Greetings and Salutations!
Been a busy few again with the smol one. Or maybe NOT so smol. He’s been in a growth spurt again and there’s been all sorts of ‘other things’ of the needful kind that we’ve had to address. Yesterday G had to go pick up her powdered daughter (cremated) so THAT was an emotional roller coaster ride.
I’m going to try to not disparage her, dead and all that. MomUnit told me that it’s an Irish thing to not speak ill of the dead… Out of respect of that, I’ll just leave it alone…
I’ve introduced Muldoon to the finer points of Looney Toons however…
Mainly when he’s getting his feed on with me.
Oy!Tube has a bunch of remastered classics, so between the bright colors, and the music, he’s enthralled, which is a great thing. His sleeping patterns are improving, and it’s now officially dangerous to check his chompers, as the lower two are very sharp and he’s got a pretty good bite for a wee one.
He also is learning about his new bouncy:
My extreme gratitude to all of you who donated to the fundraiser. It let me get him a proper bassinet, and the bouncy, which is something he’s learning to enjoy, and giving him some much-needed exercise.
And as you can see, the hair is getting blonder, and his eyes appear to be exceptionally dark blue. Might take a while for the full color to set in as such… in 3 days he’ll be six months old, and is now wearing 12 to 18 month clothing. Outside of buying from the ‘gently used’ baby store that we’ve always used for the other two grans, we’re NOT buying clothing except maybe some onesies as it’s not like he’s going to be going to the Met Gala right?
Now…
Besides that update, we have this bit of weirdness:
Now… as memory serves, Hanta Virus is very similar to Ebola.
Which is terrifying IMO.
Per the Goolag AI:
Ebola and Hantavirus are both dangerous, enveloped, single-stranded RNA viruses that can cause severe hemorrhagic fevers and widespread vascular leakage. Both diseases share high mortality rates, currently lack widely available specific antiviral cures or vaccines, and rely heavily on the body’s overactive immune response for much of their severe pathology. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
Despite these overlaps, they belong to completely different viral families and have distinct modes of transmission and primary organ targets:
Viral Family & Structure
- Ebola: Belongs to the Filoviridae family. It has a distinct, elongated, filamentous shape.
- Hantavirus: Belongs to the Hantaviridae family. It has a spherical shape and a segmented genome. [1, 2, 3]
Transmission
- Ebola: Transmitted directly through contact with the bodily fluids of infected humans or animals. It does not spread through the air.
- Hantavirus: Transmitted primarily by inhaling aerosolized urine, feces, or saliva from infected rodents. Human-to-human transmission is exceedingly rare, though it has been documented for the Andes virus strain. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Disease & Affected Organs
- Ebola: Causes Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), leading to systemic bleeding, multi-organ failure, and gastrointestinal distress.
- Hantavirus: Depending on the specific strain, it causes either Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), which floods the lungs with fluid, or Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome (HFRS), which primarily affects the kidneys. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Immune Response
Both viruses trigger severe “cytokine storms” (an overproduction of immune cells and proteins) that paradoxically damage the patient’s own blood vessels rather than just fighting the virus, resulting in the severe capillary leakage characteristic of both diseases.
Now, according to the story, there’s 150+/- people on the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius. It left Argentina a few days ago, and became a modern day plague ship. Per the New York Post (link HERE) what has everyone positively GEEKING is that this’s the “Andes” variant.
“The Andes virus — that one specific subtype of the hantavirus — in Argentina, where they were, is the one that’s transmitted person-to-person,” Zaid Fadul, a former Air Force flight surgeon
And the reason for the worry?
The Andes variant has a 40% mortality rate.
Shit ain’t nice AT ALL.
Sort of reassures me that I missed that Cruise down Mex-hi-co way those past few weeks ago Aye? Per the reports, Hanta takes like 1 to 8 weeks to show symptoms. “Regular Hanta” being caused by contacting, either by touch or inhalation, the virus from the feces, urine or saliva of infected rats or mice.
Seeings that they haven’t found any rats or mice on the ship, then the alternative is pretty grim. The ship was supposed to cruise from Argentina to Antarctica, but now, that’s off the table so to speak. Currently it’s anchored off of Cape Verde in Africa, but they’re not allowing anyone off, except the most extreme cases (which I read as ‘being at Deaths Door’)
It’s next stop theoretically is the Canary Islands where Spain is ‘monitoring the situation closely’ which means they’ll be watching the casualty count before making any commitments.
