Challenging the idea that older people with shorter life expectancies should rank lower in coronavirus immunization efforts, new research from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that giving vaccine priority to those most at risk of dying from COVID-19 will save the maximum number of lives, and their potential or future years of life.
The findings, published Feb. 25 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, address the ethical dilemma of who should be first in line for a limited supply of vaccine shots amid a contagion that so far has killed 500,000 in the United States and 2.4 million globally.
“Since older age is accompanied by falling life expectancy, it is widely assumed that means we’re saving fewer years of life,” said study lead author Joshua Goldstein, a UC Berkeley professor of demography.
“We show this to be mistaken,” he added. “The age patterns of COVID-19 mortality are such that vaccinating the oldest first saves the most lives and, surprisingly, also maximizes years of remaining life expectancy.”
Taking age and health risks into account, Goldstein, UC Berkeley demographer Kenneth Wachter and Bucknell University mathematician Thomas Cassidy conducted an analysis of life expectancy in the United States, Germany and South Korea in the face of the yearlong coronavirus pandemic.
They based their calculations on the number of lives potentially saved from being vaccinated, multiplied by the life expectancy of those vaccinated.
For example, if one million vaccinations saved 1,000 lives, and those vaccinated people, on average, were projected to live another 20 years, the total number of years of life saved would be 20,000.
The mathematical arguments upon which they based their conclusion apply not just to a few countries, but generally around the globe, the researchers said.
“Allocating scarce COVID-19 vaccine doses involves many tradeoffs. However, a conflict between minimizing the count of deaths and maximizing remaining life is not one of them,” Goldstein said.
Since the approval of various COVID vaccines last fall, and their rollouts in December, a debate has been mounting over which groups to inoculate first, given limited vaccine supplies and, in many cases, chaotic distribution systems.
While some groups have argued that essential workers should take priority to keep health, education and economic systems up and running, others, such as the World Health Organization, have declined the “Years of Life Lost” criterion in ranking vaccine recipients due to older people’s disproportionately higher risk of death and the perception that such an approach would be discriminatory and disrespectful.
This latest study should assuage some of those concerns, researchers said.
“Our empirical analysis shows it is easier than thought to set such fears aside and to give vaccine priority to the oldest and those in the most vulnerable states of health,” according to the paper, which notes that COVID deaths rise exponentially with age.
The researchers found that the COVID death rate by age increased by about 11% annually in the United States, Germany and Korea. Moreover, they found that vaccinating people in their 90s would save three times as many lives as giving the same doses to people in their 80s.
“Before this study, it was suspected that there would be some intermediate age — not too old and not too young — which would maximize the benefit of a vaccine, in terms of person years of life saved,” Goldstein said. “But surprisingly, we show this is not the case.”
Yasmin Anwar writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.
If you’ve ever seen lilac bushes crushed by snowdrifts, then budding on a warm day just a few weeks later, you may wonder how plants tolerate such extremes. I study how climate change affects the timing of seasonal events in the life cycles of plants, birds and insects in Massachusetts, so I know that species have evolved here to handle New England’s famously changeable weather. But a warming climate is disrupting weather patterns and testing the abilities of many species to adapt.
Tolerating cold
On brutal winter days when temperatures are far below freezing, animals hibernate underground or huddle in protected spots. But trees and shrubs have to sit there and take it. The tissues in their trunks, branches and roots are alive. How do they survive the freezing cold?
In autumn, woody plants in many parts of North America start preparing for winter. When their leaves change color and fall, their twigs, branches and trunks start to lose water. As a result, their cells contain higher concentrations of sugars, salts and organic compounds.
This lowers the freezing point of the cells and tissues, and allows them to survive temperatures far below the normal freezing point of water. The trick has its limits, though, so extreme cold events can still kill certain plants.
Tree and shrub roots remain largely unchanged and inactive during winter, relying on insulation from snow and soil for protection. For the most part, the temperature of the soil around roots stays at or above freezing. Soil, fallen leaves and persistent snow layers insulate the ground above the roots and prevent it from losing heat.
The surprising danger of spring frosts
After plants stoically withstand cold winters, early spring brings new dangers. Plants need to leaf out as early as they can in spring to take full advantage of the growing season. But this involves pumping water into their developing leaves, which reduces the concentration of sugars, salts and organic compounds in their tissues and removes their winter protection from cold.
Each species has a characteristic leaf-out time. Early-leafing species such as blueberries and willows are the gamblers of the plant kingdom. Later species, like oak and pine, are the cautious and conservative types. For any species, leafing out too early is a risk because late frosts can damage or kill young leaves.
Flowers are also vulnerable to unpredictable spring frosts because they contain lots of water. If the flowers of fruit trees, such as apples, are killed by frost, the trees won’t produce fruit later in the summer. Late frosts also can cause disappointingly short flowering seasons for early-flowering ornamental plants such as forsythias and magnolias.
Plant wake-up calls
To guard against frost and still take advantage of the full growing season, trees and shrubs have developed three ways to know when it is time to start growing in spring.
First, plants have winter chilling requirements: They hold on to winter dormancy until they have been exposed to a certain number of cold winter days. This trait helps them avoid leafing or flowering during abnormally warm periods in midwinter.
Second, plants also have spring warming requirements that promote growth after they experience a certain number of warm days each spring. This feature helps them start to grow as soon as it is warm enough.
Third, some plants also have a photoperiod response, which means they react to the length of time they are exposed to light in a 24-hour period. This prepares them to leaf out as days get longer and warmer in the spring. Beech trees have both a warming requirement and a photoperiod response, but the temperature requirement is much stronger, so they get going after just a few warm days in late spring.
