While we’re all locked down

I have a suggestion, watch some things that challenge your beliefs. 

Find a documentary that you’d never watch and give it a go.

Since a lot of these documentaries are available as freebies on your streaming services, what have you got to loose?

If it offends you turn it off and move on.

I’ve done a lot of this over the past few weeks and there have been some that for one reason or another I couldn’t watch to the end. 

Some cases were that the subject matter just didn’t hold my interest. Others were boring beyond belief, monotone narration, and subject matter or conclusions that were akin to an Ancient Aliens episode. Don’t get me wrong, watching Ancient Aliens is fun when I’m in the mood, but a steady diet comes up short.

Here are a few of the documentaries that actually kept my interest.

Hillarys America documentary film posterHillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party – Amazon Prime: This one is interesting because the film-maker Dinesh D’Souza tells the story from his first person viewpoint. He was convicted and sent to jail for an illegal political contribution. Then he begins an re-examination of how he, an immigrant thought about America. I’m sure that some of the film is apocryphal, nonetheless it was thought provoking and served, as art should to make the viewer re-evaluate their beliefs.

HoaxedHoaxed – Itunes: I’ve been questioning the veracity of the media since before Trump. I was questioning journalism during the Bush administration. I believe that journalism shouldn’t be editorial or opinion printed as fact. When I started noticing that there were two truths depending on what your news source was, I had questions. This was especially true for me, when the “Truths” were diametrically opposed.  Mike Cernovich explores the dichotomy from a conservative and personal perspective as well as the perspectives of other conservative journalists or film-makers who have been on the receiving end of journalistic inequity. The most interesting piece was the story of Documentary director Cassie Jaye.

KeepandbearKeep and Bear – Amazon Prime: This one is interesting. It’s the story of a California family who moves to Idaho. Once there, the director Darren Doane discovers that most of his neighbors have guns. From there Doane decides to learn more about the gun culture and discovers that it’s not what he thought it was.

Pandemic: How to prevent an Outbreak – Netflix: This is a timely series. I’d started watching it about a week before the Wuhan Virus gained national Pandemic new on netflix january 22ndattention. This is a docu-series. It details the precautions and research that’s always ongoing to prevent influenza. The people in this series are heroes and they put a lot of their lives into trying to predict where outbreaks are likely to happen. It’s worth watching because most of us never know what’s going on behind the scenes when we get our flu shots.

ChasingCoralChasing Coral – Netflix: This is a documentary that follows researchers looking at the effects of oceanic warming on reefs. It’s got beautiful scenery of coral reefs with a before and after juxtaposition that’s jarring. Ocean warming and pollution does a lot of damage to reefs. Most of us don’t notice because the reefs are in places that we can’t reach. If this film makes you pay more attention to reducing your impact by recycling, extending the lifespan of something you own or properly disposing of chemicals it will have served its purpose.

I don’t necessarily agree with all the claims made in these documentaries I think that each of them makes good points and is food for thought.

I’m not really that much of a documentary kind of guy. Generally speaking I find them boring but every once in a while I’ll happen upon something that keeps my attention. These did the trick and also helped me fight some of the lock down boredom.

Give ‘em a whirl if you’re of a mind. Draw your own conclusions and think for yourselves.

That was weird

NINWithTeeth.jpgI lost a day, I have no idea where I lost it. But when I woke up this morning, It was a day later than I thought it should be.

Did I sleep a full 24 hours?

I was reminded of NIN “Every Day is Exactly the same”

I know that I didn’t sleep 24 hours, but all my days are running into one another. I guess it’s just that there’s nowhere to go and I’m rapidly losing interest in doing anything around the house.

It’s not that I don’t have stuff to do, It’s that more often than not, when I’m in the midst of doing something I realize that I need something from a store that’s either closed or a place where I’m going to have to stand in line for 30 minutes to get into, or out of the place, possibly both. If all I need is something dumb like a bolt or screws it’s not worth the effort or annoyance. So the project dies right there. 

I’ve been trying to put things on my lists so that when I go somewhere I’m picking up all the little bits at once preferably in one store. Otherwise a mult-store run turns into a whole day affair and the herd tension of the crowds makes me very uncomfortable.

Even the outdoor carwash isn’t working properly. There’s no soap in the spritzer, and many of the wash bays are no longer functional. It’s not like you’re going to violate social distancing and the way the wind whips through the place the likely-hood of contamination is pretty darn low.

But trying to wash the car wear a mask, not have your glasses or sunglasses fog up, plus the lack of soap or working bays has taken even the simple pleasure of washing my car to the depths of despair. 

There are some things that may not be essential services, but they should be allowed to remain open for the positive psychological benefits. I may just wash the car in the front drive, California water restrictions be damned.

At least I’d be outside and doing something different.

Okay, So with all the Chloroquine hubub…

800px-Medical_quinolines_pathway.pngI got curious. 

There has been a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth about this drug.

Yes, it’s a drug and guess what, it’s listed as an essential drug by the World Health Organization.

OMG! You mean Trump didn’t just pull it out of his ass?

Nope! He didn’t. Before you go off on the other now debunked report that Trump has stock in manufacturers of this drug, Just STOP!

