bird flu from asia?

[//\/\/]

...whoops - everybody looking the wrong way, at the wrong animal. looks like it could be swine flu that scythes its way through the human race...:(

[Dunwho]

I just hope this Swine Flu has got personality...


...for as the good book says...
[VINCENT]
You want some bacon?

[JULES]
No, man, I don't eat pork.

[VINCENT]
Are you Jewish ?

[JULES]
No, I ain't Jewish, i just don't dig on swine, that's all.

[VINCENT]
Why not?

[JULES]
Pigs are filthy animals. I don't eat filthy animals.

[VINCENT]
But bacon tastes good, pork chops taste good...

[JULES]
Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie,
But I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfuckers.
Pigs sleep and root in shit, that's a filthy animal.
I don't eat nothin' that ain't got sense enough to disregard its own feces.

[VINCENT]
How about a dog? A dog eats its own feces

[JULES]
I don't eat dog either

[VINCENT]
Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal?

[JULES]
I wouldn't go so far as to call a dog filthy, but it's definately dirty.
But, dogs got personality, personality goes a long way.

[VINCENT]
So by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filty animal. Is that true?

[JULES]
We' have to be talkin' 'bout one charmin' motherfuckin' pig.
I mean he'd have to be ten times more charmin' than that Arnold on Green Acres, you know what I'm sayin'?

[Rog]

its an H1N1 strain so it might not be as bad as the media are scaring us with. H1N1 strains have been around for a long time and caused the 1918 pandemic which killed millions. a fair number of the population may have some immunity like me - i've had real influenza twice. Hopefully it won't be as bad as it could be....but the american virologists don't know whether there's any genetic mutations to make it more virulent yet.......

[Dirty0900]

Sure The Daily Mail will ease our fears.

[Dunwho]

Sure The Daily Mail will ease our fears.

FREE!

IN THIS WEDNESDAYS DAILY MAIL......GET YOUR FREE SWINE FLU SAMPLE!


ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!

FREE!

DONT WAIT FOR THE VIRUS TO COME TO YOU
THE BEST DEFENCE IS A GOOD OFFENCE!!!

FREE!

ABSOLUTELY FREE!
Each free sample costs £0.50 and loss of life

[Deckard]

...and next weekend, we're giving away this GLORIOUS wallchart tracing Britain's MAGNIFICENT historic battle against bird flu, a tribute which you and your WHOLE (decidedly white-looking) FAMILY can enjoy...

And the following day: the GREAT SARS PANDEMIC of 2003. How the nation pulled together and did us all PROUD.

In FULL COLOUR.

FREE. Yes.... FREE.

Don't miss it.
In next weekend's Daily Mail.

[mmm skyscraper]

Has Madagascar closed its port yet?

[Troy McClure]

Well the governor of Texas needs to make up his mind. First he brought up secession talk on April 15 when talking to the tea-baggers, and now he is requesting help from the feds.

http://www.sanmarcosrecord.com/local/local_story_115145845.html

"Gov. Rick Perry today in a precautionary measure requested the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide 37,430 courses of antiviral medications from the Strategic National Stockpile to Texas to prevent the spread of swine flu. Currently, three cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Texas."

-Jason

[matt]

its an H1N1 strain so it might not be as bad as the media are scaring us with. H1N1 strains have been around for a long time and caused the 1918 pandemic which killed millions. a fair number of the population may have some immunity like me - i've had real influenza twice. Hopefully it won't be as bad as it could be....but the american virologists don't know whether there's any genetic mutations to make it more virulent yet.......Why let the facts get in the way of the good story?

Especially if it means the Mail can print 'Killer Flu on its way to Britain' in inch high letters on its front page and then have a dig inside at how the Government's lack of preparation could leave millions to die.

[chuck]

It's the media hysteria that's insane - the TV news here in NZ led with a whole bunch of whizz-bang statistics, about numbers of exposed people, who had been where, when they had been there - flight numbers, the number of people being tracked down by health and immigration, the fact that the Ministry of Health was operating at CODE YELLOW- you know the level where "something, somewhere might be being done by someone, and we need to maybe do something about that potentially explosive somewhat" - to paraphrase American Dad - and OMG - there's more planes landing from LAX that have people who may have been somewhere near Mexico - and we cut now to 4 different reporters doing live crosses from outside a. a school, b. the airport, c. a hospital, d. an imposing looking structure - because that sort of conduct is PROFESSIONAL REPORTING -AND THE PUBLIC HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW! RIGHT NOW!! ALL THE TIME!!

WHERE'S THE GRAPHICS GUY WITH THE SCROLLING UPDATE - OF EVERYTHING I'VE JUST SAID!!

And I want the graphics exploding across the screen, in a fireball - you know, like the guys at FOX do theirs - because FFS!! That's real mofo news.

Oh. and 5 minutes into the bulletin - we point out, very briefly and quietly, and the graphic is in the smallest font we can get away with - because it might make us a look a little silly if people actually notice the small fact that....

Not one single person has been diagnosed with swine flu.


It's not just the TV though - here's a headline from the business section of the NZ Herald.

Currency: Swine flu forces dollar lower (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10568913)


Which is outstanding - except that when you read down to the 5th paragraph - you get this - the actual money quote.

BNZ Capital currency strategist Danica Hampton said swine flu was an issue at the margins in the foreign exchange market.


"People know about it. People are talking about it but it is not really the big driver of the currency.


"What we have seen today is a reversal of the squeeze we saw on Friday night," she said.




you know- the squeeze that happened before the swine flu news broke.

[//\/\/]

WHERE'S THE GRAPHICS GUY WITH THE SCROLLING UPDATE - OF EVERYTHING I'VE JUST SAID!!

And I want the graphics exploding across the screen, in a fireball - you know, like the guys at FOX do theirs - because FFS!! That's real mofo news.



my current favourite charlie brooker quote is about news graphics - ''it's like watching tron through a kaleidoscope'' :D

[Deckard]

And I want the graphics exploding across the screen, in a fireball - you know, like the guys at FOX do theirs - because FFS!! That's real mofo news.
It's REAL MAN'S news, that's what it is.

Btw, I'm hearing the only way to stop the spread of this outbreak is by plunging a metal spike into the inner cortex of one of the infected. Otherwise, do not approach, I repeat: do NOT approach.

A hanky will also be useful.

[Rog]

Why let the facts get in the way of the good story?

Especially if it means the Mail can print 'Killer Flu on its way to Britain' in inch high letters on its front page and then have a dig inside at how the Government's lack of preparation could leave millions to die.

LOL! spot on:D

[Rog]

It's REAL MAN'S news, that's what it is.

