Omicron Ante Portas

©ZDF

While in surrounding countries and the US, infections with the Corona Omicron variant reach new records ...

©ZDF

... Germany had decreasing values with the dominant Delta variant …

Where does it build up, the Omicron wave? Where is it building up?
(©Stuttman /BZ)

… but we are waiting for the Omicron wave.

This apocalyptic scenario inspired me to project the present situation in Germany to the Asterix comic. The following text is mainly taken from the English standard introduction and therefore copyrighted by Goscinny and Udzero, the creators of Asterix le Gaulois.

©ZDF

The month is December 2021. Europe is entirely dominated by the Omicron variant.

Well, not entirely … One country of indomitable Germans still holds out against the invader.

Here are some of the German leaders facing the ongoing and assailing pandemic:

Olaf, the red chancellor. He is a shrewd and cunning short politician; all perilous missions and tasks automatically fall to him. Nobody knows where he gets his superhuman confidence from. Is it Karl who administers him fortifying jabs?

Robert, the green vice-chancellor. Not really Olaf's friend. A man commanding a super ministry. But he is always ready to drop everything and go off to ban fossil fuels or save trees.

Karl studied medical druid. He loves cooking but refuses to brew magic potions. He impresses his fellow countrymen/women with lengthy analyses of the Corona situation instead.

Christian, the yellow finance guru. Although he thinks he is a genius, opinion is divided as to his financial competence. So long as he doesn't act, let alone speak, everybody likes him.

Omicron is coming on (©ZDF)

Omicron is apparently a particularly clever Corona variant that has clearly recognized how to conquer the world: It is highly contagious but rarely kills the host, so it can spread further and further. Most people survive - and so does the virus. That's better than Delta, but the next few weeks will be tough.

And indeed, the day before yesterday seemed to be the turning point in Germany. The 7-day Corona incidence per 100,000 people is developing as follows:

27.12.: 222,7
28.12.: 215,6
29.12.: 205,5
30.12.: 207,7
31.12.: 214,9

Here comes Christian Drosten, Germany's Fauci's concluding remark, "It's a good situation when you have a virus that doesn't make you so sick anymore, but it's easily transmissible. So it basically seeks out and finds all the immunity gaps in the population, causing another natural immunity update." How comforting.

I wish you all the best for 2022 and, above all, good health.

May the coming year, despite the approaching Omicron wave, be better than 2021.

*

Between the Years

Is Freiburg at the Origin of the Christmas Tree?

Fakes are nothing new. Here is a steel engraving from 1843 by Carl August Schwerdgeburth (1785-1878) titled "Dr. Martin Luther im Kreise seiner Familie zu Wittenberg am Christabend 1536" (Dr. Martin Luther surrounded by his family in Wittenberg on Christmas Eve, 1536). The person watching the scene behind the chair clearly is Philip Melanchthon, Luther's expert on Old Greek and more; the two old people can't be Luther's parents because they were dead by then.

Luther ought to have said, "If I knew that the world ended tomorrow, I still would plant an apple tree today." Since I am convinced he would not have cut down a small fir tree, the candled Christmas tree in Luther's parlor is a fake. On the other hand, does Luther accompany his ten-year-old son Johannes on the lute singing his father's popular Christmas carol, "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her" (From heaven above I come)?

This does not mean that Christmas parlors at Luther's time had to do without evergreen ornaments. According to a legend from the Breisgau, the Brotherhood of Bakers in Freiburg decorated a tree (fir?) with gingerbread, apples, paper, and colored nuts as early as 1419.

Historical is a document from Strasbourg in 1492 describing the purchase of fir trees, "Item Koüfft 9 Tannen in die 9 Kirchspill, das gut jor darjnn zu empfohlen, unnd darumb gebenn 2 Gulden (Alike bought 9 fir trees for 9 parishes entrusted for a good year and gave for them 9 gilders)."

