Comments on: A KILLER IN THE SHADOWS

By: Watcher of Weasels

Watcher of Weasels — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 06:53:50 +0000

The Coalition of the Willing
As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher’s Council hold a vote every week on what we consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around… though I don’t actually vote unless there happens…

By: a4g

a4g — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 02:34:54 +0000

Oops. That should be ‘Sims’ the game, not ‘Simms’ the memory chip…

Cursed spell-check!

By: a4g

a4g — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 02:31:54 +0000

While it is never a good idea to underestimate the humiliating power of hubris, I wonder if a scenario like 1918 is likely to occur in the US. Not all of medicine is concentrated in the curing of diseases. The field of epidemiology has been revolutionized just as completely in the last 90 years. Advanced computer simulations are using ‘Simms’-type technology to model methodologies to combat the spread of epidemic.

It could be that even though we cannot save those that catch the next deadly flavor, we can prevent its spread.

By: The Glittering Eye

The Glittering Eye — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 14:00:41 +0000

The Council has spoken!
The Watcher’s Council has announced its selections for the best posts of the past week. The winning council post was Right Wing Nut House’s excellent post A Killer in the Shadows about the potential avian flu pandemic. It’s a warning…

By: Watcher of Weasels

Watcher of Weasels — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 08:13:59 +0000

The Council Has Spoken!
First off… any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here, and here. Die spambots, die! And now… the winning entries in the Watcher’s Council vote for this week are A Killer in the Shadows by Right W…

By: dymphna

dymphna — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 00:57:05 +0000

Thanks for the link to the DVD… the flu epidemic so shattered my family that I don’t think I could watch fiction about it. A documentary wouldn’t be so difficult, though. Don’t know why…

By: Watcher of Weasels

Watcher of Weasels — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 07:04:56 +0000

Submitted for Your Approval
First off… any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here, and here. Die spambots, die! And now… here are all the links submitted by members of the Watcher’s Council for this week’s vote. Council li…

By: Rick Moran

Rick Moran — Fri, 27 May 2005 12:59:59 +0000

I think this might have some of what you’re looking for:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002A2VVE/qid=1117198674/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-8061093-7843262?v=glance&s=dvd

It’s called “1918″ and I started it a while back and have yet to finish it. But you’re right, it was an amazing time.

Follow the link to the quote I use about what was going on in America and the site has some more info.

By: dymphna

dymphna — Fri, 27 May 2005 12:55:55 +0000

The story of the flu in America is a real stunner. It’s almost ignored today. Philadelphia was one of the hardest hit: people were stealing coffins for their families. I believe we lost 625,000 people in a matter of six weeks. World-wdie the statistics vary from 12 to 20 million. Don’t know what our population was at the time so what percentage 625,000 is of that is also open to question.

It is claimed that the flu is what caused us to be more distant publicly from one another — i.e., our “personal space” is larger than it was before the flu.

As a country, we never really mourned that episode of our lives. Perhaps it was the war’s upheaval that made it get forgotten for so long…though America entered late with fewer losses. At any rate, I think the “Roaring Twenties” was an cultural rebound effect to the horrors of 1918.

My grandmother and her first-born son died within a few weeks of each other, devastating the family. My lawyer grandfather, an American living in Ireland, came back here with his three remaining children. He never recovered from the loss. Neither did the kids.

Wish someone would do a book that not only describes the havoc the flu wreaked but also does a kind of anthropological study of the next generation’s aftermath. For example, there were orphanages erected then to taken in the children left.

By: Bergbikr

Bergbikr — Thu, 26 May 2005 20:18:06 +0000

Hey Rick, That’s a pretty chilling post. There are lots of bad guys lurking out there; Ebola, Marburg, Hansa and a dozen I haven’t heard of. Recently someone with pet rodents dies and donated some body parts to some poor souls who succumbed to a animal virus present in the tissue. Pity.

Regards to Terry who admitted to Hugh Hewitt (I believe) that the media was anti-military, anti-war and therefore, by inference, liked to prune Shrub.