Post #7085 J

 Pandemic Report

The latest CDC weekly stats:

Overall, the statistics are in the aggregate mixed, but some states are so high with all respiratory illnesses (particularly flu) that healthcare facilities are approaching capacity limitations, a Kentucky sheriff's office shutting down, Kentucky school district closure, .and vaccine producer stocks have risen in anticipation of higher vaccine sales. A notable infected celebrity is Congressman Thompson, who had chaired the J6 committee.

Relevant COVID-19 news items include:

• COVID-19 relief fraud and other crimes continue to be prosecuted including:
• "Aurora man defrauded millions in COVID-19 relief and used money to buy luxury cars, indictment alleges"
• "Orange County part-time actor sentenced for COVID-19 cure fraud scheme"
• "Alabama man sentenced to over seven years in federal prison for COVID-19 loan scheme"

• COVID legal and political issues continue including:
• "Virginia Nurse Wins Revival of Covid-19 Shot Religious Bias Suit"
• "Los Angeles firefighter shortage allegedly tied to COVID-19 firings"
• "Republicans press Murphy for ‘full accounting’ of federal COVID aid"
• "Pfizer and facts prevail as judge tosses Paxton's lawsuit over COVID-19 vaccine"
• "Report: FDA lags on food safety inspections due to COVID-19 backlog"
• "Janet Yellen: Covid stimulus may have contributed ‘a little bit' to inflation"
• "Girls suffered more learning loss than boys during the Covid-19 pandemic, new report finds"
• "Dr. Ngozi Ezike, ex-public health chief behind Illinois' COVID-19 response, fined $150K for ethics violation"
• "NJ Covid-19 Call Center Sued Over Lack of Notice Before Layoffs"
• "Dr. Amy Acton, who helped lead Ohio’s early COVID-19 response, will run for governor in 2026 [as Dem]"
• "Florida files COVID-19 related suit after accidentally overpaying company $5 million"
• "Zuckerberg says Biden administration pushed Meta ‘super hard’ to take down vaccine content"
• "North Carolina Supreme Court: Government-Ordered Business Closures During COVID-19 Lockdowns Constitute “Direct Physical loss” Under Insurance Policy Lacking Virus Exclusion"
• "Over $300,000 of COVID-19 unemployment benefits fraudulently released, Ohio probe finds"
• "Pittsburgh landlord sues U.S. government over financial losses from COVID-19 eviction moratorium"
• Covid-19 misinformation over social media continues:
• "Georgia [country] targeted by fake stories of US secret labs spreading COVID-19"
• "Israeli studies find Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine reduces transmission"
• "Published in the Jan. 2 edition of The Lancet Public Health, the research included simulation and analysis that suggests that public-private partnerships to develop, produce and distribute COVID-19 diagnostic tests saved an estimated 1.4 million lives and prevented about 7 million patient hospitalizations in the United States during the pandemic."
• "The first ever investigation into the impact of the Covid pandemic on children and young people with brain tumours has revealed how investigations or treatments were frequently postponed as key people or resources were not available."
• "Extended Paxlovid May Help Some People with Long COVID"
• "COVID-19 may trigger production of cold-reactive antibodies"
• "Florida grand jury finds no criminal activity related to COVID-19 vaccines during pandemic"
• "A first dose of COVID-19 vaccine accelerated relief of long-COVID symptoms such as fatigue and muscle aches in UK adults"
• "Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis Face Higher COVID-19 Risks"

Other Notes

The blog had a solid readership; no new essays published but I'm working on a couple of essays. On Twitter/XI'm probably at a 3K/week pace over the past few weeks, but I do have a stealth increase in followers to a mid-60's range, not really notable in general until you realize I'm rather unusual in my political perspective, even among libertarians. Many of my posts probably never reach double-figures.

It really wasn't until after last weekend that Hallmark finally went off its holiday movie schedule. There were a couple of days they went off schedule to run a marathon of "The Way Home", their family pond time travel series which is starting a new season. I don't know the scheduling explanation; the 12 days of Christmas?

