Day 841 - Monday, July 4th, 2022 - Oh, the irony
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| © Dave Granlund, USA Today |
Today, US Independence Day 2022, our posts become more complex. We’ll continue sharing the back-and-forth of the Covid pandemic while also focusing on another aspect of the ongoing degradation of our planet: toxic contamination. Specifically, we’ll follow the effect of toxic contamination on one human being.
To back up: Regular readers understand this blog’s fundamental assertion about the Covid pandemic: shrinking wilderness and environmental destruction equate with increasing risks of pathogenic spillover from animals to people >>
But what of other contaminants around us?
What of the companies that know/knew their products are/were toxic, yet continue to pedal those products to unwary customers?
Stay tuned.
I met Mary, my bestie, in my first week of high school. Like me, she’s a South African transplant living in California.
A month ago, Mary complained that her hip was sore. Generally not a fan of what she calls “trivial pursuits” – including “unnecessary medicine” – Mary took my advice (she called it “nagging”) and visited her personal doctor to request an x-ray. During her appointment, May 27, 2022, Mary mentioned that her usual yoga poses – including downward facing dog and the cat – made her cough, “just short, dry coughs but it’s new….”
But what of other contaminants around us?
What of the companies that know/knew their products are/were toxic, yet continue to pedal those products to unwary customers?
Stay tuned.
News blues
On the Covid front: Stay safe this Independence Day – as Covid presents We the People yet another, yet more contagious variant >>***
Meet Meso Mary and “wat-the-kek”I met Mary, my bestie, in my first week of high school. Like me, she’s a South African transplant living in California.
A month ago, Mary complained that her hip was sore. Generally not a fan of what she calls “trivial pursuits” – including “unnecessary medicine” – Mary took my advice (she called it “nagging”) and visited her personal doctor to request an x-ray. During her appointment, May 27, 2022, Mary mentioned that her usual yoga poses – including downward facing dog and the cat – made her cough, “just short, dry coughs but it’s new….”
He said, “Since you’ll be there for hip and spine x-rays, I’ll order a couple of chest x-rays, too.”
A day after the x-rays, Mary took a phone call from the hospital’s Chief of Surgery who said, “Your chest x-rays show anomalies. Let’s go ahead and order another round.”
The Chief called again after the second set. “The results of your recent scan show nodules on the pleura, the lining of your left lung. You also have fluid buildup. Let’s biopsy the large nodule and perform a pleurocentesis" [aka thoracentesis or pleural effusion].
He asked, “You’re not feeling discomfort or pain in your chest, shortness of breath?”
A day after the x-rays, Mary took a phone call from the hospital’s Chief of Surgery who said, “Your chest x-rays show anomalies. Let’s go ahead and order another round.”
The Chief called again after the second set. “The results of your recent scan show nodules on the pleura, the lining of your left lung. You also have fluid buildup. Let’s biopsy the large nodule and perform a pleurocentesis" [aka thoracentesis or pleural effusion].
He asked, “You’re not feeling discomfort or pain in your chest, shortness of breath?”
Nope, Mary reported she felt fine, well, except for the pulled muscle across her left shoulder blade… “from swimming too much - or not swimming enough,” she laughed.
A day later, the Chief called again: the biopsy indicated malignancies, “likely a form of lymphoma. A small chance it could be mesothelioma although that’s so rare, I doubt it.”
“So rare” or not, two days later, Mary was diagnosed with epithelial mesothelioma.
The subsequent PET scan indicated no metastasizes – no cancerous nodules infesting other organs.
Oh, the irony.
Over decades, both Mary and I have engaged what we call World War against Toxic Contamination - Environment and Creatures, WWaTCEC or, as we say, “what-the-kek.” (No, this is not a non-profit or money/donation-responsive agency; it’s our small inside “joke” as we engage the world’s garbage - of all sorts.)
A day later, the Chief called again: the biopsy indicated malignancies, “likely a form of lymphoma. A small chance it could be mesothelioma although that’s so rare, I doubt it.”
“So rare” or not, two days later, Mary was diagnosed with epithelial mesothelioma.
The subsequent PET scan indicated no metastasizes – no cancerous nodules infesting other organs.
Oh, the irony.
Over decades, both Mary and I have engaged what we call World War against Toxic Contamination - Environment and Creatures, WWaTCEC or, as we say, “what-the-kek.” (No, this is not a non-profit or money/donation-responsive agency; it’s our small inside “joke” as we engage the world’s garbage - of all sorts.)
Mary. A healthy, intelligent woman, unflinchingly committed-to-the-planet’s-health, exercises, eats nutritious foods, recycles plastics and junk (even as she knows she’s “wishcycling” since 85% of single-use plastic items isn’t actually recycled ) has incurable lung cancer due to the toxic and wide-spread material, asbestos.
Mary has agreed to share her journey here, with me at the keyboard.
Together, we’ve progress from “WTF?” to “Let’s fight like hell to root out the origin of this disease in your lungs. We’ll fight even more fiercely than we’re fought other “wat-the-kek” skirmishes!
Mary’s up for it.
Mary has agreed to share her journey here, with me at the keyboard.
Together, we’ve progress from “WTF?” to “Let’s fight like hell to root out the origin of this disease in your lungs. We’ll fight even more fiercely than we’re fought other “wat-the-kek” skirmishes!
Mary’s up for it.
Her fighting name: Meso Mary.
How Mesothelioma Develops
***
The Lincoln Project: Our country (0:57 mins)Healthy planet, anyone?
What to know about asbestos and asbestos exposure:Asbestos are fibrous, naturally occurring hydrated silicates that have long been mined and used for their fire-retardant and insulating properties as construction materials. Asbestos can be found in amphibole and serpentine forms..[with] … amphibole fibres originally believed to pose less risk, but these fibres were then linked to increased rates of mesothelioma .
Dr. Montague Murray first recognized the negative health effects of asbestos in 1899. However, dust control legislation for mines was not enacted in North America until 1971. In the intermediate years, mining and use of asbestos increased dramatically by 120-fold, peaking upon the enaction of legislation in 1971, and decreasing exponentially until the present. The current decreases in the rate of mining are due to public health concerns and to the progressively more restrictive standards placed upon the level of asbestos dust allowed in mines, from 5 fibres/cm3 in 1971 to 1 fibres/cm3 at present. Although the global levels of asbestos mined have decreased significantly, Canada continues to be one of the world’s leading producers. 2.4 × 105 tonnes were mined in Canada in 2003, which accounted for much of the world’s production of asbestos. Read more >>
…
South Africa and asbestos:As we’re learning, mesothelioma is the result of asbestos exposure, with some people more prone. Exposure can happen from repeated use of asbestos -for example from asbestos-contaminated consumer products such as talc. (Looking at you, Johnson & Johnson.) Asbestos in the workplace, homes, schools, military structures and naval ships also leads to dangerous exposure. Mesothelioma cancer develops decades after asbestos exposure occurs because it takes time for asbestos fibers to cause the damage that leads to cancer.
Although South Africa officially banned the use, processing and manufacturing of asbestos-containing products in 2008, past exposures from decades ago eventually raised the country’s incidence of mesothelioma to one of the highest rates in the world.
Out of the six types of asbestos minerals used commercially, South Africa has mined three on a large scale: amosite, chrysotile and crocidolite. While South Africa has used asbestos domestically for a variety of different purposes, the vast majority of its mined reserves were exported to other countries.
South Africa was the third largest asbestos producer in the 1970s, behind Canada and the USSR. The nation was once a global leader in the production of crocidolite and amosite, supplying approximately 97 percent of the world’s crocidolite and practically all of the world’s amosite.
The asbestos mining industry in South Africa reached its peak in 1977 when it employed 20,000 miners and achieved an output of 380,000 tons. Exports began to decline soon after, as evidence of serious health complications prompted countries around the world to enact restrictive legislation on asbestos use.
Between 1910 and 2002, South Africa mined more than 10 million tons of asbestos. The last of the nation’s asbestos mines ceased production in 2001 and closed down the following year. South Africa outlawed all types of asbestos by 2008, but the once-lucrative industry has left the environment polluted. Asbestos exposure risks continue to threaten the well-being of South Africans to this day. Read more >>
How Mesothelioma Develops
- A person inhales or swallows microscopic airborne asbestos fibers.
- The asbestos fibers become lodged in the lining of the lungs, abdomen, or heart.
- Embedded fibers damage mesothelial cells and cause inflammation.
- Over time, tumors form on the damaged mesothelium, leading to mesothelioma.
Welcome to the journey....
Alas, nary a pelican, not a single one, on the water or roosting on the pier.
Likely because it’s 4th July holiday and too many people on the beach. Or the man with the baritone voice singing Star Spangled Banner at 7:30am scared them off.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
I mentioned to a friend my daily walk on the beach and my admiration for local flocks of pelicans. My friend responded with this:A wonderful bird is the Pelican.I decided to orate these magnificent lines to my feathered friends while they're snacking on edibles carried in on the flow tide.
His beak can hold more than his belly can.
He can hold in his beak
Enough food for a week!
But I'll be darned if I know how the hellican?”
― Dixon Lanier Merritt
Alas, nary a pelican, not a single one, on the water or roosting on the pier.
Likely because it’s 4th July holiday and too many people on the beach. Or the man with the baritone voice singing Star Spangled Banner at 7:30am scared them off.
It’s highly unlikely they took off because word got out that a Crazy Lady aimed poetic intentions their way….
Right?
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 119
Then, there are human beings that are the opposite of lil’ Don.
Meet my best friend, Mary. Or, as she wants to be known, Meso Mary.
On May 27, 2022, Mary visited her doctor to discuss an old injury that wasn’t responding to chiropractic treatment. After her doctor ordered an x-ray, Mary mentioned she’d noticed one or two short, dry coughs when her daily yoga exercises compressed her chest (e.g., downward facing dog, cat…).
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 119
Day 840 – Sunday July 3 2022 - Yet another journey
News blues
In the US, Covid 19 information – even misinformation - has been supplanted by other pressing news such as recent presentations by the January 6 Select Committee and the unraveling of the US Supreme Court. The UK’s Guardian, however, continues to present Covid info, even if that news is increasingly dire:During May and June two new variants, BA.4 and BA.5, progressively displaced the previous Omicron subvariant, BA.2. They are even more transmissible and more immune-evasive. Last week a group of collaborators, including me and a professor of immunology and respiratory medicine, Rosemary Boyton, published a paper in Science, looking comprehensively at immunity to the Omicron family, both in triple-vaccinated people and also in those who then suffered breakthrough infections during the Omicron wave. This lets us examine whether Omicron was, as some hoped, a benign natural booster of our Covid immunity. It turns out that isn’t the case.Read more >>
We considered many facets of immunity, including the antibodies most implicated in protection (“neutralising antibodies”), as well as protective “immune memory” in white blood cells. The results tell us it is unsurprising that breakthrough infections were so common. Most people – even when triple-vaccinated – had 20 times less neutralising antibody response against Omicron than against the initial “Wuhan” strain. Importantly, Omicron infection was a poor booster of immunity to further Omicron infections. It is a kind of stealth virus that gets in under the radar without doing too much to alert immune defences. Even having had Omicron, we’re not well protected from further infections.
***
The Lincoln Project: Last week in the Republican Party - June 28, 2022 (2:15 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
Sydney, Australia, struggles with unprecedented flooding – and portends “our” future. But, don’t worry. “Someone” will come up with “something” to prevent climate catastrophe. (Just not the US, or its corporate-supported political parties or its Supreme Court.)Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
A shake-my-head-in-disbelief moment: Donald Trump, Jr., someone I avoid due to his, well, pathetic cluelessness. Yes, I “feel bad” that he has Don Sr., as a father, a “lifestyle” that encourages his weaknesses, is saddled with substance addiction, and has no idea of what a fool he appears. He’s a lethal combination of stupid, unconscious, human embarrassment, and weak and rotten character. Put succinctly in others' words, Donald Trump, Jr., “Where white power and white powder meet.” Or, my version, Donald Trump, Jr., “Where white power, white powder, and white matter" meet.”Then, there are human beings that are the opposite of lil’ Don.
Meet my best friend, Mary. Or, as she wants to be known, Meso Mary.
On May 27, 2022, Mary visited her doctor to discuss an old injury that wasn’t responding to chiropractic treatment. After her doctor ordered an x-ray, Mary mentioned she’d noticed one or two short, dry coughs when her daily yoga exercises compressed her chest (e.g., downward facing dog, cat…).
Her doc said, “Since you’ll be there anyway, let’s get x-rays....”
A day after the x-rays, a thoracic surgeon called and requested Mary have a CT scan, referencing “anomalies” on the chest x-rays.
Tomorrow, Independence Day – aka 4th July – in the United States, is a good day to introduce Mary and accompany her on an unexpected journey.
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 119
Apologies to readers for the grim nature of content shared in this post. Problem is… grim trends on our planet are the current name of the game.
