So, it’s Michigan State week here in Tree Town, and all over the state, really.  In fact, this matchup of two undefeated top ten teams may be the biggest game in all of college football this weekend.  As Ed Pevow writing on MLive.com puts it “Last time a U-M vs. MSU football game was this big, The Beatles landed in America”(1).  That was 1964, for you young’uns.  Duffy Daugherty’s Spartans were a powerhouse, although his best team ever was yet to come.  They featured fleet receiver Gene Washington and All-American back Dick Gordon, with future hall-of-famers George Webster and Bubba Smith still seasoning.  Two years later they peaked, and would have ended up national champs had Notre Dame’s Ara Parsegian not decided to play for a tie in their match rather than gamble and maybe give the Spartans a last chance.  We beat ‘em in East Lansing 17-10, 3 weeks before Halloween.  The ’64 Wolverines were no slouch.  Bump Elliott’s best team, led by multi-threat QB Bob Timberlake and the smooth Mel Anthony, whose Michigan single game rushing record (347 yards) held up even when Tshimanga “Tim” Biakabatuka went crazy that one game against Ohio State in ’95 (313 yards).  The best player on the team was a lineman, Tom Mack, who impressed in the Rose Bowl win over Oregon State by staying right in step with Anthony as he ran 84 yards for a touchdown, setting a Rose Bowl record.  Maybe that’s what got Mack the number two pick in the NFL draft later, on which he delivered by going on to a hall-of-fame career.  The ’64 team will always be special to me as they were mostly the same players I saw up close the year before when my dad took me to my first ever game in Michigan Stadium. There they easily handled Southern Methodist 27-16, although they ended up with a losing record. Regardless, I’ve been a die-hard Wolverine fan ever since.

It’ll take a medical miracle for me to be alive after a similar interval from this year’s game and reminisce about it.  Too bad, because we’ve really got the players: Hixson, Blake, Awl, Hutch, Dax, future doctor and my wife’s former student center and captain Vastardis (in his first year of med school!), decent QB (Cade) with a young superstar in the wings (JJ), plus ice-in-his veins kicker Moody.  I don’t know any of the Spartoons, but have 3 days to study up.  They seem to be a different team than the ones Dantonio fielded: speed and the pass rather than grind-‘em-out and defense.  Should be a fun game, even for those who don’t bleed green or blue.  Saturday at noon on Fox.  College Gameday will be there.

My missus started a new pre-MSU ritual a few years ago, which I chose to write about last year (2). Unfortunately that led up to a game which I remember as a horrid empty-stands affair that we lost bad.  But we lost only by a field goal (27-24) after coming into the game 22 point favorites and leaving en route to Harbaugh’s first losing season since his second year at Stanford (’08) and Michigan’s first since Brady Hoke got fired (’14).  She was a little reluctant to repeat her performance, given those results.  But with only a little coaxing, she’ll be at it again tomorrow.  She’s adding something this year, as we’re up against Halloween.  Rather than do the obvious maize-and-blue outfit, she’ll be wearing black slacks topped with an orange sweater.  Very Halloween, plus orange negates green in the color wheel.  It’s the anti-green!  So her writing students will learn a little additional physics tomorrow.

So here’s what I posted last year, but not till after the Game! (Maybe that’s why we lost).  Go Blue!

My beautiful wife loves Michigan

It started pretty early.  Kathy’s mother was born in Ann Arbor, graduated Ann Arbor High in ‘36, and went to dental hygenist’s school at U of M, where she met Clutch, Kathy’s dad, who chose to pursue orthopedics at the wider open spaces of Akron City Hospital.  Kathy was the second of their kids to be born there, so Kathy’s a buckeye by birth.  Her time at Ohio institutions Western Reserve Academy and College of Wooster did not translate into a stronger bond.  When Kathy went looking for grad school programs in Kinesiology, she saw that the program at Columbus had some attractions.  Asking her dad about the possibility of going there, he responded “sure, but don’t ever plan on coming home again”.  So she headed north up 23 to Ann Arbor, coached swimming for a while, and met me.  Together we’ve been immersed in all things Michigan ever since, helped along by those great 50 yard line season tickets her dad got in the late 50s.  We added basketball season tickets maybe 5 years ago and surely enjoy those outings, too.  For the past 11 years, she’s taught Scientific Writing in the school of Kinesiology to sophomores (“just shoot me”).  Kines is still home for many athletes, although many have drifted over to L.S.&A. as Kines has tightened its requirements.  But she still gets a lot of athletes in her class, a few of them high profile basketball and football types.  Drew Dilio, slot receiver, might have been the first she noticed, who kept a low profile as he didn’t want to be taken as a dumb football player.  Some of her latest charges have no problem with that.  “Big country” Austin Davis, Michigan’s returning center, is headed to P.T. school after he completes his 5^th year in a Kines masters.

Andrew Vastardis walked on to the football team 5 years ago and has taken his 6’4” 300# frame to the middle of the line as Michigan’s starting center. He has his eye on medical school.  Kathy wants him to be a pediatrician.

So it’s understandable Kathy might take some special measures as we enter what in pre-COVID time was a huge week., facing her class this week as the football season finally opens with the battle for the Little Brown Jug Saturday night in Minneapolis. If that’s not enough, Michigan Stage week is next! She’s found a way to be decked out to show her Michigan spirit.  Those kids who already love this cool old lady will surely get a boost of Michigan Pride.  Go Blue!  Beat State!

P.S.  That’s our stuffed wolverine, Fritz, in the background, named after Fritz Crisler

References

1. Pevow E.  Last time a U-M vs. MSU football game was this big, The Beatles landed in America.  MLive.com.  10/26/21.  https://www.mlive.com/news/2021/10/last-time-a-u-m-vs-msu-football-game-was-this-big-the-beatles-landed-in-america.html

2. Ike B.  My beautiful wife loves Michigan.  Posted 11/10/20.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2020/11/10/my-beautiful-wife-loves-michigan/

 

 

I’ve just returned from a long weekend in Northern California. I recounted the highlights to my little friend and classmate Sandy Northrop Jones, who’s also a writer, and she suggested I post my descriptions. So here ya go:

We just got back Tuesday from our long weekend in N. California.  Goal since last February was a concert in Novato (near Napa) with Bill Kirchen and as many of the living Lost Planet Airmen he could round up. 

And what kind of car is that in the backround? Could it be a Hot Rod Lincoln https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsLdufJePz0? He got 3 LPA (there are 5): Dr. John Tichy – lead singer and rhythm guitar, the man who introduced the Commander to old country music while they were both washing dishes in a frat house – who’s made a career as a professor of engineering – at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy NY, head of department of Mechanical Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering for a while, with an emphasis on fluid dynamics (fluid dynamics were a big part of every CCLPA concert!), assembling a stellar academic career that still continues https://faculty.rpi.edu/node/36055.  And his sons formed a rockabilly band -the Lustre Kings – with whom he plays.  Then there’s Andy Stein – or Android E. Stein as his bandmates call him on stage – on sax and fiddle.  After CC&hLPA broke up, he’s had a rich career in NYC playing classical and old jazz.  He had a 10 year gig in “Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band”, the house band on Prairie Home Companion.  Finally, there’s Buffalo Bruce Barlow on bass and backing vocals.  He got his name for his long blonde tresses, which he still has, a little.  The concert was outside at Hop Monk Tavern (great beer!).  The sold-out crowd had to wait in the rain a little, but it was well worth it.  Closest thing to a gen-you-wine CC concert since the whole crew came to the Ark in Ann Arbor 1/11-12/01 as part of their “Not Dead Yet” tour, conducted in the 25th anniversary year of their breakup.

