About those gasoline lines on the Eastern Seaboard, Elliptic has reported : That the Darkside ransonware group received $5 million from Colonial Pipeline through a Bitcoin wallet. Turns out a German chemical distribution company Brenntag on May 11 also sent $4.4 million, to the same cyberspace to prevent the leakage of stolen data. There were other incidents, as that wallet has received a total of $17.5 million since March, and $12.5 million were re-sent to other sites. Just today, though, there is uncertainty about what exactly has happened to the remaining $5 million, for that location ceased operations. One theory is that the U.S. government was able to do this.   Then again, nothing has been announced. Stephen Hawking might well have been the smartest person alive , then he passed away three years ago.  Perhaps Paul Allen, who with Bill Gates founded Microsoft, might well have then become the smartest.  Allen scored 10 points higher in the SAT than Gates, with a perfect 1600 (the m

I will get into the truth about zoonoses later.  Here is a nice graphic about pandemic deaths .  Considering the current world population ( 7.6 billion compared to 0.4 billion in 1300 ) and how travel-connected humanity is today, the 3.2 million COVID-19 deaths pale in comparison to what has happened in the past. The CDC yesterday announced that masks need not anymore be worn in most settings ( including bars and restaurant s) by those who have been inoculated.  They now encourage travel.  Yet, there remain controls in nursing homes, hospitals, plus public transport and airports.   State governors have the final say, so you would think Hawaii with about the lowest incidence of cases because we are protected by the Pacific Ocean would now open up everything?  Well, we have a particularly cautious governor who happens to also be an engineer.  Wouldn't be surprised if masks will still be generally encouraged for all. Just about when the CDC took action, the New York Yankees reported