Monday, June 27, 2022

OMG! Re-evaluation happens

News blues

The following is a very important point of view shared honestly by someone who was instrumental in the radicalization of current anti-abortion dogma. Please watch!
Evangelical Christian Minister Rev. Rob Schenck courageously admits he lost his way with his fervent anti-abortion views and how such views  were co-opted by cynical Republican politicians. 
While many people - particularly women - were harmed by his extremism, Schenck admits, and worked through, his  erroneous worldview, In this interview, shares his path and his course-correction: “Fmr. Pro-Life Leader on Abortion Ruling: Our Movement Has Lost its Soul” >> (18:15 mins)
***
The Lincoln Project:
This was planned (1:25 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Texas. I just returned from a four-day visit to the over-heating state. Between 10:30am and 6:30pm, the heat is, literally, unbearable for humans and other mammals. 
What's more, masks-as-protection-against-Covid are rare in the Houston conurbation.
Texas is a reminder that it's difficult to assess where things  – social, cultural, economic, political, and climatic – are headed, not only in Texas, but globally. 
I fear things are headed nowhere good or life-affirming.
What are we humans doing?
Alas.
(Then again, the transformation of someone like the Rev. Rob Schenck (interview above) does offer some hope. I hope.)
***
SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:49am
Sunset: 8:34pm

KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:54am
Sunset: 5:10pm


Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Mitigation

Worldwide (Map
June 23, 2022: 541,213,610 confirmed infections; 6,323,900 deaths
June 24, 2021: 179,530,600 confirmed infections; 3,890,200 deaths
June 25, 2020:     9,409,000 confirmed infections; 482,190 deaths

US (Map
June 23, 2022: 86.636.310 confirmed infections; 1,014,850 deaths
June 24, 2021: 33,578,000 confirmed infections; 603,000 deaths
June 25, 2020:   2,381,540 infections; 121,980 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal
June 23, 2022: 3,986,900 confirmed infections; 101,650 deaths
June 24, 2021: 1,861,100 confirmed infections; 59,260 deaths
June 25, 2020:    111,800 confirmed infections; 2,205 deaths

Posts from:
June 23, 2021, “Moon rising” 
June 23, 2020, “Silver linings” 

News blues

Moderna and Pfizer vaccines now available for children older than 6 months >> 
***
Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 appear to escape antibody responses among both people who had previous Covid-19 infection and those who have been fully vaccinated and boosted, according to new data from researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, of Harvard Medical School.
However, Covid-19 vaccination is still expected to provide substantial protection against severe disease, and vaccine makers are working on updated shots that might elicit a stronger immune response against the variants.
Findings include, alas, that ‘COVID-19 still has the capacity to mutate further’ >> 
***

On war

Ukrainian High School Grads Pose For Heartbreaking Photos In War-Torn Homeland >> 
***
The Lincoln Project:
Lady Ruby  (1:45 mins)
Clear and present danger  (0:35 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - June 21, 2022  (2:05 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

The week in wildlife – in pictures >> 
***
The year 2020 was the hottest ever in the US city of Phoenix, in the state of Arizona. Imagine, 53 days topping 110 F (43 C) - the hottest, driest and deadliest summer on record. During that time, more than 200 people died from extreme heat – a jump of 60% in heat related deaths.
Heat mitigation - focused on trees and infrastructure, led by an urban forester - is now the name of the game for Phoenix city planners. This, however, is easier said than done.
Phoenix… published a tree master plan in 2010, pledging to increase canopy cover to 25% by 2030 (from an estimated 11% to 13% at the time). The city is not on track to meet that goal, and the target may eventually be revised to reflect the city’s broader sustainability and equity goals such as targeting under-shaded neighborhoods and public transit routes where people walk and wait.
David Hondula, the recently appointed director of Phoenix’s heat response and mitigation office, said, “Trees are an important part of the plan which residents have been asking for for years, but they aren’t a cure-all for the city. But if we could have 30% of a 20-min walking path shaded, it would provide health protection for most summer days”.
Read more >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I love Oakland, a human-sized city. It has a mix of lovely old buildings, from “gridiron” to art deco and much in between. It is also trying to address congestion and the often negative influence of an influx of wealthy tech companies, yet maintain its humanity and address the socio-economic “diversity.”
Here are pix of one set of bicycle-ride programs, from Cycles of Change, to Bike Share, to Bike Share for All….
Bicycles ready for riders.
A rider pays a small fee, unlocks a bike, and rides.

