It is Cherry Blossom Season in
Washington DC.
I remember when I worked in DC
and would walk from the VRE Commuter Train to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum
and got to see all the colorful Cherry Blossoms.
It was a really nice time.
It is Cherry Blossom Season in
Washington DC.
I remember when I worked in DC
and would walk from the VRE Commuter Train to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum
and got to see all the colorful Cherry Blossoms.
It was a really nice time.
"Boy Meets World" in the 1990s and 2024.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/casts-step-step-boy-meets-225653598.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
"Step By Step" in the 1990s and 2024.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/casts-step-step-boy-meets-225653598.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
Spring Activities
The weather is warming up and
everything’s turning green. Shed your winter coat and get started on this list
of fun ways to enjoy the spring season.
The Great Outdoors:
Plant something green
See the cherry blossoms
Have a picnic at the park
Find the first crocuses and
snowdrops
Jog outside
Take a hike
Play softball
Ride a bike
Sit outside at a café
Visit a farm to see the animals
Walk on a deserted beach
Play a round of golf
Go horseback riding
Nostalgic:
Fly a kite
Look for four-leaf clovers
Jump in puddles
Get dirt under your fingernails
Blow bubbles
Climb a tree
Find a playground and swing on the swings
Feed the ducks at a pond
Wade in a creek
Draw pictures on the sidewalk
with chalk
Skip stones across a pond
Plan a spring break vacation
Eat and Drink:
Roast a bunch of asparagus
Steam whole artichokes and eat
them leaf by leaf
Bake cupcakes with pink (or
lavender or yellow or baby blue) frosting
Eat a ripe apricot
Visit the farmers’ market and buy spinach and
sugar snap peas
Pick strawberries
Eat jellybeans
Buy a package of Peeps
Mix up a pitcher of margaritas
Just Because:
Listen to the rain
Watch bumblebees at work in a
garden
Notice the trees budding
Spot a rainbow
Listen to the birds singing
Go bare-legged
Feel the sun on your face
Leave your windows open to catch
a spring breeze
Pet a bunny
See all the Oscar-winning movies
Send someone other than your mom
a Mother’s Day card
Wear open-toed shoes
Buy a fun umbrella
Visit the zoo
Decorate your home with fresh
tulips and daffodils
Get caught in a spring shower
https://www.realsimple.com/work-life/entertainment/spring-activities
Saint Patrick’s Day is a major (and official) holiday on Montserrat.
Monserrat is a small island in
the Caribbean.
It is 10 miles long and 7 miles
wide.
It is a British Overseas
Territory.
The official language is English.
It was founded in 1628 and had a
large Irish population who used the Irish Language into the 20th
Century.
Half of the Island has been under
an Exclusion Zone since the 1997 Soufrière Hills Volcano Eruption covered the
southern part of the island, including the island’s Capital of Plymouth and the
only airport of Blackborne.
2/3 of the island’s population
fled to the United Kingdom leaving only a current population of 4,390.
The northern part of the island
continues to be unaffected by the Volcano and is lush and green.
A new Airport (Osborne) and a new
Capital (Little Bay) was opened in the north.
(Saint Patrick’s Day on
Montserrat.)
Montserrat is known as the "The
Emerald Isle of The Caribbean” due to it’s lush greenery and all the Irish
influence.
St. Patrick’s Day Facts:
Corned beef and cabbage is a
traditional St. Patrick’s Day dish. In 2009, roughly 26.1 billion pounds of
beef and 2.3 billion pounds of cabbage were produced in the United States.
Irish soda bread gets its name
and distinctive character from the use of baking soda rather than yeast as a
leavening agent.
Lime green chrysanthemums are
often requested for St. Patrick’s Day parades and celebrations.
St. Patrick’s Day Parade:
The first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in the United States on March 17,
1762, when Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New
York City. More than 100 St. Patrick’s Day parades are held across the United
States. New York City and Boston are home to the largest celebrations. At the
annual New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade, participants march up 5th Avenue
from 44th Street to 86th Street. Each year, between 150,000 and 250,000
marchers take part in the parade, which does not allow automobiles or floats.
Places to Spend St. Patrick’s
Day: There are seven places in the
United States named after the shamrock, the floral emblem of Ireland including
Mount Gay-Shamrock, West Virginia; Shamrock, Texas; Shamrock Lakes, Indiana;
and Shamrock, Oklahoma. Sixteen U.S. places share the name of Ireland’s
capital, Dublin. With 44,541 residents, Dublin, California, is the largest of
the nice, followed by Dublin, Ohio, with 39,310. Other towns with the luck of
the Irish include Emerald Isle, North Carolina and Irishtown, Illinois.
Facts about Irish Americans:
There are 32.3 million U.S. residents with Irish ancestry, according to a 2016
census. This number is about seven times the population of Ireland itself.
Irish is the nation’s second most frequently reported ancestry, ranking behind
German. Across the country, 10.2 percent of residents lay claim to Irish
ancestry. That number more than doubles to 20.2 percent in the state of
Massachusetts. Irish is the most common ancestry in 54 U.S. counties, of which
44 are in the Northeast. Middlesex County in Massachusetts tops the list with
348,978 Irish Americans, followed by Norfolk County, Massachusetts, which has
203,285. Irish ranks among the top five ancestries in every state except Hawaii
and New Mexico. It is the leading ancestry group in Delaware, Massachusetts and
New Hampshire. In 2016 there were approximately 125,840 U.S. residents who were
born in Ireland.
https://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/st-patricks-day-facts
222 years ago today (March 16, 1802) West Point was founded.
The United States Military
Academy or West Point was established by President Thomas when he signed the
following: “that the said corps, when so organized, shall be stationed at West
Point in the state of New York and shall constitute a military academy.”
There are 4,294 Cadets at West
Point.
