That’s Odd

mission occurs early in the course of the illness, in the first day or two before the onset of symptoms and the two to three days that follow, the agency said.

The CDC also updated its recommended quarantine period for people who have been exposed to Covid-19. For individuals who are unvaccinated, or for those who are eligible for a booster shot but haven’t yet received one, the agency recommends a five-day quarantine followed by strict use of a mask for five more days.

However, if a five-day quarantine isn’t feasible, an exposed person should wear a well-fitting mask, such as an N95, at all times when around others for 10 days after exposure.

Individuals who have received a booster shot don’t need to quarantine following an exposure, but should wear a mask for 10 days, the CDC said. If symptoms occur, individuals should quarantine until a negative test confirms that they don’t have Covid-19.

Harry Reid Dies at 82

Senator Harry Reid led the Senate Democrats for more than a decade. This Tuesday, he died at the age of 82 after battling cancer for four years.

Reid was known to be tough; he led the Democrats without bombast, yet pushed through legislation that were hard-fought, including the passage of Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, an economic stimulus package following the 2007-08 recession, and the Dodd-Frank financial reforms.

Critics of Reid pointed to his 2013 push to alter Senate rules to make it easier to confirm Obama’s judicial nominees. Those rules, though, helped Donald Trump to confirm supreme court nominees with a simple majority.

In his defense, Reid told the New York Times Magazine, “They can say what they want. We had over 100 judges that we couldn’t get approved, so I had no choice. Either Obama’s presidency would be a joke or Obama’s presidency would be one of fruition.”

Reid did not always fight clean. During the 2012 presidential race between Obama and Mitt Romney, Reid announced on the floor of the Senate that Romney had not paid taxes in 10 years: an unfounded and ultimately debunked claim spurred by Romney’s refusal to release a full set of tax returns.

Asked if he regretted the charge, Reid said, “Romney didn’t win, did he?”

Reid blasted Trump when the New York developer, as a presidential candidate, criticized Hillary Clinton’s health. Reid replied that Trump was in no position to criticize because he “is 70 years old, he’s not slim and trim, he brags about eating fast food every day.”

In December, Reid called Trump “amoral” and “the worst president we’ve ever had”.

The people of Nevada stood squarely behind Reid, bucking national demographic trends in 2016 to reject Trump. In 2018, voters threw out incumbent Republican senator Dean Heller.

Efficacy behind the scenes became a trademark for Reid, who won loyalty from colleagues for his willingness to bestow credit and cede the limelight.

“I know my limitations,” Reid told the New Yorker in 2005, the year he took leadership of the Democrats in the Senate. “I haven’t gotten where I am by my good looks, my athletic ability, my great brain, my oratorical skills.”

Asked in March last year what he thought of Washington since his retirement, Reid shrugged, “I just shake my head is all I can do.”

2nd Life Sentence for Poway Shooter

John T. Earnest, who admitted to a shooting at a San Diego area synagogue that killed one and injured three others in 2019, has been sentenced to a second life sentence.

Earnest was sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison in federal court on Tuesday after previously pleading guilty to a 113-count indictment that included hate crime and weapons violations, according to a Department of Justice news release. He was previously sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole following a plea agreement in state court.

Lori Gilbert Kaye was killed in the shooting on the last day of Pesach in 2019 when Earnest, who was 19 at the time and armed with an AR-15 style rifle, entered the crowded Chabad of Poway synagogue and began shooting.

Earnest also admitted to setting fire to a mosque in nearby Escondido just weeks before the shooting.

“The defendant targeted his victims because he hated the Jewish community and Muslim community, hatred that has no place in our society and hatred that will never, never win,” said Randy Grossman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California. “The defendant and his hatred have been silenced. He will spend the rest of his days and die in prison, while he languishes behind bars.”

Prosecutors noted that a manifesto written by Earnest and posted on the internet shortly before the attack was found during the investigation in which Earnest made many anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim statements, including, “I can only kill so many Jews” and “I only wish I killed more.”

Cash Box

Postmarked November 10, 2020, Vinod Menon discovered the cardboard box while sifting through a pile of mail in his office. The box was large – around the size of a toaster – and had been sitting in the mail pile for months. Addressed to the “Chairman, Physics Department,” it had $90 worth of postage on it.

Menon, who was the chairman of the physics department at City College of New York, was shocked when he finally opened the unassuming package.

In it, the physics professor discovered cash – lots of it. In fact, the box was full of $50 and $100 bills, totaling a whopping $180,000

“It was a complete shock — I know a lot of academics and I’ve never heard of anything like this,” the 49-year-old said. “I didn’t know if the college accepted cash, so I didn’t know if they’d keep it.”

A letter accompanied the cash, explaining the donor’s motivations but not his or her identity.

“Assuming that you are bit curious as to why I am doing this, the reason is straightforward,” wrote the donor, who said he or she “long ago” took advantage of the “excellent educational opportunity” of attending both Stuyvesant High School and earning a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics at City College, which helped lead to “a long, productive, immensely rewarding” scientific career. He or she wanted to help needy students attend the college.

The note was unsigned, and the name on the return address, Kyle Paisley, was not listed as a graduate in the college’s records.

