Grab Bag

Mother’s Day

First off, in the USA it’s Mothers’s Day, so “Happy Mother’s Day!” to all the moms out there.

We’re planning a drive around some parks (basically an ‘outing’ while staying in the car until we see a sunny patch of park somewhere) then a “take out” meal from some restaurant or other (not interested in fighting what is likely to be a very large crowd for a reduced capacity seating). This isn’t as big a ‘gift’ as for most Moms as I’m the cook in the family. So the spouse gets “table service” every night ;-) But it is special in that it will be something I don’t cook and a fancier meal. (Plus it meets what seems to be an obligatory marker of “spent money”…)

Mass & Flowers

Yesterday we had indoor Mass at one of the Missions of California. It was fairly well attended. We got to drive some fair distance into the country to a rural farm town to find a Mass open to attendance, so a bit of an adventure.

This was a special mass in that there were somewhere over 1/2 dozen kids taking their first communion. There was a “band” of 3 folks set up (piano, guitar, some other instrument I didn’t notice) with live music. This particular mission is in a Hispanic dominated town, so the kids were 2 Asians and the rest clearly Hispanic, likely Mexican in origin.

This brings with it some wonderful traditions. Now I have no idea if the events were traditional Catholic, or Mexican, or what. First off, the kids did a “vignette” of a play. Reenacting the story of a traveler stopped under a tree (one kid holding a branch over another) visited by an angel with bread and water, then walking for 40 days (the story all told by the priest). After the communion, the children lit communion candles from one of the altar huge candles. Everyone in fancy dress too. A whole lot of proud parents receiving commemorative boxes / books.

Then, after that was over, the band struck up a song about flowers (in Spanish) while the Mom’s (since this is the mass of Mother’s Day in the early Saturday version) lined up, each given a rose. My spouse was not expecting this and was very taken with her rose…

The service was mostly in English, with occasional bits in Spanish (that I think were particularly Mexican cultural additions, like the rose song and some around the candle lighting – or possibly just so the Spanish Speakers in the congregation knew what to do next – it’s easy to follow Mass in any language as it is a constant pattern, but off script not so much). Overall it was a charming and in some ways special experience. Even if we did need to drive a long ways for it.

The priest did announce that as of next week all capacity limits were removed (though masks were still required). I think maybe Governor Nuisance, having his recall make the ballot, has caught a bit of clue about pissed off voters. One hopes his tiny bit of clue has arrived too late for such concessions to save him. The usual church we attend for Mass has announced a kind of lottery for who gets to attend. It is usually very packed / over committed anyway and is only running at reduced capacity even into next week. I think that, because it is in a different “zone” for assessing status, it is not yet in the ‘no limits’ category. Spouse has put her name in the hat, so we’ll find out next week which way we go for next Mass.

Ivermectin Buying

I decided to just go ahead and commit to using Ivermectin as a prophylactic. I’m working in a medical office, setting up HIPPA compliance equipment, and there’s a fairly high risk of exposure. I’ve been there a few times during “regular hours” with patients coming and going.

So on the one hand, to meet government compliance mandates, I have to increase my exposure profile. On the other hand, to meet government mandates, I’m prevented from getting effective prophylactic drugs. Gee, Thanks Government! /snark;

Now I have a 250 ML bottle, but it is down to the bottom 1/3 or 1/4 and that’s not going to last long. About 6 weeks at one dose / week. So just went ahead and bought the Big Bottle. That was an interesting experience.

In Florida, at the same Farm Supply Store there was no rigmarole. Just a polite nag from the clerk that it was for “Animals Only”. From Amazon it was just order and move on. Here, in the same brand Farm Supply Store, it was “Phone number, Name, zip code…” when I asked I was told “Because it is a controlled substance”. Well, it isn’t. BUT that’s the cover story Management wants to give, OK, whatever.

Bottom line is I decided to say F’it… and instead of the 250 ml for $20 bought the 2.5 L (hopefully lifetime supply ;-) for $50.

In theory, both the spouse and I could self treat every week for 2 years and still have a bit left over. Since (outside of this contract) I’ve only used it when some suspected symptoms showed up, the reality is more like several years. But I’ve got more than enough now to be prophetically prepared while working this contract.

WHY am I doing this? Because it seems like our CDC / NIH and the W.H.O. are too stupid to read medical literature:

https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/news/aiims-study-covid-19/

A study by All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-Bhubaneswar in the Indian state of Odisha found that two doses of potential drug ivermectin prophylaxis resulted in a 73% reduction in Covid-19 infection.

Between 20 September and 19 October, 12 physicians of AIIMS-Bhubaneshwar conducted the study on healthcare workers (HCWs) at risk of virus exposure.

