'Saturday Night Live' earned ten Emmy nominations plus looks back at the 2021-2022 season

As I told my readers at the end of Biden Administration declares monkeypox a public health emergency, "Stay tuned for this year's post about Saturday Night Live's Emmy nominations for the Sunday entertainment feature." With that, here the nominations for the show that provided the videos for half of last year's top ten posts, including all of the top three and four of the top five, beginning with the ones at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Outstanding Variety Sketch Series
A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO/HBO Max)
Saturday Night Live (NBC)

I'm going to be a good environmentalist by recycling my reaction from last year's It's Saturday night, so here are the 21 Emmy nominations for 'Saturday Night Live'.

This category almost disappeared after Comedy Central canceled "Drunk History" after initially renewing it. It would have merged with Variety Talk for a general Variety Series category. I'm glad the Television Academy didn't follow through with the idea and so are the Variety Talk Series and "A Black Lady Sketch Show." One of the first and the latter would likely have been left out of the nominations and the variety talk series would have had an uphill fight to beat SNL. Instead, two variety series get to take home trophies. In this case, I expect SNL to win this category again.

And 'Saturday Night Live' won eight Emmy Awards last year, including for this category. I expect it will do so again.

Now for the acting nominations, which are less of a sure thing for SNL.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Anthony Carrigan – Barry as NoHo Hank (HBO/HBO Max)
Brett Goldstein – Ted Lasso as Roy Kent (Apple TV+)
Toheeb Jimoh – Ted Lasso as Sam Obisanya (Apple TV+)
Nick Mohammed – Ted Lassoas Nathan Shelley (Apple TV+)
Tony Shalhoub – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as Abe Weissman (Prime Video)
Tyler James Williams – Abbott Elementary as Gregory Eddie (ABC)
Henry Winkler – Barry as Gene Cousineau (HBO/HBO Max)
Bowen Yang – Saturday Night Live as various characters (NBC)

As much as Bowen Yang deserves this nomination and is the only one nominated from "SNL," I don't think he's going to win, as he's up against three previous winners in Brett Goldstein, Tony Shalhoub, and Henry Winkler. I'll handicap their chances and the rest of the nominees from comedy series later. In the meantime, enjoy Weekend Update: A Proud Gay Oompa Loompa on Timothée Chalamet - SNL.

A Proud Gay Oompa Loompa (Bowen Yang) stops by Weekend Update to discuss Timothée Chalamet’s role as Willy Wonka.

That was hilarious. Congratulations to Yang on his second nomination in this category!

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Alex Borstein – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as Susie Myerson (Prime Video)
Hannah Einbinder – Hacks as Ava Daniels (HBO/HBO Max)
Janelle James – Abbott Elementary as Ava Coleman (ABC)
Kate McKinnon – Saturday Night Live as various characters (NBC)
Sarah Niles – Ted Lasso as Dr. Sharon Fieldstone (Apple TV+)
Sheryl Lee Ralph – Abbott Elementary as Barbara Howard (ABC)
Juno Temple – Ted Lasso as Keeley Jones (Apple TV+)
Hannah Waddingham – Ted Lasso as Rebecca Welton (Apple TV+)

Unlike Yang, Kate McKinnon is a previous winner of this award, but she's competing against last year's winner Hannah Waddingham and two-time winner Alex Borstein, so I don't consider her the favorite. To show McKinnon's talents, I'm sharing Final Encounter Cold Open from her final episode on the show as a regular cast member.

After experiencing their third alien abduction, three people (Natasha Lyonne, Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong) are questioned again by two agents (Aidy Bryant, Mikey Day) at the Pentagon.

Good luck to McKinnon in her future pursuits! The show and its fans will miss you.

Now for the nominations for acting from 74th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Jerrod Carmichael – Saturday Night Live: "Host: Jerrod Carmichael" as host (NBC)
Bill Hader – Curb Your Enthusiasm: "Igor, Gregor, & Timor" as Igor/Gregor/Timor (HBO/HBO Max)
James Lance – Ted Lasso: "Inverting the Pyramid of Success" as Trent Crimm (Apple TV+)
Nathan Lane – Only Murders in the Building: "The Boy From 6B" as Teddy Dimas (Hulu)
Christopher McDonald – Hacks: "The One, The Only" as Marty (HBO/HBO Max)
Sam Richardson – Ted Lasso: "Midnight Train to Royston" as Edwin Akufo (Apple TV+)

I selected Seat Fillers for Carmichael's clip.

