Will YOU survive the coming bird flu pandemic?

[Muse]

Originally posted by: PingSpike
Sounds like more media fear mongering. When the populace is terrified of something, they're easy to control. Remember when SARS destroyed the country? Me either. But that was suppose to happen too.

Either way, the 50% of the population this kills will be mostly the elderly and children. I'm a 25 year old male in healthy condition with a historically excellent immune system. I'm pretty confident that I wouldn't die. In addition I live in a pretty sparsely populated area. If the sh|t hit the fan I'd load the car up with whatever food I could get my hands on and go live in the mountains with my inlaws.

If you read the link in the OP (the content of the Oprah show) you'll see that it is you who are at highest risk! Healthy people 20-40 years old!

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: SaturnX
Until the virus actually mutates and begin infecting people, this is all just fear mongering, hell I survived SARS right in the middle of the problematic Toronto where it was such a big deal, and I'm pretty confident that at least Canada will handle it reasonably well, so frankly I'm not concerned.

--Mark

I'd say your attitude is absolutely foolish

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Slashur

Originally posted by: Looney

Originally posted by: Slashur
If I'm going to die, I'm going to die. Worrying about it isn't going to make it any better.

Yeah, that's a great outlook on life. I'm assuming you don't bother heeding red lights or seat belts either, right? I mean, if you're gonna die, why bother taking any precaution... it's gonna happen eventually.

Nah.. its not worth worrying about things you CANNOT control. Wearing a seatbelt, stopping at red lights is something I can do.

Worrying about whether or not some bird craps on my car thus provide airborne illness is not something I care to worry about. I could die many OTHER ways today. Worrying about "catastrophic" disease number 6 this millineum is not something worth wasting your time on.

Well, you might be able to prepare some. For instance, you can have 6+ weeks worth of food on hand. It seems to me worthwhile to contemplate what it might be like if a pandemic happens. What could you do to help minimize the chance you are exposed to the disease? What could you do to help yourself and others in the event that you/they get the disease? Public health officials have to think about preparation for a pandemic. That's part of their job. If you don't prepare for possible future scenarios you are apt to be blindsided by fate.

Originally posted by: purepolly
I've already heard coworkers (nurses) say the day the bird flu hits this country is the day they quit their jobs.

And if that happens it's going to be panic in the USA.

 

[Wag]

Good thing UHD just ran Andromeda Strain, cause I know exactly what to do before.

Next week they run The Omega Man so I know what to do after.

 

[Legend]

Before I became health conscious, I'd get a cold about twice a year. Since my change in habbits, I've gotten nothing...people will be coughing and heezing around me, and I get nothing. I won't even attempt to avoid it. If someone's walking in front of me and they cough, I don't try to avoid it. I'm not a hand washing nazi either. The worst I get is a sinus headache every 4 months or so when there's a temperature change (runs in my family).

Even if this happened, and it killed 50% of the population, I would survive. I have a rock solid immune system because I eat and exercise like a saint. I'm in my early 20s.

But it's very doubtful it will happen. Bird flu is one thing we know. What about the thousands of other stuff that we're not tracking? Should I worry to death about that too?

 

[Muse]

Best info I've seen so far is the OP in this Anandtech Highly Technical Forums thread.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Legend
Before I became health conscious, I'd get a cold about twice a year. Since my change in habbits, I've gotten nothing...people will be coughing and heezing around me, and I get nothing. I won't even attempt to avoid it. If someone's walking in front of me and they cough, I don't try to avoid it. I'm not a hand washing nazi either. The worst I get is a sinus headache every 4 months or so when there's a temperature change (runs in my family).

Even if this happened, and it killed 50% of the population, I would survive. I have a rock solid immune system because I eat and exercise like a saint. I'm in my early 20s.

But it's very doubtful it will happen. Bird flu is one thing we know. What about the thousands of other stuff that we're not tracking? Should I worry to death about that too?

Nobody's asking you to worry to death. Check it out, though. They say the people with the great immune systems are the most vulnerable to this virus. Seems paradoxical, but you are actually at far higher risk than people under 20 or the elderly. Read the first post in the thread I linked in the post just before yours.

