COVID-19, Cells, Viruses and mRNA Vaccines

Posted on December 5, 2020 by Brian H. Gill

I’ll be talking about mRNA vaccines and COVID-19. And why I’ll willingly wait for my vaccination, but think the new vaccines are a good idea.

But first, I’ll look at news, weirdness and a little history.

In the News: Prospects and Concerns

Headlines say that Moderna and/or Phizer have developed a COVID-19 vaccine.

They say it’s safe, effective, and will be ready soon. “Soon” defined as mid-December. Maybe towards New Year’s Day or some time in January. Or later.

Even if COVID-19 vaccine isn’t ready until a few months into 2021, I’d say getting it will be good news.

On the other hand, some articles sound like press releases. Which at least one seems to be based on:

“‘Absolutely remarkable’: No one who got Moderna’s vaccine in trial developed severe COVID-19”
Jon Cohen, Science Magazine (November 30, 2020)

“Continuing the spate of stunning news about COVID-19 vaccines, the biotech company Moderna announced the final results of the 30,000-person efficacy trial for its candidate in a press release today … an efficacy of 94.1%, the company says, far above what many vaccine scientists were expecting just a few weeks ago.
“More impressive still, Moderna’s candidate had 100% efficacy against severe disease….”
[emphasis mine]

And the New York City Times Square New Year’s Eve party will be — different this year.

An Alleged North Carolina-China Conspiracy

'At the Sign of the UNHOLY THREE' cartoon, warning against fluoridated water, polio serum and mental hygiene. And 'communistic world government.' (1955)Another bit of good news is a lack of high-profile conspiracy theorists getting extensions on their 15 minutes of fame.

I’m not sure why a Minnesota cleric’s fervent warnings against mRNA vaccines and the alleged North Carolina-China conspiracy mostly fell on deaf ears.

It made as much sense as the 1955 “UNHOLY THREE” campaign. Or as little.

North Carolina and China? Allegedly conspiring to make people sick??

I’m not making that up. (October 5, 2020)

“Archbishop Hebda: Minnesota Priest’s Coronavirus Homily ‘Inappropriate’”
Catholic News Agency / National Catholic Register (September 23, 2020)

“…Fr. Altier preached September 6 a homily at St. Raphael Parish in Crystal, Minnesota, saying the COVID-19 coronavirus is a ‘man-made virus, whose work had begun at a lab in North Carolina, then they shipped it to China to finish the work, then it was released so that people would get sick.’…

“…He said the goal of those campaigns is to achieve social control, by inducing people, out of fear, to receive a vaccine that is ‘designed to change the RNA in your body.’…”
(Catholic News Agency / National Catholic Register (September 23, 2020))

I’m not sure why the Altier alarm fizzled. Assuming that it did.

For all I know, Altier acolytes are striving to instill fear and dread mRNA vaccines in the American psyche. If they are, their missives haven’t made it into my social media stream. And they don’t seem to be getting traction in mainstream news media.

Like I said, good news.

But Altier got a detail right. The new mRNA vaccines really are “designed to change the RNA in your body.”

It’s even scarier if I say that they reprogram our RNA.

I think that’s reason for caution. But not for panic.

Mild Curiosity, Real Threat

I was slightly disappointed last August, when my COVID-19 test came back negative.

Even so, I’ll almost certainly get vaccinated against the disease. Eventually.

“Slightly disappointed?!!” Maybe I’d better explain that. And why I don’t accept Altier’s North Carolina-China mRNA conspiracy theory.

I don’t know what it’s like to have COVID-19. And, God willing, I won’t.

If I catch the disease, I’m more likely than most to experience a severe case. But since I haven’t had the disease, my knowledge of the experience comes from others.

Second- and third- hand accounts are fine. I figure first-hand experience is better. More detailed, at any rate. I enjoy knowing stuff.

But I also enjoy living. COVID-19 occasionally kills folks,1 and I’m not overly anxious to learn what dying feels like. Or have another disease send me to the hospital.

Since I admit that I’m a Catholic, maybe I’d better also explain why I think mRNA vaccines are a good idea. Probably. But why I’m okay with other folks getting vaccinated before me.

Wanting Immunity

So, why would I want a vaccination? Or at least put up with one?

Basically, it’s because I prefer health to illness. And because I realize that I’m not already immune to every disease.

Becoming immune means changing the way my body’s cells work.

By definition, vaccines change cells that can be infected to cells that are immune to a specific disease.2

A vaccine that did nothing would be useless.

Except, maybe, to folks who enjoy getting poked with needles. And that’s another topic. A strange one.

I know that newfangled ideas often inspire wacky reactions. Like the Gillray and Humphrey teeny tiny cows. And I still haven’t talked about my willingness to wait for a COVID-19 vaccine. I’ll get to that later.

Vaccination Viewpoints

James Gillray's 'The Cow-Pock—or—The Wonderful Effects of the New Inoculation!' (1802)
(From James Gillray, H. Humphrey, Anti-Vaccine Society; via Wikimedia Commons; used w/o permission.)
(“The Cow-Pock—or—the Wonderful Effects of the New Inoculation!-vide. the Publications of ye Anti-Vaccine Society” — James Gillray, H. Humphrey (June 12, 1802))

Someone invented vaccines.