The payment system works like any
parking lot or public transit payment system. 
***
Solstice 2022! 
SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:47am
Sunset: 8:34pm

KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:53am
Sunset: 5:09pm


Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Solstice

News blues

© M. Wuerker, Politico 

After crowing about the wonderful weather in my town on the San Francisco Bay over the last few days, I take back my words. Today, Tuesday – summer solstice, 2022 was hotter than one usually experiences in this location: 98 F.
With a dome of heat over the San Francisco Bay Area, temperatures ... [soared] on the first day of summer, increasing the risk of heat illness and wildfires...
[Today was] slated to be the hottest day of the week with many interior valleys hitting anywhere between 100 and 105 degrees… warning that the "elderly, sick and homeless are most vulnerable" in the hot conditions.

[The weather service said] near-critical fire weather conditions are also expected due to the combination of dry offshore winds combined with lower humidity values. "This concern is greatest across the North Bay hills where the breeziest winds should exist".
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued a Spare the Air alert for Tuesday with unhealthy ozone, or smog, expected to build up [and cautioned] "Limit your driving to reduce air pollution…”.
Read more >>
***
Covid has disappeared from the news in the US. The UK Guardian, however, still publishes US Covid statistics. The news is not promising:

 Guardian News, June 21, 2022
***

On war

Russians casually slaughter three young Ukrainian men 
Photo essay: Mariupol – before and after

Monday, June 20, 2022

How to cope?

News blues

Covid schmovid
The pandemic moved into our lives, caused havoc ... and now we’ve adjusted. 
Sure, people, lots of ‘em, are still becoming infected, but hardly anyone bats an eye at Covid news anymore. 
An infected person is expected to “get over it” and, in America, that’s the name of the game for most things. (Well, except for Donald Trump-related things. Those just seem to go on foreverrrr!)
Now the glittery object attracting the American attention is the heat wave.
No, of course this heat wave is not in any way connected with the change in our planetary climate due to over-reliance on fossil fuels, plastics, pharmaceutical over-use, etc. 
Heavens, no! 
This heat wave is a standalone phenomenon. Ask any Republican politician – and many Democratic politicians, too. After all, nothing is connected to anything on this planet. 
Nah, climate change is all made up by the “radical left media”. 
That hundreds of homeless people died in recent extreme heat has to do with them not “pulling themselves up by their bootstraps.” Why should hardworking Americans fork out dough to care for the homeless?
Bah humbug!

America has no plan to deal with climate change - despite statistics indicating that excessive heat causes more weather-related deaths in the U.S. than hurricanes, flooding and tornadoes combined with the homeless the most vulnerable >> (Why does the richest country in the world have homeless?)

And the heat wave ain’t over yet. A second wave of stifling heat could break over 100 records as heat dome shifts eastward. The persistent heat dome which imposed oppressively high temperatures on the northern Plains and Midwest over the weekend will begin to shift further eastward this week, ending a short reprieve that many states in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic have had in recent days.
Read more >> 
The cost of staying cool in the sweltering heat and humidity that’s hitting large parts of the U.S. also presents high energy costs. "For low-income families, this is catastrophic." >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The heat dome that’s killing Americans across the northern Plains and Midwest and moving east didn’t affect “my” portion of the country. The San Francisco Bay Area’s weather has been truly wonderful: warm, breezy, hospitable.
Having experienced consecutive days of 111 F weather last year, however, I can attest to the physical distress caused by excessive heat. This, despite living on my houseboat where I could leap into the river from the decks when the temperature overcame my fragile humanity. 
Without shelter or the ability to cool, hot weather is a death sentence.
I fear what future weather will do to living creatures of this planet.

