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Community Open Thread Feb 20 to Apr 4 2009

by: AlohaOR

Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 20:16:00 PM EST


Not sure where to post?  Want to communicate with the Mods?  Need some help?  Post on this thread.
Welcome, new posters! Lurkers are always welcome to register and join in the discussions.
AlohaOR :: Community Open Thread Feb 20 to Apr 4 2009
The prior Community Open Thread is here.
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Community Open Thread Feb 20 to Apr 4 2009 | 114 comments
Thank you AlohaOR n/t


United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com
Message for the news aggregators
My apologies to Carol@SC, maryinhawaii and Nimbus.  When I set up the Feb. 22nd news diary, I was logged in as AlohaOR not NewsDiary, so you won't be able to update the headlines in the Feb. 22 diary.  I'll set up the rest of the week's news diaries so that you can edit them.  
Q for mods: How do I make a link to a comment (to put in another post),
without using the "reply" button link, which doesn't go to the diary itself and has the comment box at the bottom.  

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."  Flannery O'Connor
Jane...in the comment you want to link TO
If you're using MS Winders XP with Internet Destroyer...er, Explorer, right click on the date next to the poster's name, choose copy shortcut, and in YOUR comment right click and choost paste. That should put the link to the comment in your post.
[ Parent ]
Yes! That gave me a comment Id!! Thanks, BB! :-)
It works on Macs, too.  Copy and paste.  yippee!

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."  Flannery O'Connor
[ Parent ]
What would we without our BB? ;-) n/t


United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com
[ Parent ]
What would we without our BB? ;-) n/t


United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com
[ Parent ]
Oh my, don't know why that posted twice. n/t


United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com
[ Parent ]
US budget comes out today and HHS still has no leader
 The president will publish his budget today.

Still  no word on a new HHS secretary.

 Just a couple of things to remeber.

Kobie
You cannot tell which way the train went by looking at the track.  

Looking for the weekly news summary?
A new job + the recent increase in news stories means that I can't keep the weekly news summary going by myself.  

Is there anyone who enjoys reading the weekly summary who would like to help out or would like to take it over? If so, please e-mail me at the e-mail address listed in my profile.

2010 budget - 4 pages for HHS
 Obama's 2010 budget http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/...

 HHS section: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/...

In the Presidents document "A New Era of Responsibility" the word pandemic is found once on page 32 as it relates to the rest of the world - not US.

  HIV/AIDS occures four times in the document. Once globaly and three times for domestic issues. Malaria also occures four times.

  Tuberculosis occures twice, both in a global respoinsibility context.

Side scrolly alert
on the Indo diary.

It's the Surabayapost link at 15:21:54 PM EST.  Surabayapost is causing sidescroll at PFI too, not sure what's with their links.  

It depends on the browser
When I look at that diary using Firefox, there's no sidescroll. The link in that comment is broken up across four lines. When I look at it in Internet Explorer or Opera, there's sidescroll. The link wraps around at the question mark and the rest of it is on one line which is what is forcing the margin out into space. When I have time I'll play with the security settings in IE. I have a feeling that it's because of a particular form of scripting that's being used on the site to break up long links and that I have disabled. (Though moving the site into the list of Trusted Sites didn't help either.)
[ Parent ]
New Indo Diary
Because there are so many stories in the Indonesia media these days, the Indo newshounds decided that an additional diary would be a good idea.  In this diary, "Indonesian Poultry and Wild Birds," we will post all the articles on chicken outbreaks, etc.  Sometimes each of us will have 3 or 4 such articles (in addition to other stories), and we decided to declutter the Indo Diary so that new suspect and positive human cases could be more easily viewed.  With this new diary, it should be easier to track the geographical areas where bird flu outbreaks are occurring in poultry and wild birds.  

"I am opposed to any form of tyranny over the mind of man."  Thomas Jefferson
USA - GA - Health and saftey summit with OSHA and Pandemic updates
  March 2009 in Savanna, GA

Day 2 Pandemic Flu
Preparedness Training
Protect your staff and residents and keep your facility functional - attend this important Pan Flu Preparedness seminar!
This seminar will emphasize how a pandemic influenza will impact the long-term healthcare workplace, and will clarify the actions nursing homes should take to best prepare for the anticipated hazards. Topics covered will include:
• Transmission routes and exposure risk levels for staff and residents
• Exposure reduction and infection control
• Personal protective equipment and respiratory protection
• Business continuity planning
• Risk communication
• as well as time for planning

Brochure:
http://www.gnha.org/calendar_d...

Sidescroll alert: Indonesian diary. n/t


United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com
See here
[ Parent ]
UK TV Prog - Grow Your Own Drugs
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programme...

A new BBC TV programme started tonight with herbal/home made remedies. This includes recipies.

Syrup of figs for constipation
Goji berry and chicken soup for colds and flu
Hops pillow for insomnia
Kiwi and papaya face mask

http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/featur...

UK - Bird, thanks for the DIY remedies link!
The laxative recipe looks iffy to me, though.  Senna has side effects, so I would not use it.  Just figs seem good enough, imo.  Or plain prunes, stewed with cinnamon, for example. :-)

Senna should not be used for more than seven consecutive days unless under a doctor's supervision. It should not be used to get a daily bowel movement.

Pregnant or nursing women should not use senna. Children should not use senna.

Senna or other anthraquinone-containing herbs should not be used by people diverticular disease, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, severe hemorrhoids, blood vessel disease, congestive heart failure, heart disease, severe anemia, abdominal hernia, gastrointestinal cancer, recent colon surgery, or liver and kidney disease.


There are more side effects here
http://altmedicine.about.com/o...

I made a hops pillow for my SIL when she was very ill, and it was smelly.  I also made a separate lavender sachet.  Didn't think of combining them.

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

[ Parent ]
Here are some more of the side effects
Senna may interact with drugs called calcium channel blockers, such as procardia, and the drug indocin.
...

Side effects of senna may include strong cramping and griping pains in the abdomen (due to muscle contractions. Senna can also cause electrolyte imbalance (loss of potassium) and loss of body fluids, nausea, rash, swelling of the fingertips, weight loss, and dark pigmentation in the colon, called melanosis coli with longer term use. Discontinue using senna immediately if you experience these side effects. Call your doctor if you experience bloody diarrhea or prolonged abdominal pain after using rhubarb.

Yikes, this is strong stuff!  

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

[ Parent ]
To be fair to the guy he did mention about not using it if you were pregnant
but the recipies contain too many ingredients that aren't readily available.

