Good Monday morning.
For those who need to hear this: Monday, March 20 at 8:34 a.m. (to be exact) it will be spring. That’s according to this website, which definitely sees me, as it reads:
“It feels as if Spring will never get here or that Winter will last forever. At Days Until Spring we feel that pain and want to help you celebrate the anticipation of the warm weather and all the beauty Spring promises. We hope you survive the cold weather and enjoy Spring when it arrives.”
There’s also some very soothing/uplifting music and chirpy sound effects. Check it out.
The rest of this post is going to challenge me greatly, because, as I may have mentioned once or twice before, I am definitely NOT a math person. I like words. Words make sense. Math, on the other hand, is a deep and impenetrable mystery.
A well-meaning high school teacher told me to think about math as a language, and then perhaps it might be easier for my word-brain to process. Nope. If it’s a language, it’s completely alien to me. I will never be even conversant, much less fluent, in math.
Anyway, it’s National E-Day, which celebrates the mathematical constant e. (I didn’t even really know it existed before today). This is only observed in countries that use a month/day date format, because 2/7 corresponds to the first 2 digits of e, which is an irrational number (can’t be written as a fraction) and has a value of 2.7182818.
(In New Zealand, BTW, they celebrate eDay on Oct. 4, but for a different reason – to encourage participants to recycle their electronic waste).
Here’s where things get complicated…e is used in logarithms and for determining exponential growth in complex number systems.
It was first referenced during the early 17th century in a book of logarithms by John Napier, a Scottish mathematician who is best known as the discoverer of logarithms.
But it wasn’t until Leonhard Euler, a Swiss mathematician who founded the studies of graph theory and topology, decided to use e to express this constant that it finally began to become the mathematical standard. E is now sometimes referred to as “Euler’s number.”
For all you math nerds out there, Euler was the first to introduce the notation for a function f(x), and he also popularized the use of the Greek letter π to denote the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.
And if you really are curious and want to go down a rabbit hole on this one, click here. As for me, I’ve exhausted the daily allotment of enthusiasm I am able to muster for math.
It’s about 8 degrees outside as I write this, but completely still and clear. (I know this because puppies need to go outside about every two hours to prevent them from excreting in the house).
Things are going to warm up, though, with temperatures flirting with 40 today, though the skies will be cloudy and there might be a few flurries or snow showers about.
In the headlines…
President Biden meets today with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and President Emmanuel Macron of France, at the same time, will visit his Russian counterpart, Vladimir V. Putin, in Moscow before traveling to Kyiv in an attempt to avert a European war.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day,” launching a conflict that would come at an “enormous human cost.”
If Russia decides to invade Ukraine, it won’t necessarily wait until the Olympics are over to do so, a top White House official warned.
Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett about tensions in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, while also accepting his invitation to visit Israel.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski urged Biden to nominate a Supreme Court candidate who could gain “some level of bipartisan support” instead of “the one that would be to the furthest left.”
Eric Lander, the president’s top science adviser and a member of his Cabinet, sent a Friday night email to his roughly 150-person staff apologizing for speaking to colleagues in a “disrespectful and demeaning way.”
Two senators working on an overhaul of the little-known law that former President Donald Trump and his allies tried to use to overturn the 2020 election pledged their legislation would pass the Senate.
A number of GOP figures said they backed former Vice President Mike Pence in his rebuke of Trump’s claim that he had the authority to overturn the 2020 election results.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said that a Republican National Committee (RNC) resolution that noted “legitimate political discourse” on Jan. 6 was a mistake.
Negotiators remained locked in talks about overall spending levels for the current fiscal year and special items such as Covid-19 funding, with lawmakers set to turn this week to a short-term bill to keep the government running if no deal is reached.
Russia is reporting a record daily count of new coronavirus infections, a tenfold spike from a month ago as the highly contagious omicron variant spreads through the country.
Finland’s men’s ice hockey coach has accused China of not respecting a player’s human rights at the Winter Olympics as forward Marko Anttila remains in isolation 18 days after testing positive for COVID-19.
Team officials from Germany, Belgium, and Russia said their isolating athletes are facing nightmarish situations, like poor to no internet connection, bad food, and no training equipment, in the so-called quarantine hotels set up by Chinese officials.
The International Olympic Committee and the Beijing Organizing Committee said that it would “address” numerous complaints from athletes about substandard conditions in the isolation centers they were sent to after testing positive for COVID-19.
Christophe Dubi, the IEC’s executive director, called it a “duty” and “responsibility” to make sure athletes are provided with adequate conditions.
American men’s figure skater Vincent Zhou tested positive for COVID-19 yeterday, leaving in jeopardy his status for the individual competition, which begins Tuesday morning in Beijing.
