WHAT IS 15 CRAIGSIDE?

Jailed Iran women's rights activist, Narges Mohammadi, 51, was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize.  She has been arrested 13 times, convicted 5 times and sentenced to 31 years of jail, with 154 lashes.  In addition to her other crusades, she has campaigned for the abolition of the death penalty.  Iran is the nation with the highest known number of executions last year, at 576.

Noticed the high number of strikes this year?  Bet you didn't know that there have been 312 in the USA this year, with at least 453,000 workers involved.  Mostly in transportation, entertainment and hospitality.

• You would think the United Auto Workers against the car companies would have the most on strike, but there are at this point, only 25,000 walking the picket lines.  There are 400,000 UAW members.
• 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers are on strike.
• The Hollywood strike is partly settled, but not entirely.
• Also in Los Angeles, in case you were planning to visit, are staggered hotel strikes.
• Note, however, that our country has not recently been bothered much by them.

Notice that Republicans are only considering white dudes for Speaker?

• The nation is 59% white.
• Congress is 74% white.
• Republicans in Congress are 89% white.

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  Note also that 84% of Republicans in Congress are men, with 56%  of Democrats.
• Past Democratic speaker was a female, for a long time:  Nancy Pelosi.
• Hakeem Jeffries is the first black lawmaker to lead any party in Congress.

I now and then mention 15 Craigside, a retirement residence where I live.  It is known as a "moderate" income Life Plan Community, built off Nuuanu Avenue on a site previously the home of Iolani School.  The land is owned by the Hawaii Conference of the United Church of Christ.

• Planning began in 2006, with the opening in March of 2011.

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  There are 170 apartments and a 41-bed licensed nursing facility on the second floor.
• We are the younger sister of Arcadia, which was founded by the Central Union Church in 1967, and has 250 homes with 91 nursing-care beds.
• Arcadia Community Services operates both sites, plus has related programs and is now linked to One Kalakaua.
• Want more info?  Click on this.

There are three basic retirement home options in Hawaii.

• For Kahala Nui, you need to purchase an apartment for a million dollars and more, plus pay a monthly fee now approaching $6,000/month.  After you expire, the family will be reimbursed around 80% of what was invested.
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  Arcadia and 15 Craigside require a move-in cost of $400,000 or so, and a monthly fee of $6,000, which would include all utilities and fees, such as parking and WiFi.  They promise to take care of you for life even if you run out of money.  However, they won't admit you if you don't show good promise for avoiding that ending.

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  Most of the other retirement facilities, ranging from the Plaza to small homes, usually have no entrance fee, with a monthly charge of about $6,000/month.  However, if you get too unwell, you must move out into the final option, like a hospice, or advanced care site, which could cost more than $12,000/month.

I regularly report on life at 15 Craigside, which I jokingly refer to as Purgatory.  So here are the activities we had the past week or so.  Our van took us to the Halawa Station, so we could experience the thrill of Skyline:

Some artworks.

The Skyline system is less than half completed.  It goes from nowhere to nowhere, so ridership is low.

Nice gate to prevent you from falling before an incoming train.

This is a roll-on system, as opposed to in Europe, where you many times need to carry your suitcase up a couple of steps.  I got the front seat.

Looking back from where I sit.  The ride is hardly smooth.  In fact, it wobbles, so is dangerous if you're not holding on to something or sitting.

You can see Diamond Head at a distance.

I have an annual bus pass, which works on Skyline.  I can catch it a million times and still pay only $45/year.

Groups come to entertain us.  Here is The Legacy.

We have a monthly Aloha Hour, where new residents are welcomed, birthday dates for the month announced and a program with appropriate drinks.  This month it was baseball, especially the Brooklyn Dodgers, led by Gene, who once ran Columbia Inn.

Gene's father, Tosh, who opened the restaurant, which served for 60 years.

Gene got UH retired professor Joseph Stanton to give a talk.  He wore a Cardinals hat.

Of course, hot dog and beer were served.

With peanuts,Cracker Jack, etc.

We had an Octoberfest lunch.

Reggie and friend.  We had a German band to provide background.

Dining room.

Buffet.

Beer and root beer.

Craig, our new dining room staff member.

