Science Fiction, Fantasy & Human (& other) Beings in Peril

[Silent_Water]

But it could also be that I like this movie because I am a bit prejudiced: I had two French and one Polish girlfriends during my life and they all made me sometimes look surprised like Jean Dujardin in this scene (yes, I had a really lucky life ;-) ):
and even the strip tease dancers in the bars are rather typical French dancers:

But never make a tatoo like your lover did because you might regret it sooner than you think ...


... because life can be like a "Möbius ribbon": You can land up on the other side faster than you might believe.



A beautiful spy movie with beautiful actors and wonderful facial expressions I could always recommend.

 

[Silent_Water]

By the way and in view of the occasion, I want to announce and WARN all Non-Germans that tomorrow many persons in Germany - especially in the most traditional and German-Catholic cities along the river Rhine - will make short time travels into the near future, which might influence also many tourists from abroad because the coming events of tomorrow are the German equivalent of the famous "Zombie Apocalypse": Many persons in strange or torn clothing stumbling around, making inhumane noises and talking nonsense!
Tomorrow is:

Rosenmontag - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The history teaches us that many Germans will tomorrow visit a lot of parties, take some drinks too much and will be surprised one or two days later, how they got into this place and how much time has passed since they lost their consciousness. The perfect and cheapest example of a short time travel into the future, I think.
Every year, on ...

Ash Wednesday - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

... you hear again stories like this one which is said to have really happened in Cologne some years ago:

A man wakes up on the day after Ash Wednesday in a German hospital, wondering why one of his arms and one of his legs are in plaster casts and why he has such a terrible headache. A nurse tells him that a policeman will visit him later this day to "reconstruct" the night after "Rosenmontag" when he arrived in the hospital.
Later, the policeman asked him: - "What do you remember of the evening before you lost consciousness?" - "I do not remember to have lost consciousness! I visited some parties and possibly drank a bit too much. Then I went home near the train station, went the staircase up to my bedroom, undressed and slept in my bed as far as I remember. I've got no idea why I could wake up here in this hospital with a broken leg and a broken arm!"
The policeman: - "OK, I think I can tell you now what happened. You seem to be the living proof of the saying that 'the Gods are protecting the drunk and the little children'!
You did not get onto the staircase in your house which you did not enter at all. You took a turn before to the public staircase of the big department store at the train station. You must have climbed over the chain which should keep the public from the fire exit staircase to the upper floors and you climbed the staircase to the very roof of the department store. There you went to one of the milky-white plexi-glass roof covers of the staircases inside the building. We found your trousers, some other clothes and your coat cleanly packed on one of these plexi-glass covers, so we think you thought these are beds because they end in the average height of an average bed. Then you sat on the edge of one of these covers and when you leant back to sleep, you broke through the plexi-glass and you fell 5 floors deep into the center of the staircase. Your must have broken one arm and one leg when arms and legs hit the ceilings on the way down but this made your fall slower and you survived. My colleagues found you about half an hour later because your breaking of the glass cover started an alarm at the nearest police station. You probably had also a brain concussion which prevented you from waking up. You are a really lucky guy and please drink less on the next "Rosenmontag" because your guardian angel must be tired now for a long time!"

OK, and we see, even "short time travelling" can be very dangerous!

 

[Silent_Water]

One way or the other, I think, tomorrow I will be hanging around in the carnival with some pretty girls of my age, talking about our good old times with natural landscapes in black & white photos, which showed a simplicity in art that is difficult to re-establish in modern times.

 

[old slave]

Tomorrow is:

Rosenmontag - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Visited Köln for Rosenmontag, after about 4 hours of getting pelted with sweets and little plastic bottles of 4711, and about 50 different ooompah bands, some serious alcohol was very much needed.

