Survivors

  

If you were born before there was a colored tv in every home, before frozen dinners, lasers, satellites, microwave ovens and before a man walked on the moon....you are a survivor.
If you arrived before computers, cell phones, smart watches, calculators and every other form of artificial intelligence that we substitute for our brains ….you are a survivor.
If you thought fast food was toast, a Big Mac was a truck, a meaningful relationship was learning to get along with your brother and time-sharing was spending the day with your kids ….you are a survivor.
If you believed that a microchip was a small french fry or a chunk of wood, hardware was bolts and doorknobs and software wasn't even a word, then, you my friend, are definitely an old school survivor.
 In your day, smoking was fashionable, grass was on the lawn and coke was a refreshing beverage on a hot day. Rock music was a lullaby and a gay person was just a happy guy or gal who was usually the life of the party. As for AIDS, they were prosthetics or wheelchairs for the handicapped or help for developing countries.
Yes, if you were born before identity theft was a real thing, and leaders were chosen from worthy people who had a long career of public service, not real-estate salesmen or tv celebrities, you are a member of a very hardy and long lived bunch who have survived the trials and tribulations of a mad and constantly changing world. Look at the amazing adjustments you have had to make.
Take the year 2020 for example: You become a prisoner in your own home, separated from friends and colleagues, keeping prescribed distances from all people. You have had to cover your face and clean your hands until they're raw and regard everyone and everything as carriers of a deadly virus. Did you let that defeat you ?? No, you are an old warrior. This strange and confusing time will end. You will adjust once again and continue to fight on.....You are a survivor.

Where the hell is that vaccine ??

 

Canada’s first big push for a COVID-19 vaccine may be falling victim to sour relations with Beijing, as Chinese officials continue to hold up a shipment of the drug needed to carry out promised human trials here.

CanSino Biologics of Tianjin, China signed an accord with the federal government in May to have its vaccine tested in Canada, a heavily promoted deal the government said could give Canadians early access to the serum. But more two-and-a-half months later, the Canadian trials have yet to start, because scientists have nothing to study.

Samples of the vaccine candidate – already one of the world’s most advanced in terms of the trial process – have not been approved for shipment to Canada by Chinese customs, one of the researchers confirmed Tuesday.

David Mulroney, Canada’s ambassador to China from 2009 to 2012, said it’s hard to know why the delivery has been stalled, but he has his suspicions.

  “It’s likely that the shipment is being delayed as part of China’s retaliation against Canada over the Meng (Wanzhou) arrest,” he said, referring to the Huawei Technologies CFO held in Vancouver on a U.S. extradition request.
“But it could also be due to the kind of sudden, unexplained delay that routinely happens when you’re dealing with China’s opaque and often uncooperative customs authorities.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the agreement between CanSino – a company with extensive Canadian ties – and the National Research Council (NRC) in mid-May, calling it “encouraging news.”
Under the accord, the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology at Dalhousie University would hold a small Phase 1 safety trial, and possibly also Phase 2 and 3 trials. If approved by regulators, it could then be manufactured at an NRC facility in Montreal, making Canadians “among the first in the world to have access to a safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19,” the council has said.

Meanwhile, CanSino has conducted its own Phase 1 and 2 trials in China, and was the first developer to publish study results in a peer-reviewed journal. They indicate the vaccine is generally safe and prompts an immune response in most recipients.
Last month, the company’s co-founder said it was in talks with Russia, Brazil, Chile and Saudi Arabia to conduct Phase 3 trials, which determine whether the vaccine actually protects people against COVID-19 infection.

Back in Canada, “we are continuing to wait for the vaccine,” said Scott Halperin, the Dalhousie scientist heading Canada’s planned Phase-1 trial. “All we know is that its awaiting customs clearance by the Chinese government for export,” he said. “We have not been able to obtain any projected time lines. Nothing much else I can say, other than we can start the trial as soon as we receive the vaccine.”
Asked if political issues might be involved, he said that was “an excellent question to pose to Global Affairs Canada.”