Courts around the country are weighing how to apply the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent mixed guidance on the federal government’s power to impose Covid-19 vaccine mandates, as judges consider whether the Biden administration can enforce such requirements.
A former American diplomat says U.S. anti-vaccination groups must stop efforts to fuel protests in Canada – and GoFundMe shut down a funding page set up by U.S. groups in support of Canadian truckers and others protesting COVID-19 measures there.
More than a week after a trucker-led protest against pandemic restrictions effectively shut down the city center in Canada’s capital, the mayor declared a state of emergency yesterday.
The CDC has shortened the amount of time people who are moderately or severely immunocompromised need to wait before getting a fourth COVID vaccine booster dose.
The health organization said people who’ve had the MRNA vaccines should look to get a fourth shot at least three months after the previous booster.
A Pfizer board member hopes key data expected on Friday will shed additional light on whether the federal government should grant emergency authorization for two doses of the company’s vaccine for children in this age group.
Two men in Miami have each been sentenced to 41 months in prison for stealing medical ventilators bound for a Covid-19 care facility in El Salvador as part of a U.S. aid program, federal authorities in Florida said.
State officials have been warning residents to avoid unregulated COVID testing sites. But many Americans – without free, quick and accessible alternatives for coronavirus testing – have rushed to the locations anyway.
CVS and Walgreens, after more than a month of capping customers’ purchases of at-home COVID-19 tests during an unprecedented surge in cases, have restocked inventory and removed the limitations.
Employers from McDonald’s to home builder PulteGroup said staffing pressures caused by hiring challenges and surging Covid-19 cases suppressed growth or cut into operations in the fourth quarter.
Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang published — and then apparently deleted — a tweet defending Joe Rogan, the divisive Spotify podcast host, against criticism related to his past use of racial slurs.
Spotify has ignored calls to kick Rogan off its platform, but dozens of the controversial podcaster’s episodes have mysteriously vanished.
In the memo, obtained by Axios, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek clarifies the company is not technically the publisher of Rogan’s podcast, though he concedes that the exclusive and lucrative relationship between them “implies otherwise.”
The single-day COVID-19 positivity rate has fallen below 4 percent in New York for the first time since Nov. 26.
“I’m so proud of the work New Yorkers have put in to fight this winter surge,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement. “The trends continue to be promising, but it is important we continue to be vigilant so we can keep positivity rates low.”
Hochul appeared to soften her “mask-or-vax” stance Friday and hinted the edict could be lifted or altered for New York businesses next week amid plummeting COVID-19 infection rates.
Hochul said she and her team plan to discuss next steps for the rules now that Covid cases and hospitalizations are declining across the state. She didn’t say when rules would end or what changes she is considering.
Nearly 40 superintendents across the Erie-Niagara region have joined forces in an effort to get Hochul to expire mask mandates, statewide, on the previously scheduled date, Feb 21.
Some towns in upstate New York opposed to mask mandates and other public health measures put in place during the pandemic are considering voting with their feet and switching counties.
The highly contagious coronavirus variant stretched NYC’s health care system to the breaking point, but not past it.
Just over a dozen subway or bus employees are out due to COVID-19, MTA officials said yesterday — a dramatic turnaround from the height of New York City’s Omicron wave, when worker absences forced the agency to scale back service.
“Vax Daddy” and a top disease doc are joining an effort to bring Manhattan back from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic.
A “huge” 55 percent of pandemic-weary Big Apple residents have already applied for the at- home tests from the US government Web site covidtests.gov, according to a survey of 2,500 respondents conducted by the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health.
Nearly 100 protesters rallied against outdoor dining sheds in Greenwich Village on Saturday, demanding the city remove the shanties they say have made their lives miserable.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams went maskless indoors days even though a statewide indoor mask mandate is in effect and the mayor requires the city’s school students to mask up.
Adams said he would stick with former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate timeline, which puts thousands of unvaccinated city workers on track to lose their jobs this month.
De Blasio is planning to soon create an exploratory committee to consider a run for a congressional swing seat that is drawing plenty of national attention in this year’s midterm elections.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his aides are intensifying an effort to revive his public standing, including discussing how to make his first public appearance since resigning in August, according to people close to him.
Cuomo is planning to make his first public appearance since resigning from office in disgrace last August.
Cuomo could challenge Attorney General Letitia James in the upcoming election as retribution for her office’s damning investigation that branded him a serial groper.
State officials removed Cuomo’s mother’s name from the Web site of a mentoring program she founded and oversaw — after her ex-gubernatorial son’s humiliating departure from office over sex-harassment claims last year.