Candidates for admission must bet
between 13 and 23 years old, unmarried and apply directly to the Academy and
receive a nomination, usually from a member of Congress. Other nomination
sources include the President and Vice President.
To be eligible for appointment, Candidates
must also undergo a Candidate Fitness Assessment and a complete physical exam.
Up to 60 students from foreign
countries are present at USMA, educated at the expense of the sponsoring
nation, with tuition assistance based on the GNP of their country.
Of these foreign cadets the Code
of Federal Regulations specifically permits one Filipino cadet designated by
the President of the Philippines (from when the Philippines was a US Territory from
1898-1946.)
Students are Officers-in-Training
and are referred to as "Cadets" or collectively as the "United
States Corps of Cadets" (USCC).
The Army fully funds tuition for Cadets
in exchange for an Active Duty service obligation upon graduation.
The Academic Program grants a
Bachelor of Science Degree with a curriculum that grades cadets' performance
upon a broad academic program, military leadership performance, and mandatory
participation in competitive athletics.
Henry Ossian Flipper, a former
Slave, was the first Black American to graduate West Point in 1877.
The first Females graduated from
West Point in 1980.
The first Homosexuals were
officially graduated in 2016.
Notable West Point Alumni
include: US Presidents (Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower), US Military
Leaders (William Tecumseh Sherman, George McClellan, George G. Meade, George
Armstrong Custer, John J. Pershing, Omar Bradley, Douglas MacArthur, George S.
Patton, William Westmoreland and Norman
Schwarzkopf, Jr.)
With everything that is going on please take a moment to stop and think about those people who work tirelessly:
- Doctors, Nurses, Orderlies, 911
Operators, EMTs, Police, Fire.
- Those taking care of the
Elderly in Nursing Homes, Respite Care, Group Homes, Individual Homes, Hospices,
etc.
- Those taking care of the
Disabled in Respite Care, Institutions, Group Homes, Individual Homes, etc.
- Soldiers that fight and protect
us around the globe.
- Teachers that do so much with so little.
- The Volunteers and
Organizations that care, feed and house the Homeless.
- The Food Banks that feed those
that are in most need.
- Humane Societies, Animal
Shelters, Animal Charities and Veterinarians that protect, treat, feed and care
for abused and unwanted animals.
I know I am grateful for all
of their hard work and dedication.
With St. Patrick's Day this Sunday and the weather supposed to be cold and snowy please don't forget to check on the Leprechauns.
My house will be open as a Warming Center for any and
all freezing Leprechauns. I also have enough storage for their pots of gold.
Please spread the word.
From the DW:
“German Stasi murder trial 50
years after Berlin Wall shooting”
(Czeslaw Kukuczka)
Czeslaw Kukuczka was shot dead
from a short distance at the Friedrichstrasse station border crossing
For years, the former member of
communist East Germany's secret police had been in peaceful retirement in a
detached house on the outskirts of Leipzig, tending to his garden. Now, aged
80, the ex-lieutenant in the Stasi has gone on trial accused of shooting dead a
Polish man who tried to flee communism 50 years ago. Through his lawyer, he
denied the charges of murder in court on Thursday. His name has not been
officially confirmed. But according to prosecutors, while working for the
Stasi, he allegedly shot Czeslaw Kukuczka in the back from as he tried to cross
from East Berlin to the West.
Kukuczka was a Polish firefighter
and a father of three, who was desperate to start a new life in the West. In
1974 he left Poland, ostensibly to spend the weekend in East Berlin. In
reality, he had a plan to escape into West Berlin and then, it's thought, on to
the US where he had relatives. While in East Berlin, Kukuczka went to the
Polish embassy carrying a briefcase, which he claimed contained a bomb. He
threatened to blow up the embassy if he was not granted permission to leave
East Germany. Kukuczka was given the necessary documents and was accompanied by
Stasi officials to the checkpoint at the nearby Friedrichstrasse train station
to cross to the West. He thought his plan had worked, but it was a trick. As he
made his way through the checkpoints, Mr Kukuczka was shot in the back. He
later bled to death in a clinic at the Hohenschönhausen Stasi prison.
A group of West German
schoolgirls, who were returning from a school trip to East Berlin, say they saw
a man in a raincoat and sunglasses shoot him. That man, say prosecutors, was
the former Stasi officer on trial in Berlin on Thursday. East German and Polish
officials later attempted to cover up the case, not even telling Kukuczka's
family what happened. The family received an urn to bury, but never the full
story. During the 1990s, after German reunification, there were multiple
investigations, but never enough evidence to track down the killer.
In 2005, the case was closed. But
in 2016, Polish and German historians found new evidence in Stasi archives,
including records indicating that the accused appears to have received a bronze
medal for his role in the case. Prosecutors believe the new evidence proves
that the 80-year-old pensioner is the man who pulled the trigger. The archives
also show that Czeslaw Kukuczka's briefcase did not contain a bomb and disprove
later claims by East German officials that he was carrying a gun.
At least 140 people were killed
trying to leave communist East Germany while the Berlin Wall was up. It is rare
for those responsible to face justice. Until now, those who have been
prosecuted were generally accused of manslaughter, not murder.
^ Sadly, the Germans have a poor
record of bringing to justice those people that do horrific crimes whether as a
Nazi or a Communist. ^
Leprechauns are just Santa's Elves that got fired for drinking Alcohol instead of Hot Chocolate on the job.
The US Military has used Dogs to
help their Soldiers.
From being trained in combat, to
their use as the Scouts, Sentries, Messengers, Mercy Dogs, Bomb Sniffers and Trackers,
their uses have been varied.
The US used 10,000 Military Dogs during
World War 2 (1941-1945.) 1,800 of those Military Dogs went Combat Overseas.
The US used 1,500 Military Dogs
during the Korean War (1950-1953.)
The US used 4,500 Military Dogs
during the Vietnam War (1965-1973.) 200 of them survived the War and returned
to the US.
