Saudi kings have for generations assumed titles as custodians of Islamâs holiest sites
Um⌠no. Only since the 1920s⌠prior to that it was the Hashemites from about the 10th century on, as their ancestor was the great grandfather of the prophet. The House of Saud wasnât even founded until the 18th century, and didnât gain control over the region until after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire with British backing.
Sorry, these kinds of inaccuracies really irritate me, since they help naturalize the ruling regime, which we all know is brutal and currently waging a near genocidal war in Yemen.
In this case, this is likely the right decision, tho.
May not seem like a long time ago to a historian, but itâs still âgenerationsâ plural.
I mean⌠I guess? Itâs been 7 kings on the throne, and the last 6 have all been sons of Ibn Saud (half-siblings?), who died in 1953. Faulkner, past, etc. MBS will be the first grandson of Ibn Saud on the throne (unless he gets removed?). Technically only 2 generations?
Thanks for this. The follow-up article answered the questions I had about frequent outbreaks at plants in the US. There have been too many regulatory changes that have undermined safety:
From the Before Times:
I thought this was confirming, but itâs from the same limited study.
Besides asymptomatic patients losing antibodies faster, it seems like that itâs not always a golden ticket after all:
The researchers also noted that among the 37 asymptomatic patients, 21 developed damage in at least one lung, even though they exhibited no outward symptoms of the virus. The other 16 patients did not have any abnormalities.
Itâs a limited study, but it suggests that herd immunity is a mirage, and maybe we should be asking: what happens after repeated COVID-19 infections?
Slack-jawed mouth-breathers are more susceptible to COVID-19?
A distinguished professor emeritus, with a Nobel for Physiology or Medicine 1998. 
Thatâs not a guarantee against crank ideas.
Dumdum catches the rona
If antibodies against the âcommon coldâ last 17 years, then why are people typically getting 2-3 common colds every year?
Thatâs because there is no single âcommon coldâ, but more than 100 different types of viruses, around 70% is various rhinoviruses, and ~15% are various corona viruses. Therefore the theory that people may get some resistance to Covid-19 from antibodies against other corona viruses has been put forward in February or March already.
Would that study suggest we infect everyone with a strain of the common cold that gives resistance to Covid-19?
VIDEO The South Korean Institute of Machinery and Materials has developed a robotic rig capable of shoving a COVID-19-sputum-sampling-swab right up your hooter, so that medicos donât have to come into contact with possibly-contagious patients.
The robot is remotely-controlled, with a joystick-like device allowing staff to aim a swab at your schnoz and then some kind of poke-o-tronic sliding device to move it in and out of your orifices. The rig offers feedback on the force imparted to the swab so that operators can guide it with optimal accuracy.
Youâll appreciate that accuracy because if you are tested for COVID-19 guidance for tests recommends swabs be inserted into a nostril to a depth equal to the length of your index finger. According to acquaintances of your humble hack whoâve been tested that feels like having someone poke in through your nostril to approximately the back of your skull.
As I understand it, the study doesnât suggest any treatment, it was merely public health scientists taking advantage of the the availability of good data (because of widespread testing) to look for some patterns.
There was a similar study in Singapore a couple of weeks ago.
As one history buff to anotherâŚthank you.
The next question is âgenerations of whom?â. Six or so âgenerationsâ (of real people) have lived during Saudi rule.
But I agree that Iâd prefer verbiage (prepositionage?) that didnât seem to be legitimizing those grotesques.
I think we need to be careful with our takeaways here.
The 17 years mentioned in the preprint are in regard to SARS, 2003 - not the common cold.
The âcommon coldâ which Lund-Johansen mentions are specifically mentioned to be Coronavirus common colds, i.e. caused by other Coronavirus strains which circulate widely in the human population. It is likely you and me had an infection already. However, immune reactions caused by common Coronavirus does not last a long time. Months, maybe even a few years. In some cases, an early infection in your life could possibly last longer.
It has been discussed several times already that common cold Corona virus infections might be involved in modulating our immune system response to Covid-19. However WDKS about this, yet. We are truly in the field of speculation here, and it might even be possible that common cold Coronavirus immune response could make Covid-19 worse by causing a strong immune response (see: cytokine storm). Seriously: WDKS.
Just BTW, thereâs one piece here which makes my head ache, a bit:
Researchers say among others that the reason why so few children get seriously ill from the virus is that they are more often cold-ridden than adults, and that means they have developed some form of resistance to the virus, writes The Telegraph.
I canât read that Telegraph piece (paywalled), but this quote is presented:
Now scientists have suggested that children may be resistant because their immune systems are already well primed by the common cold. The common cold is caused by four different types of coronavirus which circulate in the community and are largely harmless. But while adults pick up a cold around two to four times a year, school age children catch an average of 12 colds annually, studies have shown.
This is the wrong chain of arguments. Children pick up common colds more easily (amongst other reasons) because they are immuno-naive, meaning that adults do not get infected as often because they already had been (often mildly) infected with the common cold, (ETA: see above, if you get infected early in your life, you might possibly have some immunocompetence for maybe even your adult life. Might. Possibly.)
Additionally, as you said, itâs not just âfour different strains of Coronavirusâ:
Thatâs again an example of bad pop-sci journalism, Telegraph. And the NRK piece is only mildly better, and worse in the aspect of paraphrasing a bloody paywalled news article instead of the primary source.
Bottom line:
I urge everyone here to wait until further research is published (and I mean peer-review published, not preprinted, and even then wait until the community discussed the results properly). I have some trust decision-makers will also do this and donât jump to conclusions based on news reports.
At least in some countries. (Not so much in others - see: Hydroxychloroquine)
Iâve lost track⌠Is this where he is joking? Itâs so hard to tell!
Amen to all of this. The emphasis as always needs to be that this virus is only ~6 months old, as a world wide interest. There has not been time to even begin sorting out the various confounding variables in response and outcome. Anything put out at this point in time is at best a jumping off point for further investigation, at worst is flat out wrong and could cost lives. Mix that with flat out just plain wrong (colds are caused by 4 coronaviruses? No, just no.) and you have the makings for a very confused and mistrustful populace. Knowledge will come, but it takes time. Shortcuts are not helpful.
He can remember five words in a row!
Thanks. That affirmations means a lot, coming from you in this community.
