It had to happen.

The 2020 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race officially cancelled amid COVID-19 concerns.

The 2020 Sydney to Hobart has officially been cancelled amid growing COVID-19 concerns.

The iconic event will not take place for the first time in 76 years following a recent surge in coronavirus cases on Sydney’s northern beaches.

On Friday, the Tasmanian Government declared Greater Sydney a “medium risk” zone, meaning travellers from Sydney would be required to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in Tasmania.

About 150 of the sailors scheduled to depart of Boxing Day live on Sydney’s northern beaches, meaning approximately one third of the fleet was affected by the decision.

As result, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia confirmed the bombshell announcement on Saturday evening, conceding it was unrealistic to proceed with the race.

Yes, that is quite a Christmas spoiler.
No surprise for that with the newly increased infection rate SARS2 variant, and with the demonstrated ineffectiveness of the present social measures to contain it.

Then also, this sort of attitude:

... his view was that he's had 58 years of not wearing a mask and everyone else should 'keep their noses out of his business'. Also he commented that COVID-19 is everyone else's problem and nothing to do with him...

... is unhealthily likely far too prevalent.

I am still amazed at how so many people still do not wear masks, leaving the masks dangling uselessly around their necks as ornaments in case they get challenged. Or when actually wearing a mask, they position their mask to cover up only their mouths leaving their noses clear to transmit and receive COVID. Too many people really seem to not to get the idea about infection or even that we have a continuing expensive deadly pandemic.

Crazy?!!!

Yep!
A little bit of history which I'm pretty sure not many are aware of in today's society.
Jan 1918 - Dec 1920 was how long the Spanish Flu pandemic lasted with 4 waves, the 2nd being the deadliest.
Medical science was advanced for the time but somewhat primitive compared to today, however, they coped, difficult as it was.
Move forward 2 decades.
Scotland Yard with the security services as well as all police forces had the UK in total lockdown security wise. No technological marvels as seen today. Spies had 2 choices, turn & help the allies or die.
Locking down a country, yet still allowing people to enter & leave?
Sheesh!

Went shopping yesterday morning to do as much as we could for 2 reasons - To tide us over the holidays & to lessen the need for regular trips.
The number of people without masks were many, no wonder the infections here had risen sharply.
Seeing this report: Tier 4
I had to chuckle to myself after looking at the picture.
It ties in with our return from the shops, the post had been delivered.
One of the cards received stated the following:
"Hope you both have a good Xmas despite this covid rubbish".
& finally, received several calls this week from friends & customers lambasting me for not allowing them to visit - All believe that covid is a hoax by governments.

These very same people much rather believe all they hear & see on Facebook & Youtube & that people like me are fools for accepting the current situation.
With practically everything being profit centric, ignoring history will more than likely end up very expensive.
Can you imagine 3 years of this?
Civil rights organisations have it backwards I'm afraid.

The other key problem is a $900bn (£665bn) coronavirus economic relief package that has been stalled by months of partisan wrangling.
The latest stumbling block appears to be the complicated issue of emergency Federal Reserve powers. These are normally used to deal with market turmoil and the Republicans do not want Joe Biden to have the power to use them on Covid after he takes office on 20 January.

America - Land of the free & home of the brave.
Sheesh!
At least someone stands up & admits mistake

Let's get straight into the case race this time.

Well El Salvador has finally put in their catch up numbers so I can now safely say that Norway has claimed 93rd place while Denmark has knocked Greece out of 61st, Slovakia passed Bolivia to grab 54th, Japan re-passed Croatia as both over took the U.A.E. to land in 45th and 46th places and Georgia convincingly took 42nd from Ecuador.

Hungary became the 37th country to pass 300,000 cases, Canada passed Bangladesh to become the 26th country to pass 500,000, Chile snuck past Iraq to claim 24th while Mexico (13th) passed 1.3 million infections as both Turkey (6th) and the U.K. (7th) passed 2 million, but it looks like the U.K. is determined to reclaim 6th place back, and the U.S. flew past 18 million.

Meanwhile the world's total case tally passed 76.6 million while deaths passed 1,691,000. :-(

Anyhow that's it for today's update.

"Hope you both have a good Xmas despite this covid rubbish".
& finally, received several calls this week from friends & customers lambasting me for not allowing them to visit - All believe that covid is a hoax by governments.

These very same people much rather believe all they hear & see on Facebook & Youtube & that people like me are fools for accepting the current situation.

They have lost the life they loved.
https://psychcentral.com/lib/the-5-stages-of-loss-and-grief

1. Denial & Isolation
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

Can you imagine 3 years of this?

Couldn't imagine 4 years of tRump.

Civil rights organisations have it backwards I'm afraid.

They are civil rights organizations and there are criminals who claim a civil right to be criminal.
Think of the Hells Angels and Mongols MC. Then think of the NAACP, SPLC and ACLU.
I hope you see the difference.

They are civil rights organizations and there are criminals who claim a civil right to be criminal.
Think of the Hells Angels and Mongols MC. Then think of the NAACP, SPLC and ACLU.
I hope you see the difference.

The 1st 2 here are listed as outlawed gangs (don't get caught wearing your colours out in public) and are the biggest importers/suppliers of illegal weaponry, the last 3 would have no problems here at all. ;-)

I am still amazed at how so many people still do not wear masks, leaving the masks dangling uselessly around their necks as ornaments in case they get challenged. Or when actually wearing a mask, they position their mask to cover up only their mouths leaving their noses clear to transmit and receive COVID. Too many people really seem to not to get the idea about infection or even that we have a continuing expensive deadly pandemic.

