Those pesky numbers

Week 14's pesky numbers compared to Week 13's

• July 2 - worldwide: 10,729,340 confirmed infections; 517,055 deaths
  June 25 - worldwide: 9,409,000 confirmed infections; 482,190 deaths
• July 2 – US: 2,688,250 infections; 128,104 deaths
  June 25 - US: 2,381,540 infections; 121,980 deaths
• July 2 - SA: 159,333 infections; 2,749 deaths
  June 25 - SA: 111,800 confirmed infections; 2,205 deaths

And, despite all the staying at home going on around the world, atmospheric CO2 continues its upward trajectory

• 27 June 2020: 416.05 parts per million
• This time last year: 413.50 ppm
• 10 years ago: 391.44 ppm
• Pre-industrial base: 280ppm
• Safe level: 350ppm

Reading from Mauna Loa, Hawaii . (Source: NOAA-ESRL)
Scientists have warned for more than a decade that concentrations of more than 450ppm risk triggering extreme weather events of temperature rises as high as 2C, beyond which the effects of global heating are likely to become catastrophic and irreversible.

News blues…

A brief scan of new numbers:

• Gauteng’s Health MEC expects “Covid-19 cases to reach 120 000 by the end of July. "Our predictions tell us that we will be … getting closer to 250 000 to 300 000 by August, [and in] September which is expected to be the peak, we will be having more than that," Dr Bandile Masuku told News24 on Wednesday. 
• The SA government’s official coronavirus figures could be missing more than half the deaths caused by the pandemic, a new report from the Medical Research Council (MRC) reveals. 
• As a number of US states reversed course on their reopening plans amid spiking case counts, Trump told Fox Business in an interview that he still believed the virus would simply go away on its own. “I think we’re gonna be very good with the coronavirus,” he said. “I think that at some point that’s going to sort of just disappear, I hope.” 
• With 4 percent of the world’s population, the US accounts for a quarter of worldwide coronavirus deaths. On Wednesday, the US reported 49,932 new coronavirus cases, the fifth single-day case record in eight days…. North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas also hit daily records, with Texas reaching more than 8,000 new infections. 
• The US experienced 15,400 'excess deaths' from March to April 4 compared with last year, suggesting coronavirus death toll is higher than known, according to an analysis conducted for The Washington Post. During the same time period, the official death count from COVID-19 was 8,128. The discrepancy exists in data from around the world, and suggests the true number of coronavirus-related deaths is being significantly undercounted. New Orleans Health Director Jennifer Avegno believes the actual death toll may be 15 percent higher than what is officially reported.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Ah, the satisfaction that comes with recycling an elderly concrete mixer into a compost mixer….
For months, I’ve composted kitchen scraps and collected leaves, ash from veld fires, pond weed, sawdust, peat, vermiculite, even excavated soil from mole hills….
Today, those ingredients – including earthworms - went into the concrete mixer… and came out as sweet smelling, fecund, garden soil. (Earthworms came out dizzy but alive – and ready, I think, for the upcoming garden phase.)
Figuring out how to start the mixer was a challenge. Incentivized by a potential 220-volt jolt if I got it wrong, I consulted the Internet – which wasn’t much help. I spent some time searching for the on/off switch, then, finally, realized there was only a three-prong plug to push into a live socket.
Voila!
It was hard work, but the sweet smell of compost made it all worthwhile!

***

(c) Charles J Sharp, Sharp Photography
Click to enlarge.

Yesterday, I spotted a Giant Kingfisher perched on the overhead electric power cable peering into the garden pond.
It was in the same spot today.
The Giant Kingfisher is Africa’s largest kingfisher species – up to 18 inches tall – and it dives from its perch to catch crabs, fish, and frogs.
In this set of four photos by Charles J Sharp, a female Giant Kingfisher returns to perch with a tilapia from Lake Naivasha, Kenya. She smashes the fish against a post to break its spine.

Ah, can’t help thinking of my goldfish!
Haven’t seen goldfish fin nor tail for weeks. I assumed they’d dived deep for warmth.
Would the Giant Kingfisher offer any insight into goldfish whereabouts?

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No immunity in the community

What does it mean when members of a country’s elected governing body does nothing while the leader of a major country refuses to lead during a pandemic, shuns advice, and chooses to play golf and Tweet (“The Lone Warrior”) rather than attend to deadly perils that citizens face?
One of my friends would answer: “It means a decadent ruling class…”
Another friend would say that “It means the governing body is maneuvering behind the scenes to solidify their positions….”
Another friend would say, “It means they’re all fascists….”
(I love my friends for their points of view: never a dull moment.)
I would answer: It means We, the People of the world, are in deep, deep trouble….