A day after the x-rays, a thoracic surgeon called and requested Mary have a CT scan, referencing “anomalies” on the chest x-rays.
Tomorrow, Independence Day – aka 4th July – in the United States, is a good day to introduce Mary and accompany her on an unexpected journey.
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 119
Day 840 – Saturday July 2, 2022 - Grim
News blues
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| © Michael Ramirez/Creators @ramireztoons Commentary on the divisions facing the United States…. Click to enlarge. |
Trends are grim. Trends are real. Trends reflect the realities that face the planet’s creatures – you, me, and all the animals, plants, insects, sea- and water creatures, all of us
Grim indeed.
The Covid pandemic has simply highlighted how ill-prepared “we” are to both comprehend and deal with these trends.
On the subject of Covid, scientists are closer to understanding the neurology behind the memory problems and cognitive fuzziness that an infection can trigger >>
As the US veers from democracy to fascism, Jason Stanley, author of How Fascism Works, deconstructs a two-minute video that was shown at Trump’s public appearance on Jan 6 and that helped incite the Jan. 6 rioters.
IMHO, this is an important presentation that clearly points out the symbolism and tropes employed to tweak anybody inclined towards Trumpism, “Stop the Steal,” Qanon, MAGAworld, etc.
Watch – and learn! >> (18:30 mins)
PS: I’m reading Jason Stanley’s book How Fascism Works and can attest to its readability. It’s not pompous nor aimed at the professorial and pontificating classes. It’s a book for ‘regular’ folks with curiosity and a desire to understand.
Ukraine – photos of war, death, destruction >>
Kristie Ebi has been researching the health risks of climate change for decades and warns of the rise in “Mass Casualty” events as a result of climate change >> (17:15 mins)
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 118
Worldwide (Map)
30 June, 2022 - 546,208,900 confirmed infections; 6,334,200 deaths
24 June, 2021 - 179,530,600 confirmed infections; 3,890,200 deaths
25 June, 2020 - 9,409,000 confirmed infections; 482,190 deaths
US (Map)
30 June, 2022 - 87,410,900 confirmed infections; 1,017,470 deaths
24 June, 2021 - 33,578,000 confirmed infections; 603,000 deaths
25 June, 2020 - 2,381,540 infections; 121,980 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
30 June, 2022 - 3,993,050 confirmed infections; 101,750 deaths
24 June, 2021 - 1,861,100 confirmed infections; 59,260 deaths
25 June, 2020 - 111,800 confirmed infections; 2,205 deaths
Post from 25 June 2020, “Mindboggling numbers”
Interview with Dr Fauci >>
He wanted to help (0:25 mins)
Weapons (1:35 mins)
Speaking at the opening of the UN ocean conference in Lisbon, Portugal, attended by global leaders and heads of state from 20 countries, UN secretary general António Guterres said: “Sadly, we have taken the ocean for granted and today we face what I would call an ocean emergency. We must turn the tide.”
Moreover, one needs a sophisticated tracking system to stay ahead of Eskom’s load shedding schedules.
Just to clarify, in “my” area (suburban KZN) Stage 4 load shedding means no electricity from 4am to 6:30am, and noon to 2:30pm, and 8pm to 10:30pm. That is 7.5 hours per day without electricity.
Stage 6 load shedding means, no electricity from 4am to 8:30am, and noon to 4:30pm, and 8pm to 10:30pm. That’s 11.5 hours per day without electricity.
Stage 8 load shedding means, no electricity from midnight to 2:30am, and 4am to 8:30am, and noon to 4:30pm, and 8pm to 12:30am. That’s 16 hours per day without electricity.
(Darn, those pesky “unlawful and unprotected labour actions”….)
Read more >>
This time of year, packs of adolescent Canada geese follow a handful of adult “babysitters” into the water, then onto and along the sandy beach, then onto the green lawns to graze. Feathered friends; a lovely sight.
After the heat of Texas, San Francisco Bay Area and my small island town are havens of temperature moderation: sunny 72 F/22 C degrees.
Perfect.
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 118
Evangelical Christian Minister Rev. Rob Schenck courageously admits he lost his way with his fervent anti-abortion views and how such views were co-opted by cynical Republican politicians.
Grim indeed.
The Covid pandemic has simply highlighted how ill-prepared “we” are to both comprehend and deal with these trends.
On the subject of Covid, scientists are closer to understanding the neurology behind the memory problems and cognitive fuzziness that an infection can trigger >>
On war – and culture war
As the US veers from democracy to fascism, Jason Stanley, author of How Fascism Works, deconstructs a two-minute video that was shown at Trump’s public appearance on Jan 6 and that helped incite the Jan. 6 rioters.Watch – and learn! >> (18:30 mins)
PS: I’m reading Jason Stanley’s book How Fascism Works and can attest to its readability. It’s not pompous nor aimed at the professorial and pontificating classes. It’s a book for ‘regular’ folks with curiosity and a desire to understand.
Ukraine – photos of war, death, destruction >>
Healthy planet, anyone?
The US Supreme Court voted to curb the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate carbon emissions. This comes amid a period of increasingly extreme weather around the world. More than 40 million Americans were under heat advisory last week.Kristie Ebi has been researching the health risks of climate change for decades and warns of the rise in “Mass Casualty” events as a result of climate change >> (17:15 mins)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
When the s**t hits the fan, I pull on my socks and athletic shoes and go outside to enjoy the awesome surroundings. I appreciate the luxury of 1) having the socks and shoes to pull on, 2) living modestly on a public park on the beach, 3) having the physical ability to get outside, 4) the understanding and sensitivity to recognize what will be lost unless our so-called “leaders” discover and appreciate such luxuries, too. (I won’t hold my breath. It breaks my heart.)Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 118
Day 835 – Thursday June 30 2022 - Turn the tide
Worldwide (Map) 30 June, 2022 - 546,208,900 confirmed infections; 6,334,200 deaths
24 June, 2021 - 179,530,600 confirmed infections; 3,890,200 deaths
25 June, 2020 - 9,409,000 confirmed infections; 482,190 deaths
US (Map)
30 June, 2022 - 87,410,900 confirmed infections; 1,017,470 deaths
24 June, 2021 - 33,578,000 confirmed infections; 603,000 deaths
25 June, 2020 - 2,381,540 infections; 121,980 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
30 June, 2022 - 3,993,050 confirmed infections; 101,750 deaths
24 June, 2021 - 1,861,100 confirmed infections; 59,260 deaths
25 June, 2020 - 111,800 confirmed infections; 2,205 deaths
Post from 25 June 2020, “Mindboggling numbers”
News blues
CDC and FDA approved vaccines by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech in children older than 6 months. Vaccinations begin this week >>***
As if dealing with continued waves of Covid-19 isn’t enough, the U.S. is facing a new outbreak — monkeypox — that highlights just how close the U.S. public health system is to its breaking point >> ***
Dr. Fauci, the US's top infectious disease expert, has been struck by a phenomenon that appears to be becoming more common in the latest stage of the pandemic—rebounding bouts of COVID-19 after a course of the antiviral drug Paxlovid >>Interview with Dr Fauci >>
***
On war
More than 100 days of war in Ukraine – photo essay >>***
The Lincoln Project:He wanted to help (0:25 mins)
Weapons (1:35 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
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| Ocean Rebellion activists in Lisbon as UN declares ocean emergency. Photograph: Carlos Costa/AFP/Getty Images |
Nearly 80% of the world’s wastewater is discharged into the sea without treatment, while at least 8m tonnes of plastic enters the oceans each year. “Without drastic action, the plastic could outweigh all the fish in the ocean by 2050,” Guterres warned.Read more >>
“We cannot have a healthy planet without a healthy ocean,” he said in his opening remarks.
***
Back in South Africa, energy parastatal Eskom passes the buck…
South Africa’s electricity crisis worsened on 28 June when Eskom announced it was moving from Stage 4 to Stage 6 load shedding … with Stage 4 being implemented again from 10pm to midnight.Hmmm, “due to the unlawful and unprotected labour action”? So not gross incompetence and negligence?
“Load shedding will then be reduced to Stage 2 until 5am on Wednesday morning. From 5am until 4pm on Wednesday load shedding will be implemented at Stage 4. Load shedding 6 will then again be implemented at 4pm to 10pm tomorrow evening,” the power Utility said on Tuesday afternoon. “This is due to the unlawful and unprotected labour action, which has caused widespread disruption to Eskom’s power plants. This has compelled Eskom to continue taking precautionary measures to conserve generation capacity and safeguard plant from damage. There is a high risk that the stage of load shedding may have to change at any time, depending on the state of the plant,” it added.
Moreover, one needs a sophisticated tracking system to stay ahead of Eskom’s load shedding schedules.
Just to clarify, in “my” area (suburban KZN) Stage 4 load shedding means no electricity from 4am to 6:30am, and noon to 2:30pm, and 8pm to 10:30pm. That is 7.5 hours per day without electricity.
Stage 6 load shedding means, no electricity from 4am to 8:30am, and noon to 4:30pm, and 8pm to 10:30pm. That’s 11.5 hours per day without electricity.
Stage 8 load shedding means, no electricity from midnight to 2:30am, and 4am to 8:30am, and noon to 4:30pm, and 8pm to 12:30am. That’s 16 hours per day without electricity.
(Darn, those pesky “unlawful and unprotected labour actions”….)
Read more >>
***
Every year, an estimated 33 billion pounds of plastic end up in our oceans, threatening coastal economies and endangering marine life. Fenceline communities near plastic production and disposal facilities are disproportionately impacted by pollution to their air, water, and land. And it's only going to get worse, as plastic production is expected to triple by 2050. Right now we have a real chance to make change in California with Senate Bill 54, which would require producers to reduce single-use plastic packaging and foodware by at least 25% by 2032.Use your voice today and tell your legislators to pass SB 54 to protect our communities, ocean, and climate from single-use plastic pollution >>
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Today, dozens of brown pelicans feeding in shallow water off the beach.This time of year, packs of adolescent Canada geese follow a handful of adult “babysitters” into the water, then onto and along the sandy beach, then onto the green lawns to graze. Feathered friends; a lovely sight.
After the heat of Texas, San Francisco Bay Area and my small island town are havens of temperature moderation: sunny 72 F/22 C degrees.
Perfect.
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 118
Day 834 – Monday June 28 2022 - OMG! Re-evaluation happens
News blues
The following is a very important point of view shared honestly by someone who was instrumental in the radicalization of current anti-abortion dogma. Please watch!Evangelical Christian Minister Rev. Rob Schenck courageously admits he lost his way with his fervent anti-abortion views and how such views were co-opted by cynical Republican politicians.
While many people - particularly women - were harmed by his extremism, Schenck admits, and worked through, his erroneous worldview, In this interview, shares his path and his course-correction: “Fmr. Pro-Life Leader on Abortion Ruling: Our Movement Has Lost its Soul”
>> (18:15 mins)
This was planned (1:25 mins)
***
The Lincoln Project:This was planned (1:25 mins)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Texas. I just returned from a four-day visit to the over-heating state. Between 10:30am and 6:30pm, the heat is, literally, unbearable for humans and other mammals.What's more, masks-as-protection-against-Covid are rare in the Houston conurbation.
Texas is a reminder that it's difficult to assess where things – social, cultural, economic, political, and climatic – are headed, not only in Texas, but globally.
Texas is a reminder that it's difficult to assess where things – social, cultural, economic, political, and climatic – are headed, not only in Texas, but globally.
I fear things are headed nowhere good or life-affirming.
What are we humans doing?
Alas.
(Then again, the transformation of someone like the Rev. Rob Schenck (interview above) does offer some hope. I hope.)
Sunrise: 5:49am
Sunset: 8:34pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:54am
Sunset: 5:10pm
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 117
Worldwide (Map)
June 23, 2022: 541,213,610 confirmed infections; 6,323,900 deaths
June 24, 2021: 179,530,600 confirmed infections; 3,890,200 deaths
June 25, 2020: 9,409,000 confirmed infections; 482,190 deaths
US (Map)
June 23, 2022: 86.636.310 confirmed infections; 1,014,850 deaths
June 24, 2021: 33,578,000 confirmed infections; 603,000 deaths
June 25, 2020: 2,381,540 infections; 121,980 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
June 23, 2022: 3,986,900 confirmed infections; 101,650 deaths
June 24, 2021: 1,861,100 confirmed infections; 59,260 deaths
June 25, 2020: 111,800 confirmed infections; 2,205 deaths
Posts from:
June 23, 2021, “Moon rising”
June 23, 2020, “Silver linings”
Lady Ruby (1:45 mins)
Clear and present danger (0:35 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - June 21, 2022 (2:05 mins)
Heat mitigation - focused on trees and infrastructure, led by an urban forester - is now the name of the game for Phoenix city planners. This, however, is easier said than done.
Here are pix of one set of bicycle-ride programs, from Cycles of Change, to Bike Share, to Bike Share for All….