Probably the most useful thing he said was - 1 cup of rose hips = the same vitamine C as 40 oranges.

[ Parent ]
How does BBC know I'm not in the UK?
"Sorry, this video is only available in the UK"  :-(

Drat, too much information passing around.

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

[ Parent ]
Probably by IP address, sorry :-( n/t

[ Parent ]
What happened to the 2009 gardening diary?
I can't find it anywhere. Probably because I can't remember what it was entitled ...
Andrzejek--Is this what you're looking for?
Victory Gardens 2009

http://www.newfluwiki2.com/sho...

[ Parent ]
Yes! Thank you.

[ Parent ]
US stimulus money for poultry research
Please read for facts not spin.

"The president, naturally, has done his part, turning up in all kinds of unexpected places: $2.4 million for the Southeastern Poultry Research Laboratory in Athens, Ga., and $163 million for a federal facility in Montgomery County, Maryland. Among many others."

Source
http://www.cdobs.com/archive/o...

 Still have not found "Pandemic" or H5N1 earmarks since the senator Susan Collins from Maine purposfuly cut them.

So many earmarks! The pdf for Agriculture is 50 pages!
It takes forever to load, too.  

One newspaper article listed honeybee (diseases?) as one of the trivial or of-local-interest-only earmarks.  IMO the health of bees is vital to our food security.  I hope they don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

http://www.taxpayer.net/resour...

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

[ Parent ]
bees is vital to our food security
Jane,

 I agree. Honey bees is vital to our food security and economy.

 The spread of killer bees in AZ, TX and Florida also bother me.

 Some can not tell baby from bathwater. BTW - one legened that helped the space shuttle get approved : it had parts built in almost every state so everyone got a piece of the pie.

 This was to save the Super coliding super colider built underground in TX. That failed and it is now a mushroom farm. It would also make an ecellent bunker.

Kobie

[ Parent ]
????????

[ Parent ]
Worth repeating . . . ?????? n/t

[ Parent ]
Bees vital to food security becasue of pollination
Sorry, I'm not sure about the ???.

 Bees hives are moved by trucks around the country to aid in pollination for crops. While corn self polinates many plants and trees, like orchards, do not.

 A lack of bees would hurt our internal food production of vegitables. This would drive up price of food, put some out of work (from seed and fertilzer companis to farmers) and increase our trade deficite.

Source:
http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov...

List of plants: FORAGE AND LEGUME:

Alfalfa
Buckwheat Clover (numerous varieties)
Sweet clover (numerous varieties)
Lespedeza (bush)
Trefoil
Vetches
FRUIT CROPS:

Apple
Apricot
Avocado
Berry (blackberry, blueberry, cranberry, gooseberry, huckleberry, raspberry, strawberry)
Carambolo
Cherry
Citron
Citrus (grapefruit, lemon, mandarin, nectarine, pummelo, tangelo, tangerine)
Currants
Dewberry
Jujube
Kiwi
Litchi
Mango
Muskmelons (cantaloupe, casaba, crenshaw, honeyball, honeydew, persian melon)
Passion Fruit
Peach
Pears
Persimmon
Plum
Prune
Watermelon
VEGETABLE CROPS:

Artichoke
Chinese cabbage
Pimenta
Asparagus
Dill
Pumpkin
Broccoli
Eggplant
Radish
Brussel sprouts
Garlic
Rutabaga
Cabbage
Kale
Sapote
Carrots
Kolhrabi
Squash
Cauliflower
Leek
Turnip
Celeriac
Mustard
Celery
Onion
Chayote
Parsley
Chicory
Pepper
Lima beans
Collards
Cucumber
NUT CROPS:

Almond
Coconut
Cacao
Coffee
Cashew
Kola nut
Chestnut
Macademia
OILSEED CROPS:

Cotton
Rape
Safflower
Soybeans
Sunflower
Tung
HERBS/SPICES:

Annise
Allspice
Chives
Cinnamon
Coriander
Fennel
Lavender
Mint
Mustard
Nutmeg
Oregano
OTHER:

Berseem
Cicer milkvetch
Cut flower seeds
Longan
Lotus
Niger
Quinine

[ Parent ]
'Voice your appreciation for those in quarantine.'
So you know what others are hearing

'Be prepared to be quarantined for months at a time. When you're talking to people, voice your appreciation for those in quarantine. Talk about how they're hometown heroes and doing what they need to be doing in order to protect the community...' --P.J. Havice-Cover, a mental health professional and program coordinator, State of Colorado

Scientists say pandemic is certain --Expert panel tells emergency managers it's just a matter of when the avian flu will spark a pandemic. By Stephanie Backus 07 Mar 2009 Many scientists are now sure that a version of H5N1, or the avian flu, will cause a pandemic in the future. While speaking to health officials at the National Emergency Management Summit Thursday, several experts said the issue was no longer an "if" issue, it was now "when." "Grief and loss is a certainty in planning for the pandemic," said P.J. Havice-Cover, a mental health professional and program coordinator for the state of Colorado. "You can respect and normalize people's grieving processes by giving them updates on progress. Don't just ignore the losses. If you're in a position to inform the public, talk about it. Community memorial services are very important." She said it was also important to be prepared to be quarantined for months at a time. Quarantine could be an important part of the fight against a pandemic. "When you're talking to people, voice your appreciation for those in quarantine. Talk about how they're hometown heroes and doing waht they need to be doing in order to protect the community," said Havice-Cover.

Source
http://www.legitgov.org/apprec...

BBC - Scientists create 'portable lung'
A portable lung which could help those with breathing problems lead a normal life is being developed by scientists.

Researchers say their device, which oxygenates blood outside the body before it goes through the lungs, could be an alternative to transplants.

The Swansea University scientists say it could take many years before the device, the size of a spectacles case, is available.

Lung patients, who have seen how it would work, have welcomed the research.

They include lung cancer, tuberculosis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis, sleep apnoea, avian flu, bronchiolitis and many others.

Source
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wal...

Multiple organ failure and bleeding
 Because H5N1 does alot more than attack the lungs, the invention may be of little use - except to those who survive with massive lung scaring.

[ Parent ]
USA- FEMA: Check Emergency Kits For Recalls
Hat tip to NTARC

Currently the United States is in the midst of one of the largest food recalls in American history. As Americans dig through their cabinets and refrigerators to remove potentially contaminated food associated with the recent peanut recall, FEMA would like to also remind citizens to open and check their Emergency Preparedness Kits to remove any potentially harmful items from these also.

