Wednesday, April 21st, 2021

Windy

Today brought another sun filled day despite the forecast for rain. However a cold front is moving in bringing temperatures almost to freezing point tonight. I may need to run out and bring those herbs and Geraniums in for the night!.

Overall it has been extremely windy, so much so that the dead branch which has been dangling on the oak tree for almost a year now succumbed and fell, fortunately not taking down any of the dogwoods in the process. The wind has a definite chill factor to it; so much so I canceled the walk with my French neighbor. Instead I spend the evening cooking pasta and frying steak so EM has a lunch to take to school tomorrow.

The strong winds today also reminded me of Cape Town, where we live with strong winds for weeks on end. When the Southeaster dies down, one wakes up in the middle of the night because it is suddenly so quiet. I am sad for Cape Town these days. Another wildfire has not only devasted large parts of the Table Mountain National Park, but also reached the University of Cape Town. The library I spend so many hours in and which had rare collection of original African literature and documents has burned to the ground. Many buildings, including the dorms on the Upper Campus have been damaged. The building can be repaired or rebuild. The books are gone forever. What a sad day! Kudos though to the fire fighters who have risk their lives to bring the fire under control. This took 36 hours. Where once there was fynboos, there is now only scorched earth and the devasted area is enormous. The fire was so strong it created its own winds fanning it further. What a sad day.

My workday was the same as always – busy, which I enjoy. EM had an asynchronous learning day, meaning nothing, and headed of to the Y to work as lifeguard. She was on the chair during my lap time and I fear her judgement of my swim style. She will be all over me about my kicks. Oh well.

On the virus front numbers are plateauing in the USA. Over the past twenty-four hours 60k new cases were reported to bring the total to 32.6 million nationwide. On the positive side more than 30% of the population are fully vaccinated and 60% have received at least one dose. I am admittedly in awe of this achievement. The Biden administration clearly means business. Thank you for giving us the shots! Now what matters is capturing the other half.

Particularly Trump voters do not want to be vaccinated (though they do want the card which comes with it to enjoy the benefits those who are inoculated May enjoy) and they would rather believe politicians over scientists. Never mind that the former Moron in Chief got imself vaccinated on the sly. That kind of says it all. CDC is worried, that Trumpsters are enough to undermine the overall vaccination effort. In my view that would be the only reason to pay attention to them, as otherwise it is called natural selection.

What is interesting is their general preference for the JNJ shot as it is a single shot vaccine and the pause has left the impression that safety protocols are working. The general sentiment among the focus groups seems to be that the side effects are extremely rare, outweighing the risks to the benefits. Also, there have been no discussions of a JNJ booster, further adding to its attractiveness. Based on this CDC should rethink how is distributes doses. Maybe send all JNJ shots to deep red counties.

While the previous administration did do well in funding the development of various vaccines many of their other investments were shady at best. Billions were awarded to incompetent and inexperienced firms to produce medical supplies. To date none have delivered.

There apparently is an entire science on how to name viruses and their mutants. 

I never knew!