Scanned

Worldwide (Map) 
December 15, 2022 – 650,987,530 confirmed infections; 6,658,200 deaths
December 16, 2021 – 272,521,350 confirmed infections; 5,333,815 deaths
December 17, 2020 - 73,557,500 confirmed infections; 1,637,100 deaths

US (Map) 
December 15, 2022 - 99,629,185 confirmed infections; 1,085,900 deaths
December 16, 2021 – 50,408,000 confirmed infections; 802,770 deaths
December 17, 2020 – 16,724,775 confirmed infections; 303,900 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
December 15, 2022 - 4,045,475 confirmed infections; 102,550 deaths
December 16, 2021 – 3,231,100 confirmed infections; 90,226 deaths
December 17, 2020 – 873,680 confirmed infections; 23,665 deaths
Posts from:
December 16, 2021 – “Reconciliation” 
December 17, 2020 – “What can go wrong…” 

News blues…

Telltale signs of a ‘tripledemic’: “with flu, RSV and Covid-19 all swirling, hospitals and health care systems are approaching capacity as millions still refuse to get vaccinated >> 

***

State health officials are warning people that time is running out to get vaccinated before gathering with family over the holidays as Covid-19 cases surge nationwide alongside unseasonably severe waves of flu and respiratory syncytial virus.
The guidance comes after two excruciating holiday seasons that sent Covid-19 cases and deaths skyrocketing. And it underscores the ongoing struggle of public health officials at the state and federal level to get Americans vaccinated against the flu and Covid.

Read “‘The situation in the hospitals is grim’: States face brutal virus fallout” >> 

***

The spread of Covid-19 in China is now “impossible” to track, the country’s health authorities have said, announcing they have stopped recording asymptomatic cases in their daily tallies.
The admission comes amid soaring presentations to hospitals and clinics as Covid-19 spreads rapidly through the population in the wake of the sudden removal of strict pandemic measures. Authorities have urged people not to seek emergency healthcare unless necessary, and announced the rollout of second boosters to elderly and vulnerable people.
China’s government abruptly ended the long-running and strict zero-Covid policy last week, rolling back measures including travel restrictions and lockdowns. Health authorities also ended the mass testing drives and compulsory regular testing which were pillars of the policy. As a result, official daily reports have become an increasingly inaccurate measure of the outbreak.

Read “China says spread of Covid ‘impossible’ to track as infections soar in Beijing” >> 

***

A study released Tuesday by the Commonwealth Fund shows that in [the past] two years, the Covid vaccines have averted over 3 million deaths in the U.S.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 1 million Americans have died from Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic. But the study results show the toll would have been even worse had the U.S. had relied upon so-called natural immunity acquired through infection as the only immunological defense against the virus. Without vaccines, the country would have experienced four times as many deaths, 1.5 times more infections, and 3.8 times more hospitalizations in the time since December of 2020. The vaccines also saved the U.S. $1 trillion in additional medical costs.
The study’s key message is that vaccines are “worth our money as taxpayers,” said Isaac Chun-Hai Fung, an associate professor of epidemiology at Georgia Southern University, who was not involved in the study. “We pay for the vaccination campaign and it works. It saves us money and it saves lives.”

Read “Covid vaccines averted 3 million deaths in U.S., according to new study” >> 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Jane Goodall tells it like it is!

Environmental activist and primatologist Jane Goodall still believes Donald Trump essentially acts like a male chimpanzee.
Goodall first made the observation in 2016, during Trump's first presidential campaign, and told MSNBC's Ari Melber … that the former president still displayed the aggressive tendencies of the primate species….

Read more >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Base CT scan completed. Mary and I bussed to the scan department, half an hour before appointment time, as requested, filled in the inevitable forms and Mary drank the 2 cups of water required to filter scan “ink” medium from her system. Then, the scan. Then out of door…before her actual 10 o’clock appointment… indeed, back in the bus by 10. That’s service we appreciate!
Additionally, we received the scan results two hours later. Since neither of us can read/understand the results presented, we wait until Friday to review with the oncologist.
Waiting. We hate waiting under these conditions. Particularly as nothing on the scan results appear clearly to states that Mary is free of malignancy; the opposite, in fact.
Groan.
Mary has, however, expressed a “total lack of interest in yet another dose of chemo this year.”

