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late night tinfoil

by: Lisa the GP

Fri Mar 16, 2007 at 00:31:56 AM EDT


any interesting bird-flu related paranoia pop into your head lately?

Here's a diary for dropping ya-ya's and bombshells for everyone's shock and amusement.

(not to be taken seriously; just to archive those bizarre thoughts that pop up on occasion)
Lisa the GP :: late night tinfoil
So, with all these companies tooling up to make bird flu vaccine, they've got a lot of investment to loose if a pandemic doesn't come from this virus.  Ever wonder if any of the companies thus tooled up would 'help' the pandemic along in starting?

(told you--tinfoil hat stuff...)
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late night tinfoil | 56 comments
How come all the news about BF has dried up?
Have they snuffed all the reporters?  Maybe chickens have been culled so much, they are on the verge of extinction. 

Could it be that H5N1 is no longer glamorous?  Is it now the dowdy dowager disease that is boring and commonplace, and no longer so scary as it was in previous incarnations? 

Why can't we invent a nanotech flu shot that has tiny robots in a jab which will be able to find, isolate, and clogg up all the receptor sites of the H5N1 so that it is rendered harmless and obsolete?

Could it be that Kelly Phan (me) needs a new and improved tin foil conical hat?  Could it be that I need to get some sleep?

Could be...
Could also be that the Indo gov has squashed news ever since they declared a KLB (emergency powers) for the nation on bird flu. I have heard this gave them more power over the press. It seems to be getting more and more restrictive.

The floods happened close to the same time and we thought maybe that was it, but they should be recovered by now. They've never had a completely open press, but I would say someone is leaning on it, or its sources, very heavily right now.

[ Parent ]
Indonesian Army
And just where the heck is the Indonesian Army and what are they up to, bgw in MT?  Hmmmmm.

"I am opposed to any form of tyranny over the mind of man."  Thomas Jefferson
[ Parent ]
kelly, I think you're right...
when the Indonesian government is talking about 'cullin', they don't mean decimating the chicken flocks, it's a code-word for reassigning all the bird flu reporters to other stories on entirely separate islands... :D

medical information provided is for discussion purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice. if you believe you have a medical problem, consult your practitioner.
[ Parent ]
Lisa, 'culling' could also be the code word for
changing positives into negatives, so the world won't be too scared to come visit the country and do some good ole tourism stuff. :)
[ Parent ]
Re: bird flu thoughts
I go back and forth, dreading that I will be isolated in my home when this thing happens, to being locked up in a psych ward for believing that it might happen. I truly believe that this pandemic is a possibility, nature is in charge not us.  However, sometimes I wonder if I've fixated on this and maybe I'm nuts. 
If you're nuts
...you're in good company.

  • Every world government
  • The leadership of WHO, UN, world militaries
  • The executives at every major pharma company
  • The Red Cross and countless other international NGOs
  • Osterholm
  • Webster
  • Taubenberger
  • Others whose names escape my sleep-deprived brain at the moment...


[ Parent ]
Borat
Last night we watched Borat.  A comedy about a "Russian" who comes to the U.S. to study our culture.  His first day here while riding the subway, his tattered suitcase fell open.  A live chicken fell out.  DH and I looked at each other and started laughing.  What if it had H5N1?

I live in 2 worlds now.  I'm sure a lot of us do.

My tinfoil contribution
It's all a plot by the ducks. I've seen then watching me with their beady little eyes and they've taken to quacking behind my back. I never used to see ducks and now they're everywhere. Hundreds of them flying over head and quacking in a very mocking tone. I even had three of them set up in my garden in a bigamous relationship and I haven't even got a pond! And only last week a woman bought eggs from the supermarket and two baby duckies hatched out. It's a plot I tell you!
a plot by the ducks
I think you're right. I saw a couple in a pond near my house the other day. They were watching me carefully.

And the other day when I was out running, I saw a couple ducks hanging out with a merganser in a stream. What is going on here?

[ Parent ]
RE: they are coming
Uk bird and Gardner:  So it's a plot?  That's why those two geese have been hanging out on my neighbors' front lawns.  They have been watching me for a week now.  On a more serious note, my daughter boyfriend went to Japan this week for spring break.  My husband who wavers back and forth about this bird flu stuff says "I hope he doesn't bring anything back from there.  (And in a serious tone) Did she tell him to stay away from chickens?"  I just smiled.  But I am a little concerned.
[ Parent ]
Especially since the Japanese found an eagle dead from bird flu.
Will he be in cities or in the mountains?

