#42 Weekend reads - remember 12 months ago? What a year

This time last year, I had just attended the Queen and Adam Lambert concert in Melbourne, with my sister and two awesome pals from my childhood. It was definitely a kind of magic.

On my flight home, due to a 40 minute lay-over in Singapore, I had to go into quarantine on my return to Phuket, and then the whole family had to go into quarantine too – I was popular 😊. It wasn’t long before the entire island of Phuket shut down for a few months.

Do you remember that time? I remember being stunned for weeks at the huge, dramatic shift in the world. I couldn’t stop reading, watching, learning, and of course, here we are nearly 12 months later, and I still feel a little stunned – mainly at how crazy this time has been. Mainly at how crazy humanity has been in facing up to this crisis.

This initial period of being stunned was the reason I started doing my Weekend Reads. I saw the Infodemic start. I saw the sharing of information, opinions, ideas and different narratives that I knew would make this situation worse. I wanted to play my part in trying to counter the obvious damage being done.

Did I make a difference? Well I believe you only have to change one mind or one heart to make a difference, so yes, I have. I think we can all contribute and make a difference, by raising our voices and sharing meaningful information with the world – especially verified information when it comes to Covid19 and other issues that hit the headlines this last year.

I’ll also continue with my Weekend Reads, because knowledge is everything. Unity is everything too, but when the information channels are so opposing, it’s hard to even imagine unity is possible. However, if we stand a chance of making it through this crisis, we have to come together. I will always believe we can. You?

Friends content

I’m very grateful to Gina Romero this week. First this article was published: Unconventionally: The Many Voices of Andrea T. Edwards

And then today, we went live with our interview. Let me know what you think when you have a chance to watch it? Thank you Gina. And please everyone, subscribe to Unconventionally and support the work Gina is doing for women all over the world.

Finally, I published this blog this week. If you know anyone in the mental health space, please pass this to them. We need them speaking up and active, helping to address this issue – Calling all mental health professionals to lead socially

Charity

Before you scroll, please, if you can donate, donate, donate!!! Some suggestions World Food Program., UN Refugee Program, PowerOf , Kiva.org, Soi Dog Foundation. If you can afford to be generous, now is the time to help your fellow human.

Our community is working hard to ensure no one starves at this time: Phuket Opinion: Feed the hungry

Content to read

And here’s the content I’ve been reading this last week. Scan the headlines, read the ones that jump out at you, read or watch them all. Knowledge is power, and global knowledge is even more powerful.

Climate Crisis / 6^th Mass Extinction

How the polar vortex creates record low temperatures and winter storms

Bill Gates Has a Master Plan for Battling Climate Change

Making Peace With Nature | UNEP – UN Environment Programme tks Samantha Gayfer

U.S. Trade Authorities Deal Blow To Biden’s Electric Vehicle Plans

Trump’s California water plan troubled federal biologists. They were side-lined

150 years of spills: Philadelphia refinery clean-up highlights toxic legacy of fossil fuels

Texas grid fails to weatherize, repeats mistake feds cited 10 years ago

Texas weather: Residents told to boil tap water amid power blackouts

No, frozen wind turbines aren’t to blame for Texas’ power outages tks Michelle Giamusso Regal

Winter Storm and Texas Power Outage Map

Ice skaters urged to stay off Europe’s thawing lakes

Coronavirus, Hunger And The Crisis With A Janus Face

Should Zoos Still Exist or Not? The Arguments For & Against Zoos tks Vicki Kiely

Frozen Wind Farms Just a Small Piece of Texas’s Power Woes

My new climate book is almost here tks Sally Foley Lewis

Fukushima: Powerful earthquake rocks Japan weeks from disaster anniversary

Researchers rethink life in a cold climate after Antarctic find

Bill Gates on avoiding a climate disaster – tks Tim Wade

COVID19

Some Covid-19 Vaccines Are Effective After One Dose, Can Be Stored in Normal Freezers, Data Show

The fast-spreading coronavirus variant is turning up in US sewers

‘Encouraging’ signs for Covid vaccine as over-80s deaths fall in England

Melbourne’s third lockdown was a five-day concentrated dose of 2020’s festering media bullshit tks Phillipa Edwards

The Implications of COVID-19 for Mental Health and Substance Use

Covid-19: How did a volunteer panel react when we showed them an anti-vax video?

Coronavirus Mutations In Boston Patient May Hold Clues To Variant Origins

Alan Kohler: What the hell is going on with vaccines and quarantine? tks Phillipa Edwards

Bill Gates’ daughter Jennifer jokes about conspiracy theory after getting Covid-19 vaccine

Global Politics

‘Covering up the rape of a woman is bad because it could upset her dad’ says PM

Ted Cruz Is No Hypocrite. He’s Worse. tks Patrice Robinet

Republicans Struggle to Derail Increasingly Popular Stimulus Package

Manhattan D.A. Recruits Top Prosecutor for Trump Inquiry

Texas Senator Ted Cruz flew to Cancun, Mexico, amid weather crisis

PM says allegations of rape made by Liberal staffer are ‘deeply distressing’

Trump’s impeachment trial through the eyes of House Democrats trying the case

New Zealand lashes at Australia in citizenship row over terror suspect

Adam Kinzinger’s Lonely Mission

America Must Become a Democracy

Myanmar coup: Aung San Suu Kyi faces new charge amid protests

Trump impeachment: Senate falls short of majority needed to convict

Princess Latifa: UN asks for proof that Dubai ruler’s daughter is alive

Business and Technology

MGM Resorts returning several Las Vegas properties to full operations in March

Facebook blocks Australian users from viewing or sharing news

Ban on New Foreign Workers Left U.S. Jobs Unfilled, Even in Covid Downturn

Why I’m not on Clubhouse (and why I’m torn up about it) tks Andy Lopata

As Texas deep freeze subsides, some households now face electricity bills as high as $10,000 tks Denise Chai

Social issues (#BlackLivesMatter) and humanity

Is rape ever going to become a man’s problem? tks Phillipa Edwards

2 Domestic Violence Shelters Evacuate Women and Children After Damaging Pipe Bursts

Podcast: Brené with Melinda Gates on The Moment of Lift – well worth a listen

WTO | 2021 News items – History is made: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala chosen as Director-General

Rush Limbaugh, Bigoted King Of Talk Radio, Dies At 70

I Tracked Down The Girls Who Bullied Me As A Kid. Here’s What They Had To Say.

Guinea declares Ebola epidemic: First deaths since 2016

‘Leftist Scum’ Memer Raised $400K for Planned Parenthood as a Special Tribute to Rush Limbaugh

Hervé Gourdel: Man sentenced over French tourist’s killing

Demi Lovato ‘had three strokes and a heart attack’ after 2018 overdose

Colin Kaepernick Netflix production ramps up security after alleged threat from Proud Boys

Childish things – I’m spending more time than ever with my children. No one is enjoying it

Passion, humour, history

Meet NASA’s Swati Mohan, star of Perseverance rover’s epic Mars landing

Your big break tks Kerrie Phipps

Harry and Meghan not returning as working members of Royal Family

Kim Kardashian ‘files to divorce Kanye West’

Let me know if anything jumped out at you?

Cheers

Andrea

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