Ah… the internet:
Image credit: Snazzy llama pic by complicated combination of Laurie Pink, Lispencie and others… [Creative Commons]
…necessarily. In this case it’s more SNAFU.
I read this weekend’s Sunday Herald during lunch today. There was a double page spread on the growing “Swine Flu Crisis!” (251 Infected!*).
While I’m not sure if this graph is actually based on real figures, it does put the pandemic in perspective:
see more Funny Graphs
The threat of Mexican flu is quite relative. This strain may only turn out as bad as regular flu. But regular flu isn’t something to sniff at. Each year influenza occurs on a pandemic scale, this kills about 250,000 – 500,000 worldwide. So when the health authorities are saying “this is just like seasonal influenza”, they may be quite right to downplay the threat, but there is still a threat – SNAFU.
Was that enough mixed messages?
Hattip for GraphJam: Cheshire
*It’s now over 300, but didn’t reach 800. Either Mexican flu (or the testing labs) took the weekend off, or it’s possibly slowing down.
I don’t know how well that claim will hold up. The Chick Publication Library has quite some shockers linking anything it can with the devil. The Usual Suspects include D&D, Evilution, Communism, and those Muslims. with their silly “moon god”.
But Jack appears to have found a new target with the Jolly Man in the Big Red Suit. Yes, Virginia, believing in Santa Claus will get you sent to hell. PZ has good screen caps and some other commentary.
The story centers around a nice young lad who when he is told Santa isn’t real goes all ninja – he flips out and kills people.
No.
Really.
He flips out. And kills people. Over Santa Claus.
New Humanist has its annual BAD FAITH poll open for crashing.
The list is full of burning stupid. But burning stupid really is not enough these days.
Only one nominee really stands out as a despicable abomination worthy of complete and utter scorn.
The Governors of St. Monica’s
Other people are on the list for saying something silly to atheists, believing dinosaurs walked with people, or getting some old dude’s book banned. The Governor’s have done something much worse.
They have blocked preventative medicine from reaching children.
That’s right. A vaccine was developed that reduces young women’s risk of cervical cancer tremendously, and yet these bastards have told doctors they can not give it to their students. Why?
Because without the threat of cancer their students will become sluts. There’s strong faith in human conviction there.
The idiocy is that it’s not like there is HIV, gonnorhea, siphilis, and a whole host of other nether-region nasties they can fall back on to scare young ones celibate. (But, don’t worry us godless medical scientists are working on cures for those too).
These horrible people are supposed to be looking after the children in their care. They wouldn’t ban dentist vans because they encourage kids to eat too many sweeties. Or would they?
People who let children get lethal diseases are scum. It’s pretty simple choice really.
Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter are leading on reputation alone. And some crackpot Islamic creationist is third just because he pissed of Richard Dawkins. Go over, have a scan of the contenders and vote for someone who is really evil.
Mmmmmrrgh…
Interactive zombie survival horror.
I died 8 times before making it through.
Poor Jimmy didn’t stand a chance.
Via somewhere on needcoffe.com
Re-emergence of diseases like measles and mumps amongst Canadian communities (see Respectful Insolence) is starting to show what the totally unfounded (see The Stats Blog) fear surrounding the MMR and other children’s vaccines has the propensity to cause.
I also had a link to similar outbreaks emerging in the UK. Outbreaks in other parts of the world are also likely to happen.
Part of reading this stories has helped me learn another horrible fact about the ramifications of less children being vaccinated. It does not just affect children who aren’t being vaccinated. Vaccination relies upon a concept called “herd immunity”.
We all have heard how vaccines aren’t 100% effective in the first place. This is an anti-vaccinationists selling point. Every time you are exposed to the contagion there is a chance of your vaccine failing. Think of it like brakes on your car, you can only be in so many “near-miss” situations before you bang something.
The idea of mass vaccination is to reduce the number of gambles. If every child is vaccinated, there is virtually no entry point for the contagion to enter your community. Every unvaccinated child is a bad driver on the road with no brakes. Not only are they relying on the brakes on your car to reduce danger to their children, they are an additional risk that your children need to avoid.
Some savvy parents are taking this into mind. Daycares that allow unvaccinated children (or do not have data on enrolment vaccines) are seeing health informed parents remove their children to other institutions that provide. The link I lost had a story of a mother who found out one of her children’s friends mothers had bought into the anti-vaccinist screed – and promptly stopped their children playing. A similar incident is found on MSNBC:
Karey Williams [47, Chicago] never thought a parenting decision would come between her and a good friend. The two had known one another for a decade, supported each other through infertility treatment and had their first babies around the same time. But when she told the friend that she had stopped vaccinating her daughter at age 1, the relationship abruptly ended. “She said, ‘Well then, your child can’t come into my house,’”
You might think this is harsh. But these are serious deadly diseases, no parent should be reprimanded for ensuring the health of their children. Lifelong complications (such as deafness) are very very common amongst victims of these diseases.
The positive impact of mass vaccination has a very clear and positive record. Science-Based Medicine has put up the stats for major vaccines. All of them have efficacy rates of over 80%, and save thousands of lives every year (if not more). And none of them have autism as a proven side effect. Science-Based Medicine’s author, Mark Crislip also points out that if GP/Big Pharma was really some sort of evil diabolical institution, they’d be joining the anti-vaccinists. More vaccines, means less disease. Less disease, means less business.
“I am an Infectious Disease doctor. I make a living from treating diagnosing and treating infections. I don’t make dime one if people do not get infected, so I am against any and all vaccines as they cut into my bottom line” – Mark Crislip, Science-Based Medicine weblog
Mandatory safety measures such as bicycle helmets, seat belts, standardised testing of car breaks are important for road safety. Shouldn’t similar safety measures be mandated for children’s health and safety.
via fracas.
I am definitely a bit worried at how easily wikipedia vandalism is re-reported as factual news by some outlets.
Wikipedia is not a reliable source folks. It’s a great resource, but in and of its own it is as useful as a class of 4th graders.
Not only was the hoax misspelled, the wikipedia editors didn’t even add the right date.
Oh dear…
A related item from tonight’s episode of Media Watch details how a simple Snopes search might have saved the Age some face by not regurgitating an old urban legend.
Aspergillus is a very common fungus. So this report of a death in an otherwise healthy British man caused by inhaling the spores during gardening is a little unusual.
Aspergillosis is a threat to immunocompromised people (AIDS patients, transplant receivers on immunosuppressants etc.). However, aside from a smoking habit, this man didn’t have any significant risk indicators
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