Or was the first to notice that exposing someone to scrapings from another person who was recovering from smallpox made the patient sick. But that the patient recovered.

And didn’t catch smallpox and die later. That happened in China. Or India, or some other place. Or, I suspect, a whole bunch of places.

Time, centuries, passed.

An American and an Englishman, Edward Jenner and Thomas Dimsdale, developed immunizing treatments for smallpox.

Thomas Dimsdale became Baron Dimsdale of the Russian Empire.3 But this was the 18th century, so nobody said his smallpox treatment was a communist plot. Nobody I’ve heard of, anyway.

Smallpox Vaccinations: “a Daring Violation” or “a Precious Discovery”

I. Cruikshank's 1808 political cartoon, supporting Jenner, Dinsdale and Rose in the vaccination controversy.
(From I. Cruikshank, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
(“curse on those vaccinators” — Jenner, Dimsdale and Rose seem unfazed. (1808))

Jenner’s and Dimsdale’s experiments were, however, new. And grated on the furiously faithful demographic’s sensibilities.

But folks subjected to the newfangled “daring violation of our holy religion” weren’t nearly as likely to die from smallpox. Which the not-so-furiously faithful noticed.

“Smallpox is a visitation from God; but the cowpox is produced by presumptuous man; the former was what Heaven ordained, the latter is, perhaps, a daring violation our of holy religion.”
(A physician’s reaction to Dr. Edward Jenner’s experiments in developing a vaccine for smallpox, (1796) via Psychological Sciences, Vanderbilt University)

“…In contrast, many village priests in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and England not only urged parishioners to seek the preventative treatment, they became wholesale vaccinators themselves. Pastors in Bohemia charged parents with responsibility ‘before God for neglecting the vaccination of their children.’ In 1814, the Pope himself endorsed vaccination as ‘a precious discovery which ought to be a new motive for human gratitude to Omnipotence.’…”
(“Deliberate Extinction: Whether to Destroy the Last Smallpox Virus,” David A. Koplow, Georgetown Law Library, Georgetown University Law Center (2004))

That’s probably why George Rose cooperated — or conspired, from another viewpoint — to help folks in England get vaccinated.

And why the Pope called vaccination “a precious discovery.” In 1814, that would have been Pius VII, and I’m drifting off-topic.

Fear and Ethics

Two centuries and two presidential elections later, vaccination is still controversial.

Some arguments are the old “visitation of God” line with a fresh coat of paint. Others, I think, makes sense.

For example, making a vaccine by killing people wouldn’t be a good idea. Even if it helps someone I like, and the victims are anonymous strangers.

The same principle applies for organ transplants and gene therapy. I’ve talked about this before. (November 24, 2019; August 18, 2017; October 7, 2016)

The problem isn’t transplants or therapy. Sometimes benefits outweigh the risks. We’re told that donating organs after death is a good idea. But killing one person to help another is always a bad idea. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2296)

Dealing With Differences

Getting back to vaccines and the status quo, some objections to vaccination aren’t about vaccines. They’re about dosage.

Maybe life would be easier if everyone was squarely on the 50th percentile.

That way, all boys would be exactly the same height and weight at a given age. So would all girls.

They’d all grow at the same rate and have the same build.

By the same token, it’d be even easier if all boys and girls were exactly the same. I don’t know if that aspiration is still fashionable, and that’s yet another topic.

Dosages and Unpleasant Results

Anyway, that’s not the way it is. We’re all different. Which is a good thing. Or can be. (Catechism, 1934–1938)

Calculating dosages for vaccines and other drugs would be easier if we were all alike.

But we’re not.

I figure that’s why giving an infant who’s at the 5th percentile a dose that’s appropriate for someone who’s the same age but at the 50th percentile can have unpleasant results.

And telling the parent that observed phenomena are “fever convulsions,” when the kid’s temperature is demonstrably normal, doesn’t help.

Non-doctors don’t have a medical degree, but we’re not stupid. Not most of us.

The overdose and convulsions scenario didn’t happen in my family. It could have, since we’re not all on the 50th percentile. But my wife and I have been careful about selecting physicians. And, I suspect, we’ve been what my culture calls “lucky.” For the most part.

I could dismiss botched injection reports as ‘anti vaxxer propaganda.’ But the person I was discussing the situation with is neither fanatical, ignorant nor untruthful. And knows the family with a non-standard infant.

I’d prefer reading discussions of overdose-by-following-routine in medical journals. But I haven’t seen them. Understandably, perhaps, and that’s another yet again topic.

Or maybe not so much.

Science, Technology and Making Sense

Penicillin 'wonder drug' headline. (1943)Since I’ve talked about vaccines, admit that I’m a Catholic, and will be talking about mRNA vaccines — some clarifications may be in order.

I see science and technology, paying attention to God’s universe and using what we learn, as part of being human. I think being healthy, and staying healthy, makes sense. (Catechism, 35–36, 301, 303–306, 311, 1704, 2288–2289, 2293–2296)

I think using vaccines to stay healthy is a good idea.