 

[Silent_Water]

Yes, sometimes you need a lot of alcohol to interprete all these carnival noises as "music".
I always preferred Mainz for Rosenmontag instead of Cologne because the German dialect in Cologne ("echtes Kölsch") is hard to understand - even for Germans only 100 km away - and moreover, I am a protestant christian, that means I am there everywhere in the diaspora and a heretic, ready for the stakes. I also had often the impression that the carnival costumes in Mainz are made with more love and expense for details by everyone, especially for children. When I was a child, I loved my carnivals costumes more than everything else in those times.
But from Mainz, I think I could insert here some exmplse of aliiieens ("hicks, a bit dooo mutsch alchololol, I tink!"), when I find them.
Hm, I take some from the TV-stations in Mainz, so I am sure not to violate any private rights.

By the way, I read yesterday a comment of a TV news viewer and extreme pessimist who wanted carnival in Germany to be cancelled because of the dangers of the coronavirus from China and the danger of attacks by some madmen and he was also afraid of a big coming "ALCOPALYPSE"! !?!??

The first answer to his posting was: "Where do you come from? You cannot be German! By your fear of an "alcopalypse" you show that you did understand absolutely nothing of carnival and alcohol in Germany! First, we will have enough alcohol in our blood to kill every virus you can imagine by pouring our blood over it! Second, with so much alcohol in us whe feel strong enough like superman and we can fight against every madman! Third, there is still enough alcohol in our wine cellars at the wine hills along the Rhine so that we can cope with every of your "Alcopalypses", hics! Every palypse shall come, we and our international friends will defeat it together by our allllohol and phantasy, hicks!"

If you want to know more about carnival aliens in Cologne, visit this site with its subtitles in English. OK, that was 2015 but the people are still crazy like 5 years ago:

Pictures from Mainz today from this page:

Die schönsten Kostüme an Rosenmontag in Mainz

Der Rosenmontagszug in Mainz und Hunderttausende sind unterwegs. Wir haben die originellsten Rosenmontags-Kostüme für Euch fotografiert.

www.swr.de

And again, sometimes I would really like to know what some persons think by taking this or that costume or uniform?! :

 

[Silent_Water]

And sometimes, I would really like to know how they are looking without make-up or if they are looking so good without "make-up":

Oh, in carnival you sometimes do not know if this uniform is a genuine one - real soldiers from the "US Air Force - Big Band" from Ramstein:

and finally some politics on carnival-wagons:

"Australia is everywhere!":



"There will be a Nero in every human era!"



And now I have to visit another party to keep my allloholol level hicks enough until the morning comes!
Good night to everyone!

 

[Silent_Water]

Now, I am almost sober again and I think I have seen in Mainz another costume of an "Alien Life Form" I remembered from TV some decades ago and did not see here in this thread although this ALF was a constant threat to cats and other cat-like aliens. (Oh, how fast time is running! I remember some funny scenes with this TV alien like it was yesterday but it was decades ago!)
Here Anne Schedeen looks like she is afraid of being confued with a cat, isn't she?

Another picture from a movie of those times is this one (although the world did not really need this movie because one always asked oneself: "Why am I only looking this movie? Hoping that something exciting could ever happen?")

At least this movie reminded people of someone who - by his drawings and publications - probably was the "grandfather" of BDSM in the 20th century:

http://taliakain.free.fr/gwen/John%20Willie%20-%20The%20Adventures%20of%20Sweet%20Gwendoline.pdf