I knew it’s primarily used as an anti malarial drug. But Malaria is caused by a parasite, not a virus. Hmmm, so what the hell?

Well it turns out that it’s also used for autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus erythematosus. Why? because Chloroquine has a depressing effect on the immune system. 

Wait a minute… If it depresses the immune response it makes no sense to use it with a viral infection. If someone is sick, it’s counterintuitive to actively depress their immune system. 

Chloroquine has been known since 1934. Its analog organic origin was originally obtained from tree bark by the indigenous people of Peru, before 1633. They used it as an extract to fight fever and chills. It was introduced to Europe after 1633 as a treatment against Malaria. It was called Quinine.

While I was in the shower, My head locked on quinine. That was familiar to me and I knew it was in my household I just couldn’t place it. Another minute researching with Wikipedia and BOOM! 

Same bark, same tree, same indigenous people and known to the Spanish as early as 1571 to have medicinal properties. 

Cinchona bark was exported by the Spanish to Europe, Remijia bark produces lower quantities of Quinine but has a stronger taste. It’s used to flavor Tonic Water.

Don’t you Gin & Tonic drinkers get too excited, the levels are a bit too low to be medicinal. However, essentially you’ve got 400 years of research on Quinine. 

Chloroquine is a synthetic with a different chemical signature, that came into wide use around 1947.

Naturally occurring quinine is C20H24N2O2. Chloroquine is C18H26ClN3 They’re different but similar chemistry. Chloroquine is a synthetic analog of Quinine.

You have to read much further into the article to find out how all this relates to Coronavirus.

2560px-Chloroquine.svg.pngBy the way, the Wikipedia article is here.

Fairly late in the article there’s an explanation of the antiviral effects of Chloroquine.

Because of the way Chloroquine affects the PH of organelles within a cell it tends to prevent a virus from releasing its genetic material.

Since the virus can’t release its RNA, it can’t infect a cell to convert the cell to replicate more viruses. Chloroquine also does something to Zinc uptake in the cell which inhibits RNA functions too.1920px Chloroquine 3D structure

I’m not a biologist, but I know that the basic way a virus reproduces is by hijacking the DNA of a cell, essentially reprogramming the cell to stop doing normal cell stuff and start using all the cellular resources to make viruses. It does this by putting its RNA into the cell. That’s how it reprograms cellular function.

When the cell runs out of resources it dies, then the cell membrane ruptures releasing all the viruses its built into surrounding cells. That’s how the infection continues.

So if you’re able to prevent the virus from hijacking healthy cells to begin with, you end the infection. The body then has time to identify and destroy the inert virus material floating around.

Remember DNA and RNA are related and if memory serves, interact during cellular reproduction. 

Since Chloroquine is absorbed quickly by the body and is distributed rapidly in the bloodstream it’s like a big off switch to the virus invasion. That’s possibly why so many people have reported that they or their loved ones were on death’s door and had such amazing recoveries after being given Chloroquine.

The news isn’t all rosy. Chloroquine can have nasty side effects and it can become toxic easily. That’s why careful monitoring is required and only doctors prescribe it. It also can interact with other drugs and cause other problems.

The side effects of the drug are many, and include problems with vision, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, headache, diarrhea, shortness of breath, muscle weakness and the list goes on. 

Make no mistake Chloroquine is a powerful drug and as with any powerful medication there is a possibility that it could cause more harm than good.

That being said. If I’m on my deathbed, what the hell do I have to lose?

So in conclusion, this is a drug that’s been around for many years. Its effects are fairly predictable and its side-effects and countermeasures are well known and researched. 

All the information about the drug is readily available on the internet in less than five minutes (even if you misspell the name).

There are two versions of it. One is Chloroquine and the other is Hydroxychloroquine I don’t know, and am not qualified, to evaluate the differences or provide explanation as to why there are variations. However both appear to have been derived from a 400 year old, or older natural organic remedy called Quinine.

It may be something as simple as one is more effective or easier on the system.

Apparently, Chloroquine was investigated during the SARS outbreak and there was a report published that is appeared to have efficacy against SARS in vitro. 

SARS is also caused by a Coronavirus.

It’s entirely logical that the medical people would have gone back to the publications and research done on any Coronavirus, looking for something that would be effective at least in slowing Coronaviruses to buy time during treatment. Remember slowing the progress of a disease gives the body time to construct an immune defense.

This information would have been presented to the President and his advisors when coronavirus first hit the world stage. The President probably shouldn’t have been as excited about the possibility of an untested treatment. But he at least was able to tell the American people that all was not lost, coronavirus infection was not a death sentence and to have hope.

Yes, there haven’t been any clinical trials yet. Clinical trials take time. Half the group you give the drug, and half the group you give a placebo then you tally the results to determine effectiveness.

Tell me, how many of you would want to participate in a clinical trial during a pandemic? How many of you would want to be sick and be getting sugar pills instead of something that at least anecdotally was working?

Uh huh, I didn’t think so…

Now can we please stop all the bitching and complaining about the President saying anything about Chloroquine or Hydroxychloroquine?

The other question I have is this… If a dumbshit like me can look up this information and understand in at least a rudimentary way how the drugs work;

WHY THE HELL CAN’T PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS?

Just saying…