Death Rates Compared

The flu pandemic in 1918/1919 (it came back a second year) infected about 1/3 of the entire world, i.e., it was highly infectious with a huge number of people infected. But it wasn’t a death sentence as the death rate was only 2.5%. Yet millions died because so many were infected. The death rate for the current pandemic is a little over 2%, much greater than the standard flu death rate of just .1%, but, so far, it has infected far fewer people than the 1918/19 pandemic.

A nasty aspect of the Spanish Flu is that it could kill very quickly.  Often those people who were infected died that same day or shortly afterward.  A respiratory killer — you suffocated from lack of oxygen.

Spanish Flu

Employment

All the employment gains since 2008 have been erased totally,  in just a month and a half.  Yet the market keeps going higher.  Won’t last.  Hard times are coming.  There’s a wrecking ball going through state and local government budgets.  The virus was just the pin that popped the bubble — the bubble was there all along, fed by easy money from the Federal Reserve.  An unproductive, debt-ridden economy with market prices inflated to the hilt.  When this thing collapses, it is going to be epic.

Bale Out Nation

Side Dish

Sliced Bella Mushrooms and diced yellow onion cooked in a healthy dose of Cabernet Sauvignon.   Add sliced Red Bell Pepper and a touch more wine.  Put the lid on and let it cook for bit.  Take lid off and stir now and then.  Cook until all the wine has evaporated, careful not to let anything stick to the bottom of the pan.

Amor Fati

Lysine

I’ve discovered the protein issue with a vegan diet is more nuanced than is commonly realized. Yes, a well rounded vegan diet will give you plenty of overall protein. But if you use cronometer every day and see how such a well rounded vegan diet breaks down relative to each of the essential amino acids (essential in that you have to get them from food, the body doesn’t make them), then you will see that one is often chronically short of lysine and somewhat short of leucine despite the well rounded plant-based diet. So a more sophisticated question for the vegan diet, isn’t where do you get your protein, but how do you get the RDAs for those two specific essential amino acids? Lysine in particular is a serious problem for vegans imo.

I’ve been on a straight, plant-based vegan diet (Joel Fuhrman’s GBOMBS) for the last few years, but this experience with conometer has made me modify it to include a small amount of turkey to address the lysine/leutine issues.  Interestingly enough, even with the addition of a small amount of turkey, my lysine and leucine numbers still come in somewhat below their RDAs, which makes me think the change was even more justified.  Now I call myself an “almost vegan,” due to this modification to my diet.

Thrive Market