Mayhem …

Five days into the new year and chaos and mayhem reign.

News blues…

The other pandemic: the surge in fake news:

• ANC ward councillor Sfiso Mngadi has admitted recording a voicenote in which he shared multiple Covid-19, vaccine and 5G conspiracy theories. 
  “As leaders of eThekwini [Durban] we need to take action against this disease. It is not Covid. We are getting this thing from 5G towers, [some] installed during this period in preparation of the second wave.
  “Maybe we as councillors need to call a special council meeting, take a decision that all 5G towers must be disconnected in eThekwini.
  [and…]
  “White people were vaccinated about five months ago. There was a truck that distributed the vaccine in boxes and white people from all over the province, including places like Ixopo and Vryheid, went there to receive these boxes. It was given to white people only.” 
• Take note: SA government has no plans to take SA into a hard lockdown.
  Rumours circulating on social media suggesting the national coronavirus command council (NCCC), in response to the rising numbers of Covid-19 infections, will meet to discuss a stricter lockdown have been dismissed by government.
  “That is fake news,” said presidency spokesperson Nonceba Mhlauli. 
• Trump claims US rising coronavirus death toll as ‘fake news’  (1:48 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

What kind of future
are we handing our children
and our children’s children?
© Pat Byrnes, PoliticalCartoons.com

Covid devastates SA’s wildlife tourism industry. KZN especially hard hit.

The economy shed 2.2m jobs in the second quarter of 2020.
The huge tourist industry – which employs around one in every 20 workers and provides just under 3% of GDP – has been devastated.
Once the December holiday season meant tens of thousands of foreign visitors spending hundreds, even thousands, of dollars every day. Now, with the rate of new infections in the country soaring as authorities struggle to check a second wave, no one expects the tourists to come back soon.

Read “South African game reserves forced to cull animals as Covid halts tourism” Tourist lodges run out of cash to feed and care for the animals on their land and thousands of villagers lose their jobs.

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On a lighter note, comedy wildlife photography finalists of 2020 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I’m one small step closer to making my new home a home. It feels satisfying.
I met with two vendors, each bringing me one step closer to making my new home a lived-in home. Moreover, I’d given both vendors a window of time in which I’d be available: between 12:30pm and 1:45pm.
Atypical-in-my-experience, both vendors arrived soon after 12:30pm, the second arriving as I bid goodbye to the first.
The fencing guy – Gary - will install a gate to allow easier access to my front garden. I’d like the gate installed in a way that, when I’m sitting on my patio enjoying a “sundowner” (colonial sunset cocktail), I view more garden and less gate. 

I’d have preferred no gate and no fence, but neighbors report that zebra, impala, Duiker, and warthog will step onto my patio to eat plants growing in the inner garden.
The second vendor – “Woofs” - tested my home for a wireless installation. Amazingly, the former renter never used the Internet. That’s atypical. A quick view of the list of secure connections indicates many neighbors access the Internet. 
Next steps for my wireless connection: review the installation quote, sign the contract, pay, and “within a week” I’ll be listed as a secure connection, too.
Alas, both vendors stated they’d email me quotes “tonight” (last night), but so far nothing has arrived.
I’m not in a hurry as the earliest I’ll move is mid- to late February.
I plan to return to California “sometime in March” but who knows?

***

Prognosis on my mother’s health is not good. Anesthetic from surgery still has the upper hand in her system and she’s sleeping a lot. After a meeting with the matron yesterday, I was granted permission to visit (despite tight lockdown in the facility).

I’ve not seen my mother for more than a week. I didn’t see her yesterday either: she was asleep.
I plan to schedule a Zoom call with her Friday and encourage distant family members to participate.

“Call it Covid”

We begin the first work week of 2021 with not-good stats.

News blues…

The number of Covid-19 cases in SA is now at 1,100,748, afte3r 11,859 new cases. The death toll sits at 29577, after 402 new fatalities.
This, as KZN;s daily rate of infection edges toward 6,000.

***

MSNBC data.

These astonishing numbers as the lame duck US president continues to obsess about losing the election and becomes more whacky by the day as his whims are ignored.

[Trump] attacked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for having a “ridiculous method” for counting the number of infections and deaths. 
“When in doubt, call it Covid,’” Trump tweeted, appearing to suggest that was the CDC’s stance on recording pandemic-related statistics. “Fake News!”
But some public health experts say the number of COVID-19 cases is actually likely underreported since many people infected with the virus may be asymptomatic or show only mild symptoms and not seek treatment.

Lordy, isn’t it time this lame duck flew off to a different swamp?
The lame duck is still more obsessed with overturning election results than he is with the infection devastating the U.S. Audio excerpts from a phone call during which he tries to bully Republicans to go along with his version of election fraud…. 

