"The War Has Changed"

 The Washington Post has reported about the delta strain epidemic titled "The War has changed".

The inside information from the CDC based on the unpublished data seems to tell the following points;

1) The delta strain is more contagious as well as toxic to people than the other strains. 

2) There are non-negligible number of "the break through" cases in the fully vaccinated. The fully vaccinated people infected by this strain could infect the other innocent people. They shed as many viruses as the unvaccinated people do.

However, there are still reports against the virus load the vaccinated break through cases shed. We need carefully examine the data CDC may publish in the near future.  

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.28.21261086v1

3) The precautions against SARS CoV2 should be strictly kept even if you are vaccinated.  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/07/29/cdc-mask-guidance/?fbclid=IwAR1o8a8ZCl53n-3slk7qJ2xlthpty_ODXspm9uWG29-DJTSgZZZU0QhjCV8

There have been discussions how the present mRNA vaccines could work for the delta strain. Pro et contra in the real world so far. According to some studies in vitro, such variants as the delta strain could evade immunity or lessen antibody production. 

This preprint paper says the currently available vaccine boosting induces more neutralizing antibodies but does not broaden their spectrum not like the natural infection does. 

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.29.454333v1

We may have to run boosting with the vaccines newly developed against new variants like the delta strain. 

We should keep it in mind the vaccines are not perfect in protection from the virus. It is mandatory for us to keep the ordinary precautions.

Grass mulching

Under relentless heat of sun ray, I do with the garden and pull the weeds. Since I learned those pulled ones could be used as grass mulch, I am encouraged to do this hard work.

Grass mulching is one of the main thema in natural farming in our country. I could not help smiling at the same idea in this youtube clip.

https://youtu.be/dZkT77JHxxY

It works in a few ways beneficial to us. It would maintain moisture and keep the temp of the soil stabled. It prevents weeds to grow. And lastly, it could be natural compost in some time.

In natural farming, they won't plow the soil but build a ridge with soil covered with grass. They believe not plowing the soil would help microbacteria etc grow stably. I am not a farmer of natural farming but believe their way of farming could be ecologically right and appropriate. The only issue for agriculture as an industry is that it could hardly produce mass of crops like conventional farming could.

Anyway, I feel comfortable and calmed down when doing with grass in the farm. I might be pretty good at concentrating on such a simple thing. Even though I don't think I could go on such a task as a duty like a work in real farming or a simple procedure at certain factory. 

In an hour or two, I always get back to cooled own room and enjoy something else. 

This is the harvest from the garden farm yesterday. 

Fresh tomatoes for salad. Egg plants for grilled egg plant and other dishes. 

Persistent and relentless efforts have materialized the BioNtech vaccine

 A very interesting as well as impressive discussion between Nobel Prize awardee, Prof. Tasuku Honjo, and BioNtech CEO Prof. Ugur Sahin. 

From this discussion, we could learn the persistent efforts for cancer vaccine in tumor immunology has made the mRNA vaccine against SARS CoV2 achieved so quickly. Needless to mention of their relentless efforts Sahin called "light speed" project at his lab has made it as well.

Both of them sound very honest and open minded as for their research. Both of them have approved the open mindedness in the science community recently realized such as discussion through preprint papers.

Discovery of PD1 by Prof. Honjo was also epoch making. But he is not satisfied with it yet but is looking ahead for further collaborative study of anti PD1 with the other measures of treatment for cancer. Prof. Sahin is aware of the limited span of effectiveness of the vaccine for antibody production. They may elucidate how many boosters and the intervals of them are necessary soon. There are people who insist of the side effects of the vaccine. As Prof. Sahin says, the merit and demerit must be judged based on their balance. The balance seems to favor absolutely for the merit. 

Human body, as they told in the concluding remark, is such a complicated system. It is also influenced by the environment etc. Single chemical molecule or single kind of cell won't solve the problem. Flexible and open minded attitude for research could do that in the future.

Here.

https://youtu.be/ysVaz4APGvw

PASC a sequelae of SARS CoV2 infection

 As posted about it repeatedly, there are long COVID cases, that is, post acute sequelae of SARS CoV2 infection, PASC in abbreviation, in 30 to 50 % of patients, irrespective of clinical severity. The symptoms are widely varied from ansomnia to general fatigue. The pathophysioligical process of this condition is not fully elucidated yet.

