Week 40
Day 280 Friday, January 1 - TGIO
* Thank God It’s Over!The end Lockdown Week 40 coincides nicely with the end of the year.
More than 82 million people around the world infected with a highly contagious virus is a hellava way to end a year, any year!. Who’da thunk?
Below, our weekly wrap up of Covid-19 stats of the last three months.
May the year 2021 see a diminution of the horror.
Worldwide (Map)
December 31 – 82,656000 confirmed infections; 1,8040100 deaths
November 26 – 60,334,000 confirmed infections; 1,420,500 deaths
October 29 – 44,402,000 confirmed infections; 1,173,270 deaths
Cry, the beloved planet….
Below, our weekly wrap up of Covid-19 stats of the last three months.
May the year 2021 see a diminution of the horror.
Worldwide (Map)
December 31 – 82,656000 confirmed infections; 1,8040100 deaths
November 26 – 60,334,000 confirmed infections; 1,420,500 deaths
October 29 – 44,402,000 confirmed infections; 1,173,270 deaths
Cry, the beloved planet….
US (Map)
December 31 – 19,737,200 confirmed infections; 342,260 deaths
November 26 – 12,771,000 confirmed infections; 262,145 deaths
October 29 – 8,856,000 confirmed infections; 227,675 deaths
One in 1,000 Americans have now died of Covid-19.
1 in 17 Americans have tested positive for Covid-19.
More than 63,000 Americans died of Covid-19 in December.
Cry, the beloved country….
SA (Tracker)
December 31 – 1,039,165 confirmed infections; 28,035 deaths
November 26 – 775,510 confirmed infections; 21,2010 deaths
October 29 – 719,715 confirmed infections; 19,111 deaths
Cry, the (original) beloved country….
News blues…
Then and Now: a photo essay of the year around the world.***
And, 18 actually good things that happened in 2020 Healthy planet, anyone?
Could Covid lockdown have helped save the planet? Slowdown of human activity was too short to reverse years of destruction, but we saw a glimpse of post-fossil fuel worldWhen lockdown began, climate scientists were horrified at the unfolding tragedy, but also intrigued to observe what they called an “inadvertent experiment” on a global scale. To what extent, they asked, would the Earth system respond to the steepest slowdown in human activity since the second world war?Read “Could Covid lockdown have helped save the planet?” >>
Environmental activists put the question more succinctly: how much would it help to save the planet?
Almost one year on from the first reported Covid case, the short answer is: not enough. In fact, experts say the pandemic may have made some environmental problems worse, though there is still a narrow window of opportunity for something good to come from something bad if governments use their economic stimulus packages to promote a green recovery.
***
This Year Was A Disaster for The Planet. From record-breaking wildfires to devastating hurricanes, human-driven climate change keeps killing us. ***
Floods, storms and searing heat: 2020 in extreme weather.
While Covid has dominated the news, the world has also felt the effects of human-driven global heating. Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
I end the year with my mother still in hospital due, not to adverse reaction to her recent surgery, but still awaiting results of her Covid test. The Care Center, naturally, requires she’s Covid negative before they can accept her. She was tested on Monday, the same day she was admitted. Today, Thursday, she’s still not received results.One wonder what viruses and infections she may have been exposed to after four days in the Petrie dish of a hospital.
On the other hand, I’d asked the surgeon on Tuesday if he could see his way to keeping her in the hospital one more day. This, I thought, might ensure better post-surgery care – and delay my sharing the news that I brought Jessica back to the house while my mom recovers. The surgeon explained that, under normal conditions, he’d consider keeping her another day, but under Covid conditions, hospital staff are hard pressed and hospital beds at a premium.
Jessica The Dog has had a tough time. A lugubrious creature at the best of times, she’s currently in mourning. She spends her days installed in her ‘special place’ in the garden, a spot that expresses her state of mind. Yesterday, she refused to move from there, even during the afternoon rain shower.
Good news for Jessica? After having to stifle her yen to bark at the Care Center, here she’s free to bark again. And she does. She's especially gleeful at barking at monkeys. I'm gleeful too: the monkeys take heed.
On the other hand, I’d asked the surgeon on Tuesday if he could see his way to keeping her in the hospital one more day. This, I thought, might ensure better post-surgery care – and delay my sharing the news that I brought Jessica back to the house while my mom recovers. The surgeon explained that, under normal conditions, he’d consider keeping her another day, but under Covid conditions, hospital staff are hard pressed and hospital beds at a premium.
Jessica The Dog has had a tough time. A lugubrious creature at the best of times, she’s currently in mourning. She spends her days installed in her ‘special place’ in the garden, a spot that expresses her state of mind. Yesterday, she refused to move from there, even during the afternoon rain shower.
Good news for Jessica? After having to stifle her yen to bark at the Care Center, here she’s free to bark again. And she does. She's especially gleeful at barking at monkeys. I'm gleeful too: the monkeys take heed.
***
My brother and his family – 3 adults – are under quarantine as “secondary contacts” for Covid. The son of a member of the extended family, someone who visits regularly with my sister-in-law, is infected.
Covid is getting closer. The Care Center psychologist also is under quarantine. While my contact with both my brother and the psychologist is confined to texting and/or phone, I feel more hemmed in by encroaching Covid.
Meanwhile, the Care Center has set up video conferencing. This means my brother – my mother’s all time favorite human in the world – can easily contact her to chat. The only drawback? Both my mother and my brother mumble, slur their words, and/or speak at such low volume that a conversation quickly becomes a mumble-athon. At least they can see one another.
My dread my first Zoom conversation with my mother as I will have to explain why Jessica is at the house rather than the Care Center. I doubt my mother will accept the truth: that, for now, her physical health decrees she cannot get up to feed and walk the dog.
Alas, try telling that to an 87 year old who still thinks of herself as a 27 year old.
Perhaps it’s the intense heat of the last few days, but electricity supply has been unreliable and We the People find ourselves suddenly in the dark. Electricity simply goes off – and comes back on – and goes off – and comes back on… Surely this defies the intention behind a schedule?
Yesterday, we learned at 3pm of a load shedding event from 22:00 to 5:00, aka 10pm to 5am.
Curfew extends from 21:00 to 6:00 for all medical, security, and essential workers.
Has Eskom hit upon perfect timing?
Perhaps Bheki Cele – and his Trilby – is working with Eskom to persuade South Africans to adhere to curfew? Stay home and drink Rooibos tea?
She underwent surgery to insert a metal pin into the neck of her femur (where upper leg bone fits into hip socket). The surgeon reported that all went well, and she could be returned to the Care Center as soon as today, tomorrow at the latest. All depends upon the negative result of Covid test. (The test was conducted on Monday, the day of her injury, and we’re still awaiting results.)
I’d be happy with delayed results keeping her in the hospital another day. I know, theoretically, that hospitals are the best dispensers of assorted infections, but they’re also not the Care Center where my mother is comfortable enough to complain ad nauseum. In hospital, a new environment, she’d have to work up the nerve to complain. Every day of her not complaining is a day of healing.
Jessica is a dog sensitive to human – and dog – moods and emotions. As with many creatures with high degrees of sensitivity, Jessica shares - perhaps over-shares - her own emotionality.
She is, however, slowly settling.
I’ve decided – and the Care Center agrees – that Jessica should stay at the house until my mother is mobile enough for Jessica to return there. To all adhering to the philosophy of Common Sense, my mom is recovering from a fall and surgery and is in no shape to get out of bed to feed and walk the dog. Alas, there’s my mother’s version of reality: “Of course I can take care of Jessica. I want her back!” She’ll be unhappy without me!”
I dread telling my mother of this decision. Perhaps I should try to manipulate her into thinking she made the decision?
Manipulation is not in my comfort zone. I tend to take the direct approach – usually to my detriment. But I'm desperate. Perhaps, if I rose to the occasion I'd learn a new skill? Learning to manipulate also may increase my own psychological range.
At the very least, it would break the monotony of Lockdown.
Key takeaways:
More than 1 million infected and more than 27,000 dead, a rate of 50,000 new infections since Christmas Eve; new cases dire in KZN, Western Cape, Gauteng, and Eastern Cape
New variant – 501.V2 - is well established in SA and it appears to be more contagious than first wave; it’s also fueled by super spreader events -
We’re all paying price for the lack of vigilance people displayed during the holidays: not masking, not sanitizing, not maintaining social distance, and hosting/attending public events that increase the risk of transmission
Alcohol contributes to risky behavior; also drives up trauma cases in hospitals; fewer restrictions on alcohol creates increased trauma cases in hospitals and puts unnecessary strain on hospitals already full; health care workers exhausted - and more than 41,000 health workers infected
A doctor wrote a letter stating: “We’re all going to pay for your inability to be responsible with our lives”
NCCC recommends Lockdown level 3, from midnight, to:
Hotspots subject to additional restrictions:
SA is part of global access – COVAX – with ZAR 283 million contribution already made. SA will be among first group of African countries to get vaccine, probably in the second quarter of 2021;
Need to build partnership between govt and business to augment resources to achieve herd immunity
Public must observe highest degree of vigilance and protect others
Avoid 3Cs: closed spaced, crowded area, contact with others
Play your part to defeat this pandemic
Instead of parties at new year, spend time with close family – no fireworks but light a candle for those who have lost their lives and the sacrifices made by all.
I drove to the Care Center to pick up the dog and arrived just as the ambulance was pulling out of the parking lot. I flagged it down and was able to talk, briefly, at my mom (she was in no shape to talk to me). I told her I would relate events to my brother and ask him get in touch with her… and that I was taking Jessica back to the house.
Due to surging Covid infections, the ambulance EMTs didn’t know if there would be a bed for her at local hospital - or where they’d take her if there was no bed.
I had to trust that they knew what they were doing.
I picked up Jessica’s food – the dog was freaked out – and talked to the Sister on duty. Apparently, mom – foggy as she was – got up, did not ring for assistance and used her walker to head down the passageway (to the bathroom?). She moved aside in the passageway to accommodate another resident and fell. Her leg was clearly damaged as it was at an unnatural angel.
We got Jessica in the car and I drove home.
Jessica looked very uncertain after she arrived. The other dogs were cautious and one, an officious beast at the best of times, looked ready to attack. That’s all I need: dog fights, dog emergency care at the vet, more dog hassles….
Last night, at 9pm, the hospital-based surgeon, phoned. My mother, he said, has what looks like a broken hip. Then he asked, “Is she usually this confused?”
I explained the events of the last week, mentioned that her regular doctor had taken her off her chronic blood thinner meds just last week in case of a fall.
The surgeon said he had no information at all on my mother’s medical history. Nothing in the way of background had accompanied her admission. All he had received was, "Elderly woman, fell, hurt her leg and may have hit her head."
In other words, the Care Center had sent her off without documentation. I know documentation exists as I’d filled out pages of forms on her medical history forms when my mom was admitted to the Center. Yet she had nothing to guide her medical care at the hospital. Moreover, shock and confusion meant she could provide nothing meaningful.
Covid mandates that no one can visit patients. So, my mother, scared, confused, has a broken hip that requires surgery that she cannot undergo until the surgeon contacts her GP to learn more about her medical history. She also requires a Covid test before she can be fully admitted to the hospital. And she’ll require another Covid test before she can be discharged back the Care Center.
After talking to the surgeon, I phoned the Care Center to request an appointment with the matron. Alas, the matron is “on leave and won’t be back until next week.”
“Well, who is in charge now?”
“Sister Liz.”
“No, I need to talk to someone with higher status than Sister Liz.”
Turns out no one is available.
I gave my email address and asked that a Trustee contact me.
Sending my mother off to hospital with no safeguarding documentation is a dereliction of care.
Emergency surgery on someone just recently off blood thinners could be fatal.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve let some things slide at the Care Center. For example, my mother was able to take too many pills last week - after the Center had said their care givers would dispense her pills to her.
True, my mother is stubborn, stuck in her ways, imperious, and sometimes quite unpleasant (I’ve been on beneficiary many times). But, Care Center personnel’s failure to provide minimal vigilance cannot be overlooked.
That is the question....
The world surpasses 80 million infections.
The US surpasses 19 million infections, almost double the infection numbers of India, the country with the next highest rate at 10 million.
The Trump administration highlights the weakness of the American political bureaucracy.
I’m really going to miss the little buggers when this house is sold, and I move to my new place. No monkeys at that community, only zebra, warthog, impala, blesbok….
Prior to lockdown, on a walk along that community’s Game Trail, I chatted briefly with someone about his enjoyment at seeing wild animals, including African wildebeest (buffalo). I thought he’d misidentified a blesbok for I’d never seen a buffalo on any of my many walks along Game Trail. Searching with binoculars revealed the usual zebra, blesbok, impala but no wildebeest.
Meanwhile, the Care Center has set up video conferencing. This means my brother – my mother’s all time favorite human in the world – can easily contact her to chat. The only drawback? Both my mother and my brother mumble, slur their words, and/or speak at such low volume that a conversation quickly becomes a mumble-athon. At least they can see one another.
My dread my first Zoom conversation with my mother as I will have to explain why Jessica is at the house rather than the Care Center. I doubt my mother will accept the truth: that, for now, her physical health decrees she cannot get up to feed and walk the dog.
Alas, try telling that to an 87 year old who still thinks of herself as a 27 year old.
Day 279 Wednesday, December 30 - Storm in a teacup
News blues…
 |
| Bheki Cele, SA Minister of Police, under his signature Trilby hat. Image: Esa Alexander |
Bheki Cele, Minister of Police, looks like a man who loves his work and has fun doing it. Yesterday, he warned creative South Africans about the sale of alcohol during Lockdown Level 3:
The non-sale of alcohol is the non-sale of alcohol - do not put alcohol in teapots in your restaurants or in bottles ... We know your tricks, don’t invite the police to come and check whether there is really Rooibos [tea] in there or there is something else in the teapot.Further advice from Cele >>
***
More pithy advice from the front lines of the Battle against Covid:“Some of us will die, but those left behind should continue the fight… Your chances of survival when arriving at a hospital will decided whether you are admitted to ICU or receive oxygen.”
***
Eskom may have stumbled upon a load shedding schedule that least annoys South Africans: coincide load shedding with curfew. Perhaps it’s the intense heat of the last few days, but electricity supply has been unreliable and We the People find ourselves suddenly in the dark. Electricity simply goes off – and comes back on – and goes off – and comes back on… Surely this defies the intention behind a schedule?
Yesterday, we learned at 3pm of a load shedding event from 22:00 to 5:00, aka 10pm to 5am.
Curfew extends from 21:00 to 6:00 for all medical, security, and essential workers.
Has Eskom hit upon perfect timing?
Perhaps Bheki Cele – and his Trilby – is working with Eskom to persuade South Africans to adhere to curfew? Stay home and drink Rooibos tea?
Healthy planet, anyone?
… and yet another climate-change-related crisis, this one a fatal freshwater skin disease in dolphins:Dolphins are increasingly dying slow, painful deaths from skin lesions likened to severe burns as a result of exposure to fresh water, exacerbated by the climate crisis.
Researchers in the US and Australia have defined for the first time an emerging “freshwater skin disease” reported in coastal dolphin populations in the US, South America and Australia.
While cetaceans can survive in fresh water for short periods, sudden and prolonged exposure – such as when an animal becomes trapped, or the salinity of their habitat is affected by heavy rainfall – has been found to cause a form of dermatitis.
This progresses into ulcers and lesions that can affect up to 70% of the animal’s surface area, with the severity of a third-degree burn.
“Their skin is just as sensitive as ours, and possibly even more so – it would be incredibly painful,” says Dr Nahiid Stephens, a veterinary pathologist at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, and co-author of the paper published in Scientific Reports journal.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
It’s been a long day of waiting for news on my mother’s health.She underwent surgery to insert a metal pin into the neck of her femur (where upper leg bone fits into hip socket). The surgeon reported that all went well, and she could be returned to the Care Center as soon as today, tomorrow at the latest. All depends upon the negative result of Covid test. (The test was conducted on Monday, the day of her injury, and we’re still awaiting results.)
I’d be happy with delayed results keeping her in the hospital another day. I know, theoretically, that hospitals are the best dispensers of assorted infections, but they’re also not the Care Center where my mother is comfortable enough to complain ad nauseum. In hospital, a new environment, she’d have to work up the nerve to complain. Every day of her not complaining is a day of healing.
***
Jessica, The Dog, is depressed. Her pleasure at returning to the house, her old stomping-sniffing-roly-poly ground, has been accompanied by what looks like depression. She spent all day yesterday – 34C/95F temperature – in a part of the garden she once resorted to only when she was miffed or depressed. Jessica is a dog sensitive to human – and dog – moods and emotions. As with many creatures with high degrees of sensitivity, Jessica shares - perhaps over-shares - her own emotionality.
She is, however, slowly settling.
I’ve decided – and the Care Center agrees – that Jessica should stay at the house until my mother is mobile enough for Jessica to return there. To all adhering to the philosophy of Common Sense, my mom is recovering from a fall and surgery and is in no shape to get out of bed to feed and walk the dog. Alas, there’s my mother’s version of reality: “Of course I can take care of Jessica. I want her back!” She’ll be unhappy without me!”
I dread telling my mother of this decision. Perhaps I should try to manipulate her into thinking she made the decision?
Manipulation is not in my comfort zone. I tend to take the direct approach – usually to my detriment. But I'm desperate. Perhaps, if I rose to the occasion I'd learn a new skill? Learning to manipulate also may increase my own psychological range.
At the very least, it would break the monotony of Lockdown.
Day 278 Tuesday, December 29 - Vigilance demanded
News blues…
President Ramaphosa’s update to the nation on South Africa’s Covid status: (38:00 mins)Key takeaways:
More than 1 million infected and more than 27,000 dead, a rate of 50,000 new infections since Christmas Eve; new cases dire in KZN, Western Cape, Gauteng, and Eastern Cape
New variant – 501.V2 - is well established in SA and it appears to be more contagious than first wave; it’s also fueled by super spreader events -
We’re all paying price for the lack of vigilance people displayed during the holidays: not masking, not sanitizing, not maintaining social distance, and hosting/attending public events that increase the risk of transmission
Alcohol contributes to risky behavior; also drives up trauma cases in hospitals; fewer restrictions on alcohol creates increased trauma cases in hospitals and puts unnecessary strain on hospitals already full; health care workers exhausted - and more than 41,000 health workers infected
A doctor wrote a letter stating: “We’re all going to pay for your inability to be responsible with our lives”
NCCC recommends Lockdown level 3, from midnight, to:
- Minimize risk of super spreader events
- Limit activities of infected persons showing no symptoms; decrease unsafe interactions; increase implementation of social distancing, wearing masks, sanitizing, and regular symptom checking
- Redirect scarce resources
- This includes all indoor and outdoor gatherings are prohibited for 14 days from midnight
- Funerals cannot be attended by more than 50 people
- Businesses must determine social distancing guidelines and limits
- Curfew: extended form 9 pm to 6am, nobody allowed outside during curfew except for medical, security, and essential workers
- Most businesses must be closed by 8pm
- Everyone must wear a cloth mask over nose and mouth in public. Adjusted level 3 makes every individual legally responsible for wearing a mask in public – compulsory for everyone and failure to do so will be considered an offence that could lead to arrest, fine and/or prosecution with up to 6 months in jail.
- Sale of alcohol: this industry is important but out priority is to save lives and protect health care system: every medical related item and person is needed to save lives so alcohol sale is prohibited except for some exceptions. This will be reviewed in next few weeks if there’s a sustained decline in alcohol-related incidents.
- Businesses may operate as long as health protocol are adhered to, except for alcohol related business.
Hotspots subject to additional restrictions:
- Eastern Cape and Garden Route
- KZN: Durban,
- West Rand and Joburg
- Western Cape and Karoo
- North West
- Limpopo
- Beaches, dams, lakes, pools, closed to the public
- Parks: some open
- Minimize travel within districts and minimal social contact.
SA is part of global access – COVAX – with ZAR 283 million contribution already made. SA will be among first group of African countries to get vaccine, probably in the second quarter of 2021;
Need to build partnership between govt and business to augment resources to achieve herd immunity
Public must observe highest degree of vigilance and protect others
Avoid 3Cs: closed spaced, crowded area, contact with others
Play your part to defeat this pandemic
Instead of parties at new year, spend time with close family – no fireworks but light a candle for those who have lost their lives and the sacrifices made by all.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Late this afternoon I learned my mother, residing (unhappily) in the Care Center, had “fallen in the passageway.” This, after I’d visited her earlier in the day and found her fuzzy, confused, and focused on my brother, his well-being, his location, and his absence.I drove to the Care Center to pick up the dog and arrived just as the ambulance was pulling out of the parking lot. I flagged it down and was able to talk, briefly, at my mom (she was in no shape to talk to me). I told her I would relate events to my brother and ask him get in touch with her… and that I was taking Jessica back to the house.
Due to surging Covid infections, the ambulance EMTs didn’t know if there would be a bed for her at local hospital - or where they’d take her if there was no bed.
I had to trust that they knew what they were doing.
I picked up Jessica’s food – the dog was freaked out – and talked to the Sister on duty. Apparently, mom – foggy as she was – got up, did not ring for assistance and used her walker to head down the passageway (to the bathroom?). She moved aside in the passageway to accommodate another resident and fell. Her leg was clearly damaged as it was at an unnatural angel.
We got Jessica in the car and I drove home.
Jessica looked very uncertain after she arrived. The other dogs were cautious and one, an officious beast at the best of times, looked ready to attack. That’s all I need: dog fights, dog emergency care at the vet, more dog hassles….
Last night, at 9pm, the hospital-based surgeon, phoned. My mother, he said, has what looks like a broken hip. Then he asked, “Is she usually this confused?”
I explained the events of the last week, mentioned that her regular doctor had taken her off her chronic blood thinner meds just last week in case of a fall.
The surgeon said he had no information at all on my mother’s medical history. Nothing in the way of background had accompanied her admission. All he had received was, "Elderly woman, fell, hurt her leg and may have hit her head."
In other words, the Care Center had sent her off without documentation. I know documentation exists as I’d filled out pages of forms on her medical history forms when my mom was admitted to the Center. Yet she had nothing to guide her medical care at the hospital. Moreover, shock and confusion meant she could provide nothing meaningful.
Covid mandates that no one can visit patients. So, my mother, scared, confused, has a broken hip that requires surgery that she cannot undergo until the surgeon contacts her GP to learn more about her medical history. She also requires a Covid test before she can be fully admitted to the hospital. And she’ll require another Covid test before she can be discharged back the Care Center.
After talking to the surgeon, I phoned the Care Center to request an appointment with the matron. Alas, the matron is “on leave and won’t be back until next week.”
“Well, who is in charge now?”
“Sister Liz.”
“No, I need to talk to someone with higher status than Sister Liz.”
Turns out no one is available.
I gave my email address and asked that a Trustee contact me.
Sending my mother off to hospital with no safeguarding documentation is a dereliction of care.
Emergency surgery on someone just recently off blood thinners could be fatal.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve let some things slide at the Care Center. For example, my mother was able to take too many pills last week - after the Center had said their care givers would dispense her pills to her.
True, my mother is stubborn, stuck in her ways, imperious, and sometimes quite unpleasant (I’ve been on beneficiary many times). But, Care Center personnel’s failure to provide minimal vigilance cannot be overlooked.
Day 277 Monday, December 28 - Countdown, 1
This strange and challenging year comes to a close with strange and challenging events…. Do We the People of the world have the will, the know-how, and the selflessness to steer a different direction for our mutual survival?That is the question....
News blues…
South Africa surpasses milestone of 1 million cases of Covid infections.The world surpasses 80 million infections.
The US surpasses 19 million infections, almost double the infection numbers of India, the country with the next highest rate at 10 million.
***
- The president of the United State has, over his term, siphoned off more than US $10.5 million into his personal business.
- As of Dec. 27, 2020 the same president of the United State has played golf 306 times since becoming President. This, after chastising Obama for golfing far fewer times over two terms in office.
- The same president of the United States has overtly ignored a raging pandemic, and potential mitigation measures. As of today
…there have been nearly 19 million recorded COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and more than 331,000 deaths nationwide.
December marked the deadliest month in the United States since the coronavirus pandemic began, with more than 63,000 COVID-19 deaths recorded nationwide during the month so far.
April held the previous monthly record for the highest number of COVID-19 deaths, with at least 55,000 reported. The U.S. saw a steep incline in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the spring, followed by a sharp decrease over the summer. Those numbers began to increase again in the fall and have continued to surge into the winter.
***
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| © Meidas Touch |
For now, the systems is holding (the dismissal of Trump’s claims of election fraud) but it is teetering.
Trump has shown how to successfully manipulate a system whose “checks and balances” are designed to forestall such manipulations.
With Joe Biden, the “go along to get along guy,” there is no reason to assume the next administration will do anything to check the flagrant abuses of Trump and his enablers.
The US system may be designed for checks and balances, but it depends solely on the combined and concerted will of Congress to ensure the system works.
The US system may be designed for checks and balances, but it depends solely on the combined and concerted will of Congress to ensure the system works.
There’s no reason at all to expect the will of the current Congress to implement consequences and strengthen democracy.
On the other hand, “'It's as if we've learned nothing': alarm over Amazon road project.”
Our planet is in desperate need of common sense, logic, and a change of direction.
On the positive side, at least humor remains. Thank you, Meidas Touch.
Healthy planet, anyone?
Hopeful directions:The Air Company, based in New York, makes vodka from two ingredients: carbon dioxide and water. Each bottle that’s produced takes carbon dioxide out of the air. It has been chosen as one of the finalists in the $20m NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, which aims to incentivise innovation in the field of carbon capture, utilisation and storage.More news of hopeful directions >>
On the other hand, “'It's as if we've learned nothing': alarm over Amazon road project.”
Our planet is in desperate need of common sense, logic, and a change of direction.
We’re running out of time….
What else do we need to know to convince us take all necessary precautions? Stay home. Wear a mask when away from home and keep your distance from others. It may not be enough, but think of it as not just you you’re protecting, it’s our entire community….
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
It was too hot yesterday for outside activities. Turns out if was also too hot for inside activities. For several hours in the afternoon, Eskom failed to supply electricity. Eskom’s designed-to-inform app failed to inform, too.Day 276 Sunday, December 27 - Short and sweet Sunday
News blues…
Yes, SA's new coronavirus variant - 501Y.V2 – is rapidly displacing others; yes, data suggests it is highly transmissible; yes, according to experts it is “the dominant lineage of the second wave,”; yes, it likely transmits more easily; yes, younger people are more infected and [sicker] with it than any other variants. And, yes, hospitals are struggling and oxygen is in short supply. The latest SA news …What else do we need to know to convince us take all necessary precautions? Stay home. Wear a mask when away from home and keep your distance from others. It may not be enough, but think of it as not just you you’re protecting, it’s our entire community….
***
Meanwhile, even some conspiracy theorists, skeptics, and just plain nutty Americans are getting on the vaccine bandwagon.
Ever since the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine began last spring, upbeat announcements were stalked by ominous polls: No matter how encouraging the news, growing numbers of people said they would refuse to get the shot. The time frame was dangerously accelerated, many people warned. The vaccine was a scam from Big Pharma, others said. A political ploy by the Trump administration, many Democrats charged. The internet pulsed with apocalyptic predictions from longtime vaccine opponents, who decried the new shot as the epitome of every concern they’d ever put forth. But over the past few weeks, as the vaccine went from a hypothetical to a reality, something happened. Fresh surveys show attitudes shifting and a clear majority of Americans now eager to get vaccinated.
In polls by Gallup, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Pew Research Center, the portion of people saying they are now likely or certain to take the vaccine has grown from about 50% this summer to more than 60%, and in one poll 73% — a figure that approaches what some public health experts say would be sufficient for herd immunity.Perhaps the spell of Trump, Trump-fever, is breaking? At last.
Healthy planet, anyone?
- Discovery of 'cryptic species' shows Earth is even more biologically diverse
- How humans and small gardens help wildlife
- Nature photos of the year
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
We’re moving from the rainy season to the swelter season. Today will be 34C/94F with 82 percent humidity.After decades in the San Francisco Bay Area, I sometimes wonder about my ability to handle weeks of KZN summer.
Day 275 Saturday, December 26 - Holiday madness, 3
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| © National Geographic. |
Mother and daughter came up with a way to hug each other for the first time in two months. They hung a clothesline and pinned a drop cloth to it in the yard in Wantagh, New York. Then they embraced through the plastic.
“In spite of everything that we’re facing, we still look for ways to connect….”
Given the reluctance humans show, each day, for adhering to safety measures and preventing the rapid spread of Covid, I wonder why the health minister equivocates? A surging pandemic with a new, potentially more transmissible variant, is not the time to allow humans wiggle room, Minister Mkhize. Clamp down!
Hawaii: Kilauea Eruption Day Four - Rising Lava Lake Update (Dec. 24, 2020) (3:50 mins)
Italy: Eruption of Mount Etna – in Italian, no subtitles but spectacular views. (Dec 23, 2020) (2:30 mins)
Japan: Sakurajima Eruption Accompanied by Lightnings (Dec 22, 2020) (3:10 mins)
We human display an unerring knack for getting it wrong. Even as we prefer to pretend the opposite, we know the disaster our passion for coal and oil has foisted on our small planet. Yet, here we are, chasing another disastrous passion. This time, lithium:
Alas, of the residents remaining in the Center (many left to spend the day with family) all took tea and mince pie in their rooms. No re-introduction was possible.
Perhaps just as well. My mother fell asleep before tea. She slept until after lunch. I took The Dog for a walk, waited, then departed. I returned to visit and conduct another dog walk later that afternoon.
Don Caron: SIGH IN THE NIGHT - A Parody of Silent Night (2:42 mins)
Week 39
Worldwide (Map)
December 24 – 78,674,530 confirmed infections; 1,730,000 deaths
November 26 – 60,334,000 confirmed infections; 1,420,500 deaths
October 29 – 44,402,000 confirmed infections; 1,173,270 deaths
US (Map)
December 24 – 18,455,660 confirmed infections; 326,100 deaths
November 26 – 12,771,000 confirmed infections; 262,145 deaths
October 29 – 8,856,000 confirmed infections; 227,675 deaths
SA (Tracker)
December 24 – 974,260 confirmed infections; 25,660 deaths
November 26 – 775,510 confirmed infections; 21,2010 deaths
October 29 – 719,715 confirmed infections; 19,111 deaths
“In spite of everything that we’re facing, we still look for ways to connect….”
News blues…
South Africa’s health minister criticises the travel bans, saying there is 'no evidence' new SA variant is more dangerous.Given the reluctance humans show, each day, for adhering to safety measures and preventing the rapid spread of Covid, I wonder why the health minister equivocates? A surging pandemic with a new, potentially more transmissible variant, is not the time to allow humans wiggle room, Minister Mkhize. Clamp down!
***
Are concerns regarding South Africa’s new coronavirus variant justified? Healthy planet, anyone?
Sensational! Volcanos for the holidays.Hawaii: Kilauea Eruption Day Four - Rising Lava Lake Update (Dec. 24, 2020) (3:50 mins)
Italy: Eruption of Mount Etna – in Italian, no subtitles but spectacular views. (Dec 23, 2020) (2:30 mins)
Japan: Sakurajima Eruption Accompanied by Lightnings (Dec 22, 2020) (3:10 mins)
***
Lithium the new coal? We human display an unerring knack for getting it wrong. Even as we prefer to pretend the opposite, we know the disaster our passion for coal and oil has foisted on our small planet. Yet, here we are, chasing another disastrous passion. This time, lithium:
Lithium is a key active material in the rechargeable batteries that run electric cars. It is found in rock and clay deposits as a solid mineral, as well as dissolved in brine. It is popular with battery manufacturers because, as the least dense metal, it stores a lot of energy for its weight.Read “The curse of ‘white oil’: electric vehicles dirty secret >>
Electrifying transport has become a top priority in the move to a lower-carbon future. In Europe, car travel accounts for around 12% of all the continent’s carbon emissions. To keep in line with the Paris agreement, emissions from cars and vans will need to drop by more than a third (37.5%) by 2030. The EU has set an ambitious goal of reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by the same date. To that end, Brussels and individual member states are pouring millions of euros into incentivising car owners to switch to electric. Some countries are going even further, proposing to ban sales of diesel and petrol vehicles in the near future (as early as 2025 in the case of Norway). If all goes to plan, European electric vehicle ownership could jump from around 2m today to 40m by 2030.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
My plan for re-introducing my reclusive mother to her fellow Care Center residents flopped. I’d purchased enough mince pies – a raisin, sultana fruit tartlet – for all of A Wing’s residents’ morning tea. I’d expected folks to gather, as usual, in the lounge. I planned to offer the treats and suggest folks drop in and visit my mother who is struggling to adjust to her new environment.Alas, of the residents remaining in the Center (many left to spend the day with family) all took tea and mince pie in their rooms. No re-introduction was possible.
Perhaps just as well. My mother fell asleep before tea. She slept until after lunch. I took The Dog for a walk, waited, then departed. I returned to visit and conduct another dog walk later that afternoon.
Day 274 Friday, December 25 - Holiday madness, 2
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| © Zapiro.com |
Humor to save our sanity…
Happy holidays! Enjoy the humor/humour:Don Caron: SIGH IN THE NIGHT - A Parody of Silent Night (2:42 mins)
***
This virus that’s known as Corona
Has spread from New York to Pomona
So to keep myself healthy
But not become wealthy
I’ll just stay in my house all alona
Has spread from New York to Pomona
So to keep myself healthy
But not become wealthy
I’ll just stay in my house all alona
***
-
Which Christmas film was 30 years ahead of its time?
Home Alone -
Did you hear that production was down at Santa’s workshop?
Many of his workers have had to elf isolate! -
Why didn’t Mary and Joseph make it to Bethlehem?
All Virgin flights were cancelled. -
Why are Santa’s reindeer allowed to travel on Christmas Eve?
