*The good news is that we have changed up the rotation somewhat so I get an office sometime before the 15th of July.  The bad news is husband and son made me realize we ALSO need to do the family room and bedroom (for various and hard to explain reasons.
Which means the insanity and everything out of place all over the house will continue till probably mid-August.  I’m too old for this.  OTOH it will be done… – SAH*

Book Promo

*Note these are books sent to us by readers/frequenters of this blog.  Our bringing them to your attention does not imply that we’ve read them and/or endorse them, unless we specifically say so.  As with all such purchases, we recommend you download a sample and make sure it’s to your taste.  If you wish to send us books for next week’s promo, please email to bookpimping at outlook dot com. If you feel a need to re-promo the same book do so no more than once every six months (unless you’re me or my relative. Deal.) One book per author per week. Amazon links only. Oh, yeah, by clicking through and buying (anything, actually) through one of the links below, you will at no cost to you be giving a portion of your purchase to support ATH through our associates number. I ALSO WISH TO REMIND OUR READERS THAT IF THEY WANT TO TIP THE BLOGGER WITHOUT SPENDING EXTRA MONEY, CLICKING TO AMAZON THROUGH ONE OF THE BOOK LINKS ON THE RIGHT, WILL GIVE US SOME AMOUNT OF MONEY FOR PURCHASES MADE IN THE NEXT 24HOURS, OR UNTIL YOU CLICK ANOTHER ASSOCIATE’S LINK. PLEASE CONSIDER CLICKING THROUGH ONE OF THOSE LINKS BEFORE SEARCHING FOR THAT SHED, BIG SCREEN TV, GAMING COMPUTER OR CONSERVATORY YOU WISH TO BUY. That helps defray my time cost of about 2 hours a day on the blog, time probably better spent on fiction. ;)*

FROM MARY CATELLI:  Madeleine and the Mists.

Enchanted pools, shadowy dragons, wolves that spring from the mists and vanish into them again, paths that are longer, or shorter, than they should be, given where they went. . . the Misty Hills were filled with marvels. Madeleine still left the hills, years ago, to marry against her father’s will. If her husband’s family is less than welcoming, she still is glad she married him, and they have a son, two years old. But her husband’s overlord has fallen afoul of the king. And all his men fall with him, including her husband. She sets out, to seek the queen and try to bypass the king — and the Misty Hills. Some things are not so easily evaded.

FROM AMIE GIBBONS:  Scorpions of the Deep (The Elemental Demons Urban Fantasies Book 1).

As below, so above…

Sarah Blakely has lost the love of her life. With her world disintegrating under her feet, she abandons her post-college plans and moves back home. She’s trying to find her new direction when tragedy strikes.

On a hot summer night, one of her friends goes berserk and attacks, trying to take off with Sarah. No reason, no rhyme, just a man that took something and lost his mind, at least according to the police.

Sarah’s friend Beau isn’t so sure. The explanation that their friend snapped while on a bad trip doesn’t make sense. The whole thing feels wrong, and Beau thinks something more is going on, something beyond what most humans see.

Sarah doesn’t believe in anything more, though sometimes, she wishes she did.

But there are more things on Hell and Earth than are dreamt of in her philosophy. Dark things that feast on your emotions and use them to burrow in under your skin.

And one of those dark things has set its sights on Sarah.

FROM ALMA T. C. BOYKIN:   Intensely Familiar: Familiar Tales Book Thirteen

Home is the Hunter . . .

Something moves in the darkness, hunting the hunters. An ambush leaves Lelia Chan weak and troubled. Her husband André returns from an extended deployment with problems of his own, some old, some new. Both shadow mages and their Familiars need rest. Their enemy, however, does not.

Magic solves magical problems: that’s the rule among Riverton’s magic users. But what if it doesn’t? Especially against a foe who is Intensely Familiar.

Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike.

So what’s a vignette? You might know them as flash fiction, or even just sketches. We will provide a prompt each Sunday that you can use directly (including it in your work) or just as an inspiration. You, in turn, will write about 50 words (yes, we are going for short shorts! Not even a Drabble 100 words, just half that!). Then post it! For an additional challenge, you can aim to make it exactly 50 words, if you like.

We recommend that if you have an original vignette, you post that as a new reply. If you are commenting on someone’s vignette, then post that as a reply to the vignette. Comments — this is writing practice, so comments should be aimed at helping someone be a better writer, not at crushing them. And since these are likely to be drafts, don’t jump up and down too hard on typos and grammar.

If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Your writing prompt this week is:Curious

I am going to paint the room that is to be floored this afternoon and which will then become the household management office (it’s more complex than it sounds because between us Dan and I own… 4? small businesses (might be five, though I think one is folded under the other) so Dan spends a lot of time doing the tax work for those and needs a pleasant place to do it in), so I can’t write a chapter this morning, but I’ll try to do one before I collapse this evening.  Though I’ll be honest, yesterday my body decided I was DONE (done, done) after I pulled up carpet and killzeed the floor. So…. it might happen in which case I’ll catch you up with a chapter later.

Lest you be alarmed the illustration is neither the wall as it is nor how it will be. It is a rather unexceptionable unpainted — or absolutely flat —  white, and since it has texture it collects dust like mad.  It will be a very equally unexceptionable pale yellow, almost white, with a touch of shine, so it’s washable and I can clean it, since Colorado is a DUSTY state….

So as soon as I put this down I’m going to go downstairs, get the painting ladder and set to.

MEANWHILE I’d like to leave you with something. So follow this link. Beware, profanity, but really, really, you should watch it.

Yes, I know, what’s a nice girl like me doing watching razorfist?  Well…. he doesn’t say any words I don’t know the meaning of, and behind that front he is actually rather sensible.  And he’s saying things we need to hear. All of us.

Be not afraid!

Back this evening.

*Reposted with author’s permission from a Facebook note, here. Because it needs wider dissemination. The note was written December 2019. As a side note, from my misspent youth, even though I still like to think I was fighting on the side of angels, let me say that what he says about violence being addictive is 100% right. So is danger. For years after moving to the US I MISSED it. I mean, I didn’t miss it, but my body craved the adrenaline rush. Took a while to dry out.- SAH*

The Danger of War Elephants (a.k.a. whipping up mobs)- by Marc MacYoung

To Mask or Not To Mask…

By I.M. Doctoo

I recently read a self-professed rant from a person identifying themselves as a surgeon, berating people who object to wearing masks.  It’s a classic “appeal to authority” argument with the ranter holding up their own experience as a surgeon as authority regarding masks.  There are, however, many shades of accuracy in the argument, and the “surgeon” really shows some gaps in their medical knowledge… not to mention their compassion. 

In the hopes of leavening the panic with a bit of counterargument and facts from ANOTHER medical professional viewpoint – here’s MY rant in response to:

“… here’s my rant about masks…”

 As is customary in such things, the original article is in italics, my response is in bold.  I’m withholding the name of the OP doc for obvious reasons.

 I have spent the past 39 years working in the field of surgery.

 Good for you.  That makes you an expert in surgery.  Not physiology, not immunology, not virology, microbiology, or epidemiology.  Also, given the name provided in the original article, plus additional information such as “39 years” and retired, we can paint a fairly good picture of this person:  Male, age 65+, very likely a 10-15% body fat, tall, lean and fairly fit Caucasian (based on demographics of medical students pre-1980).  Their most likely vices were nicotine and caffeine – and to have lasted 39 years as a surgeon, they likely gave up smoking in the 90’s when it became prohibitive for docs to smoke – and likely only recreational alcohol use except for college and the occasional vacation.

So, we have a mental image of our “ranter.” This is important for some later comments.

 For a significant part of that time, I have worn a mask. I have worked with hundreds (probably thousands) of colleagues during those years, who have also worn masks. Not a single one us of became ill, passed out or died from lack of oxygen. Not a single one of us became ill, passed out or died from breathing too much carbon dioxide. Not a single one us of became ill, passed out or died from rebreathing a little of our own exhaled air. Let’s begin here by putting those scare tactics to rest! 