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 117
After crowing about the wonderful weather in my town on the San Francisco Bay over the last few days, I take back my words. Today, Tuesday – summer solstice, 2022 was hotter than one usually experiences in this location: 98 F.
***
Alas.
(Then again, the transformation of someone like the Rev. Rob Schenck (interview above) does offer some hope. I hope.)
***
SF Bay Area: Sunrise: 5:49am
Sunset: 8:34pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:54am
Sunset: 5:10pm
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 117
Day 829 - Thursday, June 23, 2022 - Mitigation
Worldwide (Map) June 23, 2022: 541,213,610 confirmed infections; 6,323,900 deaths
June 24, 2021: 179,530,600 confirmed infections; 3,890,200 deaths
June 25, 2020: 9,409,000 confirmed infections; 482,190 deaths
US (Map)
June 23, 2022: 86.636.310 confirmed infections; 1,014,850 deaths
June 24, 2021: 33,578,000 confirmed infections; 603,000 deaths
June 25, 2020: 2,381,540 infections; 121,980 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
June 23, 2022: 3,986,900 confirmed infections; 101,650 deaths
June 24, 2021: 1,861,100 confirmed infections; 59,260 deaths
June 25, 2020: 111,800 confirmed infections; 2,205 deaths
Posts from:
June 23, 2021, “Moon rising”
June 23, 2020, “Silver linings”
News blues
Moderna and Pfizer vaccines now available for children older than 6 months >>***
Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 appear to escape antibody responses among both people who had previous Covid-19 infection and those who have been fully vaccinated and boosted, according to new data from researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, of Harvard Medical School.Findings include, alas, that ‘COVID-19 still has the capacity to mutate further’ >>
However, Covid-19 vaccination is still expected to provide substantial protection against severe disease, and vaccine makers are working on updated shots that might elicit a stronger immune response against the variants.
***
On war
Ukrainian High School Grads Pose For Heartbreaking Photos In War-Torn Homeland >>***
The Lincoln Project:Lady Ruby (1:45 mins)
Clear and present danger (0:35 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - June 21, 2022 (2:05 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
The week in wildlife – in pictures >>***
The year 2020 was the hottest ever in the US city of Phoenix, in the state of Arizona. Imagine, 53 days topping 110 F (43 C) - the hottest, driest and deadliest summer on record. During that time, more than 200 people died from extreme heat – a jump of 60% in heat related deaths. Heat mitigation - focused on trees and infrastructure, led by an urban forester - is now the name of the game for Phoenix city planners. This, however, is easier said than done.
Phoenix… published a tree master plan in 2010, pledging to increase canopy cover to 25% by 2030 (from an estimated 11% to 13% at the time). The city is not on track to meet that goal, and the target may eventually be revised to reflect the city’s broader sustainability and equity goals such as targeting under-shaded neighborhoods and public transit routes where people walk and wait.Read more >>
David Hondula, the recently appointed director of Phoenix’s heat response and mitigation office, said, “Trees are an important part of the plan which residents have been asking for for years, but they aren’t a cure-all for the city. But if we could have 30% of a 20-min walking path shaded, it would provide health protection for most summer days”.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
I love Oakland, a human-sized city. It has a mix of lovely old buildings, from “gridiron” to art deco and much in between. It is also trying to address congestion and the often negative influence of an influx of wealthy tech companies, yet maintain its humanity and address the socio-economic “diversity.”Here are pix of one set of bicycle-ride programs, from Cycles of Change, to Bike Share, to Bike Share for All….
 |
| Bicycles ready for riders. A rider pays a small fee, unlocks a bike, and rides. |
 |
| The payment system works like any parking lot or public transit payment system. |
***
Solstice 2022! SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:47am
Sunset: 8:34pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:53am
Sunset: 5:09pm
Sunrise: 5:47am
Sunset: 8:34pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:53am
Sunset: 5:09pm
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 117
Day 826 – Tuesday June 21 2022 - Solstice
News blues
 |
| © M. Wuerker, Politico |
With a dome of heat over the San Francisco Bay Area, temperatures ... [soared] on the first day of summer, increasing the risk of heat illness and wildfires...
[Today was] slated to be the hottest day of the week with many interior valleys hitting anywhere between 100 and 105 degrees… warning that the "elderly, sick and homeless are most vulnerable" in the hot conditions.
…
[The weather service said] near-critical fire weather conditions are also expected due to the combination of dry offshore winds combined with lower humidity values. "This concern is greatest across the North Bay hills where the breeziest winds should exist".
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued a Spare the Air alert for Tuesday with unhealthy ozone, or smog, expected to build up [and cautioned] "Limit your driving to reduce air pollution…”.
Read more >>
***Covid has disappeared from the news in the US. The UK Guardian, however, still publishes US Covid statistics. The news is not promising:
 |
| Guardian News, June 21, 2022 |
On war
Russians casually slaughter three young Ukrainian men
Photo essay: Mariupol – before and after
Year 3 of the Covid Era – Week 117
Day 825 - Monday, June 20 - How to cope?News blues
Covid schmovid. The pandemic moved into our lives, caused havoc ... and now we’ve adjusted. Sure, people, lots of ‘em, are still becoming infected, but hardly anyone bats an eye at Covid news anymore. An infected person is expected to “get over it” and, in America, that’s the name of the game for most things. (Well, except for Donald Trump-related things. Those just seem to go on foreverrrr!)
Now the glittery object attracting the American attention is the heat wave.
No, of course this heat wave is not in any way connected with the change in our planetary climate due to over-reliance on fossil fuels, plastics, pharmaceutical over-use, etc.
Heavens, no!
This heat wave is a standalone phenomenon. Ask any Republican politician – and many Democratic politicians, too. After all, nothing is connected to anything on this planet.
Nah, climate change is all made up by the “radical left media”.
That hundreds of homeless people died in recent extreme heat has to do with them not “pulling themselves up by their bootstraps.” Why should hardworking Americans fork out dough to care for the homeless?
Bah humbug!
America has no plan to deal with climate change - despite statistics indicating that excessive heat causes more weather-related deaths in the U.S. than hurricanes, flooding and tornadoes combined with the homeless the most vulnerable >> (Why does the richest country in the world have homeless?)
And the heat wave ain’t over yet. A second wave of stifling heat could break over 100 records as heat dome shifts eastward. The persistent heat dome which imposed oppressively high temperatures on the northern Plains and Midwest over the weekend will begin to shift further eastward this week, ending a short reprieve that many states in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic have had in recent days.
Read more >>
The cost of staying cool in the sweltering heat and humidity that’s hitting large parts of the U.S. also presents high energy costs. "For low-income families, this is catastrophic." >>
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
The heat dome that’s killing Americans across the northern Plains and Midwest and moving east didn’t affect “my” portion of the country. The San Francisco Bay Area’s weather has been truly wonderful: warm, breezy, hospitable.
Having experienced consecutive days of 111 F weather last year, however, I can attest to the physical distress caused by excessive heat. This, despite living on my houseboat where I could leap into the river from the decks when the temperature overcame my fragile humanity.
Without shelter or the ability to cool, hot weather is a death sentence.
I fear what future weather will do to living creatures of this planet.
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 117
Day 825 - Sunday, June 19 - JuneteenthNews blues
Juneteenth today. History of Juneteenth >> (See Lincoln Project ad, below, too.)***According to a PNAS study, the US could have saved more than 338,000 lives and more than $105bn in healthcare costs in the Covid-19 pandemic with a universal healthcare system.More than 1 million people died in the US from Covid, in part because the country’s “fragmented and inefficient healthcare system” meant uninsured or underinsured people faced financial barriers that delayed diagnosis and exacerbated transmission, the report states.Read more >>
The US had the highest death rate from the virus among large wealthy countries and is also the only one among such countries without universal healthcare. It spends almost twice as much on healthcare per capita as the other wealthy countries, according to Kaiser Family Foundation data.
“The current healthcare system in the US is economically inefficient and leaves millions of Americans without adequate access to medical treatment,” said Alison Galvani, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis at the Yale School of Public Health and the lead author of the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
I know a little about America’s “fragmented and inefficient healthcare system” that “leaves millions of Americans without adequate access to medical treatment.” I’ll get into it in the next weeks.
America. Land of gross inequality.***On war
Ukraine. How will this country and its people ever recover? Photo essay >>***The Lincoln Project:
Juneteenth (1:25 mins)
Meidas Touch Work together! (8:40 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
$44 trillion.
According to the World Economic Forum, $44 trillion is how much of the world’s total economic output is dependent on animals and ecosystem.Insects pollinate commercial crops, coral reefs protect coastal buildings, wetlands purify water, and all of those services — and more — help fuel economic growth.Read more >>
If the economy is embedded in nature, then the global decline of wildlife and ecosystems is a risk for companies and investors alike. If insects vanish from farmland, say, farmers might have to pay to import pollinators or produce less, which hurts their bottom lines. That’s one reason why WEF ranks “biodiversity loss” as the third most severe risk to the economy over the next decade, after failure to act on climate change and extreme weather.
“The risk of continued biodiversity loss is profound,” Sarah Kapnick, a scientist and strategist at the banking giant JP Morgan, wrote in May, “not just for nature but for financial stability.”
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Summertime… and the milkweed’s in blossom
caterpillars are eating…
and the monarchs reign…
(sing to the tune of Summertime
Summertime… and the milkweed’s in blossom
caterpillars are eating…
and the monarchs reign… The monarch has four distinct life stages: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis), and adult. Watch >>***SF Bay Area:Sunrise: 5:47am
Sunset: 8:34pmKZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:52am
Sunset: 5:08pm
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 117
Worldwide (Map)
Day 823 – Friday June 17, 2022 - Catching up
June 17, 2022 - 538,260,000 confirmed infections; 6,316,775 deaths
June 17, 2021 – 1.77,120,700 confirmed infections; 3,835,000 deaths
US (Map)
June 17, 2022 - 86,154,500 confirmed infections; 1,012,900 deaths
June 17, 2021 – 33,500,000 confirmed infections; 600,700 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
June 17, 2022 - 3,983,700 confirmed infections; 101,600 deaths
June 17, 2021 – 1.774,500 confirmed infections; 58,225 deaths
Posts from:
June 17, 2021, “Heavy heart”
June 18, 2020, “He speaks”
News blues
“Fauci ouchie”! Dr Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Biden and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has Covid, a mild case, thank the gods.
Read more >>***The Lincoln Project:
40 Feet (0:47 mins)
Clear and present danger (0:35 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - June 14, 2022 (2:05 mins)Healthy planet, anyone?
I thought I’d misheard when I first learned the Men on the Moon – first people to land on the moon back on July 24, 1969 – left bags of garbage behind when the departed I’d been astonished at the temerity – and lack of, well, respect.Who visit a unique place and leaves garbage?
Humans. That’s who.
Turns out that was the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.More than half a century of lunar exploration has left its mark on the moon… the relentlessly grey surface is littered with clapped-out robots, spacecraft parts, moon buggies (including one with a bible on the dashboard) and technical equipment.Read more >>
Scattered around the Apollo landing sites are other items that were never meant to come home: a falcon’s feather, a javelin, bags of human waste, a family photo and an aluminium figure, the Fallen Astronaut, which lies on its side near a plaque bearing the names of 14 men who died in the pursuit of space exploration.
In all, the lunar junkyard holds nearly 200 tonnes of human objects. The dusty remains of five Saturn V rocket stages from the Apollo missions are the heaviest single items. Then there are the wreckages of spacecraft that smashed, or were crashed intentionally at the end of their missions, into the lunar surface. There are a dozen 1960s Soviet Luna probes; nearly twice as many US Rangers, Lunar Orbiters, Surveyors and more recent observatories; at least four Japanese spacecraft, and other robots sent from Europe, China and India. In April, the mangled remains of the first private moon mission, Israel Aerospace Industries’ Beresheet probe, became the latest addition when the lander’s gyroscopes failed.
Alas, we humans aren’t satisfied with leaving garbage on our moon. Now, we’re leaving trash on Mars.
The Nasa team member likely responsible for leaving the debris was “surprised” to see the images. He said, “That shiny bit of foil is part of a thermal blanket – a material used to control temperatures.… My descent stage crashed about 2 km away. Did this piece land here after that, or was it blown here by the wind?”
Hmmm, someone needs to explain to this space cadet that “pieces” travel thither and yon when they’re abandoned.
Out of sight, out of mind?
The image [of the shiny bit of foil] has reignited concerns that space exploration risks contaminating the pristine Martian and lunar environments. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 created an obligation under international law to avoid the harmful contamination of outer space, the moon and other celestial bodies, but some argue that the law is not detailed enough to ensure protection. However, in the case of the Perseverance litter, Prof Andrew Coates, a space scientist at UCL’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory, said: “The good news is that everything is sterilised before it goes to Mars, and the space radiation environment helps during the nine-month trip to Mars as does the harsh surface environment.”“Everything is sterilized”?
