Always a Lost Cause

The Nice Guys finds the game pair of Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe, reviving the buddy movie genre that Shane Black made so popular with Lethal Weapon back in the ‘80s, in a new detective story by Black set in ‘70s Los Angeles, among the porn industry, corrupted politicians and Detroit gangsters. It’s high concept comedy with lots of action and stunts. But it falls flat on its face. It works only at times and mostly when it’s not trying to be that funny. Ryan Gosling is especially fun to watch, but the film eventually feels like a wasted efford of talent and resources. The fun of the buddy movie of the ‘80s is not coming back, even with the help of the ‘70s.

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Mustard gas answers.

Mustard “gas” is kind of a misnomer. Its actually a liquid (a chemical irritant called sulfur mustard) that gets aerosolized and sprayed throughout an area either by specially designed bomb or by airplane. The droplets hang in the air for quite a while, and cause burns and severe blistering when they come into contact with skin or mucous membranes, which they can do even through clothing or latex gloves.

The “gas” is yellow/brown and settles in low-lying areas, but since the burns and blisters don’t show up immediately (they can take up to 24 hours to appear), most people don’t know they’ve been exposed until they’ve had a high dose of the chemical. Sometimes the gas is odorless, though it can smell like mustard (hence the name), garlic, or horseradish.

The blistering can be severe, with golf ball-sized blisters called bullae filled with yellow fluid. The gas kills either by opening up a route to severe infection from the burns (it can take up to 3 weeks for these burns to heal), or by getting into the mucous membranes and either closing the airway with swelling, or by causing blisters and swelling in the lungs. This lung and airway involvement is why it is so important to wear a gas mask if a mustard attack is suspected. The gas is also a mutagen, meaning that people exposed to it have a much higher chance of cancer later in life if they survive the attack.

The quickest and most readily available treatment is to flush the person’s skin with soapy water and then with a 1% bleach solution before the blisters appear. This would have been available during WWI. Bleach helps deactivate any of the sulfur mustard remaining on the person’s skin and decreases the severity of burns that will appear. Other products, like fuller’s earth and the more modern reactive skin decontamination lotions may also aid in decontamination. None of these, unfortunately do anything for the lung and airway problems.

There is no antidote for mustard gas exposure (either now or during WWI). The main treatment is the decontamination as listed above, and then supportive therapies- cool mist or steam to help keep the airways open, painkillers, IV fluids, antibiotics (most of which would not have been available in WWI… though that’s a whole other post), and if necessary intubation and ventilation (also unavailable during WWI).

During WWI, only 5% of those exposed to mustard gas died. It was less terrifying for its deadlyness and more because it was really painful and put people out of commission for a long time. Other gases used during WWI (especially phosgene) were far more deadly and claimed far more lives.

The caladrius is a magical bird from Roman mythology. It is a white bird of indeterminate appearance which lives in the house of the king. If a member of the household falls ill, the caladrius can take the sickness into itself and then shed the ailment as it flies away.

The caladrius appeared in several Medieval bestiaries, where it is sometimes given the sinister behaviour of looking at an ill person who will recover and looking away from one who will die.

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An Aurora Borealis- Canada

The Canadian Superheroes (and a merc) according to Steve Rogers 

Note: Deadpool is Canadian too. 

A bit of July 1st history…

1200 - Chinese are credited with inventing the 1st sunglasses (however, if you read one of my earlier posts on the history of sunglasses, the Inuit actually had them 1st in 2000 bc) 

1858 - The joint reading of Darwin and Wallace’s papers on evolution to the Linnean Society

1862 - US Internal Revenue Law imposes 1st federal taxes on inheritance, tobacco, and incomes over $600

1863 - Battle of Gettysburg begins; Lee’s northward advance halted

1867 - Dominion of Canada is formed comprising the Provences of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec

1905 - Einstein introduces his Theory of Special Relativity

1908 - SOS distress signal becomes worldwide standard call for help

1944 - Bretton Woods Conference starts - leads to establishment of IMF and the World Bank

1966 - Medicare goes into effect