CICRET

From Worldometer (new deaths yesterday):

        DAY  USA  WORLD   Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9     1093     4732        1185        246        82

July    22     1205     7128        1293      1120      572

Aug    12     1504     6556        1242       835       130

Sept     9     1208     6222        1136      1168        82

Oct     21     1225     6849          571       703        85

Nov    11     1479     10178        564       550        60

           25     2304    12025         620       518      118

Dec       1     2611    11891         697       500      109

           29     3398    13791       1075       285      497

           30     3880    14748       1224       299      465

 Jan       5     3499    13106       1186       265      513

Summary:  Was December 30 the peak of COVID-19?  Let's first wait to see what the numbers will say in the next week or so.  If lower, then we can begin to breathe a sigh of relief, as the vaccines should very soon begin to make a positive difference to end the pandemic.  In any case, Humanity has overcome Nature, again.

WOW! WOW! WOW!  Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, both Democrats, won the Georgia senate runoff races.  This is the happiest day for me in a long time.  And, mind you, I've already been in euphoria for a couple of years.  For two, I'll be taking my Moderna vaccine shot in an hour.  I will then be golfing at the Ala Wai Golf Course, hoping my body has no serious after effects.

From The New York Times this morning:

• Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review wrote on Twitter that Perdue and Loeffler suffered from three problems: “being unimpressive candidates, GA shifting purple, and Trump being a maniac.”
• Some Republican members of Congress have said they will object to certain states’ results. Each time they do, members have up to two hours to debate and then vote. Republicans lack the votes to change the results.

In Georgia, Warnock, an African-American, won by 2%.  Ossoff, who is Jewish, at this moment is 0.4% ahead.  However, with 2% of the votes to count, this should increase to 0.6% and probably more.  If 0.5% or less, Republicans can ask for a recount...which would fail anyway, but delays things.

So the Democrats now have control of the White House, House and Senate for the first time in a decade. This will make a night to day difference for the Joe Biden White House.  Chuck Schumer now will be the majority leader of the U.S. Senate.  What does this mean? 

• All the committees in the U.S. Congress will have a Democrat as chairman.
• Biden's nominations will sail through the Senate.  He can now be a lot more adventurous in naming the rest of his cabinet.
• There will be movement to add two new associate justices to the Supreme Court.  
• There is that matter of filibuster that will be addressed.  In the meantime, when it comes to the budget, something called reconciliation will become a norm, which is where Republicans are able to work out an agreement with the Democrats ahead of time, for this legislative move avoids a filibuster.
• The effort to combat COVID-19 will gain momentum and Obamacare will be strengthened.
• Legislation like the Green New Deal will mostly pass, but in watered down form.
• While not a direct matter of the Senate, the U.S. will re-join the Paris Global Climate Change Agreement, the EPA will re-strengthen pollution laws, and the Department of Interior will be a lot more protective of public lands.
• Donald Trump will find himself in serious trouble, from both the Federal and State governments.

This is science day and I was sent information about a profound piece of technology from Israel:

Alas, I checked, and this Cicret bracelet doesn't exist. What you see are special effects.  The notion has been around for almost seven years, and Snopes had a review in 2015.  This is somewhat scientific, so I will unload and delete some photos from my desktop, beginning with gorilla hands, and, except for maybe one, these shots are all real:

The next two are the heart of a blue whale and lungs from a horse:

Just a snail.  But well, it is a Giant African Land Snail (up to two pounds and almost 8 inches long), plus a saltwater crocodile, which can grow to a length of 20 feet (but I can't confirm the validity of this photo):

How large the USA would be relative to the Moon, and what Saturn would look like if it was as far away from Earth as the Moon...and did you know that 1.3 million Earths can fit inside Saturn?

Finally, and most appropriately, Lucy sending a message to Trump and his shenanigans in the U.S. Congress today:

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