“Do something!”

News blues - on war!

With Republicans supporting the morally corrupt National Rifle Association and shutting down Congress, Michigan Senator McMorrow, shut out from speaking at her state’s capital, takes to Twitter to challenge all of us >> (5:05 mins)
And, an interview with Senator McMorrow >>  (10:20 mins)

Lawrence O’Donnell news anchor >> 
List of school shooters in the US, their ages and their killing locations

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"How about we treat every young man who wants to buy a gun like every woman who wants to get an abortion - mandatory 48-hr waiting period, parental permission, a note from his doctor proving he understands what he's about to do, a video he has to watch about the effects of gun violence, and an ultrasound wand up the ass (just because). Let's close down all but one gun shop in every state and make him travel hundreds of miles, take time off work, and stay overnight in a strange town to get a gun. Make him walk through a gauntlet of people holding photos of loved ones who were shot to death, people who call him a murderer and beg him not to buy a gun.
(I do not know who wrote this, but vote this person into Congress! Hell, why stop there, put her on the Supreme Court!)

Broken hearted

Worldwide (Map) 

May 26, 2022 - 527,735,435 confirmed infections; 6,284,340 deaths
May 27, 2021 - 168,418,000 confirmed infections; 3,499,000 deaths

US (Map) 
May 26, 2022 - 83,817,220 confirmed infections; 1,004,110 deaths
May 27, 2021 - 33,190,300 confirmed infections; 592,000,000 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
May 26, 2022 - 3,941,050 confirmed infections; 101,045 deaths
May 27, 2021 – 1,645,600 confirmed infections; 56,100 deaths

Post from 28 May 2020: “Viruses respond to science, not politics” 

News blues

For nearly two years, as the Covid pandemic disrupted life around the globe, other infectious diseases were in retreat. Now the viral and bacterial nuisances are returning — and behaving in unexpected ways >> 

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The Lincoln Project: Beto fights back  (1:00 mins) (What Beto said >>)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Today, I’ve nothing to say. Too broken hearted. The shooting deaths of children by children – while politicians take money from the gun lobby – is just too much.

Jimmy Kimmel >>  (8:40 mins) (And the effort to shut down Jimmy >> )

We all know the old story from politicians by now: "thoughts and prayers" .

F**k 'em, I say. 

Heart, lungs, kidneys

News blues

Research reveals

Damage to the body’s organs including the lungs and kidneys is common in people who were admitted to hospital with Covid, with one in eight found to have heart inflammation,
Previous studies have revealed that fewer than a third of patients who have ongoing Covid symptoms after being hospitalised with the disease feel fully recovered a year later, while some experts have warned long Covid could result in a generation affected by disability.
Now researchers tracking the progress of patients who were treated in hospital for Covid say they have found evidence the disease can take a toll on a range of organs.

Read more >> 

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On war…

Dmytro Kozatsky, Azov Regiment fighter and photographer, documented the siege of Ukraine’s Azovstal metalworks. Before his capture he posted his pictures on social media, asking that they be shared as widely as possible. This is some of his work showing the realities of life during the battle >> 

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The Lincoln Project: Mean Girl  (0:57 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Consultant to Shell Oils says Shell "blatantly doesn’t care" about climate change >> 

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The entity named Dear South Africa  solicits comments from South Africans regarding assorted bills under consideration. I track Dear South Africa; I even comment on it at times. This time it is soliciting comments on a climate change bill to "respond to a long-term, just transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy and society for South Africa in the context of sustainable development,  and to provide for matters connected therewith." More information on the bill.

Here are a handful of comments from South Africans - copied exactly, no edits, not even corrections of spelling - from the public comment section :

 
Comment: What will happen to members working in coal's mine. SA must not allow foreign policy to dictate terms for us in the mean time their stock piling coal from SA. Wake up SA before is too late.
Climate change is a natural cycle in earth, don't let the western world pass on their carbon emissions use onto us thats their problem not ours we don't have a carbons emissions problem our industry and vehicle count per capita is way much lower than any other country in Europe Asia and America, don’t get dragged into this debate.

 
Comment: Climate change is a load of crap. It’s just another way for this thieving ANC government to get their hands on more hard earned cash from the people of SA.

