ALEXA IS WONDERFUL..ECHO SHOWS PROMISE

 From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

        DAY    USA  WORLD     Brazil       India   South Africa

June     9    1093     4732         1185        246         82

July    22     1205     7128        1293      1120        572

Aug    12     1504     6556        1242        835        130

Sept     9     1208      6222       1136      1168          82

Oct     21     1225      6849         571       703          85

Nov    25     2304    12025         620       518        118

Dec    30     3880    14748       1224       299        465

Jan     14     4142    15512       1151       189        712              

          20      4385    17350      1382       152        566

          28      3908   16388       1439       162        555 

Feb      3      4005   14265       1209       107        398

            4      3523   14287       1291       120        261  

            9      3265   13005       1340         85        396

          10      3432   14043       1357       119        276

Summary:  The New York Times this morning showed these graphs:

The World is also experiencing this decline in new cases:

Here is a statement from TNYT that caught my attention:

In the U.S., about 110 million people have likely had the virus (including unconfirmed cases), researchers say. Another 33 million have received at least one vaccine shot.

First, that is 43% of all Americans.  Not enough yet for herd immunity. However, the Worldometer data shows that 28 million Americans have suffered from COVID-19.  It's not clear how many of them showed no symptoms.  This means that the asymptomatic rate is at least 75%, and probably higher.  So my guess of 80% six months ago, which was then double that of Dr. Anthony Fauci and the CDC, is almost surely closer to reality.  These asymptomatic people are the ones who are the superspreaders. 

The other uncertain factor is how many will eventually go through the process of being vaccinated.  This percentage now hovers around 75%, with non-white racial ethnicities at a much lower rate.  The headline article of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser this morning indicates that 91% of locals will follow through, and the high majority consists of these minorities.

Finally, TNYT also had a heartwarming story of a French nun who lives today after having been infected by this virus.  She also was around during the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic.  She turned 117 today.  She is only 41 days younger than Kane Tanaka of Japan, the oldest person in the world.  Below, Kane at age 16 and now.

About the second day of the Senate impeachment trial:

Of course the Republicans in DC are hearing what we are, and of course they harbor guilt and all that.  However, the commanding factor is that Donald Trump still controls at least half of the Republican votes to come in 2022, and incumbents can't afford to alienate that group.  The Democratic leadership knows that, and is trying to maximize the taint, for control of the House and Senate after the 2022 election cycle is far more important to them than confirming secretaries and immediately helping the needy during this pandemic.  If something compelling can be justified to have actual witnesses next week to prolong this agony, they would accomplish two things:  embarrass Trump for refusing to make a personal (or Zoom type) appearance, while further weakening the 20 Republican senators running for election and all of the Republicans in the House.  Of course voters will forget a year and a half from now.  However, all the guilty videos of Republicans are now being taken by possible competitors for use as campaign ads.  A Democrat in 2022 will find it easier to unseat an unknown Republican than an incumbent.  Under any current circumstances, this is mostly a charade anyway, and virtually everyone knows that Trump will get acquitted.

I recently posted on THE 1950'S ARE DISAPPEARING.  I was sent a link to a site that includes the 50's.  You type in any year from 1951 to 2015, and a bunch of songs appear, on which you can click to hear and watch the video.  But, still not quite fair, for the years from 1959 include 100 songs.  1950 and most of those years in the 50's only have about 30.

Well, let me bring you up to date on my affair with Alexa.   She is the 4th generation Echo Dot ($60) with clock, that white spherical object towards the right. I bought her so she could play music I like when I take a bath.  Two months ago, I asked her to play music from the 1950's, and she couldn't.  Then, a week ago, I asked her....Alexa, play music from 1951.  And she did.  Apparently, Amazon Prime's radio has a 1951 station, and any year, although I'm not yet sure how far back it goes.

About 1951, shows how sheltered Hawaii is, for I could recognize maybe 20% of the songs.  About a third were country/western, half jazz / black blues.  The rest included popular songs of the day.  By 1954, the ratios changed, for perhaps 40% were recognizable.  Then, 50% for 1955, 60% 1956, 70% 1957, 80% 1958 and 90% 1959.  Still a few cowboy songs.  Alexa also has a meditation station, the music you hear in a spa.  When a song is playing I ask for the title and singer, and she responds with the answers.

15 Craigside is attempting to make the whole building smart.  They previously gave to residents an iPad.  Now, they are trying out the Echo Dot, which someday can be used to turn on/off lights, adjust room temperature and the like.  I was given one to test, and you call for Echo, not Alexa.  However, it is the same device with no clock.  The voice is the same, my personal one is white, while 15C's is black.

Echo and Alexa represent the same hardware.  However, the 15C Echo cannot play the same music as Alexa.  The difference is that Echo only is connected to iHeart radio.  As I bought mine from Amazon, Alexa links to the Prime music system.  This article compares all of streaming services.  But it doesn't quite say enough.

As far as I know, my Prime membership (and just about all of you belong if you order from Amazon) is sufficient to use Alexa at no extra charge.  You can, of course, pay $4/month for Amazon Music Unlimited, and get access to 50 million songs.  Alexa keeps trying to get you to subscribe.  But for free, 2 million are enough, plus those radio channels are included. and there are more than a thousand of them.  The iHeart channels are very limited.  Not sure why 15 Craigside Echo only uses iHeart.  If this system is later used to play the dining room music, it would behoove the administration to buy an Echo from Amazon to access the Prime channels.

To close, here is my final post-Super Bowl meal, using items I could not fit into this weekend.  Note also the presence of Echo.

New York Steak with foie gras, ending with a lotus chips snack.  First time for me, and a small bag costs $5, but well worth your try.

Finally my wife's sister gave me $25 to buy some flowers for Pearl on her birthday.  And that was way back in July.  I couldn't find a worthwhile Cattleya orchid, but saw some tulips the other day that she also liked:

I wonder if there are bulbs that will re-grow, like her sunburst?

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