vlad
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Interesting discussion on Kerryn Phelps’s “coming out” on Igor Chudov’s substack. For those not familiar with the name. Phelps has a huge public profile here in Australia.
Vlad
Susmarie
Always loved Joni, but prefer the later recording of this song. Like June Tabor’s two recordings of “Grey Funnel Line” (the earlier one with Maddy Prior), by the time we get to sixtyish we are starting to feel the darkness a bit more. June’s later version comes from her album “Ashore” – a masterpiece in my humble opinion.
Vlad
Thanks for that Boogaloo – I hadn’t been able to find that one. Mainly I come across fairly superficial stuff about how “effective” it is (or was!). It looks to me like the trial population size was fairly small and that, of course, it’s too early for any longer-term issues to become apparent. My concern is for my partner, who, while generally pro-vaccine (and is considering Novavax), but has auto-immune issues and quite rightly won’t go anywhere near the mRNA stuff.
Hi All,
I’ve just read tis morning that Novavax has been approved for use here in Australia. I’m assuming – since it was developed for the original strain – that its effectiveness against Omicron will be minimal. However, for possible future reference, can anyone point me toward some reliable independent data on the safety profile of this particular vaccine. Thanks!
Another crack in the narrative – from today’s Guardian, Australia edition – paragraph two…
More anecdotes. About half my friendship circle have been vaccinated. Three of them have recently had “the worst cold I’ve ever had” (one twice!). Independently of each other, they all said that they blamed their immune systems being “out of practice” during Covid lockdowns etc. I didn’t want to say anything “difficult” as these are all people supportive of those not vaccinated, so I just murmured a vague agreement.
Just watched the video of the two docs talking about spike proteins/ADE etc. As it was a North American site I assume they were talking about Pfizer/Moderna. Could someone comment on whether AsraZeneca is the same or similar in regard to this particular danger?
re. Berejiklian “You’ll be going backwards” – today she’s under investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption. Karma.
Upstate..
I sometimes add someting to the comments at the Australian “Conversation” site, which is a bit like an atheist trying to address a synod. They get testy. However, and encouragingly, I’ve noticed a bit of a push back in the last week or so – particularly on the subject of vaccine pasdports. Seems the penny is beginning to drop about transmission of Covid by the vaxxed.
Today the Australian government announced it’s big new TV ad campaign, which goes something like “Go arm yourself with a vaccine” (oh so clever…). As several people have immediately pointed out, it sounds like something a bit different. Freudian slip?
Dr. D
“Gosh, I feel like Nassim sometimes”
Yes, it’s the Snowman thing, isn’t it? No point looking here in Adelaide for any, ten minutes ago we just passed our hottest temperature in history (46.2degC, since you ask), with the hottest part of the afternoon still to come. Similar records set all over South Australia, with Australia’s hottest ever temperature (50.7) seriously under threat in the next hour or two…
Latest update from the mini Ice Age:
Seems that climate change deniers all over the internet have just discovered Valentina Zharkova and her sunspots (or lack thereof). Manna from heaven! Maybe they should read this, then go and lie down for a bit. But they won’t…
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/mini-ice-age-hoopla-giant-failure-science-communication/
Yes, I know, it’s the mainstream media, and they are just making up the stuff about Queensland. California too, probably.
Nice summary of Ukraine, Illargi – thanks! I tried talking about this to someone of Ukrainian descent a little while back. Waste of time. Things have moved on a bit since 1950.
Seems that for every Illinois, there is a Queensland…
https://www.9news.com.au/2018/11/26/19/59/queensland-heatwave-fire-fighters-stretched-70-fires
And, as they say, it isn’t even summer yet…
Dr D
Are you channelling Nassim with this “coldest Australia” meme? I can’t remember last summer being any different from the other scorchers we have had in recent years. But then, I’m only one person in one place, so I thought I’d better consult the relevant data…
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/season/aus/archive/201802.summary.shtml
I think the pertinent phrase is “Summer 2017-18 was exceptionally warm for Australia”…
HI Nassim,
I know you were away for a bit, so may have forgotten that the eastern seaboard of Australia almost invariably gets hit with a big cold front in June. It’s why people book their ski holidays then. Just for the record, all Australian state capitals except Sydney (Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth Adelaide and Hobart) are currently at about half to three-quarters of a degree Celsius above their mean top temperatures for June. Sydney is right on the average. Anyway, thanks for sparing us the photographs of snowpersons this time!
Cheers,
Vlad
I’ll tell you why, Nassim – because, with two days of the month to go, Perth’s average top temperature for January is bang on the long-term average. Are you trying to ruin their tourism industry or something? And why no mention of poor old Adelaide, where the January average top is currently 4 (count ’em) degrees Celsius above the long term average. I’ve got sleepless night to prove it. That wouldn’t be some sort of admission, would it? Enjoying your pieces on the Middle East, by the way…
Absolutely right about 1939, Nassim – it was also the day of the most extensive bushfire in the state’s history. Not a record I want to see exceeded anytime soon. That record temperature has had a close shave in more recent times, though. 2009, and 2014 when I think it reached 45.6 in central Adelaide. I remember that day well, because for some stupid reason I travelled up to the northern suburbs to see a friend, the latter part of the trip being in a non-air conditioned bus. I believe it was over 47 up there that day, and I nearly didn’t make it to his front door. By the way, we’ve got a few more days coming later this week forecast to get into the low forties, so if you want to fire off some more “freezing Melbourne” stories I may have a few headlines to counter with.
Anyway, to broaden it out a bit, I’m sure you already know that nine of the ten hottest years on record in Adelaide have come since 2002. Coincidentally, that was the year I headed up to the Adelaide Hills in an attempt to escape the worst of the summer heat (weather is fine for the rest of the year). Perhaps then, instead of giving us a photo of frozen eyebrows in Kazakhstan (cute, but as useful an indicator of climate trends as my currently comatose cat), you could dig out some data showing nine out of the ten coldest years in Kazakhstan have occurred since 2002, then I’ll get interested. Actually, anywhere would do…
Today’s weather report from Central Adelaide, Australia. Estimated top temperature from the Bureau of Meteorology – 36deg. Actual top (2.20pm) – 39 deg. Wimps. They’ll have to stop reading Nassim’s posts, I reckon.
Nassim – I like a lot of your comments, but this temperature obsession is getting me irritated. First, predicted top temperatures and actual top temperatures are not the same thing. BoMs predictions are the best going around, but they are still only predictions. Today in Adelaide the prediction was for a top of 35c, but it got to 39. So what?. Second, the hottest time of day (and I’ve lived in Melbourne too) can just as easily be mid-morning, or early evening – so not necessarily the convenient time of 3.30pm. As you would well know, it depends on when the northerlies are strongest. Third, your use of Williamstown as a reference point is interesting, given it is stuck out in Port Phillip bay. Conveniently for you, BoM does not measure at Williamstown, but I imagine it would be a fair bit cooler than Central Melbourne. After all, western Sydney can be several degrees hotter than central Sydney. It’s a big place. How about using Melbourne (Olympic Park) as the measure – that’s pretty central. It also happens to be where the Australian Open tennis is being played at the moment – anyone wanting to know what was going on there yesterday should google “Australian Open tennis” and “heat”, It didn’t look like 28c to me…