Healthy planet, anyone?

New Year’s day protest in
Howick West against Eskom’s 
spotty delivery of electricity. 

Electricity in my neighborhood went off due to a drunk driver crashing into a transformer. Other parts of KZN, though, reported outages, too – many of which were “business as usual” Eskom outages not scheduled in the EskomSe Push app. From Howick West (pictured) through Hillcrest (Valley of 1,000 Hills, near Durban) outages were the norm.
Background on SA’s energy crisis:

The South African Energy Crisis is an ongoing period when South Africa experiences widespread rolling blackouts as supply falls behind demand, threatening to destabilize the national grid. It began in the later months of 2007 and continues to this day. The government owned national power utility and primary power generator, Eskom, and various parliamentarians attributed these rolling-blackouts to insufficient generation capacity. With a reserve margin estimated at 8% or below, such "load shedding" is implemented whenever generating units are taken offline for maintenance, repairs or re-fueling (in the case of nuclear units). According to Eskom and government officials, the solution requires the construction of additional power stations and generators.
Read more >> 

FYI: World Bank data on electricity supply of countries around the world. 

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Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I’m always interested in what’s happening in the world. So much so that, curious, I departed SA as a young woman to explore the world. (As required by then-SA's patriarchal gov’t, my father had to sign a waiver allowing me to leave the country as I was under 21 years old.)
Cultures and intra-and intercultural communication intrigues me (my BA is in intercultural communication.) Lots more to share about this, but for now, an interesting item of to go/take away food found in local grocery store: Pizza Tikka Chicken.
Who’da thunk Italian cuisine could meld with Indian cuisine?
The dough is not up to basic standards but the flavors works!
If pizzas can meld interculturally, so can people. 

No?

***

Jessica The Dog has settled back into her home. Despite advancing age and arthritis, she’s game to chase monkeys (they taunt her by staying just out of reach) and roly-poly on the lawn. 

She appears to have decided I’m her vice-pack-leader since THE pack leader – my mother – is out of sight. This is a new role, not one I relish.
I avoid the responsibility pets impose on my life. My last pet, a decade ago, was a cat left with me by my daughter. Cats are more my speed: independent, self-absorbed, curious (like me?).
Dogs require regular doses of affirmations – “what a good, dog,” “who’s a fine girl?” etc., ad nauseum - and are underfoot (Jessica, glued to my hip, recently caused me to trip while pulling on my shoes).
What’s going to happen to Jessica – and Pixie and Ozzie – when this house is sold?
A friend is interested in adopting Jessica. She already has 3 dogs and lives in a small house with small garden. I’m concerned about elderly Jessica fitting into that scene. 

One the other hand, my mother’s desire is that I “put down” (euthanize) the dogs. After that, I’m expected to combine their cremains with hers- and her cremains collection - when she passes. 

Not a joke.
My mother stores 8 or 9 boxes of cremains – boxes made of fine wood with brass latches – in her small room at the Care Center. The boxes are set out like other old ladies set out photographs of family.
My job is to ensure all cremains are mixed together and deposited at the property where my mother spent ssix decades of her life.
One problem – other than the request’s macabre nature?
The property belongs to a corporation and, while the land is fallow – I’d be trespassing if I crept onto it to deposit a large bag of cremains.

Resolute 2021

© Far side – Gary Larsen

News blues…

Americans and their guns! New Year's Eve celebratory shootings result in victims, including the slaying of a 4-Year-old child.  

***

Abdo Sayid at 4 years old
was only 14 pounds. 
Photo: Giles Clarke/U.N. Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof reminds us of that we’d prefer to ignore. By suppling military equipment and bombs, the US supports the bombing of Yemen. By supporting Saudi Arabia’s attacks on Yemen, the US supports the starving of children.
This means, Americans, that our tax dollars are used to starve children like Abdo Sayid.

Kristof writes:

That’s a photo of a 4-year-old boy, Abdo Sayid, who weighed 14 pounds when he was brought to a hospital in Aden, Yemen, to be treated for starvation. I wondered whether to run the photo with this newsletter, and with my column today. 
There’s an argument that such photos are “poverty porn,” reducing humans to two-dimensional “victims.”
I decided to include the photo. Because I think it’s important for the world to see the consequences of indifference to the growing threat of starvation in poor countries around the world, as a pandemic of hunger follows the coronavirus pandemic. My new column cites a report indicating that an additional 10,000 children are starving to death each month because of the pandemic, and these are preventable. I’m a believer that photos galvanize us and awaken our consciences in ways that words sometimes don’t.
Abdo died soon after reaching the hospital, but his family and the doctors were eager to have the photographs circulated because they want the world to know of such suffering — in hopes that awareness will lead to more help to prevent other kids from dying unnecessarily.
So my column today explores the global, indirect consequences of the pandemic, including people dying of AIDS and tuberculosis because they can’t get medicines, or children going blind because vitamin A supplementation is disrupted, or 2 million additional girls enduring female genital mutilation because campaigns against the practice have slowed. People in poor countries aren’t so much dying of the virus itself, but they are suffering enormously because of the indirect consequences of the pandemic — and because rich countries and the World Bank aren’t doing enough to help. Please read the column. 