News blues…

Testifying at the Senate coronavirus hearing yesterday, Dr Anthony Fauci said, “We are now seeing 40,000 cases [of Covid infections] per day. I won’t be surprised if we see 100,000 per day if this does not turn around. I am very concerned.”

Trump, meanwhile, has been largely silent on the continued spike in cases, instead focusing on vandalized statues and his own ego. As more than 40,000 new cases and more than 800 new deaths were reported in the U.S., the president was busy tweeting “photos of 15 people the U.S. Park Police said it is attempting to identify ‘who are responsible for vandalizing property’ in a park in front of the White House.” 

Moreover, to celebrate July 4th this year, Trump plans to insert himself amongst George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln on Mount Rushmore.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will travel to Mt. Rushmore National Memorial in Keystone, South Dakota, on Friday for an early Fourth of July fireworks celebration and flyover, the first of its kind in more than a decade. The event will gather "thousands" together during a global pandemic with no social distancing, and comes amid a national conversation on monuments with racist histories.

Need I add masks and social distancing will be optional?

Another point of view regarding the wearing of masks.

Most examples of people failing to follow social distancing measures [in the UK] are not evidence of individual selfishness, said John Drury, a professor at the University of Sussex and one of the country’s leading behavioral psychologists, but rather of the hardships that many face and the failure of public officials to offer clear guidance or provide for their needs.
“Despite media campaigns to vilify some people as selfish and thoughtless ‘covidiots,’ the evidence on reasons for non‐adherence shows that much of it was practical rather than psychological,” Drury and his colleagues wrote in a recent paper in the British Journal of Social Psychology. “Many people had to cram into Tube trains to go to work because they needed money to survive and government support schemes were insufficient. People were told they could go out to exercise, but those in urban areas had limited public space. And some employers failed to provide the support for social distancing and hygiene. Those with less income and wealth also live in more crowded homes.”
Now, with Boris Johnson encouraging people to eat, drink, and be merry — and the decision to relax restrictions further on a Saturday seems designed to facilitate just that — it’s no wonder that the public seems to be adopting a looser stance toward the coronavirus.
But it remains the government’s responsibility to make sure that the lifting of lockdown restrictions doesn’t result in a second wave of infections. Many health officials have looked on with dismay as the U.K. and the U.S. press ahead with reopening plans despite the lack of robust testing and tracing systems that would allow them to identify and isolate new outbreaks quickly, before they spread throughout the community.

Talking about statues…

The statue of British colonialist 

Cecil John Rhodes was removed 

from the University of Cape Town 

as a result of a month long protest 

by students citing the statue 

"great symbolic power" which glorified 

someone "who exploited black labour [sic] 

and stole land from indigenous people".

© Mail and Guardian 

(Charlie Shoemaker/Getty Images)

Click to enlarge.

The current wave of protests sweeping the world is nothing new to South Africans.

Students orchestrated the removal of the Cecil John Rhodes statue from the University of Cape Town campus back in 2015. Now, activist groups in the city are threatening to dismantle more relics of the past if the government does not act to remove them.
Lester Kiewit reports that the Black People's National Crisis Committee will intensify protests if those demands are not listened to. "These symbols inflict psychological violence on the minds of people whose ancestors were murdered by people who are being glorified by statues," said a member of the group.

Lawrence O’Donnell, host of MSNBC’s The Last Word, interview: Bill Moyers: Instead Of A 'Soul,' Donald Trump Has An 'Open Sore'
This interview is from 2017, shortly after the Charlottesville violence that resulted in one death (and about which Trump said, “great people on both sides”). Moyers’ words are still timely in 2020 as he explains that the inherent message of Confederate statues in the South “was not to honor the soldiers of the Civil War. It was to remind blacks and whites that the force of the state would still be used to subjugate them to a different form on slavery. All of those [statues] could come down without affecting history at all…. We could put them in museums where teachers could explain why they were put up in the early part of the 1900s. (Segment at about 6:30 min and continues at 10:00 min).

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Another warm and sunny winter day that I began with an early walk around the neighborhood.
I passed the house with the black Great Dane that, as usual, barked and stalked me. His barking, as usual, alerted the two dogs guarding the corner house who then barked and stalked me, too.
As usual, I pass and talk to the dogs: “Hello, dogs, what good barkers you are, dogs…” As usual, they bark (“stay away from our house, stay away, we say…”)
Today, however, I met a young girl who lives in that house. She told me the dogs’ names: Zack and Chloe.
Now our relationship – dogs and mine – changes forever.
Tomorrow, I’ll pass and say, “Hello Zack. Hello Chloe. What a good barker you are, Zack. What a good barker you are, Chloe….”
I’m dying to see how they respond.

