Category: in the news

Day 448 – More on graphs

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Sometimes (often, in fact), displaying something on a graph can give far more context and relay far more understanding than using words or even numbers. That context and understanding might not be good news, but maybe in those cases it’s even more important to get the message across as quickly, efficiently and straightforwardly as you can.

This graph should do exactly that. And for those exact reasons.

Nearly 8,000 new cases in Gauteng reported yesterday. The highest number ever recorded there. Driven primarily by urban Johannesbeagle and still increasing dramatically, as the black line shows. And the likelihood is that this represents just the tip of the iceberg, with plenty (or more) anecdotal evidence that the community prevalence is actually far higher than those cases being recorded.

And you don’t have to be rocket scientist (or actually even a scientist at all) to consider what’s above and then look at these (smaller, but still equally valid and scary) graphs and see what’s coming for Cape Town soon.

Another week? Maybe two? It’s a pretty unpleasant thought.

While we’re on graphs and their significance, I thought I’d share this – adapted from a tweet by Jens von Bergmann, and used with permission.

Same graph, differing significance depending on your education/viewpoint/desired narrative.

But I guess that one point you can take away from this is by applying it to the graph at the top of the page and – once again – coming to the conclusion that things are looking very bad right now.

Graphs: rid1tweets and mediahack

Day 447 – Level 3

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Alert level 3 for Wave 3.

50 people inside still seems like far too many (and that’s because it is far too many), and research has shown that a partial alcohol ban will have very limited effect on the numbers attending hospital and therefore won’t help much from that point of view. But again (and again and again and again), economically, we can’t survive a full lockdown and the government has to be seen to be doing something. Especially with this situation:

All the other big provinces are now joining the party (I think the Eastern Cape line is hiding behind the Limpopo one). And yes, the Northern Cape is doing its own thing, but if you follow that purple plot, you can see that the Northern Cape is a bit of a law unto itself anyway. I’m guessing (guessing) that this is because the population there is so small that any outbreak at a school or workplace – which would be considered fairly minor elsewhere – shows up even on a graph scaled like this one.

Looking at the previous two waves, the next two months are going to be fairly unpleasant for us all. the problem is (aside from the disastrous vaccine rollout trickleout) full on Covid fatigue. People are understandably fed up and no-one seems to be taking it seriously anymore. And yet the signs are all there that this third wave is going to be a horribly costly. Many of those who have dodged the Covid bullets so far, whether by good fortune or simply by not going to gunfights, are going to be affected. But stick your head up above the parapet and say that, and you get eye rolls and sneers.

I stick my head up and say it anyway. Don’t take unnecessary chances, do wear a mask, do avoid crowds and indoor gatherings. Let’s face it, it’s really not that hard to do: this isn’t rocket science – it’s just science science.

Stay home, stay safe.

Day 441, part 2 – Can’t watch

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News just in. The President is doing a thing at lunchtime:

Sadly, also happening at 12h00 – loadshedding:

Which will prevent me from watching, and which will also prevent any “swift and lasting economic recovery”.

Who’s going to tell him? (Both bits.)

Day 441 – Tweet did not age well

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And by tweet, I mean this one, ridiculing “The ‘third wave’ “:

Look, I get that the increase on the end there wasn’t quite as big as the other two waves (yet), but even before the advantage of hindsight just a few weeks later, we could all see what was coming:

Link

Gauteng took the brunt of an awful Covid day yesterday, with well over half of all the national 8,881 new cases being reported there. The figures were so bad that you could be forgiven for missing them as they leapt by almost 60% in a single day. It’s ok, I’ve got you covered with some detail and a quick MS Paint “red arrow” job.

Yowzers. I believe that is the appropriate clinical expression, anyway.

We don’t have any regional or hotspot restrictions in place and even if we did, they wouldn’t be observed or policed correctly, and it’s too late to make any difference now anyway. We’re in for a crappy few months: the third wave is in full swing (ignore that tweet at the top there) and will inevitably spread from Joburg over the coming weeks, the vaccination programme falls further behind where it needs to be each day, the President and his well-paid Merry Men (and Women) are hugely conspicuous by their absence, and to top it all off, everything – and I mean everything – is hampered by crushingly high levels of loadshedding. We’re due to be without electricity for 7½ hours today.

Victoria Frater on Twitter: ""Now is the winter of our disco tent" #RuinShakespeare @jill_treece ?… "

Billy Shakespeare knew his stuff, hey?

Still, on the plus side

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Mmm. Exactly.

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Day 440 – What were the skies like when you were young?

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A quick mention of Liverpool-based 90s EDM group Apollo 440 before we start.
And mention of this, obviously.

But what would we be starting on?
Well, I ended up down another conspiracy theory rabbit hole this morning. Specifically one about chemtrails and geoengineering. You know, the general tinfoil hattery that we’re all being played for fool by global corporations and the New World Order?

The usual stuff.

But this time, there’s clear evidence that this is a real thing. And that evidence comes in the form of this tweet from @uslawreview:

To be fair, I have no idea what the weather was like where I live 30 or 40 years ago, because I didn’t live here. But judging by the moaning about the cold and rain in winter and the wind in the summer, things have been this way for a while. Perhaps we need some engineering – something to make it cold and rainy in the summer and windy in the winter? I dunno, I’m just brainstorming here.

But why would the weathermen never say a word about the constant spraying? Perhaps because it’s just not a thing. No. Justin Despair knows why. It’s because they’re in on the whole thing:

“Seek sources of truth online,” says Justin, without even a hint of irony in his tweet.

Personally, I blame the pilots. Just like Ricardo.

But maybe I shouldn’t:

But they must still know, right? Last time I was piloting a commercial transcontinental passenger flight, the chemtrails switch was very much a mechanical thing. I had to flick it, just as we passed over @uslawreview’s place, just like my handlers told me to.

My only issue was trying not to notice the dodgy photoshopping on the panel, as I – grimly faced – pumped tens of thousands of litres of weather-altering mind control particulates into the troposphere. Well, that and then not telling anyone about it. Ever.

So weird that so few individuals ever asked about what was going on.

Yeah, I do note that you’re a Sheffield Wednesday fan though, so clearly you must have had something deactivated in your brain.

OK, C.J. Bowden – but remember that Justin told us that the truth was online. Not in the chemical-filled sky. Seems sensible to hide inside and not to be staring at the sun all day.

Gonna have to cut this one short: loadshedding shit just hit the (non-spinning) fan, which is sad, because I was trying to get some fresh air in from outside. The sunshine, the light breeze, the weird “clouds”…