***

Healthy planet, anyone?

Need ideas for New Year’s resolutions that go beyond “getting more exercise” and “losing weight”?
Do your part in shaping a healthier planet and brighter future for all.
Ways to protect our planet :
Climate

Climate change is perhaps the greatest challenge humanity as ever faced.
It affects every corner of our planet – from the poles to the tropics, and from the mountains to the oceans. People and nature worldwide are already feeling the effects: water supplies are shrinking, extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and intensity, forests are burning, and coral reefs are dying.

Food security

The food system is the single biggest threat to nature today.
It uses most of our natural resources - 69% of all our water and 34% of our land. It has caused 75% of deforestation, 30% of topsoil erosion and contributes at least 24% of greenhouse gas emissions. And yet, we don't even eat all the food we produce - around one third of it is lost in the supply chain or thrown away.

Oceans

The ocean supplies half the oxygen we breathe, and provide food and livelihoods for more than a billion people.
They are also home to a wondrous array of wild species, from tiny plankton to the biggest creature that’s ever existed – the blue whale. But the ocean is in crisis. Centuries of overuse and neglect threaten to leave us with a vast blue wasteland.

Freshwater

Almost half the world's population will face severe water scarcity by 2030 without urgent action
Water is our most precious resource. We can't live without it, there's no substitute for it, and there's only so much of it to go round. Of all the water on Earth, just 2.5% is fresh water, and most of that is locked up in ice or deep underground. We rely on freshwater for farming, industry, and for the sustenance of 7 billion human beings and all life on land.

Forests

Human actions have already led to the loss of around 40% of the world’s forests.
We all need healthy forests. They help keep our climate stable, absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. They regulate our water supply and improve its quality. They provide a home to more than half of all species found on land, and we rely on them too! Over 1 billion people live in and around forests, depending on them for fuel, food, medicines and building materials.

Wildlife

The population sizes of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles today have dropped an average of 68% since 1970.
Maintaining the complex balance of animal life on Earth ensures the health of the natural systems we depend on for water, food, clean air, fertile soils and a stable climate. We need to reverse this loss of nature and biodiversity to create a future where wildlife and people thrive again

Read “Go from zero to planet hero this 2021" >> 

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Our lives depend on a healthy planet:  Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health

Every day we depend on biodiversity (the sheer variety of life found on Earth) to keep us alive and healthy. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the foods we eat and the medications we take are all by-products of a healthy planet.

Read “Our lives depend on a healthy planet” >> 

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Healthy people, healthy planet: the search for a sustainable global diet
By 2050, an estimated 10 billion people will live on Earth. To provide them with a healthy diet, eating habits need to change.
Read “Healthy people, healthy planet: the search for a sustainable global diet” >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Despite best intentions, rain prevented me transplanting indigenous plants into my new garden at my new home. With a let up in rain today, I will dedicate myself to creating a wonderful garden. A New Year’s resolution!

So this is 2021?

Hmmm, so far 2021 is not going well. A drunk driver drove into a neighborhood Eskom transformer. Knocked out electricity early afternoon, 1 January. Sixteen hours later the outage remains in effect.
Heavy rainfall since 31 December means garden and – as I discovered to my dismay – many battery operated items are water-logged.
I’d packed my car with gardening items to take to my new place and transplant while the soil is damp and easier to dig.
Alas, my car wouldn’t start; battery had some life but not enough to start the engine. (I’d pulled the car out from under the carport so that rain could cleanse it of excess dust. Perhaps that was the problem? Some necessary part got wet? That doesn’t make sense but who knows?)
I searched for the jumper cables that belong to this household. Alas, my brother, naturally, has commandeered them and they’re at his house, a 30-minute drive away. Moreover, he’s under quarantine and couldn’t return them anyway.
I transferred all items from my car to my mother’s car, that does start.
Alas, the electricity-powered security gate didn’t work. Usually, battery power kicks in when electricity is off and, after a pause, gate opens and closes with a signal from the remote. Today? No such luck. The security gate battery appears flat, too.
What else can a girl do but have a cup of tea – and a hunk or tow of dark fruit cake.
I pray my array of battery charged items – phones, laptop – last for the duration or the power outage.

***

Two hours later electricity back on. Time to boogey….