Imagining that God gives us brains and gets upset when we use them does not make sense. Not to me.

At my age and with my medical issues, seeing a medical doctor regularly is a good idea. So that’s what I do.

I do not, however, assume that having an M.D. makes someone incapable of misconduct or ineptitude.

Trust and Prudence

If things worked that way, the doctor who correctly diagnosed congenital hip dysplasia shortly after my birth would have told my parents. Maybe even suggested possible treatments. Although options were limited back in 1951.

Instead, he had them bring me in at intervals to see what my hips were doing.

He made notes about what happens when hip dysplasia isn’t treated. Then he wrote a learned paper on the subject. His paper was published in a medical journal. A copy of the journal wound up in a college library’s collection.

That’s where my father read the doctor’s learned paper.

My mother intercepted him before he reached the doctor. She said, “no, I will speak with him.” Which she did. And never shared what they discussed.

The doctor disappeared a few days later. Maybe it would have been more humane to have let an enraged Irishman conduct the interview. And that’s still another topic.

The point of that story isn’t that doctors can’t be trusted.

Assorted treatments and two operations later, my right hip was almost normal. And a surgeon had sculpted its counterpart into a rough approximation of a human hip joint.

It hurt, but it worked for decades. Despite what a medical expert told my parents when I was about 12.

According to the expert, I’d be completely and totally crippled by the time I was 16. Unless my parents let him try out some nifty new procedure on me. No guarantees made or implied. They declined his offer.

My point is that doctors are human. Some are good at what they do, some aren’t. Some follow a version of the Hippocratic Oath, some don’t.4 And that’s — you guessed it — more topics.

DNA, RNA and mRNA Vaccines, Briefly

Royroydeb's photo of a museum's model of an animal cell model; Kolkata, India. (2014)
(From Royroydeb, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
(Model of a generic animal cell.)

First, a quick look at cells.

Cells are the smallest unit of living organisms. Unless you count what’s inside cells. And don’t think viruses are alive. I’ll get back to that.

Cells come in two basic flavors: eukaryotic and prokaryotic. Eukaryotes have a nucleus, prokaryotes don’t. All prokaryotes are single-celled organisms. So are some eukaryotes, but some eukaryotes are multicellular.

Don’t bother memorizing this. There won’t be a test.

All animals are eukaryotes, so our cells have a nucleus. Except some, like our red blood cells. Again, there won’t be a test on this.

Genetic material comes it two flavors, too: deoxyribonucleic acid and ribonucleic acid. DNA and RNA for short.

Our cells use DNA for long-term data storage. RNA is for short-term storage. RNA comes in several flavors.

Our cells keep DNA in their nucleus and mitochondria. Those that have nuclei and mitochondria.

Recapping, our DNA is in our cells’ nuclei and mitochondria. It holds our ‘how to grow and maintain a human’ instructions.

Our RNA transfers data within a cell, acts as an enzyme, and helps build proteins. And, like I said, it comes in several flavors.

Messenger RNA, mRNA for short, is the RNA flavor that transfers data.5 It’s a cellular analog to a computer’s short-term RAM memory.

That’s enough about cells and how they work. Maybe too much, maybe not enough. But I’ll keep going anyway.

Decoding the SARS-CoV-2 Virus

scientificanimations.com's coronavirus structure illustration.
(From scientificanimations.com, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
(Illustration of coronavirus structure. Colorized for clarity.)

Viruses are tiny, much smaller than bacteria. They’re the smallest organisms. Or they’re not really alive, since they can’t replicate outside a living cell. The last I checked, scientists haven’t reached a consensus on the ‘are viruses alive’ question.

Either way, viruses interact with living cells. Which isn’t always bad news. We’re learning that many, maybe most, viruses in our bodies don’t bother us.

And some may help us.6 That’s a topic for another day. Week. Month. Year, probably, since it’s now December.

SARS-CoV-2 Build-a-Spike mRNA Snippet

Other viruses, like SARS-CoV-2, are emphatically not our friends.

The COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 virus is built like other coronaviruses. Coronavira? Coronaviri?? Never mind.

Its genome, the genetic material with ‘how to build a SARS-CoV-2 virus’ instructions, is an RNA strand inside the virus envelope.

The virus envelope, I’ll call it a shell, keeps the RNA genome inside until the virus attaches to a living cell. And it’s an anchor for the virus’s spikes and other molecular mechanisms.

The RNA inside a SARS-CoV-2 is what makes a cell grow more SARS-CoV-2 viruses. It takes a complete RNA genometo make a complete virus.

The virus shell and spikes are made of proteins.

SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins let the virus attach itself to a cell and get the SARS-CoV-2 RNA inside the cell membrane. Which is bad for the cell.

SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins are very good at what they do: attaching to our cells and infecting them. That’s the bad news. Part of it.

There’s precious little in the COVID-19 pandemic that I could call good news. Except maybe how some of us are dealing with it, which is yet another topic for another time.

