COVID-19 infections are decreasing in South Africa, with 10,336 new infections reported on average each day. That’s 44% of the peak — the highest daily average reported on December 16.
"Hi, My name is Harry and you are my host. I feel the same way you do: Live a long life and reproduce to the best of my ability. Let's get along and treat each other with respect.
I don't want to kill you and my offspring inside your dying body, so I have decided to stay away from your lungs and hang out in your airways instead. That way I can quickly jump from one of you to the next one without putting you into isolation in a hospital, because you can still breathe without much difficulty.
I'm OK, you're OK. We get along."
Reply: " That works for me too Harry; gives me time to figure out how to get along with you so that you can fit in with all the gazillion other critters that live inside me. Welcome to the family"
Report by Helge Nome
Back in the 1990ies there was a call for government services to be decentralized and more control to be given to local people. In 1998-99 representatives from the Diamond Willow Child and Family Services Authority, which served Central Alberta in those days, approached people in the Caroline area with the idea of setting up an independent local organization to serve people looking for support from government and private programs in the human services field.
The offer was accepted, a board was formed under the umbrella of the Village of Caroline Council, and a coordinator, Dallas Logan was hired. Her base was the Village office in Caroline and the greeting to prospective walk-ins was: "You are in the right place, how may I help you?" The idea was for people to be able to walk in off the street and inquire about programs and services available, rather than being bounced around between agencies, trying to find a way to deal with a concern.
The official opening of Caroline Neighbourhood Place, based on a funding commitment from the Alberta Government, happened on October 27, 2000 on the front steps of the Village office.
Since then, Caroline Neighbourhood Place, under the direction of a volunteer board, has operated out of several local venues providing a range of services to the community:
Persons have access to support through walk-ins, phone, email and receive assistance with resources and materials for whatever their situation may be. Hosting of various community workshops and presentations, including the annual Volunteer Appreciation event. Publishing the "Around Caroline" monthly newsletter and lately, Covid 19 resources and financial support for the Caroline Meals on Wheels program. The "Santas Anonymous" and "Adopt a Family/Senior" programs are also run by Caroline Neighbourhood Place.
Not long after its establishment, Caroline Neighbourhood Place became a not-for-profit society operating under an independent board and established cooperative relationships with many local groups and individuals including the Village of Caroline (its mother duck), Caroline School, Asoekwin Friendship Centre, Clearwater Family and Community Support Services, Rocky Community Learning Council, Shepherd's Food Bank in Caroline and others.
Since 2013, Sara Turchet has ably managed the affairs of the society and is currently based in an office in the mini mall next to ATB Financial in Caroline. This office space is also available to other community groups to serve the local community on an as-needed basis.
Op Ed by Helge Nome
Right now, at Christmas 2021, the COVID Omicron variant is having a field day in the Earth's human population with health authorities across the world pushing the panic button.
I think this might be the beginning of the end of the pandemic with so many being infected that the bug will run out of fuel within a fairly short time frame.
Not unlike what happened during the 1918-20 flu pandemic. The pattern of the 2019 - 21? pandemic is very similar, giving me a sense of optimism for life to return to normal next year.
History has a tendency to repeat itself and Omicron might be a blessing in disguise.
Op Ed by Helge Nome
Is our universe just a temporary bubble within a comic 'liquid' ? Along with many other such bubbles? As can be observed in a container of boiling water?
How can the ongoing measurable expansion of our universe be explained? This is a question that has preoccupied many minds for a long time without an answer being forthcoming.
I like the idea of the bubble. If you look at photos of star clusters, gases and other cosmic images derived from our instruments, you are struck with the similarities between these and cloud formations in our atmosphere and sediment swirls observed in water bodies.
It is also intriguing to think that there are likely countless other 'universe bubbles' beside the one we live in located in the primordial fluid.
The possibilities are endless.
Op Ed by Helge Nome December 20, 2021
In the past, as today, the majority of humanity tends to end up corralled into functional units like nation-states and all manner of organizations within nation-states.
Power structures form within which individuals take their places and seek to enhance their power to control and influence other people.
The outcome of this process invariably give a very small number of people a high degree of control over the vast majority to their ultimate detriment.
Historically, "The Company" exercised a sense of ownership of its employees and treated them accordingly, not unlike slave owners did in their day.
Today, employees have more flexibility than in the past, but alas, there is a new shepherd on the block, looking to assemble his own flock: Megacorp.
This dude wants to create the "Metaverse" where he can control the behaviour of those that immerse themselves in his creation while under the illusion of creating their own world.
Like sheep, folks will live within the fences provided around the electronic paddocks and pass through the gates as they open and close.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/united-kingdom-covid-cases.html
"Over time, those who contracted the virus developed an immunity to the novel strand of influenza, and life returned to normal by the early 1920s, according to historians and medical experts. Reports at the time suggest the virus became less lethal as the pandemic carried on in waves.
But the strand of the flu didn’t just disappear. The influenza virus continuously mutated, passing through humans, pigs and other mammals. The pandemic-level virus morphed into just another seasonal flu. Descendants of the 1918 H1N1 virus make up the influenza viruses we’re fighting today."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/09/01/1918-flu-pandemic-end/