PYTHONS, APPLE, DOW AND VALENTINE'S

1.  Earlier this month my posting reported on The Great Florida Python Hunt.  I have friends in that state keeping me up to date on developments.  Thus far, 1000 or so hunters have caught 27 pythons.  Click to see a clip.  Let's see now, this means Florida now has only 149,971 Burmese Pythons to catch.  According to National Geographic, this is a cheap stunt.  Here is a photo of one of them captured.  Well there are three weeks left.

2.  I just bought a new iMac, and it is wonderful, compared to my old iMac.  Apple, though, seems to be in trouble.  It dropped 64 today to 451, but was up to 702 only four months ago.   I might add that Apple lost its most valuable company position to Exxon.  Only iTV will save Apple, and the concept will happen, soon.  But will it be Apple?  Samsung??  The Dow Jones (below), though, is doing very well, up 46 today to 13,825.  While the all-time high price was 14,198 on 11October2007, the low on 9March2009 was 6507.

When will the Dow break into the 14,000s again?  Soon.  I also worry that 2013 will not be a good year, and a drop to 12,500 would not surprise me before the year is over.

3.  VALENTINE's hint.  From Open Table's 5 million reviews, while Hawaii has less than one half of one percent the population of the U.S. with no Michelin 3 Star nor Pellegrino Best 100 World Restaurants, we do have 10% of the Most Romantic Restaurants in the USA.  Only California has more.  Alphabetically:

Brown's Beach House (Contemporary American, Fairmont Orchid, Big Island)

Capische? (Italian, Hotel Wailea, Maui)

Ferraro's Bar e Ristorante (Italian, Four Seasons, Maui)

Kamuela Provision Co. (Steak, Hilton Waikoloa, Big Island)

La Mer (French, Halekulani Hotel,  Oahu)

Michel's (Contemporary French, Colony Surf, Oahu)

Sarento's (Italian, Ilikai, Oahu)


Son'z Maui (Seafood, Hyatt Regency, Maui)

Tidepools (Seafood, Grand Hyatt, Kauai)

Ulu Ocean Grill and Sushi Lounge (Seafood, Four Seasons Hualalai, Big Island)

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Interesting that every restaurant is located in a hotel.  I thought I was familiar with only three of them, but as I thought further, I'm pretty sure I've probably been to six.

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Tropical Cyclone Garry is now at 85 MPH and should pass just south and east of the Cook Islands:

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STORAGE OF WIND ENERGY AT SEA

Renewable Energy World had an interesting article today reporting on a Belgian project to store wind energy at sea.  The country will totally abandon nuclear power by 2025, and this is one of their projects to become more independent.

Hawaii has two reasons to show interest with this program.  First, our best wind regimes are at sea between our islands.  Second, the concept, perhaps, can also be applied to other pathways, such as ocean thermal energy conversion.  In the design of floating platforms, it might be of advantage to include this option.

Essentially, the storage involves a pumped-hydro system to store excess wind energy generated during off-peak hours.  The island will be almost two miles in diameter located perhaps three miles offshore.  This will not be a floating structure.  Pacific atolls might be ideal for this purpose.

Also in this issue of REW is a clip on their solar energy outlook for 2013.  Finally, they reported:

Obama Gives "Sustainable Energy" Top Billing in Inaugural Address

While perhaps a slight exaggeration, the President did give the development of sustainable energy equal billing with his half dozen priorities, including global warming.  He linked these two subjects to provide a future solution.  This article actually was included with permission from Power Engineering.

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THE THREE TOP FILMS OF THE WEEK

I saw three films this weekend.  To my pleasant surprise, they ended up:

   #1  Mama (63%/69%)
   #2  Zero Dark Thirty (93%/85%)
   #3  Silver Linings Playbook (91%/91%)

If I had to rate the three, I would use those Rotten Tomatoes reviewer percentages (first one).  The second number is the RT audience liking.

