A FEW THIS AND THATS

I yesterday featured China's really big parade.  Here are some highlights. 

Today, a few this and thats entering the weekend.  About those Trump tariffs, here is one summary.  Countries with the largest trade deficits.  From the New York Times this morning.  China is #1.

The National Football League begins today:

• Opening tonight:  8:20 EDT, NBC, Cowboys at Eagles.
• The tomorrow night, Friday:  8 PM EDT, You Tube, Chiefs at Chargers.
• This game is being played in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
• How do you watch a game on You Tube?  Click on this site.
• The full schedule this weekend.

• 
  Hawaii's home team, because of QB Tua Tagovailoa, has become the Miami Dolphins.  They play the Baltimore Colts at 7AM on CBS, our local time.
• The Monday night game on ESPN is at 8:15PM EDT, Vikings at Bears.
• I decided not to have any NFL fantasy teams this year, mostly because I'll be away on two trips in October, November, December and January.
• 
  Super Bowl LX will be on February 8, Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California.  
• Half-time show?  Not selected yet, but it well could be Taylor Swift.  BTS?  Google AI Overview says:

Yes, there is a chance BTS could perform at the 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show. Billboard has listed BTS as one of their top picks for the event, with their return to full activity scheduled for spring 2026 after completing their military service, which aligns perfectly with the February Super Bowl.

• 
  Want to attend?  Click on this.
• Touchdown Club.
• One ticket.
• Pregame hospitality.
• Tailgate fare with open bar.
• Live musical entertainent.
• NFL Legend appearances.
• Instagram-able photo opportunities.
• $6,925.
• Playmakers Club.
• Ticket with Premium Club Level Seating.
• Club level all-inclusive hospitality.
• Chef-curated menu and top self bar.
• NFL Legend appearances.
• VIP restrooms.
• $6,925.
• 50-yard line, plus the above services....call for pricing.
• By the way, you must know that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are officially engaged.

The U.S. Tennis Open concludes this weekend, with the Women's Singles Final at 4PM EDT on Saturday, followed by the Men's Singles Final on Sunday, also at 4PM, on Sunday.  All matches on ESPN.

• 
  Women's first semi-final match, Jessica Pegula (USA) vs last year's champ, Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) at 1PM ET today.  The women's side has been complicated by the resurgence of Naomi Osaka (Japan), seeded #23, playing Amanda Anisimova (USA), who upset Iga Swiatek.  The two played in the Wimbledon Finals in July, with Switek demolishing Anisimova, 6-0, 6-0 in less than an hour.  Osaka vs Animisova match will be on ESPN at 2:10PM EDT, also today.  But maybe not, and could start at 2:30PM.  Very confusing.
• 
  Men's semifinal:  Novak Djokovic (Serbia) vs Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) at 3PM EDT on Friday, with Jannik Sinner (Italy) vs Felix Auger-Aiassime (Canada) following at 7PM.  Sinner is the favorite to win it all.

The top series on Netlix today is Wednesday, now into Season 2, Rotten Tomatoes 78/80, with at #2, My Life with the Walter Boys, RT 54/66, while the top two films are The Thursday Murder Club, RT 77/54, and KPop Demon Hunter, RT 98/99:  Animated with infectious energy and vibrant colors, KPop Demon Hunters is jaunty family entertainment with a terrific soundtrack to boot.  But it's animated.

On Amazon Prime, the top two series are The Summer I Turned Pretty, now into Season 3, RT 75/63, and The Terminal List:  Dark Wolf, RT 73/83, while the top two films are The Map That Leads to You, RT 36/59, and The Pickup, RT 25/36.

• Nothing much.
• I actually watched the brand new The Pickup.  And it wasn't that bad.  Eddie Murray as a cash truck security guard.

• 
  Coincidentally, last night I also saw Wrath of Man, a 2021 film starring Jason Statham, a cash truck security guard.  Rotten Tomatoes 68/90.  The 90 score was about right, if you can tolerate gore and killings and stuff like that.  These two films are about as different as you can get with the same setting.
• Yes, a double-bill on Prime, with your own popcorn and drinks, might make for a terrific weekend night.

Hurricane Kiko was up to 145 MPH earlier, but has already weakened to 130 MPH, and expected to lose hurricane strength before approaching the Big Island of Hawaii, then Maui, on Tuesday, September 9.

