Saturday, March 04, 2006

thoughts 3-4-2006

SOCIAL CONVERSATION


I had an interesting gathering of eight old friends from my teaching years last night, so it was a way to measure worry around this issue in a social setting. Few have any real concern. I would say their repsonses to the idea of this Blog fell into these categories:

1. “You have too much time on your hands - these blogs are stupid.”
2. “I don’t have any time in my life. I already have enough to worry aboutand no time for the bird flu.”
3. “This is all media hype/politics/ the (press, government,media, drug companies) manipulating for their own private gain.”
4. “This just can’t really be a problem. These viruses have been around for hundreds of years and it takes that long before they will become anything to worry about. This is all silliness.”
5. “You should be worrying about your overeating, lack of exercise and weight gains. That is more likely to kill you.”
6. “Don’t worry; be happy.”
7. “One person said they would e-mail me some useful information on masks.”

The current news story that was remembered by most people there and also sent to me in response to this blog was the story of the virus jumping species into a cat. That did seem to catch attention and concern. Most saw that every species jump is a danger.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/0902_040902_birdflu.html

But so far most people think I am crazy to be buying masks and storing food, etc. I think that is great! I hope I AM overreacting, and I even if I am not, I want more time to prepare thoughtfully and not be worried no masks will be left by the time I pick one to buy.

There is no advantage to general population panic.
And as Gregg says, in this difference of opinion I would love to be 100% wrong..


FOOD /THE MARKET PLACE/COMMENTS FROM ORGANIC FARM FOLK

I actually started to stockpile canned goods this week in my basement. I bought quantities of:

Campbell’s Chunky Soups
Prego pasta sauces
All were on great sales of $1 a can, half price in some way.



U.S. chicken sales haven't yet been affected by the flu scare, but a recent survey by the Harvard School of Public Health found that 46 percent of people would stop eating chicken if bird flu hits the American poultry industry. Italy is selling very few chickens at the market.

http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/news/ng.asp?n=65866-bird-flu-poultry-italy

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/02/news/birds-5815240.php

When the birds hit the US, that may change. I’ll be watching for sales in the beginning and filling my freezer with chicken, but I’ll keep evaluating the potential risk. At some point I won’t be comfortable buying chicken, and I’ll be super careful in handling what I buy.


I thought I read about the closing of a live poultry market here at home, but this is the best I can find:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/01/29/us_steps_up_monitoring_for_flu_at_live_bird_markets/


Eggs here at Price Chopper are very cheap. 48 cents a dozen. That may be just because it is the season prior to Easter. For our fried morning eggs, we are now addicted to Danthine’s free range organic eggs at $3 a dozen. They just taste better.

http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M10288

I wrote Debra Danthine because I was concerned about her having children and chickens in the same general space as well as the impact this might have on her farm. Even without evolution of H5N1 they seemed at risk.

Here is Debra’s response:

“We are concerned, and are following the news on the bird flu, but I'm
not
completely convinced yet that this is not yet another scare tactic for
some
unseen (to me anyway) political reasons......look at the panic SARS and
West
Nile caused....but for what? Mass panic could also be defined as
terrorism.
In all honesty, what worries me more is the mass distribution and use
of flu
vaccines. They recommend these vaccines to EVERYone now, even 6 month
old
babies!! When in reality these vaccines actually immensely tax your
natural
immune system, making you more vulnerable to disease in general and in
addition, when a virus is no longer effective (because of drug
[antibiotic]
involvement), it mutates and becomes stronger!!! So all we're doing by
accepting these vaccines is: 1) lowering our bodies incredible, natural
ability to fight off anything that may be harmful to it and 2) helping
to
speed up the evolution of super-bugs that (if we continue with this
prescription drug mentality) will one day overtake us as a race.

But I like to believe we are more intelligent than that, and that
society
will soon see a need to stop with all the chemical drugs and return to
a
more natural, balanced way of life because it's absolutely amazing and
incredible what our bodies can and will do to survive when we allow it
the
chance.”

She is also working on eliminating toxins from her body, some around chemotherapy treatments she had for a cancer she overcame.

In the news related to Debbie’s comments, chemotherapy is being introduced as a possible treatment for H5N1.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pulmonary/URIstheFlu/tb/2774

and the body’s strong, natural immune response is what reported to have killed many flu victims, especially the young, so some treatments for the flu involve suppressing the immune system so it does not destroy the lungs and other vital body parts.

http://www.physorg.com/news8101.html



WASHING OF HANDS

Travelers were warned yesterday to wash their hands frequently and keep out of poultry markets in France when the Government issued its first advice on visiting countries with bird flu.

The Department of Health also said people should avoid eating raw or under-cooked poultry and avoid contact with live or dead poultry.

RELIGION

All sorts of religious and nonreligious persons read my Blogs. On the lighter Pokerbluegill, the most I have of a formal religion is the Isaac’s log link. He is a Lutheran pastor and a long time good friend.

I try to be spiritually very eclectic and respect all beliefs except those that do evil.
If we get an evolved H5N1, however, there is an issue. It is one of gathering or not gathering in spiritual places.

Some readers here are people who believe that appeals to God can alter randomness in the universe. I see that randomess everywhere, and for me it is never a suggestion of chaos (not that I pretend to know that haos theory means) but of order. I don’t believe that God acts independently of that randomness that is in the design of the world and in the emergence of life itself. Sometimes, I can’t understand how a loving God would allow certain kinds of randomness, but then I do not pretend to know the whys of God or understand the total plan.

Many of you do believe that prayer might avert a pandemic.

But gathering to pray this flu away after it has evolved, may mean spreading it around your congregation.

So I challenge my churchfriends to pray hard now that the flu does not evolve. But if that prayer is not answered, then consider ways to pray further in settings that will not further spread this flu around faster.

In the 1918 pandemic funerals were limited by law in some places to 15 minutes.

http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/uda/

And certainly there are the other kinds of prayers, those that seek to comfort and to strengthen us against the troubled times, that offer peace and inner strength against random troubles. And cetainly God will be as glad to hear from you from home as from the church or temple.

There is that scripture about the sparrow, and a fine old gospel hymn based on it. However, in the words of that song there is comfort, not intercession.

http://ingeb.org/spiritua/hiseyeis.html

TERRORISM

Gregg remarks (jokes?) that we are going to have to be worried about terrorists dropping chickens from planes.

There are many recent articles arguing that the bird flu is more dangerous than the terrorist threat. Put “terrorism” and “bird flu” in goggle search to see them.

Also, I can imagine that a suicide bomber could more easily contract an evolved H5N1 and just breath it around with a result more efficient than messing with bombs.


NOTES ON THE BLOG DESIGN/MANAGEMENT ISSUES

Sorry, but I changed the template a couple times and in so doing I lost the links that bring up the latest news articles from sources around the world. I fixed that so don’t hesitate to use it to skim bird flu news.

I do on this Blog and on all my Blogs welcome even very short feedback in comment sections or personal e-mail; it lets me know how many readers I have.

Also let me know if you have trouble using this Blog or others.
At first one reader could not post an anonymous post. I fixed that.
I won’t always know if a reader cannot access parts of the Blog because I can access it right away.

Finally, in my other blogs I am constantly updating posts as I play and edit and add things. Here I will try to post additions or changes in the next daily post, generally logged like today’s diary of my bird flu thoughts and those of others.

Be happy and enjoy this day.

No comments: