Those pesky numbers

Week 14's pesky numbers compared to Week 13's

• July 2 - worldwide: 10,729,340 confirmed infections; 517,055 deaths
  June 25 - worldwide: 9,409,000 confirmed infections; 482,190 deaths
• July 2 – US: 2,688,250 infections; 128,104 deaths
  June 25 - US: 2,381,540 infections; 121,980 deaths
• July 2 - SA: 159,333 infections; 2,749 deaths
  June 25 - SA: 111,800 confirmed infections; 2,205 deaths

And, despite all the staying at home going on around the world, atmospheric CO2 continues its upward trajectory

• 27 June 2020: 416.05 parts per million
• This time last year: 413.50 ppm
• 10 years ago: 391.44 ppm
• Pre-industrial base: 280ppm
• Safe level: 350ppm

Reading from Mauna Loa, Hawaii . (Source: NOAA-ESRL)
Scientists have warned for more than a decade that concentrations of more than 450ppm risk triggering extreme weather events of temperature rises as high as 2C, beyond which the effects of global heating are likely to become catastrophic and irreversible.

News blues…

A brief scan of new numbers:

• Gauteng’s Health MEC expects “Covid-19 cases to reach 120 000 by the end of July. "Our predictions tell us that we will be … getting closer to 250 000 to 300 000 by August, [and in] September which is expected to be the peak, we will be having more than that," Dr Bandile Masuku told News24 on Wednesday. 
• The SA government’s official coronavirus figures could be missing more than half the deaths caused by the pandemic, a new report from the Medical Research Council (MRC) reveals. 
• As a number of US states reversed course on their reopening plans amid spiking case counts, Trump told Fox Business in an interview that he still believed the virus would simply go away on its own. “I think we’re gonna be very good with the coronavirus,” he said. “I think that at some point that’s going to sort of just disappear, I hope.” 
• With 4 percent of the world’s population, the US accounts for a quarter of worldwide coronavirus deaths. On Wednesday, the US reported 49,932 new coronavirus cases, the fifth single-day case record in eight days…. North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas also hit daily records, with Texas reaching more than 8,000 new infections. 
• The US experienced 15,400 'excess deaths' from March to April 4 compared with last year, suggesting coronavirus death toll is higher than known, according to an analysis conducted for The Washington Post. During the same time period, the official death count from COVID-19 was 8,128. The discrepancy exists in data from around the world, and suggests the true number of coronavirus-related deaths is being significantly undercounted. New Orleans Health Director Jennifer Avegno believes the actual death toll may be 15 percent higher than what is officially reported.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Ah, the satisfaction that comes with recycling an elderly concrete mixer into a compost mixer….
For months, I’ve composted kitchen scraps and collected leaves, ash from veld fires, pond weed, sawdust, peat, vermiculite, even excavated soil from mole hills….
Today, those ingredients – including earthworms - went into the concrete mixer… and came out as sweet smelling, fecund, garden soil. (Earthworms came out dizzy but alive – and ready, I think, for the upcoming garden phase.)
Figuring out how to start the mixer was a challenge. Incentivized by a potential 220-volt jolt if I got it wrong, I consulted the Internet – which wasn’t much help. I spent some time searching for the on/off switch, then, finally, realized there was only a three-prong plug to push into a live socket.
Voila!
It was hard work, but the sweet smell of compost made it all worthwhile!

***

(c) Charles J Sharp, Sharp Photography
Click to enlarge.

Yesterday, I spotted a Giant Kingfisher perched on the overhead electric power cable peering into the garden pond.
It was in the same spot today.
The Giant Kingfisher is Africa’s largest kingfisher species – up to 18 inches tall – and it dives from its perch to catch crabs, fish, and frogs.
In this set of four photos by Charles J Sharp, a female Giant Kingfisher returns to perch with a tilapia from Lake Naivasha, Kenya. She smashes the fish against a post to break its spine.

Ah, can’t help thinking of my goldfish!
Haven’t seen goldfish fin nor tail for weeks. I assumed they’d dived deep for warmth.
Would the Giant Kingfisher offer any insight into goldfish whereabouts?

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