Still swinging

After decades living in America, I know American politics as a pendulum, swinging from one extreme to the other. There’s little balance upon which people can depend. (I’m not the first to use this metaphor. ) 

The Trump years have only widened the arc of the swing – and highlighted underlying layers of racism, sexism, socio-economic disparities….
How we’ll do it, I don’t know, but We the People must extricate ourselves from the trauma of Trump.

Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris for vice-president. As a Californian and San Francisco Bay Area resident, I’m less enthused than many about Kamala Harris. She comes with baggage. 

But it means the pendulum will swing in the other direction – albeit not too far. Progressive change is not in the cards, but picking up the pieces and re-establishing government after Trump’s devastation? That’s vital. 

News blues… 

New Zealand family tests positive for Covid-19 after 102 days without locally transmitted coronavirus cases

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said four cases had been detected in a single family in Auckland from an unknown source. Ardern said she understood the disappointment of New Zealanders who believed the virus had been quashed after a strict seven-week lockdown earlier this year.
"It was perhaps easy to feel New Zealand was out of the woods, my request is not to feel dispirited or disheartened. Of all the countries in the world, New Zealand has gone the longest without a resurgence - but because of that we always knew we had to plan, and we've done that." 

***

Is relaxation of lockdown regulations in South Africa’s near future?

The National Coronavirus Command Council met...[and] President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to address the nation no later than Saturday, when the state of disaster he declared in March is due to expire.
Even as SA passed the grim milestone of 10,000 deaths [overnight] … there are strong signs that the Western Cape, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape have seen their surge. They warned, however, that KwaZulu-Natal has yet to reach its peak. Professor Salim Abdool Karim, head of health minister Zweli Mkhize's advisory committee on the outbreak… is "very worried" about his home province.
Health Minister Mkhize …warned of the possibility of a second wave… and urged South Africans to stay on guard. "Whilst we are cautiously optimistic, it is still too early for us to make definite conclusions regarding the observed decline. We need to continue to track all these indicators and ensure that our testing capacity reflects a realistic picture of our epidemiological status." 

***

Coronavirus testing, a la California.

Two types of tests are available to determine whether a person currently is infected with the coronavirus: molecular tests, such as so-called “RT-PCR tests,” which detect the virus’s genetic material, and antigen tests, which detect specific proteins on the surface of the virus. (Another test, known as the antibody or serological, test, shows whether a person has been infected in the past.) This chart, prepared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, outlines the differences:

Click to enlarge. 

As the chart (left) indicates, antigen tests yield results more quickly than molecular tests. But, according to the FDA, they “have a higher chance of missing an active infection.” As the Mayo Clinic explained,

A positive antigen test result is considered very accurate, but there's an increased chance of false negative results – meaning it's possible to be infected with the virus but have negative antigen test results. So antigen tests aren't as sensitive as molecular tests are. Depending on the situation, the doctor may recommend a molecular test to confirm a negative antigen test result.
The risk of misleading results has led public-health agencies to discourage the use of antigen tests in a non-medical setting. Accordingly, both the Association of Public Health Laboratories and the California Department of Public Health warn against using such tests to screen asymptomatic persons, like those who would go to a community testing site. (The two organizations also recommend against using such tests to screen healthcare workers, first responders, and other essential workers.)

***

The Lincoln Project: Moving day  (0:55)
Interview with Steve Schmidt of Lincoln Project on difference between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris  (5:25 mins)
Meidas Touch: The Rule of Law or Trump (1:00)

Healthy futures, anyone?

Focus on coral. 

© The Conversation 

“Cities of the sea” is how Dr. Sylvia Earle of Mission Blue describes coral: bustling neighborhoods of settled residents, familiar faces, multiple generations….
Smithsonian’s Ocean organization uses the same metaphor and educates...

Corals are related to sea anemones, and they all share the same simple structure, the polyp. The polyp is like a tin can open at just one end: the open end has a mouth surrounded by a ring of tentacles. The tentacles have stinging cells, called nematocysts, that allow the coral polyp to capture small organisms that swim too close. Inside the body of the polyp are digestive and reproductive tissues. Corals differ from sea anemones in their production of a mineral skeleton.
Corals do not have to only rely on themselves for their defenses because mutualisms (beneficial relationships) abound on coral reefs. The partnership between corals and their zooxanthellae is one of many examples of symbiosis, where different species live together and help each other. Some coral colonies have crabs and shrimps that live within their branches and defend their home against coral predators with their pincers. Parrotfish, in their quest to find seaweed, will often bite off chunks of coral and will later poop out the digested remains as sand. One kind of goby chews up a particularly nasty seaweed, and even benefits by becoming more poisonous itself.

