The Virus that Stopped Time

In November 2019 an unknown species of coronavirus left a bat reservoir and by way of an intermediate host, possibly a Malayan Pangolin, entered the lungs of a human being living in Wuhan, China^[1]. This species was zoonotic, meaning it could infect and spread within a human host. The invading virus had one objective: create more virus particles by hijacking the host cells' genetic protein building machinery. It was a parasite^[2], like all viruses, that could not replicate itself on its own.

Shannon Stapleton/Reuters A coyote stands by the roadside, as the spread of the coronavirus pandemic continues, at Golden Gate Bridge View Vista Point across from San Francisco, April 7, 2020.[3]

Planetary Solitude

We reside on a random mote we call Earth orbiting an average sun in a galaxy that is one out of potentially trillions in an expanding universe.^[1] The observable universe’s size is so huge it’s essentially an abstraction, something like ten to the power of 23 (10²³) kilometers in diameter. About 13.8 billion years ago our universe was smaller than a millimeter in diameter when space and time began rushing outward faster than the speed of light to reach its current size.

Preemption Laws and Gun Control

Part One - Preemption

When I first learned about Florida Statute 790.33, the law that prohibits local governments from enacting their own gun regulations, I thought it should be unconstitutional for several reasons. First, the student shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018 might have been prevented. There were people who knew the shooter was a threat but there was no local resource that legally could get involved.^[1]