BANGKOK, SAN FRANCISCO and IMAGINE

According to the Bangkok Post today, two luxury nightclubs in town, Krystal and Emerald, are the epicenters of new COVID-19 outbreaks:

Thailand went for months without a confirmed case of local transmission, but the epidemic has now radiated from luxury nightclubs that cater to powerful and wealthy men to the warrens of slums that hug Bangkok’s highways and railroad tracks. In these cramped quarters, social distancing is impossible. Infections have also spread to prisons, construction camps and factories.

Among the newly infected from those nightclubs, an ambassador, government minister, police in the area and, of course, the women who worked there.
When I traveled to Thailand in February of 2020, they were #2 to China in number of cases. Over the next few months they fell to #120.
Yesterday, with 2817 new cases and 36 deaths, they rose to #80 in total cases.
However, their deaths/million is 170, while that of the USA is 1840.
Hawaii at 355 deaths/million is lowest of all the states.
Thus, Thailand is half the rate of Hawaii in terms of deaths/million.

According to the New York Times this morning:

Nearly eliminated in qualifying, Megha Ganne, a Stanford-bound high-school junior from New Jersey, rose to the top of the leaderboard after two rounds. One of her most famous competitors, Michelle Wie West, wouldn’t be in the tournament if crude comments from Rudy Giuliani hadn’t inspired her comeback. (31-year old Michelle, who graduated from Stanford, missed the cut, but 17-year old Megha begins the final round today at #3.) Those so-called crude remarks had to do with Michelle bending over so much while putting that you could see her underwear. The tournament is being held in San Francisco, up the 101 from Stanford.

On the men's side, Jon Rahm, who won the Memorial last year, on Saturday had a hole in one. At the end of the day he was ahead by 6 strokes. Then he learned he tested positive for COVID-19. While more than 50% of PGA players have been vaccinated, it is not known if Rahm, or the two players in his threesome, have. He is asymptomatic but had to withdraw.

I was sent this list by someone who at least sometimes goes to church:

Think about this. You may not realize it, but it's 100% true.
1. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way....
2. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don't like you.
3. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.

4. You mean the world to someone.
5. If not for you, someone may not be living.
6. You are special and unique.
7. When you think you have no chance of getting what you want, you probably won't get it, but if you trust God to do what's best, and wait on His time, sooner or later, you will get it or something better.

8. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good can still come from it.
9. When you think the world has turned its back on you, take a look: you most likely turned your back on the world.
10. Someone that you don't even know exists loves you.

11. Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.

12. Always tell someone how you feel about them; you will feel much better when they know and you'll both be happy .
13. If you have a great friend, take the time to let them know that they are great.

I'm not that superstitious, but I would have tried to squeeze those thoughts to end at #12. Also, I don't necessarily agree that each item is 100% viable for everyone. For example, there are some who would would question #7. However, for believers, there are definite psychological benefits.

Finally, Imagine if there is no Heaven:

It is unclear what John Lennon really believed in, but perhaps existential vacuum might be an appropriate term.

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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