I haven't been to Las Vegas for around 5 years.  I have historically stayed at the California Hotel, or sister properties of Boyd in the past because the price was low and food was essentially free. I'm here for five  days this time and picked the almost new Circa Resort and Casino.  When it opened late in 2020, it became the first all-new hotel in downtown Las Vegas in 40 years. Is only for adults. Has 777 rooms.  The adjacent California Hotel has 325 rooms. Said to have attempted to have the feel of hotels of the original Vegas, in that there are no kitschy themes, waterslides, and so forth, but has the technology of today. So much so that there is no phone in the room.  They rightly assume everyone coming to their hotel has a functional smart phone.  You need to use what looks sort of like an iPad to do everything.  No good for people like me. For example, I wanted to talk to the front desk to send someone up to show me how to plug in a device.  It took me half an hour to

  Some good news.  According to an article in   Forbes ,   both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines may offer years-long protection against COVID-19 , including variants.  Even mixing the two--one dose each--should be equivalently good.  There could be other vaccines with similar immunity power, but the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was not expected to be as durable. One more tidbit:   is Kim Jong-un on a diet or seriously ill?   At one time he was supposed to be 5'6" tall and more than 300 pounds.   When he took control nearly a decade ago at the age of 27, he was less than 200 pounds.  He proceeded to gain 14 pounds/year.  Not anymore.  He is said to be emaciated, putting his followers in despair.  Who will replace him?  Children too young.  He does have an older brother, and, of course, a sister, who is a lot more prominent, but said to be scared for her life. America's Got Talent is well-into its  16th season .  One of my favorites this year is Jimmie Herrod, who while aud