Protestors?

The strange news just keeps on coming. By now we’ve all heard of the
incident in Minneapolis where a 4 police officers over reacted which
resulted in the death of George Floyd. Mr. Floyd was accused of
trying to pass funny money.

Since then there has been rioting, looting, destruction of property,
and a call for revolution from a former kneeling football player.
There is even a police station on fire. After all that we have
noticed this; as of late last night, the media was still calling
these events protests and the people destroying their own cities
protesters.

So lets help the media out with a little help from our friend, the
Webster’s New World Dictionary.

protest-
1 to state positively 2 to speak strongly against -vi. to express
disapproval; object -n 1 an objection 2 a formal statement of
objection

riot-
1 wild or violent behavior, confusion, etc.; esp., a violent public
disturbance 2 a brilliant display 3 (Inf) something very funny

It would seem this makes it clear as day that the events in
Minneapolis are not protests and are in fact riots. Where will it
end? We’re not sure but don’t think it will be a happy ending.

We citizens have the right to peacefully assemble to protest what
we aren’t happy about. We do not have the right to destroy, steal,
and burn down the neighborhood.

Try to enjoy our Friday as the weekend will be gone before we know
it. Now for more coffee.
Comments are always welcome.

Here’s the deal…

Since I can’t believe that so many people didn’t know the threat we
call coronavirus has been around for decades, it’s time to say
something. The coronaviruses were first discovered in 1931 and
caused an acute respiratory infection in domesticated chickens.

In the 1940s, two more animal coronaviruses, mouse hepititis virus
and transmissible gastroenteritis virus, were isolated. The first
human coronavirus occured in 1965. At that time it caused a common
cold.

There are 7 coronaviruses that can infect humans. The one that
causes SARS emerged in China in 2002. MERS, another version of the
virus, started in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and was mostly in the Middle
East. And there were SARS-CoV in 2003, HCoV NL63 in 2004, HCoV
HKU1 in 2005, and the new SARS-CoV-2 in 2019.

Contrary to some beliefs, the current strain of the coronavirus
didn’t start with bats in wet markets in Wuhan, China. This is a
simple deduction since the markets didn’t sell bats at the time of
the outbreak.

The 2002 outbreak of SARS-CoV had a fatality rate of 9.2%, the 2012
MERS-CoV had a fatality rate of 37%, and 2019 SARS-CoV-2
(COVID-19) had a projected fatality rate of 6.2%.

So this is not a new virus but a new strain of an existing one. And
I still believe that when the dust settles the fatality rate of
this virus will be less than 1% of those infected. Wear your masks if
you desire, quarantine if you must, but please do a little research
before getting too worried.

And no, I’m not a doctor. But their are reputable scientific sites
to look at when researching. Although numbers are double checked
and websites used for reference are saved, if any mistakes are
made here they are not intentional.

Mixed feelings

Picture of Dad holding my brother, and myself in the foreground.

My younger brother would have been 67 today. In October of 2018 he
went into the hospital for a heart operation and never woke up. When
we went into his room after the operation and spoke with him, even
though he couldn’t respond, it didn’t look good.

I remembered all the times we’d cruise in one of our cars and the
trouble we used to get into. Now we’re left with the memories. Hope
they have cruises in Heaven John.

Later this morning I’ll go over to see Dad and have a chat. It’s been
over a month and we both miss the talks. Why a month you ask? First
the wife got exposed to the Covid-19 at work and we quarantined for
two weeks and when that was almost up, Dad got exposed.

But we didn’t get sick and our visits can resume. Dad will turn 95
in June and I have to keep reminding myself he doesn’t celebrate
birthdays anymore. As many as he’s had I told him he doesn’t have to
have birthdays if doesn’t want to.

Whatever we talk about I’m sure we’ll end our chat with smiles on
our faces. Tomorrow we may share a few pictures. Enjoy our
Wednesday as we will. Now I need coffee.
Comments are always welcome.

Of kittens and other things

When the wife first looked at this picture she said the kitten
looked mad. This was new to me as I never equated cats with any
emotion, just instincts. Or perhaps said kitten was just having a
rough day.

This picture is more about what I think of instinct. It looks
like the one kitten is going to slap the other one to get its
attention. Or the playful kitten could be mad also.

And I was thinking about the climate change people who claim we
are going to kill ourselves if we don’t stop using fossil fuels
and will be incinerated by the intolerable heat of our own
making. But they evidently forget that the hottest day ever
recorded in America happened over 100 years ago.

In 1913, the temperature in Death Valley hit 134 degrees. This
record has not been broken since.

Then we have the Covid-19 virus that seems to have some politicians
salivating at the chance of more power over the citizens. But here’s
the deal, this is America. If someone doesn’t want to wear a mask in
public it should be their right to do so.

If you wear a mask and believe everyone else should, just stay 6
feet away from the one not wearing a mask. When the dust settles on
this page of history I believe it will be said we overreacted. It
will be no worse than the flu.

Enjoy our Tuesday and remember, solid waste pick up will be a day
late because of the holiday. No for some more coffee.
Comments are always welcome.

Memorial Day 2020

This Memorial Day is different from others we’ve seen with the Covid-19 virus going around, states still on lock down, and politicians who can’t agree on anything except raises for themselves. Yet today we observe a holiday for those who gave all in defense of our freedom. Some of us observe a moment of silence at 3 pm today to remember those who are no longer with us. We can never forget that freedom isn’t free.

Letting you know

You may have noticed I’ve been missing the last few days and I
figured it time to check in. Been under the weather, not with
the Covid-19, and am on the mend. This time it’s severe fatigue
because of my bad lungs.

My get up and go has got up and went. Don’t like sleeping more than being awake, or not getting things done that need to be done. Hopefully in another day I’ll be getting better and just keep going.

In the mean time, please just bear with me and we’ll all get
through this together.

It’s official…

Common sense is never going to make a come back in our lifetime. Not
saying that to hear myself talk, only to state a fact. Don’t believe
me? I’ll try to explain.

We now have all these doctors and scientists telling us we have to
wait for a vaccine to solve the virus problem. When said vaccine does
appear, it will have to be taken with every new outbreak, and then be
told the vaccine wasn’t meant for the current strain but will help
ease symptoms. All that from people who can’t find a cure for the
common cold or flu.

We have governors who think they’ve been appointed King and shut down entire states while telling us it’s for own good. This morning one said that if businesses break his ‘rule’ they would be charged and fined, which is better than losing their license. Wait, what?

So much for land of the free, home of the brave. And what about all
these numbers they keep throwing at us? Here in Iowa we’re told so
many thousand have the Covid-19 and a couple hundred died from it.
But, those counted as having it have been tested. How about adding
‘out of 3 million residents in the state’.

Unless everybody gets tested, the numbers are useless. Unless all
those who died get tested, those numbers are useless. And what about the masks? Wear them, don’t wear them, and if you do wear them they get old real quick. I will not wear one nor visit a business that tells me I have to.

Why is our President getting so much flak over this when it’s the
Governors who are running the show right now? If people what to get
mad at someone, get mad at your Governor. We’ll say again, the
government is not the answer, it’s the problem.

Enjoy our Tuesday. Now for more coffee before I do some chores.
Comments are always welcome.