CELEBRATION OF 2025 AT CRAIGSIDE

The fireworks at midnight bringing in the new year is now a shadow of what it once was when the local government clamped down because of noise, air pollution and injuries. However, below you can see some photos I took of that moment last night, and there were some major fireworks out there, much of it probably illegally brought into the state. One of these accidents at one home killed at least two, with 20 more seriously injured. It happened in the Salt Lake area of Honolulu, where I took most of the shots. But this photo to the left was sent to me. That must have been the incident.

In New Orleans, a 42-year old Texas man, rammed a pickup truck New Year's revelers on Bourbon Street, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more. Apparently, the driver was flying an ISIS flag, so authorities are calling an act of terrorism. It's possible he had partners. A lot more will be coming on this tragedy. The Sugar Bowl game between Notre Dame and Georgia was postponed to tomorrow.

After being away for two months, I'm certainly appreciating the comfort and security of 15 Craigside, a seniors' community in Honolulu. Yesterday began with a mile walk to Central Seventh-Day Adventist Church which is adjacent to a Gold Tree in bloom.

My walk back with 15 Craigside in the immediate background behind this graveyard.

We had a special New Year's Eve Dinner.

The buffet.

Flowers in the lobby.

Kadomatsu and carnations.

Then last night, joined the poker group for a party and midnight fireworks photo session.

Fireworks from midnight. It was raining a bit, so the clarity of the photos was affected. The noise was nevertheless deafening.

So Happy New Year 2025.

My annual ozoni ingredients.

Ozoni with ikura and ume on the mochi, plus ahi sashimi, with sake and Kirin Beer.

The Rose Bowl was a slaughter in the first half. At this point, it was Ohio State over Oregon 34-0, until in the final play of the half Oregon finally scored.

Ozoni with ikura and ume on the mochi.

Second bowl

With ahi sashimi, sake and Kirin Beer.

Comments

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...

Search This Blog