A Tiny Bit of Maybe Semi-Good Stuff
I don’t turn on the teevee during the day. I try to listen to music. I exercise and do a yoga session every day. I FaceTime with my grand baby. I talk to friends on the phone. But, like everybody else, I caught a miserable case of anxiety.
So every now and then, someone sends me a hint of good news.
Michael Levitt, a Nobel laureate and Stanford biophysicist, began analyzing the number of COVID-19 cases worldwide in January and correctly calculated that China would get through the worst of its coronavirus outbreak long before many health experts had predicted.
It’s in the LA Times so that gives me hope this guy is not a Trump apologist. The numbers do look a tiny bit less dire now.
And, a bit of bad news. Science-type people are now wondering if the loss of smell is an early indicator of Coronavirus.
Medical professionals say one indicator for the coronavirus may be a simple one: the loss of smell.
Those in the health care industry are still waiting for firm and robust data confirming that patients with COVID-19 develop this symptom shortly after contracting the disease. However, anecdotal evidence has started to show anosmia, partial or complete smell blindness, may prove to be a side-effect of the disease, some claim.
I guess this means I have to cook Brussel Sprouts every night just to check it out. Yuck.
Thanks to Epp for the heads up.
Yes, China finally got a grip on the pandemic; but, they used methods we could never get away with here–or in any Western democracy. Therein lies the rub.
1You can also eat lots of asparagus and drink plenty of water- if you don’t smell asparagus when the water takes its toll, you’re OK.
2No, no, no, cook cinnamon rolls!
3https://ncov2019.live/
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UPCOMING:
4Graphs and Africa statistics.
Aroma paradise: I bake fruit pies, mostly chunk pineapple with diced apple, grapes etc. Save the juice for soaking and basting chicken breast and bake with sliced onion. Scalloped potatoes with (your faves) and crowns of broccoli.
5I’ve asked spouse (who’s always up before me) to start the day with bacon. If I can’t smell it I won’t get up.
6I have a cat who is morally opposed to covering up – my sense of smell is alive and working, despite all the antihistamines!
7Smell? What smell?? I have my annual spring pollen allergies, can’t smell anything anyway.
8I am not worried. I can smell Trump all the way from here.
9Grandma Ada @7, “a cat who is morally opposed to covering up”:
10Aha, a “conscientious defecator”…
The next challenge for China: Hong Kong is about to come out of isolation. We shall see what happens with the virus then.
I wonder where we will be after we kill off half of our healthcare workers.
11I suffer chronic sinus issues like many others here in Texas. A sinus infection can also cause loss of smell, which I don’t notice so much until I realize I cannot taste anything beyond salty, bitter or sweet. I’ve had it last for a few days until the meds kick in. It’s a pretty effective diet, actually, because eating loses all its pleasure, but not enjoying my morning coffee is depressing.
12Whenever my mother wanted my sister and I to stay outside during the summer, she would cook up a big pot of mustard greens, which was a staple for both her and my father during the depression. You could smell it a mile away and we played outside whenever she cooked them. Even with COVID-19, I think that smell would be noticeable.
13try making roasted brussel sprouts, they are yummy.
14No need for Brussels sprouts. Just pass an open bottle of vinegar under your nose … 🙂
15I’m with cpinva #14, roasted with lots of garlic, as well as steaming them….just don’t overcook them! But I wish I could GET fresh brussels now – our drive-up farmer’s market is out of them (they’re my Spousal Unit’s favorites and we usually have them twice a week).
16Roast sprouts, until browning happens. Then coat in balsamic vinegar and roast till caramelization happens. It still is smelly, but is delicious.
How about smelling the coffee? Or a fine tequila?
Stay safe. Stay sane…
17I’m an old fart so I just do that a lot. And I eat garlic in just about everything. I figure I’m doing the household a public service.
18Sandridge@10 : OK, that does it. Nothing I read today will outdo “conscientious defecator”.
I also vote for roasting the Brussel sprouts. Plus, for any sulfuric veggie (broccoli, cauliflower, …) spritz some lemon or lime juice over it just before snarfing. It’ll stave off scurvy, and seems to tamp down the brimstone taste.
BillR@18: As for garlic, I knew I had married the right woman when she agreed that the words “too much” and “garlic” never go together.
19I must be OK cause my dogs are kind of smelly…
20Thuglican twitter response to vote by mail clause D’s are seeking in CoronaVirus bill.
Saw marsh Blackburn on senate floor echoing this.
“@RepThomasMassie
21Universal vote by mail would be the end of our republic as we know it.”
“…The end of our republic as we know it.”
22And that’s a bad thing? Rethugs have suppressed voters so that this is no longer a republic, but an oligarchy.
@ maryelle: Indeed. I’m all for the end of whatever this is.
@ Grandma Ada: I have one of those, too. No COVID-19 here, yet. Phew!
@Sandridge: Please accept this shiny new internet for your contribution, which gave me my best laugh of the week.
@ Ralph Wiggam: Absolutely. There’s more than enough stench to go around. Cook something that smells wonderful.
23The Surly Professor @19 & thatotherjean @23,
24Thkyew, it just plopped out there…
Sandridge “conscientious defecator” is a good description of a cat, while unconscious defecator describes the ***king moron*. Or, maybe he* confused unconscious defecator with conscientious objector when he was engaged in his*personal war with STDs. His* tertiary syphilis indicates he* lost that battle, too.
25Jane & PKM @5, You’re right, with imPOTUS it doesn’t matter which orifice he uses, the output is a foul, vile, stinking pile of crap.
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