Surging surge

News blues

Omicron – forecast as “milder” – is pushing the US to the brink of collapse:

Dire shortages as U.S. nears record for COVID-19 hospitalizations But it may get much worse. Already struggling hospitals could house about 300,000 covid patients later this month if models, which even researchers say are difficult to forecast, are correct.

Read “U.S. breaks record with more than 145,000 covid-19 hospitalizations” >>

Additionally,

The United States surpassed its record for covid-19 hospitalizations on Tuesday [January 10], with no end in sight to skyrocketing case loads, falling staff levels and the struggles of a medical system trying to provide care amid an unprecedented surge of the coronavirus.
[January 10’s] total of 145,982 people in U.S. hospitals with covid-19, which includes 4,462 children, passed the record of 142,273 set on Jan. 14, 2021, during the previous peak of the pandemic in this country.
But the highly transmissible omicron variant threatens to obliterate that benchmark. If models of omicron’s spread prove accurate — even the researchers who produce them admit forecasts are difficult during a pandemic — current numbers may seem small in just a few weeks. Disease modelers are predicting total hospitalizations in the 275,000 to 300,000 range when the peak is reached, probably later this month.

Read more >>

It’s not just the US. World Healthy Organization suggests more than half of Europe could be infected in next 2 months >> 

Healthy planet, anyone?

“One of the hardest things to grasp about the climate crisis is the connectedness of all things.” Add to that, the interconnectedness of biomes, ecosystems, and environments that, out of balance, lead to pandemics such as this coronavirus. We still have very little idea of the genesis of this virus. We do, however, know far more about what we can expect if we do not address environmental imbalance. Resistance to address these real issues is endemic. Take what we know about burning coal and the roots of climate change.
Senator Joe Manchin, West Virginia, aka King Coal, represents a powerful person bought and paid for by Big Coal. With Manchin’s help the dying coal industry is pulling one final heist — and you and I and our planet may pay the price >>

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Hunkered down from assorted coronavirus variants, socially distancing from potential human “vectors” - plus dealing with cold winter, I’ve delved into many – oh, let’s call them – obsessions.
Reading? ✔
Always a reader. My online library tracker, Reading Insights, states I’ve read every day for 181 weeks.
Baking? ✔
Rediscovered baking. I make my own bread. I cook. I even gather online recipes for future tasting treats. I’ve watched most episodes of the Great Baking Shows - British, and Kiwi, and Canadian….
iPhone’s battery charging graphs? ✔

I create “designs” from these graphs. I like capturing the “red zones” – below 20% charge remaining – as accent color. The intensity of this obsession ebbs and flows but hasn’t evaporated. As we see with this latest version. 
Exercise? ✔
Too cold to swim but encouraged by my Steps app, I reach my daily goal of 6,000 steps/2 miles each day. Overseen by the pitiless Steps app, it’s either walk or delete the app as I do not want a “forever” record of not walking on my phone.
My latest obsession?
Drum roll … American serial killers. ✔
Specifically, Netflix documentaries on American serial killers Ted Bundy, Wayne Williams, Henry Lee Lucas….
This trio was operating within the US when I first arrived in the country. I heard about them peripherally, but was busy adjusting to my new life, new country, new family, and new friends to pay attention. Registering serial killers was at the bottom of a long list of more important adjustments – and, as Goete suggests, I may not have had the imagination to cope with such activity.
Ponder Goete’s words: “Few people have the imagination for reality.”
Indeed.
Superficially “knowing about”/watching fictionalized versions of the violence and horror that humans inflict upon one another is different to focusing on this human psychological phenomenon. Different, too, from traveling in a war zone. (Been there, done that .)
TV, movies, and online media “neutralizes” horror by normalizing it, making it ubiquitous therefore superficial, merely entertaining background to TV’s main role: advertising and selling goods and services.
Today, soaked in the reality of these three serial killers’ actions, I’m re-evaluating Goete’s words and also allowing my imagination to grapple with the heretofore unthinkable: Civil war in the United States of America.
With lack of effective pushback from “leaders” in a position to pushback – the Department of Justice, the duly-elected current president, sane members of the US Congress, concerned (and sane) Americans – Trump/Trumpies ongoing insurrection and slow-moving but real coup endangers the country and We the People.
Information to imagine this reality:

