sleegrams

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FYI ... "Prime Day" will be held in a total of 24 countries: This year, Japan, United States, United Arab Emirates , United Kingdom, Italy, India, Egypt, Australia, Austria, Netherlands, Canada, Saudi Arabia , Singapore, Spain, China, Germany, Brazil, France, Belgium, Portugal, Mexico, Luxemburg, Sweden, and Poland. Happy shopping!

A couple of our Asiatic lilies finally bloomed (red and white). For the past few years they never bloomed because the deers chomped the buds off the top (so I never got to see what color they were!) Share your pictures of your garden. any vegetables too. I don't even try to plant tomatoes or vegetables. I would be feeding the rabbits, deers, raccoons, woodchucks, etc ..... lol

oh, another new variant BA.2.75 ... please be careful. 7/11/22 ... New coronavirus mutant raises concerns in India and beyond. The quickly changing coronavirus has spawned yet another super contagious omicron mutant that’s worrying scientists as it gains ground in India and pops up in numerous other countries, including the United States. Scientists say the variant – called BA.2.75 – may be able to spread rapidly and get around immunity from vaccines and previous infection. It’s unclear whether it could cause more serious disease than other omicron variants, including the globally prominent BA.5. “It’s still really early on for us to draw too many conclusions,” said Matthew Binnicker, director of clinical virology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “But it does look like, especially in India, the rates of transmission are showing kind of that exponential increase." Whether it will outcompete BA.5, he said, is yet to be determined. Still, the fact that it has already been detected in many parts of the world even with lower levels of viral surveillance “is an early indication it is spreading,” said Shishi Luo, head of infectious diseases for Helix, a company that supplies viral sequencing information to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The latest mutant has been spotted in several distant states in India, and appears to be spreading faster than other variants there, said Lipi Thukral, a scientist at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in New Delhi. It’s also been detected in about 10 other countries, including Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada. Two cases were recently identified on the West Coast of the U.S., and Helix identified a third U.S. case last week. Fueling experts’ concerns are a large number of mutations separating this new variant from omicron predecessors. Some of those mutations are in areas that relate to the spike protein and could allow the virus to bind onto cells more efficiently, Binnicker said. Another concern is that the genetic tweaks may make it easier for the virus to skirt past antibodies — protective proteins made by the body in response to a vaccine or infection from an earlier variant. But experts say vaccines and boosters are still the best defense against severe COVID-19. In the fall it’s likely the U.S. will see updated formulations of the vaccine being developed that target more recent omicron strains. “Some may say, ‘Well, vaccination and boosting hasn’t prevented people from getting infected.’ And, yes, that is true,” he said. “But what we have seen is that the rates of people ending up in the hospital and dying have significantly decreased. As more people have been vaccinated, boosted or naturally infected, we are starting to see the background levels of immunity worldwide creep up.” It may take several weeks to get a sense of whether the latest omicron mutant may affect the trajectory of the pandemic. Meanwhile Dr. Gagandeep Kang, who studies viruses at India’s Christian Medical College in Vellore, said the growing concern over the variant underlines the need for more sustained efforts to track and trace viruses that combine genetic efforts with real world information about who is getting sick and how badly. “It is important that surveillance isn’t a start-stop strategy,” she said. Luo said BA.2.75 is another reminder that the coronavirus is continually evolving – and spreading. “We would like to return to pre-pandemic life, but we still need to be careful,” she said. “ We need to accept that we’re now living with a higher level of risk than we used to.” [Hidden Content]

Everyone please stay safe, stay healthy. On BBC news ..... July 1, 2022 - Two new fast-spreading subvariants of Omicron are causing fresh surges of Covid around the world. BA.4 and BA.5 were first identified in South Africa and may soon become the dominant strains in Europe and the US, health experts say. What exactly are BA.4 and BA.5? Ever since it first emerged, Covid has been mutating or shape-shifting. The new genetic versions that keep appearing are called variants. There have been a few major variants already, such as alpha and delta, that have caused massive waves of infection. The latest ones experts are concerned about - BA.4 and BA.5 - are very closely related to the Omicron variant behind last winter's wave. They were added to the World Health Organization's monitoring list in March and have also been designated as variants of concern in Europe. Where are they spreading? They were spotted circulating in South Africa at the beginning of the year and now appear to be spreading much more quickly than other variants. Most European countries now have them and they look set to overtake other types of Covid soon. That's already happened in Portugal - BA.5 is now dominant there. In the US, officials say they are seeing rising numbers of infections caused by the two new subvariants. Covid infections in the UK are also increasing, driven by BA.4 and BA.5. Australia has reported cases too. Will they be harmful? Experts are unsure how hard countries will be hit. BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron are not thought to be any more lethal than other types of Covid. Lots of people have built up some immunity from past infections and vaccination, which is helping to make the disease less risky overall. But the new subvariants do appear to be spreading more easily. This is partly because immunity may be waning, but also because of the mutations the virus has undergone. Many countries have also lifted their Covid restrictions, meaning people are mixing more, which gives the virus more chances to spread. BA.4 and BA.5 appear to be able to infect people even if they've recently had other types of Omicron. A wave of new infections could lead to more hospitalisations and some more deaths. How can we protect against them? As with other Covid variants, the risk or serious illness remains highest for people who are elderly, or who have significant underlying health conditions. Although current vaccines are not a perfect fit, they are still the best line of defence. They have cut the risk of severe illness against the other major Covid variants, including Delta, Alpha, Beta and Gamma. Doctors say it is vital people get the recommended number of doses to gain maximum protection against existing and emerging variants. Here is the link: [Hidden Content]

Solar eclipses are fascinating to me. The next total Solar eclipse in Philippines is 20 years from now! (on Sunday, 4/20/2042) But next year there will be a partial solar eclipse on Thursday 4/20/2023. should still be nice to see (if there are no clouds:)

Did anyone get a chance to see the Planets visible in the night sky ? [Hidden Content] Planets Visible in the Night Sky in Manila, Philippines Visible tonight, Jul 11 – Jul 12, 2022 Mercury: From Tue 5:07 am EDT Venus: From Tue 3:37 am EDT Mars: From Tue 12:34 am EDT Jupiter: From Mon 11:05 pm EDT Saturn: From Mon 8:39 pm EDT Uranus: From Tue 1:20 am EDT Neptune: From Mon 10:23 pm EDT

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found some poetry but not sure if passengers will like them hah, Thank you Thank you for the suggestion

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Summer is here ... we are getting ready for a 2-week road trip. Does anyone have recommendations for audio books that would be good to listen to (on loooong stretches of road) ? We don't plan to, but if we drive at night time, which ones are good to listen to keep you awake Found a couple of titles here ... [Hidden Content] Thank you for any feedback you can provide.