Pandemic Report
The latest stats from WaPo:
The latest stats from CDC:
The average daily case average is below 100K (97K) for the first time in weeks. Of course, the latest high-profile infection has been that of the FLOTUS, Jill Biden. (Well, of course, there's also Pfizer CEO Bourla.) And we now have a fourth COVID-19 vaccine with FDA emergency use authorization approved also for young teens: Novavax. Unlike the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna), Novavax has a more traditional protein-based approach, using matter from the (original variant) virus. Like its competitors, Novavax is planning for a fall or so release of a booster version more tailored to omicron.
Other Notes
Well, I've had the highest readership of the blog in several weeks with 4 100+ pageview days. The result is that I've already exceeded last month's multi-year low for the month. It's still a stretch to return to the long-term average of 2K+/month but with a third of the month left, I could bounce back from a 6-month slump.
On Twitter, I believe I've had my highest tweet impression ever (stats are as of Friday night) with the most engagements also--around 750, although just 1 retweet and no likes. I think I've had maybe 3 or 4 with 25K or more. It used to be, under my original now defunct account, I had up to 10 or more 1K+ impression tweets over a month. More recently it's been maybe once every 6 weeks. It always surprises me when it happens. There's no formula to it (or I would do it more often); I've written some great tweets that barely got a handful of impressions. In this case, Michael Malice, a fairly prominent libertarian, had taken a sarcastic shot at Never Trumpers, in a tweet caught in my feed. (I don't follow him.) It is no secret one of my pet peeves is libertarians sympathetic to Trump. (They see him as victim of the Deep State, and they have seen him as having a more isolationist foreign policy, battling the interventionist bureaucrats.) Well, Michael isn't the only one with a sarcastic streak, and in my initial reply below, I point out he thought his reality TV show was more important than running for POTUS. I then continue on to exaggerate how his contestants sucked up to him at the beginning of one episode where he brought up the idea of his running for President. The metaphor of using Twinkies at the top of the food pyramid was pure inspiration (I was also trying to mock the food pyramid).
I've continued my "All in the Family" watchathon. It did get me to wondering about the familiar opening theme song; did lead actors Carroll and Jean cover some nostalgic tune, say, from the fifties? Nope; I struggled with my Google search but eventually hit a Wikipedia reference to the series itself. It was original to the series. It turns out the instrumental with the closing credits also has a lyric version that Carroll performed on some occasion. Apparently, the opening song was released as a single, I think in 1972 and just missed hitting the Hot 100.
A couple of interesting storylines on WWE. The first is badass Ronda Rousey still freaking out the referee did not see champ Liv Morgan tapping out at Summerslam. Rousey pal Shayna Baszler has the next shot at Morgan. One has to wonder if Rousey and Baszler will end up at odds over the title. I also expected Charlotte Flair to return and confront Rousey over the storyline injury.
Then there's the intriguing Karrion Kross who seems to be targetting both Reigns and McIntyre as "chosen ones", but especially the latter.