Guy Saint-Jacques, former Canadian ambassador to China, said Tuesday he does not know what’s behind the delay. But he said it “could well be part of the Chinese arsenal” in the dispute over Meng’s arrest.
In an apparent response to the executive’s detention, Beijing has already imprisoned Michael Kovrig, a Canadian ex-diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a Canadian businessman, under vague espionage charges; increased another Canadian’s drug-dealing sentence from jail to death; and blocked some agricultural imports from Canada.

The federal government has said it is also looking at pre-ordering other vaccines that are advanced in their testing but, unlike the U.S. and several European countries, has yet to do so. The NRC is also collaborating with a team at the University of Saskatchewan and U.S. company VBI Vaccines on their own coronavirus vaccines.

The CanSino vaccine candidate – called Ad5-nCoV – uses a different, harmless virus as a delivery system. The “adenovirus” is modified to express part of the SARS-CoV-2 germ that causes COVID, which is meant to trigger the immune system to fend off the coronavirus.
Early studies have not been a total success, with dampened immune response in some people, likely because they’ve been exposed to the vaccine’s adenovirus backbone before and have antibodies that repel it.

For that reason, some experts have questioned Canada’s investment in the product. Others say none of the leading vaccine candidates are likely to be perfectly effective, and any vaccine is better than none.

Musk's Space Tesla will crash into earth

Eighteen months ago, Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX successfully launched its first Falcon Heavy rocket, the most powerful in the world, into space with Musk’s personal 2008 Tesla Roadster on board. To make the launch more fun, Musk put a spacesuit-clad dummy named “Starman” in the driver’s seat of the Roadster and had him listen to endless loops of David Bowie’s Space Oddity during the journey.
Since then, Starman has spent more than 550 days in outer space. According to WhereIsRoadster.com, an independent site tracking the electric car’s real-time location, the vehicle had completed its first orbit around the sun by Sunday, traveling nearly 763 million miles since last year’s launch.

“If the battery was still working, Starman has listened to Space Oddity 151,881 times since he launched,” the tracking site says. But that’s not very likely, because Tesla’s battery would only last for about 12 hours after liftoff, Musk said at the Falcon Heavy’s post-launch briefing at Kennedy Space Center last year.
The Starman’s current location is about 185 million miles from Earth, according to the tracking site. To be able to see it from here, one would need a telescope with a diameter of at least 43,823 feet.

 

The cherry-red Roadster was originally sent on a path toward Mars’ orbit. Because of the car’s unsterile condition, planetary scientists had worried about bacterial contamination once it crashed into the red planet, which would muddle scientific efforts to search for life on Mars.

But a later calculation by University of Toronto astrophysicist Hanno Rein estimated that the Roadster would more likely crash into Earth, Venus or the sun—in as soon as 10 million years.
As predicted by that calculation, last November, Starman passed the Mars orbit and drifted further into the solar system toward the asteroid belt.

The car is currently moving away from Earth at a speed of about 988 miles per hour. It will fly near Mars again on October 7 next year and come relatively close to Earth every 30 years.
Rein’s study suggests that we may even get a telescopic glimpse of the Roadster within 100 years if the car flies within one Earth-moon distance.

After its third Earth flyby, the Roadster’s path will get increasingly chaotic and unpredictable due to Earth’s gravitational tug that will cause small changes in some of the car’s orbital parameters every time it comes close. Happy Landing Starman !

Buddy, The Dog With Covid 19

Buddy liked dog stuff: running through the sprinklers, going on long car rides, swimming in the lake. He cuddled the Mahoneys—his owners and family—at the end of tough days. He humored them when they dressed him up as a bunny for Halloween. He was a protective big brother to 10-month-old Duke, the family’s other German shepherd. He loved everyone. He lived up to his name.

In mid-April, right before his seventh birthday, Buddy began struggling to breathe.

Six weeks later, he became the first dog in the United States to be confirmed positive for COVID-19. On July 11, Buddy died.