Btw, I'm hearing the only way to stop the spread of this outbreak is by plunging a metal spike into the inner cortex of one of the infected. Otherwise, do not approach, I repeat: do NOT approach.

A hanky will also be useful.


Stop everyone from leaving/entering mexico might work..........:p

[chuck]

It's REAL MAN'S news, that's what it is.

Btw, I'm hearing the only way to stop the spread of this outbreak is by plunging a metal spike into the inner cortex of one of the infected. Otherwise, do not approach, I repeat: do NOT approach.

A hanky will also be useful.

I was told it a "wet" hanky was more effective.

Back during the SARS/bird flu outbreak - there was a run on those 3M paper masks - for people flying to Asia from NZ - chemists were cleaning up.

And you'd see people lining up to check in and boarding the flights wearing said masks. Thing is - if you read the fine print, the masks were only effective at repelling air-borne bacteria/dust/KILLERVIRUSES!!!! for approximately 3 hours.

Which doesn't make much sense - when these potential victims were getting on board a 10 hour flight to Bangkok.

Also - all these potential victims would of course lift the soul-protecting paper mask to their head when their tray of highly ionized food was brought to their seat.

KILLER VIRUS!!! FLYING PIGS!!! HYSTERIA!!

ARMEGGEDON IT.

Where's that one-armed drummer when I really need one?

[chuck]

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/swine_flu.png


http://xkcd.com/574/

In a similar vein - I cooked fajitas tonight - and drank a Corona - will that mean I get sick soon?

[the mongoose]

Don't worry, everything will be just swine.

[Deckard]

I notice several cartoonists - such as Martin Rowson and Morten Morland below - are making the link between sick pigs and the sick state of capitalism/fat bankers:

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/04/27/rowson.jpg
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00530/Cartoon_530539a.jpg


And hot on the heels of anguished-looking traders (http://www.darktrain.org/dirty/forums/showpost.php?p=103677&postcount=143), I now give you: anguished members of public with masks.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45705000/jpg/_45705114_stadium_ap226longx.jpghttp://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/americas_mexico_flu_outbreak/img/laun.jpghttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00530/Mask_swine_flu_530780a.jpghttp://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00167/kids-mexico_167862c.jpg

Fajitas and Corona, eh?

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

I'm sure the boy in photo #2 is saying "Fk this".

[matt]

Oh dear (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ieHZRubAS3lyjn2GBiCPkXkHrXwwD97QROAG0)

JERUSALEM (AP) — The outbreak of swine flu should be renamed "Mexican" influenza in deference to Muslim and Jewish sensitivities over pork, said an Israeli health official Monday.
Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman said the reference to pigs is offensive to both religions and "we should call this Mexican flu and not swine flu," he told a news conference at a hospital in central Israel.
Both Judaism and Islam consider pigs unclean and forbid the eating of pork products.
Scientists are unsure where the new swine flu virus originally emerged, though it was identifed first in the United States. They say there is nothing about the virus that makes it "Mexican" and worry such a label would be stigmatizing.
Two Israelis who recently visited Mexico have been hospitalized with symptoms of the flu. Health authorities have not yet confirmed whether they actually have the virus.
The current strain of swine flu is thought to have originated in Mexico where more than 100 people have been killed by the disease so far.
Laboratories in the U.S. and Canada have confirmed that of the samples tested so far, the swine flu virus in Mexico and U.S. appear to be the same.

[Dunwho]

Oh dear (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ieHZRubAS3lyjn2GBiCPkXkHrXwwD97QROAG0)

So .... let me get this straight...

..dont call it swine flu so as not to refer to an animal they already consider unclean...

...instead lets call it Mexican Flu and refer to a whole nation of millions directly.... and effectively call them unclean?

...hmmmm that doesnt insult anybody at all at all!

[//\/\/]

call it "death-ray oogie-boogie monster flu"

[Dirty0900]

1000+ cases, population of 25 million. Do the maths kidz.

[Sean]

call it "death-ray oogie-boogie monster flu"If they actually called it this, I would kind of hope I die from it just so that "death-ray oogie-boogie monster flu" could be written as cause of death in my obituary.

The whole swine flu thing is a mountain out of a mole-hill, period. I simply can't seem to care about it at all let alone be freaked out.

[Dunwho]

Hey hey now, you could do worse.....

....you could be Sting

[Deckard]

1000+ cases, population of 25 million. Do the maths kidz.
Yup. The media routinely tell us 'X people are infected' or 'X people have died' but they almost always neglect to add '...out of Y population'. Although I guess even quoting the population figure would fail to quell the panic when the gut is being bombarded by images telling a more frightening story.

Sure this could turn into a major catastrophe, but lots of things could happen. Telling us something could happen tells us nothing.

[chuck]

You think you guys have it bad.

WE NOW HAVE CONFIRMED CASES OF SWINE/MEXICAN FLUE IN NEW ZEALAND!!!!

But apparently - as these students who arrived back from Mexico on the weekend, have had the Tamiflu anti-virus, and have been in quarantine for 5 days - they can all go back to school on Thursday.

Yeah - the day after tomorrow. WTF?

And in other news in which hyperbole gets the better of a reporter and a police officer - apparently NZ's roads are akin to the 'Killing Fields' (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10568785).

Yes, that's right - 13 people dead in car accidents somehow compares to the execution of approximately 200,000 people and the deaths of a further 1.5million.

I despair, I really do.

[Future Proof]

Aww man... and the hysteria has even got some of my friends involved. I found this in my e-mail today:


someone left a comment on the info wars website that i thought was interesting. check it out:

My inlaws work for the CDC and a conversation came up about weaponized biowarfare and how to distribute it. We were talking about a terror attack by a government like North Korea.

They said the most likely scenario would be influenza, done in three parts.

1) Engineer a normal flu strain

2) Engineer a avian flu strain, H5N1
These first two would be designed to be highly infectious but with mild symtoms, they would stay dormant until a 3rd strain was introduced to combine all three into a super bug.

3) Distribute the 3rd strain that is also highly infectious by means of water, air, direct contact, vaccines etc.

I’m not saying that this is whats happening but I thought I’d share.


i think that if this thing really spreads and the government starts mandating that people get vaccinated, we should all be very suspicious and very cautious indeed.
in the mean time, let's all wash our hands, take vitamin c, seek god, be grateful for each day, and enjoy this gorgeous spring time weather:)

/facepalm
























/endfacepalm

[Sean]

Aww man... and the hysteria has even got some of my friends involved. I found this in my e-mail today:



/facepalm
























/endfacepalmThat's it. I'm buyin' a gun today and camping out on the roof until armageddon is about wrapped up.