My lunch.

Apple strudel and ice cream.

The meal was okay.  The mood was grand.  The event was outstanding.

We have regular Sing Alongs, and a variety of snack offerings.  This Humble Pie was not of animal innards.  Could not determine what it really was, but it was some kind of fruit, and, actually, not bad at all.

Just another typical meal in my apartment.

Typhoon Koinu pummeled Taiwan yesterday.  Strength dropped to 80 MPH.  Then today, strengthened to 115 MPH, but is now definitely not projected to approach Hong Kong.  Instead, the typhoon will make a turn towards Hainan, and will make landfall early next week as a tropical storm.

Otherwise, there is Tropical Storm Lidia off the Mexican coast, to become a hurricane this weekend, but will weaken and make landfall between Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta around midweek next week.

To close, I wish Al Martino happy birthday.  He would have turned 96 tomorrow, but passed away in 2009.  I sing his Spanish Eyes at karaoke sessions, something I've not done for quite a while because of the Pandemic, and maybe never will again.    He got wounded on Iwo Jima in World War II.  Played Johnny Fontane in The Godfather (Rotten Tomatoes 97/98).  Surely you remember his singing the movie theme song, Sweet Softly Love.  That photo of him was taken 71 years ago.

I talked about Marilyn Monroe yesterday.  Martino was somewhat linked to her.

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COVID, MALARIA, NOBEL PRIZE, DONALD TRUMP AND MARILYN MONROE

 This is Nobel Prize week, and they are into day 4:

• Physics:  Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Kraausz and Anne L'Huillier for developing a tool for observing electrons within an atom.
• Chemistry:  Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov, who looked a little larger...quantum dot nanoparticles.
• Literature:  Jon Fosse, for his innovative plays and prose, giving voice to the unsayable.

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  Physiology/Medicine:  Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman did the fundamental mRNA research to develop the Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccines.
• Note their wearing masks.  15 Craigside now has an outbreak, so even though the pandemic is over, there is still danger today.

• 
  Working together at the University of Pennsylvania in the early 2000s, they showed it was possible to dampen the body's inflammatory responses to labmade mRNAs by making specific chemical changes to the component bases of the molecules.

• 
  Said Anthony Fauci, this is a wonderful choice of Nobel Prize, who had Weissman as a fellow in his lab.

• 
  Kariko never was granted any major National Institutes of Health research grant in her career, that says something about being a female and foreigner.  She is just the 13th woman to get a Novel in  this field in the 120-year history of this award.
• One other plus of these mRNA vaccines is that they are faster to manufacture than traditional vaccines.
• Various companies are now following this pathway to also treat diseases.

There are now around a hundred covid deaths/day in the world.  In February of 2021 there were 2000 deaths/day.  Today, there is an average of 1718 MALARIA deaths/day, a drop from the 2400 deaths/day in 2000.

The mortality rate of malaria is 2%.  The mortality rate of covid is 1%, but with vaccinations today, seems to be approaching the mortality rate of the seasonal flu, which is 0.1%.

Other comparisons:

• There are around 250 million malaria cases/year.  So far, there have been around 700 million covid cases, or about 200 million covid cases/year.
• 96% of all malaria deaths occur in Africa.
• Finally, vaccines are beginning to work for malaria.

Covid vaccine?

• Just 36% of registered Republican voters who got a Covid vaccine say it was worth it, while 90% of Democrats and 67% of independents say it was, according to new NBC News polling. 
• Who got vaccinated?
• 94% of Democrats
• 75% of Independents
• 60% of Republicans

The biggest winner so far from the House of Representatives debacle?  Sure, the Democrats are more and more envisioning a landslide on 5 November 2024.  But the person who gained the most is Vladimir Putin.  The lack of Ukraine funding only means that he will double down on trying to get Donald Trump re-elected.  And what if they both are victorious?

Here is another scary thought.  Did you know that the position of Speaker can be held by an outsider?  Like, for example, Donald Trump.  He said, a lot of people have been calling me about speaker.  Where was he quoted to say this?  Outside of the New York City courthouse on Wednesday facing the $250 million civil fraud trial.  As you must know, the Speaker of the House is second in the presidential line of succession after the vice president.

