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Showing posts sorted by date for query what are the odds of you being born. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query what are the odds of you being born. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Sunday, October 11, 2026

MY LIFE: Part Alpha Highlights

In a series that began on 31May2026 as MY LIFE:  Part 1, I've been serializing my life from youth to retirement. 


Fifteen episodes later, I was into some of those incredible journeys I had in my retirement.  These will continue for a few more chapters, but today, I will crystalize the essence of my life into a few highlights.  So I titled it Part Alfa.


On 30September2026, my post was titled:   

MAGIC CAN HAPPEN IF YOU TRY

This article focused on a magical period from high school into Stanford.  So if you want to read those details, click on the above.  I begin with the most important day of my life.  When I was born.  To quote from my 19September2017 posting, THE MOST ENJOYABLE DAY OF MY LIFE:


The most important day of my life was when I was born.  The odds of me being here were very low.  How low?  There are various ways one can determine the odds of my creation.  Let me simplify it with a rough fact that the average male will produce around 500 billion sperms in a lifetime.  Every female is born with around 2 million eggs.  Each combination of an egg and sperm produces a totally different human being.  Thus, there was one chance in a quintillion of me being born, which is one in 10 to the 18th power.  This is a best case scenario, for what were the odds of my father and mother even hooking up.  Each of you is here with this same probability.  That photo to the left came from FX Studios.  Watch the video, with music, no less.  But this was not my most enjoyable day because I was too young to appreciate this miracle.

Google AI provides various mathematical odds of being born, and they range from 1 in 400 trillion, to 1 in 400 quadrillion, to 1 in 10 to the 268,500 power.  In short, your being born is pretty much a miracle, and so very much should be a primary highlight of your life.  Then add that I was born in Hawaii, which became a state of the USA, for birth in Africa would not have been ideal.

That could have been IMPORTANT, not ENJOYABLE, for I can't remember anything that happened when I was born.  But life's highlights include both.  Chronologically, after birth:

  • Four years at Stanford University, gave me the confidence that influenced the rest of my life.  Graduated in June of 1962.
  • Eight years in the Hawaii sugar industry were awful, but I did meet my wife, and we were married in December of 1962.  With us is plantation manger Bill Baldwin, who shared an office with me when we both later worked in the U.S. Senate.
  • The company I worked for was C. Brewer, the oldest in Hawaii.  They sent me to Louisiana State University because it had the only sugar program in the world, even paying my salary the first year I was there.  I also had a full fellowship, and my wife worked as a Registered Nurse, so we did well financially too.  Living in Louisiana was wonderful.  We did not experience any racial discrimination.
  • Graduated in 1972 with a PhD in biochemical engineering, and was hired at the University of Hawaii.  
    • I worked for 27 years and retired in 1999.
    • I remained on campus doing not much, but retained an office with free parking (because I had emeritus status), and 27 years later, still have an office on the Manoa Campus.  I'll soon need to meet with the director and return this room because universities are always short of space.
  • I have dozens of highlights while in academia, for we are allowed a lot of freedom.
    • Made Full Professor and Director of the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, which through competition, became the Department of Energy's Hydrogen Research Center (with the Florida Solar Energy Center), Department of Interior's Marine Minerals Center (with the University of Mississippi) and National Science Foundation's Marine BioProducts Engineering Center (with Cal Berkeley).
    • Worked one summer at the NASA Ames Research Center near Stanford on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.  Free to golf at leisure,  lived on campus and took a wine tasting course.
    • Two summers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on Laser Fusion, while living in an apartment adjacent to the wine fields of Wente Brothers.
    • Worked three years for Senator Spark Spark Matsunaga in DC, where I drafted original legislation for Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion and Hydrogen.  Living in the eastern part of the USA opened up a whole lot of territory for exploration and enjoyment.
    • Helped found the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research, which led the national program in converting biomass into biofuels, and was the first organization to build an open-cycle ocean thermal energy conversion, at the Hawaii Ocean Science and Technology site on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Both projects were valued at $25 million, and the OTEC effort was partly financed by the Japanese government.  Here is one story that led to the Blue Revolution.  Click on the following for more information.

      • Had a lunch at Quadri with truffles in each dish, even dessert.
      • Somehow got a seat for a tribute to Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons by the San Marcos Chamber Orchestra, in the theater where Vivaldi wrote part of this piece.
    • Spent two six-month sabbaticals in Tokyo, Japan.
  • Written several books.

  • One day, golfed at St. Andrews, then the next at Carnoustie.  
  • My wife, Pearl, passed away 17 years ago.
    • Wrote an article for The Huffington Post, Gratitude...Not Grief, that day.
    • In a way, she gave me a final phase of my life to enjoy.
    • More recently, now have a travel partner, our first trip being to France seven years ago.  If you're interested in the details, in reverse chronological order.

To close, last night, the Saturday Night Live version of Defense Secretary Hegseth welcoming the USS Abraham Lincoln home to San Diego. followed by Secretary of Health RFK Jr.

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Sunday, June 28, 2026

SHIKATA GA NAI (Title of a Film)

I was born in Honolulu, grew up in Kakaako, went away to college and returned to work in the sugar industry for C. Brewer at the Hutchinson Sugar Company in Naalehu, Kau, Big Island of Hawaii.  So I spoke Pidgin English, referred to by some as Hawaii Creole.  Being away for four years at Stanford changed me so that I almost forgot local slang, but spoke English far better.  Working in the sugar industry on the Big Island and Kauai infused in me a different kind of Pidgin, which I retain today.