Another historical evidence is from 1521, when the forester in Schlettstadt (Sélestat), Alsace, was paid to tend the meyen. Meyen is a term for the festive tree decorated at Christmas but with no lights. It was not until 1611 that Duchess Dorothea Sibyl of Brandenburg first decorated a Christmas tree with candles.

In bourgeois circles, the Christmas tree came into vogue only in the late 18th century. Goethe frequently writes about Christmas trees and how he cut down a fir tree in his prince's forest. That was a forest crime, severely punished at the time.

Christmas in Freiburg‘s Minster Church

The church is decorated with LED-illuminated fir trees

Between the solemnities of the Nativity and the Epiphany of the Lord, the interior of the Freiburg's Minster church is quiet and mostly empty except for those …

Admire the splendid Poinsettia (in German Weihnachtsstern > Christmas Star)

… who want to donate a candle to the church's patron saint, St. Mary, …

A girl and a boy with their rose and bluebonnets

… and those who admire the large crib.

 

Germany's Two Churches on Corona

The Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Central Germany, Friedrich Kramer, expressed concern about the sharpness of the controversy over Corona vaccinations. "Vaccination and the debate about it have taken on a religious character. The absoluteness of the statements reminds me of articles of faith, "complained the leading clergyman. "Don't judge people solely by their vaccination status. If you start lumping people together only by what they say, think, or do, you remain in witch-hunt mode." So we must love the anti-vaxxers, too.


The Catholic Bishop of Fulda, Michael Gerber, said that the effect of the pandemic seems to be in everyone's pores and deviated into some lateral thinking, "Who has what access to what resources in our world? What interests and power games are involved?". But then he returned, renewing his call for vaccination. "Those who travel in the cold fog without appropriate clothing endanger their own health, and those who drive without headlights also endanger others, " Gerber stressed. He continued, "Preventive, protective measures and, in particular, vaccination could be understood as an act of gratitude to God. After all, he gave us the mind to investigate causes and avert dangers," In the end, Gerber emphasized: "Trusting in God does not simply replace trusting in medicine." What a statement.

Is Neil deGrasse Tyson Destroying America's Christmas Magic?

My loyal readers know that I admire astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. However, on Christmas Eve, he seemed to have gone too far with his country fellows: 

Admittedly, for most Europeans, red-dressed Santas*, sleighs with jingle bells, and red-nose reindeer have little significance (Stellenwert).

*We have our St. Nikolaus on December 6

An American reader noted that the timing was horrible, "This is why people don't like atheists. You post this on Christmas Eve?"

"I like that you give us the physics, but maybe, just once in a while, you should stop for the holiday magic," wrote another.

 

Tyson doubled on Christmas Day on zoology and gender madness, "Santa's reindeer, which all sports antlers, are therefore all female, which means Rudolf has been misgendered."

A reader commented, "Ruining Christmas one tweet at a time." Another wrote, "They also can't fly, but you go ahead and take the joy out of everything on Christmas Eve if it makes you happy."

Sorry, I still like the guy.

*

For Unto Us a Child Is Born

Every year around Christmas, Der Spiegel takes up and treats "religious" topics provocatively.

©Der Spiegel

Although the picture looks like such, this year's text reads conciliatory. It is inspired by a prophecy in the Old Testament, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).

Der Spiegel writes: Children are hope, are the future, nothing has changed in two millennia. Announcements always sparkle with confidence and vital energy because every newborn fulfills the human longing for departure, new opportunities, and the future.

This ray of hope is omnipresent, e.g., in a song by Johnny Mathis:

A ray of hope flickers in the sky
A tiny star lights way up high
All across the land, dawns a brand new morn
This comes to pass when a child is born…

Der Spiegel continues The child born today, like all children before it, will become acquainted with an irresolvable contradiction of life: the future will always be "a fog of the uncertain and the unknowable," as Hannah Arendt wrote in 1958, unpredictable on both a small and a large scale, and yet man/women remains compelled to continually prepare for it.

