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buzzsawmonkey
8/3/2020 6:07:42 AM
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1
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Man with big, staring pop eyes and a bristly mustache in the doctor's office. The doctor is saying to him, "I sorry to have to tell you that you have Colonnavirus."
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vxbush
8/3/2020 6:32:56 AM
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2
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In #1 buzzsawmonkey said: Man with big, staring pop eyes and a bristly mustache in the doctor's office. The doctor is saying to him, "I sorry to have to tell you that you have Colonnavirus." Apparently I'm not awake enough to get it......but good morning. Hope you had a lovely weekend.
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buzzsawmonkey
8/3/2020 6:52:00 AM
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3
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In #2 vxbush said: Apparently I'm not awake enough to get it......but good morning. Hope you had a lovely weekend.
It was a reference to Jerry Colonna, the mustached, pop-eyed comic who appears in a number of films, often opposite Bob Hope.
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buzzsawmonkey
8/3/2020 6:57:03 AM
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4
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There's an excellent compilation of classic "Little Orphan Annie" strips called Little Orphan Annie in the Great Depression. It was originally published by Dover, but they don't seem to carry it anymore---however, it can still be found on Amazon. It is remarkably contemporary: it starts with "Daddy" Warbucks getting a tutor for Annie---and the tutor turns out to be the 1930 equivalent of a Common Core-teaching moonbat. "Daddy" loses his fortune shortly after firing the tutor, and he and Annie end up having to hit the road with little more than the clothes on their backs. They take a cheap furnished room, and Annie is offered a job by a small Jewish shopkeeper in the neighborhood (Harold Gray, who drew "Annie," was strongly free-enterprise but was quite favorably disposed towards hard-working immigrants of ethnic background, and quite unfavorable to "do-gooder" types). The shopkeeper is threatened by racketeers demanding protection money; he refuses, and his store is bombed. He submits to them in order to be able to stay open. Meanwhile, Annie brings his plight to the circulation manager of a newspaper for which she used to sell papers. Understand that being a "circulation manager" in those days meant being a racketeer of a different sort; newspapers employed "circulation sluggers" who would beat up newsies who didn't feature their paper. The circulation manager says to himself, "If a shopkeeper has to pay protection, he won't have any money to spend on advertising," so he grabs the protection racketeer and has his sluggers beat the racketeer up. The racketeer returns the money he's already collected to the storekeeper, plus something to pay for the bomb damage, and catches a rattler (a train) out of town. The storekeeper figures, "Well, the paper saved me the money, so why not spend some of it on an ad?" The ad draws more customers, the store prospers. It is interesting to see how popular entertainment from 90 years ago dealt with problems and issues that are still current today. And it is interesting to see a comic strip that is unabashedly conservative and optimistic. "Little Orphan Annie in the Great Depression." Highly recommended.
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vxbush
8/3/2020 7:20:13 AM
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5
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In #4 buzzsawmonkey said: "Little Orphan Annie in the Great Depression." Highly recommended. Your comments remind me of Sarah Hoyt, writing this weekend comparing how people responded to the Black Plague and the 1918 flu, especially. Even though everyone today assume people then were stupid, they weren't. Knowing what worked was in some ways more important then, given that we didn't have the antibiotics and health care of today. Meaning, folks back then were much smarter and could see what was going on than we realize or appreciate. I would argue they were smarter, as the takeover of education hadn't happened yet.
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buzzsawmonkey
8/3/2020 7:38:24 AM
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6
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In #5 vxbush said: Meaning, folks back then were much smarter and could see what was going on than we realize or appreciate. I would argue they were smarter, as the takeover of education hadn't happened yet.
I think that the essence of what we now call the "Serenity Prayer," "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference," was much more an essential part of the fabric of daily life---without necessarily being spoken or even thought of---than it is today.