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."  Flannery O'Connor
[ Parent ]
don't worry
statistically speaking, there are millions of people living in close contacts with poultry all over Asia and the Middle East, and we 'only' have several hundred infections over 3 years.

He would have to be pretty extraordinarily unlucky to be catching it during a short visit.



All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...

[ Parent ]
I've got you thinking now.
You'll start to notice the little beggars watching you, just the same way country folk watch daft city slickers.

Ding dee ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, diiiiiiing (banjo music). Quack qui quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quaaaaaack.

And remember, just because I'm paranoid it doesn't mean the ducks aren't out to get me ;-)

[ Parent ]
I forgot where I read this
must be some blogger, who wrote "I wouldn't be so paranoid if people would stop following me."

;-)



All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...

[ Parent ]
Ever saw the movie 'Birds'?
'Ducks' doesn't quite cut it though, as a name.



All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...
[ Parent ]
Big Duck is watching you...
http://fohn.net/duck...

Proud FAF-er.
[ Parent ]
ROTFLMAO :-)
I now have a mental picture of a big yellow duck wearing a fedora, smoking a cigar and watching a wall of CCTV screen.

Tee hee!

[ Parent ]
Dear Dr. Laura (or Lisa...)

Two days ago, my DH asked if we had any Pepto Bismol--he was having a pretty bad stomach ache.

I knew I had some in my pandemic prep stash, but I wouldn't admit it.  I couldn't break my, "I don't touch the stash" rule, so I lied and told him we didn't have any. 

I just kept thinking that if I broke into the stuff, the pandemic announcement would be the next morning, the drug stores would be madrushchaoscalamityohmyGodTSHTFlinesoutside&aroundtheblock!, and we'd be left without some really basic, necessarypossibly life-saving something... like Pepto Bismol.

So Dr. Lisa, tell me:  Will I get much worse than this,before I get better?  Is paranoia ever fatal?

 

SoCal are you your DH's DW?
It's called 'rotating your stash'.  You say you don't have any, run out to the store, buy more, then give him the *old* bottle.

:P

medical information provided is for discussion purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice. if you believe you have a medical problem, consult your practitioner.

[ Parent ]
...
jeez, that's cold..  forget the ducks, the guys should be worried about their wives..  a guy would've given his wife the bottle without question - and picked up 5 more for the stash...  and if asked, would say that clearly it's not just prepping for what we might need then, but then and now...  it's a mindset, a way of life...  and DW would say something barely audible, roll her eyes, and change the subject to the oldest item on the honey-do list..  and wait for DH to leave the room, then go off on a rant..  oops, sorry..  married folk already know how this story goes.
[ Parent ]
Just because you're paranoid...
...doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
[ Parent ]
So Cal, I am ROFLMAO!!!
Your comment was so funny, "the drug stores would be madrushchaoscalamityohmyGodTSHTFlinesoutside&aroundtheblock!, and we'd be left without some really basic, necessarypossibly life-saving something... like Pepto Bismol." Thanks for the good laugh because there just has to be some good humor in all of this or we would all go nuts.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

[ Parent ]
Thanks, Carol. Leave it to a woman....
...to understand, without a smiley, that I was kidding about the Pepto...

I'm trying to convince myself that I'm not developing full-blown Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder over H5N1.  How do I know?

[ Parent ]
LOL!!!! Could
see myself doing that. In fact I have. Oh the shame of it all!!  But I can live with that!  ;-)

United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com
[ Parent ]
the FAO is getting ready to drop culling
and recommend worldwide use of vaccines for control of BF.  Why?  First their chief vet gives an interview http://today.reuters... declaring H5N1 to be a 'permanent' problem, meaning that control measures should no longer be aimed at eradication.

The day after that, they announce a vaccine summit during which, apparently, experts will "exchange information on the fight against the virus and look at the financial and logistical implications of a worldwide vaccination effort, a statement from the organisers said"  http://news.yahoo.co...

Winners: vaccine manufacturers, agricultural industry,
Losers: the rest of humanity

It's a complicated issue.  I'm personally not opposed in principle to poultry vaccines, but I believe that the switch from eradication as the ultimate goal (if indeed that is the case) will cut off funding to any R&D into novel technology aimed at, well, eradication, as well as possibly compensation to farmers. 



All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...

addressing the problem
The 2 recent diaries that I wrote yesterday are inter-related.

One is on the FAO stance http://www.newfluwik... the other is one example of innovative thinking that no one has yet attempted. http://www.newfluwik...



