sumac.carol
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It must be so painful and embittering to helplessly watch a loved one suffer from the ugliness of political maneuvering.
So incredibly heartening to see the sharing and support, with no ego and pretentiousness, among the comments. Restores my faith in humanity.
From an ethical perspective, infringement on our rights to fight covid seems to be different from the infringement of rights being imposed on Assange. In the first case it is with the goal of protecting society from harm, however ham-fisted politicians are on their implementation. In the case of Assange, their is little, if any, evidence of a social good being achieved by the infringement on his rights -it is just a power play by the powerful to squelch someone who challenges their power.
I am beyond sad about Assange. I support his father’s campaign, I have written letters to politicians, and today wrote a letter to the CBC, calling them out for not taking a stand against what is happening to Assange. He is pretty much a dead man walking IMHO and the rest of us are not far behind for allowing this to happen. Why save ourselves from covid only to allow ourselves to be silenced by monsters?
What an amazing read this morning.
I think the piece by David Graeber explains some of the anger expressed here against administrators – while necessary there are way too many of them. There seem to be different flavours of work, some useful, some not, some well-paid, some not paid at all, and no correlation between usefulness/benefit and remuneration. I like Illich’s discussion of shadow work– stuff that needs to be done but is not remunerated.1958 and they already knew about climate change. Wow, only took almost half a century to get accepted.
I have David’s book on my shelf but sheepishly admit to not having read it yet. I will do so this winter.
Mind-blowing article about bradykinin storms. Amazing to see something that seems to explain so many of the bizarre effects of covid.
Huskynut- I understand that you can’t beat naturally- achieved immunity (as opposed to immunity achieved thru a vaccine). However, the challenge is that the virus mutates, making immunity a more challenging issue. Recall that herd immunity is never achieved for the common cold because of the variations.
Recall that the guy (I forget his name and too tired from harvesting grapes to find it) who correctly predicted there would be no vaccine for HIV says that effective treatment will likely be our best option. I guess we’ll see.Loved the YouTube of the mask!!
As I watch birds or bugs going at it, I wonder what makes for a hot asparagus beetle😀Stephen Harrod Buhner has created a plant-based treatment protocol for covid. To see it you can visit his site at Stephen Harrod Buhner.com. No it has not received FDA approval (quite the opposite). He does not sell the products, just itemized plants required.
He is somewhat critical of the herbal community for not getting more involved in trying to find a treatment for covid. I have trouble with this criticism because I don’t see much (if any?) government support for this type of work.Keto is completely out of the question for the world’s poor, for whom meat is a luxury rarely eaten.
For Lebanese families made poor by crisis, dinner means bread and no meat
In wealthy unequal countries like the US, health guidelines for diet (promulgated by physicians -remember when they told us margarine was better for us than butter?), and food standards, have been compromised by the almighty dollar – cheap, addictive, crappy food for the masses (laden with corn syrup, hydrogenated fats and topped with glyphosate) while the elite sociopaths get insanely rich.Nobody (in the western world) is testing herbs for covid either, nor is there recognition by our health authorities of the accumulation of herbal medicinal knowledge over milleniaillenia — million dollar clinical trials rule. The Chinese government on the other hand has officially recognized certain herbal remedies for covid-19.
https://medium.com/permaculturewomen/26-natural-antivirals-to-help-with-coronavirus-and-how-to-grow-herbs-7502499537e4
Clinical trials rule.
The US government has trillions of dollars to invade countries around the globe but can’t cough up millions to find out if the weeds growing in everyone’s backyard could save their life. Because, you know, no one would make money on that, see?John Day: you said that off-label use is seldom based on anecdotal evidence.
The report says “it is common for doctors to prescribe drugs for conditions they aren’t specifically approved for, but in many cases there is not enough evidence to justify the practice”. The report goes on to say that, regarding the drugs covered in the study, “many of the most common uses for the drugs have not been adequately studied” and “we are talking about millions of prescriptions a year, and the size and rigor of the studies that have been done may not justify this”. If the studies are not adequate, are you suggesting that “anecdotal evidence” is an inappropriate descriptor?
I am not commenting on your particular practice – it really confuses things in fact to get in to your particular practice, because no one can know how representative your practice is of the medical community. Based on my own personal experience with my physicians, they have uniformly known zilch about non-prescription alternatives for any of my ailments, but that could be due to many factors. The commentary is on the regulatory system which only provides a “gold star” (FDA approval) for expensive, patentable medical interventions, and herbs will never make it on this list, nor will epsom salts. You say that “Nobody is a victim in this process, though it DOES serve established corporate pharmacy interests first” — really??? Let’s talk about hydroxychloroquine for covid…John Day re off -label drug use -here is a link to a study by Stanford University citing a lack of evidence for off- label prescriptions:
https://www.webmd.com/drug-medication/news/20081124/off-label-drug-use-common. This was posted on WebMD.
If you want more links I will find them.