This is anecdote, not science.  But aside from that, let’s start with what masks this surgeon was wearing:  A standard surgical mask is a thin paper (or synthetic fiber) weave designed with a pore size of about .1-.3 microns to stop the medical professional from sneezing or coughing on the surgical field. It’s lightweight and did I say thin?  About the same weight and thickness as a single layer of lightweight fabric.

Now let’s talk about what the CDC and NIH guidelines say about effective cloth masks:  “Multilayer fabric consisting of a high thread count cotton outer layer, two layers of batting, and an inner ‘comfort’ layer of flannel.”  By the way, that’s not a bad composition for filtering.  It has small pores, a “tortuous” pathway for the air to flow and the flannel (or silk if you prefer) provides an electrostatic effect that can help filter more particulates.  Except for one small thing – the pathway is designed to filter INCOMING particles.  To perform the task of filtering sneezes and coughs, you only need the simplest of barriers.  But more on that later.

Now let’s talk about what our surgeon was doing during those hours in surgery:

He was standing still.  In one place, while the nurse handed him all of his instruments. 

They were not walking, climbing steps, hurrying into the store, carrying a child, hauling groceries, etc.  No, in fact, moving around the surgical theater is contraindicated and increases the chances of contamination.  So, he stood still performing surgery.  For hours at end, with little to no change in rate of breathing or airflow the whole time.  Most likely the moment he could escape the OR – that mask was OFF!  In fact, hospital and OSHA regulations said that the mask MUST come off the moment one leaves the contaminated field.  Because that’s what a patient area is… a contaminated space.

So, our surgeon actually has NO idea how if feels to wear a mask in any situation other than standing still for hours at a time.  Again, this is important to his rant.

1. JUST. DOESN’T. KNOW.

He doesn’t have the experience, and some statements further down suggest that he doesn’t retain the medical knowledge either. 

(It is true that some people, with advanced lung diseases, may be so fragile that a mask could make their already-tenuous breathing more difficult. If your lungs are that bad, you probably shouldn’t be going out in public at the present time anyway; the consequences if you are exposed to Covid-19 would likely be devastating.) 

So this statement shows a profound insensitivity and arrogance. “Already tenuous breathing?”  How would he know?  Again, his personal experience is negligible, and he proves himself to be ignorant of basic physiology with this comment.  A “normal” person can have breathing difficulty without their lungs being “that bad.”  I personally have an airway issue from a double-fractured septum.  It reduces the airway diameter and increases the speed air flows through my nostrils.  It is differentially affected by various mask materials – It’s fairly simple to test O2 saturation during recovery from exertion.  If you have a sportswatch, it likely has an O2 test (look for “stress”) some of them use a relative scale, but again, a reasonable test is to go up and down the same flight of stairs three times, quickly.  Do this test without a mask.  Before the first trip, check your blood O2 saturation (or stress level – it uses heart rate and O2) – then make the three trips and then check O2 every minute until it returns to normal/pre-test level.  Now do it again with a mask.  For me, it takes about twice as long to come back to normal with a thin surgical mask – even longer with a cloth mask.

So yeah, O2 recovery from exertion is a thing, and it’s affected by masks. You need higher airflow with more physical movement.  THIS IS WHY PEOPLE ARE ADVISED TO NOT EXERCISE WHILE WEARING MASKS!  Duh. It’s different than simply standing still in one place for hours.

Surgeon 0, Science (common sense and compassion) 1.

The reason this comes up is because filtering virus particles and other microorganisms requires one of two things – either (1) pore sizes smaller than what is being filtered – or (2) a tortuous path that performs the same function by causing airflow to change directions.  With the latter, small particles don’t change directions as easily as gases, so they run into the fibers of the mask and get trapped. [By the way, this is why used masks need to be disposed or sanitized.]  Surgical masks use technique 1, and air flows fairly easily.  EFFECTIVE cloth masks use technique 2, and they definitely alter airflow.

My favorite source for data on mask composition (and it’s a good one – these are real benefits of proper mask wear and construction) is: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.0c03252.  They report both filtration efficiency based on particle size, as well as the differential pressure drop.  The pressure drop through the various mask materials doesn’t seem significant – 3.0 Pascals (Pa) for multilayer/hybrid cloth masks vs. 2.2 Pas for an N95 or 2.5 Pa for a surgical mask… until one realizes that (1) it represents 15-25% increase in resistance, and (2) the flow rate they tested – 1.2 cubic feet per minute (CFM) is around half of the normal RESTING breathing rate of a human (60 liters/min which equals roughly 2 cfm) whereas just WALKING typically results in flow rates up to 5x higher (300 liters/min).  Now – there’s something important here – and that is that pressure drop increases with the square of flow rate (It’s called Bernoulli’s Principle).  Fast walking, going up stairs, carrying a load (like an infant) means a 10x increase in airflow from what was tested.  10x airflow means 100x the pressure drop.  So now the 3 Pa pressure drop for a cloth mask becomes 300 Pa drop.  That may still seem insignificant compared to atmospheric pressure (100,000 Pa), but consider this – a standard CPAP setting of 10 = 1000 Pa – so the amount of pressure drop from a mask under these conditions is about one-third the pressure of a CPAP!

So – yes, masks DO cause a drop in pressure. 

Surgeon 0, Science 2.  The only reason our surgeon ranter never experienced a pressure drop is because he was STANDING STILL!   

~ “But”, you ask, “can’t viruses go right through the mask, because they are so small?” (“Masks keep viruses out just as well as a chain link fence keeps mosquitoes out,” some tell us.) It is true that individual virus particles can pass through the pores of a mask; however, viruses don’t move on their own. They do not fly across the room like a mosquito, wiggle through your mask like a worm, or fly up your nose like a gnat. The virus is essentially nothing more than a tiny blob of genetic material. Covid-19 travels in a CARRIER – the carrier is a fluid droplet- fluid droplets that you expel when you cough, sneeze, sing, laugh, talk or simply exhale. Most of your fluid droplets will be stopped from entering the air in the room if you are wearing a mask. Wearing a mask is a very efficient way to protect others if you are carrying the virus (even if you don’t know that you are infected). In addition, if someone else’s fluid droplets happen to land on your mask, many of them will not pass through. This gives the wearer some additional protection, too. But, the main reason to wear a mask is to PROTECT OTHERS. Even if you don’t care about yourself, wear your mask to protect your neighbors, co-workers and friends! 

OKAY, this is Point Of Failure Number Two.  Sorry, Doc, but you just FAILED virology 101.

Because what you’re talking about is AEROSOL – that’s viruses trapped in droplets of snots and spit.  However, COVID19 is also AIRBORNE!  So yeah, they DO “fly across the room” – well, they actually float.  Like dust motes.  Dust particles as large as 2-5 microns float in air – in fact, you can see them indoors in still air illuminated in a beam of sunlight through a window.  Two-to-five microns is pretty big compared to a virus.  The coronavirus particle is around one-tenth of a micron.  [Hint: watch how long cigarette smoke hangs in the air – it’s a similar size.]

So yeah, individual virus particles can float, and guess what?  They can get through that mask… any mask. 

Surgeon 0, Science 4

The good news is that the virus doesn’t last long in air.  Yes, it survives more in aerosol droplets – but to understand why airborne virus is an issue – think about where the virus lives.  Docs test you for COVID19 by taking a swab from the back of the nose.  They’ve found that even in some people not showing symptoms (and especially people showing the first symptoms – the amount of virus in that area is significant.  That means that you don’t have to sneeze of cough to release coronavirus.  You just have to breathe out.  That puts airborne virus in the air.

Floating.