It is only since the 1980s that
Military Dogs were brought home from War (before most were euthanized Overseas
when they were no longer needed.)
Today the US Military uses 1,600
Military Dogs.
From Reuters:
“US to send $300 million in
new weapons package for Ukraine”
The United States will send a new
military aid package for Ukraine worth $300 million, President Joe Biden's
administration said on Tuesday, the first such move in months as additional
funds for Kyiv remain blocked by Republican leaders in Congress. The White
House has been scrambling to find ways to send more military assistance given
the situation on the battlefield and the resistance to the funding from
Republican hardliners. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the
funding was coming from unanticipated cost savings from Pentagon contracts and
would be used for artillery rounds and munitions for High Mobility Artillery
Rocket Systems (HIMARS). "This ammunition will keep Ukraine's guns firing
for a period, but only a short period," Sullivan told reporters. "It
is nowhere near enough to meet Ukraine's battlefield needs and it will not
prevent Ukraine from running out of ammunition," Sullivan said.
The new weapons package was first
reported by Reuters earlier on Tuesday. The last drawdown was in December 2023
when funds to replenish stocks fell to zero. U.S. officials have also looked at
options for seizing some $285 billion in Russian assets immobilized in 2022 and
using the money to pay for Ukraine weaponry. The announcement came as Poland’s
president and prime minister meet President Joe Biden at the White House later
on Tuesday to talk about ways to bolster support for Ukraine. Using the funds
that have been returned to replenish stocks opens a narrow window to urgently
allow more aid to be sent from existing stocks as the Biden administration
waits for supplemental funding to be passed by lawmakers.
Biden, a Democrat, has backed
military aid to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, while his
likely Republican opponent in the Nov. 5 U.S. election, former president Donald
Trump, has a more isolationist stance. Republican House of Representatives
Speaker Mike Johnson, an ally of Trump, has so far refused to call a vote on a
bill that would provide $60 billion more for Ukraine. The measure has passed
the Democratic-run Senate, and both Republicans and Democrats in the House say
it would pass if the chamber's Republican leaders allowed a vote.
Leaders of U.S. intelligence
agencies urgently pressed members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday to
approve additional military assistance for Ukraine, saying it would not only
boost Kyiv as it fights Russia but discourage Chinese aggression.
Ukraine President Volodymyr
Zelenskiy said on Monday that the situation along the front of the country's
war with Russia was the best in three months, with Moscow's troops no longer
advancing after their capture last month of the eastern city of Avdiivka. Zelenskiy,
in an interview with France's BFM television, said Ukraine had improved its
strategic position despite shortages of weaponry, but suggested the situation
could change again if new supplies were not forthcoming. He said earlier that
Russia is preparing a new offensive against Ukraine starting in late May or
summer. Zelenskiy has said 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since
February 2022. Russia's capture of Avdiivka gave the Kremlin's forces breathing
room in defending the Russian-held regional center of Donetsk, 20 kilometres
(12 miles) to the east. Earlier this month, a top military commander said that
Ukrainian troops were forced to leave several settlements neighboring Avdiivka
due to Russia's continued offensive amid its own depleting stockpiles of
munitions.
Denmark will provide a new
military aid package including Caesar artillery systems and ammunition to
Ukraine worth around 2.3 billion Danish crowns ($336.6 million), the Danish
Defence Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. European Union countries are
set to agree on a new 5 billion-euro ($5.46 billion) top-up to a fund used to
finance military shipments to Ukraine, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday,
citing four officials briefed on the discussions.
^ This is no where near enough to
help Ukraine. The House Republicans are needlessly playing around with Human
Lives just to better themselves. ^
https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-u-preparing-weapons-package-145016873.html
From the BBC:
“Haiti's prime minister Ariel
Henry resigns as law and order collapses”
Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel
Henry has agreed to resign following weeks of mounting pressure and increasing
violence in the impoverished country. It comes after regional leaders met in
Jamaica on Monday to discuss a political transition in the country. Mr Henry is
currently stranded in Puerto Rico after being prevented by armed gangs from
returning home. He said his government would resign following the
"installation of [a transition] council." "I'm asking all
Haitians to remain calm and do everything they can for peace and stability to
come back as fast as possible," Mr Henry said in a video address
announcing his resignation.
The rise and fall of Haiti's
Ariel Henry He has not been allowed back into Haiti after leaving in late
January for visits to Guyana and Kenya, where he signed a deal on the
deployment of an international security force to help tackle violence. Mr
Henry had led the country on a supposedly interim basis since July 2021,
following former President Jovenel MoĂŻse's assassination, but had repeatedly
postponed elections - saying security had to be restored first. Many
Haitians questioned the length of his unelected governance and Mr Henry's
resignation had been one of the key demands of the heavily armed gangs that
have recently tighten their grip on the capital, Port-au-Prince. These
gangs have attacked the main prison to help thousands of inmates escape, as
well as targeting police stations, the capital's international airport and its
port. Port-au-Prince and the surrounding region is under a month-long
state of emergency, while a curfew has been extended.
The head of the UN's World Food
Programme in Haiti, Jean-Martin Bauer, said on Monday that more than 360,000
people had now been displaced. "We're also seeing an interruption in the
flow of goods, and this has huge impacts on food markets in
Port-au-Prince," said Mr Bauer, adding that goods were currently unable to
get into Haiti by land, sea or air. The country was already dealing with
malnutrition and there are serious concerns that the problem will soon become
significantly worse. Matthias Pierre, a former elections minister in Haiti,
described the current situation in the country as "very precarious"
with an army and police force that is unequipped to deal with the unrest. Mr
Pierre, who broke the news of Mr Henry's resignation to the BBC's Newsday
programme before it was publicly confirmed, said the gangs were now pushing to
be part of any new power-sharing deal. He added that such a political
settlement was impossible without the "support" of an international
armed force.