***

I collected two large bags of dry leaves from a neighbor’s avocado tree (“avocado pear tree”)… plus three planters made from recycled tires/tyres.
Back home, I raked dry leaves of the exotic camel’s foot tree, and collected a bucketful of soil from mole hills dotted around the garden as well as another bucketful of wood ash from a recent veld fire outside.
I’ll combine leaves, mole hill sand, wood ash, and other ingredients with compost and mix in a recycled concrete mixer to produce wonderfully rich soil for the veggie garden.

Tens of thousands of people around the world struggle with a deadly infection while millions more struggle to remain infection-free.
Gardening is a metaphor for regeneration.

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Timing is everything?

Click to enlarge and read.

A friend (American) texted me this joke.

As I read it, I thought, “Oh, no, a conspiracy theory…”
Then I got to image of the valve stem – and laughed.
Phew, thank the gods! It’s a joke!
I Whatsapp’ed it to friends (South African).
So far, all have thought it serious!
I might have to text a disclaimer!

Dark humor. Another (American) friend enduring stay-at-home in New Mexico and commiserating with our Lockdown, texted, “Things are the same here: comfortable and voluntary house arrest. It’s like prison but without the sex.”

***

Typical 15-seat mini-bus taxi.
Click to enlarge.

There are more than 200,000 minibus taxis South Africa, with full capacity at 15 seats (although more passengers are frequently carried). More than 15-million commuters use mini-bus taxis each day.
The growing industry is worth about R50 billion a year, with 69 percent of South African households using them. (More facts about this industry.)
Even as numbers of confirmed cases surge between 5,000 and 6,000 per day in South Africa...

“Santaco - National Taxi Council in KwaZulu says government's R1-billion relief fund is not enough.
The association says it has now resolved to load taxis to full capacity and it will hike fares [as of] Monday.
Santaco’s resolution goes against government’s COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines that stipulate that minibus taxis must load at 70-percent capacity during level three of the lockdown.
Government says there is simply no money to offer anything more.

With commuters jammed into taxis again, how long before numbers of confirmed cases surge above 6,000 per day?

***

Testing, testing…

Hundreds of COVID-19 test kits have been found dumped next to the N2 highway near… East London [Eastern Cape].
The used kits were discovered by a jogger late on Tuesday last week.
The tests were on their way from surrounding hospitals to a laboratory in Port Elizabeth.
It's not clear how or why they were disposed of.
The National Health Laboratory Service has now collected the remaining tests.
The jogger told eNCA that he normally sees the tests when he watches the news. "When I saw them I knew immediately that these were the sticks they use to test people for COVID-19. I didn't touch them.
"I shoved them away with my running shoes. I could open them up using my foot, and I saw that these were COVID-19 tests."

As of today, South Africa has conducted 1,596,995 tests. How many have been read in a timely fashion?

Western Cape healthcare workers have reported waiting up to 10 days for COVID-19 test results — and sources in Gauteng say they’re not alone. Delays in results leave many fearing that patients with the new coronavirus virus, who should otherwise be self-quarantining, could unwittingly be exposing others to the virus.
“The delay is not only being experienced in the Western Cape… and indeed other provinces — ramp up testing, [the National Health Laboratory Services] are finding it challenging to keep up and process these tests, resulting in a nationwide backlog in the results.”
According to the provincial health department… it is currently testing about 1600 people daily for the virus.

Turns out, testing is the easy part.
Throwing tests away is one way to handle the lack of capacity to read them in a timely manner.
Hmmm, how long will it take America’s failing political leadership to figure out this tactic in response to their testing controversies?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Months of stay-at-home/Lockdown prey on the mind and emotions – not to mention the body.
I’m experiencing mood swings similar to those reported by my American friends.
One moment, we feel vindicated that our projections were correct: the pandemic is out of control and no one of substance is in charge, at least in the US.
The next moment, we’re plunged into depths of despair: our projections were correct, the pandemic is out of control, and no one of substance is in charge.
South Africa at least tried to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 and the surging pandemic. Ramaphosa shut things down quickly, and tried – despite monumental challenges – to respond effectively.
The United States did – continues to do – few of those responses.
Trump poo-poo’d Covid-19 as “the flu” that would disappear “like a miracle.”

