New Year's crapshoot

Happy new year! May 2022 be better than 2021.

News blues

This radial phylogenetic tree of SARS-CoV-2 depicts known sequences of
variants (dots) and their relationships to each other. The length of the branches indicate
how divergent a given variant is. Omicron, depicted in red, stands out for its uniqueness.
© Nextstrain 

Omicron could push the Covid-19 pandemic into its worst phase yet. Or it might not. In other words, it’s a crapshoot!
What makes the omicron variant so strange and surprising? 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Good news for the planet this new year: Germany powers down 3 nuke power plants.

Three nuclear-fired power plants will be taken off the grid in Germany on Friday as part of the country's plan to end atomic power.
"The nuclear phaseout makes our country safer and helps to avoid radioactive waste," said Federal Environment and Nuclear Safety Minister Steffi Lemke.
"It is now essential to ... advance the search for a final repository for high-level radioactive waste as well as permanent solutions for low- and medium-level radioactive waste," the environment ministry said.

Hear, hear! Germany. (This is an abbreviation for “hear, all ye good people, hear what this brilliant and eloquent speaker has to say!”) Read more about Germany’s decision >> 

***

As noted in a recent post,  E. O Wilson passed away recently. His legacy will live on.
Read an interview with him on his advice on saving Earth >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Sunny but cold in the San Francisco Bay Area. View from east bay.

I bundle up for my daily walk: undershirt, shirt, sweater, coat, muffler, and gloves. My Covid mask keeps my face warm.
Waterfowl are happy.

Initially I thought I'd photographed buffleheads (top). Rather, they're goldeneye ducks.
The lower photo is a female goldeneye. 
(c) S. Galleymore

What's the weather like in:
SF Bay Area? 
Sunrise: 7:24am
Sunset: 5:01pm
Some rain expected Monday and Tuesday then more sunshine.

...and in Howick, KZN? 
Sunrise: 5:03am
Sunset: 7:02pm
Forecast calls for rain, rain, rain for the next ten days…