sweasel.com

Unlikely, as I live in San Diego.

Ohhhhh…m’kay. Are you a reader at Ace’s? Because I think here’s a reader named Hutch from Ace’s that I met at the Boston get-together.

I believe the first documentable AIDS case was discovered to have been in 1954, because the British military was obsessive about keeping records & samples from members who died of unknown pathogens.

Also, I can’t wait to take Monica Lewinsky, hopefully from bully-induced suicide.

How’s hurricane Gonzalo treating you.
Why are they naming hurricanes after Muppet characters now?

Maybe Starsky was in Boston that time?

I pick Ben Bradlee!

What?

Granting that we may have dodged the Ebola bullet for a while. However, I have some continued worries. 95% of those who get Ebola get it within 21 days, with most manifesting symptoms at 5-14 days. However 5% manifest symptoms at 22-45 days. I’m still counting.

Let us assume that we have managed to avoid an Ebola outbreak for now. THAT is an opportunity, not a permanent solution. If we take the opportunity to impose a quarantine, we have a chance.

Until there is a cure and/or effective vaccination Ebola will remain a threat. Consider:

1) The reservoir for the disease apparently includes monkeys and bats in the wild, along with possible other undetected animals. Not gonna kill them all off.

2) In West Africa, these animals are part of the diet under the overall name of “bushmeat”. In fact in the back country, it is a significant percentage of dietary protein consumed. That is not likely to change soon. Especially because 2)(a), the locals do not believe in either germs, viruses, or the fact that the meat that they, their fathers, their father’s fathers, ad infinitum have eaten with no known [to them] ill effect could harm them, and 2)(b) there is widespread belief that Western doctors and medicine is the source of Ebola as reflected by the documented killing of Western medical teams.

3) Therefore, even if this skirmish is won; there will be more outbreaks coming out of West Africa for as far as we can see.

4) Until we have vaccination and/or effective treatment; the only rational approach for the West is to quarantine the area and everywhere Ebola spreads; restricting movements in and out.

5) Yeah, it is not touchy-feely nice. And it is politically incorrect. But no one has any alternative other than deliberately importing the disease into the West over and over and hoping that we stay lucky. For what it is worth, I’m betting that we are going to be unlucky in a sense that Robert A. Heinlein would have understood.

Could you elaborate on the Heinlein reference Subotai? I didn’t read any of work.

It is interesting to me that, here in the states, Ebola has suddenly vanished from the headlines -vanished as if it had never been. The last I had heard it was still out of control and spreading in Liberia. I don’t recall reading anything that changes that, but suddenly we’re back on track with Miley Cyrus tweaking off Justin Bieber stories.

Other than the apparent containment of the immediate situation in the U.S. (Noting that the victims are still contagious and may pass it to their healthcare workers), I don’t think the risk to the U.S. or the UK has diminished one bit. There are no new treatments, no new protective protocol, no new barriers to the disease leaving Africa and entering other countries.

There will be more cases in Europe, the UK, and the U.S. Diseases are funny in that they don’t care much if the press decides to stop reporting the situation. Lack of publicity doesn’t slow them down, and perhaps may even aid them. Watch for the next case to appear during flu season when ebola once again gets mistaken for a more boring relative.

Mrs. Compton:

“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as “bad luck.”

And I commend his work to you. Granting his later works mixed the philosophy with a touch of shock value, what he included was integral and appropriate.

His earlier work, the “juveniles”, was meant for teens. I had all my kids read “Starship Troopers” [the movie was dreck, the book is one hell of a teaching tool] and “Citizen of the Galaxy” which is a great explanation of the ill effects of slavery on the slave and the slaveholder. In this house-masquerading-as-a-library, I have all of his works. I commend him to your attention, starting with the two I named.

Mrs. Compton- Heinlein really is required reading. I’ve been a fan since I discovered “Stranger In A Strange Land” in High School in the 70’s. He’s essentially a latter-day Kipling with a strong Libertarian streak and a different take on some social mores.
I’m with Subotai in recommending all of his works. I think my favorite is “The Moon is A Harsh Mistress.”

I believe that I have only won the Dead Pool once, with Casey Kasem, although I have great hopes for Glen Campbell, as Alzheimer’s does the brain no good.