Because peanut products are often recommended as staples in Emergency Preparedness Kits due to their long shell life and because they are a good source of protein, we encourage all kit owners to look at their kits to ensure food products are not on the peanut recall list. Please keep in mind that the peanut product recall extends beyond peanut-flavored products. The following are some examples of foods also included in the recall that may contain peanuts

Source
http://www.nationalterroralert...

Home canning perils
I'm not sure where to put this, so if a mod knows of a better place, please feel free to move it.

This should remind people that they need both water bath and pressure canning abilities if they aren't going to dehydrate or freeze the susceptible types of food.

From ProMED:
BOTULISM, HOME CANNED GREEN BEANS - USA: (WASHINGTON))
******************************************************
Date: Sat 28 Feb 2009
Source: Seattle (WA) Post-Intelligencer, The Spokesman-Review,
Associated Press (AP) report  [edited] http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/...

Health officials and food preservation experts are warning home canners to follow strict safety rules after a Spokane woman and 2 young children were sickened by botulism from improperly canned green beans from a home garden.

The Spokesman-Review reports the victims were a nurse in her 30s and 2 children younger than 10. She remains on a ventilator and is recovering slowly. The children suffered milder symptoms. The 3 were given an antitoxin that was flown to Spokane from a special storage facility in Seattle.

Epidemiologist Dorothy MacEachern with the Spokane Regional Health District is concerned that people have been responding to difficult economic times by canning more of their food perhaps improperly. Food safety experts say special precautions must be taken when canning
low-acid foods such as green beans and asparagus.

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
promed@promedmail.org

[Most USA botulism postings relate to the alert that a particular commercially prepared food was not adequately made which would increase a risk of intoxication with C. botulinum toxin. In most of these, no clear evidence of botulism is found in the food product.

When botulism does occur related to food, it is most likely to be home-prepared as here. It should be noted that in typical food-borne botulism, the toxin is preformed in the food when ingested rather than disease being produced with ingestion of spores or bacilli as
implied in the posting. Infant botulism (and its very rare adult equivalent, adult intestinal toxemia botulism) are caused by ingestion of spores, which germinate, and toxin is formed in situ.
(snip)

Reporting Green with C4's Tom Clarke
Story

 "When and if bird flu ever hits for real, and spreads through humans, we'll probably all be looking the other way, concentrating on the recession or something else."
Tom Clarke, Channel 4's science correspondent, gave a rousing speech at the University of Lincoln on Monday, March 9, on the ups and downs of science reporting and where sits in the news agenda, global warming and even explored the news coverage of animal testing.

Source
http://tinyurl.com/bxxs65

I realize that there is a seasonal trend in H5N1 cases, but...
I'm still sorting through the Indonesia news stories for last week (Mar. 1-7), so this summary is incomplete, but here's the tally that I have so far for last week:
  • Egypt: Two confirmed human H5N1 cases
  • Indonesia: Eight reported human H5N1 cases (7 fatal), including five new cases and three which were previously reported as suspected cases; two new suspected human H5N1 cases; widespread outbreaks in birds
  • Other outbreaks in birds were reported in Bangladesh, China and Japan (H7N6)
All 8 of the Indonesia cases were on Java Island (7 in West Java and 1 in adjoining Jakarta).  Three healthcare workers who treated one of the fatal West Java cases and a reporter who covered the story are on Tamiflu.

The details are here. This doesn't include the new human cases and bird outbreaks that have been reported this week.

School closure in my area
The LaFargeville school district has closed the school today due to what they say is lots of bronchitis, pneuomia, stomach flu, and flu. They will spend the day sanitizing the school. Teachers are not even to show up.
The article doesn't mention these illnesses, but that is what was scrollong across the t.v this morning.

This village is about 6 miles from me. How creeped out would you be.

http://news10now.com/content/t...

Friday, March 13, 2009  Illnesses close Lafargeville Central
Updated: 03/13/2009 06:08 AM
By: Web Staff

JEFFERSON COUNTY, N.Y. -- A large number of illnesses forces one Jefferson County school to close its doors for a day.

Lafargeville Central School District has cancelled school for Friday. The district says an unusually high number of students and staff members are sick and they're going to take the day to let everyone recover.


United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com

That would definitely perk me up a bit! n/t

[ Parent ]
DD is even creeped out. She
is starting to see what I've been talking about, how easy it would be for a virus to go pandemic. She's getting the full picture.Talking about this is one thing, but when it shows up in your backyard, that's quiet an impact.


United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com
[ Parent ]
OK, I'm taking deep breaths here
I just wrote up a long diary on 'Whither goes the WHO?'.  One of the key pieces of information involved the WHO budget.  The version that I initially found, from this link, gave the units for the financial tables for strategic goals as 'US$ thousands'.  Like this:

Having written all that up, I still felt incredulous that the WHO had such a minuscule budget (of $163,300, see below) for panflu and other disease outbreaks.

Now, having been digging around some more, I found another version from the WHA documentation site, and presumably the most updated one, and in that one, it now gives the unit in 'US$ millions'!!

So, in case anyone is wondering, THAT is the reason why I'm pulling the diary out and re-writing a new one.  A triple digit change in the budget available to promote pandemic flu is a BIG change in perspective, so I'm going to work those numbers some more and post a new diary afterwards.

Thanks all for your patience, and apologies to anyone who got heartburn from reading that the WHO had all of $80,000 a year to combat pandemic flu!  Doh!!



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

and for anyone who can't find what I'm talking about
it's because I'm deleting that diary and re-writing.  Thanks!



All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...
[ Parent ]
I should have listened to David Heymann
the very first time I met him, he warned me not to believe stuff on the internet!  

Maybe he knew more than I did, even then...



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

[ Parent ]
new diary up
here http://www.newfluwiki2.com/sho...



All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...
[ Parent ]
Copyright Challenges
"Copyright Challenge for Sites That Excerpt" is a timely cautionary read.
FluWiki doesn't have advertising, so there's no revenue benefit to us.
When we excerpt paragraphs and link to an article, it's helping advertise (or drive traffic to, as they say) the original source, I think.  We don't have to explicitly say "Go read the full article here:[link]," do we?  (If we take too much, we'd be satisfying the readers' curiosity so they'd be less likely to visit the original site, I suppose.)

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."  Flannery O'Connor
[ Parent ]
Adding the link to any article
If we pull excerpts from any media, a link to that site, and more explicitly, to that page, is highly recommended. This provides crediblity to the poster, and to the story.