[Future Proof]

That's it. I'm buyin' a gun today and camping out on the roof until armageddon is about wrapped up.

Oh wicked man, I'll bring an acoustic guitar and sing folk songs around the funeral pyre!

[Dunwho]

How about a good book burning?

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

and bras!!!!

[Dunwho]

Wait... there are cases in Great Britain...maybe some more in Europe... some in China?

I didnt know pigs could fly!

[bas_I_am]

Hey hey now, you could do worse.....

....you could be Sting

oh man... that WOULD suck....

[Sean]

Oh wait....did we say 152 deaths worldwide from swine flu? We actually meant 7 (http://www.smh.com.au/world/only-7-swine-flu-deaths-not-152-says-who-20090429-aml1.html). Sorry 'bout that. And only just now, after 7 whole confirmed worldwide deaths, is the scourge of swine flu finally starting to taper off (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090429/ap_on_re_us/lt_swine_flu_mexico). Dodged a bullet there....:rolleyes:

[Dunwho]

http://dynimg.rte.ie/0002417310dr.jpg


Here it is guys... CCTV photo of the swine flu virus entering a Tesco and hurting all but everybody in there.....

.... if you see it...beat the living shit outa it!

ITS DANGEROUS! (i am told)

[joethelion]

yea - I keep going from being totally paranoid about this... then I stop for a second and realize, I have much bigger things on my plate right now and I really shouldn't waste the mental energy

but what I will say - is that I am generally a bit paranoid about getting sick. Not that I'm afraid of going to the hospital, etc (when I was little my dad (who's a doctor) would take me on rounds) - it's just more about the fact that I ALWAYS seem to get sick

plus it doesn't help that the ENTIRE art department at the University of Iowa now shares one big structure (it's a renovated "Menards" - a hardware,etc type store) ... and guess how many bathrooms there are?

ONE

and there's already been "a bad bug" that went through our printmaking department (which is what I do)

[chuck]

Daily Show.

Snoutbreak 09 (http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=225152&title=snoutbreak-09-the-last-100-days)

'Nuff said.

[Dunwho]

Daily Show.

Snoutbreak 09 (http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=225152&title=snoutbreak-09-the-last-100-days)

'Nuff said.

Ha i love the comment underneath it, as if from behind enemy lines or something

"I"m living in Mexioc City. we are fine"

[Rog]

well when i tried to get some information on swine flu by phoning the NHS helpline,............all i got was crackling:p















and apparently one of the swine flu symptoms is that people act rasher............

[Troy McClure]

I'm just going to hide in my bunker, follow the apocalypse via Google Maps:
http://tinyurl.com/swinemap09

And listen to Pink Floyd's 'Animals' on a loop.

Jason

[chuck]

Or the Beatles...

"
Have you see the little piggies
crawling in the dirt
And for all the little piggies
Life is getting worse
Always having dirt
to play around in

Have you see the bigger piggies
In their starched white shirts
You will find the bigger piggies
Stirring up the dirt
Always have clean shirts
to play around in

In their sties with all their backing
They don't care what goes on around
In their eyes there's something lacking
What they need's a darn good whacking

Everywhere there's lots of piggies
Living piggy lives
You can see them out for dinner
With their piggy wives
Clutching forks and knives
to eat their bacon "


One more time

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

And the phrase, "I gonna write a song!" can still be funny:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/29/swine.flu.song.music/index.html

[Deckard]

Ian's favourite Republican is up to no good ([URL="http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0409/Dems_in_power_during_flu_Bachmann_notes.html?showa ll) again...

"I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence."

How exactly is this coincidence more interesting than other coincidences, Michelle? Do tell...

(Never mind that the '76 swine flu scare happened on Ford's watch not Carter's)

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

(Never mind that the '76 swine flu scare happened on Ford's watch not Carter's)


You may just solved a riddle right there on your own. But, ya know, they've never lied to us before, or anything, so let's give 'em the benefit of the doubt...


********

And more ironical twists of fate: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/30/religion.torture/index.html

"You become what you hate" ring any bells????

Thank GOD I don't hate straight people!!!!!

[//\/\/]

maybe she'll stop ranting about 'open borders' if this (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518572,00.html) turns out to be true...

...and maybe apologise to mexico/retract her stories/do the decent and responsible thing and point it out?:rolleyes:

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

Yeah, and in defense of Biden, look at it this way, with the past V.P. everything he said, in the beginning, was GENIOUS, then, uh-oh, no it wasn't.

With Biden, everything he says, in the beginning, is stupid, then, later, it'll be "He's a GENIOUS!". Common sense has become the new genious, I think.

I comma alot on purpose.

[Deckard]

Hey jOHN, I love the ironic misspelling of 'GENIOUS'

Clever! ;)

Also, commas are good, but *cough* "a[space]lot" *cough*

(Ok, enough pedantry from me - for now)

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

Hey jOHN, I love the ironic misspelling of 'GENIOUS'

Clever! ;)

Also, commas are good, but *cough* "a[space]lot" *cough*

(Ok, enough pedantry from me - for now)

You left out the "B" word. I love it when you call me that.

[Deckard]

...bitch!

[Deckard]

I'm so sorry I've only been posting crap these last few days (what do you mean these just last few days?) but finally, here's something useful:

http://doihaveswineflu.org/

(ok, really, that's the last)

[Dunwho]

Oh no we have it here in Ireland too now... although he is doing well...so swine flu is more like a swine cold....

[Deckard]

Swine cold still sounds scary though! It's just that name swine. And pig. I think the name has a lot to do with the trepidation.

They should rename it something less scary, like "the sniffles".

[Dunwho]

Swine cold still sounds scary though! It's just that name swine. And pig. I think the name has a lot to do with the trepidation.

They should rename it something less scary, like "the sniffles".

Or as we would say in Ireland.....

...I think that chap has a "dose"!

[cacophony]

maybe she'll stop ranting about 'open borders' if this (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518572,00.html) turns out to be true...

...and maybe apologise to mexico/retract her stories/do the decent and responsible thing and point it out?:rolleyes:
admittedly i don't have the energy to read this whole thread, and i'm sure there are awesome little tidbits sprinkled throughout, but why should anyone apologize for making statements on the origin of this virus? life isn't like CSI, the CDC doesn't walk onto the scene of a breakout and know everything instantly. it's going to be a long time before this thing is fully understood. anyway, i'm probably responding to something that wasn't intended as i read it.

i'm concerned that people are becoming cynical about the warnings and preparation and press coverage now that the virus is proving to be less deadly than we feared. like because the worst didn't happen we should blame the government or media or whathaveyou for "fearmongering." just seems like the way the wind is blowing. but the fact is, there was no way of knowing in the beginning how serious this new illness would be. based on reports of deaths and a very rapid spread it made sense to mobilize the way everyone did. still, it just seems like that cynicism is out there on the horizon. we didn't all die, so why did we bother caring?

the way these viruses typically work, it will be back next fall and it will actually be worse and harder to fight off. i just hope we haven't decided this was a "cry wolf" situation here and decide to ignore the warnings next flu season.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

O.K. guys, don't give up your day job. Unless you've already been laid(in a bad way)...

