August rambling: maximum happiness

Unplugged

Our joyless quest for maximum happiness

The Unfathomable Mystery of Biracial Americans

Not All Racial and Ethnic Groups Are Aging At National Pace

AmStat article on Risks to Federal Statistical Data and a related speech by Adriana Kugler, a governor of the Federal Reserve

The West Bank: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Utah ban of 13 books in schools and libraries; out-bloody-rageous

Inside the Texas Crime Lab That’s Cracked Hundreds of Cold Cases

Teaching the Bible in Public Schools: Biblical and History Response

He Took His 68-Year-Old Secret to Court and Finally Confronted His Ghost

San Diego Comic-Con 2024: download a PDF copy of the free souvenir book.

Aaron Sorkin Says If He Made ‘The West Wing’ Today, People Wouldn’t Recognize “Reasonable” Republican Party

162 lies and distortions in a news conference. NPR fact-checks djt

‘Especially a Woman!’: Fox Host Furious Kamala Harris Loves to Cook

Scott Meyer, one of the founders of the Spectrum Theatre in Albany and the Third Street Cinema in Rensselaer before that, dies at 73

Gena Rowlands, a luminous leading lady of independent film, dies at 94

Baseball trailblazer Billy Bean, who dedicated his life to inclusion, dies at 60

Chi Chi Rodriguez, Hall of Fame golfer, dies at 88

Mitzi McCall, Comedian, Actress and Sitcom Writer, Dies at 93

Is English just badly pronounced French?

A Bisectional Rainbow at the SUNY Admin Building, where I used to work

A Simple Tech Issue, and Unplugged, which links to ME.

COVID

As I mentioned, COVID is not dead yet. From August 12, 2024, LA Times (paywall likely): “California’s strongest summer COVID wave in two years is still surging, fueled in part by the rise of a particularly hyperinfectious FLiRT subvariant known as KP.3.1.1.

“There are a number of possible culprits, experts say. Heat waves kept many Californians indoors, most adults are well removed from their last brush with the coronavirus, or their last vaccine dose, and changes in the virus have also widened the scope of the surge.”

There was COVID among the athletes at the Paris Olympics. 

From the New York Times: “Doctors say that many people may want to wait for the updated vaccines, which have been retooled to better protect against the current dominant strains of the virus…

“An upcoming vaccine from the biotechnology company Novavax will target JN.1, a coronavirus variant that accounted for the bulk of cases in the United States this winter. The Pfizer and Moderna shots coming this fall will target KP.2, a newer offshoot of JN.1 that’s been circulating this summer. The variants responsible for the largest share of cases in the United States right now, KP.3 and KP.3.1.1, are closely related to KP.2 and JN.1.

“Health officials are expected to issue guidance on how long someone should wait between vaccines when the new shots become available…  Because the variants spreading this summer are closely related to one another, a recent Covid infection will likely offer substantial protection against the most common strains circulating now.”

ITEM: A federal court finds an upstate New York eye doctor and his practice illegally fired an employee who reported a lack of COVID protections to state health officials.

Now I Know

The Weird Snack Chip Trick That May Get You Fired and A Spiteful (But Funny) Way to Deal With Telemarketers and Please Be Quiet, We Can’t Hear the Martians and What Cheaters Should Watch Out For and The eBay Fact I Can’t Verify and Why We Wake Up With Crusty Eyes and These Shoes Are Made for Talking and The Great Minnesota Goose Scandal of 2017 and There Is No “Eye” in “Art”

MUSIC

Hymne à l’amour -Edith Piaf

The Lawyer or the Conman – A Randy Rainbow Song Parody

Jungle Love  – The Time

How Bizarre – OMC

Shepherds of the Nation – The Kinks

Suite from Close Encounters of the Third Kind by John Williams, with Zubin Mehta conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic

The American Ruse – MC5

Coverville 1497: The Supertramp Cover Story II

Good Vibrations – Peter Sprague featuring Leonard Patton

Untitled – R.E.M.

Monkey Gone To Heaven – Pixies

Escapade -Janet Jackson:

Cuba – Gibson Brothers

Blue – The Jayhawks

Destination Sunrise – MonaLisa Twins

Out Here On My Own – Irene Cara

Favorite Songs By Favorite Artists: Clutch

Ichi – Ptychka

Rainbow Perfection– A parody tribute to Randy Rainbow by Jonathan Jensen

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