Go Retire Psychiatrist

Svengoolie Show Movie: “The Mummy’s Hand” and Svengoolie Cameo

Svengoolie Intro: “Calling all stations! Clear the air lanes! Clear all air lanes for the big broadcast!”

OK, I saw this movie The Mummy’s Hand (1940) last night and went to bed wondering if I was crazy or fell asleep briefly and had a dream during the show. I saw something incredible; it looked like Svengoolie had a cameo in the film! At about half hour or so in, the archaeologists are at the dig site looking at an old locket with photos of an old woman and a man. The old woman was Svengoolie in drag!

I checked this morning by looking at the Internet Archive version of the movie and there were two photos in the locket, one of them a man on the right and a woman on the left. Neither was Svengoolie.

I searched the web and immediately found the Svengoolie movie Facebook page in which several other people had seen that Svengoolie in drag was the picture on the left in the locket. Apparently, he pulls this kind of prank occasionally, but this was the first time I’ve seen it.

Anyway, the movie stars Dick Foran (Steve Banning), Wallace Ford (Babe Jenson), Peggy Moran (Marta Solvani), Tom Tyler (the Mummy), and Cecil Kellaway (Mr. Solvani). I didn’t expect the film to be a mix of comedy and horror, but making fun of the mummy tropes seemed to work.

I haven’t seen the first movie, “The Mummy.” I’ve seen “Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb,” (also on the Svengoolie show a couple of months ago) in which Babe was a little less funny than in “The Mummy’s Hand.”

The special Tana leaves again appear in this film, which privileged ancient Egyptians rolled up using Zig-Zag paper and smoked, which was better than the weak beer they made and could make mummies come back to life and enable them able to leap tall date palms in a single bound.

The evil Andohep (played by George Zucco), who is sweet on Marta and tries to flirt with her by enticing her with a Tana joint, controls the Mummy with a bong full of the stuff, which enables it to bound across the desert despite lacking the full use of its left leg and right arm.

The comedy duo of Banning and Babe talk Mr. Solvani (a stage magician) into bankrolling their next archaeologic expedition by causing a huge bar fight which Marta breaks up by using her karate skills although later she develops fake fainting spells which allow her to fall into Banning’s arms. Babe gets jealous because all he gets is a little dancing hula girl doll which seems a little out of place in the Egyptian desert but, whatever.

The action takes a side track when Babe tries to learn Mr. Solvani’s magic trick of seeming to swallow a fair size boulder but then makes it appear out of thin air to drop on a Bactrian camel (appeared in this film) which, while not native to Egypt, can gallop from central Asia to munch on Tana leaves, although apparently, they can be crushed by large rocks falling from Babe’s mouth, which occurs after he, seemingly choking on the rock, is saved by the Mummy who dislodges it by using the Heimlich maneuver. This brings them all together to fight for rescheduling Tana leaves to Schedule III by fooling all the DEA agents into believing they can learn to shoot like Marta, who’s a better shot than Annie Oakley.

This is a pretty good movie, mostly because of the Svengoolie cameo gag, and I give it a Shrilling Chicken Rating of 4/5.

Notable Song “Magnolia Road” on Big Mo Blues Show Last Night

The Big Mo Blues Show was recorded last night. I’ve got a shout-out for a song I’ve heard a couple of times now in the last few weeks. It’s “Magnolia Road” by the Allman Betts Band. I have a couple of interesting observations about it. I don’t know anything really about the Allman brothers, except what I quickly read through on Wikipedia. I know that sounds incredible. But I like this song.

The song is on an album called The Allman Betts Band: Bless Your Heart. It was released in 2020. Although I’m prone to mondegreens, I can understand most of the lyrics. I wish I could find the lyrics, but I can’t find them on the web. What comes up is a song with the same title but it’s by a different artist and, which I can find lyrics for that song, it doesn’t match the lyrics I hear by the Allman Betts Band.

One of the songs with the same name is by Ben Haggard. He’s the son of Merle Haggard. The lyrics don’t match at all, of course.

I like the feeling I get from the song. It reminds me of the 1960s-1970s era, the time of outdoor rock concerts, and being laid back. The official music video gives you a sense of that.

Maybe I’ll just ask Big Mo about how to find the lyrics.

7 Card Cribbage Hand Scoring Quiz and Update on New Cribbage Boards Shipping from Canada!

Today we played 7 card cribbage and tackled challenging hand scores. It’s quiz time! First, we got to have some rules which are here.

For convenience, the rules are copied below from Masters Traditional Games web site:

“Seven card cribbage

Only experienced players play this game – it can get quite complicated. Play is to 181 points or three times around the board. Deal seven cards to each player and one to the crib. Then each player discards two into the crib so that each hand and the crib all consist of 5 cards.

