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I gots the con cruds which has killed The Beat dead in its tracks. Sorry about this lost week. Hopefully back in the flow for MoCCA!

BTW when I’m sick, I drink BAI coffee-tea-fruit juice. That Cosy Shack Ride Pudding and a mix of diet pepsi and orange juice (gross but effective) bring me back from the dead.

11 COMMENTS

  1. Warm 7-Up (for the water and sugar)
    Saltine crackers (easy to keep down)
    Assorted Richie Rich comics.
    Sleep between the game shows and the afternoon reruns.

    Hopefully, this will give you immunity for Chicago!

    (And that cover? How did the corpse decay so fast? And its clothes? (LOVE how it covers his naughty bits!) Where did the corpse get a candle and matches? Why is the couple having a tryst at the cemetery?)

  2. Epidemics at conventions are an interesting study – it probably lingers in the mind of anyone who heard the 1976 Philadelphia American Legion convention saga unfold in real time, and I imagine not a few Beat readers recall the hard-luck table candy dishes a while back. Of course, perhaps the most important exploration of convention health is Randy Shilts’ operatic opening of “And the Band Played On,” which presents a stunning counterpoint of a San Francisco medical convention contemporaneous with the epic gathering at the 1980 SF Pride Parade, among whose attendees was none other than Patient Zero Gaetan Dugas.

    Out of curiosity I just did a quick search for “epidemiology of conventions” and wundjaknowit, there was actually a thread with this very title on boardgamegeek.com last week, which got me thinking about a little experiment. The people-mapping from NYCC’s NSA/Orwellian RFID venture could be collated with self-reporting on Twitter, Facebook or even voluntary private reporting of the most granular sort (say, log your health afterwards for a chance at a free badge next year + other prizes) to identify the most likely vectors & vehicles for the spread of contagion, info that in turn could be useful for devising design tweaks to enhance what in marketing-speak one might call the attendees’ health experience. If it’s inevitable that going to a con means the forfeiture of privacy, it may has well have at least some positive noncommercial impact.

  3. Torsten’s got some good advice. I usually go with the BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice [Krispies, no milk], Apple Juice, and Toast), and I swear the The Price is Right has healing powers (or at least Bob Barker did).

    Also, Heidi, are you a Queens of the Stone Age fan, by chance?

  4. I hope you feel better soon!

    Also, very interested in hearing more about ” the 1976 Philadelphia American Legion convention saga”.

  5. Get well, Heidi!
    Here’s a GREAT read about public health, which summarizes outbreaks, like that 1976 Legionaires’ Disease from HVAC leaks, in brief storytelling, telling the larger story of the Epedemic Intelligence Service of Atlanta’s own CDC. The author is an Atlanta expat who has written compellingly about Coca-Cola (a local tonic, or cure) and coffee (my own, which cures nothing).
    My cure for throat: Honey, lemon, and bourbon, mixed how you like. Oh, salt water sniff, separately.
    For epizutics: yogurt and probiotic.
    For zombie entertainment: Turner Classic Movies and C-Span.

  6. Inside the Outbreaks looks like an interesting book – cool reference. It’s no doubt much more informative than anything I can say, but to Jacob Goddard’s question, the 1976 Legionnaires’ saga is the source of the term Legionnaire’s Disease – the Wikipedia entry provides a clinical summary of what happened, but the newspaper article linked below gives a bit of the flava. This was a big WTF story at the time, especially in eastern Pennsylvania where I lived at the time – a horror movie come to life where people checked into a hotel and checked out of life.

    Legionnaires’ Disease Kills The Bellevue Stratford: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19761111&id=dmBQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=V1gDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5344,2828199

    The 1976 Philadelphia Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Philadelphia_Legionnaires%27_disease_outbreak

    This is an area of interest for me for a few reasons beyond childhood memories – it’s something I think about in connection with Fashion Week tents and, of course, fan conventions, both of which offer a rather tasty target for someone wanting to leverage network dynamics to nefarious ends. Fashion Week takes this rather seriously; I’ve talked with undercover agents re what they do at SDCC re product piracy contagion, but I’m truly curious about what’s being done re bioterrorism as well as natural disease spread.

  7. Reporters used to talk about “walking the Beat” … but what is it? What did they mean? It’s the sound of your heart — the sound of all hearts — pounding against the rib-cage; proof that we’re still alive.

    Right now, I’m reading quite a bit: Mat Johnson’s Dark Rain, All-New Ghost Rider, and I’ve got some Fear Agent Library Editions on the way.

    You’ve got a Big Heart, Heidi, I hope you can make it to C2E2!

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