• Christiane Amanpour interviews Prof Robert Pape and his new study shows the single biggest motivation for the Jan. 6 rioters  (17:40 mins)
• Prof Robert Pape’s report as Powerpoint pdf >> 
• Insurrectionist movement in U.S. is larger and more dangerous than expected, research finds >> 
• Prof Barbara Walter on likelihood of another US civil war?  (14:45 mins) If none of the others, do watch this interview!

***

New information on this mural first mentioned December 19, 2021 post. Back then I didn’t know who was the artist. I suspected, incorrectly, a local muralist I know as Michael who lives and paints in this island town. 

Rather, this Webster Gateway Mural – aka From Land and Sea, was created by Oakland muralist Dave Young Kim  and Reno, Nevada artist Erik Burke. 

It is 34 x 110 ft / 10.36 x 33.5 meters.

***

Bay Area, California:
Sunrise: 7:23am
Sunset: 5:10pm

Howick, South Africa:
Sunrise: 5:11am
Sunset: 7:03pm
Still raining….

Please! No more!

News blues

Last week, a new variant reported from southern France. (Scroll to “WHO downplays French variant”.)  
This week? Deltacron: 

A new variant of COVID-19 with 10 mutations from Omicron and genetic background similar to the Delta has reportedly been detected in the small European country of Cyprus. Dubbed ‘Deltacron’ by the researchers, the new COVID-19 variant has been found to have infected 25 people in the country until now. 

Read more >>

***

How do key COVID-19 metrics compare to previous waves? Our World in Data presents interactive charts to view comparisons. Sobering info at your fingertips >> 

***

The Lincoln Project: Dagger  (0:55 mins)
Last year in the Republican Party  (2:17 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

A murmuration of starlings at sunset in Rome, Italy.

Between 1 and 4 million starlings come to Rome during their annual migration every winter 

Photograph: Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images 

© Guardian News: Week in wildlife pictures 

Our fragile world: photo essay >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Monday. A day to catch up on pressing chores. .. more pressing now that I’ve actually managed to contact a South African travel agent. Alas, the area towards which I’m heading continues to suffer torrential rain.
The good news?
California beginning to experience slighter longer daylight.
Bay Area, California:
Sunrise: 7:24am
Sunset: 5:09pm
California on track for spring  – at least a minute more daylight each day over the last few days.
Fiat lux! (“let there be light”.)
Every minute counts…
Howick, South Africa:
Sunrise: 5:10am
Sunset: 7:03pm

Rain continues...   

Teetering

News blues

What happens when a health-care system crumbles?

At first, there’s just a lot of waiting. Emergency rooms get so full that “you’ll wait hours and hours, and you may not be able to get surgery when you need it.”
When patients are seen, they might not get the tests they need, because technicians or necessary chemicals are in short supply. Then delay becomes absence. The little acts of compassion that make hospital stays tolerable disappear. Next go the acts of necessity that make stays survivable. Nurses might be so swamped that they can’t check whether a patient has their pain medications or if a ventilator is working correctly. People who would’ve been fine will get sicker. Eventually, people who would have lived will die. This is not conjecture; it is happening now, across the United States.

Read more >>
This article is specific to the US where medical care is very expensive, not easily dispensed, and geared towards generating and supporting high medical insurance premiums. The medical system in South Africa – with a quasi-infrastructure overall and shaky medical care in general - serves the vast majority without medical insurance.

