THE ASTRONAUTS: Surprisingly Good!

The New York Times this morning indicated that cases and deaths from this pandemic have both dropped since Thanksgiving.  But this is probably because of fewer tests and laxity in reporting.  In April, the one-day high for deaths was 2,752.  If expected fears materialize, daily deaths by the end of the year or early next year could reach 3,000.  Vaccines are on the horizon, but the worse is yet come.  In the meantime, wear a mask wherever you go and avoid crowds.

At last report, up to 48 staff and associates in the White House, including the President and First Lady, were infected with COVID-19.  Governor Jared Polis of Colorado and his partner just learned they tested positive.  That brings it up to seven state governors.  Polis' family with two children to the left

Here is something somewhat new.  A COVID-19 infectee will be most contagious 2 days BEFORE showing any symptoms, to five days thereafter.  I keep shaking my head, but there remains, today, no consensus of how many cases are asymptomatic.  The guesses range from 15% to 80%, although one report earlier this month said 40%-50%.  A year from now I would bet that this figure will be higher than 50%.

Here is a summary of what I've been able to figure out about vaccines (click on that to read details):

• The process first will be approved by the FDA, probably early in December, then transmitted to the CDC for distribution, with logistical aid from the DOD.  
• Should the national policy be:
• Mandatory?
• According to each state?
• The first injections will be given to hospital workers in December.
• Not long thereafter, seniors communities will be inoculated.  Children?  Maybe as late as the Summer.
• The first three vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca/Oxford) will require two doses.  All three will be allowed to proceed.  There will be others to come.
• Most polls find that perhaps 58% of Americans say they will comply.
• But 60-95% will need to be safe to gain herd immunity.
• Both measles and polio have lifetime immunity, but for measles, herd immunity needs to reach 91%-94%.
• No matter what experts say, regarding COVID-19, they really don't know what % will assure for total public safety.  
• Certainly, if only 58% take the shot, the country will not attain herd immunity, which anyway needs to be reached for EACH municipality.

• At first, these shots will be free, but a case is being made for the federal government to pay people to comply.  Maryland Congressman John Delaney is advocating $1500/person, sort of  like the next stimulus check, which is being delayed by politics anyway.  The Brookings Institute has advocated $1000.  In this pandemic period the Congress has already allocated $3.6 billion for pandemic relief.  
• The next package being discussed will amount to around $1.8 trillion.
• $1000/person to pay 80% of Americans will cost $0.275 trillion.
• $1500/person for all will take $0.383 trillion.

Skipping on to the topic of the day, I read something about a new series and decided to record it.  So last night I watched the first episode.  The beginning was totally disappointing, for I did not realize that the program was on Nickelodeon.  Hey, this is the home of SpongeBob Square.  It became obvious to me that this was a channel for a few generations too young for me, as first played were two commercials dealing with their interests.  I was ready to erase the rest when I got distracted and went to do something.  After a few minutes, I was again ready to delete it, when I got a robotic call.  Coming back I again lost my train of thought and absent-mindedly glanced at the program.  After fifteen minutes I thought, hey, this is kind of interesting.

Having been sufficiently impressed with the first episode, I went to Rotten Tomatoes.  Too new for any ratings.  Common Sense had a review, and the recommendation was for 8-year olds, or maybe it was for those over 7-years old.  It further said:  This is by far the most complex and expansive show Nickelodeon has aired in some time.  Four out of five stars from that reviewer:

Parents need to know that The Astronauts is an excellent tween drama about a group of middle schoolers that accidentally get launched into space. There is a moderate amount of scariness and tension throughout, as the kids' lives are in danger at various points. Kids are separated from their parents, and the parents show fear about their kids being up in space, so consider if your kids are extra sensitive to parental separation. There's mild arguing between characters, but no physical violence. This series has compelling storytelling and fantastic role models, and is a great pick for kids mature enough to handle the adventure.

Let's see if I can quickly summarize:

• The launch center is in New Zealand.  Why?  Well, they do have a private space complex for orbital missions that opened four years ago.

• 
  A few minutes into the show we see that Ron Howard is a producer.  Hmmm...
• The voice of the AI control, Matilda, is Paige (to the right) Howard, sister of Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic films), daughters of you know who.
• Families of the real astronauts are staying at nearby hotels.