Comment: This is a vast subject to try put in ashort paragraph. However let's start at home. Municipal dumps.: There are no longer orange bags delivered which results in no separation of plastics from homes. This results in tons of plastics not going for recycling. Municipal dumps could be running waste bio mass recycling plants. Producing by products such as Bio Diesel lpg gas , Bio Char from garden cuttings, and powering the energy grid with co2 emmission free power which is produced by the turbines that generate power from the lpg gas produced by the waste to fuel plant. So simple . Go look what Denmark is doing. Our Sewage plants are outdated, we could cut their footprint dramatically and get methane free LPG from them that also produces power for the power grid, thousands of free Mega Watts , organic fertilizer, and clean water. Once again we sovfar behind. Just these two points alone produces thousands of jobs , earn money for the government and produces low cost bio diesel from plastic and rubber by utilizing pyrolysis plants. Low cost co2 free lpg , with energy free power reducing our energy costs and cutting co2 emissions by 100%. We need to wake up and invest in what works . Not solar panel farms that are going to cause huge headaches to recycle lead acid or Lithium iron batteries when the have reached the end of their life cycle. We could be producing bio plastics that is fully degradable in days of dumping produced from sugar beet, we could be planting sugar beet and harvest crops four times a year through proper crop rotation and revitalising our polluted farms from harmful pesticides and chemical fertilizers. The information is all out there but no one wants to see it.

 
Comment: It is so sad, but any new proposition made by the government (whether good or bad) I am immediately sceptical about. I TOTALLY support us taking responsibility for climate change and we MUST address it - but HOW will it be implemented? Will all coal-sourced energy be closed? Where will these people get work? Will it be the small percentage of taxpayers who again have to foot the bill and the others can do whatever they want? RESPONSIBLE government with well-informed wise decision making with integrity is what we need. Please!

 
Comment: Taxing the people to change the climate is absurd...

Comment: I do not believe that it it has been well-thought through and can not support the current government to implement this important action : will the funds allocated be used correctly or will it be spent in a corrupt way . Most importantly how will the system be policed when out of line findings happen.

Comment: 
corruption !!!!!!!!! .
Corruption !!!!!!!!!!! .
CORRUPTION !!!!!!!!!!!! .
CORRUPTIONNNNNN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! .

Comment: Over the years we have seen very little effect from this mythical monster. But, if you want to put the blame on something, then the animal farming industry is the largest culprit - larger than fossil fuel burning. Stop people eating (so much) meat and you will have a far cleaner environment. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/22/eu-farm-animals-produce-more-emissions-than-cars-and-vans-combined-greenpeace.

From these comments, I learn that everyone is an expert and that We, the People have not a hope in hell of getting ourselves, our families,  and our friends out of the death spiral we are in. Depressing, ain't it?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Perfect climate here on the bay… The south and east parts of the US are beginning to sizzle, but SF Bay Area is perfect, hovering around mid-70s F (mid-20s C)…that is similar to the temps in KZN these days:
SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:52am
Sunset: 8:18pm

KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:41am
Sunset: 5:10pm

Time "to do" more?

Healthy planet, anyone?

Recently, NASA data scientist Peter Kalmus, chained himself to the entrance doors of the JP Morgan Chase building in Los Angeles and explains why inaction on the climate crisis pushed him to chain himself to an LA bank – and why trusting in the ‘people in charge’ is so dangerous.
Kalmus explained,

[I have] this mounting feeling that I need to do more. I have a sense of desperation, because of the wide gulf between what the science says society needs to do and how it feels like everything is heading in the opposite direction. World leaders and people not understanding that we’re in an emergency.
Then the question comes to me, if I’m sitting with the science every day, and I want to protect my kids and young people and non-humans, what do I do? I’ve been on this 16-year journey trying to answer that question, and civil disobedience seemed like something good to try. I’m ashamed to say that it took me this long.

Read more >> 

I, too, have "this mounting feeling that I need to do more". Alas, my imagination doesn't extend to what I can do that's actually effective. I make small efforts: recycle, try to avoid using plastics (totally impractical in today’s world), reuse disposable masks, avoid shopping for extraneous “stuff”, live lightly, and educate myself on many dismal issues – poisoned oceans, rivers, air, space, and, yes, the nature of “people”.
There once was a time I’d join assorted groups protesting assorted issues (predominantly working with anti-war and peace groups). I quickly learned these groups of people are as confused, back-biting, mono-focused, and, yes, ultimately as self-destructively boring as most other groups of people.
It’s depressing to grasp that “people” are the problem, that “people” are ultimately “navel gazers” incapable of stepping out of entrenched patterns of thinking. Me included. I try to get on board with others’ thinking, but quickly revert to gazing at my own navel when I recognize the circular nature of “our” thinking and our views.
I’ll go out on a limb and say: beyond thinking and writing about the "issues", NO ONE knows how to face, never mind constructively and collectively address, the dire situations facing our planet. 