***

Notes from the Covid front lines:

…health care workers are not superhuman or robots, and are subject to human feelings and emotions just like everyone else. Never before have I endured such resentment and cynicism at unvaccinated patients and their reckless, selfish choices. Choices that enable this pandemic to propagate and destroy lives and families. Thus, it is only natural that throughout the country we are seeing widespread staffing shortages across all health care disciplines.

Read “I'm An ICU Doctor in Rural Ohio. This Is the Horror I Face Every Day Due To COVID-19.” >>

On the same topic:
An incoming tide of patients is slowly drowning UMass Memorial Medical Center, and the US military's National Guard is working to plug the gaps. In wave after daily wave, the emergency crews pull up to the ambulance bay, dropping off patients for which there is no room. 

Read more >>

And, 

Ambulances in Kansas speed toward hospitals then suddenly change direction because hospitals are full. Employee shortages in New York City cause delays in trash and subway services and diminish the ranks of firefighters and emergency workers. Airport officials shut down security checkpoints at the biggest terminal in Phoenix and schools across the nation struggle to find teachers for their classrooms.
The current explosion of omicron-fueled coronavirus infections in the U.S. is causing a breakdown in basic functions and services — the latest illustration of how COVID-19 keeps upending life more than two years into the pandemic. “This really does, I think, remind everyone of when COVID-19 first appeared and there were such major disruptions across every part of our normal life,” said Tom Cotter, director of emergency response and preparedness at the global health nonprofit Project HOPE. “And the unfortunate reality is, there’s no way of predicting what will happen next until we get our vaccination numbers — globally — up.”
First responders, hospitals, schools and government agencies have employed an all-hands-on-deck approach to keep the public safe, but they are worried how much longer they can keep it up. 

Read “Omicron Boom Spurs Breakdown of Vital Services Nationwide. Disruptions are evident in everything from health care to public transit to air travel.” >> 

And, confused by the CDC’s new isolation guidelines? You’re not the only one. America’s COVID Rules Are a Dumpster Fire >>

***

The South African government has decided to take a more pragmatic approach while keeping an eye on severe COVID and whether or not health systems are imminently under threat. This reflects acceptance that governments will increasingly be looking for ways to live with the virus cognisant of the detrimental indirect effects that restrictions have been having on the economy, livelihoods and other aspects of society. This is particularly pertinent in resource constrained countries such as South Africa.

Read more >>

***

The Lincoln Project: Seb/Ted  (0:37 mins)
Our own Trevor Noah and the Daily Show comment on, Ted Cruz: The Booger on the Lip of Democracy  (0:45 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Who knew? 

Actually, I knew. It’s tough not to know when, each day in the office, one makes a cup of coffee with a high-end Keurig delivering coffee with a one-time-use plastic pod, along with two or three one-time-use plastic crème pods, a one-time use sugar packet and, if one doesn’t bring along a reusable ceramic mug, a one-time-use polystyrene cup. 

I also knew our office was one of dozens of similar offices on one floor – and millions across America - with Keurig coffee makers. Worry spurred these photos I took to record my ritual cup of joe.
Now, huge surprise! NOT!

The millions of machines that require single-use plastic coffee pods are not, after all, great for the environment, not even close. Finally, Keurig is roasted and, one hopes, toasted (as in burned, not celebrated).

The Competition Bureau, a regulator in Canada tasked with snuffing out deceptive business practices, said Keurig Canada will pay a $3 million penalty for not being transparent about the recyclability of its products. The bureau said that it and the company had voluntarily reached a settlement to pay the penalty plus give an $800,000 donation to an environmental charity and cover $85,000 in Competition Bureau expenses….
Keurig was investigated for claiming customers could recycle its pods by removing the aluminum foil lid and dumping out the coffee grounds. The bureau found the instructions to be insufficient for the pods to be widely accepted into recycling programs and noted that Quebec and British Columbia were the only provinces recycling K-Cups.

Read more >>

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Howick Falls reaching flow capacity.  (Previous post with photos.) 