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  Samy (Miya Cech--right), a young Oriental girl who has skipped two grade levels, has two mothers, one an African-American, who is the captain of the Odyssey 2 mission.  Samy has been able to sneak into her mother's computer and gained experience fooling around with the flight simulator.
• The mission is a deep secret and has something to do with exploring an extraterrestrial craft.
• So far I have learned that this was not an accident, Matilda (the AI brains behind the mission), purposefully arranged for this youthful crew to fly.  Why?  Because it (the name is female, but she prefers to be called Lionel) calculated that these five teens had a 15% higher chance of succeeding than the real astronauts.  Also, there is a hint that, somehow, there might already be an  alien on the ship.
• As best as I can tell, only three episodes have aired:
• Ep 1:  Countdown/Day 1
• Ep 2:  Day 3
• Ep 3:  Day 21
• Ep 4:  Day 33 to come on December 4
• There will be 10 episodes, on subsequent Fridays.  Yup, Nickelodeon.
• If you missed the first three episodes, they have you trapped, for the only other way is to pay for Vidgo, FuboTV or Philo, three obscure streaming networks.

I counted how many Netflix series I've begun watching (17) and on my short list (29).  A few have more than 10 seasons, so this should take a few lifetimes for me to watch all.  Many of these have gained 100% Rotten Tomatoes ratings.  To simplify my life I've recently focused on:

• Last Tango in Halifax 93/91 (seasons 2 and 3 are at 100%), now in episode 3 of season 3.
• Fauda 100/91 (all three seasons at 100%), on e5 of s2.
• Borgen 100/99 (all three seasons at 100%):  on e4 of s1.
• The Good Place (97/89 (seasons 2 and 4 at 100%)--first three seasons on Netflix, s4 on Prime:  on e3 of s1.

Amazon Prime:

• Bosch 97/93 (seasons 2-6 at 100%), e3 of s1
• Fleabag 100/93 (both seasons at 100%), e2 of s1

I would watch one or two South Korean series, but Rotten Tomatoes hasn't rated any of them.

Coming this week on Netflix are Alien Worlds (a series, Wednesday) and Mank (a film, Friday).  Mank has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 90.  If you liked Citizen Kane (some say this is the #1 film, ever) with Orson Welles, you should enjoy Mank.

Also on the entertainment front, the NFL is beginning to lose it.  They actually played a game yesterday between New Orleans and Denver after learning that all four quarterbacks on their roster had to be quarantined.  They used a wide receiver and running back as QB, completing one pass, losing 31-3.  The NBA is set to start a new season in less than a month, December 22.  College football had something unusual this weekend.  When San Diego State and the University of Colorado found their games cancelled because of the pandemic, they decided to play each other.  Hawaii was scheduled to go to San Jose for a Saturday game, but at this time who knows what will happen, as the whole Bay Area is shut down for contact sports for three weeks.

On more important political matters, Joe Biden apparently has a hairline fracture suffered on his foot playing with his dogs this weekend.  If he had incurred this injury before the final debate with Trump, who knows who would be the president-elect today.  The Bidens are mulling over whether to get the First Cat to join their two dogs in the White House.  No, this is Socks, owned by then President Bill Clinton.

Ludwig van Beethoven occupies the song #28 slot:

• Moonlight Sonata
• Wellington's Victory

Bach and Beethoven have usually been at the top my classic composer list, although I have selected someone else in the top ten.  Bach was born 85 years earlier.  Ludwig van Beethoven (not pronounced BEE, but BEr, with an almost silent "r") was born in 1770 and grew up in Germany.  He started as a pianist and moved to Vienna at 21 to study with Joseph Hayden.  His First Symphony came in 1800, when his hearing began to deteriorate.  He had tinnitus, something I have.  But his deteriorated to otosclerosis, mine tends to disappear at night.  The Third came in 1804 and Fifth in 1808 at the age of 38.  He was completely deaf at the age of 44.  We tend to forget that during his lifetime, he had to fend off various European Wars, as did Mozart, who was 14 years older.  His final symphony, #9 came when he was 54.  He died at the age of 57.

In 45 years Beethoven wrote 722 works (it takes a long time just to scan the list), his first when he was 12-years old.  Moonlight Sonata (Piano Sonata No. 14) was written in 1801 at the age of 31.

Wellington's Victory, known as the Battle Symphony, was first performed in December of 1813, soon after Wellington's Victory over Napoleon.  He became rich from this piece.  

Of course parts of the music borrows from Rule Britannia / God Save the King (and, of course, they used God Save the Queen now, and we call it My Country 'Tis of Thee in America--did you know 'Tis stands for it is?) and Marlborough has left for the War (a French nursery song, like our Bear went over the Mountain).  He did not use La Marseillaise to represent the French forces, as Tchaikovsky later did in his 1812 Overture, because in Beethoven's day, playing that tune in Vienna was treasonous.

I chose it as my #28 for a simple reason.  When I learned I passed my written comprehensive, assuring a PhD, I happened to listen to this piece.  Now, whenever, I have a major victory, I play this 15-minute composition of Beethoven.

 

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU DIE?

