Dear people
Canberra has had no known new cases of Covid-19 infection for three weeks. And for that we give thanks to God, to health workers, to the territory government, and to the good sense of the city’s people.
Now, if your home is in Canberra, please stay here; if do you leave, please do not come back. If your home is not in Canberra, we love you, but please stay the fuck away.
And if you break the rules without good cause, I wish upon you the punishment prescribed by James Agee for arms merchants:
"…may [their] loins thaw with a shrieking pain, and may there be slow nails in the skulls of each, and may lost winds of plague unspeakable alight like flies upon their flesh, here in this earth and by public arrangement, to the sweet entertainment of all men of goodwill: and in their death may the vengeance of God shock their flesh from their bones, and their bones off the air, and all that was of them be reduced to the quintessence of pain very eternal, from moment to moment more exquisite everlastingly, by a geometrical increase: unless by improbable miracle they repent themselves straightway and for good." — Permit me voyage (Yale, 1934).
Not kidding. Lives are at stake.
Brian
Category Archives: all too much blog
Autism and a narrowboat: life on a boat saves mental health
Colin has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Because of them, he had to give up his dream career in radio. The conditions leave him with acute anxiety, depression, stress and, rarely, into meltdown. Colin and his partner, Shaun, recently moved for the second time onto a canal narrowboat. The quieter environment and the friendly community on the English canal network massively improved their quality of life. In this video Colin tells his story beautifully during a walk in one of his favourite places.
Polio vaccination and the Covid-19 pandemic.
As a polio survivor myself, I have long been interested in the international campaign to eradicate the disease through vaccinations. Much of the world is now polio-free. But in Pakistan and Afghanistan, last strongholds of wild polio virus, cases increased from 33 in 2018 to 176 in 2019. So far this year, the two countries have confirmed 87 wild polio cases, compared with 64 at this time last year. The real number is likely higher. The vaccination program has been inhibited by Covid-19 precautions and the fears of local populations. Restoration of the Pakistan and Afghanistan vaccination programs will have to overcome the suspicions and refusals that blocked them last year.
Africa is free of the wild virus, but is battling against vaccine-derived virus. So far this year, Africa has reported 133 type 2 cases in 14 countries, up from 47 at this time last year. Hot spots include Ivory Coast and parts of Chad, Mali, Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso, and Niger.
Oral polio vaccine contains an attenuated vaccine-virus, activating an immune response in the body. When a child is immunized, the weakened vaccine-virus replicates in the intestine for a limited period, thereby developing immunity by building up antibodies. During this time, the vaccine-virus is also excreted. In areas of inadequate sanitation, this excreted vaccine-virus can spread in the immediate community before eventually dying out. This can offer protection to other children through ‘passive’ immunization but may also generate infection with vaccine-derived polio. The risk is small compared with that of having no vaccinations at all, but remains troubling.
Source: Leslie Roberts, “Polio vaccinators are back after pandemic pause,” Science 369, no. 6502 (24 Jul 2020): 360, doi: 10.1126/science.369.6502.360.
HAL ships sold
Holland America Line has announced the sale of its ships Amsterdam, Maasdam, Rotterdam and Veendam to “undisclosed buyers” — about 30% of its fleet. This is a big chunk of parent-company Carnival’s downsizing plans, with many ships go by October 2020. Holland America is especially vulnerable to the Covid-19 slump as the demographic to which it appeals includes older people who may be reluctant to resume cruising. Our first cruise was on the Veendam in 2014 and we have also travelled on the Maasdam. We enjoy the somewhat smaller size of such ships compared to many recently-built behemoths.
Maasdam joined Holland America in 1993 as the second of four S-Class ships. Carrying 1,258 guests, it was the fourth Holland America Line ship named Maasdam name. Most recently, the 55,575-ton ship sailed longer South Pacific and Alaska voyages. The 57,092-ton Veendam, the final S-Class ship, was delivered in 1996. The fourth ship of that name, it carried 1,350 guests.
Loss of cruise ships is certainly a “first-world problem.” Nonetheless it is sad that an excellent company suffers the loss of fine ships for such an ignominious reason.
Propelled into history
In an earlier page I mentioned the VGSS Lady Loch; my great-grandfather John Slater Anderson was among those who designed and built it.
A spare propeller of about three tons weight was cast for the Lady Loch at the time of her construction in 1886. Lady Loch was a 487-ton steam vessel built in Melbourne by Campbell, Sloss & McCann in 1886 for colonial Victoria’s Department of Trade & Customs. She was used by Victoria as a lighthouse tender. With federation, care of lighthouses was transferred to the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth bought the vessel and, presumably, the spare propeller. After a chequered history, Lady Loch became a mere hulk and was finally scuttled in Moreton Bay in 1962.
For some years, the propeller was displayed on the street frontage of a government building in Mort Street, Canberra. When the building was demolished and the propeller moved. I wrote to ask of its whereabouts.
Dr Steven Kennedy, PSM, Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development, kindly replied that his department and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority had arranged for the propeller to be displayed in the newly established Seafarers Rest Park in Melbourne. The Park is being developed along the Yarra River in the heart of the city. The propeller is seen above on a truck as it arrived in Melbourne. The park is next to the heritage building of the Mission to Seafarers an active Christian ministry caring for merchant sailors who visit our ports.
The KABOOM found!
Long has Marvin lamented, “There was a supposed to be an Earth-shattering “Kaboom!”.
The AuthaGraph
The problem of projecting the Earth’s spherical surface onto a flat page has vexed cartographers for centuries. Here’s one brilliant solution, the AuthaGraph, designed by Hajime Narukawa. This rectangular world map is made by equally dividing a spherical surface into 96 triangles, transferring it to a tetrahedron while maintaining areas proportions and unfolding it to be a rectangle. The world map can be tiled in any direction without visible seams.
The wisdom and integrity of governors
“Much of the strength and efficiency of any Government, in procuring and securing happiness to the people depends on opinion, on the general opinion of the goodness of that government as well as of the wisdom and integrity of its governors.”—Benjamin Franklin’s final speech in the constitutional convention, 1787
Today’s the day
Perhaps this will do the job
Is it today?
I need the complete set of these.