I don’t mind fellow Weaselites knowing where The Badger’s Burrow is:
SCOTT OLSON
E11616A Gall Road #6 ( that’s my address AND my fire number
, I am rural )
Baraboo, WI
53913
United States

It’s your decision, but I really think this is a bad result.

Ebola Man is known only for catching a disease. That’s not a celebrity by any standard I can think of.

Suppose a vagrant was struck by a car driven by Prince Harry, or Malia Obama, and lingered for a few days with fatal injuries. Would that vagrant be a “celebrity”? What about a bystander dying of injuries sustained in an attack on some VIP?

Someone who is known only for dying shouldn’t count.

And on that cheery note — see you back here,
Friday, 6pm WBT, Dead Pool Round 70!

.
Not to be a stickler but shouldn’t the upcoming, enthralling round on Friday be “69?” Round 65, or somewhere around there was skipped. Therefore, we should have “69” twice! I love that idea! How about it?

Packed all my books—we are moving—but a paperback copy of Heinlein’s “The Cat Who Walks Through Walls” escaped; I’ve been reading it again. I especially like Heinlein’s quotations at each new chapter, such as Chapter VIII: “The biscuits and the syrup never come out even.” by Lazarus Long (Long, of course, is a recurring character in this and other Heinlein novels). But the quote is true. The biscuits and the syrup never come out even, or the butter’s too cold, or somedamnthing.

Husband and I are too old for this much work, but we’ve bought our “retirement” home so maybe we can stay put, finally. Movers are coming tomorrow. See y’all next week.

Well, I allowed it at the time, Rich. Honestly, I assumed he’d survive. Anyway, Duncan had time between catching the disease and dying of it to develop into a kind of celebrity. Good enough for Pool terms, I reckon.

Yeah, 65 was the one I jumped, ExpressoBold. I find this all quite hard to hold in my little head. It involves numbers. But leaving it out seemed less likely to muddle me up than having two with the same number.

If you like, we can have 65 on Friday and make the one after *that* seventy, just to screw with noobs.

“Oh woe is us,
we’re screewed,
we’re screewed by the SWeasel,
Forever and ever, amen”

Yes, I’m a big fan of Ace’s.

“That’s not me, man. I’m from Buffalo” – A. Foley

You’ll notice that I ASKED if Duncan qualified. I couldn’t have quibbled if he’d been thrown out. Our hostess is the judge. I’d also point out that the guy is not only known for dying of ebola, but for purposely bringing it into the U.S. For my money, he’s infamous. If Nina Pham died, and he didn’t, I’d have killed him.

You won fair and square, Homer. I could’ve said no at the time, but I thought he qualified. Shoot me the deets.

Please check your email; I’ll send you my current address. Pretty sure I did already, but you know these electrons … always being distracted by squirrels and such.

ңurrah! After all I goot a webpagе from where I be capable ߋf in fact obtain helpful information concerning my study andd
ҟnowledge.

Hurrah! At last, a troll who’s not only near-totally incoherent as to Comment content, but also as regards its alleged title.

Such fun!…or something.

I feel compelled to say that, in The Age Of Obamanation (if not before), the late-but-not-great Mr. Duncan rather clearly qualifies for “celebrity” status, as “celebrity” has come to pretty much mean “noted/notable/notorious”, not necessarily “celebrated” (as was once meant), and Duncan is “noted” as (if for no other reason) the officially-recognized “Patient Zero (For Ebola) In The U.S.A.”

After all, an unfavorable distinction is still a distinction, yes?

So…Friday, at the usual time/place, whether designated # 65 or # 70.

Yeah, I liked that one, so I left it. I stripped out its links, though. Contrary to what you might think, this isn’t an ornamental tranny; it’s someone who wants to advise how you can choose the gender of your children.

I thought you’d sent me one too, drew, but I haven’t got it. Not even now. I’m being absolutely hammered with spam lately, though, so I could easily have lost it.

I’m not sure what to do then, but here’s an idea: the email address I used in this comment is to my personal account, not my blog account. I’m sure you’ve got more than one email as well. So email me from yours to mine, and I’ll respond. And that way I can stay out of your spam bucket.

Another way would be for you to log in to my blog using the member account I made for you (and sent via email. oops?), then click on the My Account link on the right sidebar, then go to the Control Panel, then select Notepad, and get my home address there.

I know how it is with the spam-alanche; my blog email gets about 300 bits of digital crap a day. All the filters in the world, and still at least 2 dozen get through to my inbox each time.