Coral reefs support over 25% of marine life by providing food, shelter and a place for fish and other organisms to reproduce and raise young. Today, ocean warming driven by climate change is stressing reefs worldwide.
Rising ocean temperatures cause bleaching events – episodes in which corals expel the algae that live inside them and provide the corals with most of their food, as well as their vibrant colors. When corals lose their algae, they become less resistant to stressors such as disease and eventually may die.
Hundreds of organizations worldwide are working to restore damaged coral reefs by growing thousands of small coral fragments in nurseries, which may be onshore in laboratories or in the ocean near degraded reefs. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Stymied by monkeys’ wanton destruction of germinating pea and bean seedlings in the veggie garden, I heeded friends’ advice to disguise veggies by distributing them among garden plants.
Yesterday, I began preparing veggie beds – and incorporated abundant pond weed.
Perks of pond weed. Despite the winter hibernation, pond weed continues to grow, albeit slowly.
Over summer and fall/autumn, I’d composted abundant pond weed. It doesn’t break down quickly, but it helps retain moisture in the soil.
I reached into the pond and harvested piles of winter pond weed and padded the bottom layer of the new veggie patches.
Next week – after the predicted cold snap – I will transplant pea, bean, beet, and zucchini seedings.
I never occurred to me, a month ago, when I began germinating seeds in the recycled deep freeze I use as a cold frame/greenhouse, that monkeys would imperil seedlings. Older and wiser now, I wish I’d had the foresight to plant many more seeds.
It takes only one monkey only one second to destroy weeks of seedling care.

Rising tides

Twenty million-plus confirmed Covid-19 infections around the world. And it took fewer than six months to arrive at this point.
Rising tides: surging seas, surging coronavirus, surging fear.

News blues…

Europeans view with astonishment and alarm the United States' failure to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Perhaps nowhere outside the US is America's bungled virus response viewed with more consternation than in Italy, which was ground zero of Europe's epidemic.
But after a strict nationwide 10-week lockdown, vigilant tracing of new clusters and general acceptance of mask mandates and social distancing, Italy has become a model of virus containment.
"Don't they care about their health?" a mask-clad Patrizia Antonini asked about people in the United States as she walked with friends along the banks of Lake Bracciano, north of Rome. "They need to take our precautions ... they need a real lockdown."
Much of the incredulity in Europe stems from the fact that America had the benefit of time, European experience and medical know-how to treat the virus that the continent itself didn't have when the first Covid patients started filling intensive care units.

Moreover, a major new survey  of EU citizens found that

… almost 60 percent said their view of the US had worsened since the start of the pandemic. By contrast, just 6 percent of respondents said their view of the US had improved.
European perceptions of the United States slumped in European countries that were previously regarded as being Washington's closest allies, thanks to Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. 
The crisis [has] inflicted dramatic and lasting damage on the reputations of Europe’s two biggest economic partners: the United States and China. Each superpower has seen its reputation collapse in some of the countries that were its closest allies and partners.

***

Predictably, a report finds widespread infection among U.S. children. 

As schools face the daunting challenge of reopening while the coronavirus continues to spread, at least 97,000 children around the United States tested positive in the last two weeks of July, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association. It says that at least 338,000 children had tested positive through July 30, meaning more than a quarter tested positive in just those two weeks.

***

How can it be that anybody still supports Donald Trump?

According to CNN Trump’s “position is no longer deteriorating. A look at the polls shows that even as coronavirus cases and deaths rise, Trump remains within striking distancing of Biden.” What’s more, Trump recently “signed four executive actions that included deferring payroll taxes that provide funding for both Social Security and Medicare.”
This, as a pandemic rages and more than 5 million Americans are confirmed infected with Covid-19.
As “the American people desperately need relief,” noted Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.). “…the president decided to defund Social Security and Medicare.”

***

In South Africa, the vuluzelas fell silent.

Healthy futures, anyone?

Focus on Kiribati (pronounced Kiribas). Kiribati, population 119,449, consists of 33 atolls and coral islands (22 inhabited) divided among three groups: Gilbert, Phoenix, and Line Islands.
Economic activity once centered on mining rock phosphate, but deposits are exhausted. 

Click to enlarge. 

The small and beautiful island… in the Kiribati group was mined for rock phosphate from about 1906. 
Top photo: the island shortly before mining began.
Bottom photo:  taken soon after, shows vegetation and soil removed to extract the phosphate rock. 
(c) Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa.

