people have been talking a lot lately about an asian flu pandemic. randy said he read that we’re CERTAIN to have one. this is alarming. here are a few things i found online about it.
this first one is from the voice of america, talking about the 1918 pandemic: “It was the 20th century’s greatest plague. Estimates of the 1918-1919 flu death toll range from 20 million to 50 million, more than died in the war that had just preceded it.”
how come we studied the world wars in school, but nobody ever mentioned any flu pandemics? i bet if teachers had talked about stuff like this, more kids would have thought about becoming scientists, in order to try to combat viruses. it makes me wish i’d become a scientist, except that i just can’t figure science out at all. as a matter of fact, just yesterday i was flipping through a magazine, and it had descriptions of various health things, like asthma and diabetes, and there were explanations of how medications and things worked on the cells, and there were big pictures and the print was all small words – and i kept reading it over and over, and i just couldn’t get it to make sense. this part of my brain has always been grossly stunted. i took chemistry my freshman year in college, and i got an A, but i never, every knew what was going on – i just furiously memorized everything, not having and kind of clue about what it all meant.
this just came out today:
WASHINGTON, Oct 6 (Reuters) – The U.S. administration sent mixed signals on the threat from bird flu on Thursday, with President George W. Bush urging mass production of vaccines while his health secretary played down the risk of a pandemic. All officials conceded the United States was unprepared for a possible pandemic, and pointed to a number of meetings being held this week to confront the problem.
The White House said Bush would meet U.S. manufacturers on Friday and urge them to come up with ways to mass produce a vaccine for the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The virus has killed or forced the destruction of tens of millions of birds and infected more than 100 people, killing at least 60 in four Asian nations since late 2003.
The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said an influenza pandemic that could kill millions is certain and may be imminent. However U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, while urging preparations for a possible outbreak, said the risk was relatively low and a pandemic probably would not happen.
“The probability that we’ll have a pandemic flu is unknown,” Leavitt said at a Washington health technology conference. “I will tell you from all I hear from scientists and physicians it is relatively low, but it is not zero.”
The risk is high enough that the United States should be prepared, he added. And it is not. “Here’s the dilemma: we’re not prepared as a country. No one is prepared in the world. We’re not alone in this,” Leavitt said.
“H5N1 may happen, but it probably won’t. If it does we need to be better prepared.”
i find it very weird that the head of the CDC says a pandemic is CERTAIN and may be imminent, while the health & human svs. secretary says it’s probably not going to happen. was he not listening to the head of the CDC? is he maybe another guy whose only prior job was being in charge of arabian horses? troubling.
so, in light of all this info. about the (probably going to happen) pandemic, i’ve been thinking a lot about how we all need to make a concerted effort to live life to the fullest, because we could all be dead by spring.
not to be negative or anything. but just being prepared.
so, right now, today, tell somebody you love that you love them. maybe you think they already know it, maybe you just said it yesterday, but it’s good to say. and DO something for somebody to show them you love them.
and, and this is harder, you should do something for somebody you’re not so crazy about. make an effort to reach out to somebody who gets on your nerves. sometimes i’ve done nice things for people i haven’t cared for, and it feels kind of good.
that’s all the lecturing for now. except who knows what tomorrow may bring, so you’d better make the most of today.
my friend judith is making the most of today, or at least of tomorrow – she and her husband are going on a two-week trip to egypt, leaving tomorrow from NYC. i looked at their itinerary this morning, and it’s filled with stuff like going to see this or that pyramid, going on a cruise, visiting some island…wow. i immediately became very jealous, and have decided i must try to save my money so i, too, can take a fabulous trip like that. not to egypt, i still hope to go to the south of france where i know there’s this wonderful place to rent, but i’ve been thinking about that for years and YEARS now, and i need to start taking action. saving money. working harder. making more of myself. getting things done. getting up earlier. taking vitamins more regularly. eating fewer chocolates.
the thing about the chocolate is that right now i’m at my sister’s hair salon. i was at panera earlier, where i had a healthy lunch, and then i was going to go online, but their system was down. this was a little alarming, but these things happen, so instead i came to amy’s.
but amy has lots of chocolates lying around. maybe i’ve mentioned this before – she has little bowls of mini hershey’s candy bars. i feel obliged to eat them when i’m here. sometimes before i come here i say DO NOT EAT ANY HERSHEY’S CANDY BARS TODAY, but it usually does no good at all.
very bad.
i’m eating one right this very minute.
making the most of today, but only in a satisfying-my-seriously-overdeveloped-sweettooth kind of way.
the other day while waiting for something, i was flipping through a “woman’s day” magazine. it was slightly horrifying to see that there was an article about xmas stuff, all the xmas stuff you can be starting RIGHT NOW.
as far as i’m concerned, summer just ended yesterday. i realize that technically it ended a few weeks ago, but yesterday it was hot, and today it feels like fall. i did take a nice walk last night, and it felt so much like summer, and i was wearing a summer dress that i bought and never got the chance to wear till last night, and so that was a pretty nice way to end the summer.
ok, i have to get out of here before i eat all the little bitty chocolates that are around.
tomorrow is FRIDAY, which is coming very quickly this week, i feel.
ok then,
grace on thursday