Corona - what does help you? Your fears, thoughts, everything

[serious crayons]

I'm not clear on what you mean by polio as an exception.

Smallpox virus has been officially eradicated from the world. ...
Polio does still exist in a very few countries

It was smallpox I was thinking of, I believe.

Measles is a virus. Many of us older folk had it as children so are now immune.

I had it when I was 6, and apparently a dangerous enough case that the doctor made a house call to administer some life-saving injection.

Now, of course, it's part of the routine schedule of childhood vaccinations. Among children whose parents aren't science deniers, at least.

At the anti-shutdown protest I attended, I met a number of people who said that if an anti-COVID virus were developed they would refuse to take it. They accuse Bill Gates of practicing "population control" by advocating or supplying vaccines -- apparently they believe vaccines are more dangerous than the diseases themselves.

Is it possible there's another virus that's been going around for years without anyone being aware of it -- one that causes stupidity?

You know how they say apocalyptic horror movies often work by triggering subconscious fears of whatever's going on at the time in real life -- the way Orson Welles' broadcast of War of the Worlds supposedly alarmed people because it reminded them of what was happening in Europe?

I wonder if the next round of horror movies will move away from giant monsters and outerspace invaders to microscopic or invisible enemies.

[Penthesilea]

I wonder if the next round of horror movies will move away from giant monsters and outerspace invaders to microscopic or invisible enemies.

Time to re-watch Outbreak Or The Stand.
Or maybe not.


BTW, we did just that: re-watched The Stand recently because the kids found the idea cool. The Stand didn't stand the test of time, IMO. Loved it back then, now it was just - bland, mediocre. We skipped the last part of it, it didn't hold our interest. But the opening sequence, together with the music - still good.

You might be right. In the next 2 or 3 years, we might see an increase of such movies.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I had it when I was 6, and apparently a dangerous enough case that the doctor made a house call to administer some life-saving injection.

You actually had measles? 

I never did, but, come to think of it, I don't think I was ever vaccinated for measles. Maybe if I ever see an actual doctor again I should ask a bout it. 

I had chickenpox when I was in first grade. That's why I made sure I got the shingles vaccine. I don't remember how long I was out of school. I do remember they itched like the devil.

[brianr]

You actually had measles? 

I never did, but, come to think of it, I don't think I was ever vaccinated for measles. Maybe if I ever see an actual doctor again I should ask a bout it. 

I had chickenpox when I was in first grade. That's why I made sure I got the shingles vaccine. I don't remember how long I was out of school. I do remember they itched like the devil.

I am not sure whether I had Rubella (German measles) or measles. Rubella is not as serious as measles (unless you are pregnant)
In the last 4 months of 1954, aged 10, I had chicken pox, hepatitis A and Mumps. I was away from school for nearly the whole term.
I caught Hepatitis A by playing in the nearby swamps. They were later drained and are now an exclusive housing area and were the site of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. I was not very sick but had to stay in bed and eat lots of sugar. They did not think it was very contagious but my sister who must have been 20 caught it. She was much sicker and had a relapse a few months later and was rushed to hospital during the night. Unlike Hep C it does not have lasting effects except I still keep clear of too fatty foods eg roast pork. My sister's relapse was when we were away on Christmas holidays so probably due to rich foods.
In the last 10 years my sister got shingles and, as it was near her eye, her GP rushed her to the eye specialist but they got it early. Fortunately she had a regular appointment with her GP and mentioned the rash that had developed the day before. We have both now had the vaccine and paid for it although it is now free at our age in both Australia and NZ. I can get a free booster before I turn 80. However they have now developed a new vaccine but it is not free yet.

[serious crayons]

BTW, we did just that: re-watched The Stand recently because the kids found the idea cool. The Stand didn't stand the test of time, IMO. Loved it back then, now it was just - bland, mediocre. We skipped the last part of it, it didn't hold our interest. But the opening sequence, together with the music - still good.