They have herd immunity. -
Why did the pirates have to go into lockdown?
Because the “Arrrr!” rate had risen. -
Why couldn’t Mary and Joseph join their work conference call?
Because there was no Zoom at the inn. -
What do the Trumps do for Christmas dinner?
They put on a super spread.
***
Meidas Touch: You're a Mean One, Mr. Mitch! (1:33 mins)
***
Week 39
Day 273 Thursday, December 24 - Holiday madness, 1
Worldwide (Map)
December 24 – 78,674,530 confirmed infections; 1,730,000 deaths
November 26 – 60,334,000 confirmed infections; 1,420,500 deaths
October 29 – 44,402,000 confirmed infections; 1,173,270 deaths
US (Map)
December 24 – 18,455,660 confirmed infections; 326,100 deaths
November 26 – 12,771,000 confirmed infections; 262,145 deaths
October 29 – 8,856,000 confirmed infections; 227,675 deaths
SA (Tracker)
December 24 – 974,260 confirmed infections; 25,660 deaths
November 26 – 775,510 confirmed infections; 21,2010 deaths
October 29 – 719,715 confirmed infections; 19,111 deaths
News blues…
Highest ever single-day increase in Covid-19 cases, with more than 14,000 recorded in SA in 24 hours. With more than 400 deaths recorded in 24 hours for only the third time, health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize warns that current restrictions need to be reviewed. This is the highest single-day increase in cases. The previous highest total was 13,944 recorded on July 24.***
As The Donald continues his “pardon-a-thon” and ill-uses the presidential pardon system to nullify his cronies wrong-doing, other whacka-doodleitude continues: - A San Jose salon owner is refusing to comply with Santa Clara County's health order and keeping his doors open to customers despite risk of citation or worse. "I refuse to close," James Griffiths, the owner of Salon Blu, told NBC. "If they’re not having a real shutdown, I’m talking about the grimy little liquor store down here, the gas station, Home Depot, Starbucks, if they don’t shut them down then I’m not shutting down."
- An elderly man hospitalized in Southern California for treatment of COVID-19 was fatally struck by a roommate who became annoyed when the victim began praying. The 82-year-old victim was struck with an oxygen tank on Dec. 17 while housed in a two-person room at Antelope Valley Hospital and died the next day.
- Soon-to-be-ex-President Donald Trump reportedly suggested more than once that he wouldn’t mind seeing a granite image of his own visage on South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore next to Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington; but since that seems to be literally impossible, some insiders are now saying he has lowered his sights to something more attainable: putting his name on a major airport. Anonymous White House sources said that Trump once asked what kind of “paperwork” would have to be done to make Trump International Airport a reality.
***
Humor could save us:
Fauci on a Couchi (1:33 mins)
The Kiffness If you go down to the beach today… (1:44 mins) (Not a perspective I fully endorse but I appreciate The Kiffness.)
’Twas the night before Christmas (7:30 mins)
With lockdown going on for longer than anyone would have guessed, it becomes harder to offer readers positive examples. Today’s offering addresses bullet 1:
Our plan to enjoy lunch together hatched, unhatched, then repeatedly hatched, unhatched upon prevailing circumstances. (My mother’s moods, plans, and actions highly influential.) Our plan appeared definitely unhatched when my neighbor’s neighbor, with whom she visits every morning, was tested for Covid. Results were expected yesterday, but due to overwhelm at the testing lab, the holidays, etc., results were delayed. We agreed to scrap our planned get-together, but I’d cook the meal anyway and deliver her portion through her (sanitized) window.
This morning, however, we learned the results of the test: negative.
The plan’s back on!
I’ll pop the roast in the oven, leave Martha (domestic worker) to oversee it, drive three containers of dog food - giblets, pet mince, and rice – to the Care Center, visit my mother, and feed and walk the dog. After that, I’ll drive to my neighbor’s house, pick her up to bring to the upper security gate (that involves a lot of unlocking, tugging and pushing since the automatic opener is malfunctioning due to flooding), and, carefully, walk my neighbor to the verandah. (None of the latter would be necessary if she could negotiate the long staircase leading to the house. She can’t. Nor could my mother…which is why my mother isn’t here for Christmas lunch.
Word of warning: when you reach 80 years old, do not purchase a house with 20 stairs, a landing, then 5 more stairs. It might make your dogs “happy” to have a large garden but 25 stairs are guaranteed – despite your denial to the contrary - not to serve you, the human, well for long.)
The Kiffness If you go down to the beach today… (1:44 mins) (Not a perspective I fully endorse but I appreciate The Kiffness.)
’Twas the night before Christmas (7:30 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
This segment of this blog is designed to 1) raise awareness about how pandemics will continue to be a feature of life as long as We the People – and our leaders-in-denial – refuse to recognize how out-of-control consumption risks our planet, ourselves, 2) offer positive examples of people and countries grappling with how to create and institute a healthier planet and people.With lockdown going on for longer than anyone would have guessed, it becomes harder to offer readers positive examples. Today’s offering addresses bullet 1:
To prevent future pandemics, we must stop deforestation and end the illegal wildlife trade. Do you agree? Of course you do, because what’s not to like? The buck stops with the evil other. The question is, will doing those things solve the problem? And the answer is, probably not. They will help, but there’s another, potentially bigger problem closer to home: the global north’s use of natural resources, especially its reliance on livestock.Read “Time for some home truths about deforestation” >>
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
My plan for Christmas lunch with my elderly neighbor almost came adrift yesterday. She’s not been out of her house for 10 months, due to health conditions making her high risk if she contracted Covid. I visit her every 7 to 10 days, enjoy a cup of tea and cookies, catch up on and share the latest neighborhood gossip, and refresh my Afrikaans language “skills”.Our plan to enjoy lunch together hatched, unhatched, then repeatedly hatched, unhatched upon prevailing circumstances. (My mother’s moods, plans, and actions highly influential.) Our plan appeared definitely unhatched when my neighbor’s neighbor, with whom she visits every morning, was tested for Covid. Results were expected yesterday, but due to overwhelm at the testing lab, the holidays, etc., results were delayed. We agreed to scrap our planned get-together, but I’d cook the meal anyway and deliver her portion through her (sanitized) window.
This morning, however, we learned the results of the test: negative.
The plan’s back on!
I’ll pop the roast in the oven, leave Martha (domestic worker) to oversee it, drive three containers of dog food - giblets, pet mince, and rice – to the Care Center, visit my mother, and feed and walk the dog. After that, I’ll drive to my neighbor’s house, pick her up to bring to the upper security gate (that involves a lot of unlocking, tugging and pushing since the automatic opener is malfunctioning due to flooding), and, carefully, walk my neighbor to the verandah. (None of the latter would be necessary if she could negotiate the long staircase leading to the house. She can’t. Nor could my mother…which is why my mother isn’t here for Christmas lunch.
Word of warning: when you reach 80 years old, do not purchase a house with 20 stairs, a landing, then 5 more stairs. It might make your dogs “happy” to have a large garden but 25 stairs are guaranteed – despite your denial to the contrary - not to serve you, the human, well for long.)
Meanwhile, for today, let the lunching begin!
Ivory from a Portuguese trading ship that sank in 1533 preserved genetic traces of elephant lineages that have vanished from West Africa. The ivory from the shipwreck was identified as belonging to forest elephants rather than the species’ larger, more well-known savanna-dwelling cousins.
Day 272 Wednesday, December 23 - Covid conscious
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| If cats can socially distance, why can’t humans? Credit: Coleen Joice Aquino |
News blues…
Covid is stressing Western Cape residents and health care workers to their limits. There’s even talk of potentially bringing in the SADF - military - to ensure compliance with basic preventions such as wearing masks, hand sanitizing, and social distancing (4:04 mins) What does it take to make the uncompliant Covid conscious?***
A helpful coronavirus dashboard presents a series of virus-related topics, from health care to available resources ***
Holidays in South Africa are accompanied by the growing tally of deaths on the roads. This year the tally is lower than last year but still outrageously high: 690…and counting. KZN has the highest rate of fatalities. (5:25 mins) Healthy planet, anyone?
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| Credit: Nicholas Georgiadis |
In 2008, workers searching for diamonds off the coast of Namibia found a different kind of treasure: hundreds of gold coins mixed with timber and other debris. They had stumbled upon Bom Jesus, a Portuguese trading vessel lost during a voyage to India in 1533. Among the 40 tons of cargo recovered from the sunken ship were more than 100 elephant tusks.
To date, this neighborhood has been mercifully free of Covid infection. If this neighbor has contracted it, already tight restrictions will tighten and fear and suspicion will increase.
With the emergence of the even more highly infectious Covid variant, I’m more freaked out more than I expected.
I hesitated to bring her to this house as I was stymied by how to, 1) carry her up the 20-plus steps to the dining area, and 2) shoehorn her - and The dog - out of the house to return her to the Care Center afterwards. Calling the cops or ambulance personnel to extract an old lady who refused to depart her own home for a Care Center she “hates” would not align with the spirit of the “festive season.”
Miraculously, we agreed I’d bring her a platter of mince pies – a British colonial “festive season” fruit pastry – and spend time with her at the Care Center.
Then, inspiration! I purchased enough mince pies for the whole of A Wing and, on Christmas Day, we’ll share mince pies and fruit cake with all her fellow A Wing inmates. I’ll also encourage people to approach my mother in friendship as she’s “too shy to reach out directly.”
Lordy, I hope this breaks her stubborn regime of self-imposed, reclusive isolation.
Moreover, former sycophants are turning on him (and there’s no anger like that of former sycophants). Even right-wing, conspiracy-spreading news outlets such as Fox and Newsmax and turning on him.
Plans for rationing care are not in place yet, but they need to be established because “the worst is yet to come….”
My giant dilemma: what to do with someone whose determination to “escape” revolves around a fantasy only tangentially related to reality. Terrified of her brush with making an effort to fit in, desperately afraid of rejection, and replete with years of being in charge, she finds herself not in charge. Deteriorating physical and cognitive disabilities make it unlikely she’ll ever be in charge again.
Nevertheless, she’s stubbornly determined to win an unwinnable game – and control the outcome, too.
I, on the other hand, find myself emotionally detached. Emotional distance is what I learned as my mother’s daughter; emotional distance is how I find myself responding. Dutiful daughter. ***
Monkey see, monkey do. Emboldened by their successful raid on my pantry with “paw paws” (papayas) earlier this week, monkeys now case the joint while I’m inside. With the remaining 3 dogs find it above their paygrade to chase monkeys, so monkeys circle the downstairs seeking entry. The potential quick gobble of paw paw in the pantry makes all risk worthwhile.
My response? Shut the French doors, close the burglar guards and shout, “Scoot monkeys!”
So far, scooting is the last thing on monkey minds!
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Covid has confined my elderly neighbor to her house for 9 months. I visit her once every 8 to 10 days. Recently, I arranged for our domestic worker to work for once a week for this neighbor. Yesterday, after our domestic worker spent the morning working there, my neighbor notified me that her neighbor, a physically compromised diabetic, was tested for Covid. He expects results of the test later today.To date, this neighborhood has been mercifully free of Covid infection. If this neighbor has contracted it, already tight restrictions will tighten and fear and suspicion will increase.
With the emergence of the even more highly infectious Covid variant, I’m more freaked out more than I expected.
***
I’ve been in South Africa since January 28, 2020. I expected to return to California on May 28, 2020. Then, I planned to return mid-March 2021. Now? Who knows when I’ll return? A notice issued yesterday from the US Embassy:
Location: The Republic of South Africa
Event: A new variant of the COVID-19 virus, known as 501.V2, is driving infection rates in areas of South Africa. This discovery is gaining increased international attention and currently as many as 15 countries have banned flights and travelers who have spent time in The Republic of South Africa in the last 10 days.
Actions to Take:
- Travelers should consult with their airlines to inquire about potential flight cancellations and rerouting
- Check destination and transit countries' rules and regulations regarding traveling from South Africa
- Exercise increased hygiene measures and social distancing in South Africa, especially in areas where COVID case numbers are increasing.
- Visit South Africa's COVID information and resource portal, https://sacoronavirus.co.za, for additional information.
- • Monitor local and international media for continuing developments.
***
I’ve been fretting about what my mother would agree to do on Christmas Day. My brother invited her to his house then changed his mind. The gathering planned by his large and exuberant family morphed from “just family” to “just extended family” to “what the hell, everyone is welcome!” Not a safe situation for anyone, never mind a fragile 87-year-old.I hesitated to bring her to this house as I was stymied by how to, 1) carry her up the 20-plus steps to the dining area, and 2) shoehorn her - and The dog - out of the house to return her to the Care Center afterwards. Calling the cops or ambulance personnel to extract an old lady who refused to depart her own home for a Care Center she “hates” would not align with the spirit of the “festive season.”
Miraculously, we agreed I’d bring her a platter of mince pies – a British colonial “festive season” fruit pastry – and spend time with her at the Care Center.
Then, inspiration! I purchased enough mince pies for the whole of A Wing and, on Christmas Day, we’ll share mince pies and fruit cake with all her fellow A Wing inmates. I’ll also encourage people to approach my mother in friendship as she’s “too shy to reach out directly.”
Lordy, I hope this breaks her stubborn regime of self-imposed, reclusive isolation.
Day 271 Tuesday, December 22 - Fever Swamp
News blues…
As Donald Trump grapples with ways to defeat America and American voters, and invoke martial law rather than be “a loser,” Fever Swamp is an apt description of his state of mind. (6:55 mins)Moreover, former sycophants are turning on him (and there’s no anger like that of former sycophants). Even right-wing, conspiracy-spreading news outlets such as Fox and Newsmax and turning on him.
***
The worse is yet to come? The number of people hospitalized across California with confirmed COVID-19 infections is more than double the state’s previous peak, reached in July, and a state model forecasts the total could hit 75,000 patients by mid-January. Plans for rationing care are not in place yet, but they need to be established because “the worst is yet to come….”
***
The Lincoln Project: The dream still lives (0:55 mins) Healthy planet, anyone?
The global food system is on course to drive rapid and widespread ecological damage with almost 90% of land animals likely to lose some of their habitat by 2050.A study published in the journal Nature Sustainability shows that unless the food industry is rapidly transformed, changing what people eat and how it is produced, the world faces widespread biodiversity loss in the coming decades.
The study’s lead author, David Williams from Leeds University, said without fundamental changes, millions of square kilometres of natural habitats could be lost by 2050. “Ultimately, we need to change what we eat and how it is produced if we are going to save wildlife on a global scale.”
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Summer solstice. The day I slowly began moving belongings into my new small home. Also the day my mother upped the ante on her determination to escape the Care Center.My giant dilemma: what to do with someone whose determination to “escape” revolves around a fantasy only tangentially related to reality. Terrified of her brush with making an effort to fit in, desperately afraid of rejection, and replete with years of being in charge, she finds herself not in charge. Deteriorating physical and cognitive disabilities make it unlikely she’ll ever be in charge again.
Nevertheless, she’s stubbornly determined to win an unwinnable game – and control the outcome, too.
I, on the other hand, find myself emotionally detached. Emotional distance is what I learned as my mother’s daughter; emotional distance is how I find myself responding. Dutiful daughter. ***
Monkey see, monkey do. Emboldened by their successful raid on my pantry with “paw paws” (papayas) earlier this week, monkeys now case the joint while I’m inside. With the remaining 3 dogs find it above their paygrade to chase monkeys, so monkeys circle the downstairs seeking entry. The potential quick gobble of paw paw in the pantry makes all risk worthwhile.
My response? Shut the French doors, close the burglar guards and shout, “Scoot monkeys!”
So far, scooting is the last thing on monkey minds!
Day 270 Monday, December 21 - Solstice
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| Mid-summer in KZN (left)… and mid-winter in California (right) Click to enlarge. |
I miss my American family, but I don’t miss winter. Living on a houseboat, as I do when in California, has its plusses in the winter. To name several: the confined space of a houseboat is easy to heat; seals and sea lions frequent Delta waterways; the migration of sandhill cranes to the Delta is in full swing.
Mosquitos inside the net!
What’s worse than a buzzing mosquito or two insides the net?
Buzzing mosquitos flitting through the light emitted by one’s cell phone as one reads the screen.
It’s woman against predator.
So far, predator wins!
AS I departed the house yesterday, I discovered and discouraged (“scoot monkey!) a monkey in the foliage outside the house. This is the closest to the residence that I’ve ever encountered a monkey. I pulled the burglar guards closed and departed.
Three hours later, my return was met with an excited domestic worker who reported monkeys had invaded the house and eaten my paw paws (“papayas”). Paw paws do have a wonderful aroma and it’s likely that aroma attracted the hungry beasts. They’d entered through the burglar guards, pounced on the fruit, then made themselves comfortable on my large worktable and proceeded to eat the fruit.
By the time, I returned home, Martha (domestic worker) had cleaned up behind the monkeys. I can only imagine the mess that she’d faced. Thank you, Martha.
News blues…
As numbers of people infected and die from Covid-19, Donald Trump utters nary a word on the pandemic. Instead, he’s focused on overturning a legitimate election and declaring martial law.***
My hopes for returning to California are dire now that South Africa and UK have been identified as hotspots for the new coronavirus strain:Germany plans to impose restrictions on flights from and to SA and Britain after the two countries reported identifying a new coronavirus strain, a government spokesman said on Sunday.Goodbye dreams of seeing family, sea lions, and sandhill cranes any time soon….
He said that the government was working on new travel rules and was in contact with European Union partners.
El Salvador has also banned travellers who have been in the United Kingdom or SA in the last 30 days or whose flights included a layover in those countries….
Healthy planet, anyone?
It's not easy these days to find positive news on the environment. One Tree Planted responds to this dearth of good news by sifting through the headlines and presenting some of the best stories related to nature, conservation, and biodiversity. Here’s their July news….Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
As populations of the SARSCov-2 virus surge, so do populations of mosquitos. What’s a bad mosquito-related event for someone who sleeps under a mosquito net?Mosquitos inside the net!
What’s worse than a buzzing mosquito or two insides the net?
Buzzing mosquitos flitting through the light emitted by one’s cell phone as one reads the screen.
It’s woman against predator.
So far, predator wins!
Day 269 Sunday, December 20 - New behaviors
News blues…
- A new coronavirus variant? South Africa and the new coronavirus variant: your questions and health department’s answers
- UK scrambles amid fears a new variant of COVID-19 is spreading more rapidly across parts of the country that could be “up to 70 percent more transmissible” than the original variant.
- A fairly technical good explanation (if you’re patient) of the new variant of Covid-19 that 'may be spreading faster' (1:45:40 mins)
***
Another look at whacky stuff: Fox Spreading New DANGEROUS Lies about Covid (3:05 mins)Healthy planet, anyone?
A photo essay to remind us of the creatures of our beautiful planet***
We can learn to better love our country. There’s no better time than now: Namadgi national park: ‘A mystery, a relic, a vibrant pulse in the earth’ Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Monkeys, always observant, have noticed this household has trimmed down from 10 to 3 dogs. Their response? House invasion!AS I departed the house yesterday, I discovered and discouraged (“scoot monkey!) a monkey in the foliage outside the house. This is the closest to the residence that I’ve ever encountered a monkey. I pulled the burglar guards closed and departed.
Three hours later, my return was met with an excited domestic worker who reported monkeys had invaded the house and eaten my paw paws (“papayas”). Paw paws do have a wonderful aroma and it’s likely that aroma attracted the hungry beasts. They’d entered through the burglar guards, pounced on the fruit, then made themselves comfortable on my large worktable and proceeded to eat the fruit.
By the time, I returned home, Martha (domestic worker) had cleaned up behind the monkeys. I can only imagine the mess that she’d faced. Thank you, Martha.
From now on out we will keep both the burglar guards and the French doors shut.
In fact, brain imaging studies show that harboring a grievance (a perceived wrong or injustice, real or imagined) activates the same neural reward circuitry as narcotics.” Kimmel relates his findings in relation to Donald Trump:
Alas, the recent election as “intervention” appears to have upped Trump’s pleasure in wreaking revenge.
Read, “What the Science of Addiction Tells Us About Trump“ >>
This “new highly transmissible variant is circulating widely — but it is not clear yet whether it is more severe than the original variants. Nevertheless, it has become the dominant one in the country's second coronavirus wave, and is “making young and previously healthy people severely ill”.
My mother will enjoy Christmas Day with my brother and his family. The Dog will enjoy Christmas Day at this house – her previous home.
I hope we can load The Dog (and the mother?) back into the car when it’s time to return them to the Care Center.
I expect my mother’s surging determination to escape the Care Center will be tempered by reality after she visits my brother and his family in their small house. Not only is the house small, the two bedrooms already are inhabited by my brother’s wife’s adult sons and an eight-year-old grandson – and a puppy. Imagine my mother and The Dog squeezed in there! (One hour, max, before mayhem breaks out!)
Day 268 Saturday, December 19 - It’s his nucleus accumbens and dorsal striatum!
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| Madam & Eve, courtesy of South African cartoonists Steven Francis and Rico |
***
James Kimmel, Jr., researcher on violence, discovered that “your brain on grievance looks a lot like your brain on drugs.” In fact, brain imaging studies show that harboring a grievance (a perceived wrong or injustice, real or imagined) activates the same neural reward circuitry as narcotics.” Kimmel relates his findings in relation to Donald Trump:
Scientists [find] that in substance addiction, environmental cues such as being in a place where drugs are taken or meeting another person who takes drugs cause sharp surges of dopamine in crucial reward and habit regions of the brain, specifically, the nucleus accumbens and dorsal striatum. This triggers cravings in anticipation of experiencing pleasure and relief through intoxication. Recent studies show that cues such as experiencing or being reminded of a perceived wrong or injustice — a grievance — activate these same reward and habit regions of the brain, triggering cravings in anticipation of experiencing pleasure and relief through retaliation. To be clear, the retaliation doesn’t need to be physically violent—an unkind word, or tweet, can also be very gratifying.Hmmm. Explains a lot…except how to manage it.
Although these are new findings and the research in this area is not yet settled, what this suggests is that similar to the way people become addicted to drugs or gambling, people may also become addicted to seeking retribution against their enemies — revenge addiction. This may help explain why some people just can’t let go of their grievances long after others feel they should have moved on—and why some people resort to violence.
It’s worth asking whether this helps explain Trump’s fixation on his grievances and ways of exacting retribution for them. The hallmark of addiction is compulsive behavior despite harmful consequences. Trump’s unrelenting efforts to retaliate against those he believes have treated him unjustly (including, now, American voters) appear to be compulsive and uncontrollable. The harm this causes to himself and others is obvious but seems to have no deterrent effect. Reports suggest he has been doing this for much of his life. He seems powerless to stop. He also seems to derive a great deal of pleasure from it.
Alas, the recent election as “intervention” appears to have upped Trump’s pleasure in wreaking revenge.
Read, “What the Science of Addiction Tells Us About Trump“ >>
News blues…
South Africans are hosting a new variant of coronavirus, with “three mutations, which is an unusually high number for a new variant, and can bind more easily to receptors in the human body.” This. according to health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize, speaking at a briefing alongside top scientists including Prof Salim Abdool Karim and Prof Tulio de Oliveira.This “new highly transmissible variant is circulating widely — but it is not clear yet whether it is more severe than the original variants. Nevertheless, it has become the dominant one in the country's second coronavirus wave, and is “making young and previously healthy people severely ill”.
Healthy planet, anyone?
Mixed results of the pandemic. It cuts funding and volunteer numbers, rises awareness, and results in more people are rescuing more injured animals – and overwhelms systems.Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
A good time is planned for all!My mother will enjoy Christmas Day with my brother and his family. The Dog will enjoy Christmas Day at this house – her previous home.
I hope we can load The Dog (and the mother?) back into the car when it’s time to return them to the Care Center.
I expect my mother’s surging determination to escape the Care Center will be tempered by reality after she visits my brother and his family in their small house. Not only is the house small, the two bedrooms already are inhabited by my brother’s wife’s adult sons and an eight-year-old grandson – and a puppy. Imagine my mother and The Dog squeezed in there! (One hour, max, before mayhem breaks out!)
Day 267 Friday, December 18 - "Whole of America approach"
News blues…
We start a new week – in South Africa lockdown weeks begin on Fridays – with the US experiencing “roughly one coronavirus-related death every 27 seconds.” This, after, Mike Pence, US vice president and chair of the Coronavirus Task Force wrote a summer Op Ed for the Wall Street Journal:The media has tried to scare the American people every step of the way, and predictions of a second wave are no different. The truth is, whatever the media says, our whole-of-America approach has been a success.A lot can happen between now and 20 January, 2021 when Trump et al, depart the White House and escape responsibility for the botched systems we know they're leaving behind (most recently, knee-capping the CDC; a massive breech of national security data . These are some of what we know. What don't we know about yet?)
We’ve slowed the spread, we’ve cared for the most vulnerable, we’ve saved lives, we’ve created a solid foundation for whatever challenges we may face in the future.
***
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, stricken with Covid at the White House, retracts his anti-mask advice and urges Americans to wear masks: “I was wrong!” (1:00 mins) ***
Meanwhile, California nears zero capacity in its intensive care units as COVID-19 cases continue to surge. As of Thursday morning, there was just 3% ICU capacity statewide, the California Department of Public Health revealed on its statewide metrics database. ***
In South Africa, 24,000 have now died from Covid-19, with 9,100 new cases in 24 hours.Healthy planet, anyone?
There’s a tendency for (some) humans to believe that if we just left alone the “natural” world, it would “fix” itself. The problem of “just letting nature get on with” and returning it to its pristine roots? There is no such thing as “pristine roots.” The natural world is in a state of ongoing unfolding. (You know, kind of like you are in a state of ongoing unfolding, too….…the problem with “just letting nature get on with it” is twofold: first, ecological succession takes a long time. And second, [countries and] Britain now contains so many invasive plant and animal species that we may never get the resulting forests we hope for through a policy of benign neglect. In other words, some management will always be required…Read “Letters: Restoring forests needs both nature and nurture” >>
If we want to maximise biodiversity in our wild spaces, we need to consider what grows there, and what food webs and habitats are built and supported. There is no guarantee that nature, unassisted, will arrive at a desired outcome.
An excellent read for a challenging view of nature and nurture is Charles Mann’s 2005 book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus.
Out walking Jessica (the dog) yesterday, I spotted a legavan/ legawaan/rock monitor lizard.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
It ran from the Care Center parking lot into the reeds lining the shore of nearby Robin Pond.
Jessica, luckily, did not spot it. Had she spotted it, it’s likely she’d chase after it, barking. Barking is a no no at the Care Center. Chasing critters and barking is a double whammy no no. Last week, she barked and chased a warthog family – with an audience of lawn bowlers and the driver of a vehicle that stopped just before it struck the belligerent dog.
Yes, I am supposed to leash the dog and I do if people are around. She caught me off guard that time as we were heading back home, and I was not vigilant.
Moreover, softy me sometimes allows her off leash so she can sniff at leisure and roll (“roly poly”) on the grass. She is, after all, confined to the Care Center. She doesn’t get out much, and rarely has a chance to bark at anything, never mind critters as deserving (in her mind) of a good bark as a warthog family.
The Care Center inhabitant of the Care Center I’m most concerned about is, of course, Mother Dearest. She’s maintaining her complain-a-thon: she hates the place, she’ll call her lawyer to get her out (he can’t), when will her grandson rescue her (he won’t), and where are her peas (in the fridge outside her door).
Yesterday, I responded to her with a human version of a dog’s bark: “The country – the world – is in lockdown. You’d be well advised to take it day-by-day for the next several weeks. Change the channel in your mind to find something nurturing for yourself because no one is going anywhere while the pandemic rages. With 75 million people infected around the world, and 7 to 10 thousand South Africans infected per day, no one, not even Jesus, will move you anywhere right now.
Like Jessica, if pressed, my bark is worse than my bite.
Week 38
Worldwide (Map)
December 17 – 73,557,500 confirmed infections; 1,637,100 deaths
November 19 – 56,188,000 confirmed infections; 1,348,600 deaths
October 22 – 41,150,000 confirmed infections; 1,130.410 deaths
US (Map)
December 17 – 16,724,775 confirmed infections; 303,900 deaths
November 19 – 11,525,600 confirmed infections; 250,485 deaths
October 22 – 8,333,595 confirmed infections; 222,100 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
December 17 – 873,680 confirmed infections; 23,665 deaths
November 19 – 757,145 confirmed infections; 20,556 deaths
October 22 – 708,360 confirmed infections; 18,750 deaths
Gosh, maybe the conspiracy theorists (aka “whackjobs”) are 100 percent correct and there is a giant, organized, worldwide cabal of Never Trumpers, socialists, communists, Democrats, God and gods, freedom-haters “out there” looking to “do us harm” ….
Could it be?
Jessica, luckily, did not spot it. Had she spotted it, it’s likely she’d chase after it, barking. Barking is a no no at the Care Center. Chasing critters and barking is a double whammy no no. Last week, she barked and chased a warthog family – with an audience of lawn bowlers and the driver of a vehicle that stopped just before it struck the belligerent dog.
Yes, I am supposed to leash the dog and I do if people are around. She caught me off guard that time as we were heading back home, and I was not vigilant.
Moreover, softy me sometimes allows her off leash so she can sniff at leisure and roll (“roly poly”) on the grass. She is, after all, confined to the Care Center. She doesn’t get out much, and rarely has a chance to bark at anything, never mind critters as deserving (in her mind) of a good bark as a warthog family.
The Care Center inhabitant of the Care Center I’m most concerned about is, of course, Mother Dearest. She’s maintaining her complain-a-thon: she hates the place, she’ll call her lawyer to get her out (he can’t), when will her grandson rescue her (he won’t), and where are her peas (in the fridge outside her door).
Yesterday, I responded to her with a human version of a dog’s bark: “The country – the world – is in lockdown. You’d be well advised to take it day-by-day for the next several weeks. Change the channel in your mind to find something nurturing for yourself because no one is going anywhere while the pandemic rages. With 75 million people infected around the world, and 7 to 10 thousand South Africans infected per day, no one, not even Jesus, will move you anywhere right now.
Like Jessica, if pressed, my bark is worse than my bite.
Week 38
Day 266 Thursday, Dece 17 - What can go wrong...
Worldwide (Map) December 17 – 73,557,500 confirmed infections; 1,637,100 deaths
November 19 – 56,188,000 confirmed infections; 1,348,600 deaths
October 22 – 41,150,000 confirmed infections; 1,130.410 deaths
US (Map)
December 17 – 16,724,775 confirmed infections; 303,900 deaths
November 19 – 11,525,600 confirmed infections; 250,485 deaths
October 22 – 8,333,595 confirmed infections; 222,100 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
December 17 – 873,680 confirmed infections; 23,665 deaths
November 19 – 757,145 confirmed infections; 20,556 deaths
October 22 – 708,360 confirmed infections; 18,750 deaths
News blues…
What can go wrong, will go wrong… On the eve of delivering thousands of vaccines into thousands of willing arms, a major storm threatens:…shipments of the vital coronavirus vaccine around the US face delay as a monster winter storm pummels states from Virginia to Massachusetts.
Treacherous weather could bury parts of the eastern US in snow, ice or flooding and cause power outages, hazardous travel conditions, or even tornadoes on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the National Weather Service, threatening all forms of transportation being used by the vaccine manufacturing facilities, centered in Michigan, as they fly and truck vials around the country.
The storm, which is set to be a record for December and hit a region stretching from Virginia to north of New York City by late afternoon on Wednesday, was poised to drop as much as 2ft (0.6 meters) of snow in some places by Thursday.
Could it be?
***
A notice from my island hometown, Alameda, in San Francisco Bay:
Stay at Home Order Extended to January 7th; No New Changes to Permitted Activities
The State announced today that the availability of intensive care unit (ICU) beds has fallen below 15 percent in the Bay Area Region. This means that the Stay at Home restrictions adopted by Alameda County and seven other Bay Area jurisdictions earlier this month remain in effect for the entire Bay Area region for a minimum of three weeks, starting today. Because Alameda County’s restrictions already match the State’s restrictions, there are no additional changes to permitted activities at this time.
After the minimum three weeks (January 7, 2021), the State’s order could be lifted once the region’s projected ICU capacity meets or exceeds 15 percent. As with local Health Officer orders, easing of restrictions will also depend on local disease conditions.
***
The Lincoln Project: Never happens here (1:35 mins) Healthy planet, anyone?
One of the pleasure of KZN this time of year – the rainy season – is lying in bed at night listening to frogs sing for a mate. The cacophony is extraordinary. During my next trip here, I plan to bring my recording equipment to capture the amazing variety of frog calls.
In other parts of the world, France, for example, live, breathing, singing frogs are fatally unwelcome:
In other parts of the world, France, for example, live, breathing, singing frogs are fatally unwelcome:
The French courts have had their final word: Grignols’ grenouilles (frogs) must go.A 300 sq-metre pond is home to many, many frogs.
The frogs of a Dordogne village have been served notice after a judge decided they make so much noise during the mating season that they are a nuisance to the neighbours.
After nine years of legal battles, Michel and Annie Pécheras have been told they have 90 days to drain the 300 sq-metre pond at their home in the village of Grignols: population 587, and get rid of the amphibians.
Has any thought been given to what happens to a 300 sq-metre pond sans grenouilles?
I imagine not. Why think ahead? Why think beyond immediate needs and desires? Why think “big picture”?
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Grrrr. Care Center Mother!Each week the Care Center provides residents an opportunity to order whatever “extras” they want from the local grocery store. Care Center staff track orders and deliver items to residents. My mother, however, prefers to phone Martha, her former domestic worker still resident in this house, and order up dog food that I carry to the Care Center. Now, Mother Dearest orders Martha to cook her own food, too. (Naturally, my mother calls Martha directly as she – mother – knows I’d put the kabosh on the order. This puts Martha in a tough spot: she’s officially my mother’s domestic worker but reliant on my to carry the order to the Care Center.)
