is 2% the volume of Earth.
• 
  Bill Nye on Forbes says it makes no sense to colonize Mars now.  Watch this video.
• No one goes to Antarctica to raise a family.
• Plus, there are no trees, not enough air, there will be dust storms for months, and it's far too cold at night.
• You can't compare going to Mars with the Mayflower, because the colonists had air to breathe, heat from the sun and things to kill and eat.
• No gold or diamonds to mine.
• 
  Human colonization?  Maybe robotic precursors would make more sense for now.
• My view is, sure, someday we might need to find another place to live.  Then we must go.  But not now, and probably not for centuries to come.

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THE BLUE EVOLUTION

Note my quest for a Blue Revolution has been relegated to the Blue Evolution, for nothing much is happening today.  I blame most myself.  Blue Revolution Hawaii has not found that Poseidon-like imaginative billionaire to fund the effort, and I have largely given up, now instead off on another global adventure.

Thought I'd at least report on a minimal effort being initiated by Hatch Blue.  In collaboration with the University of Hawaii and the National Science Foundation, you are invited to send in an application to have an all-expenses-paid ideation and implementation program at HOST Park on the Big Island and Entrepreneur's Sandbox on Oahu for Blue Venture Builder Hawaii 2024.  DEADLINE:  October 1, 2024, 11:59PM.

Why join

• Ideate and start implementing your own business that solves a social and economic challenge for Hawai‘i

• Free coaching & mentoring on starting a business in one of Hawai'iʻs burgeoning blue industries

• Establish a network within your field (studies show 60% of jobs are found through networking)

• Gain invaluable market and industry insights

• Meet with farms operating in on & off-shore aquaculture, blue carbon, biotechnology, marine R&D and regenerative seafood

Who

• Aquaculture enthusiasts

• Biologists & marine scientists

• Engineers & technologists

• Data scientists & AI enthusiasts

• Designers & creatives

• Business minds & entrepreneurs

• Students & researchers

The Blue Venture Builder Hawaii programme is a second generation collaboration between CliRAIM (Climate Resilience Aquaculture Innovation Megahub) and Hatch Blue. 

The programme seeks individuals and teams with wide skill sets that can solve bottlenecks and problems within the sustainable blue economy. Participants will be connected with the programme's supporters, mentors, and workshop participants to brainstorm business models and create viable, sustainable, blue economy (non-profit or for profit) business solutions.

The ultimate objective is to connect the brightest minds to build viable, sustainable, blue economy businesses that will have an impact in the sector.

Phase I

21-23 November, 2024: 3 day bootcamp

Location: NELHA's HOST Park, Kona, HI

Phase II

5-7 December, 2024: 3 day bootcamp

Location: Entrepreneur's Sandbox, Honolulu, HI

Phase III

3-12-month hybrid process between your location and NELHA

Whilst there is no equity investment during the programme, there is opportunity to meet investors within our network who may seek to invest in your company during Phase III, including Hatch Blue and other investors in the blue economy.

Travel to and from your nearest airport and your home. 

Your breakfast and dinner.

Everything else is covered (flights, hotels, transport to workshops, lunch, beverages.)

Hatch Blue is a global catalyst for aquaculture and alternative seafood innovation.

History

Hatch has been conceived in late 2017 by co-founders Carsten Krome, Georg Baunach and Wayne Murphy. 

Hatch has been designed to be at the intersection of sustainable aquaculture, technological innovation and venture capital. They have made over 30 startup investments in the sector, almost all of which attended one of our previous cohorts. The majority of their startups are, or already have raised follow-on funding and are well underway to becoming pivotal forces in this industry. They understand the challenge of scaling a business and the speed at which you need to move to reach the next level. Their team brings an entrepreneurial mindset, deep sector expertise and a supporting network that provides unique insight and value to their portfolio companies.

After 4 years in operation, HATCH has invested in more than 30 companies, run three successful cohorts, raised a first US $8M fund and the second $70M Blue Revolution Fund ad well as established offices in Hawaii, Norway and Singapore. The team has grown to +20 full-time members spread across the globe, who run the three business units of Hatch – their accelerator program, funds and their innovation services offering.

I don't know who they are, but the spelling of some words seem that the founders have a European base.  They operate out of Norway and Singapore and have 10 full-time employees.  They themselves are seeking $84 million in funding for their aquacultural interests.  You can link to the following references for details.

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/hatch-blue-ltd

https://thefishsite.com/articles/hatch-blue-is-thrilled-to-announce-the-first-close-of-the-blue-revolution-fund

https://www.startupsg.gov.sg/profiles/20262

https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2022/09/22/hatch-blue-ready-to-invest-in-novel-aquafeeds-high-value-species/

https://www.zoominfo.com/c/hatch-accelerator-holding-ltd/447417056

https://www.f6s.com/hatchaccelerator2020

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/cork-based-hatch-to-raise-75m-to-fund-more-aquaculture-start-ups-1.4679013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF8yuNPBTgY

https://pitchbook.com/profiles/investor/232563-16

https://nelha.hawaii.gov/hatch-accelerator/

https://medium.com/hatch-blue

In the Blue Revolution quest, ocean-based businesses will be the ultimate motivation, to lead to a reduction in global warming and stronger establishment of an international marine industry.  Read my Huffington Post articles on this subject.

• Blue Revolution
• The Ultimate Ocean Ranch
• The Dawn of the Blue Revolution
• The Blue Revolution is the Ultimate Solution for Japan
• Biofuels from Microalgae

As you can see from the above, the problem about my vision is that I dream too large.  

• What Hatch Blue is doing is starting small new businesses.  But, they too are seeking a large sum of dollars.  Just the right combination of funding, idea and leadership can lead to individual business successes.  Some day, many of them will seek an open ocean platform to expand their success. 
• 
  My Blue Revolution has an initial goal:  $150 million to plan, build and operate the Pacific Ocean International Station, a site where the world can utilize to expand their profits.  
• Our project is too much for a federal funding agency or any company.  We need that ocean-inspired billionaire.  
• But the result of what we are doing will provide the base for free enterprise, while remediating the Greenhouse Effect and minimizing the formation of hurricanes.  
• All the geoengineering projects to minimize global warming costs money.  Our Blue Revolution adventure will do all the above, while supporting industrial profits.
• 
  I am part of Blue Revolution Hawaii, and a couple of years ago we sponsored a TEDx lecture program on this subject.  Here are three presentations providing details for the future of the Blue Revolution.
• The Time for the Blue Revolution is Now.  This is my TEDx presentation.  
• Podcast on the Blue Revolution.  By the Seasteading Institute.
• Pacific International Ocean Station.  Seasteading Conference.

Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4, and considering the size and strength, the damage was much lower than would be expected, but the latest report indicates that  22 people have been killed, with more to come.  Helena is now a tropical storm at 45 MPH and rolling over Tennessee.

 

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