Hard News: There is History
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3410,
Who are these people?
[EXPLOITATION SITE LINK DELETED.
3410, don't take offence -- it was perfectly reasonable to link and ask the question, but I don't want to let this guy suck our Google goodness any longer now - RB]
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There are plenty of reasons to be cautious about the quesadillas
If you were talking about the Mexican Cafe, fair enough. Like Rangitoto College, nothing good has ever come from that place. But Mexicali is perfectly clean and serviceable. And it has a bottomless salsa bar! (It's no Mexican Specialties in Ellerslie, but nothing is.)
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3410: I'd start making inquiries of Bruce Wileman at BB Internet Group in Johnsonville, judging by theinformation here.
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JLM,
4th!!! What have I been missing out on? But not any more thanks to your list link, Kyle.
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The last place you want to go is to your local GP - one of the bloggers here on PA wrote a very funny and disturbingly true piece about getting sick every time he went to see his GP, how the office is a great big petrie dish of germs.
The last person to give me the flu was a receptionist at my doctor's office, who coughed wetly while processing my bill... covering her mouth with her hand that happened to be holding my credit card.
For a moment I hesitated between demanding and germ free ("wash your hands and wipe down that card with germicide before you hand it back to me!") and polite (smile and take put wet card back in my wallet). Unfortunately I chose the latter and was sick for a week.
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Ironically, people with the most vigorous immune systems were the most likely to die this way
Ironically, that means that my lifestyle of late nights, hard drinking and avoiding fresh vegetables may end up being a lifesaver.
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It would seem the Herald has opted to open up the Swine Flu story to YourViews, where the antivax people appear to be having a party of some kind.
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For a moment I hesitated between demanding and germ free ("wash your hands and wipe down that card with germicide before you hand it back to me!") and polite (smile and take put wet card back in my wallet). Unfortunately I chose the latter and was sick for a week.
And if you had washed your card and hands before doing anything else you would have probably avoided it.
Most viruses including flu are transmitted by hand to mouth or hand to eye transfer from an infected person to an uninfected person. Aerosol infection is possible with flu but is the minor form of transmission.
And it most definitely is a news story. None of the media I have seen/heard have played it for more than is reasonable - yet. It would be ridiculous for the media to ignore the story. In my opinion it would be irresponsible for the WHO to NOT consider pandemic questions early and equally irresponsible for the media to not report it.
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Once again, it is the poor level of reporting that gets me. Even the splendid RB states that 80 people in Mexico have died from this but it looks like only 20 have been confirmed as being the victims of this actual strain of flu. The implication being that the other 60 could have had any number of other complications that helped them depart this mortal coil. Also, what time period? 80 (20) in one week is scary, 80 in one year is below average. I have every belief that the human population will be decimated by a disease in the next generation or two but it will be one that is killing the person next to you while stupid Herald journalists are still picking up their pens. The facts at this stage would appear to be some sick people, 20 confirmed deaths in Mexico and a whole lot of journos writing "potentially one squillion dead!"
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It would seem the Herald has opted to open up the Swine Flu story to YourViews, where the antivax people appear to be having a party of some kind.
Indeed. And there seems to be a global pandemic of idiocy:
Remember Hong Kong flu,Y2K,avian flu & global warming just to name a few non-events?
The common denominator was media hype & fortunes made by vested interests such as drug companies, IT companies and Al Gore Inc. Swine flu has at least kept the medico bureaucrats busy - might have been different though if Anzac Day had been 'Mondayised'. Contacting them at their Sounds holiday homes could have proved an interesting exercise.
Yes, this was obviously started by "medico bureaucrats", who somehow managed to kill a bunch of people in Mexico via remote control from their secret Marlborough Sounds bunkers.
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Oh dear. Poneke appears to have added pandemic influenza to things that he'd rather didn't exist. Cos Y2K, global warming, and pandemic influenza are all functionally the same.
*headdesk*
Although as I say that, here is an example of genuine media hysteria. ZOMG 3 YEAR OLD REPORT STOP ECONOMY DOOMED STOP
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Once again, it is the poor level of reporting that gets me. Even the splendid RB states that 80 people in Mexico have died from this but it looks like only 20 have been confirmed as being the victims of this actual strain of flu.