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lucius septimius
8/3/2020 7:50:37 AM
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7
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In #5 vxbush said: Knowing what worked was in some ways more important then, given that we didn't have the antibiotics and health care of today. Part of the problem nowadays is that many people -- in particular the elites -- know at some level how utterly helpless they would be in the fact of actual catastrophe. They have become hysterical in the literal sense -- shallow and volatile emotions, prone to exaggeration, overly dramatic -- because of their own lack of understanding. "Magical thinking" is sometimes used to describe their attitude, but in premodern societies "magic" was anything but. Magic was an empirical science with and emphasis on replicability. Operations were judged on whether they could produce consistent results. One thing that I've been struck by in reading descriptions of magic in the past is how frequently the "cures" would very likely work, provided the dosage was correct. People knew the medicinal qualities of plants without having to consult books (though those did exist). That knowledge died out as we moved from an agrarian to an industrial society. The most hysterical folks today have very little understanding of disease or treatment and want to view everything as political. They attribute to Trump and the GOP mystical powers to shape the natural world through sheer acts of will. It's insane, but ultimately reflects their own stupidity.
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buzzsawmonkey
8/3/2020 7:58:02 AM
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8
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In #7 lucius septimius said: People knew the medicinal qualities of plants without having to consult books (though those did exist). That knowledge died out as we moved from an agrarian to an industrial society. I've read a few things where there is a conflict between those superstitious old herb women or midwives and the new "scientific" knowledge being pushed by doctors, in the era when "doctoring" largely consisted of bleedings and amputations. I believe that the custom of washing one's hands was originally pushed by the old-fashioned herb women and the like, and was originally resisted by "doctors." The Kipling story "Marklake Witches," from his book "Rewards and Fairies" (the sequel to "Puck of Pook's Hill"), which takes place during the Napoleonic Wars, has a conflict between a "witch-master"---i.e., the local herbalist---and the local doctor, with a third-party doctor who is a French prisoner of war that becomes friendly with the herbalist.
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lucius septimius
8/3/2020 8:07:52 AM
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9
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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 8: Until the 18th century, there was little to choose from between village magic and formal medicine -- the latter being primarily theoretical science. Both were predicated on the old "four humors" concept. Most treatments involved some kind of purgative. For fever you bled people --- not very much, but a certain amount did, in fact, encourage the production of white blood cells. For respiratory complaints (caused by an over abundance of cold and wet humors) you applied remedies that were cold and dry, i.e., diuretics -- which is what most otc cold medicines still are. Skeletal remains from the early Middle Ages show people surviving horrific injuries, including serious head wounds. Without some kind of antibiotic regimen, they would certainly have died from secondary infections. The real dark ages of medicine were the early 19th century.
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lucius septimius
8/3/2020 8:09:40 AM
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10
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In #9 lucius septimius said: cold and dry Pardon me -- hot and dry. That's also why you use Old Bay seasoning with seafood -- the hot and dry characteristics offset the cold and wet nature of seafood.
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Occasional Reader
8/3/2020 8:35:38 AM
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11
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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 4:
But did Daddy Warbucks ever regain his fortune enough to be able to pay for pupil-transplants for Annie?
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doppelganglander
8/3/2020 8:38:32 AM
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12
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Reply to lucius septimius in 10: "So what you're saying is, eating lobsters with Old Bay seasoning cures COVID-19?" /Cathy Newman
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Occasional Reader
8/3/2020 8:47:14 AM
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13
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In #9 lucius septimius said: the old "four humors" concept Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and... well, Gummo/Zeppo, take your pick...
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Occasional Reader
8/3/2020 8:48:34 AM
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14
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In #12 doppelganglander said: "So what you're saying is, eating lobsters with Old Bay seasoning cures COVID-19?"
If that were true, Big Pharma would probably hire Mafia contract killers to wipe out the lobsters. Leading to...
... "Italian mobster shoots a lobster"
-The Clash
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buzzsawmonkey
8/3/2020 8:50:08 AM
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15
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In #11 Occasional Reader said: But did Daddy Warbucks ever regain his fortune enough to be able to pay for pupil-transplants for Annie? Actually, Daddy Warbucks loses his eyesight in a truck accident, and is offered a bed by a dwarf called Flop-House Bill, who idolizes Warbucks and doesn't initially realize that the blind bum he's taken in is/was actually his idol. Bill, despite his physical handicap, has made good in a small way by running a string of flophouses in the cheap end of town. When he realizes that his idol is now down and out, the two partner together and "Daddy" regains his fortune---and, in the process, revenges himself on the gang of financiers who'd ruined him. The book ends with "Daddy" going to see a European specialist to get his sight back.