It could be a burden to the society due to the necessity of social security for them. It could bother them to return to social activities. PASC should be a big problem in every country from now on.

The following report says PASC could be due to long lasting immunological activation. It could be regarded as smoldering cytokine storm. With PASC, the cytokines were measured significantly high and paralleled to the symptom score. IL6 elevated higher as time went on. It seems to be comparable to the cytokine storm which makes COVID19 serious and often fatal in the acute phase even if the severity and progression to multiple organ failure are not observed in PASC. 

 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.09.21260287v1

VOC variants are more infectious than the original strain. Young people are prone to be infected by those strains. It won't be like flu but could leave this troublesome sequelae to acutely infected people. That is another reason that we should take vaccine for this viral infection. 

One kind at a time upsurging

 Natural farming tells us that the environment is a closed ecological system composed of the soil, the microbacteria in it, the weeds growing, the insects alive in it, all under certain climate. The system is going on in a stable way without artificial manipulations. Growing a lot of vegetables could inevitably be a kind of invasion or of violation to this system. Usage of agricultural chemicals or of fertilizers would destruct the system whether in short or long term. 

Modern agriculture seeks a lot of products. More crops, more profits. It even aggravates the destruction. If agriculture should go on as an industry in the capitalistic world, it might be excused with more profits. Violation to nature, however, would revenge on us as contaminated foods or as aggravating climate change.

Learning of natural farming, I am more convinced that small sized farming without industrial pursuit for profits may be anti thesis for such nature destruction. The efficiency of harvests is only 20 or 30% less than conventional farming. When climate change would reduce the harvest and result in food shortage, we have no other choice but grow vegetables and/or crops by ourselves.

I am too old and too ignorant of farming. But I would go on growing vegetables after lessons of natural farming at home here. 

Now radish is grown prosperously. Radish dishes are coming on the table from one to another. Fresh one is always great.

Cooked squid and radish. A typical family dish in Japan.

Fish soup with vegetables. Mackerel with radish etc. Seasoned with miso. It is named Arajiru in Japan often served at restaurants in beach resorts.

Shredded radish is cooked in chinese soup of chicken.

Radish with bacon. Mustard seasoned it.

No photo but chicken and egg plant cooked with grated radish seasoned with vinegar was a pretty good one.

The only problem in our kitchen is that one kind of vegetable upsurges at a time. I should plant various vegetables in small amount...

 

My father's 17th anniversary

 It was my father's 17th anniversary yesterday. As they say those who passed away are estranged in our mind soon, his memory is getting more and more vague year by year. Especially all after I have discarded his diaries and books for the past few years. Sooner or later, he will be forgotten by anyone in the world. In fact, detailed memories on him are being lost even in my memory. 

I still remember how he has struggled through the war time and thereafter raising his family. I have written about his life elsewhere in this blog. He was not flawless in his character as a person, I know, but was still eager to raise his children including myself in the poverty after the WWII. 

Maybe, I might have uploaded this photo taken at the sanatorium at very this place in 1953. My father is in the center of the 1st row. My sister on his left. I was between his knees. As described before in this blog, it was a tuberculosis sanatorium which our aunt had started during WWII. At that time, no medicine was available for the treatment of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis was an illness destined to death those days. In the belief in Christianity, our aunt, in the center of the 2nd row, has founded this small facility at this place in this countryside. My parents have known each other and got married there. 

In a year or two, my father has decided to go to Tokyo with the family. I still remember my tiny tricycle has been taken to a truck bound for Tokyo one day. Without that move, I might have spent as a farmer in this area. His efforts must be rewarded with his 3 children grown to be medical professionals in Tokyo, if it is questionable that I have been one to be praised at all.   

In his retirement, he has come back to this place and has plowed and reclaimed here. It was at least an indirect reason why we had been settled down later. It might be the most peaceful days for him in his last years surrounded with family members and friends here. I often regret I might have had a lot more to do for him while he was alive. But his very last years have tortured him with viral hepatitis due to blood transfusion done in his young days for his gastrectomy and eventual liver cirrhosis/cancer. He was hospitalized at a tuberculosis ward at a hospital 30 minutes drive from here. I have visited him once a couple of days. In the very last day, when he has developed hematemesis possibly due to ruptured esophageal varix, I have spent an hour in my lunch break hours. He was telling me they would give transfusion to him, which he hated before from his experience with transfusion hepatitis. He looked helpless looking after me leaving the room. I could not forget him looking that way. Why haven't I stayed with him for a night? They say the last sense we hold at the end of our lives is tactile sense. I should have rubbed him with my hand until he could fall asleep. And I should have stayed beside him when he was going through the last moment of his life. It is a regret which has come on to my mind ever since.