Especially floating past the fibers of that surgical mask or a single layer cotton mask (or worse, macramé or sock material!).  Have you ever walked past a smoker while wearing your mask and smelled the smoke?  Then your mask is not filtering.  Cigarette smoke particulates run from .1 to 1 micron, typically.  If they can get through your mask, then so can an airborne virus!

Now aerosol droplets are pretty large typically more than 1 micron – and in cases of coughs and sneezes – MUCH more than 1 micron.  The CDC itself (https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/aerosols/pdfs/Aerosol_101.pdf) says that the time required for a particle to settle out of air depends on its size – a 100-micron droplet (spittle) settles out in about 6 seconds.  10 microns (sneeze) in 8 minutes.  Half a micron (virus and some bacteria) or smaller? More than 2 days.

The large size also means they are more easily filtered.  Cheap, low thread count cotton or polyester will filter most particles above a micron in size – so in reality, a mask made of the thinnest material is sufficient for preventing your own aerosol droplets from getting out. 

The problem is that if the goal is stopping the virus, it’s not enough.  If you are infected, you’re emitting both aerosol and airborne virus. 

Now, if I were inclined to be charitable, I’d say that our surgeon just suffered from oversimplification.  *IF* – we’ll see, though.

~ A mask is certainly not 100% protective. However, it appears that the severity of Covid-19 infection is at least partially “dose-dependent.” In other words, the more virus particles that enter your body, the sicker you are likely to become. Why not decrease that volume if you can? “What have you got to lose?!”

Masks are still effective, right?  Well, yes and no.  No comfortable mask is going to filter the airborne virus.  It WILL filter aerosol.  Yes, but the simplest/thinnest mask will do that – but not the airborne virus – because despite his protestations to the contrary, our surgeon ignored one of the infection routes for the virus… and that’s a serious failing.

By the way, the vaunted N95 masks do NOT filter exhalation.  They are strictly to protect the WEARER, and not the public, as is particularly discussed on social media.  N95’s have an exhalation valve that allows exhalation out, but closes when you inhale so that the air is filtered.  That’s not going to stop a sneeze.  So forget about your cloth mask being equivalent to a doctor’s N95 – it’s much more like the paper-thin surgical mask which we already show can’t filter all of the virus (especially not when it includes straw holes, breathing flaps, or is worn below the nostrils!).   

But here comes that kicker… “what have you got to lose?”  Well, even the thinnest of masks can be problematic for some people.  If you have reduced airway, you need higher airflow – masks by their very nature reduce airflow.  Our surgeon may not have noticed it, but it happened.  It’s just wasn’t critical for the activity he was engaged in.  There’s other biological imperatives – people with beards or facial deformities can’t get a good seal. Persons with a psychological issue (like a rape experience, claustrophobia, feeling of being trapped, etc.) can’t wear something over mouth and nose – it causes panic attacks, higher respiration rate, and problems with O2 saturation.  [By the way, if you have to sleep with a CPAP, your airway is prone to collapse when airflow is reduced – so you probably shouldn’t be wearing a mask that restricts airflow! See above that the effective pressure drop with high flow rates from mild exertion begin to approach the pressures of a CPAP machine!]

But he doesn’t address that, preferring instead to take the arrogant normative male position of “What have you got to lose?”

The answer – is that we have a hell of a lot to lose because it’s possible to be airway compromised and still need to go to the store for groceries (hint – not every place delivers or can pick exactly what you ask for from an online order)!

Surgeon 0, Science (and compassion) 5

~ “But doesn’t a requirement or a request to wear a mask violate my constitutional rights?” You’re also not allowed to go into the grocery store if you are not wearing pants. You can’t yell “fire” in the Produce Department. You’re not allowed to urinate on the floor in the Frozen Food Section. Do you object to those restrictions? Rules, established for the common good, are component of a civilized society.

TWEET!  Penalty on the play!  Red Herring and false analogy!  You’re really going to equate wearing a mask with pissing on the floor? 

That’s pretty damned arrogant; not to mention privileged.

Penalty assessed: Surgeon -1, Science 5.

He’s right in a way, though, but that’s why I didn’t take away two points for the blatant Red Herring Fallacy (https://thebestschools.org/magazine/15-logical-fallacies-know/).  We don’t have the right to impair the health of another.  Unfortunately applying that concept to masks misses two important points – the impact on the health of the wearer, which can be physical or psychological – and the blind assumption that anyone not wearing a mask is spreading COVID19. 

So – that’s Failure Three.  The evidence on this last assumption is still in debate.  The initial data that said COVID was spread by asymptomatic individuals was based on contact tracing and data from China. I’m not saying China was lying, but a lot of their data is incomplete and/or inconsistent.  Frankly, we should not be relying on it.  There’s other data, though – the Skagit Chorale case (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6919e6.htm) showed 53 of 61 members of a choral group were likely infected from one “superspreader” who was presumably asymptomatic at the time.  HOWEVER, there’s been no positive identification of the person who brought the infection to the group other than one person who had reported cold-like symptoms that started four days before the second of two rehearsal sessions the group had in common. 

This case *looks* like a classic case of asymptomatic spread… but it isn’t it’s undefined. 

Now let’s look at Hamburg Germany – a businessperson from China attended a meeting, and later 2/3 of the attendees tested positive with no other contact in common other than this “asymptomatic” person who subsequently tested positive after return to China.

Another asymptomatic spread, right? 

Nope.  The case study has been challenged in the scientific literature because it turns out that other evidence surfaced showing that the “asymptomatic” person was actually symptomatic and sought some “cold relief” prior to the meeting.

Then again, we DO have cases that can ONLY have been transmitted from people showing little to no symptoms.  The aforementioned high nasal virus tests have occurred in asymptomatic persons, and they are likely spreading virus.  On the other hand, data from northern Germany, Iceland, Sweden, S. Korea, the Diamond Princess Cruise ship, all point to a high percentage of positive tests resulting in little to no symptoms (as high as 90% asymptomatic) and low transmission FROM those presumed asymptomatic individuals (<40% of cases).

You’ll notice the caveat about “presumed asymptomatic cases” because this factors in one other of the scientific reports on asymptomatic transmission.  The prestigious Scripps Research Institute published a meta-analysis on asymptomatic spread (https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-3012) that again repeats the 40-45% value regarding spread of the disease from asymptomatic patients.  The problem with this paper is that it is a meta-analysis – it reads existing reports, puts it into a combined analysis, and generates conclusions.  The problems are (1) it is not a controlled clinical trial or study, (2) it relies on the accuracy of the reports used in the study, and (3) it is based on some studies with ridiculously low counts of asymptomatic subjects – in fact, two of the five “longitudinal” databases include 3 and 4 “positive but asymptomatic” subjects, respectively!  In addition, there are at least three databases that are homeless or inmate populations that ignore the very evidence of “superspreaders” such as shown by the Skaggit Chorale study

There is a saying in computer science that fits here: “Garbage In, Garbage Out.”

The only conclusion we can come to is that asymptomatic individuals MAY spread COVID19 – but if they do, it’s probably only accounting for around a third of the cases.

The one that CAN be gleaned from the Scripps meta-analysis is that each population that showed high likelihood of spread in the absence of symptoms – involved hours, if not DAYS of contact. You know – like in jails, nursing homes, cruise ships… etc.  Precisely the groups that social distancing – without masks – is supposed to address!  In fact, the authorities blame the 2.5-hour rehearsals and singing (with aerosol droplets, no less) for the Skaggit Chorale superspreaders.

~ “But aren’t masks uncomfortable?” Some would say that underwear or shoes can be uncomfortable, but we still wear them. (Actually, being on a ventilator is pretty darned uncomfortable, too!) Are masks really so bad that you can’t tolerate them, even if they will help keep others healthy?

TWEET!  “Think of the children ploy!”  Also known as “Appeal to Pity.”  Yes, you’re doing it for others… except there’s no solid evidence that you are “keeping others healthy,” and plenty of evidence that mask wearing can cause psychological harm to others.