Who doesn't remember Doris Day when she sang:

Que sera, sera
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours to see
Que sera, sera
What will be, will be

Then Der Spiegel harps on Germany's present and "possible" future political, economic, and social situation. Read for yourself.

Hark, they are coming (Seen on Facebook)

Let me finish with the final two paragraphs of the Der Spiegel article:

Hannah Arendt ended the chapter of her book, "That one may have confidence in the world, and that one may hope for the world is perhaps nowhere more succinctly and beautifully expressed than in the words with which the Christmas oratorios proclaim 'the glad tidings': 'Unto us, a child is born.'"

It brings the assurance that life goes on. There is always a future, there must be hope, and the possibility of salvation is self-evident.

The fifth candle

I wish all my faithful and occasional readers a

Merry Christmas

*

A Foggy Day in Freiburg Town,

didn't have me low and down last Saturday. On the contrary, Red Baron possibly was the oldest demonstrator supporting the vaccination against Covid-19.

You are NOT Freiburg.
Mask on, Nazis out.
Your right-wing stupidity ends with our health.
Queer thinking instead of lateral thinking.

Like last time, to avoid leaving the field to the anti-vaxxers, Sebastian Müller had called for a counter-demonstration at the square of the Old Synagogue. 

Again we started our rally at 1:30 p.m., they at 2 p.m., again we were kept separated by a cordon of anti-riot police, and again we were the minority, i.e., 500 to 2500.

Blathering can kill !!!

We had a prominent supporter: Ulrich von Kirchbach, Freiburg's social and cultural affairs mayor, who spoke to the "crowd."

By now, we all know the arguments of the anti-vaxxers. An analysis says 22 percent think the virus is not worse than the flu. 43 percent find the media coverage "highly exaggerated." A third even agrees with the statement that there are "secret organizations" that "have a great influence on political decisions during the Corona crisis." 

 There are supposed freedom fighters like the Vice President of the Bundestag and leading member of the Liberals, Wolfgang Kubicki. He is mobilizing against the introduction of universal obligatory vaccination. Recently he said, "Many supporters of obligatory vaccination seem to be concerned with revenge and retribution." Kubicki ein Querdenker; I shake my head. 

 In Freiburg, the anti-vaxxers had the "Gadsden Flag" on display. From the Internet, I learned that the flag is used by right-wing extremists in the United States. The young man wearing such a flag explained that it is a sign against "Big Government," for distrust of the state is essential. 

A speaker stirred up the demonstrators from the stage: "We are the fifth wave," she shouted. 

©ZDF

Thinking of Omicron, I fear she might be correct; although the infection rate is still decreasing in Germany, while in Denmark and the UK, the infections are already driven by this so-called escape mutant, i.e., subverting the protection given by vaccination.

 Some people think our health experts paint an epidemic emergency on the wall. In contrast, others claim that Germany will get lost in the next wave or, more dramatically, will run into a veritable Omicron wall. The Germans and their wall. 

 Here are some slogans from our camp I took last Saturday:

I do not see my rights limited or threatened.
I see myself threatened by rights and limited (persons).

I prefer to believe the wrong scientists
than lunatics who believe they are scientists.

Freedom consists primarily not of privileges but of duties.
Albert Camus
 ... and this duty is called: Go get vaccinated.

*

Habeamus Regnum

Presenting the signed traffic light coalition agreement.
From left to right Olaf Scholz (Social Democrats),
Christian Lindner (Liberals), and Robert Habeck (The Greens) (©ntv)

After signing the coalition treaty the day before yesterday …

Olaf Scholz taking the oath of office (©dpa)

…the new social democrat-green-liberal government was sworn in yesterday morning.

Let's look back to Wednesday morning.

At 9:04 a.m., the speaker of the Bundestag, Bärbel Bas, calls the House to order.

Angela Merkel - note that she is showing her rhombus - still Federal Chancellor
sits together with a former federal president (FP) and retired Bundestag speakers (SB).
From left to right: Norbert Lammert (SB), Angela Merkel,
Joachim Gauck (FP), Wolfgang Thierse (SB), Rita Süßmuth (SB), and her husband (?).