Further in the East Pacific, Tropical Storm Lorena will soon attain hurricane strength, but is expected to weaken and mosey through the west coast of Baja.

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MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL AT MIDSEASON

Before I get into baseball, a further look at the fractious Epstein matter.  First some history:

• March 2005:  Police in Palm Beach Florida begin investigating Jeffrey Epstein after the family of a 14-year old girl reported she was molested at this mansion.  

• 
  He had owned the place since 1990.
• Two miles south is Mar-a-Lago, which Donald Trump has owned since 1985.
• Epstein's home was razed soon after it was sold in 2019.
• May 2006:  Palm Beach police charge Epstein with multiple counts of unlawful sex with a minor.

• 
  June 2006:  Clearly, Epstein influenced State Attorney Barry Krischer who sent the case to a grand jury that heard from only one accuser, so the only judgement was to charge Epstein with one count of solicitation of prostitution.

• 
  July 2006:  FBI becomes suspicious and opens investigations into Epstein's activities not only in Florida, but also New York and elsewhere.
• 2007:  Federal prosecutors prepare an indictment against Epstein.
• June 2008:  Epstein pleads guilty to one count of soliciting prostitution from a minor and is sentenced to 18 months in jail, and other charges.
• 
  July 2009:  Released from jail, but multiple women accuse him of various abuses.  
• One of the accusers, Virginia Giuffe says that Epstein and girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell set up sexual encounters with high-profile individuals starting when she was 17.  This list included royalty, politicians, academicians, businessmen and rich/powerful men.  Was Donald Trump one of them?
• This is the list that could easily have been tampered with through various presidential terms.
• 
  November 2018:  The Miami Herald revisited the handling of Epstein's case, and somehow re-involved is Donald Trump's then Secretary of Labor, Alexander Acosta, who was a federal prosecutor in Florida during the 2008 Epstein plea deal.
• July 2019:  Epstein is arrested on federal sex trafficking charges.  Trump defends Acosta.

• 
  10 August 2019:  Guards find Epstein dead in his cell at a federal jail in New York City.  Investigators concluded he died by suicide.  Note that this is during Donald Trump's first term.
• July 2020:  Ghislaine Maxwell charged.
• December 2021:  Jury convicts Maxwell in multiple charges involving minors.
• June 2022:  Maxwell is sentenced to 20 years in prison.
• December 2023:  A federal judge ordered the unsealing of court documents revealing the names of dozens of those involved with Epstein, where former President Bill Clinton might have been indicated...and many others.
• January 2024:  First batch of documents was unsealed on 3January2024.  Many more were released, but these documents shed little new light on any details involving the sexual abuse of underage girls.

• 
  February 2024:  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law to allow release of grand jury records for the 2006 investigation.
• July 2024:  A Florida judge released transcripts detailing 2006 grand jurty testimony accusing Epstein of sexually assaulting numerous underage girls at his Palm Beach mansion.
• February 2025:  The Trump Department of Justice released files regarding Epstein to a small group of conservative influencers.  

So here is the current situation:

• Attorney General Pam Bondi did not release the files to the press.
• Somehow, through all of this, the issue now seems to be whether something is being hidden about Epstein's suicide... or not.

• 
  Files can be changed and redacted over this nearly 20-year period.  The only person who could confirm if there was an Epstein list, and who were on it, is Ghislaine Maxwell.  She has offered to speak to Congress about the client list.  She is imprisoned in a federal women's prison in Tallahassee, Florida.  She will be there until 17July2037.  Boy, if she commits "suicide"....

• 
  Considering that his DOGE associates have certain files from this Trump administration, what does Elon Musk have?
• Time magazine today published a timeline of the Trump-Epstein relationship.  Worth a read.
• Here is one possible list:

1. Ghislaine Maxwell
2. Virginia Lee Roberts Giuffre [Epstein victim]
3. Prince Andrew of England
4. James Michael Austrich
5. Philip Barden
6. REDACTED
7. Cate Blanchett
8. David Boies
9. Laura Boothe
10. Evelyn Boulet
11. Rebecca Boylan
12. Joshua Bunner
13. Naomi Campbell
14. Carolyn Casey
15. Paul Cassell
16. Sharon Churcher
17. Bill Clinton
18. David Copperfield
19. Alexandra Cousteau
20. Cameron Diaz
21. Leonardo DiCaprio
22. Alan Dershowitz
23. Dr. Mona Devanesan
24. REDACTED
25. Bradley Edwards
26. Amanda Ellison
27. Cimberly Espinosa
28. Jeffrey Epstein
29. Annie Farmer
30. Marie Farmer
31. Alexandra Fekkai
32. Crystal Figueroa
33. Anthony Figueroa
34. Louis Freeh
35. Eric Gany
36. Meg Garvin
37. Sheridan Gibson-Butte
38. Robert Giuffre
39. Al Gore
40. Ross Gow
41. Fred Graff
42. Philip Guderyon
43. REDACTED
44. Shannon Harrison
45. Stephen Hawking
46. Victoria Hazel
47. Brittany Henderson
48. Brett Jaffe
49. Michael Jackson
50. Carol Roberts Kess
51. Dr. Karen Kutikoff
52. Peter Listerman
53. George Lucas
54. Tony Lyons
55. Bob Meister
56. Jamie A. Melanson
57. Lynn Miller
58. Marvin Minsky
59. REDACTED
60. David Mullen
61. Joe Pagano
62. Mary Paluga
63. J. Stanley Pottinger
64. Joseph Recarey
65. Michael Reiter
66. Jason Richards
67. Bill Richardson
68. Sky Roberts
69. Scott Rothstein
70. Forest Sawyer
71. Doug Schoetlle
72. Kevin Spacey
73. Cecilia Stein
74. Mark Tafoya
75. Brent Tindall
76. Kevin Thompson
77. Donald Trump
78. Ed Tuttle
79. Emma Vaghan
80. Kimberly Vaughan-Edwards
81. Cresenda Valdes
82. Anthony Valladares
83. Maritza Vazquez
84. Vicky Ward
85. Jarred Weisfeld
86. Courtney Wild
87. Bruce Willis
88. Daniel Wilson
89. Kathy Alexander
90. Miles Alexander

If you're not into baseball, return tomorrow, when I will take a closer look at Donald Trump's Big Ugly Law.  Featured will be New York Times' Opinion columnist since 1995, Thomas Friedman who won Pulitzer Prizes in 1983, 1988 and 2002.  He just wrote How Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill" Will Make China Great Again.  

Can you hear it — that roar coming from the East? It’s the sound of 1.4 billion Chinese laughing at us.

The Chinese simply can’t believe their luck: that at the dawn of the electricity-guzzling era of artificial intelligence, the U.S. president and his party have decided to engage in one of the greatest acts of strategic self-harm imaginable. They have passed a giant bill that, among other craziness, deliberately undermines America’s ability to renewably generate and store electricity — through solar, wind and batteries, in particular.

And why? Because they view those as “liberal” energy sources, even though today they are the quickest and cheapest ways to boost our electricity grid to meet the explosion of demand from A.I. data centers.

I watch a lot of Major League Baseball because I now have 6 ESPN Fantasy Baseball teams.

• You might recall my plight earlier this year.
• I drafted four ESPN teams in March.  This is all free, so no money is at stake.
• The season started on March 18 in Japan.  Then, after two games, there was a break until the regular season began on March 27.
• On April 15 I flew off to Osaka for the World Expo.  The next day I tried to access my teams.  Couldn't.  In Japan and throughout our cruise from Yokohama to Vancouver, I could not make any adjustments.
• Then when we reach Vancouver, one month into our trip, I suddenly was able to link with my teams.
• All my teams on April 15 were #1, #1, #2, and #3.  My teams on May 15 were #4, #6, #6 and #9 in ten-team leagues.  The rational decision would have been to abandon them.  But I guess that's not me.
• I have now had a re-access to my teams for a little more than a month.  Today, they are #2, #2, #3 and #3.
• I did draft two more teams about 12 days ago, and they are #1 and #2.
• The Major League is in a mid-term break for their All-Star game, which is today.  Most teams have played 97 games, so they are around 60% into the season.  I need to reach #1 with 40% of the season left.
• 
  Yesterday was the home run derby, won by Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh.  I have him on one of my teams.
• Leads the Major Leagues in homers with 38.
• Raleigh's family participated:  father pitched and brother caught.
• Read that article, hearwarming.  You can also watch Pittsburg's Oneil Cruz hit a ball an incredible 513 feet.

