Please try to spare me the tinfoil helmet taunts, but I’m beginning to look suspiciously at anyone sneezing within 10 metres of me. On the other hand, I’m also feeling a slight shiver of excitement. I’ve read lots of posts from people who know exactly what is or is not going to happen but tell us: how do you feel about it? Any fears or fantasies to share?
I had some other ideas but they were all too heavy for me to think about. Please feel free to chat about anything else that occurs...
ReplyDeleteA Biologist Writes:
ReplyDeletePandemic 'flu happens. When it happens it looks a lot like this. Don't be fearful, not yet anyway. But do be cautious. Mainly by being anal about washing and drying your hands before eating, picking your teeth or rubbing your eyes. Standard precautions for the normal 'flu season. Don't stock up on anything you wouldn't normally and certainly nothing perishable in excess.
And be thankful that we have Tamiflu and a 1st world Biomedical system and a lot of people working feverishly to keep us safe and help us if we are not.
Don't listen to ungrateful sods like Simon Jenkins.
An atomic armageddon hovered over my childhood and my teenage years like the shadow of some evil alien flying saucer. So awful a prospect that its not yet born ghosts already haunted us. I sometimes fell asleep wondering whether the sirens I heard in the distance were early warnings of incoming ICBMs. The apparently likely nuclear deathstorm made too strong a belief in the future seem mad. The assurance of mutual destruction induced chronic insecurity in me.
ReplyDeleteBooks and films and television programmes showed the post-holocaust struggles of small bands of survivors. Across the tv screen images flickered, of rockets climbing cumbersomely skywards on smoke veined legs like varicosed giants, of the splintering, seperate paths of MIRVed missiles, of the first flash, the building brilliance and then the blast rushing over and past.
So easy to imagine. What would I be able to do? London was an obvious target. the roads would be packed. We could hide in cellars, use doors and timbers to build a shelter within which we could protect and survive. Fat chance. I tried to imagine what it would be like to linger on in the aftermath of an all out nuclear exchange. A slow death from radiatio, disease, starvation, massive trauma nd too many minor ones.
Ah, happy days :)
I think you could be on to something there Anonymous. That since the demise of the Cold War we have lost sight of how to handle risk. We have become too safe. So safe that measles is back because parents have no memory of how bad it can be and instead are scared of manufactured scare stories about the very vaccines that made it a memory no longer to be feared.
ReplyDeleteI lived in far New Zealand during the latter part of the Cold War but still it affected me like you, and we got shown the same films. It was probably the French setting bombs off in our backyard that made it real.
Anyway, here is a much better Four Horsemen:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.viruscomix.com/page433.html
Hi M'guy
ReplyDeleteIts PPG (come on with my moniker ?????)
Sure, we all lived it, I did'nt thinNZ (or any other place) would be 'safe' but was damn sure the great wen would become a crappy was.
Am expert on risk (duh) but what is 'risk' and what's an 'expert'? Hahhaa.
We would never leave the house if we listened to every supposed threat that was about to wipe us out, so i havent given it too much thought. But at least a flu pandemic would give us something to keep our mind of the disintegrating state of our country. Though would it be absurd to suppose that at some point there almost must be a flu pandemic, a proper one that eats the Western world away, isnt it a statistical case of when rather than if?
ReplyDeleteSurely a pandemic in London would spread like wildfire, all those sardine like tubes and trains and stuffy air conditioned shithole offices....
Interesting point about statistics, Jay. I'm embarrassingly ignorant about science and maths, but I seem to remember a school friend telling me that anything that can happen will happen. Anyone aware of such a theory?
ReplyDeleteI think its the monkeys and shakespeare argument, i dont give it much weight to be honest. But this pandemic thing is a slightly different issue.
ReplyDeleteMuscleguy
ReplyDeletethanks for the post; rolling news and declining newspaper sales seem to preclude a balanced evaluation.
Pure fantasies, Martillo. The swine are after us:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD9w4ZbFLYY&feature=related
Sorry it's in English and not Japanese.
@Martillo
ReplyDeleteThat's just the theoretical physics guys forgetting that maths is a language, like other ones. You can write perfectly internally consistent fiction with maths, just like English. It's still fiction unless you can prove it. Basically you need at least eternity and it assumes lots about the number of planets, and those that can host life etc, etc. So Han Solo is not, has not, and will not be coming to a galaxy far, far away not near you.
Thanks, scientists. To be fair, my friend was only 16 at the time and full of the joy of new discoveries.
ReplyDeleteFab clip, Olching!
But there's the rub between the what and the what is not. Let me count the ways in which I love thee? Are you fixed or are you fluid, do you run like water or do you flow like stone? Selene, your body moves me as you turn me in the dance.
ReplyDeleteI am the tale that wagged the dog.
I am the spirit of the beehive, you are the bees, I am the buzz.
ReplyDeletezzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
You guys still think words are ?? Its just comp progs duh symbol processing (in a way) 'math' you're all geeks really idiot savants zombie angels whatevs
ReplyDeleteThx for clearing that up, pen. I was confused there for a bit. OK now.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if it's a sign of the apocalypse, but I've just received an e-mail entitled "Your bedroom doesn't smell like love any more".