Yeah, 73% reduction in healthcare workers (which, it seems, I am now one of…)

Now of particular note to me is that, IMHO, they were dosing at about the usual, but only ONE interval of doses then nothing for the rest of the MONTH. That using what is basically a ONE A MONTH dose they got this degree of reduction is quite amazing to me. Normal recommendations are one a WEEK.

Performed on two sets of HCWs, the study evaluated the association between the drug and development of Covid-19 infection, The New Indian Express reported.

In the two-cohort study, one set of HCWs received two-dose ivermectin prophylaxis at a dose of 300 μg / kg with a gap of 72 hours while workers in the other group received other prophylaxis.

With around 4,600 employees, over 625 employees of the institute tested positive for Covid-19.

The month-long study took place using 372 participants, including doctors, nurses, paramedics and sanitisation workers.

The dose used if scaled up for a 100 kg person (i.e. me) would be:
600 mcg / kg x 100 kg = 60000 mcg = 60 mg.
So 60 mg over 72 hours then nothing for the rest of the month. The dose more commonly used (at least for worming and parasites) is more like 50 mg for a 100 kg beast.

From their detail sheet “https ://www.durvet.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Ivermectin-PO_5L_FP-1.pdf”:

ANADA 200-340,
Approved by FDA
Ivermectin Pour-On for
Cattle Contains
5 mg ivermectin/mL
[…]
Ivermectin Pour-On for Cattle
applied at the recommended
dose level of 500 mcg/kg is indicated for the effective control of
these parasites.

500 mcg is 1/2 mg, so a 100 kg critter gets 50 mg, or 10 ml.

Now this is for the “pour on” drench, and I don’t know how much is expected to actually soak into the skin of a cow, vs be absorbed into hair and / or just not soak in, so there’s that.

But I’ve seen similar dosing profiles in other references. My PDR (Physicians Desk Reference) lists 200 mcg / kg for oral dose for strongyloidiasis (which would be about 20 mg for a 100 kg critter or 2/5 of the drench dose rate as an oral pill).

Toxic risk is low, as their is an extraordinarily wide theraputic range. Dosing with 40 x recommended has little effect, toxic dose in mice is 25 to 50 mg / kg or about 100 times the 200 mcg / kg. IF that maps to humans, it would require, for a 100 kg person, absorbing 2500 mg from the drench which is 500 ml. Yes, you would need to absorb, fully, 2 CUPS of the stuff. I think the isopropanol solvent would kill you first…

So given that, a 500 mcg / kg vs a 600 mcg / kg dosing pattern isn’t particularly significant. But the once a month is.

The bottom line here is that, IMHO, this Indian study was using a fairly ordinary dose, but at a very infrequent dosing schedule, and STILL got 73% protection.

I’d love to know what they would get with weekly dosing.

Now, for me, what this means it that instead of a 10 ml “treatment” after suspected exposure or early onset symptoms of “something”, or doing a weekly prophylactic dose: I’m thinking I’ll cut it back to an alternate weekly prophylaxis.

Now do note: This is only what I’m doing for ME. It is not advice nor guidance for anyone else. I’d MUCH MUCH prefer to be getting a human dose pill from my M.D. under proper medical supervision. It is ONLY because our CDC, NIH, etc. etc. are being incredibly stupid and hide bound, and PREVENTING an effective treatment that is shown safe in all sorts of other uses in humans that I’m pushed into this “DIY” necessity (as I’m in a high risk group and now in a high exposure risk setting).

This is not at all a preferred behaviour.

Pipeline On The Internet?

WT? are they thinking having ANY control equipment for a critical pipeline infrastructure connected in any way to the internet?

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/08/colonial-pipeline-shuts-pipeline-operations-after-cyberattack.html

Ransomware attack forces shutdown of largest fuel pipeline in the U.S.
PUBLISHED SAT, MAY 8 20218:48 AM EDT UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

Colonial Pipeline fell victim to a cybersecurity attack on Friday that involved ransomware, forcing it to temporarily shut down all pipeline operations.

Colonial transports nearly half of the East Coast’s fuel supply through a system that spans over 5,500 miles between Texas and New Jersey.

The pipeline transports gasoline, diesel, home heating oil and jet fuel. It also supplies the military.

John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital in New York, said the U.S. will see spot shortages of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel develop rapidly if the outage persists.

Is it REALLY that costly to use a private “leased line” for your private company control structures? Is it REALLY that expensive to just pay someone to be there operating the pipeline controls and talk over the phone if needed to get guidance?

Why “Upper Management” is in such a stupid rush to connect everything via “The Internet” and put the corporate essential operations “in the cloud” is beyond me (and beyond stupid…)

Oh Well…

Hope you folks on the East Coast have your tanks full…

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