While out there, we spent some time with Kathy’s little brother Jimmy (6’6″), his wife and 3 teen kids, oldest of whom is a sophomore bananna slug at UC Santa Cruz, plus Kathy’s older brother Bob, who’s living out there as his dementia has progressed to where he can’t live independently.  Finally, I looked up an old buddy from St. Louis, Dave.  We were residents together at Barnes.  He’s a tall drink of water from Texarkana and when younger could pass for Clint Eastwood.  He’s doing boutique primary care in Petaluma, his life enlivened by a saucy Ukranian girlfriend and a group of like-minded misfits who convene every Friday at 5:31 PM in the back room of the hardware store one of them owns.  Kathy and I got to attend, sample the Indian food and various intoxicants, and get accepted by the group, even getting our own bird names.

The Commander sings that “Too Much Fun” is unattainable https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEh3HBeZNHE, but I think I came close.  I’ve been spending most of these first days home in bed. That’s that fast California life style for ya. I can’t wait to get back there again.

Readers of this blog will know where I stand on the “scandal” already tarnishing the memory of one of Michigan’s greats, former coach and athletic director Glenn E “Bo” Schembechler (1). At issue is whether his thorough and systematic team doctor, Robert Anderson, through his regular exams of rectums and testicles of players committed some sort of systematic sexual assault, Bo complicit and guilty by “doing nothing” despite hearing complaints from his players.  Already they’ve purged any mention of him from the big scoreboard videos at each football game (2).

Both Bo and Dr. Anderson are dead, Bo passing on the eve of the Ohio State game in 2006 with Dr. Anderson following him 2 years and less than a week later.  Many in this town still love and revere Bo, and all I’ve talked to are incensed at the treatment he’s been getting.  When his report by the “Historical Commission” goes up for public commentary, I expect an avalanche of a backlash.

What can any single “Michigan Man” do?  Besides sharing my views with friends, I’ve done nothing public till now.  But a story on the front page of last Wednesday’s Michigan Daily tipped me over (3).  The Daily, tho’ ”just” a student newspaper, is a venerable local institution, published since 1890 and counting among its editor alumni such as playwright Arthur Miller, near-President Thomas Dewey, and Mr. Jane Fonda Tom Hayden.  The annual release of the DPSS (Division of Public Safety and Security) stats provides a snapshot of on-campus security.  Anything happening to a student that feels like a crime can be reported, and is recorded on the date of reporting, not when the offense occurred.  This year, Dr. Anderson’s transgressions from the 60s through the early aughts drowned everything out.  Of 1212 rapes reported in 2020, 1,194 were ascribed to Dr. Anderson.  Similarly 916 0f the 947 cases of fondling came from Dr. A.  The University is expecting hundreds of millions of dollars in claims, higher if individuals choose to sue rather than taking the group settlement the University is pursuing.  Outgoing President Schlissel recognizes the enormous potential liability, but won’t give numbers (4).  The University, with an endowment of $12.48 billion (2020), an annual budget of $9.88 billion (2018), and over $2.1 billion projected for the 2022 general fund, isn’t going to go broke, but there might be a few less crumbs left for DEI and such.

Things are probably way too far gone for any medical common sense to have much of an effect, but I decided to take a stab and write Ms Hao, editor of the Daily.  Here’s what I sent her (references added for this blog):

“To the editor:

Since the first release of U-M’s report into complaints about the late Dr. Robert Anderson (5), reactions to his performing of what were then standard practices on male physical exams have grown into a hysteria that threatens to take down the Michigan icons who supervised him – Bo Schembechler and Don Canham – not to mention draw significantly on the coffers of our University.  Dr. Anderson, a ’53 grad of our med school, received accolades for his proposals that sports physicals be taken as an opportunity to screen for health problems of young men who otherwise rarely visit doctors.  Such encounters would include visits to the sensitive nether regions where testicles – potentially harboring the cancer most likely to kill young men – along with deformities (hydroceles) possibly leading to later infertility – and the rectum – where many illnesses might leave a trace.  Modern medicine, where doctors’ hands spend more time on keyboards than on patients, has found different ways to assess pathologies from these areas, but from the 50s through the 90s doctors’ hands were supposed to go there.  We in the residency program of the prestigious Barnes Hospital (St. Louis) during the early 80s were admonished when we failed to do a rectal exam on a new patient.  Our physical exam bible – Degowin and Degowin – describes the testicular exam thusly (trigger warning: graphic!) (6).

‘Compare both testes simultaneously by grasping one with one hand, using thumb and forefinger.  Determine their size, shape, consistency, and sensitivity to pressure.  Even though they feel normal, transilluminate each; one may be atrophied and the normal size attained by a hydrocele.’

No one’s complained yet about Doc A. taking a flashlight to them.

While such an approach by an older man wearing rubber gloves might seem off-putting, to call this “rape” or even “sexual assault” degrades both these terms.  Bo’s response to any player complaining about such an exam to “toughen up” seem about right, particularly considering that Bo himself likely had endured many such exams.

I am not defending Dr. Anderson.  His reported antics at Detroit selective service exams are reprehensible (7).  That as a closeted homosexual he took pleasure in these exams is more than distasteful.  But what he did with these athletes was standard practice for the day and may have even benefited several.  Everybody involved with this case needs to heed Bo and “toughen up”, not fill the UPSS blotter with so many entries as to blot out ongoing sexual misconduct statistics.

Ms Hao has not yet responded. But it’s been less than a day. I don’t know if courtesy of a reply goes to all supplicants. She may have had to run to a safe space after reading it. I’m not expecting to add a Michigan Daily contribution to my CV, but wouldn’t that be great? Thanks to you all for taking it in on this forum.

Robert W. Ike, M.D.

Emeritus Associate Professor

Department of Internal of Medicine

Division of Rheumatology

University of Michigan Health System”

References

1.         Ike B.  Et tu, Bo?  Posted June 11, 2021.  https://wordpress.com/post/theviewfromharbal.com/1611

2.         Ike B.  Down the hole, Bo.  Posted September 12, 2021.  https://wordpress.com/post/theviewfromharbal.com/1915

3.         Coletti D.  DPSS report logs over 2,000 crimes by Anderson.  Michigan Daily CXX (54):1.  October 13, 2021.  https://issuu.com/michigandaily/docs/2021-10-13

4.         Kozloski K.  UM president admits Robert Anderson litigation is “enormous” liability for university.  Detroit News September 30, 2021.  https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/09/30/um-president-admits-anderson-litigation-enormous-liability-university/5881713001/

5.         Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLC.  May 11, 2021.  Report of Independent Investigation: Allegations of Sexual Misconduct Against Robert E. Anderson.  https://regents.umich.edu/files/meetings/01-01/WH_Anderson_Report.pdf

6.         Bedside Diagnostic Examination 3^rd edition, EL DeGowin and RL DeGowin, 1976.   Macmillan, New York NY.  ISBN 0-02-328050-6. p. 593.