That's happened to me with a lot of movies I once found thrilling -- Raiders of the Lost Ark, for example. I saw it when it came out in theaters, loved it, and remembered it as really fast moving and exciting. Then I watched it with my kids and now it seemed really slow. I think our brains have changed.

As for The Stand, I never saw the movie but I read the book in about 1980 (before King published a much longer, less edited version). Even then, the latter part didn't really hold my interest -- I don't like horror that relies on supernatural beings or events. But the beginning was powerful and seemed like a very realistic depiction of how something like that would go (although much more quickly than COVID, since cars with dead drivers clogged the Lincoln Tunnel). And since COVID I've joked that next we'll all divide into groups of Good and Evil and battle each other.

I guess one could argue that in the United States, we kind of have. 

[serious crayons]

You actually had measles? 

I never did, but, come to think of it, I don't think I was ever vaccinated for measles. Maybe if I ever see an actual doctor again I should ask a bout it. 

I had chickenpox when I was in first grade. That's why I made sure I got the shingles vaccine. I don't remember how long I was out of school. I do remember they itched like the devil.

I did have measles, though I don't really remember it very well. I have this flash-like image of the doctor coming to the house, but that could have been planted by my parents speaking of it in later years.

You're probably fairly safe unless you start hanging out with schoolkids with anti-vaxxer parents.

I had chickenpox, which I also don't remember but it seemed like everyone did at some point. I asked my doctor about the vaccine and he said to wait because a better one was about to come out. That was some time ago, so I'm sure it's out by now. I'll have to set it up, if they're doing it these days, next time I see my doctor.

A guy I know said that when his cousins got chicken pox the aunts and uncles took all the cousins, infected or not, to stay with their grandma so they could all catch it and get it over with.

My thought was, wow, that's an accommodating grandma.

[CellarDweller]

I had chickenpox, which I also don't remember but it seemed like everyone did at some point. I asked my doctor about the vaccine and he said to wait because a better one was about to come out. That was some time ago, so I'm sure it's out by now. I'll have to set it up, if they're doing it these days, next time I see my doctor.

A guy I know said that when his cousins got chicken pox the aunts and uncles took all the cousins, infected or not, to stay with their grandma so they could all catch it and get it over with.

My thought was, wow, that's an accommodating grandma.

Oh, I've heard about this.  Parents would have "Pox Parties", and a kid that had chicken pox would have a gathering, and the parents would expose their kids to it, so they could catch it and get it over with.

[serious crayons]

Oh, I've heard about this.  Parents would have "Pox Parties", and a kid that had chicken pox would have a gathering, and the parents would expose their kids to it, so they could catch it and get it over with.

And now young people are reportedly doing the same with COVID. What could go wrong? 

[Jeff Wrangler]

That's happened to me with a lot of movies I once found thrilling -- Raiders of the Lost Ark, for example. I saw it when it came out in theaters, loved it, and remembered it as really fast moving and exciting. Then I watched it with my kids and now it seemed really slow. I think our brains have changed.

Or maybe just yours.    I saw it again not too long ago and for the first time in years on years, and I didn't find it slow at all.

[serious crayons]

Or maybe just yours.    I saw it again not too long ago and for the first time in years on years, and I didn't find it slow at all.

Well, to each his own. Other movies from that era I think do hold up: Big and Back to the Future. A lot of the others I never saw in the first place ane/or am not tempted watch/rewatch to now. One I think is decidedly worse from my current perspective: Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Re RotLA, I still love all the witty and clever little Speilberg things. He is/was so good at those.

I've been feeling like doing a themed film festival -- one movie a night, or half a movie each night. My son just did Tom Cruise, and he seems like a good possibility -- he's done a lot of good movies, a range of drama to comedy and some well worth rewatching. He's almost always entertaining. Plus I like him better now than I did when I first watched them because I've since discovered there are worse things a celebrity can do than be a Scientologist.

But a Speilberg festival would also be good.