Those last two jokes bombed, crickets, angry audience, ...


Wanna hear a crazy joke? In one (1) day, Mexico's death from the swine cold/"dose"/flu went from 100+ to 16??? How does that happen?

[Deckard]

admittedly i don't have the energy to read this whole thread, and i'm sure there are awesome little tidbits sprinkled throughout, but why should anyone apologize for making statements on the origin of this virus? life isn't like CSI, the CDC doesn't walk onto the scene of a breakout and know everything instantly. it's going to be a long time before this thing is fully understood. anyway, i'm probably responding to something that wasn't intended as i read it.

i'm concerned that people are becoming cynical about the warnings and preparation and press coverage now that the virus is proving to be less deadly than we feared. like because the worst didn't happen we should blame the government or media or whathaveyou for "fearmongering." just seems like the way the wind is blowing. but the fact is, there was no way of knowing in the beginning how serious this new illness would be. based on reports of deaths and a very rapid spread it made sense to mobilize the way everyone did. still, it just seems like that cynicism is out there on the horizon. we didn't all die, so why did we bother caring?

the way these viruses typically work, it will be back next fall and it will actually be worse and harder to fight off. i just hope we haven't decided this was a "cry wolf" situation here and decide to ignore the warnings next flu season.
Fair points. For the most part I have no problem with the WHO and individual governments taking the precautionary actions, making the statements and issuing the advice they did. The cynicism and ridicule is firmly aimed at the prism through which we received it all.

Yes I know it's become a bit cliched to "blame it all on the meeja" but that's only because so often, they are to blame.

The way I see it, risk is something that needs to be assessed and presented as responsibly as possible, if for no other reason than that our guts have a tendency to run away with us.

Prioritising this story at the beginning was understandable and fine. Taking an alarmist approach is also fine if the risk is high or likely to be high. But stupidly disproportionate coverage (that's even leaving aside the *content* of the coverage - just the amount of it all) serves little purpose other than to scare. For the most part, pointlessly. Front pages screaming about "Killer Pig Flu", specially-themed TV idents, endless coverage - these things are IMO fully deserving of our contempt and ridicule.

I'm glad the media received a kicking over this. If it makes them more considered next time, that can only be a good thing. My fear, like you, is that it won't, and if it turns out to be The Big Pandemic, people may fail to appreciate its severity.

But that will because the news will have used up all its big shouty headlines and graphics back in 2009.

I think, for the most part, people heard and heeded the necessary advice (travel, hygiene) but recognized the bullshit fearmongering. I hope anyway.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

... For the most part, pointlessly...


Buuuuuut, not for those who make money off the vaccinations though. ;) (not like that, I'm just being a smartass)

I have to add, I don't take flu shots. For three or four years(1998-2001) I did & each of those years I got the flu 2-3 times each year. Go figure. I a bit different though, I guess, drugs don't seem to effect me like other people.

****

O.K., I just got into trouble. Again. It's not like I'm making this shit up.

[Strangelet]

And maybe make a concerted effort to tell the truth without couching it in marketing slogans. Its H1N1. Not swine flu, beaner flu, democrat flu, gay marriage flu. H1N1.


an exception is "aporkalypse". that's a keeper.

[cacophony]

I have to add, I don't take flu shots. For three or four years(1998-2001) I did & each of those years I got the flu 2-3 times each year. Go figure. I a bit different though, I guess, drugs don't seem to effect me like other people.
no, you just don't understand the flu vaccine. there are many many different strains of flu. every year one or more of these strains makes the round. it is IMPOSSIBLE to create one vaccine for every single strain of the flu in a single shot. and it is equally IMPOSSIBLE to predict which virus will spread and cause the biggest health risk each season. medical experts whose livelihood is basically nothing but predicting, tracking, and studying viruses do their best to make an informed judgment call on which strain of the flu will spread each season, and vaccines are ordered into production based on that estimation.

if you received a flu shot and you encountered someone who carried a different strain, you got the flu anyway.

fortunately for everyone, any flu vaccine will boost your ability to fight off the other strains, even though you won't get full protection. so even though you ended up getting sick, you didn't get as sick as you would have if you had been completely unvaccinated.



sorry... i work for webmd. this is all we've been dealing with for the last week.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

Well, I've had only had the flu once since I stopped taking the flu shot.

My dad was the same way.

But it is true, drugs do not affect/effect(which ever, too lazy right now) me in the same way as the average person. I.E. if labeling states one may get diarehha, I get constipated! If labeling states you'll be constipated, I get diarehha! If labeling states one may feel droggy, I'm hyper and vise versa. I remember, when I had medical insurance, my doctor telling me, "Why don't you just exorcise(sp?)?"

I choose to be drug free. :)

Another example, I just had a root canal and the doctor wanted to prescribe me some kind of drug. I asked if I could just take ibuprofen if I had pain, he said to take in 600-800 mg. A few days later he called to see how I was doing or if I needed the prescription & I told him I didn't even need the ibuprofen stuff. He said, "That's freakish." I replied with, "Thanks!".

How are the twins Momma?



*****

Dammit. Get your flu shots, if you die I don't want anyone blaming me. I'm not.