7.         Jesse D.  U-M doctor helped men avoid Vietnam War in exchange for sexual favors, ex-students say.  Detroit Free Press February 28, 2020.  https://www.freep.com/story/sports/university-michigan/wolverines/2020/02/28/michigan-um-doctor-robert-anderson/4897540002/

I thank my dear friends and distant cousin Ron and Barb Ike with sharing this.

Todd was a regular lowly citizen stating his case before the Alpena (MI) school board. Likely such things as mask and/or vaxx mandates were at issue. Todd came armed with the facts. They’re worth sharing.

To: The Alpena Public Board of Education

From: Mr. Todd Britton

The mask issue, like the vaccine, is really very simple.  If you believe in either or both, then go ahead and use a mask and/or get the shot.  If you don’t, don’t.  There is absolutely no problem with this until other people start making those decisions for you.  Can you imagine the outrage if there was a contingent that was running around trying to stop people from having the ability to choose a mask or vaccine? 

If masks and the vaccines really work, those that partake should be protected and in a logical argument have no standing.  If they don’t work, then it really does not matter what we do.  I have studied masks extensively as I am still in the middle of contesting a couple of MIOSHA citations.  Masks absolutely do not work unless you believe some recently manufactured “science” that only minimally supports that they may some insignificant benefit.  ALL of the previous studies and random controlled trials showed either no or statistically insignificant benefit in using them.

To keep things in perspective:

1. The virus has an infection survival rate of approximately 99.78% across all ages.
2. The average death age of Covid fatalities is at or higher than the average death age of the general population.
3. 94% of the fatalities had 4 or more comorbidities, so only 6% of the reported deaths are actually from Covid only (per the CDC). 
4. Based on the reported number of fatalities in the US to date (690,152) times the actual percentage of deaths from (.06) works out to 41,409 total deaths from Covid from March 2020 until today – 19 months.  In the last 10 years, the seasonal flue has killed between 12,000 and 61,000 in 12 months.  For comparison, around
5. 78% of the fatalities were obese (CDC).
6. The vast majority transmission of the virus is aerosolized particles, not droplets.
7. An N-95 mask is not capable of filtering particles smaller than 5 microns and 99.9%+ of the aerosolized virus particles are smaller than that. 
8. In less than 1 minute of wearing a surgical mask the CO2 and O levels behind the mask are at levels that are not considered habitable for confined space work.
9. A child’s developing brain is particularly susceptible oxygen deficiency and elevated levels of CO2
10. During the 1918-19 Spanish Flu epidemic, more than half of the fatalities died of bacterial pneumonia rather than the virus.  The pneumonia was most likely caused by the masks and these people would have likely survived without them. (per a paper by Dr. Fauci)
11. Wearing a mask decreases the strength of your immune system right when we need it most.

We both know that the masks don’t and can’t work.  The science is there to prove it and the math is there to prove that the virus particle, even when aerosolized is way to small to be stopped by even by the tightest weave of an N-95.  The analogy of a chain link fence trying to keep out mosquitoes is fitting.  Occasionally a mosquito might get stuck to the fence.

Using the CDC as a source for any guidelines is just plain madness.  If anyone looks into where the CDC gets its money, they will find EVERY large pharmaceutical company, medical device manufactures, defense contractors, etc.  They cannot be impartial, nor should we expect that they are actually looking out for our best interest.  As with most, they actually look out for their own, which is not us.  We also, need to look out for our own.

To reiterate part of the email.  If one uses logic with both masks and the vaccine, if they work, those that choose them should be protected and from their perspective, this problem should solve itself through natural selection.  Personally, I do not believe that will be the case and I choose my own immune system.  Vaccines were only invented 225 years ago, yet humans have survived somewhere between 200,000 and 7 million years (depending on how you classify humans) without them.

This issue is really about the health of kids and the freedom of choice.  How have we arrived here?

Thank you.

Todd

Using the CDC as a source for any guidelines is just plain madness.  If anyone looks into where the CDC gets its money, they will find EVERY large pharmaceutical company, medical device manufactures, defense contractors, etc.  They cannot be impartial, nor should we expect that they are actually looking out for our best interest.  As with most, they actually look out for their own, which is not us.  We also, need to look out for our own.

To reiterate part of the email.  If one uses logic with both masks and the vaccine, if they work, those that choose them should be protected and from their perspective, this problem should solve itself through natural selection.  Personally, I do not believe that will be the case and I choose my own immune system.  Vaccines were only invented 225 years ago, yet humans have survived somewhere between 200,000 and 7 million years (depending on how you classify humans) without them.

This issue is really about the health of kids and the freedom of choice.  How have we arrived here?

Thank you.

Todd

---

That’s what the Spanish would call it, this new discovery of mine.  Thinking I’d done about all one can with Allium sativum, and happy with that, some aging hippie at the Santa Fe farmers’ market sold me a little bottle of black garlic, telling me of its subtle taste and health benefits, but not revealing details of its making other than to say a prolonged fermentation was involved.  Once home, I made a wonderful salad dressing with it, then dove into research on the stuff.  Apparently, it’s a staple of Korean cooking that has become fashionable with some Anglos recently.  Plain old garlic is set to ferment at a low heat for weeks, ol’ Mr. Maillard reaction takes place https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/maillard-reaction, turning simple sugars into more complex, and tasty, compounds.  It’s why browned foods taste better. 

It seemed I had all the elements for my own experiment.  We had a fine oven in the downstairs kitchen that seldom gets used.  Of my 3 turkey roasters, the oval one seemed well suited.  So on June 9th, I went out and bought 18 heads of garlic at Busch’s (theirs is the best), set the oven between “warm” and 200, plunked my Meater (shows temps on my phone) in the empty roaster, and was pleased when it registered 167 degrees.  Guides on making black garlic wanted 140-190.  I put the garlic in the pan, covered it with one sheet of Saran Wrap and 2 sheets of foil, plunked on the cover and closed the oven door.  Instructions on black garlic said the stuff could be ready in 3 weeks.  I just let it go, the low hum of the oven’s fan the only reminder something was going on downstairs.

Today, a steak salad was on the menu, and I thought some sort of black garlic dressing might be in order.  I got up early and attacked the roaster, a little wary as to what I might find.  After all, my garlic might be burnt to a crisp.  Getting the cloves out of 18 heads of fermented garlic was way easier than dealing with a similar amount of fresh garlic.  I ended up with a huge bowl of hard black cloves, still not reassuring the “burnt to a crisp” worries.  Total weight of the cloves was 13.3 oz.  I never weighed the original 18 heads (bad scientist!), but I believe there was some dessication.  These cloves weren’t the soft rubbery cloves I’d bought in Santa Fe.  What to do with these?  Fortunately, as I googled around “black garlic”, I came across “black garlic powder”.  So into the spice grinder my cloves went, and what emerged was a pint jar of wonderfulness.  So fragrant in the grinder, I knew these hadn’t been a scorched botched experiment.

