News blues
One hundred weeks and 700 days of posts tracking Covid-19. This count may not be statistically accurate as I flitted from southern to northern to southern hemispheres during this pandemic. It’s a pretty good approximation of the trajectory of the pandemic, from discovery of the virus, to the initial devastation it wrought, to the creation and manufacture of vaccines, to where we are today. On this note, a report finds that, for all its flaws, the Covid-19 vaccination rollout has been a historic win for humanity.>>Surrounded as I am by vax skeptics and misinformation, I’m totally grateful for science and scientists. (Yes, I understand science/scientists – and politicians, marketing experts, supporters of wars, even family members, etc. – can – and do - manipulate data to derive desired results. That’s life in the modern world. And I remain a fan of Covid vaccine.
On that note, here’s a guide to coronavirus and Covid-19 >>
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MeidasTouch Trump is guilty (1:10 mins)
I thought, very briefly, of sending the study’s link to the ivermectin fans. But why bother? Belief in ivermectin falls, in my opinion, into the same ideology as Trump is the Best Human President in the World. I ain’t gonna change that mindset with logic or data. I’d rather shift dirt/soil uphill with a spade.
One more comment on South Africa’s conspiracy theorists. Recently, I enjoyed meeting up with two friends at a local coffee shop. The male of the couple has been vaccinated and always wears his mask. My friend, his wife, is a vax skeptic who dons her mask amid much muttering about mask-uselessness. During out conversation, she also informed me that “studies prove” many, many more Covid deaths have occurred amongst the vaccinated than the unvaccinated.
Hmmmm
My sheer incredulity that I’m actually hearing such drivel generally renders me speechless. The best response I can come up with in the moment is, “That’s not at all true and I don’t believe it.” Then I try to change the subject. The problem with my response? Conspiracy theorists expect this response. It is, after all, exactly their response to their facts: always suspect the “mainstream” narrative: “they” are just trying to “'take over'….”
Indeed, there are times when “the public” is offered convenient – and money saving - bundles of BS. I’ve not spent more than a decade on a community board dealing with the US military’s so called “clean-up” of toxic waste generated during it sojourn in my California town not to understand this.
Healthy planet, anyone?
February 15, the White House unveiled a slew of policies aimed at overhauling the U.S. industrial sector in order to reduce its planet-warming carbon pollution. Many of the policies have bipartisan backing—they were authorized in last year’s infrastructure bill. These policies are a big deal because they could help solve one of decarbonization’s thorniest problems: how to make steel, concrete, chemicals, and other major industrial products in a zero-carbon way. These products typically rely on fossil fuels to generate intense heat or provide a raw-material input, which is part of why the industrial sector is responsible for more than 20 percent of global emissions.Read “ The White House Is Going After One of Climate Change’s Thorniest Problems” >>
However crucial these policies are for the planet, they are arguably even more important as a matter of political economy. They signal a profound and bipartisan change in how the federal government presides over the economy
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
An ivermectin-skeptic, I found myself in a conversation with two fully-convinced-ivermectin-takers. One, a young funeral director, swallows ivermectin each week to ward off a second bout of Covid. (His first dose of Covid was life-threatening.) The other man is simply a full-on believer, just because…. In such conversations, I simply ask the question, “Why take an anti-bacterial medication for a viral disease?” and leave it at that. I’m curious about the responses, but I’m uninterested in going down the ivermectin rabbit hole, particularly as South Africa is chock-a-block with ivermectin swallowers. Two days after that conversation, another article stating, again, that according to the study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, the antiparasitic drug ivermectin doesn't prevent severe disease from Covid-19 any more effectively than symptom management and close observation by medical professionals. >>I thought, very briefly, of sending the study’s link to the ivermectin fans. But why bother? Belief in ivermectin falls, in my opinion, into the same ideology as Trump is the Best Human President in the World. I ain’t gonna change that mindset with logic or data. I’d rather shift dirt/soil uphill with a spade.