There are now questions over what
will happen to the 1,000-strong UN-backed security force Kenya is expected to
lead in Haiti to try and restore order there. The top civil servant in
Kenya's foreign affairs ministry has told the BBC that its deployment of police
to Haiti has been put on hold following Mr Henry's resignation. Korir
Sing'oei added that Kenya would wait for the installation of a new
constitutional authority before further decisions were made. The US said
it saw no need to delay the mission. Its proposed contribution to this
security force now stands at $300m (£234m) after Secretary of State Antony
Blinken pledged a further $100m to it. Another $33m has been allocated
for humanitarian aid.
The Caricom group of Caribbean nations, which has been meeting in Jamaica to discuss the crisis in Haiti, has outlined what it wants a transitional council to look like. It would be made up of seven voting members and two observers and include representatives from several coalitions, the private sector and civil society, and one religious leader. nyone intending to run in Haiti's next elections will not be able to participate. The US said it expects the council will be appointed within the next two days, which will then appoint an interim prime minister. It is hoped the council will pave the way for the first elections in Haiti since 2016.
Haiti: The basics The Caribbean country shares a border with the Dominican Republic and has an estimated population of 11.5 million. It has a land area of 27,800 sq km, which is slightly smaller than Belgium and about the same size as the US state of Maryland. Chronic instability, dictatorships and natural disasters in recent decades have left Haiti the poorest nation in the Americas. An earthquake in 2010 killed more than 200,000 people and caused extensive damage to infrastructure and the economy. A UN peacekeeping force was put in place in 2004 to help stabilise the country and only withdrew in 2017. In July 2021, President Jovenel MoĂŻse was assassinated by unidentified gunmen in Port-au-Prince. Amid political stalemate, the country continues to be wracked by unrest and gang violence
^ Haiti has a long history of
violence and danger. I hope that things will start to quiet down and stabilize
now. ^
From Military.com:
“Army Requests Massive Funding
Boost to Improve Barracks Amid Growing Quality-of-Life Concerns”
The Army is eyeing a massive
increase in its funding to maintain aging barracks and build new base housing
for junior troops in one of its most dramatic single budget requests to
Congress in recent years. In its proposed budget, the Army is seeking a
total of $2.35 billion for barracks in 2025, a major boost from this fiscal
year's $1.5 billion budget request. The Army’s proposed boost, which
includes tripling its budget to construct new barracks, signals the service has
taken enormous steps in elevating living conditions as a priority, siphoning
funds from other parts of the service.
The service’s overall budget
request is $185.9 billion -- a 0.2% increase from this year -- that when
adjusted for inflation, has the Army potentially operating in 2025 with
effectively the same budget. However, the final figures could change as
Congress takes the request and starts working out its own version of the Army
budget. That potential boost would fulfill what service leaders have long
called a top priority and will likely be among the heaviest lifts in the
proposed budget for the Army, which needs Congress to back and approve the
added money. It signals that Army planners are finally trying to wrap their
arms around the growing quality-of-life issues and poor housing conditions
faced by junior troops.
If successful, the major increase
in funding for barracks improvements could also be among the most meaningful
accomplishments in Army Secretary Christine Wormuth's tenure, who, in an
October interview with Military.com, said that the service needs a "generational"
investment in barracks. “Despite an overall flat Army budget and many competing
resource requirements, we are significantly increasing funding for barracks
construction, restoration, and modernization,” Wormuth said in a statement to
Military.com. “We will continue to work with Congress to make barracks a
long-term investment priority, as the Army still faces a significant
maintenance backlog in our large inventory of aging barracks.” The ambitious
request also puts the ball in Congress' court after lawmakers have started to
signal that the service should make bigger cash requests to repair dilapidated
barracks and replace its aging infrastructure, some of which is a half-century
old.
A divided Congress has usually
failed to pass a defense budget on time -- before the start of the fiscal year
in October -- in recent years. Instead, it has usually relied on stopgap
spending bills to avoid government shutdowns that buy Capitol Hill time to
negotiate. That patchwork funding makes it difficult for the Army to plan major
construction efforts, officials have warned. Congress has yet to pass the
Army’s fiscal 2024 funding, which has had a significant impact on the service’s
barracks efforts for this year. At least five construction efforts worth $237
million have been stalled, one Army official told Military.com. Installations
with stalled projects include Fort Liberty, North Carolina; Joint Base
Lewis-McChord, Washington; and Natick Soldier Systems Center, Massachusetts.
The Army’s proposed 2025 budget
also includes fully funding sustainment, at $680 million, which is part of the
larger $2.35 billion proposed barracks budget. In past years, roughly 15% of
the budget has been siphoned off to other priorities. That sustainment request,
which effectively funds barracks maintenance, is also an increase from this
year's $567 million. The Army conducted a servicewide inspection of all its
6,700 barracks buildings last year following a series of reports from
Military.com on poor living conditions.
It found 23% of them in
"poor" or "failing" condition. About 5% of the housing in
poor or failing condition was temporary barracks set up at locations such as
schools or major training centers, which are lower in priority compared to soldiers'
homes. For decades, the Army has struggled with its aging infrastructure --
much of it consisting of barracks infected with mold and pests or otherwise
unsafe or falling apart. The issue in some cases has gotten so bad that
soldiers have reported being hospitalized or sick with symptoms consistent with
long-term exposure to black mold.
Meanwhile, the service is
considering privatizing its barracks, with a pilot plan in the early stages at
Fort Irwin, California. Army planners aim to meet with key contractors
throughout the spring to see what expanding privatization would look like. In some
scenarios, that could mean contractors taking over existing barracks instead of
outright building new ones.
