Five Stupid Questions

 Over the past 18 months, I've followed a lot of Covid news, discussions, and chatter.  Some made sense.....some made no sense.  So these were five of the discussion/questions I noticed:

1.  Can you get antibodies (not Covid itself) via sexual relations?  Some guy was worried (he apparently was a non-vax type) but he had a worry that he might get some 'bad' antibodies if he went hooking up with the wrong woman.  If you think about this....pro-vax people should only have relations with other pro-vaxers.  Non-vax people should only mingle or have relations with non-vax people.  

2.  Should you disinfect your car after hauling some relative or associate around?  There was some German car repair shop I had business with, and early on....they offered some disinfectant service (I think in the range of 20 Euro or $24).  Some older gal in front of me was asking in some way if this was a good idea....she had to haul some friend in the car the day before. Mechanic guy didn't bat an eye....yep, very wise idea to disinfect the car.  In the first three months of offering the 'service', I bet they had a hundred people a week stopping by for the six-minute disinfectant service.  

3.   Some guy asked on a radio call-in deal....if you could get the virus while sitting on a public toilet.  The response went to some answer like.....there are forty-odd things you could get from a public toilet....already before Covid came along.

4.  At some point early on (Spring 2020)....Berlin police started to get Covid questions....almost on a minute-by-minute basis.  Folks were calling them....instead of doctors or nurses.  The city police had to put out a blunt statement....call us for crime....not Covid.

5.  Someone in the US brought up a question that came from a radio show....guy asking if you wear a condom....would it protect you from getting Covid.  The response went to some counter-question....are you social distancing while engaged in this act (suggesting 3 feet distance).

Immunity Discussion

 There is a great piece off Web MD, written by Hansa D. Bhargava, MD....which talks to a health topic.

Most of us walk around and want to know how to improve our immune system.  Bhargava goes the opposite direction and asks how you can screw-up or diminish your immune system.

Examples?  Smoke weed, have low vitamin D levels, rarely eat fruits, or rarely spend time outside.

I'd recommend a read of the article.  

I would imagine if your immune system was at a '10'....your reaction to a bout of Covid might not be that severe (requiring you to spend a week or two in some ICU situation).  Most of us would only give ourselves a '7' or '8' though.  

White Lab Jacket Syndrome

 When I arrived in 2010 at my Pentagon GS job (deep in the basement area)....I had this closet in my office area (something I'd never had throughout my military or contractor period).  So there in the closet was a white 'lab-type' jacket.  

I asked one of the 'team-members'....what the hell was the lab-jacket for?

So they related that 'respect' automatically came when you wore the jacket as a facility manager.  I stood there for a moment....thinking they were joking.  Well....they weren't.  Course they didn't wear it....mostly because they felt it was a status symbol that they didn't think they deserved.

For weeks, I stared at the jacket each morning and just declined to wear it....feeling that it just seemed awful fake.

As I left the job in 2013....the white lab jacket still sat there.  It was obviously a status symbol....for a job which you'd typically just wear a $49 cheapo blazer and $11 tie at work.  

In the last year or two of Covid.....I've come to look at the white lab jacket crowd, and wonder if their fake status was just gained by the jacket, and not actual knowledge.  It sticks with me each day now.  

Big Whatever

 I noticed this yesterday and it's been on my mind.  The White House came out this week and chatted over rising prices.  What they wanted to blame....were the big-four companies that deal in meat in America.....say Big Meat is to blame for price inflation at grocery stores.  

The problem here....just about everything has escalated over the past twelve months.  

So lets be fair, Big Bread, Big Muffins, Big Bean Dip, Big Beer, Big Soda, Big Pop Tarts, Big Beef Jerky, Big Beer, Big Wine, Big Dog Food, Big Bacon, Big Potato Chips, and Big Nuts.....are all contributing to the inflation as well.  

White House staff members ought to be mandated every sixty days to tour five states in the heartland for a week....to understand the real world.  

So, What is the Napah Virus?

 Back in the late 1990s....this virus started up in Malaysia and centered on swine.  What you can generally say....once it got transferred over to humans, things got rough.

