Auld lang syne

Worldwide (Map) 
December 30, 2021 – 284,807,650 confirmed infections; 5,425,550 deaths
December 31, 2020 – 82,656000 confirmed infections; 1,804,100 deaths 
28 days ago: 21,007,475 confirmed infections; 196,000 deaths
56 days ago: 17,480,000 confirmed infections; 202,000 deaths
Total doses of vaccine administered: 9,086,524,300

US (Map) 
December 30, 2021 – 53,659,715 confirmed infections; 823,120 deaths
December 31, 2020 – 19,737,200 confirmed infections; 342,260 deaths
28 days ago: 4,609,478 confirmed infections; 39,563 deaths
56 days ago: 3,323,525 confirmed infections; 35,185 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
December 30, 2021 – 3,433,555 confirmed infections; 90,935 deaths
December 31, 2020 – 1,039,165 confirmed infections; 28,035 deaths
28 days ago: 456,945 confirmed infections; 1,064 deaths
56 days ago: 383,250 confirmed infections; 855 deaths

Post from one year ago >>

News blues

All things Omicron:

• It's gonna get worse before it gets better – at least in the US where reports declare nearly half a quarter million cases in 24 hours. 
• A quick look at current state of Covid tests and testing >>  (3:45 mins)
• How to tell if you’ve been infected with Omicron  (1:33 mins)
• Omicron’s virulent surge amid conflicting messaging makes it tough to figure out which activities are safe on any given day. It’s time to recalculate your Covid “risk budget” >> 
• Tomorrow, 31 December will be the second anniversary of the day that health authorities in Wuhan reported an unknown pneumonia outbreak to World Health Organization (WHO) colleagues in Beijing. This time last year, Michael Standaert visited Wuhan to report on how the city had changed since the emergence of the coronavirus. One year later, he reports “normality” returns to Wuhan, but pain over the handling of the Covid outbreak endures >> 

***

The Lincoln Project:
Legacy (1:45 mins)
Last Week in the Republican Party  (2:12 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

A big win along South Africa’s Wild Coast:

Shell will be forced to halt oil exploration in vital whale breeding grounds along South Africa’s eastern coastline after a local court blocked the controversial project.
The court order calls for an immediate halt to Shell’s seismic tests which involve blasting sound waves through the relatively untouched Wild Coast marine environment, which is home to whales, dolphins and seals.
… Wilmien Wicomb, an attorney at the Legal Resources Centre, said the case held “huge significance” because it showed that “no matter how big a company is, it ignores local communities at its peril”.
“This case is really a culmination of the struggle of communities along the Wild Coast for the recognition of their customary rights to land and fishing, and to respect for their customary processes….”

Read the good news >> 

***

Of the US’s western states, California leads in habitat loss.

… the 11 westernmost contiguous states excluding Alaska and Hawaii — lost more than 4,300 square miles of what it calls "natural lands" in that decade-long period to human development such as logging, mining, road-building and urban development. That's an area bigger than Yellowstone National Park, as the Center points out.
And of all the eleven states studied, California lost the largest amount of natural land to development between 2001 and 2011. Californians sacrificed 784 square miles of natural landscape to human industry in that decade, an area just a hair smaller than Los Angeles and San Diego combined, almost a fifth of the total land lost across the West.
That's a huge amount of land lost just in California.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Cloudy, rainy, cold in the San Francisco Bay Area. I bundle up for my daily walk: undershirt, shirt, sweater, coat, muffler, and gloves. My anti-Covid mask keeps my face warm.
Sunrise: 7:24am
Sunset: 4:59pm
Howick, South Africa:
Sunrise: 5:01am
Sunset: 7:02pm

On the cusp of old/new year’s eve, enjoy… and be careful out there!

