About 66 percent of adults have received at least one shot. President Biden set a goal on May 4 of reaching 70 percent of adults by July 4. Here’s how states are progressing towards that national target.
6/03/2021
Flight for the near future
United Airlines Wants to Bring Back Supersonic Air Travel
The airline, which plans to buy planes from Boom Supersonic, a start-up, could become the first to offer ultrafast commercial flights since the Concorde stopped flying in 2003.
The era of supersonic commercial flights came to an end when the Concorde completed its last trip between New York and London in 2003, but the allure of ultrafast air travel never quite died out.
President Biden mused about supersonic flights when discussing his infrastructure plan in April. And on Thursday, United Airlines said it was ordering 15 jets that can travel faster than the speed of sound from Boom Supersonic, a start-up in Denver. The airline said it had an option to increase its order by up to 35 planes.
Boom, which has raised $270 million from venture capital firms and other investors, said it planned to introduce aircraft in 2025 and start flight tests in 2026. It expects the plane, which it calls the Overture, to carry passengers before the end of the decade.
But the start-up’s plans have already slipped at least once, and it will have to overcome many obstacles, including securing approval from the Federal Aviation Administration and regulators in other countries. Even established manufacturers have stumbled when introducing new or redesigned planes. Boeing’s 737 Max was grounded for nearly two years after two crashes.
The deal is United’s latest attempt to position itself as a risk taker shaking up an industry that is just getting back on its feet after a devastating pandemic. The airline announced a $20 million investment in an electric air taxi start-up, Archer, in February, and it is working on a “steady drumbeat” of more such bets, said Michael Leskinen, who heads corporate development at United.
“We are really confident in the future,” Mr. Leskinen said. “Aerospace takes a long time to innovate. And so if you don’t start setting these opportunities out now, you will have missed them.”
United and Boom would not disclose financial details, including the cost of each plane, but Mr. Leskinen said the economics should be about the same as a new Boeing 787, a wide-body plane that airlines typically use on international routes. United has committed to buying the planes if Boom manages to produce them, secure regulatory approvals and hit other targets, like meeting its sustainability requirements.
Boom also plans to make planes for Japan Airlines, an investor in the company.
What is not clear is whether Boom has solved the problems that forced British Airways and Air France to stop using the Concorde on trans-Atlantic flights — high costs, safety concerns and flagging demand.
“There was no airline interest,” Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst and consultant, said about why supersonic flights languished. “And a big part of the lack of airline interest was there were no engines that were commercially available that would allow a supersonic jet to be economically viable.”
Two decades later, some start-up companies, including Boom and Spike Aerospace, are pushing ahead with new designs and plans.
Boom, which is working with Rolls-Royce, the British jet engine maker, said its plane would be more efficient than the Concorde; United estimates it will be 75 percent more efficient. Boom’s planes will not be as noisy as the Concorde because their engines will create a sonic boom only when flying over water “when there’s no one to hear it,” said Boom’s chief executive, Blake Scholl, who previously worked at Amazon and Groupon.
In recent years, many people have also grown increasingly concerned about air travel’s contribution to climate change. Supersonic jets are expected to use more fuel than regular jets per passenger per mile, according to experts.
Mr. Scholl said the engines on Boom’s planes would rely entirely on sustainable aviation fuel, which can be made from waste, plants and other organic matter. Experts say such fuel could reduce emissions, but its supply is limited, it is expensive and its use does not eliminate greenhouse gas emissions.
United said it was too early to know how much it would charge for the flights, which it would run out of its hubs in Newark and San Francisco to start. But another big question mark about the plane is how many people will be willing to spend the thousands of dollars that each ticket on a supersonic flight is likely to cost.
United has long focused on business travelers, including by adding flights to Israel, China and other destinations popular with executives and by offering more business class seats on its planes. Mr. Leskinen called the idea of supersonic travel a “really powerful tool for business.”
“You can have a business meeting and still be home to have dinner with your family,” he said.
But corporate and international travel is expected to rebound slowly from the pandemic, and some experts say it might not recover fully for years because companies have realized that they can be effective without as many in-person meetings.
“The key to the success of supersonic transportation is the overlooked, underappreciated corporate travel manager, who is probably relegated to one of the worst offices in his or her company — and his primary task is to minimize corporate spending on business travel,” said Mr. Harteveldt.
