#2
I try and avoid fluid-swapping with transvestites...it's just a habit. Especially if there's something chunky being passed. My Mom warned me about stuff like that
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/14/2005 18:14 Comments ||
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#3
jeezzze Frank, ..it's a good thing I keep a plastic bag at my desk.
/guessum losing my dinner was worth the laughs
Posted by: Red Dog ||
11/14/2005 21:29 Comments ||
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#4
;-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/14/2005 21:55 Comments ||
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Edited for brevity--more at link.
"Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals. Using a $250,000 network analyser, we find that although on average all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from the cranium of the subject), certain frequencies are in fact greatly amplified. These amplified frequencies coincide with radio bands reserved for government use according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Statistical evidence suggests the use of helmets may in fact enhance the government's invasive abilities. We theorize that the government may in fact have started the helmet craze for this reason."
- Ali Rahimi, Ben Recht, Jason Taylor, and Noah Vawter, in the abstract of "On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets: An Empirical Study", 17 Feb 2005.
Note that the AP doesn't know the difference between sever and severe, lol. Mexico to Severe Venezuela Diplomatic Ties Mexico said it will withdraw its ambassador and severe [sic] diplomatic ties with Venezuela if that country's president doesn't apologize Monday for warning Mexican leader Vicente Fox: "Don't mess with me." Perhaps Texas should sue Chavez for that bit, lol.
In a late-night statement Sunday, Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said that because Hugo Chavez's comments "strike at the dignity of the Mexican people and government, Mexico demands a formal apology from Venezuela's government." "Mine's bigger than yours!"
Tensions between Fox and Chavez spilled over after this month's Summit of the Americas in Argentina, where Fox sought to defend a U.S.-backed proposal for a free trade zone while Chavez proclaimed the idea dead. What's this talk of trade and jobs? Pfeh, leading socialista protesters is the Chavez style.
"President Fox left bleeding from his wound," Chavez said Sunday during his weekly radio and TV show, echoing remarks last week in which he accused Fox of being a "puppy" of the U.S. government for supporting its plans for the Free Trade Area of the Americas. But the chihuahua has a bite...
Chavez recalled a folk song from Venezuela's cattle-raising plains about a thorn, saying it seems appropriate for Fox since "you're a man of horses." After reciting the lyrics, Chavez said: "Don't mess with me, sir, because you'll come out pricked." Ooooh. Can't let that one pass!
Mexico responded within hours, saying a failure to apologize would force it to "ask for the immediate withdrawal of Venezuela's ambassador and a recall of the Mexican ambassador in that country." Is there any mustache-cursing in the Latino culture - or does it demand instant escalation to comparing the size of the naughty bits?
#4
Ok, Fox is in the dog house with most Americans for his dumping of his poor and unemployables into their yards and running up local taxes and degrading public services in the States. So how can he get back into acceptable tolerated standing with the Gringos that is both mostly show and will not effect his standing at home, the economy, or real military adventurism. Can't pick on Castro. Too old and too much political capital spent in the hemisphere to make him the anti-gringo poster boy. Then how about the up and coming wannabe? Hugo, my man. Yes, there's the ticket. See the mighty Vicente demonstate his democratic-captialist orthodoxy by horse whipping the secondary lacky of marxism in the hemisphere. Now where's Don King to arrange the match?
The new German government plans to use its 2007 presidency of the EU to revive the ratification of the EU constitution, according to a coalition deal struck on Friday (11 November).
The coalition agreement, signed by the German christian democrat CDU and the social democrat SPD parties, should pave the way for a fresh "grand coalition" government led by CDU leader Angela Merkel to take office later this month. The coalition deal revives plans for a ratification of the EU constitution, which was put on ice by EU leaders in June following a rejection of the new treaty by French and Dutch voters. "We stand for the European constitutional treaty," the text reads, reiterating that the constitution makes the union more democratic, efficient and transparent.
For now, the CDU-SPD government will support the continuing ratification of the treaty by member states, and will strengthen the process more directly when it takes over the helm of the EU in January 2007, the parties proclaimed. "We pledge to continue the ratification of the European constitutional treaty after the first half of 2006 and to give new impulses to [the ratification] under the German presidency in the first half of 2007," the deal reads. Your social payments are bankrupting the country. GDP is at a standstill, as are some 10%+ of the population. So, obviously, you need to bring back the USSR.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/14/2005 20:59 Comments ||
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#2
A meaningless gesture that may pull her some swing votes in the future. Further, pursuing this may only drive the stake permanently into the not yet dead body politic of the Unites Dtates of Europe.
The German Journalist Union (DJV) on Monday sharply criticised security plans for next year's World Cup in the country which involve security checks on its members. Under the plan, Germany's federal criminal police office, the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), and the country's internal secret service, the Verfassungsschutz (VS), plan to run clearance checks on journalists before they can report on matches from stadiums. "This process goes against every rule and every right," DJV chairman Michael Konken complained Monday.