An excerpt from the Flu Wiki Forum rules:

6. Please add news stories (with links) to the news threads. Rumors and speculations should be put elsewhere and labeled as such.

7. Links are best displayed using either the < a href="URL goes here">link goes here< /a >  markup (remove the spaces) or the tinyurl www.tinyurl.com service. Long links cause the page to expand ('side scroll') and the mods will have to waste time fixing them, so pay attention when posting links.

8. News stories should not be reproduced in full. It is a violation of copyright and fair use rules, particularly when not accompanied by analysis. Post just a portion, and provide a link. No link, no credibility.

9. Observe and follow Fair Use doctrine.


[ Parent ]
We don't have to mess around with <... href... ? stuff if we don't want to, do we?
(Or with tiny url?  Tiny url doesn't last forever, does it?  I've had some not work, but I'm not sure if it's because tinyurl dumped it or if the original page went missing.)  
This website fixes long URLs and make them short all by itself.  Unless we have our personal preferences set to wysiwyg/WYSIWYG / what you see is what you get.  I've never played around with that setting.

The only problem I've seen is extra letters or punctuation being copied with the URL, like a period at the end of a sentence or a colon or word right in front of the URL with no space between them.  That causes a sidescroll that makes a mess of that diary from then on.  Forever.  Unless a mod can fix it.

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

[ Parent ]
No...you don't have to do the HTML thing
This software does shorten the URLs to fit the screen, except in WYSIWYG, as you stated.
The < a href= ... > coding is really more for when you want to make a word or phrase your link.
And we've found that TinyURL doesn't last forever...IIRC, the time frame is about 6-8 months, based on how it worked on Old Yeller...
[ Parent ]
News posters
If we post news, we need to take note of these rules.  Sometimes stories are being pasted in ful.
[ Parent ]
...
... in full, that is. ;-)
[ Parent ]
Obama announces FDA picks
President Barack Obama says the nation's decades-old food safety system is a "hazard to public health" and in need of an overhaul, starting with the selection of a new head of the federal Food and Drug Administration.

Obama used his weekly radio and video address to announce the nomination of former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg as FDA commissioner, and his choice of Baltimore Health Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein as her deputy....

...Hamburg, 53, is a well-known bioterrorism expert. She was an assistant health secretary under President Bill Clinton and helped lay the groundwork for the government's bioterrorism and flu pandemic preparations.

As New York City's top health official in the early 1990s, she created a program that cut high rates of drug-resistant tuberculosis...

...Sharfstein, 39, is a pediatrician who has challenged the FDA on the safety of over-the-counter cold medicines for children. He also served as a health policy aide to Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who plays a leading role in overseeing the pharmaceutical industry....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200...

Good news!

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

new diary "shop" is all spam. yuck. n/t


"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."  Flannery O'Connor
Got 'im. Thank you. n/t

[ Parent ]
USA - CO - Shift in urban pecking order
 Note: more cities and people are moving chickes into cities and urban areas just as H5N1 continues to spread.
Most locals require a permit so the city will have some idea of where they are.
What to do with chickes after their egg laying years is an unresolved issue that is not stopping people.
 Its not real bird flu news but a trend to be aware of.

Story
More cities welcome chickens as consumers get picky about food

All over Colorado, chickens are coming to homes to roost.

In the past year, Fort Collins and Longmont have changed ordinances to allow small backyard chicken flocks. In Durango, they're brooding over whether to do likewise. Boulder, Loveland and, on a chicken-by-chicken basis, Denver already allow them.

Just outside Fort Collins, in Laporte, feed- store owner Greg Michaud offers how-to classes for aspiring chicken-raisers but has had to limit them to 10 to 15 students.

In an otherwise tech-obsessed nation, people are embracing a lowly, dirt-scratching vestige of our agrarian past - the chicken - and seeing in it a path to a sustainable, healthy future.

While classy wooden chicken coops at Michaud's Old Feed Store in Laporte go for $300 or $400, most chicken proponents say they expect the movement to thrive despite the wrecked economy.

For one thing, as Colorado State University avian-disease veterinarian Kristy Pabilonia pointed out, chickens are easy to keep.

source
http://www.denverpost.com/news...

"What to do with chickens after their egg laying years is an unresolved issue"
You eat them.  
[ Parent ]
Eating them . . .
Of course, by then they're no longer the tender young birds we're used to buying in the grocery store, but fall into the category my mother referred to as a "tough old hen" good for little other than stewing until they were cooked to pieces (and at least chewable by then).
[ Parent ]
How to eat a chicken?
Andrzejek,

 Yes - but they may be urbanites who can not kill squirrel or posion a rat.

 Killing, skinning a chicken may be well beyond them. Plucking feathers would be a wild education.

 I wonder how many will. Will they just set them free?

 I'm thinking back to people who get little chicks for Easter and then do not know what to do with them. Pet aligators, when they got to big they flushed them down the toilet.

Kobie

[ Parent ]
View from the 'Burbs
I live just north of a large city.  I work in a grocery store and have had people complain because we ran out of cut up chickens.  When I pointed out that we still had roasters, the customers that there was no way they could/would cut up a roaster and that it was our problem.  (I even offered them a discount on the whole bird, which would have made it almost a dollar a pound less than the cut up bird, but still no takers.)  These people would starve before they killed, defeathered, and prepped a chicken for cooking.
[ Parent ]
Baby chicks are selling like crazy in the US
I always order 100-200 chicks in the spring for meat and to replace any layer hen losses over the winter. I've never had any trouble getting what I wanted when I wanted it.

Not this year! Hatcheries are selling out within hours of posting a hatch/shipping date. It's amazing. Even the "farm stores" (Tractor Supply, Bomgaars, etc) are selling out chicks as fast as they get them in the stores.

I was going to order 100 meat chicks, but I bumped my order up the 300 to get some extra for extended family. I also noticed that prices of the chicks have increased by 50-100%. Last year, Cornish chicks were 33 cents at my favorite hatchery. This year they are 65-90 cents at the "cheapest"(farmers') hatcheries, and almost $2 each at the "yuppie" hatcheries. Wow. Prices of layer hens are equally astonishing.

There is going to be a huge boom in backyard chickens this year.

Thanks for the update
Andrzejek,

 Hi. Thanks for the update as it gives a sense of scale.

 Wow - now that is demand at a time when farms should be seeing an economic downturn. I doubt schools are ordering them to teach "family life"  How the egg gets fertilized kida thing for 5th graders.

 Hmmm this buying chickens may be a bigger trend.

 I assume the eggs are a mix of hens and rosters. People should he going for the egg laying hens.

