Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Digg title fail

There is nothing to cheer about...Oh! It from Yahoo! news.


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Video of approach and landing

Letchikleha video of approach and landing from the airplane's cockpit.


Amazing video. Also see amazing pictures in his blog.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Profiting from swine flu

FDA sets sights on products that purport to fight swine flu (Washington Post)
"A shampoo that prevents airborne virus particles that settle on the scalp from causing swine flu. Special disposable gloves that offer protection from ATMs, door handles or steering wheels that might be "contaminated" with H1N1. A "natural immunization" that purports to be a safer alternative to a flu shot. "

Anyone who is not lazy, is coming up with a product to help "prevent" the swine flu. If pharmaceutical companies can benefit from it, so why could not them. Even though, using common sense and simple hygiene would prevent contracting the flu: washing hands, having enough vitamins (C & D) and drinking a lot of fluids. The same principle applies to all those organic food, bottled water, etc. In most cases, those products are no different from non-organic counterparts, however, being labeled as such will cost more.

Debate over swine flu shots in Germany

A posting by KIRSTEN GRIESHABER about debate in Germany over Swine Flu vaccination.
It appears that there might be a double standard for vaccination in Germany. Two types of vaccines would be offered - one for the government (employees and army) and other type for the rest of the people made with adjuvants which are relatively new in flu vaccines, and there is limited data on how safe they are in certain population groups, such as pregnant women and children.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Log entry

This is a first blog entry. I have not decided yet on a format of the blog-posts and what will I cover in them. There are so many topics to talk about, so much information to go through.

First topic of today is "national emergency" declared by President Obama.
"The declaration will help with flexibility in case hospitals see a greater influx of flu cases in coming months" and "This is not a reaction to any new developments; it's a proactive step, a useful tool going forward..." (USA Today). An on-line tool by Microsoft for self assessment if one has flu/H1N1 symptoms is here https://h1n1.cloudapp.net/fluquiz.aspx.

Though, beware of trusting self-assesment tools or read too much medical information or you will end up as narrator of "Three Men in a Boat" by Jerome K. Jerome
"It is a most extraordinary thing, but I never read a patent medicine advertisement without being impelled to the conclusion that I am suffering from the particular disease therein dealt with in its most violent form. The diagnosis seems in every case to correspond exactly with all the sensations that I have ever felt" http://bit.ly/2IijpG

Will keep track of "pandemic" and post my thoughts on that.