But yes, the whole argument is that we need to wear masks FOR OTHERS while ignoring the fact that some people CANNOT and should not wear masks.

Surgeon -1, Science 6

I can just hear it now: “But how will we know the difference?” bleats the masked person in line behind you at the grocery store?  “How do we know if the person not wearing a mask is doing it for a valid medical reason?”

Sorry, but you don’t   It’s a matter of trust, which is sadly lacking in society these days. 

If you are an individual – you might ask “Psst, why are you wearing a mask?”  Well, you can ask, but you are not entitled to an answer.  It’s considered private – or in technical terms, PHI – Protected Health Information.  You, as an individual have no right to breach another person’s privacy.  You might think it your duty to “protect others” but you are violating the protections guaranteed to the person you are questioning.

Now, if you’re not an individual?  You represent a business from grocery store to professional office?  You can ask… and all you are entitled to know is “I have a medical reason.” 

That’s it.

No more.

Not only that, but your business is REQUIRED BY LAW (Americans with Disabilities Act) to make a reasonable accommodation for another person’s medical disability.  But you aren’t entitled to any more than a notification of that disability (and what accommodation is required – although I would think that not wearing a mask is its own explanation).

45 CFR 164 is the relevant section of the US Code of Federal Regulation and it covers the rights to privacy with respect to your personal health information and the penalties for disclosing PHI, or forcing a person to involuntarily reveal PHI.  It triggers a fine for companies, and it’s steep.  For the common citizen?  Basically, all you’re entitled to is silence, but if you push the issue, you may find yourself subject to other reactions.

~ “But won’t people think I’m a snowflake or a wimp if I wear a mask?” I hope you have enough self-confidence to overcome that.

TWEET! Ad-hominem attack! Y’know, Doc – if you’re resorting to this, then you probably already know how weak your argument is!

Surgeon -10 (this was a low blow), Science 6

~ “But won’t I look stupid if I wear a mask?” I’ve decided not to dignify that question with an answer!! 📷:)

That’s probably wise.  Because again, it would be either an Ad Hominem or a Tu Cocque attack and has nothing to do with the science or medicine at stake.

Surgeon -100 (It should have been -1000 because at this point, the surgeon is stooping to every logical fallacy in the books! On the other hand, he didn’t say it, merely implied it), Science 6

~ “But I never get sick; I’m not worried.” Well, then, wear a mask for the sake of the rest of us who are not so perfect!

This is an extremely self-centered approach and a version of the “Sunk Costs” fallacy.  “Think of others, but YOUR problems aren’t important!”

There is good evidence that masks make a real difference in diminishing the transmission of Covid-19. Please, for the sake of others (and for the sake of yourself), wear your mask when in public. It won’t kill you!

TWEET!  Bandwagon Fallacy!

Well, maybe it won’t kill you – but are you REALLY endorsing causing emotional anguish to the young mother of two with a not-so-benign history with medical professionals?  Or the immigrant from behind the Iron Curtain with traumatic memories of the chloroform-laden cloth being held over her face? 

This is a case where the Doc’s own experience needs to be brought back up. 

There are around 150 medical schools in the US – there’s also about 40 osteopathic schools, and they graduate about 15,000 students each year.  Of those, less than 5% go into the surgical sciences (and the associated 6-7-year residencies) – so generously, about 750 new surgeons per year.  A 30-year-old surgeon is still an apprentice.  40 is average, 50 is old, and a 60-year old still doing surgery is very rare.  So there’s about a 30 year span of practice, so call it 22,500 surgeons in the U.S. at any given time (Physician’s Weekly says 18,000 – but they aren’t including specialties.  Statista says 50k surgeons, but again, that would include some who aren’t doing many procedures – they’re teaching and supervising.

But 50k is a good number.  Statista also says 500k physician specialists, and around 800-900k active doctors in patient care.  Those 50k surgeons thus account for 6-10% of total doctors – and the doctors all total account for 1 in 7000 of the population of the U.S.

So, this brings up an issue with our surgeons “appeal to authority.”  He claims to speak for doctors in general, but in reality, he’s just one in 50k of surgeons, and one in one million doctors (active and retired) in the U.S.  

Unless he has conducted a controlled clinical trial, with appropriate experimental design and statistical analysis… his position is just anecdote.  It’s his experience.  He might be able to muster the agreement of a majority of his fellow surgeons or even a large number of doctors, but even perfect agreement would yield only one-third of one percent of the persons in this country. 

Worse than that, is that he represents a small demographic.  Again, this is a person who completed their medical education pre-1980.  The percentage of non-male, fit, 20-something students in med school in the 70’s was very low.  My class in 1982 was <20% female.  One of the chief complaints with “normal” physiologic measures (body temp of 98.6 F, blood pressure 120/80, heart rate 68, respirations 16, ideal build 5’8″ 168 pounds…) is that it’s an average derived from medical student volunteers in the 50s through 70s.   

No matter how he couches it, his experience is no more than anecdote – particularly since his grasp of the fundamental science, compassion and empathy of the practice of medicine is lacking.

P.S. – And, by the way, please be sure that BOTH your nose and mouth are covered!

WOW!  Something we actually agree on!  And don’t forget to sanitize it!

Recommendations around mask usage are confusing. The science isn’t. Evidence shows that masks are extremely effective to slow the coronavirus and may be the best tool available right now to fight it.”

Yes, they are, but they don’t need to be.  Wear a mask if you are sick and can’t simply stay home.  Wear a mask if you are at risk.  Wear a mask if it makes YOU feel better.  But the whole concept of FORCING mask wearing on everybody is as ridiculous as forcing everyone above the age of 2 to wear a bra – for more than half of the population it is totally unnecessary, and for a significant percentage more, it is a matter of choice.  Then there’s the ones for whom it is damaging to their own health.

Above all, let it be a personal choice and RESPECT that choice without recriminations.  If you are so worried about your own health regarding being exposed to those who aren’t wearing masks… there are things you can do for yourself that don’t involve being a control freak who condones BULLYING other people with fallacious arguments.

When Dan and I were first married (maybe two years into our marriage) we took a vacation in Algarve, in the South of Portugal. For those not conversant with the region, it has miles and miles of white sandy beaches, a placid, warm sea, and a generally pleasing climate.  All of which were more or less alien to me, since I grew up in the North, where the sea is freezing (due to an arctic current) and has waves that make it a surfer’s paradise. Also, the North is warm — ish. Often hot, actually, but not always — July through September only.

Anyway, Dan likes beaches, I like beaches…. we were young and fairly happy.  On the second or third day, we saw an elaborate castle-building shape-set in a window. The kind of play set (to sculpt sand) I used to dream of as a little girl, when I built VERY elaborate castles (including fountains in courtyards) with my hands, a silly plastic scoop and a dorky little bucket.

When I mentioned it to Dan, he of course said we should buy that set and build a castle.  (In our defense, the set was like 50c in US money.)  So, we did.  We spent most of the day building the castle, which had arches and bridges, multiple towers, and a little village inside.

We built it just far enough from the tide line that it would stay up for a few hours. I don’t know about you, but periodically on the seaside I come across such constructions, and they always make me smile. I wanted to pass that “smile” on.

As we were finishing, a group of kids sat nearby and watched us.  I thought they were just curious about what these English-speaking strangers were doing, and paid no attention.

However, no more had we finished the castle and — it being dinner time — started to walk away, than these kids ATTACKED the castle, tearing at it, and screaming in a paroxism of hatred.

At the time I was shocked and heartsick. Even these many years later, I’m slightly nauseated.

Sure, it was just a sand castle. BUT I can’t understand the need to tear and stomp flat, nor could I understand their FURY. They looked angry and gleeful at destruction.

And you know exactly what expressions I’m describing, if you go and look at videos of the riots.  It’s the same expressions, the same gleeful destruction, as they topple statues and write semi-literate graffiti on them.

But you know, it’s 32 years later, and I do know what animates them.

