Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

FREEDUM!!! From the frozen tundra of the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan's "finger to the world."

Baraga County officials “put State of Michigan on notice” | WLNS 6 News

Disclosures:

1) I went to school 12 years with one of the signatories, for a lot of years he was probably my best friend. He certainly wasn't that much of a shithead then. Haven't talked to him in 40 years.

2) 125 years ago, my great-great grandfather, a lumber baron, owned Baraga lock stock and barrel. I mean, he owned the fuckin town. Plus he owned all the timber acreage for about 40 miles in every direction. He had a huge 12-room house and he built matching 8-room houses for all four of his sons. (He also had a 16-room mansion in Detroit, 150 yards from Recreation Park, home field of the 1887 World Series champion Detroit Wolverines.) One time, about 25 years ago, I took a vacation trip up to Baraga and stopped in to their little historical museum. I mentioned offhandedly, "my great-great-grandfather was in the lumber business up here," and they asked kind of absently, "oh yeah, what was his name?" and I said, "Thomas Starwood," and they like dropped their coffee cups on the floor.

They spent the next two hours showing me photo plates, factory documents, the town plat from 1880, etc etc. They were about ready to name me emperor on the spot. At least I got a coffee cup out of it.

I have half a mind to drive up there and straighten all this shit out.

 

Cue the "U.P. to become its own state" campaign, part 1,237.

 

Nah. When you're high, that whole insurrection thing just seems like too much work. I'll sit here on the couch and watch TV instead. Maybe eat some Cheetos.

 

Vigorous jacking-off gesture

 

Condolences.

 

Pretty sure the Dodgers and Lakers clinching celebrations were pretty localized - not one big mass gathering downtown.

 

906
God’s area code

 

Ohio, hello!

Researchers in Ohio say they’ve discovered two new variants of the coronavirus local to the U.S. that may be of concern. One variant appears to contain a mutation found in other troubling variants, while the other has started to spread fast in Columbus, Ohio over the last month and carries its own unique mix of mutations. The scientists believe that the Columbus variant is likely more contagious than past existing strains, though they caution little is still known about it. …
The second variant may be even more worrying. From late December to January, OSU researchers have seen it pop up more often in their sampling from patients in Columbus, Ohio, to the point where it’s now the dominant variant detected in new cases. That suggests that it’s outcompeting other local strains. This Columbus variant is also unique to the U.S., the researchers say, and carries a combination of three mutations on its spike protein not previously documented before. These mutations are likely making the variant more contagious, they suspect. …
If nothing else, though, these latest discoveries highlight the danger of a widely spreading pandemic. The more cases of covid-19 there are in an area, the more likely that concerning mutations could emerge and quickly spread in turn. With the country still experiencing incredibly high levels of new cases, the possibility that things could get even worse than they are now is still very real. ​

 

The US 7-day average hospitalized just dropped for the first time since September

Cases have dropped week over week two days in a row.

It is my strong suspicion that we have hit the peak, although it takes more than one or two days of data to be sure