Go Retire Psychiatrist

Svengoolie Show Movie: “The War of the Worlds”

We watched the 1953 movie “War of the Worlds” last night. I can vaguely remember seeing the remake starting Tom Cruise years ago. I ran across a free pdf of H.G. Wells novel “The War of the worlds, published in 1898 and quickly read it today for the first time. Apparently, it was a pretty racy book not suitable for children as this quote shows:

The War of the Worlds by HG Wells quote in Book One, The Coming of the Martians, Chapter 14 In London pg. 129: “He heard footsteps running to and fro in the rooms, and up and down stairs behind. His landlady came to the door, loosely wrapped in dressing gown and shawl; her husband followed ejaculating.”

You won’t see anybody ejaculating in this movie.

Contrast this with Book Two, The Earth Under the Martians, Chapter 2: What We Saw From the Ruined House, pg 202: “In the next place, wonderful as it seems in the sexual world, the Martians were absolutely without sex…” Apparently, they reproduced by budding.

I was surprised to see one of the main characters in the movie, the scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) square dancing with the other star Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson). That’s when I knew this was going to be a real horror flick, because I remember being required to learn how to square dance in grade school. What a nightmare! Anyway, in the movie they were do-si-dosing and allemanding left all over the joint. Check out the video of the scene below:

It quickly got scarier when the Martians arrived. The space ships were modeled by imitating the shapes of cobras and manta rays, but the actual Martians who drove them reminded me of little E.T. The Extraterrestrial in the movie of the same name.

By the way, Orson Welles was not related to H.G. Wells but he did perform the radio show adaptation of it in 1938, which led to many stories reporting that the listeners peed their pants in widespread panic, but that didn’t really happen. Most people didn’t listen to the radio and preferred to play video games on their cell phones. H.G. Wells met with Orson after that and taught him how to spell his name right.

The attitude in the 1950s toward women actors was atrocious and Ann Robinson was required to have two or three episodes of hysterics and at least one near-fainting spell per scene with Gene Barry. However, her hair was never mussed and her makeup never smeared, even after she beat the crap out of a Martian who tried to square dance with her.

The Martians were really out of shape and flabby so they used their technology to make copies of Chuck Norris, who round-house kicked the entire military force into next week. Of course, the Pentagon was still trying to back-engineer UFOs that crashed in places like Roswell, New Mexico so they were naturally ill-equipped when it came to battling the Martians.

However, what the Martians didn’t know about earthlings was the strength of our immune systems. In fact, they didn’t know what immune systems were (which even some earthlings don’t understand). They were unaware of the power of snot, which some people are able to focus, aim, and fire with pinpoint accuracy.

On the other hand, according to a reliable scientific opinion from a well-documented, unimpeachable source (Men in Black movie 1997): “Human thought is so primitive it’s looked upon as an infectious disease in some of the better galaxies.” On the other hand, we can do-si-do when properly motivated.

I think this movie is OK, outside of square-dancing special effects. I give it a 3/5 Shrilling Chicken Rating.

The Big Mo Blues Show Highlights Women Singers

Last night the Big Mo Blues Show focused on women vocalists, partly because he said he got phone calls urging him to play more music from female performers. It was an exceptionally good show and I can mention 3 of the women singers who really impressed me.

Early in the show, he played a song called “This Train” by Sister Rosetta Tharpe. I can’t remember hearing her recordings on his show before, but then my memory is not what it used to be. This song was first recorded in the 1930s and Big Mo played a version from the 1950s with her accompanying herself on an electric guitar. It was fun to listen to.

She led an interesting life according to biographies I found on line. She was black and queer and while it must have made her life really challenging (especially during the time of the Jim Crow laws in the 1940s), she was a great success. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

I can pick out a couple of other songs by female artists that were memorable. One of them was “Let the Tears Roll Down” by Marcia Ball. It was haunting.

And I thought the guitar riffs were stunning on Samantha Fish’s “Highway’s Holding Me Now.” The hairs on the back of my neck always stand up when I hear her song “She Don’t Live Around Here Anymore.” She has that kind of voice.

Oppose Iowa Legislature Bill HF 2171 That Seeks to Eliminate Vaccine Requirements in Public Schools

I have been reading the public comments on the Iowa Legislature bill HF 2171 that, if passed, would eliminate the requirement for vaccines in public schools against many diseases such as poliomyelitis, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, rubeola, rubella, and varicella. People are overwhelmingly opposed to it and it’s beyond me how it got past the first funnel.

I’ve added some photos documenting the history of polio from the University of Iowa Health Care Medical Museum.

The 29 Cribbage Board Rematch Game is in the Books!

Well, we finally had our rematch of the 29-board cribbage game today! Sena won! We made a YouTube video of it. We used alternate brightly colored acrylic pegs that are special order. They didn’t come with the board.