The good news I’ll talk about today is that scientists have learned how the SARS-CoV-2 virus makes its spike proteins and isolated that bit of genetic code. And they’ve developed ways to mass-produce molecular containers for the mRNA snippets.7

COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines, Build-a-Spike Code and — Virus Rights??

I could hype mRNA-in-a-box vaccine as a FIENDISH ARTIFICIAL VIRUS THAT WILL DOOM US ALL!!!!!

But I won’t.

COVID-19 mRNA vaccines I’ve heard about deliver — “infect,” if I wanted to be scary — ‘how to build a SARS-CoV-2 spike’ to the patient’s cells.

And only the SARS-CoV-2 ‘how to build a spike’ code.

‘Infected’ cells take the code, build a spike — just the spike — and dispose of the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA snippet.

Then the body’s immune system notices SARS-CoV-2 spikes, recognizes them as something that shouldn’t be there and starts making anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.

I see the process as a good idea.

On the other hand, I suppose a case could be made for it being unfair to SARS-CoV-2 viruses. And might lead to mRNA vaccines being banned. Assuming that a ‘virus rights’ campaign could take off in any but a few tassels of society’s lunatic fringe.

From the CDC’s Factsheets

From Testimony of Dr. Stephen Hoge, President, Moderna, Inc.; to a House subcommittee. (July 21, 2020)
(From Dr. Stephen Hoge, used w/o permission.)
(From an explanation of DNA and mRNA to a House subcommittee. (July 21, 2020))

Or I could gripe, groan and grumble over the CDC having one fact sheet for the general public and another for medicos. Each with its own ‘main points’ list:

  • Understanding mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines, for the general public
    • They cannot give someone COVID-19.
      • mRNA vaccines do not use the live virus that causes COVID-19.
    • They do not affect or interact with our DNA in any way.
      • mRNA never enters the nucleus of the cell, which is where our DNA (genetic material) is kept.
      • The cell breaks down and gets rid of the mRNA soon after it is finished using the instructions.
  • Understanding and Explaining mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines, for medicos
    • Like all vaccines, COVID-19 mRNA vaccines have been rigorously tested for safety before being authorized for use in the United States.
    • mRNA technology is new, but not unknown. They have been studied for more than a decade.
    • mRNA vaccines do not contain a live virus and do not carry a risk of causing disease in the vaccinated person.
    • mRNA from the vaccine never enters the nucleus of the cell and does not affect or interact with a person’s DNA.

    (Source: CDC.gov)

But I won’t.

I also don’t see a point in fussing over the CDC’s understating how long mRNA vaccines have been studied. Vical’s 1989 paper goes back way “more than a decade.”8

I also figure there’s little point in my expanding the CDC’s two sidebar lists. So I’m sharing them ‘as is.’

New mRNA Vaccines: Good and Not-So-Good News


(From Leon Neal/Getty Images, via NPR, used w/o permission.)
(Pfizer’s and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines need cold storage. Very cold storage.)

Vaccine 'cold chain' infographic, BBC. (December 2020)COVID19 mRNA vaccines aren’t like the vaccines we’re used to.

There’s an ‘up’ side to that.

They don’t use whole viruses, weakened or inactive: just snippets of virus code.So they don’t carry enough virus code enough to cause the disease. Not even close to enough.

Another ‘up’ side is that mRNA vaccines can be produced much faster than traditional vaccines.

A ‘down’ side is that mRNA vaccines won’t travel well.

They break down once inside a patient, which is good. But they also break down while being stored and moved. Keeping mRNA vaccine very cold helps, but makes transporting the stuff challenging.9

And someone, very likely some nation’s government, is trying to hack the vaccines’ delivery network.

Another ‘down’ side to mRNA vaccines is that they’re new. By itself, that’s not a problem.

But we’ve had years, decades, to learn what oddball side effects other vaccines have. We know what to expect. Or should know. Paying attention is, of course, optional.

Maybe the anti-COVID-19 mRNA vaccines will do exactly what they’re designed to do, and nothing else. Or, more likely, they’ll be a mix of good and not-so-good news. Like every other technology we use.

Willing to Wait For My Turn

So, I’m not scared of mRNA vaccines.

If that’s true, how come I’m not clamoring to be first in line for COVID-19 vaccines?

First, making a fuss wouldn’t help me. I figure I’ll get vaccinated when a COVID-19 vaccine gets approved, and available. And when my turn comes up.

Second, although I’m in several at-risk groups, I’m not likely to catch COVID-19. I don’t go out much and take reasonable precautions when I do.

Third, I think folks like medicos and first responders should get vaccinated before I do. They’re far more likely to get exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Fourth, or maybe third-and-a-half, it’s not all about me.

Being Catholic includes acting as if I value the life and health of my neighbors. Which is part of working for the common good. (Catechism, One/Two/Article 2 Participation in Social Life/II: The Common Good, 2258–2317)

(Almost) finally, I’m arguably not in the highest of high-risk groups. Others need COVID-19 vaccines more than me.

Besides, although I’m not afraid of mRNA vaccines, I’m not yearning to be among the first few thousand folks getting them.

