Dumb and dumber

News blues

It’s bleak out there

COVID-19 hospitalizations for people in their 30s have reached a record high in the U.S. in the latest evidence that the dangerous delta variant of the disease poses formidable risks for younger age groups.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a total of 170,852 hospital admissions of those age 30 to 39 from the beginning of August 2020 to last Wednesday. The number of daily admissions, based on a seven-day average, jumped from 908 the week beginning July 29 to 1,113 the week starting Aug. 5. That’s a 22.6% bounce — and still climbing

Read more >> 

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South  Africa records 10,139 new cases and 272 deaths with 10,139 new Covid-19 cases and 272 deaths recorded on Sunday.
This brings the cumulative number of cases in the country to 2,605,586 and the total number of deaths to 77,141.
The number of vaccinations administered is 9,387,129.
KZN officially in its third Covid-19 wave, largely driven by riots

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Not directly related to Covid 19 and our global response to the pandemic, some inevitable news: Donald Trump is on the outs. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving person >>  (3:05 mins)

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Whackidoodle-itude reaches new heights as social media posts claim the coronavirus vaccines can be passed – or “shed” – from an immunized person to an unvaccinated woman and then somehow affect the woman’s reproductive system are whipping around social media.
This is false!

Top medical experts agree that it is impossible for a person to transmit the vaccines to people they happen to be near and for a woman to experience miscarriage, menstrual cycle changes, and other reproductive problems by being around a vaccinated person.
“This is a conspiracy that has been created to weaken trust in a series of vaccines that have been demonstrated in clinical trials to be safe and effective,” said Dr Christopher Zahn, Vice President for Practice Activities at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the leading U.S. organization for medical professionals in women’s healthcare.
Calling the vaccines “our single best tool for confronting a global pandemic that has taken 600,000 lives in this country alone,” Zahn added in a statement emailed to Reuters that “such conspiracies and false narratives are dangerous and have nothing to do with science.”

Read more >> 

…yet more nuttiness

…some straight talk from one ‘Merican to other ‘Mericans  (2:20 mins)
...and another attempt to educate and elucidate, this one from the Republican Accountability Project  (0:55 mins)

Read the current top 10 conspiracy theories >>  

Healthy planet, anyone?

Lilly Geisler goes to a lot of trouble to recycle. So, she left CNN a voicemail asking: How much of my recycling actually gets recycled? John Sutter travels to Muncie, Indiana, to find out.
Watch "Let's Talk About the Climate Apocalypse" series >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Second thoughts on spraying wasps… I did not, after all, spray the wasps that live in my houseboat ceiling. Instead, I was able to complete installing the trim without  further riling up the wasps and inviting more stings. I opted, instead, for the live and let live option. Go wasps!

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Last year’s motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, made the news as a giant Covid super-spreader event. Alas, that wasn’t enough of a lesson for that state’s governor or motorcyclists from around the country. They had to do it again. 
Worrying to learn that, this year, one of the co-owners of the marina in which I moor my houseboat attended this year’s event.
My new job begins tomorrow. Thank the gods it places me far from the marina for at least the next week. That’s not really enough time for Covid infections to replicate – the virus can incubate up to 2 weeks – but I’m still glad to be far from there.

Stung

News blues

According to researchers, including immunologist Nicole Doria-Rose and colleagues at the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,

Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine protects people for at least six months and likely longer – even against new variants. 

Protection against the Delta variant, now dominant across the US, barely waned, the National Institutes of Health-led team found. The team will continue to look for evidence of protection beyond six months. “High levels of binding antibodies recognizing all tested variants, including B.1.351 (Beta) and B.1.617.2 (Delta), were maintained in all subjects over this time period.”

Great for those who took the Moderna jab (including my son who works in a medical facility)… not so great for others, such as, well, for example, me. I guess I’ll be back in line again soon, baring my arm for another jab. 

Thanks the gods I have that option…. Thank you, scientists, immunologists, and, yes, Dr Fauci!