***

The weather is cold here along the SF Bay. (It’s colder even 25 minutes away from the bay.) The waterfowl, however, are plentiful, beautiful, and a pleasure to watch.
TGFWF. (thank gods for waterfowl.)

***

SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 7:17am
Sunset: 4:51pm

KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 4:53am
Sunset: 6:55pm

It's baaack!

Worldwide (Map) 
December 8, 2022 – 647,326,420 confirmed infections; 6,647,910 deaths
December 10, 2020 – 68,849,000 confirmed infections; 1,568,750 deaths

US (Map) 
December 8, 2022 – 99,269,100 confirmed infections; 1,083,645 deaths
December 10 – 15,385,00 confirmed infections; 289,500 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
December 8, 2022 - 4,043,545 confirmed infections; 102,465 deaths
December 10 – 829,600 confirmed infections; 22,580 deaths

Post from
December 9, 2021, 2021 “Year 3 of the Covid Era” 
December 10, 2020, “Wear a mask” 

News blues…

Covid appeared to go underground for the summer and fall – at least in the SF Bay Area. Now it’s reappearing, along with ‘flu and RSV - Respiratory syncytial virus, a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms.
My Covid-cautious “bubble” of friends and acquaintances avoided Thanksgiving meal get-togethers this year as several close friends were infected prior to the holiday. Thankfully, all are well again.

***

On war… and culture war

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is this year’s 2022 Person of the Year.
Read more >> 

Illustration by Neil Jamieson for TIME
Source Images: Getty Images (12); Ivanchuk: Lena Mucha—The New York Times/Redux;
Kondratova: Kristina Pashkina—UNICEF; Kutkov:
Courtesy Oleg Kutkov; Nott: Annabel Moeller—David Nott Foundation;
Payevska: Evgeniy Maloletka—AP

***

The Lincoln Project:
Trump Against The Constitution(1:10 mins)
It begins again  (0:58 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - December 6, 2022  (2:12 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Infinite waste in boundless seas – a photo essay >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Been on hiatus … taking care of a friend. Meso Mary finished her 4th and last session of this first round of chemo. While each session was progressively more intense, the last session was the worst. Indeed, Mary has still not recovered to the point she was before she began that last session. 

It has been tough, perhaps made worse by the cold and wet weather. Who, after all, wants to step outside, wrapped up in winter woolies while feeling – and being – nauseous? Certainly not Mary, nor me accompanying her if she's not so inclined. 
Next step: CT scan to ascertain the results of the four session of intense chemotherapy.  The downside? CT scans only detect active malignancies that are at least one centimeter in size. This scan will act as a baseline to inform the next scan and the next stage of mesothelioma.

***

The good news? California and the SF Bay Area have benefitted from the rain. Not too much, not too little; just the right amount, so far. 

The worry is that, as has happened for the past several years, we have rain in December then it stops and there’s no more rain. Here’s hopin’ that’s not this year’s pattern.

***

SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 7:12am
Sunset: 4:49pm

KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 4:51am
Sunset: 6:51pm

Veterans Day 2022

Worldwide (Map) 
November 10, 2022 – 634,056,770 confirmed infections; 6.60.235 deaths
November 10, 2021 – 251,624,400 confirmed infections; 5,076,300 deaths
November 12, 2020 – 52,070,000 confirmed infections; 1,274,000 deaths

US (Map) 
November 10, 2022 - 97.961.940 confirmed infections; 1,074,300 deaths
November 10, 2021 – 46,793,200 confirmed infections; 759,100 deaths
November 12, 2020 – 10,258,100 confirmed infections; 239,700 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
November 10, 2022 - 4,031,625 confirmed infections; 102,365 deaths
November 10, 2021 – 2,924,625 confirmed infections; 89,435 deaths
November 12, 2020 – 740,255 confirmed infections; 19,951 deaths

Post from:
November 11, 2021 “Veterans Day” 
November 11, 2020, “Veterans Day” 

News blues…

An uptick in sore throats, coughs, and fevers are telltale signs that flu season has arrived in the United States. But this fall, those common symptoms might be a sign of something more sinister: Public health experts warn we are likely facing a "tripledemic," the convergence of flu, COVID-19, and the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

Read more >> 

***

The Lincoln Project:

Donald Trump v. Marco Rubio  (1:20 mins)
Who we are (1:55 mins)
The Red Mirage  (1:00 mins)
Never (0:30 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Pumpkin pollution? Tossing jack-o-lanterns in landfills generates harmful methane gas. There's a better way to get a second life out of your decorative gourds. 