I was pulling the weeds in the garden farm remembering of him today while it was not rainy. He used to do that with a sickle of long handle. It sounded clicking. I could hear that early in the morning those days. For a while, even though I don't know if I could see him again in the phase of eternity or not, wishing to be able to do so, I would do the same work as he did. 

Beauty in the style

Several days ago, when I knew the bands were getting better with the improved solar activity, I started calling CQ on 40m around our sunset or even a little bit earlier. It has been my favorite band at the best hours in a day. I have started ham radio on that band and got on it around that time when I came home from school. I was a teen age boy. 

I was called by a US guy who could hardly converse on CW, even though he told me QSB made it for him tough to read me. Otherwise, the band has been silent and no one has ever called me while I went on calling CQ for 30 or 40 minutes. 

Calling CQ with the paddle, Begali, a gift from Bill W6QR, I was thinking of old timers in the past, whom I could not hear any longer. Some went SK while the others got inactive possibly due to their age or health issues. W6JAL, W6VIJ, W6CMY, W6VTK,  WA6IVN and so forth. I could name dozens of them if I am asked. Surprisingly many guys have gone away. They are still in my memory as if at scenes of a movie or on a kaleidoscope. Whether they were night owls or early birds, they came on and chatted with me for a while and then went off. That is the way we enjoyed CW from '60s through '90s.

Giving up 40m, I came on 20m later at night. Rod K5BGB has given me a call. The same style of keying as in '80s when we used to talk on 40m early in our evening hours. He has moved to a house 10 years or more ago where he could put up only a low G5RV. We could scarcely talk on 40m like we used to in '80s or '90s. He told me he had still kept a sked with Maurie VK3CWB on 40m, on 7003KHz at 1230Z every Friday. I have been wanting to check in them but not done yet. This sked has been kept maybe for 20 years or so. His signal at that night was good enough. Rarely making mistakes. I wish it were from his old S line which used to sound so beautiful on CW. 

Anyway, his operation and keying style is unique. Whenever I meet him on this old mode, I could not help feeling beauty in the style both in his operation and in keying. Exactly appropriate pauses between words. It is related with the context. As if punctuation given at the right places in the sentences or in the paragraphs. His style sure convinces me communication on CW is comparable to correspondence. His sentence, whatever it might be related with, is properly punctuated and given pauses. That style always makes me feel fascinated. It is a different world of CW from CW with decoder or computer sending. 

His style is characterized by use of old International or American code. I used to learn in a QSO with him back in '80s that four continuous dashes meant CH. He sent like "CH"EERS or "CH"IAKI, my wife's name etc. These usage of old codes sure have been an aspect of his style, which I loved so much. I don't know of anyone who uses these old code in elegance like he does. This style might sound trivial to some people who emphasize efficiency or speed in commuication. But it sure is a pleasure for me to appreciate that style.

I thought there had been a couple of things for pleasure of CW. One is that reward sensation when we could achieve right expectation for words, content of messages etc. I have compared it with the same sensation in music in this blog. There seem to be findings from psychological as well as brain physiological researches as for the pleasure of music. Hopefully, this simplest tool for communication, CW, would be investigated in the same way as for its pleasure.

The 2nd, and in my belief, the ultimate goal or pleasure of this communication mode is friendship with those CW operators who love this old fashioned mode. It always lasts a long time, mostly, through our lives. It is the basis for pleasure which CW gives to us.

And, this beauty of the style is another esthetic aspect of CW, which attracts me a lot. Listening to rod's smooth and beautiful CW, I was thinking of this last but not least kind of pleasure in this communication mode. Unfortunately, this kind of pleasure is being lost in the actual world.

I still enjoy it in the era when CW itself is becoming extinct. I enjoyed listening to Rod sending "CH"EERS to me in the end of QSO.