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Notice in California:

Get notified when it’s your turn to get the COVID-19 vaccine. If you’re near San Francisco, Los Angeles, or San Diego, you can also schedule your appointment.

Everyone in California will have an opportunity to get vaccinated against COVID-19. But our vaccine supply is limited right now. So we’re starting with the groups who are at highest risk, like people with a high chance of exposure and people 65 and older. Are you eligible? 

News blues…

As Americans struggle to survive an out-of-control pandemic and clean up after Trump (the White House), and the Trumpies’ mess of the federal government, Trump’s second impeachment commences. Historical moments:
Lead House Manager Rep. Jamie Raskin presents graphic video timeline of Jan. 6 attack on U.S. Capitol (13:13 mins)
Conclusion of House Manager Raskin’s emotional appeal to Senate on Day 1 of impeachment trial  (8:36 mins)

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Calendar it:

• President Ramaphosa will address the nation tomorrow night, Thursday, at 7pm.
• Register for the Webinar: Unpacking the SoNA

The 2021 State of the Nation Address (SONA) to be delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 11 February 2021-
Theme Following up on our commitments: making your future work better will reflect the devastation the coronavirus pandemic has on almost every sector of the South African economy and on ordinary people’s lives.

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The Lincoln Project: 

The case against Donald J. Trump  (0:50 mins)
Branded  (0:55 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Pollution from power plants, vehicles and other sources accounted for one in five of all deaths in 2018, with fossil fuels causing 8.7m deaths globally in 2018. 

Guardian graphic. Source: Harvard University.
Deaths attributable to exposure to
fine particulate matter (PM2.5)
generated by fossil fuel combustion

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

A good friend from California has been perseverating for months about Covid-19. He has some health vulnerabilities, so he’s extra cautious about protecting himself, his family, friends, and neighbors.
Sometimes, I’ve wondered if he has been, well, just a bit over the top: he refuses to enter grocery stores, instead ordering online, driving to the store where assistants deliver groceries directly into his vehicle’s trunk/boot and, back home, sanitizing all purchases. During his daily walk around the neighborhood, he berates other walkers who don’t wear masks….
This friend’s health care provider warned that they’d not dispense vaccinations until at least late summer, 2021. Then, a miracle! My friend heard via the online grapevine that the State of California has opened vaccination sites in Los Angeles, San Jose (“Silicon Valley”) and San Francisco. What’s more, one could make appointments for two-dose vaccinations.
He drove for more than an hour and reached San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center well before his 9:30am appointment. He was immediately attended to, and he processed out of the facility by 10:15am.
Yay! California! Yay, Biden administration! Yay, the resurgence of bureaucratic competence in the United States.
Now, to bring down the rate of infection and death.
Currently, the US is more than twice the rate of infection and death than its closest competition: 26+ million in US, 10+ in India (and India has twice the population).
Competence counts!

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Yesterday I visited TOPS, the alcohol off sales store. I purchased a bottle of grapefruit flavored rum – with my homemade mint syrup I look forward to an occasional mojito. I also purchased a bottle of (cheapish) tequila. Now I seek an easy to make but delicious margarita mix recipe.
Things are looking up!

Forward momentum!

News blues…

New variants raise worry about COVID-19 as scientists discovered a new version of the virus in South Africa that’s more contagious and less susceptible to certain treatments.

Evidence is mounting that having COVID-19 may not protect against getting infected again with some of the new variants. People also can get second infections with earlier versions of the coronavirus if they mounted a weak defense the first time, new research suggests.
How long immunity lasts from natural infection is one of the big questions in the pandemic. Scientists still think reinfections are fairly rare and usually less serious than initial ones, but recent developments around the world have raised concerns.
In South Africa, a vaccine study found new infections with a variant in 2% of people who previously had an earlier version of the virus.
In Brazil, several similar cases were documented with a new variant there. Researchers are exploring whether reinfections help explain a recent surge in the city of Manaus, where three-fourths of residents were thought to have been previously infected.
In the United States, a study found that 10% of Marine recruits who had evidence of prior infection and repeatedly tested negative before starting basic training were later infected again. That work was done before the new variants began to spread, said one study leader, Dr. Stuart Sealfon of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.
“Previous infection does not give you a free pass,” he said. “A substantial risk of reinfection remains.”