 

[Legend]

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: Legend
Before I became health conscious, I'd get a cold about twice a year. Since my change in habbits, I've gotten nothing...people will be coughing and heezing around me, and I get nothing. I won't even attempt to avoid it. If someone's walking in front of me and they cough, I don't try to avoid it. I'm not a hand washing nazi either. The worst I get is a sinus headache every 4 months or so when there's a temperature change (runs in my family).

Even if this happened, and it killed 50% of the population, I would survive. I have a rock solid immune system because I eat and exercise like a saint. I'm in my early 20s.

But it's very doubtful it will happen. Bird flu is one thing we know. What about the thousands of other stuff that we're not tracking? Should I worry to death about that too?

Nobody's asking you to worry to death. Check it out, though. They say the people with the great immune systems are the most vulnerable to this virus. Seems paradoxical, but you are actually at far higher risk than people under 20 or the elderly. Read the first post in the thread I linked in the post just before yours.

Seems like speculation. I don't have a typical adults' immune system. I eat almost entirely whole foods that strengthen the immune system. I take a very advanced dietary supplement that contains dozens of high quality forms of vitamins/nutrients (not the typical overdose vitamin _ bullshit you see in supermarkets). My white blood cell count has actually gone down to what may be considered too low for normal people because the immune system is so effective.

There is nothing I could to prepare for this specific possibility. I'm a college student, and I move constantly. Am I supposed to carry out tons of rice and black beans as a survival stash?

 

[patentman]

Originally posted by: aidanjm

I don't appreciate your condescending tone :roll:

Wah wah, go buy a quantum sleeper (google it)

 

[Looney]

Oh yeah? Well I live in Washington DC, capital of the free world, and people here DO in fact do just what I said. Freakin Morons if you ask me. So you Canadians stay all logical up there with your mounties and molson beer and Rick Moranis films, the real men are down here in crazy town! WOO!

LOL well it appears that way!

As for education, I have a degree in chemisty, I've spent many years developing stealth technology for the navy at the Naval Research Lab, and am more then half way through my law degree. Furthermore, I've met more then my fair share of dumbasses who have the letters "PhD" behind their name. (Sidenote: for those who don't know, a person with a PhD knows a whole lot about a very teeny eensy weency area of their field. PhD's most certainly are not experts in everything with which they are associated. So the fact that this expert has a PhD and works in a government organization that deals with infectious diseases does not mean he knows jack about bird flu. Besides, I thought it was well established that the U.S. Govenrment doesn't necessarily employ the best and the brightest...hell, just look at our president)

Well i suppose that's possible... but it's more than just one or two people saying this.

Also, I am well aware of how prediction (aka GUESSING) works. But riddle me this, my fine Canadian friend, why can't we predict the weather with any degree of accuracy after trying to do so for literally hundreds if not thousands of years? Because the weather is unpredictable! Why do drug companies have to spend millions if not billions of dollars on research to find one drug? Because chemistry is (in general) UN predicatable. Indeed, Complex systems and interactions like chemical interactions, plagues, the weather, etc. are unpredictable by their very nature. Heck, we can hardly even predict the direction a forest fire will go because tiny changes in wind direction throw everything off.

hmm you have a degree in Chemistry, developed Stealth Technology with the US military, and you don't understand probability?

So are you saying because the weather is unpredictable, chemistry is unpredictable, we shouldn't bother predicting the weather, and we shouldn't bother developing drugs?

That said, I feel I am well qualified to comment on the credibility of Mr. "I'm so expert I'll appear on Oprah and Scare a bunch of people." People with his creds don;t go on a talk show to inform people of an incoming pandemic. People like him publish their findings and then report them to skeeving politicians who chew those findings around a bit before they serve em up like soft serve to the American public.

LOL so in your world, these 'people' just can't win. If they publish their findings, it's to report to politicians. If they try to go and inform the public, it's because they don't have the credentials to publish their studies.

And you know what they say about assumptions... they make an Ass out of U and Me

You have a degree in chemistry and worked on stealth technology, yet you resort to schoolyard sayings to make your point?

 

[FlashG]

Originally posted by: patentman
Ok, if your really that worried, buy THIS!

But what if you have to take a pee in the middle of the night?

 

[Illusions89]

Mother, should I trust the government?

Its Not something to be concerned about at this time

:thumbsup:

 

[JDrake]

Of course I would.