So, leave trash everywhere and anywhere – as long as it’s “sterilized”….(Moreover, how does one sterilize poop?)
Read more >>Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Goldilocks weather: not too hot, not too cold. Juuust right!
Afternoon meditation on the beach.
Happy Canada geese SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:46am
Sunset: 8:33pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:52am
Sunset: 5:07pm
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 116
Day 819 - Monday, June 13 - Subversion on displayNews blues
In the US, Covid is totally not news these days. Instead we have almost unbelievable accounts of how The Donald and his gutless minions subverted the election process, and attempted to overthrow the US system. Lots of hours devoted to this… and one wonders how many Americans actually care.
I do.
My friends and family do.
Twenty million Americans watch…Will anything change?Will Trump be held accountable by the Department of Justice.Enquiring minds wanna know....I’m not holding my breath.Want to watch? Search on your computer or phone: “hearings”, or “select committee hearings”, or “capitol attack investigation”, or anything similar.
Not a big fan of (former president) Ronald Reagan, I nevertheless found Meidas Touch’s presentation by son Ron Reagan - a Republican - worth watching: “Ron Reagan SLAMS GOP as Traitors for Supporting Insurrection in EPIC rant" (5:15 mins)
***The Lincoln Project:
Apparently inebriated (0:31 mins)
Comic relief and a trip down memory lane with my all-time favorite LP ad, Nationalist Geographic (0:56 mins)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Gorgeous day on the island. Birds are singing, Canada geese are snoozing, shorebirds are feeding… Life is good.
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 116
Day 818 – Sunday June 12, 2022 - "Monkeypox" be gone!News blues
A group of scientists from Africa and elsewhere are urging the scientific community and world health leaders to drop the stigmatizing language used to differentiate monkeypox viruses, and are even advocating renaming the virus itself.Read more >>
In a position paper published online, the group proposed abandoning the existing names for monkeypox virus clades — West Africa and Congo Basin — and replacing them with numbers, saying the current names are discriminatory.
“In the context of the current global outbreak, continued reference to, and nomenclature of this virus being African is not only inaccurate but is also discriminatory and stigmatizing,” the more than two dozen scientists wrote.
Beyond a name change, and as authorities say the outbreak is containable and poses a low risk to the general public, here are ways to protect yourself and others from this potential new whatever-it-will-be-called scourge >>***Returning to Covid…
According to experts, the current Covid-19 wave in the U.S. is noticeably different than past ones — and might even be the start of our "new normal." Here's why >>
…and in China, Beijing warns of 'explosive' COVID outbreak while Shanghai conducts mass testing - “connected to a bar” - and to contain a jump in cases tied to a hair salon.Read more >>***On war – and culture war
Ukraine: destruction in pictures >>
The dire truth is that Kyiv’s fighting strength is stretched, and even Russia could benefit from a pause in fighting.***Cynical comic relief – and a question: Could real life in the form of his past and the country’s present be catching up with The Donald? He’s spent a lifetime getting away with egregious financial behavior. Is that beginning to change?
Recently, Memphis City Council Member Martavius Jones stated, "[Trump's] notorious for not paying [his bills]."
Jones and other “Memphis politicians object to police escort at an upcoming Trump rally, citing unpaid bills. They do not want Memphis eating the costs of the rally >>Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
A slowed down Sunday. Baking healthful bread rolls, eating well, walking, walking, walking….***Heat wave across much of the US and the SF Bay Area is overcast:
Sunrise: 5:46am
Sunset: 8:31pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:50am
Sunset: 5:07pm
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 116
Day 817 – Saturday June 11, 2022 - Humans. Gotta luv ‘emNews blues
Midnight Sunday, June 12, sees an end to the requirement for travelers to test negative for Covid-19 before entering the US. This, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention begins a "new phase" of the pandemic:"Widespread uptake of highly effective Covid-19 vaccines, the availability of effective therapeutics, and the accrual of high rates of vaccine- and infection-induced immunity at the population level in the United States" have all helped lower the risk of severe disease and death, the CDC said.Read more >>
… That means flights departing to the US from a foreign country at or after that time no longer have to present a negative test result or documentation of recovery in the past 90 days from Covid-19. … Foreign arrivals to the US will still need to be vaccinated. The vaccination requirement for foreign arrivals has not changed.
The CDC also continues to recommend wearing masks in indoor public transportation settings but masks are no longer required.
The rule change applies to air travel. Land border and ferry port arrivals are unaffected by the rule change...***
“An ongoing outbreak of monkeypox was confirmed in May 2022,
beginning with a cluster of cases found in the UK.
The first recognised case was confirmed on 6 May 2022 in an individual
with travel links to Nigeria, but it has been suggested that cases
were already spreading in Europe in the previous months.”***A pox on vile and greedy monkey business:
US Attorney in New Jersey said Paul Andrecola, 63, of Maple Shade, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to one count of "knowingly distributing or selling an unregistered pesticide in violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), one count of wire fraud, and one count of presenting false claims to the United States."Read more >>
… Buyers included a medical clinic in Georgia, a police department in Delaware, a Virginia fire department and "numerous" US government agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs….***Monkeys vs hamsters? “Cocoa Krispies-loving hamsters could be key to cracking long COVID” >>***The Lincoln Project:
Cheney to Republicans (0:30 mins)
Carnage and chaos (0:45 mins)
And they came (0:41 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
Animals are vital to the functioning of the biosphere in innumerable ways. Their interactions with plants, fungi and microbes sustain the conditions on which we, along with all other life, depend. For example, the great whales that sit at the pinnacle of marine food webs are linked to some of the most fundamental processes that shape conditions in our world. They eat other marine creatures, including krill, and in the process take nutrients from deeper water to be released via their faeces into the ocean, where they fertilise blooms of planktonic algae.Read “Our entire civilisation depends on animals. It’s time we recognised their true value” >>
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Tales from the bus. The bus ride to work in the early morning – few passengers - stands in sharp contrast to the bus ride home in the afternoon.The morning ride’s colorful character is an elderly masked lady who croons in Chinese. Before she offboards at 28th Street, she carefully uses slivers of newspaper to touch anything: the stop pullcord, the stop button, handrails…. While her crooning is disconcerting, I admire her vigilance against infection.
The afternoon ride home is a marvel of views into the diversity of human expression.Recent examples:
One elderly lady strenuously objected at any opportunity to the bus schedule. Fiercely, she’d pull her mask away from her face, scream that the bus was “40 minutes late”, then release her mask to pop back in place over her mouth and nose. So coordinated was this pulling and popping that it appeared a well-honed behavior.
Another elderly lady boarded the bus shouting a variety of political slogans she’d updated for the current moment. My favorite? “No nukes! No fentanyl!”
Oh, we have grumpy bus drivers who say little that’s not, well, grumpy. We have determinedly happy bus drivers who yell out “have a good day” each time passengers disembark.We also have passengers who are kind to other passengers. One man hopped off the bus before it departed the stop to retrieve another elderly woman’s purse (why so many elderly ladies?). She’d forgotten it on the street in her haste to board the bus carrying a huge bag of groceries.Riding the bus: a niche world expressing human peccadillos.
Gotta love it!
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 115
Worldwide (Map)
Day 815 - Thursday, June 9 - Phish food
June 9, 2022 - 534,061,700 confirmed infections; 6,306,200 deaths
June 10, 2021 – 174,500,000 confirmed infections; 3,759,200 deaths
December 31, 2020 – 82,656000 confirmed infections; 1,8040100 deaths
US (Map)
June 9, 2022 - 85,324,615 confirmed infections; 1,010,800 deaths
June 10, 2021 – 174,500,000 confirmed infections; 3,759,200 deaths
December 31, 2020 – 19,737,200 confirmed infections; 342,260 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
June 9, 2022 - 3,971,000 confirmed infections; 101,397 deaths
June 10, 2021 – 1,713,000 confirmed infections; 57,320 deaths
December 31, 2020 – 1,039,165 confirmed infections; 28,035 deaths
Posts from:
June 10, 2021, “Renewings”
December 31, 2020, “TGIO”
Day 77, June 11, 2020, “Embers, ashes, and flames”News blues
Subvariants spread while the administration takes away $10 billion from existing pandemic funding, half of which will go to finance updated vaccines — when those become available — and the other half will pay for treatments, including the Pfizer drug Paxlovid.
Read more >>***In South Africa, Gauteng has the majority of the new Covid cases (32%) followed by the Western Cape (23%), Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal (11% each), Free State (7%), Mpumalanga, (5%), Northern Cape and North West (4% each), and Limpopo (3%).
There were 85 new hospital admissions in the past 24 hours, bringing to 2,285 the number of people now admitted in hospitals with Covid-19.
Read more >>***Covid infections continue, but humans pay less attention to the data. Institutions such as Johns Hopkins University & Medicine’s Coronavirus Resource Center continue to provide expert insight. Learn more from a recent Q&A, “The Future of the Pandemic Initiative”
***Monkeypox is of increasing concern – more than 1,000 cases outside of Africa , but what is it? (1:40 mins)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that new genetic sequencing data indicate there are at least two distinct monkeypox outbreaks underway outside Africa — a surprise finding that one official said suggests international spread is wider, and has been occurring for longer than has been previously realized.A pox on monkeypox! Read more >>
Three of 10 viruses the CDC has sequenced from recent U.S. monkeypox cases — two from 2021 and eight from 2022 — are different from the viruses that have been sequenced by several countries involved in the large outbreak that is spreading in and from Europe.
On war – and the Culture War
Photos and news from Ukraine battle fronts >>***According to US Congress’s House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), if “everyone had just prayed more, 19 children and two teachers might not have been massacred by a gunman in a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school last month.”Yes, “thoughts and prayers continue”… >>***The Lincoln Project:
It’s not a joke (0:20 mins)
Make up your mind (1:15 mins)
Mark Meadows unlocked (1:30 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - June 7, 2022 (2:22 mins)Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Sometimes ice cream is the only antidote to the craziness “out there”.My fav? Phish food.
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 115
Day 813 - Tuesday, June 7 - Covid schmovidNews blues
Move over, Covid pandemic… for war, crazy politicians, guns, shootings, massacres, more crazy politicians, looming famine, outrageous inequality, scorched earth tactics….
We’re living in a world gone mad, falling apart at the seams, heading towards calamity.***On war
“Russian … using scorched-earth tactics” >>
***The Lincoln Project: Retire (0:55 mins)Healthy planet, anyone?
Recent posts have mentioned the murders of noisy crows in the park near my home. (“Squawk-fest” and “Keep the bribes comin’" ). Turns out crows have a very legitimate reason for squawking: they’re baby-sitting.
Talking about birds, check out these Australian budgies and English parakeets.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Linda, a woman I met by chance last Sunday, revived my flagging respect for American womanhood. That sounds pompous – or worse – but, in general, I find American woman not prepared (as opposed to unprepared) to carry large rocks around a garden.
I was out walking when I spotted Linda, not a young woman, placing rocks the size of watermelons, one by one, around the building’s entryway lighting system.
We chatted and I commented on her hard work. She explained that she’d dug the rocks out of a back section of her apartment building, piled them in the wheelbarrow, and pushed the heavy load to the front of the building with the aim of beautifying the entryway.
Amazing.
I commented on how unusual it was to see an American woman doing such hands-on work. (It’s the kind of thing I do – love to do – in South Africa. Here, my apartment dwelling lifestyle disallows such gardening.) Linda explained that she’d once been married to a Ukrainian gardener and they’d worked happily in the gardening business until he’d died. (Gardening hadn’t killed him, cancer had. Alas.) During that time of her life, she’d learned about – and how to use – her physical strength.
Linda. A gal to admire.***SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:47am
Sunset: 8:29pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:49am
Sunset: 5:07pm
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 115
Day 810 – Saturday June 4, 2022 - Summer’s hereNews blues
Remember the ivermectin-as-savior-against-Covid craze? During the years 2020 through 2021 that I spent locked down in South Africa, the use of ivermectin as antidote to Covid was widespread. That was the period before vaccines became available, but continued after vaccines were introduced, too. Many people swore – and still swear – by this anti-bacterial medication used to de-worm animals.Alas, recently, “the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) terminated its [ivermectin] controlled access programme with immediate effect after seeing no credible evidence to support a therapeutic role for ivermectin in Covid-19” >>
I suspect the pro-ivermectin folks will ignore and disbelieve the “no credible evidence” data and continue to seek out the med. Some will blame Bill Gates… or George Soros… or Dr Fauci … or “pedophiles” … or Democrats … for the lack of evidence.Such is the state of the human mind these days.***On war – and the Culture War
According to Jillian Peterson an associate professor of criminology at Hamline University, and James Densley, a professor of criminal justice at Metro State University, [American] mass shooters overwhelmingly fit a certain profile … which means it’s possible to ID and treat them before they commit violence.Their findings, published in the 2021 book, The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic, reveal striking commonalities among the perpetrators of mass shootings and suggest a data-backed, mental health-based approach could identify and address the next mass shooter before he pulls the trigger — if only politicians are willing to actually engage in finding and funding targeted solutions.If only….The lives and safety of our children and grandchildren depend on "if only...."Read more >>
***Photos from 100 days of war in Ukraine >>***The Lincoln Project:
Think again (0:33 mins)
Two Faced Elise (1:00 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
Enjoy murmurations >>Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Summer began in the United States this week. May 31st is both a public holiday – Memorial Day – and recognized as the beginning of summer. Appropriately, the public park next to which my apartment resides, is hosting the first of many gatherings. Today's gathering includes microphones and music although today’s musicians sound like they’re having more fun fooling around than presenting polished voices. I'm enjoying it anyway. Laughing, out of tune singing, more laughing, the sounds of kids running around…Ah, welcome summer.
SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:47am
Sunset: 8:27pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:47am
Sunset: 5:07pm
Year 3 of the Covid Era – Week 114
Day 808 – Thursday June 2 2022 - Mood iodine
Worldwide (Map)
June 2, 2022 - 531,473,220 confirmed infections; 6,298,100 deaths
June 3, 2021 – 171,746,400 confirmed infections; 3,693,300 deaths
June 5, 2020 - 6,635,004 confirmed infections; 391,180 deaths
US (Map)
June 2, 2022 - 84,540,520 confirmed infections; 1,008,150 deaths
June 3, 2021 – 33,308,000 confirmed infections; 596,000 deaths
June 5, 2020 - 1,872,660 confirmed infections; 108,220 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
June 2, 2022 - 3,960,450 confirmed infections; 101,219 deaths
June 3, 2021 – 1,669,300 confirmed infections; 56,610 deaths
June 5, 2020 – 40,792 confirmed infections; 850 deaths
Post from June 3, 2021, “Bliss, sort of”
Post from June 5, 2020, “Covid-19 lost in the shuffle”
News blues
America is averaging about 94,000 new cases every day, and hospitalizations have been ticking upward since April, though they remain much lower than previous peaks.Read “We’re playing with fire” >>
But Covid cases could be undercounted by a factor of 30, an early survey of the surge in New York City indicates. “It would appear official case counts are under-estimating the true burden of infection by about 30-fold, which is a huge surprise,” said Denis Nash, an author of the study and a distinguished professor of epidemiology at the City University of New York School of Public Health.***The Lincoln Project: Pay attention (0:59 mins)
War: incompatible with a healthy planet
Vietnam. US military. Iraq. Veterans. PTSD. And now Ukraine Yet another lesson on the devastation visited upon our planet's environment by war Exploding chemical plants have become a frightening reality for Ukraine’s citizens since Russians invaded their country. This is just “one example of the staggering toll that war is taking on the nation’s environment. Rockets are polluting the soil and groundwater; fires threaten to expel radioactive particles; and warships have reportedly killed dolphins in the Black Sea.”
Read more >>Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Today, a break in the monotony of my workday routine (bus to work … work, work, work … bus back home… ): I experience my first computer tomography procedure, aka CT scan, the updated version of CAT scan when I accompanied a friend.
The odd part of CT scans? Iodine is pumped via IV into client’s vein to allow the scanner to capture/scan “anything untoward”…. My brain muddled iodine with indigo and I imagined my friend's blood tinged with a lovely shade of blue. Alas, that wasn’t to be as the iodine used in CT scans is colorless.
Riffing off iodine, I remembered and have been listening to Duke Ellington’s “Mood Indigo”.
All’s well that ends well….
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 114
Day 806 – Wednesday June 1, 2022 - Whadya mean reinfection?News blues
This Covid graph shows your chances of reinfection within nine months Aubree Gordon, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan, …estimated each person would catch Covid again around every three years.Read more >>
She said: “Barring some intervention that really changes the landscape, we will all get SARS-CoV-2 multiple times in our life.”
This is roughly in line with how often people become reinfected with flu viruses and the seasonal colds which make a reappearance every winter.
***Efforts to update Covid vaccines can't keep up with changes in the virus. New variants appear to be even more immune-resistant than the original Omicron strain, raising the possibility that even retooled vaccines could be outdated by the time they become available this fall >>***On war
Photos from the front lines in Ukraine >>
***The Lincoln Project:
Donald Trump Visits The NRA (1:12 mins)
The Republican Army (1:15 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - May 31, 2022 (2:02 mins)
Doug Mastriano is Dangerous (0:58 mins)Healthy planet, anyone?
The Bramble Cay melomys became the first mammal lost to the climate crisis >>
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Ditto: Bus to work … work, work, work … bus back home. Walk, walk, walk… it’s sunny and breezy out along the bay.
The murder of crows assaults my hearing. But what would I – and the beach, the bay, the environment – do without them? They belong here. Same as I do.
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 114
Day 806 – Tuesday May 31 2022 - Happy end of MayNews blues
Can you reduce your risk of getting long Covid if you are infected? Yes, you can. Here’s how >>
A new, massive 23andMe survey reveals who may be at the highest risk for long COVID >>***The World Health Organization's governing board agreed to form a new committee to help speed up its response to health emergencies like COVID-19 >>***On war
A bank of photos of the war in Ukraine >>***The Lincoln Project: Stupid (0:57 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
Conservation can work. Take the wild animals of Europe, for example. Despite the odds against them, they’re making a comeback >>Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Bus to work … work, work, work … bus back home. Walk, walk, walk… it’s cool and breezy out along the bay. Lovely!
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 114
Day 804 - Sunday, May 30 - Too subtle?
News blues
It’s getting increasingly difficult to find Covid news. The news that is published tends towards repetition, along the lines of numbers of infections up but no reliable data available: “The real COVID surge is (much) bigger than it looks. But don't panic” >>
Occasionally a lone voice, such as the UN’s environment chief warns that nature is sending “us” a message about the connection between the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing climate crisis:…humanity was placing too many pressures on the natural world with damaging consequences and warned that failing to take care of the planet meant not taking care of ourselves.Read more >>
… the Covid-19 outbreak was a “clear warning shot”, given that far more deadly diseases existed in wildlife, and that today’s civilisation was “playing with fire”. They said it was almost always human behaviour that caused diseases to spill over into humans.
To prevent further outbreaks, the experts said, both global heating and the destruction of the natural world for farming, mining and housing have to end, as both drive wildlife into contact with people.***On war – and “the culture war”
Progressive pranksters Jason Selvig sarcastically thanks NRA president Wayne LaPierre for consistent offering of “thoughts and prayers” to victims and families – and all Americans. Selvig suggests even more thoughts and prayers will stop future massacres that Republican politicians refuse to legislate again. Look and listen >> (2:18 mins) Perhaps too subtle?
Ukraine – photos from the war zone >>
***The Lincoln Project: Trump's Texas Speech in 90 Seconds (1:30 mins)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
I’ve lived in this island town for more than 20 years and never seen the beach as crowded as it was yesterday. (True, I don’t gather stats on crowd size, so it is possible that, behind my back, larger crowds have gathered….) Yesterday, a dozen parasailers readied equipment on the beach while dozens more sailed in the bay. Kite flyers were out in force, too, taking advantage of the breeze, as families and friends BBQ’ed and socialized along the beach and in the park.
Lovely to see people shucking off the scary experiences of the past 3 years and opting for social enjoyment.***Heading towards midsummer’s day in the SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:49am
Sunset: 8:24pm
Heading towards midwinter in KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:45am
Sunset: 5:08pm
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 114
Day 804 - Sunday, May 30 - Keep the bribes comin'News blues
For the third year, Americans are greeting the unofficial start of summer shadowed by the specter of the coronavirus amid rising covid-19 cases and hospitalizations across the country.Read more >>
The United States is recording more than 100,000 infections a day — at least five times higher than this point last year — as it confronts the most transmissible versions of the virus yet.
COVID-19 is not behind us. The virus has not been eradicated and we're seeing an uptick of cases across the United States. In addition, we recently reached a grim new milestone of over 1 million American deaths that have been related to the virus. With more people getting infected daily, a doctor who has been treating COVID patients throughout the pandemic shares the latest on COVID and places to avoid in an effort to help prevent catching the virus >>***The Lincoln Project:
How do Republicans respond to a national tragedy? Run away (0:20 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - May 24, 2022 (2:14 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
Butterflies. A reminder that life exists outside of the burden of grief… and the reality that, when it comes to guns in America, “nothing much will change”).
Chestnut tiger butterflies take to the skies at Himeshima Island, Japan.
Photograph: Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images
This planet – even its people - is worth working to change. Major problem?
These days, people do not know how to work together without trying to impose – insist upon - their point of view being “The Truth”. Too many points of view, too much self-promoting insistence and not enough selfless collaboration.
Other countries show gun restrictions can be enacted.
The reality is, 1) in the US, too many guns coupled with corrupt political ideology surrounding guns, and 2) corrupt politicians cannot stay in power unless they keep the bribes pouring into their re-election coffers.
For example,And, below, the US Senators taking the most money from the gun lobby National Rifle Association. In this case, all these senators are Republicans. Democrats take NRA money, too, they're just not as good at it as Republican senators.
Gun lobby money to members of US Congress How much is handed to these senators?Mitt Romney: $13.6 million
Richard Burr $6.8 million
Roy Blunt: $ 4.5 million
Thom Tillis: $4.4 million
Cory Gardner: $3.3 million
From these politicians’ point of view, as long as its “the little guys” being shot – literally, in the case of school children – why bother coming up with workable solutions to these ongoing massacres?
Massacres of the innocents means money coming in.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Perfect weather and four days free of the responsibilities inherent in the formal workplace. Bliss.
My ongoing obsession – driven by a need to avoid physical pain – is ensuring a daily dose of weight-bearing exercise.
At work, I use the stairs rather than the elevator/lift. (Going down 8 floors is easy; going up? Not so much. But I try.)
At home, I walk at least 2 miles each day.Yesterday’s revelation: walk, as usual, the mile to the grocery store, but instead of walking back home carrying two bags heavy with groceries, ride the bus.
Except for the half-hour wait for the bus, this plan worked well.
A new idea dawns: since I barely drive my vehicle, why own it? With gas/petrol at a record high – up to $6.50/gallon in my town – why bother owning a vehicle I hardly ever drive?After a lifetime of owning a vehicle, could I give it up?Hmmm. It’s worth thinking over.***The murder of crows continues squawking in the oak trees and park outside my home.The squirrels scurry along thee perfectly formed squirrel highway of branches.
Except for children shooting children in school classrooms and no political will to find workable solutions to stop it, all is “well-enough” in the park outside my home.
I’ll try to be satisfied with this, for now.
Year 3 of the Covid era- Week 114
Day 803 - Saturday, May 28 - "Do something!"News blues - on war!
With Republicans supporting the morally corrupt National Rifle Association and shutting down Congress, Michigan Senator McMorrow, shut out from speaking at her state’s capital, takes to Twitter to challenge all of us >> (5:05 mins)
And, an interview with Senator McMorrow >> (10:20 mins)
Lawrence O’Donnell news anchor >>
List of school shooters in the US, their ages and their killing locations***"How about we treat every young man who wants to buy a gun like every woman who wants to get an abortion - mandatory 48-hr waiting period, parental permission, a note from his doctor proving he understands what he's about to do, a video he has to watch about the effects of gun violence, and an ultrasound wand up the ass (just because). Let's close down all but one gun shop in every state and make him travel hundreds of miles, take time off work, and stay overnight in a strange town to get a gun. Make him walk through a gauntlet of people holding photos of loved ones who were shot to death, people who call him a murderer and beg him not to buy a gun.
(I do not know who wrote this, but vote this person into Congress! Hell, why stop there, put her on the Supreme Court!)
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 113
Day 801 – Thursday, May 26 2022 - Broken heartedWorldwide (Map)May 26, 2022 - 527,735,435 confirmed infections; 6,284,340 deaths
May 27, 2021 - 168,418,000 confirmed infections; 3,499,000 deaths
US (Map)
May 26, 2022 - 83,817,220 confirmed infections; 1,004,110 deaths
May 27, 2021 - 33,190,300 confirmed infections; 592,000,000 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
May 26, 2022 - 3,941,050 confirmed infections; 101,045 deaths
May 27, 2021 – 1,645,600 confirmed infections; 56,100 deaths
Post from 28 May 2020: “Viruses respond to science, not politics”
News blues
For nearly two years, as the Covid pandemic disrupted life around the globe, other infectious diseases were in retreat. Now the viral and bacterial nuisances are returning — and behaving in unexpected ways >>***The Lincoln Project: Beto fights back (1:00 mins) (What Beto said >>)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Today, I’ve nothing to say. Too broken hearted. The shooting deaths of children by children – while politicians take money from the gun lobby – is just too much.
Year 3 of the Covid Era – Week 113
Day 799 – Monday, May 23 2022 - Heart, lungs, kidneysNews blues
Research revealsDamage to the body’s organs including the lungs and kidneys is common in people who were admitted to hospital with Covid, with one in eight found to have heart inflammation,Read more >>
Previous studies have revealed that fewer than a third of patients who have ongoing Covid symptoms after being hospitalised with the disease feel fully recovered a year later, while some experts have warned long Covid could result in a generation affected by disability.
