WATER AND POLITICS

            From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 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    25       2304    12025        620        518      118

Dec    30       3880    14748       1224       299      465

Jan     14       4142      15512        1151        189      712

Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398

Mar      2       1989     9490        1726       110      194

April     6        906    11787         4211       631       37

May     4        853     13667        3025      3786     59 

June    1        287    10637         2346      3205      95

 July    7         251      8440        1595        817      411

Aug     4         656    10120        1118        532      423 

Sept   22      2228      9326          839       279     124

Oct      6       2102      8255          543       315       59

Nov    3        1436      7830         186        458       23

Dec     1       1633      8475          266        477       28

Jan     7        2025      6729         148         285     140

Feb     2        2990   12012          946        991      175

Mar     2        1778     7756          335         173       28 

Apr     1         439      4056         290         52        12

May    5         225      2404        151            ?        64 

June    2        216      1413          130          10        31 

July    7         320       1958        297          38         9 

Aug   4         311        2138          258          70         ? 

         10        429       2400        254          53         ?

         11         290       1994         173          49         ?

        17          461       2502         246         72         ?

        18          264      1950         202           ?         ?

        24          369      2140         190          36        2

        25          245      1909         197          68        ?

        31          403      1989         115           37        ? 

Sep    1          272        1732        174            ?         ?

Summary:

• Well, back to a not so bad trend.  We have been in this rut for four months.
• Japan remains #1 in new deaths, and yesterday rose to 167,340 new cases, double South Korea's 81,499, with the USA at #3 with 65,815.
• Reunion in the Indian Ocean jumped to 7014 new cases yesterday, a rate of 7793 new cases/million population.  Japan = 1332 and U.S. = 196.  You definitely would not want to visit that island at this time. I was there in 2005.

By now you know all about that third COVID booster shot of Pfizer and Moderna being available next week.  However, what if I'm scheduled to get my flu shot on September 7?  Can I immediately also be inoculated with this new vaccine that better protects me from the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants?  YES!!!  And even at the same time in back to back inoculations.  This combination has already been tested in the UK.  Next fall you can expect both to be packaged in one injection.

About that water supply problem in Jackson, Mississippi, because of floods, they've had to boil water for more than a month (so that graphic to the left is two weeks old), stand in long lines for bottled water, and told to close their mouth when taking a shower.  Jackson is the largest Mississippi city with 149,739 people.  #2 is Gulfport with 73,952.  93% of Jackson is Black, and so is 58% of the state.

In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola beat Republican Sarah Palin for the remaining few months of former Representative Don Young's term.  He passed away earlier this year at the age of 88 and was the longest-serving Republican in Congress ever.  I actually remember him when I worked in the U.S. Senate 40 years ago.

Does this mean that Republicans are in trouble throughout the country?  Well, hard to say with this Democrat victory, for Alaska uses something called ranked-choice voting, which gives the minority party an advantage.  The same candidates will need to run on November 8 to determine who will be the lone Alaskan member of the U.S. House for the next two years.  If nothing much changes, Peltola should again prevail.

Otherwise, former New York Police Department officer Thomas Webster just received the longest sentence yet handed down for the 6 January 2020 ransacking of the the Capitol...10 years, while Donald Trump's federal judge chose to delay acting on on imposing a special master, effectively allowing the Department of Justice to continue doing what it is doing.

Current FiveThirtyEight predictions of who will control the Senate and House after November 8:

• Republicans will win both chambers:  32%
• Democrats win the Senate and Republicans win the House:  44%
• Democrats win both chambers:  24%

Who or what is 538?  An American website founded by Nate Silver.  The company is now owned by Disney,  Their mascot is Fivey Five.  

My postings have regularly speculated that both chambers will remain Democratic.  Why?

To ease you into the weekend, a few interesting photos.  First, what do you think this is?

1800's Vampire hunting kit.  

Below the Oresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden?  Why such a sudden termination?

Looking from the other end, the road leads into a tunnel.

Which city is this?

Night photos of Paris from the Eiffel Tower.

The above was the last photo of the RMS Titanic, taken 110 years ago by Irish Jesuit priest Francis Browne.  Very few know that the ship left Southampton, and first stopped in Cherbourg, France, then Queenstown, Ireland.  He left the Titanic in Queenstown, and stayed in Ireland, while the liner cruised on towards New York City.

You keep reading that the Wonder of the Seas, now the largest cruise ship, is so many times larger than the Titanic.  In reality:

• 
  WotS is only 25% longer.
• WotSeas has a top speed of 25 MPH, compared to the Titanic's 24 MPH.
• But Titanic had 3547 passengers and crew, to WotS's 9382.

• 
  Royal Caribbean has 5 "of the Seas," and they are the five biggest cruise liners.
• The next three are by MSC Cruises of Italy.
• Utopia of the Seas will be the next #1, with a sail date in 2024, capable of handling 3000 more passengers than WotS.

-