All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...

[ Parent ]
I am not against vaccination per se
I have 4 pet chickens, 2 parrots, 1 dove, 4 finches and a cockatiel. I'd love for there to be a vaccine for them. My african grey is my baby. I am sure the Indonesians who treat their birds as we do cats and dogs would feel the same way. I hope if they do it it will be affordable for them.
I am looking at it from a pet owners point of view here.

I understand your concerns though.

Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy. Ralph Waldo Emerson

[ Parent ]
Someone on the Bangkok Post forum said he'd rather have farmers change their methods.
Have a variety of bird types and keep the area clean to help prevent infection.  He hoped that having a variety of birds would lead to some that were resistant to virus, instead of all the same breed being raised too close together.

http://matrix.bangko...

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."  Flannery O'Connor

[ Parent ]
Nothing to do with variety
but more to do with exposure and endemicity, with domestic ducks as the silent reservoir.  The problem is current vaccines don't work on ducks, not to remove the virus, at least.



All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...
[ Parent ]
Food Supplies
Lisa the GP,

Several days ago I saw a really scary post by TomDVM.  He speculated about the potential for the next pandemic to affect a whole lot of mammals, including our livestock. 

My mind raced ahead to a future in which reptiles, amphibians, fish, crustaceans, insects, arachnids, bacteria, fungi, et cetera fight with the viruses for dominance of the planet.  In this future, people are food.

You are running out of time.


http://tinyurl.com/37bl45

arachnids
There was an interesting story about spiders in the March 5th issue of the New Yorker ("Spider Woman" by Burkhard Bilger). It says at one point:

One Dutch researcher eestimates that there are some five trillion spiders in the Netherlands alone, each of which consumes about one tenth of a gram of meat a day. Were their victims people instead of insects, they would need only three days to eat all sixteen and a half million Dutchmen.

[ Parent ]
People eatting spiders
This is going to tonights nightmare, just waiting for me to close my eyes  ;) LOL
[ Parent ]
...
"Were their victims people instead of insects,
they would need only three days
to eat all sixteen and a half million Dutchmen."

Lieve hulp!

[ Parent ]
Solient Green - Dr Dave, all I can say is Soilent Green :)
Dr Dave,

  When the mamels go, the other mamels not us, it will be one more strain on the food system that will take years to bounce back from.

  Off to enjoy my steak now.

Kobie

[ Parent ]
you've not eaten recently, have you?
there should be plenty of maggots about..  seems like i've heard of folks eating insect larvae..  i might have to starve to death tho..  maybe feed them to livestock..  jeez...  just the thought..  boil them maybe...  so they're good and dead..  wouldn't want them crawling around...

how was the steak?

[ Parent ]
Seak - so far so good. Passed on the little green crakers/biscuits
C4jmp,

  The impact on turkys, chickens and other mamals is something rolling around in the brain pan that has not found a place.

  If BF hist chickens, turkeys, geese then what - another blow to the food chain. If oil is disrupted then feed, heating and breading are also hit.

  My feeling was and increase in the critter population, not a decrease. Fewer rodents, deer, bear, etc.

  Any thoughts??

[ Parent ]
...
i'd be looking for an increase in insects now...  with birds being one of their natural predators..  we could get plague and pestilence..  literally.  yet another add-on effect.  and absolutely, depending on what species are heavily impacted, i'd certainly expect shifts in dominant species - for whet depends on them, and what they depend upon. 
[ Parent ]
Increae in insects
C3Jmp,

  Yea you are right. And the ripple effect is dawning on me. With hawks and owls hit the mice population could explode producint haunta virus.

  Still if cockroaches eat dead skin can they be trained to do a petticure?  ha ha ha

  "Always look on the bright side of life" Monty Python

Kobie

[ Parent ]
spiders: I have a
love/hate relationship with them. My fear is paralalizing sometimes. I've had them move when I move, and yes, jump at me! I hate the fact their small, can get anywhere I don't want them to be, including in bed with me, yes that's happened. In all rational honesty, I don't know why I hate/fear them. I am fasicinated by them. They are beautiful creatures, at least the larger ones. I would like to have one, to observe, admire, and learn about, but Hubby and Daughter say no way.