Max finally added the final  season of "Young Sheldon"  Sheldon Cooper was the signature character genius geek from Big Bang Theory, and "Young Sheldon"covers his adolescent years through his early college physics studies at East Texas Tech, prefacing his advanced studies at Cal Tech. Jim Parsons who plays grown up Sheldon really doesn't get involved in the series other some voiceover work in episodes until the series finale. i really love this series and all its quirky characters, including Sheldon's twin sister Missy, totally unimpressed by her prodigy brother. there are some sparkling moments in the final season, including the prodigy meeting other prodigies' in a European summer program, only some of them coming from more advanced programs than he had in East Texas. His massive ego takes a huge hit as he gets the wrong answers in lecture and he is tutored by a younger Asian female prodigy. [I can relate in a way; I really didn't have any peers in school until I went to UT. At OLL, as i worked on my 2 majors my schedule was constrained to maybe a couple of advanced courses each semester in either discipline. You had more options at a large program like at the University of Texas. It was a weird observation: certain problems were easy for me to solve but others, also very talented, found difficult and vice-versa. I had a similar gift for computer programming: I taught Cobol for years and I could debug student programs at a single glance: it used to freak out my students, like some awesome card trick.]

If you don't want spoilers, skip past this paragraph. I think the last 2 episodes may be the 2 best sitcom episodes I've ever seen. I had read somewhere that Sheldon's folks got divorced and fans were unhappy.. I don't know where that came from; maybe some fans were speculating on then future episodes? Georgie, Sheldon's very ordinary older brother, gets Mandy pregnant with baby Connie. Grandmother Mary Cooper, facing an approaching empty nest, gets baby fever as she babysits her first grandchild. George, the husband. doesn't want that and gets a vasectomy; it's somewhat comical since he can barely walk after the procedure. And Mary doesn't seem to suspect anything as she hands him frozen veggies to soothe the pain. Also, as we're nearing the series finale, high school football coach George gets a dream college football coaching gig at Rice University. So, I'm halfway thinking Mary won't follow George to Houston. Wrong! George passes as he leaves for work as usual one day. we don't see him collapse. We just see a couple of officials come knocking at the door wanting to talk to Mary. how do you handle a character's death in a sitcom tastefully? I give credit to the writers who did it very well. you see Sheldon struggling with his Vulcan-like (Stoic) persona deal with his love for his Dad, what he wished he could have said at the funeral. As to the finale, I especially liked all the top universities coming after Sheldon as if he was an All-American quarterback. Even East Texas Tech tried to keep Sheldon, offering to pay Georgie and Missy's way. it was also amusing Sheldon trying to mentor his physics profs on string theory. Anyway, Sheldon had narrowed his final two to MIT and Cal Tech. every geek in the world including me knows the prestige of these schools. My high school science predecessor, PO, ended up at MIT out of junior year in high school. I think he ended up at some startup, cashed out and retired early. His little sister KO befriended me freshman year and wanted me to follow her brother into science. She told me one of her proudest moments was finishing second to me on an exam. I would have liked to have dated her but she transferred schools the next year. I did OK in science but MIT and Cal Tech didn't pursue me. What's amusing is how Sheldon settled on Cal Tech after initially deciding on MIT: going out of Logan in the middle of a blizzard. Any way the finale weaves in middle-aged Sheldon Cooper being pushed by wife Amy to go to son :Leonard's hockey game. (Leonard is an inside Big Bang reference) and the episode ends with Sheldon on the Cal Tech campus. Well done!

I could continue on my rant on the college football playoffs being exclusively broadcast by ESPN. not in my cable package. So yesterday I had to follow the Cotton Bowl semifinal; my Texas vs Ohio State. the webpage refreshes were excruciating. Texas had just tied the game 7-7 with about a minute left in the first half and somehow OS responded with an answering touchdown. Then late in the game OS was ahead 21-14 but Texas was first and goal.The next I know the score is 28-14. Obviously a turnover and long score return. At least I didn't pay good money to see us lose.