I won the first game back in 2020. Sena won the rematch in 2022. She’s the champ—so far.

We took the shortcut method of counting certain combinations that included both runs and pairs. You can get instructions on how to count those at this link. We weren’t surprised that neither one of us got a 29 hand today.

Give it a try!

Cribbage 29 Board Arrives!

Hey, we got our new cribbage 29 board today! We’d been playing cribbage for a good part of the day (both 8-card and 10-card) on the big board although the 29 board will have to get its workout tomorrow.

It’s just like the one we had before it got lost last year in the move. If you’re interested in getting one, it comes with a full set of rules, pegs and even a little history of cribbage.

I will say I’ve never heard of the word “take” used for the stage of the game in which you count your hand and crib total points. We’re used to calling this the “show.”

Iowa Legislature Ivermectin Bill A Game of “Captain, May I?”

I’ve been comparing the Iowa legislature bills on allowing ivermectin to be available over-the-counter in pharmacies. There were two of them and then there was one.

In the first bill, HF 2056, the language in it seemed to strongly direct pharmacists to make ivermectin available by using the word “shall”:

” The medical director of the department shall establish a standing order authorizing the dispensing of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin by a pharmacist.

Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, a pharmacist shall dispense hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin to a patient who is at least eighteen years of age, upon the request of a patient, pursuant to a standing order established by the medical director of the department in accordance with this section.”

The bill goes to say that “A pharmacist shall be immune from criminal and civil liability arising from any damages caused by the dispensing or use of…” these agents.

In Governor Reynolds version of the bill (included in HF 2676, successor to HSB 964), at least today, uses the word “may”:

“Sec. 17. NEW SECTION. 126.24 Ivermectin—prescription drug order not required.

A pharmacist or pharmacy may distribute ivermectin for human consumption as an over-the-counter medicine.
A pharmacist or pharmacy shall not be subject to professional discipline or civil or criminal penalties for the distribution of ivermectin pursuant to this section.”

I think the word “may” in Governor Reynolds’s bill implies a pharmacist can distribute ivermectin, but is not necessarily required to do so. In the HF 2056 bill (which died in the first funnel) the word “shall” implies the pharmacist must do so. Hydroxychloroquine is not mentioned in the governor’s version of the bill.

Although neither of these bills mentioned why the ivermectin bill is being introduced, I think it’s clear that some people think it could be an alternative to vaccines for Covid-19. Because research shows ivermectin is ineffective for treating Covid-19 and because they’re not FDA approved for that, I doubt any pharmacist would choose to do what the bill says.

This seems to be turning into a weird game of “Captain, May I?” I think the majority of pharmacists would rather not play.

Cribbage 29 Board Ordered!

Well, remember that Cribbage 29 board we lost in the move that I blogged about in December? They were out of stock until a few days ago. Sena ordered one and we should be getting it pretty soon. It’s a 10-inch board. The cut card printed on it is 5 spades.

So, we’ll have to have a rematch. Lately, we’ve been picking cribbage variations (but not like late last year!). We’ve been playing mostly 6-card, 7-card, and 10-card variants.

It’s funny, but the YouTube video of us playing a game on the 29 board in 2020 got a few more views (for a while) after I reposted it a couple of months ago with the post about the history of the 29 board. We had a rematch about 3 years ago and Sena won.

Neither one of us has ever been lucky enough to get a 29 hand because the odds of getting it are 1 in 216, 580. Now, the odds of getting a 28 hand are 1 in 15, 028. The only time I ever got that was in a Cribbage Pro computer game playing against Brutal last September.

We’ll have to make another video of the rematch after we get the new 29 board. Who do you got your money on?

Svengoolie Sven Squad Movie: “The Mist”

Last night the Sven Squad presented the movie, “The Mist” on the Svengoolie show. This one is hard to simply poke fun at. It’s also hard to compare to Stephen King’s novella of the same name published in 1980 because I’ve never read it.

The graphic violence throughout the film and the ending left me cold. I think even the Sven Squad had a difficult time making jokes in between scenes.

That said, the story and characters reminded me of certain kinds of people and certain themes. One kind of person is the cult leader. In the film this would be Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden). She was this hyper religious person who acted crazy, yet managed to convince a large number of people that she was the savior who could deliver everyone in the grocery store from the horrible fate lurking in the mist. This turns out to be human sacrifice, which is what some ancient cultures did to appease the gods and also gave them a sense of control over nature.

For some strange reason, she was not eaten by one of the monsters, despite the fact it landed on her chest, climbed up on her neck and sprinkled salt, pepper, and oregano on her face.

It also reminds me of cult leaders who managed to persuade many people to commit suicide, e.g., Jim Jones (Peoples Temple) in the 1970s, Marshall Applewhite (Heaven’s Gate) and David Koresh (Branch Davidians) in the 1990s.

I wasn’t sad about Mrs. Carmody’s fate.