Interestingly, North American trees such as red maple and black birch are more cautious and conservative than European and East Asian trees. The weather in eastern North America is more variable, and the threat of late spring frosts is higher here than in those regions. As a result, North American trees have evolved to leaf out a few weeks later than comparable trees from Europe and East Asia.
Climate change scrambles the signals
Plants are highly attuned to temperature signals, so warming driven by climate change is making it harder for many species to withstand winter cold and spring frosts. As spring temperatures get warmer than in the past, trees such as apples and pears may respond by leafing out and flowering several weeks earlier than normal. This can increase their vulnerability to late frosts.
In 2007, an exceptionally warm period in March triggered trees to leaf out across the eastern and central United States. A hard frost in April then killed the young leaves and flowers of oaks, hickories and other tree species. The trees were able to produce a second crop of leaves, but could not fully replace the leaves they’d lost, which quite likely stunted their growth for that year.
Insect pests also pose an increasing threat to plants. Harsh winter weather holds in check many insects found in northern climates, such as hemlock woolly adelgids and emerald ash borers. As winters become milder, these insects are more likely to survive, move further northward, cause major outbreaks and damage trees.
Warmer winters also lead to more days when the ground is bare. Cold snaps that occur when there is no insulating layer of snow can freeze the soil and kill roots. Tree and shrub branches then die back because the damaged roots cannot supply enough water and nutrients. In extreme cases, the plants may die.
In coming decades, many cold-loving tree species such as spruces and firs will become less abundant when they are not able to handle new challenges associated with a warmer climate. In the Northeast U.S., native species such as sugar maple and beech will be gradually replaced by native species from farther south, such as oaks and hickories. And nonnative species, such as Norway maples, are taking advantage of these disruptions to disperse into forests from roadsides and neighborhoods.
Similar shifts are happening in many places as climate change alters the signals plants rely on to mark the changing seasons.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Chancellor Dr. Douglas B. Houston has announced his intended departure from the Yuba Community College District effective April 30.
Chancellor Houston has accepted an appointment as interim chancellor of the State Center Community College District in Fresno to begin May 1.
Dr. Houston joined the Yuba Community College District as chancellor in 2011.
“These past 10 years have been among the most rewarding of my professional career, but it is time for me to move on. I will treasure the work we accomplished during my time with the District,” said Dr. Houston. “I came to YCCD with several goals in mind and they are all but accomplished – completing the transition to a multi-college district; fiscally stabilizing and recession-proofing the district; and commissioning the district’s next-generation strategic plan. While all of these are still ‘works in progress,’ the progress is outstanding, and culmination is in sight.”
The YCCD Governing Board announced after a special board meeting closed session on Wednesday its intent to appoint an interim chancellor to serve during the recruitment process for a permanent chancellor and to ensure leadership stability throughout this transition.
The appointment of an interim chancellor will allow the governing board time to identify the best search firm to lead the district through the recruitment period.
This process will include seeking input from faculty, staff, students, and community leaders to develop a new Chancellor profile that will best fit the current needs of the YCCD college community.
“We are so grateful to Dr. Houston for his 10 years of leadership and service to the YCCD family,” said Board President Susan Alves. “We will miss him greatly but wish him well as he embarks on this new adventure.”
The Yuba Community College District Governing Board, Faculty, staff, and students wish Chancellor Houston the best on his new journey.
This young female domestic long hair cat has a gray and white coat and gold eyes.
She is in cat room kennel No. 11, ID No. 14320.
Male tuxedo cat
This male tuxedo cat has a short black and white coat and green eyes.
He is in cat room kennel No. 39, ID No. 14359.
‘Buddy’
“Buddy” is a male domestic short hair cat with a flame point and white coat and blue eyes.
He has been neutered.
He’s in cat room kennel No. 100, ID No. 14384.
Female domestic medium hair
This young female domestic medium hair cat has a lynx point coat and blue eyes.
She is in cat room kennel No. 108, ID No. 14391.
‘Trouble’
“Trouble” is a young female domestic medium hair cat with a seal point coat and blue eyes.
She’s in cat room kennel No. 132, ID No. 14378.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has a select group of dogs ready to meet their new families.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of boxer, Chihuahua, German Shepherd, Labrador Retriever and pit bull.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).
This female boxer-pit bull mix has a short red coat.
She is in kennel No. 18, ID No. 14356.
Male pit bull terrier
This senior male pit bull terrier has a short tan and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 22, ID No. 14392.
German Shepherd-Labrador Retriever mix
This male German Shepherd-Labrador Retriever mix has a short black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 31, ID No. 14383.
German Shepherd-Labrador Retriever mix
This male German Shepherd-Labrador Retriever mix has a short black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 32, ID No. 14382.
Female Chihuahua
This female Chihuahua has a short brown and gray coat.
She has been spayed.
She’s in kennel No. 33, ID No. 14368.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
On Friday, the California Department of Public Health released updates to the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy reopening framework focused on activities that can be conducted outdoors with consistent masking, two factors that are scientifically shown to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spread.
The updates allow outdoor ballparks, stadiums and theme parks to open with significantly reduced capacity, mandatory masking and other public health precautions.
These changes take effect April 1.
Following Thursday's announcement of how vaccine equity will be linked to future blueprint case rate tier changes, on Friday CDPH announced how, guided by science, other sector changes can be introduced into the blueprint.
“With case rates and hospitalizations significantly lower, the arrival of three highly effective vaccines and targeted efforts aimed at vaccinating the most vulnerable communities, California can begin gradually and safely bringing back more activities, especially those that occur outdoors and where consistent masking is possible,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency. “Even with these changes, California retains some of the most robust public health protocols in the country.”