If flights save a third of the travel time but also cost a third more, travel managers may end up saying, “I don’t know if we can justify that,” he said.
As UNITED states SFO to NRT will be within 6 hours makes it direct flight from EWR to NRT should be around 9 hours flight. Currently EWR to NRT will take little over 13 hours, and business first seat would cost roughly $12,000 round travel. That should make supersonic business class will be around $17,000 based on the flight time: ticket cost ratio. But I would doubt we will be able to enjoy supersonic flight to Japan with this ticket price. I would guess starting from $30,000? Please surprise me UNITED.
5/17/2021
J.CREW will have a huge help
Brendon Babenzien Named Creative Director of J.Crew Men's
Co-founder of Noah and Former Design Director at Supreme to Redefine Iconic Menswear Brand
NEW YORK, May 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- J.Crew Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Brendon Babenzien, Co-Founder of Noah and former Design Director at Supreme, as Creative Director of J.Crew Men's. Babenzien will work alongside J.Crew Group CEO Libby Wadle to redefine the iconic brand, merging the vitality and creativity of today's style subcultures with an innovative appreciation of classic menswear.
Babenzien will lead J.Crew Men's design, instilling the brand with the free-thinking point of view and visionary focus on responsible business models that have earned him critical acclaim throughout his impressive career. Babenzien's vision as Design Director at Supreme elevated a niche skate wear brand to the global stage, while his founding of Noah earned him further international renown for building a brand with a high standard of quality menswear while challenging the status quo by seeking to further positive change within the industry. As Creative Director of J.Crew Men's, Babenzien will for the first time turn his focus towards the evolution and reimagination of a true American classic.
"J.Crew has always been a part of my life - quietly, subtly in the background, slowly becoming the platform from which to build my personal style. I'm excited to join the team and build a positive future that meets the interests of the thoughtful consumers that exist today, satisfying not just their sophisticated taste level but their demands for responsible business practices," said Babenzien. "J.Crew is in the unique position to help men achieve the confidence we all seek both stylistically and as consumers. I look forward to working with Libby and the rest of the J.Crew family to achieve these goals."
"Brendon is a singular talent in the fashion world. He's a true storyteller, and it's that depth of vision and creativity that have led to his proven ability to build beloved brands that customers obsess over. His unique point of view, willingness to take risks and insider status will be invaluable to J.Crew's commitment to step outside ourselves and disrupt our brand and the industry in a progressive way," said Wadle. "Brendon has always had an innate ability to pursue meaningful creative with integrity and is obsessively engaged with what is happening in the industry. His authentic connection to the brand serves as a perfect foundation upon which to drive the future of J.Crew Men's, and I couldn't be more thrilled to welcome him to the team."
Babenzien will begin his work with J.Crew Men's effective immediately, reporting directly to Wadle. His first full collection for the brand is scheduled to debut in the second half of 2022.
source by PR Newwire
5/06/2021
The fact
Erika Inoue, 24, who works at a research group in Tokyo that consults on projects for local governments and businesses, said she was envious of friends in the United States who had received their shots.
“Among my friends’ group, I’m the only one who hasn’t gotten vaccinated,” said Ms. Inoue, who is hoping to attend a friend’s wedding in Tunisia. “I cannot wait.”
Japan, South Korea and Australia have all fallen far behind the vaccination timelines they laid out months ago.
Some wards in Tokyo began administering shots to those over 65 just this past week. In South Korea, where the authorities initially said they would be able to vaccinate about one million people a day, they have averaged closer to 27,000 in the first three months vaccinating. This month, Australian health officials dropped a goal of vaccinating the country’s entire population by the end of the year.
In Australia and Japan, the authorities have blamed supply problems from Europe for the slow rollout. Australia has said the European Union failed to deliver 3.1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. A spokesman for the European Commission said that only 250,000 doses had been withheld from Australia by Italy in March, but officials in Australia say the reality is that the rest of the doses, blocked or not, simply have not arrived.
Australia has faced further complications as it has advised against giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to people under 50 after reports of very rare blood clots.
In Japan, Taro Kono, the cabinet minister overseeing the vaccination program, has complained that the European Union grants approval on a shipment-by-shipment basis rather than approving multiple shipments at once. “We could get our vaccines stopped by the E.U.,” he said, citing the withheld doses to Australia.
