WILL THERE BE A COVID WINTER WAVE?

I ended my posting yesterday with:

Latest hot flash! Watch this. NASA WILL TODAY ANNOUNCE WHEN THE TWO ASTRONAUTS WILL RETURN HOME.

Well, today we found out that NASA again delayed a decision about what to do with the stranded astronauts. They did say that a final decision will be made at the end of August. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore had an 8-day mission, which now is into Day 72.

Froma Harrop had a fine op-ed today about the presidential election.

The Harris-Walz campaign radiates sunshine and good times to come. Donald Trump, on the other hand, spreads gloom through his lame insults and crazy delusions.

Harris doesn't have to do much to bait Trump. She and Walz need only ignore, mock or sometimes provoke him, and then view his lashing out with quiet detachment. It is said that the devil cannot endure to be mocked. Trump can dish it out, but he can't take it.

The election is far from over, but Trump is already laying the groundwork to deny the upcoming 2024 results. This level of desperation was not seen when the polls had him handily beating President Joe Biden.

If you haven't figured this one out. That's comma-la, or Kamala. Costs around $16. Or, for the same price, the official Harris-Walz cap. The camouflage relates to Walz being a hunter.

After dinner the other night, my throat began to hurt. Got worse into the evening, so I took a COVID-19 test. Negative. Throat got worse through the night. The, I noticed that the pain was only on the left side. I woke up around 3AM and the soreness came in sudden waves, penetrating for only a second or two. Then noticed that the pain was not really in my throat but my inner ear, something which now and then occurs. My ear hurts, but I'm not contagious and without COVID-19. Whew.

But there is no doubt that there has been a summer COVID-19 summer wave. Last week, NBC News asked, Is This The Biggest Covid Summer Wave Ever? Southern states in particular did not look good., with the nation rising about 17% from early June into late July. Mind you, there are now only 10,320 hospital admissions now compared to 150,000 in January of 2022.

In fact, Axios indicated that all signs point to a late summer COVID wave. A new variant, EG.5, is now the dominant form. Unfortunately, this virus is not designed for the Fall booster shot, which actually will be available next month, for 15 Craigside, where I live, just announced sign-ups for the September 11 mass inoculation date.

I was getting worried about when this would occur, for we have a two-month trip planned for departure on October 9, and it takes a couple of weeks for the vaccine to become protective. We will fly to Seattle, board a cruise ship all the way through the Panama Canal to Southampton, UK. Then fly to Amsterdam for a two-week European River Christmas cruise. After a couple of days in Zurich, fly home to Honolulu. Both ships will no doubt have covid outbreaks, and I worry about plane flights, of which we'll have five.

This is not only a U.S. wave, the entire world is affected, and Europe might be where the worst is occurring. Winter covid waves are more severe than the summer ones. According the the CDC:

....respiratory virus illnesses typically peak during the fall and winter. These peaks are due to several factors, including human behaviors and environmental conditions that can affect the ability of viruses to survive and spread.

On the ocean storm front, certainly looks like Typhoon Ampil, now strengthened to 115 MPH, a Category 3, is heading straight for Japan today or tomorrow. However, all projections show a turn to the right, sparing the country.

Hurricane Ernesto, to strengthen into a Category 2 today, caused some problems in the Caribbean as a tropical storm, but will remain in the Atlantic Ocean.

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...

OSAKA EXPO: Day One

Well, the day finally came for us to go to the Osaka Expo. We were told ahead of time that the long walks would be fearful, giant lines will need to be tolerated just to get into the Expo, with those ocean breezes, it would really be cold, and so forth. Maybe it was pure luck, but we avoided all the above warnings We had a grand day, and are looking forward to Sunday, our second day at the Expo. So come along for an enjoyable ride. Our hotel is adjacent to the Tennoji Station, a very large one with several lines. We upgraded our Suica card and caught the Misosuji red line towards Umeda. Transferred to the Chuo green line at the Hommachi Station. This Osaka Metro train took us to the Yumeshima Station at the Expo site. It was a very large mob leaving the train and heading to the entrance. Took only a few minutes to get to the entrance. This mob was multiplied by at least a factor of ten of those already waiting to enter. However...

WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO A JAPANESE HIGH TECH TOILET

Did you know that Oktoberfest in Germany is mostly in September? The very first day of Oktoberfest 2021 was supposed to be today, September 18, extending into October 3. Well, as in 2020, Oktoberfest was cancelled. So why is it called by that month when it is held mostly in September? The first celebration in 1810 was in October. Did you also know that Oktoberfest is held only in Munich? These days seven million drink more than a liter ( about three typical cans ) of beer each, costing around $11. Except for my wife and I when we followed the crowd to board the S-Bahn to the fairgrounds near Old Town. It was drizzling a bit. We bought a large pretzel outside of a typical barn where beer is served. We did not know that you needed to get this inside the hall. So no one came to serve us beer. After a while we decided to have lunch, and the restaurant we settled on only served wine. Thus, we might have been the ...

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