Posted on 06/09/2003 3:32:01 PM PDT by backhoe
http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=2427743&postcount=79 --I'm a freelance writer, and I just finished ghostwriting an ebook on bird flu. I"ve been researching it for personal curiousity and here are my thoughts:
1. It's a very real threat. Yes, mind-boggling that it could infect up to 50% of Americans if it comes here AND if it goes human-to-human WITH a lethality rate of about 50%. Losing 1 out of 4 would make things come to a giant, screeching halt for a little while, tough thereafter. IMPORTANT: Just because, to my best intel, we dodged a bullet with Y2K and SARS, we should NOT get complacent and assume everything is overhyped B.S. Some is, some isn't. I don't think this is, but we'll see.
2. In the Spanish flu, people DID self-quarantine their towns and communities by using local militia and anyone they could to keep outsiders out. Generally, it worked well.
3. As of a few days ago, the CDC and WHO announced two worrisome facts: a) there are 4 avian flu viruses now with the potential to mutate and go human-to-human with disastrous effects, b) the virus has now mutated to survive well in warm, moist climates (look out, Houston.)
4. I'd rather be a year early than an hour late when the shelves start getting cleaned out. Those of you who've been through hurricanes know what I mean.
5. There's a major "scare the sheeple" TV movie coming out--I think it's May 7 or 9--on bird flu. Look for a SERIOUS dent in available preps for awhile after that.
6. All commercial canneries in the US are currently backordered 4-6 weeks on dehydrated food in good-sized quantities like #10 cans and the big 5-6 gallon pails. Mountain House, especially, due to large group buys.
7. The govt. knows more than it's letting on because nothing good will come of a panic.
8. I suspect this H5N1 flu virus may not be entirely natural. One of the UN's stated goals is population control (read: reduction.) How very convenient.
9. I also don't rule out a pretense for totalitarian martial law and control. Remember what Tommy Franks told us in that Cigar Afficionado interview, and substitute the word "pandemic" for "terror attack."
10. Regardless of who cooked this thing up or how, I'd suggest preparing.
STORING WATER: Do it the free way. Everytime I use a bottle that has a screw-on cap--water, soda, liquor, anything non-oil--I refill with tap water and add bleach at the rate of 1/2 eyedropper per 16 oz, and store out in the shade inside our barn.
Menstruation Is Fast Becoming Optional
The war on cancer, 30 years on
I missed this when it was posted at Gates of Vienna last Thursday, but according to a translated article from Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten, someone in Jordan wants to buy Swedish anthrax. link: 23 comments "So, let me get this straight. Sweden has something with the grandiose title “Total Defense Research Institute,” and someone wrote to the institute on fake letterhead that a 14-year-old could crank out in three minutes, and asked them to please send some anthrax to a PO Box in Jordan, thank you very much? "
Sourcery's Noteworthy Sci/Tech News Roundup--
I think that seeing some of the significant sci/tech developments over the past few months all in one listing gives one a better perspective on the accelerating rate of progress:
Migrating wild birds play a key role in transporting highly pathogenic avian influenza
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