Midmar Dam is a huge man-made water reservoir serving Kwa Zulu Natal.

With all the rain falling in KZN – and predicted to continue – in the area, Midmar Dam, too, is beginning to overflow . (At about minute 1:50 of this clip, Howick Falls. - 2:27 mins)
And a clip of streets flooding in the province’s legislative capital >> 

Previous posts describe my attempts to address the largely blocked stream that flows through the bottom of my mom’s property. It overflows with too much rain and floods the garden, then water rises toward the house. One of the two culverts designed to drain water under a service road is totally blocked. The other culvert drains at less than 20 percent capacity. I’ve attempted to engage the local municipal department responsible for such maintenance. I describe their response at my temerity to request service as uninterested, inconclusive, in a word, incompetent. A shrug as equipment is driven away.
Property taxes up the wazoo; Thanks very much for continuing to pay. Alas, service unavailable. (One supervisor told me workers cannot complete the work because “too many snakes.” I advised I’d taken a close look at the blockage and, in 2 years, never seen a single snake. Another shrug before entering her car and driving away - never to  return.)
With the amount of water falling and flowing in the area, I’m both worried about the property.
I’m also worried about traveling to SA and, after 30 to 36 hours of traveling, finding the area too flooded to allow safe transit to the house.
Africa. Continent of surprises.

***

The latest news on international travel: airline for New Zealand was awarded first place "due to its excellent incident record, number of cockpit innovations, pilot training and very low fleet age." "Air New Zealand is a leader in this field with comprehensive retraining." 
Air New Zealand doesn’t service South Africa from the US.
Etihad Airways – UAE – in second place.
Qatar Airways came in third, with Singapore Airlines and TAP Portugal achieving fourth and fifth place respectively.
Australian carrier Qantas is missing from the top five despite holding the title of world's safest airline from 2014 to 2017, as well as 2019 to 2021 (no clear winner could be found in 2018). Australia's flag carrier takes seventh place this time due to a "slight increase in incidents coupled with the fleet age” after a Qantas Boeing traveling from the Australian city of Perth to Adelaide in Western Australia was diverted due to a fuel imbalance, in an occurrence classified as a "serious incident."
Of these carriers, only Qatar serves the US. This means up to a 24 hour layover in Doha. Am I up for it?
Enquiring minds wanna know….

Bay Area, California:
Sunrise: 7:24am
Sunset: 5:08pm
The good news? Sunset happening one to two minutes later each day. Weather, still cold although sunny for part of the day.
Howick, South Africa:
Sunrise: 5:09am
Sunset: 7:03pm
Still raining …with more rain predicted for the next 10 days. The vulgar South Africanism that describes my consternation, oh, gats!

Touch of reality?

News blues

Yesterday was the first anniversary of Trump and the Trumpies attempting a coup in the US Capitol. Here’s the actual, real, and legitimate US vice prez and prez – Harris and Biden – addressing the nation >>  (33:04 mins)
Here, too, is comedian Stephen Colbert’s memories of the day a year ago when “the fecal matter truly hit the oscillator”…  (10:43)
And from Mary Trump: “He must be feeling the walls closing in…” >>  (6:06 mins)
It’s been a year of Trump and Trumpies pushing “Stop the Steal”  and The Big Lie  about his failed re-election. (Genesis of The Big Lie in “real life”.)
Amid the libraries-worth of journalism written since then, politically centrist journalist Jennifer Rubin presents an important opinion piece: “Trump idolatry has undermined religious faith”,

***

Back to Covid: Has Omicron peaked or plateaued in some regions? Experts say there are early, tentative signs that the omicron wave has peaked, or is plateauing, in the places that were among the first to be hit hard by the variant. 
Despite the mixed messaging, confused communication, and often conflicting information presented to the public about Covid-19, the pandemic, and the many viral mutations, thoughtful humans still seek further information. Lucky for us, researchers oblige. Next week we might have information that conflicts, but here’s the current knowledge on symptoms and severity of Omicron – at least for this week.