According to a report in the weekly Focus magazine, anyone working in a World Cup stadium will require clearance from the security services in an effort to prevent terrorist attacks. Under the plan, 220,000 people, among them journalists, cleaners, volunteers and players will be required to clarify their security status in a three-page-long FIFA accreditation document. FIFA's World Cup organising committee confirmed to the DJV that reporters, in order to gain accreditation, must allow their personal details to be checked by the BKA and VS electronically. "I criticise the fact that the World Cup organisers see journalists as a security risk and not as a partner," said Konken. However, World Cup organising committee spokesman Jens Grittner described the checks as a normal security procedure for international tournaments. "A football World Cup isn't like going to the cinema," said Grittner. "We have to do everything to ensure we provide the highest security possible in the stadiums."
Among the other questions to be answered in British Columbia's municipal elections Saturday is whether a former U.S. draft dodger should replace a mayor who had his own TV show.
Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell, the inspiration for the Canadian television character Dominic Da Vinci, is headed to the Canadian Senate after one boisterous term as mayor of the country's third-largest city.
The lip-shooting cop-turned-coroner became a populist mayor in 2002 but still found time to consult on "Da Vinci's Inquest," a Canadian Broadcasting Corp. series, and leaves left a fractured civic party for longtime ally Jim Green, who is running to succeed him.
"I'm the guy that asked Larry to run for mayor," said Green, 62, who came to Canada as a U.S. draft dodger during the Vietnam war. "I was considering it myself, but I thought Larry would have a broader appeal than I would...
#3
will he be prosecuted when western Canada votes to become America's newest states?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/14/2005 18:53 Comments ||
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#4
Do you really want more blue states?
Posted by: Rafael ||
11/14/2005 20:19 Comments ||
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#5
Vancouver is hardly the dominant state......Alberta sands....
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/14/2005 20:56 Comments ||
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#6
Yes Larry, I'd be a bit concerned about my "appeal" if I were you as well. I hope you ponder it daily, and until the day they shovel your worthless ass into the ground.
#7
Don't forget Canada has three major parties. Count the Liberal + NDP vote, and you've got a blue state (except Alberta). It's not just Vancouver. The NDP was born in Saskatchewan. BC was governed for 30 years by something called the Socreds. Look up social credit theory to get the gist.
Posted by: Rafael ||
11/14/2005 21:33 Comments ||
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The federal government wants to pay for some U.S. residents to be able to watch television -- the only question is how much.
The Senate's budget bill, which passed last week, contains a $3 billion subsidy for owners of televisions that are not ready to handle the eventual transition to digital television.
The House budget bill, which ran into trouble Thursday but which will be on the floor this week, contains slightly less than $1 billion.
Both bills set a date when broadcasters must return their current licenses and instead broadcast a digital signal on a different part of the electronic spectrum.
The subsidy would go to pay for converter boxes, which would take the digital signal from the broadcasters and convert it so that it can be displayed by analog TVs. Televisions hooked up to cable or satellite would not need the converters, nor would televisions capable of receiving a digital signal.
"There are enough low-income Americans that would have difficulty coming up with the $40 or the $50 for a conversion box, so we want to help them out on a one-time basis," said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe L. Barton, Texas Republican, who is pushing for finishing the transfer to digital broadcasting...
#4
Please. Most are getting cable or Digial Satelite and their will be no problem. The rest will beg borrorw or steal to get a converter box at WalMat.
#5
I can only guess that these subsidies will kick in during an election year so the public won't have to miss a single precious minute of network campaign broadcasting.
#6
There really is something stupid about forcing every television channel to shift to digital. I want digital as well but come on, that requires everyone to buy new equipment for no real good reason.
#8
I want digital as well but come on, that requires everyone to buy new equipment for no real good reason.
No good reason, unless you look at which politicians benefited from the digital bandwidth sell-off. Imagine sub-carriers for second language dubbing piggybacked onto regular broadcast frequencies. Imagine doubled channel density on your dial. There's lots of reasons for this happening, except that from what I've heard, the fire-sale of these valuable on-air slots to industry was anything but in the public interest.
#9
Its long past the time that open broadcast television be treated like mining or logging on federal land. Now only should a license be paid annually, but a royalty for profit. It's not like television is a budding technology needing government protection and husbandry. Upset about big oil profits, you ought to check out the television industry.
#11
"There really is something stupid about forcing every television channel to shift to digital. I want digital as well but come on, that requires everyone to buy new equipment for no real good reason."
Bull Shit! The broadcasters have known this for 2 or three years now, and the date is set for 2007/08. It is being done to free up spectrum currently used to broadcast analog TV.
Ultimately this IS a GOOD DEAL for the consumer and the broadcasters. HDTV is easily received without need of Cable/Dish providers. The picture quality is superior, and the long term costs are easily absorbed.
If you currently have a decent but non-digital TV and cable/dish service then the issue is moot. Besides, it gives you something to shoot for.