An Oscars seat filler (Jerrod Carmichael) gets interrupted while talking to Will Smith (Chris Redd).

I found that as much horrifying as hilarious, but it did a great job of showcasing Carmichael's talents. Just the same, I suspect Nathan Lane will win for "Only Murders in the Building," especially since he's reprising his role in the second season, which is streaming now.

Follow over the jump for the rest of SNL's nominations honoring the people behind the camera.

Biden Administration declares monkeypox a public health emergency

I began the month by lamenting that I didn't take monkeypox seriously enough.

As I wrote in June, "it looks like I may have been too sanguine about monkeypox." I didn't think it would get this bad. Now I expect it will get worse.

It has. ABC News reported US declares monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency Thursday night.

Amid growing calls from health officials, the Biden administration declared that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will take a series of actions to combat the monkeypox outbreak.

The number of cases has continued to increase over the past two days, as the CDC website shows 7,510 reported cases in the U.S. as I type this. As the CDC Director said, cases will continue to go up before they start going down.

CNBC Television uploaded two videos that I'm sharing, beginning with Monkeypox is now a national public health emergency.

CNBC's Shomari Stone joins Shep Smith to report on the spread of monkeypox and government efforts to administer the vaccine.

CNBC concentrated on the short supply of the vaccine in this segment. At least there were already vaccines to administer, as monkeypox has been known for decades, unlike COVID-19, which was completely novel and much more deadly.

The Shepard Smith segment mentioned Scott Gottlieb, who called the potential establishment of monkeypox in the U.S. a major public health failure. CNBC interviewed him earlier in Monkeypox will become a low-level infection but can be dangerous, says Dr. Scott Gottlieb.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner and CNBC contributor, joins CNBC's 'Squawk Box' to discuss the outbreak in monkeypox cases after the U.S. declared the virus a public health emergency.

Monkeypox is nowhere near as deadly as COVID-19, but it deserves to be taken seriously as a health threat.

All the above videos point out that the current outbreak acts like a sexually transmitted disease, but it's not really one, and it can affect anyone. Another point that Gottlieb made in passing was that monkeypox is a relative of smallpox, which I think is perversely good news. The CDC page on vaccinations states "Because Monkeypox virus is closely related to the virus that causes smallpox, the smallpox vaccine can protect people from getting monkeypox. Past data from Africa suggests that the smallpox vaccine is at least 85% effective in preventing monkeypox." Older Americans like me who have been vaccinated against smallpox are actually in better shape than younger people to avoid becoming ill from monkeypox. I'll take that, as it's the reverse of the usual relationship between age and morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases.

One aspect of monkeypox that the first three videos generally ignored is that monkeypox is a zoonotic disease, one that originally passed from non-human animals to people. The Wall Street Journal tackled that head on in Why Monkeypox Is a Global Health Threat, which the paper uploaded to its YouTube account the day before the Biden Administration declared the disease a health emergency. Perfect timing!

What smallpox is to humans — monkeypox is to animals. So what happens when a human is infected with an animal disease? WSJ explains the symptoms, reactions and treatment of a monkeypox infection.

Despite the name, monkeypox mostly infects rodents, which I find concerning because it can get into native rodent populations that could become reservoirs for the virus. The SciShow video I embedded in May mentioned that the previous outbreak in the U.S. resulted from contact with infected prairie dogs. It could have been worse; I know of cases of bubonic plague transmitted from prairie dogs to humans. Yikes!

That was the post about monkeypox I planned to write until I watched Colbert's monologue yesterday. Stay tuned for this year's post about Saturday Night Live's Emmy nominations for the Sunday entertainment feature.

Colbert and MSNBC on Fetterman vs. Oz in Pennsylvania

I have more comedic coverage of the midterm elections from Stephen Colbert today, as I share John Fetterman Goes Full Troll On Dr. Oz | Fact-Checking The Choco Taco Drama about the elections for Governor and U.S. Senator in Pennsylvania.

Stephen finds out why New Jersey-based celebs like Lil Stevie Van Zandt are getting involved in the Pennsylvania Senate race, and he introduces a brand new long-running segment that will ensure he gets his facts straight.

