Happy Pumpkin Spice Latte Season for all that celebrate. While I love the season of Autumn, that drink is not one of the things I love about it. I love the fall leaves, the cooler weather, fall fashion and of course Thanksgiving, but I prefer my lattes straight up. 🙂
One thing I don’t love about this Fall is the resurgence of COVID-19. You see evidence of it everywhere, from performers like Steve Martin and Adele having to postpone shows due to it, to things like the COVID-19 wastewater signal in Ontario:
It’s been on the rise since the summer, and doesn’t show any signs of quitting. That’s the bad news. The good news is that vaccines are coming out soon and you can get one. For more details, see here, here and here. Make sure you get a flu shot too.
Also, make sure the spaces you are in are well ventilated this fall and winter. Ventilation is key when it comes to managing any respiratory diseases like COVID-19. While there are CO2 detectors you can get to measure that, you can also get this cool thing to put on your wall.
Like a canary in a coal mine, this mechanical bird stay high on its perch when the air ventilation is good and CO2 is low, and starts to “die” (fall over) as the CO2 levels get worse. You can read more about it, here.
As it was a year ago, the war in Ukraine slogs on. That country’s president was in the US and Canada recently trying to maintain support for their war efforts. Already that support is faltering in places like Poland, which is not a good sign. Not that Russia is having an easy time of things: it has to deal with the Ukrainian counter offensive and it sees itself losing influence over nations it once had a firmer grip on. At some point something dramatic might suddenly end the war, but for now I can’t see what that is.
Last year China was making noises about invading Taiwan. For many reasons that noise seems to have quieted. No doubt seeing Russia doing poorly had something to do with that. An economic downturn can’t help. Indeed, China is suffering from many issues these days, from youth unemployment to deflation to flooding to things like the Evergrande bankruptcy. Perhaps those woes will keep them from adding to the pile with a war.
Compared to last year, inflation continues to be on the retreat. Workwise, more Canadians are commuting and leaving home for work again. In the US, some companies like tiktok are even using tracking tools to measure the success of their RTO (return to office) strategy.
Meanwhile reading this piece in the Times on office vacancies, you can get a sense of the panic setting in as most workers continue to work from home (WFH).
I thought this was an interesting post pandemic fact: Toronto restaurants are suffering a decline. It’s been a rollercoaster for restaurants these last few years, and perhaps after the lows and then the highs, they are coming into the lows again.
Remember NFTs?Acccording to the Guardian, the vast majority of NFTs are now worthless, as a new report shows. Meanwhile, SBF (Sam Bankman Fried) has been sent to jail while he awaits trial. That’s all there is to say about crypto these days.
Remember that trucker protest in Ottawa? Well the leaders of that are getting their time in court. As for other protests, a so called “1MillionMarch4Children” protest was met by strong counter protests. I am happy to see such a strong counter protest.
Culturally, it has been a weird time. Stars like Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon have imploded for various reasons. Drew’s was due to her conflct with the actors strike, which continues to drag on.
Taylor Swift continues to move from success to success: the movie of her Eras tour has alread hit a presale record. More on it, here. Do you want to read about the most expensive outfits worn by her in her Eras tour? If so, click on that link.
I want to close on this good piece on the 20th anniversary of…the pumpkin spice latte. Have a good October, everyone!