By the time the switch is made there will plenty of reasonably priced sets capable of receiving the digital broadcasts with just an antenna. If you can afford a TV and cable/dish service now, you'll be able to afford a new digital capable TV when the time comes. It isn't as if folks didn't have plenty of notice.
#12
TV-Man I don't care how long the broadcasters have had, this means my grandmother has to buy new equipment and I have to set it up. The government should not be in the position of forcing technology into obsolecence, that is for the market to do.
#14
All they need to do is have the cable company configure it so they don't need a cable box. I have Comcast cable througout my house (six rooms) and none of them use a cable box. When I lived in another county I needed one but not in the current one, it's all about regulation.
#15
rjswartz:"...this means my grandmother has to buy new equipment and I have to set it up. "
Boo Hoo! Does Grandma currently have Cable/Dish? If so, and she is happy with that, where is the need to get her new equipment? If not, then get her some knitting needles or something and she can make you a nice sweater or something.
#16
Ain't the point. The point is, they're using my tax dollars to pay for conversion boxes so a bunch of slack-jaws can watch tv. That's high-definition bullsh*t.
Indonesia said on Monday a 20-year-old woman has died of bird flu and several other countries also reported more suspected cases in people.
Adding to the sense of alarm, researchers in Vietnam say the H5N1 avian flu virus has mutated allowing it to replicate more easily inside humans and other mammals. Taiwan said it had detected another bird flu strain that can infect people.
Avian influenza is known to have infected 125 people in Asia, killing 64, and is endemic in most poultry flocks in the region.
There are at least a dozen other suspected cases as governments in Asia struggle to control outbreaks in poultry to prevent more people from catching the virus, which experts fear could trigger a pandemic.
Vietnam and China said on Monday they had had more suspicious cases in people, while Thailand said a toddler confirmed infected with bird flu was recovering.
In the Indonesian capital, tests confirmed the woman died from H5N1, a Health Ministry official said and that tests were also being conducted on samples from a 13 year-old girl.
Both died over the weekend in the Sulianti Saroso Hospital, Jakarta's hospital for treating bird flu patients. Initial tests on the girl were negative...
The laboratory, affiliated with the World Health Organization, has confirmed five people have died of bird flu in Indonesia. But President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono put the toll higher, telling a news conference on Monday seven of the 11 people who had contracted avian influenza in Indonesia had died.
HIGHLY VIRULENT IN MAMMALS
In Vietnam, scientists at the Ho Chi Minh Pasteur Institute who have been studying the genetic make up of H5N1 samples taken from people and poultry said it had undergone several mutations.
"There has been a mutation allowing the virus to (replicate) effectively in mammal tissue and become highly virulent," the institute said on its Web site at http://www.pasteur-hcm.org.vn/english/index.jsp.
State media said bird flu might have infected two more people in Vietnam, where 42 people have died from the virus since the latest outbreak in Asia began in late 2003.
State newspapers said on Monday a student was being tested in hospital after eating chicken eggs, while a 78-year-old woman died from pneumonia in central Quang Binh province on Friday.
China is probing a possible human case of bird flu in northeastern Liaoning province, the WHO said on Monday.
More than 10 million birds have been culled in Liaoning, where a female poultry worker has bird flu-like symptoms, said Roy Wadia, the WHO's China spokesman.
The WHO is also sending a team this week to the southern province of Hunan to investigate three pneumonia cases. One of the cases, a 12-year-old girl, has died.
China has not confirmed any cases in people and bird flu remains hard for humans to catch. But scientists fear the H5N1 virus will mutate into a form that passes easily among people. If it does so, millions could die. The disease has so far killed half the people it has infected and governments are stockpiling anti-viral drugs that are believed to limit the effects of H5N1 if taken early enough.
By far the most sought-after is Tamiflu made by Swiss company Roche. But Japanese subsidiary Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. said on Monday two teenaged boys exhibited abnormal behavior that led to their deaths after taking the drug.
Shinichi Watanabe, deputy director of the health ministry's safety division, said the ministry had ordered Chugai in May last year to include in the literature accompanying the drug a list of psychological and neurological disorders that could arise as side effects.
Michael Richardson, a senior research fellow of the Institute of Southeast Asia Studies in Singapore, said bird flu was a major threat to mankind.
"A pandemic triggered by H5N1 could become a fearsome insurgency against human health, with the potential to be far more lethal than terrorism," he said in a briefing paper on Monday.
Perhaps just as worrying, Taiwan said on Monday it had found another highly pathogenic strain of avian flu, H7N3, in droppings left by a migratory bird and is carrying out tests to see if the virus has spread to nearby poultry farms. Like H5N1, the H7N3 strain can infect humans, said an official at the Council of Agriculture.
Life saving trivia. I heartily recommend saving this information.
