New Covid Cases Rising

White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Ashish Jha says the “vast majority” 

of COVID-19 infections aren’t being counted.   GETTY IMAGES

While fears may be growing that another COVID-19 surge will be upon us in the coming months, there is some indication that the future is now.

There’s a reason data show that, while the U.S. positivity rate of COVID tests has spiked to five-month highs, and hospitalizations have steadily climbed to four-month highs, new daily COVID cases have held steady for the past couple of months.


The new cases are being undercounted because results of widely available at-home tests aren’t being reported for government tabulation. The Fourth of July holiday has also caused reporting delays. And many states have stopped providing daily updates, as the New York Times reported.

“There’s no question in my mind that we’re missing a vast majority of infections right now,” White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha said on NBC’s “Nightly News with Lester Holt” on Thursday. “The truth is, there are probably several hundred thousand, four or five hundred thousand, infections today happening across the country.”

That would put the daily case count at levels seen during the January surge of the omicron variant. The current outbreak is now mostly the result of the fast-spreading BA.5 subvariant, named the dominant strain this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  READ MORE...

Stop That!!!

 

My Simple Needs

 

I personally prefer living in a house to living in an apartment because of the uninsulated walls allowing noise to easily pass through them.  However, I don't need that much more space than what an apartment provides...

1,200 square feet is plenty of room as long as it is divided appropriately that is to say...  to my tastes.

I would like to have one large room that is used for a kitchen, an eating area, and a livingroom.  

There needs to be a guest bathroom just in case company shows up or we have decided to entertain another couple.

This area (hidden area) would include a pantry and a laundry room.

The master bedroom needs to be large enough to hold a king-size bed and a night table on either side as well as adequate chests of drawers for clothes.

There needs to be a walk-in closet large enough to hang clothes for two people and a bathroom with a shower that is handicapped accessible.

Two other bedrooms are required, one would be a guest bedroom while the other would be a room for cats.

While there is a need for a two car garage, eventually there would only be one car...  but the garage would need to accommodate lawn maintenance equipment.

A separate building could be brought in for storage.

There is no need for a basement or a second floor as everything should be on one floor.

The amount of land associated with the house should be 1/2 acre or less.

While we currently have an above ground pool, deck, gazebo, and hot tub, none of that would be necessary once we reach the age of 80 which is only 5 years away.  

Right now, I use the pool to exercise by walking around the inside circumference to strengthen my back due to recent back surgery...  and see no need for a pool later in life.

Any extra land would have to be mowed but part of it could be turned into a vegetable garden by constructing a few 12 feet by 12 feet boxes into which potting soil could be placed along with plants.  Easy to maintain and harvest.

There would be a need for a WIFI connection but we would not connect to cable or have a landline telephone.  Our one vehicle would more than likely be an all-electric vehicle that we would charge at night and only drive locally.

I doubt by the age of 80 we would be making any trips to Myrtle Beach, SC for a vacation.  If we did vacation, it would be a cruise and we would fly to Florida and have a relative take us to the airport and pick us up.

As we get older and no doubt this will happen to you as well, but you no longer need the status of a large house, a fancy/expensive vehicle, or wear the latest fashion styles.

Money does not always make life happy...  I can sit on the back porch with friends, enjoying conversation and coffee...  and feel very content...

When one has a little wealth...  all they really think about is keeping that wealth and trying to get more...  How does that really make anyone happy?

Achieving Results

 

In high school I never studied and was able to maintain a 2.75 GPA which is more than a C+ but less than a B-...  it was not good enough to get me into the best colleges or universities but it was good enough to get me into college.  In college I maintained a 3.75 GPA with just a little bit of studying...  but, when I graduated from college and got my first job as Executive Director of a non-profit, neither my high school education or my college education gave me the knowledge to do the job for which I was being hired.

There was no training manual for the job nor was there anyone I could ask for guidance as to how to do the job...  I had to learn how to do the job on my own and through trial and error and hope that the errors were large enough to get me fired.