Accepting risk is part of life. But I prefer knowing a little about what could go wrong.

And noticing what’s going right:

1 This year’s pandemic disease:

2 Avoiding illness:

3 A disease and history:

4 An oath, declarations and why they’re important:

5 Some of life’s little units:

6 Virus basics:

7 More than you may want to know about COVID-19 and viruses, or maybe less:

8 A little about mRNA vaccines:

9 COVID-19 vaccines and keeping them cold:

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Eucharistic Adoration and Social Distancing

Posted on December 3, 2020 by Brian H. Gill

I was at the Eucharistic Adoration chapel yesterday, and the week before. Nothing unusual there. What was different about week before yesterday was that I left early.

I’d arrived a half-hour early, again nothing unusual. It’s not that I’m so pious that I can’t wait to go. I’d reached a stopping point in what I was writing, and figured that showing up early was a good idea.

Which it would have been, if we hadn’t had new rules.

I’d logged in when I noticed something new.

A sign on the door said that our bishop, in compliance with new Minnesota COVID-19 regulations, was limiting the chapel to two persons at a time.

I looked through glass beside the doors and saw two folks already inside.

So I waited a half-hour, getting a little reading done. The other person who’s scheduled to be there during my hour showed up.

The two other folks were still inside.

I had a short conversation with my counterpart, said that my easiest option was turning around and going out, and did so. After signing out, with a short note that I was leaving early in order to follow our rules.

Fast-forward to Sunday. During announcements at Mass, our priest mentioned the new rules and clarified that scheduled adorers had priority. He phrased it more diplomatically, but that’s the gist.

I dropped by the chapel on Tuesday, to get a photo of the sign. There was a new one. Two new signs, actually, one in English and the other in Spanish. The text had been updated.

A mother and elementary-school-age kid were kneeling before glass to the right of the doors, since there were folks already in the chapel. With a duo right there, next to the chapel’s doors, I decided to photograph the pair of signs on an ‘outside’ door.

New Rules, Making Sense During a Pandemic

St. Paul's Church and its new addition. The St. Faustina Adoration Chapel is to your left.Someone else was there when I showed up yesterday, kneeling outside the glass.

Someone else was kneeling, outside the glass, I mean. That’s a syntactic mess. Oh, well.

This Wednesday, yesterday, knowing the new rules, I arrived only a few minutes before my scheduled time.

Two other folks, the scheduled set, were inside. They left when my counterpart and I arrived. We left when the next scheduled adorer came. We’re adjusting to a new routine.

I’d prefer that we didn’t have new rules, limiting how many folks are in the chapel at any given time. There’ve been maybe up to a half-dozen drop-ins most weeks, besides me and my counterpart.

I’d also prefer that the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t a reality we should deal with.

But my preferences won’t change the rules, and they sure won’t make the SARS-CoV-2 virus go away. So I’ll follow the rules, do what I reasonably can to stay healthy and help others do the same, and maintain the routines that do make sense during a pandemic.

I’ve talked about this before. “These” before?? Never mind.

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Boston Charlie, Partridges in Pear Trees and Me

Posted on November 28, 2020 by Brian H. Gill

This is the season of jingle bells and mistletoe, cyber sales and glitter bows. Evergreen festoons and plastic reindeer strung above our streets remind us that Christmas is coming.

America’s holiday season is in session.

I was out, legally masked, for Black Friday shopping.

More accurately, I was out shopping on Black Friday. I got gas and groceries, neither of which qualify as holiday purchases.

Picking up yogurt and coffee reminded me of Walt Kelly’s rewrite of “Deck the Halls.” How or why that routine reminded me, I don’t know.

Or maybe the words emerging from memory had more to do with Advent’s imminent advent than pushing a shopping cart.

Either way, I’m still working on my ‘starting Advent’ post. It’s somewhat serious. What I’m doing here isn’t.

Yesteryear’s Peace, Light and Decking

Let us remember, as shopping days dwindle and holiday anxieties grow, these words from days gone by:

“Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
Walla walla, Wash., an’ Kalamazoo!
Nora’s freezin’ on the trolley,
Swaller dollar cauliflower alla-garoo!…”
(Walt Kelly (1948 or thereabouts)

A Dozen Days and Uncle Ben

Some folks prefer more conventional traditions.

Let us therefore also recall a musical celebration of geese a-laying, leaping lords and pipers piping.

“…On the twelfth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Twelve drummers drumming
Eleven pipers piping
Ten lords a leaping
Nine ladies dancing
Eight maids a milking….”

And let us not forget Yogi Yorgesson’s holiday ballad.

Now, perhaps more than ever, these words resonate with the holiday experience:

“…Back in the corner the radio is playing
And over the racket Gabriel Heater is saying
‘Peace on earth everybody and good will toward men’
And yust at that moment someone slugs Uncle Ben….”
(“I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas,” Y. Yorgesson (1949))

Then again, maybe not.

Posts of Christmas past:

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Thanksgiving 2020: Pandemic Peril and Perspectives

Posted on November 25, 2020 by Brian H. Gill

This year’s Thanksgiving is the first one affected by COVID-19.

