In 2020, during the Trump administration, 881 active Secret Service employees were diagnosed with COVID-19. This, according to records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), included a majority, 477, of secret service “special agents,” and 249 from the “uniformed division.” From <https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/6/22/2036545/-Newly-released-records

A lightning strike can lead to strange super talents. [But don’t count on it}. In a blog post for Psychology Today, University of Miami neuroscientist Berit Brogaard writes about an incident where an orthopaedic surgeon who was struck by lightning developed an urge to learn to play the piano. He began to compose music he had mysteriously started hearing in his head since the strike. After a few months he abandoned his career as a surgeon and became a classical musician. This type of phenomenon baffles scientists. From <https://www.sciencealert.com/what-happens-after-being-hit-by-lightning>

YIKES! (via the May 17, 2019 The Week): A 72-year old French adventurer and former paratrooper has become the first person to cross the Atlantic in a barrel.  Jean-Jacques Savin set off from the Canary Islands in December in his 10-foot reinforced plywood vessel, which has no motor, oars, or sail and was propelled only by ocean currents.  After four months at sea and having traveled 2,930 miles–during which he survived on canned food, freshly caught fish, and a block of foie gras–Savin finally reached the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Eustatius last week.  It is “the end of this adventure,” He wrote on Facebook.  Image CNN Travel