Kobie

[ Parent ]
laying hens
Kobie,

Separating male and females 2 to 3 day old chicks is NOT an exact science, in fact it is far more art than science.  The best I ever managed was 4 males and 20 females in what was supposed to be 24 females.  The worst was 14 males and 10 females.  It mostly depends on the experiences of the "venter" as you have to look at the chick's vent to figure out male/female and they are very small at that age.  It is easier when they are a few weeks old, but in this country, we sell 2 to 3 DAY old chicks.  And at the high volume that the hatcheries are working, I doubt just experienced "venters" are doing the determining.

Just my experience.

[ Parent ]
Nor by machine
DragonLady,

 Hi. Hmm, nor do I suspect "venting" can be done by machine ;-)

 Seriously its interesting to note the popularity of people keeping chickens in their backyards across the US and what it could mean for H5N1 outbreak.

 Urbanites do get attached to chickens. Those in more rural areas with 4-H club young to raise birds, hogs, lambs for show and slaughter. They even nickname calves 'T-Bone' This is just my limited opinion, not based on research.

 Hopefuly cities are keeping track of where these chicken permits are and display them automaticaly on GIS maps.

 DragonLady - any other thougths?

KObie

[ Parent ]
small flocks
Kobie,

I don't think live chickens are going to be a big issue when H5N1 goes pandemic.  It will be H2H by then and will not need the bird vector.  When it adapts to humans, it will be less likely to infect birds.  There may be panic with villagers with torchs and pitchforks going after innocent chickens, but that would be about the only danger.

What is more worrying is the uneducated having even small flocks of birds.  They are a lot more work than most people assume.  It's not just a matter of throw down some feed and collect the eggs.  Most small flocks will produce more eggs than the average family will consume on a daily basis.  

Not to mention the smell.

But having said that, I'm allergic to corn and cannot have eggs when the hens have eaten corn.  If I was in a position to have a small flock, I would.  But only 2 or 3 hens.  I once had 12 active layers.  I couldn't legally sell the eggs (I didn't have an egg producers license, too expensive) and everyone I knew either didn't eat many eggs or had their own hens.  Even my dog got to the point that he wouldn't eat eggs and at one point I had over a gross of eggs in the fridge that I couldn't get rid of.  A hurricane took care of that problem (along with the fridge and house, but that's another story.)

This is just my opinion and experince.  YMMV.

[ Parent ]
Hens at home
DragonLady,

 Again - thank you for the information.

 " It's not just a matter of throw down some feed and collect the eggs. " - but that is what I see in the movies ;-)  Sadly I think you are right. Many assume it is a simple procedure of having some cute chickens run around and they take care of themselves.

 People do not worry about animals getting them or the clean up.

 Alergic to corn - wow. Something else I did not know about people. Corn and Geneticaly modified corn is in alot of products and food containers.

 I guess if H5N1 hits it will kill off the birds as fast as the people. I just see a family SIP, using the birds to make eggs for food and then getting sick from the birds.

 The whole angrey villagers - yea. During WW-II people where stupdid enough to shoot german shepared dogs because they where german. Sound stupid? Remember "Freedom Fries" because they had the word French in them. People pouring out French wine in protest. People can be strange.

KObie

[ Parent ]
The pandemic strain will affect people, not birds, after the strain changes to H2H2H, is how I understand it.
I guess if H5N1 hits it will kill off the birds as fast as the people. I just see a family SIP, using the birds to make eggs for food and then getting sick from the birds.

Backyard chickens will have to be protected from any avian influenza strains carried by wild birds and from any strains infecting other local coops.  (Having foot dips at entrance to bird area, for example.)  Is the mice-as-carrier idea still uncertain?   If bird flu were found to be endemic in the US, there would have to be biosecurity lessons given to local chicken owners.  

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."  Flannery O'Connor
[ Parent ]
H5N1 in mice, cats, etc
Jane,

 Good point. Mice and cats as vectors has not been talked about in developing countries.

 I think it was Viet Nam that found H5N1 in wild cats.

Kobie

[ Parent ]
Freedom fries . . .
This whole thing about the fries started out as a joke between a restaurant owner in Beaufort NC and Congressman Walter Jones, who ate lunch there.

Somehow, Jones than took the idiocy to Washington, while the folks in Beaufort laughed themselves silly.

(I lived in Beaufort at the time - it was common knowledge, but if you don't believe me you can Google "Freedom fries" and Wikipedia will tell pretty much the same tale.)

[ Parent ]
Fredom Fries and the rest of the story
Clawdia,

  Thank you for the background.

  I fear stupid or bad information about H5N1 will travel just as fast. It may even be taken to DC and re distributed as "Pandemic plan" by TPTB.

[ Parent ]
2009 cumulative H5N1 outbreak summary
on Flu Wiki (here) is now updated through the end of February.  There's so much news in some of the Indonesian provinces that I'm working on re-formatting those sections to make it easier to identify the outbreak locations.
Awesome work!
Thank you  :-)
[ Parent ]
Carol, you have mail. n/t


United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com
Indonesia Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q1 2009 - companiesandmarkets.com adds new report
Indonesia Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q1 2009 - a new market research report on http://www.companiesandmarkets...

www.companiesandmarkets.com/Summary-Market-Report/Indonesia-Phar ..

In the BMI Business Environment Rating matrix for Q109, Indonesia occupies joint 13th position out of the 15 regional markets surveyed in the Asia Pacific region, alongside Vietnam. Main drawbacks to investment in the country include corruption, low per capita spending on pharmaceuticals and a small proportion of the elderly in the country. On the other hand, annual growth of  
its pharmaceutical market, coupled with rising population numbers and a relatively solid political and economic base, will continue to attract multinationals willing to expose themselves to a risky operating environment.

This risky environment is illustrated by the recent introduction, following a two-year grace period, of the requirements that all foreign companies selling pharmaceuticals in the country must also have local manufacturing facilities. The government order will impact 13 international drugmakers, including Astellas Pharma, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), Novo Nordisk, Roche, Servier and Wyeth. The minister of health has reportedly proclaimed that multinationals can leave the country if they are unhappy with the changes, despite the fact that Indonesia's legislation would be going against the global. Still, BMI believes that the Indonesian authorities are using the threat to achieve the government's aim of providing affordable medicine to its people, which is a strategy it has previously employed with respect to avian influenza samples.

Nevertheless, other news provides some room for optimism. In October 2008, the Indonesian industry minister was reportedly considering removing pharmaceuticals from the nationalistic 'negative investment list', which has to date prevented foreign entities from providing more than three quarters of the funds invested in a pharmaceutical concern.

