I'm of the opinion, at least at the present time, that most of this avian flu thing is hype, but there are points raised that shouldn't be laughed off ... virtually everything comes from somewhere else now, hundreds or even thousands of miles away. We're just one major natural disaster, disease outbreak, terrorist attack or major war away from potentially extreme scarcity of the most basic of things, including food and fuel. The one-two punch of Katrina and Rita demonstrated this to some degree. So, preparedness is something we all need to be not just thinking about, but actually acting upon.