So, I got hit by COVID-19...

It was only a matter of time, I suppose.  And based on what those who were in close proximity to me have said, it seems like it's the omicron (anagram for "moronic") variant.  Which is the most wildly contagious as well as apparently being the least malign of the strains found so far.  Two friends and I were at a movie theater on Christmas Day, watching Spider-Man: No Way Home and one of them believes she picked it up during a trip to the restroom.  She tested positive two days later and our other friend got a positive result the next day.  My symptoms began a few hours later.  It hasn't been as severe as theirs, but still... this has been a pretty cruddy way to end 2021 on.  Or a fitting one.  Or something.

It's almost miraculous that it took this long to contract it, given my work as a health care professional involves interacting with the public on a constant basis.  Two years' keeping ahead of the Wuhan Flu is a pretty good record, all things considered.

I'm day four now into fighting this thing but happily I'm on the tail end of it.  Body temperature had been oscillating like an accordion but that seems to have ended last night.  There hasn't been as much mucous produced as I had originally thought.  My chest feels like there's a weight on it, even now.  I never lost the sense of smell, however there is a weird taste in my mouth.  But that's been happening lately anyway, because of iron infusions I've been receiving to offset anemia.

I still do not believe in COVID vaccine mandates: something I've expressed on numerous other forums.  The choice to be vaccinated should be a very personal one, for a lot of reasons.  I was vaccinated this past winter, but I have chosen to not receive boosters.  Indeed, I wonder about the efficacy of the vaccines, given the reports that have accumulated of people being severely injured and even dying after getting jabbed.  We should have been addressing this with medications like Ivermectin, which is what countries like India have been doing to counter COVID.  But I suppose "big pharma" couldn't make enough money on something they tout as a horse dewormer (and the drug companies have better paying lobbyists too).

In hindsight, I'm taking a perverse view on getting COVID-19.  Coming through like this, my body has been working overtime to cook up some all natural antibodies.  My chances of catching COVID again are significantly diminished.  I'm going to be able to head out the office door to meet my patients with much more confidence, and that's a good thing.

Until the next plague that our friends the ChiComs whip up in their laboratories...

 

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Disciples pigging out: Last Supper portions increased 69% over time

Two researchers have been using computer analysis on 52 of the most famous paintings of the Last Supper - the final meal that Jesus Christ had with His disciples on the night before His death on the cross - and discovered that the size of the portions of food depicted on the table have increased 69% over the past millennium. The biggest amount of super-sizing came after 1500, not long after Leonardo da Vinci did his famous rendition of the Last Supper...

From the article at USA Today...

The researchers used paintings of this event "because it is the most famous supper in history," which artists have been painting for centuries, so the paintings provide information about plate and entree sizes over time, says Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell (University) Food and Brand Lab in Ithaca, N.Y. One possible reason for the increase: Food may have become more available and less expensive, he says.

He did the research with his brother, Craig, a professor of religious studies at Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, and a Presbyterian minister.

The three Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), which include descriptions of The Last Supper, mention only bread and wine, but many of the paintings have other foods, such as fish, lamb, pork and even eel, says Craig Wansink.

The use of fish in the meals is symbolic because it's an image that is used to represent Christianity, he says. Among the reasons for the symbolism: A number of the disciples were fishermen, and Jesus told them "to be fishers of men," he says. Plus, he says, Jesus performed several miracles with fishes and loaves.

Thanks to Chad Austin for the great find (and Twitter-ing about it. Yes, he really did!)

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The 4,900 calorie hamburger

The Class A West Michigan Whitecaps have added the following gastronomic monstrosity to their ballpark menu: the Fifth Third Burger.

A heart-stopping (perhaps literally) 4,889 calories of beef, lettuce, tomato, salsa, sour cream, chili and Fritos on an 8-inch sesame seed bun. Total weight: nearly 30 ounces.