“Throughout the pandemic, California’s business community has been committed to protecting the health and safety of workers and customers – and that won’t change now,” said Dee Dee Myers, senior advisor to Governor Newsom and director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, or GO-Biz. “We will continue to work together with our partners across all sectors of the economy, as we reopen safely, sustainably and equitably.”
Changes to the blueprint include:
– Outdoor sports and live performances (with fans/attendees) are eligible to begin April 1. In the purple tier, capacity will be limited to 100 people or fewer and attendance will be limited to regional visitors. Advanced reservations will be required, and no concession or concourse sales will be allowed. In the red tier, capacity will be limited to 20 percent. Concession sales will be primarily in-seat (no concourse sales). In the orange tier capacity will be limited to 33 percent and in the yellow tier capacity will increase to 67 percent. Attendance will be limited to in-state visitors in the red, orange and yellow tiers.
– Amusement parks are eligible to reopen in the Red tier beginning April 1. Capacity will be limited to 15 percent in the red tier. In the orange tier, that limitation will increase to 25 percent, and then 35 percent in the Yellow tier. Attendance will be limited to in-state visitors.
California will continue to update the blueprint periodically based on science and vaccination progress. View the updated sector chart to see which activities and businesses are allowed in each tier.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – They say that everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, and this month many in our country will mark the date by drinking green beer and feasting on corned beef and cabbage.
It’s not well known, however, that corned beef is rarely served in Ireland and is not a St. Patrick’s Day tradition there.
Irish immigrants in the U.S. and Canada found that beef was more plentiful and less expensive on this side of the Atlantic. They used the corned (or salted) version in place of an Irish favorite, bacon joint, to cook with cabbage, thus spawning the tradition.
The Irish don’t have a particular dish they associate with their patron saint; instead, they may mark the holiday by attending Mass in his honor or by enjoying a pint at the local pub. Sometimes they do both.
Since we’re all honorary Irish this month, let’s take a look at some favorite foods that are served year-round on the Emerald Isle.
Lamb stew may be considered the quintessential Irish meal; in fact, some call it the national dish of Ireland.
Irish stews began when animals were slaughtered for landowners and tenant farmers were given the less desirable cuts. They threw these into a three-legged pot to boil over a fire. Over the years, the recipes were refined to use lamb as the only meat in the stew. While there is some controversy as to whether carrots or peas should be included, potatoes always are.
Other dishes that include lamb are Kerry pies (lamb and vegetables in a rich pastry crust made with mutton fat) and shepherd’s pie, which is ground lamb and vegetables baked with a mashed potato crust. If ground beef is substituted in the latter, it’s called a cottage pie.
Not surprisingly, potatoes form the basis of many Irish dishes. They were introduced into Ireland from America in the second half of the 16th century, eventually becoming the main food crop of the poor. Because they provide a high amount of energy per land unit as well as lots of nutrition, they were a valuable staple.
“Irish champ” is the name of a traditional mashed potato dish that includes sliced scallions. It’s served with a pool of melted butter in a well in the middle.
“Potatoes colcannon” (or colcannon potatoes) is a combination of mashed potatoes and cabbage. The word colcannon is from a Gaelic term, cal ceannann, which means white cabbage.
Another popular potato dish is “boxty,” a simple griddle cake that combines raw and mashed potatoes. Sometimes boxty is served as part of an “Ulster fry,” a hearty breakfast dish that includes eggs and a variety of fried meats such as bacon and sausage. There’s a traditional Irish poem that goes, “Boxty on the griddle; boxty in the pan. If you can’t make boxty, you’ll never get a man.”
“Bubble and squeak” is the name of a large pancake that’s made from potatoes and the vegetable remains of Sunday lunch, traditionally served on Monday. Any veggies will do for bubble and squeak, including cabbage, carrots, rutabagas (called “Swedes” in Ireland), or Brussels sprouts, but it must include a good amount of potatoes. The name, among my favorite as food names go, comes from the sound it makes as steam is released from the vegetables as it cooks.
Oats and barley are traditional grains in Irish cooking and are often the main ingredients in desserts or breads. Puddings are made from barley and cakes or breads from oatmeal. Apples, which grow well in Ireland’s clime, are often added to each.
Other fruits used for desserts include strawberries, raspberries, and rhubarb, which also grow well there. These three are used in fruit “fools,” a fluffy, chilled dessert that is a precursor to ice cream.
Years ago, I asked a local Irish celebrity of sorts, Father James McSweeney of Middletown’s St. Joseph’s Church, which food he missed most from his homeland. Sausages topped the list for him. He was especially fond of the simple sausage and brown bread breakfasts of his youth.
According to McSweeney, sausage makers in the U.S. have been unable to duplicate the taste of those from his home in County Cork, where a local herb added unique flavor.
Sadly, Fr. James passed away in August of last year, which makes me especially thankful to have his authentic brown bread recipe, which I’ve shared below. It’s a rustic bread, very hearty, and can be equally delicious in savory or sweet applications. Try it with sausages or cheese, for example, or with some good Irish butter and jam. It can be accompanied by some Barry’s Irish Breakfast Tea, another favorite of Father James.
It’s hard to talk about bread in Ireland without mentioning Irish soda bread. There are many varieties of this (and some will show up in supermarkets this month), but the traditional version is simply four ingredients: flour, salt, baking soda, and buttermilk. A special alchemy occurs with the buttermilk and baking soda that renders yeast unnecessary.
I enjoy adding currants to mine (it doesn’t feel like real soda bread to me without them), but if you want yours to be authentic, stick to the original four ingredients.