1) It has recently been determined that most pulmonary illnesses are spread by hand contamination, not coughing or sneezing as previously believed. If you are out in public or around those who are during an outbreak, using alcohol-based hand sanitizer six times a day will reduce your chance of catching flu by 80%. If there is obvious contamination, use soap and water. Antiseptic soap is not significantly more effective than ordinary soap in this regard. Consciously force yourself not to touch your face until you have sanitized your hands. Ordinary surgical masks and glasses of any type will keep pathogen-carrying large droplets out of your mouth, nose and eyes, if you are around those who are coughing and sneezing. They do not have to "capture" viruses, just the large droplets of moisture that carry them.
2) The worst public sources for air and surface contamination are public restrooms and restaurants. Avoid them. Sanitize telephone handsets and often touched surfaces in work areas, especially doorknobs. Parts of automobile interiors can also be cleaned routinely, such as the steering wheel, door handles and shift nobs. Some grocery store chains are already providing grocery cart handle wipes and have complimentary bottles of hand sanitizer for use by customers.
3) Even though you cannot eliminate contamination, you significantly improve your odds by reducing it. Ordinary bleach and other household cleaners work well as decontaminants. Change your cleaning method to adding cleaner to bulk messes before cleaning them, instead of after removing the bulk. Use additional cleaner for the final cleaning of the surface after the bulk is removed. This will reduce airborne contamination from the cleaning process.
4) Some metals are not directly anti-viral, but inhibit viral reproduction in some circumstances. Cold-Eeze brand throat lozenges contain a patented form of zinc that is readily uptaken into the mucous membranes, unlike most zinc supplements. With FDA approval, it can state that it lessens severity and duration of colds and flu. Perhaps it can do more.
5) Most colds and flus reproduce in the sinuses and trachea, so it is important to keep them a less friendly environment for viruses. The use of ordinary saline nasal spray to reduce large build-ups of mucous removes breeding medium. NOTE: avian flu is different, in that it can reproduce in several other organs, including the liver. This makes it especially important to keep it out in the first place.
6) Another newly discovered trick that may work is ordinary store-bought cranberry juice, which has been determined to inhibit cellular adhesion by several viruses, BUT ONLY IN QUANTITY. It is unknown if it would work for avian flu, but drinking large amounts as a possible prophalaxis should not be too much an inconvenience, if that is all you've got to protect yourself with. Interfering with cellular adhesion and inhibiting reproduction have a "one-two punch" effect on viruses, so both should be used. Cold-Eeze lozenges and cranberry juice.
7) There will undoubtedly be shortages of several items once an outbreak has occurred. Surgical masks, protective glasses, latex gloves, sanitary wipes and rubbing alcohol may all become scarce, so it is not unreasonable to stock up now. Substitutes such as grain alcohol, sunglasses, etc. are almost as good. Remember that gloves only keep the contamination off of your skin. In turn they must be assumed to be contaminated and either cleaned or disposed safely. Be aware if you track through contaminated muck that your shoes should be cleaned at some point. Shoes are the second most often contaminated area of the body after the hands.
8) The vaccination priority that we are used to has been changed because of the severity of this illness. Instead of giving injections to the elderly, infirm and very young, the emphasis will be on school-aged children (the largest human vector of the disease), and in outbreak areas. It would be wise to familiarize yourself with traditional quarantine measures, as they can be unexpectedly harsh. In time of an epidemic, the Health Department can be authoritarian.
9) The avian flu also has a large number of animal vectors, and until these are determined for certain, it would be wise to avoid large assemblages of animals and birds, even dogs and cats. Already, some birds have been identified that can carry the disease for great distances without immediately dying. If domestic mammals do the same, it may amplify the spread of the disease. Note: there is an "ordinary" flu specific to dogs in an epidemic right now, but it is not transmittable to humans. It is dangerous to dogs, however.
10) Flu vaccine takes from several days to two weeks for optimum immunity. This immunity may last perhaps six months or more in a healthy, young adult, and as little as two to three months in the elderly. A severe flu epidemic usually appears in two waves, and can last from one to two years. Therefore, a single shot may not be enough.
11) Symptomology of avian flu so far seems to indicate that death occurs very quickly, perhaps within 72 hours, and is often from blood and fluid build-up in the lungs. Though this sounds morbid, some people may die in public and it is important not to touch the body. An incapacitated person may spew large amounts of infectious fluids about. Do not attempt to render significant first aid if it places you at risk, instead call 911 and let suited professionals help them.
12) Traditionally, government has been slow to react to epidemics, often waiting too long before instituting strong restrictions on the public. However, this can be deadly serious, even if ineffective. There may be circumstances where armed guards are used, and response to public panic may be severe. Do not travel without expectation that you could be placed in quarantine for at least several days.
13) It is believed that an over-reaction from the immune system might be even more lethal than the disease itself, but this is not yet proven for the avian flu. That is, people with healthy immune systems might die when weaker people might live, much like a severe allergic reaction can kill. So it is important to find out if this is the case, when it is determined. If it *is* the case, then you might want to avoid immune system enhancing supplements. Again, right now we don't know.