The lady in red at the rostrum welcomes the Chancellor, who has taken her seat in the visitors' gallery of the Bundestag. Cross-party applause lasting several minutes thanks Angela Merkel for 16 years of chancellorship, ending today.

Parliament in session. Ready to elect a new chancellor

Bärbel Bas meticulously follows the first paragraph of the 63rd article of the Basic Law: "The Federal Chancellor is elected by the Bundestag without debate on the proposal of the Federal President."

At 9:15 a.m., the secret ballot begins. It takes more than half an hour to read out 736 names. Because the members of the Bundestag are called in alphabetical order to cast their vote for or against the projected chancellor, Olaf Scholz. He is only allowed to vote after about 23 minutes.

Applause from his party colleagues

At 10:16 a.m., the speaker announces the result. Votes cast: 707. Invalid ballots: 3. 395 members voted in favor. That is significantly fewer than the 416 seats available to the traffic light coalition. However, some parliamentarians had to pull out due to illness, so only 707 of a total of 736 went to the polls.

Flowers from the now opposing Christian Socialists,
the Bavarian branch of the Christian Democrats

Soon Olaf Scholz will leave the Bundestag and travel to Schloss Bellvue (Bellevue Palace), the official residence of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

At 10:40 a.m., Scholz has one minute with the Federal President, who hands the new chancellor his appointment document.

At 12 p.m., Olaf Scholz reenters the Bundestag but can't find his seat. He heads for the SPD faction, wanting to sit next to faction leader Rolf Mützenich, where he had already sat in the morning. But an employee of the Bundestag intercepts him and guides him to the government bench, where he takes the seat of the Federal Chancellor.

Shortly after noon, Bärbel Bas takes the oath of office of Olaf Scholz. The new Chancellor reads from the original of the Basic Law, "I swear that I will devote my strength to the welfare of the German people, increase its benefit, avert harm from it, uphold and defend the Basic Law and the laws of the Federation, fulfill my duties conscientiously and do justice to everyone."

Then Scholz and his ministers return to Schloss Bellvue, where President Steinmeier hands over the appointment documents to Scholz's ministers.

Half of the ministers are female (©dpa)

This time the President takes more time. He speaks of the "responsibility for our country and more than 82 million people and great challenges." Then there's a class photo, and it's back again to the Bundestag.

Arrived at the Bundestag, Olaf Scholz's class sits down on the government bench, one seat apart because of Corona, and they all take their oath of office one after the other. Nine times with God's help, seven times without. Secularisation sucks.

At 3 p.m. Olaf Scholz is at the Federal Chancellery. Angele Merkel welcomes, "Congratulations, Olaf Scholz, all the best and always a happy hand for our country. Take ownership of this House and work for the best of the country."

Olaf Scholz thanks, "Dear Mrs. Merkel, dear Chancellor, it was a great time when you were chancellor of this country, and you made great things happen." And Merkel's former vice-chancellor continues, "I'd like to tie in - how to put it - with that northeast German mentality," smiling and adding, "Not that much will change."

©Libération

Der Spiegel journalist Dirk Kurbjuweit comments: "Chancellor Election Day, the high mass of democracy, usually experienced only every four years, is a sober high mass. The Federal Republic is a country without political pathos, without emotional ceremonies. Things are done; they are not celebrated, not even the election of a chancellor."

"A great day, change of power, peaceful once again. That's the best news a democracy can deliver."

It is finished (John 19:30), although given the Omicron variant, the motto of the traffic light coalition "Daring more progress"* requires a flying start of the new government,
*Approximating the motto of Willy Brandt's first government, "Daring more democracy."

Did you count right in the above class photo? There should be 18 ministers, but there are only 17. Look carefully. A person hides behind the chancellor, the new Federal Minister of Health.