To understand fully — and I must say I never got to that point — you have to understand I went through 6 years of infertility before I had my first son.

What does that have to do with anything?

Well, while I never got to the point where I wanted to kill pregnant people, or even to make it impossible for people to get pregnant, when you’re trying very hard and every month (and a half. Long story) brings confirmation of your failure; when doctors keep reassuring you everything is working fine, and yet you can’t keep a baby growing in you, you start feeling resentful. Of life in general, and of people who get pregnant when a guy sneezes near them in particular.

Again, I never got to hating pregnant women or babies. But I started viewing every visible pregnancy as a personal taunt and affront.

This was not rational, nor put into so many words, but there was that night I went to the grocery store (we were in the habit of shopping in the wee hours) and EVERY SINGLE PERSON THERE was pregnant.  I mean, the cashier was pregnant, the stockers were pregnant, all the female customers were pregnant. I swear even every person on the cover of the tabloids was pregnant.

I came home filled with self-loathing and despair and spent hours crying.  Which wasn’t rational. I wasn’t any more infertile before I saw all those pregnant people. And they certainly didn’t get pregnant to upset me.

I think that’s part of what we’re seeing from the left in general, the left in the arts in particular.  And I think it’s part of the fury animating the rioters, who are children of privilege (and for the most part milk-white.)

That rage at their…. non-generative impotence is the only thing that explains why statues of saints or generals who fought against slavery, or even writers who were enslaved themselves, must be torn down.

It’s not over slavery. That never made any sense, anyway. And it’s not over George Floyd. The riots starting over his death never made any sense anyway. I mean, the killer was arrested almost immediately and no one, not even the most cop-supporting right winger says what he did was right. So why riot?
Yeah, sure, international interests fomenting it, and paying for it. After all China and Russia both would like us to tear ourselves apart. It would leave the way open for their domination of the world.

But that’s not the only thing. The people taking part in this really are gleefully engaged in destruction, and really believe everything the past bequeathed us must be destroyed, from statues to math or logic. I mean, we joke that logic is a tool of the patriarchy, but feminists do say that. Without irony, I might add.

Yes, most of these people are privileged, never had to work a day in their lives, and are extensively college-indoctrinated.

Why does that matter?  Well–

It matters because our current method of education — I had to fight its effects tooth and nail in my kids — is designed to stop people thinking independently.  There were a never end of rules, regulations, orders to do things, a preponderance of demands you obey, even if the order is patently stupid.

What’s more, every academic and “intellectual” environment has become an extension of the school. There is an entire method in place, from tainting by association — if you don’t know someone has been unpersoned and you talk to them, you in turn become unpersoned — to shunning for expressing the wrong thoughts, to being told you shouldn’t read the thoughts of bad/evil people because they will automatically “infect you.”

What has been built is essentially a system of training people NOT to think. Of training people to be unable to defend their beliefs, because they can’t conceive of anyone who thinks differently and is a good person. To have “forbidden thoughts” means you’re a bad person. Period. There’s no dissension, no debate, no discussion, no exploration.

What this means, ultimately, is that people indoctrinated in un-thinking can’t create.

To be able to create, or at least to create something new, you have to be able to conceptualize the new and different. Which, frankly, to social apes, is always a little scarier.

It is scarier for social apes who have been trained from a young age to know that a wrong thought can get you thrown out of the band, to starve or get eaten in solitude.

This, by the way, explains the sterile art of the left, both in writing and the plastic arts.  All those short stories (and novels) that are extended just-so stories, with their ideology expounded in maid and butler dialogue, all the “art installations” that amount to piles of unrelated things, or strangely ugly shapes randomly assembled.  In fact, all the ugly, repulsive and offensive (because stupid) art that your tax money supports and your universities encourage.

It explains much more than that, like all their machinations that keep backfiring because they simply can’t imagine being in someone else’s shoes.

But art? It explains art most of all.

You see, art, real art, engages your emotions. It’s not a screed, and it’s not a random snide attack on the approved targets.  It’s something that bypasses your thought process and goes straight for the feelings.  It doesn’t mean it’s always beautiful, btw. I know I spoke above about ugly “art” but that’s different, a weird combination of ugly and boring.

Real art can be ugly or terrifying, but it is not simply what’s in front of your eyes. It engages you in another dimension. It pulls at what for lack of a better term, I’ll call “the soul.” You find yourself experiencing whatever you’re looking at, or reading, and it really (no joke) becomes a part of you.

Now, the graduates of the excellent schools of the left, the winners of establishment praises (and prizes) get all the material rewards that it’s possible to reap for their “art”.  Because the establishment rewards its own.

But they know they’re missing something.  They’re human. They see the strength of past art, art they can’t match.

Just like they see the feats of math and civilization and logic.  And because they were taught in schools that believe rote is a bad four letter word and they lack even the basics of math and language and logic, these feats are beyond them.

Because they can’t create, they destroy.  Because then beauty and logic, and civilized life do not taunt them with their existence.

Because if they can erase the past — like all the idiots claiming we can’t read older sf writers, or even white ones, or whatever — they can convince themselves their infantile creations, with the thumb marks on them are the height of creativity and intelligence.

And yet, they know they’re lying to themselves.  They can destroy and erase the feats of the past, but they can’t remove them from their own minds. And they can’t quite convince themselves these things never existed.

They can blind themselves, but in the eternal light where their eyes used to be, the past will always rise up to mock their inability to create, their inability to generate.

Somewhere, deep inside themselves they know they’ve been creatively castrated; rendered sterile. They know that the future won’t tear down their works, because they won’t need to. Their pitiful creations will never be robust enough to live outside the bubble of leftist self-reinforcement.

Like blind eunuchs, they turn in rage and fury against everything that is not them.

They devour civilization and life and joy. But it profits them nothing.

They can’t be satiated.

Or even to put up a guest post. Or even to look through for a blast from the past.

Okay, not lazy, but still tired and aching from floor laying down and such.

Isn’t this body still under warranty? Why is it breaking down? I’m fairly sure it wasn’t made in China, though admittedly it might be cheap (in the sense that I don’t think mom and dad had to pay anyone to have me.)

Anyway, I just don’t feel it.

I’ll write tomorrow.

Meanwhile, if you wish to amuse yourselves with the image, be my guests.

*Lay back and pretend it’s Saturday, okay? – SAH*

*For the previous chapters, please go here. These are posted first draft, as the brain dictates to the fingers which are remarkably stupid. Eventually it will be cleaned up and fixed just before page is made secret/taken down and the book is published. At that time I will take lists of typos or volunteers to proof read. For now, it’s written in a hurry, usually an hour before it goes up. And, let me remind you, it’s free – SAH*

Installment 9

Happy Families

When it came to having strange relatives, Michael Ainsling felt he couldn’t throw stones.  Or rather he could, but it would be akin to standing atop a tower made entirely of glass and throwing stones at your neighbors’ windows.  Sooner or later, it was your tower that would come crashing down.

After all, his brother was the royal Witchfinder and had continued his avocation for decades, while the kind himself had forbid it by decree.  Seraphim, in fact, had broken royal edict to go to other world where magic was forbidden and punishable with death, and rescue magic users and shifters from the jaws of death.  In this he’d been aided by his valet, whom they all knew to be his father’s byblow.  What they didn’t know was that Gabriel was also half-elf and in the royal land of fairyland.  In fact, he was now the king of fairyland. And Seraphim, despite his transgressions against royal decree, had become the prince consort of the princess Helena, who would eventually inherit the throne.