In this situation, I wonder what the best source of ongoing information would be? Does the WHO maintain a regularly-updated site, or just put out occasional media releases? Will the informal system of check & balances ensure that the Wikipedia article maintains only the most sober and verifiable information?
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I'd start making inquiries of Bruce Wileman at BB Internet Group in Johnsonville, judging by theinformation here.
DNC.org.nz is always the first stop to make, yes.
My guess is that BB Internet is being opportunistic and has thrown uo a quick-and-dirty website to serve GoogleAd impressions.
I especially like the almost-invisible text on a green background at the bottom which says:
Third Parties may be placing and reading cookies on your users' browser [sic], or using web beacons to collect information as a result of ad serving on this website
"but it wouldn't be us that's doing that, no sir"
Actually, it's grey text in a transparent graphic overlaid on a green background image.
And he uses a Hotmail account and no company website. Bah
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This from the MOH website in New Zealand - "Influenza is a significant public health issue in New Zealand. Each year it has a large impact on our community, with 10-20% of New Zealanders infected. Some of these people become so ill they need hospital care, and a small number die."
It is therefore normal for people to get flu and die every year in NZ and every other country in the world, and for them to travel and infect others with that flu. Again, this is not to belittle the threat of a global epidemic but to criticise the media who jump in the second there is half a story and start spraying around made up figures that are big and scary. -
Extracts from "One flu over the cuckoo's nest"
reprised by Ken Queasythese may be all coal to Newcastle
(or even Happy Valley!) but worth a readuseful world health disease map
http://www.healthmap.org/enDr WHO and the Tami(f)l(u) Tigers
no but seriously
(Rumsfeld's and Al Gore's profits aside)
http://www.legitgov.org/baxter_flu_vaccine_260409.htmlhere's a useful flu story archive
recent stories:
http://www.legitgov.org/flu_oddities.htmlolder stories:
http://www.legitgov.org/flu_oddities_shortnews.htmland lest we forget: the world microbiologists shortage: (here in precis but well documented elsewhere on web)
http://jollyrogerrevolution.blogspot.com/2009/04/if-you-sell-crack-join-gang-or-rob-mob.htmlor this:
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/deadbiologists.htmlor why would they dig up and tinker with that the misnamed Spanish Flu from way back then...
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-12/uow-sig122608.php
and
http://www.uchc.edu/ocomm/newsarchive/news05/oct05/fluvirus.htmlit is a very strange mix of global flus -- dare one suggest weaponised? or at least cooked up: Associated Press had this:
http://www.uchc.edu/ocomm/newsarchive/news05/oct05/fluvirus.htmlother possibly useful resources:
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/flu.phphave a sift thru all this
nothing to sneeze atat issue, atishoo
we all fall down
from coughin' to coffin?the Chch Press scored a coup today
with a full front page on the possible flu pandemic with a page wide ad for a funeral home at the base - bloody advertorials!bless you
ian dalziel
or was that
Ian FLUeNZa
aka Sneezy and the boys -
It would seem the Herald has opted to open up the Swine Flu story to YourViews
*hands on hips*
Well duh?! How else are we going to fix this thing? By listening to health experts? Are you MAD!? -
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Again, this is not to belittle the threat of a global epidemic but to criticise the media who jump in the second there is half a story and start spraying around made up figures that are big and scary.
I really don't know where you're coming from with this. There is ordinarily influenza, and there is influenza that jumps from animals to humans. We know that there is a strain of the latter in Mexico, and the WHO is concerned enough to have warned the public of the risks involved, which they're not in the business of doing unless they think it will do some good. A bunch of kids coming back from Mexico turns out to have the flu, very likely from that strain. The Minister of Health speaks out about it, the media follows the story. What in the world would you have them do?
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Agreed on concern and caution but not quoting figures from thin air in order to make bigger and better headlines. WHO and the Minister are not using random numbers to sell newspapers. To take it to a conclusion with some merit (i.e. not just my indignation), it leads to things like massive stock piles of drugs that are untested, expensive and uncertain in their efficacy, and that are passed their use by date when the next scare comes around. All I would like is some scale and accuracy in reporting.