But for now, the Army is
eyeing a major list of new construction projects, all of which house between
100 and 220 soldiers. They include:
A $117 million barracks project
at Fort Johnson, Louisiana
$180 million for Old Guard
soldiers at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Virginia
A $161 million project at Joint
Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state
A $39 million project at Fort
Buchanan, Puerto Rico
$42 million for new training
barracks at Camp Parks, California
$144 million for Advanced
Individual Training, or AIT, barracks at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri
$191 million for two Army
Garrison Ansbach barracks projects in Germany
$61 million for Smith Barracks at
Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz in Germany.
^ This funding needs to be passed
by Congress immediately so the Army can make the desperately needed improvements.
^
From GMA/Yahoo:
“On 4-year anniversary of the
WHO declaring COVID a pandemic, a look at the virus by the numbers”
Monday marks the 4-year
anniversary of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring the global
COVID-19 outbreak to be a pandemic. Over that period, millions of Americans
have been hospitalized and have died from the virus. Additionally, a high
percentage of adults have developed long COVID while the infections of
thousands of children have led to an inflammatory condition.
Here's a look at the COVID-19
pandemic in the U.S. by the numbers:
Hospitalizations As of the
week ending March 2, there were 15,141 weekly new hospital admissions for
COVID-19. according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC). While this is on par with the number of weekly hospitalizations
at the beginning of April 2024, this is much lower than the peak of 150,650
weekly hospitalizations recorded the week of Jan. 22, 2022, during the omicron
wave. Over the course of the pandemic, more than 6 million Americans
have been hospitalized, CDC data shows. The CDC has said fewer people
are hospitalized due to the availability of vaccines and boosters as well as
the availability of antirural drugs that decrease the risk of severe illness
for those at-high risk, including molnupiravir and Paxlovid.
Deaths Since the pandemic
began, more than 1.18 million Americans have died from COVID-19, according to
CDC data. The U.S. crossed the 1 million mark on May 12, 2022. During
the week of March 2, there were 576 weekly deaths, which is the lowest number
recorded since summer 2023 and several times lower than the peak of 25,974
weekly deaths recorded the week ending Jan. 9, 2021. Experts have
previously said the U.S. is in a much better place than it was at the start of
the pandemic but some reasons hundreds of people may be dying every week
include not enough people accessing treatments or getting vaccinated as well as
waning immunity.
Vaccinations In early
fall, the federal government recommended an updated vaccine that is targeted
against variants that are currently circulating, which are related to XBB, an
offshoot of the omicron variant. There are formulations made by
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna for those aged 6 months and older, and a
formulation made by Novavax for those aged 12 and older. However, as of
Friday, just 22.6% of adults aged 18 and older and 13.5% of children under age
18 have received the vaccine, according to CDC data. This is lower than
the nearly half of adults who said they planned to get the vaccine in a poll
conducted by the KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor in September. In some good
news, 42.4% of adults aged 65 and older, which is the group at highest risk of
severe illness and death, have gotten vaccinated.
MIS-C cases As of Feb. 26,
9,655 children in the U.S. have developed MIS-C, or multisystem inflammatory
syndrome in children, according to CDC data. MIS-C is an inflammatory
condition that is caused by infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes
COVID-19. It typically occurs between two to six weeks after infection
and presents a combination of symptoms, including inflammation of various parts
of the body along with gastrointestinal symptoms, rash and fever. Since
the start of the new year, just two cases of MIS-C have been reported, much
lower than the peak in winter 2021 when more than 200 cases were being reported
every week. Some children with MIS-C end up hospitalized and, if they
are sick enough, can spend time in intensive care units. Additionally, at least
79 children have died of MIS-C so far.
Long COVID Millions of
Americans say they've had long COVID, and many are still battling it, federal
data shows. Long COVID is a condition that occurs when patients still
have symptoms at least four weeks after they have cleared the infection. In
some cases, symptoms can be experienced for months or years. The WHO first
posted a clinical case definition of the condition in October 2021. According
to the most recent federal Household Pulse Survey, between Jan. 9, 2024 and
Feb. 5, 2024, 6.8% of U.S. adults currently have long COVID and 17.6% have had
long COVID. Using 2020 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, this means 17.5
million adults currently have long COVID and 45.4 million people have ever had
long COVID.
^ I can’t believe it’s been 4
years. ^
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/4-anniversary-declaring-covid-pandemic-100430008.html
From Reuters:
“Study of polyglots offers
insight on brain's language processing”
While most people speak only one
language or perhaps two, some are proficient in many. These people are called
polyglots. And they are helping to provide insight into how the brain deals
with language, the principal method of human communication. In a new study
involving a group of polyglots, the brain activity of the participants was
monitored using a method called functional magnetic resonance imaging as they
listened to passages read in various languages. With one intriguing exception,
activity increased in the areas of the cerebral cortex involved in the brain's
language-processing network when these polyglots - who spoke between five and
54 languages - heard languages in which they were the most proficient compared
to ones of lesser or no proficiency. "We think this is because when you
process a language that you know well, you can engage the full suite of
linguistic operations - the operations that the language system in your brain
supports," said Massachusetts Institute of Technology neuroscientist
Evelina Fedorenko, a member of MIT's McGovern Institute for Brain Research and
senior author of the study published on Monday in the journal Cerebral Cortex,
opens new tab. "You can access all the word meanings from memory, you can
build phrases and clauses out of the individual words, and you can access
complex, sentence-level meanings," Fedorenko added.
But an exception caught the
attention of the researchers. In many of the participants, listening to their
native language elicited a lesser brain response compared to hearing other
languages they knew - on average down about 25%. And in some of the polyglots,
listening to their native language activated only a part of the brain's
language network, not the whole thing. "Polyglots become experts in their
native language from the point of view of efficiency of neural processes that
are required to process it. Therefore, the language network in the brain does
not activate as much when they do native versus non-native language
processing," said neuroscientist and study co-lead author Olessia
Jouravlev of Carleton University in Canada. "One's native language may
hold a privileged status, at least in this population," Fedorenko added,
referring to the study's polyglot participants.