Source
http://www.pr-inside.com/indon...

Note: Minister of Health is Dr. Siti Fadilah Supari, Sp. JP  

Kobie, could you also post this in the Indo Diary? n/t


"I am opposed to any form of tyranny over the mind of man."  Thomas Jefferson
[ Parent ]
Done HistoryLover n/t

[ Parent ]
Thank you mucho. n/t


"I am opposed to any form of tyranny over the mind of man."  Thomas Jefferson
[ Parent ]
Fargo Flood & pandemic
  Last week the Red Cross dispatched people and equipment ahead of the river flooding in Fargo North Dakota.

 There have been lots of volunteers, meals handed out, people building sand bag filling equipment out of farm machienary.

 Today there where roads flooded and schools closed as people ramp up to go 24x7.

 I hope those living in and around Fargo have their pandemic supplies as road closures means grocery stores may not be resupplied.

 IMO a pandemic will not be like this as help will not arrive

 People will not fly in to help.
 Schools hopefuly will be closed.
 Roads should be open, thogh any broken down vehicals may be abandoned.
 Grocery stores may not get resupplied.

 It just looks like pandemic prep, all hazard prep, any prep is a good thing.

Real time flood resources and updates :
http://newsroom.redcross.org/c...

Fliker pictures
http://www.flickr.com/photos/a...

Kobie

A Week to Recognize All Government Workers
The capstone celebration is held every year on the National Mall, with more than 100 government offices and agencies, nonprofit organizations and private companies sponsoring interactive and educational exhibits that showcase the innovative and quality work performed by public employees. This year, the Partnership and the Public Employees Roundtable will host the National Mall event May 7-10, 2009 between 4th and 7th Sts.

During the four-day celebration, attendees will see government programs in action. Kids can meet NASA astronauts, climb aboard an F-16 fighter, or take home free educational buttons, coloring posters and maps and puzzles. Adults can search online for jobs, check their credit report, receive free health screenings and learn about emergency preparedness.

Source: http://www.ourpublicservice.or...

Library of Free Pandemic Flu Materials Debuts
MARIETTA, Ga., March 23 (AScribe Newswire) -- To strengthen the nation's preparedness for a potential influenza pandemic, the National Public Health Information Coalition (NPHIC) has launched a new clearinghouse of pandemic influenza communication materials. The Pandemic Influenza Resource Library, located at http://www.nphicpanflu.org , features a wide variety of communication materials for local and state pandemic influenza planning efforts.

      "The Pandemic Influenza Resource Library offers a wealth of free materials that can help any community prepare for a potential pandemic," said ASTHO executive director Paul Jarris, MD, "It is also a great example of governmental public health working together at all levels to maximize resources."

      At the Web site, visitors will find downloadable materials including fact sheets, posters, print and broadcast PSAs, guidebooks, checklists, newsletters and questionnaires in multiple languages. The materials are organized by topic - such as isolation and quarantine, social distancing and surge capacity - and audience - such as business, disabled populations and faith-based organization.

      The materials were developed by public health communicators in local, state, federal and territorial health agencies. Visitors to the Web site can add to the Pandemic Influenza Resource Library by posting their own pandemic influenza materials.

      "Preparedness is our best weapon against pandemic flu," said NPHIC President Tom Slater. "Exchanging information and learning from each other's efforts will build a coordinated, effective response."

Source
http://newswire.ascribe.org/cg...

Andrzejek posted this first
Ha ha ha - a funny thing happend to me on the way to the flu wiki. I posted or emaild the info at so many sites I forgot I read it here first from Andrzejek

 Yep, life is strange.

(time to put the keyboad down and step away from the intenet and no one will get hurt ;-) LoL
 See you all in the morning, I'd better call it a night.)

[ Parent ]
Death toll from Indonesia dam burst rises to 77
map:

http://www.reuters.com/article...

JAKARTA, March 28 (Reuters) - The death toll from a burst dam which unleashed a wall of water on the outskirts of the Indonesian capital rose to 77 and authorities were searching for than 100 people still missing, officials said on Saturday.

Volunteers joined hundreds of rescue workers scouring through the rubble and a nearby river, officials said, after the Dutch colonial-era Situ Gintung dam collapsed early on Friday. [...]

While landslides and floods are fairly common during the rainy season in Indonesia, the latest disaster was probably caused by a combination of torrential rain and poor maintenance, officials said, reflecting years of under-investment in much of the country's crucial infrastructure. [continued]
-------------
(See map here.)

UK - Trowels out everyone and dig for victory
From The Times, London:

Big landowners are turning over plots for public allotments in a new green campaign

SEVENTY years after wartime Britain was told to dig for victory, thousands of plots are once again to be turned into allotments to promote national self-sufficiency.

In a project masterminded by the National Trust, some of the country's biggest landowners have been enlisted to give up spare land for families to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

This time, however, the enemy in the war for self-sufficiency is climate change and the credit crunch rather than German U-boats.

Backers of the "grow your own" campaign, who include Tim Smit, founder of the Eden project in Cornwall, believe it will improve the nation's health as well as cut the carbon emissions caused by food imports.

The campaign's website goes live today. It will allow aspiring food growers to be matched with free plots in their area and with volunteers who can help them get started.

Users will be able to register their details and preferred location immediately and the "matchmaking" service will start within a fortnight.

The trust is to donate 1,000 plots from its own holdings and has pledges of donations from British Waterways, which runs the country's canal network.

It has invoked the wartime spirit as it negotiates support from the Church of England, members of the Country Land & Business Association, the Ministry of Defence and Network Rail.

Tesco, B&Q and Suttons are providing free plants and seeds, as well as advice to growers.

More http://property.timesonline.co...



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

Waging war on superbugs
An investigation into the evolution of disease and how genetics are helping in the war against infections from malaria to MRSA

As the Nobel laureate Paul Berg has said, all disease is genetic to some extent. Infectious diseases such as HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and flu are not caused by DNA damage, as are tumours, or by major Mendelian mutations, as is cystic fibrosis. But the genes of both pathogens and their human hosts are pivotal to the way that viruses, bacteria and parasites make us ill.

The T-cells, lymphocytes and antibodies of the immune system, which protect our bodies against germs, are all affected by our genetic make-up, and slight variations can make us more or less susceptible to certain diseases. People with type O blood - a genetically determined trait - are less vulnerable to malaria, and those with other genotypes are less susceptible to HIV.