There was no grand prize winner of the Powerball drawing last night.  Thus, the pot increases to $1.4 billion on Saturday.

No confirmed reports yet of whether Taylor Swift will attend the Kansas City NFL game at Minnesota this weekend.  However, Travis Kelce thinks that the league is over-hyping this relationship.

Marilyn Monroe was born a little more than 97 years ago.  She died at the age of 36 in 1962.  Here is one view of how she might have looked today.  What a life.    Just mentioned her two days ago in my posting of Tuesday, where she was the original inspiration for Candle in the Wind.  Her most popular song, probably Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend, although I personal prefer I Wanna Be Loved By You.

Typhoon Koinu (which means puppy in Japanese) killed one person and had the highest wind speeds ever recorded over Taiwan:  213 MPH gust, while sustained winds were at 123.5 MPH.  Hard to believe this because there seems to be so many more, but Koinu was only the SECOND typhoon to make landfall over Taiwan in FOUR years.

Typhoon Koinu has weakened to 80 MPH and should miss Hong Kong, but head for Hainan as a tropical storm.

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MORE ENERGY MATTERS

Sometimes our political system can quickly act.  Diane Feinstein's funeral is still to come, and Laphonza Butler was yesterday sworn in as the newest member of the U.S. Senate.  Now, if New Jersey can act decisively, there can be another new senator.

Then there is that other side of Congress, where the Republicans are in turmoil.  In this transition, Rep. Patrick McHenry is their transition leader, but that is only to lead their party to a new speaker.  You would think that the current #2 Rep. Steve Scalise would be the logical candidate, but people like Rep. Jim Jordan are among a bunch positioning themselves for this role.  Perhaps next week the House might vote on the next speaker.

 

If you think Republicans are in trouble, across the Atlantic, Britain's Conservatives are also headed for doom.  They have their fifth leader in six years with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.  Well, he has lost control, and all polls project that their 14 years of control will be terminated by the Labor Party next year.

From Energy Matters of the American Energy Society.  Members can get Winds of Change.  Costs $129 to join.  Report can be purchased for $189.

Why Winds of Change?

Total global OSW capacity is 59,009 MW from 292 operating projects and about 11,900 operating wind turbines. However, the United States has not (yet) adopted this powerful clean energy source at any meaningful scale. Most of the sector's activity is focused on the eastern seaboard. Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island is the only region in the US that has a fully operational offshore wind system (five 6-megawatt turbines just south of the island’s Mohegan Bluffs), while the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project is in its demonstration phase and won't be fully operational until 2026.

But there are signs that the sector is poised to grow, especially along the US West Coast. 

Further:

- The lithium deposit at Thacker Pass on the Oregon/Nevada border might be the largest in the world. AES Members have access to the peer-reviewed research.   - Solar panels in North Africa generate about three times more energy than in Europe, all else being equal including the solar panels.   - On the one hand, climate tech startups in Southeast Asia raised more than US $1 billion, an 80% increase compared to 2021. On the other hand, this total is less than 3% of global climate funding.

- Congress is considering the Carbon Dioxide Removal Research and Development Act, which will provide $12B to support RD&D for carbon removal technologies. The program would compliment other federal efforts to support this emerging sector, such as the Carbon Negative Shot.   

- Desalination facilities in Saudi Arabia consume 1.5 million barrels of oil per day. 

- More than half of all US groundwater sites are depleted; related, lawn grass is the largest irrigated crop in the US.

- A severe drought in Panama has forced the Canal to reduce transits to 32 ships per day.

- Keep an eye on galvorn; it is a material that might be stronger than steel, lighter than aluminum, and has the conductivity of copper. 

- Morocco exports solar-generated electricity to Spain via two transmission lines; meanwhile, Morocco has agreed to the Xlinks (Abu Dhabi) megaproject with the EU, which will transmit 10,500 megawatts of electricity generated by energy farms in the Moroccan desert through 2,300 miles of high-voltage submarine transmission cables to utilities in Portugal, Spain, France, and SW England.

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Typhoon Koinu attained a strength of 130 MPH and just slammed into southern Taiwan.  Sustained winds are now down to 96 MPH.

There should be a weakening as Koinu heads towards Hong Kong.

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