His father, who wasn’t dead, had gone adventuring among the many worlds, with his mother.  His twin sister, Caroline, had gone to fairyland herself — he’d never understood why, and no one had ever explained — and fallen in love with a centaur named Akakios who had, for reasons also never made clear, been banned from fairyland forever, thereby

During the adventures leading to that outcome, Michael had been kidnapped into fairyland. He wasn’t sure what had happened to him there.  He had memories. They were all unpleasant ones.  But he couldn’t pin them down. The details, the certainty of what happened to him, tended to twist and turn in his mind, when he tried to think of them, leaving him confused, and more scared than the son of such illustrious parentage should be.  He couldn’t dodge the feeling that while in fairyland he had become something less than fully human. He’d been known to wonder if his family suspected the same and f that was why he’d been left alone at their country home while everyone else pursued their destiny.

But at least he thought, none of his siblings had ever turned into a goose.  He thought.  At least he hoped not.

He ran his hand over his face, feeling as though he’d been sandblasted since he’d first read the dead man’s letter over breakfast.  He’d somewhere along the line come to the conclusion the dead man was Al’s father.  But did that make her the byblow he’d talked about? Or was it instead one of his son’s he referred to.

He watched, past wonder, as Geoffrey, a tall lanky youth who would probably be attending a lever and starting his adult life, were this any kind of sane world, hugged Albinia, then gently nudged her aside.  Michael noted that Albinia was crying and wiping her eyes to her sleeve.  Since neither Albinia nor — Michael was sure — himself were noticeably clean after their adventures, this meant she was adding grey streaks to her face, to replace the dirt the tears were washing off.

He felt as if he’d fallen headlong in some kind of dream — at least it wasn’t the screaming nightmares he experienced after his return from fairyland — and waking up was long delayed.

Geoffrey advanced on him, full tilt and extended a hand, “Lord Michael,” he said. “my father talks much of you. He considers you the only genius to equal his to come along… well, ever. Or since Da Vinci’s magical inventions, whichever you prefer.”

“Your father talks…” Michael said.  He remembered heated discussions about the evil of necromancy around the dining room table and one thing he was absolutely sure of: without necromancy dead men didn’t talk.

“Oh. You imagine him dead,” Geoffrey said. He did not look a thing like Albinia, not having even the vaguest shred of red-headed bone structure.  His hair was dark, very straight, unruly, and looked like he’d cut it himself, in irregular swathes, by the method of chopping off whatever protruded onto his field of vision.  His eyes were also dark, and he had the jagged nose that Michael knew best from certain statues of the antiquity.  At the moment he looked amused, his lips twisting right in a smile that made Michael want to scream.  It was the sort of smile his older brothers knew better than to engage in, though they were much older and really royalty, or perhaps in Seraphim’s case, close to it.  It was the smile of an upperclassman laughing at the follies of a new student, or of a young man laughing at a toddler.

Michael refused to answer, because a succession of nannies, tutors and, yes, his older brothers, had beat into his skull that politeness was the requirement life placed on the gentle born, no matter what the temptation.  Instead, he raised an eyebrow, inquiringly.

The trick, which had taken him weeks to acquire, in front of the mirror, having seen their butler reduce an under-footman to incoherence by that expression, worked. Geoffrey seemed discomfited, as likely an outright rude response wouldn’t have managed.

“Oh. Well. Perhaps it is not surprising. But he’s not. He was put under a spell, you see, and whisked…. well…. here.”

Albinia made a sound of shock, as if the air had been punched out of her stomach, and as Geoffrey turned to her, she said, “It was mama, was it not?”

Geoffrey seemed to have forgotten his sister, so he looked surprised, then sighed, “Well, yes, Al. Who else? Who could have thus got under his guard?”

“And you?” Albinia said. She clenched her fists at her side and for the first time looked like she didn’t trust this man, whether he was her brother or not.

“Myself? What do you mean? I did nothing to Father?”

She made a huff of impatience. Michael felt as if he were familiar with it, having experienced it a few times during their adventures. He was also fairly sure that Albinia didn’t know she made that sound.

“Stupid,” she said, with remarkable fortrightness.  “Of course I didn’t mean that. I meant, did mother also spirit you away? Here? Wherever here is?”

Geoffrey pursed his lips. It was an odd expression, as though he were considering what to answer.  Which made Michael think meanly of his mind.  After all, if he knew he was going to meet them, and clearly he did so.  And if he knew Albinia’s curious nature, shouldn’t he have a slew of answers ready, whether they were the full truth or not?
But yet Geoffrey demurred and said, “Well, not precisely, but I think we can safely say it was at her command and instigation.  At any rate….” He sighed.  “The thing is our father was turned into a werewolf and sent back in time…. or perhaps to a world that doesn’t show to anyone’s scans.  And our attempts at freeing him have only locked him tighter.
And our father worries, which is why he decided to recruit you, Lord Michael, into helping us.  We wanted to do it earlier but Father said we had to wait until you’d reached the age of reason and could decide whether to help or not.”

Various things fell in place in Michael’s mind, starting with the fact that the letter, and possibly the golem, as well had been sent by that old wizard who had set the modern age in motion.  And that he’d — or probably she’d — hit Albinia’s father on the nose with light and force.  Well, that was an introduction.

But then his reason intruded, as it had the habit of doing, “What do you mean I could decide? You as good as kidnapped me and brought me here.”

Now it was Geoffrey who looked pained, as though his head hurt.  He rubbed with — Michael noted — exceedingly well manicured fingers at a pot above his nose.  “I’m not sure of that, milord,” he said.  “As nothing is as we planned.  We did not, for instance, plan to have Al come with you, and I’m at a loss for how you even met.”

Albinia and he spoke at once.  She said “He saved my life,” while Michael, his memory on that moment when she’d grabbed onto the smog-fetch and come with him said “She tried to protect me.”

Then Michael cleared his throat, “That is a discussion for another day,” he said.  “Are you saying that if I don’t wish to help you, I can just return to my family’s estate and my normal life.”

The smile was still sardonic, but Geoffrey looked bitter, “Father says without a doubt. Is that what you wish?”

“Geoffrey,” Al interrupted.  “You shouldn’t be the one doing this.  Where are our brothers?”

“Well,” Geoffrey said.  “That is part of the trouble. It’s…. complex.” He then turned to Michael, “So, milord, you’ll turn tail and run and leave us mired in our own difficulties? I guess it’s your prerogative.”

Michael tightened his jaw so hard it hurt.  He knew what he must look like, having watched both his brother’s do it. He knew he’d thrust his chin forward, and that his eyes reflected his anger at this Turkish treatment.  He took a deep breath, and when he spoke, his voice was so precise, so cultured, no one could accuse him of incivility, but he knew he was being grossly uncivil all the same.  “You have a curious means of applying to a boon.” He dusted an imaginary speck of dirt from his sleeve, which in fact was so tattered and suit covered that it would be impossible to tell dirt from fabric, and spoke in tones that did their best to ape Seraphim’s.  “Let’s suppose you behave like a normal human being seeking a troublesome favor from another and tell me what this is all about, all of it.”

He looked over at Al, who hesitated. For a moment he wondered if she’d be offended at him, and for some reason the idea bothered him, though he could not say why.

But Al squared her chin, and stepped over to stand next to him.  “Yes, Geoff, suppose you tell us.  Everything, please. Half truths are no way to go about requesting someone leave everything to help you.  It pains me to agree with her but you know what mama always said about your manners and temper!”

Geoff opened his mouth, then snapped it closed.  He flushed a dark red, which proved that Al’s hit had gone home. “Very well,” he said. “if that’s what you wish. But it is a great waste of time.”