Yes, we “see” countries struggling with climate-related catastrophe, yes, we see unilateral military invasions of sovereign nations, yes, we see fossil fuel companies making billions of profit dollars as their CEOs push clearly destructive policies and actions and block generative policies, and, yes, we vote for politicians financially supported by fossil fuel companies to go along with such policies.
But what to do that's effective?
What did Peter Kalmus do after he chained himself to the entrance doors of the JP Morgan Chase’s building?
He packed up and went home.
Oh, sure, news outlets followed him home. Oh, sure, he’ll found a non-profit company to “feel” he’s contributing.
Then what?
Perhaps Peter Kalmus will be The One to break through the “noise” and “save the planet.”
I hope so.
But I doubt it.
And there’s the rub.

Meanwhile, 
SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:53am
Sunset: 8:17pm

KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:40am
Sunset: 5:10pm

Squawk-fest

News blues

NPR examined COVID deaths per 100,000 people in roughly 3,000 counties across the U.S. from May 2021, the point at which most Americans could find a vaccine if they wanted one. Those living in counties that voted 60% or higher for Trump in November 2020 had 2.26 times the death rate of those that went by the same margin for Biden. Counties with a higher share of Trump votes had even higher mortality rates.
The scale of the preventable loss of life is staggering. According to a recent analysis by Brown University, nearly 320,000 lives nationwide could have been saved if more people had chosen to get vaccinated. The Brown analysis also shows a partisan split in how those preventable deaths are distributed. States that went most heavily for Trump – including Wyoming and West Virginia – have among the highest rates of preventable deaths, while states that voted heavily for Biden – such as Massachusetts and Vermont – had among the lowest.

Read more >> 

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Healthy planet, anyone?

Otters unite!
I’m physically far from the KZN stream, but my idealistic plan to reintroduce otters into the waterway  continues ... It is good to know other places and countries are looking to free the water, too. European countries are onboard:

More than 1m barriers - dams, weirs and other river obstacles - are estimated to exist on Europe’s rivers, with many built more than a century ago. At least 150,000 are old, obsolete barriers that serve no economic purpose.
[These] block fish migration routes, often leading to the loss of breeding areas and reduced numbers of species such as salmon, sturgeon, trout and eel, which affects the wider biodiversity of ecosystems, including species ranging from eagles to otters. Free-flowing rivers also transport sediments and nutrients.
[Now] at least 239 barriers, including dams and weirs, were removed across 17 countries in Europe in 2021, in a record-breaking year for dam removals across the continent.
Spain’s Pao Fernández Garrido, project manager for the World Fish Migration Foundation, who helped produce Dam Removal Europe’s annual report, said, “An increasing number of governments, NGOs, companies and communities are understanding the importance of halting and reversing nature loss, and buying into the fact that dam removal is a river-restoration tool that boosts biodiversity and enhances climate resilience. We’re also seeing lessons being learned from previous dam removals, new countries kickstarting removals, and new funds, including crowdfunding.”

Read more >>

Unfortunately, back in the ye olde country, South Africa’s Nelson Mandela Bay is going dry >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The Bay Area will heat up over the next days. Parasailing and parasailers showing signs of taking to the waters again. I captured this yesterday.

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A murder of crows had a loud, 10-minute long squawk-fest in the trees outside my apartment at 4:00am this morning. What, someone wet the nest?

 
SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:53am
Sunset: 8:17pm

KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:39am
Sunset: 5:11pm

California dreamin'

News blues

North Korea – an ongoing tragedy with Omicron, no vaccines and a woefully underequipped health sector >> 
US – Covid infections up, waning immunity from vaccines and past infections and fewer people masking >>
Spain, Portugal, UK, and Canada report … monkeypox >> 

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On war…

Ukraine – photo essay >> 

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The Lincoln Project: Russian Rand Paul (0:45 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

What South Africa terms “loadshedding”, the US terms “rolling blackouts”.
North American Electric Reliability Corporation NERC, a regulating authority that oversees the health of the US’s electrical infrastructure, says in its 2022 Summer Reliability Assessment that extreme temperatures and ongoing drought could cause the power grid to buckle. High temperatures, the agency warns, will cause the demand for electricity to rise. Meanwhile, drought conditions will lower the amount of power available to meet that demand. 
South Africa is the world’s 13th-biggest source of greenhouse gases, with about two-fifths of its output coming from Eskom, the country’s electrical power parastatal. Eskom is in trouble (FYI: Kusile power plant) apparently incapable of managing the grid with loadshedding continuing across the nation. By March 2022, South Africans experienced the equivalent of 31 days and nights in the dark. Moreover, by March, SA’s National Treasury had extended 560.1 billion rand ($35 billion) of guarantees to state companies, with Eskom accounting for about 79% of that.
Recently,

A group of the world’s richest nations offered South Africa debt guarantees as part of a proposed $8.5 billion deal designed to cut the nation’s reliance on coal for power generation, people familiar with the talks said, potentially resolving one sticking point in the negotiations.
The guarantees would enable South Africa or companies such as state power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. to borrow money needed to close down coal-fired power plants and enable the generation of renewable energy, one of the people said. The people asked not to be identified as the talks aren’t public. Such an arrangement would alleviate pressure on the South African government to guarantee any debt Eskom may need to fund its transition to renewable energy….

