Hi again, James!  This is the last installment in the current series:

JB>  I saw in a news-magazine feature, where a vaccine was
JB>  driving people into adrenaline rushes and auditory,
JB>  and visual hallucinations.


          Yes... but on the surface these events aren't life-threatening to
the patient in the same way as (e.g.) kidney failure or heart attack, both
of which can also be more easily verified.  There's Loophole #1.



JB>  Statistically, afflicted patients were in such a
JB>  minority, but the families bludgeoned to death didn't
JB>  think the percentage was insignificant. Because the
JB>  effect was "insignificant" in percentages, the
JB>  manufacturer was allowed to ignore the side effect,
JB>  and it wasn't noted in the literature.


          And there's loophole #2... (sigh).

          Another problem is that the disease which the vaccine was
intended to prevent may be life-threatening to some people, e.g. the
military personnel you alluded to who may be stationed in SomePlace Else
& therefore have developed no natural immunity.  One always has to
balance the risks.  It's difficult to make an informed decision, however,
when others knowingly withhold information.  And it's frustrating when
others are convinced you must be imagining things because their sources
make no mention of whatever happens to be bugging you.



JB>  An eleven year old that was renting next door, asked,
JB>  "Why did the place seem so special when we moved in,
JB>  but now seems regular?" I told her the truth, in that
JB>  her and her sisters were a bit of a destruction crew,
JB>  and they beat that place up pretty efficiently. If
JB>  they accept that I might have a point, they can grow
JB>  from it.


          Agreed.  IMHO this kid signalled a "teachable moment"
by asking you a direct question... and I'd have responded the same way, by
telling the truth as I see it.  When I was in my early twenties, I often
hung out with a neighbour a bit younger than myself.  She had a series of
relationships which lasted only a matter of weeks.  She'd noticed I kept
coming home with one or both of the same two guys & she thought this
was so-o-o boring... until finally she asked me why she couldn't get guys
to stick around.  I took a deep breath & informed her the guys she'd
been picking up at the racetrack weren't the type who were likely to stick
around.  She didn't speak to me again for quite awhile, but she evidently
learned something.  Her next boyfriend stayed with her for three years.... 
;-)



JB>  I doubt you have a house full of cat feces, or a large
JB>  ball of used aluminum foil, but if you did - or others
JB>  reading, for that matter - you could examine the
JB>  situation and question the circumstance.


          Exactly.  I noticed a discussion in another echo awhile ago about
how somebody's grandma had an enormous ball of tin foil... not aluminum
foil, which is all I remember.  From what I understand tin is fairly
expensive.  That's why tin foil & tin-lined cans are remnants of the
past.  If folks were melting down pennies & quarters years ago, and if
they're stealing copper wire nowadays, was grandma off her rocker??  I
don't know.  Maybe she was planning to re-use it or sell it to a scrap
metal dealer some day & never quite got around to it because she wasn't
that energetic any more.  Maybe she saved it because her mother did, and
she felt she should do the same although she wasn't really sure why.  Maybe
she thought it would offer her some protection in case of an invasion by
little green men from Mars... an idea which doesn't seem quite so nutty if
the context is taken into account.  We don't always know what motivates
others.  But we can ponder what we are doing & why, and make some
adjustments as necessary....  :-)



JB>  There's a chance I will be the bad guy for trying to
JB>  make light of a very serious illness, but I think I
JB>  have license as a "recovering" horder.


          If anybody objects, send them to me... I'll give them an earful! 
You aren't making light of other people's problems.  You're seeing the
lighter side of your own problems, which I think is a healthy thing to do. 
And I think most of the regular participants in SURVIVOR will understand
your intention....  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+