Ironically, when my mother lived in this house, she ate only Jungle Oats cereal and three Romany Cream biscuits accompanying each of her dozen or more cups of Rooibos tea each day. We’d begged her to eat the occasional serving of over-cooked vegetables. She did so reluctantly.
The Care Center serves breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and yet more tea. Alas, according to my mother, the Care Center’s food is “awful,” the “vegetables hard” - “no peas!” – and the tea supply insufficient.
In the past, along with dog food – specialty giblets, chicken livers, and rice – and dog biscuits – “the dogs only like Beenos and Montego” – I’ve also carried gem squash to my mother. I brought a package of four as she intended, she said, to microwave one a day. A week after I delivered them, four gem squash remained in the unopened package. My enquiring as to why she’d not cooked them elicited a plaintive, “I have no knife.” Eventually, I asked a care giver to cook her gem squash. Delivery of the cooked vegetable was met with yet another complaint: “It was too stringy.”
Carrying dog food up to the Care Center every two or three days has been a chore. Ditto carrying dog biscuits up the Care Center every two or three weeks – with another delivery due today.
I can’t tell, yet, whether my mother is conducting an ongoing low intensity war of attrition with the outcome her victorious ejection from the Care Center or whether dementia is kicking in faster than predicted. Meanwhile, Martha will semi-comply with her order. I’ll take the flak for Martha not exactly following orders. I’ll carry a small container of frozen peas – uncooked, no gravy – and deliver it, along with a box of Beenos and Montego dog biscuits.
I’m almost thankful that the Care Center locked down to visitors. It allows me an (almost) clear conscience when, masked as usual, I deliver these items to my mother through her window….
Background: Eskom, SA’s national supplier of electricity, brutally prunes trees that touch overhead electrical cable. Last year, they massacred two beautifully mature swamp cypress, leaving only the main trunks; branch and pruning debris remains as litter blocking the free flow of water in the stream.
Accordingly, I’m reluctant to allow them into the garden for a repeat performance.
I was away from the property when the Eskom contractor called. We agreed he and his team would come at noon – “12 o’clock today” – and I’d be back home to allow them entrance. (My hesitation: why are they working on a public holiday? Could this be a scam to gain entrance into the property and rob? At this time of year, warnings about such home invasion robberies proliferate.) I was home at the agreed upon time.
Eskom failed to arrive at noon, or even 1pm or 2pm or 3pm….
Long story short: Eskom never arrived at all. At midnight, I noticed a SMS/text msg: “It seams as if I can’t make it in an hour time, too much work….” Hmmmm.
Correction: I was wrong. Eskom’s representative, Zephraim just showed up. (He introduced himself along with, “If you read the Bible, you’ll see Zephraim and words about Babylon.” How can I resist?)
Zephraim will bring his crew to cut.
Ironically, when my mother lived in this house, she ate only Jungle Oats cereal and three Romany Cream biscuits accompanying each of her dozen or more cups of Rooibos tea each day. We’d begged her to eat the occasional serving of over-cooked vegetables. She did so reluctantly.
The Care Center serves breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and yet more tea. Alas, according to my mother, the Care Center’s food is “awful,” the “vegetables hard” - “no peas!” – and the tea supply insufficient.
In the past, along with dog food – specialty giblets, chicken livers, and rice – and dog biscuits – “the dogs only like Beenos and Montego” – I’ve also carried gem squash to my mother. I brought a package of four as she intended, she said, to microwave one a day. A week after I delivered them, four gem squash remained in the unopened package. My enquiring as to why she’d not cooked them elicited a plaintive, “I have no knife.” Eventually, I asked a care giver to cook her gem squash. Delivery of the cooked vegetable was met with yet another complaint: “It was too stringy.”
Carrying dog food up to the Care Center every two or three days has been a chore. Ditto carrying dog biscuits up the Care Center every two or three weeks – with another delivery due today.
I can’t tell, yet, whether my mother is conducting an ongoing low intensity war of attrition with the outcome her victorious ejection from the Care Center or whether dementia is kicking in faster than predicted. Meanwhile, Martha will semi-comply with her order. I’ll take the flak for Martha not exactly following orders. I’ll carry a small container of frozen peas – uncooked, no gravy – and deliver it, along with a box of Beenos and Montego dog biscuits.
I’m almost thankful that the Care Center locked down to visitors. It allows me an (almost) clear conscience when, masked as usual, I deliver these items to my mother through her window….
***
On the public holiday Day of Reconciliation an Eskom contractor called, seeking permission to enter this property. Background: Eskom, SA’s national supplier of electricity, brutally prunes trees that touch overhead electrical cable. Last year, they massacred two beautifully mature swamp cypress, leaving only the main trunks; branch and pruning debris remains as litter blocking the free flow of water in the stream.
Accordingly, I’m reluctant to allow them into the garden for a repeat performance.
I was away from the property when the Eskom contractor called. We agreed he and his team would come at noon – “12 o’clock today” – and I’d be back home to allow them entrance. (My hesitation: why are they working on a public holiday? Could this be a scam to gain entrance into the property and rob? At this time of year, warnings about such home invasion robberies proliferate.) I was home at the agreed upon time.
Eskom failed to arrive at noon, or even 1pm or 2pm or 3pm….
Long story short: Eskom never arrived at all. At midnight, I noticed a SMS/text msg: “It seams as if I can’t make it in an hour time, too much work….” Hmmmm.
Correction: I was wrong. Eskom’s representative, Zephraim just showed up. (He introduced himself along with, “If you read the Bible, you’ll see Zephraim and words about Babylon.” How can I resist?)
Zephraim will bring his crew to cut.
I’ll be out for most of the day.
What will I return to?
If only Zephraim of Babylon had a passage in the Bible about respecting all God’s living work on planet earth!
What will I return to?
If only Zephraim of Babylon had a passage in the Bible about respecting all God’s living work on planet earth!
Day 265 Wednesday, Dec 16 - Inching closer
The US and the world inch closer to seeing the back of Donald J. Trump and his devastating mal-influence.Now that the Electoral College has concluded it’s tally, and (a handful of) Republican Congress people have conceded Biden’s status as president elect, one can only hope that the Trumpster and his grift will exit stage right….
We’re inching toward a million confirmed infections.
Tighter lockdown restrictions in place locally, too (see below).
I’m preparing to move into my new home in a secure community – aka “the Valley” - that also houses the Care Center in which my mother – and her dog, Jessica – are resident.
Yesterday, the day after President Ramaphosa tighten Covid-related restrictions on all South Africans, “the Valley” leadership shut down access to visitors. This, due to an increase in infections.
Luckily I’d hurried to the office last week - the day after I was handed keys to my new home – to register my new status as owner. Had I not done so, “visitor” status would have barred from entering the grounds.
I’m pleased the community is vigilant against the virus and I’m dismayed that, for the duration, I’m permitted to visit my mother in the Care Center only once a week. Since she’s experiencing significant “adjustment issues” (“I can’t stay here,” she complains), I’ll stand outside and chat with her through the window.
I hope I can continue to walk the dog, too. I’ll meet Jessica at the back gate and take her for a short walk that includes a “roly poly.” I’d hate to deny her the pleasure of flopping onto her back and groaning with delight as she kicks her legs and twists and turns on the grass.
***
Happily, the Covid-19 notification app I added to phone reports, “no exposure found: according to your recent interactions with people using this app, you have not come into close contact with someone who uses the app and has tested positive for Covid-19.”
Nice to know. Best not to think about the app’s big weakness: effectiveness relies on a critical mass of users. How many, besides me, currently use this app?
News blues…
Twenty-four hours, 7,500 new Covid infections and 200 deaths in South Africa. The bulk of the deaths in in the Eastern (95) and Western (70) Cape. KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 23 of deaths, Gauteng 10 and Limpopo and the Free State six each.We’re inching toward a million confirmed infections.
Tighter lockdown restrictions in place locally, too (see below).
***
From The Lincoln Project: Our Republic’s institutions — from the courts, to election officials, to the Electoral College — held firm through the most critical stress test in over a generation.Amen!
Yesterday, members of the Electoral College met in their respective states to cast their official ballots. Without so much as a single faithless elector, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were duly elected President and Vice President.
The weeks since the election have served as verification for everything we believed and said about our current president and his enablers.
Trump’s attempted coup will go down in history as one of the most un-American, anti-democratic, destructive, and shameful undertakings by a sitting president.
This attack was a close call for democracy and our Constitution. Fortunately, the election itself was not particularly close — or we could be confronting a coup on the precipice of victory.
While Joe Biden’s and Kamala Harris’s triumph and the new chapter for our country should be celebrated, we cannot avoid the unvarnished truth — Trump Republicans are willing to discard democracy and the will of the American people when it becomes politically advantageous for them to do so.
Luckily, we know their names.
And the American people will know their names, and what they signed their names to.
We, The Lincoln Project, will ensure it.
As it has become increasingly evident that Trumpism has metastasized throughout Republican Party ranks, we are steadfast in our determination to expose and defeat every last one of them.
Healthy planet, anyone?
Ten thousand years of undisturbed nature will soon be open to the highest bidder, starting at $25 an acreOn 6 January, the [US] Bureau of Land Management, directed by the Trump administration, is scheduled to hold a virtual oil and gas lease sale – an “aggressive, competitive exploration and development program” – for drilling in Alaska National Wildlife Refuge - ANWR. More specifically, in the 1.5m acre coastal plain, the refuge’s biological heart: the birthing grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd, the prime denning area for the Beaufort Sea population of polar bears (a threatened species, numbering only 900), and the breeding sites for birds that every year fly across oceans and continents to raise their young on undisturbed, flower-embroidered tundra.Read the article “America's last wilderness is about to go to the highest bidder for oil drilling”
Ten thousand years of natural beauty and balance – America’s last great wilderness – will soon be “open” to the highest bidder, beginning at $25 an acre. The winner could initiate seismic testing: shaking the earth with massive vibration trucks, awakening polar bears in their dens. If the testing shows a strong promise of oil (which is presently unknown), they may build an industrial complex of roads, well pads, desalinization plants, airstrips and pipelines, all tied into Prudhoe Bay, some 80 miles to the west. If not, the seismic testing alone will produce many scars visible for decades.
How can this happen? Easy.
On the final page of the massive 2017 feed-the-rich federal tax bill, the Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski added oil and gas exploration as a “purpose” of ANWR.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
When it comes to virulent infection, timing is everything….I’m preparing to move into my new home in a secure community – aka “the Valley” - that also houses the Care Center in which my mother – and her dog, Jessica – are resident.
Yesterday, the day after President Ramaphosa tighten Covid-related restrictions on all South Africans, “the Valley” leadership shut down access to visitors. This, due to an increase in infections.
Luckily I’d hurried to the office last week - the day after I was handed keys to my new home – to register my new status as owner. Had I not done so, “visitor” status would have barred from entering the grounds.
I’m pleased the community is vigilant against the virus and I’m dismayed that, for the duration, I’m permitted to visit my mother in the Care Center only once a week. Since she’s experiencing significant “adjustment issues” (“I can’t stay here,” she complains), I’ll stand outside and chat with her through the window.
I hope I can continue to walk the dog, too. I’ll meet Jessica at the back gate and take her for a short walk that includes a “roly poly.” I’d hate to deny her the pleasure of flopping onto her back and groaning with delight as she kicks her legs and twists and turns on the grass.
***
Happily, the Covid-19 notification app I added to phone reports, “no exposure found: according to your recent interactions with people using this app, you have not come into close contact with someone who uses the app and has tested positive for Covid-19.”
Nice to know. Best not to think about the app’s big weakness: effectiveness relies on a critical mass of users. How many, besides me, currently use this app?
Inquiring minds wanna know….
“It is unprecedented and “better than any of us hoped for.”
He also warns, “We need to be careful. We need to temper our enthusiasm with the acknowledgment that the vaccine is a weapon we may not be fully prepared to wield. A lot can still go wrong.”
Here are 9 things that can go wrong, according to Dr. Wilson who encourages, “By worrying together, we can prevent much of this from happening”:
Summary: more than 8,000 cases in 24 hours. Soon SA will hit a million confirmed infections.
SA has entered a second wave. Rate of increase requires us to act together. Daily average is 74 percent higher than previous 7 days. Deaths increase by 50 percent to 150 death/day.
Four provinces E and W Cape, KZN and Gauteng…. Among young people, 15 to 19 yrs old. Contributors to rise in infections:
Social gatherings and parties
No social distancing. Venues are overcrowded, inadequate ventilation, no sanitizers available, no masks worn, alcohol use high.
Increased travel – few prevention measures. The more we travel the greater the potential for spreading the virus.
Safer to socialize with immediate family than with others.
Observe basic and easy to follow directions.
No longer see the point in observing safety measures/precautions.
Festive season poses great threat – traditionally time for gatherings, travel, relaxing.
Must go back to observing safety measures.
Take extraordinary measures with a view to saving lives and protect business.
Takeaways:
To prevent burden on health system:
Vaccinate “certain groups” early next year
Next weeks will be our greatest test to do things differently: requires us to give up short lived pleasures, play your part, follow precautions…
Let us welcome the new year united as resolute nation.
Day 264 Tuesday, December 15 - U/SA
News blues…
As vaccinations begin across the US, Perry Wilson, a physician, clinical researcher, and epidemiologist, congratulates the 95 percent efficacy of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines.“It is unprecedented and “better than any of us hoped for.”
He also warns, “We need to be careful. We need to temper our enthusiasm with the acknowledgment that the vaccine is a weapon we may not be fully prepared to wield. A lot can still go wrong.”
Here are 9 things that can go wrong, according to Dr. Wilson who encourages, “By worrying together, we can prevent much of this from happening”:
- Unexpected long-term side effects (probability: low)
- There won’t be enough vaccine for everyone (probability: low)
- Vaccination becomes politicized (probability: low)
- There won’t be enough vaccine supplies (probability: medium)
- People won’t get both doses (probability: medium)
- Doctors will bend the truth to help their patients get a vaccine faster (probability: medium)
- Vaccines will exacerbate inequality in the health care system (probability: high)
- A false sense of security develops (probability: high)
- Anti-vaxxers amplify and misrepresent side effects (probability: almost certain)
***
According to research published by a team with New York University, “SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, leads to neurological injuries in roughly 1 out of every 7 people infected.”Those injuries run the gamut in severity, from temporary confusion to seizures and stroke. And they can occur without the virus appearing to directly enter the brain or the nervous system, suggesting many neurological injuries associated with COVID-19 are a secondary effect of becoming really sick with the virus, which can lead to problems like oxygen loss and blood clots.Will this info convince the most anti of the anti-maskers to mask up?
To that end, the researchers behind the NYU study have argued their findings show that doctors who treat patients with serious COVID-19 must be aggressive in getting oxygen levels stable. If they cannot, the brain may pay a steep price.
…Symptoms and side effects can include encephalitis and inflammation of the brain, chronic cognitive deficits, neurological symptoms such as headaches and dizziness, and mental illness that could include anxiety, depression or insomnia.
***
President Ramaphosa addressed the nation last night. (Be patient. It takes 7:10 mins to crank up; be entertained with background noise and sound checks until our president appears.) My favorite part of Ramaphosa’s public addresses? He greets the wide range of South African ethnicities in her/his/our own language.) Summary: more than 8,000 cases in 24 hours. Soon SA will hit a million confirmed infections.
SA has entered a second wave. Rate of increase requires us to act together. Daily average is 74 percent higher than previous 7 days. Deaths increase by 50 percent to 150 death/day.
Four provinces E and W Cape, KZN and Gauteng…. Among young people, 15 to 19 yrs old. Contributors to rise in infections:
Social gatherings and parties
No social distancing. Venues are overcrowded, inadequate ventilation, no sanitizers available, no masks worn, alcohol use high.
Increased travel – few prevention measures. The more we travel the greater the potential for spreading the virus.
Safer to socialize with immediate family than with others.
Observe basic and easy to follow directions.
No longer see the point in observing safety measures/precautions.
Festive season poses great threat – traditionally time for gatherings, travel, relaxing.
Must go back to observing safety measures.
Take extraordinary measures with a view to saving lives and protect business.
Takeaways:
- Hotspots: Sarah Bartman and Garden Route districts now restricted areas.
- “Festive season” is a risky time and response of gov’t and NCCC:
- Nationwide restriction from midnight tonight
- Stricter enforcement of Level 1 including drivers and operators of public transport must wear masks
- Stores, etc., obliged to ensure customers wear masks
- Employer must ensure masks on all employees
- Will be liable for fine or 6 months imprisonment Super spreaders: gathering may not be attended by more than 100 indoors, outdoors 250 – total must not exceed more than 50% capacity of venue, and ventilation, wear masks, use hand sanitizers
- After funeral gatherings prohibited
- Beaches and parks to close for duration of Dec 16 to Jan 3, Eastern cape, Garden route. KZN beaches and parks closed Dec 16, 25, 26, 31 plus Jan 1, 2, 3. Beaches in North and Western Cape remain open.
- Festivals prohibited at beaches and parks; 9am to 6pm open, monitored daily
- Poor compliance = closing or limiting access
To prevent burden on health system:
- Alcohol: curfew from 11pm to 4am; non-essential establishments close at 10pm before enforcement of curfew
- Curfew includes Christmas and New Year’s Eve Retail sale of 10 am and 6pm M – Thursday; Tastings at wineries okay
- No consumption at public spaces
- Review in new year based on condition of infection
- National lockdown was designed to restrict infection and give us time to deal with and to delay pandemic
- We must act based on best scientific evidence
- 38,000 health workers tested positive; 5000 admitted to hospital; 331 deaths
- Must support and protect health workers
- Season must be both festive and safe – keep celebrations small, avoid crowds, well ventilated
- Masks cover nose and mouth
- Limit travel
- Limited number of contracts at least one week before travel, immediate family
- Isolate if any symptoms and seek medical attention
Vaccinate “certain groups” early next year
Next weeks will be our greatest test to do things differently: requires us to give up short lived pleasures, play your part, follow precautions…
Let us welcome the new year united as resolute nation.
***
The Lincoln Project’s Steve Schmidt on Trump Coup - Star Wars (1:42 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
Our planet still has secret places… and heretofore unknown species. Let’s hear it for “sky islands” – isolated hotspots of evolution….An “ecological Swat team” has discovered 20 previously unknown species in the misty cloud forests and cascading waterfalls that flank Bolivia’s Zongo valley.
Among the animals found were a minuscule 10mm-long frog, a pit viper, two metalmark butterflies and an adder’s-mouth orchid. The pristine forests are just 30 miles (48km) from the capital, La Paz, but the expedition also rediscovered the devil-eyed frog, seen just once before, and a satyr butterfly not seen for nearly a century. Alongside these were threatened species including the spectacled bear and the channel-billed toucan.
The high, steep-sided peaks of the Andes harbour enormous biodiversity because movement between them is difficult for wildlife and results in isolated hotspots of evolution that are known as “sky islands”.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
I’ve been intending to turn in my mother’s weapons – a Beretta pistol, a single barrel shotgun, and a pellet gun. (A 38 handgun was stolen from the house several years ago.) I keep putting it off as I’m intimidated by the idea of standing in line outside the police station holding these weapons and a pile of paperwork.Then I asked my brother if he’d do it (since he knows the weapons, the process, etc.) I’ve filled in the paper work for him and he agreed to do it – more than a month ago.
Today is the day. Not to be skeptical but…
“Old age is not for sissies!”
The year of living dangerously.
I talk regularly to family and friends in the US. Some – Lockdownees – suffer more than others from isolation. Intellectually, we know the pandemic is altering our psyches. Now, research supports this awareness.
The loss of the connecting power of touch, for example, can ‘trigger factors that contribute to depression – sadness, lower energy levels, lethargy. The pandemic is expected to precipitate a mental health crisis, but perhaps also a chance to approach life with new clarity.
This is both necessity and choice. Choose “to approach life with new clarity.”
Dramatic levels of “friendly fire” from the immune system may drive severe Covid-19 disease and leave patients with “long Covid” – when medical problems persist for a significant time after the virus has been beaten….
My mother belongs to the latter group, the Silent Generation: “those born from 1925 to 1945 – so called because they were raised during a period of war and economic depression. The label reflected the counterculture of a rebellious generation, distrustful of the establishment and keen to find their own voice.”
Initially an eager resident in a Care Center my mother now “hates” the place. She refuses to socialize (I’m not one for “natter…”) and finds fault everywhere: “the vegetables are hard,” “the dog is unhappy,” “not enough tea,” … “the staff is rude….”
Initially, she agreed to “talk to someone” and benefited from these short conversations. Then she learned she was paying for a service. Now? Despite the psychotherapist accommodating my mother with half-hour visits at half price, my mother decided “it’s too expensive.” Ironically, she eagerly pays for a vet to attend a dog’s prickly-heat allergy but will not pay for her own “prickly” emotional adjustment to being a frail, in-constant-pain, 87-year-old.
Me? Besides “talking” to my own psychotherapist about how to handle challenges with my mother, I find pleasure in talking to plants… and birds… and frogs… and monkeys…
Let’s leave it at that for today.
Food for thought: According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s latest Red List, an inventory of threatened species, more than 35,700 species — representing almost 30% of all plant and animal species evaluated — are currently threatened with extinction.
The garden pond thrives, as do the kingfishers dining on freshwater critters – frogs, crabs, and indigenous fish (no sign of any goldfish I added last summer).
(Left) The lilies are blooming. Actually, these lovely yellow lilies are exotic to KZN. We’ve tried to clear them from the pond, but they’re hellbent on surviving.
(Right) Nymphaea nouchali var. caerulea, the lovely sky-blue lily is South Africa's most commonly grown indigenous water lily.
I also received a notice to download a Covid-tracker app that alerts a user about rises in Covid infections in the user’s locale. I downloaded it (do so at your own risk) from discv.co/COVID19Hotspots.
A third notice on my phone declared SA will return to Lockdown Level 4 on December 16. A hoax? Who knows? December 16 has been a public holiday from way back. During my youth, Dingaan Day recognized a triumph of the Voortrekkers against the Zulu army led by Zulu King Dingaan at the 'Battle of Blood River', now it’s The Day of Reconciliation. Time will tell whether is also Hoax Day.
***
My increasingly frail mother fell yesterday. Apparently, the staff tried to reach me on the phone although I received no calls nor any sign I’d missed calls. Tough not to trust one’s phone connection. Instead, I received an email at 3:00am this morning. I’ll head up to the Care Center today. “Old age is not for sissies!”
Day 263 Monday, December 14 - Vaccine!
 |
| A UPS truck backs into the loading dock at the Pfizer Inc., manufacturing and storage facility in Portage, Michigan, USA, 13 December 2020. |
News blues…
Word spread quickly yesterday that President Ramaphosa would address the nation last night (Sunday). Soon after, another message explained he’d delay his address until tonight. With SA’s current daily rate of new infections at 7,999 (Saturday/Sunday), I suspect the president will impose further Covid-related restrictions for “the festive season.”The year of living dangerously.
***
Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini, of the tiny absolute monarchy Eswatini, tested positive for COVID-19 four weeks ago. Hospitalised in South Africa, he died on Sunday of Covid. He was 52. ***
Is living with Covid-19 rewiring our brains?I talk regularly to family and friends in the US. Some – Lockdownees – suffer more than others from isolation. Intellectually, we know the pandemic is altering our psyches. Now, research supports this awareness.
The loss of the connecting power of touch, for example, can ‘trigger factors that contribute to depression – sadness, lower energy levels, lethargy. The pandemic is expected to precipitate a mental health crisis, but perhaps also a chance to approach life with new clarity.
This is both necessity and choice. Choose “to approach life with new clarity.”
***
Researchers at Yale University found that Covid-19 patients had large numbers of misguided antibodies in their blood that targeted the organs, tissues and the immune system itself, rather than fighting off the invading virus. Dramatic levels of “friendly fire” from the immune system may drive severe Covid-19 disease and leave patients with “long Covid” – when medical problems persist for a significant time after the virus has been beaten….
***
The Lincoln Project: Fool me (0:25 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
Go out an spot a bird…A new study reveals that greater bird biodiversity brings greater joy to people, according to recent findings from the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research. In fact, scientists concluded that conservation is just as important for human well-being as financial security… and determined that happiness correlated with a specific number of bird species.
"According to our findings, the happiest [humans] are those who can experience numerous different bird species in their daily life, or who live in near-natural surroundings that are home to many species," says lead author Joel Methorst, a doctoral researcher at the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center, of the Goethe University in Frankfurt.
The authors calculated that being around fourteen additional bird species provided as much satisfaction as earning an additional $150 a month.
According to the study authors, birds are some of the best indicators of biological diversity in any given area because they are usually seen or heard in their environments, especially in urban areas. However, more bird species were found near natural green spaces, forested areas and bodies of water.
In the U.S., birding has become a more common and accessible hobby during the pandemic.
…"Nature conservation therefore not only ensures our material basis of life, but it also constitutes an investment in the well-being of us all….”
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Psychotherapeutic therapy – “counseling” – is culturally mainstream is many parts of the western world. Ironically, whether one “buys into” the benefits of “talk therapy,” acceptance of the service remains generational. Within western culture, middle-aged and younger people accept that this therapy is useful. Older generations? Not so much. With this cohort, a mindset remains that “only crazy” people require such help.My mother belongs to the latter group, the Silent Generation: “those born from 1925 to 1945 – so called because they were raised during a period of war and economic depression. The label reflected the counterculture of a rebellious generation, distrustful of the establishment and keen to find their own voice.”
Initially an eager resident in a Care Center my mother now “hates” the place. She refuses to socialize (I’m not one for “natter…”) and finds fault everywhere: “the vegetables are hard,” “the dog is unhappy,” “not enough tea,” … “the staff is rude….”
Initially, she agreed to “talk to someone” and benefited from these short conversations. Then she learned she was paying for a service. Now? Despite the psychotherapist accommodating my mother with half-hour visits at half price, my mother decided “it’s too expensive.” Ironically, she eagerly pays for a vet to attend a dog’s prickly-heat allergy but will not pay for her own “prickly” emotional adjustment to being a frail, in-constant-pain, 87-year-old.
Me? Besides “talking” to my own psychotherapist about how to handle challenges with my mother, I find pleasure in talking to plants… and birds… and frogs… and monkeys…
Day 262 Sunday, December 13 - Consider the lilies
News blues…
Grim data.- South Africa suffers more than 200 Covid-19 deaths and 8,300 new cases in 24 hours
- USA surpasses 300,000 confirmed Covid deaths and more than one million new infections in the first five days of December.
***
The Lincoln Project: Silver Alert (0:23 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
The catastrophic Covid-19 pandemic also offers a chance to reset humanity’s approach to the future. It’s entirely unclear whether We the People have the will or the gumption to force our reluctant elected officials in that direction. First order of business, however, is to inform yourself and to make pragmatic reality-based decision.Food for thought: According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s latest Red List, an inventory of threatened species, more than 35,700 species — representing almost 30% of all plant and animal species evaluated — are currently threatened with extinction.
These include all of the world’s freshwater dolphins, almost one-third of all oak trees and 40% of all amphibians.Interested in knowing more about how to secure a healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable future – unmarred by ever-more health crises and other disasters? The World Economic Forum offers a place to start ….
At least 31 species have been declared extinct… [including] several freshwater fish species endemic to Lake Lanao in the Philippines, which, according to the IUCN, were killed off in part by overfishing and the introduction of predatory species to the lake. Three Central American frog species have also been declared extinct.
“The growing list of extinct species is a stark reminder that conservation efforts must urgently expand,” Bruno Oberle, IUCN’s director-general, said in a statement. “To tackle global threats such as unsustainable fisheries, land clearing for agriculture, and invasive species, conservation needs to happen around the world and be incorporated into all sectors of the economy.”
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
No shortage of water in this part of the country as summer thunder storms continue to gift the Midlands.The garden pond thrives, as do the kingfishers dining on freshwater critters – frogs, crabs, and indigenous fish (no sign of any goldfish I added last summer).
(Left) The lilies are blooming. Actually, these lovely yellow lilies are exotic to KZN. We’ve tried to clear them from the pond, but they’re hellbent on surviving.
(Right) Nymphaea nouchali var. caerulea, the lovely sky-blue lily is South Africa's most commonly grown indigenous water lily.
Day 261 Saturday December 12 – Notice
Two o’clock this morning, I received a notice from Eskom (SA’s national electricity providing parastatal) that load-shedding is back on across the country. Our freedom-from-the-tyranny-of-electricity begins this weekend from 6am to 8:30am and 2pm to 4:30pm. No time to prepare, just wake up to no electricity, repeated early afternoon. (Ah, life in SA returns to new-normal. I feel so at home.)I also received a notice to download a Covid-tracker app that alerts a user about rises in Covid infections in the user’s locale. I downloaded it (do so at your own risk) from discv.co/COVID19Hotspots.
A third notice on my phone declared SA will return to Lockdown Level 4 on December 16. A hoax? Who knows? December 16 has been a public holiday from way back. During my youth, Dingaan Day recognized a triumph of the Voortrekkers against the Zulu army led by Zulu King Dingaan at the 'Battle of Blood River', now it’s The Day of Reconciliation. Time will tell whether is also Hoax Day.
News blues…
According to the CDC director, the US will likely have more daily Covid-19 deaths for the next 60 to 90 days than died on 9/11. That’s more than 3,000 deaths a day. For that atrocity, the US went to war and remains at war. For Covid, nah, not a prob, let’s convene super-spreader events and undermine US-style democracy.***
Food for thought: Steve Schmidt, former Republican, continues to examine current events and dangers to the American system (3:09 mins) Another look at Whackidoodleitude
It’s clear whacky ideas and conspiracy theories currently are transcendent in the US. A pastor in this video clip actually says, “I’m forty-four years old and there’s never been a pandemic in my lifetime. There isn’t one now either." Take a look…. (5:28 mins)***
The Lincoln Project: Mitch’s Tears (0:55 mins)Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Neighborhood monkeys’ summer schedule includes invading the garden early, before the alarm is disarmed. Today, before 5am, a wave of the small furry critters pours over the walls and fences and made for the bird feeder and for my veggie garden. (Monkeys, I’ve discovered, love to snack on green onions!) I did my duty as Neighborhood Crazy Lady and thwarted their monkey plans. After disarming the alarm, still wearing pajamas, I dashed outside waving my arms and yelling. A bracing way to awaken my sleepy blood.I’m really going to miss the little buggers when this house is sold, and I move to my new place. No monkeys at that community, only zebra, warthog, impala, blesbok….
Prior to lockdown, on a walk along that community’s Game Trail, I chatted briefly with someone about his enjoyment at seeing wild animals, including African wildebeest (buffalo). I thought he’d misidentified a blesbok for I’d never seen a buffalo on any of my many walks along Game Trail. Searching with binoculars revealed the usual zebra, blesbok, impala but no wildebeest.
Yesterday, driving a new route through the community, I spotted a small herd of wildebeest grazing contently, not in the residential area, but in an adjacent area.
I look forward to more discoveries.
I’m blessed to have decided to move to an area that presents a safe, sanitized version of African wildlife, right on my doorstep. Not even Amazon Prime could deliver that!
Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said, “We wish to reiterate our plea to South Africans to heed the threat of the rising numbers of Covid-19 cases identified. There is clear evidence of an exponential rise in transmission and this is cause for serious concern.”
A friend in California notes that no one attending children’s soccer games in local parks wears masks or face coverings to inhibit the spread of Covid.
Outraged by the anti-mask mentality, my friend called to complain to the local parks and recreation department. The park’s department representative, however, agreed with my friend’s assessment. She explained that the department regularly posts signs urging the wearing of masks in public.
Local anti-makers tear down the signs.
The department is creating sturdier signs that they intend to embed in concrete.
One hopes that might help. It is, however, common sense and respect for others that’s missing-in-action in the current US. Addressing that is immensely more difficult.
Week 37
Worldwide (Map)
December 10 – 68,849,000 confirmed infections; 1,568,750 deaths
November 12 – 52,070,000 confirmed infections; 1,274,000 deaths
October 15 – 38,426,375 confirmed infections; 1,091,250 deaths
US (Map)
December 10 – 15,385,00 confirmed infections; 289,500 deaths
November 12 – 10,258,100 confirmed infections; 239,700 deaths
October 15 – 7,911,500 confirmed infections; 216,860 deaths
December 10 – 829,600 confirmed infections; 22,580 deaths
November 12 – 740,255 confirmed infections; 19,951 deaths
October 15 – 696,420 confirmed infections; 18,155 deaths
Covid-19 infections have surpassed the 4,400 mark daily for the past three days in SA.
Mkhize: Expect faster rise in COVID-19 cases in second wave
Stay safe – wear a mask, any mask, just cover your mouth and nose and try to protect yourself and your fellow humans…
My first reaction? Counter the lies with my own Letter to the Editor.
Years of being attacked as a “socialist,” a “radical,” and someone who ought “to kill myself out of shame,” while volunteering a GI Rights counselor and an anti-Iraq-and-Afghanistan-war activist, urged caution.
I asked a local friend if she knew or had heard of the Letter’s author. She had: he’s an elected official of a local chapter of a predominantly white rightwing political party. Freedom Front Plus, is the fifth largest in the country with 2.38 percent of the national vote, up 0.9 percent since 2014.
Remember when, back in 2018, Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump suddenly began, briefly, talking about “land seizures” and “white farmer murders” in South Africa?
That was Trump complying with the FF Plus’s request that Trump highlight the issue. Since the issue suited Trump’s divide-and-conquer tactics, he dived “into controversy over South Africa's land policies and farmer killings.” (9:00 mins)
South African politicians rebutted Trump’s tactic.
Nary a word about that from Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump.
It would have been nice to rebut misinformation in the local rag, I’m glad I resisted.
I look forward to more discoveries.