Upon announcement, Buddy’s milestone case appeared fairly open and shut, but the Mahoneys’ experience over the two and a half months between their dog’s first wheeze and his death was one of confusion and heartbreak. Their story puts a spotlight on the rare experience of being an owner of COVID-positive pet—a distinction shared by only a handful of individuals around the world. While more than five million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the U.S., fewer than 25 pets have. There’s no rubric for how to navigate COVID-19 in your pet dog.

“You tell people that your dog was positive, and they look at you [as if you have] ten heads,” Allison Mahoney says. “[Buddy] was the love of our lives….He brought joy to everybody. I can’t wrap my head around it.” The Mahoneys say they are frustrated that health experts didn’t more closely probe possible connections between COVID and the cascading health problems. After Buddy’s diagnosis, Allison’s husband, Robert, asked New York City veterinary health officials, who were in charge of the case, whether they were interested in doing more testing on Buddy. Robert Mahoney says the officials never asked for further testing or exams.

The New York City Department of Health said he was probably no longer contagious—by May 20, when he was tested the second time. Buddy wasn’t tested after that date.

For humans, the signs and symptoms of infection vary widely. In some, its presence is barely a flicker. In others, it causes total organ failure. For many, it’s somewhere in between. Having an underlying medical condition increases susceptibility, doctors think. We’re learning more every day.

The narrative for the coronavirus in animals, however, has so far been consistent and narrow: They are rarely affected. When they do get the virus, it’s almost always from an owner. They generally have mild symptoms. They usually recover.

In reality, little is known about how the virus affects the typical pet dog. They can't tell us.

The Mahoneys’ detailed accounts and Buddy’s veterinary records now comprise some of the most comprehensive and granular information the public has on an infected animal. Their story also sheds light on the gaps in public knowledge regarding animals and the novel coronavirus, highlighting what may be a need for a more unified, consistent approach to monitoring and investigating positive cases, and bringing that information back to the research community.

Buddy’s decline

When Buddy, who’d never been sick, developed thick mucus in his nose and started breathing heavily in April, no one except Robert Mahoney believed the dog might have COVID-19. Mahoney himself had been suffering through the virus for three weeks—he was weak, had a scratchy throat, and had lost his sense of taste. “They called me on Easter and said, ‘By the way, Mr Mahoney, here’s your Easter gift: you’re positive,’ ” he recalls.

“Without a shadow of a doubt, I thought [Buddy] was positive” too, he says. At first, it was difficult to find someone to examine Buddy. His usual vet wasn’t seeing patients because of the pandemic. Another local clinic wouldn’t allow Robert Mahoney to come into the office because he had COVID-19, so they prescribed Buddy antibiotics over the phone. Mahoney says the vet was skeptical that Buddy might have the coronavirus, and the office didn’t have test kits anyway.
 

The next week, Buddy was still struggling to breathe and had lost his appetite, so the Mahoneys’ 13-year-old daughter, Julianna, who had tested negative, was permitted to bring the dog into the office.

From April 21 to May 15, Buddy continued to lose weight. He became increasingly lethargic. The Mahoneys took him to three different veterinarians on Staten Island, none of whom thought the coronavirus was likely and they had not yet identified lymphoma as a probable cause of his illness. ( It turned out that Buddy had underlying health problems: a form of cancer). It’s unclear whether the cancer made him more susceptible to contracting the coronavirus. It is, however, a logical assumption.
 

It was at the third veterinary clinic, Bay Street Animal Hospital, where Mahoney was finally able to have Buddy tested for COVID-19. That was on May 15, one month after Buddy’s breathing trouble began.

A few days later, the clinic called. Buddy’s test results were in: He was positive. As Buddy's health continued to decline, the Mahoneys decided to have him euthanized. Although his body was offered to health officials for study, no one seemed interested. He was cremated and is sadly mourned by his family, including Duke.



Knowledge gaps

Buddy’s case highlights an important question: Are animals with underlying conditions more likely to get sick from the coronavirus, just as humans are? It also highlights just how little information is available about infected pets. Cats have been known to contract Covid 19 also in the United States. A virus that can easily jump species is a frightening thing.