PROJECTIONS FOR 2021 AND MY FAMOUS O-ZONI

Nine years ago only four of ten predictions were right. This past year I was more right than wrong, but mostly because it was a joke and I thought I'd get them all right:

I started RIGHT by predicting what had already happened. Something to do with published works, or 1-0
The UK would leave the European Union: RIGHT, or 2-0. But they cut it awfully close, departing at 11PM last night.
Israel will continue to be bedeviled by uncertainty on who is running the country: RIGHT, or 3-0.
The Mars 2020 rover mission will be launched: RIGHT, or 4-0. Did you know that in that July 2020 window three such missions were sent out--first, Hope orbiter by the United Arab Emirates, then Tianwen-1 by China, and, finally the USA. All three will arrive at Mars next month.
The XXXII Summer Olympics will be held in Tokyo from July 24 to August 9: WRONG, or 4-1. AS you know, this was postponed to this year, from July 23 to August 8.
The ICC Men's T20 World Cup will be held in Australia from October 18 to November 15: WRONG, or 4-2. This was for my cricket fans. The Cup was moved from Australia last year to India in October and November of this year.
The World Expo in Dubai will open on October 20, and run until April 10, 2021: WRONG, or 4-3. This Expo will now be held from 1Oct21 to 31March22.
Donald Trump will not win a Nobel Prize in 2020: RIGHT, or 5-3. One of my best predictions.
The key antagonist will be Michael Bloomberg, for he will spend half a billion of his own dollars to make Trump look bad, which is not all that hard to do. Bloomberg will not be the Democratic candidate that day, but just as well, for he will be 78, and it doesn't matter who runs: RIGHT, for his money was important, or 6-3.
A particularly key factor will be the environment: RIGHT, OR 7-3. I say right because the vote was so close that a margin of victory was the environment.

The shift in female votes will be significant: RIGHT, or 8-3.
Greta Thunberg will smile: RIGHT, or 9-3.
The Sun will rise on the morning of 1January2021: RIGHT, or 10-3.

For this coming year, again, I'll go with the obvious as my Top Ten Predictions:

2021 will be better than 2020.
The UK will actually leave the European Union.
All three Mars expeditions will get to Mars in February of this year.

The Tokyo Summer Olympics will be held this year. However, if it is delayed until the Fall, that would be better for spectators, for the weather in that city is just awful in July and August.

The World Cricket Cup will be held in India this year.
The Dubai World Expo will be begin later this year, and I'll be there sometime during its run.
Donald Trump will not win the Nobel Prize this year.
Joe Biden will be inaugurated on January 20, 2021.
The USA will rejoin the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
The Sun will rise on 1January2022.

My holiday meals started the eve of the new year with steak, scampi and cheesecake from 15 Craigside, plus sashimi from me, accompanied by a sunset:

My Famous O-zoni is only famous because that is what I call it. Every year is different, and this time it was a partnership with 15 Craigside. I bought some ingredients from Marukai. However, on Wednesday, served was miso soup, so I kept it to add to the zoni. Then on Thursday, as a snack, 15C gave us some zoni, which I also refrigerated.

On New Years's Eve I first fried some wagyu fat:

Then added the scallops, topshell, water chestnuts and shiitake mushrooms:

Kept the solid part and added the zoni and mochi soup, plus the liquid portion of the canned topshell, to the, pot, which I let sit overnight. This morning I added those solid ingredients, plus:

Thus, first heated the ozoni (the "o" is just an honorific) stock and added some of the ingredients from the 15 Craigside zoni and miso soup:

This is the first time I've added egg to the ozoni. My New Year 2021 brunch with hot sake and cold beer:

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicio...

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for...

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These a...

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