Mama is a ghost story.  I hate ghost stories.  I believe that ghosts exist in the minds of some, and they're sincere about it.  However, the probability of two people seeing the same ghost can only be explained by some natural phenomenon, and Mama had none, being pure movie fantasy.  Yes, there are artificial and opportunistic scare scenes that work. But how this film became #1 only shows that people can be influenced by these kinds of supernatural nonsense.  

Javier Botet is a Spanish male actor.  He portrays Mama.  He, and therefore, the girls, who lived together for five years, walk like a spider, but Mama also flies.  Mama is most effective when a wisp in the background.  When real, she/he is finally shown, the scare factor dissipates, and the whole thing becomes almost ludicrous.  I'll do you a big favor.  Here is Mama:

I yeah, I should add that Jessica Chastain was stunning.  I saw Zero Dark Thirty (ZD30) first and she loooked like any government employee under stress (left).  Below in Mama, you would not have recognized her if you did not know she was in this movie.

She is 33, but her film debut was only five years ago.  She won a best supporting nomination for The Help last year and is up for best actress this year from ZD30.  She just won  the Golden Globe Award as best actress for this movie.

Zero Dark Thirty is almost 2.5 hours long and at times tiresome, but nevertheless mostly gripping and similar in intensity to The Hurt Locker, the 2008 Academy Award film, also directed by Kathryn Bigelow.  Lincoln will win the Academy Award this year, but ZD30 is right up there as the best.

First of all, you might need a beginner's guide to this film.  Zero Dark Thirty is never mentioned.  This term is militarese for pitch dark.  KSM is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (below left), the possible mastermind of the 9/11 plot, who was captured in 2003 and sent to Guantanamo Bay.  It is said he was waterboarded 183 times.  He is still alive and has yet to be sentenced.  Oh, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini, right) plays who is probably Leon Panetta, who at that time ran the CIA.  Area 51 in Nevada is real.  The U-2, stealth fighters and special helicopters are secretly developed here.

Trifecta came with Silver Linings Playbook, a packed film featuring a basketful of top actors.  With eight Oscar nominations, surely, there should be a statue or two just by the odds.  

I quote:

Every single one of us is at least a little fucked up mentally.

In this film, Bradley Cooper is certifiably nuts, Jennifer Lawrence is at the edge, and Robert De Niro is a normal American NFL crazy who believes in good and bad juju.   Yes, this is a comedy and dance film about mental illness.  But, ah, it has a Hollywood feel good ending.

I had my usual Magic Island lunch, this version including corned beef, cabbage, shoyu pork and Kirin beer, with Diamond Head in the background:

Then  ended the day with a sunset:

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THE 2013 PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION

Barack Hussein Obama was born on 4August1961 in Honolulu.  Both his father and step-father were Muslims, but not particularly religious.  His mother was Christian, but more secular.  However, Obama's books indicated both were, actually, atheists.  According to Daniel Pipes, a credible Jewish Conservative (interesting combination, who got a PhD from Harvard in Islamic History), Barack was a Muslim in his youth (when he lived in Indonesia), and, of all the things, said that Obama claimed in 1991 that he was born in Kenya (see left).  However, again, here is Barack Hussein Obama's birth certificate:

Part of the confusion about this birthing issue is that the President's father was also Barack Hussein Obama, who, of course, was born in Kenya.  See details above.

I have some parallels with the President, for we were both born in Honolulu and we made it to our Nation's Capital. I was working for the U.S. Senate when Ronald Reagan became president.  I went to his inauguration in 1981 and was invited to sit in the House gallery when President Reagan gave his first State of the Union speech in 1982.  What a privilege because there are not that many seats available.  While I vividly remember this experience, my mind is a blank for the inauguration.  In fact, I don't remember viewing in any kind of entirety any inauguration.  I just happened to wake up at 5AM this morning and had nothing better to do.  The first scene was of the setting:

Ever wonder what's on top of the U.S. Capitol?  The Statue of Freedom, designed by Thomas Crawford, who was American, but moved to Rome at the age of 21, and who died in 1857 before the statue was cast.  The bronze statue is 19 feet six inches tall.  A plaster version is now in the Capitol's Emancipation Hall.


