World Pandemic: Coronavirus
Nov 21 2020
As the world approaches 60 million covid-19 cases and 1.5 million deaths I myself have some underlying doubts as to just what is really going on out there. Strange stories are circulating, things ain't adding up, statistics are not backing up the so-called facts. For instance, my 90-year-old father, who is very sick and in the hospital caught covid last week. The most fragile, weak and immunity compromised man you could possibly think of didn't have one symptom of this "killer" disease he was asymptomatic. His 90-year-old wife with heart disease came down with the virus and although poorly she was never in any danger.
Elon Musk tested positive and negative twice in one day last week? Despite all the fearmongering the facts are not staking up with the stats, in the UK at least. Today a report in the Daily Mail shows the incredible discrepancies we are being fed regarding the covid crisis.
Nov 26 2020
Israel and Saudi Arabia see the next two months as the last chance they will have to knock out Iran's nuclear capability and its plans to be the dominant power in the Middle East. The United States earlier this week deployed several nuclear-capable heavy bombers to the Middle East in an apparent threat to Iran, amid swirling speculation that US President Donald Trump plans to take military action against Tehran before leaving office in January 2021. The bombers were seen flying in Israel airspace. Yesterday, The Times of Israel reported, Israel Defence Force, IDF was preparing in case Trump launches parting strike on Iran Israeli officials believe final weeks of Trump administration will be ‘very sensitive’ for the region, though there is no specific intel on looming US attack on nuclear facilities.
Volcanoes
The Sinabung volcano on Indonesia's Sumatra Island erupted Saturday spewing ash and smoke 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) above its crater. A worrying statistic which is never mentioned by the mainstream media is Mount Sinabung itself sits just 20 miles north of Lake Toba which is a massive supervolcano and is capable of plunging the Earth into a year without summer.
The Sinabung volcano on Indonesia's Sumatra Island erupted Saturday spewing ash and smoke 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) above its crater. The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazar Mitigation (PVMBG) warned residents should not have any activity near the volcano, with official Muhammed Nurul Assori de Naman urging those in the Teran, Berastagi, Simpang and Merdeka regions are being warned to wear masks to shield against ash rain. The volcano reactivated for the first time in four centuries in 2010. A total of 23 people were killed in 2014 and 2016 from eruptions.
Major quakes
A very powerful magnitude 7.0 - rocks Greece and Turkey: A series of mini-tsunamis hit the island following the tremor: Today's quake was the 8th major quake (mag 6 or higher) of October and the 105th of 2020
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale hit the island of Samos on Friday around the noon hour, leading residents to run into the streets and triggering fears of a tsunami. Lasting for a prolonged time, the temblor was very shallow at a depth of only 2 kilometres (1.24 miles) and was felt just before noon all around the nation of Greece. The epicentre of the earthquake, which jolted the entire nation, was on the island of Samos, just off the Turkish coast.
However, the temblor was felt all the way west to the region of Attica and also on Rhodes, Syros, Crete and in other parts of the country. The coastal city of Smyrna, on the Turkish coast, suffered a great deal of damage, according to early reports. On Samos, some buildings were damaged, including a church. Authorities on Samos are now assessing the situation.
Rescue services and the army are scrambling to deal with the fallout. At least 150,000 homes have been left without electricity. "The situation with the electricity supply remains very difficult - the destruction is widespread," the deputy head of the region's government, Elena Parkhamenko, said.
Hurricanes and cyclones
Nov 25 2020
The extremely active 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is drawing to a close with a record-breaking 30 named storms and 12 landfalling storms in the continental United States. While the official hurricane season concludes on November 30, tropical storms may continue to develop past that day. On the morning of July 22, 2020, NOAA’s GOES-East satellite zoomed in on newly-formed Hurricane Gonzalo, the seventh named storm of the 2020 Hurricane Season. NOAA’s seasonal hurricane outlooks accurately predicted a high likelihood of an above-normal season with a strong possibility of it being extremely active. Nov 25 2020
Spaceweather
On September 15, 2020, NASA confirmed Solar Cycle 25 had officially begun - The solar minimum between Solar Cycle 24 and 25 - the period when the sun is least active - happened in December 2019, when the 13-month smoothed sunspot number fell to 1.8, according to the Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel, co-chaired by NOAA and NASA. We are now in Solar Cycle 25 with peak sunspot activity expected in 2025, the panel said.