I’m blessed to have decided to move to an area that presents a safe, sanitized version of African wildlife, right on my doorstep. Not even Amazon Prime could deliver that!
Day 260 Friday, December 11 - MIA
News blues…
Oh, oh! In the past 24 hours, South Africa recorded more than 8,100 new Covid-19 infections, and 173 deaths. Ninety deaths occurred in the Eastern Cape, 52 in the Western Cape, 13 in Gauteng, 10 in KwaZulu-Natal and eight in Gauteng.Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said, “We wish to reiterate our plea to South Africans to heed the threat of the rising numbers of Covid-19 cases identified. There is clear evidence of an exponential rise in transmission and this is cause for serious concern.”
***
The Covid-related death toll in the US, meanwhile surpasses its World War II combat fatalities. Healthy planet, anyone?
The US is currently MIA as a signatory to the Paris climate agreement, but that isn’t stopping the 54 cities that are on track to meet the targets. Let’s join the mayor of Paris to praise an “important milestone” on fifth anniversary of the landmark agreement.More than 50 of the world’s leading cities are on track to help keep global heating below 1.5C and tackle the worst impacts of the climate crisis, according to a new report.Fifty-four sane cities! Perhaps there’s hope for our planet after all!
From mass tree-planting in Buenos Aires to new public transport networks in Mexico City, 54 of the world’s leading cities are now rolling out plans that will cut their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris agreement, according to a new study by the C40 cities network.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
A word about masks and mask-resistance so prevalent in the US.A friend in California notes that no one attending children’s soccer games in local parks wears masks or face coverings to inhibit the spread of Covid.
Outraged by the anti-mask mentality, my friend called to complain to the local parks and recreation department. The park’s department representative, however, agreed with my friend’s assessment. She explained that the department regularly posts signs urging the wearing of masks in public.
Local anti-makers tear down the signs.
The department is creating sturdier signs that they intend to embed in concrete.
One hopes that might help. It is, however, common sense and respect for others that’s missing-in-action in the current US. Addressing that is immensely more difficult.
Week 37
Day 259 Thursday, December 10 - Wear a mask!
Worldwide (Map) December 10 – 68,849,000 confirmed infections; 1,568,750 deaths
November 12 – 52,070,000 confirmed infections; 1,274,000 deaths
October 15 – 38,426,375 confirmed infections; 1,091,250 deaths
US (Map)
December 10 – 15,385,00 confirmed infections; 289,500 deaths
November 12 – 10,258,100 confirmed infections; 239,700 deaths
October 15 – 7,911,500 confirmed infections; 216,860 deaths
Deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. have soared to more than 2,200 a day on average, matching the frightening peak reached last April, and cases per day have eclipsed 200,000 on average for the first time on record, with the crisis all but certain to get worse because of the fallout from Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s.SA (Coronavirus portal)
Virtually every state is reporting surges just as a vaccine appears days away from getting the go-ahead in the U.S.
December 10 – 829,600 confirmed infections; 22,580 deaths
November 12 – 740,255 confirmed infections; 19,951 deaths
October 15 – 696,420 confirmed infections; 18,155 deaths
Covid-19 infections have surpassed the 4,400 mark daily for the past three days in SA.
Mkhize: Expect faster rise in COVID-19 cases in second wave
Stay safe – wear a mask, any mask, just cover your mouth and nose and try to protect yourself and your fellow humans…
News blues…
Global Home Care Services Market to Reach $1.8 Trillion by 2027***
Yesterday, I happened to pick up an unfamiliar local weekly print paper. The solitary Letter to the Editor caught my eye: it was a pro-Trump misinformation screed. My first reaction? Counter the lies with my own Letter to the Editor.
Years of being attacked as a “socialist,” a “radical,” and someone who ought “to kill myself out of shame,” while volunteering a GI Rights counselor and an anti-Iraq-and-Afghanistan-war activist, urged caution.
I asked a local friend if she knew or had heard of the Letter’s author. She had: he’s an elected official of a local chapter of a predominantly white rightwing political party. Freedom Front Plus, is the fifth largest in the country with 2.38 percent of the national vote, up 0.9 percent since 2014.
That was Trump complying with the FF Plus’s request that Trump highlight the issue. Since the issue suited Trump’s divide-and-conquer tactics, he dived “into controversy over South Africa's land policies and farmer killings.” (9:00 mins)
South African politicians rebutted Trump’s tactic.
Nary a word about that from Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump.
When reality and facts do not match ideology, toss out reality.
It would have been nice to rebut misinformation in the local rag, I’m glad I resisted.
Note: yes, South African farmers, white and black, are murdered. That the majority of murder victims are white lies in the reality that whites are the majority of owners of large farms.
After much drama, uncertainty, and arguing with lawyers, I was handed keys to my new, small home. From now on, I spread my finite energy between selling my mother’s large house and continuing to manage her affairs, visiting and caring for her, and moving into my new home, extending the small garden, and admiring the wild animals.
How long before I’ve normalized this idyll and begin to complain about those darned zebra, impala, warthogs, and birds eating my plants? Or bemoaning the lack of monkeys?
Here, the queen assumes the year 2020 is over and that the worst has passed.
Not so, your highness.
I’m delving into the sad ins and outs of early dementia in the elderly. I’d prefer to do without this skill. Words of warning: as a member of collective humanity, you will, come face-to-face with dementia in someone you love. Prepare for that, now.
Pool Gal: After waiting three months for Pool Guy Richard to show up to troubleshoot the small pool, he arrived, looked it over, removed the apparently dysfunctional “creepy” suction system, quoted “R2,500 or more” to finish the job, then tucked the “creepy” under his arm and departed.
Healthy planet, anyone?
Human-made materials now outweigh Earth's entire biomass. Production of concrete, metal, plastic, bricks and asphalt greater than mass of living matter on planet.… research shows that human activity including production of concrete, metal, plastic, bricks and asphalt has brought the world to a crossover point where human-made mass – driven mostly by enhanced consumption and urban development – exceeds the overall living biomass on Earth.
The amount of plastic alone is greater in mass than all land animals and marine creatures combined….
On average, every person in the world is responsible for the creation of human-made matter equal to more than their bodyweight each week [according to] the paper published in Nature.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
How long before I’ve normalized this idyll and begin to complain about those darned zebra, impala, warthogs, and birds eating my plants? Or bemoaning the lack of monkeys?
Day 258 Wednesday, December 9 - “Republican wack pack”
Not so, your highness.
Eleven more days present Donald Trump, a desperate man trying desperately to stave off the inevitable, wiggle room to bring down the system of governance that voted him out of office.
The United States heads towards, not only pandemic disaster, but the disaster of doing too little, too late to stop a crazy man.
The United States heads towards, not only pandemic disaster, but the disaster of doing too little, too late to stop a crazy man.
In 2012, Americans such as Steve Schmidt began warning about the appearance on the political scene of Donald Trump and the “Republican wack pack,” (aka “an autocratic cult of personality.” An interview worth watching – 18:30 mins.)
If you think we’ve reached bottom with the Trumpster and Trumpism, think again. The cult may be gasping for oxygen, but the Republican wack pack is headed up by powerful politicians determined to weaken essential American-style democracy. (5:40 mins)
Jones is the former Florida official who says she was ousted from her job managing the state’s COVID-19 data for refusing to censor and alter case information.
If you think we’ve reached bottom with the Trumpster and Trumpism, think again. The cult may be gasping for oxygen, but the Republican wack pack is headed up by powerful politicians determined to weaken essential American-style democracy. (5:40 mins)
News blues…
Trump acolyte, Covid denialist, and anti-maskist, Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis, stands accused of sending armed officers to raid the Tallahassee, Florida home of Rebekah Jones.Jones is the former Florida official who says she was ousted from her job managing the state’s COVID-19 data for refusing to censor and alter case information.
After her ouster in the spring, Jones went public with allegations that her superiors had told her to put misleading and false information on the public-facing COVID-19 dashboard, which people could use to track data about coronavirus infections in Florida.
The information they asked her to post would have over-counted the number of COVID-19 tests performed and under-counted the total number of cases, she said, as Florida rushed to reopen its economy. She also said she was asked to remove evidence of people testing positive for the virus in January.
… FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen disputed Jones’ claim that the officers [invading her house] pointed guns at her and her children. But Jones’ video indicates that they may have pointed weapons in her family’s general direction. When the officers enter the house, one demands her husband come downstairs while another points what appears to be a firearm directly to the top of the staircase.
Jones said she’ll return to work running her dashboard on Tuesday.
“If [DeSantis] thought pointing a gun in my face was a good way to get me to shut up, he’s about to learn just how wrong he was,” she tweeted. “I’ll have a new computer tomorrow. And then I’m going to get back to work.”
***
The Lincoln Project: Pence (0:34 mins) Healthy planet, anyone?
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
A pandemic positive: picking up a plethora of new skills. I did not choose these roles. They – through circumstances – chose me.I’m delving into the sad ins and outs of early dementia in the elderly. I’d prefer to do without this skill. Words of warning: as a member of collective humanity, you will, come face-to-face with dementia in someone you love. Prepare for that, now.
Pool Gal: After waiting three months for Pool Guy Richard to show up to troubleshoot the small pool, he arrived, looked it over, removed the apparently dysfunctional “creepy” suction system, quoted “R2,500 or more” to finish the job, then tucked the “creepy” under his arm and departed.
Five days and many phone calls later, he returned the creepy. In the interim, the gardener and I experimented with “fixing” the filter system. No dice. Despite tardiness and lack of specificity in tasks required or associated costs, Pool Gal must defer to Pool Guy’s expertise.
Recycling Carpenter is a role I relish since I relish creative reuse. I’m rising to the challenge of recycling odds and end to build a garden worktable for my new home. A perfect-enough discarded kitchen counter top, two recycled “legs” and a recycled former dog bed all go into the mix.
Recycling Carpenter is a role I relish since I relish creative reuse. I’m rising to the challenge of recycling odds and end to build a garden worktable for my new home. A perfect-enough discarded kitchen counter top, two recycled “legs” and a recycled former dog bed all go into the mix.
Photos forthcoming….
A range of powerful and complex emotions - such as desire, need to be right, greed, pride, revenge, need for status, shame, humiliation - exert a strong influence over humans’ ability to interpret facts.
The worsening coronavirus pandemic highlights the reality that:
How much longer will We the People allow Trump, his cronies, and the Republicans that enable him to continue on this path?
These days, for example, neighborhood monkeys invade this garden – balancing precariously on overhead cable, scaling garden walls and fences, and squeezing through the security gate - before our security system disables at 5:30am. This means, instead of my usual monkey-deterrent behavior – running outside wielding a stick and yelling, “go home, monkeys! Scoot monkeys!”, I yell from behind the burglar guards. Hardly incentive for monkeys to abandon the chance to snack on green onions, tender zucchini, crunchy new potatoes….
Moreover, “go home monkeys”?
Day 257 Tuesday, December 8 - Denial is a river in Egypt"
Have We the People reached the point at which “real” reality begins to inform our day-to-day actions?A range of powerful and complex emotions - such as desire, need to be right, greed, pride, revenge, need for status, shame, humiliation - exert a strong influence over humans’ ability to interpret facts.
The worsening coronavirus pandemic highlights the reality that:
… fact-based decision-making hasn’t made as much progress in society as it deserves because many decisions are overwhelmed by emotions. Our overall progress as a society, however, is predicated on our learning how to control emotions and make decisions based on “real” facts [as opposed to “alternative facts]. Add in other psychological dynamics such as ideology (which substitutes belief for facts), inertia (change requires significant energy), momentum (the desire to will obstacles out of our way), impulsiveness (wanting it now!) and stubbornness (no one will change my mind), and we can easily relegate facts to a far, obscure corner [of our minds].
News blues…
The three Ws: Watch your distance; wash your hands; wear a mask. Informative updates on coronavirus from an European perspective. (11:50 mins)***
Canadian Premier's harsh holiday message, “If you don’t think Covid’s real, you’re an idiot!“ (3:33 mins) ***
Powerful reality check by MSNBC’s Stephanie Rhule on her COVID-19 Diagnosis: I Did All the Right Things, But I Still Got the Virus (6:20 mins) ***
Donald Trump’s ever-widening reign of inhumanity continues. His finals acts in office include pardons for his crooked cronies (Mike Flynn, Roger Stone, Joe Arpaio, et al), decidedly questionable pardons among a long list and, now, an execution spree (“killed more death row prisoners than the U.S. government has done in the last five decades”) that are also super spreader events.
The decision by the U.S. government to move full steam ahead with federal executions in the face of a raging pandemic has attracted scant attention, despite the fact that it is dramatically out of step with state prison practices and opposed by a growing number of law enforcement officials and advocates for incarcerated individuals.Donald Trump spectacular and brazen vindictiveness is so apparent that humans cannot directly cope. We appear, so far, stumped, opting for denial over evidence.
Since coronavirus lockdowns began in mid-March, executions by state governments have essentially come to a halt because of the health risks involved. Only two people on state death rows have been executed, Walter Barton in Missouri on May 19 and Billy Wardlow in Texas on July 8.
In contrast, the federal government has executed eight people, with five more people scheduled to die before President Donald Trump leaves office. Brandon Bernard is set to be executed on Dec. 10, Alfred Bourgeois on Dec. 11, Lisa Montgomery on Jan. 12, Cory Johnson on Jan. 14 and Dustin Higgs on Jan. 15.
Since it reinstated capital punishment at the federal level this summer, the Trump administration has killed more death row prisoners than the U.S. government has done in the last five decades combined.
How much longer will We the People allow Trump, his cronies, and the Republicans that enable him to continue on this path?
Healthy planet, anyone?
A change of pace: celebrate our ancestors and an example of “what you do today matters tomorrow”: Astonishing rock paintings discovered in Colombia hold a lesson for today’s rainforest.Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Spending more time in South Africa this year than I’ve done in the last 40 years has advantages. One advantage is an unfolding awareness of seasonal change.These days, for example, neighborhood monkeys invade this garden – balancing precariously on overhead cable, scaling garden walls and fences, and squeezing through the security gate - before our security system disables at 5:30am. This means, instead of my usual monkey-deterrent behavior – running outside wielding a stick and yelling, “go home, monkeys! Scoot monkeys!”, I yell from behind the burglar guards. Hardly incentive for monkeys to abandon the chance to snack on green onions, tender zucchini, crunchy new potatoes….
Moreover, “go home monkeys”?
This IS their home. They’ve as much right to snack on Earth’s bounty as I do, perhaps more since no grocery stores cater to their culinary needs.
ichigan officials this weekend, gathering with firearms outside Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s home on Saturday to protest the battleground state’s election results…”
Day 256 Monday, December 7 - "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me"
As our world sags under an astonishingly contagious virus, Donald Trump continues to ignore reality, instead whining continually along the lines of, “Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me". (See below.)News blues…
In the US state of Michigan, the forces for crazy upped the game over the weekend: “Supporters of President Donald Trump amped up their efforts to intimidate Michigan officials this weekend, gathering with firearms outside Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s home on Saturday to protest the battleground state’s election results…”
In the US, the combination of crazy coupled with access to guns is a potent combination for violent wackiness.
The prez, it is worth repeating, does nothing, says nothing, and shows no intention of doing or saying anything, about the pandemic… other than tweeting that his clown-show lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has contracted Covid-19:
Being caught in a storm, while riding horses, or swimming in dams, or exploring the veld was deeply thrilling and satisfying. Thunder, lightning, and drenching rain reminded me that I was part of an amazing world worth celebrating as the spirit moved me: running, singing, and dancing amid the wildness.
During yesterday’s thunderstorm – lighting flashing directly overhead and buckets more rain – I realized that living for decades in California has impeded me not at all of the need to celebrate our planet’s vitality.
My brain rejoices as it reorients and my voice, if not my body, follows: I sing my appreciation.
South Africa:
Confirmed Cases: 796 472
Confirmed Deaths: 21 289
Confirmed Recoveries: 716 444
Source: Sources: State and county officials
Graphic: Jiachuan Wu / NBC News
The prez, it is worth repeating, does nothing, says nothing, and shows no intention of doing or saying anything, about the pandemic… other than tweeting that his clown-show lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has contracted Covid-19:
 |
| Rudy infected with Covid Perhaps not wearing a mask and gulping air is partly to blame? Iconic Rudy Giuliani |
"Rudy Giuliani, by far the greatest mayor in the history of NYC, and who has been working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election (by far!) in the history of the USA, has tested positive for the China Virus. Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!"
The stock-in-trade of Carry On humour was innuendo and the sending-up of British institutions and customs, such as the National Health Service (Nurse, Doctor, Again Doctor, Matron and the proposed Again Nurse), the monarchy (Henry), the Empire (Up the Khyber), the armed forces (Sergeant, England, Jack and the proposed Flying and Escaping), the police (Constable) and the trade unions (At Your Convenience) as well as camping (Camping), foreign holidays (Cruising, Abroad), beauty contests (Girls), caravan holidays (Behind), and the education system (Teacher) amongst others. Although the films were very often panned by critics, they mostly proved very popular with audiences.
In 2007, the pun "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me", spoken by Kenneth Williams (playing Julius Caesar) in Carry on Cleo, was voted the funniest one-line joke in film history.
Healthy planet, anyone?
The pandemic will leave behind a very different world from that of a year ago. Thousands of people have died; entire industries have been brought to the brink; welfare states have been shaken. In the coming years, the major challenge facing all public leaders will be charting a path of recovery through the devastating human, social and economic marks that Covid-19 has left on our societies.
But rather than redoubling on the fragile world of the pre-pandemic age, we should be taking advantage of this moment to build one that is more just, balanced and sustainable.
Cities will play a key role in this process. Barcelona and its metropolitan area want to lead the response to one of the toughest situations that humanity has faced in modern times. Achieving this will mean tackling two interrelated challenges. We need to continue the fight against the climate crisis, spurred by the European Green Deal. And we will need to boost the post-Covid economy through green technologies, sustainable industry and transport. ...
Read “Cities can lead a green revolution after Covid. In Barcelona, we're showing how…”
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Reorienting the brain: strong memories from my childhood in the Valley of a Thousand Hills include hot summer days concluding with fierce afternoon thunderstorms. Perhaps the storms were more intense because we lived on the edge of a valley, what was referred to as “the highest point.” The standard signifier or this status was a black and white plaque – no words – affixed to a five-foot metal pole embedded in a bucket of concrete buried above the slope into the valley/escarpment.Being caught in a storm, while riding horses, or swimming in dams, or exploring the veld was deeply thrilling and satisfying. Thunder, lightning, and drenching rain reminded me that I was part of an amazing world worth celebrating as the spirit moved me: running, singing, and dancing amid the wildness.
During yesterday’s thunderstorm – lighting flashing directly overhead and buckets more rain – I realized that living for decades in California has impeded me not at all of the need to celebrate our planet’s vitality.
My brain rejoices as it reorients and my voice, if not my body, follows: I sing my appreciation.
Day 255 Sunday, December 6 - Day of rest
News blues…
Pandemic news is exhausting. A day of rest is in order – after a data-driven reality check.South Africa:
Confirmed Cases: 796 472
Confirmed Deaths: 21 289
Confirmed Recoveries: 716 444
Source: Data courtesy of the Data Science for Social Impact Research Group at the University of Pretoria. Sourced from Department of Health Statements and NICD and Daily Maverick.
United States:
“I have federal agents that protect me. So they drive me to work, they stay here, they make sure that nobody tries to break in [to my home] and, as Steve Bannon would like, have someone behead me. I don’t socialise. It’s my wife and I and the federal agents."
Dr Anthony Fauci
Source: Sources: State and county officials
Graphic: Jiachuan Wu / NBC News
Healthy planet, anyone?
Are Tides And Waves The Missing Piece Of The Green Energy Puzzle? Solar and wind are energy powerhouses until the sky is dark or the air is still. An ancient source of energy — the tides — could soon offer a predictable alternative.Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
While not recovered yet, I am recovering from 3 days of grim achiness.Another day of rest should perk me right up.
Day 254 Saturday, December 5 - uyagula
Feel sick during this Covid pandemic and, naturally, one suspects the onset of Covid-19. Thursday evening my body began to ache – neck, back, hip joints, and a thumping headache.Friday morning, I reviewed the list of Covid symptoms. My temperature was normal, no sore throat, no fever, no chills, no fatigue, no dry cough. The only symptom was body ache. No Covid toes. Judging by the wonderful wafts of jasmine and yesterday, today, and tomorrow blossoms, my sense of smell wasn’t affected. I had not contracted i-coronavirus, but a simple case of uyagula (“ya-goola”/sick).
Governor of my home state, California, Gavin Newsom, yesterday announced a Regional Stay Home Order, where all sectors other than retail and essential operations would be closed in regions of the State where less than 15 percent of ICU beds are available.
News blues…
Notoriously recalcitrant with facing Covid realities, people of the United States are facing lockdowns that other countries, South Africa, for example, implemented months ago.Governor of my home state, California, Gavin Newsom, yesterday announced a Regional Stay Home Order, where all sectors other than retail and essential operations would be closed in regions of the State where less than 15 percent of ICU beds are available.
Health Officers announced the San Francisco Bay Area will implement the Regional Stay Home Order earlier, stating that more aggressive action is necessary to slow the surge and prevent our local hospitals from being overwhelmed. The new restrictions will go into effect in Alameda County on Monday, December 7, at 12:01 am and remain in place until January 4, 2021.
Under the Regional Stay Home Order, all private gatherings are prohibited and the following sectors must close:
• Indoor and outdoor playgrounds
• Indoor recreational facilities
• Hair salons and barbershops
• Personal care services
• Museums, zoos, and aquariums
• Movie theaters
• Wineries
• Bars, breweries, and distilleries
• Family entertainment centers
• Cardrooms and satellite wagering
• Limited services
• Live audience sports
• Amusement parks
The following sectors will have additional modifications in addition to 100% masking and physical distancing:
• Outdoor recreational facilities: Allow outdoor operation only without any food, drink or alcohol sales. Additionally, overnight stays at campgrounds will not be permitted.
• Retail: Allow indoor operation at 20% capacity with entrance metering and no eating or drinking in the stores. Additionally, special hours should be instituted for seniors and others with chronic conditions or compromised immune systems.
• Shopping centers: Allow indoor operation at 20% capacity with entrance metering and no eating or drinking in the stores. Additionally, special hours should be instituted for seniors and others with chronic conditions or compromised immune systems.
• Hotels and lodging: Allow to open for critical infrastructure support only.
• Restaurants: Allow only for take-out, pick-up, or delivery.
• Offices: Allow remote only except for critical infrastructure sectors where remote working is not possible.
• Places of worship and political expression: Allow outdoor services only.
• Entertainment production including professional sports: Allow operation without live audiences. Additionally, testing protocol and “bubbles” are highly encouraged.
Finally, glimpses of sanity…
Under the Regional Stay Home Order, all private gatherings are prohibited and the following sectors must close:
• Indoor and outdoor playgrounds
• Indoor recreational facilities
• Hair salons and barbershops
• Personal care services
• Museums, zoos, and aquariums
• Movie theaters
• Wineries
• Bars, breweries, and distilleries
• Family entertainment centers
• Cardrooms and satellite wagering
• Limited services
• Live audience sports
• Amusement parks
The following sectors will have additional modifications in addition to 100% masking and physical distancing:
• Outdoor recreational facilities: Allow outdoor operation only without any food, drink or alcohol sales. Additionally, overnight stays at campgrounds will not be permitted.
• Retail: Allow indoor operation at 20% capacity with entrance metering and no eating or drinking in the stores. Additionally, special hours should be instituted for seniors and others with chronic conditions or compromised immune systems.
• Shopping centers: Allow indoor operation at 20% capacity with entrance metering and no eating or drinking in the stores. Additionally, special hours should be instituted for seniors and others with chronic conditions or compromised immune systems.
• Hotels and lodging: Allow to open for critical infrastructure support only.
• Restaurants: Allow only for take-out, pick-up, or delivery.
• Offices: Allow remote only except for critical infrastructure sectors where remote working is not possible.
• Places of worship and political expression: Allow outdoor services only.
• Entertainment production including professional sports: Allow operation without live audiences. Additionally, testing protocol and “bubbles” are highly encouraged.
Finally, glimpses of sanity…
***
The Lincoln Project: Don’t go back (0:25 mins)
Pulpit (0:25 mins)
Big questions: Can this food system be fixed?
Can farmers create a food system that works with the earth, not against it?
The biggest petroleum corporation in the world, Exxon, faces $20 billion hit from 'epic failure' of a decade ago.
Pulpit (0:25 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
This is the year Americans learned how a food system reliant on industrial agriculture, near monopolies and exploited laborers breaks down. Just two months into the pandemic, the meat industry in the most powerful nation in the world was buckling.Big questions: Can this food system be fixed?
Can farmers create a food system that works with the earth, not against it?
For all the consumer-facing, shrink-wrapped elegance of the modern food system, the pandemic has exposed its fragility.
Alongside the public health crisis, poverty and food insecurity have skyrocketed this year. As of July, 29 million Americans said they “sometimes or often” did not have enough to eat.
At the same time, Americans were confronted with images and stories of farmers forced to dump milk, destroy crops, and euthanize their livestock as processing facilities and restaurants shut down.
***
It’s not just the food system. It’s all systems with profit-first motives. The biggest petroleum corporation in the world, Exxon, faces $20 billion hit from 'epic failure' of a decade ago.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Today, I remain uyagula, but less achy, and slightly less headachy. Now I worry about what might happen if I contracted Covid. My travel health insurance ran out months ago and my US-based health insurance is valid only in the US. I’ve no backup health insurance. This would mean any serious ill health would require going into debt for private hospital care or, horrors, partaking of the free but notoriously poor government health system. (One is advised to bring one’s own sheets and blankets for a stint in state hospitals – and to carry them with you to the toilet. Leaving bedclothes on the bed, even briefly, runs the risk of returning to a bare bed, bedclothes stolen.Shaggy-dog story?
Am I willing to risk it?
Summary:
President Ramaphosa began with heartfelt appreciation for South Africans who observed five days of mourning for those dead from Covid-19 and from gender-based violence (GBV)
His update on worldwide Covid numbers – SA has dropped on the list from 5th to 14th – included the realities of a resurgence of infections across the country that is exacting a heavy toll: 887,200 people infected since March, with a recovery rate 92%, and 21,803 deaths.
There’s a marked rise in new infections and more infected people in hospital. We went from 1,500 new cases per day, to 2,900 the last week of November to 4,400 new as of yesterday (December 2)
Three areas of the country suffering particularly:
Nelson Mandela Bay
Day 253 Friday, December 4 - Presidential update
I continue to marvel at how President Ramaphosa addresses South Africans: respectfully, honestly, directly, without threats of violence or calls for mayhem. In the era of Trump, this is refreshing leadership.News blues…
President Ramaphosa updated South Africans on the country’s response to the pandemic and laid out how we intend to cope over the next month. (25:30 mins)Summary:
President Ramaphosa began with heartfelt appreciation for South Africans who observed five days of mourning for those dead from Covid-19 and from gender-based violence (GBV)
His update on worldwide Covid numbers – SA has dropped on the list from 5th to 14th – included the realities of a resurgence of infections across the country that is exacting a heavy toll: 887,200 people infected since March, with a recovery rate 92%, and 21,803 deaths.
There’s a marked rise in new infections and more infected people in hospital. We went from 1,500 new cases per day, to 2,900 the last week of November to 4,400 new as of yesterday (December 2)
Three areas of the country suffering particularly:
Nelson Mandela Bay
Sarah Bartman area
The Garden Route (due to the interprovincial movement of seasonal workers)
Eastern and Western Cape showing an increase in deaths
Rise in transmission rates due to:
The plan to deal with the resurgence includes:
NCCC declares hotspots to practice new restrictions as of midnight:
No one will be left behind
WHO global access to COVAX – countries shall pool resources to ensure equitable access
SA’s Solidarity Fund will make available ZAR327 million to procure vaccines
Currently there are three trails of candidate vaccines and we’re awaiting confirmation that they’re safe, effective, and suitable for South Africans
We, people, remain out own best protection:
Avoid danger by avoiding complacency, particularly during coming festive season. This is a time for caution
Large gathering are super spreader events so take precautions to avoid spreading the virus
Let there be no relaxing on these measures and do not let down your guard with this coronavirus
Let us recommit ourselves to this fight for our lives, take steps now, stand together, and work together.
Rise in transmission rates due to:
- interprovincial travel
- people gathering in large groups – and in poorly ventilated venues such as for funerals and “after tears” parties
- increases in alcohol-related trauma admissions to hospital that divert capacity of hospitals and hospital staff to cope with Covid. Many people are NOT wearing masks or practicing proper hygiene and social distancing
The plan to deal with the resurgence includes:
- Creating more capacity for hospitals
- Expanding public health
- Increasing awareness campaigns
- “Overall, however, we must change our behavior. The resurgence is like a bush fire: we must quickly extinguish flare ups before they develop into an inferno.”
NCCC declares hotspots to practice new restrictions as of midnight:
- Curfew – 10 p to 4 am – no one outside residences, except essential workers
- Alcohol sold only between 10am and 6pm, Monday thru Thursday
- No consumption of alcohol in public spaces, including beaches and parks and in gatherings
- Restrictions on gatherings, including religious: no more than 100 indoors and 250 outdoors, and not to exceed 50 percent capacity anywhere
- All “after tears” gatherings prohibited
- We seek to take steps that are absolutely necessary. The summer season may go ahead in Eastern Cape with the risk adjusted plan approved, including:
- Strict adherence to health protocols, PPE, access to water
- NO initiation schools allowed for the interim in an effort to contain spread and save lives
- National State of Disaster extended to 15 January, 2021
- Level 1 remains throughout the country
- Everyone must play her/his part, respect rules, measures, and protocols; breaking rules will have consequences
- – Taxis: all passengers must wear masks
- Full compliance with curfews
No one will be left behind
WHO global access to COVAX – countries shall pool resources to ensure equitable access
SA’s Solidarity Fund will make available ZAR327 million to procure vaccines
Currently there are three trails of candidate vaccines and we’re awaiting confirmation that they’re safe, effective, and suitable for South Africans
We, people, remain out own best protection:
- Through wearing a mask in public and staying safe
- Practicing social distancing
- avoiding gatherings
- Washing/sanitizing hands
Avoid danger by avoiding complacency, particularly during coming festive season. This is a time for caution
Large gathering are super spreader events so take precautions to avoid spreading the virus
Let there be no relaxing on these measures and do not let down your guard with this coronavirus
Let us recommit ourselves to this fight for our lives, take steps now, stand together, and work together.
***
The Lincoln Project: On the Ballot (0:59 mins)
Whispers III (1:32 mins)
During South Africa’s strict lockdown, groups of activists decided to distribute parcels of vegetables as wells as seedlings and gardening materials to hundreds of vulnerable households. A photo essay…
Covid careful Santa (“Father Christmas”) greeted me at the local grocery store.
December 3 – 64,469,710 confirmed infections; 1,492,100 deaths
November 5 – 48,136,225 confirmed infections; 1,225,915 deaths
In 29 days, an increase of 16,333,485 confirmed infections and 266,185 deaths
US (Map)
December 3 – 13,920,000 confirmed infections; 273,370 deaths
November 5 – 9,487,470 confirmed infections; 237,730 deaths
In 29 days, an increase of 4,432,530 confirmed infections and 35,640 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
December 3 – 796,475 confirmed infections; 21,710 deaths
November 5 – 730,500 confirmed infections; 19,585 deaths
In 29 days, an increase of 65,975 confirmed infections and 2,125 deaths
All this 29-degree-southern-hemisphere fecundity disorients a 38-degree-northern-hemisphere Californian….
I’m adjusting – and enjoying the adjustment.
Native people cultivated cranberries up and down the Eastern Seaboard for centuries. Cranberries, grown in bogs primarily in New England and Wisconsin, depend on plenty of water, cold winters, and mild summers. The cranberry
One item, a large, heavy, one-piece wet bar presented our moving team with a conundrum: too large to pass through the upstairs passageways. (We concluded it had been built in place, with nary an eye to moving it, ever.) Our team, two auction house movers, our gardener, domestic worker, and me consulted (in Zulu, so I followed via hand gestures)… then, together, we tried, this way and that, to make headway. Alas, no dice. The gardener hatched a plan: lower the bulky piece by rope over the verandah wall, slide it down a long ladder, then lower it onto the truck bed. While in theory, a good plan, I was skeptical: “what can go wrong, will go wrong…” Happily, I was wrong.
After a couple of small adjustments to the plan… this photo essay captures the maneuver.
Creativity + Courage + Willingness + Strength = Success!
My attempts over the past couple of years to grow veggies failed because I misunderstood my garden nemesis: the cutworm.
Destructive cutworms attack seedlings at or just below the soil surface. The trick to avoiding that damage? Sew seedlings early-to-mid August, before the rains begin late September, early October. August, of course, is also the time neighborhood monkeys are most hungry. Seedlings that avoid cutworms encounter monkeys. Not a single beet/beetroot I planted survived the monkeys. All beets were uprooted, ditto green onions. Potatoes take a beating but thrive. Zucchini (“baby marrows”) do better as monkeys gnaw the young fruit while still on the plant. Half a zucchini is better than no zucchini – and just as delicious – and I gleefully harvest them.
Whispers III (1:32 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
How Covid sowed the seeds of food security in JohannesburgDuring South Africa’s strict lockdown, groups of activists decided to distribute parcels of vegetables as wells as seedlings and gardening materials to hundreds of vulnerable households. A photo essay…
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Covid careful Santa (“Father Christmas”) greeted me at the local grocery store.
