Say OH

Finally, something that isn't apocalyptically depressing to write about. 

I have been testing this theory for a number of years.  I know it works. 

It just won an IgNobel prize for Medicine.

Go Figure.

Can Sex Improve Nasal Function?—An Exploration of the Link Between Sex and Nasal Function

Nasal breathing improved significantly after sexual intercourse with climax to the same degree as after application of nasal decongestant for up to 60 minutes.

It also works backwards, if you clean and lubricate your mouth and sinuses, sex improves.  Seriously.

(on a tangent- I'm guessing this could be a trigger for hominins evolving hidden ovulation and constant sexual availability.   Bipedalism has messed up our upper respiratory system.)

Anyhow- the behavioral consequences of ignoring this phenomenon are endless. Entire medico-psycho-pharma-prison industries are built on nasal and sexual dysfunction.

And yet is is ridiculed.

This may be only thing Freud got right.

Sepsis and Cognitive Dissonance

Household name antidepressants may be helping some patients survive COVID-19.

Knowing that “cytokine storms” are associated with severe cases of Covid-19, Reiersen contacted her colleague Eric Lenze about doing a study together. The pair conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled study to determine if early use of the antidepressant fluvoxamine by Covid-19 patients could reduce severe outcomes. The researchers found that clinical deterioration occurred in 0 of 80 patients in the fluvoxamine and in 6 of 72 in the placebo group.

Now, studies in at least three countries — France, the United States, and Germany — support the idea that certain antidepressants can be an effective early treatment for Covid-19.

Ahhh  memories ...

Greetings from the Goddess Nemesis

I'm guessing he's been told he needs to have that long-infested parotid gland removed.  Looks like it's about to burst.   Seriously, I don't even have to highlight it for you.   Covid probably fucked it all up.  He looks quite ill.

He knows exactly what he's going to look like.   He's the one freaking out.

Bingo

Well how about that, I do have Kristallnacht on my card.

State of the Insanity

 The president's berserkergang broke into the seat of Congress while it was in session, urinated on the floors, and wiped feces on the walls.    Not to mention killing a police officer and attempting to find and lynch the vice president.

As I said before, when you are septic you are capable of anything.

This is the ultimate reason we need universal health and dental care:  To stop insanity.  To prevent terrorism.

No Mercy

Previously on "2020":

The New York Times reported that Trump’s financial documents reveal the president’s three family trusts held investments in Regeneron as well as pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, which itself is a major shareholder in Regeneron.

New from the Writers:

Trump administration officials passed when Pfizer offered in late summer to sell the U.S. government additional doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, according to people familiar with the matter. Now Pfizer may not be able to provide more of its vaccine to the United States until next June because of its commitments to other countries, they said.

State of the Insanity

Federal agents guard Fauci so "nobody tries to break in [to my home] and, as Steve Bannon would like, have somebody behead me"'.

Honor this man.  Be Sane.  Stay home.  Wear a mask if you don't.  

Been here, done this.

Don't recommend it.

 A Brain Infection Made Me Forget Nearly Everything. Here’s How I Became Myself Again.

Mine was caused by antibiotic induced sepsis.   

I spent every day holding on to my biology facts.  Surfing pubmed.  So I could figure it out before I forgot everything.  Jettisoned everything else.  People, places, music, recipes, html, computer programs- all gone.  I'm a cataloging librarian who forgot how to classify.  Still don't remember the dates of my own life events.  

It was very, very bad.

(And yet dealing with DJT is somehow way worse...)

Honestly

 These are the guys who don't want to wear medical masks.

Now back to our previously scheduled hijacking.

The pandemic is worse than ever. The worst in the universe.   Morgue trailers are happening again.

Ben Carson, once a brain surgeon, tested positive for COVID-19 this morning. Carson attended the election night party at the White House

It's cold outside. People's noses are dried out and swollen. They are hanging out indoors eating carbs.

You know, all the things on my "respiratory infection predictable habits" list...

And next week sometime the Supreme Court will decide to crush the ACA.  Leaving millions without health care options.

And while the Great and Glorious OZ is screeching about voter fraud to distract you-
He seems to be ready to hand off large parts of America's strategic resources to his partners in crime...

