In my entry yesterday I mentioned a special Llama who cheers old folks and shut-ins up during the pandemic.
His name is Caesar the No Drama Llama.
A lot of viewers thought Caesar was pretty cool. In case you missed the video on him here it is.
To my delight, I read another story about a Llama yesterday whose helping out during these hard times. His name is Winter, and he could turn out to be an unlikely savior against COVID-19.
The global search for a novel coronavirus treatment has led to a cocoa-colored Llama whose blood could hold a weapon to blunt the virus.
In a paper published Tuesday in the journal Cell, an international team of scientists reported they harvested Winter's petit antibodies to engineer a new antibody that binds to the spiky proteins that stud the surface of the novel coronavirus "neutralizing" its insidious effect.
It's just a preliminary study -albeit positive - so don't think we need to start hoarding Llamas nationally!
More studies are needed, but I think it's damn interesting how scientists are testing animals to cure a pandemic that some believe started with an animal. Bats.
Llamas have a built-in cool factor. Just don't get too close or they may spit at you! Nothing personal. It's just one of their quirks.
Some people say the spitting is a self-defense measure, but that's not entirely true. Spitting is a gesture for Llamas which they originally use with each other.
"How you doing, Winter?" SPLAT!
"Just fine, Caesar" SPLAT "...back at ya!"
On the Homefront - Medford Oregon
**COVID-19 stats - 115 new dead, as cases climb to 3,000 confirmed. Thus far, 68,000 Oregonians have been tested for the coronavirus.
**Some good news - 31,000 Oregon businesses got $3B in second round of coronavirus recue loans.
**Hard times - there's still thousands of Oregonians whose jobless claims are still pending because of an ancient computer system. Memo to Gov. Brown: "What do you think? Time for new ones?"
**I voted by mail today. My vote went to Joe Biden in the Democratic primary. The rest of the ballot was full of local elections. Note: Oregon has had voting by mail for 22 years. The rest of the nation needs to do the same this November. Better safe, than sorry.
Quote for the day: "A man without a vote is a man without protection." -Lydon B. Johnson
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