Believe it or not, a Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread exists. If you’re interested in learning more about this comestible – including history and recipes – visit their website.
St. Patrick’s Day will be here in just ten days, and in case you’d like to adventure outside the corned beef and cabbage box, I’ve provided some recipes inspired by Ireland below. First up is Fr. McSweeney’s Irish brown bread and following that are three from a culinary class I taught on Irish cooking.
Though they’re not used often in our country, parsnips are a common vegetable in Ireland. In the past they were a year-round staple, sustaining people through cold winters when other vegetables were scarce. They’re paired below in a soup with another vegetable popular on the Emerald Isle, leeks. A bit of horseradish adds a dash of interest and an apple is added to round out the flavor.
Shepherd’s pie with a twist is next on the agenda. A bottle of the dark Irish stout Guinness imparts a rich flavor to the dish. Guinness is Ireland’s oldest stout and has been brewed there since 1759.
Jonathan Swift, dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, was an Irish satirist, essayist, clergyman and poet who lived in the 17th and 18th centuries. His deadpan, ironic writing has led to that style of satire being called Swiftian. He’s known for such quotes as “satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everyone’s face but their own” and “but nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches, as to conceive how others can be in want.”
The final recipe, a dessert with intense citrus flavor paired with sweetened flamed whiskey, is a centuries old Irish recipe that is said to have been his favorite.
Whatever you do on St. Patrick’s Day and whatever you eat, I wish you a happy March 17!
Father McSweeney’s Irish Brown Bread
The seven-grain cereal that Fr. James used for this bread is made by Bob’s Red Mill. If unavailable at your local market, it can be found online.
2 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups whole wheat flour 1 ½ cup seven-grain cereal 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 tablespoon sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt 2 cups buttermilk 1/3 cup butter, melted 2 eggs
Mix dry ingredients in the bowl of a large mixer using stir speed for about 30 seconds.
Add buttermilk, melted butter, and eggs to bowl. Mix all ingredients until well blended, but not longer than a minute. Scrape sides of bowl to moisten all ingredients.
Remove to a floured board and knead about four or five times only. Form into six small round loaves. If desired, cut a crisscross on top of loaves.
Place loaves on greased or parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees in an electric oven or for 25 minutes at 450 degrees in a gas oven.
Leek and parsnip soup with horseradish and frizzled carrots
2 medium carrots, peeled 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided Salt 3 cups diced leeks, white and light green parts only 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 pound parsnips peeled and cut into half inch dice ½ pound thin-skinned potatoes, peeled and cut into half inch dice 1 apple, peeled and diced 4 cups vegetable stock Freshly-ground black pepper 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice ¼ cup chopped fresh dill, plus for garnish
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Use a vegetable peeler to peel carrot strips the length of the carrots.
In a medium bowl, toss the carrots with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and ¼ teaspoon salt.
Transfer to a parchment paper-covered baking sheet and roast, stirring every 10 minutes, until the carrots are crispy and curled, about 40 minutes. (After 30 minutes, remove the ones that are browned.)
Remove from the oven and store in a container at room temperature.
Meanwhile, warm the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium pot.
Add the leeks and sauté over medium-low heat until softened but not browned, about seven minutes.
Add the garlic and sauté an additional two minutes. (Be careful not to burn the garlic as it becomes bitter.)
Add the parsnips, potatoes, apples, stock and 1-1/2 teaspoons salt.
Cover the pot, raise the heat and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat and simmer, partially covered to allow the steam to escape, until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.
Use the back of a spoon to smash half of the vegetables against the sides of the pot to thicken the broth or use an immersion blender to roughly blend some of the vegetables.
Stir in a generous sprinkling of black pepper, the horseradish, lemon juice, and dill.
Taste and add more salt if necessary.
Serve hot, sprinkled with fresh dill and topped with a mound of carrot curls.
This recipe serves four to six and is adapted from a recipe that appeared in “The Healthy Hedonist Holidays: A Year of Multicultural, Vegetarian-Friendly Holiday Feasts” by Myra Kornfeld.
Guinness shepherd’s (or cottage) pie
Vegetarians may substitute mushrooms for the ground meat.
1 teaspoon black pepper 2 pounds ground lamb or beef (with beef, it becomes Cottage Pie) 1 large onion, finely diced 4 large carrots, finely diced 1 cup frozen peas 4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed and finely chopped 2 tablespoons flour 1 tablespoon butter, plus more to grease the pan 1 bottle Guinness 2 tablespoons tomato paste 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1 cup stock, chicken or vegetable 1 large quantity mashed potatoes (estimating 6 cups, fresh or leftover) 1 egg, beaten Grated parmesan cheese (optional)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and grease a 9-inch by 13-inch oven-proof dish with butter.
Sautee carrots in the olive oil until starting to get tender.
Add in the onions and sauté for a minute or two, and then add the meat.
Season with black pepper and thyme.
Cook until browned then drain fat.
Add the butter and peas.
Sprinkle with flour and stir through.
Add tomato paste, Guinness and Worcestershire sauce.
Let this reduce slightly then add the stock. Allow to reduce down until you have thick, meaty gravy.
Season to taste with salt & freshly-ground black pepper.
Remove from heat and pour into prepared pan.
Spoon or pipe the mashed potatoes over the top.
Brush with egg and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if using.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the potato crust is nicely browned.
This recipe serves four to six and is adapted from a dish served at the Old Bay Restaurant, an Irish pub in New Brunswick, New Jersey. (It closed in 2017 after 30 years of serving up Emerald Isle fare.)