So comes the scramble to find the right dressing recipe.  The Santa Fe one wouldn’t do, as that was soft garlic.  We came up with the following, a little modified from the source.  Let me tell you, it is muy tasty. 

Now the challenge is what to do with the rest of our pint.  The TSBP we threw into the dressing used up 0.46 oz of our 13.3 oz stock, leaving 28 more TBSP to kick up whatever might seem to be needing black garlic, and a TBSP is kind of on the high side for dosing.  Working through the calculations, with 18 heads yielding 13.3 ounces, a TBSP 0.46 oz, a head of garlic accounts for about 3 TBSP. So many adventures await, and many happy returns.

.

Those holding the paperbacks of my Musing through a Corona books (1,2,3) can’t get to the many links. To help them get to the original WordPress posts, I provide here the following guide.

Mr.Corona.  Musings about coronavirus.

My Corona.  The pandemic needed a song!  After that proposal comes a lot of factual information about coronavirus, borne of my virology background.  My Corona

3/13/20

tonic?  Yes there’s quinine there, but here’s what it would take.  Tonic?

3/14/20

Testing. A brief diatribe on testing, finishing with a Monty Python link.  testing

3/16/20

smokin’ corona.  Why cigs may help you ward off Mr. Corona.  smokin’ corona. 

3/18/20

Plaquenil for corona.  Starting the conversation.  The drug has been berry berry good to me in rheumatology and I haven’t killed anybody yet. Plaquenil for corona

3/19/20

The Chinese COVID-19 Guidelines March 4^th.  A document from the ChiComs on what they were doing, leaked by some Chinese babe at Stanford, and spread like wildfire.  Much of what American docs would do for several months stemmed from these.  The Chinese COVID-19 Guidelines March 4th 

3/20/20

How Plaquenil May Work.  A not that complicated explanation.  It’s all about the base.  How Plaquenil May Work

3/20/20

Treating COVID-19.  Embellishments of the Chinese guidelines, particularly the antimalarials. Treating COVID-19

3/22/20

Hands off My Plaquenil?.  A discussion of the patient movement to restrict, helped along by an article my young colleague’s wife wrote. Hands off My Plaquenil?

3/23/20

Look out Mr. Corona, here comes science.  An explanation of some of the approaches scientists are using to develop anti-COVID drugs. Look out Mr. Corona, here comes Science

3/24/20

Drugs.  A delineation of the drugs being used to treat COVID. drugs

3/24/20

Michigan COVID-19 Update.  What’s happening at U of M hospitals at that moment.  Michigan COVID-19 Update

3/27/20

mainly a beer run.  Observations about working guys in the middle of COVID.  Not published when first written.*. mainly a beer run

3/28/20* (published 6/29/21)

Hello Plaquenil! You too, Aralen.  Welcoming some old drugs into the fight against COVID.  Hello Plaquenil! You too, Aralen

3/30/20

Want a Z-Pac with that Plaquenil?  A description of Dr. Zelenko’s seemingly effective simple protocol.  Want a Z-Pac with that Plaquenil?

4/3/20

Come back West, old man?  California needs docs to staff COVID centers, so it thinks.  Here is how they attempt to get them back.  Come back West, old man?

4/5/20

Who was that masked man?  My first diatribe on masks, including a link to a user’s guide.

4/16/20. Who was that masked man?

1919.  A doctor in Minnesota publishes his successes in treating patients with the Spanish flu (1918 epidemic) with quinine and the then common anti-inflammatory salicylate.  The old is new again.  1919 

4/17/20

remdesivir.  A discussion of the main hot drug to treat COVID.  This is what President Donald Trump got.  remdesivir

4/17/20

how clean?  The tragedy of hand sanitizer conversion.  how clean?

4/18/20

smoke ’em if you got ’em?  Yep, those cancer sticks do smoke off Mr. Corona.  smoke ’em if you got ’em?

4/23/20

wifey’s turn.  My dear wife takes the helm and offers her response to an article some of our church friends had floated.  I think there’s maybe some scorch marks from her flamethrower.  That’s my girl.  wifey’s turn

4/27/20

masks.  My offering to Gov. Bimbo. masks

4/30/20

mask 2.  Kathy’s offering.  We w. ore these to our local grocery store Busch’s) once and were greeted with hilarious approval. mask 2

5/1/20

News for Sara.  To my favorite fellow and current co-author I offer up what’s happening at her old institution News for Sara

5/5/20

no stinkin’ masks.  A transmission of a Howie Carr column https://wordpress.com/post/theviewfromharbal.com/487

5/6/20

What kind of army is this?  What happened with Gov. Newsom’s call for an army of docs to fight COVID. I applied, but was not accepted among them.  What kind of army is this?

5/17/20

Hail to the Plaquenil, Chief!  President Donald J Trump admits to taking Plaquenil, assuring a backlash from St. Anthony and his ilk. Hail to the Plaquenil, Chief!

5/19/20

Can I have some of that?  Actemra, an anti rheumatoid drug that I had prescribed in buckets, not only does not make treated patients more vulnerable to COVID, but may protect them from its more ravaging effects.  Can I have some of that?

5/27/20

Empties.  A consequence of COVID, at least in Michigan. empties

6/6/20

masks, criminy.  More about the nonsense of masks. masks, criminy

7/4/20

Plaquenil yay!  At last a trial that shows some protection. Plaquenil yay!

7/4/20

head Doc. Let me tell you a few things about St. Anthony.  head Doc

7/6/20

six feet?.  How those distances got determined.  six feet?. 

7/7/20

no fat for you, Mr. Corona!.  An Israeli ploy to treat COVID.  no fat for you, Mr. Corona!

7/18/20

lockdowns?  What are their actual effects?  lockdowns?

7/23/20

Clean!  How I react to a COVID scare to placate my fraidy cat classmates.  Clean!

7/31/20

masks, droplets, aerosols and all that.  A demonstration of droplet spread. masks, droplets, aerosols and all that 

8/29/20

sunshine on my shoulders kills my COVID.  A doc at my medical alma mater makes an interesting discovery. sunshine on my shoulders kills my COVID 

11/23/20

gotta die from something.  Link to a report by a Johns Hopkins economics prof about the “excess deaths” fallacy.  gotta die from something 

11/27/20

gotta die from something II.  More about Prof. Briand at Hopkins plus a letter from my colleague Elena.  gotta die from something II

11/28/20

Prof. Carlin.  A lecture we all need to hear.

12/10/20. Prof. Carlin

Excess death.  I thought one per person was the allotment, but there are details about the distribution.  Excess death 

12/16/20

AMA caves on Plaquenil.  Buried in meeting notes.  It’s o.k. to prescribe it now.

12/16/20. AMA caves on Plaquenil

dirty!  A short post with a very persnickety link to a report on the consequences of excessive cleanliness.  dirty!

12/16/20

Ah-choo!.  Nice video demonstration of droplet distribution.

12/21/20 Ah-choo!

masks, again.  Post to an article about lack of any mask effects in Florida.

12/22/20 masks, again

those vaccines I.  My first stab at explaining COVID vaccines to a friend.