The brain's language network
involves a few areas situated in its frontal and temporal lobes. "The
language network supports comprehension and production across modalities -
spoken, written, signed, etc. - and helps us encode our thoughts into word
sequences and decode others' thoughts from their utterances," Fedorenko
said. Study co-lead author Saima Malik-Moraleda, a doctoral student at the
Harvard/MIT Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, said the
findings suggest that the distillation of meaning governs brain response to
language. "The more meaning you can extract from the language input you
are receiving, the greater the response in language regions - except for the
native language, presumably because the speaker is more efficient in extracting
meaning from the linguistic input," Malik-Moraleda said.
The 34 study participants, 20 men
and 14 women, ranged in age from 19 to 71. Twenty-one were native English
speakers, with the rest native speakers of French, Russian, Spanish, Dutch,
German, Hungarian and Mandarin Chinese. Their brain activity was monitored when
they listened to recordings of passages in eight languages: their native
language, three others in which they were highly proficient, moderately
proficient and minimally proficient, and then four they did not know. Half
heard recordings of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland." The other
half heard recordings of biblical stories. The lesser brain response to hearing
one's native language was most pronounced among the study participants who
heard the biblical stories - linguistically simpler, according to Fedorenko,
than Carroll's writing. "A lot of work in language research,"
Fedorenko said, "has focused on individuals with linguistic difficulties -
developmental or acquired. But we can also learn a lot about cognitive and
neural infrastructure of some function by looking at individuals who are
'experts' in that function. Polyglots are one kind of language 'experts.'"
^ This is very interesting. ^
From Current:
“‘Frontline’ film ‘20 Days in
Mariupol’ wins Oscar for best documentary”
(Ukrainian filmmaker Mstyslav
Chernov (center), flanked by (from left) "Frontline" EP Raney
Aronson-Rath, Associated Press producer Vasilisa Stepanenko, AP photographer
Evgeniy Maloletka and "Frontline" producer and editor Michelle Mizner,
accepts the award for Best Documentary Feature Film for "20 Days in
Mariupol" onstage during the 96th Annual Academy Awards Sunday at the
Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Calif.)
20 Days in Mariupol, a
feature-length documentary jointly produced by the Associated Press and the
investigative series Frontline, won an Academy Award Sunday for best
documentary feature film. The 2023 documentary, directed by Mstyslav Chernov,
focuses on the nearly three weeks he and colleagues spent in the besieged city
of Mariupol in February and March 2022, at the start of Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine. Upon accepting the award, Chernov spoke out against the invasion. “Probably
I’ll be the first director on this stage who will say, ‘I wish I never made
this film,’” Chernov said. “I wish to be able to exchange this to Russia never
attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities. I wish to give it all the
recognition to Russia not killing tens of thousands of my fellow Ukrainians. I
wish for them to release all the hostages, all the soldiers who are protecting
their lands, all the civilians who are now in their jails,” he added. “But I
cannot change the history. I cannot change the past,” Chernov continued. “But
we altogether, among you, some of the most talented people in the world, we can
make sure the history record is set straight, and that the truth will prevail,
and that the people of Mariupol, and those who have given their lives, will
never be forgotten. Because cinema forms memories, and memories form history.” He
ended his speech with “Slava Ukraini,” which means “Glory to Ukraine.”
20 Days in Mariupol, which is
also the first Ukrainian film to win an Oscar, covers AP journalists Chernov,
photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and producer Vasilisa Stepanenko arriving around
an hour before Russia started bombing the port city. Two weeks later, they were
the last journalists working for an international outlet in Mariupol. In a 2023
interview with the AP, Chernov said that his team had gathered 30 hours of
footage to use for the film. 20 Days in Mariupol debuted at the Sundance Film
Festival last year, where it won the world cinema audience award for
documentaries. It had already won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for public service.
It was considered a favorite for the Academy Award after winning best
documentary from the Directors Guild of America and BAFTA. The third nomination
was the charm for Frontline, overseen by GBH in Boston. It was the series’
third nomination and its first Oscar win. The nomination and victory were
firsts both for Chernov, a video journalist for the AP, and the organization
itself. The director accepted the award and was joined on stage by Frontline EP
Raney Aronson-Rath and Frontline producer and editor Michelle Mizner.
In an email newsletter Monday,
GBH CEO Susan Goldberg said, “It isn’t easy to ‘celebrate’ a film that so
viscerally and personally depicts the horror of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,”
noting the images of parents weeping over their dead children. “If you haven’t
been in a war zone yourself, I doubt you have ever seen anything like it,”
Goldberg wrote. “This film takes you there, bearing witness to the brutal truth
taking place. But this Oscar is indeed worth celebrating, because 20 Days in
Mariupol … is all about the power of storytelling to change the world. And now,
as the war drags on into its third year, more people than ever will see this
film — and each of them will more clearly understand what is at stake.” In an
interview Monday, Aronson-Rath told Current that the recognition from the
academy is “bittersweet” due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. But she also said
that the Oscar win represents an important moment for public media and
mission-driven public affairs programming, particularly journalism that
features “on-the-ground reporting” telling viewers “what’s actually happening
in the world.” It also reinforces the idea that “cinematic storytelling,”
paired with hard-hitting journalism, is valuable to audiences, she said.