Genes also control how pathogens attack, and how they fend off the immune system and the drugs and vaccines with which medicine supports it. They explain why some strains of flu confine us to bed for a day or two, while others kill millions in months. They explain how new diseases emerge to sweep through populations, and how medicines that once worked have gradually become useless. And genetic insights into infections can highlight ways in which they can be stopped.

When Christopher Columbus reached the New World in 1492, it is estimated that perhaps 50 million people lived on the continents of North and South America. Yet by the middle of the 17th century, this indigenous population had collapsed to between six and eight million. Some were certainly victims of genocide by the colonial invaders.

The most fearsome killers, though, were not the Spanish conquistadors, but diseases that hitched a ride on their transatlantic voyages.

For centuries, the peoples of the Old World had lived with smallpox and measles, typhus and yellow fever. As a result, they had evolved a measure of resistance: natural selection had favoured genes that improved the chances of surviving these infections. Native Americans, by contrast, were immunologically naive. Their smallpox-free environments had not promoted the spread of random mutations that build resistance. When the virus arrived, there was nothing to hold it in check. As scientist Jared Diamond has recounted in Guns, Germs and Steel (1998), Spanish diseases were at least as important to the rapid conquest of the continent as Spanish technology.

[snip]
Natural selection can thus favour strains that cause less damage to the organisms they inhabit, as these may be more likely to spread. This may explain why many diseases lose their virulence over time.

Syphilis, for example, had a high death rate when it first emerged in Europe in the 16th century, probably imported from the New World. But while still a serious illness today, it is not normally life-threatening.

New flu strains tend to follow the same path. H5N1 bird flu is currently extremely lethal, killing more than 60 per cent of people it has infected so far, but scientists predict that this death rate will fall substantially if it mutates to pass easily from person to person.

This trend, however, is not inevitable. If a germ accelerates death through symptoms that help it to spread, such as sneezing, haemorrhage or diarrhoea, it is not inconvenienced by its host's demise, and can remain highly lethal.
[snip]

Source
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t...

Twitter now #1 with Hospitals
Twitter takes the lead, as the #1 Social Media tool used by US. Hospitals.

The list now tracks 215 hospitals, with following usage:

128 on Twitter
126 on YouTube
82 on Facebook
23 Blogs
Obviously this could change if I find more YouTube accounts, but the trend is clear:

Source
http://ebennett.org/tw1/

  Would twitter make a good messging service during an emergency / pandemic?

Kobie---
What keywords are you using to find more YouTube accounts?
[ Parent ]
Kobie's post is from a blog
Found In Cache
Notes from Ed Bennett, a Hospital Web Manager

The complete list is here:
http://ebennett.org/hsnl/

This is the heading on the blog's list:

Hospital Social Network List

U.S. Hospitals that use Social Networking tools:

   * 214 Hospitals total
   * 126 YouTube Channels
   * 82 Facebook pages
   * 128 Twitter Accounts
   * 23 Blogs

   * www = Hospital Web Site
   * U = U.S. News Detail Page
   * Q = Quantcast.com Stats
   * C = Compete.com Stats


Amazing!  Do people have clones, to help them keep up with all this?  :-/

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."  Flannery O'Connor
[ Parent ]
I know...
I was being rhetorical, based on an earlier conversation we had.
[ Parent ]
Now I get it
Bronco Bill,

 Hi. Now I get it. Yea I have search the whole article.

 Also since this was not posted in the News area I(me) overlooked the I(author) reference.

 I(me) was doing so well up untill the past few weeks. Never shy away from improvement.

 Actually - thank you.

Kobie

[ Parent ]
Kobie--no need to search the whole article
No problem...it's just easier to quote the article snipped you post, along with your link. It signifies that it's not your wording, and alleviates confusion.
[ Parent ]
Computer virus: test for Conficker, especially for PCs, for April 1st.
My DD forwarded this to us:
   
I. Description

    The presence of a Conficker infection may be detected if a user is
    unable to surf to the following websites:

    *
   http://www.symantec.com/norton...
    * http://www.mcafee.com

    If a user is unable to reach either of these websites, a Conficker
    infection may be indicated (the most current variant of Conficker
    interferes with queries for these sites, preventing a user from
    visiting them).


It isn't supposed to attack Macs.

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."  Flannery O'Connor
Thanks for the warning,
we are at significant risk because of the range of international web sites we surf.
[ Parent ]
I recommend that everyone
...especially the Newshounds who search every corner of the Internet, to update and check their anti-virus software before this coming Tuesday night (March 31)
[ Parent ]
UV Light Does Not Kill H5N1. Study shows what does.
According to a recently published study (the Abstract for which Mojo posted in last Saturday's News - the 28th) H5N1 is a little tougher to kill and seems a little hardier than I remember reading before. The full study is now available in a Provisional PDF here:  http://www.virologyj.com/conte...

For example:  

UV light was proved ineffectual in inactivating virus completely even after 60 min.

Bad news for those relying on UV Light for sterilization if correct. Evidently this confirms previous studies, but I for one missed that fact.

And looking at "thermo stability":

Avian influenza virus H5N1 retained its infectivity at 4°C for more than 100 days although HA activity was decreased. Virus lost its infectivity after 24 h when kept at room temperature (28°C). Virus tolerated 15 min exposure to 56°C however it was inactivated at 56°C after 30 min of exposure.

So for us Fahrenheit addicts: H5N1 loses infectivity after:

* About 30 minutes at 132.8 Degrees (but was still kick'n after 15 minutes)

*Closer to a day at 82.4 Degrees  

*Over 14 Weeks at 39.2 Degrees.  

While previous reports indicated some of this lengthy survival capacity in cold climates, this study certainly confirms it, while detailing the variability in different strains and different studies.

The study also reports on those things that did work, what strength was necessary and what duration.

Worth a read:  

Avian influenza virus (H5N1): effects of physico-chemical factors on its survival
Muhammad AKBAR Shahid , Muhammad Abubakar , Sajid Hameed  and Shamsul Hassan

Virology Journal 2009
Published: 28 March 2009

http://www.virologyj.com/conte...

Mojo posted from the Abstract on March 28, 2009, but I was concerned that it had not gotten the attention it deserved.
http://www.newfluwiki2.com/sho...

For Celcius Dummies (like me):
Temperature Conversion Tool
http://www.onlineconversion.co...