14) It is unlikely that this winter's cold and flu season will be the avian flu. However, these weaker diseases should be your final warning as to your probability of catching the avian flu. If, in cold and flu season, you practice step #1 above and still catch either disease, you need to strongly reevaluate hygiene in your environment.
Links:
Flustar -- current status of flu in your area.
http://flustar.com/
Flu Wiki -- good detailed general information about the flu.
http://www.fluwikie.com/
CDC Travel Information -- international outbreaks
http://www.cdc.gov/travel/
***********
(most recent information added to this repost)
There are 2 distinct H5N1's, and 3 distinct H1N1's making the rounds in Asia. The H5N1's have identical 20 amino-acid deletions, and the H1N1's have identical 16 amino-acid deletions in the neuraminidase sequences. The net effect of these deletions is to drastically decrease the effectiveness of NA inhibitors such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu). The current substrains require 30 times the threshold dose of oseltamivir to effect control as similar strains last year. To date, of Vietnamese contracting the H5N1 strain, there have been no survivors among the group receiving Tamiflu as an anti-viral.
Other modifications include an M2 sequence change in all five strains that renders ion-channel blockers such as amantadine and rimantidine ineffective.
Of common anti-virals, only zanamivir (Relenza) at present appears to retain any effectiveness.
#4
I have been on top of this one since the 1970s, even written a paper or two on the demographics of killer flu. The "big one" has been expected at least since then, coming in a roughly cyclic manner, and we are way past the due date.
America at the time of the Spanish Flu wasn't a naive place, as far as the health authorities were concerned. Medical sanitation was reasonably good, and disinfectants were widely available and used. Add that to the fact that they were familiar with epidemics, and epidemic control policies were commonplace. Public quarantines were matter-of-fact.
Where I live in the southwest, every summer they had to contend with polio, typhus, typhoid fever, whooping cough, smallpox, chickenpox, mumps, and god knows what all else. Elsewhere, "sick rooms" were part of the architecture in better homes, a place where an infectious member of the family could be isolated.
The big difference is that the public was not as aware of hygiene and sanitation as they should have been. Epidemics ran through the population when they shouldn't have, because the people just didn't know any better. Methods of prevention were anecdotal. One woman in Indiana made a fortune overnight because of a rumor that her knitted wool sweaters were proof against the disease.
Because the disease lasted so long, 18 months to two years, people became exhausted from trying to protect themselves and just gave up to take their chances. The unfairness of the flu was also noted, that weak people would more likely live than healthy people, again, perhaps due to their overactive immune systems.
So what I am really suggesting is a change in behavior, nothing terribly drastic. With mental preparation, to work off the assumption that for as long as a year or more, your will have to sanitize your hands when you have been out in public. You will have to train yourself to not touch your face in public unless you know your hands are clean. To even avoid things like shaking hands. Etc. Not terribly hard, but they do require a change in behavior, and only really matter when the disease is about.
Lastly, a point that few have mentioned. That is, while everyone is concerned about the lethal effects of the avian flu, few have mentioned that it may make a person sick for weeks or months without killing them. I remember some neighbor adults being afflicted with Hong Kong flu, and for weeks being incapacitated, relying on their young children to take care of them.
With hospitals full of such invalids, other problems will be exacerbated. It will be a hard time for us all.
#5
Moose, I also follow this closely and I have concluded the pandemic is highly unlikely to occur. My reasoning is as follows.
The key event is sustained transmission. Until that occurs there is no risk, when (if) it occurs a pandemic will be difficult to stop.
Sustained transmission is also significant because it allows the virus to acquire adaptations specific for infecting humans. We don't know how many adaptions are required, but its at least one and likely several.
Despite much ill informed media and so called expert opinion. These adaptations can not be acquired in birds. So we have the situation where the virus periodically jumps to humans may have one or two generations of H2H and then dies out (and any human specific adaptions are lost). A recent Thai study clearly showed that size of (H2H)clusters has not increased over the last 2 years and hence the virus is not getting better at transmitting between humans (which is what theory would predict).
However, this leads to an apparent paradox. The necessary human specific adaptations can only be acquired and retained when sustained transmission has been achieved. Sustained transmission can only occur when human specific adaptations are present.
The second part of this apparent paradox is not correct because pure chance could result in sustained transmission.
For a number of reasons, I put sustained transmission as 10 generations of H2H, and this will be enough time to get enough adaptions that chance is no longer the primary determinant of continued transmission, i.e. sustained transmission goes from being unlikely to highly likely.
Let's say an infected person has a .5 chance of causing a H2H transmission (currently it seems somewhat lower). So to get a chain of 10 h2H transmissions is .5^2, i.e. a 1,000 to 1. So all other things being equal, get enough bird to human transmissions and a few years and the 1,000 to 1 will pay off and a pandemic occurs, which would have been the situation in the past.