My key point remains that pharmaceuticals, once approved for their intended purpose, get a free pass for use as a physician sees fit, whereas herbal medicine gets no such free pass. This is a double standard.John Day re off-label drug prescriptions: there is a double standard imposed by the FDA on this issue. Off-label prescriptions are based on anecdotal evidence of physicians and on this basis drugs are permitted to be prescribed in absence of controlled studies. However when it comes to herbal remedies anecdotal evidence is not acceptable to the FDA.
Here is a link to a study on the effectiveness of garlic on a corona virus that attacks poultry.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4967842/The article from Athens commenting on the discomfort of feeling powerless before nature resonated for me in a positive way- watching plants and wildlife go thru their cycle of life reminds me that I too am part of the (I hope?) never-ending cycle of life –something very comforting and wondrous in that.
Most kind idea for David Holmgren to advise, but I think the die are already cast already for us. I no longer do grafting – I buy grafted trees when needed but focus instead on fruit and nut shrubs which do not have graft vulnerability. Animals are key, but we do not raise them- the learning curve for successfully growing plants is more than we can handle in our zone of very cold winters, humid hot summers (Ilargi you must remember this from your days in Montreal?), and our particular — our food forest is surrounded by a wild forest full of wildlife (who by the way LOVE our fruit) and diseases and insect pests. A side note- other local organic growers around here who have tried to do both animals and mixed orchard invariably failed on the orchard front — too much effort required to look after animals leaves no time to effectively deal with needs of fruit trees. So we trade with them – meat for fruit.Amazing lack of awareness of the low hanging fruit in terms of covid and vitamin D. The “no evidence” argument, which comes up often for the easy cheap stuff, is silly given that physicians reportedly prescribe pharmaceuticals off-label about 10 percent of the time. No evidence other than their opinion.
Hi Ilargi
Late response to your question about if we do permaculture -yes we do a variation on the theme, though like John we are self-taught. We have a 50 acre farm of which about 5 acres is in mixed fruit and veges, no animals. What we have found in our climate zone (and that is an important consideration) it is very difficult to implement. Period. We are 2able-bodied, quite intelligent, hard -working people with access to resources and equipment, have worked at this for about 4 years on a semi-full time basis. I believe based on readings and experience that the principles of permaculture are wholly sound (eg planting a mixture of plants that mutually benefit one another), although implementing at a scale beyond just feeding one household is next toimpossible in my climate zone without shortcuts and modifications. Examples:
1 We use polypropylene strips in some areas (squares in others) to protect young trees from weed competition
2 we plant beneficial plants in strips alongside trees instead of completely circling the trees with them.
3. Because we are starting this adventure late in life, we are focusing more on shrubs than trees (shrubs come to production earlier and are generally not reliant on grafts, so one less vulnerability).
I can share more later on this – out to prep for evening spray of orchard (fermented comfrey, nettle, garlic, whey).John Day- grafting is incredibly challenging -I hope you have better luck than I have had with this. I find I have my hands full (in my organic polyculture orchard) just keeping ahead of disease, insect pests, critters who want to eat the ripening fruits and exciting curve balls that climate change throws at me every now and then. All of this keeps me humble and in awe of nature. I just spent 2 days netting and electric fencing a nice crop of table grapes. Keeping my fingers crossed that the neighbor’s cows don’t pay me a visit before harvest.
Yeah, you can’t study cheap super-effective stuff enough, can you?
My area has many thousand acre farms rotating between growing corn and soy. Good-hearted people support them knowing it is bad stuff. With ethanol demand in decline, I hope someone makes some positive changes to Ag beyond throwing money at these folks.Here’s a link to a great article by Jon Barron on the history of pandemics and an assessment of the particular situation in the U.S. One highlight:past pandemics lasted for hundreds of years, and kept coming back every 20 years or so.
Good article on Zerohedge describing the horrors of Hiroshima and the sociopathic nuclear experiments that have been conducted.
I thought they would never abandon globalization (re move ng jobs to Latin “America”). OTOH, unemployment and the mess that the US is may create a “suitably malleable” population to bring jobs back to the US proper.
The bark of the cinchona tree is a natural source of quinine of which hydroxychloroquine is a synthetic derivative. There is a 6900 acre farm of these trees in the Himalayas. Quinine sulphate is reportedly more potent and has less side effects than the synthetic hydroxychloroquine.
For this 160-year-old Darjeeling plantation, Trump’s push for HCQ is a boon
Here’s a link where you can buy hydroxychloroquine aka plaquenil without prescription
Apparently they deliver all over the world.
https://www.rxbrandmeds.com/buy/online/Plaquenil.shtmlBe careful of confusing correlation with causation – the Thai society I’m sure is different in many ways from the American society. Obesity is a massive risk factor, as is overall health. I did not do a statistical analysis but I’m pretty sure this is a much bigger issue in the United States. I would argue that, due to this alone, even an earlier lockdown may not have saved Americans from high rates of covid.
You would need to consider many factors to determine what are the determining factors for controlling covid And we are still in the early innings – lockdowns mean reduced exercise of our immune systems, along with all the other socioeconomic ills already mentioned. A full analysis would need to consider the “side effects”of treatment.