Trump reportedly pushing through 5g deal that would enrich his friends

The White House is urging the Pentagon to fast track “what would essentially be a no-bid contract to lease the Department of Defense's mid-band spectrum—premium real estate for the booming and lucrative 5G market—to Rivada Networks, a company in which prominent Republicans and supporters of President Donald Trump have investments.”

Trump to strip protections from Tongass National Forest, one of the biggest intact temperate rainforests

Guessing this has something to do with no-bid contracts too-

Trump administration fires three agency heads in wake of US election

The administration fired Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Bonnie Glick, deputy administrator of the US Agency for International Development, and Neil Chatterjee, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

He's surely criming right now.   I am assuming he is currently "making a deal" for the mining rights to the Grand Canyon.  

Because Arizona.

Fuck colonialist apartheid

Deepest thanks to Arizona's indigenous and immigrant Americans.  And all the black aunties everywhere...

As I was saying

NPR:  

Mark Meadows, the chief of staff to President Trump, has tested positive for the coronavirus, multiple news organizations reported late Friday night. He is the latest person in the president's inner circle to catch the virus, which is surging across the country.

Meadows was last seen by reporters on election night, when Trump gave a defiant speech to supporters packed into the East Room of the White House. Meadows walked into the room ahead of Trump's adult children just ahead of his remarks.

Now I will

Light some candles.

For sanity. For the dead. For the future. For Peace on Earth.

Keep up the good fight everyone.  Stay in the light.

The Last Gasp of the Red Death

The White House on lockdown: A federal law enforcement source tells NBC that beginning tomorrow, crews will build a “non-scalable” fence to secure the WH complex, Ellipse and Lafayette Square.

Trump is planning to hold his election night party in the East Room of the White House. They’re discussing inviting roughly 400 people, a huge amount for an indoors event during the pandemic.

Article Roundup

Things to read instead of doomscrolling.

Pain relief caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection may help explain COVID-19 spread

This is my number one conclusion about almost all illnesses.   They mask themselves.   It's creepy.

Forget the nasal swab, University of Arizona developing COVID-19 test that only requires salt-water gargle

Study Helps Explain Declines in Death Rates from COVID-19

A new investigation showed that by mid-August, the death rate in those hospitalized with coronavirus-related illness had dropped from 25.6 percentage points to about 7.6 percentage points.

The Most Likely Way You’ll Get Infected With Covid-19

You don’t have to sanitize your apples anymore, but you do have to wear a mask

A room, a bar and a classroom: how the coronavirus is spread through the air

The best graphics I've seen.

Most infants are well even when moms are infected by COVID-19

UCSF study shows reassuring initial findings for infant health

Some severe COVID-19 cases linked to genetic mutations or antibodies that attack the body

Doctors die by suicide at twice the rate of everyone else.

Why writing by hand makes kids smarter

Writing by hand creates much more activity in the sensorimotor parts of the brain, researchers found.

Yo Denise!  Keep punching!

Exercising one arm has twice the benefits

New research has revealed that training one arm can improve strength and decrease muscle loss in the other arm -- without even moving it. 

Parkinson's disease is not one, but two diseases
Although the name may suggest otherwise, Parkinson's disease is not one but two diseases, starting either in the brain or in the intestines.

Young adults face higher risk of severe disease from infections than school-age children

The first systematic review of how the severity of infectious diseases changes with age suggests that the human immune system might start to lose the ability to protect against infections earlier than previously thought.

 

Twinkling, star-shaped brain cells may hold the key to why, how we sleep

Ultra-low-cost hearing aid could address age-related hearing loss worldwide

Flower colors are changing in response to climate change

Dog brains do not prefer faces

Unlike human brains, dog brains do not contain face-sensitive areas

How 3 prior pandemics triggered massive societal shifts

How Aztecs Reacted to Colonial Epidemics

Ancient Maya Built Sophisticated Water Filters

Did Early Humans Invent Hot Pot in Geothermal Pools?
A mystery microbe found at Olduvai Gorge inspired scientists to speculate about the origins of cooking.

Monkey Study Suggests That They, Like Humans, May Have 'Self-Domesticated'