***

Ed Yong, staff writer at The Atlantic Monthly, has consistently turned out some of the best writing on the pandemic and coronavirus. His most recent piece, “How the Pandemic Ends Now,” is another excellent source of (non-politicized) information.
Read it >> 

Healthy planet, anyone?

First, a photographic reminder of the beauty of our planet >> 
Then, how We the People wreak havoc on that same planet – and how nature tries to respond:

Plastic bottles dominate waste in the ocean, with an estimated 1m of them reaching the sea every minute. The biggest culprit is polyethylene terephthalate (Pet) bottles.
A recent study found two bacteria capable of breaking down Pet – or, as the headlines put it, “eating plastic”. Known as Thioclava sp. BHET1 and Bacillus sp. BHET2, the bacteria were isolated in a laboratory – but they were discovered in the ocean.

Read “…the ‘plastisphere’: the synthetic ecosystem evolving at sea” >>

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

 I’d noticed the browning and shriveling of outer perimeters of the river’s vegetative islands of burgeoning hyacinth and other invasive plants. I suspected that some state department – Fish and wildlife? Regional water board? California State Parks Division of Boating and Waterways? All the above – were spraying herbicides again.
My suspicion proved correct when I captured this shot yesterday morning: herbicides being sprayed along the levee wall across from my houseboat.
While that’s not unusual, it boggles my mind that, knowing what “we” know about chemicals in our environment, “we” continue to choose this chemical way of addressing the problem.

Ironically, having expressed my distrust of environmental contaminants passed off to the public as “of no significance”, today I sprayed a pesticide advertised as “safe around people and pets” at residents of a wasp nest.
I’d repaired and repainted sections of wood trim and was nailing it back into place on the boat when several fierce wasps shot out from under the trim and stung my bare hands. Unlike bees, wasps live to sting again, and again, so I skedaddled – fast - and slammed shut the screen doors behind me.
Spiders, wasps, and similar bugs have staked out hunting and nesting territory on the houseboat. Not a problem. I’m not fearful of bugs. Indeed, I’ve built their presence into my life even as I enjoy my early morning ritual circumnavigating the boat with feather duster to remove the overnight crop of spider webs.
Through the closed window I watched several wasps aggressively patrol the area. They appeared to mean mean business.
I retrieved a can of “safe” insect spray that a friend had left on the boat and, carefully, aimed the spray nozzle in the direction of the hidden nest.
Naturally, the wasps became more agitated.
Since then, I've remained shut up in my hot and stuffy houseboat and given up my plan to finish the trim during daylight. Perhaps tonight, when the wasps are cozily tucked into their nest, I’ll sneak up and spray them. After all, as poet John Lyly wrote, “The rules of fair play do not apply in love and war.”

 
Continuing the topic of environmental contamination, after two years away in South Africa, yesterday evening I participated in an online board meeting as a member of a community overseeing the federally mandated clean up of toxic waste of former Naval Air Station Alameda. 

I’ve participated in this enterprise – the Restoration Advisory Board, RAB - since about 2003, taken great pleasure in doing so, and learned a massive amount about environmental contamination and the effort required to clean it up.
RABs are common around the nation. Many, many contaminated sites, from military bases to private and public businesses, have CERCLA (Superfund) site clean up overseen by community members.
Our community’s cleanup consists of a 2,806-acre area once a Navy installation located on the San Francisco Bay. Solid wastes generated at the site were disposed of in two on-base landfills as well as many sites with unanticipated chemical spills. All liquid industrial wastewaters generated at the site prior to 1974 were discharged untreated into a manmade lagoon and local inner harbor. 

Since this base closed in 1997, about $1 billion has been spent on clean up and rehabilitation. And this NAS is only one of at least four similar sites, all former military bases on San Francisco Bay.
It was good to be back on the board. Moreover, with mixed emotion, we bade farewell to one member who’d been part of the planning of the base closure since 1995. Bert’s about to celebrate his 100th year of life – 26 years of which were spent serving on the RAB - and he’s decided to cut back on his many community serving activities.
Thanks for your many faithful years, Bert!

