See! Trump's gone and done it again!

Washington D.C. - 'Today, I come to you with a heavy heart'. Intoned a solemn Chuck Schumer, as he stood at a podium flanked by other Democrats. He shuffled some papers and then looked directly into the camera and state, "As you all know, the Coronavirus has now infected almost 80 individuals all across our great country and I have called again on President Trump to declare a State of Marshal Law, effective immediately." [A tittering sound came from somewhere behind him.. was that laughter?]

"As you know, President Trump has done everything possible to impair the House's call for one trillion dollars in aid to help curve off what might be an out of control pandemic.' Chuck stopped for a moment to let his grave words sink in... He then resumed, 'What we have now a situation that will have an even graver impact than the recent 4000 point drop in the Dow Jones!' Chuck then raided a forefinger and stabbed it at the nearest camera. "And let it be known that this has transpired on Trump's watch!" Chuck took a deep breath. "My fellow Americans, something must be done about the monster before he wrecks the economy even more than what we've endured these past three years!' Chuck then spread his arms while his eyes sweep the auditorium.; "True, thus far only a few citizens have perished from the virus, yet perhaps this is only the beginning of the end!" Directly behind Chuck and off to his left, Nancy was smiling ear to ear. She was also looking just a bit deranged...

The room was so silent, at that point, you could hear a pin drop. Chuck then reached down and pulled up a handful of documents and held them proudly up for everyone present to see. 'I have here NEW articles of impeachment that were drawn up in a closed door session just last night.' He then turns and solemnly hands the papers over to Nancy, who seems about to swoon. Chuck continued. 'Our evidence of high crimes is overwhelming (this time) and I will be calling for a full vote in the House next Tuesday.'

Chuck then turns as though he was finished speaking, but stops and turns back to face the cameras. 'Oh, I almost forgot. Sanders has taken suddenly ill and is in a coma. Graciously filing his shoes will be Michelle Obama, who I am sure will do a great job!' Chuck then left the stage and headed for his chair, where He shooed out an invisible person, before sitting down.....

Interesting take on the coronavirus!

DALLAS, Texas (NEXSTAR) — With the coronavirus causing concerns across the globe, many people may be wondering if their seasonal symptoms are the common cold, flu or something more.
Symptoms for the viral infection include runny nose, headache, couch and fever. And yes, those are also the common symptoms of the flu.

According to a report in Canada’s Global News, that creates difficulty for media professionals. It may be challenging to weed out mild cases of coronavirus due to its similarities with the flu, said Allison McGeer, an infectious disease specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

“Every respiratory virus is the same — you get a runny nose, a stuffy nose, a cough, sometimes a sore throat, all because the lining of your nose and throat are damaged. The symptoms are caused by that virus or bacteria damaging the cells of your respiratory tract. It doesn’t matter what virus is causing it,” Greer told Global News.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shortness of breath, body aches and chills could be associated with more dangerous types of the coronavirus. In more extreme cases, the virus may cause pneumonia, bronchitis, kidney failure and death.

Symptoms of milder coronavirus cases can be “somewhat indistinguishable” from the flu, Eleanor Fish, an immunology professor at the University of Toronto, told Global News.

While there isn’t a vaccine to prevent coronavirus, there is a diagnostic test that quickly detects the bug. There are research teams already hard at work to create a vaccine.

At this point, the experts say travel history plays the biggest role in determining whether you have flu or cold-like symptoms versus the coronavirus. If you haven’t traveled to Wuhan, China, you’re likely in the clear.[Source: https://www.kron4.com]

Still dancing!

Trillions of cells do make me uniquely what I am on this fine day.
Dividing and multiplying in utterly mad and wild disarray.

Yet, many in this army of mine, these tiny building blocks of life.

Are born, live and fight, then bravely die each night.

Were even a single cell, to know what a part of the whole they were actually part of,

That would far far transcend my knowledge of God, so high up above.

.

Just playing solitare!

I ran into Wilco whilst perusing the virtual worlds of the net vis a vie Second Life. This song, garnered there, struck a chord in me! So not an icon of thought, just an old man's late night thoughts.
Hey! Either you like your shit or not! The bottom line..

'Took too long to think (or see)
I was wrong to believe in me only...'

Two thoughts this night. One was how I must have felt, could I have felt, as I entered into this world as an infant and whose first taste of oxygen on virgin lungs must have been horrific. All of us newborns everywhere were subject to the pains of lost wombs, yet destined for new incredible horizons. Life then happened in a blur. Most of the time spent in not really seeing time. I was way too obsessed with event horizons.... I suspect that was true for most all of us.. And then, way before I was ready.. Old(er) age cemented itself to me like an unwelcome guest. Suddenly, time had passed.

Looking back, even surviving to be called 'old' was an honor of a sort. Too many good friends had  fallen by the wayside over the years. I can't say that I really noticed it at the time, but later that pain grew ever sharper...

My future: It was that event horizon thingy I fell into day to day, decade to decade.... until then... Suddenly, and way before I was prepared, the next birth canal awaited in my immediate future. And I wondered, should I plunge into the next awakening head first or feet first.... or did it even really matter? [Turns out, it never did! God has caught me, every time!] My God has never left me - I was always in close and intimate contact. Figuring out His path for me, in this life, has been an ongoing discovery...

'Teliometric spindles so fresh and so pure!

At each infant's birth, so strong and so sure!

Each cell that does so divide...

Keeps silent count, by which it must always abide.

Time moves on, and we all will surely see,

each person's gene's expressed from both of thee.

Then, as it happens, some grow of older age,

with teliometric shredding their end times prophetic sage.'

For those looking to see more - There's always Psych 401...

I decided to switch back to real sugar, and here's why!

A few recent studies suggest that consuming fake sugar actually trains your insulin response to store more fat, not less. Basically when you consume real sugar, your taste buds send an alert to your pancreas that says, “Hey, calories are on the way! Prepare to produce insulin!” The insulin then helps break down the sugars, which either provide immediate energy or go into fat cells for storage. If your body interprets something as sweet when there’s not really sugar on the table, though, it may end up producing that same insulin response. So that diet soda is still prompting your pancreas to store fat, even though you’re not getting to enjoy real sugar—your brain can tell the difference. Artificial sweeteners don’t trigger our reward circuits the same way, so you don’t get the satisfaction of ingesting sugar. 

And on top of that, constantly pumping up your insulin response eventually leads it to malfunction. This is essentially what happens in type 2 diabetes, but can occur to a lesser—but still harmful—extent in otherwise healthy people. Eventually your pancreas starts producing too much insulin in response to all food, making you pack on the pounds.

This whole theory is still being tested, but it’s in line with what we observe in people who drink diet beverages: they tend to gain weight. In observational studies you can’t tell whether that’s causative or if it’s just that overweight people tend to drink more diet soda than people at a healthy weight. One clue is that scientists observe what’s known as a dose response. The more artificial sweeteners people consume, the more weight they seem to put on. That suggests it might be the fake sugars themselves that prompt the gain in poundage, not just an association. [Source: Popular Science | Sara Chodosh