mellowtigger | a little good news

There's too much going on in the world and in my area of it, so today I'll share only Good News.

The first week of school has ended, and the pace of work is finally slowing. The high point was a long ticket where the phone caller said, "Don't leave me!" as I tried to exit politely after solving the main issue for them. By the end of the call, I helped a 75-year-old woman with signing up for her very first course at the university. It's a nice reminder that I, too, might someday return to college.

I've had a broken screen on my Pixel 4a phone for several years. A few days ago, it finally started causing problems when it wouldn't recognize touches on the screen to unlock it. I need it a few times each day for multifactor authentication at work. Today, since I didn't work due to USA holiday, I rode the bus to Best Buy in Roseville to buy a new Pixel 9 and switch my phone SIM card to it. It's up and running again, although not everything is reconnected. Among the first things to reconnect was the multifactor authentication. It was an expensive purchase but definitely an improvement over my last phone. Bonus 1: I learned that there's a single bus route (no transfers!) that goes straight from my area to that distant shopping area. Bonus 2: I saw during the round trip not just 1 but 2 people in masks!

The big news is this: Researchers might have found what causes the clots by SARS-CoV-2. I mentioned last year that the spike protein seemed to be the culprit, but it wasn't clear why. Now, this new research says that "fibrin binds to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, forming proinflammatory blood clots that drive systemic thromboinflammation and neuropathology in COVID-19." That's really big news. If they know the mechanism, then they can find counteracting agents. There's a lot more to that study, but I'm still exhausted and can't really follow it at the moment. I'm hoping to learn if it's the S1 or the S2 protein, or both together, that causes the clots. Still, though... this discovery is very good news.