Mainly because SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, didn’t exist a year ago. Or hadn’t spread to humans. Or was spreading to humans without anyone noticing it.

Whatever was happening last November, SARS-CoV-2 wasn’t identified until December.

The COVID-19 outbreak became a Public Health Emergency of International Concern last January. By the end of March, it was an official pandemic.

The disease has killed upwards of 1,380,000 folks so far. We still don’t have a ready-for-humans vaccine.1

Conspiracy Theories and the Usual Suspects

The COVID-19 pandemic is scary.

Maybe that’s why some folks insist that it isn’t real.

Or that it’s a bio-engineered population control plot spread by 5G mobile phone networks and polio vaccine.

And that America, China, Jews, Muslims or whoever are the Master Villains.

For all I know, someone believes that America, China, Jews and Muslims are in cahoots.

I figure the disease is real. So is the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

This year’s conspiracy theories are real only in the sense that some folks believe them.

On the ‘up’ side, I’ve yet to see a pandemic-themed End Times Bible Prophecy get traction.

Maybe there’s one in the works. We’ve got a great conjunction coming December 21, a few days before Christmas. Jupiter and Saturn will be closer in Earth’s sky than they’ve been since 1623.

Or maybe it’s too soon after the recent “Blood Moon Prophecy.” Which fizzled.

Two American preachers took a recurring and predictable sequence of lunar eclipses, stirred in snippets from Joel, Acts and Revelation, and got at least their 15 minutes of fame in 2014 and 2015.

I don’t know why folks believe conspiracy theories, End Times Bible Prophecies and Ponzie schemes.2 And that’s another topic. Topics.

Or maybe not so much.

I suspect that at least some folks have short memories. Or, putting a positive spin on it, have achieved mastery of living in the moment.

The “Unprecedented” Precedent

David J. Phillip/AP's photo, via KXAN: 'residents are rescued from their homes surrounded by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston, Texas.')Headlines abound with superfluous superlatives: announcing that something’s the biggest, hottest, coldest, longest or whatever-est ever seen.

Sometimes they’re right.

And sometimes maybe they’re not:

The Boston Herald’s “unprecedented” headline may make sense.

I’ll willingly believe that Interfaith Social Services of Quincy, Massachusetts, has never had so many families without holiday meals and so few turkeys.

But “Colorado Families … Unprecedented Thanksgiving?”

I’ll grant that all or nearly all folks living in today’s Colorado weren’t there during the 1918 pandemic. But Colorado was not uninhabited back then. Not even after Charlie Phye, Jessie May Hines-Phye and their six children died.

They weren’t the only folks living in Colorado at the time.

  • “1918: When the flu came to CSU“
    Kate Jeracki; with additional research by Mark Luebker, Office of the President, Vicky Lopez-Terrill, Cory Rubertus, University Archives and Special Collections; College News, Colorado State University (March 23, 2020)
  • Gunnison Colorado
    Influenza Encyclopedia, University of Michigan Library
  • “The Phye Family“
    Judy Walker, Dr. Adrienne LeBailly; The Pandemic Influenza Storybook

I’ve learned to expect puffery, exaggeration and outright misdirection in headlines. I understand that news editors are obliged to beguile readers. Even so, the long-established “unprecedented” precedent annoys me.

“Dread of Influenza Peril” — Thanksgiving and the 1918 Pandemic

Etzel and Page Avenues, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1918: another case of the flu.
(From St. Louis Post Dispatch, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)

Spanish flu article from The Argonaut. (November 27, 1918)Today’s COVID-19 pandemic isn’t just like the 1918 “Spanish flu.”

But it’s not entirely different.3

Back in 1918, some folks were wearing face masks. Some weren’t. And a distressing number of people were dying.

Newspapers were discussing current events, rules and the menacing malady.

My language has changed a bit. These days, SATC stands for Sex and the City. In 1918, it was short for Student Army Training Corps.

Judging from context, I’d say that [redacted] in the “Dread of Influenza…” headline meant thwarted or stifled.

Family, Health and Travel Decisions

'If you do travel,' Thanksgiving 2020, CDC.Fast-forward to this Thanksgiving season.

Some of us are wearing face masks. Some aren’t. And a distressing number of us are dying.

My state’s health department and the CDC say that staying home is a good idea.

I think they’re right.

But the idea is arguably a hard sell. Thanksgiving and Christmas are my culture’s two top times for family get-togethers.

Deciding to skip something we’ve done for generations isn’t easy.

Family is important. Health is important. So is working for the common good. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, One/Two/Article 2 Participation in Social Life/II: The Common Good, 1882, 2207–2211, 2258–2317, 2288–2290)

Like I said, it’s not easy.

As of Tuesday, it looks like about half of us decided that changing Thanksgiving travel plans was a good idea.

“Coronavirus: Millions travel for Thanksgiving despite warnings“
BBC News (November 24, 2020)

“…Three million people are reported to have already travelled through US airports from Friday to Sunday.

