There goes August, leaving us with 66 days to go until Nov. 5.
Friday/ another jab 💉
Happy Friday.
It’s the start of Labor Day weekend— summer’s last hurrah here in the United States.
I was at the QFC grocery store, and thought: ‘Let me check with the pharmacy to see when they will have the new Covid vaccine’.
Well, it had arrived, so there I was 5 minutes later, inside the little vaccination room, rolling up my sleeve for my shot. Done.
This mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (2024-2025 formula) includes a monovalent (single) component that corresponds to the Omicron variant KP.2 strain of SARS-CoV-2.
(As of August 20, 2024, the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants KP.2, KP.2.3, KP.3 and KP.3.1.1, as well as LB.1, have high prevalence in the United States.)
The first phase of human trials studying a possible COVID-19 vaccine as an intranasal spray has opened, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced recently.
[Graphic from https://products.modernatx.com/spikevax]
Thursday/ .. and mail from Belgium 🇧🇪
A letter arrived today from Antwerp, with more South African stamps inside.
Issued 1993, Oct.18
Perf. 11½| Photogravure
1508 Air Hostess Natacha, by François Walthéry| 15fr | multi-colored
[Source: 2018 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 1B]
From Wikipedia: Natacha is a Belgian comics series, created by François Walthéry and Roland Goossens. The series tells the adventures of Natacha, a young sexy flight attendant in the service of the flight company Bardaf, and her clumsy, hot-tempered colleague and friend Walter, with occasional participation by her flight captain Turbo and his co-pilot Legrain. Natacha was first published in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou on February 26, 1970.
Belgian Railways 175th Anniversary
Issued 2010, May 10
Perf. 11½| Photogravure & Engraving
2438 Belgian Railways 175th Anniversary| €1.18 | multi-colored
[Source: 2018 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 1B]
Wednesday/ mail from Spain 🇪🇸
Let’s see what’s on these stamps from Spain.
They were put on an envelope sent to me from an Ebay seller from Barcelona.
There was a single stamp from South Africa inside, to add to my collection ☺️.
Issued 2015, Jan. 2
Die Cut Perf. 13 | Booklet Stamps | Lithography
4010a Moon Gate, Cordoba | 42c | multi-colored
4010c St. Mary’s Gate, Hondarribia | 42c | multi-colored
[Source: 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 6A]
Tuesday/ a tearful goodbye 🥲
I’m making the decision to stop. I’m very happy with that. No injury, no nothing. Okay, I decided to because I’m tired, because I’m feeling like I cannot be the competitor I’ve been before.
– Diego Schwartzman, talking to a reporter
Diego Schwartzman (32, 🇦🇷) bid the crowd a tearful good-bye after his 7-6, 2-6, 2-6, 1-6 loss against Gael Monfils (37, 🇫🇷) on Monday. He will be playing his last tournament in Buenos Aires in February.
From atptour.com: It will bring to a close a memorable career in which the Argentine has won 250 tour-level matches, competed in the Nitto ATP Finals in 2020 and ascended to No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings.
Monday/ Cybertruck spotting ⚙️
We spotted this Cybertruck at noon today, at the junction of South Alaska Street and Rainier Avenue South. (Looks like a black Tesla Model 3 on its right, in the second picture. It could also be a Model Y).
A filing from Tesla on June 24 for a recall revealed that there was a total of 11,688 trucks ‘in the wild’ or shipped to customers.
There might be 25,000 out there by the end of the year, with production volumes still being ramped up.
Tesla sees as its full-volume production total at 250,000 units per year.
Will there still be buyers for a truck that sells for more than $100k, at that point?
(The Foundation Series starts at $102,235, but cheaper trims such as an All Wheel Drive for $96,390 and Rear-Wheel Drive for $76,390 could be on the way.)
Sunday/ the US Open starts 🎾
The year’s last Grand Slam tennis tournament starts tomorrow in Queens, New York.
Congratulations to the 16 qualifiers.
There were 128 men and 128 women competing for the final 16 slots, respectively, in each of the 2024 US Open singles draws.
Even if you lose in the first round of the main draw, you are awarded $100,000 for your efforts— a lot of money.
If you are a young professional player just starting out, you play in so-called futures tournaments offering $10,000 to $25,000 in prize money for the winner.
3-6, 6-1, 7-5, after saving two match points. Lesssgooooo (let’s go) says fellow Australian tennis player Thanasi Kokkinakis in the comments on the right.
Tu has had the bad luck to draw world No 3 Carlos Alcaraz (21, 🇪🇸) for the first round of the main draw, though. They will play on Tuesday in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
[Screen shot is from l.tu96 on Instagram]
Update Tue 8/27: Tu lost against Alcaraz, but took the second set: 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 1-6.
Saturday/ stranded in space 🌕
Yikes.
From cbsnews.com:
After weeks of debate, NASA has ruled out bringing two astronauts back to Earth aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule because of lingering concerns about multiple helium leaks and degraded thrusters, both critical to a successful re-entry, officials said Saturday.
Launched June 5, Starliner commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams originally expected to spend a little more than a week in space in the Starliner’s first piloted test flight. They’ll now spend at least 262 days in orbit — nearly nine months — before returning to Earth around Feb. 22 with two Crew 9 fliers after they wrap up a normal six-month tour of duty.