However, various control measures currently being implemented (including things like putting infected people in isolation wards) sends those 1000 to 1 odds way higher (change the 0.5 to 0.25 and the 1000 to 1 odds become a million to 1 odds), and rather than the pandemic being likely in the next few years, it becomes likely in the next few millenia.
H7N3 is NOT new. It was isolated as early as 1963 in England. In humans it typically presents as an eye disease. H5N1 is blamed for outbreaks as far back as 1959 in Scotland. LINK
There is no pandemic cycle known. We know of three, in the last 87 years, and they happened at different intervals and with differing flu variants. While the Spanish Flu is often cited, the researchers who mapped its genome feel differently. In a NY Times article,
Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger, a molecular pathologist at the Armed Forces Institute of Technology who led the research team that reconstructed the long-extinct virus, said that a few things seemed clear.
The 1918 virus appears to be a bird flu virus. But if it is from a bird, it is not a bird anyone has studied before. It is not like the A(H5N1) strain of bird flus in Asia, which has sickened at least 116 people, and killed 60. It is not like the influenza viruses that infect fowl in North America.
Influenza kills by weakening the body for other, opportunistic infections, primarily pneumonia. Nearly all of these infections are treatable with antibiotics. In fact, the pneumonia vaccine currently available may do more than anything else to prevent a deadly pandemic.
The evidence of a cytokine storm is slim, based on assumptions being made from accounts of the Spanish Flu and experiments done in petri dishes. There is zero evidence that a cytokine storm is the cause of death in any of the A)H5N1 cases.
The World Health Organization has stated that laboratories in Southeast Asia are not capable of definitive analysis which would determine the existance of H5N1 in any given case. Announcements from a Communist government in SE Asia should be particularily suspect, shouldn't it?
#7
Influenza A is clearly adapted to species jumping and causing pandemics. While the record prio to the 20th C is patchy, its clear flu pandemics have been happening for a long time and at approximately 30 to 40 years intervals. Link
The 1918 virus appears to be a bird flu virus. But if it is from a bird, it is not a bird anyone has studied before.
That puzzled me when I first read it and I'm curious to know why he thinks this.
#2
Title is misleading. The Sony rootkit does not damage hardware. Attempts to remove it can 'disable' your CD drive -- at least until you reinstall Windows.
Turn off autoplay and/or buy Slysoft's AnyDVD product, which not only protects your PC but also allows you to play protected music CDs without installing any DRM software.
#3
A story back in the days of the IBM PC XT was of some individual who notified IBM of a way to make his computer violently blow up. They immediately sent to representatives to see him.
Their 5 1/4" floppy drive could operate either clockwise or counter-clockwise. He wrote a simple program to make it go back and forth between the two. It set up a resonance and overheated so much that the floppy drive blew up.
They thanked him for his demo, got a copy of his program, and gave him a brand new, top-of-the-line PC AT as a thank you. At the time, about a $5,000 computer.
#4
A story back in the days of the IBM PC XT was of some individual who notified IBM of a way to make his computer violently blow up. They immediately sent to representatives to see him.
Their 5 1/4" floppy drive could operate either clockwise or counter-clockwise. He wrote a simple program to make it go back and forth between the two. It set up a resonance and overheated so much that the floppy drive blew up.
They thanked him for his demo, got a copy of his program, and gave him a brand new, top-of-the-line PC AT as a thank you. At the time, about a $5,000 computer.
#5
Title is misleading. The Sony rootkit does not damage hardware. Attempts to remove it can 'disable' your CD drive -- at least until you reinstall Windows.
Or much simpler; until you install Linux. Decent distributions like Mandrake,Suse and to a lessser degree RedHat/Fedora beat Windows installation (ie when YOU have to do it instead of getting it preinstalled by the manufacturer) hands down.
A story back in the days of the IBM PC XT was of some individual who notified IBM
That was ever my dream damaging hardware with software, the victory of spirit over matter, the ever lasting goal of platonician philosophy. Eventually I learned how to do it but I refrained.
As an aside, one day I learned of the F00F a bug in the Pentium II where a certain illegal instruction launched it into an internal loop (ie processor never went to next instruction). This was a dream for malware authors since it could be triggered from ANY program on ANY operating system. Of course I tried. The box froze. I hut the reset key. Like foreseen nothing happened: the reset key forces a known address into the processor so next instruction executed will be that one but here the bug caused the processor never to go to next instruction. I powerd it off, restarted and... nothing. For a second I feared to have damaged the processor but I thought that in fact the processor had continued getting power from the alim condensers. I powered it off again, waited five minutes to let the condensers exhaust and the processor die; powered it on and it restarted.
BTW the Linux people came with a patch within 2 days. It involved a clever trick who made the trapping of illegal instructions causing a page fault so the processor branched to page fault handling instead of hitting the bug. I have heard that in the Windows world it took months until there was a fix. :-)
At Boise State University, smoking is banned in the buildings and they must have one smoke-free entrance where smokers are not allowed to huddle in the doorway for one last puff before going inside. But to some, that's not enough.