Read more >> 
This kind of offer is an all-around risk, for the lenders, for the company, for residents. It practically begs for corruption – and South Africa’s powerful and political show no shame in enriching themselves and their families by taking advantage of such offers. On the other hand, viable alternatives are few and far between….

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Photo essay – capturing the climate crisis >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

My first, post-jet-lag day off and lots of catching up to do. Better hop to….

Long Covid

Worldwide (Map) 
May 19, 2022 - 525,259,500 confirmed infections; 6,283,350 deaths
May 20, 2021 – 164,620,000 confirmed infections; 3,413,350 deaths

US (Map) 
May 19, 2022 - 82,951,400 confirmed infections; 1,001,300 deaths
May 20, 2021 – 33,026,300 confirmed infections; 587,870 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
May 19, 2022 - 3,908,100 confirmed infections; 100,870 deaths
May 20, 2021 – 1,621,370 confirmed infections; 55,510 deaths

Post of May 2020, Filling gaps
Post of May 2021, Still waiting… 

News blues

Since the early days of the pandemic, the Bay Area has been seen as a model for how to minimize the spread of the coronavirus.
The region instated the nation’s first stay-at-home orders in March 2020 and has since consistently seen lower levels of transmission than its southern counterparts. Today, the Bay Area has one of the country’s lowest COVID-19 death rates.
But over the past few weeks, the region has been getting a different, and less welcome, kind of pandemic attention.
The Bay Area has emerged as the state’s latest COVID hot spot, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among California’s 58 counties, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Alameda currently have the highest rates of COVID transmission….
On Friday, health officers from 11 counties in and around the Bay Area warned of a new swell of cases fueled by highly contagious omicron subvariants.

Read more >>

How big is the latest U.S. coronavirus wave? No one really knows. This, as the highly transmissible omicron subvariants spread and governments drop measures to contain the virus – inevitably resulting in less data about infections >> 

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Long Covid, aka Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome, COVID Long Haulers
Acute COVID-19 usually lasts until 4 weeks from the onset of symptoms.
Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) is defined as persistent symptoms that are 4 weeks or longer from the onset of symptoms and not explained by an alternative diagnosis. This is the point beyond which replication-competent SARS-CoV-2 has not been isolated.
PASC is divided into two categories:

• Subacute or ongoing symptomatic COVID-19: symptoms and abnormalities present from 4 to 12 weeks (about 3 months) after an acute COVID-19 infection
• Chronic Post-Acute COVID-19 syndrome: symptoms and abnormalities persisting 12 weeks (about 3 months) or longer after an acute COVID-19 infection and not attributable to alternative diagnosis.
• In the post-acute period following COVID-19 infection, it appears that at least 10% of COVID patients report having symptoms beyond 4 weeks after acute illness.
• Early data suggest a higher likelihood of PASC symptoms among older individuals ≥ 60 years. However, children and young adult survivors can also experience Long COVID symptoms at one-year post-acute infection. In one study, 20% of suspected Long COVID cases occurred in adults ages 18 to 34 with no chronic medical conditions.
• Individuals with co-morbid chronic health conditions (two or three) and those who had experienced severe disease (including hospitalization) are more likely to have persistent symptoms up to 1 year after onset of acute infection. However, it is recognized that people with mild disease can also experience lingering post-acute COVID-19 sequelae.
• Health outcomes including mortality rate among individuals with PASC are not fully understood. One study looked at 12-month adjusted all-cause mortality and found a significantly higher risk of death among patients hospitalized with severe disease, compared to COVID-19 negative patients and those with mild disease.
• At this time, it is unclear how vaccines and therapeutics for acute COVID-19 infection will impact the clinical manifestations of Long COVID. Further studies are needed.

Key Point: Post-acute Sequelae of COVID appears to disproportionately impact older individuals and those who identify as female. Those who identify as African American may be at higher risk too.

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On war…

Ukraine – photo essay of medics battling to save lives >> 

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The Lincoln Project:
Remember Buffalo (1:48 mins)
He learned it from Laura  (0:20 mins)
He learned it from Tucker (0:17 mins)
Goodbye Madison  (1:44 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - May 17, 2022  (1:48 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Working for a living sure gets in the way of living…
One more day – I work 4 days – and I’ll own my own time again - for at least 3 days. Something to look forward to. The good news is that the temperatures will rise this week – alas, so will the fire danger.

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SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:56am
Sunset: 8:14pm

KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:38am
Sunset: 5:12pm