Leave it to Stephen to make the already hilarious trolling by John Fetterman even funnier.

Stephen's description of Fetterman's stunts missed one, which MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle caught in Trolling Dr. Oz: John Fetterman Enlists Snooki To Mock His Opponent.

Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman taps a Jersey Shore star to mock his opponent, Dr. Oz in a now viral video.

*Snork* I wrote snarky things about Snooki twice during the first year of this blog, but I take them all back for this video. That was a scream!

Outside groups are also getting involved in the meme war, as MSNBC's "Morning Joe" showed in Oz Vs. Fetterman: In Pennsylvania, A War Of Ads (And Memes) Takes Center Stage.

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski discuss new ads out of the Senate race in Pennsylvania between Dr. Mehmet Oz and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, and the meme war taking place between the two candidates online. Scarborough and Brzezinski also discuss Oz's history of false statements.

I knew someone was going to make comparisons between Dr. Oz and "The Wizard of Oz." I'm glad it was done this well.

That was a lot more fun than the post about monkeypox I planned to write until I watched Colbert's monologue. I guess I was in an "I can't be all DOOM all the time mood." Maybe tomorrow, or maybe I'll write about Saturday Night Live's Emmy nominations. Stay tuned to find out.

Kansas votes to uphold abortion rights as seen by Colbert, Meyers, and Noah

I posted a serious examination of Michigan's primary election in No good deed goes unpunished as Meijer loses primary to Gibbs in Michigan yesterday, so today I'm sharing comedic examinations of the rest of Tuesday's primary elections beginning with Stephen Colbert's monologue Kansas Votes To Preserve Abortion Rights | Processed Foods Are Killing Our Brains.

Kansas voters upheld abortion rights by 59% to 41% in yesterday's election, and scientists have really bad news about some of our favorite foods.

I agree with Stephen; Kari Lake sounds incoherent. No wonder The Former Guy endorsed her. For what it's worth, NBC News currently characterizes the contest for the Republican nominee for Arizona Governor as "too close to call" with Lake leading. Go Katie Hobbs, who is the Democratic nominee for Arizona Governor.

Of course, the headline election story is Kansas rejecting a proposed amendment removing the right to an abortion from the Kansas constitution. Seth Meyers had more to say about that and other primary election news in Kansas Voters Back Abortion Rights; Trump Endorses "Eric" in Missouri: A Closer Look.

Seth takes a closer look at voters in Kansas overwhelmingly rejecting a state ballot measure that would have restricted abortion access and Trump endorsing multiple dudes named "Eric" in the same Missouri Senate race.

The GOP dirty tricks both Seth and Stephen described didn't work and a good thing, too. Here's to the measure protecting abortion passing in Michigan this November. Also, I knew there had to be an Eric Trump joke in there, and there was, even if I had to wait until the very end to hear it.

BTW, welcome back from quarantine for Seth and congratulations on his shows' three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Variety Talk Series, Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series, and Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series. To celebrate, I'm sharing the Twitter images promoting the show nominations.


Good luck, although I think John Oliver, James Corden, and "Saturday Night Live" will win these categories instead.

I close with Trevor Noah's take on the election results and other news, Kansas Votes Pro-Choice, Alex Jones Caught in Lie & Beyoncé Tweaks Album Again | The Daily Show.

Kansas votes to uphold the right to have an abortion, Alex Jones' attorney accidentally gives his texts to the prosecutor, Beyoncé tweaks her album again, Brad Pitt wears a skirt to his latest movie premiere, and Airbnb will no longer rent out slave quarters.

Last night's results reinforce what I first wrote in Colbert and Meyers take closer looks at replacing Liz Cheney and Arizona audit and repeated yesterday, "'this fight is not over conventional ideas of left and right. Instead, it is about loyalty to Trump, which is odd considering that major American political parties generally move away from losing presidential candidates. Not now — the GOP is sticking closer to Trump than ever.' That has become even more true since then." Worse yet, if TFG's endorse nominees win, a lot of them will be in charge of certifying elections. Who needs an armed insurrection when the coup will happen through legal means?

Speaking of legal means, LOL, Alex Jones. I might have more to say about his trial later. Stay tuned.