Now researchers tracking the progress of patients who were treated in hospital for Covid say they have found evidence the disease can take a toll on a range of organs.***On war…
Dmytro Kozatsky, Azov Regiment fighter and photographer, documented the siege of Ukraine’s Azovstal metalworks. Before his capture he posted his pictures on social media, asking that they be shared as widely as possible. This is some of his work showing the realities of life during the battle >>***The Lincoln Project: Mean Girl (0:57 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
Consultant to Shell Oils says Shell "blatantly doesn’t care" about climate change >>***The entity named Dear South Africa solicits comments from South Africans regarding assorted bills under consideration. I track Dear South Africa; I even comment on it at times. This time it is soliciting comments on a climate change bill to "respond to a long-term, just transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy and society for South Africa in the context of sustainable development, and to provide for matters connected therewith." More information on the bill
Here are a handful of comments from South Africans - copied exactly, no edits, not even corrections of spelling - from the public comment section :
Comment: What will happen to members working in coal's mine. SA must not allow foreign policy to dictate terms for us in the mean time their stock piling coal from SA. Wake up SA before is too late.
Climate change is a natural cycle in earth, don't let the western world pass on their carbon emissions use onto us thats their problem not ours we don't have a carbons emissions problem our industry and vehicle count per capita is way much lower than any other country in Europe Asia and America, don’t get dragged into this debate.
Comment: Climate change is a load of crap. It’s just another way for this thieving ANC government to get their hands on more hard earned cash from the people of SA.
Comment: This is a vast subject to try put in ashort paragraph. However let's start at home. Municipal dumps.: There are no longer orange bags delivered which results in no separation of plastics from homes. This results in tons of plastics not going for recycling. Municipal dumps could be running waste bio mass recycling plants. Producing by products such as Bio Diesel lpg gas , Bio Char from garden cuttings, and powering the energy grid with co2 emmission free power which is produced by the turbines that generate power from the lpg gas produced by the waste to fuel plant. So simple . Go look what Denmark is doing. Our Sewage plants are outdated, we could cut their footprint dramatically and get methane free LPG from them that also produces power for the power grid, thousands of free Mega Watts , organic fertilizer, and clean water. Once again we sovfar behind. Just these two points alone produces thousands of jobs , earn money for the government and produces low cost bio diesel from plastic and rubber by utilizing pyrolysis plants. Low cost co2 free lpg , with energy free power reducing our energy costs and cutting co2 emissions by 100%. We need to wake up and invest in what works . Not solar panel farms that are going to cause huge headaches to recycle lead acid or Lithium iron batteries when the have reached the end of their life cycle. We could be producing bio plastics that is fully degradable in days of dumping produced from sugar beet, we could be planting sugar beet and harvest crops four times a year through proper crop rotation and revitalising our polluted farms from harmful pesticides and chemical fertilizers. The information is all out there but no one wants to see it.
Comment: It is so sad, but any new proposition made by the government (whether good or bad) I am immediately sceptical about. I TOTALLY support us taking responsibility for climate change and we MUST address it - but HOW will it be implemented? Will all coal-sourced energy be closed? Where will these people get work? Will it be the small percentage of taxpayers who again have to foot the bill and the others can do whatever they want? RESPONSIBLE government with well-informed wise decision making with integrity is what we need. Please!
Comment: Taxing the people to change the climate is absurd...
Comment: I do not believe that it it has been well-thought through and can not support the current government to implement this important action : will the funds allocated be used correctly or will it be spent in a corrupt way . Most importantly how will the system be policed when out of line findings happen.
Comment:
corruption !!!!!!!!! .
Corruption !!!!!!!!!!! .
CORRUPTION !!!!!!!!!!!! .
CORRUPTIONNNNNN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! .
Comment: Over the years we have seen very little effect from this mythical monster. But, if you want to put the blame on something, then the animal farming industry is the largest culprit - larger than fossil fuel burning. Stop people eating (so much) meat and you will have a far cleaner environment. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/22/eu-farm-animals-produce-more-emissions-than-cars-and-vans-combined-greenpeace.
From these comments, I learn that everyone is an expert and that We, the People have not a hope in hell of getting ourselves, our families, and our friends out of the climate change death spiral we are in. Depressing, ain't it?
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Perfect climate here on the bay… The south and east parts of the US are beginning to sizzle, but SF Bay Area is perfect, hovering around mid-70s F (mid-20s C)…that is similar to the temps in KZN these days:
SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:52am
Sunset: 8:18pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:41am
Sunset: 5:10pm
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 113
Day 797, Sunday, May 22 - Time "to do" more?Healthy planet, anyone?
Recently, NASA data scientist Peter Kalmus, chained himself to the entrance doors of the JP Morgan Chase building in Los Angeles and explains why inaction on the climate crisis pushed him to chain himself to an LA bank – and why trusting in the ‘people in charge’ is so dangerous.
Kalmus explained,[I have] this mounting feeling that I need to do more. I have a sense of desperation, because of the wide gulf between what the science says society needs to do and how it feels like everything is heading in the opposite direction. World leaders and people not understanding that we’re in an emergency.Read more >>
Then the question comes to me, if I’m sitting with the science every day, and I want to protect my kids and young people and non-humans, what do I do? I’ve been on this 16-year journey trying to answer that question, and civil disobedience seemed like something good to try. I’m ashamed to say that it took me this long.I, too, have "this mounting feeling that I need to do more". Alas, my imagination doesn't extend to what I can do that's actually effective. I make small efforts: recycle, try to avoid using plastics (totally impractical in today’s world), reuse disposable masks, avoid shopping for extraneous “stuff”, live lightly, and educate myself on many dismal issues – poisoned oceans, rivers, air, space, and, yes, the nature of “people”.
There once was a time I’d join assorted groups protesting assorted issues (predominantly working with anti-war and peace groups). I quickly learned these groups of people are as confused, back-biting, mono-focused, and, yes, ultimately as self-destructively boring as most other groups of people.
It’s depressing to grasp that “people” are the problem, that “people” are ultimately “navel gazers” incapable of stepping out of entrenched patterns of thinking. Me included. I try to get on board with others’ thinking, but quickly revert to gazing at my own navel when I recognize the circular nature of “our” thinking and our views.
I’ll go out on a limb and say: beyond thinking and writing about the "issues", NO ONE knows how to face, never mind constructively and collectively address, the dire situations facing our planet.Yes, we “see” countries struggling with climate-related catastrophe, yes, we see unilateral military invasions of sovereign nations, yes, we see fossil fuel companies making billions of profit dollars as their CEOs push clearly destructive policies and actions and block generative policies, and, yes, we vote for politicians financially supported by fossil fuel companies to go along with such policies.
But what to do that's effective?
What did Peter Kalmus do after he chained himself to the entrance doors of the JP Morgan Chase’s building?
He packed up and went home.
Oh, sure, news outlets followed him home. Oh, sure, he’ll found a non-profit company to “feel” he’s contributing.
Then what?
Perhaps Peter Kalmus will be The One to break through the “noise” and “save the planet.”
I hope so.
But I doubt it.
And there’s the rub.
Meanwhile,
SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:53am
Sunset: 8:17pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:40am
Sunset: 5:10pm
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 113
Day 796, Saturday, May 21 - Squawk-festNews blues
NPR examined COVID deaths per 100,000 people in roughly 3,000 counties across the U.S. from May 2021, the point at which most Americans could find a vaccine if they wanted one. Those living in counties that voted 60% or higher for Trump in November 2020 had 2.26 times the death rate of those that went by the same margin for Biden. Counties with a higher share of Trump votes had even higher mortality rates.Read more >>
The scale of the preventable loss of life is staggering. According to a recent analysis by Brown University, nearly 320,000 lives nationwide could have been saved if more people had chosen to get vaccinated. The Brown analysis also shows a partisan split in how those preventable deaths are distributed. States that went most heavily for Trump – including Wyoming and West Virginia – have among the highest rates of preventable deaths, while states that voted heavily for Biden – such as Massachusetts and Vermont – had among the lowest.***Healthy planet, anyone?
Otters unite!
I’m physically far from the KZN stream, but my idealistic plan to reintroduce otters into the waterway continues ... It is good to know other places and countries are looking to free the water, too. European countries are onboard:More than 1m barriers - dams, weirs and other river obstacles - are estimated to exist on Europe’s rivers, with many built more than a century ago. At least 150,000 are old, obsolete barriers that serve no economic purpose.Read more >>
[These] block fish migration routes, often leading to the loss of breeding areas and reduced numbers of species such as salmon, sturgeon, trout and eel, which affects the wider biodiversity of ecosystems, including species ranging from eagles to otters. Free-flowing rivers also transport sediments and nutrients.
[Now] at least 239 barriers, including dams and weirs, were removed across 17 countries in Europe in 2021, in a record-breaking year for dam removals across the continent.
Spain’s Pao Fernández Garrido, project manager for the World Fish Migration Foundation, who helped produce Dam Removal Europe’s annual report, said, “An increasing number of governments, NGOs, companies and communities are understanding the importance of halting and reversing nature loss, and buying into the fact that dam removal is a river-restoration tool that boosts biodiversity and enhances climate resilience. We’re also seeing lessons being learned from previous dam removals, new countries kickstarting removals, and new funds, including crowdfunding.”
Unfortunately, back in the ye olde country, South Africa’s Nelson Mandela Bay is going dry >>Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
The Bay Area will heat up over the next days. Parasailing and parasailers showing signs of taking to the waters again. I captured this yesterday.A murder of crows had a loud, 10-minute long squawk-fest in the trees outside my apartment at 4:00am this morning. What, someone wet the nest?
***
SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:53am
Sunset: 8:17pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:39am
Sunset: 5:11pm
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 113
Day 795, Friday, May 20 - California dreamin'News blues
North Korea – an ongoing tragedy with Omicron, no vaccines and a woefully underequipped health sector >>
US – Covid infections up, waning immunity from vaccines and past infections and fewer people masking >>
Spain, Portugal, UK, and Canada report … monkeypox >>***On war…
Ukraine – photo essay >>
***The Lincoln Project: Russian Rand Paul (0:45 mins)Healthy planet, anyone?
What South Africa terms “loadshedding”, the US terms “rolling blackouts”.
North American Electric Reliability Corporation NERC, a regulating authority that oversees the health of the US’s electrical infrastructure, says in its 2022 Summer Reliability Assessment that extreme temperatures and ongoing drought could cause the power grid to buckle. High temperatures, the agency warns, will cause the demand for electricity to rise. Meanwhile, drought conditions will lower the amount of power available to meet that demand.
South Africa is the world’s 13th-biggest source of greenhouse gases, with about two-fifths of its output coming from Eskom, the country’s electrical power parastatal. Eskom is in trouble (FYI: Kusile power plant) apparently incapable of managing the grid with loadshedding continuing across the nation. By March 2022, South Africans experienced the equivalent of 31 days and nights in the dark. Moreover, by March, SA’s National Treasury had extended 560.1 billion rand ($35 billion) of guarantees to state companies, with Eskom accounting for about 79% of that.
Recently,A group of the world’s richest nations offered South Africa debt guarantees as part of a proposed $8.5 billion deal designed to cut the nation’s reliance on coal for power generation, people familiar with the talks said, potentially resolving one sticking point in the negotiations.Read more >>
The guarantees would enable South Africa or companies such as state power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. to borrow money needed to close down coal-fired power plants and enable the generation of renewable energy, one of the people said. The people asked not to be identified as the talks aren’t public. Such an arrangement would alleviate pressure on the South African government to guarantee any debt Eskom may need to fund its transition to renewable energy….
This kind of offer is an all-around risk, for the lenders, for the company, for residents. It practically begs for corruption – and South Africa’s powerful and political show no shame in enriching themselves and their families by taking advantage of such offers. On the other hand, viable alternatives are few and far between….***Photo essay – capturing the climate crisis >>Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
My first, post-jet-lag day off and lots of catching up to do. Better hop to….
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 112
Worldwide (Map)
Day 794 - Thursday, May 19 - Long Covid
May 19, 2022 - 525,259,500 confirmed infections; 6,283,350 deaths
May 20, 2021 – 164,620,000 confirmed infections; 3,413,350 deaths
US (Map)
May 19, 2022 - 82,951,400 confirmed infections; 1,001,300 deaths
May 20, 2021 – 33,026,300 confirmed infections; 587,870 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
May 19, 2022 - 3,908,100 confirmed infections; 100,870 deaths
May 20, 2021 – 1,621,370 confirmed infections; 55,510 deaths
Post of May 2020, Filling gaps
Post of May 2021, Still waiting…
News blues
Since the early days of the pandemic, the Bay Area has been seen as a model for how to minimize the spread of the coronavirus.Read more >>
The region instated the nation’s first stay-at-home orders in March 2020 and has since consistently seen lower levels of transmission than its southern counterparts. Today, the Bay Area has one of the country’s lowest COVID-19 death rates.