Play is the same as for standard cribbage except that a flush can consist of 4, 5 or 6 cards for 1 point each card. However, you can only score a 4 or 5 card flush if all the cards in the flush are in the hand.

The highest score under seven card cribbage is 46 which can only be scored when the six cards, including the turned up card, are 6, 6, 5, 5, 4, 4. This is a total of 6 for 3 pairs, 16 for 8 fifteens and 24 for 8 runs.”

We didn’t have flushes. We scored them and did pretty well. I missed one of the fifteens on hand B. We checked our results, so we know the right answers.

Hand A: 44556K

Hand B: 333456

For this to work as a quiz, it’s more fun if you comment. I’ll post the answers this coming Monday.

We’re getting two new cribbage boards. They’re shipping from Michaud Toys in Canada. One of them is a new giant board similar to the one we got in 2020 but fancier. We’re also getting a Cribbage Rumble board which is basically the same as a Cribbage Wars board but shaped more like the narrower giant cribbage board rather than a big square. Otherwise, the hazards and bonus zones are the same but are sort of stretched to fit on the board.

Iowa Ivermectin Bill is Funnel Proof and Apparently is Still Alive and Other Anti-Vaccination Bills (Updated 5:45 PM today)

According to a Des Moines Register story today “Which bills in the Iowa Legislature lived and died after 2nd funnel?” by Steven Gruber-Miller and Marissa Payne March 20, 2026:

“Other bills remain in play, including legislation restricting the governor’s emergency powers, allowing Iowans to buy ivermectin over the counter without a prescription and limiting tuition increases at Iowa’s public universities.”

Apparently, the ivermectin over-the-counter (OTC) bill is funnel proof and is still alive as part of HF 2676 (the Senate passed its version, SF 2367). I was not able to read the entire Des Moines Register story because I don’t have a subscription. However, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) also reported this morning (AI pops up whether I want it to or not and puts its 2 cents in) that the ivermectin bill is still alive. The 2026 legislative session is still active through April 21, 2026. My apologies. I must have misunderstood the Bleeding Heartland story I posted about on March 14, 2026.

I’m pretty sure I read the KCCI news story correctly about what bills survived the 2^nd funnel or not in a story published yesterday, which pointed out that the bill to “eliminate school vaccine requirements” did not survive the second funnel.

I couldn’t find out anything about the bill on vaccine exemptions for certain students in clinical rotations and modifying eligibility for Iowa tuition grants for postsecondary schools. A committee report approving this bill was filed on February 23, 2026, and it was subsequently renumbered as SF 2424. Unfortunately, all I can gather about it comes from an AI summary:

“Key Provisions:
- Requires postsecondary schools to identify, upon request, a rotation placement where students are exempt from vaccination requirements.
- Defines “postsecondary school” and “facility” for these purposes.
- Institutions failing to comply may lose eligibility for Iowa tuition grants and face a $5,000 civil penalty.
Status/Funnel Position: As of Feb 23, 2026, the bill was on the Senate calendar and passed by the Senate Education Committee. In the context of the second funnel deadline (March 20, 2026), which requires policy bills to have passed out of a committee in the opposite chamber, this bill (formerly SF 2095) is moving through the process, but as of the initial 2026 reports, its exact final position relative to the March 20 deadline is subject to final Legislative Service Agency tracking.
Context: The bill was introduced by the Senate Education Committee.”

This legislative process is confusing to me and I may need to correct this later today.

UPDATED:

Addendum per Iowa Capital Dispatch today:

What survived:

“Governor’s ‘MAHA’ bill: House File 2676 was proposed by Reynolds to codify restrictions on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program eligible food items, make ivermectin accessible over the counter and prohibit food dyes in school meals. The bill passed from the House with several amendments, including one to limit screen time in elementary schools, another asking to waive school lunch nutrition guidelines to instead include more regional foods like beef, pork and dairy and another that sets extracurricular requirements in schools. The bill was attached to Senate File 2367 and placed on unfinished business.”

What died:

Immunization requirements: K-12 immunization requirements for attending school would have been removed under House File 2171, which passed the House Education Committee but was not taken up for floor debate.

Vaccinations: Senate File 2424, amended and passed by the Iowa Senate Education Committee Feb. 18, would require private colleges and universities with clinical rotation programs to identify placements where students are exempt from any vaccination requirements put in place by the host of their rotation placement. The legislation failed to see Senate debate.

Hydroxychloroquine: The governor’s “MAHA” bill, which survived the funnel, included a provision allowing over-the-counter dispensing of ivermectin. But a separate measure, House File 2056, allowing dispensing of both ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, a prescription medication typically used in treating malaria which is also promoted by non-verified sources as a means to manage or treat symptoms of COVID-19, died during the first funnel.”

Waiting for the Second Funnel in Iowa Legislature on Anti Vaccination Bills 2026

I’ve been trying to track the two anti-vaccination bills heading into the 2^nd funnel in Iowa and I guess I’ll just have to wait until tomorrow’s news reports.