And finally a remark about this "alien" coronavirus "Covid-19": Maybe I am silly in this case but I do not really understand the world-news about it. For example, Germany now has officially 21 infected persons but not one person died up to now. (I really hope this virus does not like Germans!) On the other hand, Iran has officially 95 infected persons and at least 16 persons died of this virus. (Shall we really believe the official numbers from there?) There must something different have gone wrong in different countries. (For example, the two first infected Italian tourists from China who probably started the outbreak in Italy were already released from their hospital because their tests were negative again yesterday.)
When we take into account the long incubation time and the very long time of being infectious without having a feeling of being ill (up to 12 days!), it could have been clear right from the first outbreak in Wuhan / China that no one can really stop this virus on its way through the whole world. The real problem is that no one can predict if it will mutate and how a human individual's immune system will fight against this virus. For example, there is now an older man in a special section of a hospital in Cologne who is up to now the only German who is really dangerously ill with a Covid-19-pneumonia. It is no more possible to find out the way how he got the infection but he and his wife (who worked in a kindergarten) could already have infected hundreds of other persons because they were together on a carnivals session already on 15th of February. A German soldier who knew them was there, too, and developed first symptomes of a slight influenca last Thurday (20th). Only yesterday, he heard about this family and told his officers, he might be infected with Covid-19 by this couple and he really was. The doctors say, he is even possibly almost healthy again today (27th) but he is also a healthy and fit soldier of 41 years. On the other hand, in the meantime, he himself could already have infected some German ministers because he was a member of the flight squadron which flies the German government airplanes.
So, it could be that hundreds of Germans and government members are already ill but they do not know it up to now and many of them possibly are young and fit and do not even have remarked of being infected with this virus because they think they have something like a normal influenza. Moreover, many Germans make vaccinations every year against influenza (e.g. me!) and some doctors think: "OK, we do not really know it but possibly this standard vaccination against a variety of influenza viruses also improves the average immune system and maybe, this makes the illness of 'Covid-19' less dangerous in Germany, too."
When I take all informations together, the next weeks will be very "interesting" in Germany and in the whole of Europe because I think, this new virus will become a world wide epidemia but it will be as unfair as most illnesses in our world always were: This virus affects in its most dangerous way the human lungs and so, unfortunately, it will be most dangerous for old persons, smokers and persons with a weak immune system. It is a surprise that the immune system of children seems to defeat this virus easily because there are almost no children world wide registered as patients in serious conditions. So, this illness is a negative lottery and the younger, the healthier you are and the richer the state is in which you are living, the better the conditions are for you and for all of us to survive this illness.
Good luck to everyone!

ArcGIS Dashboards Classic

who.maps.arcgis.com

 

[old slave]

Now, I am almost sober again and I think I have seen in Mainz another costume of an "Alien Life Form" I remembered from TV some decades ago and did not see here in this thread although this ALF was a constant threat to cats and other cat-like aliens. (Oh, how fast time is running! I remember some funny scenes with this TV alien like it was yesterday but it was decades ago!)
View attachment 826407 Here Anne Schedeen looks like she is afraid of being confued with a cat, isn't she?

Another picture from a movie of those times is this one (although the world did not really need this movie because one always asked oneself: "Why am I only looking this movie? Hoping that something exciting could ever happen?")
View attachment 826410
At least this movie reminded people of someone who - by his drawings and publications - probably was the "grandfather" of BDSM in the 20th century:

http://taliakain.free.fr/gwen/John%20Willie%20-%20The%20Adventures%20of%20Sweet%20Gwendoline.pdf

And finally a remark about this "alien" coronavirus "Covid-19": Maybe I am silly in this case but I do not really understand the world-news about it. For example, Germany now has officially 21 infected persons but not one person died up to now. (I really hope this virus does not like Germans!) On the other hand, Iran has officially 95 infected persons and at least 16 persons died of this virus. (Shall we really believe the official numbers from there?) There must something different have gone wrong in different countries. (For example, the two first infected Italian tourists from China who probably started the outbreak in Italy were already released from their hospital because their tests were negative again yesterday.)
When we take into account the long incubation time and the very long time of being infectious without having a feeling of being ill (up to 12 days!), it could have been clear right from the first outbreak in Wuhan / China that no one can really stop this virus on its way through the whole world. The real problem is that no one can predict if it will mutate and how a human individual's immune system will fight against this virus. For example, there is now an older man in a special section of a hospital in Cologne who is up to now the only German who is really dangerously ill with a Covid-19-pneumonia. It is no more possible to find out the way how he got the infection but he and his wife (who worked in a kindergarten) could already have infected hundreds of other persons because they were together on a carnivals session already on 15th of February. A German soldier who knew them was there, too, and developed first symptomes of a slight influenca last Thurday (20th). Only yesterday, he heard about this family and told his officers, he might be infected with Covid-19 by this couple and he really was. The doctors say, he is even possibly almost healthy again today (27th) but he is also a healthy and fit soldier of 41 years. On the other hand, in the meantime, he himself could already have infected some German ministers because he was a member of the flight squadron which flies the German government airplanes.
So, it could be that hundreds of Germans and government members are already ill but they do not know it up to now and many of them possibly are young and fit and do not even have remarked of being infected with this virus because they think they have something like a normal influenza. Moreover, many Germans make vaccinations every year against influenza (e.g. me!) and some doctors think: "OK, we do not really know it but possibly this standard vaccination against a variety of influenza viruses also improves the average immune system and maybe, this makes the illness of 'Covid-19' less dangerous in Germany, too."
When I take all informations together, the next weeks will be very "interesting" in Germany and in the whole of Europe because I think, this new virus will become a world wide epidemia but it will be as unfair as most illnesses in our world always were: This virus affects in its most dangerous way the human lungs and so, unfortunately, it will be most dangerous for old persons, smokers and persons with a weak immune system. It is a surprise that the immune system of children seems to defeat this virus easily because there are almost no children world wide registered as patients in serious conditions. So, this illness is a negative lottery and the younger, the healthier you are and the richer the state is in which you are living, the better the conditions are for you and for all of us to survive this illness.
Good luck to everyone!