At 15 Craigside, a seniors community, where I live, we were told that if we went out with family and friends to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, we would be placed on a five-day quarantine and antigen tested (for which we would pay for each at $50/test) on days 5 and 10.  If we refused, then we would be automatically quarantined for 14 days.  The pandemic rightfully doesn't allow us to live life our own way.

However, we are allowed to visit a doctor's office and go out to play golf.  There would have been the temptation to use some such excuse to have your cherished Thanksgiving meal.  After all, what is more important than family?  The administration here just trusts you.  Are the residents equally principled?  For those who were tempted to obfuscate the truth, read THIS!

Before I enter into the subject of the end, here is something about the beginning.  I am currently reading an article in FREE INQUIRY by John L. Prittie entitled:  Life Exceptionalism vs. the Chemical Machine.  I quote

...But what else could it come down to?  As an atheist, I have chosen to believe that all things bright and beautiful are nothing more than a complicated, ongoing chemical reaction that began billions of years ago and has been taking place "all by itself" ever since.  The earth was barren and lifeless.  Now it is not.  If no god put life here and if nature (that is, the universe), then this all--literally--just one huge, built-up chemical reaction.  There is no other rationalist answer.

So about the ultimate denouement, I've had this lifetime fear of death being in eternal blackness...or nothing.  I can't convince myself that there is any kind of afterlife, Heaven or Hell.  I joke that I'm now in Purgatory, for my euphoric mental state provides this sense.

Last night a thought occurred to me that I needed to adjust my attitude.  Say there is no Supreme Being and therefore all that religion promises.  Faith seems to be too much of a gamble without any kind of definite proof.  That's the Catch-22 about this option.

Why continue to be in fear of death?  It's coming and there will be no way out for me. Eternal blackness is frightful.  The other option, nothingness, just cannot be imagined. Think about anything called nothing, and you'll get nowhere.  And anyway, nothing is equally terrifying.

While I'm willing to accept the concept of total peace, this is hardly comforting in combination with blackness or nothingness.  So what about continued euphoria bathed in rainbow colors?

But where would the energy come from to provide this eternal illusion?  Thermodynamics and entropy only apply to real life.  In the hereafter, these laws don't track.  No reason why I can't after death forever luxuriate in a kaleidoscope of what my mind creates.   Then, too, some might call this Heaven, and, if so, maybe I have indeed arrived.

Song #29 is Sir Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance.  I did not realize that there were six Pomp and Circumstance Marches, the first published in 1901 and the sixth posthumously around 2005.  Each takes about five minutes to play.

The only one you know is March #1.  For example, the second-most well-known is March #2.  If you clicked on that, had you heard it before?

There are further complications, for a portion of these lyrics was melded into King Edward VII Coronation Ode, with words by A.C. Benson, becoming Land of Hope and Glory.  

• 
  Land of Hope and Glory, linked to Pomp and Circumstance, is now considered to be too much a glorification of colonialism and slavery.  The British are caught in a bind about honoring this song, thus insulting racial equality and Black Lives Matter.  A historical adjustment was made and LoHaG was not played in their annual Prom concert this year.  Here is the Last Night finale from two months ago.

• 
  Today, there is no national anthem for England.  God Save the Queen?  This is the anthem for the United Kingdom.  A move was on to make Land of Hope and Glory, formerly played the Last Night of the Prom (the whole two hours from last year), as the English anthem.  Maybe not anymore.

• 
  Pomp and Circumstance is still used on U.S. campuses (if you're wondering why they are not wearing masks and keeping safe distances, this one came from Stanford last year--they don't take graduation too seriously there--see how they're dressed).  

I end with something unusual, a dual blooming of my water lilies.  

I've had this plant in my aquarium for three years, and this is the first time two have appeared at the same time.  There are other flowers, too, such as:

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WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GREAT AUK?

I was reminiscing recently about the great time I had on Mauritius a decade and a half ago, and whether I would want to include this island on my around the world trip.  This is where the Dodo became extinct.  Like how wrong we were in remembering the origin of Thanksgiving, my memory of how this bird got extinct apparently is faulty.  I recall something like sailors hunted them down because they were so easy to catch, with good meat and useful feathers.  More recent research indicates that the plump bird you see in drawings were those of well-fed pets.  The wild dodo was leaner with a terrible tasting flesh, and difficult to find because they lived  in impenetrable rainforests.  What happened was that humans brought rats and domesticated animals.  They killed this specie off.

Anyone remember where you last saw this bird?  Turns out that the Dodo and and its remains disappeared several times.  First they became extinct in 1662.  Till today, even though at one time there were millions, there is nary a complete skeleton.  English museums (Mauritius was a British colony) once competed for them.  One wave of interest was stimulated by Lewis Carol in his Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (if you clicked on that, you saw a Dodo), where depicted is Alice shaking hands with one.  While the real Dodo was only around three feet tall, remember that Alice had drunk a potion, making her smaller.

