Persistence

© Mike Luckovich - 2021 Creators Syndicate

News blues…

Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccination program grinds to a halt in virtually all of western Europe, as France, Spain, Germany, Italy and more than a dozen other countries pause rollout of that vaccine. This, they say, is a precautionary measure following concerns that the vaccine could be linked to blood clots; decisions that go against the advice of global health agencies. A few countries have stood by the vaccine - including the United Kingdom, where more than 11 million doses have already been administered, and where real-world data has shown vaccines are reducing infections and hospitalizations. 

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More on fake vaccines around the world, including SA  (5:28 mins)

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Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide  Authorities in 219 countries and territories have reported about 120.7 million Covid 19 cases and 2.7 million deaths since China reported its first cases to the World Health Organization (WHO) in December 2019.

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The Lincoln Project: Zero-Sum Game  (0:55 mins)

Healthy futures, anyone?

Satellite images show air pollution returning to pre-pandemic levels as restrictions loosen.
These images, taken by the ESA using data from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, show the monthly average nitrogen dioxide concentrations over China in February 2019, February 2020 and February 2021.
Between February 2019 and February 2020, Beijing's nitrogen dioxide concentrations dropped 35%, the ESA said. In Chongqing, the drop was by 45%. As of February 2021, though, Beijing has returned to similar levels, while Chongqing has almost doubled its pre-Covid-19 numbers.

"We expected air pollution to rebound as lockdowns are lifted across the globe," said Claus Zehner, ESA's Copernicus Sentinel-5P mission manager, in a statement. "Nitrogen dioxide concentrations in our atmosphere do not depend on human activity alone. Weather conditions such as wind speed and cloud cover also affect those levels, however a large quantity of these reductions are due to restrictions being eased. In the coming weeks and months, we expect increases of nitrogen dioxide concentrations also over Europe." 
A similar trend is possible in the US.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Bliss-inducing rain tempers local high temperatures. Will rain affect today’s visit from a potential buyer? Eskom’s load shedding affected her visit yesterday: lack of electricity disabled her ability to make/receive phone calls; the visit was cancelled.
The auctioneer’s truck comes this morning to pick up another batch of goods to auction. After several weeks, time permitting, of clearing the garage, the batch of goods nicely grouped – box of assorted nails, collections of assorted plumbing supplies, wall channel, doors, roofing, etc. – packaged, listed, and photographed will go. More news indicating possible forward momentum:
I received an email from my mother’s accountant that he’d sent SARS (revenue service) the package of documents – including a photograph of her holding her ID book – and that SARS might release her tax refund into her bank account. This, after 6 months of wrangling. The accountant reports it “can take up to 21 days to verify, but often takes less.” Hmmm. Over the past 355 days living in KZN I’ve developed a suspicious and skeptical mind when it comes to “official business.”
Several months ago, in an effort to surrender my mother’s elderly weapons, I’d carried three to a local gun shop. The gun shop couldn’t accept them for surrender but advised speaking to a certain warrant officer at the local SAPS (SA Police Service). The warrant officer advised me to download and have my mother sign the required documents that allow the turn in her (elderly) weapons for which she held licenses: a shotgun and a Beretta hand pistol, along with a bag of bullets.
I took his advice - thank the gods as my mother is currently unable to sign her name – but hesitated to carry a bagful of weapons in public and stand in line outside the police station with potential Covid spreaders. Instead, I asked my brother to finish that chore. He forgot. For months, the weapons and forms remained on the floor of my bedroom. After I cracked my small toe on the pile, I again requested my brother’s help. This time, he and his stepson complied. As of yesterday, elderly weapons and bullets are in the custody of local police ready for destruction. Sigh of relief.
Persistence has its advantages....

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Remember Eskom and its ongoing program of load shedding? Now, courtesy of Eskom, a double whammy: South Africans must pay 15 percent more for the luxury of no electricity.  Now that’s shoving a scam down the throats of people unable to resist.

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South African days getting shorter while nightfall happens earlier:
Feb 26: sunrise 5:47am; sunset 6:33pm.
March 2: sunrise 5:50am; sunset 6:29pm.
March 9: sunrise 5:55am; sunset 6:21pm.
March 17: sunrise 6:00am; sunset 6:12pm.

Load shedding, reprise

Eskom – Electricity Supply Commission – is “maintaining” power stations, again. This means 2-to-2.5-hour stints of no electrical power across the country. Eskom mentioned the current schedule yesterday, about one hour before the first stint of load shedding began.
Eskom’s operating mantra: Planning? Nah, who needs it? Over-rated.
Power in my neighborhood went off at 6:00am, just as I began working on today’s post. Internet and wireless – and clarity of phone calls (already patchy) will be non-existent for at least the next 2 hours.