Sunday, June 19, 2022

Juneteenth

News blues

Juneteenth today. History of Juneteenth >>  (See Lincoln Project ad, below, too.)
***
According to a PNAS study, the US could have saved more than 338,000 lives and more than $105bn in healthcare costs in the Covid-19 pandemic with a universal healthcare system.
More than 1 million people died in the US from Covid, in part because the country’s “fragmented and inefficient healthcare system” meant uninsured or underinsured people faced financial barriers that delayed diagnosis and exacerbated transmission, the report states.
The US had the highest death rate from the virus among large wealthy countries and is also the only one among such countries without universal healthcare. It spends almost twice as much on healthcare per capita as the other wealthy countries, according to Kaiser Family Foundation data.
“The current healthcare system in the US is economically inefficient and leaves millions of Americans without adequate access to medical treatment,” said Alison Galvani, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis at the Yale School of Public Health and the lead author of the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Read more >> 
I know a little about America’s “fragmented and inefficient healthcare system” that “leaves millions of Americans without adequate access to medical treatment.” I’ll get into it in the next weeks.
America. Land of gross inequality.
***

On war

Ukraine. How will this country and its people ever recover? Photo essay >> 
***
The Lincoln Project:
Juneteenth (1:25 mins)
Meidas Touch Work together!  (8:40 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

$44 trillion.
According to the World Economic Forum, $44 trillion is how much of the world’s total economic output is dependent on animals and ecosystem.
Insects pollinate commercial crops, coral reefs protect coastal buildings, wetlands purify water, and all of those services — and more — help fuel economic growth.
If the economy is embedded in nature, then the global decline of wildlife and ecosystems is a risk for companies and investors alike. If insects vanish from farmland, say, farmers might have to pay to import pollinators or produce less, which hurts their bottom lines. That’s one reason why WEF ranks “biodiversity loss” as the third most severe risk to the economy over the next decade, after failure to act on climate change and extreme weather.
“The risk of continued biodiversity loss is profound,” Sarah Kapnick, a scientist and strategist at the banking giant JP Morgan, wrote in May, “not just for nature but for financial stability.”
Read more >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Summertime… and the milkweed’s in blossom
caterpillars are eating… 
and the monarchs reign… 
(sing to the tune of Summertime)
Summertime… and the milkweed’s in blossom

caterpillars are eating…


and the monarchs reign… 
The monarch has four distinct life stages: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis), and adult. Watch >> 
***
SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:47am
Sunset: 8:34pm

KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:52am
Sunset: 5:08pm


Friday, June 17, 2022

Catching up

Worldwide (Map
June 17, 2022 - 538,260,000 confirmed infections; 6,316,775 deaths
June 17, 2021 – 1.77,120,700 confirmed infections; 3,835,000 deaths

US (Map
June 17, 2022 - 86,154,500 confirmed infections; 1,012,900 deaths
June 17, 2021 – 33,500,000 confirmed infections; 600,700 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal
June 17, 2022 - 3,983,700 confirmed infections; 101,600 deaths
June 17, 2021 – 1.774,500 confirmed infections; 58,225 deaths

Posts from:
June 17, 2021, “Heavy heart” 
June 18, 2020, “He speaks” 

News blues

“Fauci ouchie”! Dr Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Biden and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has Covid, a mild case, thank the gods.
Read more >> 
***
The Lincoln Project:
40 Feet  (0:47 mins)
Clear and present danger  (0:35 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - June 14, 2022  (2:05 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