Dean Swift’s burnt oranges
4 large oranges (or 6 to 8 Seville oranges) About 5 ounces (just over ½ cup) medium white wine (or sweet wine with Seville oranges) 4 tablespoons butter 6 tablespoons granulated sugar About 10 ounces (just over 1 cup) fresh-squeezed orange juice 2 tablespoons warmed Irish whiskey
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Using a fruit zester or a very sharp knife, remove all possible zest from your oranges. (If using a knife, carefully peel just the orange skin from the oranges and slice into thin strips.
Put the zest in a bowl with the wine and allow to steep gently.
Peel the zested oranges and separate the segments out. Pull or scrape off as much as possible of any white pith from the flesh of the orange segments.
Put the oranges into an ovenproof dish that can also be used over direct heat (as the final stages of this dessert happen on the stovetop). Dot the orange slices evenly with the butter. Then sprinkle the orange slices with half the sugar.
Put the orange slices into the oven for 10 minutes, or until the sugar caramelizes.
Meanwhile, mix the orange juice with the remaining sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat slightly and let the mixture cook and thicken until syrupy. When it has thickened and reduced, add the orange peel and wine mixture and bring to the boil again, then cook rapidly to reduce and thicken again.
Remove the oranges from the oven. If they're not fully browned, you may want to run them under a broiler for a few minutes, watching carefully to make sure the caramelizing sugar doesn't scorch.
When the browning process is finished, pour the warmed whiskey over the orange segments and set it alight. (Do not neglect to warm the whiskey – otherwise it won't catch fire.)
As the flames die down, add the orange syrup and let the whole dish simmer and bubble gently on a stovetop burner on medium heat for about 2 minutes.
Serve the burnt oranges at once, or if you prefer, they can be served cold. (Pouring double cream – a high-fat cream with 48 percent butter fat not generally available in the U.S. – over the cold version, in the Irish style, works very well.)
This centuries-old Irish recipe serves about four.
Esther Oertel is a writer and passionate home cook from a family of chefs. She grew up in a restaurant, where she began creating recipes from a young age. She’s taught culinary classes in a variety of venues in Lake County and previously wrote “The Veggie Girl” column for Lake County News. Most recently she’s taught culinary classes at Sur La Table in Santa Rosa. She lives in Middletown.
After traveling several billion miles toward the Sun, a wayward young comet-like object orbiting among the giant planets has found a temporary parking place along the way.
The object has settled near a family of captured ancient asteroids, called Trojans, that are orbiting the Sun alongside Jupiter.
This is the first time a comet-like object has been spotted near the Trojan population.
The unexpected visitor belongs to a class of icy bodies found in space between Jupiter and Neptune. Called "Centaurs," they become active for the first time when heated as they approach the Sun, and dynamically transition into becoming more comet-like.
Visible-light snapshots by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveal that the vagabond object shows signs of comet activity, such as a tail, outgassing in the form of jets, and an enshrouding coma of dust and gas. Earlier observations by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope gave clues to the composition of the comet-like object and the gasses driving its activity.
"Only Hubble could detect active comet-like features this far away at such high detail, and the images clearly show these features, such as a roughly 400,000-mile-long broad tail and high-resolution features near the nucleus due to a coma and jets," said lead Hubble researcher Bryce Bolin of Caltech in Pasadena, California.
Describing the Centaur's capture as a rare event, Bolin added, "The visitor had to have come into the orbit of Jupiter at just the right trajectory to have this kind of configuration that gives it the appearance of sharing its orbit with the planet. We’re investigating how it was captured by Jupiter and landed among the Trojans. But we think it could be related to the fact that it had a somewhat close encounter with Jupiter."
The team's paper appears in the Feb. 11, 2021, issue of The Astronomical Journal.
The research team's computer simulations show that the icy object, called P/2019 LD2 (LD2), probably swung close to Jupiter about two years ago. The planet then gravitationally punted the wayward visitor to the Trojan asteroid group's co-orbital location, leading Jupiter by about 437 million miles.
Bucket brigade
The nomadic object was discovered in early June 2019 by the University of Hawaii's Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS, telescopes located on the extinct volcanoes, one on Mauna Kea and one on Haleakala. Japanese amateur astronomer Seiichi Yoshida tipped off the Hubble team to possible comet activity.
The astronomers then scanned archival data from the Zwicky Transient Facility, a wide-field survey conducted at Palomar Observatory in California, and realized that the object was clearly active in images from April 2019.
They followed up with observations from the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, which also hinted at the activity.
The team observed the comet using Spitzer just days before the observatory's retirement in January 2020, and identified gas and dust around the comet nucleus. These observations convinced the team to use Hubble to take a closer look.
Aided by Hubble's sharp vision, the researchers identified the tail, coma structure and the size of the dust particles and their ejection velocity. These images helped them confirm that the features are due to relatively new comet-like activity.
Although LD2's location is surprising, Bolin wonders whether this pit stop could be a common pull-off for some sunward-bound comets. "This could be part of the pathway from our solar system through the Jupiter Trojans to the inner solar system," he said.
The unexpected guest probably will not stay among the asteroids for very long. Computer simulations show that it will have another close encounter with Jupiter in about another two years. The hefty planet will boot the comet from the system, and it will continue its journey to the inner solar system.
"The cool thing is that you're actually catching Jupiter flinging this object around and changing its orbital behavior and bringing it into the inner system," said team member Carey Lisse of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL, in Laurel, Maryland. "Jupiter controls what's going on with comets once they get into the inner system by altering their orbits."
The icy interloper is most likely one of the latest members of the so-called "bucket brigade" of comets to get kicked out of its frigid home in the Kuiper belt and into the giant planet region through interactions with another Kuiper belt object.