Remember the emergence of HIV/AIDS  in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1980s?
One day a colleague would fail to come to work, next day, he was reported sick, and soon after, dead.
That epidemic was associated with a specific group of people and  those outside that group were relegated the role of helper or observer.
Observing allows distancing.
Covid-19 is an equal-opporrunity pandemic that disallows observation.
We humans are amid a horrific time. Few of us know how to grapple with – and hold – the horror.
Yet , grapple we must ….

Gardening is my solace.
I hear seeds calling….

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Culture wars

News blues…

Culture wars
© Chris Hayes Highlights:
June 24 | MSNBC
Click to enlarge.

An excellent and thoughtful interview conducted by Chris Hayes of MSNBC with writer Adam Serwer  who maintains that the Republican Party has forgotten how to run /campaign against “an old white guy” like Biden after 12 years running against a woman and a black man. Trump’s playbook isn’t working this time around. Culture wars made it easier running against/insulting a woman - Hilary Clinton – and a black man – Obama.
(Interview with Serwer begins around 2:40 min.)
***
Stoking the culture wars…

Sacha Baron Cohen pranked a far-right rally Saturday in Olympia, Washington, with the actor — pretending to be a bluegrass artist — leading the crowd in a singalong to a tune with racist lyrics.
Social media accounts first revealed …that Baron Cohen was behind the hijinks at the “March for Our Rights 3” rally hosted by the far-right militia group Washington Three Percenters.
According to reports, Baron Cohen first disguised himself as the wealthy head of a political action committee in order to infiltrate the event, then populated the rally with his own entertainment and security team. With his plan in place, Baron Cohen was able to execute his prank — which may or may not been filmed for his Showtime series Who is America? — by severing organizers’ access to their own event.
In one video from the rally, Baron Cohen took the guise of a bluegrass artist and sang,
“Obama, what we gonna do? Inject him with the Wuhan flu.
Hillary Clinton, what we gonna do? Lock her up like we used to do.
Fauci don’t know his head from his ass. He must be smoking grass.
I ain’t lying, it ain’t no jokes. Corona is a liberal hoax.
Dr. Fauci, what we gonna do? Inject him with the Wuhan flu.
WHO, what we gonna do? Chop ’em up like the Saudis do,”
with some in the crowd gleefully singing along.

Audio is not great but listen carefully to the Tweet videos and you’ll make out the words.

• Randy Rainbow COVER YOUR FREAKIN' FACE! - A Randy Rainbow Song Parody
• The Lincoln Project “Debt”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The gardener worked today and, together, we moved the recycled freezer/greenhouse/cold frame into a sunny spot. I laid out the shelves and the seedling trays…then worried that the monkeys would find irresistible the new item in the landscape. No monkeys visited today so that worry falls to another day.
At the agri-store and purchased seed packs of chard, zucchini, inion (no starts available yet) to replenish what remains of last year’s seed packet collection.
Too busy in the garden to walk the neighborhood.
Tomorrow is another day.
The sun will shine, the air will warm…

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Plugging away…

Even as I projected 10 million Covid-19 infections worldwide by end-of-day yesterday, I was filled with disbelief, fear, anger, and shock.
I was wrong on the timing – the 10 millionth confirmed case happened six hours later than my prediction – but my emotional turmoil continued.
How could the United States of America – one of the world’s leading countries, powerful, wealthy beyond comprehension, technologically advanced – display such incompetence and poor management?
How could the US be in this predicament?
How did this pandemic get so out of hand?
Where’s the leadership?
And, why is Donald Trump still in nominal charge?
It’s a nightmare.
Unreal.
But too real.

Isolated in South Africa, locked down with housemates uninterested in Covid-19 goings-on (“it’s not very nice, is it?”), and lacking person-to-person intellectual stimulation, I phoned American friends to commiserate.
We repeated our disbelief, anger, fear. We insisted on our pet theories. We conjectured. Back and forth, back and forth, our voices sounded out words of outrage, shock, disbelief.
Talking soothes.
For now.

News blues…

A growing number of Americans of both political parties believe the worst of the coronavirus pandemic is over, even as the number of daily new cases is rapidly increasing nationwide.
A new survey from the Pew Research Center found that 40 percent of Americans now believe the worst of Covid-19 is in the past, up from 26 percent in early April. That number includes the majority of Republicans, 61 percent of whom said the country has already suffered the worst of the pandemic.
Overall, the survey — taken June 16 to 22, featuring 4,708 American adults and a 1.8 percentage point margin of error — found a strikingly deep ideological divide between how Republicans and Democrats think about the continued threat of the virus. 

Denial is a river in Egypt.