“Don’t look up”

News blues

Oh-oh. Omicron. “The US is averaging 198,404 new Covid-19 cases each day… 47% higher than a week ago and the highest such number since January 19 [with] about 71,000 Americans hospitalized [and] an average of 1,408 Americans dying - a 17% increase - from Covid-19 each day during the week ending Sunday [Boxing Day]….
"I think we're going to see half a million cases a day - sometime over the next week to 10 days…." 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Oceana  analyzed e-commerce packaging data and found that Amazon generated 599 million pounds of plastic packaging waste in 2020. This is a 29% increase of Oceana’s 2019 estimate of 465 million pounds. The report  also found that Amazon’s estimated plastic packaging waste, in the form of air pillows alone, would circle the Earth more than 600 times. By combining the e-commerce packaging data with findings from a recent study published in Science, Oceana estimates that up to 23.5 million pounds of Amazon’s plastic packaging waste entered and polluted the world’s waterways and oceans in 2020, the equivalent of dumping a delivery van payload of plastic into the oceans every 67 minutes.

Read the report >> 

***

© Photograph by Jason Edwards /
National Geographic

Edward O Wilson, naturalist known as a ‘modern-day Darwin’, dies aged 92. 
If you have not yet read E. O. Wilson, start with “Trailhead”, in the New Yorker 

***

Can't help but notice my mom died in the same year as many elevated and creative humans died ... including friend and San Francisco’s own, poet Jack Hershman.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Audience responses to Adam McKay’s 2021 movie, “Don’t look up!” range from “that’s excellent satire” (I’m in that group) to “a disaster!” 

 Along the lines of generational commentary movies, “War of the Worlds” and “Dr. Strangelove”, Netflix’s “Don’t look up!” highlights the diversity of the human mind accepting/not accepting our current human/planet condition.

If you watch it, watch and listen carefully - there’s a lot going on, including hard-to-articulate depths on how We the People distract ourselves from troublesome “reality.”

***

Obsessions, reprise
North/south solstices, December 27, 2021: 

San Francisco Bay Area:
Sunrise: 7:23am
Sunset: 4:57pm
Rain, rain, rain….

Howick, South Africa:
Sunrise: 4:59am
Sunset: 7:01pm
Rain, rain, rain….

... update on battery charging obsession  

 

The interval between charges to create this design? More than 25 hours, among the best re-charge intervals (at least for an iPhone). The interval between charges to create this design? More than 25 hours, among the best re-charge intervals (at least for an iPhone).

 

Baking obsession continues. Yesterday, tried a recipe for dinner rolls. The rolls weren’t bad, just meh - I doubt I’ll revisit that recipe.
I did page through many recipe books and watch assorted online recipes and YouTube cooking shows.
I’d planned to troll various local thrift shops for low price/good quality cooking equipment. Alas, Omicron’s apparent ubiquity changed my mind. Moreover, in another week, Omicron allowing, there’ll be a wider choice of discarded equipment as people toss out the old and make room for the new… from Christmas gifts.

Hiatus

News blues

Suffered head- and body aches for Christmas. Naturally, it crossed my mind that I’d not only contracted the dreaded Omicron, but that I’d brought it to the house of my friend most fearful of contracting Covid. A quick scan through my activities of the last few days left me puzzled as to where I could have contracted it. Surely I could not have. I’m careful. My only community-oriented activity is grocery shopping but I’m judicious and I keep my distance from others. I did visit the dentist but the day before Christmas so likely too recent for Omicron to manifest. 

I double-checked the symptoms provided by Dr. Bruce Patterson, who works for single cell diagnostic company IncellDx and the Chronic Covid Treatment Center and who is a long-haul COVID expert. He reports he has not seen as much of a loss of taste and smell compared to the previous variants. This jibbed with my experience: delicious aromas from cooking our holiday meal suffused the house. Additionally, Patterson said, ‘“the one thing that’s always present with COVID-19 patients is fatigue”  - including the Omicron patients he has seen so far.’
I was just achy, not fatigued.
I swallowed a Tylenol at bedtime.
Yay! Awoke this morning feeling fit and aches free.
In case you're wondering, here’s the latest checklist of what constitutes mild, moderate and severe COVID >> 

***  

In sad news Desmond Tutu passed away. Long live Desmond Tutu! 