I was responsible for a million dollar budget, 12 member organizations who looked to me for guidance, directly supervised 10 employees and a cadre of volunteers that amounted to about 500 annually.  I was also responsible for all monthly activities, developing new programs, all advertising and public relations, and guided the board of directors regarding all fund raising efforts.

The board of directors hired me and did not care about my GPA or what classes I had taken, they only cared about my ability to ACHIEVE RESULTS.

I worked 15-18 hour days including Saturdays and kept this job for 8 years.  While working for this organization, I attended grad school on the weekends (all day Saturday/Sunday) and after 2 years (66 hours) received an MBA with a focus in Strategic Planning.

I also received a divorce from my wife who had enough of my career and moved to another state to begin a new life...

My employers in this new state did not care about my degrees or my grades or my divorce...  all they cared about was my ability to achieve results and expected me to work whatever hours I needed to work to achieve those results...

In 2015, I retired without a gold watch or even a THANK YOU, after working 45 years in this crazy marketplace environment...  And, once I retired, I did not care what I did or how long it took me to do it, as long as I ACHIEVED RESULTS...

It's Mid July

 

When I was a child, a teenager, and a young adult, the middle of July signified that the summer was half over...  the summer months were considered to be June, July, and August.  The warmth started in May and the coolness started in September.

From middle age to a senior citizen to being retired, our climate has substantially changed...  We can have t-shirt and shorts weather through December...   and, instead of the warmth starting in May, it can start as early as the middle of March, but typically it is now April.

Our winter, at least in the Tennessee Valley only lasts January, February, and March and of those 12 weeks, really cold frigid weather may be around 2-4 weeks at best.  Of course, these are not absolutes, so there could be a lot of variances.

So, even though it is the middle of July, my sandals, t-shirt, and shorts attire will be continuing for many weeks.  In fact, I cannot really remember the last time I had on a pair of hard shoes...  it's got to go back prior to 2015 when I was working...

Talking about hard shoes is misleading because my nephew turned me on to wool shoes made by Allbirds...  I have a pair of lace-up wool shoes and a pair of slip-on wool shoes like loafers that I wear to substitute for hard shoes in the winter because I don't need to wear socks.

Wearing wool shoes is like wearing slippers and I cannot imagine ever wearing a pair of hard shoes again.  In fact, I wore my wool shoes to a funeral a couple of months ago...  and, no one paid attention to the kind of shoes I was wearing, but if they did, I did not see them so what the hell...

Bird Feeding Young

 

DNA Analysis of Micronesians

Micronesia is defined as a country and has been a much-ballyhooed friend in need for Israel at the United Nations. It actually consists of roughly 2,000 small islands spread over a vast region in the Pacific. 

Micronesia should not to be confused with the neighboring nations of Polynesia or Melanesia, which also consist of small islands in the Pacific. Now, a new study casts light on the origin of early Micronesians and it is more complicated than had been assumed.

It had been thought that Micronesians shared origins with southwest Pacific peoples, and that Micronesians likely stemmed from a single origin. 

Now, analysis of ancient and modern Micronesian DNA has detected five separate waves of migration to Micronesia in antiquity: three streams from eastern Asia, one from Polynesia, and one of people related to mainland Papua New Guineans, Yue-Chen Liu and David Reich of Harvard Medical School reported with colleagues last week in Science.

The three streams of “first remote Oceanian” migration into Micronesia included a previously unknown lineage, the team adds.

The study is based on genomic analysis of 164 people who lived 2,800 to 500 years ago at five sites around Micronesia, and 112 genomes of present-day people from the same areas.  READ MORE...

Dirt Truck

 

A Crack in the Earth's Magnetic Field

On Thursday, a crack opened in Earth’s magnetic field and stayed open for nearly 14 hours, allowing Vecna and his minions through from the Upside Down. OK, perhaps not that last bit, but it did allow some powerful solar winds to pour through the hole, creating a geomagnetic storm that sparked some pretty epic aurora.

