THE NEXT FEW DAYS WILL BE MOST INTERESTING

Tomorrow begins Ramadan. For those who don't know what is Ramadan, I will on Sunday provide some history. As such, there was hope for peace in the Gaza Strip by the end of today. Apparently, not going to happen, for both the Hamas and Israel are not backing off on must requirements. While both have their points, I think the biggest source of irritation is PM Netanyahu, who wants to totally obliterate any future terrorism against Israel. Even a long cease fire will threaten his leadership.

What about aid to Ukraine? Well, still no progress in the House. However, looks like something will be worked out by March 22, when the Republicans again play brinksmanship about closing down the Federal government.

Tonight is when you need to spring forward, that is, this is Spring, so you must set your clock forward an hour. Which means you will have one less hour of sleep. Why we continue to do this back and forth every year remains confounding. Daylight saving time has been around for more than a century.

One sector, Port Arthur, Ontario in Canada, was the first use DST in 1908, followed by by Orillia from 1911 to 1912.

Our enemy, Germany. began DST in 1916 to conserve coal and other countries in Europe followed.
The USA joined in 1918 in the interest of adding more daylight hours to conserve energy resources. Only lasted for seven months.

However, instituted again during World War II and was then called War Time.
After the war, local jurisdictions could do whatever they wanted.

There was some chaos, so the Uniform Time Act was enacted in 1966 returning the Spring forward and Fall back process.

However, in 1974 a permanent daylight saving time program was passed, but there were complaints about children going to school in the dark, etc.
So in 1975, back to what we now still do.

Well, not quite, for:

From year to year, the dates on which to change clock may also move for political or social reasons. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 formalized the United States' period of daylight saving time observation as lasting six months (it was previously declared locally); this period was extended to seven months in 1986, and then to eight months in 2005.^[58]^[59]^[60] The 2005 extension was motivated in part by lobbyists from the candy industry, seeking to increase profits by including Halloween (31 October) within the daylight saving time period.^[61]

So by now you must have gotten a sense that lobbying is the cause of the problem. Retailing, sports and tourism interests favor DST, while agriculture, evening entertainment and religion oppose.

Two states opted out of DST, Hawaii and Arizona (but the Navajo Nation does observe), plus all our territories. Why? Something to do with the fact that we have sunshine to spare.
Why does the Navajo Nation observe? Well, the Nation also extends into Utah and Mexico.
Interestingly, current law prohibits any state to make DST permanent.

Got to show you who to blame for DST. New Zealand entomologist George Hudson first proposed DST in 1895. Wrote a paper in 1898, which was read by William Willett of Great Britain, which tried to pass a law, but failed. But the idea took hold in one part of Ontario, Canada.

As confusing as it can be for the USA, you can imagine the havoc this causes for world travelers, like us. We are off on our global adventure in ten days. It's a mystery which country does what and when. Here is a map I won't even try to describe, except that the dark gray areas have never used DST.

Friday will be the Ides of March. Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15. They say, Beware the Ides of March. Why? In the late 16th century, William Shakespeare wrote Julius Caesar. Bad things have happened on March 15. This is the day when Judge Scott McAfee will rule on the fate of Fani Willis and Donald Trump. If Willis is tossed off the case, there is a good chance that Donald Trump's Georgia trial will not occur until next year. Then the Ides of March damage will be to democracy in the U.S. But if Willis is allowed to proceed, this could be the end of Trump.

On a lighter note, tomorrow will be the night of the Academy Awards. I'll say a few more things on Sunday, but be aware that that the ceremony will begin one hour earlier than usual, at 7PM PDT. On the Countdown to the Oscars begins on ABC at 1PM ET, which is 8AM Hawaii time.

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 suspicious and troublesome. This strain has also been spreading in

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 several months. This is caused by stress more than anythi

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 are held every five years, and there have only been

Search This Blog