***

The Lincoln Project:
Who GAF about Christmas?  (0:35 mins)
Covid Vaccine  (1:00 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Ten great city projects for nature: photo essay >> 
Age of Extinction: photo essay >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Rain, rain, rain on the holiday but we took advantage of a brief hiatus and walked the neighborhood. Nothing as exciting as water flowing free and fast down gullies and into canals….
Took these photos in my neighborhood the day before the holiday. 

California gulls enjoy the temporary ponds.

***

Meanwhile, travel restrictions to and from southern Africa will be lifted on Monday. Time to rethink travel plans.... 

Soon, I'll leave the land of the winter solstice with:

Sunrise: 7:23am
Sunset: 4:56pm
Rain, rain, rain….
and travel to the land of the summer solstice with:
Sunrise: 4:59am
Sunset: 7:00pm
Rain, rain, rain….

Pesky numbers

Worldwide (Map) 
December 22, 2021 – 277,088,800 confirmed infections; 5,376,100 deaths
Over last 28 days: 17,480,000 confirmed infections; 202,000 deaths
Total doses of vaccine administered: 8,798,205,750

US (Map) 
December 22, 2021 – 51,537,000 confirmed infections; 812,100 deaths
Over last 28 days: 3,323,525 confirmed infections; 35,185 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
December 22, 2021 – 3,353,110 confirmed infections; 90,587 deaths
Over last 28 days: 383,250 confirmed infections; 855 deaths

News blues

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new forecast that estimates the Omicron variant is already the dominant variant in the U.S.
New York state posted an all-time record of new Covid cases. Over the last weeks, new cases have climbed in the Northeast and Midwest. The nation’s Delta wave isn’t over and an Omicron wave has just begun. Read more >> 
Cleveland-area hospitals put ad in local Cleveland Plain-Dealer stating, “HELP”, in response to the latest Covid-19 health crisis exploding in Northern Ohio. The ad continued:

“We need your help. W now have more Covid-19 patients n our hospitals than ever before. And the overwhelming majority are unvaccinated. This is preventable.

Read more >> 

Yet, in Japan, numbers of new Covid infections plummet. Why? No one knows.  
And in South Africa’s Gauteng province – the epicenter of that country’s infections – Covid cases appear to have peaked with the impact of surging infections less severe than previous waves.
Read more >> 

How to make sense of the case and hospitalization data as Omicron takes off. Both metrics are important, but all of our data doesn’t matter if we don’t do anything with it.

***

Dr Sanjay Gupta breaks down how Omicron variant compares to other variants  (3:50 mins)

***

The Lincoln Project:
Corporate Accountability  (0:53 mins)
Santa Trump  (0:30 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

The U.S. is gently discouraging states from building new highways A recent urges states to fix roads before constructing new ones, and to consider climate-friendly projects like bike lanes. 

Read more >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Raining in the Bay Area. Forecast calls for more rain over the next several days. I’m not complaining about the rain (took a walk along the foggy, damp beach anyway) but the tedium of Omicron-forced isolation can overwhelm.
Today’s baking obsession? Baked custard with sherry syrup.
My upper left arm – site of the booster shot – has been sore although that’s passing.

Winter solstice - San Francisco Bay Area:
Sunrise: 7:21am
Sunset: 4:54pm
Rain, rain, rain….

Summer solstice - Howick, South Africa:
Sunrise: 4:57am
Sunset: 6:59pm
Rain, rain, rain….

Seek and ye might find

News blues

The numbers speak: Omicron variant accounts for 73% of recent U.S. COVID-19 cases, CDC with New York state reporting a record number of Covid-19 infections 
While COVID Externalities Have Changed  this phase of the pandemic need not be about individual sacrifice. What’s required now is merely communal common sense.
Common sense, however, is in the ‘eye of the beholder’. Confusion continues to reign. The public has been told vaccine is effective against Omicron and vaccine is ineffective against Omicron.
"Effective":

Moderna announced Monday that a third dose of its mRNA vaccine against Covid-19 appears to provide significant protection against the omicron variant. The company said that its authorized booster can “boost neutralizing antibody levels 37-fold higher than pre-boost levels,” which it described as reassuring. 

