What ever happened to the bird flu ? A while back it was a big deal on the news and on forums like this . Did it just go away ? Has it been brought under control ? Have we , and the news media , been distracted by other world events like Global warming , Iran , Iraq etc . ? Or is it that our attention spans are so short ?

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, the counties just published a booklet on coping with a flu pandemic. In addition, I see signs up in public places reminding people to wash their hands, cover their mouth when they cough, etc. These appeared in the last two months or so. Lines for flu shots here have been longer than normal. Locally, at least, there seems to be an effort not to get "the flu", which would also help contain a new flu outbreak.

Link to San Mateo County pandemic flu information: Flu

The media has found other things to scare people with. It is still out there, there is still no cure, it still has a super high morbidity rate (although that figure is based diagnosed cases- no one knows how many people just thought it was a normal flu and toughed it out without seeking medical attention), and it is still awfully hard to catch, so it still is as much a concern as nuclear war- out there, but not imminant.

You've just gotta love the "Left Coast" idealogy: "Here's a great idea. Let's use our taxpayer dollars to put up signs teaching people to wash their hands and cover their mouths when coughing and sneezing!" "All in favor? Great. Passed"

[No offense intended to those who have to live, nationwide (wouldn;t that be all of us?), with the march toward PHRASECENSOREDPOSTERSHOULDKNOWBETTER. and complete dependance on government.]

It's still out there, killing people. I haven't been following it, but just the other day, there was a brief mention on the TV news that someone in Egypt had just died of it--and that was the third bird flu death in Egypt that week.

Since I haven't been following the news, I have no idea if the virus continues to mutate as it spreads further. But since there hasn't been any big news stories on it for a while, I think this particular strain seems to have dead ended. Then again, there's no reason why it couldn't suddenly become easily communicable tomorrow.

I'm curious if economically painful measures like mass cullings of birds are still going on, for example, in Southeast Asia. When the international spotlight is off you, I imagine the pressure not to eliminate people's livelihoods or inflict undue economic hardship on the people is high.

Bird flu still exist out there. Indonesia had 2 deaths a few months ago directly caused by bird flu virus.

The media is just too busy with Iraq war that they just don't find enough bodies count in bird flu death. Iraq war coverage will get more rating for the major networks instead of bird flu. One day this disease will bite us in the ass.

What ever happened to going to war with Albania?
I just watched "Wag the Dog". <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Left Coast huh?

Nicodemus,
It's possible you misinterpreted my posting....or that I wasn;t clear to begin with...

I was not inferring that the "left coast" was wrong in taking precautions for the flu, or that they "made up" the flu, or anything else that would prompt that link. Certainly, the left coast, as well as the east coast, and all points in-between need to take precautions and steps to prevent any outbreaks.

My point was concerning some of the crazy ideas coming from that area, as well as other areas, such as: the Government convincing itself that the populace was so utterly helpless and ignorant that they, the Government, needed to spend tax dollars to remind people to do something that is second nature.... like the good adoptive mother that it aspires to be.

Personally, I always referred to it as the "Worst Coast", but I am known for being crazy (but not stupid). I agree with Stretch.

The bird flu has at least 4 more mutations to go before it becomes easily communicable to humans.

We are still supporting peace-keeping efforts in Kosovo and although we never invaded Albania, we did use their port city of Duress to offload military supplies bound for Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovinia.

Last but not least,,,, almost all governments are still wagging one dog or another.

I would agree with you on quite a few points regarding how ill conceived quite a bit of government action is, whether on the national, state or local level. However, in the case of the possibility of a pandemic outbreak, all levels of government should do everything possible to spread "best practice" information to keep the nation as a whole as healthy as possible.

And I will apologize for the lack of information in my post, it really should have been followed up by a comment regarding the money that has been dumped into this all over the country and up to the national level.

On this subject, and a few others, I think it's good for the gub'ment to step in with the most current and best possible information (hopefully) available. It's information that I'd rather get from them, possibly unfortunately, than by word of mouth or several different sources with conflicting information and a lack of consensus on the major issues.

And believe me, for me that's really saying something with how little I trust the gub'ment to do the right thing in most cases.

As far as the "the left coast, right coast, red state, blue state" brouhaha goes, I tend to believe any person leaning so far in one direction or the other as to believe a quarter of whatever the leaders and the leader's minions are spewing forth is falling into a trap meant to intentionally keep people polarized so those leaders can hold onto their jobs, make money hand over fist, and fiddle while Rome burns.

Call me a nut-case...