This is the main reason why I have changed my lifestyle.

I used to go for a daily walk, doing my shopping en route, however I saw so may people is shops and on public transport using masks as stated above. I will be 70 in April and in an "at risk" category.

Also there has been a massive rise in bikes and e-scooters using the pavement, I have had several near misses with both.

So I brought myself a treadmill, which I use everyday and I now have my shopping delivered.

I wonder if and when I will feel safe outside again.

By the end of the last reporting period the world's total case tally had passed 77.1 million while deaths are now past 1,699,000. :-(

In the case race Nigeria took 83rd spot from North Macedonia, Ireland passed Kyrgyzstan to move back into 81st as they pick up the pace again while Libya reclaimed 76th as they passed Kenya, Lithuania swept Venezuela out of 70th as Tunisia easily removed Ethiopia from 66th, Denmark blasted Guatemala out of 60th, Lebanon slipped past Costa Rica and into 51st.

Azerbaijan became the 44th country to pass 200,000 infections as Serbia became the 38th to pass 300,000 while Bangladesh became the 27th to pass 500,000, Czechia soundly removed Belgium from 21st and the U.K. set itself a new daily case record of 35,928 to reclaim 6th place back from Turkey, but from independent reports within Turkey it seems that the government maybe trying the true extent of their problem with some doctors claiming the daily case numbers a likely 3 times higher than being officially reported so I wouldn't be surprised if they have another huge correction coming.

Meanwhile our northern beaches cluster has now grown to 83 after more than 38,000 people came forward for testing yesterday picking up another 15, but it does look like we have a lot of Donald Ducks and Mickey Mouses in that area along with a lot of people putting false contact numbers down which doesn't help infection tracing efforts in what is mainly a very well to do area of Sydney. :-(

Anyhow that's it for today's update.

Hopes that the new covid-19 strain will not spread to the rest of the world seem dashed as a report from down under says the new strain has been detected in Sydney.

No need for tougher rules for returned travellers after Australia records two cases of new virus strain

On a follow up to my last, it would seem that the UK is being punished for telling the World about the mutation, which is exactly what the World demanded after it looks like China suppressed all information for at least 6 weeks.

It looks like this UK mutation is a variation of mutation N501Y, which was first detected in Brazil last April which is already in Australia and the US.
It was South Africa that informed the UK scientists to look at N501Y as the rapid spike there has been caused by variation N501.V2 and the UK version is another variation with 23 separate mutations from the original strain. Besides being found in Australia it has already been detected in several European countries.

It will spread further no doubt.

On a follow up to my last, it would seem that the UK is being punished for telling the World about the mutation, which is exactly what the World demanded after it looks like China suppressed all information for at least 6 weeks.

Don't mention the politics of Brexit and the still unresolved "Hundreds Years War" from hundreds of years ago still...

(Cue (in)famous Fawlty Towers sketch...)

[...]
It will spread further no doubt.

By the power of international aviation, undoubtedly.

Aided and abetted by passenger ignorance and operators' greed.


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

OK, I won't mention the Treaty of Troyes.

Aided and abetted by passenger ignorance and operators' greed.

I would amend that line to read:
Aided and abetted by passenger ignorance arrogance and operators' greed.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Looks like hard Brexit just arrived.

Looks like hard Brexit just arrived.

Don't you believe it.
Macron's stance is only because he has an election next year, and will soon change when he can't get fish for dinner.

Title says it all:


COVID-19 is now the leading cause of death in the U.S.
wrote:

COVID-19 is now the leading cause of death in the United States, according to an editorial published Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association...

... the current death rate from COVID-19 is the equivalent of 15 airplanes crashing every day, each carrying 150 passengers...

... "One American is dying of COVID-19 every 40 seconds now," ... That this virus is the leading cause of death in the U.S. is a sobering milestone that I hope reinforces to all Americans the importance of following [all] safety protocols."

Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

By the end of the last reporting period the world's case total had passed 77.7 million why death passed 1.7 million. :-(

In the case race Norway nudged Montenegro from 92nd place, Malaysia leapt over Kenya and Libya to claim 76th while Paraguay became the 74th country to pass 100,000 cases, Slovenia slipped past Bosnia/Herzegovina into 72nd and Denmark blasted Moldova out of 59th as the Netherlands became the 19th country to pass 700,000 infections.

Meanwhile here in Australia our northern beaches cluster has now grown to 90 so hopefully they'll have that under control very soon as testing stations continue to be swamped.

There's still no change to the top 20 in the death race, but Turkey (19th) is getting closer to Belgium.

That's it for now, but stay tuned for more updates.

It was only a matter of time until someone screwed up. :-(

Coronavirus cases recorded in Antarctica at Chilean research station.

Antarctica can no longer lay claim to being the only continent free of coronavirus after 36 Chileans reportedly tested positive for COVID-19.

Spanish-language media has reported up to 36 people connected with the Chilean Army base General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme tested positive for the virus on Monday.

The research station, known colloquially as O'Higgins, is one of 13 active Chilean bases in Antarctica.

It is located close to the northern-most tip of the Antarctic Peninsula in West Antarctica — far from Australia's bases in East Antarctica — and was described by one travel website as "hard to reach even by Antarctic terms".

Wonder what Kris & Ali think. :-)

At least Taiwan knows how to hurt those who break the rules.
Pilot fined & sacked