RIP Gene Hackman

[BCMtnHound]

Gawd, that whole thing is so sad.

No shit. And how long it took for them to be discovered.

Is hantavirus that common in the area? To think of all the rodent infested shacks I’ve bunked in over the years in the BC wilderness ….

[plugboots]

No shit. And how long it took for them to be discovered.

Is hantavirus that common in the area? To think of all the rodent infested shacks I’ve bunked in over the years in the BC wilderness ….

I could look it up, but I recall it being discovered in the Santa Fe area, (at least New Mexico).

[BCMtnHound]

Wife was doing club stuff with a friend tonight when I came home from work, and friend was relating a story of being in Santa Fe 15+yrs ago and being warned of not buying the street vendor roasted pine nuts due to rodent infestations in the warehouse and the roasting not killing the bacteria. Had no idea it was such an issue there.
I think I preferred her stories of bedbugs and cockroaches in NY hostels.

[BCMtnHound]

Also hearing some stories same friend and wife about local folk that were in similar circumstance where the partner care provider passed and the senile partner was in the house for days before someone arrived to check. You’d think our ‘modern’ civilization would have addressed this situation in a better way.

[bodywhomper]

From the NYT piece

“Hantavirus is contracted through exposure to excrement from rodents — in New Mexico, primarily one species of mouse — and it can cause flu-like symptoms before progressing to shortness of breath, as well as cardiac and lung failure.

The infections are rare. Erin Phipps, a state veterinarian, said that over the past five years, between one and seven infections have been confirmed in New Mexico annually. But they are often fatal, killing more than 40 percent of people who have contracted the disease in New Mexico over the past 50 years.

Health department officials found that the couple’s home had “low risk” of exposure to hantavirus, but that there were signs of rodents in other structures on the property, which is in a secluded neighborhood to the east of Santa Fe.”


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[Meadow Skipper]

Hantavirus isn’t really common, but it’s nowhere near unknown in New Mexico. There are usually stories of an infection or maybe two every year in the state. Poor family - all of them including the dog.

[old goat]

What a terrible way to die for both of them--suffocating, or being so demented you don't realize your wife is dead. Death is rarely kind. Also depressing, the comments in the WAPO article about it. All the nut jobs who insist the cops made up the story and are covering up the murders.

[Harry]

Sad story. But having cared for an elderly parent, I can easily see how this happened.

Funny how the human mind works. I thought for sure that some sort of poison gas was involved. But Occum’s Razor says the true story here was always the most logical explanation.

Really feel bad for that dog.


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[mcski]

Yep, happened almost to same affect with my dad’s best buddy and his wife. They didn’t die, but it was super close. It was pretty wild how quickly things went sideways in the household. They went to a care home after that and didn’t last much longer. Doesn’t take much for things to go bad. It Def sounds like the dog got the worst of it. Sad all around

[frorider]

We are living in a time where many not only don’t understand the general validity of Occam’s razor, they actively cling to bullshit that is the very opposite.

Within my generation (gen X) the turning point I observed was that stupid fucking X Files show everyone seemed to be watching in the 90s. There’s always been books etc out there that satisfy the fringe tendency toward seeing patterns and conspiracies in everything, but that show seemed to mainstream it somehow which then morphed quickly into the internet conspiracy bullshit.

I’m not seriously proposing some grand theory here. Just saying there was a time when it seemed 99% of people I knew or worked with did not jump to conspiracy theories if a celebrity died in the home.

It’s kinda wild to think most of us know someone (relative, coworker whatever) that believes in Qanon.

RIP Gene. I watched Get Shorty last night.

[kootenayskier]

We are living in a time where many not only don’t understand the general validity of Occam’s razor, they actively cling to bullshit that is the very opposite.

Within my generation (gen X) the turning point I observed was that stupid fucking X Files show everyone seemed to be watching in the 90s. There’s always been books etc out there that satisfy the fringe tendency toward seeing patterns and conspiracies in everything, but that show seemed to mainstream it somehow which then morphed quickly into the internet conspiracy bullshit.

I’m not seriously proposing some grand theory here. Just saying there was a time when it seemed 99% of people I knew or worked with did not jump to conspiracy theories if a celebrity died in the home.

It’s kinda wild to think most of us know someone (relative, coworker whatever) that believes in Qanon.

RIP Gene. I watched Get Shorty last night.

The USA was settled by uniquely gullible people who have always been especially susceptible to bullshit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantas...a_Went_Haywire

[frorider]

Yeah I know, which is why I put in the disclaimer. It was more of personal observation regarding people in my immediate circle.

There’s no way to nail this stuff down, it’s more like a topic to kick around over beers.

[Meadow Skipper]

…Also depressing, the comments in the WAPO article about it. All the nut jobs who insist the cops made up the story and are covering up the murders.