While a $500 million fund created with mining revenues continues to provide significant budget support, Kiribati now relies on foreign assistance, emigrants' remittances, fishing, coconut exports, and tourism. Kiribati is most famous for its world class fly fishing, great scuba diving, and astounding seabird wildlife. 
Kiribati’s newly re-elected president, Taneti Maamau, plans to raise the islands to counter sea-level rise. He will seek support from China and other allies to elevate the islands from the sea, partly through dredging. 
… “The strategy is still in development but clearly identifies raising our islands as a way forward in our fight against climate change. This is also clearly demonstrated in our national climate change policy.”
… To solve chronic flooding in the overcrowded capital, Tarawa, [proposes] to replace causeways – landfill between islands that supports the main road but which can cause beach erosion – with an elevated bridge road running the entire length of the atoll on the sheltered lagoon side. It is the sort of massive infrastructure project China might fund, and has the expertise to engineer. 

Hmmmm. Besides raising the temperature of ongoing geo-political disputes between China and the US regarding offshore resources, one wonders about the practicalities of Kiribati’s plan.
Can “dredging” produce enough material to raise these atolls (“ring-shaped reefs, islands, or chain of islands formed of coral”)?
And at what harm to long-suffering and imperiled coral?

Will China supplement and transport building material to Kiribati – a journey of between 10,600 to 11,000 km? Isn’t that prohibitively expensive under current economic conditions? 

One painful and politically incorrect solution might be to relocate Kiribati’s islanders to more secure areas. (For thinking people, sea level rise is a fact of life; humans must and will adjust . I’m sympathetic: my condo on San Francisco Bay is threatened by sea level rise.) 

On the other hand, Pacific islands and islanders have been used and abused for decades. Perhaps it’s payback time?

Backstory: More than 60 years ago, the United States tested radioactive weapons on Bikini and Enewetak atolls (of the Marshall Islands).
Today, these atolls remain far more radioactive than Chernobyl and Fukushima.

Sarcasm follows: Instead of the enormous expense of China hauling material to Kiribati, the US could recycle and donate material from Runit Island’s Runit Dome? 

The dome, aka “The Tomb,” the Cactus Dome, was built to contain toxic nuclear waste after the US conducted nuclear tests in 1958.
With the Marshall Islands only 2,373 kms from Kiribati, wouldn’t it be cheaper to recycle and transport the dome’s 46 cm (18 in) thick, 115 m (377 ft) diameter concrete dome and the material it encapsulates - an estimated 73,000 m3 (95,000 cu yd) of radioactive debris, including plutonium-239?
(It’s a matter of time before sea level rise drowns then breeches Runit Dome and releases deadly toxic material into the Pacific Ocean.)
Economically distressed Kiribati could use free materials to elevate the islands and cover it with another concrete dome or two. 

Voilà! Both countries benefit by promoting the reduce, reuse, recycle philosophy.
Additionally, the US could mount a concerted propaganda campaign to highlight its gifts to Kiribati, thereby enhancing its tarnished global reputation and cleansing its appalling history at Bikini and Enewetak.
Kiribati would become a model of modern ingenuity in the face of climate change. (The atolls couldn’t look worse than they did after the removal of soil and vegetation to extract rock phosphate back in 1906.)
The tourist industries of both countries would thrive!
A win/win!

Finally, people would “get so sick and tired of winning!” 

*** 

The Lincoln Project: Regret  (0:55 mins)
Really American: Biblical Idiot  (0:37 mins)
Meidas Touch: Vote Proud: Enough is Enough  (1:20 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I’ve gone from mowing lawns, weeding, maintaining the garden pond, composting, hosting various obsessions , spying on garden creatures , videoing garden creatures , essentially, doing anything to ward off the doldrums.
Yet, behold, the doldrums.
I’m becalmed. Stagnating. Listless.
For now, I’ll choose to blame Lockdown. Winter. A visit geared to check on my elderly mother’s well-being extending… and extending…with no end in sight.
But…
What if I’m falling apart?
What if the whole world is falling apart?
What if this is the end of the world as we know it? (Sabine Hossenfelder – coronavirus version - 3:35 mins)

Women on Women’s Day

Our world is on the cusp on 20 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 infection.
The US is responsible for more than 25 percent of those cases (5.5 million confirmed). That’s more infections in the US than New Zealand has people (population: 4,886 million). Moreover, New Zealand has virtually eliminated Covid-19 with zero active cases. 
Iceland, too, has zero active cases. Iceland’s population is 364,000 so the US has “lost” the equivalent of half of Iceland’s population to Covid-19.
Reminder: New Zealand and Iceland have women as heads of government. Just sayin’….

According to new research, a record number of people are giving up their US citizenship.

