Running roughly a year behind the news, I met up with the genetic modification of avocados. Mexican scientists, it appears, have been leading the way on this and why not? Mexico exports some two billion pounds of the fruits to the U.S. every year. I gather that for avocados it is now not so much about length of life but survival pure and simple.
They're going to require modification to survive climate change.
But there are other organisms that can easily outlive any assisted living facility or maybe even global warming. Some sponges and giant tortoises can live a long time -- 10,000 years and 250 years respectively.
And here in California we have giant sequoia trees that are about 3,200 years old. Plus there is Methuselah, a pine tree in the White Mountains that is believed to be 4,851 years old. It's the champ.
Who knows why my knowledge quest turned into a long life contest, since whenever my results turn up, they will be a measure of my past, not my future. Maybe it's just another fruitless attempt to deny mortality.
***
Well, this Covid-19 pandemic ain't going away any time soon. Dr. Fauci says the way we are going, we should get ready for as many as 100,000 new cases in the U.S. a day by this fall. That's a million new sick people every ten days or around 36.5 million per year.
Among the things we don't know are the long-term effects of the virus. After all, many of what are called pre-existing conditions are weaknesses we carry around from past medical events. For example, if you had a bad case of pneumonia last year (I did), you probably have some lung damage, I've been told.
Covid-19 is, of course, a respiratory infection.
The Battle of the Mask has become one of the main political charades of the year, and speaking of the year, did you notice that it is now half-over? 2020 feels like it's been plodding along like it's Methuselah, who according to the old Bible lived for 969 of these suckers.
There I go again, seeking eternal life. That isn't going to happen, so my words will have to suffice.
***
Sports are trying to make a comeback. We watched a soccer game last night, two European teams playing to a draw infant of...crowd noise. No people, just the sort of canned laughter that used to be a staple of radio dramas and TV soap operas.
I guess that stuff is making a comeback.
Speaking of Europe, the E.U. has banned American visitors this summer, until further notice. We knew they hated us, loved us, made fun of us, looked up to us, in no particular order, but banning us altogether?
What is Europe in summer without American tourists?
Next they won't let busloads of Japanese tourists visit Golden Gate Park.
But this all started with masks. Trump won't wear a mask. Peace will, reluctantly. The Democrats can't take their masks off. They're stuck there. My question is how do you wear a mask to the dentist's?
Do you know what a schmask is? Check it out on Tok-Tok. No it is not a schmozzle, but good try. you probably were thinking of a schmuzzle (my word). Okay we're all schmiels here.
Maybe I better knock this off and leave you with some inspirational words Paul Simon wrote out just-like-that. Fast. Normally he wrote slowly, over time, but this one just popped out, he says:
"When you're down and out
When you're on the street
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you
I'll take your part, oh, when darkness comes
And pain is all around
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down" -- Paul Simon
-30-
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