It’s not clear from the post when this picture was taken, though. This August’s full moon (the supermoon called Blue Moon*) occurred at 2:26 p.m. EDT (1826 GMT) on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, when the moon was 100% fully illuminated.
*Blue Moon means it’s the third full moon in a season that has four full moons.
Friday/ rain ☔
Happy Friday.
There was steady rain here in the city today (about 0.5″), and there will be more this weekend.
It was all of 58°F (14°C) as I headed out for a quick walk after dinner.
Thursday/ Kamala for the people 👩🏽
The convention in Chicago is over.
The Democratic Party’s nominee for president took the stage tonight in Chicago to rapturous applause and accepted the nomination.
I liked all of Harris’s speech: the story of her life, how everyone counts in a democracy, and saying she will be a president that is realistic and practical, and that she will always fight for the American people.
Nandita Bose, Jeff Mason and Doina Chiacu reporting for Reuters:
Harris drew a series of contrasts with Trump, accusing him of not fighting for the middle class, planning to enact a tax hike through his tariff proposals, and having set in motion the end of a constitutional right to abortion with his picks for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Picture by Win McNamee/ Getty Images.
Wednesday/ the nominee for VP 🫏
Here’s Minnesota governor Tim Walz (picked by Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s nominee for Vice President), addressing the conventioneers tonight.
Tuesday/ fall-ish weather 🌦
A little bit of rain, a little sun, clouds— that seems to be the weather pattern for the week. A high of 71 °F (22 °C) today.
It’s the last hurrah for my deck furniture before I put it away in the garage and the basement.
Monday/ red, blue and battleground states 🇺🇸
Happy Monday.
The Democratic National Convention is underway.
*Fun fact: Richard Nixon is the technically the only US president from the West Coast, ever. Yes, there was Ronald Reagan who was governor of California, before he was elected president in 1980, but he was born in Illinois.
[From the Washington Post]
Sunday/ the Democrats’ convention 🫏
The Democratic Party’s national convention starts tomorrow in Chicago.
A headline in the New York Times reads ‘Democrats’ Unity Convention Has One Giant Exception: The Gaza War’.
From bbc.com:
President Biden will headline the convention on Monday night. The crowd will also hear from First Lady Jill Biden, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and other Democratic leaders.
On Tuesday, former President Barack Obama is expected to deliver remarks. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Ms Harris’s husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, will also address the convention on Tuesday.
Wednesday’s line-up reportedly features former President Bill Clinton and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, among others.
Ms Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, will give the prime-time speech that night after his nomination.
The most important night of the convention is Thursday, when Vice-President Harris will take the stage. She will formally accept the presidential nomination and give her speech on the final night of the convention dedicated “For the Future.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former First Lady Michelle Obama, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will also take the stage at some point during the week.
[Poster by Shepard Fairey]
Saturday/ thunder and lightning 🌩
A large thunderstorm with rain and lightning is passing over the Seattle metro area tonight.
NOAA’s GOES-18 (launched Mar 1, 2022) is the third satellite in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) – R Series, the Western Hemisphere’s most sophisticated weather-observing and environmental-monitoring system.
The GOES-R Series provides advanced imagery and atmospheric measurements, real-time mapping of lightning activity, and monitoring of space weather.
[Picture from noaa.gov]
Friday/ inflation in the US: the latest 📈
The consumer price index, a broad-based measure of prices for goods and services, increased 0.2% for the month, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 2.9%, its lowest since March 2021.
Excluding food and energy, core CPI came in at a 0.2% monthly rise and a 3.2% annual rate, meeting expectations.
A 0.4% increase in shelter costs was responsible for 90% of the all-items inflation increase. Food prices climbed 0.2% while energy was flat.
– Reported by Jeff Cox on CNBC.com
[Posted by Bill Prady @billprady on X]
Thursday/ a freebie 🍊
These little mandarins from Peru are sweet, seedless and plump, and I got them for free at Amazon Fresh. 🤗
As I attempted to scan the barcode and put them into my smart grocery cart, the scanner did not recognize the barcode. There was no 4-digit produce code to type in on the bag, or on the shelf. Searching for ‘mandarin’ on the cart’s lookup menu also yielded no result.
The store clerk in the aisle could offer no other solution either, and just tucked the mandarins into the back of the cart, saying I don’t have to pay for them.
Wednesday/ a triceratops 🦕
It’s time for another cool British stamp that had arrived on an envelope in my mailbox.
Issued 1991, Aug. 20
Perf. 14½ x 14 | Phosphorized paper
1577 1010 Triceratops | 37p | grey, greenish yellow, turquoise-blue, dull violet, yellow-brown & black
[Source: 1997 Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue Part 1: British Commonwealth]
Additional notes:
1. Richard Owen worked as a taxonomist for the London Zoo and coined the word dinosaur (originally ‘dinosauria’) in 1841.
2. Triceratops lived in the Late Cretaceous period, about 68 to 66 million years ago, in what is now western North America.
Tuesday/ not too late for flowers 🌸
It’s getting late in summer, but I still find pretty flowers here in my neighborhood.
Monday/ floatplanes 🌅
Here’s a beautiful view from this morning, of the south end of Lake Union.
I took the picture from the seventh floor of a building off Fairview Avenue North.
Those taking off could be heading the San Juan Islands, or even to Vancouver Island or British Columbia’s Inside Passage.