Day 252 Thursday, December 3 - Fatal "individualism"
Worldwide (Map)December 3 – 64,469,710 confirmed infections; 1,492,100 deaths
November 5 – 48,136,225 confirmed infections; 1,225,915 deaths
In 29 days, an increase of 16,333,485 confirmed infections and 266,185 deaths
US (Map)
December 3 – 13,920,000 confirmed infections; 273,370 deaths
November 5 – 9,487,470 confirmed infections; 237,730 deaths
In 29 days, an increase of 4,432,530 confirmed infections and 35,640 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
December 3 – 796,475 confirmed infections; 21,710 deaths
November 5 – 730,500 confirmed infections; 19,585 deaths
In 29 days, an increase of 65,975 confirmed infections and 2,125 deaths
News blues…
A Brookings Institute survey of Americans asked about why they choose not to wear a mask to slow the transmission of coronavirus, finds “individualism” a key component of resistance:Read the article: “American individualism is an obstacle to wider mask wearing”… 40% of Americans who do not wear a mask say this is because it is “their right as an American to not wear a mask.” This modal response was followed by Americans who say they do not wear a mask “because it is uncomfortable” at 24%. The data reveals that a combined 64% of Americans believe that their right to not have to be inconvenienced by wearing a mask or scarf over their face is more important than reducing the probability of getting sick or infecting others.
© National Panel Study of COVID-19
***
Further health-oriented Covid restrictions coming up in South Africa with the health department recommending to the national coronavirus command council (NCCC) that the government:- reduce the maximum size of indoor gatherings
- implement an earlier curfew overall
- put in place a 10pm curfew in Covid-19 hotspots around the country
restrict alcohol sales from Monday to Thursday, and - declare bars and taverns close by 9pm.
Healthy planet, anyone?
For extended periods over the past two years, Eskom’s [South Africa’s parastatal electricity supply commission] Kendal Power Station has been found consistently exceeding particulate matter atmospheric emissions of up to 10 times the allowable limit.Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Barbara Creecy has revealed that summons was served on Eskom on 27 November notifying it of the decision by the senior public prosecutor to pursue a criminal prosecution in respect of air pollution by Eskom’s Kendal Power Station. This includes a charge of supplying false and misleading information in reports prepared by management at Kendal Power Station to an Air Quality Officer, which is a criminal offence listed in Section 51(1)(g) of the Air Quality Act.
***
“…The state of the planet is broken," said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a speech on Wednesday. He issued a searing indictment of humanity's "war" on the environment and urged everyone to prioritize "making peace with nature.""We are facing a devastating pandemic, new heights of global heating, new lows of ecological degradation and new setbacks in our work towards global goals for more equitable, inclusive and sustainable development."
The UN chief laid out in stark terms the damage already done to the environment and warned that countries risked losing the opportunity afforded by the coronavirus pandemic to reset their priorities on climate change and environmental protections if they do not act now.
Guterres highlighted two authoritative new reports - one from the World Meteorological Organization and the other from the United Nations Environment Programme - "spell out how close we are to climate catastrophe…."
***
New Zealand declares a climate change emergency as Jacinda Ardern calls climate change “one of the greatest challenges of our time” and pledges carbon-neutral government by 2025.Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Rain, rain, rain… and vegetation shooting up. Grass must be cut at least once a week, bamboo seemingly grows inches overnight, trees, flowers, weeds bloom thither and yon.All this 29-degree-southern-hemisphere fecundity disorients a 38-degree-northern-hemisphere Californian….
I’m adjusting – and enjoying the adjustment.
Day 251 Wednesday, December 2 - Running on empty
Events around the world, from dire coronavirus realities, including lack of responsible mitigation efforts, to ongoing revelations of Trump & Co corruptions and grift, humans are running on empty.News blues…
South African nurses say they are emotionally and physically drained as they battle on the Covid-19 frontline.Sister Lama Peega, who works at Carletonville district hospital on the West Rand, said, “Some among us fell along the way. We buried them because of Covid-19.”
She said they also faced a challenge of nurses being off from work because they tested positive for Covid-19 and were required to isolate for 14 days. “The burden on those who were at the frontline became even greater. We had to work overtime throughout to cover other wards. I am working at the theatre section [as a midwife]. When I am off, I would be requested to assist in Covid-19 wards….”
***
A new report examined blood donations in nine states between mid-December and January. Some showed evidence of coronavirus antibodies.
The coronavirus was likely in the U.S. as early as mid-December 2019, roughly a month before the first COVID-19 case was confirmed, according to research published on Monday.
A study of blood samples from 7,389 routine donations to the American Red Cross between Dec. 13, 2019, and Jan. 17, 2020, found evidence of COVID-19 antibodies in 106 specimens, according to researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The donations were made in nine states ― California, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin. Donations with antibodies reactive to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, came from all nine.
Healthy planet, anyone?
A story of cranberries, one of only three fruits native to the US, with blueberries and Concord grapes the other two.Native people cultivated cranberries up and down the Eastern Seaboard for centuries. Cranberries, grown in bogs primarily in New England and Wisconsin, depend on plenty of water, cold winters, and mild summers. The cranberry
is the result of millions of years of evolution, thousands of years of human consumption, 200 years of intentional cultivation and dedication. But how the viney plants will fare in the future is far from certain. In New England as elsewhere, climate change is shifting many of the conditions under which the plants thrive, from warming winters to changing summers. The changes are making them harder to grow and putting a question mark next to the iconic, beloved crop’s future.
Growers that love their crop and the scientists that help them are working to figure out solutions, and the situation isn’t yet dire. But … “we don’t really have a Plan B….”
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
We continue clearing out and auctioning my mother’s effects from her large house.One item, a large, heavy, one-piece wet bar presented our moving team with a conundrum: too large to pass through the upstairs passageways. (We concluded it had been built in place, with nary an eye to moving it, ever.) Our team, two auction house movers, our gardener, domestic worker, and me consulted (in Zulu, so I followed via hand gestures)… then, together, we tried, this way and that, to make headway. Alas, no dice. The gardener hatched a plan: lower the bulky piece by rope over the verandah wall, slide it down a long ladder, then lower it onto the truck bed. While in theory, a good plan, I was skeptical: “what can go wrong, will go wrong…” Happily, I was wrong.
After a couple of small adjustments to the plan… this photo essay captures the maneuver.
Creativity + Courage + Willingness + Strength = Success!
Day 250 Tuesday, December 1 - Virus pandemic as forest fire
Trump’s Covid-19 Failures Miss Key Lessons From 1918 Pandemic (6:55 mins)News blues…
US daily Covid-19 hospitalizations are inching closer to 100,000 - the highest they've ever been. (2:22 mins)***
What Needs To Happen Before The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Considered Over?
There needs to be a whole new approach to confronting the virus before the pandemic can be considered over or resolved, said Daniel B. Fagbuyi, an emergency room physician in Washington, D.C. That starts with leadership and a more coordinated, national pandemic plan.…Steps that will bring the coronavirus pandemic under control and how long it might take to get back to "normal."
“It is clear that the pandemic response and messaging has been mediocre,” Fagbuyi said. The cessation of this pandemic clearly begins with national leadership change, a change of the old guard and a visionary that embraces science.”
Healthy planet, anyone?
Something a little different in this segment today: a celebration of artists over 12,500 years: “Tens of thousands of ice age paintings across a cliff face shed light on people and animals….”Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
After four decades of living in California – dry summers and cold, wet, dark winters – I’m rediscovering KZN weather: warm, wet summers and cold, dry winters. I love KZN weather.My attempts over the past couple of years to grow veggies failed because I misunderstood my garden nemesis: the cutworm.
Destructive cutworms attack seedlings at or just below the soil surface. The trick to avoiding that damage? Sew seedlings early-to-mid August, before the rains begin late September, early October. August, of course, is also the time neighborhood monkeys are most hungry. Seedlings that avoid cutworms encounter monkeys. Not a single beet/beetroot I planted survived the monkeys. All beets were uprooted, ditto green onions. Potatoes take a beating but thrive. Zucchini (“baby marrows”) do better as monkeys gnaw the young fruit while still on the plant. Half a zucchini is better than no zucchini – and just as delicious – and I gleefully harvest them.
Day 249 Monday, November 30 - Help is not on the way
News blues…
MSNBC: Rep. Andy Kim: “1 Out Of Every 1,250 Americans In This Country Has Died Because of COVID" (5:45 mins)***
With 4 percent of the world’s population, the US has 19 percent of the world’s Covid deaths. Since Thanksgiving, there has been 346,061 new infections and 2,704 deaths. This clip includes an information update with Dr Fauci. ***
An informative overview of Covid – potentially brewing over 5 decades (11:30 mins) ***
South Africa requires Covid certificates for cross-border truck traffic. (2:20 mins) ***
The last several weeks workers with the local village’s Umngeni Municipality have engaged in “popcorn” strikes, spontaneous events that block municipal office entrances. The original focus was a request for an increase in salary. Today, more action:
Protest action at Umngeni Municipality remains unresolved. A Court Interdiction was issued on 2020-11-27 to 6 respondents regarding the protests. The applicant in that court interdict is Ms Thembeka Cibane the Municipal Manager who wanted the Court to force all 6 applicants to instruct those who are protesting to stop their actions.I hope protesters wear masks….
As a result of the court interdict, there was a public meeting at Mpopomeni Hall to discuss the way forward.
After that meeting, a decision was taken to intensify the protests by blocking all roads leading to Howick. The targeted roads includes R617, Tweedie Rd and all others access roads. Information received also indicates that today’s protest will be joined by people from Zuzokuhle and Mathandubisi areas. Roads blockade are expected to start in the early hours of Monday morning 2020-11-30.
Healthy planet, anyone?
...Scientists are finding that parasites are puppet masters, shaping ecosystems by changing the behaviour of their host species. Research in California showed parasites were involved in 78% of links in the food chain. Rough estimates suggest there could be 80 million parasites, but only 10% have been identified….
Colin Carlson is a biologist at Georgetown University in the US who has just published a paper in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B arguing for a global parasite project to record parasitic life on Earth. He says we know next to nothing about them. “When we think about plants and herbivores and carnivores, there are parasites operating on every part of that food web – they’re this kind of dark matter. There are these unaccounted for links and forces in the network that we often can’t quantify.”
Carlson believes conservationists underestimate public support and interest in parasites. “People assume that because they’re gross, there’s not going to be any interest,” he says. “And I think, actually, it’s quite the opposite … People like the idea that there’s this entire hidden world within animals that we know nothing about. People love frontiers, right? They love the deep ocean and deep space and there is a frontier inside every animal on Earth.”
The global parasite project could lead to half the world’s parasites being described in the next decade, researchers say.Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Cycads typically grow very slowly and live very long, with some specimens known to be as much as 1,000 years old. Cycads are sometimes mistaken for palms or ferns because of a superficial resemblance, but they are not closely related to either group.
I’ve a special place in my heart for cycads. When I was a child, one had grown, ignored for years, in a bird aviary near my bungalow. Then, an irate cycad-knowledgeable person strongly urged my mother to remove the aviary and “protect that bloody cycad. Don’t you know it could be a thousand years old?”
A couple of youthful cycads try to live long and happy lives in this garden. Alas, caterpillars make that tough.
Last year, I noticed swarms of yellow and black caterpillars on the youthful cycads. Yesterday, I noticed relatives of those swarms had returned. Quick online research indicated these would soon develop into Cycad Moths, a blue-grey butterfly.
Despite their attractive coloring, birds avoid these critters as the diet of cycad makes the caterpillars distasteful.
I scooped dozens of these caterpillars from cycad fronds and tossed them into the pond. The Massacre of the Innocents, each of us victims of do-what-ya-gotta-do.
As a mark of respect, I watched the caterpillars drown and sunk. Sunlight illuminated their bodies on the pond bottom.
I tell myself they’ll to enrich the ecosystem as compost….
Day 248 Sunday, November 29 - unThanksgiving
The Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Ceremony, aka unThanksgiving Day, is a day of recognition little known among majority-immigrant Americans. It is, however, the day many Native Americans regret the arrival of immigrants onto their land, the continent of North America.
Several years ago, a friend and I left home at 3.33am on a rainy morning to ferry to Alcatraz Island, in San Francisco Bay, to celebrate an Indigenous Peoples’ Unthanksgiving.
I foresee a future when Americans look back at 2020’s Thanksgiving and holiday season as a time for sober reevaluation.What were we thinking when we acted rashly and ignored an out-of-control pandemic?News blues…
As Thanksgiving week draws to an end, more experts are warning the Covid-19 pandemic will likely get much worse in the coming weeks before a possible vaccine begins to offer some relief.
[Across the US] More than 205,000 new cases were reported Friday - which likely consists of both Thursday and Friday reports in some cases, as at least 20 states did not report Covid-19 numbers on Thanksgiving. As of Saturday evening, more than 138,000 new cases and 1,100 deaths had been reported, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The US has now reported more than 100,000 infections every day for 26 consecutive days. The daily average in the week to Friday was more than 166,000 - almost 2.5 times higher than the summer's peak counts in July.
The number of Covid-19 patients in US hospitals reached record levels on Saturday evening, with 91,635 Americans hospitalized with Covid19, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
***Overnight numbers of new Covid infections in South Africa, were, again, above 3,000.Motherwell resident Ntombizanele Majamana, 56, urged [health minister] Mkhize to convince the cabinet to impose strict regulations in Port Elizabeth. “I have lost many relatives to Covid-19,” she said.
“I wish we could return to the strict lockdown because [then] people adhered to the rules. At the moment people are acting as if Covid-19 is gone, they are attending churches, funerals and traditional ceremonies in numbers.Healthy planet, anyone?
Reuters photographer Gleb Garanich says: “…the animal world need not only be found in the wild. I was on my way to cover a protest near the Ukrainian parliament and had deliberately left 90 minutes ahead of time as I like to take pictures early in the morning in the city centre”…
This photo essay reminds us that beauty is all around, if we have eyes to see….Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Spotted my fourth snake yesterday, the first green one. It was fast but I registered a fresh shade of green, not more than 14 inches long, and what I’d categorize as a youthful body. Could have been any of a range of “green snakes” …***Marketing in South Africa is highly dependent on “passion”. Marketing professionals are “passion about,” feel “passionately,” and employ variants of this word to flog anything, from cannabis oil to shoes, to manufacturing, to pharmaceuticals…Recently, an email from a pharmacy declared, “we are passionate about delighting our clients…”One wonders what drugs they’re pedaling.
Day 247 Saturday, Nov 28 - More of the same
News blues…
Like elsewhere in the world, South Africa’s Covid infections are surging: more than 3,370 new cases in the past 24 hours. Numbers are “concerning,” says Health Minister Zweli Mkhize.***Black Friday, indeed: ‘Terrified’ retail workers face brutal Black Friday choice: Risk catching COVID-19 from ‘entitled Karens’ or get fired.***Whackjobbery is baaaack! The recent surge in whackjobbery (see definition) submerged during the swampy election, but it’s back – and as whacky as ever. Even diehard whackjobs are confusing their ideologies as QAnoners fight the “MAGAverse” and all threaten to boycott, well, something or someone.
It’s funny, in a macabre way - as long as adherents leave their guns home - but it's a challenge to keep the factions straight.
Mike Rothschild, writer and researcher on conspiracy theories working on a book about QAnon, offers a primer:“At its core, Q mythology is a theory that Trump is the sole savior from a cabal of Satan-worshipping, pedophiliac Washington elites…
It's really hard to put aside that worldview, even for just a couple months, to get behind a conventional election.
When you've been spending years thinking all elections are rigged, the deep state controls everything, nothing you do matters and the only way to stop it is for Donald Trump to win every state, be president for life and destroy his enemies — you're so caught up in believing this radically enormous thing, that you miss the very small thing right in front of you….”Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
The shebeen (unlicensed “bush pub”) across the road hosted a party last night. It began at 7pm or so – and continues… (currently 7am next morning). Music, singing, dancing, fighting, yelling… sounds like a hellava party. Our security alarm sounded at 2:44am last night. A check of the property revealed no incursions.***Zebra suit… Lockdown across South Africa, instituted mid-March, shut down my swimming routine at the pool in a gated community. Soon as the facility reopened in September, I started swimming again.
This gated community also currently houses my mother in the Care Center. It’s a high-end facility that my mother agreed would suit her needs. Alas, she’s changed her mind. Alas, I lost patience with her constant reversals and complaining – "not enough tea, hard veggies, old people" (she’s 87), etc. etc. Alas, when we selected her room, we agreed overlooking the parking lot was the option that allowed her regular views of wild animals – small groups of zebra, impala, and warthogs – and an intriguing assortment of bird life. This has proven true. So far, she’s not complaining about the view. But I am. Alas, the view includes the only entryway to the swimming pool This means our currently troubled relationship affects my swim routine: I hesitate to enter the pool in full view of my mother while not dropping by for a visit.
Friends to the rescue: one friend suggested that, when I head to the pool, I wear a zebra suit as a disguise!
Friends. I luv ‘em!
Day 246 Friday, Nov 27 - Mythical plans
News blues…
SA: My early morning Covid stats app declared more than 3,000 new infections across this country in the past 24 hours.
US: Even with 181,490 new cases on Wednesday, millions of Americans defied official advice not to travel or gather for Thanksgiving on Thursday. This is the third daily rise in a row, and hospitalisations hit 89,959 cases, a record for a 16th day in succession.***Conspiracy theories frequently revolve around a coherent plan emanating from a central cabal coordinating lockstep coercion aimed at “taking over the world,” or the city, or the county, or the state, or the whatever….
Rudy Giuliani, Trump's lead lawyer in his “ongoing series of false claims about election fraud, laid out the whole shebang during a, um, sweaty press conference on Thursday” :"This pattern repeats itself in a number of states, almost exactly the same pattern, which to any experienced investigator, prosecutor, would suggest that there was a plan from a centralized place to execute these various acts of voter fraud specifically focused on big cities and specifically focused on, as you would imagine, big cities controlled by Democrats. And particularly focused on big cities that have a long history of corruption."The one big, glaring weakness in such theories?
Two or more humans together barely agree on what to eat for dinner, never mind adhere to a “plan from a centralized place.” (Think Soviet Union….) Despite an agreed-upon “platform,” Democrats barely control party apparatchiks – think AOC and “the squad”, Dianne Feinstein – never mind act coherently.
If a coordinated “centralized place” presented a coherent people-and-planet-friendly plan, I’d quickly join it. I’ve participated many so-called “political action” planning sessions and experience proves it is ludicrous to suggest groups of humans are capable of agreement, never mind successful coordination. It just doesn’t happen. We’re genetically incapable of agreeing upon and sticking to a long-term plan. That’s why we’re destroying our beautiful life-sustaining planet.***The Lincoln Project offers thanks:While this year presented unique challenges for all of us, we still have so much to give thanks for.
We are thankful for unity — an unprecedented coalition of over 80 million Americans united behind Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to reject Donald Trump.
We are thankful for democracy — despite egregious and seditious attacks, we, the People, remain sovereign and in charge of our Republic.
We are thankful for honesty, integrity, and merit — as the Biden transition kicks into high gear, it is relieving and exciting to witness the restoration of moral, principled, and qualified leadership and expertise to the White House.
Above all, we are thankful for you. Your dedication and support for our mission is truly the only reason we are here.
You fought to protect our democracy.
You restored honor and decency to the White House.
You defeated Donald Trump.
Thank you, for being a watchdog for our country’s institutions, a gatekeeper for our nation’s highest offices, and a dedicated patriot.
Our work is not over—far from it.
We will keep up the fight against Trumpism as long as we have you standing with us.
We hope you have a safe, restful, and joyful Thanksgiving.
From co-founders: Reed Galen, Jennifer Horn, Mike Madrid, Steve Schmidt, Ron Steslow, Rick Wilson
Healthy planet, anyone?
Amazing gift that will keep on giving: New Zealanders Dick and Jillian Jardine, whose family have owned and worked the land for 98 years, have gifted 900 hectares of pristine land by the edge of Lake Wakatipu to the crown, saying it is “the right thing to do”.
The stretch of land at the foot of the Remarkables range will become open to everyone in 2022, after being handed over to the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust for “the benefit and enjoyment of all New Zealanders”.***Back in 2018, the US state of Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources built a bridge over Interstate 80 to reduce traffic accidents in Parleys Canyon caused by wandering animals. Last week, the agency released a video of the bridge in use - aiding moose, porcupines, deer and even bears across the busy highway.Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.
Thirty-six weeks of waiting….
Temperatures are dropping back in California, specifically where my semi-abandoned houseboat is docked. The outboard motor is exposed to the elements. It’ll crack if temps drop below zero – as forecast by weather people. I’ve reached out via text to request fellow mariners cover the motor with an old cloth or bag or towel or….Fourteen thousands miles away and I rely on the “kindness of strangers…”
Day 245 Thursday, Nov 26 - Lucky bird
“Oh, that’s a lucky, lucky bird….”
Donald J Trump was not referring to his expectation that he’ll avoid a future as jailbird for assorted tax and constitutional crimes. He was congratulating Corn and Cob, the turkeys he pardoned from become meals for Thanksgiving 2020. (1:50 mins)
As comedian Steven Colbert noted, “An innocent turkey pardoned by a lame duck.”***Note, below, the exponential increase in numbers of Covid infections and deaths…
Worldwide (Map)
November 26 – 60,334,000 confirmed infections; 1,420,500 deaths
October 29 – 44,402,000 confirmed infections; 1,173,270 deaths
September 24 – 31,780,000 confirmed infections; 975,100 deaths
US (Map)
November 26 – 12,771,000 confirmed infections; 262,145 deaths
October 29 – 8,856,000 confirmed infections; 227,675 deaths
September 24 – 6,935,000 confirmed infections; 201,880 deaths
SA (Tracker)
November 26 – 775,510 confirmed infections; 21,2010 deaths
October 29 – 719,715 confirmed infections; 19,111 deaths
September 24 – 665,190 confirmed infections; 16,206 deathsMore than 3,200 new infections in South Africa in 24 hours.
Western Cape considers local restrictions to fight resurgent Covid-19***What will The Lincoln Project do next? The group made a difference in the recent election as well as presented new ways of understanding Republicanism, what it means to be American, and demonstrated one way to push back against lies and deceit.
Their recent ad: The Lincoln Project Gives Thanks, (1:43 mins).
Right back at ya, TLP: Thank you!
Healthy planet, anyone?
South African lizards pollinate 'hidden flower' in Drakensberg
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
My pall of despondency briefly lifted today when two realtors dropped by to take another look at my mother’s large property so as to revamp the online marketing description. The current description garnered not a single nibble from potential buyers.Californian’s hot real estate market ensures most properties receive multiple offers over the asking price and sell quickly. Here, one gets nary a sniff?
Living in a double holding pattern – pandemic and waiting to sell – is a nightmare.
Additionally, I’ve spent almost a year here – six months more than planned – trying to establish a safer home for my frail mother.It's tough, when delivering yet more cooked giblet meals for The Dog, she greets me with a barrage of complaints: “I can’t stay here… I’ll die if I stay here … their vegetables aren’t cooked enough… they don’t give me enough tea … people here are old … I’m moving back to my house: you can live in the top section and I’ll live in the bottom section….”She was shocked when I said, “I don’t want to live in the top section. I have my own plans and my own place.”She's unfamiliar with someone, anyone - never mind her daughter - disagreeing with her ready-to-implement plan-of-the-day and refusing to fall in line.
Not only did I not fall in line, I suggested she make more of an effort to reach out to others instead of rebuffing efforts others make towards her, and that she stop complaining….
Oh boy!
The fur’s gonna fly!
Day 244 Wednesday, Nov 25 - Moving on
US President-elect Joe Biden is naming his cabinet and the country is moving on….Now to roll out an actual, coherent plan to address the pandemic across that nation and the world.News blues…
Lockdown booze ban saved 21 lives a day: Shocking stats reveal how badly SA is impacted by alcohol abuse, with young men bearing the brunt.A report on unnatural deaths in SA during the second alcohol ban shows the devastating effect that booze has on the country.
Researcher Kai Barron of the Berlin School of Economics, says the data showed “the five-week sales ban reduced the number of unnatural deaths in SA by 21 per day, which is substantial”...***South Africa’s health ministry confirms 2,493 new cases in the past 24 hours from 20,288 tests — a positivity rate of 12.2%The ministry also confirmed 115 new Covid-19 related deaths, taking the national death toll to 21,083. Of the new deaths, 45 were in the Eastern Cape, 20 in the Free State, 19 in Gauteng, 16 in the Western Cape, 10 in KwaZulu-Natal, and five in the Northern Cape.
There have also been 716,444 recorded recoveries, at a recovery rate of 92.8%.
The figures are based on 5,325,631 total tests to date, of which 20,288 fell in the past 24-hour cycle.***US sets record for Covid-19 hospitalizations amid fall surgeThere are 88,080 people currently hospitalized with Covid-19, setting a record for hospitalizations amid a continuing fall surge, according to the Covid Tracking Project. This is the highest number of Covid-19 hospitalizations the nation has ever experienced since the pandemic hit the US.Healthy planet, anyone?
Amazing creatures of our amazing planet: each arm of an octopus may have a mind of its own….The common octopus, Octopus vulgaris, … has three hearts, and eight limbs with 200 suckers that can feel, taste and smell its surroundings. Scientists remain divided over whether it has one brain or nine. In mammals, most neurons are in the brain, but with octopuses, two-thirds are in their body and arms, enabling each arm to do complex tasks, such as opening jars to obtain food, apparently independently from the central brain.
After much experimenting with underwater mazes and other contraptions, scientists concluded that octopuses could solve various problems with one limb and then communicate the experience to other arms via the central brain.Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
I grew up in KwaZulu Natal’s rural Valley of a Thousand Hills, elevation 759m/2490ft.Elevation of my current home in the Midlands: 1032m/3386ft.That 273m/896ft difference means, among other natural wonders, cooler weather and smaller critters, including smaller snakes. Indeed, overall, there appear to be fewer snakes here than in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, home to large snakes, from non-venomous mole snakes to lethal black- and green mambas as well as rinkhals (spitting cobra), adders (puff and night), rock pythons, etc. During my childhood, I’d find snakes relaxing under or on a bed, in cupboards, on verandahs, on footpaths…. I recall finding a puff adder wrapped around cistern plumbing, three inches from my young, vulnerable spine, as I sat upon the toilet.
Until yesterday, in two years, I’d seen only three small snakes here. I spotted the fourth in the veggie garden while I rearranged potato plants uprooted by invading monkeys. Small, black, and whiplash fast, it burrowed into debris.
Like me, monkeys are terrified of snakes. As I child, I saw Jacko, our pet vervet monkey, faint at the sight of a rubber snake placed under his shelter.
Maybe the small, black snake in the potato plants can help dissuade neighborhood monkeys from regular and destructive incursions into the garden?
It has certainly dissuaded me …
Day 243 Tuesday, November 24 - Serving the turkey
© The New York Times No overt concession by the Trumpster, but concession is implicit.
“President Trump’s government on Monday authorized President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. to begin a formal transition process after Michigan certified Mr. Biden as its winner, a strong sign that the president’s last-ditch bid to overturn the results of the election was coming to an end,” The New York Times reported. “Mr. Trump did not concede, and vowed to persist with efforts to change the vote, which have so far proved fruitless.”Irony triumphs. Remember when Trump mocked Carrots the Pardoned Turkey for refusing to concede White House after the last election?
News blues…
With Trump heading to the exit, fighting the pandemic can begin in earnest.***When will South Africans get the Covid vaccine? (8:14 mins)***Not directly related to Covid-19, but fascinating: New Genetics Research: Migration made African immunity stronger (5:22 mins)***Now This: Right to stand up (4:49 mins)
As mentioned before, The Lincoln Project was founded by a group of Republican political strategists specifically to defeat Trump and Trumpism. This project, unique in American history, chose humor, satire, and historical references to raise awareness about and to fight back against Trump and his Republican enablers. I am not a Republican, but I’ve shared The Lincoln Project content and ads in my pandemic posts. Along with appreciating the Project’s aim and goals, I’ve enjoyed their work – and learned a lot more about what makes the co-founder tick. The Lincoln Project has (lightly) softened my view about Republicanism. Enjoy the latest salvos:
Remove Republic from Republican (1:00 mins)
Mourning in the Republican Party (0:55 mins)
"It's a Republic, if you can keep it…
The framers of our Constitution designed a system of checks and balances with three coequal branches of government, empowered to reign in the most reactionary and radical ebbs and flows of popular opinion, and to secure the fundamental, inalienable rights of all Americans.
The survival of our Republic as it was conceived is dependent on each branch of government remaining disciplined and independent of one another, and remaining loyal only to the Constitution and the American people—not to a party, nor, especially, to one man.
The U.S. Senate, the upper chamber of the legislative branch, was once touted as “the world’s greatest deliberative body.” And throughout our history, there have certainly been times that were true.
But the current Republican Senate majority’s loyalty to the American people and the Constitution has been replaced by absolutist partisanship, a zero-sum, no holds barred political calculus, and allegiance to a party led by a deranged, unhinged, immoral narcissist.
This allegiance to power and partisanship over the needs and interests of the American people, and the illiberal, nativist populism Trump espouses, is Trumpism.
But, while Donald Trump will leave the White House in a matter of weeks, Trumpism has proven to be a persistent, pernicious force that will not so easily be removed.
Donald Trump brought our nation to the precipice of calamity—a cliff we are only beginning to slowly inch back from—and he did so with support, guidance, and counsel from sycophants who encouraged and enabled his worst ideas and instincts.
We must hold accountable those in power who, at the very least, did nothing to prevent Donald Trump’s desecration of our nation's highest office and revered institutions.
We now know the names of those who cannot be counted on to hold truth to power, put country over party, and defend the Republic.
All of them."Healthy planet, anyone?
The UN’s World Meteorological Organization reports:Climate-heating gases have reached record levels in the atmosphere despite the global lockdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
There is estimated to have been a cut in emissions of between 4.2% and 7.5% in 2020 due to the shutdown of travel and other activities. But the WMO said this was a “tiny blip” in the continuous buildup of greenhouse gases in the air caused by human activities, and less than the natural variation seen year to year.***The underwater farm on an Irish island (3:17 mins)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
The security system is still enabled when neighborhood monkeys arrive in our garden. Yelling through my bedroom window does not discourage them. I wonder if, perhaps, they look forward to the resident crazy lady’s morning greeting?
Hats off to British musician Paul Barton playing the piano to hundreds of hungry monkeys in Thailand.
Day 242 Monday, November 23 - Early Santa
Covid-19 won't stop NORAD from tracking Santa's Christmas Eve flight around the world.The North American Aerospace Defense Command, responsible for protecting the skies over the US and Canada, says it will be ready to follow Santa on December 24 as he flies from the North Pole to visit children's houses all over the world.
This will be the Santa Tracker's 65th anniversary. It dates back to a typo in a 1955 Sears ad and an Air Force officer, who's now known as the "Santa Colonel."
NORAD was even able to keep the tradition going during the [Trump-inspired] 2018 government shutdown.News blues…
Recently, G20 leaders – excluding Trump, who played golf instead – pledged online to “spare no effort” to ensure the fair distribution of coronavirus vaccines worldwide. They offered no specific new funding nor a roll out plan to meet that goal.
I offer no insights on funding, but I have a suggestion on distribution: Santa’s Christmas Eve flight around the world.
There may be more Santa skeptics in the world than there are Covid-19 skeptics in the US, but surely even a diehard skeptic wouldn’t argue when a clatter of reindeer hooves sounded on the roof and, from heaven, a frozen package of vaccine dropped through the chimney?
Rollout is an challenge. Temperature, for example, is key to maintaining vaccine efficacy:[Covid-19] vaccines use a novel technology—strands of messenger RNA (mRNA), held within lipid particles—that is vulnerable to degradation at room temperature and requires doses to be frozen for transportation, then thawed for use.African countries have a disadvantage: hospitals and pharmacies are in short supply and many that exist likely lack freezers.
…The Moderna vaccine may have an edge: Unlike Pfizer’s and BioNTech’s offering, it does not have to be stored at –70°C, but can tolerate a much warmer –20°C, which is standard for most hospital and pharmacy freezers.
A challenge beyond distribution:We are likely to need several Covid-19 vaccines to cover everyone and as a contingency, in case the virus mutates and “escapes” the ability of one vaccine to neutralise it, a real possibility in light of the discovery of an altered form of Sars-CoV-2 infecting European mink. But we also need better methods of diagnosing and treating the disease. The recent suspension of two major vaccine trials due to serious adverse events is a salutary reminder that there’s much still to learn and a pandemic, while no one would wish for one, provides scientists with a golden opportunity for learning.I assume it is out of the question to suggest scientists and G20 leaders – minus Trump – meet online with Santa to work out the details?
Like most Covid-19 vaccine candidates, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are injected into the muscle, from where they enter the bloodstream and stimulate the production of antibodies to Sars-CoV-2 (specifically to the protein that forms the spikes covering its surface). But antibodies are only one component of the body’s adaptive immune response, which develops over time, in response to invasion by a virus or other pathogen. There is also innate immunity, which we are born with and that is mobilised instantly upon infection, but is not tailored to any specific pathogen.
“There are a lot of moving parts to this,” says immunopharmacologist Stephen Holgate, of the University of Southampton in the UK, who wonders why scientists have focused on so few of them.
[Note: I admit a tongue-in-cheek flavor. Given the current moment replete with “alternative facts,” conspiracy theories, and old fashion lies, let it be known: editorial comments are satire… born of frustration, pandemic fatigue, and loss of confidence in top down leadership.]Healthy planet, anyone?
Photo essay: The tiny, magical world of pygmy seahorses, one of the most elusive fish on the planet.
Note photo #10: “a new species of pygmy seahorse, Hippocampus nalu … spotted in Sodwana Bay, in north-eastern South Africa … the first pygmy seahorse to have been recorded anywhere in the Indian Ocean.”Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Yesterday, I dreaded visiting my mother at the Care Center. Her ongoing complaints debilitate, from not enough cups of tea, “cold” tea, too many “old people,” “hard” vegetables (she’s old school English and expects cooked vegetables the consistency and color of Pablum), “unhappy” dog, “nobody” walks The Dog, etc., etc.
