Apropos of nothing

“Oh, Misty always hates me showing this slide. ...
It’s halftime at the ’88 Detroit-Chicago game when we first met.”
© Gary Larsen, The Far Side 

News blues…

South African efforts to vaccinate are ”going spectacularly “:

By Friday, 63,648 health-care workers had received vaccinations against Covid-19 and the sleep-deprived teams providing them had exceeded targets, said professor Glenda Gray, a co-principal investigator of the Johnson & Johnson implementation study.“
We are ahead of the schedule of 80,000 in 14 days. It is going spectacularly and the demand has been overwhelming,” she said. “We will be ready for the next batch after the weekend.” 

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Meanwhile… a news report out of Florida (USA) has two women – one in her 30s, the other in her 40s – disguising themselves as “grannies” in order to qualify for their second vaccination. This means their granny disguises succeeded for their first dose…
And, in California

Access codes meant to give Californians of color priority access to Covid-19 vaccine slots have been getting passed around among other residents in the state, allowing some to cut the line and get appointments meant for underserved Black and Latino residents. 

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Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide 

Healthy planet, anyone?

First, the bad news

Brazil’s Cerrado encompass some of the country’s most beautiful national parks. The region’s rich habitat features 11,000 species of plants and more than 200 varieties of mammals, including jaguars, anteaters, armadillos and tapirs.
“It … covers more than 20% of the country, is also an important motor in Brazil’s economy, producing over half of Brazil’s beef, 49% of its soybeans, 47% of its sugar cane and almost all its cotton, according to the government agricultural research institute Embrapa.
To raise those crops, the region’s native forests and vegetation are being systematically replaced by farms and ranches. Under Brazilian law, the Cerrado enjoys much less protection than the iconic Amazon rainforest to its north. Half of its land has already been cleared, including some 2,800 square miles last year alone. (That compares to about 20% of the Brazilian Amazon gone.) 

Then, (marginally) better news as scientists discover wild animals thriving in Chernobyl exclusion zone  (9:57 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

On this day of rest and the last day of February, I will walk from my apartment to the Care Center to visit my mother, swim at least 12 laps, then walk back to my apartment. After that, I will check in with the electrician who is investigating, then fixing, the electrical fault that has shut down power to the upper part of my mother’s house – including an apartment and the double garage.
I’ll also don my waders and begin – again – to remove overgrown exotic lilies in the pond.
I hope you enjoy your day of rest as much as I expect to enjoy mine.

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Obsession continues: Tracking the sun’s rising and setting schedule:
Feb 26: sunrise 5:47am; sunset 6:33pm.
Feb 27: sunrise 5:48am; sunset 6:32pm.
Feb 28: sunrise 5:49am; sunset 6:31pm.