 

[bigdog1218]

Originally posted by: patentman

No, and I don't care. And to be honest, that "expert" doesn't know any better then you or I how to survive a plague on that scale. How anyone can be an "expert" in regards to cataclysmic events that occur maybe once every few generations is beyond me.

This reeks of the same mentality associated with people who hear it is going to snow 2" and then they raid the store for milk and toilet paper because the weatherman told them a blizzard was coming. The bottom line is, even if the blizzard does come, do you really need to have 15 rolls of toilet paper because you won;t make it to the store for 3 days? NO!

Yeah, nice logic there... too bad you're using examples where people don't do that. I've lived in Canada for 30 years, been through tons of blizzard warnings, and i've NEVER seen anybody stock up on 15 rolls of toilet paper because they think there's going to be a blizzard.

And the expert knows more about it than you because they're obviously more educated. You don't need to go through a cataclysmic events to know exactly what's going to happen. It's called predictions, and it's based on logical assumptions. Will it turn out exactly as how it's predicted? Most likely not, but it's better than not having any idea.

Oh yeah? Well I live in Washington DC, capital of the free world, and people here DO in fact do just what I said. Freakin Morons if you ask me. So you Canadians stay all logical up there with your mounties and molson beer and Rick Moranis films, the real men are down here in crazy town! WOO!

As for education, I have a degree in chemisty, I've spent many years developing stealth technology for the navy at the Naval Research Lab, and am more then half way through my law degree. Furthermore, I've met more then my fair share of dumbasses who have the letters "PhD" behind their name. (Sidenote: for those who don't know, a person with a PhD knows a whole lot about a very teeny eensy weency area of their field. PhD's most certainly are not experts in everything with which they are associated. So the fact that this expert has a PhD and works in a government organization that deals with infectious diseases does not mean he knows jack about bird flu. Besides, I thought it was well established that the U.S. Govenrment doesn't necessarily employ the best and the brightest...hell, just look at our president)

Also, I am well aware of how prediction (aka GUESSING) works. But riddle me this, my fine Canadian friend, why can't we predict the weather with any degree of accuracy after trying to do so for literally hundreds if not thousands of years? Because the weather is unpredictable! Why do drug companies have to spend millions if not billions of dollars on research to find one drug? Because chemistry is (in general) UN predicatable. Indeed, Complex systems and interactions like chemical interactions, plagues, the weather, etc. are unpredictable by their very nature. Heck, we can hardly even predict the direction a forest fire will go because tiny changes in wind direction throw everything off.

That said, I feel I am well qualified to comment on the credibility of Mr. "I'm so expert I'll appear on Oprah and Scare a bunch of people." People with his creds don;t go on a talk show to inform people of an incoming pandemic. People like him publish their findings and then report them to skeeving politicians who chew those findings around a bit before they serve em up like soft serve to the American public.

And you know what they say about assumptions... they make an Ass out of U and Me
[/quote]

Hahahaha. So let me get this straight, Mr. PhD, who's spent his life researching infectious diseases isn't qualified to comment on a virus, yet you know everything about it because you have a BS in chemistry? Let me guess you spent more time cleaning the work benches than developing super stealth technology at the navy.

 

[imported_goku]

So I see SARS should be coming here anyday now eh? oh wait..

 

[patentman]

Originally posted by: bigdog1218

Hahahaha. So let me get this straight, Mr. PhD, who's spent his life researching infectious diseases isn't qualified to comment on a virus, yet you know everything about it because you have a BS in chemistry? Let me guess you spent more time cleaning the work benches than developing super stealth technology at the navy.

Um. No. I was a physical scientist and one of the youngest contract operations representatives ever at NRL. Not only did I do basic research into the development of novel magnetic materials, (e.g., the synthesis and characterization of ferromagentic 11nm iron oxide nanoparticles by reverse micelle synthesis, ) the development of leading edge RCSR (radar cross section reduction) panels for the leading edges of the Stealth Bomber and F-117a; and switchable infrared camouflage, I also monitored and controlled the millions of dollars in contractor funding. Indeed, I used to routinely travel around the country with the deputy director of DARPA and then head of the chemistry department at NRL for program reviews. I only left NRL because the pay was crappy and I was travelling 3 weeks out of a month. You can remove your foot from your mouth now.