Read more >> 

***

COP 27 is on the go. Here’s my view of COP 26 from November 13 last year >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

It’s been a long week. Long. Cold. Rainy.
The good news: one more chemo session to go. Next week, Thursday. Then a few days of malaise before Mary bounces back. 

More good news: Mary has a date for the post chemo CT scan. December 14. A day or so later we will know the results of four sessions of chemo. That is, we will know the results that the CT scan can capture. The reality of mesothelioma is there are always microscopic “nodules” – read malignancies – ready to blossom that, to all intents and purposes, do not meet the scan's "eye". That is, according to her oncologist, scans can only capture the signs of new growth when that new growth reaches about a centimeter in size.

It's what you can't see that'll kill ya!

New vistas in reality

Worldwide (Map) 
November 5, 2022 – 631,240,410 confirmed infections; 6,594,475 deaths
November 4, 2021 –248,312,000 confirmed infections; 5,026,000 deaths
November 5, 2020 – 48,136,225 confirmed infections; 1,225,915 deaths

US (Map) 
November 5, 2022 - 97,610,630 confirmed infections; 1,071,630 deaths
November 4, 2021 – 46,261,150 confirmed infections; 750,580 deaths 

November 5, 2020– 9,487,470 confirmed infections; 237,730 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
November 5, 2022 - 4,028,655 confirmed infections; 102,312 deaths
November 4, 2021 – 2,922,800 confirmed infections; 89,220 deaths
November 5, 2020– 730,500 confirmed infections; 19,585 deaths

Post from:
November 4, 2021, “What a difference…” 

5 November, 2020, “Counting Chickens Thursday” 

On war… and culture war
Crowdfunding campaigns have been powering the Ukrainian military since the early days of the war.

The fundraising appeal for the armoured vehicles – tagline “Grab them all” – had only been launched …[hoping] that the $5.5m (£4.8m) required for the major purchase would be secured within a week.
Within nine hours, half of the funds had been pledged by donors, ranging from private individuals to big Ukrainian corporations and smaller high street firms, such as the bedding company World of Mattresses.
[T]here was no need to continue pumping out the calls for cash, and the social media memes that had made much of the conceit of the coming battle between Spartans and Persians, a wry nod to the Iranian kamikaze drones that have been plaguing Ukrainian cities in recent months.

Read more >> 

***

The Lincoln Project:

President Biden speaks on democracy (2:15 mins)
Time for a change  (0:55 mins)
Denial (0:55 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Despite a pledge to reduce use of plastics, a study by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the United Nations Environment Programme revealed that some companies – including Coca-Cola KO.N and Pepsi – are using more virgin plastic than ever and are almost certain to miss a target to make plastic packaging more sustainable by 2025.

The headline pledge was that 100% of plastic packaging would be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025, but this goal will “almost certainly be missed by most organisations”, the environmental group’s report said. Nestle said these targets were hampered by a lack of government recycling infrastructure globally, noting that it had reduced the amount of virgin plastic it uses by 8% since 2018.
Mars said it is making progress in tackling plastic waste and investing hundreds of millions of dollars to redesign thousands of packaging components.
Pepsi and Coca-Cola did not respond to requests for comment.
Greenpeace said the report is evidence that voluntary corporate targets have failed and called on the U.N. to forge a treaty that forces governments and companies to use less single-use plastic packaging.
“This underlines the need for governments to ensure that the global plastic treaty … delivers major reductions in plastic production and use.”

Read more >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Mary is making a slow but sure comeback. The reality of mesothelioma and its long-term consequences in her life are slowly sinking in.
“It’s five months since my diagnosis, surgery, and first foray into chemo. It’s rough. I thought I’d sail through and come out smarter and stronger. Now? I’m done with chemo session 3, awaiting chemo session 4, and I’m not sure I can do this for the rest of my abbreviated life.”
Mary has been blessed with good health all her life. I remind her that she can cope with this as she’s coped with other obstacles in her life. She agrees and adds, “But let me feel out this new direction. It’s not something I ever thought I’d deal with. I’m disappointed in myself but I’m also trying to face a reality that’s, well, very real.”
She’s right.
All I can do is support her.