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lucius septimius
8/3/2020 8:59:56 AM
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16
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In #12 doppelganglander said: "So what you're saying is, eating lobsters with Old Bay seasoning cures COVID-19?"
/Cathy Newman
It's worth a shot
In #14 Occasional Reader said: "Italian mobster shoots a lobster"
Though not that kind.
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vxbush
8/3/2020 9:00:28 AM
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17
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In #15 buzzsawmonkey said: The book ends with "Daddy" going to see a European specialist to get his sight back. Is there any research literature that talks about when our society figured out that the doctors here were better than then doctors in Europe? Not everywhere, of course, but at some point there was a change and everyone started coming here for medical treatment. I'd be interested in any books that discuss that change.
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Occasional Reader
8/3/2020 9:06:12 AM
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18
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vxbush
8/3/2020 9:06:41 AM
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19
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In #14 Occasional Reader said: "Italian mobster shoots a lobster" ....who needs a copster....
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buzzsawmonkey
8/3/2020 9:10:07 AM
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20
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Reply to vxbush in 17: An interesting question; not one I've given much thought to. I'd hazard that American medicine took an upturn in reputation in the '30s, partly due to those who had enough money to flee the approaching storm in Europe doing so---a lot of German doctors were Jews, after all---the inability to go to Europe for treatment during the war, and the fact that America after the war was the only place with an intact medical establishment.
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buzzsawmonkey
8/3/2020 9:11:27 AM
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21
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In #18 Occasional Reader said: Leaders in education, politics and other areas gathered in suburban Evanston Sunday to ask that the Illinois State Board of Education eliminate history classes at schools statewide. I thought they'd already done this years ago.
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vxbush
8/3/2020 9:32:50 AM
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22
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In #21 buzzsawmonkey said: I thought they'd already done this years ago. Yes, but that action was subtle. This is completely brazen.
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lucius septimius
8/3/2020 9:32:52 AM
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23
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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 20: Another piece of it had to do with the educational systems. In Europe doctors were divided between academics and clinicians. The latter did not, necessarily, have a university education -- they went directly into medical school without an undergraduate degree. American doctors study longer, the requirements for entrance are higher, and, frankly, hold more prestige in society. European doctors of the non-academic sort are viewed as glorified skilled labor.
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lucius septimius
8/3/2020 9:33:27 AM
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24
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Reply to vxbush in 22: And revealing -- it's much easier to lie to people if they don't know anything.
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vxbush
8/3/2020 9:38:46 AM
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25
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In #23 lucius septimius said: Another piece of it had to do with the educational systems. In Europe doctors were divided between academics and clinicians. The latter did not, necessarily, have a university education -- they went directly into medical school without an undergraduate degree. American doctors study longer, the requirements for entrance are higher, and, frankly, hold more prestige in society. European doctors of the non-academic sort are viewed as glorified skilled labor. Interesting. Add this to the growing list of things I didn't know. Why did American medical schools do this? Were they started by the european doctors who emigrated here to avoid WWII?
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doppelganglander
8/3/2020 11:41:34 AM
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26
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Huge thunderstorms rolling through. It got very dark and now it's coming down hard.
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doppelganglander
8/3/2020 11:53:51 AM
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27
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Reply to doppelganglander in 26: How dark is it? The streetlights came on. There are reports of tennis ball sized hail to the north.
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buzzsawmonkey
8/3/2020 12:05:17 PM
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28
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In #27 doppelganglander said: There are reports of tennis ball sized hail to the north.
Hail, Caesar!
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lucius septimius
8/3/2020 12:21:52 PM
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29
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Reply to doppelganglander in 26: Just finished here a few minutes ago. Rained very hard, wind, and some delightful thunderboomers.
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lucius septimius
8/3/2020 12:26:38 PM
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30
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... and a big limb came down off the tree in the front yard. Great -- no idea how I'll pay for that.
