NIH - Some coronavirus facts!

In late December 2019, the World Health Organization declared the illness resulting from the new virus, COVID-19, a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. By early March 2020, the novel coronavirus—now named SARS-CoV-2—had infected more than 90,000 people worldwide and killed at least 3,100.Note: COVID-19 is the disease, SARS-2-CoV is the virus.

Like other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 particles are spherical and have proteins called spikes protruding from their surface. These spikes latch onto human cells, then undergo a structural change that allows the viral membrane to fuse with the cell membrane. The viral genes can then enter the host cell to be copied, producing more viruses. Recent work shows that, like the virus that caused the 2002 SARS outbreak, SARS-CoV-2 spikes bind to receptors on the human cell surface called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).

The researchers found that the SARS-CoV-2 spike was 10 to 20 times more likely to bind ACE2 on human cells than the spike from the SARS virus from 2002. This may enable SARS-CoV-2 to spread more easily from person to person than the earlier virus.

Despite similarities in sequence and structure between the spikes of the two viruses, three different antibodies against the 2002 SARS virus could not successfully bind to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. This suggests that potential vaccine and antibody-based treatment strategies will need to be unique to the new virus.[It also suggest that more 'novel' mutations may occur in the future.]

Clinical information here - https://forsythkid.blogspot.com/2020/03/coronavirus-covid-19-clinical.html

Source: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/novel-coronavirus-structure-reveals-targets-vaccines-treatments

I think I have a few immigrant solutions!

In what has to be a stroke of sheer genius, I believe that I have come up with a few viable solutions to the border problems that face America in 2018!

Solution 1

We decide, as a nation, to annex Mexico to California then divide that state up into three new states make them the 51st to 53rd additions to the Union! Now I understand that the Current government, in Mexico, might be a little upset with this move. To which I would say, 'tough nogies'. Life sucks and get over it! Once we march in a hundred thousand soldiers, what are they going to do about it? Nada! All Mexicans would then suddenly become US citizens living in 'South California' and we could tax the bejesus out of them while also placing them under the tender administrations of the Far Left....

Solution 2

We finish the wall, but also build a great highway connecting Mexico directly to Canada! Needless to say, that highway would also have pretty high walls! And, it would be very expensive as we would be forced to wall off Canada also. But once that was accomplished, we could sit back and see how the Canadian government handles the problem. Maybe we could even lend them Chucky Schumer on a semi permanent basis to act as a sanctimonious critic.

Solution 3

We open the border wide open, contrive to have the Republicans lose the next few elections. Then, we conservatives could sit at home and watch TV to see just what the Democrats will do when they suddenly find themselves neck deep in uneducated, dirty and hungry multitudes. What a hoot that would be. Of course, we'd all have to get used to a shift to Third World status, but that's the breaks of the game!

or

We could build that dumb old wall on the south border and enforce the laws already on the books. Boring!

Random Thoughts for June 2018!

Hail woes!

After leaving May behind, but not before it managed to trash my car with hail on the 31^st, I ventured bravely onward into June. A month that reminded me of the variability of what mother Nature can dish out when she's a little pissed. Half way through the month and over half the time the temps climbed to 90 and beyond! As I sweltered in the early heat, an insurance man came over and announced that I had about five thousand dollars worth of damage to my car and that they would be sending me a check in the mail. Swell. Meanwhile the weather people were calling for; heat indices above 100, scattered violent hail storms and just a smattering of tornadoes here and there. Oh, and my condominium complex, which just replaced the shingles on ten buildings at an insured cost of 200 thousand in April, would need to be replaced again. Oh, and by the way, we'd likely have to foot that additional cost ourselves! Double swell!

Chili-con-awesome!

Whenever I get depressed, which had been happening more often as of late, I turn to eating as a calmative. Recently, I made up a batch of DanO's Chili! A dish that goes together quickly with little in the way of fuss or muss. 'Give a man a bowl of chili, a can of beer and a game to watch and all is well with the world!' (Well, it'd also be OK to throw in a winning lotto ticket, a very lose woman and a crazed chimpanzee)!

I can't wait for 2020!

Even as I am rapidly advancing to the age where cliff diving seems like a good alternative, I have to admit to feeling a bit excited about the presidential election of 2020! One the one side, we will have that ornery and cantankerous man known as the Trump! On the other side... who the fuck knows??

 Most of the wannabe candidates are so far to the Left that even old George Soros might have some doubts. Let's see now; there's a few well know figures like Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Those zany characters will be in the DNC hunt along with Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Sherrod Brown and Cory Booker as of this post. Of this group, Joe 'the groper' Biden seems to have the best chance to get it all together. He's sort of a mild version of Obama who, once elected, would work like mad to turn everything Trump has done completely around. That would include wide-open borders, kowtowing to foreign nationals, closing down coal mines and offshore drilling not to mention the reimposing of a billion or so regulations on corporations! That rushing sound, you'd hear, would be trillions of dollars moving back offshore...