In addition to praising her
co-producing partners at the AP, she noted that all of public media’s key
leaders and organizations supported the film’s promotional campaign and
national distribution, naming Goldberg, CPB President Pat Harrison, PBS
President Paula Kerger and PBS Distribution President Andrea Downing. “When I
told them that I wanted to have a big campaign to actually get the word out
about the film and to actually go into festivals and into the theater, they
supported that effort together,” she said. “This public media moment of
everyone saying that this mattered enough to help me, and to help Frontline,
and help this film, was really emotional last night.” Competing with 20 Days in
Mariupol for the award were Bobi Wine: The People’s President, which focused on
the presidential campaign of popular Ugandan singer Bobi Wine; The Eternal
Memory, which follows the relationship of Chilean journalist Augusto GĂłngora
and Chilean actress Paulina Urrutia; Four Daughters, a film about the
disappearance of a mother’s two daughters; and To Kill a Tiger, set in India,
where a family campaigns for justice after their teenage daughter is raped. The
previous Frontline productions that received Oscar nominations were the 2019
film For Sama and the 2016 film Abacus: Small Enough to Jail. 20 Days in
Mariupol is available to stream for free on Frontline’s website and YouTube.
^ I watched “20 Days on Mariupol”
and it deserved to win. ^
https://current.org/2024/03/frontline-film-20-days-in-mariupol-wins-oscar-for-best-documentary/
This is Russia’s “Free” Election.
Going door to door with Armed Guards in Russian-Occupied Donetsk, Ukraine-
March 11, 2024.
If you don't vote for Putin or
you refuse to vote because you see yourself as Ukrainian than you go to a
Russian Infiltration Camp and then to a Russian Forced Labor Penal Colony in
Siberia.
From War Paws’ Facebook:
^ This is extremely sad. War Paws
takes care of 700 animals around the world.
Please go to the following link
to help:
https://warpaws.org/?fbclid=IwAR23E2-Qfq_k1U6a6nWcarLud6VoJoYGCQ33JjQ7HSEvAMUlCg4UDdtFHnI
Thank you. ^
My dog was outside just now digging deeply in the snow. I asked him what he was looking for. He said "Easter eggs."
I told him there weren't any
yet since Easter is still weeks away. He turned and looked at me and said
"Then leprechauns" and continued digging.
Today is Commonwealth Day.
Out of the 56 Members of the
Commonwealth of Nations there are 15 Commonwealth Realms.
Each Realm has its own Monarchy
(ie the King of Australia, the King of Canada, etc.)
Example for Canada:
The French Monarchy ruled parts
of Canada from 1534 to1763.
The British Monarchy ruled parts
of Canada from 1497 to 1763 and then all of Canada from 1763-1982.
The Canadian Monarchy (also
called the Maple Crown) was established in 1953 and ruled alongside the British Monarchy until 1982 when the Canadian Monarchy became the sole Monarchy over Canada.
Canadian Citizenship:
Canadian Citizenship wasn’t
created until 1946.
From 1633-1763: Those
living in the Colony of New France (Quebec) were “French Citizens.” They later
automatically became “British Subjects.”
From 1583-1867: Those
living in the Colony of British North America (Canada) were “British Subjects”,
but not British Citizens.
From 1867- 1914: The
British North American Act made those living in Canada “British Subjects with a
Connection to the Dominion of Canada.”)
From 1876-2013: The 1876
Indian Act made Indians living in Canada “Wards of the State” subjected to the
Federal Government and not the Provinces or Territories. The Federal Government
had direct say over what they could and could not do.
It also created a separate “Status
Indians” (those who lived on Reservations and are on the Indian Register)
and “Non-Status Indians” (those not living on Reservations, not on the Indian
Register and neither considered Indians nor Canadians.) Non-Status Indians was
done away with in 2013.
From 1914-1946: Those
living in Canada became “British Subjects and Canadian Nationals.” The order is
important to note.
From 1946-1982: Those
living in Canada became “Canadian Citizens and British Subjects.”
From 1946-1967: Any
Canadian Citizen living outside of Canada for 10 years or longer or who
acquired Citizenship of another country automatically lost their Canadian
Citizenship.
From 1960-1982: Status
Indians could also become “Canadian Citizens and British Subjects” if they
applied for. It.
From 1976- Present Day:
Dual Citizenship is officially allowed in Canada.
From 1982-Present Day:
Canadians are known as Canadian Citizens as well as Commonwealth Citizens.
From 2009- Present Day:
Re-instated Canadian Citizenship to those that had automatically lost it
between 1946-1976 if they apply for it. Limited Citizenship to the Second
Generation born outside of Canada.
In 2014: Gave Canadian
Citizenship to “The Lost Canadians” (Those that should have received Canadian
Citizenship since 1946, but were denied it by the Canadian Government despite
their undeniable ties to Canada.)
2024: Limited Canadian Citizenship
to the Second Generation born outside Canada is deemed Unconstitutional by the
Canadian Supreme Court.
Personal:
I am a Dual American Citizen and,
since 2009, a Canadian Citizen (as well as a Commonwealth Citizen through
Canada.)
I am considered a Natural Born
Canadian (not Naturalized) and a Natural-Born American (not Naturalized.)
Canadian Monarchy:
Queen Elizabeth II was the last
British Monarch of Canada (from 1952 until 1953) and the First Canadian Monarch
and the First Canadian Queen from 1953-2022.
Technically she should be known
as Queen Elizabeth I in Canada (since we never had one before her.)
King Charles III is the 2nd
Canadian Monarch and the First Canadian King.
Technically he should be known as
King Charles I in Canada (since we never had one before him.)
Patriation:
Canada has only been independent
since March 29, 1982 (Patriation.)
Before 1982 every Canadian Law was made by the
Canadian Parliament in Ottawa then had to be approved by the British Parliament
in London, signed by the British Monarch in London and then sent back to the
Canadian Parliament where it was signed by the Canadian Monarch (from
1953-1982.)
Since 1982, the Canadian
Parliament makes its own laws and the Canadian Monarch signs them.
Succession:
Unlike, the British Monarchy –
which is Hereditary – the Canadian Monarchy is not. The Canadian Monarch is
regulated by the Succession to the Throne Act of 2013.)