ITW(Joel J)
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.
- Mark Twain
 

Sooooo Sloooowwwww-
Not sure where to post this:

FW has been loading very very slowly for me the past few weeks. Is anyone else having this problem? All other forums are loading nice and quick, but this one ....... oye ......!

www.EmergencyHomePreparation.org -- A 'card-catalog' style of prepping information.   -

same here, very slow for a few days n/t




All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...
[ Parent ]
THANK YOU!
To whomever is responsible for making FW load faster.

I haven't had FW load as fast as it has been, these past few days, in several months! -k

www.EmergencyHomePreparation.org -- A 'card-catalog' style of prepping information.   -

[ Parent ]
Don't blame me...
I didn't do it! ;-)
[ Parent ]
As part of that recent upgrade...
I believe Soapblox moved us to a different server.
[ Parent ]
All better now....
Has anyone been having trouble with FW lately? I simply could not log in this morning and yesterday when I accessed FW my anti virus program went off. That's twice this month that's happened on FW.  

United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com
Hi cottontop---
As a top-notch computer geek, I'm guessing that your computer is completely infected with a new virus that will wipe your hard drive, then send nasty emails out to every single address it can find in all of the emails you've ever received, whether they're in your address book or not, cause the windows in your home to fog over, the doors to all slam and lock, your coffee pot to boil over, and the shingles on your roof to curl! There's also the possibility that this new virus could eat the carpeting on your floor, leaving behind no trace that it was ever there.  LOL!!!   Happy April First!!!!

Truthfully, I haven't seen any slowdowns or problems from this side...maybe pogge has something to say on the server side...

[ Parent ]
I had trouble yesterday
morning and was unable to post for several hours but today all is well.

Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy. Ralph Waldo Emerson
[ Parent ]
Yep...it was that "virus" I was talking about!! ;-) n/t

[ Parent ]
LOL! n/t


United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com
[ Parent ]
Ekahau and Ditan Hospital Introduce Wi-Fi RTLS to China's Healthcare Market
Ekahau Inc., a leading provider of Wi-Fi-based Real Time Location Systems (RTLS), today announced that it will be introducing Wi-Fi-based RTLS technology to the Chinese market with the deployment of the Ekahau RTLS solution at Ditan Hospital in Beijing.

The Ekahau real-time patient and asset tracking solution will be installed by HKC Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. and its partner UE Tiancheng, which were selected by Ditan Hospital to manage the project. Ekahau RTLS will be deployed over the hospital's existing Wi-Fi network from Cisco Systems Inc., and requires no additional infrastructure.

Ditan Hospital is one of the largest infectious disease hospitals in China. To ensure safety and enforce policies, the hospital requires real-time tracking of patients, staff, medical waste and critical assets throughout the facility. Uses of Ekahau RTLS at the hospital include:

The processes for collecting, transferring and storing medical waste are strictly controlled.  Ekahau RTLS will enable the hospital to track the delivery route and access to the medical waste to prevent mishandling. When there is a serious consequence, like SARS or Bird flu, contact tracing time is reduced to minimum.

Mobile medical equipment - such as IV pumps, laptops and PDAs - will be tracked using Ekahau tags or built-in Wi-Fi connections to improve utilization of the devices and prevent loss or misplacement of high-value equipment.

Source
http://www.gisuser.com/content...

Taking it easy, using coffee.
  I'm taking it slow today. Looking for 'I' in reports ;-) and avoiding anything political.

Kobie ;-)

[ Parent ]
India:Business continuity: how well are Indian businesses prepared?
The list of natural and man-made disasters like the tsunami in Tamil Nadu, the Mumbai floods or bomb scares in Gujarat and the rest of India has increased dramatically in the last few years. Many organizations have felt the devastating effects of terrorist attacks, pandemic disease (like the plague outbreak in Surat in 1994), power blackouts and weather related disasters. In fact, a study by Oxfam 'Rethinking Disasters' states that climate related disasters will result in 9-13% of loss of GDP in India by 2010 and will be a key factor in preventing the economic growth in South Asia. Another frightening statistic: Power outages alone cost Indian business nearly 7% of sales-nearly six times the rate in China.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) assessment report estimated that overall damages to assets in India on account of the 2004 tsunami were about $575 million and productivity losses about $450 million. The reconstruction estimate is in addition to this cost and significantly higher. State-wise, Tamil Nadu was the worst affected with reconstruction needs estimated at $868 million, followed by Kerala $158 million, Pondicherry $114 million and Andhra Pradesh $73 million.

Disruptions resulting from these types of disasters have rippled across supply chains, shaken entire industries and taken their toll on employee, customer and partner relations. Small-and-mid-sized businesses are the most vulnerable in the event of an emergency, according to the Small Business Administration. Small Businesses in India contribute to 45% of the total exports from India and is the second-largest employer of human resources after agriculture. Small businesses play a vital role in our economy and a widespread business disruption from a disaster could reap havoc on the local and national economy, as was the case with tsunami in India

 [continued]
Source:
http://www.expresscomputeronli...

CDC: Rocket fuel chemical found in baby formula
By MIKE STOBBE (AP Medical Writer)
From Associated Press
April 03, 2009 4:51 PM EDT

ATLANTA - Traces of a chemical used in rocket fuel were found in samples of powdered baby formula, and could exceed what's considered a safe dose for adults if mixed with water also contaminated with the ingredient, a government study has found.

The study by scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked for the chemical, perchlorate, in different brands of powdered baby formula. It was published last month, but the Environmental Working Group - a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization - issued a press release Thursday drawing attention to it.

The chemical has turned up in several cities' drinking water supplies. It can occur naturally, but most perchlorate contamination has been tied to defense and aerospace sites.

No tests have ever shown the chemical caused health problems, but scientists have said significant amounts of perchlorate can affect thyroid function. The thyroid helps set the body's metabolism. Thyroid problems can impact fetal and infant brain development.

full story
http://enews.earthlink.net/art...

United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com

Wow! Haha. O.k. This is what....
This is what happened. I hit the post button and got "Cannot find page" This happened three times, hence the three previous post. The last one went through with no problem.  

United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com
It did it again. Page cannot be found. n/t


United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com
[ Parent ]
I deleted the duplicates
There was an upgrade planned for the software. I wonder if there's a bit of instability. I'll check into it. And we'll see what happens when I click on Post.
[ Parent ]
Thank you pogge. I've really
been having some problems post lately.  

United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com
[ Parent ]
The upgrade is done
There was an upgrade of a lot of Soapbox accounts in process which is now done. I notice a couple of other issues have been resolved so I would hope you won't experience any more trouble posting.
[ Parent ]
Community Open Thread Feb 20 to Apr 4 2009 | 114 comments
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