The crack in the magnet field was created by a rare phenomenon called a co-rotating interaction region (CIR) from the Sun. CIRs are large-scale plasma structures generated in the low and mid-latitude regions of the heliosphere – the region surrounding the Sun that includes the solar magnetic field and the solar winds – when fast and slow-moving streams of solar wind interact.

Like coronal mass ejections (CMEs), CIRs get flung out from the Sun towards Earth and can contain shockwaves and compressed magnetic fields that cause stormy space weather, which usually presents itself to us as pretty aurorae.

This one hit Earth’s magnetic field in the early hours of July 7 and caused a long-lasting G1-class geomagnetic storm. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) analysts suspect a CME was embedded in the solar wind ahead of the CIR, Spaceweather.com reports.

Don't worry, cracks in Earth's magnetic field are normal. The magnetic field acts as a shield to protect us from solar storms spat out by the Sun. It was thought they opened and closed relatively quickly but now we know they can stay open for hours.  READ MORE...

Waiting for the Ice Cream Truck

 

Massive Snake in Alabama

The Eastern indigo snake may be non-venomous, but its ability to grow over nine feet in 

length makes it daunting.

Massive snake discovered in Alabama for just the second time in 60 years! The discovery of an Eastern indigo snake is very exciting, since there has only been one other Eastern indigo snake observed in the state since the 1950’s. 

Eastern Indigo snakes disappeared from Alabama nearly 60 years ago, but scientists and conservationists have been working with the Eastern Indigo Project to bring them back to the state.

Eastern indigo snakes are native to the southeast United States, and once thrived in the state of Alabama. However, in the 1950’s Eastern indigo snakes had completely disappeared from Alabama, primarily because of habitat loss and human persecution. 

Additionally, because of their docile nature, domestic and international pet traders collected these snakes (which is now illegal). Furthermore, rattlesnake collectors (illegally) gas gopher tortoise burrows in hopes of collecting snakes and end up accidentally killing many Eastern indigo snakes as well.

Today, the Eastern indigo snake is a federally threatened species and is protected by federal and state laws. To even interact with an Eastern indigo snake in Alabama requires a legal permit—assuming you can find one of these snakes. 

For the past 60 years, sightings of Eastern indigo snakes in Alabama were unheard of. Which is why this most recent discovery is so exciting!  READ MORE...

Running Dog

 

Controlling Inflation

Inflation is generally controlled by the Central Bank and/or the government. The main policy used is monetary policy (changing interest rates). 

However, in theory, there are a variety of tools to control inflation including:

• Monetary policy – Higher interest rates reduce demand in the economy, leading to lower economic growth and lower inflation.
• Control of money supply – Monetarists argue there is a close link between the money supply and inflation, therefore controlling money supply can control inflation.
• Supply-side policies – policies to increase the competitiveness and efficiency of the economy, putting downward pressure on long-term costs.
• Fiscal policy – a higher rate of income tax could reduce spending, demand and inflationary pressures.
• Wage/price controls – trying to control wages and prices could, in theory, help to reduce inflationary pressures. However, they are rarely used because they are not usually effective.

SOURCE:  EconomicsHelp.org

BUT...

the current administration must be willing to admit that there is a problem in order to fix the problem...  and if, the administration refuses to admit that there is a problem...  inflation will continue to worsen...

HOWEVER...

the Federal Reserve System that operates outside of the control of the President and their administration can increase interest rates to reduce the supply of money in the marketplace as it tries to ease inflation.

UNFORTUNATELY...

if the Federal Reserve System does raise interest rates, there is a good possibility that this will send the economy into a recession...  a recession will cause layoffs and a corresponding reduction of economic growth.

It still continues to amaze me that our elected political leaders make decisions that put them into a category of being ECONOMICALLY STUPID...

That is my RIGHT...

US Constitution
Tenth Amendment
Rights Reserved to the States and to the People
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

In my unconstitutionally educated opinion, this amendment addresses the right of a female to have an abortion...  

If some states turn their back on this fundamental right, then the people can vote to remove those legislatures from office or travel to another state where abortions are permissible. 

However, I would suspect that whatever each state allows or disallows, it only pertains to those individuals that were born with female organs at birth.