No good deed goes unpunished as Meijer loses primary to Gibbs in Michigan

Representative Peter Meijer voted to impeach The Former Guy because of his role in the attempted self-coup, the final act of the effort to overturn the 2020 election. That was the right thing to do, but Meijer paid for it last night, as WOOD-TV reported Rep. Peter Meijer concedes to John Gibbs in primary.


WOOD-TV only had "Aug. 3, 2022" for the video description, so I'm quoting the description for the equivalent video by 13 On Your Side: John Gibbs defeats Rep. Peter Meijer in primary election. "After a single term in the United States Congress, Peter Meijer has conceded the primary election for Michigan's 3rd Congressional District to challenger John Gibbs." I have two things to say about this result. First, as I wrote in Colbert and Meyers take closer looks at replacing Liz Cheney and Arizona audit last year, "this fight is not over conventional ideas of left and right. Instead, it is about loyalty to Trump, which is odd considering that major American political parties generally move away from losing presidential candidates. Not now — the GOP is sticking closer to Trump than ever." That has become even more true since then. Second, no good deed goes unpunished, especially when it involves standing up to TFG.

WDIV/Click on Detroit looked at many of the major primary contests last night in two segments the station uploaded to its YouTube channel this morning, beginning with Breaking down results from the 2022 Michigan Primary Election.

Michigan held its 2022 primary election on Tuesday, Aug. 2.

Again, the effect TFG has on Republican politics cannot be ignored, both in the contest for the GOP nominee for Governor of Michigan and in the Third Congressional District, where Gibbs beat Meijer. Second, I am not so sure that Rashida Tlaib is as liberal as she's being made out. She's part of "The Squad," which the following image from Voteview shows is not as far left as they are portrayed.

As I originally described in a tweet and reproduced on Pinterest, "The Squad's isolation from the rest of the Democratic Caucus is even more apparent in two dimensions. They're way down and to the right of most of the party. Down is also 'liberal,' but not in the way everyone else is." If Janice Winfrey had gotten the nomination and then into Congress, Voteview very likely would have scored her votes as being to the left of Tlaib's and the rest of "The Squad."

Speaking of Winfrey, long-time readers should not be surprised I take a dim view of her performance as Detroit City Clerk. Here's what I wrote in The party starts as Michigan recount begins as ordered.

That a third of precincts in Detroit may be ineligible for a recount is not good news for anyone having their hopes up that this recount will change the result of the election. If anything, Trump's lead may increase because of it. It also makes me even less enamored of both Janice Winfrey, the Detroit City Clerk, and Cathy M. Garrett, the Wayne County Clerk. Neither one of them appears to be running a tight ship, or otherwise these kinds of irregularities would happen so frequently.

That still seems to be true, six years later. No surprise, I voted for Tlaib.

I'm not surprised that Haley Stevens beat Andy Levin. While I don't live in the 11th Congressional District, my IP address does, so I've been seeing far more ads for Stevens than for Levin, indicating that her campaign and the outside groups supporting her vastly outspent her. It paid off. I'm not sad, as I voted for Levin's primary opponent in 2018, but voted for him in the general election in both 2018 and 2020. I'm not particularly a fan of political dynasties and I'm not shedding a tear over the apparent end of this one.

My last observation on the results is about my neighbor John James handily winning the GOP primary one county over from where he lives, at least for now. I'm not surprised that he won, only by the margin. As I wrote five years ago, "Impressive. The man has a future in politics, even if it won't be in the U.S. Senate."

WDIV/Click on Detroit continued its analysis in Michigan Primary Election 2022: Pollster Richard [Cz]uba weighs in on results.


Not only did TFG go after Meijer, the DCCC did as well, running ads "attacking" Gibbs as too extreme in the hopes that doing so would make him more attractive to the right-wing of the Republican Party so they would vote for him. On the one hand, that's smart politics, as it makes the seat easier for Hillary Scholten to win in November. On the other, it's punishing a holdout for decency and democracy in the GOP by removing him from Congress. Sigh. It worked last night, but I hope it doesn't backfire in November.

Remembering Nichelle Nichols, 1932-2022

I have some sad spacespace and entertainment news to write about today, the passing of Nichelle Nichols. I begin with CNN's segment, Nichelle Nichols, trailblazing 'Star Trek' actress, dies at 89.