"Ineffective":

Early evidence shows a “clear” drop in the effectiveness of current Covid-19 vaccines against the Omicron variant of coronavirus, according to the head of the European drugs regulator, who says it will take time to reach a consensus on whether variant-targeted vaccines will be needed. >> 

Given the confusion, fear, lack of coherence, I almost envy the absolute certainty displayed by whackidoodle anti-vaxers >> 
Almost. But I’ll stick with science.

I’ve looked forward to December 20 for weeks. That would have been Booster Day: the first day I’d be eligible for my 6-month vax booster. Alas, I could not get it! More on this odyssey below….

The Lincoln Project:
Mark Meadows Unlocked  (1:30 mins)
Yearning in America (0:56 mins -  This one brought tears to my eyes….)

Healthy planet, anyone?

First, the scary news: “Himalayan glaciers are melting at an "exceptional rate…” Almost half the glacial ice in the world's tallest mountain range will soon have disappeared compared to just a few centuries ago >> 
Then… celebrate what is now >>  
Happy solstice 2021 >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Booster Day? Not so fast!
Yesterday was the first day I was eligible for my Covid (Pfizer) booster jab. I’d tried earlier to get the jab – based on anticipated travel to SA – but was refused. After Omicron arrived I revisited plans and accommodated reality. Then, the big Booster Day arrived.
Day 1: I trotted off to the pharmacy at the local grocery store and… learned that their operations have changed since my last shot in June. Now, customers must make online appointments. And that day, they offered only Moderna shots.
I hesitated. How I might react to a Moderna booster? My physical response to Pfizer was negligible – slight sensitivity around the injection site. Friends who mixed doses reported Moderna presented stronger reactions than Pfizer. Do I want to risk being laid low over the holidays?
Back home, I researched the latest on Pfizer/Moderna mix. Moderna is reported to have slightly higher efficacy rate than Pfizer and, since I’ll visit my Omicron-nervous friend over the holiday weekend, I want to assure all that I’m taking advantage of the current best care available.
Travel had been a large part of my booster equation. The news about international travel, however, is not good: “Southern African nations join European favorites on CDC's list for 'very high' travel risk ."
I decided to take the Moderna jab. I tackled the grocery store’s pharmacy online reservation site. Not a great user experience: I could make a reservation at a pharmacy about 15 miles away but not at the pharmacy 2 miles away. I’ll return to the local pharmacy, make an in-person reservation, and wait.
Day 2: Pharmacy staff were helpful, agreed the online reservation system was ‘buggy’, and signed me up for a then-and-there appointment. Since both Moderna and Pfizer were available, I opted for Pfizer – albeit with a dash of last-minute indecision: what if Moderna is more efficacious? What if post-shot symptoms are worse? What if…?
I filled in the paperwork – for Pfizer - and chatted with the only other person in line for a jab. I learned that he’d taken his first Pfizer shot back in March – early days for shots – at a local sports arena complex. It was a massive drive-through operation managed by FEMA – Federal Emergency Management Agency – and other Federal agencies. (Press Release from April 2021.)
Then the pharmacist called me and I eagerly followed him and pulled up my sleeve to expose my upper left arm.
He asked, “Pfizer or Moderna?” “Um, I’m not sure.” I equivocated.

“Let me know if you want Moderna as I’ll change the paperwork and have you fill it out again.”
That did it. “No need to change the paperwork. Let’s go with Pfizer.” 

“You sure?” 

“Yes, I know what to expect from Pfizer. I’ll stick with Pfizer.” 

He reported his second Pfizer jab had knocked him out and he’d missed a day of work.  

An observation: Months of Lockdown in SA and months following the easing of Lockdown - when my mother was struggling with her health – blocked from my mind the day-to-day Covid-related happenings in California and the US. While I carefully followed US news, nevertheless I lost a year of early Covid history in the US… although I gained a year of Covid-related history in SA.
Lordy, when will it be “safe-enough” to return to SA and take care of business – and have assurance I can return to California after that, unimpeded by Covid?

