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a great place to eat because this place simply serves great food. Their promo says "modern european kitchen" and that's what it is - classic german, french and other dishes re-combined, re-interpreted; the chief cook = owner is really ambitious and innovative, you find nowhere else in Dumaguete or maybe in the Philippines a menue card like this! But still every order will fill your stomache, no worries about that. We had a huge piece of chicken breast with Ratatouille (French style mixed vegetables) and Shrimps with another kind of mixed veggies, both excellent. Will definitely try the rest of the menue card. Good choice of usual and unusual drinks. Last but not least a very good, fast and attentive service. A very special place, highly recommended. And if you are in the mood, you can jump into the pool right in the dining area

 

For the time being, there's no obvious conclusion to be drawn about the end of the pandemic, or about the emergence of an endemic state for Covid-19.
There's still new variants emerging (mostly derived from Omicron) that may pose a serious danger in the medium to longer term, and one recent Israeli research paper points to the delta variant not having been totally killed off by Omicron, pointing to the possibility of a future Delta/Omicron recombination.

However, I would say that currently, hopeful signals are showing in many countries.
For example, on a per capita basis (the only way to properly compare between countries), hospital admissions in many countries are on the way down.
Obviously, with testing/reporting down or even "on the way out" in some countries, hospitalisations are becoming a much more accurate indicator for the development of the pandemic than reported case numbers.

View attachment upload_2022-5-7_21-7-7.png

And for those not convinced, here's an undisputable indicator (for the Netherlands only, but there's reason to believe it isn't much different in most European countries). No matter whether people are tested / report to a doctor / report their home test results / are hospitalized, they all still defecate and produce urine.
In the Netherlands there's virtually no-one with a septic tank, every building/home is connected to the public wastewater pipe system.
All 326 wastewater treatment plants in the country test for virus particles 4 times a week, and the results are aggregated and published.

View attachment upload_2022-5-7_21-5-40.png
To me that looks pretty good, and a firm indication that Omicron is on the way out.

Meanwhile, in the Philippines the hospitalization numbers are looking pretty good also:
View attachment upload_2022-5-7_21-23-39.png
And closer to home (our province only):
View attachment upload_2022-5-7_21-25-58.png

All in all, I am rather optimistic at this time.
Which is not to say people should stop wearing masks when in busy places / indoors, always good to be careful, but I hope some of you who may still be scared will find reassurance that things are looking up.

 

Aside from my teen and military years, for the most part, I have always been into wines, rather than beers. Living in US, Europe, Australia, and Philippines I have always found and enjoyed affordable wines. Moving to Dumaguete from Makati 12 years ago, it was painful not to find enjoyable wines. However, the last few years have been a huge improvement in wine offerings. I bounce around between the mall, Sofia's, and Blairs to find red (cabernet, merlot, shiraz) wines I enjoy. I primarily select Australia wines. What I call premiums go for P800+ and there are 5 brands I look for, but there are plenty of more affordable wines in the P500 range that are not bad, and about 5-6 brands I choose from, especially toward the end of the month when the wine budget is running out. Sometimes I have my own wine and cheese night with cheese from Belcris or Why Not.
Life is good.
Note: many Australia wines have screw tops and as one-handed man I don't have to go through the process of my wife opening the cork.

 

Rabbitton is a small animal farm, we went there on Sunday as a family of 4, two adults two children, P450 entry fee for the 4 of us with a P50 discount for me being an old Fart, you get a dedicated guide to show you around, which takes about an hour, there they have Rabbits, Chickens with many being fancy breeds, Turtles and Sheep, they have a horse there and a short 5min ride on this is P30, after the tour they show you to a Bahay Kuba to give a complimentary drink there was a menu there and we ordered some lights bites, the food is nothing special but not bad either for the price, Pizza is around p180, Burger P130 a large brewed Coffee is P40, so not at all bad all things considered, we come away with 3 Rabbits as Pets, one of them was won on an Easter Egg Hunt, the other two were P400 each, the children had a great day.

 

It might be common knowledge and not new, but I found out only today.
If/when your Filipina GF/Asawa/other family members wish to apply for a Schengen visa, they do not need to show up in person at VFS (the visa service organisation) in person IF they applied for a Schengen visa in person less than 59 months ago already and had their fingerprints and picture taken at that occasion.
In that situation, you can then use the services of an agent to apply.
Saves a lot of money and hassle I would assume, not having to fly to Manila, stay at hotel etc.
So next time I'll bring the family to Europe (hopefully next year) the visa application should hopefully be a lot smoother.

 

https://www.express.co.uk/life-styl...e-headache-sneezing-sore-throat-loss-of-smell

"According to data from the ZOE COVID Study, fully vaccinated people now make up nearly 30 percent of positive cases and so it’s critical to be aware of the symptoms of Covid after vaccination," said Professor Tim Spector, lead scientist on the ZOE COVID Study app.

He continued: "Our data shows post-vaccination infections are much more like a cold than the flu, with the top symptoms being runny nose, headache, sneezing, sore throat and loss of smell.

It’s estimated there are currently 15,309 new daily symptomatic cases in fully vaccinated people in the UK, cases in this group have been rising steadily for the last week and now make up 29.4 percent of the total new daily cases.

 

Knowing that some members enjoy science (whilst a few would shove it up my arse given the chance ) here are two items of interest I came across today:

Astronomers see galaxies in ultra-high definition

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57998940

"Astronomers have captured some of the most detailed images ever seen of galaxies in deep space. They are in much higher definition than normal and reveal the inner workings of galaxies in unprecedented detail.

The images are of the radio waves emitted by the galaxies. Researchers often study the radio waves from astronomical objects rather than the visible light they give off because it enables them to see things that would otherwise be blocked by the Earth's atmosphere or dust and gas in faraway galaxies. Many regions of space that are dark to our eyes, actually burn brightly in the radio waves they give off. This allows astronomers to peer into star-forming regions or into the heart of galaxies.

What is new is that the team has dramatically improved the resolution of radio images by linking together more than 70,000 small antennae spread across nine European counties."



The picture below shows two galaxies colliding. the bright spot on the one on the left is caused by exploding stars - creating what is effectively a galactic wind - blowing dust and gas away from it.



US lab stands on threshold of key nuclear fusion goal:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58252784

A US science institute is on the verge of achieving a longstanding goal in nuclear fusion research. The National Ignition Facility uses a powerful laser to heat and compress hydrogen fuel, initiating fusion.

An experiment suggests the goal of "ignition", where the energy released by fusion exceeds that delivered by the laser, is now within touching distance.

Harnessing fusion, the process that powers the Sun, could provide a limitless, clean energy source.

As a measure of progress, the yield from this month's experiment is eight times NIF's previous record, established in Spring 2021, and 25 times the yield from experiments carried out in 2018.

"The pace of improvement in energy output has been rapid, suggesting we may soon reach more energy milestones, such as exceeding the energy input from the lasers used to kick-start the process," said Prof Jeremy Chittenden, co-director of the Centre for Inertial Fusion Studies at Imperial College London.

[But still a long way to go].

 

Canceled so Pfizer vaccinations can continue tomorrow at the Dgte Sports Complex