Year 2 - Day 202

Guess what? Facebook and it's family of Apps all crashed today. This came right after..."A former Facebook product manager said that she was the whistle-blower behind a leak. She said the company “has shown it chooses profit over safety.” And it happened just before she was due to testify before Congress on Tuesday.

And it's back up, finally. So they must have fixed whatever was the issue?

Meanwhile on Twitter - this article was found Why we need libraries.

I hurt today. And I slept badly. It's overcast. But not raining. Dark and overcast at the moment. We're falling into fall it seems.

**
Covid

I uploaded my vaccination information to the crazy org portal again. I feel like my life is a constant series of rinse and repeat.

While we've gotten to 700,000 deaths, it's worth noting that the cases are declining. This has happened since the beginning. Cases decline. People go out and party, cases rise, a quarter die or end up hospitalized, people stop partying and get vaccinated, the cases decline, rinse repeat. The good news is the vaccine is on the rise. More people are vaccinated and many are getting the booster shot - and the Delta variant has waned.

Per the times:

Eventually, immunity will become widespread enough that another wave as large and damaging as the Delta wave will not be possible. “Barring something unexpected,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former F.D.A. commissioner and the author of “Uncontrolled Spread,” a new book on Covid, told me, “I’m of the opinion that this is the last major wave of infection.”

Covid has not only been one of the worst pandemics in modern times. It has been an unnecessarily terrible pandemic. Of the more than 700,000 Americans who have died from it, nearly 200,000 probably could have been saved if they had chosen to take a vaccine. That is a national tragedy.

Covid also isn’t going to disappear anytime soon. It will continue to circulate for years, many scientists believe. But the vaccines can transform Covid into a manageable disease, not so different from a flu or common cold. In the past few weeks, the country appears to have moved closer to that less grim future.

Whatever this autumn brings, the worst of the pandemic is almost certainly behind us.

That's good news, right?

Meanwhile more and more folks in my apartment building have stopped wearing masks as if the pandemic is over. I guess if you don't follow the news (at all) and don't work for a state agency or have parents in a retirement living center - you could be oblivious to this? (Shrugs)

I'm waiting until 2022 before I try to see a play or movie though. The Broadway Show Aladdin keeps getting cancelled due to breakout cases.

Other Interesting News

Oh, in other news?

* Would you get a master’s degree in the Beatles? In the band’s hometown, a postgraduate program aims to turn fans into students of the Fab Four’s legacy by studying their sociological, historical and economic impact. [No. There's not a lot you can do with it. But alas folks are doing just that. ]

* Are you watching “Squid Game”? The dark Korean drama, where desperate characters play lethal children’s games for money, is on track to become Netflix’s most popular original series ever, Vulture reports. [No, I tried it and got irritated long before we even got to the game. I've been getting irritated with television a lot lately - I may go back to Star Trek Discovery. I'm already frustrated with humanity, I do not need to be more frustrated by my entertainment choices.]

Also note to evil marketing folks? The phrase "are you watching, because everyone else is..." no longer works on me. Number 1 - I know not everyone is watching, that's physically impossible and is troll logic. And 2, I'm on to your evil tactics, so bugger off. Just because it's popular doesn't mean I should watch it. Actually, sometimes it means I should avoid it at all costs.

* The The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees went on strike today. 98% of the union voted to do so.

( Excerpt )

In short, the folks behind the scenes - the grips, makeup artists, costumers, mechanical artists, stage and set designers, etc...went on strike nationwide. So, no television and film production is happening at the moment. They've really had to put up with a lot of shit since COVID.

***

Anywho...mother is better, and informs me that each day she has less pain and more mobility. Niece is doing well in London. I just have to solider through and get my act together. May or may not keep you posted.

Random picture of the day...beach, Hilton Head, SC, 2017.

October Meme

1. Do you like rain?

Yes, but in moderation and when I don't have to walk through it. Walking in the rain in NYC is kind of a pain, it goes sideways, and you get soaked regardless. Also right now it is raining, and for some reason I ache.

2. Have you seen someone recently you used to talk to, but don’t anymore?

Yes, an errant co-worker who retired in 2019 and felt the need to pop up again at the office during a pandemic no less. He was surprised not many people were there...
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