Some tweets

Various subjects. As you’ll read.


First up: Covid (of course).

People go to a festival, think they’re safe because “it’s outdoors” (except the shared car journeys, the indoor bits, the bars and the densely crowded, close contact bits), and then they contract an extremely infectious virus.

It’s nothing new.

We’re told that it’s sociology, rather than epidemiology or microbiology that tells us when a pandemic is over. And looking at things sociologically, in many cases – like the festival(s) above – behaviour has returned to normal. Except, if the pandemic is over, why are so many people still getting infected with the causal agent? And this in summer, as well.
Wider society might think we’re done with Covid. The medical experts will tell you differently.


Crime: It’s a huge problem in South Africa. How do we solve it?

It’s not so difficult, apparently:

Actually, it’s been staring us in the face all the time. Rather than increasing policing, relying on better intelligence or working on active rehabilitation of offenders, people should just stop stealing. Then the crime numbers would come down.

You can’t fault his logic. And if we can make it work on theft, then surely robbery, assault and murder should be addressed in the same way.

Just do less of it.

Crime: Sorted.


Photography: The trouble with it being free.

There is indeed a lot of “vapid shit” in the photography sections of the internet. (And to be fair, in a lot of other sections as well.) But, aside from asking people to produce less of it (see above tactic), would having to pay for trendy, hipster, retro film – like we used to have to do – make people care more?

Probably.

But, it would also price many people out of the photography game. And we would miss out on a lot of talent because of that. And so the best way is not to make a return to the “good old days” of film and cassette, but rather to champion and support and share the really good work out there.

And yes, maybe occasionally take the piss out of the really horrific stuff, just for balance.

Day 537 – Lee Hurst says that I’m a moron

Oh dear.

[clutches pearls]

But then again, Lee Hurst says that Lee Hurst is a comedian.

And he describes vaccination as [clutches pearls again] the “death lottery”:

So maybe we shouldn’t actually care what he thinks.

I really can’t be insulted by someone when I have zero respect for any of their opinions.

Day 531 – Morning musings

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…

__

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.

__

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).

__

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.

__

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.

__

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.

__

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…

__

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 461 – Poor takes

First off, I got a miserable 4/8 right on my Euro 2020 R16 predictions. That’s why I’m not a betting man. No-one could have foreseen France’s weird capitulation, Holland and Sweden’s decisive red cards and England’s… er… win.

It’s not for me to talk about what’s racist and what’s not, but I am completely happy to talk about how you can choose your sources to suit your narrative. So this tweet:

…might seem to make a very fair point until you look at the other UK newspaper front pages this morning and note that the good doc has only chosen the to share the ones that don’t feature Raheem Sterling. Like ignoring the front page of The Sun. Which is usually a very good idea, fair enough, but not for his reasons.

Or The Times:

Even the FT (That’s Financial, not Football) got overlooked:

But while we’re on the subject of poor takes, did England really win? Or is it all part of the “experimental vaccine” plot? Which doesn’t exist, but if it did, was England’s “win” actually just to keep our minds off it?
Sarah Plumley BA PGCE thinks so:

To which the all-knowing Dj42(74404412) sagely replies:

Seems legit, and will surely be proven true when we crash out at the hands of Ukraine at the weekend (not an official prediction) and suddenly realise that we’re now 5g-nanobot chipped, somewhat magnetic, DNA-manipulated, mind-controlled mutant zombies.

Or just a bit less vulnerable to Coronavirus infection. One of the two, anyway.

And not me, anyway, because I won’t see a vaccine for many months yet, thanks to SA’s disastrous vaccine rollout (see 6000 miles… passim).

Sarah’s tweets are a veritable smorgasbord (have you ever known of a smorgasbord that wasn’t veritable?) of Thin Aluminium Millinery: Epstein, Big Pharma, IVM, Trump, “Sheeple” every second post.
It’s amusing to watch her calling other people “brainwashed”.

You could argue that maybe I’m just choosing the tweets that suit my narrative.
However, in Sarah’s case, there weren’t any others available.