Horse flu, achoo!

I listed a bunch of stuff I'd taken out of the equipment I'd taken apart the night before, last night. That kept me up until about 4, and I didn't feel like practicing so I didn't. I read a bit more of the Anatomy Of Paradise book, which is just amazing. There's so much crammed in there.

While doing listings, I listened to some lectures as I often do on YouTube, and one was great - a guy studied/studies the RNA for various flu viruses and those in his field discovered that you tend to 'imprint' on the first flu you have, typically when you're a little kid, and even when stimulated by another flu, say in a flu shot, your body goes "Oh, this again" and makes mostly antibodies to that original flu.

So Ken will have one flavor of immunity, and I'll have another - I was likely imprinted on the Hong Kong flu of  1968-70 as I remember being terribly sick, along with my Mom, in that time frame. And I mean sick - dim memories of worries about us dying (probably Mom's histrionics) and being just out for days or a week or more, and someone worrying about us and my being given some kind of peppery vegetable soup and my first encounter with the concept of cooked celery.

So, why did oldsters fare so well in the 1918 flu? There was "the great zoonotic" of 1873, which sickened and killed horses to the extend that the cavalry and Apaches fought each other on foot, and teams of young men pulled street cars. Lo and behold, about 43 years later, the "Spanish" flu comes through and people over 50 are faring better than they did under the usual flu. The "cytokine storm" theory I'd heard for years turns out to not be applicable.

So I woke up at 4:30 today because why not, the whole point is to wait out this thing. I packed a few small things and had my coffee and chocolate, and headed out of here at about 6:30.

Now, this is pushing things as any time after dusk is sort of "bum time" and it's acknowledged that the squares, the workers, have left for the day and now the streets "belong" to the bums. So I felt it was risky, but there are hardly any bums out. What few bums I could tell were around, are hunkered down in their bum vehicles, and I guess withdrawn further back into their bum camps.

The post office was routine, as the mail chute was working. Next was H Mart, and it was much, much more calm and quiet than a regular Saturday. Tons of things are gone like eggs, but tons of things were still there. I got broccoli and garlic (at 2X the normal price) and another pack of butane for my butane stove, their last can of Nissui canned mackerel in oil, and a package of chashu kamaboko for a treat. The fish etc., were all well stocked and except for the lack of eggs, cup noodles of various types, and toilet paper, you'd almost think things are normal.

I wore the cloth mask I'd bought at H Mart just before the panic, and it fits really nicely. I wish I'd bought a couple of them, one to wear and one to wash, but even having the one is great. As masks go, it fits well and is comfortable.

As I left I thought about how much I'm substituting Windex for rubbing alcohol which can't be obtained, and went over to Lowe's for another gallon of Windex. Here I was really risking it because it was getting into dusk and there are a lot of bums on the road leading into there, but I encountered no bums and where there's usually an encampment I have to veer around, there's a fence put up and big boulders where the camp was.

I was able to get my gallon of Windex and got some AA and AAA lithium batteries so I've got batteries for the foreseeable future. Again it was really calm and quiet, with very few customers.

I rode over by the electrical supply and there was a bum pulling/pushing a bum cart down Brokaw street, but I was able to get some foam pieces for packing from Sanmina, then vectored outta there directly away from the bum cart because I don't know where the bum went - don't want to get jumped.

I rode back here and again, boring, boring, boring. I thought traffic was sparse the last time I was out, but it's really dead now. 95% of people gone to 99% of people gone.