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buzzsawmonkey
8/3/2020 12:27:51 PM
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31
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Reply to lucius septimius in 30:
Just open up a branch office.
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lucius septimius
8/3/2020 12:43:09 PM
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32
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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 31: hardy-har har
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Occasional Reader
8/3/2020 12:45:58 PM
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33
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In #27 doppelganglander said: ennis ball sized hail Holy Samoyeds! That's, uh, alarming.
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Occasional Reader
8/3/2020 12:47:28 PM
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34
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In #30 lucius septimius said: Great -- no idea how I'll pay for that.
Get out what tools you have, make it a job for your boys?
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Occasional Reader
8/3/2020 12:54:35 PM
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35
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Meanwhile, we have a Tropical Storm Warning here, thought it sounds like it'll be just lots of rain and moderately high wind.
My building's management sent out a "Hurricane Preparedness" e-mail, nevertheless; which includes such interesting bits of advice as "windows may be boarded up (from the outside only)." I live in a building, all of the units in which have floor-ceiling windows. Boarding them up would be, ah, interesting.
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Occasional Reader
8/3/2020 12:58:47 PM
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36
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And thanks to the pandemic, I'm way more prepared for all manner of catastrophe than i was six months ago. (E.g., I have not just one, but two WaterBobs. Get yours, too!)
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doppelganglander
8/3/2020 1:02:16 PM
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37
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Reply to lucius septimius in 30: What needs to be done? If you need a chainsaw, I know where to borrow one.
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JCM
8/3/2020 1:13:43 PM
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38
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Reply to lucius septimius in 30: Stick a "FREE WOOD" sign on it!
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lucius septimius
8/3/2020 1:15:52 PM
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39
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Reply to Occasional Reader in 34: It's beyond my tools and skill -- a limb about a foot in diameter split 15-20 feet up. This will require professional assistance.
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Occasional Reader
8/3/2020 2:18:40 PM
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42
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In #39 lucius septimius said: It's beyond my tools and skill - Bah. Add more explosives and/or incendiaries...
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lucius septimius
8/3/2020 2:25:01 PM
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43
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In #42 Occasional Reader said: Add more explosives and/or incendiaries... If I had access to those ... I'd be in jail.
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doppelganglander
8/3/2020 2:55:59 PM
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45
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Reply to Occasional Reader in 44: California, Oregon, and Washington secede? I'm failing to see the down side here.
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buzzsawmonkey
8/3/2020 3:25:55 PM
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46
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In #45 doppelganglander said: California, Oregon, and Washington secede? I'm failing to see the down side here.
Well, since Carter gave away the Panama Canal, we'd lose our West Coast ports...
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doppelganglander
8/3/2020 3:56:11 PM
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47
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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 46: I'm sure we could quickly negotiate a favorable treaty.
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Occasional Reader
8/3/2020 4:39:01 PM
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49
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Reply to doppelganglander in 48: if Trump were to pull down, say, a quarter of the black vote, can you imagine the reaction on the left? I think we would actually see live, on-air suicides at PBS NewsHour on election night.
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midwestgak
8/3/2020 4:43:32 PM
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50
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In #38 JCM said: Stick a "FREE WOOD" sign on it! Brilliant!
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Kosh's Shadow
8/3/2020 4:43:43 PM
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51
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In #9 lucius septimius said: Until the 18th century, there was little to choose from between village magic and formal medicine -- the latter being primarily theoretical science. Both were predicated on the old "four humors" concept. Most treatments involved some kind of purgative. For fever you bled people --- not very much, but a certain amount did, in fact, encourage the production of white blood cells. For respiratory complaints (caused by an over abundance of cold and wet humors) you applied remedies that were cold and dry, i.e., diuretics -- which is what most otc cold medicines still are. Steve Martin as Theodoric of York, medieval barber
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Kosh's Shadow
8/3/2020 4:47:58 PM
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52
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Reply to Occasional Reader in 49: I think most blacks don't want their neighborhoods run by the gangs, and that is what BLM is, and what would happen with "defund the police" - and is happening, because cops don't want to be locked up because they shot a black thug.
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