1/22/21 those vaccines I

how about that Plaquenil?  Some support for Plaquenil out of Hackensack.

1/24/21 how about that Plaquenil?

Fauci’s feeble-minded fear-filled followers.  A chance encounter in the woods leads to insights about these people.  Call ‘em the “5-Fs”

2/4/21 Fauci’s feeble-minded fear-filled followers.

those vaccines again.  I explain COVID vaccines to some U of M alumni, and finish by praising Francis Collins (easy task). those vaccines again

4/11/21

Saint Anthony … fired?  If only.  Check out his record

4/25/21 Saint Anthony … fired?

thoughts shared with Donna on Decoration Day.  Reflections on a neighborhood Memorial Day party.  I think I managed to piss off the whole neighborhood with this one. Can’t handle the truth.

5/30/21 thoughts shared with Donna on Decoration Day

vaccines again.  An explanation of the 3 U.S. vacciness plus the scary AstraZenica

6/24/21 vaccines again

heart warming. Adolescent boys receiving COVID mRNA vaccines are developing myocarditis (heart muscle inflammation). Should we be worried? heart warming

6/27/21

friends and family – musings about those close and dear to me

Goodbye Sam.  My first post.  Sam, I’m sure, would have become my best friend had he lived.  Tho’ our paths had intertwined back to high school, it took Facebook to bring us together.  God, how I miss him.  Goodbye Sam

1/12/20

see Sam.  Collected pictures of my late friend Sam.  see Sam

1/14/20

on the list?  Something I sent to all those I notified of my new blog.  on the list?

1/30/20

Dinner with the McCarthys.  Tall, willowy, athletic, and impossibly cute, plus a neighbor!  A relationship smashed by my shyness grows now as mature couples interact.  Dinner with the McCarthys

2/1/20

33 and a third.  There are anniversaries and there are anniversaries.  33 and a third

2/4/20

How we met.  In case you wanted to know.  How we met 

2/5/20

My mother-in-law.  I got so lucky.  Miss you Ruth.  Found in “vault”and not published till 6/29/21*.  my mother-in-law

2/10/20*

flowers.  Ya know how when a band reissues an album they find things “in the vault” that weren’t on the original pressing?  Here’s a Valentine’s Day story I’ll wait till next VD to post* (no link).

2/15/20*

Docere.  My wife’s company, she’s cut me in as equal partner.  Knowledge is our product which, as you know, is good.  Docere

2/23/20

for Annie Banannie.  My fave of all of Kathy’s old school friends. (for Annie Bananie

5/2/20

missing Nathan.  Boy, do I.  What a doc.  What a guy.  missing Nathan 

5/11/20

Remember.  Thoughts and images after visits to family graves on Memorial Day.  remember

5/24/20

goodbye Sue.  A danger of befriending octogenarians is they can leave unexpectedly.  Without Sue, there would not have been a first “book”.  goodbye Sue

6/5/20

TDP.  My friend, my chief, my best man.  So sad to hear of his fate.  TDP

9/1/20

My beautiful wife loves Michigan.  She surely does.  See how she prepares for MSU.  Nov 13, 2020 at 10:05 AM

My beautiful wife loves Michigan

11/10/20

Aunt Dorie.  Why I’m where I am, I guess.  The right nudge, oodles of encouragement and support.  She understood more than any other relative where I might be going, as that was her game (Prof Psych Nursing WSU).  But she taught me an awful lot about food, too.  Aunt Dorie 

1/13/21

Fam.  Here’s what I’ve got.  fam

1/28/21

nurse!  My friend Ott needed to hear this song.  nurse!

3/6/21

hey, Tim.  My friend from the final frontier asked, and I unloaded.  Much sports here.  hey, Tim

3/15/21

Volume III. Indulgences.  What we did to ease the pain

Travel – musings from the road.  Wherever you go, there you are (Jim Russell, PSU, 1955)

From Ike to Mike: advice for a trip to Ann Arbor.  My young athletic trainer rehabbing my shoulder is coming to AA with his girlfriend and some other friends, looking for tips.  From Ike to Mike: advice for a trip to Ann Arbor

1/15/20

Way too early on a Friday morning January 17th: a pre-travelogue.  Getting ready for California!  Way too early on a Friday morning January 17th: a pre-travelogue  another hard day in LJ

1/17/20

another hard day in LJ.  Life in paradise can be grueling! another hard day in LJ

1/21/20

Cigar City.  Beer done right in Tampa.  Cigar City

1/24/20

Ice at the US Grant.  Research into a novel delivery system reveals importance of the product to the hotel’s namesake.  Ice at the US Grant

1/29/20

the trip that never was.  California dreaming with a COVID wake up. (no link)

5/16/20

LJ here we come!  Getting ready to go to our favorite place in the U.S.A. again. (no link).

8/13/20

ein prächtiges pissoir.  Wonderment in Vienna.   ein prächtiges Pissoir

12/3/20

drink down Dunedin.  Touring a great little beer town near the Gulf Coast in Florida.  drink down Dunedin

3/3/21

Land of Enchantment.  Our last trip to see Kathy’s brother Bob in Santa Fe.  But we have other friends there. We’ll be back.  Plus a recipe! (no link).

3/28/21

LT and the future of clean.  Breakfast by Union Station in Chicago gives us a glimpse of the future.  LT and the future of clean.

5/24/21

ARB-KAL.  A guide to taking in Kalamazoo from Ann Arbor by train.  ARB-KAL 

6/29/21

Food – mmm mmm musings

Restaurants.  Reviewing Republic Tavern.  Since closed, alas.  restaurants. 

1/12/20

the other Detroit restaurant, day after Christmas 2019.  A brief mention of Albena.  the other Detroit restaurant, day after Christmas 2019.

1/13/20

Vampire Marys.  An invite to a tailgate prompts a large volume adaptation.  Vampire Marys

2/5/20

Feeding the Speis.  Garlic mashed potatoes for 32, plus a description of half my new found family.  Feeding the Speis

  2/8/20

Hail Caesar!  We learned the tableside Caesar at our then favorite restaurant and have been doing it ourselves for years.  A German friend had been asking for the recipe for decades since we first made one for him, so here it is.  Hail Caesar!

4/16/20

My favorite holiday.  Is Thanksgiving and, yes, food is a big part of it.  My favorite holiday.

11/26/20

Recipes. A comment on the joy of diving into old recipes around Christmas.  Recipes 

1/3/21

dying spies.  Those old spies can go into your glühwein!  dying spies

1/7/21

rational drinking.  By the numbers, of course.  rational drinking

1/27/21

good for your heart.  One pretty darn good legume recipe.  good for your heart 

2/1/21

‘squeat*!  That was how we called each other to dinner in West Quad.  Here we have dinner at Albena, my favorite Detroit restaurant.  ‘squeat*!

2/1/21

garlic* paste.  Why should Indian housewives have all the fun, especially with COVID and all?  garlic* paste

2/14/21

‘shrooms!  A simple taste treat off the grill. (no link).

3/15/21

thanks, Timbo!  Making gravlax.  thanks, Timbo!

3/29/21

a simple dinner.  Just that, described.  a simple dinner

4/10/21

meat!  Handling the bounty from Meijer’s.  meat!