[Sean]

admittedly i don't have the energy to read this whole thread, and i'm sure there are awesome little tidbits sprinkled throughout, but why should anyone apologize for making statements on the origin of this virus? life isn't like CSI, the CDC doesn't walk onto the scene of a breakout and know everything instantly. it's going to be a long time before this thing is fully understood. anyway, i'm probably responding to something that wasn't intended as i read it.

i'm concerned that people are becoming cynical about the warnings and preparation and press coverage now that the virus is proving to be less deadly than we feared. like because the worst didn't happen we should blame the government or media or whathaveyou for "fearmongering." just seems like the way the wind is blowing. but the fact is, there was no way of knowing in the beginning how serious this new illness would be. based on reports of deaths and a very rapid spread it made sense to mobilize the way everyone did. still, it just seems like that cynicism is out there on the horizon. we didn't all die, so why did we bother caring?

the way these viruses typically work, it will be back next fall and it will actually be worse and harder to fight off. i just hope we haven't decided this was a "cry wolf" situation here and decide to ignore the warnings next flu season.For me, the problem is that reporting on this was blown out of proportion to the point that it's probably hurt more people than the flu itself has. The pork industry - which has zero chance of actually spreading the H1N1 flu - has taken a big hit (http://www.imperialvalleynews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5389&Itemid=1), entire pig farms are being culled (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/03/2559200.htm?section=world), and in Egypt, Christian pig farm owners are even having to physically fight off (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hYolUUv3mSkHkS3537SkR9RYOmZA) those who would force them to unnecessarily destroy their livelihoods. So while I agree that it's worthwhile to be cautious and prepare for the worst just in case, the reporting has been sensationalized to an unreasonable extent, and has single-handedly caused an unreasonable, damaging and dangerous panic around the entire globe - all in the name of having that attention-grabbing lead story every day whether it's warranted or not.

[Dunwho]

Jeeeze when did this get so serious?

Im just wondering... do you think there is an evil pig out there... gettin a little extra muddy... maybe sticking his snout in a bit of charlie and has been gettin 'round a bit...

....all the pigs know who he is but nobody wants to say it....they are afraid... cus this pig means business...

...i mean its real hard to come back after such a crash and burn as he experience... one day it was king of the farm and red carpet "ho downs"....next day it was being beat up in an alley way in the bad part of town...high on shit heroine...and willing to sell his own ass for a hit...

....what was a pig doing in the big city anyway!?

...this pig just turned evil...he wanted his own back....he called it swine flu...




we call him...


BABE

http://www.movingimageposters.com/images/babe2synopsis.JPGEVIL! SHOOT ON SIGHT

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

You should stick to making music.

[Dunwho]

You should stick to making music.

All im sayin is chill it out and treat this whole thing as it really is.. a bit of the flu on a bad news week..

...i guess the "seriousness" that this thread inherited scared me a little....

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

All im sayin is chill it out and treat this whole thing as it really is.. a bit of the flu on a bad news week..




If you say so. *:D*





...i guess the "seriousness" that this thread inherited scared me a little....

yeah, yeah, yeah, right.

I'm gonna miss the jokes and be bored. Again. :(

[cacophony]

For me, the problem is that reporting on this was blown out of proportion to the point that it's probably hurt more people than the flu itself has.
i beg to differ. it was handled in exactly the proportion it needed to be handled while the nature of the virus was unknown. at the point that the news broke and the first cases were coming to light the mexican government was saying hundreds of people were already sick and as many as a hundred people were already dead. that was on first report and discovery of the illness. it spoke to a virulence that could be catastrophic if it wasn't contained. couple that with the rapid rate at which new cases popped up, in country after country after country, and you're talking about a knew, poorly understood virus with incredibly fast transmission and the mexican government raising the alert that it could kill as fast as it could travel. not only that, the reports coming out of mexico were saying it was the young and fit who were dying first, which is a highly abnormal way for the flu to kill. so now you've got fast transmission, rapid death, and illness among the strong. all reasons to react as quickly and as vocally as the WHO and CDC did.

it takes time to understand microoganisms. in the time it takes to isolate and thoroughly understand the nature of a virus and study how illness affects the infected, they can spread to hundreds and thousands of immune-compromised people.

it takes one person contracting a new, deadly virus to walk into a daycare or nursing home, sneeze, and touch a doorknob.

what we CAN'T do is decide it's crying wolf just because the world didn't end. you can't know the level of pandemic that something like this is going to reach without studying its mode of transmission and trying to keep pace with it. you can't get one step ahead of an unknown new bug.


what if katrina had never hit new orleans? knowing what you know now, do you think people would have been any safer living in the 9th ward with the insufficient levees just because that one storm didn't hit? what would happen the next time a storm really did hit? the danger was present. if evacuating 3 times on a false alarm means the 4th evacuation clears people from deadly consequences, the 3 false alarms were worthwhile drills.

[cacophony]

...i guess the "seriousness" that this thread inherited scared me a little....

I'm gonna miss the jokes and be bored. Again. :(

last time i checked this forum was still called "world." i joined dirty way back in, what, 2001 or 2002 maybe, and the world forum has always been the world forum.

if it's become nothing more than a showcase for the john show i'll be happy to piss off for another 6 months.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

if it's become nothing more than a showcase for the john show i'll be happy to piss off for another 6 months.


No apologies for your seeing it that way. There are other people posting here, not just I.

If that's your attitude, I won't miss you. Cheers!

*****

BTW everyone: DunWho is in the lead, I think, in number of posts. This is the Dunwho Show! I'm simply a participating spectator. Sadly, ratings are sinking and it will be cancelled soon.


*****

Well, I'll be damned. The Dunwho Show has been renewed for another season: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30563707/

[Sean]

i beg to differ. it was handled in exactly the proportion it needed to be handled while the nature of the virus was unknown. at the point that the news broke and the first cases were coming to light the mexican government was saying hundreds of people were already sick and as many as a hundred people were already dead. that was on first report and discovery of the illness. it spoke to a virulence that could be catastrophic if it wasn't contained. couple that with the rapid rate at which new cases popped up, in country after country after country, and you're talking about a knew, poorly understood virus with incredibly fast transmission and the mexican government raising the alert that it could kill as fast as it could travel. not only that, the reports coming out of mexico were saying it was the young and fit who were dying first, which is a highly abnormal way for the flu to kill. so now you've got fast transmission, rapid death, and illness among the strong. all reasons to react as quickly and as vocally as the WHO and CDC did.

it takes time to understand microoganisms. in the time it takes to isolate and thoroughly understand the nature of a virus and study how illness affects the infected, they can spread to hundreds and thousands of immune-compromised people.

it takes one person contracting a new, deadly virus to walk into a daycare or nursing home, sneeze, and touch a doorknob.

what we CAN'T do is decide it's crying wolf just because the world didn't end. you can't know the level of pandemic that something like this is going to reach without studying its mode of transmission and trying to keep pace with it. you can't get one step ahead of an unknown new bug.


what if katrina had never hit new orleans? knowing what you know now, do you think people would have been any safer living in the 9th ward with the insufficient levees just because that one storm didn't hit? what would happen the next time a storm really did hit? the danger was present. if evacuating 3 times on a false alarm means the 4th evacuation clears people from deadly consequences, the 3 false alarms were worthwhile drills.Reports that "swine flu could wipe out tens of millions of people" (actual CNN quote) when only like a dozen people were actually sick is irresponsible overkill to an incredible, brazenly out of proportion degree.