Actress and singer Nichelle Nichols, best known for her groundbreaking portrayal of Lt. Nyota Uhura in "Star Trek: The Original Series," has died at age 89, according to a statement from her son, Kyle Johnson.
Nichols portrayed communications officer Lt. Nyota Uhura in the "Star Trek" TV series and many of its film offshoots.
When "Star Trek" began in 1966, Nichols was a television rarity: a Black woman in a notable role on a prime-time television series. There had been African-American women on TV before, but they often played domestic workers and had small roles; Nichols' Uhura was an integral part of the multicultural "Star Trek" crew.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. called it "the first non-stereotypical role portrayed by a Black woman in television history." Nichols is widely known for participating in one of the first interracial kisses on US television when her character kissed James T. Kirk, portrayed by White Canadian actor William Shatner. In an interview with CNN in 2014, Nichols said the kiss scene "changed television forever, and it also changed the way people looked at one another."

That's pretty comprehensive, but the segment didn't cover everything and it didn't feature an expert who had a more personal connection to Nichols. For that, I turn to ABC News' Remembering trailblazing actress Nichelle Nichols.

ABC News contributor Mike Muse joins ABC News Live to celebrate the lasting impact of "Star Trek" actress Nichelle Nichols, who died Saturday at age 89.

The ABC News clip mentioned that Nichols recruited for NASA. NASA released their own video Nichelle Nichols: Woman on a NASA Mission about her work for NASA, including testimony from the people she influenced earlier this year.

NASA celebrates the life and career of Nichelle Nichols, famous for her role of Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek, as she retires from public life.

Not only did Nichols portray a character that was an incredible role model, but in 1977, she also partnered with NASA to recruit minority and female personnel for the space agency's shuttle program.

Nichols symbolized to so many what was possible and inspired young minds to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers.

Rest in peace and power. You were an inspiration.

Trevor Noah examines Manchin deal, monkeypox, and Russia announcing it will leave the ISS plus six Emmy nominations for 'The Daily Show' and its spinoffs

I concluded Colbert examines Manchin agreeing to the reconciliation bill that would fight climate change by telling my readers "Stay tuned as I continue examining the Emmy nominees with the categories recognizing "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah," possibly as early as tomorrow." I'll do that over the jump, but first I'm sharing three clips from "The Daily Show" about my picks for top stories last week, starting with Manchin Shocks Washington and McConnell with Bill Compromise.

In a surprise turn of events, Sen. Joe Manchin released a statement saying he’s on board with the Inflation Reduction Act, a renamed version of the Build Back Better bill, shocking Washington, D.C. and Mitch McConnell.

I'm being a good environmentalist by recycling what I wrote yesterday for the first part of my reaction.

The good news is that Joe Manchin agreed to a bill that would fight climate change, making it possible to follow the IPCC roadmap to fix climate change. Even better, he helped the Senate Democrats bypass Mitch McConnell, who prides himself on being the Grim Reaper for progressive legislation. I just hope Kyrsten Sinema doesn't gum up the works.

Trevor even mentioned the possibility that Sinema could mess things up. On the other hand, he showed even more enthusiasm for the deal and he and his writers came up with even funnier jokes about it.

That was the good news. "The Daily Show" uploaded two segments featuring bad news last week, beginning with some that Stephen Colbert mentioned, Monkeypox Labeled Global Health Emergency, U.S. Sizzles & Robot Breaks Kid's Finger.

The World Health Organization labels monkeypox a global health emergency, cities across America hit record-breaking temperatures, and a chess-playing robot breaks a 7-year-old's finger.

As I wrote in June, "it looks like I may have been too sanguine about monkeypox." I didn't think it would get this bad. Now I expect it will get worse. I'm also recycling my reaction to Trevor's treatment of the climate and weather news from yesterday's post: "That was grim, but at least we're doing something about climate change now."

Now for Russia Pulls Out of International Space Station & The Pope Issues Historic Apology, which at least opened with good news, even if it got second billing in the subject and description.

Russia announces it will leave the International Space Station, and the pope issues an apology to Canada’s Indigenous people.