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It is therefore normal for people to get flu and die every year in NZ and every other country in the world, and for them to travel and infect others with that flu. Again, this is not to belittle the threat of a global epidemic but to criticise the media who jump in the second there is half a story and start spraying around made up figures that are big and scary.
Nope. Sorry.
The CDC has declared a "public health emergency" in the US -- whilst carefully explaining that that is a precautionary move. That seems wise.
The new H1N1 has characteristics in common with the 1918 flu that make it a cause for concern.
Yes, people who get ordinary flu occasionally die -- about 0.1% of them. In 1918, the figure worldwide was about 20%. For Maori in Auckland it was 74%.
We do have treatments for this one, but until such time as the experts know better, it is actually potentially very serious.
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Re the media coverage, it’s almost as if there is some feeling of national importance in that we’re at the forefront of “developed” infected countries.
We’ve got groups of potentially infected schoolkids and Australia has ... nothing.Well as I tuned in for my daily dose of blonde plastic on breakfast TV this morning ... I must admit I almost choked on my cuppa when Ditsy/Mitsy/FiFi or somesuch announced the headline "and further to the swine flu pandemic story, 10 New Zealand students have been quarrantined".
I'm not sure if it was hearing the words New Zealand or seeing the Rangitoto College logo or the words 'swine flu' that made me take notice most.
Actually I think it was the words New Zealand since we've gone a whole Anzac Day weekend without a mention.
Overheard in a Fitzroy cafe;
Aussie to Kiwi "So why are you guys so interested in Anzac Day anyway?"
Kiwi response "Well ... um ... what do you think the N Z in Anzac stands for?" -
It would seem the Herald has opted to open up the Swine Flu story to YourViews, where the antivax people appear to be having a party of some kind.
A virulent killer virus and an effective vaccine would be one way to remove them from the gene pool for good.
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Oh God No.
It would seem the Herald has opted to open up the Swine Flu story to YourViews, where the antivax people appear to be having a party of some kind.
To quote one particularly reality-impaired 'your view'...
Chris G (Queensland) - It's coming up to winter again and the pharmaceutical companies need to make some more money.
Because the global pharma conspiracy has finally figured out that the real money's to be made in selling Tamiflu to NZ!
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What in the world would you have them do?
When it comes to important shit like this, raise their fucking game, not to put too fine a point on it.
I quote from the 'stuff story' currently on their website:
PASSENGER DISAPPOINTED AT RESPONSE
A Christchurch father onboard the infected Air New Zealand flight from Los Angeles, who did not want to be named, said he was disappointed with the response from health officials. "I'm a bit hacked off with the Department of Health."
Since visiting an emergency 24-hour doctor surgery he had had no contact with health officials.
He had purchased two courses of Tamiflu at a cost of $160, which he planned to take as a precaution.
"I just want to eliminate any risks," he told Stuff.co.nz this afternoon.
He believed Tamiflu treatment for the 360-odd passengers on board NZ1 from Los Angeles should be mandatory, particularly as there was a stockpile of 1.2 million Tamiflu treatments following the Sars outbreak.
"They could stamp it out for the [nearly] 400 people onboard. But potentially by now they could have tens-of-thousands of people exposed to it."
Well, gosh. Who should we ask about the best course of action for this potentially extremely serious flu outbreak?
A Doctor?
A biologist?
A government representative?
No, don't be daft! Lets just verbatim quote the UTTERLY UNINFORMED OPINION OF SOME RANDOM MOUTH WHO HAPPENED TO BE ON THE PLANE! WHAT A FUCKING GREAT IDEA! HOLD THE FRONT PAGE!
Yes, I am angry about this. As Russell has pointed out, all this shit may or may not amount to a hill of beans, but potentially it's quite serious.
So, in my opinion, it is very, very important that the media gets both facts and tone exactly right in order to avoid scaring the horses.
Verbatim quoting some random, especially when he lobs the odd grenade like this into the story (and let me quote again):
"They could stamp it out for the [nearly] 400 people onboard. But potentially by now they could have tens-of-thousands of people exposed to it."
ZOMG!!!!! WE'VE ALL BEEN EXPOSED!!!!!!! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!
Stuff? FAIL.
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Here comes the Science Media Centre
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