I believe, given current overall conditions, covid is turning our already upside down world even more upside down. At the same time, I agree that there are massive risks all over in many areas. Power interests, politics, all manner of deceit and greed, make this an incredible mess to try to sort out.Huskynut- totally agree with the lack of focus on the environmental disaster unfolding and awaiting us (right after the economic tsunami following covid).
Taleb’s position on GMOs is somewhat similar to his position on covid (ie he advocates for the precautionary principle due to the unknown long-term impacts of GMOs). This environmental issue has been on his radar for quite some time.Oxymoron -I too still have room in my soul to feel cold anger towards those who cruelly and greedily take advantage of others to hugely benefit themselves and others. How to effectively counter this is becoming harder and harder. We may end up, as TAE used to advocate, waiting until the systems are no longer able to police us all, at which time we can disregard the straight jacket of rules that only exist to benefit the wealthy. Now with all the surveillance systems who knows if this will still be possible.
College students getting to attend class subject to being covid tested every second day? Anybody had the test yet? I did – bloody awful – can’t see students willing to do this on a frequent basis.
Kids getting covid – Pulling a page out of my Lyme book here. In areas, like my region, where Lyme is endemic (yes, there are other life-altering diseases, as if covid isn’t enough), almost all dogs will test positive for Lyme antibodies; however, only a very small percentage will go on to exhibit symptoms of sickness (I lucked out on this one- my dog could not walk at all after contracting Lyme). Veterinarians will sometimes advocate antibiotics based solely on presence of any antibodies ( without looking at the level of antibodies and assessing symptoms of illness), when the vast majority of dogs will carry on indefinitely with no evident sickness at all. I wonder if kids, not infants of course, with mature young immune systems, will completely sluff covid off, although still pass it on to more vulnerable others.So true Huskynut- – I think we all kind of know the gig as it were. Then it can become a question of how you want to live your life. I want to step as lightly as I can on Earth and help its creatures live a good life as much as I can. It fills me with wonder at the beauty and mystery of it all.
Oxymoron I kind of know the feeling – we too scramble along growing fruits (minute quantities in the grand scheme of things). We try very hard to leave the land more diverse and healthier than it was when we got it. Then there’s the guy down the road renting his land to a cash cropper growing acres of corn. Feels like putting a thumb in a dike sometimes. On the other side, I feel really good when I am growing stuff in a gentle way -listening to the birds and the bugs. I do get a sense of eternity doing these things, the grand cycles of life.
I totally agree Huskynut- I cannot get past the fact that all of these other looming environmental and other disasters warrant no significant action. This is why the concerns expressed by our leaders seem cynical and dishonest.
For my part, early on I did not think covid was a big deal. However, with time and seeing the way it is playing out, my take has changed. There is the reported issue that immunity is not happening. There is also the issue that people who have recovered in some non-trivial number of cases suffer significant long-term effects. There is the challenge to creating a vaccine for a coronavirus (never been done before). Much of the western world has a large aging population, putting them at greater risk. In many parts of the world, overall levels of health are low, due to environmental factors, nutrient-deficient (excessively high calorie) food thanks to big ag, and lifestyle. Experts (even those with less vested interests) are frequently changing their perspectives or disagreeing
Combine this with a major disinformation campaign and political pushing and pulling and I don’t feel the foundation is strong enough to just shrug this off, in spite of the numbers of fatalities which seem to be diminishing. I guess we will see how it plays out.Lucky to get sweet artemisia! Joe Pye aka gravel root – pretty flowers and in bloom about now. I have never dug the roots to make kidney cleanse but I understand this is one of its claims to fame.
On the agriculture front in my area abattoir bookings are in short supply, due to covid closures of the big meat processing plants in Canada (a grand total of 3). Bookings around here are filled up until February 2021. Earlier in the season you could not get seed potatoes from the farm supply stores and my regular supplier had crop failure – I ended up planting last year’s leftover potatoes. On the fruit tree front, the major online fruit tree suppliers in Ontario and Quebec are sold out of just about everything. We grow many types of fruit at our place on a small scale (haskaps, black raspberries, table grapes, pears, elderberry, hazelnuts, chums eyc) all organic. My take on everyone buying trees? What they will gain is an education on how much work and how challenging it is to grow fruit, or veges for that matter. People have no idea. One little experiment- we decided not to net one row of our haskaps (it took me 3 days to net the other rows). The result? We got zero haskaps from the un-netted row – birds are them all. The netted rows have us a beautiful crop. Education always costs you something.Sweet artemisia (a plant) is being tested for covid. It has been used in Chinese medicine for 2000 years and has been used for a long time against malaria. It is not completely clear to me if they are isolating one most effective compound in the plant for this application. If they are, this reduces the challenge represented by the plant to the disease being treated, and the countdown begins to the time when the disease develops resistance. Artemisia is also a herbal cancer therapy. Regular artemisia is popping up all around my orchard – a very pretty, pungent silver -leafed plant.
https://www.kentucky.com/news/coronavirus/article244030112.html