Let’s be careful out there, people. Wear your mask, keep your distance, ventilate your facility, sanitize your hands…

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The Lincoln Project on the cusp of Trump’s second impeachment:
Convict   (0:55 mins)
Now This: Trump's Impeachment Defense, Debunked   (4:33 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Big Business squirms as Biden tightens climate regulations. Corporate America has made bold pledges to fight climate change, but it's resisting government efforts to hold it to them.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

First the good/bad news: My mother is looking a lot more perky. She’s still very weak, can hardly speak, and, sitting in her Laziboy chair, can slowly move her hands and legs. Nevertheless, a Care Center staff person phone me yesterday afternoon to report that dear old stubborn mom had tried to climb out of her Laziboy and had fallen – again! This time, however, no bones broken and no discernible damage done.
What to say?
Stubborn is as stubborn does!

***

Our gardener returned to work yesterday. He’s a mere shadow of his former “bonny” – that is, plump – self. In two weeks he lost at least 20 pounds/10kgs. Moreover, he claims he did not have Covid. Rather, the doctor suggests he may have an ulcer, or a similar stomach ailment.
He set about weeding … something badly needed and not too taxing.

***

Looks like we have a buyer for the house!
The third person who saw the house on the first day it was advertised, made a reasonable-enough all-cash offer. (The first couple that saw it made an unreasonable offer. I refused it and they didn’t make a counteroffer.)
Another party inspected the house yesterday and appear interested. Ironically, if they purchased, they’d create a medical step-down facility. They’d offer elderly folks a place recuperate with their pets and the ability to garden. Nice idea. Perhaps I could check my mother in…
Now to work out the nitty-gritty details.
Seems the concept of “as is” doesn’t mean much here. There’s talk of me having to erect a fence around the only section of swimming pool that doesn’t have a fence…and other annoying fixes.
Time will tell.

Normalcy?

News blues…

South Africa suspends AstraZeneca vaccine drive as “the AstraZeneca vaccine appeared effective against the original strain, but not against the variant…” 
Same news, different angle: The roll-out of the AstraZeneca vaccine to South Africa’s health workers has been temporarily halted following results showing low efficacy against the South African variant of the coronavirus.

South African health workers will now receive the Johnson & Johnson single dose vaccine or the Pfizer vaccine, after the Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, on Sunday 7 February announced a major shift in the country’s vaccine roll-out.
The shift was necessitated by the publication of what the lead investigator in the Oxford/AstraZeneca trial, Professor Shabir Madhi, said were “disappointing results” showing that the vaccine did not work well against the South African variant of the coronavirus. 

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Sleep more! The coronavirus can cause insomnia and long-term changes in our nervous systems. But sleep could also be a key to ending the pandemic.

…several mysteries of how COVID-19 works converge on the question of how the disease affects our sleep, and how our sleep affects the disease. The virus is capable of altering the delicate processes within our nervous system, in many cases in unpredictable ways, sometimes creating long-term symptoms. Better appreciating the ties between immunity and the nervous system could be central to understanding COVID-19—and to preventing it.

Read >> The Mysterious Link Between COVID-19 and Sleep 

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COVID 19 is a name for a mystery doctors are unravelling  (12:25 mins)(Particularly interesting information for medical technophiles.)

***

The Lincoln Project
Chicken (0:25 mins)
Don’t be distracted   (0:25 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

An excellent idea from citizens and residents of planet earth to citizens and residents of planet earth….

A Paris court has convicted the French state of failing to address the climate crisis and not keeping its promises to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.
In what has been hailed as a historic ruling, the court found the state guilty of “non-respect of its engagements” aimed at combating global warming.
Billed the “affair of the century”, the legal case was brought by four French environmental groups after a petition signed by 2.3 million people.
“This is an historic win for climate justice. The decision not only takes into consideration what scientists say and what people want from French public policies, but it should also inspire people all over the world to hold their governments accountable for climate change in their courts,” said Jean-François Julliard, the executive director of Greenpeace France, one of the plaintiffs. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Mother’s mounting a comeback! My mother was much improved yesterday! Both eyes were open, she had more muscle control of her head and neck – that is, she held up her head and looked around – and, while still weak and slow, she moved her legs around more than I’ve seen her do in several weeks. There’s life in the old girl yet!

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Our gardener makes a comeback today, too. During our phone conversation yesterday, we agreed he’d return to work and we’d both keep in mind that he’s recovering, and that he’d take it slow.
What he’s recovering from is still a mystery. He insists he did not have Covid-19, that “the doctor said his lungs are clear” … yet he has suffered debilitating fatigue and body aches.