Next phase

Worldwide (Map) 
August 12, 2021 – 204,965,350 confirmed infections; 4,328,770 deaths
July 15, 2021 – 1,888,565,400 confirmed infections; 4,061,275 deaths

US (Map)
August 12, 2021 – 36,198,200 confirmed infections; 618,520 deaths
July 15, 2021 – 33,952,000 confirmed infections; 608,120 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
August 12, 2021 – 2,554,300 confirmed infections; 75,775 deaths
July 15, 2021 – 2,236,800 confirmed infections; 65,595 deaths

Tracking coronavirus vaccinations around the world >>

News blues

Kids and Covid.

The timing of the latest COVID-19 surge [in the US] isn’t great for children. Millions have already started the school year, the rest will do so in the coming weeks, and COVID-19 vaccines aren’t yet available.
Vaccine availability will not bring this pediatric outbreak to a halt. But it will help curb the spread of the virus for everyone, and give many families a better sense of how to plan for the future. Particularly for the 50 million Americans who haven’t reached their 12th birthday.

Read “Why Is It Taking So Long to Get Vaccines for Kids?” 

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SA administered its nine-millionth Covid-19 vaccination on Wednesday, making a positive milestone in the country's battle to stem the coronavirus.
But while this was an important victory, the number of new Covid-19 related deaths recorded in the past 24 hours — 573, according to the health department and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases — is a reminder that the fight is far from over.

Read more >> 

***

The Lincoln Project Back to school  (0:30 mins)
MeidasTouch …Infrastructure…  (1:13 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Pacific north-west prepares for triple-digit temperatures just weeks after heat resulted in hundreds of deaths in region  ... and, in Sicily, the highest recorded temperature, 48.8C /119.8F . 

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Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I reside in two different Bay Area counties, Contra Costa and Alameda. CCC, the county in which my houseboat is moored – and I’ve resided in for the past 2.5 months since returning from South Africa – has, for California, a high rate of Covid infections. This, because residents in certain parts of the county (including many marina residents) indulge the Trumpie mindset and hold confused and confusing ideas about “freedom” (freedom to avoid vaccinations and get Covid but Covid doesn’t really exist anyway, it’s all a Democrat Plan to take away our Freedom, Fauci works for Wuhan labs, Gates implants microchips via vaccines, etc., etc.). In other words, residents of this county hold mixed bags of ideologies, some of which promise to lead to infections. For health – and sanity - I maintain social distance with marina residents, ensure there’s lots of fresh air between us, never enter anyone’s boat, and take basic precautions to avoid infection.
The other county, edging the Bay and directly across from San Francisco, is Covid conscious with far fewer anti-vaxxers.
I’m heading back to that county and, for the next several months, these are my last few days living fulltime on my boat. As of Sunday, I return to the inner bay island city in which I have a condo. This, as I begin another stint of short-term work - after two years out of the workplace. I’ll also be back in cooler weather tempered by fog and bay breezes.
I’ll be back to ye olde 8 to 5 worker-bee slog and a long commute with thousands of other one-per-vehicle commuters – choosing to drive to work instead of my usual option, public transportation. It’s about the math: 1.5 to 1.75 hours getting to work via public transportation – bus, train – as opposed to 40 minutes by personal vehicle.
This will be the first time in years that I elect personal over public transportation – egged on by an additional advantage: not fretting about whether the person sitting next to me on public transportation has been vaccinated or is quietly spreading virulent coronavirus. I’m not overly cautious, but recent news about the efficacy of available vaccines against the Delta variant is worrisome. 
I enjoy life. 

Why risk it?

