News blues
U.S. throws out millions of doses of COVID vaccine as world goes wanting >> ***
On US and global infrastructure and supply chain management (or lack thereof…)
… the thick layer of irrationality …encrusts our supply chain. It’s beyond the power of any one person to change this anytime soon, but trying to scrape off as many of these encumbrances as possible should be a national priority.
We are experiencing the worst disruption of the supply chain since the advent of the shipping-container era in the late 1950s, driven, at bottom, by the pandemic. A surge in e-commerce, coupled with a labor shortage, helped to create the conditions for a spiraling series of bottlenecks.
Ships are idling waiting to unload their cargo at ports, while containers are waiting at the ports to be shipped further inland, while cargo is waiting outside full warehouses on chassis that aren’t available to use to pick up other containers, and so on. In theory, there are plenty of ships, trucks and other capacity to handle the volume, but not if so much of that capacity is tied up and frozen in place.
… there’s no underestimating the challenge here. Everyone along every part of the U.S. logistics chain is pointing fingers at each other, and everyone deserves some blame, whether it’s the ports, the truckers, the warehouses, the railroads or other players.
Read more >>
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| One section of supply chain buildup at Port of Oakland, October 16, 2021. |
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| A supply chain joke for 2021. |
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The latest information on vaccine boosters
Across the board, from Feds to local clinics, communication – lack of and outright miscommunication? – has been a worrisome feature of the Covid-19 pandemic. Contradictory information continues… but we do the best we can to research and uncover the latest information on how to protect ourselves and our family and friends. The following is the latest – as of this week – on boosters.
- FDA Panel Endorses Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Booster >>
- So far, 8.8 million Americans have received a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Here’s everything to know about booster doses of all three vaccines.
Read more >>
- Should you mix and match COVID-19 vaccines? Experts weigh in.
While not yet authorized, small trials suggest some booster combinations are not only safe, they may yield better protection.
Read more >>
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Seeking resources and information on Covid vaccines?
Explore the CDC website >>***
The Lincoln Project :
Peaceful Pledge (0:35 mins)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
I recommend anyone become a tourist in her/his home region and/or city.
Yesterday, I was a tourist in one small section of San Francisco, from the ferry building to the downtown half mile of Mission Street, over Market Street via Kearney Street to inner North Beach. Blessed with great weather it was a wonderful trip!
Ferry passing me… not even a thought to stop and pick me up!
I misread the ferry schedule and arrived at one of the East Bay ferry terminals early. According to my online schedule, a ferry is due at 10:15. According to the posted schedule at the terminal, there is no 10:15am ferry on a weekend.
Forty minutes later, aboard! On my way to San Francisco towards the Ferry Building.
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| San Francisco.... |
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Ferry Building Landing with Farmer's Market kiosks.
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| Iconic Ferry Building, 2021. |
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| Impressive... too bad they're sinking... |
San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art – MoMA – seems to have expanded since my last visit, too.
Of my choices – Paul Klee and Ruth Asawa, Alex Calder and other exhibits, I elected for
Diego Riviera’s “Pan American Unity” mural.
I did not visit the Yerba Buena Ctr although I have many memories both attending and being part of presenting events there. Moreover, one memory still haunts: A group of anti-war protesters and protest groups – including Vets for Peace, Courage to Resist – presented a moving protest that entered and then passed YBC gardens. I noticed one woman, perhaps working in YBC garden, take fright at our overt spectacle. She sunk to the ground and began to cry. I do not speak Spanish nor was she interested in conversation. Instead, she ran away, still crying. Clearly, our raucous protest had stimulated unpleasant memories in her.
An example of how wide is human experience, memory, over-focus on one’s own current issue, and lack of awareness about one’s actions can affect others.
San Francisco is full of memories, from the Occupy movement – Justin Herman Plaza and local streets hosted many Occupy tents back in the day (see
A Month in the Life of Occupy and
May Day in Occupy Oakland and
many more pictures).
In North Beach, I discovered City Lights books going strong (not shut down as I’d heard.
Co-founder Lawrence Ferlinghetti died but City Lights goes on… So, too, does Spec’s although it opens at 3pm on Saturdays and I couldn’t wait.
Lunch was a North Beach Special sandwich from Molinari’s – prosciutto, provolone, pickled red peppers and sundried tomatoes. Yum!
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| Molinari's |
I ate half of the huge Molinari’s sandwich in a small park I’d passed through most every day of my life when I worked in the tech industry around Pacific Avenue and the Levi Strauss & Co building, then HQ for that company.
Good times!
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One of my favorite North Beach buildings... on Colombus...
owned, or once owned, by Francis Ford Coppola. |
My visit stimulated so many memories. I’d find myself stopping at a point, trying to remember what about it stimulated my memory. Sometimes it was simply an area where I’d purchase coffee each morning, sometimes a spot where a US Army recruiting station had operated for a short while, or the building housing a TV studio where I’d been interviewed on my anti-war travels and book ….Crossing Broadway at Columbus and bumping into John Cleese...
I spent more than four hours visiting my past in San Francisco then took the ferry back home. The view leaving The City is as impressive as is the view arriving….
Interesting trivia on the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge…
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| 508-foot caisson |
This 508-foot caisson was thus built from the top down and rammed through 100 feet of mud into bedrock to tower 288 feet above the water. This anchorage contains more concrete than the Empire State Building.
I’d planned to visit again today, with a friend. Weather forecasters predicted rain so we agreed to go another day. So far, alas, no rain….
