Category: in the news

Day 531 – Morning musings

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Oh my Deity. Not another disjointed post about a plethora of things that probably don’t deserve a post of their own, but I still want to share?

Yep. Here goes.

I did a bit of a Twitter spring clean this morning. [link to My Twitter here]


Mainly just cutting out a few individuals who don’t use the platform anymore (who could blame them?) and inviting a few others into my circle (careful now).

I am very aware of the dangers of turning Twitter into just one big happy echo chamber, and so I maintain a small (but oh, so vocal) followage of accounts whose views don’t agree with mine. I don’t often necessarily interact with these accounts, because they’re not going to be swayed by my sense, knowledge and rational thought, neither I by their… er… “ideas”, but I do read what they think (and yes, I do often weep and shake my head when I do so). But I do think it’s important to not feel completely comfortable with everything you read on social media, and this choice is one I’ve made to ensure that I try to keep myself at least somewhat honest.

Maybe I follow you on Twitter and you’ve just realised why. Hi.

And talking of Twitter…

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Best (and most criminally underrated) tweet I’ve ever made?

If you get it, you get it. It’s never funny if you have to explain it.
And they do have many health benefits, apparently. So fully deserving of the recognition.

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Then chainsaws are back in our neighbourhood. This is the 6th(?) day in the last 10. Sure, one of the reasons we moved here was because of the beautiful leafy surrounds, and occasional tree surgery is to be expected as a by-product of that benefit, but this seems to have been going on for an awfully long time now and I’m growing slightly worried as to what’s going to be left once they do eventually finish…

(…and yes, also growing slightly irritated about the constant noise).

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I’m prepared to fight anyone who feels that this is not the best version of this song.

Lol. The drummer looks just a young Dave Grohl.

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Cape Town dam levels are currently at 101.8%. So moist.
Still, please don’t waste water. It might not rain next year. You never know.

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It looks like I’m going to be stuck with these effing Covid symptoms for a while yet. Weeks, Months? Who knows? My doctor certainly doesn’t, and I can’t really blame her.

I’m trying to just get on with things, but inside, I’m thoroughly pissed off at the total incompetence of the SA Government, because of whose shitty prevaricating and complete ineptitude when it came to securing vaccines, so many people have died and so many more (including me) are facing months of ongoing health problems.

On the plus side, after several (or more) tests and examinations yesterday, it seems that my heart is doing well despite the best efforts of the virus (although it’s still beating rather too fast), and thus I’m unlikely to be keeling over from any cardiac issues any time soon. I’m still awaiting a few results, but I’m not expecting anything nasty, and now at least I do have a diagnosis and something of a plan for the next while.

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Tomorrow appears to be the first day of summer. Not anything official like the first day(s) of Spring, but the first nice warm day after what seems to have been an exceptionally long winter.

I’m ready. Bring it on.
Note the wind speed in mph because my computer currently seems to think that I’m somewhere where I’m not.
But there are advantages in being virtually overseas…

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Lastly, I’ve been watching the first series of Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing.

BBC Two - Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, Series 1, Episode 1

Yes, I know that for you UK people, I’m way behind the curve. But I’m here now and although I’m only a couple of episodes in, I’m really enjoying it. It’s so beautifully gentle, easy-going and fun, and yet so deeply honest.
Really good stuff. 10/10 would recommend.

Day 528 – Same Whatsapp group

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Covidiots.

Sadly, you know the type.
Spreading misinformation about vaccines, believing that the pandemic is a fraud:

[Sidenote: Really difficult for people to die in decreasing numbers.]

The type that generally tends to like a bit of hyperbole:

You know the ones.

And sure. You take those sort of tweets at face value and it could all seem a bit scary.

So don’t.

Balance things up by understanding that these tweets are from the same person that looks up into the sky, sees this:

…and thinks that the weather is being engineered by the same organisations that made up the pandemic.

And then – amazingly, but also obviously – connects the two…

r/shittyHDR candidate

6 viruses (lots of lab work to count them individually) and a case of Covid (which didn’t exist earlier, remember?) in 3 months all because of some beautiful pre-frontal skies. These people must get sick a lot.
Oh, and a seizure and a dash to the hospital (that bit clearly slipped their mind initially).