Book Promo

*Note these are books sent to us by readers/frequenters of this blog.  Our bringing them to your attention does not imply that we’ve read them and/or endorse them, unless we specifically say so.  As with all such purchases, we recommend you download a sample and make sure it’s to your taste.  If you wish to send us books for next week’s promo, please email to bookpimping at outlook dot com. If you feel a need to re-promo the same book do so no more than once every six months (unless you’re me or my relative. Deal.) One book per author per week. Amazon links only. Oh, yeah, by clicking through and buying (anything, actually) through one of the links below, you will at no cost to you be giving a portion of your purchase to support ATH through our associates number. I ALSO WISH TO REMIND OUR READERS THAT IF THEY WANT TO TIP THE BLOGGER WITHOUT SPENDING EXTRA MONEY, CLICKING TO AMAZON THROUGH ONE OF THE BOOK LINKS ON THE RIGHT, WILL GIVE US SOME AMOUNT OF MONEY FOR PURCHASES MADE IN THE NEXT 24HOURS, OR UNTIL YOU CLICK ANOTHER ASSOCIATE’S LINK. PLEASE CONSIDER CLICKING THROUGH ONE OF THOSE LINKS BEFORE SEARCHING FOR THAT SHED, BIG SCREEN TV, GAMING COMPUTER OR CONSERVATORY YOU WISH TO BUY. That helps defray my time cost of about 2 hours a day on the blog, time probably better spent on fiction. ;)*

FIRST BOOKS ARE LIKE FIRST BABIES. NO OTHER BOOK WILL EVER BE THAT SPECIAL. SO WELCOME BECKY R JONES’S FIRST BOOK, AND GIVE HER A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR HAVING THE COURAGE TO DO IT. IT LOOKS INTRIGUING. I’M ADDING IT TO THE VIRTUAL READING PILE:

FROM BECKY R. JONES:  Academic Magic: Academic Magic Book 1.

Zoe has found her dream job at a small liberal arts college teaching the history of Medieval witchcraft and magic. Academic life is exactly what she expected it to be…until the squirrels stop by to talk with her and her department chair and best friend turn out to be mages.

Zoe discovers a world of magic and power she never knew existed. She and other faculty mages race to stop a coven from raising a demon on the winter solstice while simultaneously grading piles of final exams and reading the tortured prose of undergraduate term papers. But first, she must learn to master her new-found powers.

AND OUR VERY OWN MARY CATELLI HAS FINALLY WRITTEN A NOVEL ;) SO ANOTHER ROUND OF APPLAUSE AT HER BRAVERY.

FROM MARY CATELLI:  A Diabolical Bargain.

Growing up between the Wizards’ Wood and its marvels, and the finest university of wizardry in the world, Nick Briarwood always thought that he wanted to learn wizardry. When his father attempts to offer him to a demon in a deal, the deal rebounded on him, and Nick survives — but all the evidence points to his having made the deal. Now he really wants to learn wizardry. Even though the university, the best place to master it, is also the place where he is most likely to be discovered.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, FROM MOE LANE:  Frozen Dreams (The Fermi Resolution Book 1).

It’s a very straightforward detective story! Well, one where the detective lives in a post-apocalypse fantasy setting where there are orcs rampaging in the eastern desert, evil sorcerers lurking in their towers to the north, and Adventurers looting and exploring the post-American ruins. But they all come to Cin City: Cinderella, the capital of the Kingdom of New California. Maybe it’s because of the glitter. Maybe it’s because of the giant iceberg in the middle of the Gulf of California. And maybe it’s because they got nowhere else to go.

*Fear not for the installment of Witch’s Daughter. It will come, probably tonight or at the latest tomorrow morning. I’m still trying to balance the house remodeling and the tasks I should have done this week which I didn’t do because I was remodeling the house. Shoot me. – SAH.*

Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike.

So what’s a vignette? You might know them as flash fiction, or even just sketches. We will provide a prompt each Sunday that you can use directly (including it in your work) or just as an inspiration. You, in turn, will write about 50 words (yes, we are going for short shorts! Not even a Drabble 100 words, just half that!). Then post it! For an additional challenge, you can aim to make it exactly 50 words, if you like.

We recommend that if you have an original vignette, you post that as a new reply. If you are commenting on someone’s vignette, then post that as a reply to the vignette. Comments — this is writing practice, so comments should be aimed at helping someone be a better writer, not at crushing them. And since these are likely to be drafts, don’t jump up and down too hard on typos and grammar.

If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Your writing prompt this week is: Mute.

The World is Not Ending – by Doctor TANSTAAFL

When word came of a new deadly virus from China, our grown children asked what we thought.  We said, “Wash your hands, and don’t pick your nose”.  They claimed that was our answer to everything medical, along with ”take ibuprofen and walk it off”.  Why were we so convinced the world wasn’t ending?

New viruses come along fairly frequently.  Most of them never get noticed.  Some of them cause human diseases.  Most of them cause something indistinguishable from a cold. Occasionally, there is one that causes more severe problems.  Then comes a familiar pattern.  The worst cases hit the medical system first making all cases of the illness appear severe and with a high mortality rate.   Patients show up really sick and dying and we don’t know what’s wrong.  They don’t fit any of our familiar disease patterns.  We start thinking a bad pandemic is going to hit, and everyone will die.  Then we start recognizing the not-so-sick patients with the disease.  As people hear about it, they come to the doctors earlier.  We then realize that there is a whole host of people that have it, but aren’t sick enough to come see the doctors.  Then, it’s just one of many viruses to worry about.  We’ve seen this pattern before…

Remember West Nile Virus?  Initially very sick people presented to the medical systems. What if a large number of people caught this new threat and became this sick?  Before we knew it people were very upset, we got calls from people saying they had found a dead bird and could we test it for West Nile Virus.  One mother called saying she had seen a dead crow and the kids were near it what should she do.  As it turned out West Nile Virus was widely disseminated with many asymptomatic cases and most symptomatic patients had a mild cold and a headache.  In the end the probability of serious or fatal disease from West Nile Virus turned out to be low and today it has not changed how we live our lives.

Some people did get very sick and some people do die of West Nile Virus as well as other viruses.  Each death is a loss, a tragedy to the families involved.  We understand.   Our jobs are to keep it from happening whenever possible.   We know there are always those who are more at risk, every year, from viruses.  Older people, people with compromised immune systems, anyone with lung disease.  And always, the very unlucky.

Where are we now with this Corona virus? Initially, only severe life-threatening cases presented to the medical system. We did not know how high the mortality rate was and how easily the virus spread. What if a large number of people caught this new threat and became deathly sick? Over the past few months we have learned that the virus is widely disseminated, there are many more asymptomatic cases and people with very mild symptoms then people who get deathly ill and that certain populations are greater at risk than other populations.

Now that we know the novel corona virus is widely disseminated and has a generally lower mortality rate in most populations but a higher mortality rate in some populations, isolation and contract tracing amounts to closing the barn door once the horses have left. Putting a high tech alarm system on the barn and reinforcing it with high carbon steel will not get the horse problem resolved. We should be planning to deal with the now wild and free horses not hoping they return to the barn. It would be nice if we had a medicine to cure the virus or a safe vaccine to prevent the virus from spreading.  We don’t, and achieving a medical cure or a safe and effective vaccine in record time is a Hail Mary, good for the end of college football games but not a useful overall game plan. Protecting our vulnerable population, those in nursing homes and care centers and those with altered immune systems, should be our strategy at this point. If a virus is widely disseminated, having the general population self-isolate from each other will not protect our vulnerable population and may in fact prevent natural herd immunity.  Healthy children playing and learning together are at minimal to no risk as the number of severely ill children with this new corona virus is extremely low.  Passing the virus among normal healthy children and obtaining some degree of immunity offers some immunity for the herd.  Passing the virus to low risk adults would likewise be a low risk proposition and would further add immunity to the herd. Unfortunately low risk adults have a higher risk of severe illness then children but still very low and certainly lower than the risk of increased psychologic stress and illness and deferred medical treatment and care for the general population. Once again the goal should be to try and decrease the vulnerable populations’ exposure to the virus. If we knew in February what we know now we could have placed our entire nursing home and care center populations in private isolation wards with round the clock nursing for a fraction of the price we have paid to keep everyone at home waiting for the virus to go away.

Where do we go from here?