Hmmm, perhaps these Americans have moved to New Zealand or Iceland.

News blues…

National Women's Day is celebrated annually in South Africa on 9 August. If that day falls on a Sunday – as it does this year – Monday is the public holiday. (Naturally, not all women will have a holiday – certainly not a paid holiday.)
According to Wikipedia, Women's Day

...commemorates the 1956 march of approximately 20,000 South African women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to petition against the country's pass laws that required South Africans defined as "black" under The Population Registration Act to carry an internal passport, the “pass.” The pass allowed the maintenance of population segregation, controlled urbanisation, and managed migrant labour during apartheid.
The first National Women's Day was celebrated on 9 August 1995. In 2006, a reenactment of the march was staged for its 50th anniversary, with many of the 1956 march veterans.

International Women’s Day is celebrated around the world on 8 March. Not to knock it, but I recall IWD as a burden when I was a young mother in the US. It meant I – and other working mothers – had to find and pay for babysitters to care for our children so we could work to earn money to support our children. 

Ironic that a day meant to recognize women was not geared in practice to recognize mothers. That is, heavy on intention, light on practicalities.

***

President Ramaphosa delivered the keynote address for national Women’s Day  under the global campaign themed “Generation Equality: Realizing women’s rights for an equal future.” (Ramaphosa’s segment begins at 53:27 mins. My opinion of his address? Heavy on intention, light on practicalities.)

***

Daily Maverick webinar, “The Inside Track: A Critical Conversation with Advocate Shamila Batohi.” 

Daily Maverick Associate Editor Ferial Haffajee in conversation with National Prosecuting Authority Advocate Shamila Batohi, the National Director of Public Prosecutions, on gender-based violence and the war on women. Batohi also talks about her experience as a woman leader within the National Prosecuting Authority.

An eye-opening fact- and statistic-based conversation about South Africa’s criminal justice system and how it affects violence against the country’s women and children.
Takeaways:

• Gender-based violence (GBV) is, essentially, a war on this country’s women.
• 82,726 cases of gender-based violence from 2017 through 2018
• Rape has increased by 1.4 percent. (Only 1 in 9 rapes is actually reported.)
• What is going on in our country when the levels of violence against women and children is so high?
• 70 to 80 percent conviction rate – but based on number of cases that come to court, not the number of reported cases (only 10 percent are reported). It is the detection rate that is under-reported.
• Everybody in the justice system needs training in the holistic system’s view rather than one or two segments of the whole.
• Huge challenges, including how to deal with forensic evidence What values are we teaching out children and young people when they can violate respect for other human beings?
• National registers in the works for violations against women and children – but perhaps not enough being done at the level of preventation.
• Prevention and better detection required.
• Value system is off in this country; custom, patriarchy, and entitlement plays big roles in attitudes towards women, too.
• Alcohol plays a huge role; Ban on alcohol due to pandemic reduced gender-based and domestic violence.
• Admits there are “serious problems” within SAPS (corruption, lack of training, responses, and attitudes to women complainants, etc., “system fails many women.” (Personal view: Backstory on GBV in this house.)
• NPA looking to understand lens through which we view these issues and developing a policy about how to deal with them.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Monkeys become bolder by the day. They’ve moved from the garden’s perimeter fence into the garden and close to the house. The “watch” dogs are too comfy in their toasty beds to rouse themselves.
My experiment to discourage monkeys with rubber snakes failed. 
Now I’m researching how to discourage them via smell and taste. I’m weighing the … ethics … of this recipe:

To keep vervet monkeys away, mix 1/3 cup flower, 2 tablespoons red chili powder and two tablespoons powdered mustard and sprinkle around the garden. If you want to spray it, add 4 cups of water and some vinegar. Even just sprinkling vegetables with pepper will deter monkeys from eating them.

The ethics involved? Monkeys do what monkeys do… moreover, they do it well: feed themselves and their young. Punishing them with chili and mustard powder feels… unethical. Isn’t it illogical to feed wild birds (mostly doves) but not feed wild monkeys? (I’m not for feeding monkeys – that’s also discouraged by wildlife experts – just pointing out well-meaning but faulty logic.)
Another recipe:

Sprinkle Jeyes Fluid inside, on the outside or around refuse bins and bags. Refuse skips covered with shade cloth and treated with Jeyes Fluid will deter vervets. 5. Use nylon bird or hail netting over and around vegetable, strawberry and other produce gardens to keep them out.

I’ll skip the Jeyes Fluid - a strong disinfectant. (Back in the day, my grandfather dipped his cows with diluted Jeyes Fluid to kill ticks.)
Netting might work. But it takes only one persistent monkey breeching the netting to destroy weeks of gardening effort.