Weirdly, looking back, not a single mention of any of that on their Twitter feed at the time. A few photos of a night out, some talk of a motorcycle race, angry claims that the pandemic is a scam, the usual stuff.
But no seizure and rush to hospital thing. Odd. You’d think… ah, never mind.

In fact, glancing through this timeline, I think it’s best that if you know this person (who I am choosing not to identify right now), you get away quickly. It’s not just the sickness when there are clouds in the sky (oh, and the seizure). The number of people they know that have died from being vaccinated is through. the. roof.
It’s almost (almost) completely unbelievable.
I also know lots of people who have had the jab and they are absolutely fine, so I did some rudimentary calculations in order to try to tie this weird anomaly down to some common cause, and it seems that it’s ‘knowing this person’ which is the risk factor here (p <0.05).
So be warned.

Of course, people can think what they want and live their Walter Mitty fantasy lives if they so wish, although I’d rather that they didn’t share the details as if they were actually true. But what I am saying here is, when you see these horror stories of post-vaccination deaths and claims of fraudulent pandemics, just remember where they are coming from.

The person that is spreading this stuff also thinks that some cirrus clouds made their family sick for three months.

9/11 was an inside job, Moon landings fake, Earth flat, 5G ate my hamster: same Whatsapp group.

They – as has so often been mentioned – walk amongst us.

Day 523, part 2 – Called it

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Sometimes I get things right. Those times are always worth celebrating. I’ve been celebrating quite a lot recently.
(Please note that I am not celebrating the actual story here – I was a huge fan of Christopher Biggins.)

How about this Whatsapp message I sent last week, regarding this subreddit, which details the stories of Covid-deniers and anti-vaxxers who have then sadly gone on to die from the virus?

Well, my wish is their command, apparently.

Yes. Something is very definitely going on, Red.
Whatever could it be?

Day 522, part 2 – 100%

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101.6% in fact.

Yep, this bad boi, which gave us this, dumped 66mm of rain onto our back garden, saved enough to drop into the catchment areas to do this:

So moist.

And that almost 2 months before we managed to get over the 100% mark last year.

Prior to that, the dams were last full in 2014.

We have a very well-pubicised relationship with water supply and dam levels in Cape Town, and while this is obviously very good news, we still need to save water whenever we can, and there are still shedloads of projects continuing to ensure that we don’t (almost) run out again. As described here.

Day 520 – Some viral stuff

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Not “wildly popular on the internet” stuff.
Sorry if you came here for that. (But then, why on earth would you?)

No. Just some links to recent Coronavirus-related stories and studies.

Why did Ivermectin become so popular?
Ben Collins finds a tangled web of horse wormer and… er… cash.

Teeny-tiny study suggests Pfizer jab is good for 12-15 year olds.

Clearing up the confusion on Israel’s hospital figures.

The bottom line is there is very strong evidence that the vaccines have high efficacy protecting against severe disease, even for Delta, and even in these Israeli data that on the surface appear to suggest the Pfizer vaccine might have waning efficacy. This is clearly evident if the data are analyzed carefully, and agrees with all other published results to date from other countries.

Terrifying story of a teacher spreading Covid in California. Study.

A total of 27 cases were identified, including that of the teacher. During May 23–26, among the teacher’s 24 students, 22 students, all ineligible for vaccination because of age, received testing for SARS-CoV-2; 12 received positive test results. The attack rate in the two rows seated closest to the teacher’s desk was 80% (eight of 10)

If you are sick, stay at home. Isolate.
And “isolation” doesn’t mean “go for a hike on the mountain because you are bored”.
Yeah. if you’re reading, I saw that.

How respiratory viruses get spread. A nice back-to-basics overview.

Who knew?!?
Risks of nasty things happening after vaccination pale into insignificance when compared to risks of nasty things happening after is you get Covid-19.
Big study in Israel.

Oh, and finally, please say hi to C.1.2 – South Africa’s new variant!

Leading the world in terrible things once again. So proud.