“But the number is around half the usual figure for Thanksgiving travel….”

Holiday Plans

Streaming together for ThanksgivingMy household and I will be staying home this Thanksgiving.

Partly because my wife and I have graduated from mom and dad to grandma and grandpa.

And partly because health issues make staying put a reasonable option.

My personal plans include watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. The Macy’s website says coverage is “only on NBC,” and on “Verizon Live.” Maybe I can see their ‘come in and shop’ celebration again this year. It depends partly on me finding it online.

My family plans are of the ‘whatever happens, happens’ variety. Nobody, happily, is expecting me to coordinate events.

Which reminds me. I’d intended to include the following links, so here they are:

COVID-19 and Sauk Centre’s Hospital: “a Really Big Deal”

I’m not happy about Sauk Centre’s hospital being designated as a COVID-19 facility.

But the decision seems reasonable, given how many folks are getting sick.

I sincerely hope CentraCare Sauk Centre’s staff get the equipment they’ll need.

“CentraCare to make Sauk Centre a COVID-19 hospital“
Kirsti Marohn, MPR (November 19, 2020)

“Central Minnesota’s largest health care provider announced Thursday it will designate its hospital in Sauk Centre to care exclusively for patients with COVID-19.

“Starting Monday, COVID-19 patients from around the region who do not require ventilators or high-volume oxygen will be cared for at the western Stearns County hospital….

“…’Telling someone from Sauk Centre that you are now going to be delivering your baby in Melrose — to the outsider, that seems like an 8-mile drive,’ he [CentraCare-Melrose administrator Bryan Bauck] said. ‘To the insider … that’s a really big deal, because my local facility is having to change and react to help better serve our communities and respond to the COVID-19 surge.'”

And it’s nice to see someone recognizing that getting our health care facilities reshuffled is “a really big deal.”

Waking Up: Always a Good Thing

One more thing, and I’m done for today.

This week’s big holiday is “Thanksgiving.”

The COVID-19 pandemic is still in progress. Regional hospitals are running out of room for patients.

I haven’t caught COVID-19, but I’ve still got diabetes and a mess of other health issues.

And nobody’s abolished war, poverty or infomercials. With so much dreadfulness going on, what do I have to be thankful for?

For starters, I woke up this morning. That’s always good. Which is why “I thank you, Lord, for having preserve me during the night” is part of my morning prayer routine.

And that’s yet another topic.

More, mostly this year’s pandemic:

1 Something new:

2 Same old, same old:

3 Pandemic? Been there, done that:

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Arecibo Radio Telescope 1963-2020

Posted on November 21, 2020 by Brian H. Gill

Update (December 1, 2020)

“Arecibo telescope collapses, ending 57-year run”
Eric Hand, Science Magazine (December 1, 2020)

“The Arecibo Observatory is gone. Its 900-ton instrument platform, suspended above a dish in the karst hills of Puerto Rico, collapsed this morning, at about 8 a.m. local time, says Ramon Lugo, director of the Florida Space Institute at the University of Central Florida, which manages the 57-year-old radio telescope for the National Science Foundation (NSF). On 19 November, NSF decided to decommission the observatory following two cable breaks that put the platform on the brink of collapse. But in the end, it couldn’t survive long enough for a controlled demolition.
“‘I feel sick in my stomach,’ Lugo says, fighting back tears. ‘Truthfully, it was a lot of hard work by a lot of people trying to restore this facility. It’s disappointing we weren’t successful. It’s really a hard morning.’
“Lugo says no one was near the dish when the platform fell….”

“…no one was near….” As we say here in Minnesota, ‘it could have been worse.’ Even so, a sad end for this radio telescope.

Part of the Arecibo radio telescope collapsed this summer. A supporting cable had snapped.

Another cable gave way this month.

I’d like to be writing about plans to repair the dish, replace aging cables and restore the historic observatory to usefulness.

Instead, I’ll be taking a quick look at the Arecibo observatory’s origin and achievements. Make that achievements of scientists using the radio reflector.

What? No Space Alien Conspiracies?

‘There’s never a crackpot around when you need one!’

The Arecibo radio telescope started bouncing signals off planets and listening to radio waves from the stars in 1963.

Finding reliable information about the facility’s technology and science was easy.

But my quest for good conspiracy theory was an effort fraught with frustration and ultimately futile.

I found a few offhand mentions of ‘many’ conspiracy theories whirling around the big dish. Several quick searches this week uncovered a bogus crop circle near the Chilbolton radio telescope, back in 2001. And that’s it.

And I found that while checking out the “Arecibo message:” a 1974 technology demo. Or publicity stunt.

The Arecibo message is real enough. It’s a digital 73 by 23 raster cooked up by Frank Drake, Carl Sagan and others. The idea was that space aliens could decode it.

Maybe so, but I think it’s anyone’s guess how they’d interpret the 1,679 pixels. Maybe I’ll talk about that some time. Then again, maybe not.

Sic Transit Gloria Arecibo

A Professor, Sputnik and an Act of Congress


(From University of Central Florida, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)

“Iconic Puerto Rico telescope to be dismantled amid collapse fears”
Paul Rincon, BBC News (November 20, 2020)

“The iconic Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico is to be dismantled amid safety fears, officials have announced.