On the floor of the Bundestag:
Karl Lauterbach debating a speaker
from the now opposing Christian Democrats (©ntv)

Karl Lauterbach, a member of the Bundestag, a medical doctor, a trained virologist, and an adjunct professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, an expert will lead the presently most important ministry. 

What most German voters had anticipated and hoped for became a reality.

Karl was admonished throughout the pandemic. While politicians leaned back during Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer when the Corona incidences were low, Professor Lauterbach was the voice of the one calling in the wilderness (Mark 1:3), the unpleasant prophet who predicted the fourth wave in fall.

©Die Zeit

Hopes are high but can a scientist lead the most critical ministry with a Firm Hand?

*

Corona Splinters

The last time you read a splinter blog was at the beginning of July 2020. The following splinters are devoted to Corona. What else?

2G+

Baden-Württemberg's new Corona ordinance entered into force yesterday and is inspired by the recent decisions on the federal and state level.

However, given the high Corona incidence in The Länd, BW's new stringent regulations surpass the minimum federal requirements. Governor Winfried Kretschmann said, "It is important to break the fourth wave."

Note the 3G+ for hairdressers, meaning that you need
 a negative PCR test to be eligible for a haircut (©BZ)

While 2G is the common thread on the federal level, BW requires 2G+ for gastronomy and fitness studios. This excludes my visits to restaurants and Kieser Training. I refuse to stand in line at low temperatures for a rapid Corona test that will at least take half an hour of my life that won't be so long anymore.

Rin inne Kartübbeln, rut ut de Kartübbeln, i.e, Rein in die Kartoffeln, raus aus die Kartoffeln (First it's one thing, then another). Luckily, the authorities paddled back late in the evening and spared triple-vaccinated people like me the additional test.

At present, we are one and a half million in BW who have been boostered and, therefore, will continue having unrestricted access to restaurants, fitness studios, amusement parks, and cinemas.

Around six million people previously described as "fully vaccinated" with their two jabs are de facto, no longer so. They now have to present a negative rapid Corona test if they want to go for a drink. Too sad!

Here is my experience with the new regulation. Yesterday Red Baron had a lunch appointment with a good friend. She had reserved two seats at a nearby restaurant for 12:15 PM. On my way to the place, I stopped at my hairdresser's parlor and asked him whether I needed 3G and a negative PCR test to get my haircut on December 22. He confirmed that booster-jabbed persons are not obliged to pass the test.

I continued my way in high spirits, arrived at the restaurant, and found myself alone in the place. I showed my vaccination record to the waitress. She handed me the menu, but I decided to wait for my co-launcher instead.

When she arrived, the waitress immediately questioned her about her vaccination status. My friend proved that she was fully vaccinated with two jabs. Still, the waitress insisted that either an official negative rapid Corona test or the booster vaccination was necessary from today on.

I intervened, saying that I had read that this weekend would be regarded as a grace period. The waitress went to see the landlord, but he only confirmed that my friend was not allowed to be served.

I took my anorak, said goodbye, and we left. Eating alone in a restaurant is no fun.

On my way to my daughter, I stopped at a Tschibo coffee shop and had a pot of coffee with a Franzbrötchen. The latter only meant a weak consolation.

Omicron

I asked the question earlier: Will the WHO naming new Corona variants of concern soon run out of Greek letters?

Indeed, if they skip letters because:

©Stephen Colbert 

©Stephen Colbert

Will they skip the next letter Π because of pie or pee?

Omicron has no charm. It looks like an "O" or even like a "0". Take the beautiful Omega "Ω" instead, but being there would mean the WHO is at the end of its Latin, sorry of Greek letters.

Let's face it, by no means the new Corona variant is a zero. Some reports show that Omicron is more contagious than the presently dominant Delta variant.

Actually, there is a big hype on Omicron bordering hysteria and stoked by the media, although all experts tell us that nothing is known for sure. 

Some people out there know for sure (©Stephen Colbert)

If indeed Omicron is more contagious than Delta, we would need a vaccination quota of more than 95% to stop the further spread of the virus. On the other hand, Red Baron read that disease progression is mild with the Omicron strain compared to what we have experienced up to now.