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure whether to be glad or not.
Thanks for sharing, anonymous. Shouldn't there be a smiley after "geeks really idiot savants zombie angels whatevs"?
ReplyDelete""Your bedroom doesn't smell like love any more".
ReplyDeleteI want to hear more about this. Who sent it for a start...
How about this for Ally's porn thread? I apologise in advance for any offence taken - you know I don't approve of such nonsense.
ReplyDeleteDown with this sort of thing! (Careful now!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qO3tTu8H9M
Could be worse: "Your pants don't smell of us any more."
ReplyDeleteI've noticed that the conspiracy theories have already started. Owellwasright (on the 'other place') has been claiming that swine flu is some kind of american manufactured virus got loose. I'm just waiting for a Bishop to blame the permissive culture again.
ReplyDeleteI've got to die of something, and I think I'd prefer flu to the norovirus (I caught that on christmas eve and it was fucking horrible).
"Your bedroom doesn't smell like love any more"
ReplyDeleteHang on. What?
What does love smell like?
Hi guys
ReplyDeleteActually I have been having probs with my robot allies, I think I had just posted from 'a virus' when it all went tipsy turvy, I'm on the mac now but for how long ??????
Glad to help Scherfig.
Sorry not to have got back to self and collective action but it is a schrodingers box I have not yet opened (I could kill that cat but maybe its a fish).
I'm happy to discuss but .... come on annetan did get a bit snarky with me and yeah I know you all agree whoop de doo. Im sure plenty think Im vain arrogant dunb and stupid and what my bedroom smells of Id hate to think.
Do any of you know bob wicklund's work (well some of it a bit a couple of words)? Its rel to knowing and igborance.
But I wouldnt want to veer off topic, isnt he modern varian not watch the skies but watch the threads?
Signs and portents.
Can an angel ever really fall to ground? Does one ever really touch another?
Where does the self reside?
Hippopenthus the centaur
"What does love smell like?"
ReplyDeleteSorry sealion, if you don't know by now...
I think you're confusing love and lurve, martillo. I've smelled lurve on many occasions, but I'm not sure I know what love smells like.
ReplyDeleteExcuse me while I go cry in my beer.
"I'm not sure if it's a sign of the apocalypse, but I've just received an e-mail entitled "Your bedroom doesn't smell like love any more"."
ReplyDeleteLOL!
I got an email from Amazon telling me that I might be interested in buying a book called "Where's Woolly?"
Made me laugh.
Apparently this contains the answer
ReplyDeleteWhat's the difference between love and lurve?
This is just extremely silly!
ReplyDeletewanted to share.
http://www.comparethemeerkat.com/
Sorry if above was too infantile but i am cursed with an extremely silly sense of humour.
ReplyDeleteRe pandemic I am more worried about having to pay for my medication if they cut the Welsh assembly budget.
I couldn't afford it - that really would kill me.
With heart failure and asthma I'm on the list for jabs and stuff anyway.
The way some people in Wales labour party are they might just do that. But probably not to pensioners because so many in wales just get the state pension. I'm relying on that but the economy is enough to worry about!
If I get that virus well Its been an interesting life.
OMG I'm getting depresing now!
Early night I think!
Biskieboo thats creepy ! ROTFLMAO!
ReplyDeleteMartillo, this is not a joke, but I've just checked amazon and one of the recommendations was a book on Khartoum.
ReplyDeleteWhat on earth is going on? What next? A book on evolution (from Fish to Monkey, ahem)? The definitive guide to the Simpsons (from Hank Scorpio to Fat Tony)?
Evening all. BB here.
ReplyDeleteWell, on the one hand I think the whole pandemic thing is a load of horlicks. But on the other hand I did pick up some of that cuticura hygenic hand gel stuff - similar to the anti MRSA gel you get in a hospital - for all those times I am on the No. 11 bus and thinking the handrail feels a tad icky... I bought some for my lad too, who is disgusted at the fact that the school bogs never seem to have any soap at the washbasins. Ewwwww.
for all those times I am on the No. 11 busBeautiful, burnt out, and posh. :0)
ReplyDeleteOi!
ReplyDeleteWhat's posh about the No. 11?! Stops right outside the RCJ which means I don't have to hoof it up the hill from Temple u/ground station with me bag. :p
BB
Love smells differently for people since it depends on your histocompatibilty genes dunnit? (unless you are female and on the pill). So love smells of whatever gets your oxytocin secreting.
ReplyDeleteMuscleguy
ReplyDeleteYou say the most romantic things!! :o)
BB
I see, BB...I assumed you were taking the No. 11 back to the BB villa on the Kings Road :0)
ReplyDeleteOlching
ReplyDeleteGood god, no. I live in a not very posh bit of East Surrey, so I get it to and from Victoria Station. :o)
Ben Goldacre has an article on swine 'flu today
ReplyDeleteJay - not sure who sent it as I deleted it pronto (wouldn't want anyone finding out about the sorry non-smell of my bedroom by reading my e-mail over my shoulder). But the frightening most likely possibility is that the sender was myself as with most of my spam.