***

The Lincoln Project: Biden  (1:55 mins)
Which is it, Ted?  (0:45 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Life on vanishing coasts – photo essay >> 

***

“Postcards From a World on Fire” >> 

***

More calls for the US to address its plastic waste:

Environmental organisations across Latin America have called on the US to reduce plastic waste exports to the region, after a report found the US had doubled exports to some countries in the region during the first seven months of 2020.
The US is the world’s largest plastic waste exporter,  although it has dramatically reduced the overall amount it exports since 2015, when China – previously the top importer – said it “no longer wanted to be the world’s rubbish dump” and began imposing restrictions. Elsewhere around the world imports are rising, and not least in Latin America, with its cheap labour and close proximity to the US.

Read more >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The past seven months in California have been disorienting, partly because the pandemic began while I was gone and American culture moved on, partly because this is my first winter in California in four years and, cold weather coupled with Omicron, produces involuntary isolation.
Amid what feels like waves of crazy – mounds of conspiracy theories, lies, and corruption, and unimaginably large numbers of Americans remaining in Trump’s conspiracy cult of the absurd, do I perceive a glimmer to push back from Biden and Attorney General Garland? Both men, heretofore appearing like deer-in-the-headlights, issued strong statements yesterday. 

What will today and tomorrow bring?
One issue? American perception. One article on Garland, for example, states, “Garland is under increasing pressure from the left.” In fact, Garland is under pressure from all Americans concerned about the country’s direction. That this is described as “the left” is an indication of how far right the country has become over the last decade.
All in all? Life and living is increasingly precarious these days.

***  

Bay Area, California:
Sunrise: 7:24am
Sunset: 5:06pm
Cold, foggy, and drizzly.

 
Howick, South Africa:
Sunrise: 5:07am
Sunset: 7:03pm
Still raining ….

Enough already!

Worldwide (Map) 
January 6, 2022 – 298,194,650 confirmed infections; 5,468,100 deaths
January 6, 2021 – 87,157,000 confirmed infections; 1,882,100 deaths 

28 days ago: 29,921,000 confirmed infections; 184,300 deaths
Total doses of vaccine administered: 9,324,042,300

US (Map) 
January 6, 2022 – 57,826,000 confirmed infections; 823,359 deaths
January 6, 2021 – 21,294,100 confirmed infections; 361,100 deaths
28 days ago: 8,153,786 confirmed infections; 37,295 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
January 6, 2022 – 3,494,700 confirmed infections; 91,561 deaths
January 6, 2021 – 1,150,000 confirmed infections; 30,525 deaths
28 days ago: 423,632 confirmed infections; 1,523 deaths

 
A year ago, Trump and his Trumpie allies attempted a coup. Post from January 6, 2021 >> 

News blues

No combinations of vaccines or viruses can confer invulnerability to future tussles with SARS-CoV-2. Whether acquired from an injection or an infection, immunity will always work in degrees, not absolutes.
Immunity is, in many ways, a game of repetition. The more frequently, and more intensely, immune cells are exposed to a threat, the more resolutely they’ll commit to fighting it, and the longer they’ll store away any microbial information they glean. Time and viral mutations pare down those protections; vaccines and sickness build them back up. That’s part of why we almost always dose people with vaccines multiple times.

Read more >> 

***

President Cyril Ramaphosa had recovered from his bout with Covid-19 and had reiterated that Covid-19 Alert Level 1 regulations would be strictly adhered to. He was due to speak at the ANC Women's League memorial lecture, an event scheduled in the lead-up to the ANC’s 110th birthday celebration in Polokwane. But when it was discovered that the crowd was largely non-compliant with the regulations, the ANC cancelled the address and quickly led Ramaphosa from the packed venue >> 

***

In other Covid news:

• France's parliament has approved plans for a vaccine pass to help curb the spread of the Omicron variant.
• Hong Kong is set to ban flights from eight countries, including the UK and the US.
• The World Health Organization is monitoring a new coronavirus variant identified  in the southern Alps of France.
• The Grammy Awards have been postponed for a second year due to the Omicron surge. Rio de Janeiro has also cancelled its world-renowned Carnival street parades for the second year in a row as a new wave of infections spreads. Giorgio Armani has cancelled shows in the Milan and Paris fashion weeks.