[Rog]

Reports that "swine flu could wipe out tens of millions of people" (actual CNN quote) when only a few people were actually sick is irresponsible overkill to an incredible degree.

my sentiments exactly mate!;). half the people in the uk who have contracted this deadly virus are out of hospital and saying it was like a heavy cold. A bit of a warning would have been enough instead of the massive fuckin media overkill we are presently experiencing.
maybe in a few years when we really do have something serious happening then everyone will be like 'yeah yeah....we've heard it all before' and we'll all die.....'the media who cried wolf'?

[Strangelet]

my sentiments exactly mate!;). half the people in the uk who have contracted this deadly virus are out of hospital and saying it was like a heavy cold. A bit of a warning would have been enough instead of the massive fuckin media overkill we are presently experiencing.
maybe in a few years when we really do have something serious happening then everyone will be like 'yeah yeah....we've heard it all before' and we'll all die.....'the media who cried wolf'?


ask anyone in toronto how they feel about the media's handling of SARS.

Cacaophony, the argument, it seems to me, boils down to whether or not you can say the media acted responsibly *EVEN IF* the worst case scenario was realized. Clearly the answer is no. Even if this thing turned into spanish flu, the media was not informative, it was stoking anxiety. To prove that point, someone can simply sit through the days of american network television coverage and count how many minutes were spent covering actual facts and information and how many minutes were spent covering looped, fetishized, stories of anxiety. Would I be making an up-at-night assumption if I claimed to know how that experiment would turn out?

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

... Would I be making an up-at-night assumption if I claimed to know how that experiment would turn out?

You could save yourself a lot of time by just looking @ Teremiflu(or whatever the names of them are) & it's competitor's stock values. Maybe.

[cacophony]

my sentiments exactly mate!;). half the people in the uk who have contracted this deadly virus are out of hospital and saying it was like a heavy cold. A bit of a warning would have been enough instead of the massive fuckin media overkill we are presently experiencing.
maybe in a few years when we really do have something serious happening then everyone will be like 'yeah yeah....we've heard it all before' and we'll all die.....'the media who cried wolf'?
in the first week of discovery there was no way to know whether this would be a supervirus or a bad cold. as i already described, the mode and speed of transmission was justifiably alarming to health professionals.

i guess what i dislike is using "cry wolf" to describe this situation. in the original fable the boy DELIBERATELY cried wolf in order to stir up a frenzy. thus teaching his community that he was a deliberate liar.

in the case of emergency alerts, like virus outbreaks or potentially catastrophic weather, no one is deliberately lying in order to stir up chaos. officials justifiably raise the alert because these things aren't perfectly predictable. we lack the ability to tell the future with precision so yes, sometimes the warning call will go out and nothing bad will manifest.

that doesn't make the warning system unjustified. it's not crying wolf.

crying wolf was saying "there's a link between iraq and 9/11. let's go get 'em!" warning the public about a potential health hazard is not.

[cacophony]

Cacaophony, the argument, it seems to me, boils down to whether or not you can say the media acted responsibly *EVEN IF* the worst case scenario was realized. Clearly the answer is no. Even if this thing turned into spanish flu, the media was not informative, it was stoking anxiety. To prove that point, someone can simply sit through the days of american network television coverage and count how many minutes were spent covering actual facts and information and how many minutes were spent covering looped, fetishized, stories of anxiety. Would I be making an up-at-night assumption if I claimed to know how that experiment would turn out?

i guess i see it from a different perspective. most of the "media" you're describing is entertainment media. i don't expect much from them. i see CNN sending sanjay gupta to mexico so he can mingle unmasked (*gasp*) with the infected and i see entertainment. not news.

i think you have to be choosy with your news sources. and frankly, the public consumes the coverage it wants regardless of the truth of the situation. we at webmd have tried to put this into perspective from the beginning by pointing out that the "regular" flu kills 36,000 people every year. pneumonia kills upwards of 60,000, and those figures are for the US alone. and while we've had incredible traffic, totally breaking all records since the site's launch, people consume what they want to consume. if they want to consume the "symptoms" article more than they want to consume the "why you shouldn't worry" article, that's a self-directed preference.

i'm not arguing that the media is a responsible outlet for information. i'm saying the public's desire for the excitement of doom drives a lot of the hysterical coverage.

look, i manage the cancer content for the site. i'm responsible for knowing the user base, knowing the conditions, and providing responsible information that people will consume. and i will tell you with absolutely no exaggeration that the most responsible perspective piece will never EVER hold a candle to the fearful content in terms of audience consumption. penile cancer is one of the rarest cancers on earth but people consume the "symptoms" content in quantities that put it on par with a REAL public health issue like diabetes.

i'm also not arguing that the media should cover the worst just because we have a natural human tendency to dwell on the worst. i'm just saying there's a call-and-response relationship between the audience and media outlets. when people stop consuming it, media moves on to the next drama.

i just think it's far too easy to point at media and cry, "YOU'RE THE SOURCE OF ALL OUR PROBLEMS!" it's easier than admitting that we're the source of our problems, too.

[Sean]

i just think it's far too easy to point at media and cry, "YOU'RE THE SOURCE OF ALL OUR PROBLEMS!" it's easier than admitting that we're the source of our problems, too.I'm annoyed with the media - such as CNN - because they made themselves unwatchable to me, and misinformed millions of people thereby causing damage to multiple industries and lives. That's a legitimae gripe. Can't exactly say I was feeding the problem since I stopped watching once I heard them report the "tens of millions" hysteria, but I feel justified in pointing out how opportunistic and destructive their "reporting" was. I don't argue a single point you've made about the organizations that were putting out legitimate updates. I have no problem with them. But let's face it, a lot of people are out there living their lives, watching the television news after dinner as they've always done - like many of our parents - to get their basic updates on what's going on in the world. It's a problem how irresponsible those outlets have become. They're not the source of all our problems by a long shot, but they're definitely one of them, and calling that out shouldn't be off limits.

[Strangelet]

Cacophony, what's funny is as soon as I got the part where you mention penis cancer I immediately wanted to look it up. But that just proves how irrational we are. I also agree with all of your good points with respect to this sad truth.

It really is a difference of perspective because, while I do agree with everything you said, I don't think it answers the problem some of us see from our perspective.

The fact that its so easy to pander to people doesn't make it excusable. Its hard to say I have burr up my ass about the media when I have almost religious worship for journalists who actually don't pander, but inform, and approach their audience on the highest levels. This is not only heroic in bravery but heroic in the benefits it brings to the health of our culture.