Located beyond Neptune's orbit, the Kuiper belt is a haven of icy, leftover debris from our planets' construction 4.6 billion years ago, containing millions of objects, and occasionally these objects have near misses or collisions that drastically alter their orbits from the Kuiper belt inward into the giant planet region.
The bucket brigade of icy relics endure a bumpy ride during their journey sunward. They bounce gravitationally from one outer planet to the next in a game of celestial pinball before reaching the inner solar system, warming up as they come closer to the Sun.
The researchers say the objects spend as much or even more time around the giant planets, gravitationally pulling on them – about 5 million years – than they do crossing into the inner system where we live.
"Inner system, 'short-period' comets break up about once a century," Lisse explained. "So, in order to maintain the number of local comets we see today, we think the bucket brigade has to deliver a new short-period comet about once every 100 years."
An early bloomer
Seeing outgassing activity on a comet 465 million miles away from the Sun (where the intensity of sunlight is 1/25th as strong as on Earth) surprised the researchers.
"We were intrigued to see that the comet had just started to become active for the first time so far away from the Sun at distances where water ice is barely starting to sublimate," said Bolin.
Water remains frozen on a comet until it reaches about 200 million miles from the Sun, where heat from sunlight converts water ice to gas that escapes from the nucleus in the form of jets. So the activity signals that the tail might not be made of water.
In fact, observations by Spitzer indicated the presence of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gas, which could be driving the creation of the tail and jets seen on the Jupiter-orbiting comet. These volatiles do not need much sunlight to heat their frozen form and convert them to gas.
Once the comet gets kicked out of Jupiter's orbit and continues its journey, it may meet up with the giant planet again.
"Short-period comets like LD2 meet their fate by being thrown into the Sun and totally disintegrating, hitting a planet, or venturing too close to Jupiter once again and getting thrown out of the solar system, which is the usual fate," Lisse said. "Simulations show that in about 500,000 years, there's a 90 percent probability that this object will be ejected from the solar system and become an interstellar comet."
A decedent’s will or a trust may require that the beneficiary satisfy certain conditions in order to inherit.
California, like other states, enforces many conditions imposed on inheritances but not those that either violate the law or public policy.
Section 708 of California Civil Code provides that, “[c]onditions are precedent or subsequent. The former fix the beginning, the latter the ending, of the right.”
Conditions precedent must be satisfied to receive a gift. Examples include: the beneficiary must survive me; the beneficiary must be age 21. Section 709 of the California Civil Codes provides, “If a condition precedent requires the performance of an act wrong of itself, the instrument containing it is so far void, and the right cannot exist. If it requires the performance of an act not wrong of itself, but otherwise unlawful, the instrument takes effect and the condition is void.”
A “No Contest” clause is a conditional gift clause requiring the beneficiary to accept the terms of the will or trust in order to inherit. A no-contest clause can be used to reinforce conditional gifts.
Conditions subsequent are conditions that if they occur result in a forfeiture (loss) of the gift. While California disfavors conditions subsequent a court will give effect if the testator’s intent is clear and there is no violation of law or public policy. In re Kitchen, 192 Cal. 834 (1923).
Let us consider conditions subsequent related to marriage. In California, “[c]onditions imposing restraints upon marriage, except upon the marriage of a minor, are void; but this does not affect limitations where the intent was not to forbid marriage, but only to give the use until marriage.” (Section 710, Civil Code.)
In Estate of Earl Guidotti (2001), 90 Cal.App.4th 1403, Earl’s trust provided that, “"[i]n the event [my wife] should remarry, or, live with a man as though they were husband and wife, even though not married, all income payments to her shall immediately stop ...."
The court looked to whether Earl intended to support his widow while she was unmarried – which would be permissible – or intended to restrict her from remarrying – which would be void. Thus it is important to show that the decedent’s intentions were good and not prohibited.
Let us consider conditions subsequent related to behavior. Sometimes a decedent’s estate requires the benefits to be suspended or terminated if the beneficiary behaves inappropriately, such as, by getting poor grades in college (resulting in no more college funding); by failing to look after the decedent’s pets (no more free rent); or by using illegal drugs (no more distributions). None of these conditions subsequent are either illegal or against public policy.
To be enforceable conditions must be properly drafted. The condition would have to be worded in a way that showed the consequence if the condition was not satisfied and provided for an alternative disposition. The intention behind the condition should also be clear. For example, if the beneficiary uses illegal drugs all distributions are suspended until the beneficiary has tested clean.
Sometimes failure to satisfy a condition is forgiven, such as when it is impossible to satisfy the condition, the condition requires the beneficiary to violate the law or public policy. In Schwan v Permann (2018), 28 CA5th 678, the decedent’s trust provided that three named employees of the decedent would each receive a percentage of the trust if are "employed by Control Master Products, Inc. at the death of Trustor and his spouse and if not, this gift shall lapse and augment the share of the remaining beneficiaries under this paragraph."
The decedent sold his company prior to his death but two of the three named employees remained employed right up until the company was sold. The court concluded that, “the two employees who had remained employed till the end had ‘complied with the terms of the trust so far as was possible.’ Impossibility, due to the decedent’s unilateral decision to sell the company, excused any further performance.”
The foregoing brief discussion of a complex and broad subject is not legal advice. Anyone confronting such issues should consult with a qualified attorney.
Dennis A. Fordham, attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A crash that occurred near Clearlake Oaks on Saturday night seriously injured one person.
The wreck occurred at about 9:45 p.m. Saturday along Highway 20 at Garden Court.
Firefighters were first dispatched to a report of a vehicle into a house with one person reported trapped.
