How Giraffes Handle High Blood Pressure

Very well, it seems:

To most people, giraffes are merely adorable, long-necked animals that rank near the top of a zoo visit or a photo-safari bucket list. But to a cardiovascular physiologist, there’s even more to love. Giraffes, it turns out, have solved a problem that kills hundreds of thousands of people every year: high blood pressure. Their solutions, only partly understood by scientists so far, involve pressurized organs, altered heart rhythms, blood storage, and the biological equivalent of support stockings. 

Giraffes have sky-high blood pressure because of their sky-high heads, which, in adults, rise about six meters above the ground—a long, long way for a heart to pump blood against gravity. To have a blood pressure of 110/70 at the brain—about normal for a large mammal—giraffes need a blood pressure at the heart of about 220/180. It doesn’t faze the giraffes, but a pressure like that would cause all sorts of problems for people, whether heart failure, kidney failure, or swollen ankles and legs.

"Out of the Woods" - The Vaccine Monologues

A monologue, written by Rachel and performed by noted television actress (e.g., "Blacklist"), Annie Henk.

 

Will We Survive?

Earlier today, I was listening to DJ Rafft, on local high-school-operated KYDS radio, introduce that favorite 1977 Saturday-Night-Fever hit “Staying Alive,” and thinking MY GENERATION’s Disco music is safe in the hands of Gen Z. Then she bulldozed over the artist name: Beeze Geese, instead of Bee Gees. “I Will Survive” Gloria Gaynor became Gloria Gaynyor. I wondered, does she even know, or care? She was choosing good tunes, but these pesky artist names seemed to be unimportant abstractions rather than critical knowledge. A baton has been dropped in the relay race of knowledge transfer between generations. Will we survive? (I agree with my Facebook friend Bob Reece, who comments:

Because of my experiences working in radio, I can assure you that this young DJ loves the music, enjoys playing it for her audience - no matter how small it might be - but she's not in an environment where she's heard the proper pronunciation of the names. There's nothing more embarrassing for a DJ when she has mispronounced a name on air, and then a listener calls to say, "it's actually pronounced....")

Just Get Out!

I agree with Joe Scarborough’s rant:

"This is not about Joe Biden, this stopped being about Joe Biden a long time ago," he continued. "This is about you, this is about you playing in to what every one of our enemies wants you to play into, that American democracy is not worth being trusted, that American democracy is no different than Russia. If you believe that, I will say to you what many of you said in the 1960s: America, love it or leave it! If you don't have respect in American democracy anymore, if you don't respect Madisonian checks and balances, if your guy doesn't win, if that's the new rules of engagement for this great republic, then just leave our country, because you're unworthy of it, and there are millions of immigrants who will come here and raise their right hand and buy into the creed and believe that we are exceptional, that believe American democracy is the greatest government on the face of the earth, and they will do it proudly! They will salute the flag proudly, and most importantly, they will fight for what that flag represents, while you shame yourself, while you disgrace yourself, while you disgrace our country in the eyes of the world. Yes, this is all on you."

Behold, Marc!

I went to the optometrist today (May 20).

Back when I was a kid, in the 1960s, there was a big difference in cost between Texas and New Mexico for eyewear (due to differences in licensing and regulation). So, it was often cost effective for Albuquerque families to travel all the way to El Paso for eyewear.

I was flummoxed by my first El Paso eye exam. Was I supposed to wear this big “device” on my face? I thought I was going to get glasses. What happens during recess? My friends will make fun of me. This can’t work! 

Apparently today, my retinas are stable (following surgery in 1994 for retinal detachment), but I seem to be developing a cataract in my left eye. Maybe surgery for that in a few years! 

My visit to El Paso resembled poor 2-D Eck’s visit to a 3-D world:

 

Black Fungus

Another reason why it's good not to get Covid-19:

A rare disease in normal times, authorities say thousands have developed Mucormycosis -- or black fungus -- across India as it battles a Covid-19 wave that has killed more than 100,000 people in the past month.

Some doctors say the high use of steroids to combat the coronavirus has caused the black fungus explosion.

The disease kills more than 50 percent of sufferers within days. In some cases, eyes and upper jaws are removed by surgeons to stop the spread of the infection.

"Bad Vibes" - K. Flay

Inaugurating Post-Vaccine Life With a New Refrigerator

Studded Chairs, "Breaking Bad," and "Better Call Saul"

There is so many strange and interesting things that happen in the backgrounds of both "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul." The shows are truly dynamic. 

For example, characters sometimes tell stories while sitting in studded armchairs or couches in both TV shows. 

When the chair studs make a single loop at the end of each arm, and when the stories being told are about the past and its regrets, the creative teams of the shows make sure we see only one arm. Views of the other arm are blocked. "Breaking Bad" makes sure we only see the right arm (as seen from the point of view of the person sitting in the chair). In contrast, "Better Call Saul" makes sure we see only the left arm. 

Here are four examples.

Walter White tells Jesse about selling out his creation, his stake in Gray Matter Technologies, for only $5,000 ('Buyout').

 

Embattled Hank Schrader tells Walt about simpler days, when he was tagging trees for removal ('Gliding Over All').  Note the blocked view.

 

Chuck McGill tells Kim about Jimmy's role in undermining their dad's store ('Rebecca').

 

Jimmy McGill tells Kim about the alcohol and anger management problems of the cop who arrested Huell ('Something Stupid').

What is going on here? Visual messages are sent to the audiences of both of these shows by means of shapes. A single loop of studs, leaning over to the side at the end of a chair arm, forms the outline of a head bowed in prayer. So, prayerful furniture is used as a silent comment on the storyline of pain and regret. Only one arm is shown, in order to avoid the strange look of two heads bowed in prayer away from one another. 

Now, whose bowed, prayerful heads are these? I have ideas about that, but that's for another day.

Sacramento Proud For Saweetie!

Saweetie's career is really beginning to soar! Wow! She went to high school in Elk Grove, and has lots of local contacts:

Before delivering her first album, Saweetie gave fans a taste of what's to come with her Pretty Summer Playlist: Season 1 EP, which dropped April 16. The seven-song appetizer also serves as Saweetie's way of putting people onto up-and-coming rappers, including Atlanta-based MC and fellow Warner Records signee Loui featured on "Talkin Bout," a nostalgia-inducing party starter that samples Cali Swag District’s "Teach Me How to Dougie" and Kstylis' "Booty Me Down." Saweetie promises Pretty B*tch Music will be out in the summer before her 28th birthday, on July 2, during cancer season ("What's your sign? [What it is?], I'm a cancer [That's right]," she raps on "Talkin Bout"). 

"I'm just really excited. I feel like there's just so much growth. I've been putting in a lot of work in quarantine. So, honestly, I feel like everybody else -- I can't wait to get outside," she muses.

I find Saweetie's bougie sound to be seriously disturbing. Mesmerizing, but really hard on the guys.