The university's head of health services, Ferdinand Schlapper, wants to make smoking taboo in every corner of campus, including grounds and vehicles. If successful, Boise State would become the first four-year school to completely ban smoking, according to the College Tobacco Prevention Resource in Newton, Mass. "High-achieving students would be drawn to a healthier learning environment," said Schlapper, who thinks the entire state also should be smoke-free. "I want to eradicate this from the planet."
Schlapper's long-term plan, to be discussed Monday at a university cabinet meeting, would ban smoking everywhere on the 175-acre campus. A vote was not expected Monday and the plan would take months to implement if it was adopted.
He polled faculty, students and staff at the 18,600-student school and reported only about 34 percent support that idea. "We continue to pick on smokers in a policy like this; it goes a little too far," said political science professor Jim Weatherby, a nonsmoker. But 92 percent "agree that the desire to breathe clean air should take precedence over a smoker's desire to smoke," Schlapper said.
About 9 percent of students and 15 percent of non-faculty staff smoke, Schlapper said. Only three percent of the faculty smokes. No other four-year college or university in the country bans smoking, said Melissa Murphy of the College Tobacco Prevention Resource. About 20 two-year, nonresidential, technical or community colleges are 100 percent tobacco-free, according to an anti-smoking group, Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights in Berkeley, Calif. "A lot of schools consider themselves to be 100 percent smoke-free, but it usually doesn't include the entire campus grounds; it's usually just campus buildings," Murphy said.
#1
"High-achieving students would be drawn to a healthier learning environment," said Schlapper, who thinks the entire state also should be smoke-free. "I want to eradicate this from the planet."
#3
I would like to see cigarettes banned in the US and all of the production sold in the ME so that lung cancer rates there would go up. It is a vile filthy habit IMO. I have cause for my prejudice. The big C took my wife this year.
#4
They probably ought to amend their statements a little. Specifically, it's not cigarettes that they have a problem with. It's tobacco. There's a lot of overlap between the Cig-Nazis and the Legalize Marijuana crowd.
#8
I'm sorry about that as well, CH. If she'd died of alcohol consumption, would it be OK to ban that for everyone else? A legal product should not be banned. Controlled, if necessary (age of user, location to avoid disruption/hazard to anyone else..).
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/14/2005 14:28 Comments ||
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#9
BTW - Ferdinand Schlapper should be smacked down BIG TIME. Nanny state bastard, should have his ass kicked daily just for that name.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/14/2005 14:30 Comments ||
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#10
Football fans understand, that when it comes to Boise State, expect the unsual. Please don't adjust your sets.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/14/2005 14:36 Comments ||
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#11
Frank, just because I would like to see them banned doesn't mean I expect them to be. Unfortunately tobacco's use in society is too ingrained to go away completely. I do understand the effects of prohibition. Just look at Sandy Arabia and the constant war on booze after 14 centuries. But at the same time if you contarct lung cancer in this day and age don't sit there and claim that you had no idea that tobacco was dangerous.
#12
Cheaderhead - I'm sorry to hear about your wife.
But since cigarette packs have been required by the government to have health warnings since the 1960's....
The US and state governments won't ban cigarettes - they want the tax revenues too much.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/14/2005 15:41 Comments ||
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#13
He polled faculty, students and staff at the 18,600-student school and reported only about 34 percent support that idea.
I'm no math wiz, but I think 34% is a little less then a majority. Suppose 34% favored guns in their rooms? Think Ferdinand would be all gung ho to implement that?
The Peoples Republic of Washington (state) recently passed an initiative banning smoking in public buildings (including bars and resturants) and withint 25 feet of doorways. It is debatable on how [much] this would be enforced. Should be interesting to watch.
As a ex-smoker (after about 30 years...) I can somewhat relate to the smokers desire to be able to relax and light up a smoke. I think banning all smoking everywhere goes a bit too far in nannyhood. I think perhaps a compromise would be desinated smoking areas like we have here for hospitals (either away from buildings or where the smoke is exhausted approprately.)
On the other hand I dont think they (smokers) should have the right to force their choice (to poison themselves) on me or require that I pay for their health problems. Nor do I expect others to pay for any smoking-derived problems I have after 30 years of smoking.
#17
I don't have a problem with smokers. Smoke a fat-boy out of each side of your mouth 24x7 for all I care. Providing smokers (and other high risk groups - folks that can't put a fork down) with the same benefits, rates and access to medicare, medicade, and social security is what I don't agree with....duhhhh.
#1
What a silly man. Other atheists manage to survive this country without getting themselves in a constant tizzy. The intelligent ones find they have enough to think about just minding their own business and having the occasional genial discussion with others of different faiths, but a similar world view -- our lovely Rantburg atheist contingent comes immediately to mind.
#7
OK, who wants to chip in and buy his tombstone?
(NB: not a death threat, but really a fund to buy his tombstone once he dies naturally. I'm thinking a forty-foot high cross would be appropriate.)