I've been worried about the possibility of Russia exiting the ISS since 2014, when I posted Returning without Russia and other space and astronomy news for the Ides of March, but my anxiety became more pronounced this April in Vox explains 'What Russia's war means for the International Space Station' plus DART and Artemis updates. Now we have two more years to figure out what to do. At least the U.S. has crewed spaceflight again, so we aren't dependent on Russia to get to and from the ISS.

Follow over the jump to read about the Emmy nominations for "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah" and two of its spinoffs, "Between the Scenes" and "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Globe - Hungary for Democracy."

Colbert examines Manchin agreeing to the reconciliation bill that would fight climate change

Stephen Colbert had good news and bad in his last monologue of July, Manchin, Schumer Reveal Washington's Best Kept Secret | Bacon, Egg & Cheese Sandwich Prices Spike.

Senate Democrats announced a surprise deal that would lower health care costs, reduce the deficit and combat climate change, and New York City residents are on edge as inflation has nearly doubled the price of a beloved bodega staple.

The good news is that Joe Manchin agreed to a bill that would fight climate change, making it possible to follow the IPCC roadmap to fix climate change. Even better, he helped the Senate Democrats bypass Mitch McConnell, who prides himself on being the Grim Reaper for progressive legislation. I just hope Kyrsten Sinema doesn't gum up the works. The bad news, well, inflation and a possible recession. At least they made for good comedy.

The week also began with a monologue about climate change, It's Really Hot, But Al Gore Says It Could Get Worse | Josh Hawley Says He Won't Run Away (Again).

Former almost-president Al Gore issued a stark warning about the consequences of not acting to clean up the Earth's atmosphere, and Republican Senator Josh Hawley made a laughable claim at a meeting of conservatives last weekend.

That was grim, but at least we're doing something about climate change now. Also, I should have known I would enjoy the news that Steve Bannon convicted of two counts of contempt of Congress even more as comedy.

I could share a lot more from Colbert's show last week, but I need to fulfill the promise I made yesterday, "Stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature, when I plan on continuing my series on the 2022 Emmy nominees." Follow over the jump to read about the Emmy nominations for "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and "Stephen Colbert Presents Tooning Out the News."

PBS Eons asks and answers 'Why Does Caffeine Exist?'

PBS Eons asked a question about the intersection of three of my interests, evolution, biodiversity, and coffee, Why Does Caffeine Exist?

Today, billions of people around the world start their day with caffeine. But how and why did the ability to produce this molecule independently evolve in multiple, distantly-related lineages of flowering plants, again and again?

This tale forms part of a story I tell my students, how plants synthesize compounds to defend against insects and other predators and parasites and then humans use them for other purposes, mostly medicinal and recreational, so I knew some of it already. However, I still learned about more plants that produce caffeine in addition to coffee, tea, cacao (chocolate), and kola nut, the legend behind the discovery of coffee, caffeine being an anti-gastropod and anti-fungal agent, and the biochemical pathway for caffeine action. As I've written many times before, "It's a good day when I learn something new." I hope my readers think so, too.

That's it for today's food science lesson. Stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature, when I plan on continuing my series on the 2022 Emmy nominees.

International Tiger Day in the Year of the Tiger

Happy International Tiger Day in the Year of the Water Tiger! WWF Tigers Alive uploaded Global Tiger Day 2022 | WWF that celebrates both happening today.

Today marks a very special Global Tiger Day in the Year of the Tiger...

Let’s look back at the progress made in tiger conservation over the last 12 years!

WWF recapped the past dozen years of tiger conservation and looked forward to the good news they reported today in 2022 is the Year of the Tiger | WWF Tigers Alive Initiative on Lunar New Year.

2010 was a pivotal year in the history of tiger conservation. The iconic big cat was threatened with extinction and only an estimated 3,200 were left in the wild. In the same year tiger range countries came together and committed to double wild tiger populations, a goal known as TX2, by 2022 - the next Year of the Tiger.

In 2022 tiger range countries will release their new tiger population estimates and by the end of the year we'll know if the TX2 goal has been met. 2022 is also a time for countries to renew their commitment to protecting tigers as governments set their goals for the next 12 years of tiger conservation.

According to National Day Calendar, "International Tiger Day was created in 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit," so the day and the Year of the Tiger have been connected since the creation of the international day a dozen years ago. May the global tiger population continue to increase up to the next Year of the Tiger in 2034 and may I be around to see it!