Pandemic Report
The latest stats from WaPo:
There's a modest decline in new cases to about 40.5K daily. Variants BQ.1/1.1 now dominate up to half of new cases. On the global scene, stats had been on a decline but reversed in mid-November, in part by an uptick in the US, ironically a leading producer of COVID-19 vaccines.
Probably the most interesting related post I've seen over the past week looked at a new promising approach to coronavirus vaccine development from NIH, aimed at the more persistent spine helix. While there is promising data for related antibodies, we are still some time away from testing and producing a vaccine for humans.
Other Notes
Well after a promising start to monthly readership, readership over the past week crashed by over two-thirds. Not really sure why, although I've noticed some post-election slumps in the past. And in my rolling weekly summary, I don't have a single post in double-digit readership. It's been while since I've seen that, even during the recent months-long slump from my long-term trend.
Food prices continue to go up. I have some unusual items I track, like 8-packs of frozen burritos. They were a staple of my diet during my full-time UH grad school days. They are like $5.26 at Walmart and similar at my favorite grocer, Lidl. I remember pre-pandemic it was more like $3.43. I also have followed budget frozen pizzas, like I can recall Jack's selling at maybe $2.24, now at $3.62. The occasional small potato salad used to cost like $2.46, now like about $3.67. Value egg dozens used to cost like 77 cents a dozen just several months back, now like $2 MORE. Now I don't eat much pizza or burritos under my lower-carb lifestyle, but I'm starting to get sticker shock every time I shop. I make enough I don't have to go to bed hungry, but when Lidl offers specials (which Walmart doesn't do in practice), I'll take advantage of them. One current example: Lidl's is offering budget frozen turkeys at 49 cents a pound (with additional purchase) and Butterballs at twice the price, still a bargain. And they'll selling stuffing at about 49 cents a box. I have in the past bought whole turkeys (which go a long way when you're a bachelor), but I don't have the room in my refrigerator/freezer. I've sometimes settled for turkey legs, although Walmart recently raised prices about $1/lb. Lidl tends to offer less products and brands/flavors; I have a taste for organ meats like braunschweiger, so I'll get that at Walmart. (As for turkey side dishes, I have a taste for my late dad's rutabagas, and here is a post on his turkey stuffing (which calls for ground pork; we Franco-Americans love pork, e.g., cretons and Tourtière; the former is my favorite sandwich of all time, and my Mom baked me the latter on a holiday visit home about 3 years back).) I still have sticker shock with soft drink cases of 12 cans (also an occasional purchase). I seem to recall just a year or two back buying 4 for $11 Coke cases at Lidl. Regular price is about $7, and I swear I saw a Walmart aisle display at about $8+. Lidl will sometimes put them on sale at half price for multiple case purchases. I often recall how my first California boss in 1999 actually used 25 cent soda cans in the company vending machines as an offer incentive; it no longer is a joke.
I do have an update correcting a past reference to Sam's Club. They apparently still do offer the $5 rotisserie chicken; I got one on my last visit on a flexday off. And I did see a freezer section with $1.99/lb chicken breasts, although it may have been a limited-term special.
I did check out Walmart's heavily promoted Black Friday specials, which also included a good price on a recent Chromecast (with Google TV) and a single-serve Keurig coffeemaker for about $35. (I currently have a budget brand; my sibling gave me my late maternal uncle's full-size one, but it wasn't operational and I trashed it.) They weren't charging shipping, although the coffeemaker is back-ordered. They are heavily promoting their Prime-like Walmart Plus service, about $100 which includes free grocery delivery, free shopping delivery with no minimums, gasoline discounts, and a streaming service. (I think Amazon offers Fresh grocery delivery but not in my area.) Lidl has partnered a delivery service with a similarly priced annual subscription. I see grocery shopping as a way of getting some exercise, and I only need to shop every week or two.
I finally decided to get a printer replacement after years. Recently my printer went on some weird IPL loop. I checked online and a similar owner seemed to think his issue had something to do with a driver flaw with wireless connections but the same issue persists with USB connections.
The Google TV service is interesting; it is somewhat analogous to my Amazon Prime and Peacock home pages, My Stuff, etc. I remember wondering about my Google-licensed version of the Hallmark holiday movie "Angels and Ornaments". More recently I had had some weird issue casting the movie from my PC to my flat screen TV. I knew I had a Youtube app in Google TV but how could I navigate to my own videos? And then at some point I clicked down on My Stuff (although I hadn't anything to my watchlist), and there it was. It sounds obvious in hindsight but I had used the My Stuff for tagged movie watchlists.
In WWE, it looks like they're finally booking Bray Wyatt into a program--with LA Knight, with his Stone Cold Steve Austin-like persona. Very odd choice. They had only transitioned the latter from his non-wrestling Max Dupree persona after his NXT callup. I'm not sure why they're risking damaging Knight by having him hob to Wyatt. It looks like Kevin Owens is going to join the Brutes and McIntyre against the Bloodline. It could be they're grooming Owens into a Reigns challenge. My hunch though is they've been hinting at Zahn getting kicked out of the Bloodline as the "honorary Uce". There are a couple of ways they could play this: book Zahn into a feud with Reigns and/or team Owens and Zahn to take on the Usos
They also have Karrion Kross booked into a program with Madcap Moss which seems pointless except for the former's heel persona. They totally abandoned his storyline in the McIntyre/Reigns feud, although they teased his entry into the Brutes' Survivor wargames match against the Bloodline.
We still haven't seen the long-rumored returns of Charlotte Flair and. Sasha Banks.