Continental divides

The recent battering of the World Health Organization’s reputation  does not nullify its important research – echoed by many other reputable organizations and individuals. Its warnings about urbanization is particularly apt:

Urbanization is process of global scale changing the social and environmental landscape on every continent. Urbanization is a result of population migration from rural areas in addition to natural urban demographic growth. In 2007, the world’s population living in towns and cities surpassed 50% for the first time in history and this proportion is growing. Rapid, unplanned and unsustainable patterns of urban development are making developing cities focal points for many emerging environment and health hazards. As urban populations grow, the quality of global and local ecosystems, and the urban environment, will play an increasingly important role in public health with respect to issues ranging from solid waste disposal, provision of safe water and sanitation, and injury prevention, to the interface between urban poverty, environment and health. 

We, the people, have been warned. 

Will we rouse ourselves enough to force a change in direction, from unfettered consumption to sustainability?

New blues…

This Ridley Olive turtle
screen saver graces my laptop.
Click to enlarge.

The good: More than 10,000 baby Olive Ridley turtles were released into the sea off the Indonesian island of Bali - part of conservationists’ attempts to boost the population of a vulnerable species and promote environmental protection.
The turtles, just a few inches long, scurried over the black sand and pebbles as the tide splashed over them. 

The bad: Under a new “self-reliant India” plan, India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, will boost the economy post-Covid-19 and reduce costly imports, [by opening] 40 new coalfields for commercial mining in some of India’s most ecologically sensitive forests. 

Among them are four huge blocks of 420,000 acres of forest in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, which sit above an estimated 5bn tonnes of coal…. [This pits] a rich and biodiverse Indian forest, indigenous people, ancient trees, elephants and sloths against the might of bulldozers, trucks and hydraulic jacks, fighting with a single purpose: the extraction of coal. 

The ugly: While more than 160,000 Americans are dead, unemployment has soared to levels not seen since the Great Depression...

federal payments to laid-off workers have expired with millions more facing possible eviction, and coronavirus cases continue to spike nationwide, Congress and the White House are mired in their ancient, all-consuming gridlock.
Two weeks of closed-door talks … failed to lead to a breakthrough on a new coronavirus relief package. [Democrats and Republicans] remained hundreds of billions of dollars apart on overall spending for the new package, and even more important, were separated by a huge ideological chasm over what role the government should play at this point in the calamity. 

***

The Lincoln Project’s Steve Schmidt on Trumps hot mic moment and strong words on Trumps Golf Club press briefing  (12:15 mins)
Meidas Touch: Vote out Racism  (1:47 mins)
Trump Rant: Axios Interview, “I want a Do Over with more charts and graphs and no Jonathan Swan!  (7:48 mins)
Don Winslow Films: Consequences For Trump  (2:19 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Granadilla, aka passion fruit, is a fruit native to southern Brazil through Paraguay and northern Argentina. It flourishes in lower altitude KwaZulu Natal; so far, I’ve had no luck growing it in the Midlands. Two weeks ago, I purchased a dozen purple fruit and waited for them to wrinkle and harden – evidence they’d ripened enough to eat. Then I made granadilla curd, a buttery, egg-yolk-rich, sweet/sour treat. 
It turned out well. I plan to bake granadilla bars – think lemon bars with seeds – although it’s a tossup if there’ll be enough curd left after the many spoonsful I snack on in the meantime.
Granadilla curd requires only the yolk of eggs. I beat the leftover egg whites and baked an impromptu veggie frittata: zucchini (“baby marrow”), onion, sweet pepper, garlic, parsley, olive oil, Swiss and Romano cheese.
Many ingredients I use in California are difficult to find in KZN: fish sauce - available sporadically. Mexican ingredients and spices (I’d kill for tortillas, a softshell taco, salsa verde, refried beans, a frozen margarita…).
On the other hand, Indian cuisine spans both countries – with the South African variety far cheaper. For example, a samosa in California costs from 5 to 7 US dollars - equivalent to 80 to 150 rand! Slightly less plump KZN samosas costs 18 to 20 rand each – that’s 1 to 1.20 dollars).
No melktert or koeksisters in California. No lacey cookies in KZN.