CNN’s media correspondent, Brian Stelter, has said the departure of the network’s boss, Jeff Zucker, has been the ‘ugliest shakeup’ in years, adding that the incident would not have happened without the firing last year of anchor Chris Cuomo.
Long Island Assemblyman Doug Smith has introduced the “Predator Portrait Prevention Act,” which would prevent Andrew Cuomo from having his official portrait hung in Albany’s storied “Hall of Governors.”
Adams ordered his administration to move ahead with implementing a controversial new Medicare plan for retired city workers, angering some retirees who have for months contended it could water down their benefits.
Adams is apparently not a vegan after all, but rather a pescatarian.
Adams bragged in 2019 about being a better cop than his “cracker” colleagues in the NYPD. Asked about the matter Friday, Adams apologized and sought to put his heated comments into context.
Adams’s chief of staff, Frank Carone, was subpoenaed for documents in a $4.5 million federal civil racketeering lawsuit over alleged fraudulent insurance charges.
An NYPD detective who was demoted for calling out alleged corruption in the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau has been reinstated, and is now calling on Adams to probe the bureau.
Taking a tougher stance on the prosecution of gun possession and robbery, the Manhattan district attorney on Friday officially revised several policies that had been fiercely criticized as too lenient, marring his first month in office.
In a memo sent out on Friday morning, DA Alvin Bragg, who campaigned and was elected on promises of criminal justice reform, modified some of his stances on key issues including gun possession and robbery prosecutions.
“Violence against police officers will not be tolerated,” he wrote. “We will prosecute any person who harms or attempts to harm a police officer.”
Adams pushed back against state lawmakers who oppose changes to New York’s controversial bail law — saying judges are equipped to fairly weigh detaining defendants who have a history of violence.
The leader of a prominent police union in New York City implored Hochul to stop “dancing” around the subject of the state’s bail reform law and take the side of law and order.
Fed up with his party’s kowtowing to its “progressive” wing with soft-on-crime policies, Democrat Brook-Krasny switched his party registration to Republican as he plots a run for his old Assembly seat in the borough’s red-trending southern precincts.
A Brooklyn lawmaker recently turned her council office into an outpost for activists with the Democratic Socialists of America, a move critics say may have violated city law.
A Queens Housing Court judge was outraged by NYCHA’s failure to provide hot water to as many as 300 tenants in a Rockaway apartment building since November, calling the action criminal.
Steven Banks was the most effective social-services director in New York City history — and when he left office, there were still 45,000 people sleeping in shelters. Is that a success?
Martial Simon, mentally ill and homeless, spent years in and out of hospitals before being accused of shoving Michelle Go in front of a subway train.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is slated to throw his support tomorrow behind two bills intended to allow older prisoners to more easily win release and streamline the parole system.
A Republican-led legal effort faces an uphill battle to overturn New York’s newly drawn congressional districts, which Democrats have defended as lawful.
Less than two months after seeking to form the only union at a prominent U.S. architecture firm, workers at SHoP Architects, in New York, have formally ended their effort.
An armed man broke into the Colorado ranch of the former Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg and kidnapped a housekeeper, asking her for the whereabouts of Bloomberg’s two adult daughters, the authorities said in court documents.
The programs that were supposed to support the state’s Raise the Age statute have arguably failed to provide many impacted teenagers with the services needed to rehabilitate and reintegrate them into their communities.
Advocates are urging lawmakers and legislative leaders to advance a comprehensive sex education bill that would require schools to provide age-appropriate, scientifically accurate and LGBTQ-inclusive instruction in every grade.
A federal judge on Friday gave final approval to a $65 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit involving three companies blamed for polluting public and private water supplies in and around the village of Hoosick Falls.
New York’s Equine Drug Testing and Research Laboratory is considered one of the most preeminent in the country, but its director says it can test for and identify only a portion of the substances in the thousands of samples taken annually from racehorses.
State Police said yesterday that a woman and a man were killed in an early morning multiple vehicle crash on the Northway between Exits 13S and 12.
The coronavirus pandemic has hurt the North Country’s economy, shuttering businesses, and putting a lot of people out of work. Lake Placid has fared much better, with tourists flooding into town, but it is also struggling from a shortage of workers.
Russia won the team figure skating competition behind the performance of the 15-year-old phenomenon Kamila Valieva, whose history-making free skate earlier today included the first two quadruple jumps landed by a woman at an Olympics.
The 15-year-old sensation became the first woman to land a quad in the Olympics. A few moments later, for good measure, she then became the first to do it twice.
Peng Shuai, the Chinese tennis player who largely disappeared from public life after making sexual abuse accusations against a political official in November, held a private meeting with the president of the International Olympic Committee, in Beijing.
