Thursday December 31 2020
We’re staying in tonight and not just because I’m still in a mandated quarantine due to being a member of the COVID Cootie Club. We never go anywhere on New Year’s Eve, a holiday also referred to as Amateur’s Night. It’s just not prudent.
And I like staying home, where I can fall asleep on the sofa with a dog curled by my side, long before the ball drops in Times Square. It feels like bad luck to break such a time-honored tradition. And this is no time to take ill-advised chances.
I’m mostly recovered from the coronavirus, with only a bit of fatigue hanging on. It wasn’t that horribly bad, these past few weeks, but trying to keep up with the latest news was something I just couldn’t bring to the table. For the sake of capturing this journey, let’s do a quick update of the current goings-on.
- Operation Warp Speed has succeeded in bringing COVID-19 vaccines to the masses, but it’s a messy and disorganized start, because government. Would you believe there have been geriatric brawls at super-spreader events for people wanting to be first in line?
- Nashville was rocked on Christmas Day with a bombing in the downtown area. The bomber is suspected to have acted alone and died at the scene. A few injuries, but no other deaths.
- A Wisconsin pharmacist had left 57 vials of vaccine out of refrigeration causing the vaccines to be unusable; enough for 570 doses. He admitted to doing this on purpose, but his motive hasn’t been disclosed. He’s now in jail awaiting charges.
- The experts at the Smithsonian have released the Top 10 Dinosaur Discoveries of 2020. They’re pretty sure that dinosaurs were not on the decline at the time of the Great Extinction, leaving us to wonder what would our world be like today if that asteroid never hit.
- Distillers who made hand sanitizer instead of vodka received fines by the FDA, including those who gave some of it away for free. Good news is the fines will not be enforced. But still, why do it at all FDA? What is your goal here?
- Doing some California Dreaming during these chilly days? Yeah, don’t go. Now’s not a good time.
- Boston Dynamics, Inc. released a new video of their dancing robots to lift our spirits. Rather impressive, but is it real? Is it CGI? Is it Skynet personified? And why does it leave us more unsettled than entertained?
And perhaps most appropriate for the last day of 2020, how about a wrap-up of the pandemic? It’s rather sobering, so turn to your coping mechanism of choice before clicking. I’m not kidding. A Pandemic Atlas: How COVID-19 took over 2020.
Donnatopia 