*** 

As a child I had a one-on-one relationship with Jacko, a pet vervet monkey. These days, my relationship with vervet monkeys is hands off and communal. The local troop comprises about three dozen monkeys I address collectively as “monkeys ... monksters … monkilizers….”
I continue to appreciate their antics when they negotiate the garden perimeter, raid the bird feeder, and balance precariously on overhead wires.
My relationship with this primate community, however, is becoming more nuanced and complex as they uproot – destroy – seedlings, most recently snap peas and pole beans.
Local gardeners familiar with monkey business advise not transplanting my veggies into the dedicated veggie garden I’ve created. Rather, they suggest transplanting seedlings among decorative garden plants.
I’m not adverse, but it means rethinking an approach I assumed already settled.
Accordingly, I scanned the winter-dry garden for segments of garden capable of disguising veggies from monkeys.
A dry palm stump offered potential for climbing peas and beans. I donned my sunhat and gardening gloves and began removing the dry vegetation around the base of the stump.
Within a minute, dozens of small black ants swarmed over and bit into my hands and arms.
This encounter with South African ants was less vicious than a past encounter with Texas fire ants.
Outside the Crawford, Texas property of then-president George Bush, as we protested his administration’s war policies in Afghanistan and Iraq, I’d unwittingly pitched my tent on a colony of fire ants.
Those ants can bite – and their bites burn for days!
That day lives on in infamy!

Dear Diary

Dear Diary: This Is My Life in Quarantine / under Lockdown
Sensing that they’re living through a historic moment, many people are journaling [and blogging] to create a keepsake of life during the pandemic. The time we’re living through will one day become history. This is always true, of course, but the coronavirus pandemic has, perhaps more than any other event in living memory, made people hyperaware that their present will be remembered in the future. And this new, strange sensation has compelled many to capture the moment for posterity. 

Thank you for being on board here. If the mood strikes, comment below and I'll share your thoughts and experiences….

New blues…

“Sh**hole country,” anyone?
Irony of ironies: America shut its southern border to South Americans while Canadians shut their southern border to Americans.
I’ll dare to say it: “What goes around, comes around.” Or, rats clinging aboard ship….

Since March, the U.S.-Canada border has been closed to all but essential traffic in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus. But Americans being Americans, they are flouting the new regulations in the pursuit of their usual summer fun.
“Canadian border patrol has effectively prevented caravans of Americans” from crossing the border. Most are arriving by sailboats and luxury yachts.
Those crossing the border have often told officials that they are heading to Alaska to circumvent the new regulations. …
One reason Americans are being spotted is that Canadian boaters are using technology to monitor them. With the requirement that all passenger boats have to be equipped with tracking devices to help prevent weather-related accidents, anyone with an internet connection can monitor border-crossings and identify vessels by type and country of origin. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

During a recent visit to Karkloof Conservancy,  I spotted wattled cranes flying over the hide (aka “blind”), but they settled in a field out of reach of my camera lens.
Karkloof Conservancy hides were built by local farmers, foresters and landowners to provide visitor safe access to the region’s biodiversity. Posters decorating the hides’ interior whet the appetite of novice crane-seekers. 

View posters: 

Poster wattled crane
Click to read.

Poster blue crane
Click to read.

Poster grey crowned crane
Click to read.

I will return to the Conservancy in anticipation of a close encounter with a crane, any crane. 

After all, recent visitors shot gorgeous video of wattled cranes at the Conservancy (0:33 mins). If they saw wattled cranes, so can I. Hope spring eternal.
Wattled cranes bring to mind the thousands of sandhill cranes that migrate to California’s Sacramento Delta each winter.  I hear them from my houseboat and a 10-minute walk reveals vast flocks grazing and nesting.
Not a hardcore “birder,” my motto is, shoot first, ask questions later. I’m frequently unsure of what birds I’ve captured on camera. Can you identify those at the bottom of the page, Spying on garden creatures?

Exemplars of absurdism

“I recently thumbed through “The Plague,” to see if Albert Camus had intuited anything about the rhythms of human suffering in conditions of fear, disease and constraint. Naturally, he had. It was on April 16 that Dr. Rieux first felt the squish of a dead rat beneath his feet on his landing; it was in mid-August that the plague “had swallowed up everything and everyone,” with the prevailing emotion being “the sense of exile and of deprivation, with all the crosscurrents of revolt and fear set up by these.” Those returning from quarantine started setting fire to their homes, convinced the plague had settled into their walls."

We’ve hit a pandemic wall: New records show that Americans are suffering from record levels of mental distress. 

Healthy futures anyone?

I recently “had my say” on South Africa’s Nuclear Regulation Act. Take a look and, if South African, have your say. 
South Africa taking on another nuke power station is, well, an exemplar of absurdism. Why purchase – with the country’s demonstrably corrupt tender system and little technical knowhow – a power system that provides mountains of toxic waste?
No nuclear waste has ever been successfully (sustainably) managed anywhere in the world.
Why nuke power in an era when the world must go in a sustainable direction?