4/16/21

tallow, ho!  Finally found something to do with all that suet.  tallow, ho!

5/15/21

eat Harold’s.  The finest fried chicken in the universe.  eat Harold’s 

5/24/21

Belgae moules!  Mussels are cheap and absolutely delicious when prepared right.  Not that hard.  Belgae moules!

5/25/21

clearly non-kosher mussels for Jesus dinner.  We like seafood on Thursdays.  Fortunately, we’re not restricted by Leviticus.  And we turn it into a pasta dish.  clearly non-kosher mussels for Jesus dinner

5/28/21

it’s the berries.  Save for strawberry season.  You don’t need all that sugar.  it’s the berries  in my kitchen

6/18/21

Undaunted flapjacks.  Lack of proper ingredients is no obstacle!  Undaunted flapjacks

6/19/21

In my kitchen. Welcome to my lab.  in my kitchen

6/29/21

Sports – The only way to prove that you’re a good sport is to lose (Ernie Banks).

Michigan 84 Purdue 76 (2 OT).  Great game.  Michigan 84 Purdue 76 (2 OT)

1/12/20

Brady in PB.  They loved Brady in Sandy Egg.  We got to visit the cool bar where he hung out.  Brady in PB

1/20/20

Juwan and us.  We loved him then, we love him now.  Michigan is so lucky to have the coolest coach in college basketball.  Juwan and us

2/9/20

Sonny and Jimmy.  A mystery about two signatures on a manila folder found in a box.  Sonny and Jimmy  

2/3/20

Bye, bye bikes?  Considering that bicycling may no longer be a sport for me.  So sad.  Bye, bye bikes? 

3/15/20

gone, gone, gone.  A lament to the departure of my bicycles.  gone, gone, gone

7/2/20

Walkies.  Waxing on the joys of walking in the woods, plus a list of places to do same.  walkies

11/25/20

trail tales.  List of area hiking trails.  trail tales.

12/5/20

Hey, Tim.  My friend from the Last Frontier asked about sports, and I unloaded.  hey, Tim.

3/15/21

deathless loyalty.  Standing up for maybe the greatest Wolverine ever.  deathless loyalty

5/28/21

more Fielding Yost. Thoughts on Yost after reading the President’s advisory committee report.  more Fielding Yost

6/4/21

et tu, Bo?.  The woke crowd is after Bo, working through his pervert team physician.  Both long dead, of course.  et tu, Bo?

.  6/10/21

more Bo.  Elaborating in Bo’s case.  more Bo

6/11/21

football!  From a coffee table book in the South Have beach house we were renting, see the face of football at turn of the last century.  football!

  6/20/21

college mascots.  Knowledge every fan of college sports must master.  college mascots. 

6/29/21

Ann Arbor evening.  Home by the fire after 10 days in the Golden State.  Ann Arbor evening 1/27/20 

1/27/20

cross quarter.  There’s more to it than the silly groundhog.  cross quarter

  2/1/20

feed my worms.  It was time for a new hobby.  feed my worms

2/23/20

on Harbal.  Welcome to my beautiful home.  Links will give you a good tour around.    on Harbal.  I’m so lucky.

9/21/20

I like being old.  Yep. And here’s why.  I like being old

  10/2/20

simplify, simplify, simplify.  Inspired by my high school homecoming queen, I reflect on how COVID may be helping us feel better about somethings.   simplify, simplify, simplify   

11/18/20

Commandments.. From my brother Nick, Commandments for the 60 and over.  commandments 

11/29/20

Third phase.  A reflection on retirement.  Third phase

12/11/20

Thank you, Jeff Bezos.what would we do without Amazon.  Thank you, Jeff Bezos 

12/19/20

dandy dozen.  More than just a refrain in a silly Christmas carol, there really are 12 days!  Celebrate them all!  dandy dozen.

12/25/20

An ode to 2020.  Maybe not so bad after all.  An ode to 2020

  12/31/20

50 years.  I relate to a high school friend what’s been happening.  50 years

1/22/21

unsubscribe!  Frenzied phone focus in a bar upon learning of an e-mail option to keep them away.  unsubscribe!

2/19/21

happy 90th, Cap’n!.  Who doesn’t love Captain Kirk!  happy 90th, Cap’n!

.  3/24/21

batch.  I learn some etiquette for the digital age.  batch.

4/1/21

shameless plug.  My first “book” The Accident, available on Amazon. another shameless plug

References

1.         Ike R.  Musing through a Pandemic.  My year and a half with Mr. Corona.  Volume I.  about Mr. Corona.  Amazon (Kindle) 2021.  ISBN: 9798530730

2.         Ike R.  Musing through a Pandemic.  On the sidelines.  Volume II.  Interpersonal relationships.  Amazon (Kindle) 2021.  ISBN: 9798531225023

3.         Ike R.  Musing through a Pandemic.  On the Sidelines.  Volume III.  Indulgences.  Amazon (Kindle) 2021.  ISBN: 9798531231062

.

It was a game Bo woulda loved.  Protegée Jimmy -fielding his best-looking team since he got here – decided to attack the Huskies’ supposedly tough D by running it down their throats.  It worked.  343 rushing yards, plus 9 minutes plus time of possession.  Thunder Hassan Haskins carried 27 times for 155 yards and a touchdown while lighting Blake Corum needed only 21 carries to net more yards (171) and TDs (3, including a 57 yards speed beauty).  Washington never really had a chance.  They threw it around some, but didn’t see the end zone till halfway through the 4th quarter.

Different teams, different coaches, different times, but it was 20 Januaries ago against Washington that Bo’s boys won his first Rose Bowl after 20 years of trying.  It merited a short video on the big scoreboards, with some glimpses of Bo smilin’ and being carried off by his players.  He’d win one more, beating USC in his next to last season.

But that was all we’d see of Bo on those boards.  I sensed he was missing after the opener, but decided to pay attention to see if it’s really true.  Bo has been in the news way too much for the liking of the Athletic Department and University as he somehow was supposed to have reined in the behaviour of his team physician whose thorough application of certain aspects of what was the standard physical exam for physicians of his generation.  Unlike Fielding Yost, the University Historical Committee hasn’t even finished weighing in on Bo’s sins.  His statue is still up and his name is still on the football building, as those actions require assent of the Regents and the President.  But you don’t need them to wash him clean from the scoreboard at football games.

A hype video featuring UofM grad James Earl Jones’ narration always runs right after the band finishes its pregame show.  Here’s the 2017 version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqoJmSF235E.  Pretty stirring stuff, especially for any Michigan grad.  Bo makes several appearrances in this video.  You see his statue early on, then toward the end several glimpses of him in action, including his gruff remarks “it’s gonna be Michigan again, Michigan!”  None of those glimpses are there in this year’s version.

Another stirring staple of the video boards in the second half featured shots of Michigan athletes from many sports doing their thing while Bo’s legendary speech about “The team, the team, the team” played.  That speech is stirring in any setting, but here it sure rose good feelings about those athletes in the “non-revenue” sports.  I’ve been unable to find that particular video, but here’s one of the speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjv2iDxiGBI

But I guess whoever choses content for those multi-million dollar scoreboards has decided no Bo for us.

