We know that the anti-abortion crowd can be very militant and resort to extreme violence, to the extent of murdering people who provide abortion services. But I notice that recently anti-vaxxers seem to be approaching and even exceeding that level of fervor, as can be seen when protestors temporarily shut down a covid-19 mass vaccination site that had been opened in the Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles.
[Read more…]
The encouraging news is that the number of covid-19 infections and hospitalizations in the US seem to have started to decline, though the death rates are still high. Since death rates is a lagging indicator by about two weeks, we can hope that they too will begin to decline soon. This graph shows how super spreader events like Thanksgiving and Christmas caused spikes that are only just abating.
By The New York Times | Sources: State and local health agencies and hospitals
But now there is another potential super spreader event and that is the Super Bowl to be held this Sunday. A poll suggests that 25% of all Americans will be “gathering with other people that live outside of your home (i.e., with people that are not roommates/cohabitants, etc.,) to watch the upcoming Super Bowl.” 64% said no and 11% said they don’t know or have no opinion.
25% of the population is a lot. While I can sort of understand how some people feel the pull of family gatherings at Thanksgiving and Christmas to be so strong as to overcome common sense advice to just stay at home, risking one’s life to attend a party to watch a sports event on TV seems truly idiotic, especially since only half watch it to see the game with the other half split between wanting to see the commercials and the half-time show, both of which can be easily seen later.
I have had conversations with friends in Sri Lanka who ask me about the vaccines. They particularly want to know if I am going to get the vaccine and when I tell them that of course I will as soon as I become eligible, they are relieved because that country seems to be awash with all manner of false information that is scaring the hell out of people, such as that wearing masks can cause you to get sick and that the vaccine can give you HIV and even alter your DNA. This makes them apprehensive and I try my best to assure them that these stories are all false.
[Read more…]
A friend of mine asked me for my opinion about board books marketed for toddlers with titles like Quantum Physics for Babies and Quantum Entanglement for Babies that her niece was thinking of buying for her child.
You can see the books here.
Joe Biden has issued Executive Orders mandating that masks must be worn in a wide variety of venues.
Under the executive order, Biden is directing departments and agencies under his jurisdiction “to immediately take action to require people in federal buildings or on federal lands, on-duty or on-site federal employees, and on-site federal contractors to wear a mask and maintain physical distance,” according to the White House.
But the order also requires masks on various modes of public transportation, including trains, airplanes and intercity buses. And it’s that provision, attorneys who have challenged mask mandates in the past say, that could be the most vulnerable to a legal challenge.
Samantha Bee says that it is not a good thing that people tend to only get enthusiastic about efforts to save cute species and ignore the ones that are not as photogenic. She makes a convincing case for why we should care about the ugly ones too.
My daughter graduated from college in 2004 and we went to her open-air graduation ceremony in New Jersey in late May of that year. It was a memorable event, not just because of the occasion but because it also coincided with the 17-year cycle for the emergence of cicadas in the eastern part of the US. This year will see the next emergence.
Billions of cicadas that have spent 17 years underground are set to emerge across large areas of the eastern US, bringing swarming numbers and loud mating calls to major towns and cities.
The periodic cicadas – bugs with strikingly red eyes, black bodies and orange wings – burrow underground as nymphs and suck fluids from the roots of plants as they grow, eventually bursting into the open as adults in mass synchronized events.
The last such event for 15 states including New York, Ohio, Illinois and Georgia occurred in 2004. The cicadas emerge in a 17-year cycle, meaning they will appear this year once temperatures are warm enough, expected to be mid-May.
[Read more…]
There is a team of international scientists under the auspices of the UN currently in China to study the origins of the coronavirus, particularly how it made the jump from animals to humans. The first major outbreak occurred in Wuhan which instituted a massive lockdown that managed to suppress the spread so that the city is bustling with activity again, with traffic jams, busy restaurants and markets, and people now move around freely and do all the normal things, though there are still a few restrictions such as you have to wear masks all the time outdoors and groups of people must not exceed a dozen.
[Read more…]
Stephen Colbert discusses what is going on with the vaccination program as well as developments with the QAnon conspiracy and their great hopes for a grand climax at the inauguration. He has an idea for something that QAnoners can do now that is as absorbing but not as destructive.
Seth Meyers also makes fun of Cruz’s pathetic attempts to ingratiate himself with Pittsburgh after he had tried to throw out all of Pennsylvania’s votes.
This video that was sent to me by a friend shows what a powerful predator the peregrine falcon is.
I am always impressed at nature photographers and filmmakers. The animals in their films seem to behave as if they are following a script and one wonders how the filmmakers were able to be at the right place at the right time.T hey must be spending an enormous amount of time in order to capture events like this.
