YES, THIS WAS A GREAT WEEK

As the past few day have been featuring ridiculously expensive Japanese Whiskies, to all mothers:

But how many mothers actually receive whiskey for their day of the year? Mothers get $25 billion worth of gifts/meals, compared to $16 billion for Father's Day. Also 84% of mothers are recognized and only 76% of fathers. Are mothers better respected or loved or good at inspiring guilt? Whatever, here is what mothers most get:

47% flowers.
36% chocolate.
29% gift cards (150 million/year, next to Christmas and Valentine's)
26% dinner.
22% jewelry.
19% beauty products.

Also:

Spending is up in the USA: $134 this year, up from $97 in 2020.
Surprisingly enough, only around 50 countries follow this American tradition, which some say was first suggested by Julia Ward Howe, writer of the Battle Hymn of the Republic.
But only a few use the second May, and it is never a public holiday.
Which countries most celebrate Mother's Day? Those with companies that early on promoted this day for profit.

With that, I need to complete a truly great week with more about my third straight day of greatness.

Watched the entire Kentucky Derby from 8:30AM to 1:30PM, of course enjoying Mint Julep, which features Kentucky Bourbon.

I long thought Woodford Reserve just outbid Old Forester for Kentucky Derby Rights. Not so, for both companies are owned by Brown-Forman, which celebrated their 150th anniversary in 2020. Perhaps the reason is that Woodford Reserve is more expensive than Old Forester.
There is also Tennessee Whiskey, and Brown-Forman also owns Jack Daniels.

So we taste-tested the two Kentucky bourbons, and when mixed with syrup and mints, you really can't determine any difference.

After a while, getting close to the playing of Old Kentucky Home, I thought it was an appropriate moment to crack open a special Kentucky Derby bottle of Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay.

While boiled peanuts and deviled eggs are not the traditional fare served at Churchill Downs, this party of mine was in Hawaii. The finish was incredible, as 80-1 shot Rich Strike won. In addition this was the first Kentucky Derby win for trainer Eric Reed and jockey Sonny Leon. Rich Strike entered only because another horse got scratched. The biggest upset occurred in 1913 when Donerail won at 91-1.

But that was not all. Next the Hawaii softball team played the league leader Cal Fullerton. No problem at the beginning, for Hawaii jumped out to a 10-1 lead. But later on the game was tied 11-11 and into an extra inning. A two-run home run won it for Hawaii, meaning we took the series from Fullerton.

This was followed by Hawaii sweeping Long Beach in volleyball on ESPN2, making us repeat NCAA champions. I told you last Sunday that THIS WILL BE A GREAT WEEK.

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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