Then it occurred to me that I had seen another bird, the Great Auk, in the London British Museum, or maybe it was in the Moscow Darwin Museum.  This bird, a bit shorter at 2'7" tall, too, is now extinct.  Apparently the final two were killed by fishermen on an island close to Iceland in 1844.  The latest report I saw indicated that the Great Auk was poached for their meat and feathers.

Neither of those birds was related to penguins, where the Emperor is around 4 feet tall.  Remains of a 6'8" prehistoric penguin were recently found on Antarctica.  And yes, penguins are consumed by explorers to supplement their diet.  The Great Auk is close to the puffin (right).

Is humanity killing off other species?  Of course, many, but we've done a decent job with whales, for there are signs of slow recovery.  We tend to condemn the Japanese for their whale catches.  The truth is that historically they were responsible for only a fraction of world totals, and today Norway kills more.  And they use grenades.  Something to do with whales deplete fisheries, as they don't eat them.

Here is a recent clip filming some whale watchers saving a whale.

Song #30 is The William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini, which premiered in 1829 as the last of his 39 operas.  No doubt the use as the theme for The Lone Ranger had a lot to do with this selection.  Then there is the version by Spike Jones--aaand BEETLEBOMB--one of the greater novelty hits of all-time.  The voice?  ...Doodles Weaver in the style of the famous announcer Clem McCarthy.  Sportscaster Billy Packer has called the third television time-out every second half at Indiana University basketball games as the greatest college timeout in the country.

Rossini is also noted for The Barber of Seville, featuring Figaro's Aria.  This one is only 2hr 42min long.  But back to William Tell, here is the four-hour opera.  The Swiss legend:

William Tell arrived in town one day with his son and refused to salute the hat. Gessler was very upset, but instead of killing William Tell right there he challenged him to shoot an apple off his son’s head with one shot. If he succeeded, William Tell could remain free.

William Tell did shoot the apple off his son’s head with a single arrow. But Gessler noticed that before he tried, Tell had taken two arrows out of his quiver and asked why. William Tell answered, “If I had missed, that second arrow would have been headed your way.” Eventually, William Tell did kill Gessler, an act that started

a Swiss uprising that ultimately forced the Austrian invaders from Switzerland. 

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MORE HIGH CUISINE FROM 15 CRAIGSIDE

 Two weeks ago I posted on Steak Tailgates.  My cuisine exposition today began yesterday with lobster.  Today, Japanese, Italian and Mexican.

This all started with a trip to Marukai:

The label said chutoro for $57/pound, but it really was otoro, a fattier piece.  The mushroom is matsutake, for $60/pound, and the wagyu is from Miyazaki.  This tiny bottle of truffle hot sauce costs $25.  

With the rest of the sashimi I had some zaru soba:

15 Craigside delivered the lasagna and salad, but I provided some enhancements:

The 15 Craigside tacos service, plus my improvements.  I've recently changed my eating style by abandoning the crisp tortillas for Fritos, so now have a tacos bowl.  Four different hot sauces and frying the meat sauce in butter

I added some Midori to the standard Margarita.  I'm now using this salad bowl concept for fish and other proteins, without the fritos.  This allows me to skip the solid carbohydrates.  I still drink a lot of alcohol, but this is considered to be relatively low-carb in diet value.

When I bought the lobster at Tamashiro's, I also purchased some blue-fin tuna which covered the range of akami, chutoro and otoro (also called hotoro).

I'm now prepared for a raw and fried fish dinner tonight.  Tomorrow the remaining tuna sashimi with pork tonkatsu.

Song #31 is Ave Maria, but which one?  There are at least nine:

• Bach/Gounod
• Caccini
• Elgar

• 
• Mascagni
• Verdi
• Brahms
• Cherubini
• SKIPPER
• Schubert (right)

Ave Maria has a football link.  The Hail Mary is used as a desperation last pass into end zone.  That is the English definition of the term.

The most popular is the 1825 composition by Franz Schubert.  The true name is Ellen's Third Song, which starts with Ave Maria. It was written as a setting for Walter Scott's poem, The Lady in the Lake (listen to this poem, if you have half an hour to spare), with the lady being Ellen Douglas.

The song is used at weddings and concerts, in churches and the end of Disney's Fantasia.  Schubert's Ave Maria is my song #31.  Here are all nine.  Finally, 47 of them, one where you can sing like in a karaoke bar.

Nothing to do with Ave Maria, but in searching for these various versions I stumbled across Mambo Italiano and Sophia Loren, which would be a good way to end your week.  Ah, another one, Mambo Americano.

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