I groaned as I filled out the Covid tracking documents before entering the facility, and learned my mother's escalating her complaints. Nevertheless, carrying two containers of cooked giblets and one container of rice – for The Dog – and a bottle of my mother’s favorite wine, I squared my shoulders and cautiously entered her room.
She was asleep.
I set the dog food in the ‘fridge, placed the wine on the floor near her bed… and skedaddled.Oh, I do believe in merciful Santa….
Day 241 Sunday, November 22 - Virus mass distribution
For a Trump official, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s slip of the tongue during a telephone interview was uncharacteristically honest: “We’re working on mass distribution of the virus.”
Likely his goal was spinning reality and saying, “mass distribution of a vaccine.”Shakespeare said it first: “the truth will out.”Will Trump say to Mnuchin what Trump's famous for? "You're fired!"
News blues…
Another horrific milestone in a month full of devastating Covid-19 records in the country. November already accounts for almost a quarter of all Covid-19 cases and 9% of deaths. The number of US coronavirus cases surpassed 12 million Saturday - an increase of more than 1 million cases in less than a week. The number of US coronavirus cases surpassed 12 million Saturday -- an increase of more than 1 million cases in less than a week.
South Dakota is the state with highest rates of Covid in the country, replete with residents and a governor who refuse to pay attention to safety… (4:11 mins)***Hunger for Thanksgiving? Los Angeles California in dire straits …. (2:50 mins)***SA records 86 new Covid-19 deaths as cases climb to 765,409***President Cyril Ramaphosa has pleaded with G20 Leaders to ensure all countries have access to the COVID-19 vaccine once it is available, saying the global recovery needs to be inclusive.
"An immediate task is to ensure that there is equitable and affordable access for all countries to the COVID-19 vaccine once it is developed.***Healthy planet, anyone?
Mission Blue is a not-for-profit organization geared “to inspire action to explore and protect oceans and to unite a global coalition for an upwelling of public awareness, access and support for a worldwide network of marine protected areas termed Hope Spots.”Cape RADD (Research and Diver Development) became the newly-appointed Champions of the False Bay Hope Spot. Run by a small team of passionate marine biologists and conservationists, Cape RADD serves as a platform for researchers in the False Bay area of Cape Town, South Africa.
Cape RADD’s team of scientists aim to better understand the underwater world by using a variety of sampling techniques including transects, quadrats, remote underwater video and mark-recapture to monitor long-term changes to biodiversity in the area. They conduct a number of research projects including kelp forest grazer density and distribution, fish and shark population estimates, microplastic pollution, and more. Learn more >>Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
I am rediscovering my groove after despondency, fear, anxiety dogged my last ten days. Somehow, resilience won out. I’m back in action.***Today, I bid farewell to the elderly concrete mixer that gifted me 5 bags full of compost. The last batch surprised: the raw material was damp after sitting in the mixer during two thunderstorms. Instead of producing drier, spreadable compost, it produced dozens of compost balls in a variety of sizes: ping pong ball, tennis ball, baseball, even a pair of semi-deflated-footballs. Not perfectly round, but off-center, the collection of balls resemble animal dung ranging in animals the size of cane rat to rhinoceros. Gardening. Gotta love it: never a dull moment.
My waders got a workout, too. Geared up - waders, gloves, sunhat with pert guinea fowl feather, and slathered in sunscreen - I entered the rain-swollen pond to weed out excess pond lilies and freshwater grasses. I recycled this vegetation by forming a new footpath through the far reaches of the garden.
The plum tree is prolific this year, with dozens of slowly ripening fruit. Naturally, this indicates dozens of future visits by the neighborhood’s monkey troop. Already the troop, numbering more than 50 fearless individuals, including this year’s crop of youngsters, enter the garden at will, pull up potatoes, root through zucchini plants, and enjoy mulberries and bird seed.
I predict too much monkey business….
Day 240 Saturday, Nov 21 - Turkey pardons...
Next Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the US, followed by Black Friday – aka the day to dash out and holiday shop ’til you drop….US tradition has it that, on or slightly before Thanksgiving Day, the president “pardons” two turkeys from being slaughtered and consumed as the main attraction at the holiday repast.The pardonees go on to enjoy the rest of their life, threat-free, at Virginia Tech’s “Gobbler’s Rest” enclosure.
Hmmm, I look forward to the current hard-to-dislodge president 1) pardoning himself as this year’s turkey, and 2) the cornucopia of Trump-as-turkey-of-the-year themed cartoons…
Let the games begin – people need a good laugh during these dire times.News blues…
With more than 3,000 new Covid cases over 24 hours, South Africa’s health minister is “very concerned” about the rise in infections, particularly in Eastern Cape … (9:15 mins)***El Paso, Texas desperately needs Morgue Attendants at the county medical examiner’s office as Covid fatalities continue to rise. The work notice states:“Morgue Attendants will be provided maximum PPE [personal protective equipment] and will receive a COVID test prior to starting. All Morgue Attendants will be tasked with physically moving Decedents… Not only is this assignment physically taxing, but it may be emotionally taxing as well.”Cry the beloved country.
The request comes as the county has resorted to using low-level offenders from the county jail to help transport the deceased. Their work will continue until there are enough new hires, County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said. “Not everybody is going to be able to do [the job]. We’ve had people there that have lasted an hour, 30 minutes, half a day…it’s a difficult process.”
Who’d a thunk?
Many immigrants may share my experience of ambivalence towards an adopted country. In my case, I went from adventurous country kid living in rural Valley of a Thousand Hills, KZN to life in a small city apartment within California’s 7-million-people-strong conurbation of San Francisco Bay Area. That massive emotional and psychological adjustment took two decades.
Today, locked down in a small village in KZN, 14,000 miles from San Francisco, I watch the unfolding tragedy in my adopted country… and cry.
How could such mismanagement of a deadly pandemic have happened in the United States of America?
Then I remember, ah, yes, Trump. A son of the soil…***I seldom watch news anchor Rachel Maddow’s show (too long winded). Recently, however, I stumbled upon a You Tube clip she’d made during an enforced quarantine. Thankfully negative for Covid 19, her brief appearance was brave, clear, and very touching. Her message? Do everything you can to avoid Covid-19 – it can kill those you love… (8:15 mins)***The Lincoln Project: Michigan (1:40 mins)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Months ago, I made an offer to purchase a small, safe, secure, relatively inexpensive (in comparison to California’s prices) apartment in the village of Howick. The purchase was accepted and we began the very long process of transferring my funds from the US to seal the deal.
I worked with the conveyancing company selected by the seller’s representative.
FYI: Google explains that a “conveyancer is a licensed professional/attorney who provides advice and information with regards to the transfer of property ownership, as well as assisting buyers and sellers through the selling process.”
Alas, “assisting buyers and sellers through the selling process” is not how these conveyancing attorneys see their role.
Yesterday, after weeks of a very delayed timeline and regularly urging the conveyancing office assistant to attend to details of the very delayed timeline that costs me a pile of extra money – I met with a conveyancing professional.
My complaint? Their admin dropped the ball, made egregious errors on paperwork geared to transfer US dollars – and continues to cost me thousands of dollars more than budgeted.
Naturally, the conveyancing office practices CYA (cover your ass). They’re attempting to shift blame entirely upon my shoulders when dated documents clearly indicate the core of the problem: tardiness emanating from their office.
Moreover, I learned their office was operating on a halftime schedule due to Covid. No adjustment had been made, however, to address the staff’s ongoing fulltime workload – other than, “oh, well…”The turkeys seek a pardon…
Day 239 Friday, November 20 - Giving new meaning…
Giving new, broader, and inclusive meaning to Donald Trump’s assertions about “sh**hole” countries, greed and corruption, in America millions of dollars have been stolen from the pandemic-related PPP – the US Payroll Protection Program
Trump as African dictator
(c) Trevor NoahDonald Trump brought his history of and reputation for shoddy business behavior with him into the White House:A simple Internet search will reveal far more of The Donald’s shady business history. It wasn’t like We the People were not warned. Way back in the misty past of 2016, South African Trevor Noah was spot on with his assessment of Trump: How South Africa Could Prepare the U.S. for President Trump… (11:49 mins)
- Whenever Trump has been in positions of power or authority, he has demonstrated a pattern of trying to enrich himself by abusing the trust others have placed in him — whether it’s creditors, contractors, charitable givers, Trump University students, regulators, or campaign donors .
- Trump’s business failures are very real .
News blues…
The Super Spreader in Chief:And, to ensure he kills more of us with inaction on Covid-19, the Super Spreader in Chief continues to fighter election reality: Trump Summons Mich. GOP Leaders To Special Meeting At White House
- White House Plans In-Person Holiday Parties As COVID-19 Cases Rise
- Over 900 Midwest Mayo Clinic Staff Diagnosed With Coronavirus In Last 2 Weeks
- Trump Takes Credit For Vaccines, Remains Silent On 250,000 COVID-19 Deaths
***The Lincoln Project: Leaders (0:55 mins)
And, an email from The Lincoln Project on not-leaders:
Our nation's institutions, and our vigilance and resolve, are being tested at this hour.
Trump and his entourage of grifters and sycophants continue to challenge the legitimacy of our nation's free and fair elections, despite a complete lack of any evidence of fraud.
And, despite the Trump team's incompetence, the damage they are inflicting on our democracy is very real.
The reality is that Joe Biden won handily, and will become the 46th President of the United States on January 20. That has not stopped Trump from sowing chaos, confusion, and doubt to sabotage the president-elect and further divide our nation on his way out.
Trump has summoned members of the Michigan GOP in a bid to continue his charade, with two legislative leaders confirmed traveling to meet with the president:Lee Chatfield
Michigan Speaker of the House
LeeChatfield@house.mi.gov
Office #: (517) 373-2629Mike ShirkeyMichigan Senate Majority LeaderSenMShirkey@senate.michigan.govOffice #: (517) 373-5932
Michigan’s Senate Majority Leader, Mike Shirkey, and Speaker of the House, Lee Chatfield, are meeting with Trump to continue denying Joe Biden the electoral votes he’s won.
Contact them now to demand that the results of the election—and the will of Michigan voters—are upheld.
We must stay focused, stay vigilant, and stay confident. Our system is holding firm. Joe Biden is our duly elected president-elect, and he will take the office on January 20.***Healthy futures, anyone?
Poet Robert Frost wrote, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall”
…Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense….
What would Frost write about the US/Mexico border wall?In the 1980s, when Kevin Dahl first began visiting the Organ Pipe Cactus national monument in southern Arizona, the border was unmarked, save for a simple fence used to keep cattle from a ranch in the US from crossing into Mexico. In those days, park rangers would call in their lunch orders at a diner located just across the border.
Since then, a 30ft steel bollard wall has replaced the old barbed wire fence at Organ Pipe. The towering steel barrier cuts through the Unesco reserve like a rust-colored suture.
“It’s this incredible scar,” said Kevin Dahl, a senior program manager at the National Parks Conservation Association, describing the wall that snakes its way through a pristine track of Sonoran desert, dwarfing the giant cacti that give this desert its name. “What was once a connected landscape is now a dissected one.”
That dissection is now a reality across much of the US border. It is a landscape increasingly defined by walls, roads, fences and associated border infrastructure that is fragmenting critically protected habitats, desecrating sacred cultural sites and threatening numerous endangered species in some of the most biodiverse and unique places in North America.Read 'An incredible scar': the harsh toll of Trump's 400-mile wall through national parksMeanwhile, back at the ranch…
The saga of what can go wrong, will go wrong – amid a pandemic, to boot. This morning, I head to meet with a set of lawyers who’d like nothing more than have me stop kvetching at them and just disappear already. Their inefficiency has cost what to me is a lot of money – and I’m fighting back. More about it tomorrow…. My challenge? Emotionality. My friend, himself a (public interest) lawyer, shared a lawyer’s motto: Don’t let your feelings become an enemy of your wallet.
Excellent advice for today.
Lockdown Week 34 - Day 238 Thursday, Nov 19 - Normalizing
It's that increasingly dreaded end-of week reviewing of numbers and facing Covid’s devastation on our planet:
Worldwide (Map)
November 19 – 56,188,000 confirmed infections; 1,348,600 deaths
October 22 – 41,150,000 confirmed infections; 1,130.410 deaths
US (Map)
November 19 – 11,525,600 confirmed infections; 250,485 deaths
October 22 – 8,333,595 confirmed infections; 222,100 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
November 19 – 757,145 confirmed infections; 20,556 deaths
October 22 – 708,360 confirmed infections; 18,750 deaths
News blues…
While the particulars change day-by-day, each day seems to offer a rehasd of yesterday’s news:I got the blues as the US normalizes havoc!
- Covid-19 wreaks havoc around the world, and particularly in the US (“North Dakota COVID Mortality Rate Highest in the World, With 1 in Every 1,000 Residents Dead”).
- Donald Trump wreaks havoc to the rule of law and highlights the weakness at the heart of a democratic republic that espouses “the rule of law .”
- Climate change, unacknowledged, wreaks havoc on the environment .
- Honest, coherent, forward-looking leadership remains absent.
***In South Africa, Covid-19 cases jump by 2,888 in a day***Healthy futures, anyone?
Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health:Every day we depend on biodiversity (the sheer variety of life found on Earth) to keep us alive and healthy. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the foods we eat and the medications we take are all by-products of a healthy planet. Read more >>Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
The rainy season arrives with drama and fanfare: hail stones, the size of tennis balls, fell in Pietermaritzburg yesterday . Here, a 15-minute drive away, hail stones were of inferior size, mere marbles.Hooray for inferiority!
Day 237 Wednesday, Nov 18 - Lost the plot
News blues…
Recycled outrage. Current news isn’t new. That’s my conclusion about the current state of news reporting. US news anchors repeatedly express, 1) outrage about Trump’s latest gambit to accept reality, 2) outrage about the Trump administration’s inaction to address the unprecedented surge in Covid infections, and 3) routrage about the most recent Republican election shenanigans. That’s about sums up “new” news.
While ordinary (thinking) people, grapple with understandably high levels of fear and anxiety associated with an out-of-control pandemic, US media increases the levels of anxiety and fear, but does not address it. Is fear un-American?
One solution? Replace the 24-hour news cycle with hour-long news shows each morning, noon, and evening. For the other nine hours, present shows on, say, how beautiful and beautifully complex is our planet - or show cartoons.***John Heilemann sums it up: Maximum moment of vulnerability… (3:14 mins)***Meidas Touch: They lie, you die (1:00 mins)
Don Caron: Fifty ways to leave the White House (3:00 mins)
Randy Rainbow: Don't Tell Donald He's NOT RE-ELECTED TODAY! (3:55 mins)
Healthy futures, anyone?
Got fleas?Highly toxic insecticides used on cats and dogs to kill fleas are poisoning rivers…. The discovery is “extremely concerning” for water insects, and the fish and birds that depend on them – scientists… expect significant environmental damage is being done.
Research found fipronil in 99% of samples from 20 rivers and the average level of one particularly toxic breakdown product of the pesticide was 38 times above the safety limit. Fipronil and another nerve agent called imidacloprid that was found in the rivers have been banned from use on farms for some years.Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Blogging each morning has, until now, provided a structured way to attend to the world’s goings-on, and to express my quirky point of view. I find, however, that I’m increasingly falling into a “oh, what’s the use,” state of mind. This is unconstructive… and it adds to my inherent anxiety.
Yesterday, I awoke with the dreadful feeling that I must find a way to fill in surplus time. This feeling is unfamiliar and further anxiety-provoking; seldom have I experienced time as heavy on my hands.
Today, I awoke with the same dreadful feeling.
I need a new direction that engages head, heart, and hands….
Day 236 Tuesday, November 17 - Power(lessness) of positive thinking?
Humans. Gotta luv ‘em. Nurse says, “…Some coronavirus patients often don't want to believe that Covid-19 is real, even in their dying moments…” (4:29 mins)
News blues…
The news media repeatedly repeats repeated news: Trump refuses to face reality; Republicans support Trump no matter what; Covid 19 crisis continues to surge; Covid-19 decimates We the People; Trump tweets while the US burns; corruption reigns; comedians try to make light of tragedy….Healthy futures, anyone?
Australia’s latest State of the Climate Report finds,Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, mostly from fossil fuel burning, has driven more dangerous bushfires, rising sea levels and a rapid rise in the days where temperatures reach extreme levels.
“What we are seeing now is beyond the realm of what was possible previously,” said Dr Jaci Brown, director of CSIRO’s Climate Science Centre.”
Among the key findings, the report said Australia’s climate had warmed by 1.44C since 1910 with bushfire seasons getting longer and more dangerous. Australia’s oceans had warmed by 1C and were acidifying.
In a briefing to reporters on Tuesday, Dr Karl Braganza, manager of climate environmental prediction service at the bureau, said … “What we are seeing now is a more tangible shift in the extremes and we are starting to feel how that shift in the average is impacting on extreme events.
“So we don’t necessarily feel that 1.44C increase in average temperature, but we do feel those heatwaves and we feel that fire weather.”Read the article, “Rising levels of carbon dioxide increasing extreme weather events in Australia.”In conjunction with rising temperatures and sea level rise, “humanity’s destruction of biodiversity creates the conditions for new viruses and diseases like COVID-19”…Only a decade or two ago it was widely thought that tropical forests and intact natural environments teeming with exotic wildlife threatened humans by harboring the viruses and pathogens that lead to new diseases in humans like Ebola, HIV and dengue. But a number of researchers today think that it is actually humanity’s destruction of biodiversity …creates the conditions for new viruses and diseases… to arise—with profound health and economic impacts in rich and poor countries alike. In fact, a new discipline, planetary health, is emerging that focuses on the increasingly visible connections among the well-being of humans, other living things and entire ecosystems. Is it possible, then, that it was human activity, such as road building, mining, hunting and logging, that triggered the Ebola epidemics …is unleashing new terrors today? … “We invade tropical forests and other wild landscapes, which harbor so many species of animals and plants—and within those creatures, so many unknown viruses,” David Quammen, author of Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Pandemic, recently wrote in the New York Times. “We cut the trees; we kill the animals or cage them and send them to markets. We disrupt ecosystems, and we shake viruses loose from their natural hosts. When that happens, they need a new host. Often, we are it.”Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
I recommend treating pandemic fatigue with limited, safe, masked social interactions with friends and colleagues. Be prepared for side effects: Wanting more interactions with friends!
Successfully engaging with friends after months of lockdown feels liberating. Afterwards, however, lockdown feels like imprisonment. Lockdown isolation is stressful. One rebels, but… stays home, again.***A word of warning to anyone thinking of doing business in South Africa: Expect costly delays!
Protect yourself – even if things “sound” feasible and appear straight-forward.
Do not expect any busines-person to show up on the agreed upon schedule.
What can go wrong is likely to go wrong!
Unfortunately, I’m discovering this the hard way: financial loss, threated law suits, avoidance and displacement of responsibility….
Not to be cryptic, but for now, best I express chagrin, not air details.
To date, this extended stay in South Africa has confined me to a home not my own, and far from my immediate family; strained relationships with my extended family; included verbal abuse and insults from my mother; had a bad actor threaten to rape and kill me; put me in front of a local magistrate to request a restraining order; illegally (unbeknownst to me) carried licensed firearms in my vehicle in an (unsuccessful) effort, on behalf of my mother, to turn them in to local police….
Things can only get better.Right?
Day 235 Monday, November 16 - Déjà vu all over again
News blues…
A look back at the influenza pandemic of 1918 reveals that a chaotic White House response to a public-health emergency is nothing new.President Trump talks about the fight against COVID-19 as a war against an invisible enemy, but a little over 100 years ago, President Woodrow Wilson was fighting both kinds of war: the Great War in Europe was in its final stages as the flu pandemic swept the globe, including the United States. Wilson chose to focus on the battlefronts of Europe, virtually ignoring the disease that ravaged the home front and killed about 675,000 Americans.President Wilson, until now ranked the #1 worst president in a disaster can rest assured: he’s now #2. Number One goes to The Donald.
The 45th President has made inaccurate public statements about the coronavirus — last Wednesday, for example, Facebook removed a video in which President Trump claimed that children are “almost immune” to COVID-19—but, by comparison, the 28th president never uttered a single public statement about the 1918-1919 flu pandemic.
In terms of managing a federal response to the pandemic, “there was no leadership or guidance of any kind directly from the White House,” historian John M. Barry, says the author of The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. “Wilson wanted the focus to remain on the war effort. Anything negative was viewed as hurting morale and hurting the war effort.”
Tevi Troy’s book Shall We Wake the President: Two Centuries of Disaster Management from the Oval Office, ranks Wilson as the #1 worst president in a disaster: “The federal response to the influenza outbreak in 1918 can best be described as neglectful. Hundreds of thousands of Americans died without President Wilson saying anything or mobilizing nonmilitary components of the U.S. government to help the civilian population.”
Trump was 100% correct when he said we’d “get sick and tired of all the winning,” and that we’d tell him, 'Please, please, we can't win anymore….”
Winning a la Trump is killing us.***Now This: Say Goodbye to Trump’s Cabinet (5:52 mins)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
After 7 months of lockdown and severe pandemic fatigue, I drove 50 kms to Mooi River (“pretty” river) to visit friends. The village of Mooi River serves surrounding farmers/farms in the foothills of the Drakensberg.While waiting for my friends to guide me to their home, I snapped this photograph of a traditional Zulu songoma.I also snapped a warning to drivers regarding the state of road (photo below).The phenomenon of potholes is par for the course in South Africa. Few roads are absent potholes. The interprovincial N3 is relatively free of potholes – as one might expect given the exorbitant road tolls one pays coming and going. I paid R53 at the Mooi River toll gate to access the village and R37 to leave. (Approximate total of tolls one way from Durban to Johannesburg is R250 – steep for your average South African driver.)Overall, my visit was restorative. I needed it. Safety first, but positive human interaction is vital, too.
Day 234 Sunday, November 15 - "A slaughter"
The Case for
Political Exile for Donald TrumpThe Case for Political Exile for Donald Trump suggests We the People exile The Donald as Napoleon was exiled. I second that.
Indeed, why not exile The Donald - and family - to Thomas island. This is the 70–78 acres (28–32 ha) island in the subdistrict East End of Saint Thomas, owned, from 1998 until his 2019 death, by Donald’s friend American convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein .
***
Cry, the beloved country. Doctor reacts to US Covid-19 numbers: 'It's a slaughter' as forty-four states see a rise in hospitalization and the number of daily new cases in the US…News blues…
Another example of Karma at work?The Alaska congressman who once ridiculed the seriousness of the novel coronavirus, calling it the “beer virus,” said on Thursday he is now infected with it.With so many of Trump’s do-nothing-about-Covid cabinet and more than 130 Secret Service protectors infected, one might reconsider Karma. Hinduism and Buddhism state that the sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, decides their fate in future existences.
The announcement by Representative Don Young comes as the state’s governor on Thursday warned that health-care and public-safety systems were at risk of being overwhelmed by the rapid spread of the virus across Alaska.
Young, the 87-year-old Republican who is Alaska’s sole U.S. House of Representatives member, made the announcement on Twitter.
“I have tested positive for COVID-19. I am feeling strong, following proper protocols, working from home in Alaska, and ask for privacy at this time.”
Or, as Westerners put it, “What goes around, comes around….***News from the neighborhood. Today, while bantering with gals in a hair salon (see details below), I carefully asked what the women thought of the US election and the results.
An elderly woman to my right said, “I think Trump’s an idiot.”
A younger woman on my left said, “I think Trump’s great! He’s a strong leader.” She added, “Bidden (her pronunciation of ol’Joe’s name) isn’t a strong leader.”
Another woman chimed in, “South Africans love Trump!”
The elderly woman to my right opined again, “They’re idiots, too!”
Usually, I’d chime in with my firm opinion – at least say, snidely, “I’m with her” and point to the woman on my right. Instead, I corrected pronunciation – “It’s Bye-den, not Bidden,” - and not only refrained from offering my opinion, I changed the subject. Me not opining shows I am capable of holding my tongue. Progress!
Nevertheless, Trump as a “strong leader”?
Baffling.***A message to the citizens of the USA from UK actor and comedian John Cleese (Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, etc.): "Britain is Repossessing the U.S.A."In light of your failure to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.
Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Arkansas, which she does not fancy).
Your new prime minister, Boris Johnson, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections.
Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.
A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
First, look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary, then:God save the Queen.
- Look up aluminium, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.
- The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix -ize will be replaced by the suffix -ise. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').
- Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" and “right?” is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of -ize. You will relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen.
- July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
- You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent.
- Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.
- All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.
- All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrification will help you understand the British sense of humour.
- The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline)-roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.
- You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.
- The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager.
- South African beer is also acceptable as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting Nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of British Commonwealth - see what it did for them.
- Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.
- You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). Don't try Rugby - the South Africans and Kiwis will thrash you, like they regularly thrash us. No more Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, Cereal Bowl or Super Bowl. From now on..... get used to the World Cup.
- Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.
- You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.
- An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).
- Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 pm with proper cups, never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; strawberries in season.
John Cleese(FYI: The humor in Cleese's message may appeal only to those deeply familiar with USA/UK cultural differences with a soupçon of British colonialism....)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Except for my own snip-snip-snippings and cut-cut-cuttings, I’ve not had a “real” haircut in 7 months. Today I splurged with a professional cut at Rene’s salon, Classic Cuts. What a treat to be among chatty, vivacious (if uninformed) people!
Moreover, Rene remembered me from 7 months ago when we’d discussed the neighborhood: she once lived in a house on the same short street.
Today, I learned that she’s in touch with Johan, a man whose father purchased this house when Johan was two years old (he’s now in his early forties). These days, Johan lives in Pretoria (aka, for South Africans, as “behind the boerewors curtain.” For non-South Africans: boerewors, Afrikaans for “farmers’ sausage,” denotes a long, no link-cut-as-needed, uniquely South African “meaty treat” – and implies conversative views.)
I asked Johan if the smallest pair of the children’s footprints memorialized in concrete – shown here, on left - were his. They were.
He shared that his father had built the garden pond – although the current pond configuration sounds different to his father’s version.
Peoples’ history. I love it!***Mint plants run rampant in this garden. I don’t mind; mint is fragrant, what’s not to like?
Last year, I tried, unsuccessfully, to make mint jelly. Mint has no natural pectin and, alas, my attempts to add pectin failed: my mint jelly never gelled. Instead, I have a large jar of mint syrup. Surprise! Mint syrup is the perfect ingredient for the Cuban mojito cocktail. Ice, soda, two spoons of mint syrup, and a dash of rum. Unlike many South Africans, drinking alcohol is not my regular habit. Lockdown has persuaded me, however, of the efficacy of an occasional “sun-downer” while relaxing on the bank of the pond – albeit a solitary activity since I’m starved for company. I purchased a bottle Bicardi white rum: R199.99I/ US$ 12. (Compare this to the fancier brands that cost into the range of R400 to R500/US$26 to US$32.)
In the past, my mojitos required mulling mint and sugar, adding ice, adding soda water, and topping off with rum. Nowadays? Two spoons of mint syrup, ice, soda water, and rum. Voila. Mojito-in-a-moment!
Cheers!
Hiccup!Lockdown Week 34
Ben Hovland was nominated by President Donald Trump last year and unanimously confirmed by the Senate to run the US Election Assistance Commission. This includes testing and certifying US voting machines and working closely with other federal agencies that oversee elections, like the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Day 233 Saturday, November 14 - Trumplandia
Today, Ben Hovland says that Trump’s false post-election claims are, "baffling", "laughable" and "insulting" …. "At a minimum, it's insulting to the professionals that run our elections and hopefully that's the worst that comes of it…. “Our people [are] doing their jobs but they don't feel safe doing it. That is a tragedy. That is awful. These are public servants. This isn't a job you do for glory or to get rich."
In other words, its business as usual in Trumplandia…News blues…
Catching up and catching on? Are governors of US states beginning to get a clue about coronavirus?
As COVID-19 cases continue to surge nationwide, several states announced new restrictions on Friday in an effort to stymie the spread of the virus.Catching on and catching up? Not so fast… the whackadoodles continue the whackadoodleitude:
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) announced a two-week “shelter in place” order which will go into effect on Nov. 16. All nonessential businesses will need to cease in-person activities and on-site dining will be prohibited, among other restrictions, Grisham said.
Oregon too announced a similar two-week “freeze,” which will take effect on Nov. 18.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said Friday that his state would also be tightening its coronavirus restrictions, including reducing the number of people allowed at gatherings — both outdoors and indoors — from 250 to 25 and lowering the age at which children need to wear masks from 10 to 5.
In West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice (R) announced a new “ultra mandatory” mask policy, which would require people over the age of 9 to wear face coverings in public buildings at all times.
President-elect Joe Biden says he'll personally call red state governors and persuade them to impose mask mandates to slow down the coronavirus pandemic. Their early response: Don’t waste your time.Remember when Trump introduced the term “sh**hole countries”? We the People need a fitting term for asinine and dangerous-to-public-health governors.
Almost all of the 16 Republican governors who oppose statewide mask mandates are ready to reject Biden’s plea… and declared [this] in public statements — even as they impose new restrictions on businesses and limit the size of public gatherings to keep their health systems from getting swamped.
It’s not only the economy, stupids!***The Lincoln Project is back!
1962 (0:25 mins)
Democracy (1:00 mins)
Healthy futures, anyone?
“…Solely cutting emissions is not enough.”The former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the leading climate scientist Michael Mann are among a group of prominent environmentalists calling for the “restoration of the climate” by removing “huge amounts of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere”.Editorial comment: Actually, the climate crisis is here now, but it was raised as a news items decades ago:
Net zero targets have been a focus of governments, local authorities and campaigners in their attempts to address global heating. The authors of Friday’s letter, however, say that although stopping emissions is “a necessary prerequisite”, governments and businesses must be more ambitious and work to “restore the climate” to as safe a level as possible.
The letter states, “The climate crisis is here now. ”THIRTY YEARS AGO, the potentially disruptive impact of heat-trapping emissions from burning fossil fuels and rain forests became front-page news.The deadly combo: human nature and inertia.
It had taken a century of accumulating science, and a big shift in perceptions, for that to happen. Indeed, Svante Arrhenius, the pioneering Swedish scientist who in 1896 first estimated the scope of warming from widespread coal burning, mainly foresaw this as a boon, both in agricultural bounty and “more equable and better climates, especially as regards the colder regions of the Earth.”
There were scattered news reports through the decades, including a remarkably clear 1956 article in the New York Times that conveyed how accumulating greenhouse gas emissions from energy production would lead to long-lasting environmental changes. In its closing the article foresaw what’s become the main impediment to tackling harmful emissions: the abundance of fossil fuels. “Coal and oil are still plentiful and cheap in many parts of the world, and there is every reason to believe that both will be consumed by industry so long as it pays to do so.”Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
After a couple of days bobbing in the morose waters of Pandemic Fatigue, I turned to my mental-health restorative: the garden and the stream. Despite giving succor to my nemesis – mosquitos – the garden pond revives me. (I try to balance my antipathy for mosquitos with facts. It helps – sort of…. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-good-are-mosquitoes-1968303 ) Pond pleasures include noticing how healthy and bountiful are the various plants I added to the pond garden last fall (“autumn”). And noticing the seasonal rhythms of plant life: dragonflies, tadpoles and frogs, birds. Alas, no sign of the goldfish I added in April: happy kingfishers, no doubt.***My mother becomes more confident steering her auto-wheelchair. Alas, she only uses it when I’m there; she does not practice driving it when I’m not there.
Yesterday, we broke out of the confines of the Care Center and into the surrounding parking lots. I’m glad she’s becoming more adept at the single hand control although she still hangs her arms over the armrests and still loses control at inopportune times, particularly negotiating doors and gates. While she frets at my insistence she cover her arms and elbows with towels as padding against injury, so far she’s not refused to do so.
Two days ago, another elderly woman using a walker outside the Care Center fell on concrete and tore a large L-shape flap of skin off her arm. Luckily, I was about to use the same back entrance to the Care Center and was able to help her within seconds of her fall. I did not witness the fall, but I suspect it came about through some mix up with her small dog on its leash as she negotiated the concrete slope through the gate. This highlights my concern with my mother who purchased the auto-wheelchair so she can “take Jessica – The Dog – out to walk.”
First, Jessica is not particularly interested in walks on a leash. I attest to this as I take her out each time I visit. She’s interested in being outside, sniffing, peeing, and then returning inside.
Then, Jessica is undisciplined. My mother believes dogs should be “happy” and discipline makes them unhappy.
Additionally, Jessica is a big dog and not leash trained. I shudder to think of the combination of my mother, the auto-wheelchair, the leash, and The Dog outside the Care Center.
What can go wrong, will go wrong.
My role? Air my concerns. Then shut up.
Lockdown Week 34
Day 232 Friday, November 13 - FriggatriskaidekaphobiaFriggatriskaidekaphobia: A morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th.Frigga - the name of the Norse goddess for whom “Friday” is named and triskaidekaphobia, meaning fear of the number thirteen.
Among South Africa’s progressive community, Donald Trump is known as the Sentient Naartjie – a naartjie (“nar-chi”) being a bright orange colored tangerine-like citrus. These days I suffer Trumpthenaartjiephobia – the fear of how far Republicans will go to permit the orange-haired madman to exact revenge on We the People of the United States.
It’s way past time for the white straight jacket and the escort under guard from the White House.
News blues…
As the “adrenaline-infused mallard” in the White House continues to ignore it, the United State's surging coronavirus outbreak is on pace to hit nearly 1 million new cases a week by the end of the year — a scenario that could overwhelm health systems across much of the country…
Governed by Greg Abbott, a Republican mask-denier, Texas this week became the first state to surpass 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Mississippi’s Governor Tate Reeves (Republican) said that under his leadership, his state will not cooperate with a national lockdown order, should President-elect Joe Biden implement one next year. This, in response to one of Biden’s newly appointed COVID-19 task force members floating the idea of a four-to-six-week lockdown to attempt to get the coronavirus under control.You know, kinda, sorta like We the People of South Africa have been doing for the last 232 days. (Lockdown helps … although South Africa’s overnight tally of confirmed new cases was more than 2,000.)***Healthy futures, anyone?