But like Sean and others, I feel justified in pointing out the systemic corruption in our news. You can't excuse network tv news because "everybody knows" they are entertainment. They call themselves news. People watch them for news. And they get back nothing but phobia circle jerks with "experts" and mantras of the most improbable but scary possible outcomes of any situation, looped by anechdotal pieces of runs on face masks and hand sanitizers. 24 hours a day. Just barely interspersed with coverage of a WHO press conference or an actual "development"

The intent is clearly to manipulate perspective of the truth for personal gain. And that's how you can call it corruption.

[Deckard]

What Strangelet said.

But also to add - the fact that we're not surprised to see the news* behaving this way does not mean it's pointless calling them on it or ridiculing them for it.

Afaic, more of that please.

(*rightly or wrongly, CNN, NBC, Sky, the Times, etc are perceived by the majority of people as news, not entertainment)

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

*


(*rightly or wrongly, CNN, NBC, Sky, the Times, etc are perceived by the majority of people as news, not entertainment)


Yeah, in a recent interview with one of our troops serving in the Middle East, when asked a question referring to The Washington Post*, smart boy said something along the line of , "BOOOO!, I read REAL tabloids."


* Or WA Times or Journal or something.

[Rog]

in the first week of discovery there was no way to know whether this would be a supervirus or a bad cold. as i already described, the mode and speed of transmission was justifiably alarming to health professionals.

i guess what i dislike is using "cry wolf" to describe this situation. in the original fable the boy DELIBERATELY cried wolf in order to stir up a frenzy. thus teaching his community that he was a deliberate liar.

.

i agree with the first paragraph.....health professionals being the operative words.

but the media have deliberately stirred up an unwarranted frenzy and even if they aint guilty of lying then they are guilty of deliberately distorting the situation.

[cacophony]

i'm not going to disagree with that.

[cacophony]

The fact that its so easy to pander to people doesn't make it excusable.
i wholeheartedly agree, and i feel like i tread this line at work all the time. i could get bazoodles of traffic to my content by using misleading lines like "a cure for cancer?" because i know people would click. there's a necessary conscience that some outlets try to maintain and others don't.

your comment actually reminds me of something that is a big hot-button issue for me, which is that victims deserve to be victimized if they're too stupid to avoid it. like take someone who's been bilked out of thousands of dollars by nigerian scammers. there's a tendency to say, well if they were stupid enough to fall for it they deserve to get scammed. and i hate that logic. because no matter how stupid or greedy someone is, the scammer is NEVER RIGHT.

so i agree with you, that just because it's easy to pander to people, that doesn't make it excusable. just because humans as a species tend to fixate on the next most plausible source of armegeddon, that doesn't mean those who stand to profit from that impulse should do so.

i'm not defending media. i'm just saying i don't want the baby thrown out with the bathwater. there was justifiable intensity to the initial coverage of this new virus, and it still merits monitoring. yes some outlets went way too far because we're in a slow news cycle otherwise. but that doesn't make all coverage silly, or the whole situation overblown.

[kagenaki koe]

on a lighter note, i thought i'd bust out an old shirt i bought years ago:

http://www.threadless.com/product/73/Outbreak_Girl?=

i'm wearing it right now btw (the tan version not the blue)

[Rog]

well well, what's happened to the swine flu epidemic?....seems to have disappeared from the uk media in the last 2 days............:rolleyes:

oh, i know, MP's expenses row is now saturating the news

[cacophony]

yeah, man. fuck those assholes for disseminating public health information. :mad:







:rolleyes:

[Rog]

what?

[Rog]

what are you on about? the UK media was not disseminating public health information, more like panicking the population:rolleyes:

[Deckard]

Precisely.

And now it's time for their next "frenzy".

"disseminating public health information"? Sheesh...

[Sean]

yeah, man. fuck those assholes for disseminating public health information. :mad:







:rolleyes:Probably more accurate to say "fuck those assholes for stirring up an opportunistic, ratings-boosting, worldwide panic through wild exaggerations that caused more destruction than the swine flu itself ever did". ;)

Case in point... (http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-39566520090512)

"Egypt's decision to ignore U.N. advice and cull its pigs over flu fears has unintentionally fanned sectarian tensions in the mainly Muslim country."

[Strangelet]

Probably more accurate to say "fuck those assholes for stirring up an opportunistic, ratings-boosting, worldwide panic through wild exaggerations that caused more destruction than the swine flu itself ever did". ;)

Case in point... (http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-39566520090512)

"Egypt's decision to ignore U.N. advice and cull its pigs over flu fears has unintentionally fanned sectarian tensions in the mainly Muslim country."

To be fair to cacophony's position, it would be hard to argue that the media was more a culprit than pre-existing tensions towards the egyptian christian minority by the ruling muslims. The culling decision happened quick, it necessarily targeted a particular sect, and it didn't happen in other countries where the christians are not as numerous enough as to pose a threat.

[Sean]

To be fair to cacophony's position, it would be hard to argue that the media was more a culprit than pre-existing tensions towards the egyptian christian minority by the ruling muslims. The culling decision happened quick, it necessarily targeted a particular sect, and it didn't happen in other countries where the christians are not as numerous enough as to pose a threat.Not necessarily MORE a culprit, but certainly a vital culprit. Regardless of how many factors were at work in this particular story, it was undeniably the media's opportunistic pounding of the swine flu panic button that actually pushed the tensions over the edge.

[Strangelet]

Not necessarily MORE a culprit, but certainly a vital culprit. Regardless of how many factors were at work in this particular story, it was undeniably the media's opportunistic pounding of the swine flu panic button that actually pushed the tensions over the edge.


Hmmm.. this might be one of those rare times I disagree with you, Sean. I mean I'm right with you criticizing the media's exploitation, but for this particular example what supports the argument that the media functioned as the tipping point and not a catalyst, or in other words, the excuse?

especially when you've got stories coming out like this....


The government has been clamping down on rubbish collectors for the past two years. Why? Because the value of their land has rocketed in recent years, with new roads leading up to them. For instance, my town, Manchiyet Nasser, has become a destination for tourists. The government now wants to recover these lands. They first tried to get rid of the collectors by transferring them to the desert city of May 15 (the city’s name), which has neither water pipes nor public services. That enterprise failed, so they are now trying to wipe out their livestock.