***

A gleam of light at the end of the long, dark, tunnel of infection.
Finally, a media personality, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, “Calls For Trump To Resign: 'Urgent Matter Of Public Health, Public Safety’
Hayes also addresses surging numbers 
Other efforts:
Meidas Touch’s ads:

• Bye Ivanka 
• Bye Ivanka: A Public Disservice Announcement

Lincoln Project’s ads:

• “Bounty” 
  Putin paid a bounty to kill American soldiers. @realDonaldTrump knew about it but did nothing. How can Trump lead America when he can’t even defend it?
• “Truth” 

Sarah Cooper’s voice overs:

• How to second term 
• How to Lincoln 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Changing my morning routine helped stabilize my mood.
Assuring myself that would-be muggers of women walking alone would still be asleep early Sunday morning, I walked my usual route, carrying my knobkerrie walking stick and pepper spray.
The sun was bright, the day warm, the assorted dogs quiet.

Soon after I returned home, a friend texted me photos of her veggie garden.
I was astonished that she was growing spinach, lettuce, cabbage, spring onions, beet (“beetroots”) pole beans and peas at this time of year.
These veggies are on my grow list, too, but I didn’t know I could plant in July!
Perhaps I can’t. Elevation here is 3,444 meters above sea level compared to my friend’s place at 764 meters.
While I’ve been mixing soil amendments for seedlings, I’d had no intention of planting until, well, August.

Two years ago, I’d recycled and modified a deep freezer/ice chest to use as a winter greenhouse/cold frame.
I’m usually not here in the winter and I’d actually forgotten that plan. (Lockdown makes this is the first winter I’ve been here  in decades .)
I’ve been using the greenhouse/cold frame as a quasi-potting table/storage area.
Spurred on by my friend’s garden success, I visited the greenhouse - and was inspired.

I swept away layers of dust and explored.
The shelves I constructed from recycled plywood and lined with recycled plastic as moisture barrier are in good shape.
The hooks I designed and made from recycled wire still attach the shelves to the wood frame I built.
The sheets of recycled plastic I stapled to a bamboo frame (bamboo grown in the garden) still allow sunlight into the greenhouse.
The greenhouse is in good working order.

I love beating ‘the system’ – capitalism – and take pride that, barring peat and vermiculite, everything in, on, and around the greenhouse is recycled.
I’ve seeds left over from last year, too - beets, pole beans, peas, basil, Rockette, “mixed greens,” and marigolds (for pest control).
I’ll start these seeds in recycled 6-pack seedling trays.
I’ll purchase spring onion sets from the local agri-store.
Potatoes grow beautifully from kitchen peelings.
I don’t grow tomatoes: KZN’s hot, wet summers encourage tomato disease and bugs.

Cutworms are my nemesis. They love hot, wet summer weather, and they attack tender plant stems as they erupt from the earth.
My anti-cutworm innovation is to plant seedlings in toilet roll cardboard. I use the roll ‘as is’ or cut in half, fill with soil, and plant the seed. Once the seedling erupts, I place it in the garden with the cardboard acting as a collar to prevent cutworms from attacking the stems.

I visited my productive compost pile located near the stream at the back of the garden.
Here, composting consists of 4 containers and 4 steps:
Stage 1 container: covered and stored outside the kitchen to collect household organic waste
Stage 2 container: semi-covered, and stored near the mature compost pile
Stage 3: mature compost pile
Stage 4 container with mature, usable compost.
Steps to making compost:
Step 1: carry stage 1 container with household organic waste from the kitchen to the composting area
Step 2: remove mature compost from the pile and store in Stage 4 container, ready for garden use
Step 3: move the semi-composted organic waste from stage 2 container to the compost pile
Step 3: pour the household organic waste into stage 2 container, add a handful of sawdust, wood ash, and dried leaves, mix, and secure the lid
Step 4: rinse stage 1 container in the stream before returning to the kitchen to collect more organic waste.

The compost is gorgeous: dark, organic, clean smell, and full of earthworms.

The pandemic rages “out there” while we humans plug away at life!

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Evidentiary knowledge empowers

Following the news every day is simultaneously exhausting and empowering. Last night I reviewed my go-to Covid-19 Dashboard of choice, Johns Hopkins CSSE, for total numbers of confirmed cases around the world. They were such that I assumed numbers would reach 10 million by end-of-day Sunday.

News blues…

Alas, this morning’s review revises my assumption. We’re on track to reach 10 million by the end-of-day today.
Amid much confusion and dark obfuscation, rays of scientific evidence emerge to empower the Average Joe/Josephine.
Symptoms, as we’ve learned, can appear anywhere between 2 to 14 days after exposure. The list of possible symptoms, however, has expanded and may include:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

This list, from Yale Medicine,  does not include all possible symptoms.