I thought I’d misheard when I first learned the Men on the Moon – first people to land on the moon back on July 24, 1969 – left bags of garbage behind when the departed  I’d been astonished at the temerity – and lack of, well, respect. 
Who visit a unique place and leaves garbage?
Humans. That’s who.
Turns out that was the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.
More than half a century of lunar exploration has left its mark on the moon… the relentlessly grey surface is littered with clapped-out robots, spacecraft parts, moon buggies (including one with a bible on the dashboard) and technical equipment.
Scattered around the Apollo landing sites are other items that were never meant to come home: a falcon’s feather, a javelin, bags of human waste, a family photo and an aluminium figure, the Fallen Astronaut, which lies on its side near a plaque bearing the names of 14 men who died in the pursuit of space exploration.
In all, the lunar junkyard holds nearly 200 tonnes of human objects. The dusty remains of five Saturn V rocket stages from the Apollo missions are the heaviest single items. Then there are the wreckages of spacecraft that smashed, or were crashed intentionally at the end of their missions, into the lunar surface. There are a dozen 1960s Soviet Luna probes; nearly twice as many US Rangers, Lunar Orbiters, Surveyors and more recent observatories; at least four Japanese spacecraft, and other robots sent from Europe, China and India. In April, the mangled remains of the first private moon mission, Israel Aerospace Industries’ Beresheet probe, became the latest addition when the lander’s gyroscopes failed.
Read more >> 

Alas, we humans aren’t satisfied with leaving garbage on our moon. Now, we’re leaving trash on Mars.
The Nasa team member likely responsible for leaving the debris was “surprised” to see the images. He said, “That shiny bit of foil is part of a thermal blanket – a material used to control temperatures.… My descent stage crashed about 2 km away. Did this piece land here after that, or was it blown here by the wind?”
Hmmm, someone needs to explain to this space cadet that “pieces” travel thither and yon when they’re abandoned.
Out of sight, out of mind?
The image [of the shiny bit of foil] has reignited concerns that space exploration risks contaminating the pristine Martian and lunar environments. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 created an obligation under international law to avoid the harmful contamination of outer space, the moon and other celestial bodies, but some argue that the law is not detailed enough to ensure protection. However, in the case of the Perseverance litter, Prof Andrew Coates, a space scientist at UCL’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory, said: “The good news is that everything is sterilised before it goes to Mars, and the space radiation environment helps during the nine-month trip to Mars as does the harsh surface environment.”
“Everything is sterilized”?
So, leave trash everywhere and anywhere – as long as it’s “sterilized”….(Moreover, how does one sterilize poop?)
Read more >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Goldilocks weather: not too hot, not too cold. Juuust right!

Afternoon meditation on the beach.

Happy Canada geese

SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:46am
Sunset: 8:33pm

KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:52am
Sunset: 5:07pm


Monday, June 13, 2022

Subversion on display

News blues

In the US, Covid is totally not news these days. Instead we have almost unbelievable accounts of how The Donald and his gutless minions subverted the election process, and attempted to overthrow the US system. Lots of hours devoted to this… and one wonders how many Americans actually care.
I do.
My friends and family do.
Twenty million Americans watch… 
Will anything change? 
Will Trump be held accountable by the Department of Justice. 
Enquiring minds wanna know....
I’m not holding my breath. 
Want to watch? Search on your computer or phone: “hearings”, or “select committee hearings”, or “capitol attack investigation”, or anything similar.

Not a big fan of (former president) Ronald Reagan, I nevertheless found Meidas Touch’s presentation by son Ron Reagan -  a Republican - worth watching: “Ron Reagan SLAMS GOP as Traitors for Supporting Insurrection in EPIC rant" (5:15 mins)
***
The Lincoln Project:
Apparently inebriated (0:31 mins)
Comic relief and a trip down memory lane with my all-time favorite LP ad, Nationalist Geographic (0:56 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Gorgeous day on the island. Birds are singing, Canada geese are snoozing, shorebirds are feeding… Life is good.