But over the past few weeks, the region has been getting a different, and less welcome, kind of pandemic attention.
The Bay Area has emerged as the state’s latest COVID hot spot, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among California’s 58 counties, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Alameda currently have the highest rates of COVID transmission….
On Friday, health officers from 11 counties in and around the Bay Area warned of a new swell of cases fueled by highly contagious omicron subvariants.
How big is the latest U.S. coronavirus wave? No one really knows. This, as the highly transmissible omicron subvariants spread and governments drop measures to contain the virus – inevitably resulting in less data about infections >>***Long Covid, aka Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome, COVID Long Haulers
Acute COVID-19 usually lasts until 4 weeks from the onset of symptoms.
Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) is defined as persistent symptoms that are 4 weeks or longer from the onset of symptoms and not explained by an alternative diagnosis. This is the point beyond which replication-competent SARS-CoV-2 has not been isolated.
PASC is divided into two categories:Key Point: Post-acute Sequelae of COVID appears to disproportionately impact older individuals and those who identify as female. Those who identify as African American may be at higher risk too.
- Subacute or ongoing symptomatic COVID-19: symptoms and abnormalities present from 4 to 12 weeks (about 3 months) after an acute COVID-19 infection
- Chronic Post-Acute COVID-19 syndrome: symptoms and abnormalities persisting 12 weeks (about 3 months) or longer after an acute COVID-19 infection and not attributable to alternative diagnosis.
- In the post-acute period following COVID-19 infection, it appears that at least 10% of COVID patients report having symptoms beyond 4 weeks after acute illness.
- Early data suggest a higher likelihood of PASC symptoms among older individuals ≥ 60 years. However, children and young adult survivors can also experience Long COVID symptoms at one-year post-acute infection. In one study, 20% of suspected Long COVID cases occurred in adults ages 18 to 34 with no chronic medical conditions.
- Individuals with co-morbid chronic health conditions (two or three) and those who had experienced severe disease (including hospitalization) are more likely to have persistent symptoms up to 1 year after onset of acute infection. However, it is recognized that people with mild disease can also experience lingering post-acute COVID-19 sequelae.
- Health outcomes including mortality rate among individuals with PASC are not fully understood. One study looked at 12-month adjusted all-cause mortality and found a significantly higher risk of death among patients hospitalized with severe disease, compared to COVID-19 negative patients and those with mild disease.
- At this time, it is unclear how vaccines and therapeutics for acute COVID-19 infection will impact the clinical manifestations of Long COVID. Further studies are needed.
***On war…
Ukraine – photo essay of medics battling to save lives >>
***The Lincoln Project:
Remember Buffalo (1:48 mins)
He learned it from Laura (0:20 mins)
He learned it from Tucker (0:17 mins)
Goodbye Madison (1:44 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - May 17, 2022 (1:48 mins)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Working for a living sure gets in the way of living…
One more day – I work 4 days – and I’ll own my own time again - for at least 3 days. Something to look forward to. The good news is that the temperatures will rise this week – alas, so will the fire danger.
***SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:56am
Sunset: 8:14pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:38am
Sunset: 5:12pm
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 112
Day 792 - Tuesday, May 17 - Dark MatterNews blues
Covid and its tribulations relegated to bottom of the news – best way of handling the reality that the “powers that be” have lost the plot.
In the hospital’s central office for doctors – my current location during the work day – one doctor jokes he was at a wedding in New Orleans and, so far, a third of attendees have come down with Covid. He’s testing regularly, expecting to do that same.
I, in the meantime, will go for my second booster today. It’s free, I’m in the hospital already, and Covid is around. For the first time, I’m expecting I, too, will contract it. May as well avail myself of the more vaccine – lessen the effects and try to avoid Long Covid.***
© Zapiro, zapiro.com
Escom/Eskom sePush app informs me that loadshedding stage 2, 3, even 4 is about to start, then that loadshedding is suspended, then that it is pending, then that it in process…. In other words, the app is (almost) as uninformative as the electrical supply is unstable. So far, this year, a total of the equivalence of 31 days in South Africa without electricity.Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha explained that since Saturday evening Tutuka, Camden and Majuba power stations each experienced a breakdown on one of their units.Moreover, “Stage 4 load shedding was implemented on Wednesday morning to prevent Eskom’s diesel and pump storage dam supplies from reaching ‘critically low levels’. Should it run out of diesel and water supplies, South Africans could face Stage 6 blackouts, the power utility warned.”
Mantshantsha said, “we currently have 2,094MW on planned maintenance, while another 17,640MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.”
… Mantshantsha ended his statement by reminding South Africans that “load shedding is implemented only as a last resort to protect the national grid,” and appealed to the nation to help limit the impact of load shedding by using electricity sparingly by switching off all non-essential items, especially between 5am and 9am and 4pm and 10pm.
… On Wednesday morning, Eskom announced that Stage 4 would be implemented from 9am and continue until 5am on Friday. Thereafter, load shedding will be lowered to Stage 2 until 5am on Monday, 14 March.
CEO André de Ruyter said in a state of the system briefing on Wednesday afternoon, “I think it’s important to emphasise that we should not accept load shedding and the lack of generation capacity as the new normal.This is also a ubiquitous problem of corruption and theft. “A sophisticated crime syndicate – in cahoots with Eskom officials, police and trucking companies – is stealing fuel by exploiting a design flaw at the Kriel Power Station in Mpumalanga. And it all has to do with a weighbridge on the wrong side of a gate.
“While it’s been going on for 14 years now, we need to take urgent steps to address load shedding.”
This year to date we’ve had 32 days of load shedding compared with 26 days of load shedding in close to the same period last year.
As of the end March 2022, Eskom’s Energy Availability Factor — the amount of energy generation a plant is capable of supplying to the grid — was at 62%, below their target of 74% for the financial year.
The most urgent issue to be addressed is that Eskom needs at least 4,000 megawatts (MW) of additional generation capacity to serve the country’s energy demand.
It needs the space to take some of its units off for planned maintenance. Until this capacity is met, the risk of load shedding remains.
In March, amaBhungane revealed how armed gangs were stealing fuel from buried pipelines owned by Transnet. >>
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 112
Day 791 - Sunday, May 15 - Life goes onNews blues
Covid has moved off the “front pages” of most news outlets. Now, in the US, Ukraine’s attack by Russia tops the news, followed by the ongoing political slugfest between Republicans and Democrats. (As usual, no-holds-barred Republicans beat spineless Democrats into a stupor, but I digress….)
Britain’s Guardian News reports,For every 100,000 residents, 291 [Americans] have died from Covid-19, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. Among the 20 worst affected nations, only two other countries – Brazil and Poland – have higher mortality rates per 100,000 people.Read more of this depressing reality of Life in the United States in 2022 >>
Deaths directly attributable to Covid-19 are only one measure of the pandemic’s toll. Deaths from drug overdoses hit a record high in 2021, killing at least 100,000 Americans. Chronic conditions such as heart disease, hypertension and dementia have contributed to the number of “excess deaths” – a number which includes other ailments exacerbated by the pandemic, as well as those deaths caused directly by Covid-19. This number crossed the one million threshold in mid-February.
The extraordinary toll has set the US apart among wealthy, peer nations, exposing inequality, a unique and fragmented health system, and polarized politics – all of which likely made the crisis worse, researchers said.
…the disproportionate likelihood for people of color to lack the same quality housing, employment and healthcare access as white Americans – are well known and documented. Such disparities are the “intended or unintended consequences of policy decisions”….
…“The US has been experiencing worse health outcomes for some years now. Life expectancy in the US is the lowest of any high income country”….***The Lincoln Project:
Thank you, Jen (2:06 mins)
What was that, Elise? (1:35 mins)Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Yesterday’s walk included a lovely and unexpected meeting of a liveaboard couple in a local marina. Both recently retired, Sally and Darrel have lived aboard for more than 30 years, most of those years in this marina. For all those years, they’ve cared for and taken pride in the marina's liveaboards' communal garden.
Two years ago, the harbor master decided the garden must be shut down due to increasingly rough paving posing a danger to the public (therefore exposing the marina to lawsuits).
Sally and Darrel stepped in and, spending their own money, began upgrading the garden. Yesterday, the proud couple told the story accompanying each plant and garden accessory, from the large beds of fragrant roses (each representing one year of Sally’s life – 66 roses) to New Orleans carnival beads draped around the neck of a mermaid sculpture, to the baker who donated a shelf of potted succulents.
What I referred to as “an altar of small treasures” in my post is no more. It had been designed as a “fairy garden” but never quite reached its goal. The space it left behind will allow an expanded welcoming area that I look forward to watching grow.
I was so caught up in the couple’s stories and the garden, I forgot to take photos. One photo I’m determined to take will show two meticulously pruned pines that Darrel and Sally planted decades ago. Back then, the pines were designed as throwaway Christmas saplings in small festively decorated pots. Today, a couple of mature trees form a centerpiece and provide shade for visitors on hot days.
This garden is the essence of community: everything belongs, everything has a story and a history, all is shared, and liveaboards and visitors alike enjoy the nurturing space.
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 112
Day 790 - Saturday, May 14 - Reality checksNews blues
An unpleasant fact of life that is also the fundamental reason for this blog’s current focus on the Covid pandemic: climate change, over-development, and shrinking wilderness mean many new viruses (and pandemics?) in our future…Over the next fifty years, thousands of new viruses will spread among animal species as a result of climate change and that — in turn — is likely to increase the risk of infectious diseases making the leap from animals to humans. Also, this process may already be underway.Read more >>
This alarming finding emerges from a new modelling study published in the journal Nature. An abstract of the study — which is titled Climate change increases cross-species viral transmission risk — explains the findings saying that “At least 10,000 virus species have the capacity to infect humans, but at present, the vast majority are circulating silently in wild mammals.”
***A remembrance of those who lived and died with Covid >> (4:35 mins)***On war…
Ukraine – photo essay >>
Healthy planet, anyone?
Did warming play a role in deadly South African floods? Yes, says a team of researchers. They found (yet again!) that climate change sharply increases the chances of repeats of last month’s catastrophic rains in eastern South Africa.The heavy rains that caused catastrophic flooding in South Africa in mid-April were made twice as likely to occur by climate change….Read more >>
An analysis of the flooding, which killed more than 400 people in Durban and surrounding areas in the eastern part of the country, found that the intense two-day storm that caused it had a 1-in-20 chance of occurring in any given year. If the world had not warmed as a result of human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases, the study found, the chances would have been half that, 1 in 40.Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Three days of formal work in a formal workplace – a hospital – and I’m both exhausted and struck with TGIS syndrome (Thank God it’s Saturday).
The good news? My office is on the 8th floor of a 10-story building. Each time I leave the office, I gravitate towards the stairwell to walk the stairs rather than ride the elevator/lift. Well, so far, I walk 8 floors down and 4 floors up as I build physical capacity.
Next week’s goal? Walk 8 floors up - at least once. Week after? Walk all 8 floors at least once per day.
Leg muscles slowly waking up to their new reality: concentrated locomotion.
Today, I may also push leg muscles to locomote a bicycle. Big day ahead!***Tonight, a blood moon rising. Pray the cloud cover dissipates enough to view over the Bay Area:Sunrise: 5:59am
Sunset: 8:11pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:36am
Sunset: 5:15pm
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 111
Worldwide (Map)
Day 788 - Thursday, May 12 - No end in sight
May 12, 2022 - 519,916,140 confirmed infections; 6,259,850 deaths
May 13, 2021 – 160,450,550 confirmed infections; 3,331,300 deaths
US (Map)
May 12, 2022 - 82,322,360 confirmed infections; 999,110 deaths
May 13, 2021 – 32,814,500 confirmed infections; 583,700 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
May 12, 2022 - 3,862,170 confirmed infections; 100,610 deaths
May 13, 2021 – 1,602,100 confirmed infections; 54,970 deaths
Post from 14 May 2020: “Hugging, kissing, a thing of the past!”
News blues
An increase in infections that began in places including the Northeast and Puerto Rico is now being seen in other parts of the [US]. Cases will rise and fall going forward, but more worryingly, hospitalizations have started to increase as well — up 20% over two weeks. The decline in deaths has bottomed out at some 350 a day.Read more >>
…the U.S. is at a dramatically different point now in the pandemic than in earlier periods. Even as cases have increased — to 80,000 a day, up from less than 30,000 in late March — they’re still far below the heights of earlier this year, and started rising from very low levels.
…There are a range of factors that contribute to cases rising and falling — climate, behavior, and mitigation efforts (or lack thereof) among them. Scientists are trying to zero in on what the latest increase in cases says about the durability of protection and the ongoing evolution of the virus.