Running out of time

News blues

Another formal recognition that those of us living on planet earth are running out of time to turn things around and avoid cataclysm.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – IPCC - a group of the world’s climate experts, formed in 1988 and charged with preparing comprehensive reports on the state of our knowledge of the climate, has stated – yet again – that only drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions starting yesterday, might prevent us from raising global temperatures to a disastrous extent.
Their sixth and latest assessment report, 

addresses the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change, bringing together the latest advances in climate science, and combining multiple lines of evidence from paleoclimate, observations, process understanding, and global and regional climate simulations.

The dwindling number of people still lucky enough to live in environments that have not yet experienced extreme weather – and unlucky enough not to have to pay attention – might miss the what’s happening around the planet. The rest of us understand what’s going on but have no idea how to address it. Looking to neighbors is comforting (hopefully your neighbors will have your back when you need help). Looking to leaders and politicians is useless.
Coronavirus is simply one more, albeit devastating, symptom of the disrespect with which too many of the world’s people treat our planet.
Yet, few elected and unelected officials and politicians have a handle on the coronavirus pandemic. Some are worse than others – through choice. Florida Governor DeSantis is among the worst. As he rakes in money for being a stubborn idiot  Florida’s death toll increases by the day and DeSantis continues to scorn science and scientists in general and Dr Fauci in particular. 
Then there’s US Senator Manchin, supporter and supportee of fossil fuels industries, saying, against all evidence, “Eliminating fossil fuels won’t help fight global heating… If anything, it would be worse.” 
What to say?
What to do>?

***

The Lincoln Project co-founder – and former Republican operative - Rick Wilson accuses GOP leaders of destroying America to entertain Fox News viewers, “This is how the world ends….”
Last Week in the Republican Party (latest),  (1:40 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

A look at the work of a favorite artist, Jason deCaires Taylor. recent in Cyprus.
Other sculptures around the world by this artist…. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Suffocatingly hot again.
I finished up painting the exterior and roof of the houseboat and erected the 10 x 10-foot pop up canopy. Alas, after pushing up a foam mattress and cushion, binoculars, water, and reading matter, I spent only an hour under the canopy shade before heat drove me back inside. But the canopy is up. When the heat dies down – after 8pm or so – I’ll head back up under the canopy and enjoy the expanded view.
I worked hard on these projects, carried them out alone, and now can enjoy the fruits of my labor. If only the extreme heat and weather would play ball…

Doom sun

 

Sun through smoke air
7:30 pm August 6, 2021

News blues

It’s day 501 of lockdown in South Africa where the Covid news ain’t good.

The Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal both accounted for more new Covid-19 cases than Gauteng in the past 24 hours, a clear indication of the current coronavirus trajectory across SA.
While cases are on the decline in Gauteng, the two coastal provinces were showing a worrying upward trend.
There were 13,652 new cases in the past 24 hours, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Friday. Of these, 4,128 were in the Western Cape, 2,673 in KwaZulu-Natal and 2,534 in Gauteng.

Read more >> 

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As the US falters on Covid and it’s vaccination program, six European Union states - Malta, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Ireland - have all overtaken the UK in terms of the percentages of their populations who are fully vaccinated.

While Britain’s hugely successful campaign was bound to slow first as it ran into harder-to-reach, more vaccine-hesitant groups, the rate of decline is dramatic: the UK is currently administering a fraction of the daily doses of some EU states. 

Coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 200 million on Wednesday as the more-infectious Delta variant threatens areas with low vaccination rates and strains healthcare systems. 
And, Dr. Anthony Fauci, top U.S. infectious disease physician and the scientist hated by a segment of the American population for doing, you know, his scientific work, says Americans should expect 'a flood' of COVID-19 vaccine mandates after full FDA approval. According to USA TODAY, Dr Fauci doesn't see future lockdowns but expects vaccine mandates to be common.
Time will tell. Who’d a thunk ‘Mericans would have been as whacky as many have been around health and safety, conflating it with some voodoo idea of “freedom” . Go figure.

***

Healthy planet, anyone?