***

I took advantage of my visits to the pharmacy and walked along the bay. The birds did not disappoint.  

Marbled Godwits.

American avocets? And that gorgeous duck? A pintail.

Lesser egret

***

Winter solstice - San Francisco Bay Area:
Sunrise: 7:21am
Sunset: 4:53pm

More rain predicted. Snow pack deepening in Sierras. Yay!   
Summer solstice - Howick, South Africa:
Sunrise: 4:56am
Sunset: 6:59pm

Rain, rain, rain...

“Let’s think deep…”

News blues

Omicron spreading at lightning speed and restrictions tighten as countries battle a new wave of infections >> 

If you test positive for COVID-19, how long should you quarantine, who should you tell, and when should you call your doctor? >> 

***    

Jimmy Kimmel: This week in Covid history (1:45 mins)
The Lincoln Project reminds us:
Donny, Jr (0:30 mins)
Donny, Sr, and the MAGA Church  (1:45 mins)
The Collapse  (0:55 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Thames River.
The ebbing and flowing of the tide evokes our troubling future.

"Bankers"

If you don’t’ know him yet, meet sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor , former graffiti artist that Canterbury art college refused. Taylor creates boundary obliterating art and urges, “Let’s think big and let’s think deep.”
See his underwater sculptures and hear his goals >>  (11:09 mins)
More on his work >>  (8:13 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

A friend advises that my recent baking obsession is not, as I thought, ahead of the wave. It’s not even cresting the wave. Indeed, I’m doggie paddling way behind the my fellow baking obsessives. Americans who sought solace from pandemic induced isolation turned to baking last March and April. 

Back then, I was locked down in South Africa, visiting my mother each day in the Care Center after her fall and subsequent surgery, auctioning piles of no-longer-required workshop and household items, caring for her dogs, her gardens, her swimming pool, and shooing troops of monkeys from her fruit trees. Had anyone suggested I bake, I’d have chuckled my disbelief.

Ah well, being au courant is not my ambition. (Perhaps the late baker earns the tested recipes?) 

Melktert - smooth, custardy, easy to make....

Yesterday, before my friend carried away a growing inventory of baked goods, I added melktert (aka milk tart) to my culinary effort.

Surpassed only by dark fruit cake as a personal favorite South African treat, melktert is not too sweet and enticingly jiggly and smooth.
Explore how easy it is to bake by Google searching “melktert” or “milk tart.” (If pastry making scares you, pick up a ready-made pastry crusts at Safeway; brush over an egg wash and bake for just 5 minutes. The wash stabilizes the crust for the delicious custard-like filling, served room temperature.)

My next challenge?
Turns out the odd baking pan, above, forms donuts. 

Not a donut fan, I puzzle about other baking options. The challenge is how to outwit the open “top”.
What about:

• baking an upside-down fruit pie held together by either pastry or sponge cake? Or a layer of graham cracker crust?
• forming a pastry pocket over the “top” then, when cooked, flip it over to serve? The “hole” would form a receptacle sauce or other filling.
• a savory “not-donut donut” with no-knead bread and sprinkled cheese?

Watch this space for baking experiments….

***  

Until the pandemic forced Otaez, a family style, Mexican family-owned and managed neighborhood restaurant out of business, service included tasty and affordable margaritas on a sunny outdoor patio.
Alas. Gone are the days of margaritas, fresh ceviche, tamales….
On the bright side, a chef locally born and bred bought the very large, standalone building. His chef cred includes cooking at high-end San Francisco Bay Area restaurants. 

The menu posted near the door might be a tad ambitious for this neighborhood (no margaritas, or fresh ceviche, or tamales… ).
I hope he can make a go of this new business, particularly as we endure another pandemic wave.
This mural painted on the north wall catches the eye; perhaps it’ll stimulate taste buds, too.

***  

Winter solstice - San Francisco Bay Area:
Sunrise: 7:20am
Sunset: 4:52pm
Summer solstice - Howick, South Africa:
Sunrise: 4:55am
Sunset: 6:58pm

Fully baked

© 2021. Steve Breen. San Diego Union Tribune. Creators.com

News blues

“America Is Not Ready for Omicron.” The new variant poses a far graver threat at the collective level than the individual one — the kind of test that the US has repeatedly failed.