Initially, our kids asked how long we thought the lockdown would last.  We were surprised the lockdown for two weeks occurred at all, but given the uncertainty and the dire projections, two weeks at least made some medical sense until the smoke cleared.  After two weeks the lockdown became less and less about good medicine and more and more about something else. At this point, after not weeks but months of lockdown, I cannot even venture a guess when it will end as this lockdown has less to do with medicine and more to do with politics. I know what should be done from a medical point of view.  Open up!  Not in phases and color codes, but return to normal and put our assets into protecting our vulnerable population.  No masks, no forced testing, no forced tracking of our population. And in the following months to years, figure out what went wrong. Why did we stick to our initial battle plan after the fog of war lifted and our real world information did not agree with initial models, projections and strategies?  Refusing to adapt and ignoring data that contradicts models is counterproductive.

I know what I fear will happen. There will be fundamental change in our freedoms, liberties and way of life in the name of keeping people safe from the multitude of viruses that will come down the pike.  We will ultimately risk life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for the illusion of safety.  I really hope I’m wrong!

*Sincere apologies to Dr. TANSTAAFL for not only misplacing this post but also posting so late today.  All I can offer as an apology is that I slept way too late after spending the day yesterday ripping up carpet. Which like everything else done by the previous owners was done …. in a difficult way, which means I need to go scrape the floor now before we put down wood tomorrow. Also I need to buy putty because — seriously — who cuts the hole for the light plates way too small and then CAULKS the plate to the wall. I broke one before I realized what they had done. (And they VOTE. Let’s remember that.)
What I can promise in the future is that as soon as this round is done, I’ll go on an AGGRESSIVE writing schedule, because whatever other construction projects this or future houses need, I want to pay someone else to do it. Now I’m nearer 60 than 50, I’m way too old for this sh*t. – SAH*

*A message from your friendly management: If you sent me blog posts that haven’t appeared yet, I’m not ignoring you. My hotmail seems to have lost its marbles, or no longer know how to do searches or something. PLEASE send again.
On the post, another note:  Apparently my old friend, Bill Reader, felt we need a new battle flag. We could do worse – SAH*

Hivemind – by Bill Reader

It’s been a very interesting couple of weeks, and I daresay the interestingness is not over. With the Communist History Analogue Zone managing to recapitulate decades of disintegration in a matter of days, I wake up every morning wondering what new depth of irony they’ll manage to descend to. Balkanizing Lies Matter, meanwhile, has forged an alliance with Pro-fa, and together they are merrily wrecking black owned businesses, making life difficult for the people who make the country work, and of late, destroying monuments.

History is where all communist failures live, so the only good history is dead history, I suppose.

Amidst all this I happened to see this image on Ace.

Now, Ace found it somewhat more disturbing than I did. It’ll take more than 30 minutes in Photoshop and a silkscreen job—done in all probability on someone else’s budget— to actually disturb me.

As far as I’m concerned, the fist in particular is such a ubiquitously recognizable Communist symbol around the world that the bigger Pro-fa prints it on bright red banners, the better. The remaining six people in the United States who haven’t yet been appraised of the current state of the world need to see that this symbol – which is associated with way, way more deaths than even other major-leaguers like the swastika— is now front and center of an American political party, and act accordingly. We’re on notice: the soviet troops didn’t land on the lawn, they came up from the basement. Our primary good fortune is the recruiting effort wasn’t able to bring in almost anyone even half-competent, and the exceptions are mostly busy dominating the rules in their own camp—See Raz de CHAZ.

Even so, it is always wise to be thoughtful about symbols. Symbols have a great deal of power, and can serve as guideposts that bring us back to common principles when things get messy. A good symbol is a shorthand for a set of ideas, and the set of ideas is a shorthand for a worldview, and the worldview is a lodestar for approaching life.

Just for example, let’s look back at that fist. That communist fist is seen in communist revolutions in multiple countries where the revolution itself nominally has some other symbol. And it rises to the top, time and time again, because all the stars and sickles are transparently meaningless. They want to be aspirational symbols, but nobody can articulate what they aspire to, except, vaguely, a working version of communism. On that front, you may as well aspire to make dehydrated water. Now the fist, that’s a good symbol for communism—it explains both its predilections and its fate.

One look at the communist-fist tells you you’ve got a movement that’s interested in being a danger to everyone around it right now, yet has no real future.  When your motivating principle is the eternal, unbounded, pointless fight— when the “struggle” is so front-and-center in your mind that it supersedes whatever ideal it was in the service of — then the only possible destination is “Revolution from above”, endless purges and purity tests and infighting. And lo, does it not deliver? You asked for the fight, comrade, and the fight you shall get—first from the people trying to save you from your own stupid wishes, then from the people who used you as a means to grant them.

The rattlesnake, on the other hand, elegantly encapsulates the American temperament. Americans are slow to anger. We give plenty of warning. But heaven help you when you push us one step too far, because just about nothing else can. I’m sure Pro-fa thinks its variant is rather clever—they’re the sort to be easily self-impressed— but I think they’ve accidentally said a bit more than they meant.

On my first sight of the banner, in fact, I thought for a moment that it was from a counter-protest. Why? Well, the snake is wrapped around the fist. Sure, on closer inspection, the fist has the snake by the head, but isn’t that itself rather ironically reflective of American society today? Here is this cabal of far Left lunatics, holding onto the top of all American institutions, and all the while, the rest of America is wrapping around them from all sides, encircling and surrounding them. Trump didn’t have almost a million people clamoring to go to a rally in Tulsa because of an abiding desire in the populace for fresh country air. We may be in your grip, Pro-fa, but we’re a long, long way from dead. And we’ve got you surrounded, on every side, however much you try to strangle us out of existence. It’s true, rattlers aren’t constrictor snakes— but then again, you never know what new tricks we might learn in a corner, tovarish.

Even so, I think it’s worth considering a little update, an adjunct symbol, if you will, a supplemental representation of the American psyche. Conservatives are used to being reviled, mocked, demonized and stigmatized by the same “inclusive” individuals who insist that no such thing ought to happen to anyone. Ironically, though, we’re also what keeps things running. Years of being underdogs in the culture war, a war the left has waged against the culture, mind you, that the country itself is founded on, can change you. We’re no less embodied by the rattlesnake than we were—but maybe we’re something else, too.

Consider an animal that is omnipresent. It is virtually everywhere that people are. Its work is vital, it has helped make society what it is since society was a concept, and it works constantly. It saves for the future. It is fundamental in producing things used by everybody, soy-boy and steak-eater alike. Yet despite its absolutely indispensable work it is widely disliked. People may feel menaced, indeed, by even the sight of one. Thus, for safety, these animals cluster together in large numbers, make common cause against an unfeeling world. And you can easily interrupt its work or kill it if you decide to, but you’ll regret it. It won’t go down without a fight, and it may even kill you. It is small, it is humble, but you mess with it at your peril.

It is, in short, well-organized, conscientious, hard-working, unfairly stigmatized, non-aggressive but fully committed to effective self-defense without reference to the status or power of the aggressor, and its work is crucial to the survival of even those that attack it. Oh, and despite predictions that it would die off entirely in recent years, it seems to have found a way to survive.

It is, of course, a bee. Or a conservative, of course.

And the Left would do well to take note—you seem to think if you drown out the buzzing, you aren’t going to get stung. But the buzzing is a warning. It’s the rattle in the tail of the snake. It’s the alarm you stubbornly insist that, if silenced, will make the danger it is alerting you to vanish. It is asking nicely, and if you don’t believe that, just you wait. If you really want not to get stung, you’re free to back away. That’s the play you ought to make. You’ve got a lot of pride on the line, but we’ve seen what you did to Minneapolis, and your pride doesn’t mean much to us, given that we can see where it leads you. We don’t give a damn who you are, and nor do our stingers.  But if you’re going to insist on sticking your hand into our home, taking the spoils of our work, breaking what we’ve worked so hard to build, well–

You might not be too sharp—but you’ll find that we are.

(H/T to a friend who asks to remain anonymous for the artwork above)