Grr. [ranty, evolution]

So this article does contain some important information about how the new, more contagious and/or dangerous coronavirus variants can arise:

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/02/05/964447070/where-did-the-coronavirus-variants-come-from

However, it bugs me in that it is written in such a way that it sounds as though the virus has agency, doing diabolical things to thwart the infected person's immune system.

As an educator I have to spend so much time and energy teaching students that evolutionary processes are NOT goal-oriented. Yes, they can be optimizing, but that doesn't mean the same thing as directed.

But in reality, this portrayal and this finding isn't particularly surprising. (which, of course, means it would be harder to write a story with a tantalizing headline) New mutations arise as a result of mistakes during the viral copying process. So if a person hosts a chronic infection due to a weakened immune system, there are more opportunities for more effective variants of the virus to get a toehold and then start to spread to other people, simply because there's more time for the virus to replicate and make mistakes.

This does suggest the need for better scrutiny of the timeframe after which and/or methods by which we decide to declare people no longer contagious. So in that regard, it's important to know about.

And unfortunately I can't say that I would expect any better from NPR, when it gets down to it.

Clean(er) [housekeepery, Helga]

Back in college during the AOL Instant Messaging era, one of my friends would use the away message "Getting clean(er)" when she would jump in the shower after rowing practice. I always loved that.

In any case.

On Saturday, shortly after I finished competing in a virtual erg race, scrottie departed on a bike ride and I thought to myself, "Right now would be an ideal time to work on certain housekeeping projects."

I really don't like working on mopping the kitchen floor when other people are around because it seems like they inevitably need to walk through / all over the kitchen while the floor's still all wet. I'd like for at least 5 minutes to elapse before it starts getting dirty again. Plus, if I tackle the project during a quiet time, I feel more free to extend my cleaning energies to the cabinet fronts, the baseboards, parts of the refrigerator, and who knows what else.

It always feels nice to have a clean(er) kitchen, whenever I actually have the time and space to get/keep things that way.

Then, to the bathroom. I'm mostly describing this here because bathroom cleaning in this house has been a source of vexation for me almost since the moment we moved in. The bathtub here accumulates a special layer of grime unlike any bathtub grime I've experienced previously. The permanent scuzz on the baseboards also makes me itchy.

Even worse, somehow the toilet in this house is extra-special in that the very bottom part of the toilet bowl is so narrow that most toilet brushes don't properly fit in it. It has therefore seemed impossible to actually get the toilet clean, thus strongly deterring me from even bothering to try and leading to a nasty mess, about which I'll spare you most of the details.

Anyway. Back before the Great Adult Bath Towel Numerical Controversy of 2019 (remember that? LOL), I hadn't realized that there were people who were vehemently opposed to the idea of ever toilet-cleaning with a toilet brush at all. If I'd been enlightened earlier I would have had a MUCH easier time with things, but alas, I learned too late.

So eventually I found myself desperately trawling the OtherBoob (how'dya like that one??) in search of ideas for how to reverse my toilet-cleaning woes. Once I got past an initial round of useless suggestions (gorram Infomercials, half of 'em!), I finally found a video put together by a former hillbilly*-type plumber who had two magic words for me: muriatic acid.

I'd never realized before that a person could just walk in a hardware store and purchase concentrated but unpurified hydrochloric acid for home use. On the one hand, this knowledge now scares me tremendously, because that stuff is DANGEROUS, as with any highly concentrated strong acid. But on the other claw, my inner analytical chemist is utterly delighted by this knowledge, because (sibilant voice) we know perfectly well how to safely and properly use and dispose of strong HCl, my precioussssssss. I have worked with acid glassware cleaning baths all the time through grad school and beyond because you have to get your glassware exceptionally, scrupulously clean to be able to accurately quantify phosphorus. On top of that, and VERY importantly, it is very straightforward to neutralize and dispose of HCl, such that it can be used to get a job done without putting excess toxic chemicals down the drain and into the sewer system (very key: dilute! dilute! dilute! and maybe even a fourth and fifth time, dilute!). The safe disposal / minimal chemical use aspect is huge priority for me and one that keeps me away from most commercial toilet-cleaning and drain-opening products.

In any case, it was amazing to watch that disgusting biofilm peel off, and I was SO relieved to discover that it was a biofilm and not corrosion, after all. I really don't want to have to get into the business of toilet replacement whenever we eventually move out of here. And now you know, too.

Shortly after that I also discovered that a baking soda paste, of all things, seems to do a better job of scouring off the bathtub grime than anything else we've tried previously.

I didn't get the bathtub completely Clean, but I did at least make substantial forward progress on it, and am so glad to have a Plan on that front.

Really, the worst possible scenario as far as cleaning goes, for me, is to wind up in turd-polishing land. The general trouble with renting is that one winds up in this land more often than not, and then one also lacks the agency or full desire to upgrade out of it. Cue flashbacks to the Lincoln apartment and Dogtown, especially.

Somewhat tangentially related, last week the NYT ran a personal-interest article on the "surprising" popularity of house cleaning videos on OtherBoob and other video-hosting platforms. I was initially fascinated by the idea, but then just as quickly repulsed when I realized that this genre seems to be largely about a certain American suburban house and cleaning aesthetic to which I most definitely do not subscribe, which most definitely involves the extensive use of heavily fragranced Product and the promotion thereof.

Bleah.

Oh well.

When I started this post, I was originally thinking I would also use this post to wax poetic about my new sink at work, but now this post has gotten long enough, so I'll save the work sink ridiculousness for a separate tangential post at a later time. Too many tangents and I'll wind back up where I started.

So instead I should just conclude by saying that Helga has had many reasons to be pleased lately.




*In our current Era of Woke-ness, is there a preferred expression to use other than hillbilly, or is hillbilly acceptable?