Previous thread: https://lemmy.ml/post/9960615
Germany. The second time I test positively for 2019-nCoV. Thankfully, this time it’s a light case. Masking and testing and just taking precautions, nobody cares about that anymore. Practices are full, particularly children are affected.
a lemmy observation:
I’m subscribed to politics@lemmy.world. I just opened lemmy and my front page was 90% threads about US politicians (all involving conservatives, I noticed). I’ll probably need to leave it through the election, but I think we can all join together in a shared “here we fucking go” sentiment. US national elections are like the world’s favorite reality show: There’s no escaping it.
irl:
It finally got cold enough to freeze out the winter crops, although I think I see some new vegetation on a few already. The weather was “nice” so I pulled weeds the other day. I had let them get a little wild in order to condition the soil. I have a lot of things that need maintenance but I’m too overwhelmed and/or broke to deal with them. I had to chop up some limbs a few days back, though, and I will definitely be sharpening my axe before doing that again. I wonder how many amps the grinder pulls. I have chainsaws but I’ve used them enough to know that I don’t like chainsaws.
I read a good paper recently discussing plant adaptations to extreme temperatures, hardening conditions, etc. My, uh, “applied science” has been less than ideal. I lost quite a few plants in my hardening station - I think some could have better handled the cold, except that it came as a wild swing from warm temperatures with a serious delta between the two. (I sometimes tear up about all the good soldiers I’ve lost, no joke lol.) Those kinds of deltas are going to be a serious challenge to plants’ rapid adaptation responses, and if they can’t handle that then they will not survive to harden.
I have an awesome young olive tree that made it through, and a few exotics. I expect they experienced some hardening as a result. It’s gruesome progress but it’s in the right direction for local landraces. I also had tomatoes in there, and they had lasted so long that I was actually hoping to get a harvest out of them by that point. But completely unsurprisingly, the fruit were cut short in a proper freeze.
I also read a nice paper on optimal conditions for C3 and C4 plants, demonstrating that temperature, atmospheric partial pressures, and other factors are at play. In general, though, further warming is bad for productivity of both. Which I’ve read before, but due to not having anyone to discuss these things with, it’s nice to read it again.
what area are you in?
photosynthesis type c3 reaches peak efficiency around ~74F and c4 around ~86F if i recall correctly
Ive found when banana trees die in threshold level frosts they usually return from sprouts around the mother plant, as long as the ground doesnt freeze more than an inch
been coming to canada for 3 years now and this place is getting very noticeably more and more homeless people and tent cities each time and i mean from 1 person in an area to 10 to this time 100. People freeze to death in the night fairly common, nobody seems to care and it isnt brought up. Blows my mind the homeless dont cooperate and take over any of these abandoned buildings and fight the police about it make some media show they are booting them out to freeze to death. The apathy of late stage capitalism is incredible, its people dying of cold with police stopping them from making fires or getting decent shelter. Makes me curious how bad the jails are but im not going to try to find out because it will fuck up my passport.
the medical system is fully broken here despite the universal healthcare, even americas fake universal healthcare works better in many states versus canada system. lots of it is because the drs and nurses move to usa for more pay. nonlocal food prices here are outrageous and you can really see what people would be eating if it was local only. Typical northern european fair like storage cabbage ,potatoes , carrots, etc… very bland diet, i eat it because moneys tight. Rent is insane. a single room in a crack house 750$-1050$
Observing American health care firsthand thanks to ill relatives, I can say that it still functions but it is probably a few years at most to collapse. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services budget is about 15% funded and getting worse each year. Wait times for specialty appointments are months, surgery a half-year at least (unless urgent/life-threatening), care impossible to access – many people have to go to the ED just for diagnosis. Life expectancy down significantly in the last 10 years. We won’t escape Canada’s fate.
The homeless population increasing in a geometric ratio is something I have also seen in the USA. Luckily it has been a very mild winter or we would likely have large numbers of people freezing to death here as well.
One thing about USA healthcare is it is radically different state to state. i just move to state with better healthcare as needed , though thats a hobo privilege and doesnt work for normies
Further update on canada everyone is saying this is the warmest weather they have ever experienced in February. people 40+ years old.