***

The Lincoln Project releases the first in a new series of ads. Closer than you think 

 In their words  depicts America in 2025 if the Republican Party achieves their anti-democratic, authoritarian goals. (1:10 mins) Subsequent episodes of the series will be released throughout the week. (1:10 mins)

When you think about Covid and its trajectory across the US and the next election, remember this: Truth  (1:00 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Europe takes the lead… why doesn’t the US follow?

From New Year’s Day, France will ban supermarkets and other shops from selling cucumbers wrapped in plastic, and peppers, courgettes, aubergines and leeks in plastic packaging. A total of 30 types of fruit and vegetables will be banned from having any plastic wrapping, including bananas, pears, lemons, oranges and kiwis. …
A law banning plastic packaging for large numbers of fruits and vegetables comes into force in France on New Year’s Day, to end what the government has called the “aberration” of overwrapped carrots, apples and bananas, as environmental campaigners and exasperated shoppers urge other countries to do the same.
Emmanuel Macron has called the ban on plastic packaging of fresh produce “a real revolution” and said France was taking the lead globally with its law to gradually phase out all single-use plastics by 2040.
Spain will introduce a ban on plastic packaging of fruit and vegetables from 2023. For years, international campaigners have said unnecessary plastic packaging is causing environmental damage and pollution at sea.

Read more >> 

On the same theme, European companies race to stem flood of microplastic fibres into the oceans. New products range from washing machine filters and balls to fabrics made from kelp and orange peel >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

As I expected, countries are beginning to refuse visitors from the US. Hong Kong is the most recent.  This is not good news for my safe travel to/from South Africa.
In the meantime, local birds, real or not, will keep me company. 

Huddling from the cold: American Avocets (black & white)
Larger birds likely marbled godwits or whimbrels (easier to tell if beaks are visible)
and Western Sandpipers (small, foreground)

Bay Area, California:
Sunrise: 7:24am
Sunset: 5:05pm
Cold and hazy.
Howick, South Africa:
Sunrise: 5:07am
Sunset: 7:03pm
Still raining ….

“Birds aren’t real”?

News blues

Well, the US is “numbah one” again, this time in its global daily record: more than 1 million diagnosed with Covid-19 on Monday.  This number was gleaned from “official” tests – excluding home tests whose data is not collected by official tracking entities. According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, which relies on local governments,

the highly mutated variant, combined with delayed reporting by local governments over the holidays, led to a single-day record for new cases for any country in the world. Monday’s number is almost double the previous mark of about 590,000 set just four days ago in the U.S., which itself was a doubling from the prior week.

Indeed, the US has a ways to go to get through the Omicron surge. Meanwhile, what Omicron already is teaching us as this phase of the pandemic plays out >> 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Recently, I posted  about Germany powering down three of its nuke-energy power plants. Today, the backlash:

The European Commission is facing a furious backlash over plans to allow gas and nuclear to be labelled as “green” investments, as Germany’s economy minister led the charge against “greenwashing”.
The EU executive was accused of trying to bury the proposals by releasing long-delayed technical rules on its green investment guidebook to diplomats on New Year’s Eve, hours before a deadline expired.
The draft proposals seen by the Guardian would allow gas and nuclear to be included in the EU “taxonomy of environmentally sustainable economic activities”, subject to certain conditions.
…[a group of environmentalists] said the plans “water down the good label for sustainability” [and] it was “questionable whether this greenwashing will even find acceptance on the financial market”

Ah, yes, the ubiquitous “financial market”….

