The Virus

[silverlifter]

the fact that university faculties tend largely to be notoriously infested by Marxist professors and their "fellow travelers,"

Lol. Is Alex Jones selling Elderberry along with these "facts" you speak of?

[VertOlive]

Over 60 and working in an immunohematology reference lab now and so am expected to show up and fight the good fight, wash my hands, actually touch icky stuff from possibly sick people, wash my hands, and go home.

If I get sick I’ll die. That’s what people do.

[Empty_of_Clouds]

Spent 19 years in biomed sciences, and our lab was one of the screening labs for new variant CJD. Stay safe VertOlive.

[Brilliant Bill]

Over 60 and working in an immunohematology reference lab now and so am expected to show up and fight the good fight, wash my hands, actually touch icky stuff from possibly sick people, wash my hands, and go home.

If I get sick I’ll die. That’s what people do.

I'm not on the frontlines, but being over 70, I'm equally fatalistic. If it gets me, I'm gone! No regrets, thankfully.

[Deb]

My husband has severe breathing problems and can't stay at home all the time because he has dialysis three times a week. He says he's not ready to go - he has a lot still to do. I'm not ready for him to go either.

[catbert]

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...d-of-the-world

firstdogvirus.jpg

[Deb]

I realize that the majority of people on this forum are liberal or left of liberal. I attribute this to the fountain pen-wielding community's level of education (most fountain pen users are well-educated), and the fact that university faculties tend largely to be notoriously infested by Marxist professors and their "fellow travelers," and that students are impressionable and vulnerable to propaganda presented as fact by their teachers. It's gotten so bad that people are literally forbidden to discuss conservative views on most college campuses. It's called "hate speech," even when it's presented calmly, logically and without any insults or other hostile or demeaning language. You will be shouted down, and very possibly expelled from school. That's the reality.

Anyway, since I am clearly neither liberal nor left of liberal, I realize that some people here will dismiss anything I say as coming from a deplorable, knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing imbecile. Nevertheless, I do have some information which people may or may not care to learn about.

First of all, you need to understand that the medical establishment is dominated by the pharmaceutical industry. That industry is instrumental is choosing the gatekeepers that control the flow of "approved" medical information (editors and publishers of "peer reviewed journals, for example). Information which even suggests the possibly that a nonpharmaceutical approach to preventing a particular disease exists and might even be better than pharmaceutical drugs for that purpose will be suppressed.

You're not going to hear much about it, but there has been research that suggests that a deficiency of vitamin D, such as occurs from less sunlight exposure during winter months, may lead to a significant increase in vulnerability to certain diseases including influenza and even possibly Ebola. I once read an account of something that happened in a hospital in Spain in 1918, during the Spanish Flu outbreak. In that hospital, patients in its geriatric ward were receiving large doses of vitamin D daily as part of an experimental trial to see if it affected longevity. When the flu hit, it wiped out many younger patients and even staff, but none of the geriatric patients who'd been receiving vitamin D caught it. Here is a link to a Web page discussing vitamin D and influenza: https://vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index....20D%20-%202009 . I've been taking 500 IU of vitamin D daily for about 20 years, have received no flu vaccines during that period of time, and only once experienced flu-like symptoms, which were very light and lasted only 24 hours. For what it's worth, I'm turning 74 later this year.

Something else that you may not have known: elderberry has very effective anti-viral properties. If you have an illness caused by a virus, such as COVID19, the disease under discussion, which is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, taking elderberry extract will lessen the severity of the infection, and its duration. I'm not referring to the homeopathic version, which has not been studied in extensive clinical trials, unlike the straightforward extract. It makes a noticeable difference. You can also take it for prophylaxis, because it works by building up your immune response.

Calamus, we could not be further apart on the political spectrum but I always enjoy your posts.

[Scrawler]

My biggest worry about it is traveling to a major population center for chemotherapy. I know that if I get any respiratory illness right now it will be the end. I have made sure I have white cotton gloves. I doubt the efficacy of normal medical masks for keeping infections out. Other than that I have at least 6 months supply of coffee beans.