Flu season

News blues

Covid has not disappeared “like a miracle” (as predicted by The Donald during his disastrous term). It’s no longer getting much attention, despite the approaching winter months in the US and the confluence of winter flu.

COVID-19 infections have run into an early flu season and an usual surge of respiratory infections in young children to create what some experts are calling a “tripledemic.”
Northeastern University experts explain what is behind the triple whammy, why it’s hitting now— and why next year might not be as bad.
“I think it’s going to be a rough winter,” says Brandon Dionne, associate clinical professor at Northeastern University’s School of Pharmacy. “There’s lots of factors at play.”
But chief among them is what experts are calling the “immunity gap,” the lack of regular exposure to viruses that helps rebuild the body’s immune response to individual viruses.
“People were taking all these precautions in the past few years that were really mitigating the spread of all respiratory viruses,” Dionne says.

Read more >> 
Buckle up. Get boosted.

***

The Lincoln Project:
Country over Party (0:57 mins)
Hell, no  (1:20 mins)
DJ Trump - Texas remix  (0:55 mins)
De Santis or Trump (1:02 mins)
Pelosi attack  (1:00 mins)
Election Denier Tudor Dixon (1:00 mins)
Finchem (1:10 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - November 1, 2022  (2:12 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

It’s been a rough few days post chemo. Mary stayed in bed from Saturday afternoon until today. She was feeling better yesterday but not well enough to spend much time away from bed. Falling over was replaced by “mere” feelings of light-headedness followed by needing to sit down. All accompanied by muscles spasms in her back. These latter likely associated with lack of exercise.
What to do but ride it out?

Never a dull moment

On war…
Ukrainians use phone app to alert military about incoming drone and missile attacks.

Ukraine has been subject to months of deadly long-range missile strikes, but the attacks have stepped up in the past month as Russia has fired hundreds of cheap, Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones into cities and at Ukraine’s infrastructure.
…
A simple mobile phone app has been developed by Ukrainian volunteers to allow civilians to report sightings of incoming Russian drones and missiles – and, it is hoped, increase the proportion shot down before they hit the ground.
The app, ePPO, relies on a phone’s GPS and compass, and a user only has to point their device in the direction of the incoming object and press a single button for it to send a location report to the country’s military.

Read more >>

***

The Lincoln Project:
Answer the question, Ron (0:50 mins)
Large Marge  (0:58 mins)
Funding Fascism  (0:57 mins)
House of Horrors  (0:56 mins)
Lip lickin’ liar  (0:40 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - October 25, 2022  (2:05 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Does the photo below not appear to show two exhausted swimmers taking a well-earned rest against an iceberg? Or perhaps a Jason deCaires Taylor  sculpture?
Rather, it is nature doing its thing in the far away ocean. Imagine all the other amazing natural feats we landlocked humans miss each moment.

 See more amazing photos >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Chemotherapy session three down the hatch. Well, almost. It’s all over but for the recovery from the session – including yet more drugs, this time to counter nausea. Mary returned from her post-chemo acupuncture session – to address nausea, too – and will lie low for the rest of the day. Best to not push too hard two days after poisons have been infused through one’s system.
The recent session followed the usual protocols although with the addition of infused Emend anti-nausea drug, instead of taking the pill form of Zyprexa. This change added extra time to the session. During the hours of 9am to 2pm, Mary took in more than 5 liters of liquid, from water to Emend to water and pemetrexed to water and cisplatin and yet more water to finish off. By the time she departed the oncology clinic water retention made her puffy from forehead to toes. Today, she’s still puffy though less than yesterday. Now she must contend with nausea.
Moreover, she must continue to imbibe at least two liters of water each day to ensure her kidneys continue to flush the poisonous meds.
Mesothelioma: never a dull moment.
The good news? Only one more session to go – at least that’s what we’re expecting. The post chemo sessions scan will confirm that (or not). Then, she’s free until the next scan in 6 months to track any resurgence.

Troublesome

News blues

Dr. Anthony Fauci warned about a pair of "pretty troublesome" Covid variants — omicron descendants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 — as the U.S. braces for a winter surge. 