One theme I think of from this movie is hubris. Sure, it’s something that will trigger bad memories for some people of their undergraduate college days, but I think it explains why the military decided they could safely open a portal between dimensions. Hubris is overweening pride and means you’re tempting the gods to destroy you when you think you can get away with sticking your chewing gum under your seat at the movies. People think they can control whatever monsters they find in the universe and can stuff trouble back in Pandora’s box.

Another common idea nowadays is that some otherwise unexplainable creatures you almost never see in real life and never find fossils for (like Bigfoot) might be because they are interdimensional beings. Hey, that works for some people.

So, you can go ahead and keep looking for wormholes and portals that open up the gates of hell and there you go. You just let a mosquito the size of an SUV in the house. Are there doorknobs on portals? Did you listen to your mother when she told you to shut the screen door behind you?

No, and you know who you are.

I got a kick out of Ollie Weeks (Toby Jones) who could shoot a monster by turning his back on it and using a mirror and firing backwards over his shoulder, blasting it into next week. How many bullets did that gun have? I thought it was ten but it seemed like there were more, even though it misfired once. Ollie was a hero without hubris.

I didn’t get the ending and I’m not going to put in a spoiler on it. But it’s another place where the number of bullets in the gun gets to be the focus of some reviewers who have horrible suggestions.

This movie is tough to rate because it takes itself too seriously. The acting was riveting in some scenes and just overdone in others, in my opinion. It’s not for kids, yet there was a little kid who played a big role in it. The ending seems to lend itself mainly to instructions on how to commit homicide and suicide. The cavalry arrives too late. It’s packed with action but it lacks heroes to admire, except for self-effacing, deadeye Ollie.

I’m giving this movie a Shrilling Chicken Rating of 3/5.

Iowa Legislature Offering Cheese and Crackers on the Bill of Fare

I heard a song entitled “Cheese and Crackers” on the Big Mo Blues Show last night. I’ve heard a few times over the years, but I never looked up what it meant until today.

The song was originally written by a rockabilly singer named Hayden Thompson, although I’ve only heard it sung by blues artist Roscoe Gordon. According to a Reddit social media thread, “Cheese and Crackers” was the B side of a record by Thompson and the A side was “Shoobie Oobie.” Thompson couldn’t find anyone to arrange the “Cheese and Crackers” lyrics at a recording studio and left in a huff, leaving the lyrics on the piano.

Roscoe found it and put it in an R&B arrangement. Billboard magazine called it the strangest new release of the week. The song is about a guy repeatedly being offered cheese and crackers although he doesn’t like or want them. According to a Wikipedia article, the term “cheese and crackers” is a kind of mild swear word chilled down from “Jesus Christ.”

That’s funny, because that’s how I feel about all the anti-vaccine bills coming out of the Iowa Legislature this year. One of them is SF 2095, which seeks to penalize private postsecondary colleges and universities if they don’t accommodate students who want to be exempt from all vaccines for any reason and to find clinical training programs who will accept them. An excerpt from the bill:

“A postsecondary school offering a degree requiring a clinical rotation shall, upon request of a student enrolled in the degree program, identify a clinical rotation placement where the student will be permitted an exemption from any vaccination requirements imposed by the placement location during the duration of the student’s clinical rotation.

A postsecondary school not in compliance shall not qualify as an eligible institution for the purposes of Iowa tuition grant.”

The other punishment could be a fine. Unless I’m looking on the web in the wrong place, I don’t find any such facility anywhere in Iowa. That would mean the postsecondary private school would be punished for something it can’t control. I’m pretty sure that would be called unjust—or maybe tricky if the goal is to coerce clinical training program leaders to loosen up their vaccine exemption policies. Right now, the only exemptions are religion or medical.

This sounds like the Iowa legislature is offering us cheese and crackers. No thank you.

Update to the Anti-Vaccine Bills in Iowa Legislature

This is just a quick update to the Iowa legislature anti-vaccine bills as far as which ones have passed what is called the first funnel. Here’s a link to the definition of a funnel.

Which bills got past the first funnel:

SF 2095: This bill is about private colleges or universities that would be punished if they don’t make accommodations for students in health care education program who want to avoid getting vaccines.

HF 2171: This bill would remove the requirement for children in primary and secondary schools to get vaccinations. I think this bill is dangerous and unnecessarily puts children at risk for infectious diseases including diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, poliomyelitis, rubeola, rubella, and varicella.

Which bill didn’t get past the first funnel:

HF 2287: This was the bill that sought to make vaccine manufacturers who want to sell their products in Iowa give up their immunity from lawsuits under the Childhood Vaccine Injury Act.

I couldn’t find out where the ivermectin over-the-counter bills (HF 2056 and HSB 694) were in the funnel as of today.

That make 5 bills in the Iowa legislature that are anti-vaccine-5 bills too many.