However, when arriving on the scene, Northshore Fire personnel reported over the air that they found the vehicle behind a house, not into it, with one person who had been ejected from the vehicle trapped underneath it.
Incident command requested an air ambulance to land at Cal Fire’s Station 40 in Clearlake Oaks.
Extrication efforts continued until after 11 p.m. The crash victim was transported to the landing zone at about 11:20 p.m. to be flown to a regional trauma center, according to radio reports.
Scanner traffic indicated the incident was terminated at 11:50 p.m.
Additional information will be published as it becomes available.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – An increased number of doses of COVID-19 vaccine is headed to Lake County next week as case rates locally remain in decline.
Dr. Gary Pace said Friday that new COVID-19 infections in Lake County and around the state continue to drop.
On Friday, Lake County Public Health reported that the county has had a total of 3,160 cases and 41 deaths.
Pace said the test positivity rate is 4.9 percent.
Even with that “remarkable improvement,” Pace said Lake County’s current case rate is 11 cases per 100,000 people, meaning the virus remains widespread and Lake County is still in the purple tier on the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
“While we are still in the purple tier, 18 counties are now in the red tier or better, and we are progressing in that direction,” he said. “Under current guidelines, we will need to have a case rate of 7 per 100,000 and testing positivity rate of 8 percent or lower for two weeks to advance to the red tier."
Going to the red tier, Pace said, would allow more indoor activities, like some indoor dining, and middle and high schools will be able to open.
“We are hopeful this will occur in the coming weeks,” he said.
Loosening of these metrics is expected, as more people get vaccinated.
Once 2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the most vulnerable communities around the state – the lowest 25 percent per the California Healthy Places Index – the red tier will expand from seven to 10 cases per 100,000. The state expects this to occur within the next few weeks, as Lake County News has reported.
Once four million doses have been administered in these vulnerable communities, a case rate of six per 100,000 – up from 3.9 cases per 100,000 – will qualify counties for the orange tier. Changes to “certain sector specific guidance” are also expected, “to incorporate learnings from the last year about how the virus spreads.”
Pace said 9,600 first doses of the vaccine have been administered in Lake County, and 4,800 people have received a second dose.
Of those, 50 percent of those age 75 and older have gotten their doses and 40 percent of people aged 65 to 74 have been vaccinated. “This is a true success,” Pace said.
Pace said the county had hoped to be switching to the state's MyTurn appointment platform this coming week.
“Unfortunately, there continue to be some technical difficulties that we are working with the state to resolve,” he said. “Until that happens, we will continue with the current setup.
Information on the state’s plans to standardize vaccinations statewide is available here.
Pace said priorities for vaccination have recently shifted. Lake County is now aligned with the state framework, so anyone eligible on the state list – those in phase 1a, people age 65 and above, food and agricultural workers, education and emergency workers who meet certain criteria – can sign up for an appointment.
The state anticipates opening eligibility to janitors and public transit drivers next; watch for further updates soon here.
Pace said the county is expecting to get about 3,000 first and second doses next week, compared with 2,000 it received this week.
For the first time, the new one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be among those 3,000 doses, he said.
“All three vaccines are considered effective, and whichever one is available when you make an appointment is the one you should take,” Pace said.
He said that, generally, Public Health can’t give an option for which vaccine to get. However, on Thursday, March 11, they will be administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, only.
If you, or someone you work with, would benefit from the one-shot vaccine – for example, you will be out of town in a month, farmworker, migratory, homeless, other person that is hard to reach to arrange followup or with difficulties getting in – Pace said next Thursday will be a good day to make an appointment.
“We don't know if or when we will be getting more,” he said.
More information on the process and supports for those unable to schedule online is also available here.
Actualización de COVID-19: Las tendencias siguen siendo positivas; Cambios que vienen al marco del modelo estatal
Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) Vacuna de dosis única disponible en el condado de Lake el jueves, 3/11
Condado de Lake, CA (5 de marzo de 2021) - El año pasado, más de 50,000 californianos murieron por enfermedades relacionadas con COVID-19.
Esta realidad aleccionadora hace que el progreso actual hacia una vacunación más amplia, tasas más bajas y, en última instancia, un estilo de vida más normal sea aún más importante y alentador.
Las nuevas infecciones en el condado de Lake y en todo nuestro estado continúan disminuyendo.
Nuestra tasa de positividad de la prueba es del 4,9%. Incluso con esta notable mejora, la tasa de casos actual del condado de Lake es de 11 / 100,000, lo que significa que el virus sigue estando muy extendido.
PROYECTO PARA UNA ECONOMÍA MÁS SEGURA: DÓNDE ESTAMOS AHORA; CAMBIOS ESPERADOS
Mientras todavía estamos en el Nivel Morado, 18 condados están ahora en el Nivel Rojo o mejor, y estamos progresando en esa dirección. Según las pautas actuales, necesitaremos tener una tasa de casos de 7 / 100,000 y una tasa de positividad de la prueba del 8% o menos durante dos semanas para avanzar al Nivel Rojo. Esto permitiría más actividades en el interior, como algunas cenas en el interior, y las escuelas intermedias y secundarias podrán abrir. Esperamos que esto ocurra en las próximas semanas.