We need skrdshtls to remind us never to read the comments. I read them, and it really does remind me of ol’ George Carlin’s line that went something like “Think about how stupid the average person is, then remember that half the people are dumber than that!”

Interesting point by frorider about X Files. I never watched that show.

[Meadow Skipper]

Reading some of those goofy comments in the WaPo about “how could they not be found?” one point I wanted to make, but didn’t, is that Hackman’s house is on the far edge of a gated community with huge lots on the far edge of town. Privacy is a strong value to the folks that live there.

When you drive to Ski Santa Fe, you pass that community as the very last homes as you move into the National Forest.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

I’m generation X and the nineties was a media vacuum for me. All kinds of music, TV and movies that I never heard of or just vaguely remember. I don’t recall conspiracy theories becoming mainstream until the advent of widespread internet access and especially smartphones social media. Any kook can post online content and a lot of people will believe it because it’s published,right?

[frorider]

I’m talking more about how the power of mainstream culture to create perceptions of reality is insane. Much has been written about how The Apprentice created the perception that Trump has business acumen.

But yeah these days it’s poorly informed kooks that have popular podcasts that are driving mainstream culture.

[old goat]

We have friends living in the boonies outside Santa Fe. Not gated, not fancy, but definitely private. It could take them a long time to be found. Or my wife and I in our house in Truckee a few feet from the neighbors--renters we never see on one side, vacation renters on the other. That's why we pay someone to clean the house--to find our bodies. It doesn't help that Truckee has hanta, we have mice, and my wife took a dead one from the dog a couple days ago.

[Meadow Skipper]

The USA was settled by uniquely gullible people who have always been especially susceptible to bullshit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantas...a_Went_Haywire

That’s an interesting link. It seems to kind of overreach in a lot of places, but there’re some nuggets.

[Meadow Skipper]

We have friends living in the boonies outside Santa Fe. Not gated, not fancy, but definitely private. It could take them a long time to be found. Or my wife and I in our house in Truckee a few feet from the neighbors--renters we never see on one side, vacation renters on the other. That's why we pay someone to clean the house--to find our bodies. It doesn't help that Truckee has hanta, we have mice, and my wife took a dead one from the dog a couple days ago.

My house is less than 3 miles from the Hackman place and it’s more likely than not that it’ll be a few days before I’m missed/found if I keel over. At least my cat’ll have something to eat.

[Vt-Freeheel]

<p>
Such a sad end to life. &nbsp;Dying from a virus possibly not knowing and mindlessly due to alzhiemers not knowing what is happening as you die of thirst</p>
<p>
&nbsp;</p>
<p>
The Duck</p>
<p>
&nbsp;</p>
<p>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUj5YvFgyK4</p>
<p>
&nbsp;</p>
<p>
Love me some X-Files</p>
<p>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNjqobBRi3E</p>

[old goat]

Meadow Skipper--cats are picky eaters. It would probably rather starve.Apparently being sick enough to die without calling for help is a NM thing, guy just died in NM from measles diagnosed by autopsy. Never sought medical care.

[bennymac]

I love cats. I think they are great pets. But I’ve seen clips of people whose job it is to go in and deal with/clean up dead people who weren’t found for a long time and they say a cat waits less than a day before deciding you’re no longer the one that brings the food but instead you are now the food. Dogs stay loyal. This actually isn’t that surprising given their personalities.

[bodywhomper]

I think plenty of elderly die alone in their homes and are not found for several days. It happened to an old coworker of mine, my friend’s neighbor, and my next door neighbor. My former coworker was found by a friend (she was pretty social), and my friend found his neighbor when checking in on her. Both died from injuries, dehydration, and starvation resulting from a fall.

My next door neighbor in north Oakland died in their house sitting on their recliner chair. She was discovered because my cat was inside the house with her, screaming at a window, was seen by a neighbor who figured something wasn’t right, opened a window after nobody answered the door, and realized something was really wrong . Our cat had been missing for a few days. We think the neighbor semi adopted our cat (lots of people did this to that cat), fed, and gave her water.

[mcski]

We didn’t know my mom had died for over two weeks. She got sick, didn’t go to the doctor, turned into pneumonia, game over. Not a pretty sight but the cats didn’t mess w her. It’s pretty common for old people to avoid calling for help and then it’s too late

[evdog]

This has been a concern for my parents. Mom has been prone to falls the last year or two. Dad is in beginner stages of Alzheimer's. But his short term memory is so bad that if she fell in the bathroom, basement or other out of sight spot he wouldn't know to be concerned that he hadn't seen her recently and wouldn't think to look for her. They both refuse to wear their hearing aids so he may not hear her hollering. We got her a medic alert necklace with automatic fall detection which has worked as intended a time or two. But she doesn't always "remember" to wear it. Between calls home from me and my sister and asking neighbors to stop in regularly to say hello hopefully we'd discover an issue pretty soon. But it's still concerning anytime we call when they don't answer when they should be home.