African prosperity will not come by it being shackled to the outdated dirty energy infrastructure of the past. Rather than trudging behind in the 50-year-old footsteps of European countries, Africa needs to leapfrog to the clean, cheap and renewable technologies of the future. This is how Africa will catch up with its global neighbours. Africa is blessed with more sun, wind and geothermal energy than anywhere else on the planet, but that fact does not help the GWPF or the coal industry.
Not only are wind and solar increasingly becoming the cheapest forms of new electricity across the globe, but they are also inherently more agile and versatile than grid-reliant fossil fuels. Pastoralists in remote parts of Africa in need of electricity will not be served waiting for hulking great power grids to be built, cutting a swathe across Africa’s precious natural landscape. They would be better off with solar mini-grids and wind turbines supplying energy exactly where it is needed most.  

***

Mauritius environment minister Kavy Ramano and fishing minister Sudheer Maudhoo concur, “We are in an environmental crisis situation… This is the first time that we are faced with a catastrophe of this kind and we are insufficiently equipped to handle this problem.” 

The problem? A breach in the vessel MV Wakashio, carrying 200 tonnes of diesel and 3,800 tonnes of bunker fuel.

The ministers said all attempts to stabilise the ship had failed because of rough seas and efforts to pump out the oil had also failed. Ecologists fear the ship could break up, which would cause an even greater leak and inflict potentially catastrophic damage on the island’s coastline. The country depends on its seas for food and for tourism, boasting some of the finest coral reefs in the world.

It’s not rocket science: We the Critters of this planet all depend on our oceans. (Way back in May 2010, Greg Moses wrote “Oil Wars come home to roost."  It’s more relevant than ever. )
What can you do? Start small with an easy-to-accomplish step:
Call on world leaders to protect Antarctica and deliver the largest act of ocean protection in history. Only one Antarctica 

*** 

A line from the movie, “Cry, the Beloved Country, about apartheid South Africa: “In South Africa, the law and justice are distant relatives – and they haven’t been on speaking terms for decades.” 

Update that for this moment and substitute the law and justice with Trump and responsible leadership. Trump is a dangerous clown but he is merely the current instrument with which American right-wing politicians hammer home their philosophy expressed by Grover Norquist: “I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”
And right-wing Republicans accuse “The Left” of anarchism? 

It's a complex history with a simple plot line: subjegate The People by impoverishing them, taking away possibilites of health care, decent and affordable education, minimum wage....
How the pandemic defeated America. 

This is not a blanket condemnation of all Republicans. The Lincoln Project, for example, is made up of Republicans of a different feather (at least during this season of Trump disasters).
Republican Vets Against Trump  (1:00 mins)
Meidas Touch:
Leave Me A Loan: Trump's PPP Scandal Exposed (1:16 mins)
Trump Hoaxed America  (1:00 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Overnight temperatures dropped to 2C/ 36F – that means below zero in our valley wetlands. And that means, ice in my watering can this morning. In anticipation of freezing temperatures, last night I wrapped vulnerable plants.
I watch the days getting longer by mere seconds, longing for the return of spring and summer. This time last month, the sun rose at 6:53am and set at 5:12am; today, it rose at 6:37am and will set at 5:29. Getting there, slowly but surely.

***

The latest threat to healthy seedlings and flourishing vegetable gardens?
Monkeys.
I discovered the hard way – solid evidence – that monkeys, curious rather than malicious, pluck seedlings out the ground and toss ‘em. 

I’d be less chagrined if monkeys ate seedlings – it’s winter and they’re hungry.
But, wanton destruction?
Exemplars of absurdism.

Reaching out

Click to enlarge 

Reaching out during times of stress can be lifesaving. 

The conundrum: doing it in a way that preserves health, safety, and well-being.
It’s a mess out there. Do your part.
Pandemic toll: this week’s numbers compared with last week’s:

• August 6 – 18,753,000 worldwide confirmed infections; 706,800 deaths
• July 30 – 17,096,000 worldwide: confirmed infections; 668,590 deaths
• August 6 – US 4,824,000 confirmed infections; 158,250 deaths
• July 30 - US: 4,451,000 confirmed infections; 151,270 deaths
• August 6 – SA 529,900 confirmed infections; 9,298 deaths
• July 30 - SA: 471,125 confirmed infections; 7,498 deaths

KZN rising...
Click to enlarge.