As always, I could be wrong.

Please Mr. Kavanaugh, if my little nutty political rant goes into the realm of a ETS Forum No-No, just delete it.

Thanks!

There was that thing between Trump and O'Donnell that the media thought was news of the day. They'll get back to bird flu when they need another "sky is falling" story to run with.

There are still mass culls. There is a differance between loosing a finger, and loosing your arm, which is why they will happen. You don't take chances.

What is that old saying? Something like, "today's news is tomorrow's fish wrapper" ? It is still an issue, but it doesn't sell papers anymore.

A good site for information is:
http://www.pandemicflu.gov/

In the modern world, the job of the news media is simply to scare the public into finding a reputable information source about the topics covered. This applies to bird flu and pretty much every other stinkin' thing that comes out of their mouths/pens.

You could be....but I'd say you're spot on....

As far as I could tell with the Bird Flu, it was a 'what-if'. If certain things happened in a certain order, something could happen. Bird flu has existed for many years, and it hasn't turned into a pandemic. Virtually every death associated with the disease was of people who had heavy contact with dense flocks of birds, from the ones who raised them, the ones who slaughtered them, and the kids who played with the dead bodies.

The things they predicted for it didn't happen. They shrieked that it would follow the bird migration paths. It didn't; it followed the roads, or rather the vehicles that carried the dripping carcasses of the birds down those roads.

Whenever things like this are trumpeted by the media and the government, it's a good idea to pay very, very close attention to what ELSE the government is doing quietly at the same time. It's like watching a magician: if he's showing you one of this hands, keep an eye on the other one.

There hasn't been much about Earth being hit by asteroids lately either, has there?

Sue

I would say it's still a serious issue. I agree that the media has placed it on the back burner, instead opting for better ratings.

Without being paranoid, I'd also say that the government probably knows about more than it's letting on. Can you imagine something akin to the SARS epidemic in Asia, but here on U.S. soil? It would (at least temporarily) choke our economy and cause mass panic and chaos. My guess is it's already here, we just haven't been informed yet.

Much better to let us sleep peacefully at night... <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

BBC news report latest bird flu death of an Indonesian boy this January.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6247109.stm

The world population today is over 6,679,000,000.

150 people worldwide have died from the bird flu.

This is not an epidemic, nor a pandemic. They are isolated incidents.

Sue

"My point was concerning some of the crazy ideas coming from that area, as well as other areas, such as: the Government convincing itself that the populace was so utterly helpless and ignorant that they, the Government, needed to spend tax dollars to remind people to do something that is second nature."

----------------------------

Stretch, your opinion of people's basic nature is much higher than mine. I work in a hospital which just conducted a secret survey (they got nurses to put on civilian clothes to do it) on how often the doctors washed their hands between patients.

Would you care to guess what the washing rate was?

[color:"red"]It was 7%. [/color]

My God.

Bird flu is back in the news: http://urbansurvival.com/week.htm

Well I've just heard of Japan, Thailand, and Great Britian, -Though it may or may not come to turn the World considerably Upside Down, -Looks like the Thing is Back! (Not that it neccessarily ever even Left!). [color:"black"] [/color] [email]ScottRezaLogan[/email]

I liken this to the recent publication of the doom clock moving another minute toward midnight.

A person is smart, but people are stupid. I think that is an axiom we've cited here before.

You can publish anything and back it up with statistics and polls that mean nothing, but imply everything. Where a person would scrutinze such claims, people will accept it as gospel and based their actions and lifestyles accordingly.

The odds are people are going to die, regardless of whatever those in power can or will do. The ultimate result of living is dying, in two hundred years the how and when this generation perished won't mean much to those of that time, regardless of what you believe in.

I suppose ultimate survival inokes zero risk tolerance. Since that really doesn't have much bearing on the final outcome anyways, do any of us really want to live our lives to that standard?

Life requires balance Daniel-San. When I play cards, I decide what hand to put my chips behind and what hand to throw down and forget about. If I ddin't put chips behind something, then what's the point of playing the game?

The point is this: exercise due diligence, be smart about it, but don't live your life based on what you read in the papers. Take what's said with a grain of salt, and figure out for yourself what makes sense. Change is inevitable, sometimes violent. Everything worth doing has some risk in it. The outcome is always the same; sooner or later, all games come to an end.

Yes it's back. So is man-made global warming.

"...So is man-made global warming..."