The European Union has authorized shipments of more than 39 million doses to Japan, Patricia Flor, the union’s ambassador to Japan, said in an interview. “I would totally and absolutely reject any statement which would say that the way the vaccination campaign in Japan is going is related in any way to delays or problems in deliveries from the E.U.,” she said.
Supply issues or not, other factors have also led to delays. Japan requires domestic clinical trials of new vaccines, and in both Japan and South Korea, officials have proceeded carefully to persuade people who say they are reluctant to get vaccinated right away.
Kim Minho, 27, a researcher at the Institute of Engineering Research in Seoul, said the government had depended too heavily on measures like social distancing to curb infection rates. “Korea was late to the vaccine party,” he said.
A similar dynamic is true in Japan. Experts said the country might simply have failed to negotiate contracts requiring early deliveries of vaccines doses. In a statement, Pfizer said it would deliver on its commitment of 144 million doses to Japan by the end of 2021. Japan has yet to give regulatory approval to the Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccines, although it has contracted with both companies to buy millions of doses.
Health ministry officials “are professionals about public health,” said Dr. Hiroyuki Moriuchi, a professor of global health at Nagasaki University. “But when it comes to business or contract writing, they are not professionals or experts in this area.”
“If Japan had a firm consciousness that this is a sense of crisis,” he added, “they would not have relied only on health ministry officials” to negotiate such contracts.
Mr. Kono, the cabinet minister overseeing the vaccine campaign, projects that the country will distribute enough doses for the country’s 36 million older people by the end of June. In a news briefing, he gave no projections for when the rest of the population might be inoculated.
Although overseas spectators have been barred from the Olympics, the Games’ organizers have said they will not require athletes, Olympic officials or foreign journalists to be vaccinated in order to enter Japan. On Friday, Seiko Hashimoto, the president of the Tokyo organizing committee, said that unlike other nations, Japan did not plan to prioritize its athletes for vaccination.
In public polls, more than 70 percent of Japanese respondents say the Olympics should be postponed or canceled because of the pandemic. Media surveys have found that close to three-quarters of the public is unhappy with the vaccination delays.
text by The New York Times
4/25/2021
Get vaccinated
Millions are skipping their second dozes of Covid Vaccines.
Why?
You may have some concerns like you may fear the side effects such as flulike symptoms? You may feel that it is sufficiently protected with a single shot? Or simply they ran out of supply or didn't have the right brand in stock?
I had a second dose last week and felt that I should be open about my experiences after the second shot. So this is my story.......
April.20
3pm: I had a second Moderna made vaccine and waited 15 minutes to see I feel ok to leave the shot site.
7pm: Had a good dinner (no alcohol) feeling well as usual.
11pm: Went to bed. All normal.
April.21
7am: Slept well and felt wooziness little but had coffee and good amount of breakfast. Normal day starts.
10am: Online meeting as usual with the colleagues and told them to meet in person later time. I was feeling fine.
11am: Checked my temperature, 99.5 degrees. Slightly feeling fever like.
12pm: Had a good amount of lunch, but wanted to go back to bed as soon as finished meal. Start feeling listless.
1pm～6pm: Having temperature went up and down in between 99.5 to 101 degrees. Yes, this was the moment feeling flulike symptom.
6pm: Even I was feeling wooziness, I was hungry for regular meal for dinner. My body was suffering with flulike symptom, but my mental was positive just because I guess I knew exactly why this was happening and knew this will be over within 24 to 36 hours like as many people said.
9pm Since dinner, stayed in bed watching TV feeling woozy. Had a Tylenol and went to sleep hoping to feel much better when I wake up.
April.22
6am: Had a great sleep and felt little weak after a high fever, but felt good.
7am: Had a great breakfast and feeling better and better.
10am: I was at office and read to do anything!
So to verify the time to kick in the vaccine fully, it took somewhere around 10 hours + after being vaccinated, started feeling woozy. The fever like temperatures remained for about 30 hours and feel getting back to normal afterward.
I know about 20 people who had 2nd shot of vaccine and symptom varies.
50% were very similar to what I went through.
40% were no fever, nothing. Lucky ones.
10% felt minor issues such as low fever for a very short time.