Could it be that we are lucky? So with time, Omicron will take over the infection occurrence from Delta. People struck with Omicron will only develop a cough, but they will easily infect all unvaccinated persons. So one day, we wind and wake up with a Corona herd immunity of a mixture of fully vaccinated and recovered people. Wishful thinking? Who knows.

Obligatory Vaccination

If the above scenario doesn't work, vaccination is the only way out of the pandemic.

In the meantime, the discussion on obligatory vaccinations is picking up pace in Germany. One member of the German Ethics Board suggested a staggered obligatory vaccination.

While people in sensitive occupations (medical staff, old people's nurses, etc.) will soon be obliged to take a jab, the lady proposed that otherwise, only older people should be obligatorily vaccinated. She said, "According to the German registry of Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), 84 percent of Covid-19 patients in the ICUs are older than 50, and 63 percent are older than 60. It is obvious that it is precisely these people who need to be protected by vaccination to avoid overburdening the healthcare system."

 
Indeed, an upper age limit for obligatory vaccination could be defined in analyzing the age distribution in intensive care.

My weak and sad counterargument is that when younger people become seriously ill with Covid-19, they will be fighting for their lives and occupy intensive care units longer than many old.

Rudolstadt 

Today Red Baron was shocked when he read:

There are now 27 deaths after a Corona outbreak in a nursing home in Rudolstadt, Thuringia. Among the formerly 141 residents, six people still tested positive for Corona. 

 Last week the authorities communicated that about a third of the residents were not vaccinated. How did this happen? Better didn't this happen? All vulnerable persons in Germany are supposed to be vaccinated by now.

I shake my head sadly.

Wave Breaker

The German word of the year 2021 is wave breaker. Let us hope the new measures will break the fourth Corona wave.

*

Compulsory, Obligatory, or Enforced Vaccination?

When I demanded Compulsory Vaccination Now in a previous blog, I did not consider the pitfalls of translation.

Compulsory vaccination translates into Impfpflicht or Impfzwang, a considerable difference in German. Let me try my English to translate the above German words more precisely:

Impfpflicht > obligatory vaccination

Impfzwang > enforced vaccination

My native tongue readers may like to weigh in.

©ntv

Why do I come back to vaccinations? The present Corona situation im Germany is out of control. The former model European has become the continent's bad guy.

Corona incidence in Germany (©ntv)

It is evident that in federal states where vaccination rates are low, Corona incidences are high. 

Percentage of people vaccinated in Germany (©ntv)

This is why El Camino Real leading out of this fourth pandemic wave, is to vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate.

By the end of the year, many believe 30 million additional doses should have been administered, an impossible feat. These are essentially booster vaccinations, while a hardcore - about a quarter of the German population - refuses to be vaccinated against Corona.

General Carsten Breuer (©ntv)

Now a General, Carsten Breuer, an expert in logistics, is supposed to fix it with the help of the Bundeswehr. Germany often follows the US, where generals have shown what good military experience can do for a country as presidents and in higher government positions.

And you, unvaccinated, move your asses to the next vaccination offer,
damn quick! (©BZ/Heiko Sakurai)

However, snapping at people is of little help against notorious vaccination deniers. That's why Germany is preparing to make vaccination obligatory. Like Red Baron, given the Corona situation in Germany, many influential politicians like Angela Merkel, the acting chancellor, or Olaf Scholz, the candidate for the chancellor who is to be elected next week, came out publicly in favor of obligatory vaccination.

Perhaps this year, but no later than the beginning of next year, the new government will introduce a bill on obligatory vaccination to the Bundestag, which will vote on it. If around a quarter of the population continues to reject voluntary vaccination by then, it is expected that the Bundestag will adopt the new law with a majority that is not small.

©baden.fm

Until then, a conference of the state governors, together with Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz, yesterday agreed on a nationwide tightening in the fight against Corona. The 2G rule applies throughout. Unvaccinated people represent a high risk of infection for themselves and others. They are now excluded from most social activities, including shopping for non-essential goods.