Se espera una relajación de estas métricas, a medida que más personas se vacunen. Una vez que se hayan administrado 2 millones de dosis de la vacuna COVID-19 en las comunidades más vulnerables del estado (el 25% más bajo, según el Índice de Lugares Saludables de California), el Nivel Rojo se expandirá a 10 casos por 100,000, en comparación con 7. El estado espera esto ocurrirá en las próximas semanas. Una vez que se hayan administrado 4 millones de dosis en estas comunidades, una Tasa de Casos de 6 / 100,000 calificará a los condados para el Nivel Naranja (desde 3.9). También se esperan cambios en "ciertas pautas específicas del sector", "para incorporar lo aprendido el año pasado sobre cómo se propaga el virus":
ACTUALIZACIÓN DE LA VACUNA COVID-19: JOHNSON & JOHNSON (JANSSEN) DISPONIBLE EL JUEVES, 3/11
Se han administrado 9,600 primeras dosis de la vacuna en el condado de Lake y 4,800 personas han recibido una segunda dosis. El 50% de las personas mayores de 75 años han recibido sus dosis, el 40% de las personas de 65 a 74 años se han vacunado. Este es un verdadero éxito.
Esperábamos cambiar a la plataforma de citas MyTurn del estado la semana que viene. Desafortunadamente, continúan existiendo algunas dificultades técnicas que estamos trabajando con el estado para resolver. Hasta que eso suceda, continuaremos con la configuración actual. La información sobre los planes del estado para estandarizar las vacunas en todo el estado está disponible aquí:
Las prioridades para la vacunación han cambiado recientemente. El condado de Lake ahora está alineado con el marco estatal: cualquier persona elegible en la lista estatal (Fase 1a, personas mayores de 65 años, trabajadores agrícolas y de alimentos, trabajadores de educación y de emergencia que cumplan con ciertos criterios) puede inscribirse para una cita. El estado anticipa la elegibilidad de apertura para conserjes y conductores de transporte público a continuación; Esté atento a más actualizaciones pronto: https://covid19.ca.gov/vaccines/ .
Esperamos recibir unas 3.000 primeras y segundas dosis la semana que viene. Por primera vez, la nueva vacuna Johnson & Johnson de dosis única estará entre ellas. Las tres vacunas se consideran efectivas, y la que esté disponible cuando programe una cita es la que debe tomar.
Generalmente, no podemos dar una opción sobre qué vacuna recibir. Sin embargo, el próximo jueves (11 de marzo) administraremos la vacuna Johnson & Johnson únicamente. Si usted, o alguien con quien trabaja, se beneficiaría de la vacuna de una sola inyección (por ejemplo, estará fuera de la ciudad en un mes, trabajador agrícola, migrante, sin hogar, otra persona a la que es difícil contactar para coordinar el seguimiento o con dificultades para entrar), el próximo jueves será un buen día para concertar una cita. No sabemos si obtendremos más o cuándo.
To investigate humans’ impact on freshwater resources, scientists have now conducted the first global accounting of fluctuating water levels in Earth’s lakes and reservoirs – including ones previously too small to measure from space.
The research, published March 3 in the journal Nature, relied on NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite 2, or ICESat-2, launched in September 2018.
ICESat-2 sends 10,000 laser light pulses every second down to Earth. When reflected back to the satellite, those pulses deliver high-precision surface height measurements every 28 inches along the satellite’s orbit. With these trillions of data points, scientists can distinguish more features of Earth’s surface, like small lakes and ponds, and track them over time.
Scientists used these height measurements to study 227,386 water bodies over 22 months and discovered that, from season to season, the water level in Earth’s lakes and ponds fluctuates on average by about 8.6 inches. At the same time, the water level of human-managed reservoirs fluctuate on average by nearly quadruple that amount – about 34 inches.
While natural lakes and ponds outnumber human-managed reservoirs by more than 24 to 1 in their study, scientists calculated that reservoirs made up 57 percent of the total global variability of water storage.
“Understanding that variability and finding patterns in water management really shows how much we are altering the global hydrological cycle,” said Sarah Cooley, a remote sensing hydrologist at Stanford University in California, who led the research. “The impact of humans on water storage is much higher than we were anticipating.”
In natural lakes and ponds, water levels typically vary with the seasons, filling up during rainy periods and draining when it’s hot and dry. In reservoirs, however, managers influence that variation – often storing more water during rainy seasons and diverting it when it’s dry, which can exaggerate the natural seasonal variation, Cooley said.
Cooley and her colleagues found regional patterns as well – reservoirs vary the most in the Middle East, southern Africa, and the western United States, while the natural variation in lakes and ponds is more pronounced in tropical areas.
The results set the stage for future investigations into how the relationship between human activity and climate alters the availability of freshwater.
As growing populations place more demands on freshwater, and climate change alters the way water moves through the hydrological cycle, studies like this can illuminate how water is being managed, Cooley said.
“This kind of dataset will be so valuable for seeing how human management of water is changing in the future, and what areas are experiencing the greatest change, or experiencing threats to their water storage,” Cooley said. “This study provides us with a really valuable baseline of how humans are modulating the water cycle at the global scale.”
The researchers’ methods relied on a second satellite mission, as well – Landsat, the decades-long mission jointly overseen by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.
The team used Landsat-derived, two-dimensional maps of bodies of water and their sizes, providing them with a comprehensive database of the world’s lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. Then, ICESat-2 added the third dimension – height of the water level, with an uncertainty of roughly 4 inches (10 cm). When those measurements are averaged over thousands of lakes and reservoirs, the uncertainty drops even more.
Although ICESat-2’s mission focuses on the frozen water of Earth’s cryosphere, creating data products of non-frozen water heights was also part of the original plan, according to Tom Neumann, ICESat-2 project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Now, with the satellite in orbit, scientists are detecting more smaller lakes and reservoirs than previously anticipated – in this study they detected ponds half the size of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
“We’re now able to measure all of these lakes and reservoirs with the same ‘ruler,’ over and over again,” Neumann said. “It’s a great example of another science application that these height measurements enable. It’s incredibly exciting to see what questions people are able to investigate with these datasets.”