Some of the alphabet:

[peterthooper at juno.com]

this girl, Lori, in 8th grade co-Ed gym class, hanging by her knees on the chinning bar, and I was looking at her and thinking, “Is she low-waisted? Oh definitely!” 

Chronology’s a little iffy. That would’ve been 1968 or 9. 
My folks did give me Ayn Rand’s little double paperback for Christmas 1970, though. Must’ve read the novels earlier. 

---------- Original Message ----------
From: Raphael Saltwood 

C) there is a strong temptation to post stuff that asks for devout attention without doing the editing to earn it. I struggle with this myself.

— sometimes it’s just fun to write, isn’t it? (Challenge: write something, anything, without posting it. You start!)


E) so a danger of viral infections is for the immune system to overreact? 

— yeah, check this on melatonin: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1756464619302452 (Flu in mice, but the point is that melatonin worked against the ARD)

“overreaction of the host immune responses may...be involved in the pathogenicity of the influenza virus in mice....An aberrantly aggressive innate inflammatory response was a key contributor to the morbidity of the 1918 influenza outbreak....studies suggest that a “cytokine storm” may be an important factor leading to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and respiratory failure in infected patients....“

...Yada yada more medical verbiage than you can shake a stick at...

“ previous study has shown that melatonin treatment significantly reduces the population of Th1 CD4 lymphocytes and increases the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 as well as the population of IL-10-producing CD4 T cells (Lin et al., 2009). We also found that melatonin treatment significantly inhibits inflammation in situ and reduces the severity of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in mice (Chen et al., 2016). Thus, in this study we investigated the therapeutic potential of melatonin in influenza virus infection based on the previously reported anti-oxidant and immune modulatory effect of melatonin. We found that both high-dose melatonin pretreatment and treatment significantly improved the survival of influenza virus-infected mice. Melatonin treatment significantly increases the expression of IL-10 and TGF-β. The induction of IL-10 by melatonin occurs via the upregulation of IL-27 expression in dendritic cells (DCs). Melatonin also significantly inhibits the production of TNF-α by CD8 T cells in virus-infected Balb/c mice. Furthermore, co-treatment of melatonin and ribavirin significantly increases the survival rate of virus-infected mice compared to that of mice treated with ribavirin alone. Our study suggests that melatonin possesses therapeutic potential in influenza-induced pneumonia and as an adjuvant treatment with anti-viral drugs.”


(Who am I kidding? I plucked this reference from among 102 references below an article - 

namely, https://www.evolutamente.it/covid-19-pneumonia-inflammasomes-the-melatonin-connection/ -  much more readable, though still pretty dense -

by the great science writer Doris Loh, which the OMNS (Orthomolecular News Service) pointed me to)

what is potential p-list content?
Anything, right?

But what is quality p-list content?
I think these:

a subset that not only mentions Pynchon but engages some aspect of the oeuvre

Or that one can imagine particular or generic p-listers enjoying

Or schtuff that one thinks is really cool and wants to share

Ymmv. I think that the occasion of a plague for societal power shifts (such as yet more status and money accruing to the medical sector, as if they need that) is Pynchonian. The details of the virus are also Pynchonian grist, in the same way that arcana of the V-2 would be.

 And sharing that vitamin c and melatonin make me feel better is just good manners, but of course not going on and on about it is also good manners. 

Anybody have some research on how weed might affect Covid? Asking for a friend -



f) But how do you think Mafia Winsome in V. provides a useful critique (or other kind of helpful thought-form) applicable to Ayn Rand? Do you actually have some notions about it?

Yes, and...
That’s a good occasion for me to write up a few drafts and shut up for awhile. If you don’t hear from me by May, write it yourself!





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