United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com
spiders
Generally speaking, spiders are about the only thing I really can't stand (apart from daddy-long-legs type spiders). All those creepy legs. And they way they can scurry around so quickly. [shiver]

Despite that, this article in the New Yorker is fascinating. It was about a woman, Greta Binford, who studies spiders, particularly the poisonous Brown Recluse spiders and their relatives. The article follows her as she captures some (described as larger and more poisonous cousins of the Brown Recluse) in the cavernous basement of a Goodwill building someplace in Los Angeles. That is an incredibly creepy section in the article.

Binford and other researchers "milk" the spider venom of captured spiders to analyze it. Spider venom has been little studied until recently, but apparently it is amazing stuff. And it's possible that it could be used to develop new medicines at some point in the future. They've found that a toxin in a Chilean tarantula's venom can stop heart fibrillations, something in a Chinese tarantula encourages insulin secretions.

[ Parent ]
Its mice thats going to do us in.
Ducks will look at you funny, and spiders might jump at you,(I read that New Yorker article, it was pretty creepy, but fascinating,)but its gonna be mice that get us.  Nasty little rodents allways chewing on stuff and spreading Hanta Virus and plague and who knows what else-don't even get me started on rats!  At least spiders don't spread disease-(as far as we know.)
[ Parent ]
one good thing about mice is that thay don't eat people-
though some people have eaten mice-I'm thinking about Farley Mowat in "Never Cry Wolf"-  that really creeps me out-I don't think I could do it even if I were starving.
[ Parent ]
methinks it's gonna be the roaches that win out in the end.
If there is no food in a house that is infested with them, they will crawl on top of sleeping humans and literally, tear the skin off people to have something to eat.  Folks will wake up in the morning with bites and skin scabs from roaches feasting on them all night long. 

I am not joking.

[ Parent ]
Cockroaches
The things are radiation tolerant, too!

They may well inherit the earth . . . but I've believed that since 1963. 

[ Parent ]
Roaches surviving radiation is an urban legend
Brought on by Hollywood!  There are none that literally eat people, although they will chew on hair and toe/fingernails.

From pestworld.com:

American Cockroach. The American Cockroach, Periplaneta americana (L.), is sometimes called the "Palmetto Bug" in tropical American areas. They are the largest of the house-infesting urban pest cockroaches at about 1.5 inches (38mm) long, with full-sized reddish brown wings and a light margin completely around their prothorax. The females have larger, heavier bodies, and the males have two obvious pairs of stylets at the tip of their abdomen. They often live in sewers and live outdoors in warm areas like Florida or southern California. They can thrive in underground steam and utility tunnels in Alaska. Under good conditions, it takes an American roach about nine to ten months to grow from hatching to maturity. After another 45 days, each mated female can produce an egg capsule containing 16 eggs every four to five days until she has produced more than 50 of them. The female usually glues her egg capsule into or onto some partly hidden spot. These are the most common cockroaches on sea-going ships. They have been noted to chew off the eyelashes, eyebrows and toenails of humans.

And from Wikipedia:

It is popularly suggested that cockroaches will "inherit the earth" if humanity destroys itself in a nuclear war. Cockroaches do indeed have a much higher radiation resistance than vertebrates, with the lethal dose perhaps 6 to 15 times that for humans. However, they are not exceptionally radiation-resistant compared to other insects, such as the fruit fly.

[ Parent ]
BroncoBill
I speak from experience.  I have seen it happen. 
[ Parent ]
In a novel, I read of roaches eating the callouses from the feet of sleeping people. n/t


"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."  Flannery O'Connor
[ Parent ]
Kelly!!!
Yeuch!!!!!

My skin is crawling now!!!!!

Gross, aren't they? n/t

[ Parent ]
CDC and WHO
Does anyone else the fact that CDC wants cases of influenza A to be a  communicable disease which is reported to WHO a sign of things wracking up a notch?
This was announced yesterday.
...
if that's the case...  i wonder how they report it...  if it's handled electronically, or by email, or snail mail, or voice...  seems like it might effectively DoS whatever mechanism WHO has in place to accept/process the reporting.. like a syn flood taking out a server, or spam taking out mail servers...  if it's all influenza A....  hope they're ready for the increase in reports...
[ Parent ]
novel cases, not just cases
that is, they want H5 or H7 or H9 to be reported, not seasonal flu.
[ Parent ]
sending results
A really paranoid thought - probably carrier pigeons - that get lost - or die from some normal cause on the way.
lol!

Not really funny though.

Speaking of carrier pigeons...what about storks?
Who's gonna deliver the babies if the storks all get bird flu?  ;)
Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny is going to have to deliver the eggs in a hazmat suit this year.  So who is coloring eggs this year?
late night tinfoil | 56 comments
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