You get a fever, cough, serious headache, and progress onto a breathing problem....then you develop a state of confusion.  

At this stage (probably around the 7th day).....you likely have a coma situation going on (brain inflammation as part of the mess), and the odds of death are between 50 and 75 percent. 

To stop the spread there in 1999....Malaysia killed off a heck of a lot of the pig population in the country.  That basically stopped the spread.

Naturally, you'd say that this is probably ten times worse than Covid.

Well....I noticed that India started up a new worry.....they've noticed the Napah virus there. Down in the Kerala state (south part of India)....they've got around sixty to seventy folks on quarantine....with the virus.

Deaths so far? One....a 12-year-old kid.  What you can take out of this story.....an ambulance picked up the kid and took him to four different clinics/hospitals....where none felt they had the situation to treat him.  The folks in quarantine?  They are all hospital folks who came into contact with the kid during this ambulance trip.

So you add this up. To be honest, with Covid, it's a .1-percent chance of death.  With Napah?  It's around a plus-50-percent.  

You really don't want this thing to go massive....you could wipe out civilization in a matter of two or three years.  

The funny thing about Napah?  Well....you can get it from pigs, or bats.  

Fourteen Months Until Mid-Terms

 Typically, mid-terms are supposed to be some corrective action....where 10-percent of folks who voted for the standing President....realize their screw-up, and vote for the opposing party.   That's the general formula.

This time?  I would go and probably triple the screw-up vote group.  

So, is this just a House/Senate corrective action that will unfold, where the Republicans might actually shock folks?

It's actually more than that.  Thirty-nine governors are up for election as well.

It's probably conceivable that at least four states with Democratic governors....will convert over (California might be one of them).  I might even go and suggest Michigan being another.

Can President Biden even help matters?  No.  

So, how big a mess do we have if you have a majority of Republicans in the House, and 55 likely Republican Senators?  You could start an impeachment process and see this snowball for three months.  Just Biden in the middle of this?  No....I think Blinken (State Department) could easily be dragged in as well.  And you might as well ask if the Pentagon's folks might be dragged into some mess as well.

It'll be a long frustrating period.  

The 'Freedom' Essay

 The NY Times had a guest essay piece on Monday.  This was a liberal piece written by Margaret Renkl, and her theme for the essay was.....there's just too much freedom, and you need the government to just run/supervise things.

She ranted on about how southerners were die in some unnecessary way because they just weren't going to play Covid the right way....they weren't handling natural disasters the right way....they were preventing abortions....and they were fully accepting of gun violence.  

Course, in her mind....all of this lead back to this crazy stuff called 'freedom'.  The suggestion is....there's just too much freedom......we need less of it.

There are several problems in the essay (at least I thought so).

Chicago is the centerpoint of gun violence in America, with massive regulation and government involvement.  There is no way to describe Chicago as a 'southern-city'.  But in Renkl's mind.....Chicago would have to be 'southern'.  

Then I looked over at wildfire management in California.  In Renkl's mind....the fires have to relate to 'southern mentality', but it's hard to suggest Californians are 'southern' in nature.  

Homelessness throughout America?  Perhaps created by some southern mentality?  Well....NO.

Meth curse upon the nation?  A southern mentality thing? No.

Do I think Renkl is totally wrong?  No.  I do believe we need less freedom for journalists.  There should be a index of sorts....which stories you can talk about or stories you are forbidden to tell, with updates listed each month for the general public and journalists to read/observe.  

In fact, we just need less news in general.  The nightly broadcast should be limited to just fifteen minutes.   All of this could be done by governmental control....more regulations, and more 'whatever'.

I might even be more agreeable to less freedom on travel.  Folks should just stay around their home-town or local area.  

Maybe we even need less freedom on sodas.  When you walk into a Wal-Mart....instead of 120 different types of sodas....maybe there should only be Tab, Diet Pepsi, and Mountain Dew.  

Yes, maybe the day has come where we just need a good dose for five years....of less freedom....to wise up and appreciate what we do have.