According to Google AI, the three most popular Hawaiian pidgin words blending Hawaiian, English, Portuguese Japanese, Chinese and Filipino are:

  • Da Kine: A universal placeholder word used to describe literally any object, action, or idea whose name you can't remember (similar to "whatchamacallit"). [1, 2, 3]
  • Broke da Mouth: The ultimate compliment for a meal that is incredibly delicious. [1, 2, 3]
  • Bumbai (or Bumbye): Translates to "by and by" or "later on." It is frequently used as a mild warning (e.g., "Don't do that, bumbye you get in trouble") . [1]

    • I was born in September of 1940, and my mother, holding me in her arms, told me that she pointed to the smoke in the far background coming from Pearl Harbor in 7December1941. 

    •  The Japanese population of Hawaii then was 158,000, as much as 40% (it was 43% in 1920 and only 12% today, although the part-Japanese percentage is 22%) of the territory.  
    • Those of Japanese ethnicity living along the Pacific Coast, numbering 158,000, were sent to 10 internment camps.  Less than 1% of Japanese in Hawaii were sent there, perhaps up to 1500.
    • There was thus this mistrust of Japanese, and about 5000 Nisei (those Japanese born in the U.S.) already in the Army were reclassified as enemy aliens.
    • But those Ñisei were U.S. citizens.
    • Because virtually every Japanese in the continental U.S. were in internment camps, the attitude of service eligible men was far different from those Japanese young men in Hawaii.
    • Finally, on 12June1942, the 100th Infantry Battalion (later named the Purple Heart Battalion) was activated, composed of about 1400 Nisei already serving in the Hawaii National Guard's 298th and 299th Infantry Regiments.  They were sent to the mainland for training.
    • On 1February1943, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (later called the Go For Broke Unit), was created of 4000 Nisei volunteers, mostly from Hawaii.
    • The 100th Battalion was first sent to Europe in 1943, then later the 442nd, after completing training in Camp Shelby, Mississippi, was sent to Italy in June 1944.  The two units were combined later that year.
    • They successfully liberated French cities from Nazi occupation, then drove German forces out of northern Italy.
    • In late October of 1944, 275 members of what became known as the Texas Lost Battalion got trapped and surrounded by 6000 German troops.
    • The 442nd had just liberated Bruyeres and Biffontaine, but was asked to rescue the Texans.
    • In five days of fighting, the 442nd rescued 211 trapped soldiers of the Lost Battalion, but suffered 800 casualties.
    • Totalling 18,000 men, the 442nd won 4,000 Purple Hearts, 4,000 Bronze Stars, 560 Silver Stars. 21 Medals of Honor and seven Presidential Unit Citations.
    • The 442nd and 100th became the Army's most decorated units. Governor of Texas John Connally made these veterans honorary Texans.
    • From the National WWII Museum:  Against the odds, the men of the 100th “go for broke.” Despite the years of suspicion and racism that prevailed at home, these Nisei men fought for their country and their ideals of freedom and democracy. They fought heroically, leaving behind a record that is still untouched today.

    All the above serves as background to my posting today, emphasizing the point that growing up Hawaii introduces you to a variety of communication techniques highly dependent on your ethnicity.  My roots go back to Japan, so Japanese terms are liberally laced into daily conversation.  For example, the term, shikata ga nai, or sometimes abbreviated to shoganai, means it can't be helped or there's nothing that can be done or it is what it is.


    So yesterday, there was a showing of the film, Shikata Ga Nai, at 15 Craigside.


    The 2024 film was written and directed by Eric Nemoto.
    Byrnes Yamashita talking to David of 15 Craigside.
    Joy with actor Alan Okubo.

    Excerpts from Better Hawaii:

    Inspired by the true life tendencies of many 442 veterans who have never told their families of their war experiences, “Shikata Ga Nai” tells of the battles that these now declining heroes have faced on their own without no one else knowing.


    The film is set in 1999 Honolulu. Tatsuo is a World War II veteran who served in the 442 Regimental Combat Team. He lives with his daughter Lynn, a single mother, and teenage grandson Ryan, and spends time with his army friend Seichi. His life seems peaceful, but he relives the war every day – and he doesn’t want to share his war experiences with his family.


    You can listen to an interview with Eric Nemoto and Allan Okuboon Lance Motogawa’s radio show, the Motogawa Music Entertainment Show,


    I should add that there was a short documentary, released in 2019, also titled Shikata Ga Nai;  An Inconvenient American.  Here is a video explaining the meaning of Shikata Ga Nai.


    What is the format of the World Cup knockouts?

    The top two teams in each of the 12 groups, along with the eight best third-place finishers, advance to the knockouts.

    The knockout phase begins with the round of 32, introduced at the World Cup following the tournament’s expansion from 32 to 48 teams. One loss and you're out!

    Then comes the round of 16, followed by the quarterfinals, semifinals and a playoff for third place. The final is on July 19.

    The stage-wise breakdown of the tournament’s knockout schedule is:

    Round of 32: June 28 to July 3

    Round of 16: July 4–7

    Quarterfinals: July 9–11

    Semifinals: July 14–15

    Bronze medal match: July 18

    Final: July 19

    About yesterday:

    The round of 32 is now set.

    • The first match today:  Canada 1 vs South Africa 0.
    • Tomorrow:
    Brazil vs Japan, 1PM on Fox
    Germany vs Paraguay, 4:30PM on Fox
    Netherlands vs Morocco, 10PM on Fox
    • Team USA plays Bosnia/Herzegovina in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 1, at 8PM EDT.
    • If USA wins, then  they play the winner of Belgium vs Senegal in Seattle on Monday, July 6, 8PM EDT.

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