ReplyDeleteYou spam yourself?
ReplyDeleteI never thought i could hate Blair more than i did already, and now he is responsible for me being in premod.
Jay, I saw your scythe comment (which I referenced in my only standing comment out of 5 I posted). Hilarious. The whole thread is hilarious. I think I'm done with CiF though. It hosts BNP members and Tony Blair. Great.
ReplyDeleteShall we start saving comments before they are deleted?
Hahaha. I just posted a comment agreeing with everything Tony Blair said praising him to the max and it's been deleted. CiF is a joke.
ReplyDeleteThe latest praise comment now stands...how long for? Hmm, how on earth do they know I'm taking the piss?
ReplyDeleteI am not seeing any "post comment" options on any articles now when i refresh them, this is concerning, i have a bad feeling the gits might have banned me, i have never seen this before. Anyone else? Do they ever temporarily take away peoples post comment button?
ReplyDeleteOlching, "Oh shit, you're in premod?"
ReplyDeleteI was, i think i may have been banned now, very troubling. I just refreshed all the articles in my tabs and in none of them do i have the option to comment, there is no comment button, and i have never had that before. I just emailed the mods to ask them whats going on.
Doesn't sound good. Keep us posted.
ReplyDeleteBlair's thread has been closed (what the fuck did the idiots expect when commissioning a war criminal?) and I think the only comment of mine that still stands is one that says "Tony Blair offers a great article with a great insight. Thank you, Tony." It really is like the ministry of truth out there.
Olching great posts by you on the Blair thread! Everyone of mine was removed.
ReplyDeleteAny ideas what is happening to the Guardian?
Jay, sorry to say it, but it looks like you're banned. Profile unavailable, Comments archive empty. My sympathies.
ReplyDeleteJay - no, no, they spoof my e-mail address. Either that or I have multiple personalities, one of whom is obsessed with penis size.
ReplyDeleteThe Guardian is a joke. Tony Blair - for me at least - is the last straw.
ReplyDeleteJay, just checked your profile and it's 'unavailable'. That's Guardian-speak for purged. Condolences.
Montana, add Jay to the wall (what kind of funeral do you want? A thread? A funeral thread?)...CiF is a joke.
Try and come back as RayJeilly, or alternatively don't bother. I think I'll join you in purgatory. I think CiF really is done for me.
Hermine, who were you posting as?
LMFAO
ReplyDeleteTotal number of comments on Blair's thread = 83
Total number of comments not deleted = 29
(and that includes two from Matt Seaton and one from Brian Whit.)
I think they should get Bush to do a blog, just for good measure :D
BTW Jay, that really sucks. They are becoming a joke now.
BB
BB, the 83 comments don't include those that have disappeared without a trace. It's more like 150, 29 (27) still standing.
ReplyDeleteBush wouldn't face such invective, because not he is nowhere near as vile as Tony. Bush is just a bit thick whereas Blair is a conniving cunt (I'm sorry for using that word, and I've thought about it long and hard, but that is the only word that comes close to describing him).
Time to suggest a Cif boycott? I personally will not be posting on Cif for the foreseeable future, if ever again.
ReplyDeleteBut if you boycotted CIF what would you have to talk about?
ReplyDeleteOh, we'll think of something, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... just checked your user profile Jay and it's "not available", which confirmed you have been banz0rd. Bugger.
ReplyDeleteWill you go back with a new nick? Please do, because we are losing more and more sane voices every day over there...
BB
Yep, scherfig, I'm with you on the boycott. I'm done with CiF. That was truly insane.
ReplyDeleteYep, gone, for abusing Tony Blair on a leftwing paper. I have sent emails back to the mods and Seaton so will see what they say but it wouldnt surprise me if the decision was Seatons, so will see how it goes.
ReplyDeleteAs for coming back with a new moniker, not sure, i had grown rather fond of old JR and his various friends and enemies...
Perhaps i will find a new political site to comment on, but regardless i will still be a regular cifrefugee.
I started a new thread regarding my banning, suggestions as to course of action welcome over there - new moniker, if so what, or new website and new newspaper? My opinion of the Guardian as a whole has completely plummeted.
JayReilly
ReplyDeleteTony Blair really has a lot to answer for now that you are banned! And so does Seaton. However, don't expect much from him. Seaton is an arrogant, pig-headed c°°t. (Oh, I have never used this word in print before!)He is not inclinded to answer letters and I never got the aplogy from PetraMB either.
**As for coming back with a new moniker, not sure, i had grown rather fond of old JR and his various friends and enemies...**
JR I too had grown rather fond of my old moniker (the name of my 13 year old Jack Russell) and all the friends I had made on Cif over the past two/three, years! But the situation became impossible with increasingly aggressive enemies.
I signed off but started posting again under my grandmother's maiden name. I am having no troubles at all and can say rude things without being deleted. They think I am a bloke; someone even called me "brother".
I hope they will re-instate you on Cif and if not do come back with a new moniker!
The Four Horsemen? Their names are Double-Think, Double-Speak, Double-Standard, and Double-Bind.
ReplyDelete