And for the record, this phd may know something about bird flu, or he may not. The fact is we don't know. His personal knowledge of this subject matter has not been established, and his actions belie the assertion that he is a renowned expert in this field. As I said before, people who are experts in this area generally do not go on talk shows to disseminate their findings, they publish.

Also, I never once stated that I know anything about Bird Flu. I have only attacked this "experts" credibility. I, unlike most Americans, like to evaluate the credibility of what someone tells me before I start freaking out.


As I tried to indicate in my prior post, formal education really doesn't say too much about someone's abilities and knowledge. In some cases it does, but in general this is not the case.

 

[wvtalbot]

Originally posted by: patentman

Originally posted by: bigdog1218

Hahahaha. So let me get this straight, Mr. PhD, who's spent his life researching infectious diseases isn't qualified to comment on a virus, yet you know everything about it because you have a BS in chemistry? Let me guess you spent more time cleaning the work benches than developing super stealth technology at the navy.

Um. No. I was a physical scientist and one of the youngest contract operations representatives ever at NRL. Not only did I do basic research into the development of novel magnetic materials, (e.g., the synthesis and characterization of ferromagentic 11nm iron oxide nanoparticles by reverse micelle synthesis, ) the development of leading edge RCSR (radar cross section reduction) panels for the leading edges of the Stealth Bomber and F-117a; and switchable infrared camouflage, I also monitored and controlled the millions of dollars in contractor funding. Indeed, I used to routinely travel around the country with the deputy director of DARPA and then head of the chemistry department at NRL for program reviews. I only left NRL because the pay was crappy and I was travelling 3 weeks out of a month. You can remove your foot from your mouth now.

And for the record, this phd may know something about bird flu, or he may not. The fact is we don't know. His personal knowledge of this subject matter has not been established, and his actions belie the assetions that he is a renowned expert in this field. As I said before, people who are experts in this area generally do not go on talk shows to disseminate their findings, they publish.

Also, I never once stated that I know anything about Bird Flu. I have only attacked this "experts" credibility. I, unlike most Americans, like to evaluate the credibility of what someone tells me before I start freaking out.


As I tried to indicate in my prior post, formal education really doesn't say too much about someone's abilities and knowledge. In some cases it does, but in general this is not the case.

now go away

 

[patentman]

Originally posted by: Looney

hmm you have a degree in Chemistry, developed Stealth Technology with the US military, and you don't understand probability?

I understand probability just fine. My point is that as the complexity of a system goes up, the probability of a prediction being correct goes down. Plagues, the weather etc... are EXTREMELY complex systems. Thus, when an expert is making doomsday predictions, as is the case here, I'm not saying don't listen, I'm just saying that you might want to take those reports with a grain of salt, because 99.99999999% of the time they are going to be completely incorrect. In other words, will bird flu cross over to the human population? Maybe; will it decimate the human population? Maybe. Should I stock 6 months worth of canned goods and seal off a room in my basement? Probably not.

Originally posted by: Looney
So are you saying because the weather is unpredictable, chemistry is unpredictable, we shouldn't bother predicting the weather, and we shouldn't bother developing drugs?

No, I'm saying that you should not expect a high probability of success when predicting which compounds will make good drugs and which ones won't.

Originally posted by: Looney
LOL so in your world, these 'people' just can't win. If they publish their findings, it's to report to politicians. If they try to go and inform the public, it's because they don't have the credentials to publish their studies.

If a scientist does not have the credibility and findings necessary to transmit those findings to the public via a peer reviewed system, such as a journal, then, IMO, the likelihood that what they arer saying decreases substantially.

Originally posted by: Looney
You have a degree in chemistry and worked on stealth technology, yet you resort to schoolyard sayings to make your point?

And whats wrong with that? You got the point did you not?

 

[patentman]

Originally posted by: wvtalbot



now go away

munch munch....<Belch!>... No.

 

[Aharami]

.

 

[patentman]

Originally posted by: FlashG

Originally posted by: patentman
Ok, if your really that worried, buy THIS!

But what if you have to take a pee in the middle of the night?

See? Why does everyone have to be a naysayer around here? Someone comes up with a perfectly good, 2000lb environmentally sealed bed that protects you from just about everything except possibly an atomic blast, and all you can do is pick....SHEESH!

 

[brianmanahan]

i still have my bird flu supplies saved up for the coronavirus