I remember reading about the “memory hole” in 1984 back in high school.  Items – events, people, memories – at odds with Big Brother were stuffed down it, never to be considered again.  I’m hoping that my U’s memory hole is less like Big Brother’s and more like the Bentley Library, where uncomfortable memories – like the Fab Five’s final four banners – are stored away but still accessible should the time come that it’s o.k. to enjoy them again.  In that way, Bo’s fate may end up being like the coach who recommended him to Don Canham, Joe Paterno.  When things were white hot about the Jerry Sandusky scandal, Joe evaporated from everything at Penn State except for the library he paid for.  Now that things have cooled down and Sandusky’s safely in jail, Joe Pa’s statue is back up and it’s o.k. to talk about him in Happy Valley.  Bo might not even reach the statue tearing down stage.  His report is not finished and when it is it will go up for public comment.  Opposition to the historical committee’s recommendation that Fielding Yost’s name be stripped from the field house he built was so strong that that action’s been shelved.  There’s a whole lot more people around who love Bo, and I’m sure we won’t be quiet.  Damned shame he has to go through any of this, but I’m optimistic for a favorable outcome.

You’ve probably heard by now how all us rednecks are turning to a “dewormer” to protect us against COVID (or its progeny) or even treat an established infection.  Of course, disaster has ensued, but don’t believe those reports of an epidemic of dewormer overdoses, as they have been debunked (1).  But what about this anyway?  The dewormer – ivermectin – is a drug approved by the WHO and FDA for treatment of parasitic infections.   It’s been on the market since 2006.  The docs who developed it – William C. Campbell, Satoshi Ömura, and Youyou Tu – won the Nobel prize for Medicine and Physiology in 2015.  It’s a huge drug in the 3^rd world, as it’s active against so many of the creepy crawlies that can make life miserable there: river blindness (onchocerciasis) and strongyloidiasis (an intestinal parasite with systemic effects) and even scabies and lice.  Such are the protective effects of this drug against these diseases in many African countries they take it prophylactically.  In the U.S., use is mainly veterinary as a dewormer, hence the sobriquet.  Yet the drug has exhibited antiviral activity against a wide range of RNA viruses and some DNA viruses, for example, Zika, dengue, yellow fever, and others..  It has specific action against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro with a suggested host-directed mechanism of action blocking of the nuclear import of viral proteins.  It may also inhibit SARS-CoV-2n3CLPro activity (a protease essential for viral replication) and even compete with spike protein for binding to ACE-2 receptors (the initial step in viral infection) (2).

So does this stuff work?  You wouldn’t know it from activity of any American docs, or even from our Euro brothers and sisters.  In another example of outsourcing gone mad, you have to turn to the 3^rd world, where no less than 24 clinical trials have been conducted on the efficacy of ivermectin in COVID infection (2.,3).  And guess what?  It works, across the board.  Prophylaxis and treatment.  Not all the trials were up to our prissy standards, but there they are: COVID + ivermectin > COVID only.  Let me have some of that stuff!

One of the most impressive “trials” was indirect, and based in Africa.  Not all African countries prescribe prophylactic ivermectin, but many do.  Look at this graph of COVID deaths in Africa and judge for yourself whether ivermectin might have an effect.

Merck, who still holds the exclusive patent on ivermectin, has priced ivermectin dirt cheap, recognizing that its customers in the 3rd world don’t have gold plated insurance or deep pockets.  100 12 mg tablets for scabies costs $2.90.

Here are some protocols about how to use this stuff, all courtesy of https://covid19criticalcare.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/FLCCC-Ivermectin-in-the-prophylaxis-and-treatment-of-COVID-19.pdf

Note that some additional nutraceuticals are recommended.

How to get his stuff?  Of course, your doctor can prescribe it.  Thusfar, the major medical societies and licensing boards that brought down the hammer on those who dared prescribe Plaquenil have not done so for ivermectin. I got my little bottle of veterinary ivermectin on Amazon for not much.  It sits in my fridge.

Just squirt enough to make 0.2 mg/kg (yes, there is some math involved) in some juice, and there’s your daily dose.  Unfortunately, Amazon has run out and doesn’t sell it right now.  You can get ivermectin online at www.AFLDS.com or www.DrStellaMD.com.  You can also go on-line to pharmacies outside USA.  Just search for “ivermectin on line”.

But how safe is this stuff?  To hear the MSM, we’re taking our life in our hands.  Google “ivermectin overdose’ and you’ll get some helpful references about chickens, pigs, and dogs.  A quite sober French pharmacologist has compiled an extensive review of the adverse effects of ivermectin (4).  There have been some deaths after taking ivermectin, but these were in patients with a heavy parasitic load. Other toxicities have been observed in lab animals, but none in humans.  The stuff is muy safe.

So get some of this stuff!  It may be your best bet to escape COVID.  Way better than that silly mask.  And any worms you happen to be harboring will just slide away.

References

1.         Davis J.  Ivermectin Hit Piece Debunked After Hospital Steps Forward with the Truth.  The Western Journal 9/6/21.  https://www.westernjournal.com/ivermectin-hit-piece-debunked-hospital-steps-forward-truth/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=WJBreaking&utm_campaign=breaking&utm_content=western-journal&ats_es=d937b441d27be285460151f72946f5e9

2.         Bryant A, Lawrie TA, Fordham EJ. Ivermectin for Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19 Infection: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Trial Sequential Analysis to Inform Clinical Guidelines. American Journal of Therapeutics, 28, e434-e460, July 2021. Am J Ther. 2021 Aug 18;28(5):e573–6. https://doi: 10.1097/MJT.0000000000001442. Epub ahead of print.

3.         Hill A, Garratt A, LeviJ, FalconerJ, Ellis L, McCann K, Pilkington V, Qavi A, Wang J, Wentzel H.  Meta-analysis of randomized trials of ivermectin to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection, Open Forum Infectious Diseases, 2021;, ofab358, https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofab358

4.         Descotes J.  Expert Review Report.  Medical Safety of ivermectin.  MedinCell (France) https://www.medincell.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Clinical_Safety_of_Ivermectin-March_2021.pdf

 

As expected, the creeping tyranny mandating that all shall be vaxxed is not emanating from Uncle so much as from the private sector. Kathy and I were looking forward to traveling to Cleveland to see James McMurtry* – tonight was to have been the night – but that got postponed to sometime in April. The venue later issued an announcement that all comers to any further events at their place must produce proof either of COVID vaccination or of a negative test performed within 48 hours of the concert. “Can I see your papers, please?” Then today I read a happy e-mail from one of our local jazz favorites, saying he and his group will be starting up a regular Wednesday night gig, indoors (!), at their old haunt. But “vaccinated only”. No mention of tests. Maybe the person they post at front to take the cover charge will also be checking C19s. Granted, they draw an older crowd and likely don’t want anything like what happened at Gretchen’s and Mario’s nursing homes.