US CDC’s interactive map of Covid devastation across that nation. 
Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Monday, “The number of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. needs to get below 10,000 a day by the fall in order to maintain some control over the pandemic.” Over the past week, there has been an average of over 60,194 cases per day

News blues…

Repetition helps drive home reality:

The human destruction of natural ecosystems increases the numbers of rats, bats and other animals that harbour diseases that can lead to pandemics such as Covid-19, a comprehensive analysis has found. The research assessed nearly 7,000 animal communities on six continents and found that the conversion of wild places into farmland or settlements often wipes out larger species. It found that the damage benefits smaller, more adaptable creatures that also carry the most pathogens that can pass to humans. In June, experts said the Covid-19 pandemic was an “SOS signal for the human enterprise”, while in April the world’s leading biodiversity experts said even more deadly disease outbreaks were likely unless nature was protected.
…David Redding, of the ZSL Institute of Zoology in London, who was one of the research team (results published in the journal Nature), said the costs of disease were not being taken into account when deciding to convert natural ecosystems: “You’ve then got to spend a lot more money on hospitals and treatments.” A recent report estimated that just 2 percent of the costs of the Covid-19 crisis would be needed to help prevent future pandemics for a decade. 

***

Give sustainable peace a chance … and critters may make a comeback

New Guinea has greatest plant diversity of any island in the world, a study reveals.   New Guinea is home to more than 13,500 species of plant, two-thirds of which are endemic, according to a new study that suggests it has the greatest plant diversity of any island in the world – 19% more than Madagascar, which previously held the record.
Ninety-nine botanists from 56 institutions in 19 countries trawled through samples, the earliest of which were collected by European travelers in the 1700s. Large swathes of the island remain unexplored and some historical collections have yet to be looked at. Researchers estimate that 4,000 more plant species could be found in the next 50 years, with discoveries showing “no sign of levelling off”, according to the paper published in Nature. New Guinea is home to more than 13,500 species of plant, two-thirds of which are endemic, according to a new study that suggests it has the greatest plant diversity of any island in the world – 19% more than Madagascar, which previously held the record.
Ninety-nine botanists from 56 institutions in 19 countries trawled through samples, the earliest of which were collected by European travellers in the 1700s. Large swathes of the island remain unexplored and some historical collections have yet to be looked at. Researchers estimate that 4,000 more plant species could be found in the next 50 years, with discoveries showing “no sign of levelling off”, according to the paper published in Nature. 

***

Poop-spotting: Poop reveals presence of new penguin colonies in Antarctica

Satellite images have revealed 11 previously unknown emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica, boosting the number of known colonies of the imperiled birds by 20 percent. The discoveries were made by spotting the distinctive red-brown guano patches the birds leave on the ice. The finds were made possible by higher-resolution images from a new satellite, as previous scans were unable to pick up smaller colonies.

***

For your viewing pleasure:
Hummingbird pool party  (0:47 mins)
The Lincoln Project’s Secretary Of Failure (0:56 mins)
Meidas Touch: Trump Donors: Don't Be Don's Next Con  (1:00 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I spent my childhood in a section of rural South Africa 55kms/35 miles from my current location. Due to short-term visits to KZN, and now the pandemic, I’m both isolated and constrained in finding a local network of friends and supporters. In short, I’m isolated in my mother’s household and in the town where she chose to purchase a dwelling large enough to house her 12 dogs.
We barely have a social community. Those in our circle are predominantly people I’ve contacted as health care providers. Thankfully, I’ve developed a couple of friendships with generous spirits who have offered a lifeline: valuable advice and emotional support.
Yesterday, after court, the effects of this isolation became clear.
My security team suggested following my vehicle home – “just to show I have security and that it’s not easy to mess with me.” I was reluctant – they’ve provided support beyond the call of duty and I hated to take more of their valuable time. Nevertheless, I agreed to drive in convoy: me in the middle.
Alas, I quickly lost the vehicle I was following. Instead, I followed a different, barely similar, vehicle driving in the opposite direction.
That’s what weeks of stress does to the human head.
After arriving at home – again in convoy – I realized it is time to reach out for professional support. I contacted a well-regarded local psychologist. Today, I plan on visiting her, clarifying my thinking, talking through current circumstances, and seeking advice on solutions to dilemmas.
Before visiting her, though, I plan to visit Karkloof Conservancy for another form of clarity: a glimpse of migrating wattled cranes. 

 Video clip of cranes at the conservancy.  (0:33 mins) 

 South Africa’s wattled cranes remind me of life in California’s Sacramento River Delta. Thousands of sandhill cranes migrate to the delta each winter. Many flocks are easily heard and seen a short walk away from my houseboat. 

Nature soothes. If given the chance, nature heals, too.