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/14/2005 8:19 Comments ||
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#8
He's an athiest, piss him off while still alive to hear it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/14/2005 9:57 Comments ||
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#9
IIRC teh Supremem Court has already ruled on this. He's just an attention whore. He needs to lose his job, friends, home.....kinda like Job....who's he gonna turn to?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/14/2005 9:59 Comments ||
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#10
That he may be a media whore doesn't necessarily mean he's not fighting for a good cause.
Besides the guy's personal motives in bringing up the issue, more significant is the issue itself. Does the "In God We Trust" motto inswws endorse belief in a deity or not? And if yes, should it remain the motto of a country that considers itself to have a wall of separation between church and state?
Now, you're ofcourse free to answer "yes" in both questions, if you think that tradition trumps the wall-of-separation principle. That's also a legitimate position to take. But it's not the *only* legitimate position.
Newdow first wasted everyone's time over the Pledge issue, despite the fact that he had no legal standing to bring the suit and the Supreme Court had made saying it voluntary over 60 years ago. This is just grandstanding again. He's bucking for O'Hair's reputation.
Posted by: Ernest Brown ||
11/14/2005 12:02 Comments ||
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#14
The separation of church and state issue has really snowballed. The Constitution only says that Congress shall make no law establishing a religion. The "In God We Trust" motto on money is in no way a government establishment of a religion, to my way of thinking. So it offends him. Tough noogies.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/14/2005 12:25 Comments ||
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#15
Atheism is also a religion - a belief in no god - but the ACLU and Newdow want that to be the only religion. That's what the Constitution prohibited - one state-mandated religion. We are headed for a state-mandated, atheist religion.
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/14/2005 12:44 Comments ||
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#16
"Newdow says the words "In Good We Trust" on currency is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. He adds it, "excludes people who don't believe in God."
Stoopid logique for a stoopid person:
"In God We Trust" is on only one side of a given piece of US currency. This means that 50% of every piece of US legal tender conforms to the Atheist perspective. Atheists comprise vastly less than 50% of US population, so, when it comes to money they are already getting WAY more of their ideals accommodated than is statistically justified.
#18
Always nice to have Aris lecture us on American government, culture, and mores.....
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/14/2005 14:33 Comments ||
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#19
Atheism is also a religion - a belief in no god
This is incorrect. All theistic belief structures, i.e., God-based religions, require scientifically unproven or unprovable faith in the existence of a supernatural being.
To believe that there is no God does not require any sort of supernatural manifestation or suspension of disbelief. Ergo, atheism is not a "religion." While it is a belief structure, is does not require faith as a component of any pursuit thereof.
#20
Zenster (#19): Agnosticism is not a religion... Atheism makes an unprovable assertion that there are no god(s) anywhere in the universe and there never have been any... Does that sound like a statement of faith to you or not? ;)
I rather enjoyed a Steven DenBeste take on it, scroll down til you get to the musings on the "Cult of Fred"
QUETTA: Unidentified people shot dead four people from the Muhammad Hasni Tribe on Sunday afternoon in the Mashkey area of Balochistan. According to reports from Mashkey tehsil, situated 400 kilometres southwest of Quetta, Naji Khan, Ghulam Rasool, Nadim and Amanullah were killed in the firing. Naji Khan was a close acquaintance of the leaders of the Muhammad Hasni Tribe. The firing was the result of an old enmity because of which 20 people have lost their lives since 2002, the report said. Latif Baloch, a local journalist, said he was the first to reach the spot. He said there was a tense atmosphere after the incident and a group started aerial firing and even a house was targeted with a rocket launcher. No further causalities were reported. According to the report, no case has been registered.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/14/2005 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Mexico said it will withdraw its ambassador and severe 
The German Journalist Union (DJV) on Monday sharply criticised security plans for next year's World Cup in the country which involve security checks on its members. Under the plan, Germany's federal criminal police office, the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), and the country's internal secret service, the Verfassungsschutz (VS), plan to run clearance checks on journalists before they can report on matches from stadiums. "This process goes against every rule and every right," DJV chairman Michael Konken complained Monday. 
At Boise State University, smoking is banned in the buildings and they must have one smoke-free entrance where smokers are not allowed to huddle in the doorway for one last puff before going inside. But to some, that's not enough.
QUETTA: Unidentified people shot dead four people from the Muhammad Hasni Tribe on Sunday afternoon in the Mashkey area of Balochistan. According to reports from Mashkey tehsil, situated 400 kilometres southwest of Quetta, Naji Khan, Ghulam Rasool, Nadim and Amanullah were killed in the firing. Naji Khan was a close acquaintance of the leaders of the Muhammad Hasni Tribe. The firing was the result of an old enmity because of which 20 people have lost their lives since 2002, the report said. Latif Baloch, a local journalist, said he was the first to reach the spot. He said there was a tense atmosphere after the incident and a group started aerial firing and even a house was targeted with a rocket launcher. No further causalities were reported. According to the report, no case has been registered.