One of them is HF 2171 which would eliminate Iowa’s requirement that children in grades K-12 receive vaccines before they can attend school. The other is SF 2095 (replaced by SF 2424, I believe) which would require postsecondary private schools to find clinical rotation training facilities for students in health care fields which would allow them to be exempt from any vaccine requirements.

I don’t expect either to survive the funnel, but I’m surprised that these bills were introduced at all given the risks of reducing the protection against communicable diseases as set by current public health policy.

I found a research paper on anti-vaccination legislation in mid-western states in which one of the authors, Filip Viskupič is a scholar who represents Iowa State University.

Reference:

Filip Viskupič, David L. Wiltse, Zachary Liebl, Tobias Kinslow,

The prevalence and nature of anti-vaccination legislation in ten midwestern states: Implications for public health and policy,

Vaccine,

Volume 79,

2026,

128452,

ISSN 0264-410X,

(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X26002604)

Abstract: Legislative proposals that could lower vaccination rates pose a threat to public health in the United States. We tracked and analyzed anti-vaccination bills proposed in the legislatures of ten Midwestern states from 2013 to 2024. We used the LegiScan database to search for bills, and three researchers independently classified each identified bill. We classified 374 bills as anti-vaccination bills. The legislative sessions during 2021–2022 saw 222 anti-vaccination bills proposed, mostly concerning COVID-19 vaccination. During 2023–2024, 101 bills were proposed; however, these bills were broader in scope, covering vaccines beyond COVID-19. Most anti-vaccination bills were introduced by Republican lawmakers and only 9 had Democratic sponsorship or co-sponsorship, and only 22 were signed into law. Scholars should continue systematically tracking and analyzing anti-vaccination proposals and other bills impacting public health.

Keywords: Vaccine policy; Anti-vaccine; Health Policy; Health Politics

CDC ACIP Meeting Postponed for Today and Tomorrow

I missed the recent notice in the last couple of days that the CDC ACIP meeting was postponed for today and tomorrow. Me and more than a couple dozen people were kept waiting for a half hour before I got suspicious and looked it up. There’s a CIDRAP story posted yesterday that explains the “delay.”

There was a federal district judge ruling two days ago “…temporarily blocks every major vaccine policy change made by President Trump’s administration over the past year. The ruling came in response to the ongoing lawsuit filed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and five other major medical organizations against Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.”

There is no message on the CDC ACIP webcast site about this and at the moment I’m writing this, there are still 41 people waiting for the YouTube webcast. I figured they were just getting coffee and bagels. There should have been an announcement by the CDC ACIP.

No wonder there was no agenda.

9 Card Cribbage Comedy!

Sena’s been after me for weeks to play 9 card cribbage, so because it’s St. Patrick’s Day, I gave in because we might get lucky and the game might be playable.

We used a computer scorer developed by somebody who posted about 9 card cribbage (and other cribbage variants) and has a link to a program he developed to help with scoring: skunked.club. I found this on a reddit thread.

We got so involved and had so much fun, we lost track of time and couldn’t film the last hand because there wasn’t enough space on the memory card. We used the scorer to check our counts and it was helpful. Sena won!

Iowa Blizzard Update!

The blizzard started yesterday evening. I put out the garbage this morning and scraped out a path to our doorstep in case we get the cribbage boards delivered today from Canada. I’m not expecting it.

It’s still blowing snow around. The stuff is freezing on the driveway and the sidewalks. I’m surprised the garbage can is still upright. It won’t be a good day for using the electric snow shovel. The blades might not stand up to the thick icy crust. I’ll make do with the shovel. The plow just went by.

Looks like Bigfoot survived it.

Ivermectin Bill Looks Like It’s Dead-For Now

This is a quick followup on the progress of Governor Reynolds MAHA bill which included a piece endorsing making Ivermectin available over-the-counter in Iowa. I just read a story about what looks like the disappearance of the ivermectin from Reynold’s bill. The story, written by Laura Belin, comes from a webpage called Bleeding Heartland: An independent website about Iowa politics.

I don’t follow politics avidly (putting it mildly), but I think I understand a short paragraph from Ms. Belin’s article”:

“The Senate didn’t advance the governor’s bill. Instead, Senate Health and Human Services Committee chair Kara Warme introduced her own “health-related matters” bill, which got through committee and is eligible for floor debate. That legislation (Senate File 2367) incorporated the governor’s proposals on nutrition education, certificates of need for health care facilities, federal food assistance, and food dyes in schools, but left the ivermectin language on the cutting room floor.”

It looks like another anti-vaccine bill bit the dust—for now. I would cheer, but I know better. I expect somebody will resurrect it at some time in the future. I hope Dr. Austin Baeth is still around when it happens.