Bringing it forward
As I have related here, I had my first AstraZeneca vaccination at lunchtime on the last day of June and was due to get the second dose the requisite 12 weeks later (i.e. September 22)1.
Articles from THE BLOT REPORT
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The outer ring
I read The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells recently, and despite its title, it is hopeful that we can actually do something to prevent the worst outcomes of climate change. Late in the book he writes about Copernicus who found that the Earth revolves around the sun and how this fact, to some extent, consigned humans to the periphery of the then known universe. This, he asserts is what happens to men with the birth of children and then grandchildren.
Warnings from Iceland, Israel and the UK
After a national cabinet meeting in July, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced vaccine targets for eased restrictions, saying that 70% of the adult population needed to be fully vaccinated before the country moved to Phase 2 of his plan for opening up the nation1. This ‘plan’ for Australia to open up was come up with after various targets and horizons had been jettisoned, largely because of a lack of vaccine supply2.
The Morrison nightmare
We are in the middle of the Morrison nightmare. While the pandemic apparently all began in China when a virus jumped species in late 2019, it arrived in Australia in January 2020. Assorted companies scrambled to develop an effective vaccine and in anticipation of their eventual production, many nations had at least signed memoranda of understanding with several companies, so they didn’t put all their eggs in one basket.
Trent Zimmerman and Craig Kelly
You’d think Trent Zimmerman and Craig Kelly would have very little in common. After all Zimmerman gives the impression of being urbane and reasonably intelligent, while Craig Kelly seems to be as silly as a two-bob watch. However, they do have much in common and are very similar people if you look at how they behave as parliamentarians.
Lag time
Some idiots have demonstrated their ignorance about the Covid-19 pandemic in stating that because there are fewer deaths in the current outbreaks, then the Delta variant has a lower mortality rate. The only time you can determine the death rate is after the event, or if you look at the number of deaths today and compare that with the number of cases in the past. That is because there is a lag time between infection of a person and their possible death from the virus.
From denigration to emulation
When Victoria went into lockdown to defeat its devastating second wave of Covid-19 infection late in 2020, all sorts of Liberal politicians both state and federal belted them for their actions. The fact that Victorian state politicians did so is understandable, given they are trying to desperately make an impression, any sort of impression, after buggering up their campaign in the most recent state election1.
Murdoch’s nadir by Morrow
The verminous James Morrow, one of the three stooges on Sky After Dark’s Outsiders menagerie of stupidity and gullibility1,2, has really claimed a new nadir of Murdoch bastardry, and this bastardry has been so clearly in evidence during this pandemic. Morrow has done a hatchet job on Dr Norman Swan, Professor Bill Bowtell, Dr Jeannette Young, Professor Raina MacIntyre, and Professor Nicola Spurrier.