At the present time, we do not have the capabilities that would allow a transgendered individual to get pregnant, and carry a fetus in their womb for 9 months in order to give birth.

It is a man's right to try and change as much of his body as is scientifically possible so he becomes as much of a woman as possible, but it is still impossible for that trans person to get pregnant...

An adoption is still an option.

Abortion was never the responsibility of our Federal Government as the constitution never once addresses abortion...  therefore and by default it falls into the domain of the states.

Personally, I don't think any state should deny a female the right to have an abortion simply because their religious beliefs are influencing them.

If I want to smoke, that is my right

If I want to become obese, that is my right

If I want to refuse treatment for a medical condition, that is my right

If I want to give up my citizenship, that is my right

If I want to become a criminal, that is my right

If I want to change my sex, that is my right

If I want to become a communist, that is my right

If I want to give up my freedoms, that is my right

Life in MY LANE

In 31/2 months, I will have completed my 15th year of living with cancer specifically non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (SLL), and my 10th year of living with another cancer specifically Accrual Lentiginous Melanoma that spread from my left foot to my left groin to the left side of my neck.  I have had over 150 infusions (that included both chemotherapy and immunotherapy drugs), two surgeries, and 6 radiation treatments.  Currently, I have a CT scan every 3 months as my cancers are unpredictable.

There were times when I wanted to die because I was vomiting so much and trips to the ER with infusions of Zofran were the only cure.  There were times when I did not feel that I had cancer at all and none of my treatments caused my hair to fall out.  However, the treatments not only screwed up my thyroid but caused me to be susceptible to basal cancers and squamous cancers several of which I have had surgically removed in a clinic.

Because of pre-treatment steroids to keep down sickness, I gained 30 lbs of weight over a 10-year period of time that I have subsequently lost.  However, I am experiencing extreme fatigue, loss of appetite, anxiety, and mild depression, along with anemia, low to non-existent immunity, and night sweats that are so profound that in many cases I sweat through a bathrobe that I have put on because my sheets were completely wet around my chest and mid section.

There is something comforting about still being alive to complain...

In 2009/2010, I went to NYC 3 times to have stents put into my heart arteries instead of having a triple bypass.  An angioplasty in 2022 revealed that the stents were still pristine and doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing...  although, I believe my diet has supplemented their effort, as I stopped eating red meat at age 60, concentrating on vegetables, fish, chicken, and legumes that some people might refer to as beans.  I especially like black beans, white beans, pinto beans, and lentils.

Five weeks ago, I had back surgery to fuse L2-L3-L4-L5-S1 together and while the pain from the actual surgery was minimal, learning how to walk again has been a real pain in the ass.  I was told that I should see significant results by week 12...  and, I hope that is the case because my results at week 5 SUCK.  I can only walk unaided for about 10 minutes.  I cannot walk up a staircase without using the handrail to pull me up...  but, I can walk down just fine.  I just started standing in one place without discomfort and just started being able to stand erect without bending over.  I still cannot put on socks, tie my shoes, or lift anything over 12-15 pounds.

Interestingly, I can walk in a pool unaided and have done so for over an hour without getting tired.  However, the results do not translate 100% when I am out of the water.  It seems that my back muscles are having to learn all over again to help me walk.  Also, walking any distance today is a huge chore and I find myself expending a lot of energy that I never needed to expend before.  If I walk around the track once at the Community Center which is 1/16th of a mile, my t-shirt is soaked with perspiration and I feel rather exhausted...  both sensations are not normal for me.

I consented to the surgery at 74 because I figured it would be harder to recover the older I became.  It was only about 3-4 months ago that this even became a problem.  I woke up one morning and after getting out of bed found that I had difficulty walking and that pain shot down both my legs from my butt.  It was 6 weeks before I could see the orthopedic specialist and his diagnosis was later confirmed by an MRI, but he told me up front that this was old age...  and, if I had not been as healthy and active as I was, it would have been worse...

Hell that was comforting...

WTF is going on here?

 

9% Inflation...  what asshole caused this to happen?