Now… here’s the things about it
All conspiracy aside.
There’s usually about 100 to 200 cases of Hantavirus Andes per year. It’s usually centered in Argentina and Chile. Odds are –SOMEONE– went into an area that wasn’t so ‘spic and span’ so to speak, and got hit with it, as currently there are no recorded cases back in Argie-Land as the Brits call it.
However, in this day and age, the FIRST thing that pops to mind is”OMGTHEEEEEEEVILPOWERSTHATBEARETESTINGANEWBIOWEAPONREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!” Not for nothing, that was MY initial reaction…
However, I’m tempering the questionable aspects of it now.
Might just be a case of “wrong place/wrong time” for the poor bastards who got nailed with the full force (3 current dead, one near dead, and a few other sick)
Guess we’ll see what happens.
Then on the ‘cool side’ of “Stuff”
Yesterday, it was reported that during a reconstruction project at Nordholz, the Germans discovered some buried tanks instead of the expected UXO:
It seems that these are probably tanks that the US Forces ‘threw away’ at the end of World War Eleven (/sarc).
This was followed up with todays post:
Now what’s wild is these are rare examples of German WW2 Armor. There’s only 30 known examples of the STuG III-G, but if they find the Jagdpanzer Marder III, well there’s only 3 or 4 left in the world…
Per the writeup, there’s a total of 4 (including the STuG) that they’ve found. It ought to be interesting to see just what they uncover.
Love me some ‘uncovered History’ like this.
Now they just need to find those crated Spitfires. That particular legend being that at the end of WW2 (or Eleven if you’re a bulb-headed ‘Skinny’) is that the Brits in 1945, took at least 36 to 140 pristine, unassembled Mark XIV Spitfires and buried them in their shipping crates. The idea/story being that they were ‘surplus to needs’ so rather than pay to have them shipped home, they just buried the shit.
No two ways about it, seeing how WE did a lot of the same with shit we didn’t want to haul home after Gulf One, and even worse,the absolute shitshow of dumping ALL the Gear in Asscanistain when we did the “Run Away! Run Away!” thing, leaving the Taliban-Tally-Me-Banana Boys a metric fuckton of everything.
Right now, sumBritdood spent 10 years searching for them, and came up high and dry, hence why they say it’s a legend. That and there’s no paperwork on them… being a former Property Book guy though, I know the books can be utterly cooked when needs-be (and for the right price) so either way maybe there are a bunch of like-new unassembled Spitfires buried in Burma (now Myanmar) but who knows?
What I do know is currently? A restored, flight-ready Mk XIV to be worth between $4 million and $6 million US. I mean IF you got he scratch to itch that particular high dollar itch that is.
So, time to make Muldoon his dinner.
More Later
Big Country
How goes the job hunt?
Dat baby thang uze raisin gonna need mo money mo money mo money.
The Hantavirus is probably rats. They probably got it in Argentina, either in the provisions or right up the rat lines. I don’t see a big conspiracy, just something that slipped through the cracks, so to speak. Gene Hackman’s wife died from that, and there were plenty of rats around, according to cops.
That virus has to be rats, mice or some poor soul contracted it and brought on board. Between the boxes of ticks being dumped on farms and this virus on a ship, tptb are working overtime to bring on another plandemic. Right before mid-terms?
Haven’t read here for too long so I don’t have a whole lot of background yet (will look at older posts) but your situation is tough, to say the least. One day at a time is probably the best approach. If G has other children, it may take some of the pain away but this Sunday, May 10th is Mother’s Day. A very challenging and despair-filled day ahead. A close watch on her might be a good idea or maybe time spent with her mom, if she is alive. No matter the circumstances, it’s still a day mom’s have to look forward to with their kids. Best of luck to you. He’s a cutie.
You sound like you are in a positive mood. I’m happy to see that and I’m sure other readers are too.
Keep on with your good work. Paul J.
Hantavirus? SHIT, Call me when its the Zombie virus. Funny how this just pops up as another distraction maybe # 126 Since Trump went all dark today and told the kids that were at the white house for a ceremony EXACTLY how the Iranians are killing people. Explained it all EXACTLY, I shit you not. Only thing he didnt show was pics. There is something seriously wrong with him.