The ballpark management suggests that one of these hamburgers can feed four people. But if one person manages to eat the whole thing, he/she will earn the right to wear this t-shirt:

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Michael Phelps's secret? 12,000 calorie a day diet

And no, there is not an extra "0" in that number.

The New York Post reports on the special diet that has Michael Phelps breaking swimming records like nobody's business at the Olympics. The guy is on a staggering twelve thousand calories a day eating regimen. A typical person usually takes in around 6000 calories every day. Phelps has been nearing that amount with each meal! Mostly lots of carbohydrate-rich fare like pasta.

The boy better figure in some Wheaties too if he wants to have his picture on the front of their cereal box :-P

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Death by blogging in the digital sweatshop

The New York Times has published an interesting piece about blog-related stress. The drive to constantly publish new material for lucrative gain has been enough to already cause serious medical problems and even death among some bloggers.

That just ain't healthy, by any measure.

Many years ago (like when I was a teenager) I had a friend who told me something that's become so prophetic, it's absolutely frightening in its accuracy: the "information era", he told me, would soon become something dominated more by information than by people. To the point that information would become like a god that people would be sacrificing every precious moment of their lives toward satiating. And I think I understood enough of what he was saying back then to be legitimately scared about it.

That's why The Knight Shift isn't my bread and butter, and I don't particularly care for it to become that either. It's just a hobby. I only post about subjects that I find interesting or "cool", and my own personal ruminations. I'm not expecting those to fetch top dollar anyway because, hey, I already know that I can't spin a party line like the pros. This is just my lil' corner of the web: my personal "message in a bottle" for whoever might find it. And given how many neat people I've met because of it, so far I think it's been a great success.

Anyhoo, there ya go: absent an official warning from the Surgeon General (do Surgeons General even make warnings like that anymore?), don't let yer blog dispatch you to "the choir invisible" :-)

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Here's the skinny on those staph/MRSA stories in the Rockingham County schools

All afternoon numerous reports have been forwarded to The Knight Shift about "confirmed" staph infections - and particularly MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) - running loose throughout the Rockingham County Schools system. This is of especially serious concern in light of numerous cases of MRSA that have been confirmed in Forsyth and Yadkin counties. And word is just coming down the wire that a student at George Washington High School in Danville has been diagnosed with MRSA. So what's going down our way?

I called up the office of Rockingham County Schools Superintendent Dr. Rodney Shotwell earlier this afternoon, to see what he knows. I didn't get to talk to Dr. Shotwell but a very short while later I got a call from Rockingham County Schools spokeswoman Jean Steverson. And this is what the good lady told me...

There are no confirmed MRSA cases in Rockingham County school at this point in time. That doesn't mean that there aren't cases, however. Steverson said that MRSA isn't something that a medical doctor is required to formally report. But as things stand right now, there is no need to panic. Just precaution, Steverson emphasized. Doing things like washing hands on a regular basis, and taking care to bandage open wounds and taking steps to make sure that there is no contact with open bodily tissue (blood, mucous etc.). Steverson also said that the custodial staff at the schools are taking extra precautions to sanitize exposed surfaces with anti-MRSA disinfectants. Athletic departments are also being advised to practice caution.

We talked a bit about how this thing is much like polio: even though polio is a virus, it needs physical contact to get around. It's not like this is an airborne pathogen, like this is "Captain Trips" from Stephen King's The Stand. So long as we tell the kids to be careful, and that we do likewise, we should be cool.

But being cautious is a far cry from paranoia. It's good to be aware and with that in mind, here's a data sheet about MRSA from North Carolina Public Health...

An automated message from Dr. Shotwell is also going out to the phone numbers of all the homes of students and faculty, advising them about the MRSA concerns and relaying the measures being taken to control possible outbreak. In fact, we just got our call in the past few minutes. So you might wanna keep the phone handy for awhile.

And that's everything that we know at this hour.

"DON'T PANIC!"

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