But what I know, it is good that I have made effort to protect myself for being less chance to advancing in severity with virus and not spreading virus to others.
Don't you think it is worth of having vaccines just for this reason?
Please get vaccinated.
Remember, you will still need to follow the rules!
4/15/2021
It's time
NYC Restaurants and Bars Can Stay Open Until Midnight Starting April 19
It is time for restaurants and bars to do business with normal hours. It has taken too long to get here, but the continuing problems were created by us by not wearing mask, not washing hands, not speaking mannerly and so many other things that we simply can be more responsible.
As long as we observe the rules, we will have much better life, rather getting back to where it was before COVID-19 and let's get it done.
Let's good bye to this invisible virus that has given everyone fear and trying to defeat all of us.
Enough is enough.
Let's have vaccine, wear mask, and to be careful to our health.
Do our part, and please stay well.
4/13/2021
Tokyo Olympics
Tokyo Olympics: 72 percent of Japanese polled want the games canceled or postponed over slow vaccine rollout
The majority of people polled do not want the Tokyo Olympics to happen this summer
The Tokyo Olympics are only three months away now, but there is still a lot of uncertainty and concern surrounding the event, specifically among those living in Japan. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and not everyone in the country being vaccinated, many are worried the games -- which have already been postponed once -- will not be safe to hold.
On Monday, a Kyodo News poll showed that the majority of those asked in Japan are in favor of postponing or canceling the games altogether. Here are the stats from a Kyodo News poll:
"Amid lingering concern over a fourth coronavirus wave and the slow progress of vaccination, the poll found 39.2 percent believe the postponed Olympics and Paralympics should be canceled, while 32.8 percent think they should be rescheduled. Only 24.5 percent responded that the games should be held as scheduled."
According to the Wall Street Journal, only one percent of Japan's population is vaccinated against COVID-19.
As noted in the Kyodo News report, and highlighted by the Wall Street Journal information above, the concern for the Olympic events come in large part due to Japan's COVID-19 vaccine rollout which, because it is relying heavily on getting vials from other countries, is not moving as fast as desired.
According to nationwide telephone poll conducted and reported on by Kyodo News, 60 percent of people in the country are "dissatisfied" with the how the vaccine is being distributed. On Monday, Japan moved on to the phase of the rollout that includes vaccinating those who are 65 and older. Before Monday, health care workers were prioritized.
The poll also touched on the torch relay, with 13.2 percent saying it should continue, 49.3 percent saying in areas with high COVID-19 rates it should be canceled and 35.9 percent saying it should be canceled entirely. The torch relay began on March 25 in Japan.
Nearly all polled are concerned about COVID-19 cases rising, as Kyodo News wrote that "92.6 percent said they feel anxious about a resurgence of novel coronavirus infections."
2021 Summer Olympics: Foreign visitors will not be permitted at Tokyo Games, which will go ahead as scheduled
The Summer Olympics are set to start in late July
Fans will reportedly not be allowed to travel to Japan for the Tokyo Olympics or Paralympics this summer, according to multiple reports. The country made the decision to ban foreign visitors from the Tokyo Olympics due to the threat of the coronavirus pandemic. The report came on Tuesday from the Kyodo news agency, citing Japanese government officials. The news has not yet been confirmed by the Japanese government or Olympic officials.
While the news may be disappointing to those wanting to make the trip, the country is being on the safe side. At one point, fans were unsure if there would even be a Summer Olympics, after the games were delayed from 2020 to 2021 and amidst growing worry regarding the pandemic. They still plan to have the Olympics in summer of 2021 despite the pushback from many fans, media members and Japanese citizens.
Japan has a population of over 126 million, and has reported just over 8,000 deaths from COVID-19, according to CBS News.
Even without allowing visitors from abroad, there is still concern about the spread of the virus, given how many athletes and personnel will be making the trip.
Last month, officials released a 33-page playbook detailing the health and safety protocols that will be in place. There are many guidelines in place for athletes, including tracking, tests and mask mandates. Fans will not be allowed to cheer or sing loudly, but are allowed to clap.
The officials have asked that athletes get vaccinated before participating, but say they will not require a vaccination before attending.
The Tokyo Olympics are set to start on July 23 and last until Aug. 8.
text by CBS
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