Read more >> 

And,

People who reported experiencing side effects to the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines such as fever, chills or muscle pain tended to have a greater antibody response following vaccination, according to new research.
Having such symptoms after vaccination is associated with greater antibody responses compared with having only pain or rash at the injection site or no symptoms at all….
“In conclusion, these findings support reframing postvaccination symptoms as signals of vaccine effectiveness and reinforce guidelines for vaccine boosters in older adults,”

Read more >> 

A team of scientists affiliated with Duke University found that ivermectin does not meaningfully improve the recovery of people with mild to moderate Covid.
“These findings do not support the use of ivermectin in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19,” they concluded.
The FDA has warned people against taking the tablets for anything other than their approved use.
Read more >> 

***

The Lincoln Project:
Tyranny  (0:57 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

On plastics and the myth of recyclable plastics

Just 5% of plastic products are recycled in America and many common items just aren’t able to be recycled at all, according to a damning new study released by Greenpeace USA.
The study estimates the U.S. produced about 51 million tons of plastic waste in 2021, but just 2.4 million tons of that was reprocessed.
The data compiled by Greenpeace is even more bleak than that released by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2018. The government estimated at the time just 9% of all plastics had been recycled that year, with the remaining 91% winding up in landfills. (At the time much of the country’s plastic was shipped to China and considered recycled, even if it was dumped in a landfill anyways).
Shockingly, the research said no type of plastic packaging in America met the threshold needed to be considered “recyclable” promoted….

Read more >> 

Recycling plastic waste fails for a variety of reasons that Greenpeace boils down to: the impossibility of collection and sorting, the environmental toxicity, synthetic compositions and contamination, and a lack of economic feasibility.
There are thousands of different types of plastics with different compositions that cannot be recycled together, let alone sorted. Plastic recycling facilities are likely to catch on fire because plastic is flammable, and living near one poses a huge health risk—take Turkey, which became a new plastic waste export destination after China banned imports and saw an influx of EU waste expose workers and communities to new health risks. Plastics can also absorb toxic chemicals, further complicating recycling efforts and increasing their toxicity. On top of all this, recycled plastic costs more than new plastic because of the aforementioned factors encouraging companies to simply make more instead of pursuing alternatives.

Read more >> 

***

More than four months after devastating monsoon floods began in Pakistan, at least 1,500 people have died, and the waters that inundated nearly the entire country have yet to recede. This ongoing emergency is causing illness and communicable disease to spread, and these effects are likely to be much more deadly than the initial catastrophe. “The public health risks are worse, and the death toll could be much higher”....

Read more >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Another foray into battling mesothelioma. Today, Mary's trip to the blood lab begins her third chemo session – and, we hope, her second to last treatment of this round. Why “this round”? Well, the unpleasant truth is, to date, there is no cure for mesothelioma. The asbestos fibers that stimulate, aka cause, the disease never are dissuaded: they simply regenerate. This, because indiscernible microfibers are ready, willing, and able to regrow. It’s the job of the patient and her medical team to stay ahread of new growth. This means that after this round of four sessions of chemo, Mary will undergo a scan to judge the chemo sessions’ effectiveness. If all appears clear in the scan, Mary will be free of scans for the next six months. If anything appears suspicious in the scan, the medical team will suggest next steps.
So, today, blood tests ascertain that Mary’s system is up to the task of another round. If any element of her blood suggests she’s above or below desired “measurements” the chemo session will be delayed until her blood levels are more “workable.” To date, Mary “feels fine” and is preparing for another several days of feeling under par.

“At least my chemo sessions are every three weeks. This gives me enough time to recover between bouts. And I do recover. Yes, my lung/chest feels wooden but I have full movement of my left arm. Indeed, I can almost forget the dire disease and prognosis for … well, minutes… at a time.” At that she chuckles warily and wearily and adds, “Perhaps one of these days, it’ll be forgetfulness for half-hourly bouts of time.”
I can attest to Mary’s fortitude. Yesterday, together, we added a layer of bottom shelves to a set of wooden shelves on my patio. Mary was an active  participant in adding this new layer that will house small pots of newly propagated succulents. We’ve added several more rarer-than-usual-for-us cacti and succulents. In general, our philosophy for such plants is “don’t pay money for what’s readily available.” Problem with that philosophy? Some cacti – for examples, Rebutia  - native to Bolivia and Argentina, and Lithops,  native to South Africa and Namibia. These beautiful plants are not, alas, not “readily available” except by purchase.