[Scrawler]

Here to entertain the virus struck masses is Alvin Oon's viral anthem

https://youtu.be/JYTzX9JCbDY

[catbert]

[calamus]

I realize that the majority of people on this forum are liberal or left of liberal. I attribute this to the fountain pen-wielding community's level of education (most fountain pen users are well-educated), and the fact that university faculties tend largely to be notoriously infested by Marxist professors and their "fellow travelers," and that students are impressionable and vulnerable to propaganda presented as fact by their teachers. It's gotten so bad that people are literally forbidden to discuss conservative views on most college campuses. It's called "hate speech," even when it's presented calmly, logically and without any insults or other hostile or demeaning language. You will be shouted down, and very possibly expelled from school. That's the reality.

Anyway, since I am clearly neither liberal nor left of liberal, I realize that some people here will dismiss anything I say as coming from a deplorable, knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing imbecile. Nevertheless, I do have some information which people may or may not care to learn about.

First of all, you need to understand that the medical establishment is dominated by the pharmaceutical industry. That industry is instrumental is choosing the gatekeepers that control the flow of "approved" medical information (editors and publishers of "peer reviewed journals, for example). Information which even suggests the possibly that a nonpharmaceutical approach to preventing a particular disease exists and might even be better than pharmaceutical drugs for that purpose will be suppressed.

You're not going to hear much about it, but there has been research that suggests that a deficiency of vitamin D, such as occurs from less sunlight exposure during winter months, may lead to a significant increase in vulnerability to certain diseases including influenza and even possibly Ebola. I once read an account of something that happened in a hospital in Spain in 1918, during the Spanish Flu outbreak. In that hospital, patients in its geriatric ward were receiving large doses of vitamin D daily as part of an experimental trial to see if it affected longevity. When the flu hit, it wiped out many younger patients and even staff, but none of the geriatric patients who'd been receiving vitamin D caught it. Here is a link to a Web page discussing vitamin D and influenza: https://vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index....20D%20-%202009 . I've been taking 500 IU of vitamin D daily for about 20 years, have received no flu vaccines during that period of time, and only once experienced flu-like symptoms, which were very light and lasted only 24 hours. For what it's worth, I'm turning 74 later this year.

Something else that you may not have known: elderberry has very effective anti-viral properties. If you have an illness caused by a virus, such as COVID19, the disease under discussion, which is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, taking elderberry extract will lessen the severity of the infection, and its duration. I'm not referring to the homeopathic version, which has not been studied in extensive clinical trials, unlike the straightforward extract. It makes a noticeable difference. You can also take it for prophylaxis, because it works by building up your immune response.

Calamus, we could not be further apart on the political spectrum but I always enjoy your posts.

Likewise! I also love your pens.

[calamus]

I thought that the discussion of controversial subjects was permitted anywhere in the Lounge. My apologies to everyone if I was mistaken.

Take a look at this sub-forum. It isn’t just that the content is best put there, but it is also the only forum (that I’m aware of) that does not show up in the What’s New filter, thus avoiding the possibility of annoying people or dragging them in. No one will enforce this, it was simply a general agreement among members a good few years ago.

So you're saying we have a gentleman's agreement that if a topic under discussion clearly has political implications, it is taboo to acknowledge those implications unless that thread was started in the Religion and Politics subforum? For self-censorship, that sounds pretty draconian. I can see not starting a thread on a controversial subject in fora other than the designated one, but I'm not sure I can agree to ignoring the political component of a subject that is clearly in significant part political, and I doubt that starting a new thread elsewhere is going to be a meaningful workaround, because it interrupts the flow of the conversation. And I am a strong supporter of free speech, although not filthy speech. Curiously enough, there is no subforum for the use of bad language, and yet I see no one objecting to the crude language that appears sprinkled throughout many threads. I would welcome a member agreement on that subject, although I don't need to retire to a "safe space" every time I encounter profanity, and the people who think it appropriate to use bad language on this forum would just continue doing it anyway.

[jar]

I thought that the discussion of controversial subjects was permitted anywhere in the Lounge. My apologies to everyone if I was mistaken.

Take a look at this sub-forum. It isn’t just that the content is best put there, but it is also the only forum (that I’m aware of) that does not show up in the What’s New filter, thus avoiding the possibility of annoying people or dragging them in. No one will enforce this, it was simply a general agreement among members a good few years ago.