In California, at least eight people were missing on Saturday as the Dixie fire, what has become the largest single wildfire in California’s recorded history, continued to scorch through northern communities, forest and tinder-dry scrub in the Sierra Nevada mountains. 
In Greece news of the extreme heat have given way to news of suburban forest on the Greek capital’s northern fringes had gone up in flames.

Infernos seemingly redolent of Dante’s hell had incinerated everything in their path; friends had lost homes; thousands had been evacuated with residents and tourists fleeing blighted zones by any means possible. Terraces, an Athenian’s respite against the blazing heat, had been transformed into ash-laden no-go zones. 

In western Canada, a second community has been destroyed by wildfire as authorities in the region scramble to contain the destructive toll of climate change.
The popular summer holiday destination, of Monte Lake, with a seasonal population of nearly 3,000, likely suffered extensive damage when the White Rock Lake wildfire jumped a highway. Conditions remain too dangerous for a full damage assessment. Residents had been ordered to evacuate and no fatalities were reported. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Up here in the Delta, fire-related smoke and haze is the order of the day. The AQI (Air Quality Index) is better than yesterday – in the upper 90s to low 100s today.
I snapped the above photos of the sun at about 7:30pm last night. The photo doesn’t do it justice: the orb was bright luminous orange. It looked scary. Might it be the dreaded "Doom Sun"?

Throughout the summer, you might have looked to the skies and noticed that the Sun looked distinctly scarier than usual. Maybe it’s taken on dark shades of crimson and burnt orange not-too-unlike that of hellfire and scorched brimstone. It’s also typically accompanied by smoke and bad air. This is the dreaded “Doom Sun.” 

***

Trips to the California coast often result in me leaving behind traces of my visit. 

I leave no plastic or other human tainted debris. Instead, I cast around on the beach and construct in situ art, usually of the totem variety. Traces of my most recent visit may still remain on the beach….

Smokin'

News blues

The surge in pediatric infections worries doctors as Delta makes a growing number of kids very sick. On the cusp of flu season, doctors say Covid's potential impact on kids is "beyond what flu would ever do." 
The Best Way to Keep Your Kids Safe from Delta? Get the adults in your community vaccinated. 

***

Couple of weeks ago, I wrote of the Lambda variant. Sorry to say, it is heeeere…. First cases of COVID Lambda variant reported in north Louisiana 
Buckle up.
More importantly, get vaccinated….

***

The Lincoln Project, Last Week on the Republican Party (part 2) (1:28 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

So much bad news. It’s time for some unexpected news – about birds. Gotta love ‘em.

Hair from dogs, raccoons and even humans has been found in the nests of birds, which scientists believe makes the nests better insulated. For a long time, scientists assumed that birds had to collect hair that had been shed or scavenge it from mammal carcasses. However, a new study, published last week in the journal Ecology, shows that several species of bird, including chickadees and titmice, don’t just scavenge hair, they steal it.

Read >>  “Sneaky Thieves Steal Hair from Foxes, Raccoons, Dogs, Even You It’s simple: Mammals have hair or fur. Birds want it.” 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I rose early to apply the first coat of roof paint to the houseboat. As I painted, I noticed the weather wasn’t conforming to the weather report. The day, instead of bright and sunny, appeared foggy or overcast. I continue to work until I’d applied the first coat then, bathed in sweat, I packed up the tools, cleaned the brushes, and made my way to the shower. After that, I consulted the online weather forecast. What I’d assumed was fog or low clouds was smoke from the fires burning around California. This time of the year, until now until mid to late October, the wind blows offshore. This means Californians will be subjected to smoke for the next several months.

Our quality of healthy life will nosedive. 

And the Air Quality Index (AQI) shows that. Earlier in the day, the AQI reached 187, then dropped to 157, then 107. (AQI increments by 50 so from 1 to 50 is classified “good”.) 

Interestingly, as I write this, it’s at 93 - “moderate” - although in this area the smoke haze is actually thicker than an hour previous and the air smells of smoke.