Since 2000, two companies, one Spanish and the other Italian, have been licensed to handle rubbish collection. But they’re short of qualified workers. The Zabbaleen, on the other hand, have a long experience, but they are self-employed. The government was thus hoping to kill two birds with one stone: to take hold of the Zabbaleen’s land and force them to work for foreign companies as regular rubbish collectors.




http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20090512-lucrative-pig-cull-egypt-swine-flu-rubbish-collectors

[Sean]

Hmmm.. this might be one of those rare times I disagree with you, Sean. I mean I'm right with you criticizing the media's exploitation, but for this particular example what supports the argument that the media functioned as the tipping point and not a catalyst, or in other words, the excuse?

especially when you've got stories coming out like this....




http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20090512-lucrative-pig-cull-egypt-swine-flu-rubbish-collectorsIt could very well have been used simply as an excuse. If so, wouldn't it still stand to reason that providing that excuse through irresponsible, opportunistic "reporting" is pretty messed up? It is to me, but I totally see the point that there was a lot already going on in this particular instance outside of the swine flu factor.

And that aside, there have been other ways that the horrific reporting has hurt people. The pork industry took a major hit (http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/30/pork.industry.impact/), Mexican and American travelers are being unnecessarily quarantined, conservatives are using it as an excuse to crack down on the Mexican border, etc.

[Deckard]

Pandemic 'getting closer' says WHO (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/ferguswalsh/2009/06/pandemic_getting_closer_says_who.shtml)
(Yes, whoever came up with that 'Fergus on Flu' umbrella needs taking out and injecting with H1N1)

"We are getting closer to phase six," said Dr Fukuda, which would mean that a pandemic had occurred. He divided the global outbreak into three types:

• countries in North America where virus spread is advanced - Mexico, the United States and Canada;
• the group of countries - which he described as being "in transition", some in Europe, some in Asia, also Australia - where a larger number of cases is occurring, many linked to institutions;
• countries where there is no real evidence of spread into communities and cases are largely travel-related.

Dr Fukuda said that the countries in transition are moving towards community-type spread and include the UK, Spain, Japan, Chile and Australia. "But we are still waiting for evidence of widespread community activity, so that's why we are not in phase six yet".

Clearly still developing, though the press have mostly moved on to different frenzies and panics.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

Should I change my "song of the day" to B. Raitt's Something To Talk About?

Siouxie's Mechanical Eyes is just as fitting. And it's punk! Rock on!

[cacophony]

WHO is also considering changing the terminology since the vast majority of the public doesn't understand what the word "pandemic" means. surveys have shown that most people think it's a portmanteau of "epidemic" and "panic" rather than the application of "pan" to mean "widespread." you can have a mild pandemic, but no one seems to understand that.

[//\/\/]

you mean a bit like adding 'sudden' to 'acute respitory syndrome' so we brits didn't laugh at the acronym?

[Rog]

WHO is also considering changing the terminology since the vast majority of the public doesn't understand what the word "pandemic" means. .


a damning indictment of our education systems...................

[Strangelet]

a damning indictment of our education systems...................

or its a damning indictment of our media. case in point...


surveys have shown that most people think it's a portmanteau of "epidemic" and "panic" rather than the application of "pan" to mean "widespread." you can have a mild pandemic, but no one seems to understand that.


Is this an issue of people not watching enough news or watching too much of the wrong sort?

i guess this is the only point I was trying to make about the media. their value should be measured primarily by how much they themselves function as a kind of education system.

[cacophony]

i'm not sure many members of the media understand what "pandemic" means. reporters are mostly talking heads, and not terribly intelligent ones at that. i've noticed that they're correctly using pandemic in sentences (indicating that the writing staff has at least some brains) but the talking heads are reading their teleprompters with the grave intonation that suggests they're just as confused as everyone else.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

i guess this is the only point I was trying to make about the media. their value should be measured primarily by how much they themselves function as a kind of education system.


And returning home with reports cards that show they are problem children at school who are failing miserably.

There's a certain pupil who I'll give a passing grade, &, no, I'm not doing him.

[Sean]

WHO is also considering changing the terminology since the vast majority of the public doesn't understand what the word "pandemic" means. surveys have shown that most people think it's a portmanteau of "epidemic" and "panic" rather than the application of "pan" to mean "widespread." you can have a mild pandemic, but no one seems to understand that.I hate hearing that things like the word "pandemic" could be modified for these reasons. How is the general populace ever supposed to get any better informed or more intelligent if we cater to ignorance?

Anyway, that being said, nice that the media went nuts with the story during a slow news cycle, and ignore now.

[Deckard]

OMFG everyone (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8092474.stm).... now's the time to PANdemIC!!!

In fairness to the BBC, they've been providing pretty measured coverage compared to their commercial rivals (http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Bird-Flu-Doomsday-Fears/Article/20060941235639?lid=ARTICLE_1235639_Bird%20Flu:%20D oomsday%20Fears).

BBC medical correspondent Fergus Walsh says it is true that the word "pandemic" sounds scary. But it simply means a global epidemic of an infectious disease. He says it is not a signal that the virus is getting more virulent - only a measure of its geographical spread.

More from his BBC blog:
It will probably be months before most of us come into contact with the virus, and when we do, the vast majority will experience mild flu symptoms. It is not an indication that the virus is becoming more virulent. If those messages can be effectively communicated to the public, it could prevent a lot of unnecessary alarm.

(hyeah... right..... if that message has to go via the commercial news media, expect a LOT of unnecessary alarm)

/ EDIT: OK, that Sky news link was a couple of years old, but point stands.

[cacophony]

i think public perception is pretty calm at this point. check out google trends. (http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends?sa=X) it'll change over time but at the time of this posting H1N1 pandemic doesn't show up until #45 and swine flu pandemic doesn't show up until #90. behind several references to the palins. and it ranks lower than crohn's disease and granuloma as a health term.

[adery]

Hmmmm... this guy ran only through half the process...normally a star is created in a talent show and then disposed of in the jungle show... this one is just supposed to be disposed of in the jungle show...well: why not? if dont hear from him again afterward ....

[cacophony]

what? :confused:

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

One of many puppets, cacophony, pay no heed.

[Ranana_infuLp]

I wonder if the last boss in Akatsuki Temple is 5 or 6 different "types" like when you are Naruto. I have done it with that team but it is my regular team that I am there with now. So is it 5 or 6 different types?

[//\/\/]

6. if somebody tells you it's 5, smash their teeth in.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

Per below, read comment #2. Old people are funny!

http://wellness.blogs.time.com/2009/08/25/h1n1-death-projections-doing-the-math/

As well as comment #1, which I plan to double check on.

[Rog]

oops! millions of quids of useless vaccine left over.......
ooops! large proportion of government advisors have links to vaccine manufacturers (allegedly!)
oops! very few people died....even less than 'normal winter flu' rates

what a load of overblown bollocks:rolleyes:

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

Takes a bow (in chaps whilst whispering, "Kiss it. Kiss it ya dumb bitches"): http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1956608,00.html