From the author of “Annihilation,” Jeff VanderMeer, “the truth is some version of the apocalypse is inevitable" …The question is whether we can mitigate it to the point where it’s livable.Listen to a conversation with Jeff VanderMeer and Kara Swisher
… the coronavirus in the sense is part and parcel of the climate crisis. It is not divorced from it. It is linked to things like habitat loss and habitat degradation and the fact that we have to not just have green tech. We have to have biodiversity on our planet in order to survive. And so it’s almost weirdly this invisible thing has made visible the cracks in our systems and the faults in our systems that we need to desperately fix in order to deal with the next thing and to deal with the climate crisis in general.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Our gardener has two young children, a ten-year-old girl, and a seven-year-old boy. I’ve never met these children, but I regularly enquire about them. The pandemic prevented childrens' full weeks of schooling and, currently, each of the gardener's children attend school two days per week; one on Monday and Tuesday, the other on Wedneday and Thursday; neither attends on Fridays.During the early days of lockdown, the children stayed home for several weeks straight. I purchased assorted books, crayons, pens, coloring books to assist their parents with keeping the kids busy. (Imagine being confined to a small house with two lively children and a pandemic raging outside!) Today, keeping in mind that the children are now seven months older, I replenished the assortment, adding a set of glitter glue pens for the upcoming holiday season.Intriguingly, in this village in Midlands, KwaZulu Natal, the only coloring books I could find were Euro-centric. At least 97 percent of the books' illustrations depict Euro-centric characters – white pirates, Snow White, Nordic princesses, etc. - rather than Afro-centric. I scooped up the only coloring book that depicted a young African girl in tribal costume carrying a pot on her head, and a giraffe. (I look forward to finding a wider, Afro-centric selection in the local city. Much of what is sold in South Africa these days, however, comes from China.)***The garden pond is alive with little critters. I wasn’t wearing my glasses when I spotted the latest batch of critters hatched in the pond. They looked like a species of tadpole (“polliwog”), but smaller. Intrigued, I peered closely. Surprise! The critters are mosquitos! The large pond, epicenter of my gardening joy, is a hot bed for my insect nemesis.
Since adult mosquitos love snacking on my blood, I may be the only person in South Africa who owns – and uses – a functional mosquito net (opposed to the “out of Africa” prop used for interior design). My net is voluminous and black – the only color available at Cost Plus in Oakland California when I purchased it more than a decade ago. I set it up during last week's very hot spell, and have slept well under it.
“Anopheliphobia,” a branch of entomophobia, fear of insects, is fear of mosquitos - derived from Greek “anopheli,” mosquito. This phobia is linked with pruritophobia, fear of itches, since mosquito bites are itchy.
Combine anopheliphobia and pruritophobia with Trumpthenaartjiephobia and I may be ready for a white straight jacket.Lockdown Week 33
Numbers for end of Lockdown Week 33
Day 231 Thursday, November 12 - Veterans Day
Worldwide (Map)
November 12 – 52,070,000 confirmed infections; 1,274,000 deaths
October 15 – 38,426,375 confirmed infections; 1,091,250 deaths
US (Map)
November 12 – 10,258,100 confirmed infections; 239,700 deaths
October 15 – 7,911,500 confirmed infections; 216,860 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
November 12 – 740,255 confirmed infections; 19,951 deaths
October 15 – 696,420 confirmed infections; 18,155 deaths
A somber Veterans Day in the United States yesterday. With 136,000 newly confirmed cases across the country in one day, we learn that,More than 4,200 veterans have died from Covid-19 at hospitals and homes run by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and nearly 85,000 have been infected, according to the department.
That death toll does not include an untold number who have died in private or state-run veterans facilities, including the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home in Massachusetts, which had nearly 80 deaths earlier this year. Two former administrators were charged with criminal offenses after an investigation found that “utterly baffling” decisions caused the disease to run rampant there.
American veterans are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 because of their age and underlying health conditions, some of which can be traced to exposure to the Vietnam-era defoliant Agent Orange and smoke from burning oilfields in the Persian Gulf.News blues…
President Ramaphosa addressed the nation last night. (36:11 mins)Key takeaways:
Virus still present across the land yet South Africans are forgetting this
Highest number of weekly new cases and deaths (more than 2,000 new cases today)
Covid far from over – and will remain “for some time to come”
Kudos to front line workers…
SA’s response widely recognized and commended around the world
Toll on health and wellbeing of SA
92 percent recovery rate
Pay attention to Eastern Cape with a resurgence: 50 percent higher number of cases now
Too many large gatherings, not enough mask wearing
Government response:
Implement resurgence plan: intervention include primary health care outreach, contact tracing, readiness
Wake up call: cannot relax or be complacent
Extending national state of disaster to Dec 15
Second area of concern:
Festive season – people want to travel, relax, gather and this poses a great threat to managing the pandemic
What we know and what we need to do:
Wear masks
Avoid poorly ventilated buildings
Don’t let your guard down
Download free Covid alert app
Public intervention:Testing:
Vaccine coming… need about 750 million doses thru Africa
Manufactured in SA, too, to ensure sufficient supply to SA and continent
Social benefit intervention:
Economic reconstruction – from relief to recovery
Covid 19 grant extended to Jan 2021
UIF extended for another month
Alcohol sales back to regular hours
Travel returning to normal
From Wed Nov 25 to Sun 29 – 5 days of mourning of Covid 19 and Gender-based Violence (GBV): 6 am to 6pm - wear black arm bands.***Healthy futures, anyone?
Disinformation and misinformation is the name of the game these days. Confusion reigns. For example, Tuesday’s post presented information that Covid recovery plans threaten global climate hopes. Today, news reports, “Renewable energy defies Covid-19 to hit record growth in 2020: International Energy Agency expects green electricity to end coal’s 50-year reign by 2025"
At the same time, “Rolls-Royce vows to create 6,000 UK jobs with nuclear power station plans: Engineering firm is part of consortium pushing for government backing."There is no agreed upon way forward for healthy futures - at least not by public figures.Seeing is not believing....
Meanwhile, "fears for a million livelihoods in Kenya and Tanzania as Mara River fish die out: water biodiversity is on the brink, with dire consequences for the region known for the zebra and wildebeest migration":Fish are being driven to extinction in the Mara River basin, putting the livelihoods of more than a million people in Kenya and Tanzania in jeopardy, according to WWF.
A report by the wildlife NGO details how farming, deforestation, mining, illegal fishing and invasive species could sound a death knell for the transboundary river.The first stocktake of biodiversity in the river basin identified 473 native freshwater species including four mammals, 88 waterbirds, 126 freshwater associated birds, four reptiles, 20 amphibians, 40 fishes, 50 invertebrate species and 141 vascular plants.We, the people (who pay attention) know the Covid-19 pandemic is an outcome of humans’ dysfunctional relationship with nature. Yet, as in so many other areas of public life, we continue to push against this inconvenient truth, pretending “technology”, “science”, “know-how” will overcome.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
The weather in this part of KZN – the Midlands – reflects my mood: damp, somber.
The birds continue cheerfully to twitter and build nests. Time for me to take a lesson from these extraordinary creatures and cheer up!
Day 230 Wednesday, November 11 - Vaccine on the horizon
I was tempted to title today’s post, “Is he gone yet?”… and focus – again – on the Trumpster and his ongoing temper tantrums about the Losers who made him a Loser by losing an election.
(c) Rico
In the US, this period is called “lame duck,” but as Naysan Rafati, of International Crisis Group, puts it, “This is less a lame-duck period and more of an adrenaline-infused mallard.”
Indeed, Trump will do a lot of damage to the American cultural psyche and, likely, to domestic and international relations on his way out, but he IS on his way out.It's time for him to move on - and for me to change the subject, too. Goodbye, already!
News blues…
Dr Fauci on Pfizer’s 90 percent effective Covid-19 vaccine: Yes, there are challenges ahead, including convincing the public to continue (start?) to implement ongoing public health aspects to protect oneself (wear masks, socially distance, sanitize) but the vaccine looks very promising…. (3:53 mins)***At the same time, “Don’t Get Too Excited About the Coronavirus Vaccine. It’s unmitigated good news. But it would be a tragic mistake to relax our vigilance right away.”***State hospitals in South Africa’s Nelson Mandela Bay ran out of intensive care beds on Monday 9 November as coronavirus infections in the Eastern Cape’s biggest metro edged closer to 5,000. The district manager for the Department of Health in the metro, Dalene de Vos, said there were 4,546 confirmed cases of coronavirus infections in the metro — an increase of 692 over the weekend.Healthy futures, anyone?
Could listening to the deep sea help save it?Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
I’m suffering pandemic fatigue. Yesterday was as bad as its been for me over these 230 days. I hit a wall. Constant rainfall – same today – added to my morose state. On such days, it is particularly important that I “change the channel” – focus on something nourishing. Instead of staring at my belly button and feeling hard-done-by, I edited my blog that shares my ceramic sculptures. Take a look… And, yes, thank you, I do feel better. It’s still raining, but I’m more motivated and more centered. I guess it doesn't take much to get me going...
Day 229 Tuesday, November 10 - Stay or go?
Trump’s dilemma: should I stay or should I go? The Clash put it to music… (3:00 mins)News blues…
We, the People are exposed to mountains of media each day and, as the Trump election fiasco continues, it becomes increasingly difficult to discern what is based in fact or fantasy, in truth or lies, and satirical or serious news. For example, choose from the following headlines (answers below):
- Trump Claims Over 70 Million Biden Votes Came From People Who Should Be Dead
- Trump is devouring fast food — and aides are ‘lighting scented candles’ to cover up the stench
- Donald Trump Jr. Refuses To Step Down From Post Of President’s Oldest Son
- After Baseless Trump Claims, Barr Says DOJ Can Investigate Voter Fraud Allegations
Answers:Currently popular, the term “inflection point” refers to selecting one possible direction over another possible direction - and that both directions are inherently equally valid.
In fact, we face a choice between a culture based on “traditional” values – integrity, honor, respect for other people and points-of-view, respect for justice and the law, and a shared moral code – and a culture based on an any-deceit-that-works-at-the-moment, authoritarian-whim-based, emotion-driven culture.
The United States – and, therefore, the world – are at an inflection point, the consequences of which are grave.
It’s frighteningly unclear which direction we’ll choose.
Warning: unless Trump and Trump-supported cabinet members are charged with their crimes against the US Constitution and US law, the second choice will triumph, whether expressly chosen or not.
Sobering, no?***The Lincoln Project looks on the bright side:It took all of us.
Just 72 days remain in Donald Trump’s first, and only, term as president.
While Trump Republicans continue to kick, scream, and cry fraud without evidence, the real world is moving on and looking forward to the next administration, and the next chapter in America’s story.
World leaders were quick to congratulate President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris, as were the likes of President George W. Bush, Senator Mitt Romney, and a handful of other Republicans who aren’t willing to deface our free and fair elections for political points.
We, the People, have spoken.
A truly American coalition of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans delivered Joe Biden the largest victory in American history, with 75 million votes for the Biden-Harris ticket—and counting.
However, as we saw play out last week, the margins in several key states were narrow—meaning it took every single voter within this coalition to deliver this result.
This win belongs to all of us, including you.
Donald Trump is the first-ever president to be impeached, lose the popular vote twice, and lose re-election. A trifecta of failure fit for the most un-American president in our history.
Looking ahead, our work is far from over.
Over 71 million Americans voted to keep Trump in power, to continue on our path of destruction and chaos, and ultimately, for an illiberal takeover of our democracy.
Luckily, there are more of us than there are of them.
With several Trump enablers remaining in office, control of the Senate could be in the hands of Georgia. Senators Perdue and Loeffler must once again face voters for a runoff on January 5 in the ultimate test of their loyalty: America, or Trump?Healthy futures, anyone?
Covid recovery plans threaten global climate hopes as countries pour money into fossil fuels to fight recessionIn at least 18 of the world’s biggest economies, more than six months on from the first wave of lockdowns in the early spring, pandemic rescue packages are dominated by spending that has a harmful environmental impact, such as bailouts for oil or new high-carbon infrastructure, outweighing the positive climate benefits of any green spending, according to the analysis. Only four countries – France, Spain, the UK and Germany – and the EU have packages that will produce a net environmental benefit.Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Pandemic fatigue, coupled with California homesickness, has kicked in BIG TIME for me.
South Africa has a term for how I address these feelings: vasbyt
Vasbyt is advice from then-conscripted SADF recruits who served compulsory military service, from 9 months to 2 years.
The Afrikaans term means, literally, bite down; figuratively it means “keep a stiff upper lip,” or “grin and bear it.”
I’ll try….
Day 228 Monday, November 9 - "You're fired!"
Photo essay: Americans celebrate the incoming 46th president
© Illustration: Chris Riddell
News blues…
Brace yourself! Trump “is not going to accept defeat — he is psychologically incapable of that….”***While the current US president nurses his ego, Covid-19 blossoms.
The current tally for confirmed infections around the world? Fifty million! And more than one and a quarter million dead. The United States still leads in numbers: 10 million confirmed infections and close to quarter million dead.
South Africa’s infections are resurging too.
Isn’t it beyond time for a real, functional, implementable plan?
That plan must address “virus/ pandemic/ lockdown fatigue” – a term so amorphous that it’s difficult to address - other than, “suck it up - or run the real risk of dying a miserable death!”***The Lincoln Project: Dawn (0:55 mins)
Meidas Touch: Bye Don: Joe Biden Elected President of the United States (1:44 mins)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Talking about lockdown fatigue… I, too, suffer this malady. Seldom at a loss for things to do, these pandemic-driven days, I – like many others - have more time than usual on my hands. The things I’d like to do – find and settle into a ceramic studio, join outdoor hiking and bird watching groups – all include other people. And other people include the potential of contracting Covid-19. With my mother living amid other elderly at-risk people, going on outings feel like an unaffordable luxury during a surging pandemic.
I, like the rest of the humans around the world, need a viable strategy to stimulate both mind and body and stay safe. Pandemic life is complicated.
Day 227 Sunday, November 8 - (No)Conceding Sunday
While the world waits
and watches, Trump walls off himself
(and his ego) from reality.News blues…
For this round, at least, the excruciating counting of ballots is over. Oh, there will be a recount, and lawsuits, and Trump trashing, but the election has been decided. Biden and Harris have been declared the winners. The United State has 74 more days before the Biden/Harris team begin its four years in the office of president.
Alas, Donald Trump has 74 more days to wreak havoc on the nation that doesn’t want him around anymore. Here’s a possible breakdown of phases:
Phase 1: Donald Trump lost the election.
Phase II: Donald Trump refuses to concede.
Phase III: Donald Trump behaves as usual: plays golf while promising litigation, and sets “his” justice department to do his bidding and his lawyers to go to court
Phase IV:As intemperate, foolhardy and reckless as many of Trump’s actions have been to date, critics warn that they all took place as Trump faced a referendum from voters. Now, that pending job review has passed… “ He will create as much chaos as humanly possible,” said Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer who was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison for, in part, arranging illegal hush money payments to keep women from revealing affairs they had had with Trump just prior to the 2016 election.Never a dull moment with the Trumpster….
“Donald Trump will take to the airwaves, to radio and print media whining about how the election was stolen from him due to fraud and foreign interference,” Cohen said. “He could never accept the fact that he lost because he is incompetent and arrogant.”
Big question: “Can Trump be Indicted by SDNY Prosecutors During Lame Duck Period to Test OLC Memo?” (13:00 mins)
My answer? Yes! Please!***“It’s a good day for a whole lot of people” – Van Jones (2:08 mins)***New York, New York… (song parody - 1:30 mins)***The Lincoln Project declares its next steps:Trump is no more. America can start anew.
Thank you!
This is your victory.
This is your moment.
History will remember every patriot who stood up, put country first, and defeated the most urgent threat to the security and stability of our Republic since the Civil War.
…Joe Biden … will become the 46th President of the United States.
Our work is not over though. Far from it. Until Trump concedes, the Electoral College votes, and Joe Biden is sworn in, we will not rest.
And as you know, this movement is not just about one man.
Until every Trump enabler is out of office and has paid a price for bringing our country to the precipice of catastrophe, we will not relent.
We are not done. But we’re sure glad to have you with us….
Our Republic, and democracy at large, were tested to the breaking point. Democracy prevailed.
Today, we celebrate. Tomorrow, we continue the fight for our Republic.Healthy futures, anyone?
Rocky road for coral…
Healthy coral.
© Q.U.IHalf of the corals on Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef have died since the 1990s, according to a troubling new study that analyzed just how devastating years of catastrophic mass bleaching have been for one of the most biodiverse structures on Earth.A Noah’s ark-like plan to house hundreds of the world’s most at-risk coral species at a publicly accessible bank next to the Great Barrier Reef could prove an important part of long-term coral conservation, marine biologists say.***Green groups denounce Brazil's 'sham' Amazon tour for foreign diplomats.Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Temperatures back into the lower and mid-30s (C)
I’m making more compost while I still have a concrete mixer to do the heavy work.***We’ll host an open house for interested potential buyers this coming weekend. Got to prep for that. It’s been almost a month and NO nibbles at all. That must change.
Day 226 Saturday, November 7 - Super-slog Saturday
Another day of watching election results... with not-so-bated-breath. At least We the People (with discernment) appear on a trajectory for No More Trump….
© Meidas Touch News blues…
The US presidential election is taking up so much mental, emotional, and political space that coronavirus has faded into the background for the moment. Let’s review climbing infection rates:
- United States: breaking records day-by-day - 100,000 and more cases of new, confirmed infections - per day!
- Italy: Much of Italy is now under lockdown, after the Covid-19 death toll for 24 hours hit 445 - a six-month record.
- Spain: The total number of COVID-19 fatalities in Spain shot up on Wednesday by 1,623, according to the Health Ministry, bringing the country’s official death toll to 38,118… and 297 deaths confirmed since Tuesday, which is Spain's highest daily jump in deaths since April.
- Canada: battling its second wave of coronavirus infections; public health officials in the country’s western region are growing concerned as cases surge to new daily records. Active coronavirus cases in Alberta have quadrupled in the last five weeks. British Columbia, with 5 million residents, notched up more than 400 new cases.
- France: registered a record 60,486 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Friday, following the previous high of 58,046 on Thursday…
- Brazil: reports 18,862 additional confirmed cases of the virus in the past 24 hours, and 279 deaths from Covid-19. The country has now registered 5,631,181 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 162,015,in the world’s most fatal outbreak outside the United States.
***A coronavirus-centric joke to alleviate anxiety after the dispiriting stats shared above.Healthy futures, anyone?
How does fracking work?Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
After spotting an unusual accumulation of vegetative debris on my doorstep – I took a closer look: it had a caterpillar-like head that retracted as I watched. I waited for the head to reappear and, when it did not, I photographed the critter.
The photo shows the critter’s rear end at the upper portion; Are those two shiny dots on the lower portion of the photo its caterpillar-like eyes?
Internet research suggests this unique creature is a bagworm, in the caterpillar stage. Gatherings of bagworms, alas, can wreak havoc on trees.***Mulberry season!Mulberries – elongated blackberries or raspberries that grown on trees rather than bushes - seem to have gone out of culinary fashion. Mulberry trees are classified invasive in the United States, but mulberry trees are alive and well in this neighborhood, and in this garden.
Monkeys are in mulberry heaven.
Monkeys are in apricot-and-plum heaven, too, as apricot and plum trees producing new fruit. But the fruit is still hard, green, and only marginally larger than marbles. Monkeys don’t care: they’re plucking the premature fruit and, usual for monkeys, taking one bite then tossing away the rest of the fruit.
This bite-and-toss behavior upends my general acceptance of evolution: how come, given many generations of monkeydom, monkeys have never figured out that leaving fruit (and vegetables) to mature is a better nutritional bet than destroying them in infancy?
Oh, wait! I forgot. Humans descended from monkeys/apes… and we’re an impatient lot, too. Humans, like monkeys, are unsuccessful at anticipating how our current (stupid) behavior affects our future (healthy) future. (Think climate change denial….)
Day 225 Friday, November 6 - Freakout Friday...
STILL no president elect!
© Krànitz Roland/
Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2020STILL an unbelievably close race!This squirrel expresses my feelings....News blues…
Democrats Look at Trump Voters and Wonder, ‘What the Hell Is Your Problem?’***There Was a Loser Last Night. It Was America. Trump’s ugly speech told us exactly where we’re going — and it’s nowhere good.***Even if Biden wins, the world will pay the price for the Democrats' failuresHow could the electoral circumstances for the US Democrats have been more favourable? A quarter of a million Americans have died in a pandemic bungled by the incumbent president, and at least 6 million have consequently been driven into poverty. The coronavirus crisis is the devastating climax of a presidency defined by hundreds of scandals, many of which alone, in normal circumstances, could have destroyed the political career of whoever occupied the White House. Despite having the active support of almost the entire US press, Joe Biden’s victory looks to be far narrower than predicted. During the Democratic primaries, Biden’s cheerleaders argued that his socialist challenger Bernie Sanders would repel Florida’s voters, and yet Donald Trump has triumphed in the sunshine state. They argued that his “unelectable” rival would risk the Senate and down-ballot races, yet the Republicans may retain control of the Senate, and Democrats are haemorrhaging seats in the House of Representatives.The one thing the US really needs to address – unwieldy as it might be – is the 40 to 50 percent of Americans who are so disillusioned with their political, cultural, and social representation that they’d vote for a character like Trump. There is real pain “out there” in the democratic republic of the United States – no jobs or low paying jobs, no livable wage for too many people, no decent affordable medical care, substandard education, racism, sexism, elitism. This cries out for attention.Alas, the American political system is broken, fundamental shared values are absent, and, in essence, “politics as usual” continues.
The whole world recognizes this. American leaders, however, do not recognize it and will not address it.To the detriment of all sentient beings, these truths will be swept under the rug… the can kicked down the road … lip-service employed …
In 1992, third party presidential candidate Ross Perot predicted “a giant sucking sound” as “production operations and factories packed up in the United States and moved to Mexico.”
Perot was correct.
That giant sucking sound is now a giant burp coming back up to discomfort us. Will we change track based on overwhelming in-your-face evidence?
Unfortunately, inertia predominates. Inerita: “a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged” or, more formally, “a property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is changed by an external force.”
What kind of “external force” is the big question.***Meantime, the US recorded 102,831 new cases of coronavirus, and saw 1,097 new Covid deaths. This, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
The New York Times reports that 23 states have recorded more cases in the past week than in any other seven-day stretch. And five states — Colorado, Indiana, Maine, Minnesota and Nebraska — all set new single-day case records yesterday. Deaths related to the coronavirus have increased 21 percent across the country in the last two weeks.
The Associated Press report that the surge was most pronounced in the Midwest and Southwest.
Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and New Mexico all reported record high hospitalizations this week. Nebraska’s largest hospitals started limiting elective surgeries and looked to bring in nurses from other states to cope with the surge. Hospital officials in Iowa and Missouri warned bed capacity could soon be overwhelmed.
The American Academy of Pediatrics also announced earlier this week that the number of US children contracting COVID-19 has soared to unprecedented levels. There were nearly 200,000 new cases during October.
If the current rate continues, by the middle of next week the US will have recorded over 10 million cases.***No updates from The Lincoln Project as it regroups … Humor and satire have been a positive feature of the last four years of pain. Let's hope The Lincoln Project or similar group finds a niche for the next four years.
Healthy futures, anyone?
Enjoy Comedy Wildlife Photo AwardsMeanwhile, back at the ranch…
Jacaranda trees, imported from Argentina in the 1880s, have taken to their new home in a big way. They're currently in blossom across the country.
Street view.
Aerial view - Pretoria.
Image credits: Facebook/Munro Boutique Hotel
Day 224 Thursday, Nov 5 - Counting chickens Thursday...
During this morning’s brief spell with electricity supplied to the household, I watched the ongoing updates on the presidential race. It was far grimmer than I expected – Trump actually has people voting for him!
WTF?
Who are these people?
Did I – and millions of others – count chickens before they hatched, so sure were we that The Trumpster was out?***Let’s pretend we live in a normal time – normal for a pandemic, that is – and do, as I’ve done for months, the end of week numbers for Covid infections and deaths.November 5 numbers compared to thirty-plus days ago.
Worldwide (Map)
November 5 – 48,136,225 confirmed infections; 1,225,915 deaths
October 1 – 33,881,275 confirmed infections: 12,012,980 deaths
US (Map)
November 5 – 9,487,470 confirmed infections; 237,730 deaths
October 1 – 7,233,199 confirmed infections: 206,940 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
November 5 – 730,500 confirmed infections; 19,585 deaths
October 1 – 674,340 confirmed infections: 16,735 deaths
Could another harder lockdown be in the cards in South Africa? (6:55 mins)
News blues…
The old world is not coming back.Even if Joe Biden wins the election, he can't quell the forces that spurred Trumpism ….The US can't just say it's back, as if Trump never happened. Foreign envoys in Washington caution that the political dislocation that led to his rise could deliver another nationalist president in four years.Turbulence ahead…***OK, America, so what the hell happens now?
With the future and democratic reputation of the American republic hanging in the balance, this is not an occasion for bombast. Rather it is time to reach humbly in the darkness, seeking only to summon such measured words as convey the intense dignity of this moment. In short, I think we all feel the hand of history on our pussies.***Van Jones puts it well: “there’s a political victory and there’s a moral victory” (7:04 mins)....***Either Trump or Biden Will Win. But Our Deepest Problems Will Remain.A presidential election naturally concentrates our country’s attention. For a time, everything seems to depend on the answer to one clear and simple question.
But then what? On rare occasions, the country’s fate really does rest on a discrete set of policy choices embodied by competing candidates.
More often, though, our deepest problems aren’t really amenable to resolution by a president. These problems have been adding up to something of a social crisis, evident not only in the breakdown of our political culture but also in the isolation and despair that have driven up suicide and opioid-abuse rates, and in a sense of alienation that leaves whole communities feeling excluded from the American story and in turn angrily rejecting it. Read the article >>***The Lincoln Project…
I watched election day episode of LIVE LPTV – and the main take-aways: Yikes, who knew Trumpism was so entrenched? And: the advice not sweat it – “it’ll take a little while for the vote to be counted”….
But I am sweating it…
Meanwhile, The Lincoln Project ads continue:
Absentee (1:42 mins)
The Proof (0:55 mins)
Healthy futures, anyone?
It’s difficult, today, to think of healthy futures for anyone – given the reality of how entrenched is Trumpism in the US – the effects of which are felt worldwide.
My advice? Go out outside. Look at the sky. Think positive thoughts. Imagine a better, more inclusive world and a healthier planet. Then, engage in making it so!Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
In an abrupt about face, I’m thankful, now, that the electrical supply to this house, on for a mere ten minutes or so his morning, went off for most of the day. It meant I could not act on my desire obsessively to check election news every five minutes.
During the ten minutes with electricity, however, I discovered, 1) The Donald was doing better than anyone of my political persuasion expected (Biden was still squeaking ahead with electoral college counts) and 2) Trump had already made a victory speech. Trump’s Problem: all votes have not been counted, particularly mail-in and absentee ballots – some 90 million.
A little premature, Donald?
Nevertheless, the tight race is astonishing. The United States is in BIG cultural trouble. It means nothing good for the United States that a man of Donald Trump’s caliber – vainglorious, a liar and a cheat, self-centered, pathologically narcissistic, uninterested in world affairs or the vast majority of people except as a mirror for his grandiosity – could garner the kind of votes that could keep him in the White House another four years.
It’s the end of the world as we know it. (R.E.M: 4:00 mins)
Day 223 Wednesday, Nov 4 - Waiting Wednesday
Short post on this day of waiting and watching…
News blues…
How do South Africans feel about the US elections?***The Lincoln Project goes all out for election day:
One Day (1:02 mins)
Fauci (1:50 mins) (And Obama addresses Trump’s threat to fire Dr Fauci (2:30 mins)
Your Boys (1:50 mins)
Steph Curry (0:40 mins)
You will be caught, Michigan (0:55 mins)
Healthy futures, anyone?
Today, the healthiest future I can imagine today is one without Donald Trump (or Don jr, Ivanka, Jared, Eric or Melania) in the White House… No William Barr in the Justice Department. No Mike Pompeo in government. No Moscow Mitch in the Senate. No Lindsey Graham in the Senate…And a functioning government….
Day 222 Tuesday, November 3 - Super Tuesday
© Zapiro
Zapiro, South African's cartoon treasure, captures my thoughs exactly: Donald Trump defeated at the polls. Here’s hopin’
I awoke to no electrical power – again!
No power = no internet.No internet = no blog post for the day.
Sigh.
News blues…
How South Africa is viewing Trump vs. Biden***The Lincoln Project:
American the Beautiful (0:55 mins)Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
After waking to find no electricity, my immediate thought was: Eskom’s at fault - again. I blamed the country’s national electricity supplier (power derived from coal), complaining that Eskom no even longer bothers to inform its customers via its EskomSe Push app that power is off, nor about the expected duration of the outage, nor the regions affected. Moreover, Eskom, subjected to corrosive corruption during the Zuma presidency, is billions of rands in debt …which means, naturally, that tax payers will tapped to fill the gap.
An immediate effect of no electricity is no internet connection - therefore no updated blog posting.
The auto security gate is also affected when electricity is off. This morning, it took several tries for the security gate to close.
Already stressed (what if The Donald is re-elected? Surely it couldn’t happen? Surely the world’s people would rise up en masse and complain?), when I spotted two local residents talking on the street, I said, “One set of neighbors has electricity but our house does not. Do your houses have power?”
One man explained, “Someone stole electrical cable last night,” he gestured to an open box on a pole. “The houses on this section of the street, including ours are affected.”
Stolen cables? Who steals cables from live electrical connections?
South Africans do.
Alas.***Today, I take the day off. With daylight savings time started in California, South Africa is now 10 hours ahead of California, I cannot watch the nail-biting election news as US media ekes out hours and hours of election predictions and slow results.
Moreover, I’ve not taken a day off for 222 days – not since the beginning of the pandemic locked down South Africans in March.
I plan to visit the now-abandoned land upon which I grew up and to which I bonded and continue to love.
On the outer west region of The Valley of a Thousand Hills nurtured me and gave me profound respect for the natural world. Alas, due to encroaching industry, my mother sold the land after living there more than 60 years.
Usually, I visit the area at least once during a stay in South Africa. I’ve not visited this year.Today is the day.
Day 221 Monday, November 2 - Reality impinges
© Zapiro News blues…
A new study by Stanford University researchers concluded that Trump rallies likely caused 30,000 new coronavirus cases and 700 additional deaths. “The communities in which Trump rallies took place paid a high price in terms of disease and death,” they said.
[But] White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters … in September that Trump was always in a better mood after doing rallies in front of his fans.
…Fifty-eight percent of likely voters nationally disapproved of Trump’s decision to hold large rallies, while only 34 percent approved, according to a Suffolk University/USA Today poll conducted last week.***More evidence that Trump rallies are super spreader events… (10:44 mins)***Last week, Trump planned to pack his Washington hotel to the rafters with supporters hoping to celebrate his re-election. Alas, today’s plan: the president will be a no-show at his own event. Publicly, the reason given is that the “campaign was warned that it was about to break local COVID-19 restrictions about gatherings of more than 50 people.”
Isn’t it more likely, however, the Trump is forced to confront real reality (perhaps for the first time in his life?) and he’s realizing he’s lost the presidency? That does not mean, however, he accepts this reality.
Even 14,000 miles away, I tremble for my adopted country and country-people. The days from November 4 to January 20, 2021 could be a period during which The Donald wreaks his revenge on a nation whose majority voted him out of office.***The Kiffness: Do You Believe in Life After Lockdown? (3:24 mins)
Tell you goodbye (4:35 mins)
The Lincoln Project: Priceless (0:25 mins)Healthy futures, anyone?
Most/least sustainable countries?The Nordics once again dominated the biannual survey, with Finland and Denmark in third and fourth place respectively, and Switzerland in fifth, falling from the second position in the July 2019 edition, primarily on pension funding fears.
The bottom five countries are all in Africa, due to civil wars or political unrest in Yemen, the Central African Republic, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.
… Notable absences from the top list among the major industrialized nations are the US and UK. “Both have seen their ESG performance gradually worsen since 2016, when the UK voted for Brexit and the US for Donald Trump, especially in terms of governance,” [as described] in the survey.
“This is a tendency that is strongly linked to the political situations in the two countries, which are characterized by increasing polarization, deeply divided populations, growing dissatisfaction with traditional parties, and increasing populism.”
…The BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – all appear in the bottom half of the rankings. “The ESG performance of the BRICS countries was particularly disappointing, all of which underperformed the universe mean.”
“Most of the worst-ranking ESG performers are located in Africa. This illustrates just how far behind the continent is in terms of sustainability issues. Even the continent’s two economic heavyweights, South Africa and Nigeria, performed poorly.”Read more >>Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
My love affair with rain is put to the test: perhaps too much rain now? Rain has fallen consistently for the last three days… and is predicted to continue after this morning’s lull. Too much of a good thing?***Dizzying decisions. For now, my mother has agreed to delay her proposed move from the Care Center to my nephew’s multi-generational household.
I fully support this new decision – even while I wonder how long she will stick with it.
Things I’m learning? Not to opine. To present compelling evidence of other ways of thinking. To put big decision firmly on her shoulders. To be willing to bow out when I doubt the wisdom of her decisions.