America was not prepared for Covid-19 when it arrive. It was not prepared for last winter’s surge. It was not prepared for Delta’s arrival in the summer or its current winter assault.
More than 1,000 Americans are still dying of COVID every day, and more have died this year than last. Hospitalizations are rising in 42 states. The University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, which entered the pandemic as arguably the best-prepared hospital in the country, recently went from 70 COVID patients to 110 in four days, leaving its staff “grasping for resolve,” the virologist John Lowe told me. And now comes Omicron.
Will the new and rapidly spreading variant overwhelm the U.S. health-care system? The question is moot because the system is already overwhelmed, in a way that is affecting all patients, COVID or otherwise. “The level of care that we’ve come to expect in our hospitals no longer exists…”

Read more >> 

Omicron pressure on in South Africa with the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reporting an additional 36 Covid-19 related deaths and 24,785 new cases yesterday.

The increase in positive cases represents a 30.9% positivity rate.
The majority of new cases were from Gauteng (27%), followed by KwaZulu-Natal (23%) and the Western Cape (19%).
The NCID said, “There has been an increase of 347 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.” 

Approximately 27 percent of Americans are not vaccinated against Covid-19. (See numbers and detailed breakdown of un-vaccinated and vaccinated.) Certain states refuse to enact the federal mandate to require vaccination. Now the struggle goes to the Supreme Court.

President Joe Biden’s administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let a federal vaccine mandate for health-care workers take effect nationwide, saying it could save thousands of lives during an anticipated Covid surge this winter.
In a pair of filings late Thursday, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar asked the justices to put a hold on lower court decisions that are blocking the rule in 24 states. The Republican-led states sued to block the law, saying the administration was exceeding its authority and infringing on state prerogatives.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services mandate is one prong of a broader Biden push to get workers vaccinated. The administration is separately defending vaccine rules that apply to federal contractors and employers with 100 or more workers, and those cases could reach the Supreme Court soon.

Read more >> 

Additionally, the Marine Corps announced it booted 103 of its members for refusing the Covid vaccine, even as all the military branches report that a vast majority of troops have gotten the shots.
The same day, the Army announced that it relieved six leaders — including two commanding officers — over the issue, and that almost 4,000 active-duty soldiers have refused the vaccine. 

Read more >> 

Then the whackidoodles have their say:
“Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott asserted the Pentagon has no authority to punish unvaccinated members of the state National Guard, joining other Republican governors who have called on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to withdraw or otherwise nullify the military's Covid-19 vaccine mandate.” 

Read more >> 
and (big surprise?)

“Trump Administration deliberately undermined Covid response for political purposes”  (4:39 mins)

***

Track cases and deaths per 100K residents, state-by-state, county-by-county across the US  

***

A cornucopia of ads for Christmas from The Lincoln Project:
Jim Jordan is a joke  (0:45 mins)
The Fight  (1:40 mins)
Capitol Police  (0:52 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Time for laughter: 35 Pictures from 2021 to make you grin… >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Who knew I was ahead of the curve? An email newsletter from my health care provider asks:

Looking for something to help you relax, feel creative, and indulge your senses? Baking has all the ingredients you need to feel refreshed and recharged.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, increased stress — plus more time at home — has given rise to a new trend called “stress baking.” … The act of baking really can help you manage stress.
“Baking is an opportunity to clear our heads and de-stress,” … a family doctor said. “When you focus your attention on an activity like baking, you’re more present in the moment and less focused on stressors of the past or future.”

My recent foray into baking is not, after all, another Lockdown-related obsession. Not at all; rather, it is a stress reliever.
Yesterday: pastry and no-knead bread. 

Today: cinnamon rolls.
Tomorrow? A visiting friend will enjoy these products and, I hope, carry away the bulk of my home bakery’s output.

***    

With the likelihood of a propitious return to South Africa dimming as Omicron changes the rules of travel, look for more baked goods in the future.