So I figured it was high time to get my own papers. No, I’m not taking the stab. Instead, I’m taking a stab at getting an exemption from the U. Der Schliz has not come around to mandating emeritus faculty get vaxxed, yet. But I thought I could still enter the portal https://campusblueprint.umich.edu/vaccine/ and see about getting a religious exemption. Pro-active, doncha know. I’m Christian and pro-life, and all 3 vaccines used fetal cell lines somewhere in their development https://www.michigan.gov/documents/coronavirus/COVID-19_Vaccines_and_Fetal_Cells_031921_720415_7.pdf, so it seems like a no brainer. The form has a little box to enter your comments on why you’re seeking an exemption. Here’s what I wrote:

“By my deeply held Christian faith (I am a Methodist, member of the Ann Arbor Christian Reformed Church from ’06 till recently, when I transferred back the the Vicksburg UMC where I first became a member) I revere all life as a gift from God.  I grew to become staunchly Pro-Life as my values coalesced after college and I realized my wonderful life as an adoptee might never have happened had Roe v. Wade been law of the land in ’52.  I oppose abortion in all forms and find use of tissues from aborted babies for research and pharmaceutical development especially heinous.  All 3 US COVID vaccines have used fetal cell lines in their development.  I cannot abide accepting a product with this lineage.”

So we’ll see what happens.

Have you heard Eric Clapton’s latest take on life, such as it is today? https://rumble.com/embed/vj89iu/?pub=4

*PS. 2 of my favorite James McMurtry songs

“Just us kids” (“had enough of this small town bullshit”) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH5hTwWgHp0

“Choctaw bingo” (“have us a time…”) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nggqe-L9ZQ8

addendum (9/4/21, my 69th birthday): someone at the “U-M Exemptions and Temporary Postponement Response” office e-mailed me 11:02 PM last night that my request for an exemption from COVID-19 vaccination had been approved. Hallelujah!

Finally catching my breath from a July that featured Kathy’s big birthday pre-retirement party and my 50^th plus one high school reunion, I was ready to slide into that last month of summer, ready to cruise on into the new school year (hey, my wife’s a teacher, so I still feel it!).  Yeah, there was that 10 day trip to California coming up, finally pulling it off after all those COVID cancellations, but arrangements had been in place for months and all we had to do was touch all the bases.  But with a family health crisis in No Cal and some serious real estate shopping in So Cal (by Windnsea Beach), even a week and a half in paradise can start to feel stressfull.

Once home, things were hopping.  I got my picture into my hometown paper https://southcountynews.org/2021/08/16/three-authors-with-local-ties-self-publish/, and got the Vicksburg District Library to put that book on their shelves (1).  We got to two actual concerts, one outside (Grand Funk Railroad at Soaring Eagle) and one inside (Kalkaska String Quartet playing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at the Masonic by candlelight).  Jimmy Harbaugh came to speak to us at Weber’s, getting us fired up for the season https://wordpress.com/post/theviewfromharbal.com/1889.

Home improvement is never ending, and we were invaded by electricians for a day replacing all our toggle switches with rockers.  We lost our electricity for several extended stretches during the day, giving us glimpses of life without screens or stereo.  Rather peaceful, in small batches.  My living room was currently quite spacious for the better part of the last week as I sold both of our leather couches to make room for the new ones that arrived from Sykkylven today.  With them came our matched blue leather recliners, which we had not expected till October.  What a nice early birthday present.  Oh, we may never arise from them!

I’ve published 2 instructional videos (2,3) and one book chapter (4) and have submitted 4 manuscripts to be considered for publication (5-8).  I’ve gone many years back when I was working where I didn’t add as many chits to my CV as I did in this single month.  This all feels very good to me.

Then there’s been the sturm und drang over Kathy’s final year of teaching, just half time these last 2 semesters.  Will she get her office back or won’t she?  Will she get to teach live and in person or is it back to the dining room table in the living room?  Her school is hiring her replacement, a young woman with whom Kathy is quite sympatico, the two being both from Ohio, one-time dancers, and conservative, for starters.  But the dean is pussyfooting, like usual, and Kathy worries she’ll screw the whole thing up.  And of course the whole vax thing.  Sheesh https://wordpress.com/post/theviewfromharbal.com/1875.  Right now, as she’s set to undergo evaluation for allergies to vax components, Kathy’s been granted an exemption through October 20^th.  She’ll be considered “in compliance” till then.  That’s plenty of time to get her retirement paperwork in.  She’ll be required to wear a mask in the classroom, but then so does all the faculty, vaxxed or not.  As I type this, she’s put in her first day, two classes, and everything went fine.  Her office was undisturbed, and bore her name next to it, new since last year.  No high profile jocks in her classes, tho’ she has a golfer.  The swimmers and tracksters often lie in the weeds till they’re discovered.

Oh, and the UPS guy delivered our case of wine from Obsidian late this afternoon.  Life is good.  Tomorrow brings another month and more tasks.  I have to write and submit several letters to the editors of journals tied to professional organizations, announcing Sara’s and my salivary gland biopsy videos to their membership.  I have to get on the stick to Friends-in-Deed to come pick up our now obsolete and in the way blue La-Z-Boys.  I have to make the sad entry on the Chicago Better Business Bureau web site regarding failure to provide service from a chika with whom I entrusted components of my treasured vintage Stressless chair for refurbishing  in March of 2020.  Despite several promises of shipment, the parts have never materialized.  We even ventured to her place of business in NW Chicago during one of our trips and had some beers at the nice bar across the street, where the waitress vouched she was alive, tending to her business, and showing up for a beer from time to time.  Who knows what happenned.  Mental illness?  But she has close to $1400 of my money and my chair parts and I want them back, at least the chair parts.

So in a few short hours, August will be behind us.  I’m not sure I can keep up that pace.  Like the French say, too much of that can wear you Août!

References

1.         Ike R.  The Accident.  Amazon (Kindle) 2021.  Available at: .https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095BS8VRJ

2.         McCoy SS, Ike RW.  Labial salivary gland biopsy demonstration.  Posted to YouTube by RW Ike 8/19/21.  Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIFkBjKSxas

3.         McCoy SS, Ike RW.  Labial salivary gland biopsy workshop.  Posted to YouTube by RW Ike 8/30/21.  Available at: https://youtu.be/iHP58yNkhW8.

4.         Ike RW.  Review of benign subcutaneous emphysema following knee arthroscopy.  In New Frontiers in Medicine and Medical Research.Volume 1.  2021, BP International, London

5.         Ike RW, Kalunian KC.  It’s time to bring back knee washout.  MOJ Orthop and Rheumatol. (submitted 8/27/21; withdrawn 8/30/21 after they reneged on waiver of publication fees. To be submitted elsewhere).

6.         Ike RW, McCoy SM, Kalunian KC.  What bedside skills should the modern rheumatologist possess?  Seminars Arthritis Rheum (submitted 8/31/21)

7.         Ike RW, Kalunian KC.  Regarding arthroscopy: can orthopedists and rheumatologists be friends?  J Clin Rheumatol (submitted 8/31/21)

8.         Altman RD, Ike RW, Hamburger M, McLain DA, Daley MJ, Adamson III, TC.  Missing the Mark? American College of Rheumatology 2019 Guidelines for Intra-articular Hyaluronic Acid Injection and Osteoarthritis Knee Pain.  Osteoarthritis Cart (nto yet submitted, but my comments are in!)