I was out of the country last year when Californians hunkered down under vast clouds of thick smoke so it’s a new experience, not pleasant but the sign of the times… 

That news deflates… 

and that's perfectly expressed by what was, two days ago, an astonishingly lovely blossom on my barrel cactus. Today? Deflated. 

Not sure if this is its regular lifecycle – I’ve never seen it blossom before.)

Nevertheless, I’ve applied the first coat of roof paint. Tomorrow I plan to do the second coat. Smoke permitting.
It’s hard work … both to paint and to breathe.

Hyacinth as virus

As fog rose off the water, I captured drifting water hyacinth.

Doesn't it look like illustrations of the coronavirus?

Worldwide (Map) 
August 5, 2021 – 200,670,800 confirmed infections; 4,264,000 deaths
Vaccinated worldwide: 4,303,804,250
June 3, 2021 – 171,746,400 confirmed infections; 3,693,300 deaths
Vaccinated worldwide: 2,002,900,000

US (Map) 
August 5, 2021 – 35,392,700 confirmed infections; 615,150 deaths
June 3, 2021 – 33,308,000 confirmed infections; 596,000 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
August 5, 2021 – 2,497,655 confirmed infections; 73,875 deaths
June 3, 2021 – 1,669,300 confirmed infections; 56,610 deaths

***

The Lincoln Project, Made  (0:55 mins)
Trump’s North Carolina Speech in 70 Seconds  (1:05 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Fires, drought, and Covid plague California and the Pacific Northwest.
Scary.
Fires: The Dixie Fire is still uncontained after burning for several weeks and taking down towns  .
Another, newer fire near Auburn in the Sierra foothills  brought evacuees to share friends’ home in Grass Valley.
Even small Bradford Island in the Delta – population estimated at 15 to 20 individuals - was alight. Three residents were assisted by the fire district to evacuate via ferry boat.

Bradford Island was flooded to put out a brush fire that started early Monday morning on what is a reclaimed peat wetland in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
The fire was reported at about 1:30 a.m. on the 2,100-acre island, according to the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District and prompted evacuations. As of 5 a.m. the fire had burned 212 acres and two structures, but no injuries were reported.

Drought: As irrigated crops compete with fish for scarce water, farmers in the Klamath Basin lose hope as drought closes in. ‘It’s like a sad country song’ and they lament they may be the last generation to work the land. >> 

Covid:

Worldwide, more than 200 million people have been infected with COVID-19, more than 4.2 million people have died from the virus, a staggering figure that includes more than 614,000 Americans, 558,000 Brazilians and at least 425,000 people in India.
…remember that those figures are only the known accounts of infections and deaths associated with COVID-19. Various studies have estimated that the true toll of the pandemic is much higher in some areas. In India, for example, experts suggest the official death toll could be one-half, one-fifth or even less than one-tenth of the actual figure, which may never be known.
It took about 12 months for the coronavirus to infect the first 100 million people worldwide; the next 100 million were infected in just a six-month time frame.
Read more >> 

And yet, in the US, particularly Florida, politicians continue an idiotic path. Florida’s governor chooses to squabble with the president instead of the virus… 
Louisiana’s Attorney General Jeff Landry advises how to invoke the Bible to object to face masks in schools and encourages employees to undermine COVID restrictions.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Based on a lower temperature forecast for today, I began, soon after sunrise, to patch the houseboat’s deck roof. I’d picked up materials while visiting the inner Bay and had my schedule neatly planned. Alas, 88F has the same effect on this human body as 98F: just too hot to tiptoe around with tools.
I’d swept dust from the deck last night and this morning I schlepped up a hosepipe to wash the deck then I patched assorted cracks and holes. While waiting for this material to dry, I prepped other sections and, alas, had to destroy a nest of wasps ensconced in canvas. By the time I was ready to paint, the heat had blossomed, and it was just too hot to continue.
I’ll wait until late afternoon after the heat dissipates to continue.
Best lain plans of mice and (wo)man, etc., etc.