Last night's Super Bowl as a football game was disappointing. The ads were also not of the same caliber as those in years past. We only watched the first half before following The Family Dog to bed. I watched a couple of the ads we missed, such as Bruce Springsteen's Jeep ad, online this morning and found nothing to get excited about. I've never been a Tom Brady fan, but I did appreciate reading that in September 2014, six years and five Super Bowls ago, he said, "When I suck, I'll retire. But I don't plan on sucking for a long time."
As for the pie and the chili, both were great. I asked The Professor if the pie (which does taste very much like a cookie) "needed" the cream cheese crust I wrestled with. He said it did, that it would not have tasted the same on a plain pastry crust. The chili was good last night and again for lunch today. Son #1 took a container of it with him this morning and texted me later to tell me it was delicious. The chili recipe can be found here. I don't want to run wild violating copyright protection, but I might be willing to scan the pie and crust recipes and send them to a couple of close friends.
In news of viruses other than the novel coronavirus one, the Democratic Republic of the Congo had an Ebola case surface. The woman presenting with Ebola was married to a man who survived Ebola a couple of years ago. It turns out that the Ebola virus can live in semen and eye tissue for over three years. It gives new meaning to the term "safe sex."
The good news is that Covid-19 rates in the US are declining. There were just over 87,000 new cases yesterday, the first day since early November with fewer than 100,000 new cases. Deaths are not declining, unfortunately, and the total case number for the US is now over 27,000,000. In 44 states, new case rates are declining, while that are flat in the other six states. The lowest new case rates are in Hawaii, North Dakota, and Washington State; the highest are in South Carolina, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.
The bad news is that the above declines may not last. The variants, particularly that from the UK, are becoming more prevalent and could bring on a new wave of cases. There is also a nontrivial probability of seeing a post-Super-Bowl surge. Thousands danced, maskless, in the streets of downtown Tampa following last night's game. There were also likely to have been crowded indoor gatherings in other cities.
While Virginia is treating high-risk conditions on the honor system, New York State is requiring that people document whatever underlying conditions they have that put them at higher risk should they get covid-19. Documentation can be in the form of a doctor's letter, other medical information, or some form of signed certification. While it would be a hassle, though not difficult, to get such documentation from my doctor, it may be a better way to handle things. Given the anxiety some people are showing about when they could get vaccinated, I can see someone claiming to have something they don't really have just to get vaccinated sooner than they otherwise would be able to.
Something I never would have thought of as a result of the pandemic is an increased demand for services from organizations in Israel that help ultra-Orthodox who have left the fold transition to modern Israeli society. The reasons cited for the increased exiting the fold are that the pandemic has caused a breakdown of supervision and routine, an increase in internet use, and more time for questioning and self discovery.
1 comment:
Here you wait patiently to be called because the NHS (being National) already knows about your high risk condition seeing as it has been treating it. They know how old you are but what they don't know is your job. Some of the vaccinations are booked through employers or voluntary organisatiobs (I have a friend who helps in a food bank) and there were reports of eligible people passing booking links to family and friends, one would hope that had been tightened up now.
We've just seen the seven day average number of cases drop under 20,000 which puts us back where we were in mid October.
My chili starts with cooking the beans, another thing that is simpler with a pressure cooker. No foam all over the cooker top, no balancing pan lids. If mine broke I would replace it immediately because I use it so often.
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