The view of the Mall in the other direction to the Washington Monument:

I've also been here for several Concerts on the Mall, and my overriding thought seeing so many people (a bit more than half a million here) is, good luck on finding a restroom.

No sign of George W. Bush, #43.  George H.W. Bush is still ill, but sent kind words.  Presidents Carter and Clinton were there.

First came the oath of office for Vice President Joe Biden, administered by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor:

James Taylor then sang "America the Beautiful"(click to view):

Then, Barack Hussein Obama's oath of office, with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts:

Then President Obama gave his Inaugural Address:

Kelly Clarkson (first American Idol winner...can you believe they're into their 12th season) sang "My Country Tis of Thee."  You need to really concentrate to see her:

Richard Blanco read a poem:

I wondered why he was selected.  First, he must be a noted poet.  He is of Spanish descent.  Maybe most of all, he kind of has the same prominent features of the President.  It then occurred to me that things were going backwards, as the next official action was the Benediction by the Rev. Luis Leon, and, finally, the National Anthem by Beyonce:

The dignitaries then retired to a ceremonial lunch in the Capitol.  Energized, the Inaugural Parade went down Pennsylvania Avenue, the President joined by nearly 9,000 marchers and 200 animals representing 58 groups.  For security reasons, Barack and Michelle walked only short distances a couple of times.  The Hawaii State Float was a tribute to the late Senator Dan Inouye.  Too late now, but you could't watch if you had any backpack, bicycle, balloon, glass container, and weapons of any kind.  You were allowed a cardboard sign no greater than three feet wide and 20 inches high.  

Tada....Michelle wore Jason Wu, again:

They were entertained by Stevie Wonder:

Alicia Keys:

Plus, Jennifer Hudson, Katy Perry, Smokey Robinson and a lot more.

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Tropical Cyclone Garry popped up north of the Samoas at 40 MPH, but will become a real cyclone in a few days and at this point now seems headed between the Cook Islands and French Polynesia:

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MICHELLE: FASHION ICON

First Ladies are dressed by designers.  Above, their inaugural gowns.  Michelle Obama has become the fashion trendsetter for the Nation, and, possibly World.  It is reported that a designer will make $14 million if she picks an important dress for a special function and Michelle has generated $3 billion for her various designers.  Oh, they all donate these items in hopes of becoming richer.

For the 2009 inaugural balls, Michelle wore a white chiffon one-shoulder dress created by Jason Wu, who was then a nobody 26-year old born in Taiwan, not be be confused with Malaysian Chinese Jimmy Choo, who does Michelle's shoes.   Fox News reported that she wore $594 sneakers to feed the poor, but not Jimmy's.  Today, Jason is in the top tier of designers.  Who is this Wu?  Well, his family moved to Vancouver when he was nine.  In his mid-teens he studied sculpture in Tokyo, and by the age of 16 was designing doll clothes for Integrity Toys.  By his senior year of high school he studied in Rennes, then on to The Loomis Chaffee School, Parsons The New School of Design and as an intern for Narciso Rodriguez.  Surely, these must mean something to someone reading this.  By 24 he was designing for Ivana Trump and RuPaul (drag queen).  His cheap line debuted in Target a year ago with accessories selling for under $60.  Michelle's Vogue cover?  A Wu:

Michelle wore Wu's chartreuse in London to meet with  Queen Elizabeth II:

Leading to Wu's chartreuse line priced just under $2,000 each:

What happens to these gowns?  They go to the Smithsonian.  It is said that Helen Taft in 1909 started this tradition:

There are now around 1000 objects of wear exhibited there.  Something for you to visit when next in D.C.

So what will Michelle wear tomorrow?  It's a state secret.  One prediction is nothing new.  Christina Binkley says Naeem Kahn (he designed this one for Michelle).  Mamie Eisenhower wore 2,000 rhinestones, while Pat Nixon was adorned with Austrian crystals, and Michelle at the top glistened with Swarovski crystals.  Watch the video from the Wall Street Journal Live.

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