![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
damont(Originally posted to my GoFundMe two days ago on Saturday. This is basically copied verbatim (modulo formatting), including the fundraising stuff at the end; I *was* posting to GoFundMe after all. Feel free to ignore those bits if you want. Link to the fundraiser will be provided in the comments and upon request.)
Real life rather overtook us for the last 10 days of August and all of September, and therefore it's only now at the start of October that I'm getting to my next installment of "SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 related PSA / traditional weblogging plus the usual begging post mashup" -- but to some extent that's all right, as the Science Magazine organization spent a couple weeks reorganizing their web and blog sites, and thus our favorite pharmacological chemist and blogger Derek Lowe was inactive for a chunk of August. Anyway, let's check out the COVID-related stuff that he talked about in his blog for Science, during August and roughly the first half of September.
A New Antibody-Dependent Enhancement Hypothesis
Keeping Up With the Coronavirus Variant Landscape
Awful Trials, With Awful Results
Vaccines Will Not Produce Worse Variants
mRNA's History- And Its Future
Enough of that for now; let's continue on to the usual PSA-and-begging part of this post. Unless you're a first-time reader of this type of post you can predict what comes next: the plea for those of you who are able to SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES. Some of these were "essential" and never closed during the initial lockdowns. Others, after having opened back up, are now trying to figure out the best safe ways, if any, to stay open as we move back and forth between varying levels of semi- (or even complete) lockdown, highly dependent on location. What these businesses tend to have in common is that locally owned and operated businesses generally give better "bang for the buck" when it comes to keeping the local economy moving. So please do what you can to help keep your local economy a little bit more afloat. Locally owned businesses are, and will continue to be, struggling to survive and get back on their feet, so please patronize them as much as you can. BUY LOCAL. Please however, do so in a safe manner, especially now. Keep on, or go back to, wearing masks and other protective equipment when going shopping in person, continue and even increase social distancing. Act intelligently, because I know you can.
And now, for ourselves. Rent on the storage units is either past due or due right now, the medical bills aren't going away, and neither are any of the others. And thus, because after so long we STILL can't afford shame, here's my shameless and desperate plea for help. Please PLEASE spread the word as much as you feel able; share this fundraiser on lots of social media, by email, even by writing the link on pieces of paper and passing them around. Encourage folks you know to donate and to spread the word themselves. I've long since estimated that I'll need about 1,000 different contributors to make the goal, so getting the word out is important. And IF YOU ARE ABLE TO, please donate! We know that some of you have done so over the past 18 months (for which A GREAT BIG THANK YOU) and lots of you just can't. For those of you who can, even a spare 5 or 10 bucks, if that's all you can afford, is appreciated. Every little bit helps. (Remember, NO FEELING GUILTY if you don't have the means to contribute, or enough spoons to spread the word as far as you'd like.) And as I also keep saying: unlikely as it may be in these times of pandemic-fueled recession, if you have any job leads for either of us, PLEASE contact us! Relocation is TOTALLY an option. (90-plus-percent remote-work is the best option in the current circumstances, at least through spring 2022.)
Again, if anyone here actually is in a position to help out, now would be a truly awesome time to do so. If you can't, you can't; I understand that better than most... thanks in advance for whatever you are able to do. And remember to take care of yourselves, folks. Whatever the local restrictions may be now where you are, please practice the UTMOST caution: stay home as much as you can, go out to do what you must, and as I've been saying, keep tabs on the infection rate for your vicinity, not just your state/province/country. STAY SAFE. Wash your hands, keep hydrated, boost your immune system by whatever means works for you. Practice social distancing as much you realistically can. WEAR MASKS THAT COVER THE NOSE AND MOUTH and make sure you're actually COVERING both your nose and mouth with them. Get vaccinated as soon as you realistically can. Keep in touch with your friends and loved ones from a safe distance. Tell them you care and that you're thinking of them. And as always, thank you for your continued support.
Real life rather overtook us for the last 10 days of August and all of September, and therefore it's only now at the start of October that I'm getting to my next installment of "SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 related PSA / traditional weblogging plus the usual begging post mashup" -- but to some extent that's all right, as the Science Magazine organization spent a couple weeks reorganizing their web and blog sites, and thus our favorite pharmacological chemist and blogger Derek Lowe was inactive for a chunk of August. Anyway, let's check out the COVID-related stuff that he talked about in his blog for Science, during August and roughly the first half of September.
A New Antibody-Dependent Enhancement Hypothesis
Keeping Up With the Coronavirus Variant Landscape
Awful Trials, With Awful Results
Vaccines Will Not Produce Worse Variants
mRNA's History- And Its Future
Enough of that for now; let's continue on to the usual PSA-and-begging part of this post. Unless you're a first-time reader of this type of post you can predict what comes next: the plea for those of you who are able to SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES. Some of these were "essential" and never closed during the initial lockdowns. Others, after having opened back up, are now trying to figure out the best safe ways, if any, to stay open as we move back and forth between varying levels of semi- (or even complete) lockdown, highly dependent on location. What these businesses tend to have in common is that locally owned and operated businesses generally give better "bang for the buck" when it comes to keeping the local economy moving. So please do what you can to help keep your local economy a little bit more afloat. Locally owned businesses are, and will continue to be, struggling to survive and get back on their feet, so please patronize them as much as you can. BUY LOCAL. Please however, do so in a safe manner, especially now. Keep on, or go back to, wearing masks and other protective equipment when going shopping in person, continue and even increase social distancing. Act intelligently, because I know you can.
And now, for ourselves. Rent on the storage units is either past due or due right now, the medical bills aren't going away, and neither are any of the others. And thus, because after so long we STILL can't afford shame, here's my shameless and desperate plea for help. Please PLEASE spread the word as much as you feel able; share this fundraiser on lots of social media, by email, even by writing the link on pieces of paper and passing them around. Encourage folks you know to donate and to spread the word themselves. I've long since estimated that I'll need about 1,000 different contributors to make the goal, so getting the word out is important. And IF YOU ARE ABLE TO, please donate! We know that some of you have done so over the past 18 months (for which A GREAT BIG THANK YOU) and lots of you just can't. For those of you who can, even a spare 5 or 10 bucks, if that's all you can afford, is appreciated. Every little bit helps. (Remember, NO FEELING GUILTY if you don't have the means to contribute, or enough spoons to spread the word as far as you'd like.) And as I also keep saying: unlikely as it may be in these times of pandemic-fueled recession, if you have any job leads for either of us, PLEASE contact us! Relocation is TOTALLY an option. (90-plus-percent remote-work is the best option in the current circumstances, at least through spring 2022.)
Again, if anyone here actually is in a position to help out, now would be a truly awesome time to do so. If you can't, you can't; I understand that better than most... thanks in advance for whatever you are able to do. And remember to take care of yourselves, folks. Whatever the local restrictions may be now where you are, please practice the UTMOST caution: stay home as much as you can, go out to do what you must, and as I've been saying, keep tabs on the infection rate for your vicinity, not just your state/province/country. STAY SAFE. Wash your hands, keep hydrated, boost your immune system by whatever means works for you. Practice social distancing as much you realistically can. WEAR MASKS THAT COVER THE NOSE AND MOUTH and make sure you're actually COVERING both your nose and mouth with them. Get vaccinated as soon as you realistically can. Keep in touch with your friends and loved ones from a safe distance. Tell them you care and that you're thinking of them. And as always, thank you for your continued support.