• In the US, look to the CDC for updates on symptoms  as it learns more about COVID-19.
• In South Africa, look to the COVID-19 Corona Virus
• South African Resource Portal.

***

An HIV/AIDS specialist discovers similarities — and differences — to COVID-19.

A few recent studies on the effects of HIV and SARS-CoV-2 indicate that they do have some similarities. Shanghai-based researchers provided evidence that SARS-CoV-2 can infect T lymphocytes, the same cells targeted by HIV. Other researchers have documented that individuals with severe COVID-19 may exhibit lymphopenia, or an atypically low number of lymphocytes in the blood. Likewise, HIV infection results in this abnormality, eventually causing the immunosuppression associated with AIDS. But these findings should not cause us to assume that SARS-CoV-2 is like HIV.

What can you do? Dr. Mark Smolinski, infectious disease physician and president of Ending Pandemics offers his perspective:

As a public health physician, I know the SARS-CoV-2 virus doesn’t care that we are all going a little stir crazy sheltering in place. Coronavirus lays in wait to move from one person to another, as the percentage of people with asymptomatic infection is quite high. My chances of getting infected, therefore, are not solely based on my actions, but are also impacted by the behaviors of those around me. This is why I am both disappointed by the seemingly nonchalant actions of those without masks, and sad that I know it will mean the pandemic will continue to cause illness and death. …
You wear a mask to protect others, and others wear a mask to protect you. Wearing a mask is a true sign of respect for others; it is not an impingement on one’s freedom as many have claimed. Wearing a mask tells the person you pass on the street, share an aisle with in the supermarket, or march along side at a peaceful protest, that you respect them as a fellow human.

Hear, hear, Dr Smolinkski!

***

Follow the cuckoos  and on (ahem!)
Twitter: @BirdingBeijing.

Now for something completely different: the Mongolia Cuckoo Project – Birding Beijing 北京观鸟 

From 4-8 June 2019, five cuckoos – one Oriental Cuckoo and four Common Cuckoos – were fitted with transmitters around Khurkh Bird Banding Center in northern Mongolia. The birds have been named by local schools who will follow “their” birds to learn about the migration route and wintering grounds of these iconic birds.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

According to Web MD, that paragon of online diagnosis, an obsession is “a persistent disturbing preoccupation…. Symptoms start small, and to the obsessed, can [do!] seem like normal behavior. They are unwanted and repetitive thoughts, urges, or images that don't go away.”
I’m not sure about “unwanted”: I quite like my array of growing obsessions encouraged by 14 weeks (and counting) of Lockdown. (I sound like friends who defend their addiction to, say, cigarettes: “I can give ‘em up any time I like, but I choose not to….”)
Lockdown provides ample time to evolve one’s obsessions. Mine come and go. For example, I still admire my cell phone’s Last Charge Level graphs, but I no longer capture screen shots. Nor do I hanker to capture screen shots. I’ve moved on.

Two pigtails suit this young trendsetter.
I'm opting for one pigtail - for now.

Now, with hair salons shut and my hair still growing, I’m perfecting the “Hair Flare.” Inspired by a favorite 4-year-old’s style, I tie a pigtail left of my forehead then fan it out.
I’m also improving the flare with the addition of colored ribbon.
Testing it out in public has, so far, been neither a hit nor a miss. No one has admired nor ridiculed it.
Who knows? I may start a trend.
Then again, my 4-year-old inspiration looked shocked when I explained the Hair Flare derived from her hairstyle.
I like to believe she was shocked that, at four, she was a trend setter rather than shock that she ever looked as crazy as I do with the Hair Flare.

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Don’t need no stinkin’ mask!

News blues…

June 13 Tweet from Dr Jerome Adams, US surgeon general:

Just a reminder - wearing a face covering is a small inconvenience that provides big benefits, and gives us our best chance for an effective and lasting reopening of America. If everyone does their part to slow the spread, then everyone wins.

Dr Adams sounds like a logical and rational man who may not have factored in that not everyone wants to win if winnng means knuckling down and wearing a mask.
That segment of Americans – spurred on by, and including, the president – resist advice on basic hygiene during a pandemic.
Comedians Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart recently highlighted  this “politicization of basic hygiene” – wearing a mask – and noted that the mask has become a symbol of political tyranny: “The Covid Burqa”, “the garb of the authoritarian”, “the new swastika armband”, “the don’t tread on me snake….”
Trump is the happy head of the “don’t tread on me snake” that

…continues to refuse to wear a face mask in public, even as polls show a majority of Americans say they should be used to prevent the spread of the virus. Even as some of Trump's political aides quietly assert he would score political points by wearing a mask - like Vice President Mike Pence did on Thursday in Ohio - Trump hasn't shown signs of budging.
"He will never change on the mask. He doesn't want that picture," one White House official said. "He knows masks are important, but he doesn't want that image or to admit he is wrong."  