• 
  About the Major League and standings:
• In the American League, the Detroit Tigers lead the Minnesota Twins by 11.5 games, so should win the Central League.  The other two are competitive.
• All three National leagues are sufficiently competitive today, so no team is dominating.  The Los Angeles Dodgers have have a lot of injuries to pitchers, so if a couple of them return and do well, they will become the favorite to win the World Series, which starts with Wild Card playoffs on October 1.

• 
  Depending on how many games are played, the World Series could end as late as November 2.

We have a long trip planned from mid-November to mid-January, so I will not get any fantasy NFL teams this year.  Super Bowl LX will occur on 8February2026 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

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BREAKING IN THE PARIS OLYMPICS

I was all set today to write a solid science posting, toying with the coming of giant Joro spiders, but was thumbing through my unread magazines piling up from my global journey, and one article caught my fancy.  First, did you know that the Paris Summer Olympics will begin on July 27?

• 
  In 776 BC, the first Greek Olympics, and for the next dozen to follow, there was only one event.  The stadion was a foot race of 600 feet.
• A century ago, in the Paris Summer Olympics of 1924, they had tug of war, croquet and something called jeu de paume, although this latter sport was just for exhibition.  The last time this "tennis" type game was official was in the 1908 London Olympics. 

• 
  The modern Olympics returned in 1896 with 43 events in nine sports.
• This year, there will be 32 different sports for 329 medal events.  In 2020 Tokyo, 33 sports and 339 events.

• 
  However, no more baseball (Major League teams complained), softball is gone, and so is karate.  But not to fret, as the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics will bring back baseball (even though the Major League is still moaning) and softball, plus cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash.
• The new sports in Paris will be skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing....and, get ready for this....breakdancing.  Interestingly enough, the LA Olympics will drop breaking, but keep the other three new ones.
• So here are the 32:

Aquatics (Swimming, Marathon Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, Artistic Swimming)
Archery
Athletics
Badminton
Basketball (3x3, Basketball)
Boxing
Breaking
Canoe (Canoe Sprint, Canoe Slalom)
Cycling (BMX Freestyle, BMX Racing, Road Cycling, Track Cycling)
Equestrian (Equestrian Eventing, Equestrian Dressage, Equestrian Jumping)
Fencing
Football (which is soccer for the rest of the world)
Golf
Gymnastics (Artistic Gymnastics, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Trampoline Gymnastics)
Handball
Hockey
Judo
Modern Pentathlon
Rowing
Rugby (Rugby Sevens)
Sailing
Shooting
Skateboarding
Sport Climbing
Surfing
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
Tennis
Triathlon
Volleyball (Beach Volleyball, Volleyball)
Weightlifting
Wrestling (Greco-Roman Wrestling, Freestyle Wrestling)

NBC and Peacock will present live coverage of the Opening Ceremony on Friday, July 26, beginning at noon ET. Telemundo will provide Spanish-language coverage beginning at 1 p.m. ET. Primetime coverage will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and Peacock.

Breakdancing is called breaking in Paris, the more popular term today.  Here is that Time magazine article.  I'll summarize:

• The presentation features Grace Sunny Choi.
• Born in Cookeville, Tennessee to PhDs from Daegu, South Korea.
• Family moved to Kentucky.
• All four children took piano lessons.
• Sunny, now 35, became a serious gymnast until she hurt her knee as a teenager.  Began to experience periods of intense depression, including suicidal thoughts.
• At the University of Pennsylvania as a freshman got into breaking, created by Black and Latino youths in New York City half a century ago.
• Worked and danced, while depression kept returning.
• Chose dancing over marriage, kids, etc.  A crazy dream.
• 
  Won the first gold medal ever for breaking at the 2023 Pan American Games.  This is why she automatically qualified for Paris.  Here is a CNN video about her, but the first half is just regular news.
• Now has sponsorship deals with Nike and Samsung.
• Sees a therapist, paid for by the U.S. Olympic Committee, to minimize her mental health problems.  

• 
  Has helped confront her fear of failure.  
• Naomi Osaka in tennis, Simone Biles gymnastics and Michael Phelps swimming also suffered from mental problems.  
• There are 15 mental health providers employed by the Committee.