Yesterday, Nov. 8th (0518 UT), our sun became active as giant sunspots AR2781 produced a C5-class solar flare, shown above in a photo from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory: A pulse of X-rays and UV radiation ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere, causing a brief shortwave radio blackout over Australia and the Indian Ocean (see the map below).
Manmade disasters
South Korea's public health agency said Thursday that a total of 94 people, most of whom were elderly, died after receiving seasonal flu vaccines. The deaths have stoked public anxiety over the safety of such vaccines, but the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said 87 of those deaths have a very limited relationship with the flu shots. Another seven cases are under investigation.
Of the total, 40 people were in their 70s, followed by 38 people aged 80 or older, eight under 60 and eight in their 60s, the KDCA said. The health authorities have repeatedly said they have found no direct link between flu shots and deaths, urging people to get flu vaccinations before the onset of winter amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Climate Change
La Niña is underway in the tropical Pacific. La Niña typically increases the likelihood of above-average rainfall across much of Australia during spring and early summer. However, with Summer still a while away, Sydney temperatures are set to soar over the weekend as NSW is headed for an early heatwave with temperatures inching toward the 50 deg C, (122 deg F) mark bringing with it the threat of another early start to another wildfire season.
Nov 26 2020
The Ministry of Health in Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) reported a human case of infection with an avian influenza A(H5N1) virus. The case is a one-year-old female who developed symptoms of fever, productive cough, difficulty breathing and runny nose on 13 October 2020. She was hospitalized for her illness on 16 October and discharged on 19 October.
As part of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) sentinel surveillance, a specimen was collected on the date of hospitalization and confirmed to be positive for avian influenza A(H5N1) on 28 October by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) at the National Centre for Laboratory and Epidemiology (NCLE).
Animal Die-Offs
Nov 25 2020
A mass stranding on the far-flung Chatham Islands in the Pacific Ocean has resulted in the deaths of more than 120 whales. Ninety-seven pilot whales and three dolphins have died in the stranding, with 28 pilot whales and three dolphins having to be euthanised, said staff from New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DoC). Nov 25 2020
The Chatham Islands is part of New Zealand but lies 800km to the east, delaying the mission to rescue the animals. The DoC said the mass-stranding occurred on a "remote beach" over the weekend and it was alerted to the event on Sunday.
Environment
The 3,500-mile-long, (5,600 km) cloud, dubbed the “Godzilla dust cloud,” travelled 5,000 miles (8,047 km) and has now arrived in the southern US where COVID-19 cases have recently spiked causing concern among doctors.
'The Godzilla dust cloud' which left the Shara earlier in the month has arrived over the U.S. Southeast, raising health concerns. Forecasters are expecting a thick brown haze raising more health concerns in states where the coronavirus crisis is worsening.
Nov 25 2020
After last year's record-busting heatwaves and wildfire season, Australia was hoping for a rather wet summer season this year with the onset of La Niña. La Niña typically increases the likelihood of above-average rainfall across much of Australia during spring and early summer. However, with Summer still a while away, Sydney temperatures are set to soar over the weekend as NSW is headed for an early heatwave with temperatures inching toward the 50 deg C, (122 deg F) mark bringing with it the threat of another early start to another wildfire season.
Meanwhile, a bushfire, coined as "the biggest one in living memory" has scorched a third of the World Heritage Area of Queensland's idyllic Fraser Island, six weeks after being sparked by an illegal campfire. Nov 25 2020
Religion
Photo of the day
A letter from Holland: Unusual skies this week in the Amsterdam region as the world enters lockdown: Libertine, tolerant and free Amsterdam is at this moment just like the rest of the world, empty as the Covid-19 threat takes hold
As I walk my dog every day I come across only occasional other dog walkers or runners who are only too ready to distance themselves from me, eying me with caution. Empty busses pass me by as do the occasional automobile, however, Holland wouldn't be Holland without bicycles and scooters and, this is the mode of transport at the moment, especially for the kids.