A group of Trump-supporting Floridians spoke…

at a heated public hearing [and] attacked county commissioners as “communist dictators” who follow “the devil’s laws” as they [commissioners] prepared to vote on a mandate for wearing face masks in public.
During public comments before the unanimous vote in favor of the mask requirement on Tuesday, a majority of speakers opposed the move…some denied that masks were effective against spreading COVID-19 and accused officials of playing God, violating the Constitution and threatening freedom and lives by imposing the measure.
One speaker threatened to perform a citizen’s arrests on the officials for going “against the freedom of choice.”
“Every single one of you that’s obeying the devil’s laws are going to be arrested. And you are going to be arrested for crimes against humanity,” the woman declared.
“Every single one of you has a smirk behind that little mask, but every single one of you are going to get punished by God. You cannot escape God ... not even with the mask or 6 feet.”
The woman touched on several other theories, including a suggestion that the public officials could be part of a “deep state” of rogue officials. [This woman is an equal opportunity blamer. She included the devil, 5G, Bill Gates, Hillary Clinton, and "the pedophiles."]
Another woman told commissioners, “I want to know who is getting paid off and where is the mandate coming from.”
“Well, guess what, the riots are spreading, too!” she continued. “And what the hell are we going to do about that? We’re going to arrest patriots for not wearing a mask? That’s what you want?”
She concluded her remarks: “And I say Trump 2020!”

***

“Trump 2020” is looking less and less likely as anti-Trump Republicans organize to defeat the President in November.

A group called "Right Side PAC" … will focus on targeting voters  in battleground states like Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin [and on] data, targeting and turnout … [and] will work to turn out "that group of Republicans who feels that Donald Trump is an existential threat to the country and this party."
"We're going to make people feel comfortable with the correction option -- pulling the lever for Joe Biden this year…."

The Lincoln Project’s most recent ad,  “Mattis,” states, "Democracy is under threat, and people who care about it must summon the will, the discipline, and the solidarity to defend it. At stake are the freedom, health, and dignity of people everywhere."

The Project’s point of view is shared by more than 500 former world leaders and Novel Laureates who signed an open letter claiming authoritarian governments across the globe are using the pandemic crisis to silence critics.

The letter, organized by the Stockholm-based Institute for Democracy and published Thursday, highlights that in the wake of the crisis, both authoritarian and democratically-elected governments the world over have used emergency powers to arrest protestors and sidestep democratic norms.
The letter warns: "Authoritarian regimes, not surprisingly, are using the crisis to silence critics and tighten their political grip. But even some democratically-elected governments are fighting the pandemic by amassing emergency powers that restrict human rights and enhance state surveillance without regard to legal constraints, parliamentary oversight, or timeframes for the restoration of constitutional order.
"Parliaments are being sidelined, journalists are being arrested and harassed, minorities are being scapegoated, and the most vulnerable sectors of the population face alarming new dangers as the economic lockdowns ravage the very fabric of societies everywhere."
Since the pandemic began, dozens of countries have introduced emergency declarations and more than 100 have brought in measures that affect public assembly, such as protests against the state, according to the International Center for Non-Profit Law's Covid-19 Civic Freedom Tracker. Their cited examples range from restricting access of public information to arresting citizens for "provocative" posts on social media.
…the letter's chief warning is that countries with strong democratic traditions could use the pandemic to introduce extraordinary measures that in the long run become ordinary, doing permanent damage to global democracy.
"Authoritarians around the world see the Covid-19 crisis as a new political battleground in their fight to stigmatize democracy as feeble and reverse its dramatic gains of the past few decades."
"Now is the time when all of us must stand up for democracy. We need to make it clear to everyone what is at stake and that we will not allow leaders with authoritarian tendencies to use this or other crises to increase their power and decrease our rights," said Kevin Casas-Zamora, Secretary-General of IDEA and former Second Vice-President of Costa Rica.
The letter says that "Repression will not help to control the pandemic," and that "Silencing free speech, jailing peaceful dissenters, suppressing legislative oversight, and indefinitely canceling elections all do nothing to protect public health."
"Democracy is under threat, and people who care about it must summon the will, the discipline, and the solidarity to defend it. At stake are the freedom, health, and dignity of people everywhere."

