Doom sun

 

Sun through smoke air
7:30 pm August 6, 2021

News blues

It’s day 501 of lockdown in South Africa where the Covid news ain’t good.

The Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal both accounted for more new Covid-19 cases than Gauteng in the past 24 hours, a clear indication of the current coronavirus trajectory across SA.
While cases are on the decline in Gauteng, the two coastal provinces were showing a worrying upward trend.
There were 13,652 new cases in the past 24 hours, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Friday. Of these, 4,128 were in the Western Cape, 2,673 in KwaZulu-Natal and 2,534 in Gauteng.

Read more >> 

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As the US falters on Covid and it’s vaccination program, six European Union states - Malta, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Ireland - have all overtaken the UK in terms of the percentages of their populations who are fully vaccinated.

While Britain’s hugely successful campaign was bound to slow first as it ran into harder-to-reach, more vaccine-hesitant groups, the rate of decline is dramatic: the UK is currently administering a fraction of the daily doses of some EU states. 

Coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 200 million on Wednesday as the more-infectious Delta variant threatens areas with low vaccination rates and strains healthcare systems. 
And, Dr. Anthony Fauci, top U.S. infectious disease physician and the scientist hated by a segment of the American population for doing, you know, his scientific work, says Americans should expect 'a flood' of COVID-19 vaccine mandates after full FDA approval. According to USA TODAY, Dr Fauci doesn't see future lockdowns but expects vaccine mandates to be common.
Time will tell. Who’d a thunk ‘Mericans would have been as whacky as many have been around health and safety, conflating it with some voodoo idea of “freedom” . Go figure.

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Healthy planet, anyone?

In California, at least eight people were missing on Saturday as the Dixie fire, what has become the largest single wildfire in California’s recorded history, continued to scorch through northern communities, forest and tinder-dry scrub in the Sierra Nevada mountains. 
In Greece news of the extreme heat have given way to news of suburban forest on the Greek capital’s northern fringes had gone up in flames.

Infernos seemingly redolent of Dante’s hell had incinerated everything in their path; friends had lost homes; thousands had been evacuated with residents and tourists fleeing blighted zones by any means possible. Terraces, an Athenian’s respite against the blazing heat, had been transformed into ash-laden no-go zones. 

In western Canada, a second community has been destroyed by wildfire as authorities in the region scramble to contain the destructive toll of climate change.
The popular summer holiday destination, of Monte Lake, with a seasonal population of nearly 3,000, likely suffered extensive damage when the White Rock Lake wildfire jumped a highway. Conditions remain too dangerous for a full damage assessment. Residents had been ordered to evacuate and no fatalities were reported. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Up here in the Delta, fire-related smoke and haze is the order of the day. The AQI (Air Quality Index) is better than yesterday – in the upper 90s to low 100s today.
I snapped the above photos of the sun at about 7:30pm last night. The photo doesn’t do it justice: the orb was bright luminous orange. It looked scary. Might it be the dreaded "Doom Sun"?

Throughout the summer, you might have looked to the skies and noticed that the Sun looked distinctly scarier than usual. Maybe it’s taken on dark shades of crimson and burnt orange not-too-unlike that of hellfire and scorched brimstone. It’s also typically accompanied by smoke and bad air. This is the dreaded “Doom Sun.” 

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Trips to the California coast often result in me leaving behind traces of my visit. 

I leave no plastic or other human tainted debris. Instead, I cast around on the beach and construct in situ art, usually of the totem variety. Traces of my most recent visit may still remain on the beach….