• 
  When not dancin', she was director of global creative operations at Estée Lauder, until she quit last year to focus on her sport.
• Called a B-girl for guess what?
• Is 5'1", eats a lot of salmon and is a medal contender in Paris.

• 
  Breaking will occur in the Place de la Concorde, the largest public square in Paris.  Seats are sold out.
• Breaking is not like gymnastics where points accrue.  Format is head-to-head competition.

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GENETIC ENGINEERING OF A MAMMO-PHANT

China reported a COVID-19 Delta variant spreader incident linked to a school in Fujian Province.  September 19-21 is the major Mid-Autumn or Mooncake Festival when hundreds of millions travel.  First detected last Friday in the city of Putian, more than 100 have since been infected in three cities, where a virtual lockdown has been mandated.  Mind you, the entire country is averaging less than 50 new cases/day and no new deaths, compared to the USA with much more than 100/000 new cases/day and around 1000 new deaths/day.  Also, the population in this region is around 10 million, and Hawaii, with 1.4 million, has been averaging 500-1000 new cases/day the past two weeks.   Governor David Ige yesterday announced that he envisions no lockdown for the state.

A sure sign that Governor Gavin Newson will remain governor after the recall election today is that the most serious candidate, conservative talk-show host Larry Elder, has already accused Democrats of stealing the election.  By the way, I did not mention in my posting yesterday that there are 45 others seeking to replace Newson.   President Joe Biden came to California to defend Newson yesterday, and the party also announced a $2 trillion tax increase package of the super rich to pay for the upcoming $3.6 trillion budget package through a process called reconciliation.  Now, if only Senator Joe Manchin agrees, all will be well.

Norway essentially elected a "Democrat" to be the next prime minister, beating the Conservative.  There is a third party of socialists who are even more pro-environment aligned with these "Democrats."  Oh, the country has around 9 parties, plus.  Each color is a different one.  The oil and gas industry will thus be severely challenged, as global climate warming signs around the world dominated the discussion.

My topic for the day is genetic engineering to re-create a wooly mammoth, which went extinct only around 4000 years ago, and thus coexisted with Homo sapiens sapiens.  A genome project for this animal was completed in 2015, and scientists have been searching to revive the beast.

Mammoths were about the same size as elephants, and they are both related to the mastodon, plus dugongs and manatees.  The mastodon lived in Central/North America and declined because of climate warming around 10,000 years ago, and possibly too through overexploitation by Clovis hunters.  Similarly, humans were responsible for the final demise on Wrangel Island, but the wooly mammoth was already declining from genetic defects and global climate change.  The mastodon is to the right.

A new company was launched a few months ago and announced this week, Colossal, founded by Ben Lamm and George Church, the latter from Harvard Medical School.  They plan to use CRISPR technology to reprogram elephant DNA with mammoth characteristics, to help the hybrid survive in the Siberian tundra.  A MAMMO-PHANT.  Their hope is to revitalize grasslands in the Arctic to reduce the release of methane, which is from 25-100 times, molecule to molecule, worse than carbon dioxide for inducing the Greenhouse Effect.  If there are sufficient numbers of woolly mammoths, this will start the process of returning the grasslands.

Church has for eight years now led a group researching methods of creating mammoths.  Colossal gained funding from Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, twins who were at Harvard with Mark Zuckerberg, gained fame suing him for stealing their Facebook idea.  Of course you heard of them before, for they were prominent in Social Dilemma, rowed together in the men's pairs rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and amassed a $6 billion Bitcoin fortune.

There are critics.  Victoria Herridge, an evolutionary biologist at the Natural History Museum in London, thought that geoengineering the Arctic environment with mammoths is just not plausible.  Gareth Phoenix, professor of plant and global change ecology at the University of Sheffield, was worried about unintended consequences.  Others are just concerned about using CRISPR for anything.  You can express your own position in this poll.  

You want the latest in fashion?  Watch some of the bizarre outfits walking on the red carpet at last night's Met Gala in New York.

Yes, you saw Naomi Osaka, Billie Eilish, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rihanna.

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Once Mega Typhoon Chanthu stalled east of Shanghai, then weakened into a tropical depression.

I might add that Hurricane Nicholas made landfall over Texas, knocked out power to half a million, has weakened, and will drop a lot of moisture over Houston and along the path of Hurricane Ida.

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