Happy Birthday

To the as yet unnamed Island near Tonga, which emerged from the ocean a few days ago.

With regard to climate, it's actually a pretty big deal, not because the island emerged, but because it put an enormous amount of water into the stratosphere, where it is likely to (very slightly) increase global temperatures and reduce the level of ultraviolet protecting ozone:

A new island has sprung up in a patch of the southwest Pacific Ocean riddled with underwater volcanoes, according to NASA Earth Observatory. 

It began with the eruption of an underwater volcano found in the Central Tonga Islands on September 10 – and within just eleven hours, a landmass emerged from the watery depths, created by oozing lava that had been cooled by the ocean waters and solidified.

Over the following days, lava continued to pour and the newly formed island grew. The island was 170 meters (558 feet) in diameter on September 16 and eventually swelled to 182 meters over the following two days. 

By September 20, the island had grown to cover 24,000 square meters (6 acres) with an elevation of 10 meters (33 feet).

The heating effect, which will be rather short term is only about .05°C, but I am sure that some climatologists are getting a serious geek on about this.

Bobby Kennedy, Jr., Would You Please Dine on Excrement and then Expire?

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. took his antivax sh%$ show to Samoa, where 42 people, including 22 infants, have now died of measles.

Kennedy is a murderer:^*

It was probably inevitable that the success of the anti-vaccination movement would eventually lead to an outbreak with substantial casualties. It has now happened in Samoa, where 48 people so far have died from measles, including 22 infants. Public health officials do not believe the outbreak has peaked, and expect those numbers to rise, possibl considerably. Why is the outbreak (which has hit much of Oceania in recent months) particularly bad and particularly deadly in Samoa? 

Yep, drops in vaccination rates?

And who was front and center of this?  Bobby, Jr.

As you might expect, the decline in vaccination rates wasn’t due solely to domestic causes; it was assisted by a well-resourced global movement, with some familiar faces.

Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a nephew of President John F. Kennedy, visited the country in June, appearing next to officials at Samoan independence celebrations. His visit was “for a program that is not government-related,” an official in the prime minister’s department told Samoan news media at the time.

Kennedy has asserted that vaccines cause autism, a claim disproved by extensive research. Members of the Kennedy family have publicly criticized him for helping “spread dangerous misinformation.”

An Instagram photo shows Kennedy embracing the Australian Samoan anti-vaccine activist Taylor Winterstein in Samoa on June 4. “I am deeply honored to have been in the presence of a man I believe is, can and will change the course of history,” Winterstein wrote in the caption, adding hashtags #makinginformedchoices #investigatebeforeyouvaccinate.

………

As appalling and reckless as their advocacy is in their home countries, it’s considerably moreso in lower income countries like Samoa, where measles fatality rates are likely to be considerably higher, as we’re seeing here.

But don't worry, antivaxxers are sending vitamins, so everything is cool.

What the f%$# is wrong with these folk?

^*FWIW, Charlie, my son on the autism spectrum, spotted by Sharon when he was about 3 days old, well before any vaccines, agrees with description of Kennedy as a murderer.