Day 220 Sunday, November 1 - Apocalyptic revelation
On the eve of the US election,“It’s important to remember that apocalypse means revelation; it’s the moment that reveals something about one individual’s life or about society in general…I think this is really a moment of big revelations, not revelations in terms of visions or prophecies, but revelations in the sense of seeing the truth of things.”This, from Giovanni Bazzana, a professor of New Testament at Harvard Divinity School. He goes on to explain:Many scholars believe the Bible’s Book of Revelation ― possibly the most culturally influential story of apocalypse for Americans ― was originally written as resistance literature.
Attributed to a man named John living at the end of the first century, the book contains vivid visions of a cosmic war between the forces of good and evil. It prophesies a future in which God will judge the nations, punish evildoers, avenge his people, and establish a just new world. The book was the coded yet defiant response of an exiled community to the Roman Empire’s oppression of Jewish people and destruction of Jerusalem, scholars say.
“Very often, these texts are written by people experiencing oppression from some power that is becoming too invasive or strongly persecuting them.”
Bazzana insists that the apocalypse is here, [and that] it’s “always with us.”
Bazzana isn’t talking about monstrous beasts emerging from the sea or horsemen descending from a cosmic stage to wreak havoc on the earth. The trials of 2020 are an apocalypse in the original sense of the Greek word, he claims: a revelation or uncovering.
This year has revealed truths about American society that can’t be ignored or swept under the rug ― whether it’s inequality in health care, racial injustice or the ineptitude of the government.News blues…
US sets world record for coronavirus cases in 24 hours. Daily caseload of 100,233 surpasses tally set in India last month. Study links Trump rallies to 30,000 cases and 700 deaths***Continuing his well-honed tradition for bullying, lying, insulting, and covering-his-ass (“arse” if you will), Donald Trump and his minions, again, go after Dr Fauci:… a leading member of the government's coronavirus response [who] said the United States needed to make an "abrupt change" in public health practices and behaviors…[that] the country could surpass 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day and predicted rising deaths in the coming weeks.Nothing earth shattering in that comment, is there? Well, yes, if you’re Trump, in the Trump administration, or a Trumpie. That group (thankfully shrinking by the day) responded as usual.The White House on Saturday unleashed on Dr. Anthony Fauci … following his comments … that criticized the Trump administration's response to the pandemic, including Dr. Scott Atlas, who the President has relied on for advice on handling the coronavirus.The Swamp that ate the swamp? Remember “the swamp” that Trump promised to drain when trolling for votes last election? Don’t you kinda miss it? Back then, the swamp may have been a swamp, but it was the swamp we all knew. Nowadays, the swamp has morphed into something far bigger, far deeper, far swampier. Is Trump’s swamp even drainable?
"It's unacceptable and breaking with all norms for Dr. Fauci, a senior member of the President's Coronavirus Taskforce and someone who has praised President (Donald) Trump's actions throughout this pandemic, to choose three days before an election to play politics," [said] White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere.
Deere took issue with Fauci's comments where the doctor seemingly praises Democratic nominee Joe Biden's campaign. Fauci [said the Biden] campaign "is taking it seriously from a public health perspective." While Trump, Fauci said, is "looking at it from a different perspective." He said that perspective was "the economy and reopening the country," according to the Post.***If you’re American, understand you have the power to silence him***The Lincoln Project:
Seriously (1:45 mins)
Cancer (0:50 mins)
Healthy futures, anyone?
The great fox spider found the perfect spot to hide out and perpetuate it’s species: a military training ground.One of Britain’s largest spiders has been discovered on a Ministry of Defence training ground in Surrey having not been seen in the country for 27 years.
The great fox-spider is a night-time hunter, known for its speed and agility, as well as its eight black eyes which give it wraparound vision. The critically endangered spider was assumed extinct in Britain after last being spotted in 1993 on Hankley Common in Surrey. The two-inch-wide (5cm) arachnid had previously also been spotted at two sites in Morden Heath in Dorset. These are the only three areas in Britain, all in the comparatively warmer south, where it has been recorded.Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
I’ve lived away from South Africa for four decades. I escaped when I was 19 years old, to “travel the world,” and ended up living in Berkeley, California. In the US, I’ve always lived in and around the San Francisco Bay Area (this includes my current American life as a houseboat “liveaboard” in the Sacramento Delta).
A fact about California: the state, with a Mediterranean climate, California experiences rainfall in the winter. It’s a cold rain, usually falling from undramatic cold fronts that release undramatic rainfall. It rarely comes from thunderstorms. If dramatic, cold fronts bare so much rain and that land becomes saturated. Then, Californians experience dramatic mudslides.
Eastern and midland KZN South Africa, however, experiences spring and summer rainfall: a warm rain falling during hot and the wet seasons: spring, summer, and autumn/fall. KZN thunderstorms present rolling thunder, streaks of lightning, buckets of rain, and hail stones larger than marbles.
Now that I’m experiencing this sort of rainfall again, here in the land of my birth, I realize how much I’ve missed it.
I LOVE KZN RAIN!
So do frogs. Nighttime is a cacophony of frog calls, call it a lullaby.
Day 219 Saturday, October 31 - Turbulence ahead
Halloween in the US.
Then election day in the US.Turbulence ahead....News blues…
The United States does not have one coronavirus pandemic, it has 50.Over the last three months, states have begun to display distinct local and regional outbreak patterns. New England, for example, has had relatively low caseloads, with Maine and Vermont recording zero deaths for days on end. The Northeast — New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts — took the bulk of the nation’s COVID-19 cases in April, then recovered and are now showing a steady rise in cases.
So far, the most distinct regional pattern as the virus enters its third wave is happening in the Midwest. [Last] Wednesday, hospitalizations reached the highest levels yet in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri and Ohio.
Adjusted for population, the Midwest’s cases surpassed the peak New York and New Jersey saw in April. Of the 15 cities with the highest rate of new infections over the last two weeks, 11 are in North Dakota or Wisconsin. The most alarming thing about the Midwestern outbreak is not its severity, but its grim predictability.***
Turbulence ahead….***The Lincoln Project: Marc Anthony (1:15 mins)
Republican Voters against Trump:
Former Trump Campaign Leader for Biden (1:05 mins)
I've Got Some Questions for My Fellow Republicans (4:25 mins)
Meidas Touch: Trump’s Deadly Sins (1:55 mins)Healthy futures, anyone?
Not too late for a comeback? Climate change is real. Species extinction is real. Act now to combat the line of opining that goes against that reality – and know that, given the right conditions, endangered critters do make comebacks. Take, for example, the elusive Voeltzkow chameleon, last spotted in Madagascar – its natural ecosystem – more than 100 years ago.A research team led by scientists from the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology (ZSM), discovered several living specimens of Voeltzkow’s chameleon during an expedition to the north-west of the African island nation. [They] said genetic analysis determined that the species was closely related to Labord’s chameleon. …Both reptiles only live during the rainy season – hatching from eggs, growing rapidly, sparring with rivals, mating and then dying during a few short months.“These animals are basically the mayflies among vertebrae,” said Frank Glaw, the curator of reptiles and amphibians at the ZSM.Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
No good deed goes unpunished … or another round of “gotta get outta here….”
My 87-year-old mother, used to getting her own way in everything since she controlled the purse-strings and lifelines for many, is going through another round of loud complaint. She “cannot stand” her new home, not enough tea, not follow-through on others walking her dog, not enough obeisance from the rabble, not enough happiness emanating from her dog, etc., etc.
Her life, she’s decided, will be perfect if she lives with her grandson – scion of a multi-generational, chaotic 2 adult and 5-youngster household, who is also trying to build a business clientele for his one-man show as mechanical designer. (This, during the beginning of what could be an overwhelming economic downturn around the world, and particularly in South Africa.)
Having spent the last ten years going back-and-forth from US to SA to untangle my mother’s disastrous decisions, I’m not for this cockamamie fantasy. Moreover, my mother is burning bridges at her current residence where they gracefully (and unusually) allowed her to bring one dog.
What happens when this latest fantasy meets reality and comes crashing down around her? For, it is inevitable that my mother will squabble with her potential housemates. Then, what’s her plan?
Oh, wait, planning is not her forte. Besides, “nothing” can go wrong; “everything will be just fine.”I’ll try to talk her out of this.I’ll try to talk my nephew out of this.If they’re determined to go ahead with it, I’ll bow out.
Turbulence ahead….
Day 218 Friday October 30 – Waiting to exhale?
Am I holding my breath or am I waiting to exhale?
The next few days are key to what kind of world we – all sentient beings - wll live in after January 20, 2021.
Why is this US presidential election such a nail-biter?
Poll data on the US election suggests a “close” or “competitive” election.
How can there be any question about Donald Trump remaining in the White House?
As it is, it’s beyond comprehension that he’s still there. The possibility of him remaining there boggles the mind.
Trump has sharply focused the weakness of the American republic’s system of democracy: there is no behavior from the person acting as president that is unacceptable. It’s an anything goes system…News blues…
Every morning, a SMS (“txt”) informs me of SA’s daily increase Covid infection and death rates. Three weeks ago, the trend was heading downwards, some days numbers indicated under 1,000 new cases per day. Now, alas, daily cases, here as in the rest of the world, continue to surge.SA recorded 2,056 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said.
This means there have now been 721,770 recorded cases of the illness across the country.
There were also 53 Covid-19 related deaths recorded in the past 24 hours, taking the national death toll to 19,164…. Of the new deaths, 15 occurred in the past 24 to 48 hours.***George W. Bush said in 2005: "A pandemic is a lot like a forest fire … If caught early it might be extinguished with limited damage. If allowed to smolder, undetected, it can grow to an inferno that can spread quickly beyond our ability to control it."The president recognized that an outbreak was a different kind of disaster than the ones the federal government had been designed to address.Indeed.
"To respond to a pandemic, we need medical personnel and adequate supplies of equipment," Bush said. "In a pandemic, everything from syringes to hospital beds, respirators masks and protective equipment would be in short supply."
Bush told the gathered scientists [including Dr Fauci] that they would need to develop a vaccine in record time.
"If a pandemic strikes, our country must have a surge capacity in place that will allow us to bring a new vaccine on line quickly and manufacture enough to immunize every American against the pandemic strain," he said.
Bush set out to spend $7 billion building out his plan. His cabinet secretaries urged their staffs to take preparations seriously. The government launched a website, www.pandemicflu.gov, that is still in use today. But as time passed, it became increasingly difficult to justify the continued funding, staffing and attention, Bossert said.
"You need to have annual budget commitment. You need to have institutions that can survive any one administration. And you need to have leadership experience," Bossert said. "All three of those can be effected by our wonderful and unique form of government in which you transfer power every four years."
Donald Trump’s response to the work continued by President Obama toward addressing a pandemic?
Throwing out all the preceding work.Obama’s White House National Security Council left the Trump administration a detailed document on how to respond to a pandemic. The document … is called the Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents.
“We literally left them a 69-page Pandemic Playbook… that they ignored,” Ronald Klain, a campaign adviser to Democratic candidate Joe Biden and the former Obama administration Ebola response coordinator, wrote on Twitter.***The Lincoln Project:
Mom (0:55 mins)
Don’t mess with Texas (1:20 mins)
Meidas Touch: Alumni against Trump (1:20 mins)Healthy futures, anyone?
Air travel dominates a frequent traveller’s individual contribution to climate change. Yet aviation overall accounts for only 2.5% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This is because there are large inequalities in how much people fly – many do not, or cannot afford to, fly at all [best estimates put this figure at around 80% of the world population].
The second is how aviation emissions are attributed to countries. CO2 emissions from domestic flights are counted in a country’s emission accounts. International flights are not – instead they are counted as their own category: ‘bunker fuels’. The fact that they don’t count towards the emissions of any country means there are few incentives for countries to reduce them.
…Note that unlike the most common greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane or nitrous oxide – non-CO2 forcings from aviation are not included in the Paris Agreement. This means they could be easily overlooked – especially since international aviation is not counted within any country’s emissions inventories or targets.
How much of a role does aviation play in global emissions and climate change? Here are key numbers ….Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
South Africa, dubbed "the protest capital of the world" with one of the highest rates of public protests in the world, is experiencing another round.
Alas, it’s unclear what’s stimulating this week’s protests. Lockdown means staying home rather than dashing out with mic and recorder. Alas, news outlets currently are not covering the activity.
On Monday, local municipality employees gathered outside municipality offices to protest working conditions and pay.
Local social media shared this photo after protesters blocked the narrow bridge over the uMgeni River that is the village’s main traffic artery. Again, no indication about protesters’ concerns.
Since then, protests appear to have blossomed over the country. A recent email from the US Embassy in SA states:Demonstration Alert: U.S. Embassy Pretoria, South Africa (October 29, 2020)A good day to stay home, mix compost, admire bird calls, and keep monkeys away from strawberries ripening in the garden.
Event: The U.S. Embassy is aware of a demonstration scheduled for Friday, October 30th, between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm at the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria.
The Embassy would like to remind U.S. citizens that even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and escalate into violence. The Embassy would like to recommend avoiding the areas of demonstrations and exercise caution if in the vicinity of any large gatherings or protests.
Actions to Take:
- Avoid the area of the demonstrations.
- Keep a low profile.
- Exercise caution if unexpectedly in the vicinity of large gatherings or protests.
- Monitor local media for updates.
Day 217 Thuresday, Oct 29 - October numbers
Worldwide (Map)
October 29 – 44,402,000 xx confirmed infections; 1,173,270 deaths
September 24 – 31,780,000 confirmed infections; 975,100 deaths
US (Map)
October 29 – 8,856,000 confirmed infections; 227,675 deaths
September 24 – 6,935,000 confirmed infections; 201,880 deaths
SA (Tracker)
October 29 – 719,715 confirmed infections; 19,111 deaths
September 24 – 665,190 confirmed infections; 16,206 deaths
News blues…
US Covid cases at all time high – and “the worst is yet to come” (5:45 mins)***When 511 Epidemiologists Expect to Fly, Hug and Do 18 Other Everyday Activities Again***In the last four days, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, three of the country’s Covid-19 hotspots have shown a spike in new cases leading warnings of a possible second wave.***Political ads reaching a crescendo with 5 more days to actual election day.
The Lincoln Project:
Biden’s Moment (1:40 mins)
Covey Spreader (2:45 mins)
Pizza (0:50 mins)
Don Winslow Films: America needs Michigan (2:03 mins)Pebble (0:25 mins)Now This: Laid off auto workers confront Trump Jr (4:40 mins)
Meidas Touch:
Sicko Trump (2:20 mins)
Believe in Biden (0:25 mins)Healthy futures, anyone?
“Cultural arrogance” best describes corporate attitudes to humans’ environment and history. Capitalism's attitude to the natural environment? It’s a potential treasure trove to plunder when convenient or the price is right. Sacred? Who cares? Mere antiquated notions and superstition.Trees: In a deal last year, Aboriginal landowners negotiated with the Victorian government to save around a dozen of 250 "culturally significant" trees from destruction.Want to raise your voice against such plunder and shortsightedness? Consider signing the Global Deal for Nature petition:
Protesters have long camped at the site in Victoria to defend culturally significant trees, including some where local Djab Wurrung women have traditionally gone to give birth.
But state authorities cut down the Djab Wurrung "directions tree….”
Officials defended the felling, saying the tree was not on a protection list.
Earth: The Juukan Gorge caves, in Australia’s Pilbara region, were destroyed last Sunday as Rio Tinto expanded an iron ore project….
Many prehistoric artefacts have been found at the remote heritage site.
"We are sorry for the distress we have caused," said Chris Salisbury, the firm's iron ore chief executive. "We pay our respects to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura People (PKKP – the traditional owners of the site).
“Extractive industries:” Global extraction of natural resources has increased with the onset of the process of capitalist industrialization, growing at an astounding rate in the past 50 years. Global extraction of primary materials more than tripled to 92 billion tonnes in 2017 from 27 billion tonnes in 1970, an annual average growth of 2.6 percent , according to a 2019 report conducted by the United Nations Environment Programme-hosted International Resource Panel (IRP).
Only a decade or two ago it was widely thought that tropical forests and intact natural environments teeming with exotic wildlife threatened humans by harbouring the viruses and pathogens that lead to new diseases in humans such as Ebola, HIV and dengue.
But a number of researchers today think that it is actually humanity’s destruction of biodiversity that creates the conditions for new viruses and diseases such as Covid-19…– with profound health and economic impacts in rich and poor countries alike. In fact, a new discipline, planetary health, is emerging that focuses on the increasingly visible connections between the wellbeing of humans, other living things and entire ecosystems.
Is it possible, then, that it was human activity, such as road building, mining, hunting and logging, that triggered the Ebola epidemics in Mayibout 2 and elsewhere in the 1990s and that is unleashing new terrors today?
“We invade tropical forests and other wild landscapes, which harbour so many species of animals and plants – and within those creatures, so many unknown viruses,” David Quammen, author of Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Pandemic, recently wrote in the New York Times. “We cut the trees; we kill the animals or cage them and send them to markets. We disrupt ecosystems, and we shake viruses loose from their natural hosts. When that happens, they need a new host. Often, we are it.”Thriving nature is essential to life on Earth. The food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, are all pillars of human survival that depend on a series of delicately balanced interactions within the natural world.
But these systems are being thrown dangerously off balance by an onslaught of human activities. From pesticides on our fields, to plastics choking our oceans, to bulldozers in our forests, all over the planet the natural world is under assault.
This crisis has now reached a scale that threatens everything. Species extinction is running at 1000 times the natural rate, and scientists warn that two-thirds of wild animal populations could be gone in our lifetimes. As with climate change, there is now growing concern that dangerous tipping points could be triggered, causing the collapse of key ecosystems and threatening human survival.
Like what you read? Sign the petition….Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
The unidentified critters spotted near the pond yesterday are ivondo (Zulu), or cane rat, of the genus Thryonomys (from the Greek word thryon meaning a "rush" or "reeda rodent”). Found throughout Africa south of the Sahara, the animal – about 720mm/28 inches long - is “related closer to the porcupine than to veld rats.” .
In KZN crops and agriculture, ivondo are considered a pest. Many Zulus consider them culinary candidates.
The ivondo family in our garden appear to have moved in and focus on snacking on vegetation growing between the pond and the stream.
Day 216 Wednesday, Oct 28 - Consequences
More than ten months into the pandemic. Infection and death rates continue to increase around the world. A consequence of the lack of comprehensive and effective leadership?This coronavirus scourge has the upper hand. There’s no firm end in sight.
News blues…
President Cyril Ramaphosa debunks lockdown rumours (4:12 mins)***Veterans for Responsible Leadership:& The Lincoln Project Brave women (1:25 mins)
The Lincoln Project:
Crossroads (1:00 min)
Fairytale (0:55 mins)
Last Call (0:55 mins)
Meidas Touch:
Save America (1:05 mins)
The (not so) Radical Left (0:58 mins)Healthy futures, anyone?
Climate change is shifting the habitat of endangered species, including the lemur….Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Three unidentified critters appeared near the pond late yesterday afternoon. What are they?
So far, no one I’ve asked knows.
Their presence is an indicator of what can happen when the natural world is encouraged to re-establish.
After moving onto this property, my mother believed the safety of her 15 dogs required she erect fences. Alas, fences impeded wild critters – African clawless otters, for example - from entering the pond to snack, as was their custom.
A consequence of erecting fences?
No more otters in this section of the stream and pond.
The presence of dogs also discouraged wild ducks and geese from feeding on pond vegetation. Lack of wild ducks and geese feeding in the pond encouraged overgrowth of invasive plants, such as pond lilies….
What one decides to alter in the natural world has consequences.
The good news? One can “undo” past mistakes. It takes time for the natural world to re-establish, and what re-establishes will come back altered, but it can be done.
Ultimately, erecting fences has consequences….
Day 215 Tuesday, October 27 - "In lieu of flowers"
Georgia May died last month. Her obituary (left) states, “In lieu of flowers, Georgia preferred that you do not vote for Trump”.News blues…
Covid-19: South Africa “Not a second wave, but a resurgence of the first wave…”Dr Aslam Dasoo (5:20 mins)***President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation this week on the potential for imposing stricter lockdown restrictions unless there is a decline in coronavirus infections across the country.***US Senate Republicans voted Monday night to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, tilting the balance of the court to a 6-3 conservative majority for years to come.The conservative legal movement has achieved its wildest dreams. Trump has now made three appointments to the Supreme Court, the most of any president since Ronald Reagan. The court now has a rock-solid 6-3 conservative majority. All six conservatives have been closely vetted by conservative legal movement leaders in an effort to prevent future ideological deviations. Most important, there are now enough conservatives on the court that even if one broke from orthodoxy, it wouldn’t matter.
Conservative activists are now free to press forward with the agenda they’ve pushed since the Reagan era: criminalize abortion, ban racial preference in school admissions and elsewhere, cripple the federal regulatory state, roll back voting rights, civil rights and campaign finance laws and grant greater and greater powers to corporations. Whether voters support it or not.
“A lot of what we’ve done over the last four years will be undone sooner or later by the next election,” McConnell taunted about Barrett’s confirmation on Sunday. “They won’t be able to do much about this for a long time to come.”***Meidas Touch:
Listen up, America (0:55 mins)
Traffic stop (0:55 mins) <Healthy futures, anyone?
Changes of behavior encouraged:“Zombie batteries” are causing hundreds of fires a year at waste and recycling sites, industry experts have warned. They are urging people to ensure dead batteries are not thrown away in household rubbish or recycling. Batteries discarded with general waste are likely to be crushed or punctured during collection and processing … … Some types, particularly lithium-ion and nickel-metal hydride batteries, can ignite or explode when damaged and set fire to other materials. In some cases, this leads to incidents requiring dozens of firefighters and the evacuation of residents, potentially putting lives at risk….
Lithium-ion batteries are typically found in laptops, tablets, mobile phones, Bluetooth devices, shavers, electric toothbrushes, power tools and e-cigarettes. They are increasingly prevalent in devices … meaning the problem is likely to get worse unless people change their behaviour.***Among the many reasons for humans to change our behavior … these critters and this land and water…
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Back at the ranch, “…the beat goes on….”Rain ... happy plants… happy pond… happy tadpoles and happier kingfishers…
Day 214 Monday, October 26 - Burn it down?
Like Bob Woodward, Pulitzer Prize winning author, “I go to sleep and get up in the middle of the night and start checking the news because God knows what might have happened.”
And I agree with Mary Trump, The Donald’s niece, author, and a clinical psychologist: “My theory about the way Donald has run his campaign is that he knows he’s in desperate shape, so he’s going to burn it all down, sow more chaos and division because that’s where he succeeds”
The next weeks are crucial. The weeks until January 20, and a new president is sworn in, will be a minefield.
Let’s be careful out there.News blues…
- ‘We’re not going to control the pandemic’: White House chief’s comments undermine Trump’s message. Mark Meadows acknowledged the situation is not easily handled, with nine days left in a presidential campaign dominated by the coronavirus.
- Members of VP Pence’s team tested positive for Covid-19.
- They’re Afraid. They’re Buying Guns. But They’re Not Voting for Trump.
***The Lincoln Project How To Talk To Your MAGA Friends & Family (3:20 mins)
Meidas Touch: Trump Crime Family (1:30 mins)
Healthy futures, anyone?
A reminder about our beautiful planet: 2020 aerial photos***Following a nine-minute bidding battle, auctioneers at Sotheby's report Banksy's take on a Claude Monet masterpiece sold for £7.6 million ($9.8 million).
"Show Me the Monet" sold far above estimates,
Credit: Michael Bowles/Getty Images
In "Show me the Monet," famed street artist Banksy reimagines Monet's "Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies" as a modern-day scene.The picture is complete with environmental pollution: A traffic cone and two shopping carts submerged in the otherwise idyllic scene.***Greenpeace warns Fukushima water release could change human DNA.Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Domestic worker Martha and I were in total accord with her suggestion we begin each day half an hour earlier and end each day half an hour later. That is, we set the security system to turn off at 5:30am and on at 6:30pm, reducing our overnight shut-in hours by one. That extra hour encourages deeper awareness of our surroundings: bird calls, frog croaks, rustling in the undergrowth as small critters settle in for the long night.
A new week begins on a positive note….
Day 213 Sunday, October 25 - "See you in court"
A new billboard in New York City’s Times Square courtesy of The Lincoln Project.First daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, have threatened to sue The Lincoln Project over two Times Square billboard ads that attack the two senior White House advisers.
The billboard depicts Ivanka Trump presenting the number of New Yorkers and Americans who have died of COVID-19 and Jared Kushner next to a Vanity Fair quote.
The anti-Donald Trump Republican group snapped back with a statement that it plans to make its response ― a “civics lesson” on First Amendment rights ― as “painful as possible.” (More below.)News blues…
Covid is spiking throughout the world, particularly in the United States:Nearly 225,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, and the number of deaths could rise to 500,000 by February, experts warned. [The president] attacked the media for its focus on COVID-19 “CASES, CASES, CASES” after the nation hit an all-time high of more than 83,000 daily infections on Friday.
Trump said without evidence that the coverage was a plot to “create fear” ahead of Election Day. Trump told a campaign rally later in North Carolina that “you won’t hear about it anymore” after the election.
Trump falsely blamed the increase in cases on too many COVID-19 tests and ignored the fact that the U.S. leads the world in the number of COVID-19 deaths. With about 4% of the globe’s population, the U.S. has almost 20% of all COVID-19 deaths in the world.
Trump inaccurately argued that the new surge “included many low risk people.” He also said falsely that the nation’s “mortality rate is DOWN 85% plus.”
A spike in deaths inevitably follows a surge in cases. Already, the rising rate of infections has resulted in a 40% hike in hospitalizations.***The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released another new COVID-19 guideline, this time as it pertains to those who are considered in “close contact” with someone who is infected with the coronavirus.***“South Africa, since the first of October has seen a slow and steady increase in the overall number of cases nationally,” says Professor Salim Abdool Karim.***Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump sicced their lawyers on The Lincoln Project after seeing the billboard (shown above) in Times Square. The Lincoln Project explains,[Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump] threatened to sue The Lincoln Project for sharing truthful information.And, the latest episode of this ongoing soap opera from The Lincoln Project:
We purchased billboard space across the country to tell the truth about the malice, complicity, and cruelty behind the White House’s failed coronavirus response.
Jared and Ivanka didn't like it, and — as they do every time they see something they don't like — they sicced lawyers on us.
We don't just have the First Amendment right to broadcast our message, it is our duty to expose the malfeasance, the cruelty, and the corruption of the Trump family.
We are not afraid of the Trump family and their mafia of stooges, grifters, and nut-jobs.Most people buckle as soon as Trump family lawyers issue a threat.
In addition to nearly a dozen battleground states, we are reminding Americans of the deadly legacy of the First Family right from the bowtie of Times Square — the crossroads of the world — because the world must know the malice, complicity, and cruelty behind the White House’s failed coronavirus response.
Jared and Ivanka immediately threatened to sue us, because they refuse to take responsibility for their failures and don’t want anyone to know the truth.
It’s safe to say that the world is now watching.
This is what the First Family does: defraud, con, and stiff hard-working Americans, and send a pack of lawyers to force capitulation.They have gotten away with this playbook for their entire lives. They expect us to let them get away with it again.The Lincoln Project lawyers are on the job…
***The Lincoln Project Mourning in the Republican Party (0:55 mins)
Healthy futures, anyone?
A celebration of South Africa's feathered friends:
Part 1 (14:00 mins)
Part 2 (16:38 mins)
Part 3 (10:25)***Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Thunder rolls overhead. Will it rain?
I’ve secured from heavy rain 5 large bags of compost I’ve blended over the last weeks. I numbered the bags, too, with each number representing a particular blend. The first 3 bags include “kraal manure” and the last 2 bags include 2 types of pond weed, plus fresh kitchen scraps.
I fantasize about taking the elderly concrete mixer with me when I move. Common sense makes me scrap that idea: my new home is under what is known in the US as a Home Owners Association – HOA - and in SA as a “body corporate.” Both would frown on someone running a concrete mixer to blend compost in her small back yard.
Perhaps I can create a Compost Team: a group to dedicated composters who collect the community’s kitchen scraps and the landscaping company’s clippings, to create community compost? Better yet, I could join an already formed Compost Team?
Good to have dreams….
Day 212 Saturday, October 24 - Challenging times
News blues…
Last Thursday, the United States saw more new coronavirus cases than ever as public health officials warned cases are spiking across the country; 77,640 new reported cases, top the previous record of 75,723 new cases set in July and 921 deaths related to the coronavirus. . Today,For the second day in a row, the United States set a daily record for coronavirus cases when more than 79,000 infections. Friday's 779,303 cases, as tallied by NBC News, topped Thursday's 77,640. The previous high of 75,723 was set July 29.Meanwhile, according the Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the president of the United States has not been present at coronavirus task force meetings “for quite some time.”
The new benchmarks were hit as the pandemic has accelerated at a pace not seen since the summer and as many local governments reimpose restrictions to stop the spread of a virus.“…several months ago,” Fauci told host Chuck Todd after he was asked when the president had last attended a meeting.Interview with Dr Fauci on saving lives: “we’re really facing a very challenging situation…”. (9:35 mins)
“ ... We certainly interact with the vice president [Mike Pence] at the task force meetings. The vice president makes our feelings and what we talk about known to the president. But direct involvement with the president in the discussions, I have not done that in a while.” …the number of task force meetings had decreased over time, too.***In South Africa, civil rights organisation Dear SA is challenging the extension of the national state of disaster, recently extended to end on November 15. It was introduced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on March 15 to allow the government to put together regulations to deal with the spread of Covid-19.Dear SA has called on co-operative governance & traditional affairs (Cogta) minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to give reasons for the extension or face litigation.
According to Dear SA, the decision to extend the national state of disaster was not rationally connected to the purpose for which it was declared.***The Lincoln Project:
Rats (0:55 mins)
Remember El Paso (English) (0:55 mins)
"Seinfeld's" Newman TRASHES Trump in new Democratic ad (2:20 mins)
Meidas Touch:
Trump is pathetic Part 1: Trump 60 minutes fail (0:55 mins)
Trump is pathetic Part 2: Trump 60 minutes fail (0:50 mins)
Healthy futures, anyone?
Spring in KwaZulu Natal Midlands is spectacular. Soon after 4:00am, in this neighborhood, an array of birds begin celebrating the coming day. A bird expert would recognize each call and name the bird. I simply lie in the dark and enjoy the choir.***Picture essays:
Antarctica: an ecosystem under threat
2020 Luminar bug photosMeanwhile, back at the ranch…
South Africa’s daily rate of Covid-19 infection remains between 1,000 and 2,000 cases per day and is not decreasing. Street life, however, has returned to pre-lockdown levels. Stores continue to mandate wearing masks and, upon entering stores, each customer is spritzed with hand sanitizer. Unencumbered by overt politics or conspiracy theories, wearing masks in public appears consistent, too.***With my mother’s verbal agreement, auctioneers carried off excess household furniture to be sold at next week’s “vintage” auction.
Day 211 Friday, October 23 - "A tragedy of history"
“It’s really sad to see the U.S. presidency fall from being the champion of global health to being the laughingstock of the world,” said Devi Sridhar, an American who is a professor of global health at the University of Edinburgh. “It was a tragedy of history that Donald Trump was president when this hit.” (More below.)News blues…
I miss the Obama presidency. Barack Obama remains a graceful, intelligent, funny, fair guy with a good sense of humor. Yes, there were “issues” during his presidency, but… compare the Obama days to these days!
Obama (“Beijing Barry”?) stumps for Biden and Harris in Philadelphia. (32:52 mins)***The thing I love most about America and Americans? Whacky humor. Americans viewed Donald Trump’s rally dancing… and set it to the funniest songs . White man dancing….***New York Times opinion columnist Nicholas Kristoff essay, “America and the virus: ‘A colossal failure of leadership” writes that in its destruction of American lives, treasure and well-being, this pandemic marks the greatest failure of US governance since Vietnam.One of the most lethal leadership failures in modern times unfolded in South Africa in the early 2000s as AIDS spread there under President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki scorned science, embraced conspiracy theories, dithered as the disease spread and rejected lifesaving treatments. His denialism cost about 330,000 lives, a Harvard study found.Read Kristof’s column.
None of us who wrote scathingly about that debacle ever dreamed that something similar might unfold in the United States. But today, health experts regularly cite President Trump as an American Mbeki.
“We’re unfortunately in the same place,” said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at U.C.L.A. “Mbeki surrounded himself with sycophants and cost his country hundreds of thousands of lives by ignoring science, and we’re suffering the same fate.”***The Lincoln Project: Men (1:15 mins)
Trump is English for Castro (English) (0:55 mins)
El Dicta Trump (1:00 mins)
Don Winslow Films No one wants your guns (1:10 mins)Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Good grief! Yesterday, my mother was happy as a clam. She looked forward to her newly purchased mechanized wheelchair showing her new places. Moreover, The Dog appeared to have settled in and was eating as usual.
I shared a quick word in passing with the facility matron who indicated she was as positive about my mother settling into the Care Center as I was.
Life was good.
But... not so fast….
Today, I received an email from my mother’s lawyer explaining that “she wants out…”, that I could spend a lot of money trying to persuade a court of law that my mother should be forced to stay and to present her with a conservatorship.” But, he wrote, it’s likely that an effort to that end would fail as my mother is “bright as a button.”
It’s not, nor has it ever been my intention to force my mother into doing anything against her will.
It is my intention to make myself available to help her if I believe her decisions are in her best interest. Leaving the Care Center – to do what? – is not a decision I’m willing to apply my efforts. She’s welcome to leave, but I’m not assisting her in that. Nor will I continue to help with the many tasks I’ve done over the last 10 months. Someone else will have to assist.***Composting goes on. Recent recipe included snippets of two kinds of pond weed along with a soupçon of water lilies and clippings of the skins and seeds of fresh papaya (“pawpaw”).
Ah, the musty, fecund aroma of fresh compost.***A thunderstorm overhead signaled the first thunder and lightning of the summer monsoonal season.
Life is good - despite the ups and downs and unexpected curve balls.
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