I realize that I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I am also aware that 9% is the highest inflation has been in over 40 years...  and, I am reconsidering just who the hell I am going to vote for in November...  I am an independent so I don't have the kiss the asses of the Democrats or the Republicans when it comes time to cast my vote...  I just have to look at the way things around me are going and then see which party is in power and vote in favor of the opposite party.

That's pretty damn simple if you ask me...

If the country is doing well, I vote for the party in power but if it is doing poorly, like now, then I vote the other party...  that way I can tell them to kiss my ass like they want me to kiss theirs...

Hair Flow

 

Robots Replace 800 Million Jobs by 2030

CNBC REPORTS

A new report released by McKinsey & Company indicates that by 2030, as many as 800 million workers worldwide could be replaced at work by robots.

The study found that in more advanced economies like the U.S. and Germany, up to one-third of the 2030 workforce may need to learn new skills and find new work. In economies like China’s, roughly 12 percent of workers may need to switch occupations by 2030.


The report also provides insight into the industries that will be least impacted by robots and the skills needed to fill those positions.

For some industries, an increase in automation won’t mean a decline in employment, but rather a shift in the tasks needed to be done. For example, any job that involves managing people, applying expertise and social interaction will still be necessary, human performance in those areas can’t be matched by a machine.

However, jobs involving mortgage origination, paralegal work, accounting and back-office transaction processing can easily be wiped out by automation.

A LinkedIn post focused on the report noted that some workers are already catching on to the need to boost the skills sets. Research by the networking platform found that fewer professionals are adding accounting and financial reporting to their profiles. Instead, employees are beefing up their online resumes with more soft skills like management, leadership and customer service.

While the impact of robots and automation may be scary to some, Bill Gates says the issue is nothing to panic about.

“This is a case where Elon [Musk] and I disagree,” he said in a Wall Street Journal interview, in which he addressed Musk’s gloomy vision of the future.

According to Gates, anyone with skills in science, engineering and economics will always be in demand...

The Waterfall

 

A World Reimagined

Step out of that time machine and you’ll see 2030 looks a lot different from 2020 or even 2025. These days work is more rewarding, because 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies have largely removed the monotonous stuff. What’s more, people are healthier, they get around easier, and have almost gotten used to all the drones.

Work has been reshaped by 4IR technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics all working in concert. Office workers are no longer subject to boring tasks like data entry and document reviews, because intelligent automation solutions can “read” even complex unstructured content and deal with it effectively. Intelligent apps can even ferret out just the important emails in your inbox.

“Instead of data being centralized in a data center, or even in a cloud, where you can store it there in the cheapest manner, in the 4th Industrial Revolution, data must reside, be used, and be accessed everywhere,” says Paul Savill, Senior Vice President for Products and Services at Lumen Technologies

That leaves us humans to focus on important, strategic endeavors – we love that. And we have so many digital tools at our disposal to help with decision-making. Digital twin technology is now de-rigueur and combines with AI/ML technology to help us accurately predict how changes to processes, systems and even building infrastructure will work out. It really brings out the creativity in folks.

In factories and warehouses, robotics has likewise proved to be a game-changer. Sensors in robots combine with local edge and cloud-based ML applications to enable robots to react to changes in their environment, freeing them up to perform most any task. Here again, they relieve humans of the most repetitive and sometimes dangerous tasks while dramatically lowering costs. Many warehouses are now fully autonomous, with only one or two humans around just keeping an eye on things.

Yes, all those robots have taken jobs that once belonged to humans. But, thanks in large part to AR/VR technology, we’ve gotten much better at helping folks retrain for better-paying, more rewarding work. (The renewable energy sector is just booming, for example, as is tech. Even with AI/ML and predictive maintenance, it still takes a ton of people to deploy all these 4IR systems and keep them up and running.)

4IR technology has also found its way to rural areas. IoT sensors and applications enable farmers to monitor metrics like soil moisture and weather. Farmers now routinely have IT staff to implement tools that lead to more informed decisions, increased yields and improved productivity.  READ MORE...