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Many glorious moments basking in the sun during these winter days. Step out of the sun, though, and brrrr, the temperature drops.
My evolving morning routine includes eating breakfast while sitting in the bright sunshine.
Tortoise-like, I take time-outs during the day to warm up in the sun.

Today, as I weeded, a flock of chatty weaver birds alit in a nearby tree. I continued weeding and they continued chatting.
Then, I became aware of the beauty of the moment, that I was part of a miraculous environment, birds, an infinite reality.
I stopped weeding to savor the sensation.
The birds stopped chatting.
It was as if my state of being – attentive listening – communicated with the birds and they held their collective breath to see what I’d do.
I relaxed into the silence.
Soon, the birds started chatting again. I’d been accepted.
Made my day.

***

A plethora of repat flights offered
Health Alert: Announcing Upcoming Repatriation Flights – U.S. Embassy Pretoria, South Africa (June 25, 2020)
Event: The South African Ministry of Health has confirmed 111,796 cases of COVID-19 within its borders.
Announcing Multiple Upcoming Repatriation Flights
We have been notified of multiple upcoming special commercial repatriation flights operated by Lufthansa, KLM, Emirates, Turkish Airlines, and Ethiopian Airlines.
Flight information:
DATE DEPARTURE ARRIVAL AIRLINE
27 June 2020 Cape Town (CPT) Frankfurt (FRA) Lufthansa
27 June 2020 Cape Town (CPT) Amsterdam (AMS) KLM
28 June 2020 Johannesburg (JNB) Amsterdam (AMS) KLM
28 June 2020 Johannesburg (JNB) Dubai (DXB) Emirates
30 June 2020 Johannesburg (JNB) Dubai (DXB) Emirates
01 July 2020 Johannesburg (JNB) Addis Ababa (ADD) Ethiopian Airlines
02 July 2020 Johannesburg (JNB) Istanbul (IST) Turkish Airlines
04 July 2020 Cape Town (CPT) Amsterdam (AMS) KLM
05 July 2020 Johannesburg (JNB) Amsterdam (AMS) KLM
11 July 2020 Cape Town (CPT) Amsterdam (AMS) KLM
12 July 2020 Johannesburg (JNB) Amsterdam (AMS) KLM
Interested passengers must book their tickets directly with the airlines' local ticket office or using the below contact information:

• Ethiopian Airlines by contacting: SouthAfricaSalesTeam@ethiopianairlines.com
• Lufthansa by contacting: Jnbmarketing@dlh.de
• Emirates must be booked directly with the Emirates Johannesburg office, by contacting eksa@emirates.com and completing a required booking form
• Turkish Airlines by contacting: cptmarketing@thy.com
• KLM by contacting:
  Website: You can book your ticket through our website www.klm.co.za by searching for a one-way trip and specific date. The calendar view will not display them. Please book only for the flights on these dates and flight numbers.
  Call centre: Our sales and Service Centre can be contacted to book a flight, via phone: +27 (0)10 205 0100 or +27(0)10 205 0101, daily between 09:00 –16:00. Payment can only be made with credit card. If you have an existing booking with Air France or KLM you can use it to (partially) pay for this flight.
  Additional Information: During the booking process a link will be given to fill in a web form. You need to fill in the form for each passenger in your reservation. It is mandatory to fill in this web form. In case you missed the link in your booking process, you can find it here: https://www.klm.com/travel/za_en/customer_support/repatriation_flights.htm.
• SAA also has a repatriation portal where you may register your interest in potential future repatriation flights.

Please Note:
·Passengers will be responsible for travel to their final destination in the United States from the arrival airport listed above.

• These flights are open to U.S. citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents, and visa holders who have received DHA approval to depart South Africa. (Noting that visa holders will not be allowed to transit the EU.)
• Passengers will be responsible for finding transportation to the required assembly point, which will be communicated by the airlines prior to the flight departure.
• Travel permission letters for U.S. citizens and green card holders are not required unless you will be crossing provinces to arrive at the assembly point. If and only if you must cross a provincial border to join this repatriation flight, please write SAEvacuation@state.gov requesting a travel letter. Include your name, passport or green card number, current address, and flight confirmation.
• For any questions regarding availability, cost, baggage allowance, or other flight details, please contact the airlines directly.

I may register on SAA’s repatriation portal. I hesitate to expose myself to bureaucracy that might reel out of control. I’m not particularly thrilled about travelling SAA, nor having to find a way to Johannesburg (why no flights originating in Durban?) nor of landing on the east coast or Chicago when my destination is San Francisco.
Moreover, I won’t leave before July 14 – my mother’s 87th birthday.
Am I settling in here? Putting down roots?

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