Not a totally bad thing. I just read an article about Adak, in the Alutian Islands. It used to be the sixth largest city (by population) in Alaska. Then the military left, population is now 100. But all is not lost. They are working on becoming a major seaport, for over the top of the world shipping, by the end of this century, when the icecap is no more...

Please note the use of the words "man-made". Global warming is obviously ocurring and has been since the last iceage. Our noticing it (and harping about it...thanks algore, et al)) has nothing to do with its rate nor will it have any effect on it ceasing. Nor will anything we do or fail to do have a noticeable effect on said rate.

This question begs to be answered: When the last iceage ended, and "global warming" began to occur....What caused this warming? GM and Ford? British Petroleum and subsidiaries? Aerosol cans and freon?

Additionally, if and when there is no more ice in the Arctic, those that must have it will find an ever-increasing overabundance of it in the Antarctic.

"...science" is nothing but an educated attempt to put the natural world into terms that make sense to us. It's actually nothing more than a best guess..."

That would be a SWAG (Scientific Wild A**ed Guess.

Us mortals just make a WAG.

And, for the most part, I totally agree with you. If we don't have eyeball witnesses to what happened a jilliion years ago, we are just making SWAG's...

Nighthiker,
...because I believe this to be true, I agree and even considered posting basically the same thing as you said...only I don;t hink I could have worded it so well. Science is seeking answers to all unknowns and, in the interim, they're often venturing guesses and proclaiming them to be fact. Meanwhile, they keep working and the guesses keep coming and the facts keep "evolving".

Oldbaldguy,
We really don;t need witnesses to what happened LESS THAN a million years ago, science has at least learned enough to KNOW we had an ice age, and that it wasn;t the first. Exactly how it occurred and how it may occurr again is still baffling to them though, so you're right, it's a SWAG most of the time. BUT, algore knows the facts (just ask him or watch his proffered Oscar winner). He has just been unable, so far, to convince the real scientists that he has all the answers and they don;t. And sadly, in my opinion only, many millions of people believe him and others about this "man made" phenomenon.

Wow... I thought the military was still up there. I did a little searching and discovered a neat website about Adak with lots and lots of pictures from over the years:

http://www.orneveien.org/adak/

Poor Al. This isn't going to be as easy as inventing the internet.

I've just heard of a report of Rusha being added to that list, -here in mid-february 07. [color:"black"] [/color] [email]ScottRezaLogan[/email]

I think there's a good chance that Global Warming is more "Natural Made" than Man Made. Though the Industrial Revolution on up to today is an Undeniable Fact. I do listen to a lot of Rush / Shawn / Savage / Quinn & Rose / and Beck "Pooh-Poohing" it off, -but they and quite more than a few Scientists they cite, -may well have something there. I'm like a Jury having to sit this one out. In any event, -we can all make a Go at claiming Branson's recent 1 Million Prize for a Carbon Catching Solution! (All Round, -Branson's quite a guy!). [color:"black"] [/color] [email]ScottRezaLogan[/email]

Wags and Swags yes, -but this still doesn't excuse us from trying to get a Grip on, and come to a Solution (or at least a "No More Worsening"), -of a given Real or Possibly Real Enuff of a Problem / Challenge. And I'm one with some considerable Doubts as to the level of Man Made & Total Global Warming, -and of its level of Seriousness. Still, -we can't just Opt Out of a Looming Enuff Issue, -just because it is this much or that much of a Wag or Swag. I'm sure that many other examples currently and thruout History exist, -where Man did *not* just Bow Out, -but rather Grabbed the Bull by the Horns and Addressed such! Many of these too quite Unknown and Waggish or Swaggish, -at their Time. And Man thereby Saved his Tail and Day! (I do not have such Specifics at the tip of my mind, -but again I'm sure that many exist). [color:"black"] [/color] [email]ScottRezaLogan[/email]

One thing to keep in mind about the "man-made" global warming…

No one is saying that mankind is the cause of global warming itself. Earth was going through climate change cycles long before mankind inhabited the land. What people/scientists are citing as "man-made" is the fact that this cycle of climate change seems to be progressing much, much faster than any others researched.

JC, you may be right if you said "few are saying mankind is the cause..." (few being the operative word). But, "many" are implying that we can arrest the rate of warming. In my opinion, this is impossible and, as Nighthiker said, egotistical and, I would add, ludicrous.

The reason the cycle is progressing faster and faster isn't alarming to me, it's just sensical....normal...expected.

That's not to say that I don;t support good practices by "us" in using fossil fuels and other resources, but I support that so we have a healtheir environment.... NOT because I think it might have any effect on the earth's cyclical meteorological events.