Shutdown Diary
The latest stats from WaPo:
On vaccines via CDC:
About 124K cases per day, which we haven't seen roughly from late September/early October. But judging from my Friday news alerts, there were some troubling signs: New York recorded a pandemic-high daily case count; a DC area county just announced a multi-week break from in-person public schooling; and omicron is rapidly gaining market share, up from a handful of cases a few weeks back to almost 3%. That number may sound low but keep in mind the Delta variant had previously had over a 99% share.
I went to a McDonald's during my recent local move. (Familiar readers know I rarely eat out; part of this is my lower carb lifestyle plus I prefer grass-fed/finished beef, generally not found in restaurants. But really it's just a lot faster and cheaper to heat my Foreman grill or microwave something.) I hadn't been to a McDonald's since on the way to a brief hospital stay a couple of years back. And I hadn't been there during the pandemic; to a large extent, it seemed every time I checked, they didn't offer dining in, just a drive-through, which I don't do. I don't eat in my car, and the idea of buying a meal to eat lukewarm at home was unappealing. So it was more out of curiosity as I approached the same restaurant I ate at that last trip. If I couldn't sit down after a day of moving, I would find somewhere else to eat. But I saw a number of parked cars, more than staffers, There was a sign at the door basically welcoming dining-in customers. The process had definitely changed. the first thing I noticed was the prices: like a simple quarter-pounder with bacon with medium fries and drink cost over $10. I can still remember not that many years ago where you could buy a combo for under $5. $10 will buy you 2 rotisserie chickens from Sam's Club
But more to the point. you had to pick up a number for your table/order, and some staffer would bring the meal out to you Not the first experience with the concept but never at McDonald's. I think they have some SOP about cleaning each table after a customer leaves. Just one odd note: no napkins with the order and I didn't see any napkin dispenser.
I did go to my first office Christmas party in 3 years; my employer didn't have one last year. (I still recall one while I worked in the Chicago area in the mid-90's; it was at a famous Chicago zoo.) This one was at a small brewery at a converted Maryland farm. I had Google Maps on my phone but it was really weird; I spent several miles on mainly low-traffic two-lane hilly, winding, unfamiliar rural roads, dreading driving back after sundown. I had my first beer in maybe 2 years, had the opportunity for another but declined. I'm an anal-retentive driver and don't want to find myself stopped by police inquiring about my sobriety. Keep in mind I've been working remotely during most of the pandemic and haven't met most of my work colleagues in person. Even when I worked on site I was working in a half-occupied cubicle cluster diagonally across from a fellow system administrator and probably met another 2 or 3 in passing. So it was going to be an interesting experience going to a party largely of people I didn't know and had rarely, if ever seen. (I work in a small group for my employer.) The most interesting observation is nobody was wearing a mask. Now of course about 80% of American adults are vaccinated and our contract has a relevant vaccine or testing mandate. Our new PM was telling me his booster shot was scheduled the next day.
It was more of an after work social than a holiday party. Other than a couple of people in holiday gear, not much in decoration or holiday treats. They did serve some appetizers but not much beyond chips, dips and a veggie tray. (The last holiday party I attended had a buffet line of pasta dishes, a large sheet cake, etc.) I'm okay with that; I could stand to lose some weight.
The big news in the legal agenda is the appeals court released its hold on the Biden OSHA vaccine mandate for large employers. (Just a note that I am pro-vaccine but do not support a federal mandate).
We're still learning more about the omicron variant. The bad news is the sheer number of mutations and reproducibility factor make it difficult for the vaccinated to fight off infection. The good news is the variant seems to be less aggressive/efficient in attacking the lungs. It appears, though, that the nRNA shots plus booster, even though not designed for omicron, still seem to work, at least for most people, against severe infections leading to hospitalization or death.
The anti-vaxxers are having a field day taking advantage of poor science knowledge in the population. Some vaccines are sterilizing (warding off infection or reinfection). It was very clear, almost from the start of the pandemic, that natural immunity from COVID-19 wasn't enough to prevent reinfection; I recall reading reports from Wuhan on reinfections. And there are individual differences in how people respond to vaccines; this is clear from a number of ways: some people are allergic from shots, and older people's protection waning after a few months. The mRNA vaccine developers never claimed 100% effectiveness; and instead of celebrating the fact that the original strain vaccines were effective against Delta, the skeptics point out the drop in effectiveness.
