Columnists

Donald Trump's February 28th Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) speech gave us a good idea of what to expect from him for the next two years. The speech introduced Trump version 2.0; not all that different from Trump 1.0. Bad news for the GOP. -more-

The human "psyche", "personality", "soul", or the thing within us that makes us function, is vulnerable, and it is fragile. This is apart from psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar, that are believed to have physical, neurobiological causes. -more-

My wife and I just received our second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of March 5, only 11.2% of the adult population in the U.S. has received both coronavirus vaccine doses, while 17.4% of California have received at least one dose. -more-

Your Under-COVID Reporter

I got my second COVID jab last week and, unlike the uneventful first poke, this one knocked me out for two days with a fever, headache, sore muscles, fatigue, and vomiting. While I was in bed, drinking hot tea, I found myself remembering the long wait in line for the inoculation and reading all the small print on a sign-in sheet that included—among other details—a complete list of all the ingredients in the Moderna vaccine.

Most of the more-that-a-dozen ingredients involved were long, complex, and unfamiliar chemical names—e.g., 1,2-dimyristoyl-rac-glycero3-methoxypolyethylene glycol-2000. There were, however, some ingredients that I did recognize. How many other Moderna recipients noticed that their injections included (1) acetic acid (think "vinegar"), (2) sodium chloride (think "salt"), and (3) cholesterol (think "clogged arteries")? -more-

I received an email this week from someone I talk with on occasion about housing and construction in Berkeley. It started with, “I learned from a friend of a friend who manages a 50 unit building that he has 50% vacancies…” The note goes on that the same person related that there are other buildings with 60% and 70% vacancies. -more-