Honolulu’s official bird gets a little help from its human friends.
Birds knocked off their perches and nests by the storm were then being helped by humans to return.
Manu-o-Kū is Honolulu's official bird.
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I had lunch recently at CoolFont, the hotel where my son works.
Now here again is our dog outside as leaves start changing color now.
More fall foliage colors are starting to emerge.
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Pike had killed a female classmate more than 30 years ago, when she was only 18. Pike had recently said she feared a botched execution. Currently hospitalized after her actual botched execution, might she still survive, then be given a reprieve? Will the hospital now even try to save her?
If she survives, her sentence should be commuted to life in prison. No one should face the death penalty more than once, if ever.
I've never been a supporter of abortion, euthanasia, or the death penalty, as was mentioned before. I think everyone already in this life needs to go right on living whatever they have done and to have an opportunity to make amends. And if someone's life seems intolerable, it can always be made better. If giving birth upsets a woman's life, she can always adapt, either by raising the baby herself or by giving up the child for adoption, as so many eager families are waiting for a child. Her unborn child should not have to sacrifice his or her life because merely existing proves inconvenient for someone else. Nor does being unmarried or unpartnered as a parent carry a stigma anymore. One-third of American children now are being raised by a single parent. Starting out in the womb is how we all inevitably got our start, just as nature intended. And most pregnancies are accidental. seeming to come as a surprise,
Whatever crime someone has committed--murder in the case of Christa Pike, a murder she committed years ago at age 18 --that person still has a chance to do better to help compensate for what she has done. Killing her now may provide some closure for her victim's family--an eye for an eye--but does not bring back the person that they've lost. Let Christa, if she survives this execution effort, now make amends for what she has done, even if she remains imprisoned for life.
Opposing abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty, known as the consistent life ethic, is a moral framework that views all human life as sacred and valuable from beginning to end. It is also known as the "
seamless garment" ethic, which I fully support.
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Back now to our late Founding Father and President Thomas Jefferson, also the father of many children, 6 with his wife and 6 with a servant or slave who may also have been related to him, although not all his children lived to adulthood. Deaths in childhood were common in the era before the development of vaccines and effective medical treatment.
Thomas Jefferson's descendants comprise two main family lines—his white lineage through his wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, and his black lineage through his slave, Sally Hemings.
Jefferson's African American descendants—via his relationship with the enslaved woman Sally Hemings— now advocate for historical recognition, family reconciliation, and inclusion.
Jefferson had a total of 6 children with his wife and also 6 children with his slave, but in each case, only 2 survived to adulthood to pass on the lineage. A connection to Jefferson has been definitively linked to the descendants of slave Sally Hemings through breakthrough DNA sequencing from a lock of hair. A landmark 15-year scientific investigation led by Smithsonian scholar Richard Kurin utilized advanced genomic sequencing on rootless hair strands clipped from Jefferson’s head on his deathbed on July 4, 1826. This investigation proves that Jefferson has left descendants from his relationships both with his wife and with his slave.
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Vaccines for measles and other common childhood illnesses are at least 97% effective for life and in those few cases where a vaccinated individual still becomes ill, their illness usually is mild.
Even chickenpox, not considered a very serious illness, can sometimes have lasting effects. I have seen folks using wheelchairs in Honduras after becoming partially paralyzed with chickenpox. Of course when I was young, smallpox was the only available vaccine, so my siblings and I suffered quarantine with several common childhood illness--measles, mumps, rubella, and whooping cough are some that I remember-- and we all survived to adulthood.
No vaccines now for RFK Jr. and his family, as he is a long-time vaccine sceptic responsible for many recent childhood hospitalizations and even deaths. But apparently his own 6 children have survived without any vaccinatins, though their mothers may have had them vaccinated anyway, despite RFK Jr.'s disapproval
Donald Trump still fully supports RFK Jr. and so do some of the ladies.
The recent measles deaths have been completely unnecessary and were easily preventable, occurring in unvaccinated children who never got to live their full lives. RFK Jr. and Donald J. Trump are directly responsible for these premature deaths as vaccinations would have prevented them nearly 100%, with any rare break-through cases in vaccinated kids likely to be mild.
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Now onto South Africa,
where wild spotted leopards have been found for the first time in 170 years.
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Hungary (seen below) is one of 40 countries that I have visited on human rights missions throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, all with beautiful historic cities that I was not always expecting to find there.
At age 88 and now with my passport having expired, I'm finding plenty to do right here in West Virginia, so am not so sure about ever going back to countries I have already visited before. Photos and memories seem good enough for me now. I've also written 2 memoirs (titles above) about some of my experiences.
This is a Caramel Apple Parfait, available from Goodness, my older daughter's food service in Florida, (727) 212-4003. 
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