“A review found that the 305m telescope was at risk of catastrophic collapse, following damage to its support system.

“It concluded that the huge structure could not be repaired without posing a potentially deadly risk to construction workers….

“…Sethuraman Panchanathan, director of the US National Science Foundation (NSF), which funds the telescope, said in a statement: ‘NSF prioritises the safety of workers, Arecibo Observatory’s staff and visitors, which makes this decision necessary, although unfortunate.’…”

The facility’s official name is National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, NAIC.

Its nickname, Arecibo Observatory, refers to Arecibo, Puerto Rico: a town about six miles north of the radio dish.

The observatory’s story starts about six decades back. Cornell University’s William E. Gordon was studying Earth’s ionosphere in the 1950s. He figured that he’d learn more by bouncing radio waves off it, and started pushing for a big radar reflector.

The Cold War was in progress. Sputnik’s successful launch prodded America’s government into taking satellites and ballistic missiles seriously.

Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act in 1958. That legislation launched NASA and ARPA: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Advanced Research Projects Agency.1

And, thanks to W. E. Gordon’s ionospheric interests, the Arecibo Observatory.

World’s Biggest: 1963-2016


(From University of Central Florida, used w/o permission.)
(Arecibo dish damage, August 2020.)

Professor Gordon pointed out that a thousand-foot-wide radar dish would open a new window for astronomers. Metaphorically speaking.

With it, scientists could look for a ring current around our planet, bounce signals off Venus and Mars and even look for hitherto-unobserved “radio stars.”

The astronomical kind, not entertainers like Jack Benny and Edgar Bergen.

Gordon also said that maybe orbiting satellites would leave an ionization trail. If they did, the thousand-foot radar dish could detect them.

Construction started in 1960. The Arecibo dish was finished in 1963.

Maybe something like the Arecibo Observatory would have been built without Cold War concerns. Eventually. But I figure that the theoretical prospect of tracking satellites helped get government support for Gordon’s massive antenna.

The NAIC dish was the world’s largest until China’s 500 meter radio telescope came online in 2016.2

An Unexpected Spin-Orbit Resonance

Less than a year after Arecibo’s first light, scientists found something unexpected. And, for many, unbelievable.

Astronomers had learned that Mercury is close enough to our star to be tidally locked.

Mercury could, and probably was, rotating in sync with its orbit 88-day orbit.

Observations of the planet seemed to confirm that one side of Mercury always faced our sun. Every time Mercury was far enough from the sun to be seen, astronomers saw the same features.

In 1964, Gordon Pettengill’s team said that they’d determined that Mercury rotated once every 59 days.

And infrared data from Mercury’s night side showed insufficiently cold temperatures.

Astronomer Giuseppe Colombo saw that Mercury’s Arecibo/Pettengill rotation value was roughly two-thirds of the planet’s orbital period. Colombo suggested that Mercury’s orbital and rotational periods had a 3:2 resonance, not 1:1. As it turns out, he was right.3

Pulsars, Planets and Prudence


(From University of Central Florida, used w/o permission.)
(Arecibo dish damage, August 2020.)

More discoveries came from the Arecibo dish:

  • 1968: First solid evidence that neutron stars exist
    • Periodicity of the Crab Pulsar (33 milliseconds)
  • 1974: First binary pulsar
    • PSR B1913+16
  • 1982: First millisecond pulsar
    • PSR B1937+21
  • 1989: First direct image on an asteroid
    • 1989 PB/4769 Castalia
  • 1990: Pulsar PSR B1257+12 discovered
    • Later found to have three planets
  • 1994: Mercury’s polar ice mapped
  • 2008: Prebiotic molecules methanimine and hydrogen cyanide detected
    • In starburst galaxy Arp 220
  • 2010-2011: Bursts of radio emission from T6.5 brown dwarf 2MASS J10475385+2124234
    • The first radio emission had been detected from a T dwarf

I figure there would be more, if a cable hadn’t snapped August 10, 2020. Followed by another giving way November 6, 2020.4

I’m sorry to see the Arecibo radio telescope go.

But I think NSF director S. Panchanathan is right. Safety matters. And restoring an aging radio reflector isn’t worth risking someone’s life.

Science, Safety and Greater Admiration

As far as I know, the Church doesn’t have rules against fixing radio telescopes. Or rules that say we must fix them.

We do, however, have rules about human life, science and safety.

Exposing someone to mortal danger without a really good reason is a bad idea and we shouldn’t do it. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2269)

Science and technology are good ideas, part of being human. If we’re doing it right, paying attention to this universe lets us experience greater admiration for God’s work. (Catechism, 35–36, 282–283, 341, 2293)

But ‘it’s for science’ doesn’t make risking someone’s health or life okay. (Catechism, 2293–2295)

I’ve talked about this sort of thing before, and probably will again:

1 Radio astronomy and politics:

2 Opening a new window:

3 Mostly Mercury:

4 Arecibo’s science highlights:

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