Pandemic Report
The latest stats from WaPo:
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The latest vaccine stats from CDC:
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We seem to be as a sticky top to this omicron wave with daily case counts in the 105-110K. I've seen some discussion on Twitter on post-BA.2 variants, but to date I haven't seen (which doesn't mean it doesn't exist) a breakout of omicron subvariants. The last statistics I've seen showed BA.2 dominant.. I've only seen a few newer discussions, probably the most notable being the FDA/CDC aiming for a more omicron-effective booster shot by this fall. Moderna announced initial favorable results about a month back, Pfizer announced analogous results just over a week ago.
More Notes
Blogger readership slumped the past week of June and into July. The blog did fall for another multiple year low for the third or fourth month in a row, this time only by 100 pageviews or so. Has the slump bottomed out? Maybe. The start of the month is modestly better, and I'm seeing more double-digit pageview posts.
Hallmark is in its Christmas in July promotion. I saw a couple of personal favorites (The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, The Nine Lives of Christmas) yesterday. I think the schedule may vary, but typically it runs movies from about 10AM to midnight. In the interim, I'm now up to season 10 of 14 of Dallas in my viewing marathon. It's amazing how much I had forgotten storylines, like the Parmalee soap opera, where a older ranch hand made his way to Southfork impersonating Jock Ewing, thought dead after a helicopter ride in Colombia years earlier. Then, of particular interest to me as a libertarian and free trader was a protectionist oil tariff, championed by JR cousin Jamie Ewing Barnes but hijacked by husband Cliff. JR decides on an alternative scheme to roil the oil markets by targeting Saudi oil fields. JR at the last minute pulls the rug under paid mercenary Calhoun's plot to the already suspicious CIA, tipping them off. Calhoun then retaliates over the loss of his men by targeting the Ewings.
WWE's Money in the Bank PPV had a couple of unexpected swerves for me. I did not expect them to book Theory into jobbing his US title to Lashley, a pleasant surprise. But as soon as they added Theory to the MITB match, I had a direct sense of deja vu. This was similar to when they had Lesnar job the WWE title to Lashley and then Lesnar got added to the Royal Rumble match and ends up winning it. It's not clear what is the thought by putting the title contract on heel Theory, since there doesn't seem to be a willingness for WWE to drop the title from Reigns. There may be an idea of having Lesnar and Reigns beat the hell out of each other at Summer Slam, leading to a Theory cash-in.
Almost everyone predicted Liv Morgan would win the women's MITB; what I didn't expect was Morgan cashing in after Rousey's tough title defense. It looked almost immediately a failed cash-in, as Rousey quickly locked in a submission move. But Morgan pulled it out. Not a Morgan fan, but it makes for a fresh face in defending the title. I did halfway expect s Bayley return: nope.
