Today is the scheduled meeting for the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). It meets from 10 AM-4 PM EDT. The final agenda is here.
I also want to recommend the recent article on the new Covid vaccine published in Scientific American on September 1, 2023, entitled “When Will the Next COVID Vaccine Be Available, and Who Should Get It?
I think it’s a nice, balanced article which avoids extreme opinions and sticks to the scientific facts.
Today, the FDA approved and authorized the updated mRNA Covid-19 vaccines, specifically for the monovalent XBB.1.5 variant.
See the announcement on the FDA website for full details. The CDC ACIP will meet to discuss clinically-based recommendations for the use of these vaccines tomorrow.
I remember where I was on September 9, 2001. I was climbing the stairs at the hospital on my way back to my office. I was on duty on the psychiatry consultation service. I happened to glance at the television in the lobby from the landing. A news story was showing one of the Twin Towers on fire.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. The rest of the day there was talk of the attack on America.
We visited New York City in 2017 and viewed the Memorial & Museum Plaza. We saw the Survivor Tree, the Callery Pear.
It seems like there is almost nothing else to remember about the date except the disaster and the tragedy.
But one of the local fire stations not far from our house has a Flag of Honor on the wall. It honors those killed in the terrorist attacks on 9/11.
Even if we can’t go to the Memorial in New York City, we can remember it and honor the brave.
We decided to kick it up a notch with our two-person ball passing juggle routine. We switched out three of the bean bag Zeekio balls for some glowing LED juggling balls.
The LEDs are bigger and heavier than the bean bags, which led to more challenging passes. They also look better in low light, so it was a little harder to see the balls flying at us. We really didn’t know when we’d have to change our grip—so we often ended up losing our grip.
New update on the Covid-19 variant BA.2.86 as of Sept. 8, 2023. Highlights:
“The current increases in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the United States are not being driven by BA.2.86 and instead are being caused by other predominantly circulating viruses.
Early research data from multiple labs are reassuring and show that existing antibodies work against the new BA.2.86 variant. These data are also encouraging because of what it may mean for the effectiveness of the 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine, which is currently under review. That’s because the vaccine is tailored to the currently circulating variants.
Since CDC’s initial risk assessment, BA.2.86 has been identified in additional countries from both human and wastewater specimens. The variant has been identified in nine U.S. states as of September 8, 2023, at 11:30 AM EDT— in people across Colorado, Delaware, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, as well as one additional human case that is being investigated. The variant has also been identified in wastewater samples in two states, New York and Ohio.
The U.S. SARS-CoV-2 Interagency Group (SIG) classified BA.2.86 as a Variant being Monitored (VBM) on September 1, 2023.”
Sena and I are going to break the internet with another video of two person juggling! OK, so maybe we won’t exactly break the internet—but we might give it a nosebleed. We had to think of a way to top our recent side hug version of tandem juggling with 3 balls. So, we tried the 5-ball passing juggle pattern.
This one was also inspired by Niels Duinker and his sidekick Piet. On the other hand, it was difficult to get started at first. I found the video tough to follow and was dumbfounded on how to even get started.
Overthinking can put the brakes on any endeavor. Once we just got rolling and quit sweating the details, the pattern just seemed to flow. You have to give it your undivided attention. And you both have to be able to juggle the 3-ball cascade.
There are a couple of rules to remember. The jugglers face each other rather than stand side by side. One juggler tosses balls straight to the partner while the opposite partner tosses them back diagonally to the partner’s opposite hand.
In this pattern, I start with 3 balls, 2 in my right hand and one in my left. Sena starts with 2 balls, one in each hand. The person with 2 balls in the right hand starts by tossing one ball straight to the partner’s left hand. The partner must toss the ball in her left hand (to empty it so she can catch the ball flying in) across to the other’s left hand. One person always throws diagonally and the other always throws straight across.
Even saying that is confusing. You really have to see it and that’s why we included a slow-motion clip. There’s a sweet spot in the distance between jugglers. If you’re too far apart, there’s a tendency for throws to be too long and either too high or too low. There’s a juggle space between you and your partner just as there is for you alone. It’s a little wider, but not much, because lobbing it upwards more than tossing it in a shallow arc duplicates juggling by yourself.
The more we practiced, the smoother and easier the pattern felt. I tend to jitterbug around while Sena tends to stand solidly in place. Nevertheless, we both compensate for imperfections in our throws.
We tried out our new double wall glass mugs yesterday and I think the coffee stays hot longer in the new cup. Sena is a little doubtful. She ordered a thermometer and we’ll test it more scientifically.
The mugs are lighter than I thought they would be. They don’t get hot on the outside so I can safely set it in my lap while we’re sitting out in the sun room in the morning.
The ceramic mug transmits a little too much heat for that, at least initially. I went through the roof once and got picked up by a passing UFO. I offered the driver a sip and it just said, “You’re not experimenting on me!” They’re a little suspicious.
Sena also got a little K-pod drawer which neatly holds most of our pods. The whole setup makes morning brew really quick and easy.
We got our new double wall glass mugs yesterday for our Keurig coffee maker, along with more K-pods. We’ll keep the K-pods in a brand-new snazzy drawer that sits on the counter under the Black and Decker coffee maker.
Now we’ll see whether our coffee stays hot longer. Sena’s also planning to get a thermometer to check this.
Sena got a great deal on the double-wall glass mugs, at just a fraction of the list price.
I can’t remember whether the Artificial Intelligence robot came with the mugs or the coffee pot.
I found out about tandem juggling yesterday and learned how to do it from a YouTube video by genius juggler Niels Duinker and his sidekick, Piet van Steen. Sena and I picked it up pretty quickly.
It’s a wide frame form of the 3-ball cascade. All we had to do was practice throwing a little wider and higher. It’s a very entertaining way to play catch.
You still have to throw the balls within the pane of glass. You also have to compensate for each other’s height. The two of you have to stand pretty close together, basically shoulder to shoulder.
This is a barrel of laughs and great exercise as well!
I ran across an interesting Medscape article, “Should Doctors Be Funnier? These MDs Are Real Comedians.” I don’t know if they should be funny, but it probably wouldn’t hurt.
I think a sense of humor is a good thing for anyone to have and it’s probably not that hard to develop. There’s even a Wikihow article on how to develop a sense of humor.
I usually look for the funny edge in most things that happen to me. I was always very nervous about presenting Grand Rounds when I was on staff at the hospital. I would try to come up with a good case example illustrating both medical and psychiatric features. It was pretty challenging.
I often used humor to help me get through my stage fright. I didn’t tell jokes, but I did clown around a bit. One day, I arrived too early for the Psychiatry Dept. Grand Rounds and accidentally walked in on another scheduled event in the conference room that was obviously not for psychiatrists—only not immediately obvious to me. I got a few chuckles from the audience just from having to back out. Later, during the real Grand Rounds I clowned about my mistake as a sort of opener to my presentation.
Unfortunately, I then had to stumble through my PowerPoint slides (every presenter’s worst nightmare) because I evidently had not organized them correctly. I survived by joking about it. That resulted in a digital award from the residents for being “Improviser of the Year.”
Humor can get you through some pretty sticky situations.
Go Retire Psychiatrist 