***

I’m happy to report that my deep sleep pattern is improving. Generally, I suffer “jet lag” while I’m in South Africa. I chalk it up to travel 14,000 miles, a change in hemisphere, seasons, water, and food.
I’m usually only in South Africa for up to three months and my regular sleep pattern resumes when I return to California.
Covid pandemic, frail mother, etc., changed all that and I’ve suffered a sleep deficit for months. Last week, a friendly “organic” over the counter medication ended that regime. For the past few nights, I’ve slept from 7 to 8 hours each night.
Luxury thy name is sleep!

“Sunday morning coming down”

© Joe Heller, hellertoons.com

And, an oldy but goody: Sunday morning coming down (4:30 mins)

News blues…

To booster shot with second vaccine or not to booster shot with second vaccine? That is the question...  particularly among experts in the now-notoriously vaccine skittish US of A.

Initially it looked like the efficacy after that one dose ― and before the second ― was about 50%. But that figure included everybody who got sick during that three- or four-week interval, and most had gotten sick in the first few days. Most likely, they encountered the virus either right before or right after getting the vaccine, before it had time to take effect.
Within 10 to 12 days after vaccination, enough time for the immune system to respond to the vaccine, incidence of disease fell sharply. Extrapolating from that, researchers concluded that efficacy from one dose was a lot higher than 50% after a few weeks, once the immune system had time to react.
That got some experts wondering: Why don’t we just give first shots to as many people as possible now, and then circle back to the second shots at a later date, when the supply is more plentiful?

Read >> “Delay Second Doses? A Guide To The Latest COVID-19 Vaccine Debate” 

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More on good news on Covid vaccine…  (3:50 mins)
And, “The vaccines that could stop Covid-19” 

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Meanwhile, in South Africa,

…the first batch of Covid-19 vaccines begins rolling out to provinces this week [along with] a massive security plan involving armed guards, unmarked police cars and satellite tracking ... kicked into gear to prevent the precious cargo falling into criminal hands.
SA's first vaccine could be administered as soon as Wednesday, according the health department. Bio-pharmaceutical company Biovac will this week start sending trucks across SA to deliver the cargo…. 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Way to age!

When Jon Sanders left Australia on his latest circumnavigation, which was to raise awareness about microplastics, there was no coronavirus
Like many people, 81-year-old Jon Sanders gets up and makes himself a coffee each morning. Instant, two sugars, milk. It’s a conventional start for a man who lives anything but an ordinary life.
Sanders this week became the oldest person to sail single-handedly around the world – a voyage to raise awareness about plastic pollution and one plagued by coronavirus at every port.
On 31 January, nursing cracked ribs from a night strapped into his bunk after giant waves engulfed his boat off Tahiti, the octogenarian sailed his old 39-foot yacht, the Perie Banou II, into Western Australia’s Fremantle Harbour, notching up his 11th solo navigation around the globe.

Read >> “Anything but ordinary: the 81-year-old who has sailed around the world 11 times” 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Over months last year, starting in winter, I made six large 50kbg bags of compost. Having access to an elderly concrete mixer made all the difference to what is usually back-breaking work. From kitchen scraps to leaves, pond weed, saw dust, wood ash, anything organic, went through my four step composting process: kitchen waste collected in a bin near the kitchen went into an aerated bin near the compost pile for a couple of week, then mixed into the compost pile, then into bags, then titrated with other ingredients into the concrete mixer, then churned, then stored in large sacks.
After some weeks, I spread fresh compost in the garden, or continued to store the rest to use “next spring.”
That stored compost is beautiful: dark, organically aromatic, and chock-a-block with earthworms. I’m amazed at what nature wrought (along with a concrete mixer and a determined composter).
I’m now in the process of moving batches of the bagged compost to the small, manageable garden of my new home. The six original bags are way too heavy for me to move alone, so I divided each bag into 4 smaller bags. Two batches have been delivered and, today, I’ll deliver the last batch of 4 smaller bags to my new garden.
Hadedah ibis regularly visit that garden hunting for earthworms.

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Load shedding is back! Power was off for first two hours of this morning. That was an easy one to live with - I was asleep. The next phase, from 8:00 to 10:30 am, is less manageable. 

Grrrrr, Eskom….