HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEARL AND DAVE

From Worldometer,  COVID-19 new deaths:

           DAY USA   WORLD   Brazil   India   South Africa

June      9     1093    4732         1185      246         82

           10       982    5163         1300      388         48
           11       904    4951         1261      394         74
           12       791    4603           843      389         70
           13       702    4229           890      309         69
           14       331    3263           598      321         57
           15       425    3415           729      395         88
           16       849    6592         1338        ?           57
           17       809    5264         1209      341         49
           18       747    5123         1204      342         63
           19       719    5066         1221      366         94
           20       573    4428           968      307         46
           21       267    3338           601      426         53
           22       363    3880           748      312         61
           23       863    5465         1364      468        111
           24       808    6071         1103      424        103
           25       649    5179         1180      401          87
           26       663    4893         1055      381         48
           27       512    4547           994      414         73
           28       285    3463           555      384         43
           29       346    3415           727      417         73
           30       764    5072         1271      506       128
July       1       676    4857        1057      438         92
             2       687    5155         1277      377         95
             3       616    5170         1264      444       108
             4       254    4494         1111       610         74
             5       251    3572          535       421       173
             6       378    3573          656       474       111
             7       993    5504        1312       479       192
             8       890    5507        1187       491       100
             9       960    5411        1199       479       118
           10       849    5416        1270       521       140

Summary:

• Brazil has had more new deaths than the USA for just about a full month now.
• But yesterday the U.S. had 71,787 new cases, another record.  While we have done a better job taking care of COVID-19 cases and many of the new ones are younger, you can expect the USA to overcome the lead of Brazil in a few days.

I was planning next week to feature female leaders and explain why their countries have done better than those with male presidents.  But Shelly Zalis beat me to it.  She is CEO of The Female Quotient.

Featured were Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand, Angela Merkel (left) of Germany, Tsai Ing-wen  (middle) from Taiwan, Silveria Jacobs (right) of  Sint Maarten and Mette Frederiksen of Denmark

Three words underscore their effectiveness with COVID-19:  COMPASSION, HUMILITY and COLLABORATION.  This also explains why the USA is in last place, with Brazil the next most terrible.  Just imagine how many deaths we would have had if Hillary....uh, life wends in strange ways.

I yesterday received an e-mail from David Block noting that my wife's birthday was tomorrow (which is today), for Dave's was yesterday.  So happy birthday to you, too, Dave.  He and his wife Sharon have shared experiences around the world with Pearl and me.  Perhaps there will yet be one more.

It was about a third of a century ago that they joined me and my staff on our adventure through the Soviet Union and Europe.  A few years later Dave and I, with Jim Fleming, who was then dean of engineering at the University of Kentucky, were asked by the Japanese government to review their hydrogen research programs, meaning they paid for everything.  We visited a number of centers and universities throughout the country, with our wives.  Seven years ago Sharon, Dave and I toured San Francisco, on our way to join Kenji's Golf Safari.  He was the only alien in midst of the Hawaii group, and we did this annually for several years.

David is the all-time leader of a solar energy research center in the world.  He ran the Florida Solar Energy Center for at least a quarter century.  I led the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute for 15 years, and the person who replaced me, Rick Rocheleau, is now into his 21st year heading HNEI.  He is why I still have an office on the Manoa Campus, and if he comes through with two more years for me to find funding for the Blue Revolution, that would mean half a century at the University of Hawaii.

The Florida Solar Energy Center has become a world leader in solar photovoltaics applications.  They represent the east coast into the Caribbean like HNEI links to the Pacific and west coast.

I remember visiting his facilities when Central Florida University (at one time it was called Florida Technological University), through which FSEC operates, had 2,000 students.  The University of Hawaii at Manoa then had 20,000 students.  Today, UHM, still 20,000, and CFU...66,000.

Who knows this kind of info, but #1 is Liberty University with 75,044, #2 Cal State Fullerton 70,681, Texas A&M College Station 67,580 and #4 CFU.  Something is not right here, for Liberty, a private evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, only has 15,000 students on campus, plus an online group of 94,000.  Another source, however, indicates that Liberty has the most online students, but only 37,570.  Arizona State University is #2 with 36,464.  So delete Liberty as #1.

But to conclude, FSEC and HNEI have worked together in a variety of areas.  One of Dave's staff, Louis Rotundo, helped us save the national OTEC program.  You can read about that here.  But it was in hydrogen that we excelled together.

Dave and I co-authored a report outlining hydrogen research priorities, and sent it to Congress and the Department of Energy.  We asked for a meeting, and the USDOE, as we expected, was something close to irate.  They flew in experts from Brookhaven, etc.  The first few minutes were pure vitriol, they telling us what was terrible about the report.  And one of us said, oh, you misunderstand.  We are not here to eat-in to your budget, we want to help you increase funding for hydrogen.  That led to the group working out a strategy on how to accomplish this.  Sometime in the George Bush the younger presidency there was a year when the hydrogen budget exceeded solar technology funding.

Like I now and then show up in my Manoa Campus office, Dave continues to do things for FSEC.  I'm trying to interest them in joining me for the ultimate world journey:  around the world, beginning late next year, with a stop at the Dubai World Expo (it has been delayed a year and now starts in October of 2021).  Maybe the Rotundos might also find interest, and others from Florida.  I might remind them that when you go around the world, always move west.  I am a world authority on this subject.  So they can come through Hawaii on our way to Dubai.

I should mention that you can return tomorrow to salivate over my planned dinner tonight to celebrate Pearl's birthday:  New York steak with foie gras and sashimi, plus an expensive bottle of red wine.  There is something more substantive about American beef, ideally matched with foie gras and sashimi, and lubricated with a heavy-bodied libation.

Well, my run through history ended with 1940.  There was a time when I hated cowboy music.  Then, I watched Ken Burns' County Music.  Turned me around.  Here is a country tribute to our country.  Press the full-screen icon on the lower right, and increase your sound volume:

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