Ukraine sees MASSIVE flu epidemic (type unknown)

[Zeus]

If you're with me on this, Sine, just delete this thread. There's no point and purpose to it anymore.

No, it's a historical record of our discussion. If you're done with this thread, don't post anymore

[Mental]

What it seems to be is increasingly an excuse for you to ignore the fact that in the past I've spoken out against anti-thimoseral hysteria over vaccines, and other "scares", and need to be pacified by some book I don't need costing money I don't want to spend.

Sorry, man, I'm kind of having a bad irritable night over here, but it bugs that you think I need to read a book on how not to freak out about stuff. Usually, I don't freak out about much. This time, I made a call that maybe it was worth worrying about. Quite probably I will be wrong, and that'll be spectacular because then nobody else has to worry about the swine flu either. I remain worried about the way we breed our food, the antibiotics and growth horomones we pump it full of, the potential disease risk that can induce, and our medical system's current inability to actually handle a real crisis if one came along. That's not likely to change even if swine flu gets blessedly forgotten about.

[SineSwiper]

If you're with me on this, Sine, just delete this thread. There's no point and purpose to it anymore.

I don't just delete threads, Mental.

[Zeus]

Sorry, man, I'm kind of having a bad irritable night over here

I noticed, that's why I didn't respond before to anything other than the thread deletion

[Mental]

I'm having a far better morning, but the irritation remains. It's like you don't recall any of the times I've spoken out AGAINST freaking out about every damn thing, just choosing to see this thread as some sort of proof that I've joined the tinfoil-hat crowd.

The book thing just pisses me off, Zeus. I know the kind of person that book is directed at. It ain't me.

EDIT: Then again, I'm taking my own advice on all this. This is stupid and not worth fighting about and certainly not worth spoiling a decent record of being generally decent to people that I've accumulated over the last two years or so of being back. If you really want to laugh at me into the corner of your sleeve over all of this, Zeusy, go for it. I'll wait for our discussions on other threads, which are better, more enjoyable, and less contentious.

[Mental]

If you're with me on this, Sine, just delete this thread. There's no point and purpose to it anymore.

I don't just delete threads, Mental.

K, fair enough.

[Zeus]

I'm having a far better morning, but the irritation remains. It's like you don't recall any of the times I've spoken out AGAINST freaking out about every damn thing, just choosing to see this thread as some sort of proof that I've joined the tinfoil-hat crowd.

The book thing just pisses me off, Zeus. I know the kind of person that book is directed at. It ain't me.

EDIT: Then again, I'm taking my own advice on all this. This is stupid and not worth fighting about and certainly not worth spoiling a decent record of being generally decent to people that I've accumulated over the last two years or so of being back. If you really want to laugh at me into the corner of your sleeve over all of this, Zeusy, go for it. I'll wait for our discussions on other threads, which are better, more enjoyable, and less contentious.

Ain't no one laughin' over nothin' (digest that grammar, Kupek :-). I was just making an off-the-cuff remark about you blowing it out of proportion by using a book I very much enjoyed talking about how the people and the media blow things WAAAY out of proportion. It wasn't meant as a diss or anything, it was just my (arguably stupid) way of sayin' "it's not nearly as serious a problem as you're making it out to be" and not " take a chill pill, conspiracy-boy".

[Mental]

Okay. My bad. I tender my apology. Glad to return to a copacetic outlook.

[Shrinweck]

I'm still more worried about killer bees.

And Mad Cow Disease.

And terrorism.

Oh, shi-

[Mental]

"The ministry said that almost half a million cases of flu and acute respiratory infections had been recorded since mid-October in the country [Ukraine] of 46 million, while 24,000 people have been hospitalised.

Some 148,000 cases have been recorded in the past 24 hours, it added."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ... vVDUyCEcLQ

I would say if you guys are planning a vacation to the Ukraine in coming months, you might want to cross that off the list. If you aren't, and most of you aren't, cross it off the list anyway.

[Chris]

meh. I already got swine flu at pax. it's a fucking flu. it lasts a little longer. but it's still just a flu.

[SineSwiper]

meh. I already got swine flu at pax. it's a fucking flu. it lasts a little longer. but it's still just a flu.

Well, it's a powerful flu that can get you up to 105F fever. You have to drink water every hour, even when you're trying to sleep. I can easily see why people have died over this, because of the dehydration. Had several people at work with it, and some have said it was the worst thing they had.

[Kupek]

Also, unlike the normal seasonal flu, it targets our age group.

And I'm going to bring up the word I always bring up: infrastructure. An epidemic doesn't need to be fatal most of the time to cause a huge health care problem. There are a finite number of hospital beds in this country. If people who normally don't get the flu get sick, and enough of them get sick enough to go into the hospital, that puts a strain on health care in the entire country.

Why the CDC says this year's flu season is "very sobering": http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2 ... e.php#more

[SineSwiper]

Yeah, some have actually been told to stay home (and don't let anybody in).