So you're saying we have a gentleman's agreement that if a topic under discussion clearly has political implications, it is taboo to acknowledge those implications unless that thread was started in the Religion and Politics subforum? For self-censorship, that sounds pretty draconian. I can see not starting a thread on a controversial subject in fora other than the designated one, but I'm not sure I can agree to ignoring the political component of a subject that is clearly in significant part political, and I doubt that starting a new thread elsewhere is going to be a meaningful workaround, because it interrupts the flow of the conversation. And I am a strong supporter of free speech, although not filthy speech. Curiously enough, there is no subforum for the use of bad language, and yet I see no one objecting to the crude language that appears sprinkled throughout many threads. I would welcome a member agreement on that subject, although I don't need to retire to a "safe space" every time I encounter profanity, and the people who think it appropriate to use bad language on this forum would just continue doing it anyway.

We expected no less from you.

[calamus]

the fact that university faculties tend largely to be notoriously infested by Marxist professors and their "fellow travelers,"

Lol. Is Alex Jones selling Elderberry along with these "facts" you speak of?

I have no idea; I don't frequent his website. I know elderberry works for me, and has for decades. And if you don't think colleges are indoctrination centers for Marxist ideology, you're as old as I am but haven't stepped foot on a college campus for at least 50 years. Either that, or you're in complete and utter denial of everything that doesn't fit into your grasp of reality.

[calamus]

I thought that the discussion of controversial subjects was permitted anywhere in the Lounge. My apologies to everyone if I was mistaken.

Take a look at this sub-forum. It isn’t just that the content is best put there, but it is also the only forum (that I’m aware of) that does not show up in the What’s New filter, thus avoiding the possibility of annoying people or dragging them in. No one will enforce this, it was simply a general agreement among members a good few years ago.

So you're saying we have a gentleman's agreement that if a topic under discussion clearly has political implications, it is taboo to acknowledge those implications unless that thread was started in the Religion and Politics subforum? For self-censorship, that sounds pretty draconian. I can see not starting a thread on a controversial subject in fora other than the designated one, but I'm not sure I can agree to ignoring the political component of a subject that is clearly in significant part political, and I doubt that starting a new thread elsewhere is going to be a meaningful workaround, because it interrupts the flow of the conversation. And I am a strong supporter of free speech, although not filthy speech. Curiously enough, there is no subforum for the use of bad language, and yet I see no one objecting to the crude language that appears sprinkled throughout many threads. I would welcome a member agreement on that subject, although I don't need to retire to a "safe space" every time I encounter profanity, and the people who think it appropriate to use bad language on this forum would just continue doing it anyway.

We expected no less from you.

No less than what?

[Lady Onogaro]

the fact that university faculties tend largely to be notoriously infested by Marxist professors and their "fellow travelers,"

Lol. Is Alex Jones selling Elderberry along with these "facts" you speak of?

I have no idea; I don't frequent his website. I know elderberry works for me, and has for decades. And if you don't think colleges are indoctrination centers for Marxist ideology, you're as old as I am but haven't stepped foot on a college campus for at least 50 years. Either that, or you're in complete and utter denial of everything that doesn't fit into your grasp of reality.

I teach at a university in the south. Our colleges are hardly indoctrination centers for Marxist ideology. It's hard enough to get the students to read what they are supposed to read for class much less indoctrinate them into anything. And ours is becoming more of a trade school in drilling oil and working with computers (you know, those things that will ultimately take the place of those drilling jobs--and most jobs--that used to be so lucrative) than it is a place of ideas anyway.

[Lady Onogaro]

Until it is closed or deleted (which it won't be) we can just make certain that no one is under any illusion as to the depth of inquiry here...

Probably the biggest push behind the coronavirus fear-mongering in the U.S. media has been the Looney Left's dishonest attempts to somehow blame it all on Trump. Typical of them -- they never let a good crisis go to waste. They've been telling a lot of outright lies about the President in this connection. They always do, but in this case it's been particularly egregious, and especially easy to debunk. Here's a link to an article about the AP calling out both Biden and Bloomberg for lying about Trump's response to the coronavirus: https://www.redstate.com/elizabeth-v...to-coronavirus. Here's a bit of relevant text from the article: "An Associated Press fact check shows Biden and Bloomberg both lied about President Trump’s response to the coronavirus. This is no surprise. Democrats began their campaign against the Trump Administration’s handling of this growing threat on Sunday after the Russia 2.0 hoax collapsed."

Every politician lies, as far as I can see. It would be great if they stopped lying, but they won't because it seems to be that the truth hurts their own chances of elections. The Republicans lie. The Democrats lie. The Greens lie. They all lie.

I am left of you politically, but I don't think it is "loony" to ask our government leaders to take the virus seriously (no matter their party) and do what we need to do to prevent an outbreak of the type that has happened in other countries.

I don't, however, see any reason why folks have to do name calling for people of a different political party or thinking. Compromise used to be a tradition in this country, and demonizing or ridiculing the other side through name calling has undermined not only compromise but goodwill among Americans to the degree that people are shedding themselves of friends of different political stripes. Let's not do that here, please. Is my thinking more on the leftist side of the spectrum? It is. But I am not loony. I care about my fellow human beings, citizens, the environment, animals, the "little ones" talked about in the Bible, etc. So please stop using name calling as a substitute for making a point. We have a good community here, and I would hate to think that you don't like me just because of my politics.

[Lady Onogaro]

I've been getting my information from mostly non-media sources, though you can find similar by sifting through those outlets as well. FWIW, here is a basic summation, as of a couple of days ago, from a respected source (and also part of the pen community). Ross McKinney, MD, is a pediatric infectious disease specialist and chief scientific officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges,

* * * * *

I’ve been asked for this note that I sent to my family & now the staff where I work:

………………………………………………………………………………….

I hate to say it, but I think Coronavirus is coming our way. So here are a few pointers for when and if there’s an outbreak in our region (Our fingers are crossed that it not happen).

Personal safety: keep a distance of six feet if possible, esp. if someone is coughing. Wash your hands often (Purell will work). Masks have no real utility other than to remind you not to touch your nose, mouth, or eyes. N95 respirators do work, but require a fit and will largely be restricted to hospital use because of their scarcity. Touch elevator buttons with a knuckle. Fist- or elbow-bump, don’t shake hands. Avoid places where crowds gather – airports, train stations, malls. Most sporting events will be called off.

Prepare for schools to close, and prepare to have restrictions in terms of going out of your house – which means it’s worth having >two weeks’ worth of food, frozen or canned. That won’t be sufficient, but it’s a start. Think about beverages & water. This won’t be the sort of challenge that a hurricane or an ice storm brings. Power should stay on, getting gas for a car should be possible, radios and TVs will work. The internet will be on. You’ll be able to drive from location to location – but when you get there, who knows?

If you have prescription meds, be sure to have a good supply. A month seems reasonable.

Workplaces are likely to close and where people can work remotely, that will be the norm.

Expect that schools will switch to virtual, on-line classrooms, at some point, if they have the resources. Or there could be a few weeks of snow-day equivalents.

Prepare for cabin fever! In general, when there’s an epidemic people behave badly. Assume irrationality.

We know that items made in China are going to be scarce. That could be items made anywhere by the time this is done.

The current understanding of the clinical course is that 80% of people have a cold or nothing (although those asymptomatic people can apparently spread the virus – the #1 problem). 20% of people get seriously ill. Children do best, and the older you are, the worse the prognosis.

Most important lesson: buy food & medicines, and start washing your hands!

Good advice in flu season, too. So many we'll see fewer deaths from the flu if people heed this advice.

[silverlifter]

the fact that university faculties tend largely to be notoriously infested by Marxist professors and their "fellow travelers,"

Lol. Is Alex Jones selling Elderberry along with these "facts" you speak of?

I have no idea; I don't frequent his website. I know elderberry works for me, and has for decades. And if you don't think colleges are indoctrination centers for Marxist ideology, you're as old as I am but haven't stepped foot on a college campus for at least 50 years. Either that, or you're in complete and utter denial of everything that doesn't fit into your grasp of reality.

You arefunny. You claim your prejudice as "fact" yet contend I lack a grasp on reality...

Just to be clear, a fact is "a thing that is known to be consistent with objective reality and can be proven to be true with evidence." Nothing about your paranoid drivel qualifies.

[Brilliant Bill]

Not everything we know to be a fact is necessarily true...

A couple of months ago I made a bulk purchase of toilet paper

People suffering from coronavirus consume large quantities of toilet paper

Therefore, I was prescient about the coronavirus.

The truth is, I found a very good deal on toilet paper and had the resources to consummate such a deal. I knew nothing about a coming "pandemic."

Beware anyone who knows his facts are true -- sort of the premise of genuine science.