Runaway Future

Chris and I had a good debate today, back like the summer when we actually debated issues and I felt like I knew things.

The topic: Avian flu

Before I go further, there’s a small pop quiz…without looking it up, how many people do you think have died from the Avian flu since 2003? Answers will be later on in this rant.

I took the side that it’s all a bunch of media fluff. Chris said it could be huge and it’s better to be safe then sorry.

My side of the argument leaned heavily on the idea that within the past 10 years, SARS, the West Nile Virus and killer bees have all been supposed to kill us all off, or at least seriously dehabilate the Western Civilization. So far, they’ve been busts. The killer bees have never came, my only brush with SARS was when they re-scheduled the Garfield Weston interviews in Toronto to be during the summer instead of in the spring (arguably, I think this worked out for the best) and West Nile cases are still few and far between. The fabled North American pandemic hasn’t resulted. I borrowed heavily from the fears that happened when SARS hit and also from the ‘society of fear’ concept first brought up in Bowling for Columbine (probably the only unbiased point of the film, besides the racism information). I blamed the media for inciting a fire storm over nothing, chicken little reporting.

Chris’ argument was a lot of “what if”. What if it mutates? What if it combines with the more common flu that we all get around this time of year? What if, What if. According to our neighbours to the south, those two words are worth 7.1 BILLION dollars. But then again, they aren’t the most reliable administration when it comes to evidence. But I digress.
Mutation is a common thing with viruses. Every flu season, people get flu shots to protect them against last year’s flu, while a new strain is out loose making people’s lives miserable. Look it up if you don’t believe me.

Anyway, I think this whole worry is a lot of media fluff and not a lot of substance. So far less then 70 people have died around the world of the avian flu in the last two years. In that same period of time, influenza (normal flu) has killed about 80 000 people in Canada and the United States alone.
Which one should we be more worried about?

On three side notes:

Chris set me up with an account on his blog, so I might do some guest blogging over there if the mood ever strikes. I should probably return the favour, but I’m not completely sure how to do it and I don’t have the time to figure it out at the moment. It’s on the list as well as a new design and more content on the website. Don’t wear out your mouse clicking Refresh in anticipation.

Today, I had a user call me about Viagra emails he was receiving. I explained that because his mail wasn’t handled through our spam server, I couldn’t make them go away. He made some comment about how it must have been his co-worker doing research for her husband (completely serious mind you). I tried to dispute, saying that it’s part of being on the internet and almost everyone gets them. I then said, “hell, I even get them on my email account at home”. I’ve never seen a grown man look at me so oddly.

I’m going curling tonight with a belly full of spaghetti. No matter what the week brings, the ice clears the mind.
How do you explain curling to a girl from Brazil?