Meanwhile, Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc across our shrinking planet:
Worldwide (Map) 
March 11, 2021 – 117, 645,000 confirmed infections; 2,612,000 deaths
February 11, 2021 – 107,324,00 confirmed infections; 2,354,000 deaths
January  6 – 87,157,000 confirmed infections; 1,882,100 deaths 

December 3 – 64,469,710 confirmed infections; 1,492,100 deaths

View BBC’s interactive map and chart of data in detail 
Source: Johns Hopkins University, national public health agencies
Figures last updated 8 March 2021, 10:39 GMT

US (Map)
March 11, 2021 - 29,222,420 confirmed infections; 529,884 deaths
February 11, 2021 – 27,285,150 confirmed infections; 471,450 deaths
January 6 – 21,294,100 confirmed infections; 361,100 deaths 

December 3 – 13,920,000 confirmed infections; 273,370 deaths

View the interactive map 

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
March 11, 2021 – 1.522,700 confirmed infections; 50,910 deaths
February 11, 2021 – 1,482,412 confirmed infections; 47,145 deaths
January 6 – 1,150,000 confirmed infections; 30,525 deaths

December 3 – 796,475 confirmed infections; 21,710 deaths

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Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide 

News blues…

Today, a year ago, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Within days, companies across the globe began shutting offices - many with little time to prepare employees for working entirely outside the office.
Besides logistics – how to equip employees with technologies for working at home, smart employers also had to address challenges posed by the pandemic’s mental and emotional toll.
Cisco’s executive vice president and chief people, policy and purpose officer Fran Katsoudas said,

"our employees were coming to us for guidance for everything: the pandemic, how they lived, wanting to know what was safe and what wasn't safe. … It became very natural for us to have meetings where we had medical and mental health practitioners and discussions about business strategy, all in the same meeting."
To help employees cope with the changes and uncertainties of the pandemic, some companies enhanced their benefits, offering things like free counseling, stipends for childcare and office set-ups and increased days off.

This has radically changed the post-pandemic workforce in many countries. Remote work is no longer be considered a special perk. What other changes do employers and employees face in the future?

Read  >> “The pandemic forced a massive remote-work experiment. Now comes the hard part” 

Healthy futures, anyone?

Good news / bad news…
Paradoxically (since Australia has some retro ideas about coal power) Queensland passed laws banning 'killer' single-use plastics. Environmentalists hail ‘fantastic news’ for the state’s turtles, whales and seabirds

Queensland has become the second Australian state to pass laws banning single-use plastics including straws and cutlery that are blighting the state’s waterways and beaches and endangering wildlife.
Environmental groups congratulated the Queensland government after it passed legislation on Wednesday night that will ban single-use plastic items, including polystyrene food containers and cups, from 1 September. The state’s environment minister, Meaghan Scanlon, said the state had seen benefits from its 2018 ban on single-use plastic bags, which had dropped 70% in litter surveys. 

Not so good news:

Plastic bags and flexible packaging are the deadliest plastic items in the ocean, killing wildlife including whales, dolphins, turtles and seabirds around the globe, according to a review of hundreds of scientific articles.
Discarded fishing line and nets as well as latex gloves and balloons were also found to be disproportionately lethal when compared with other ocean debris that animals mistakenly eat.
The review, by the Australian government’s science agency, CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, found ingesting plastic was responsible for killing animals across 80 different species.
Whales, dolphins and turtles were especially at risk from eating plastic film, with seabird deaths linked more with ingestion of hard plastic pieces and balloons. 

…and Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestlé are accused of “zero progress” on reducing plastic waste for the third year in a row - with Coca-Cola ranked No 1 for most littered products. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

When stress starts to erode one’s confidence in one’s ability to remember names, dates, and other details, it’s advised to focus on “the little things.” Mosquitos fit that description: small but highly flexible and very annoying.
There’s not much I can do against mosquitos during the day, but at night I erect a barrier – mosquito net – and crawl under it to thwart the ever-voracious pests.
Alas, my mosquito net is old and a bit tatty. I use it solely in South Africa and have done so for the past 15 years. It’s showing its age for, now and again, an enterprising mosquito finds its way through one of the small holes that have developed with age in the net. Last night, two enterprising mosquitos buzzed around me inside the net.
I can’t help but wish Eskom could harness such persistence to run that state-owned enterprise.