One more comment on South Africa’s conspiracy theorists. Recently, I enjoyed meeting up with two friends at a local coffee shop. The male of the couple has been vaccinated and always wears his mask. My friend, his wife, is a vax skeptic who dons her mask amid much muttering about mask-uselessness. During out conversation, she also informed me that “studies prove” many, many more Covid deaths have occurred amongst the vaccinated than the unvaccinated.
Hmmmm
My sheer incredulity that I’m actually hearing such drivel generally renders me speechless. The best response I can come up with in the moment is, “That’s not at all true and I don’t believe it.” Then I try to change the subject. The problem with my response? Conspiracy theorists expect this response. It is, after all, exactly their response to their facts: always suspect the “mainstream” narrative: “they” are just trying to “'take over'….”
Indeed, there are times when “the public” is offered convenient – and money saving - bundles of BS. I’ve not spent more than a decade on a community board dealing with the US military’s so called “clean-up” of toxic waste generated during it sojourn in my California town not to understand this.
Discernment is key: work toward understanding with discernment.
Moreover, wearing masks and accepting vaccine is about more than one individual. It’s about our entire community of humans the world over. Thinking beyond one’s immediate nose and self-interest is a requirement for living in today’s world.
Between regular bouts clearing the pool filter and repositioning the filter’s “creepy, yesterday’s labor included trimming overgrown hedges and plants with manual hedge clippers and raking the debris into piles for easy removal to the dump. I also spaded the garden’s dirt/soil level. This property slopes downhill and heavy rainfall shifts loose dirt/silt downhill. If I want a decent garden – and I do – then I must replace dirt/soil. A spade does the job, albeit a job tough on the human body. (Try pushing an old wheelbarrow packed with dirt uphill.) I unlocked old outside cabinets, cleared them of years-old debris, and piled that up for later removal to the dump. Serendipitously, I also rescued two Pool Kits that will allow me to test pool water for PH and acidity levels.
Today, Sunday? After last night’s thunderstorm, the day is clear, clean, and bright. And hot.
On today’s agenda? More of the same hard physical labor.
A mechanical hedge clipper sure sounds nice. Unfortunately, it’s a luxury I’m not sure I can afford. Then again, perhaps it is a luxury I cannot not afford. The questions: How resilient is my human body? Is my health and welfare not worth one stinky mechanical hedge clipper?
Hmmm.
Sunrise: 5:44am
Sunset: 6:41pm
San Francisco Bay Area
Sunrise: 6:52am
Sunset: 5:53pm
Moreover, wearing masks and accepting vaccine is about more than one individual. It’s about our entire community of humans the world over. Thinking beyond one’s immediate nose and self-interest is a requirement for living in today’s world.
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Last night was the first time in three weeks that I slept for more than seven hours. And I fell asleep as a crashing thunderstorm raged overhead. I chalk up this good sleep to good old fashioned hard physical labor. Between regular bouts clearing the pool filter and repositioning the filter’s “creepy, yesterday’s labor included trimming overgrown hedges and plants with manual hedge clippers and raking the debris into piles for easy removal to the dump. I also spaded the garden’s dirt/soil level. This property slopes downhill and heavy rainfall shifts loose dirt/silt downhill. If I want a decent garden – and I do – then I must replace dirt/soil. A spade does the job, albeit a job tough on the human body. (Try pushing an old wheelbarrow packed with dirt uphill.) I unlocked old outside cabinets, cleared them of years-old debris, and piled that up for later removal to the dump. Serendipitously, I also rescued two Pool Kits that will allow me to test pool water for PH and acidity levels.
Today, Sunday? After last night’s thunderstorm, the day is clear, clean, and bright. And hot.
On today’s agenda? More of the same hard physical labor.
A mechanical hedge clipper sure sounds nice. Unfortunately, it’s a luxury I’m not sure I can afford. Then again, perhaps it is a luxury I cannot not afford. The questions: How resilient is my human body? Is my health and welfare not worth one stinky mechanical hedge clipper?
Hmmm.
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KZN, South Africa: Sunrise: 5:44am
Sunset: 6:41pm
San Francisco Bay Area
Sunrise: 6:52am
Sunset: 5:53pm
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