ArcGIS Dashboards Classic

who.maps.arcgis.com

I'm a long retired virologist, who is amazed at the speed with which Covid-19 can now be diagnosed, and today listened on the radio to a British epidemiology professor who said much the same thing as you just said SW.

If it wasn't for the fact that it is "new" and we can rapidly diagnose it, I think it would just have been "a bad winter cold" and would have passed by unremarked.

The sight of people in face masks in crowded places makes me squirm; the virus will have settled or be smeared on door handles, handrails etc by the very fingers which took the masks off, or absent-mindedly scratched an itch.

 

[Praefectus Praetorio]

If it wasn't for the fact that it is "new" and we can rapidly diagnose it, I think it would just have been "a bad winter cold" and would have passed by unremarked.

Perhaps. But with mortality reported at ten to twenty times higher than the normal flu, its hard to think it wouldn't be noticed. I read that this mortality rate is what makes it especially dangerous. It kills a lot of people, but not o many as to slow its spread as happened with Mers and Sars.

 

[montycrusto]

Perhaps. But with mortality reported at ten to twenty times higher than the normal flu, its hard to think it wouldn't be noticed. I read that this mortality rate is what makes it especially dangerous. It kills a lot of people, but not o many as to slow its spread as happened with Mers and Sars.

I’m doing a corona artwork; (a naked woman about to be sexually ravished by a giant virus..).. if that doesn’t cure it, I don’t know what will.

 

[old slave]

with mortality reported at ten to twenty times higher than the normal flu,

But what is the denominator? Ill people, who have had a positive test? (some people have apparently died while testing negative); ill people diagnosed only clinically?; all people with the 'sniffles' whether diagnosed or not? A whole population with a positive test, whether ill or not? (some reports of a second positive infection, is this really the second, or long-lasting infection, and if the diagnosis is based on nucleic acid detection, is the virus still infectious?)

The stats are really only preliminary at this stage, and detailed studies on, say, the population of the Diamond Princess to include not just elderly customers but also fit crew will start to give a complete picture, though the science is heavily compromised by the evacuations.

Finally how accurate are the diagnoses? Some are only clinical or from an analysis of the lung. A quote from the USA Centre for Disease Control and Infection website:

Q: How do you test a person for COVID-19?

A: At this time, diagnostic testing for COVID-19 can be conducted only at CDC.

State and local health departments who have identified a person under investigation (PUI) should immediately notify CDC’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to report the PUI and determine whether testing for COVID-19 at CDC is indicated. The EOC will assist local/state health departments to collect, store, and ship specimens appropriately to CDC, including during afterhours or on weekends/holidays.

For more information on specimen collection see CDC Information for Laboratories.​

If there is no widely available test in a country like the USA, how reliable are the tests China, Iran, S Korea etc are using?

There are more known unknowns than there are knowns at the moment.

The only safe thing to do is stay indoors and communicate via CF.

 

[Praefectus Praetorio]

There are more known unknowns than there are knowns at the moment.