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Best laid plans.
At last I have complained enough that I’m getting help to try to loosen my mother’s tax refund from SARS. I’ve the forms, instructions on how to prove to SARS that my mom is, indeed, the woman who has paid taxes on time for the past 60 years and the woman whose bank account number is the same she’s used since 1988.
I took these forms to the Care Center today in an attempt to have my mother sign and two witnesses view her signing the documents.
Alas, my mother was too exhausted today. There was no way that she had the energy to do any of what SARS requires. 
But tomorrow is another day.
I’ll keep trying.

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South African days getting shorter while nightfall happens earlier:
Feb 26: sunrise 5:47am; sunset 6:33pm.
March 2: sunrise 5:50am; sunset 6:29pm.
March 9: sunrise 5:55am; sunset 6:21pm.
March 10: sunrise 5:55am; sunset 6:22pm.
March 11: sunrise 5:56am; sunset 6:19pm.

Fishy

Courtesy of street artist Jeremy Novy 
whose stencils his signature koi fish across the city of San Francisco.
Since the pandemic, he’s doing commissions, too. 

News blues…

The medical team from People's Hospital [India] … “running the [Covid vaccination] trial, may have failed to adequately explain that they were part of a trial and that only some of the participants would receive a vaccine. … [and] appear to violate India's clinical trial rules that require informed consent from all participants.” 

Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide 

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The Lincoln Project: an interesting point of view on what went wrong  (5:26 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

How fare the fish?
The Global Ocean Science Report is updated and published every five years. Another report due next year. Meanwhile, catch up on the current status of ocean science around the world 

Explore ocean-focused organizations:

• Mission Blue 
• Pacific Marine Mammal Center  I’ve observed seals healed by PMMC released back into the Pacific. It’s an unforgettably wonderful experience.
• Oceanic Society 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

A day for reality checks:
SARS – SA Revenue Service. For the first time ever, my mother is due a hefty tax refund. Around about October 2020, I began receiving emails from SARS to expect those funds to be deposited into her account “in ten days.” Four months - and 8 emails - later and still no deposit. 

Now, SARS says I need this form and that form and this signature and that signature before the service will release her funds. Her attorney suggests a signed General Power of Attorney will do it. (That’s not going to happen.) Her accountant suggests we take my mother to the SARS office.(She’s physically incapable of drinking out of a cup never mind endure an hours long wait at SARS so that’s not going to happen either.) The accountant refuses to go to SARS himself due to Covid-19 – and I don’t blame him. So. Her interest free refund remains at SARS (or, knowing South Africans’ reputation for corruption, it’s already paying for some fleeing SA official’s poolside sundowner cocktails in Dubai!)

Culverts. With more rain and culverts still blocked, the stream, therefore the lower lawn – is flooded. I called the local councilperson – again – and heard – again – his sigh of disbelief? Frustration? – and his promise – again - to call his contact – again.

Outcome so far? Culverts are still blocked.
I did, however, notice a bulldozer with a backhoe heading up the road yesterday. Unfortunately, the driver did not stop anywhere near the culverts but continued heading away from them. 

Is this an omen? Is the public works department at least getting closer to the culvers? 

If its taken 2.5 years to get them this close, how much longer before they actually find the culverts? Then how much longer before they unblock them?
Enquiring minds wanna know.

House sale. I met with the “business man” interested in purchasing my mother’s house. It was my first direct encounter with a genuine South African “bait and switch” artist.
Prior to our meeting, his proposal included a deposit of a bit less than one third of the asking price – plus my mother carrying the rest of the loan that he’d pay off at interest (not stipulated) each month for four years. None of this in writing.
During yesterday's face-to-face, he proposed ZERO deposit - plus my mother carrying the loan that he’d pay off with 7% interest each month for five years.
I cancelled that offer – and let him know my thoughts on his tactics.
The other offer came from a young guy and his soon-to-be wife – both of whom run their own businesses (a dog trainer and a baker) – and “do their own accounts.” On paper they look quasi “realistic” but in reality?  They will never get a bond/mortgage with their skimpy finances.
Am I still California dreaming? Nah. I’m back to the drawing board regarding how to sell this house. I’m going nowhere, not to California, nor Texas, nor my houseboat. 

Sigh. 

I’m stuck here for many more months.

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At least my obsessions distract. 

Tracking the sun’s rising and setting schedule continues apace: 

• Feb 26: sunrise 5:47am; sunset 6:33pm.
• Feb 27: sunrise 5:48am; sunset 6:32pm.