These rules are minimum requirements. Federal states are free to introduce further tightened measures depending on the Corona situation on their territory.

Red Baron keeps both fingers crossed that Germany will break the fourth Corona wave by Christmas, and incidence figures will be reduced to a tolerable level. Otherwise, tougher measures like lockdowns and stricter contact restrictions are not out of the question. Germany finally bites the bullet and tries hard to get over it.

*

The Fifth Candle

Advent wreaths traditionally have four candles; mine has five, although there were even more initially.

Wichernkranz (©Wikipedia/Fretwurst)

Here is the first Advent wreath conceived by Johann Hinrich Wichern. Read the full story here.

There is a charming nursery rhyme. My translation follows the German principle for poets, "Reim dich oder ich fress dich (Rhyme or I will eat you):"

Advent, Advent, ein Lichtlein brennt, Erst eins, dann zwei, dann drei, dann vier, Dann steht das Christkind vor der Tür. Doch Witzbolde dichteten weiter: Und wenn das fünfte Lichtlein brennt, Dann hast'e Weihnachten verpennt.

Advent, Advent, a little light is burning, First one, then two, then three, then four, Then Christ Child will knock on the door. Funny people continued: And when the fifth candle is shining, You blew Christmas; you are whining.

That will not happen in my case. When I bought the Advent wreath, I noticed a loose candle in my bag at the checkout. The cashier asked, "Do you want to change the wreath? "

Well, I was in a hurry; my streetcar was not waiting, so I mumbled, "No, thank you," and left, ready to fix the loose candle later myself.

In the streetcar, I checked that the wreath had its four candles all right, but there was another fifth. I had an idea on the way to my daughter at the Katharinenstift.

She will not have a tree in her room for Christmas, so I will light the fifth candle for both of our joys on Christmas Eve.

P.S: A faithful reader made me aware that in a Lutheran tradition, Advent wreaths have four candles on the ring but an added fifth candle in the center. It is called the Christ candle to be lit at Christmas.

*

Impfpflicht, jetzt!

When I read today's Badische Zeitung on the Internet at 10 p.m. last night, I stumbled over an article titled Weitere Einschränkungen (More Restrictions).

©BZ

Red Baron started to study the table of Corona restrictions - in force from today on - and shook his head. Gastronomy in indoor places requires 2G (vaccinates or recovered), while outdoor Christmas markets are marked 2G+. Geimpfte or Genesene may dine in restaurants, while 2G visitors of Christmas markets need the negative result of a Corona rapid test in addition. Last Saturday, Red Baron visited Freiburg's Christmas market and was accompanied by a cold wind blowing away any Corona aerosol clouds. 

With all the existing complications already, the market's attendance is only half this year compared to before Corona. The additional test requirement will kill Freiburg's Christmas market (see the recent development at the end).

The new Corona restrictions are illogical and too complicated. The Eiertanz (dancing around eggs) around stubbornly unvaccinated people must stop as soon as possible.

Further reading about Weitere Einschränkungen, I shouted, "Compulsory vaccination, now!"

©ZDF

Germany is riding on a towering fourth wave of Corona with no end in view, so the US told their citizens to avoid my country.

 

©ZDF, Die Heute Show

Jens Spahn, the wise guy and soon former Federal Minister of Health, said, "In January, the 3G rule will still be valid. It is only named differently, geimpft, genesen, and gestorben (vaccinated, recovered, and deceased)."

He wasn't wise when he later argued against compulsory vaccination, "Jabs don't help to break the fourth Corona wave." Dear Jens, everybody knows that immunization against Covid builds up with time, and a second jab is required two weeks after the first shot.

However, every day counts, so compulsory vaccination now! I want to live through something other than a fifth Corona wave in the winter of 2022/23.

With a Corona incidence rate of 1084, more than double that of Germany, Austria starts with the compulsory vaccination next year on February 1. Why don't we follow? 