The only safe thing to do is stay indoors and communicate via CF.

So true. Although the last part is deeply ironic.

 

[Praefectus Praetorio]

Reporting on a new study published in JAMA, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/c...tients-fare-much-worse-than-others-2020-02-26

Note this part: No deaths occurred in those aged 9 years and younger, but cases in those aged 70 to 79 years had an 8% fatality rate and those aged 80 years and older had a fatality rate of 14.8%.

OS, we both fall in that 8% bucket I'm definitely playing it safe and remaining constantly here on CF!

 

[jacksjg89]

If there is no widely available test in a country like the USA, how reliable are the tests China, Iran, S Korea etc are using?

There are more known unknowns than there are knowns at the moment.

The only safe thing to do is stay indoors and communicate via CF.

If these countries are obviously having thousands of cases, and the US has a handful, aren't they going to dedicate more resources towards diagnosis and treatment? Or would they share that method with the rest of the world if they had a reliable way to diagnose.
At my old job, one of my former co-workers got back from China right before the outbreak became national news. He was asked to stay home for the last three weeks because he could be a carrier not showing any symptoms.

 

[jacksjg89]

Posting this here because it seems totally sci-fi and dystopian, even though THIS IS REAL!!!!

Government releases report about Orgasm-inducing mind control weapon

Terrifying.

www.pinknews.co.uk

Not sure if it's part of MKUltra or not, but still, completely insane. Also, released on accident, which after they make a movie about the female test subjects they should also make one about the poor secretary who accidentally faxed documents that should have been destroyed out to the public.

 

[Praefectus Praetorio]

But what is the denominator? Ill people, who have had a positive test? (some people have apparently died while testing negative); ill people diagnosed only clinically?; all people with the 'sniffles' whether diagnosed or not? A whole population with a positive test, whether ill or not? (some reports of a second positive infection, is this really the second, or long-lasting infection, and if the diagnosis is based on nucleic acid detection, is the virus still infectious?)

The stats are really only preliminary at this stage, and detailed studies on, say, the population of the Diamond Princess to include not just elderly customers but also fit crew will start to give a complete picture, though the science is heavily compromised by the evacuations.

Finally how accurate are the diagnoses? Some are only clinical or from an analysis of the lung. A quote from the USA Centre for Disease Control and Infection website:

Q: How do you test a person for COVID-19?

A: At this time, diagnostic testing for COVID-19 can be conducted only at CDC.

State and local health departments who have identified a person under investigation (PUI) should immediately notify CDC’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to report the PUI and determine whether testing for COVID-19 at CDC is indicated. The EOC will assist local/state health departments to collect, store, and ship specimens appropriately to CDC, including during afterhours or on weekends/holidays.

For more information on specimen collection see CDC Information for Laboratories.​

If there is no widely available test in a country like the USA, how reliable are the tests China, Iran, S Korea etc are using?

There are more known unknowns than there are knowns at the moment.

The only safe thing to do is stay indoors and communicate via CF.

Given your avatar, it is urgent that you read this, Old Slave:

As coronavirus spreads, the CDC has a very thorough guide to optimizing your facial hair for a mask

Mutton chops, chin curtains and the ever-popular beard have to be shaved off the fighters against coronavirus in the United Kingdom, the Press Association reported. Leaders of the University Hospital […]

www.boston.com

 

[messaline]

Q: How do you test a person for COVID-19?

How do you test a cruxgirl ?

Note this part: No deaths occurred in those aged 9 years and younger, but cases in those aged 70 to 79 years had an 8% fatality rate and those aged 80 years and older had a fatality rate of 14.8%.

... and how death'fatality rate has a cruxgirl here ?

 

[Praefectus Praetorio]

How do you test a cruxgirl ?

View attachment 826816



... and how death'fatality rate has a cruxgirl here ?

View attachment 826821

85-100%

 

[Apostate]

85-100%

Well, duh!

 

[twonines]

How do you test a cruxgirl ?

View attachment 826816



... and how death'fatality rate has a cruxgirl here ?

View attachment 826821

100%,naturally.