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

With more than 1 million newly confirmed Covid infections in one day, I wonder if the less rabid within the anti-vax crowd are having second thoughts about vaccinations? Are those who believed The Donald’s prediction that, based on politics, “Kung Flu” would “one day, disappear, like a miracle” , or those who watch/listen to many anti-vax public figures who have either died or suffered torment from Covid, now trickling into a vax line and accepting the jab?
Enquiring minds wanna know….

***

With a friend’s birthday coming us this week, I’d suggested we repeat a past birthday celebration: explore downtown Oakland and Chinatown and enjoy lunch in a local restaurant. After the news of this enormous viral transmission rate, I’m pulling back on that suggestion. If either of us is to reach another birthday milestone, best we hunker down for the duration.

***

Apparently, the “Birds aren’t real” theory has been around for some time.
According to this theory, “all” the birds were killed – by airborne gas – during the Reagan years - and replaced by governmental drones.
Birds are not “real” and those one sees around – you know, flying, wading, nesting, chirping - “work for the bourgeoisie”  …. 

My gods! I had no idea that government, any government – including the Chinese government – and/or private industry were capable of such extraordinary design and execution technology to produce drones that emulate “real” birds.
Given government possesses such skill, how come government can’t figure out simple vaccine testing and treating programs?
If governments can produce drone birds that look so real – see pix below - why bother wasting such extraordinary skills and technology on dumbass humans and dumbass human activity? Why not conquer the universe?
Oh, yeah, I forgot. It’s the fault of evil, conniving George Soros, Bill Gates, and Dr Fauci.

Blue heron? "Birds aren't real" so don't believe your lying eyes!

Greater yellow legs? A drone?
Again, don't believe your lying eyes!

Bay Area, California:
Sunrise: 7:24am
Sunset: 5:03pm
Some rain…
Howick, South Africa:
Sunrise: 5:05am
Sunset: 7:03pm
Rain, rain, rain …

New Year's crapshoot

Happy new year! May 2022 be better than 2021.

News blues

This radial phylogenetic tree of SARS-CoV-2 depicts known sequences of
variants (dots) and their relationships to each other. The length of the branches indicate
how divergent a given variant is. Omicron, depicted in red, stands out for its uniqueness.
© Nextstrain 

Omicron could push the Covid-19 pandemic into its worst phase yet. Or it might not. In other words, it’s a crapshoot!
What makes the omicron variant so strange and surprising? 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Good news for the planet this new year: Germany powers down 3 nuke power plants.

Three nuclear-fired power plants will be taken off the grid in Germany on Friday as part of the country's plan to end atomic power.
"The nuclear phaseout makes our country safer and helps to avoid radioactive waste," said Federal Environment and Nuclear Safety Minister Steffi Lemke.
"It is now essential to ... advance the search for a final repository for high-level radioactive waste as well as permanent solutions for low- and medium-level radioactive waste," the environment ministry said.

Hear, hear! Germany. (This is an abbreviation for “hear, all ye good people, hear what this brilliant and eloquent speaker has to say!”) Read more about Germany’s decision >> 

***

As noted in a recent post,  E. O Wilson passed away recently. His legacy will live on.
Read an interview with him on his advice on saving Earth >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Sunny but cold in the San Francisco Bay Area. View from east bay.

I bundle up for my daily walk: undershirt, shirt, sweater, coat, muffler, and gloves. My Covid mask keeps my face warm.
Waterfowl are happy.

Initially I thought I'd photographed buffleheads (top). Rather, they're goldeneye ducks.
The lower photo is a female goldeneye. 
(c) S. Galleymore

What's the weather like in:
SF Bay Area? 
Sunrise: 7:24am
Sunset: 5:01pm
Some rain expected Monday and Tuesday then more sunshine.

...and in Howick, KZN? 
Sunrise: 5:03am
Sunset: 7:02pm
Forecast calls for rain, rain, rain for the next ten days…