Marty

Sweet dreams, Mr B!

And you, bro!

Good morning to you, as well, young Albert! Mind you, it normally takes more than just one coffee to kick-start my mornings.

The World Health Organization announced Greek-letter names for important strains on 31 May 2021, so they could be easily referred to in a simple, easy to say, and non-stigmatising fashion, a decision .. partially taken because of criticism from governments on using country names to refer to variants of the virus, as it could cause discrimination towards locals of those countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variants_of_SARS-CoV-2 I suspect that the term French variant here is actually referring to the Beta variant, if only because there has been a recent spike in cases of the Beta variant on the French island of Reunion, in the Indian Ocean, nearly 6,000 miles from Paris. While less infectious than the Delta, Prof John Edmunds of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) has told the BBC: “it [the Beta variant] is able to escape the immune response to a better extent. Of the variants that are out there and known about, that one has always been a threat. There is some good evidence from South Africa it can evade the immune response generated by the AstraZeneca vaccine more efficiently.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/18/covid-cases-are-up-6000-miles-from-paris-france-baffled-by-uk-quarantine-change The first recorded occurrence of the Beta Variant was in South Africa in May 2020 - and the first recorded occurrence of the much more infectious Delta variant was in India in October 2020.

You say the sweetest things.

Did you just call me what I think you called me? The above? Or perhaps the following...? What does Cochon mean in Nicaragua? In Nicaragua ... the term cochon is loosely translated as queer or fag. (Source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3773623)

Now.... which one shall I bring with me...? Maybe all of them!

Even better! Means I can really gorge myself.

All that sugar! (Diabetes? What diabetes?)

More trying to get as much water into the soil as possible (without actually waterlogging it) before any ban comes in.

My sprinkler also attaches to the end of my hosepipe. But, until any ban might come in, using the sprinkler means I can use it to be watering one part of the garden without having to hold the hose in my hand. That leaves me free to be doing work in another part of the garden (or just sitting in a garden chair and relaxing).

He could maybe tie chairs to his feet and walk on them... Might keep him safe from all the ground-dwelling creepy crawlies.

And kissing.

Hey, Mr B That's good to hear. Let's hope Sunday turns out just as good for you - if not even better.

Happy Saturday, everyone! Warmest day of the year so far here in Ireland, with temperatures expected to get up to 28°C/82°F in the south of the country, but maybe a couple of degrees lower here in the northwest. The Met Office are forecasting that much of the coming week will remain warm and mainly dry, so I can see the government announcing a hosepipe ban. Hence, I may be using the sprinkler in the vegetable garden a lot over the next few days.

Greetings, young Albert!

That's the message that I get when I attempt to go to the page. I have heard it said many times that the EU has tighter laws on Data Protection than the US. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/07/29/the-privacy-mindset-of-the-eu-vs-the-us/?sh=727bb9a77d01

Unfortunately the website you link to has decided it doesn't like the EU data protection regulations, so is refusing to allow me to read the article...

And I can remember the effect of rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels) and the fact that it acts as a "greenhouse gas" (by preventing heat reaching the earth from the sun being radiated back into space) being part of the A Level Biology syllabus that I was studying at grammar school between 1964 and 1966. So it's not as though it's something we have only recently become aware of. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now reaching levels 50% higher than before the industrial revolution. Research shows that for several days in February and March 2021, atmospheric CO2 levels exceeded 417 parts per million (ppm). Pre-industrial levels were about 278ppm. Source: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/03/met-office-atmospheric-co2-industrial-levels-environment-climate-change

See also: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/gulf-stream-system-at-its-weakest-in-over-a-millennium

This paper talks about changes to the Gulf Stream due to global warming... https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210225113357.htm Date: February 25, 2021 Source: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) Summary: Never before in over 1000 years the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), also known as Gulf Stream System, has been as weak as in the last decades. Researchers compiled proxy data, reaching back hundreds of years to reconstruct the AMOC flow history. They found consistent evidence that its slowdown in the 20th century is unprecedented in the past millennium. I don't fully understand it all, but it certainly does seem as though it (the Gulf Stream may be greatly weakened (and may be weakening already)

Hmmm... I'm not sure about the effect it would have on the Gulf Stream...

What is an ice sheet? Together, the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets contain more than 99 percent of the freshwater ice on Earth. Credit: NSIDC An ice sheet is a mass of glacial land ice extending more than 50,000 square kilometers (20,000 square miles). The two ice sheets on Earth today cover most of Greenland and Antarctica. During the last ice age, ice sheets also covered much of North America and Scandinavia. Together, the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets contain more than 99 percent of the freshwater ice on Earth. The Antarctic Ice Sheet extends almost 14 million square kilometers (5.4 million square miles), roughly the area of the contiguous United States and Mexico combined. The Antarctic Ice Sheet contains 30 million cubic kilometers (7.2 million cubic miles) of ice. The Greenland Ice Sheet extends about 1.7 million square kilometers (656,000 square miles), covering most of the island of Greenland, three times the size of Texas. ---- Why are ice sheets important? Ice sheets contain enormous quantities of frozen water. If the Greenland Ice Sheet melted, scientists estimate that sea level would rise about 6 meters (20 feet). If the Antarctic Ice Sheet melted, sea level would rise by about 60 meters (200 feet). Source: https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/quickfacts/icesheets.html

Greetings, Albert!