Latest Information

This Wednesday evening, the organizer, the Freiburg Wirtschaft Touristik und Messe GmbH (FWTM; Freiburg Economy Tourism and Fair Ltd.), and the exhibitors decided to close the Christmas market. 

Despite the market closure, the FWTM has allowed artisans to continue operating their booths. However, the decorations must come off as a feature of a Christmas market requiring 2G+. Consequently, 50 of the 127 vendors of the aborted event will continue. 

With Christmas decorations removed, one of the arts and craft vendors said, "We are now like a normal retail store, for which the 3G rule applies and not 2G+." Crazy!

Compulsory vaccination now!

*

The Sunset Effect

Note the fog in the valleys of the Black Forest (©Margit Anhut)

Look at this beautiful afterglow, a photo taken by my good Feierabend friend Margit at the Schauinsland, the famous mountain in the Black Forest.

 
The red colors of sunrise and sunset and the blue sky, too, are explained by the scattering of sunlight.

The scattering of light by small particles compared to the wavelength is called Rayleigh scattering. Calculations show that light is scattered inversely proportional to the fourth (!) power of its wavelength. Thus, blue light is scattered much more than red light.

When the sun is high, the path of sunlight through the atmosphere is relatively short. Gas, dust, and water particles in the air scatter mainly the short wavelengths so that the sky appears blue and not black during the day.

When the sun is low, the path of direct sunlight through the atmosphere is much longer. Due to the scattering away of the blue light, the latter decreases considerably so that the red in the sunlight becomes dominant.

A cloudless sky is blue during the day and red at dawn and dusk.

The more the air is polluted, the more impressive the sunsets are.

Too much fundamental physics? Let's change the subject. I'll tell you about the two operations in my left eye.

Around the year 2010, I noticed that my vision in the left eye was deteriorating. The diagnosis was epiretinal gliosis, a tissue layer that forms on the retina. This layer can be removed, but at that time, only the eye clinic in Offenbach near Frankfurt dared to operate on the opened eye. I did not go to Offenburg because I weighed the question of my ophthalmologist, "Does it bother you much?" with the risk of an operation.

With the layer thickening with time, my eyesight was deteriorating more, even though the decline was not too noticeable through physiological compensation. However, eventually, I could read small print only with the help of a magnifying glass.

In the meantime, the eye clinic at the University of Freiburg has gained experience and successfully performs surgery on epiretinal gliosis. So, in spring 2021, I decided to undergo the operation, entailing a two-night hospital stay.

The surgery first involves removing the vitreous body (vitrectomy) and then carefully ablating the layer with a micro scalpel. The missing vitreous body is then replaced by a saline solution and air. As a result, I had a water surface in my field of vision during the following two weeks. Because the eye's lens turns the external image upside down, the water level protruded into my vision from above. After 14 days, the eye's interior was filled with natural body fluid, and I could see clearly.

It is and was also known to me that after removing the vitreous body, the eye's lens is no longer nourished, giving rise to a fast-developing cataract. Again, the vision in my eye was diminishing over time. An artificial new lens will help and can be inserted in an outpatient surgery within a quarter of an hour.

Red Baron got his lens replaced on November 9, Germany's day of fate. After some initial adaptation, I now see better with my left than with my right eye.

Here the physics explained above comes into play. I see a clear, slightly bluish-tinted image with my left eye, while my right non-operated eye shows a reddish-tinted one, i.e., cold light versus warm light.

The explanation is that of the sunset. While in my operated left eye, the natural daylight hits the retina without scattering through a cloudy lens or an old vitreous body; daylight entering the right eye is scattered by a lens that is not young anymore and an old vitreous body. Mostly the red part of the solar spectrum hits the retina and is accordingly perceived by the brain.

The more the lens and the vitreous body are clouded, the "warmer" the vision becomes.

At the moment, I use my old glasses, as a necessary new adjustment can be made only in the new year. According to my ophthalmologist, the operated eye must first get used to the new condition.

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