I'm getting increasingly irritated at anti-vaxxer sentiment among libertarians, including Ron Paul and Tom Woods; I hadn't played close attention to my Cafe Hayek emails recently, but it looks like my favorite free market economist Don Boudreaux has joined the chorus. Let's be clear: I oppose federal mandates, in particular commandeering private-sector employers. I also see such mandates as violating the principle of Subsidiarity. But make no mistake: I'm pro-vaccine, and this is not about paternalism about my own health--it's more about the non-aggression principle, imposing my contagious disease on others, some in frail, vulnerable health, others who are allergic to vaccines, etc. Some of the propaganda of the anti-vaxxers can be highly misleading. For example, a recent blurb for a Ron Paul Liberty Youtube video effectively implied that omicron was targeting the vaccinated, that most victims were vaccinated. Well, nearly 73% of adults are vaccinated: roughly 3 of 4. So even if the vaccines were completely ineffective, a majority would he vaccinated. But even a low nonzero effectiveness , you might find a simple majority of breakthrough cases; early data show (Pfizer) 33% effectiveness against infection and 70% against hospitalization; these numbers ramp up for those of us with the third shot booster. But any attempt to argue that the unvaccinated individual is somehow better off than the vaccinated is patently absurd and disingenuous. If the omicron virus can mitigate against vaccine-induced antibodies, T cells, etc., it doesn't imply an unvaccinated person's immune system is any better prepared to fight off the virus, and that includes the prior infected. There are multiple studies that show natural protection can wane faster than vaccine-based and better protection of vaccines on top of prior infection.
Other Notes
Most accounts with monthly billing/periodic cycles allow autopayment--you name it: utility bills, car loans, credit cards ,cable bills, storage, insurance payments, etc, There are always risks, of course: what if your vendor gets hacked? Nevertheless, there is convenience (assuming your bank account and/or credit card have the funds to cover your bills); you don't have to worry about bills slipping through the cracks, racking up penalties, hurting your credit rating.
So for my new home, I went online to set up autopay--and I have routinely done this probably dozens of times--only to find the submission process getting rejected for the not specifying the type of payment. (There were bank and credit card options, the latter with convenience fees.) The form submission is rejected claiming I hadn't selected an option. I had but there was no way to toggle an other option. No tech support link so I reported the issue to my landlord contact who seemed to be in a state of denial, having used the system herself. (Long story short, she hadn't set up autopay but processed individual payment op6ions monthly.) She contacted IT support and even though I had been quite specific, they were initially in a state of denial. It took a while, but they eventually confirmed the issue. Not sure why I was the first to encounter this, but apparently they disable autopay at some point in the month which follows the monthly payment cutoff date. It's not clear why they didn't have some note on the website or disabled the option prior to the point of submission. I have subsequently been able to process an autopay.
Odd this close to Christmas I haven't seen many classic Christmas movies; oh, I know "It's a Wonderful Life" has some exclusive arrangement with NBC and sibling networks (USA) so I've seen it a couple of times this season. But I haven't seen movies like 'A Christmas Carol' or 'Miracle on 34th St.' hit my TV schedule. You might be able to find these on Amazon Prime Video.
There's still a week or so of new content on weekends for Hallmark's "Countdown to Christmas" but so far my new favorites are:
- One December Night
- My Christmas Family Tree
I may have mentioned these movies in earlier posts. The first involves an older pop duo reuniting for a concert. The title comes from a signature hit Sullivan wrote over meeting and falling in love with his late wife. Unknown to all is partner Bedford is in the early stages of Alzheimer's.
The second film is an interesting twist on home DNA kits. Vanessa learns she has a dad (Richard Hendricks), who was separated from his (unknown to him) pregnant girlfriend. Richard has his own family. Vanessa joins them for Christmas. After she bonds with the family, Vanessa gets word her real test results may have gotten switched.
There are a few favorites I haven't seen--"Farewell, Mr. Kringle", "Matchmaker Santa", "Help For the Holidays", the 2 "Mrs. Miracle" movies, to name some; one I caught once on HMM ("Angels and Ornaments"). (Some of these may be available on Pixl for a limited time.)