Like the British Monarchy (and
the Monarchies of the 13 other Commonwealth Realms) the Canadian Monarch has to
be a Protestant (there is no Separation of Church and State – the State is the
Church.)
Commonwealth Citizen:
Every Citizen of a Commonwealth
Member State is a Commonwealth Citizen, but the Citizens of the 15 Commonwealth
Realms have more rights and privileges when visiting another Commonwealth
Member Country.
Ie. A Canadian Citizen is also a
Commonwealth Citizen.
The Commonwealth Realms: Antigua
and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New
Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and the United Kingdom.
Commonwealth Day
Commonwealth Day is an annual
moveable holiday that falls regularly on the second Monday in March, and which
takes place on March 13 this year. The day is marked with a service attended by
the British royal family at Westminster Abbey, and much celebration occurs
globally in Commonwealth states! The historic event is a public holiday in some
of its states and honors the history of the group. It promotes a peaceful
global environment and hopes to inspire the Commonwealth states for their
future with a yearly address by Queen Elizabeth.
HISTORY OF COMMONWEALTH DAY
Though Commonwealth Day today is a well-established holiday celebrated by an
estimated 2 billion people worldwide, it wasn’t always called Commonwealth Day,
and it had a smaller start. It was originally known as “Empire Day,” which was
established in 1902 to honor Queen Victoria. After Queen Victoria died the year
before, the idea was put forth to establish a holiday that honored England, the
unity between nations of the Commonwealth, and its ideals of freedom,
tolerance, and justice. Empire Day actually wasn’t officially recognized until
1916, after having been celebrated unofficially in Canada for 14 years. It took
another 10 years for it to truly reach a level of popularity – in 1925, an
Empire Day Thanksgiving celebration at Wembley Stadium drew around 90,000 in
attendance. In 1958, the then-Prime Minister, Harold MacMillan, rebranded
Empire Day as Commonwealth Day. This is because all of the Commonwealth shares
history, legal systems, culture, and more. In 1973, the Royal Commonwealth
Society proposed the day be changed, and the second Monday in March was
selected by the Commonwealth Secretariat as the observance day.
In today’s postcolonial world,
there is much debate over the morality of the Commonwealth. While some
countries still find it an important and honorable piece of history, and others
even still identify the Queen of England as their monarch, more and more
discourse is emerging on whether or not it is a problematic holiday. Many
countries in the Commonwealth were, at one time or another, prevented from
gaining independence, and some find it a reminder of brutal colonization.
Nonetheless, Commonwealth Day is
still celebrated by many countries with much fervor. Several countries in the
Commonwealth – though notably not Britain – celebrate Commonwealth Day as a
public holiday. Parties and other festivities are held, good food is cooked,
and flags are raised. Many tune in on Commonwealth Day to watch the service at
Westminster Abbey, hear the Queen’s address and feel a great sense of pride in
the historic alliance that is the Commonwealth.
COMMONWEALTH DAY TIMELINE
1925 Empire Day Grows in
Popularity After an Empire Day Thanksgiving service held at Wembley Stadium
attracted 90,000 people, the day began to really take off in popularity.
1916 Empire Day Recognized Though
it had been celebrated informally since 1902, Empire Day - the precursor to
Commonwealth Day - was not officially recognized as a holiday until 1916.
1902 Empire Day Honors Queen
Victoria and England To honor Queen Victoria after her passing in 1901,
patriotic Empire Day was established the next year on her birthday, May 24.
1958 The First Commonwealth Day
Prime Minister Harold MacMillan announced that Empire Day would come to be
known as Commonwealth Day.
COMMONWEALTH DAY FAQS
What is the purpose of
Commonwealth Day? In recent years, there has been a shift away from
celebrating a single day towards celebrating a full week, with Commonwealth Day
at its focus and first day. The aim is to celebrate the unity, diversity and
links of the modern Commonwealth and to foster a greater understanding of the
Commonwealth’s achievements and role.
What is British Commonwealth
Day? The day marks Commonwealth Day in more than 50 countries around the
world. Once known as Empire Day, it is envisioned as a celebration of the
cultural exchange and shared values of former Empire states. Of course, today
the notion of celebrating Britain’s colonial past is a topic of some debate.
Who is the head of
Commonwealth Nations? His Majesty King Charles III is Head of the
Commonwealth. His role is an important symbolic one.
HOW TO OBSERVE COMMONWEALTH
DAY Watch the Westminster Abbey service. Commonwealth Day is famously
celebrated by a sermon at Westminster Abbey attended by the Queen of England.
It’s televised, and followed by an address by the King to the various states,
as she is the Head of the Commonwealth. Learn its history Commonwealth
Day is of massive historical importance to a significant segment of the global
population. However, if you’re just hearing of it, it’s worth reading up on!
Check out its history as Empire Day, and understand just why so many countries
are proud to be included in such an alliance. Attend a street party or parade
There are Commonwealth festivities worldwide, so as long as it’s safe where you
are, head out and find a place to celebrate! Many celebrate by eating good
food, partying, and raising flags to show their pride.
5 FUN FACTS ABOUT COMMONWEALTH
DAY The Commonwealth of nations includes 53 countries, though only 16 still
recognize the British King as their monarch.. It’s celebrated by a significant
portion of the world. Nearly ⅓ of the globe celebrates Commonwealth Day -
that’s around 2 billion people. It’s not a public holiday everywhere Though it
honors the British Empire and all the states it contained, it’s actually not a
British public holiday! However, other states of the Commonwealth, like
Gibraltar, recognize it as such. Some are now grappling with its ties to
colonialism Today, many are rethinking Britain’s history of colonialism and
imperialism, and a new reality of the Commonwealth states and Commonwealth Day
is increasingly being understood. There is a current push towards the moral
reckoning of the holiday. The Commonwealth has a massive GDP The Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) of the Commonwealth tops that of even the European Union (EU) -
and is only expected to grow.