College officials contacted authorities to ensure the cash didn’t come from nefarious sources. After police determined that the cash was not connected to criminal activity, CUNY Board of Trustees voted to formally accept the thousands of dollars in cash.

“That is absolutely astonishing, $180,000 in cash in a box,” said the board’s chairman, William C. Thompson, in introducing the vote earlier this month.

For now, the funds will be used to gift two full scholarships each year and should last for more than a decade. In the spirit of the donation, he said, the fellowship would require the students to “give back in some way,” perhaps by peer mentoring.

Talk about a big bang for your buck.

A Bite and a Bike

Two McDonald’s locations in China have announced that they are testing in-store exercise bikes.

A video of a woman sitting on a stationary bike while eating a hamburger at McDonald’s recently went viral. The company confirmed that the bikes have been installed as seats at locations in Guangdong and Shanghai.

McDonald’s China said the bike seats are part of the company’s ”Upcycle for Good” initiative, which aims to promote sustainability. The company said the exercise bikes generate electricity that customers can use to charge their cellphones and other devices.

It also serves as a means of helping customers stay healthier while eating fast food.

McDonald’s may expand the program to other stores in the near future.

For now, we would suggest staying away from McDonald’s – and then there won’t be much of a need for a bike.

$25K to Ditch Tech

The Kahlua Coffee Liqueur company really wants you to stay away from technology. The liquor brand is offering $25,000 to couples in the U.S. who can stay away from internet-based technology.

The “Kahlúa Stir Up Your Routine” dare will last for 30 days.

To make sure that couples were able to stay off the social media sauce, Kahlua will make them take and pass a polygraph test before they can claim their cash winnings.

Aside from the lucrative prize, the winning couple will also receive a “Kahlúa Kit” on wheels, which appears to be a metal bar cart filled with 30 nights of activities, including Kahlúa Espresso Martini mixes, cooking challenges, and feng shui guides.

Detailing its motivation behind the campaign, Kahlúa said it’s issuing this challenge because nearly half of Americans “admit” that they spend “five to six hours on their phones daily,” which the brand claimed is equivalent to almost nine years spent on mobile devices.

The coffee liqueur, which is owned by Pernod Ricard, is reportedly hoping to encourage couples to spend more time with each other with this 30-day challenge.

Sounds like a real coffee break.

A Souvenir from Space

The first Emirati astronaut brought an Israeli flag with him when he traveled to the International Space Station in 2019. This week, Hazzaa al-Mansoori gifted the flag to Israeli officials during a visit to the Israeli pavilion at the Expo 2020 in Dubai.

“This is a gift for all Israelis,” al-Mansoori said. “I am happy to be here and to give the Israeli flag as a gift to the people here and to the public in Israel.”

The astronaut’s trip — the first by an Arab to the International Space Station — came nearly a year before Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed to normalize diplomatic ties as part of the United States-backed Abraham Accords.

In October, Israel and the United Arab Emirates finalized an agreement to collaborate on a number of space projects, including a joint launch of the “Beresheet 2” mission to the moon, Israel’s attempt — its second — to land an unmanned spacecraft on the lunar surface by 2024, when the countries expect to plant their flags alongside each other. The Beresheet 2 mission is being coordinated by the Israeli non-governmental organization SpaceIL.

The UAE has its own successful space program, launching the “Amal,” or “Hope,” space probe to Mars earlier this year.

Sounds like a gift that’s out of this world.

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Ryan Wasson gave his brother, Eric, a gag gift 34 years ago and now the joke’s on him.

More than three decades ago, Ryan gave his brother a box of Life Savers candy, knowing that Eric didn’t like them. But Eric didn’t eat the candy. Instead, he saved the box of candy so he could gift them to his brother the next year, starting a tradition that has been kept since that year.

“Neither one of us will give up because we’re brothers. We can never give up,” Ryan said. “If you ask which one has ever done the best as far as giving these, we’re both going to say it’s ourself. We’re never going to give in.”

The brothers said their annual gifting has gotten creative, with elaborate pranks involving family, friends, coworkers and even the local sheriff’s office.

“They melted one year, so they look pretty sad. So we’ve got the original box and then we’ve got a new box…. The old ones are pretty sad. I wouldn’t try those,” Eric Wasson added.

It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

A Tasty TV

When watching TV, viewers can see what’s going on and can hear what the characters are saying. But one thing hampers their experience: they can’t taste the food that’s being prepared on the screen.

Now, a professor at a Japanese university is attempting to help viewers with their tasting sense as they watch their favorite programs.

Homei Miyashita, an associate professor in the School of Science and Technology at Meiji University, said his “Taste the TV” invention uses a combination of 10 flavors to create the taste of the food pictured on the screen. The flavor is dispensed onto a film that slides onto the screen, allowing viewers to experience the taste of the food they are seeing.

Miyashita is envisioning giving viewers who cannot travel the ability to taste and sample flavors from around the world.

“I am thinking of making a platform where tastes from all over the world can be distributed as ‘taste content.’ It’s the same as watching a movie or listening to a song that you like,” he explained.

“I hope people can, in the future, download and enjoy the flavors of the food from the restaurants they fancy, regardless of where they are based in the future.”

Sounds like an acquired taste.

Did you know?

The Romans celebrated March 1 as their new year