***Doctors across the country are reporting an uptick in health issues that don't involve contracting the Covid-19 virus — but are still caused by the pandemic >>***Waste not, want not?Manufacturing and quality issues led to canceling a $628 million Covid-19 vaccine contract with Emergent Biosolutions.Read more >>
Millions more AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines — 400 million in total — were destroyed as a result of the lack of standards. … The company allegedly hid batches with potential quality issues from federal regulators in February 2021 following months of internal communication about the substantial problems at the facility.
…[such] quality-control issues led to a contamination of 15 million Johnson & Johnson doses in March 2021, when the company accidentally mixed in AstraZeneca drug substance.***The Lincoln Project:
The Crazy Ones (1:00 mins)
Bonfire (0:55 mins)
Yes, we know (0:25 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - May 10, 2022 (2:10 mins)
Meidas Touch: Texas Paul REACTS to GOP Criminalizing Contraception Next (9:40 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
The year the world breaches for the first time the 1.5C global heating limit set by international governments is fast approaching, a new forecast shows. The probability of one of the next five years surpassing the limit is now 50%, scientists led by the UK Met Office found. As recently as 2015, there was zero chance of this happening in the following five years. But this surged to 20% in 2020 and 40% in 2021. The global average temperature was 1.1C above pre-industrial levels in 2021.Read more >>
It is also close to certain – 93% – that by 2026 one year will be the hottest ever recorded, beating 2016, when a natural El Niño climate event supercharged temperatures. It is also near certain that the average temperature of the next five years will be higher than the past five years, as the climate crisis intensifies.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Not easy getting back into formal work mode schedule after months of informal work mode on my own schedule.
These still chilly days, I’m up at 5am, on the bus at 6:30am, and start work in a local hospital at 7:00am. The doctors I work with – about 60 hospitalists with assorted specialties – are a great team. This third or fourth stint working with them feels almost as if I’m re-entering an extended family.
Alas, medical doctors are flagging and who can blame them given the stresses associated with Covid and the toll the virus takes upon them and their family members and friends.
A handful of docs on “my” team have reached the end of their long careers and plan to retire while plain old mental and physical fatigue is wearing down others. I don’t work directly with nursing and PA staff, but there’s no reason to think they’re faring better.
Hiring medical professionals is a long drawn-out process over months so there’s not quick end in sight for over-worked staff. Moreover, there appears to be no end in sight with Covid; variant after variant after variant ….
Will it ever end?
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 111
Day 786 - Tuesday, May 10 - WaryNews blues
Two new Omicron sub variants, BA.4 and BA.5, are spreading and may dodge immunity, especially in unvaccinated people, possibly causing a spike in infections worldwide.New versions of Omicron are again causing a surge of COVID-19 cases in South Africa, and studies show that these new subvariants are so different from the original version of Omicron that immunity generated from a previous infection may not provide much protection.Read more >>
BA.4 and BA.5 are nearly identical to each other, and both are more transmissible than the Omicron BA.2 subvariant. In South Africa, they replaced the BA.2 strain in less than a month. They are now responsible for a spike in South Africa’s COVID-19 cases, which have tripled since mid-April.***On war…
Ukraine – photo essay on Russia’s May 9 celebration of warHealthy planet, anyone?
According to a new five-year climate outlook from the World Meteorological Organization, greenhouse gas emissions have continued to increase since the pact was signed, and the WMO found there is now a 50-50 chance that the world will temporarily cross the 1.5-degree threshold sometime in the next five years.Read more >>Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Reality check: Driving here and there in an attempt to replace the various cards, phone numbers, IDs, etc. stolen at Oliver Tambo Airport back in February, meant, 1) finding parking in downtown areas (and all areas are “downtown” in the Bay Area, 2) filling my gas/petrol tank.
Parking? There isn't any easy on the street parking anymore. If one finds a spot, one must pay for it with a debit or credit card. If one's debit and credits cards were stolen, one is out of luck. Parking lots cost up to $16 - ZAR267 per day. If one wants to park for just 20 minutes? Too bad. Pay the full amount. Anyway, I eventually found a spot - $2 for 15 minutes to purchase my card for public transportation. A win for womankind!
As for gas/petrol, the orange warning light blinked brightly as I sought “reasonably” priced gas/petrol. $5.99/gallon is too much too pay, isn't it?Alas, many stations advertised $6.25 and more per gallon. I ended up putting $50 into the tank at $5.75/gallon. Sticker shock!
On the plus side, my vehicle can now rest comfortably in its parking spot with a 2/3 full tank, until needed. This, as I replaced the stolen card required for public transportation. As of tomorrow, I’ll ride the bus to and from work. Unlike the commute I faced last year, working in the Covid clinic – a 2-hour drive each way – this job is less than a half hour bus ride.
Riding public transportation also presents a good read on how “the public” deals with today’s realities: Covid (case numbers increasing), high gas/petrol and food prices (increasing), general inflation (increasing), and gross political infighting in the nation’s capital, (increasing).
California – the US in general – does not face the sorts of challenges that South Africa faces, but it is a mess of infighting, high prices, stress, stress, and more stress.Moreover, there's always bicycling. Yes, on Sunday I rode my bike for the first time in several years. Accompanied by a friend who rides her bike everywhere - including from Anchorage, AK to Seattle, WA - I purchased groceries at the local Trader Joe's. It was a cold day, plus fat rain drops fell on us for 15 minutes, and my leg muscles complained after the first 20 minutes, but we did it. I intend to continue riding my bike, an inflation-and-high-price beater!
Not an anomaly: After recent floods in KZN destroyed infrastructure, roads, and railways, ACSA Airports Company South Africa, a state-owned enterprise that manages SA’s nine biggest airports, is trying to reassure the aviation industry that its stock of jet fuel at OR Tambo International Airport is stable and that ACSA has emergency contingency plans available if it faces severe fuel shortages.
Not to be cynical but… hmmm, good luck with that. These days, even the most diehard ANC supporter must be kinda sick-and-tired of having to cope with ANC government bungling and corruption.Since the floods damaged Transnet railway lines at the beginning of April, Acsa says there have been 14 flight cancellations by two airlines from April 24 to May 1, mostly at OR Tambo, affecting approximately 3,150 passengers. So far, international, domestic, and regional flights have been affected. Domestic and regional flight operators can plan around the fuel shortages because they can easily refuel at other SA airports.Read more about this unsettling circumstance >>
The cancellations have affected Acsa’s revenue, with the state-owned enterprise losing at least R1.5-million. Acsa generates fees by charging airlines when their aircraft lands at its nine airports across the country and when passengers go through its airports.
In a briefing with journalists on Monday, Acsa group CEO Mpumi Mpofu said OR Tambo is operating “lower than normal” in terms of its available jet fuel stock. But the supply “remains stable”. OR Tambo usually has six or seven days’ worth of fuel stock to meet the demands of airlines and for the airport to function without any disruptions. But at last count on Monday, OR Tambo had 3.5 days’ worth of fuel stock.
Staying with this topic of energy, energy supplies, and bungling, Eskom’s head of generation, Phillip Dukashe shows the country his way of fixing the problems besetting the country: dump his job at the end of May “due to stress” and “the need to balance his health, family and work responsibilities.”Engineering News reported that Eskom expects a R20.9-billion diesel bill by April next year, while Fin24 said the utility is burning nine million litres of diesel a day to keep the lights on. Diesel prices are skyrocketing because of Russia’s war on Ukraine, and South Africa buys at spot costs.Read more >>
Eskom currently has almost one-tenth of its fleet capacity in essential maintenance and probably needs more due to the age of its fleet.
While President Cyril Ramaphosa lifted the licensing cap on power generation to 100MW for own generation and onward sales in June 2021, the regulator, Nersa, and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy have not cut the attendant red tape to get the power into the system.
I’m 14,000 plus miles away and I feel the stress, too. How can a country continue in this way?I guess we’ll find out….***Sunny and crisp in the Bay Area…
Sunrise: 6:02am
Sunset: 8:07pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:33am
Sunset: 5:17pm
Year 3 of the Covid era
Day 784 – Sunday, May 8, 2022 - B/day and M/dayNews blues
… officials warn that there could be 100m Covid-19 infections this fall and winter, potentially spurring a surge in hospitalizations and deaths. The White House is preparing backup plans for providing vaccines to US residents if lawmakers refuse to provide more funds for coronavirus response efforts….Read more >>
The US coronavirus death toll is expected to reach 1 million this week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said last week that 60% of US residents have been infected with Covid-19….
The official’s dire projection was based on several models, not new data, and was not a formal prediction. These models operate with the premise that Omicron and its sub-variants will keep driving community transmission – and that a significantly different strain will not emerge….
This prediction was also made with the assumption that there will not be additional federal aid…[and that] many vaccinated people, and persons who were previously infected, would get Covid-19 again.
***Coronavirus infections and hospitalizations are again climbing in the Bay Area as the region enters what public health officials say is the sixth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic >>***On war…
Ukraine – photo essay “Two Months of War in Ukraine” >>
***The Lincoln Project:
Truth Matters (1:53 mins)
Doocy Roasted (0:27 mins)
Two Plans (0:26 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
On this Mother’s Day, an estimated 10.4 million children have lost a parent or caregiver, putting them at higher risk for poverty and every major cause of death >>
***Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon surged to record levels for the month of April, nearly doubling the area of forest removed in that month last year -- the previous April record -- preliminary government data showed … alarming environmental campaigners >>Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
This year, my b/day (birthday) and M/day (Mother’s Day) coincide. To celebrate, my daughter made me a mug of strong coffee presented with a slab of rich dark chocolate with hazelnuts.
I dipped a hunk of choc into the coffee. Delicious.
Alas, an hour later, I – and my tummy – wished I’d hadn’t indulged.
Ah, well, nothing a brisk bike ride won’t cure.
Much has changed in this town in the past three months: condos built, parking lots extended, roads improved….
Later today, I’ll check out the beach and bay for birdlife. The presence/absence of feathered friends indicates the waning of winter and the arrival of spring and summer.***The following observation after more than 36 hours back in San Francisco Bay Area: in public, people – strangers – snip and snap indiscriminately at one another, and the atmosphere in the public sphere is tense; the wearing/not wearing of masks is sometimes, not always, a focus of such snipping.
Not fun… even less fun to recognize that one’s own high levels of stress contribute to the fraught atmosphere.
I try to keep the lid on my stress, but it is difficult.
Road rage, too, is rampant.
***Update on jet fuel supplies disrupted due to the KwaZulu-Natal floods and to volatile fuel prices in South Africa:
While suppliers saying they cannot guarantee enough [jet fuel] supplies at OR Tambo International Airport, Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) says its overall supplies of jet fuel are stable >>***Sunny and crisp in the Bay Area…
Sunrise: 6:04am
Sunset: 8:05pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:32am
Sunset: 5:18pm
Year 3 of the Covid era - Week 111
Worldwide (Map)
Day 783 – Friday, May 6, 2022 - Catching up
May 6, 2022 - 516,292,775 confirmed infections; 6,248,083 deaths
May 6, 2021 – 154,775,000 confirmed infections; 3,237,590 deaths
May 7, 2020 - 3,755,379 confirmed infections:; 263,831 deaths
US (Map)
May 6, 2022 - 81,711,380 confirmed infections; 997,025 deaths
May 6, 2021 - 32,557,300 confirmed infections; 579,300 deaths
May 7, 2020 - 1,228,603 confirmed infections; 73,000 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
May 6, 2022 - 3,818,125 confirmed infections; 100,475 deaths
- May 6, 2021 – 1,588,225 confirmed infections; 54,560 deaths
May 7, 2020 - 7,808 confirmed infections; 153 deaths
Post from 7 May 2020: This is not my beautiful life
Post from May 2021: Choices
News blues
For the first time – at least for now - the US is not highest on the list of Covid infections and deaths. According to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center , US numbers, at least this week, fall behind those of Germany, South Korea, France, and Italy.
This as the World Health Organization (WHO) released its estimate of global mortality from the Covid-19 pandemic: 14.9 million deaths, from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2021.That tally is the number of “excess deaths” compared to a baseline of expected deaths in a world without Covid-19 [and] includes not just the people who died from the virus, but also those who passed away in the ensuing chaos as hospitals filled up and workplaces shut down.Read more >>
It’s a stunning snapshot of the sweeping devastation the Covid-19 pandemic unleashed around the world, showing that the virus wreaked havoc far beyond the infections it caused. The WHO attributed about 5.4 million deaths to the virus itself.
The burden of these deaths was not spread equally. India suffered the highest toll from the pandemic with nearly 4.7 million fatalities, about 10 times the country’s official estimates. India’s per capita excess fatality rate average for 2020-2021 — 171 per 100,000 per year — was roughly in the middle of the pack among countries. The highest per capita rate was in Peru at 437 per 100,000 per year. The US meanwhile saw 820,000 official deaths from Covid-19 by the end of 2021, but the WHO estimated an additional 110,000 fatalities over this time frame, with a per capita rate of 140 per 100,000 per year.
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