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I just wonder, seeing as the swine flu is meant to be such a major threat, why our government is advising that Brits currently in Mexico return home? Surely if the threat is so great we should be imposing some kind of international lock down in order to contain and eradicate the virus? Not recommending that up to 10,000 potentially infected people arrive in the country.
But hey, what do I know, I'm not an immunologist.
It seems everyone is getting in a right old panic about the outbreak of swine flu that started in Mexico and is now spreading across the world. As far as I know, as I write there are 2 confirmed cases in the UK, in Scotland.
I don't mean this as a flippant post - clearly a virus which has managed to transfer from pig to human, and then mutate to be able to spread from person to person is a cause for concern - but it seems that the paranoiacs and conspiracy theorists are gathering online to scare themselves silly. I have seen comments now on various news articles stating that this is probably a scheme cooked up by "them" (I assume that "they" are the various governments of the world) in order to, amongst other things; reduce the population, prevent people from gathering and protesting, distract us from the economic crisis and so on. The thing is, I really don't think that is very likely at all - it would require a level of organisation that the retards in charge just don't seem capable of.
Mind you, I did make the mistake of taking a look at the HealthMap, a global disease alert website and I must admit it scared the hell out of me. If you have even the slightest hypochondriac tendencies I urge you not to look at it because otherwise the information (I never knew there were so many diseases) is quite scary. Ebola in Germany. Rabies in Ireland. TB in England...and diseases that sound so scary "the strangles" anyone? How about chikungunya? that I must resist the urge to google them or I might never leave my house again.
I think the thing that worries me the most with all these disease, but especially with things like TB and recently the swine flu outbreak is that most people are mucky buggers. Every time I leave the house I see several people who cough and sneeze without covering their faces, or who hack and cough and spit in the street. Whenever I use a public toilet I see people who don't bother to wash their hands. So really, if a major outbreak did hit this country I imagine it would be able to spread quite easily. While I cower in my house eating heated up tins of soup and hoping it leaves me unscathed.
One last note (and it isn't meant to sound crass) In light of the swine flu outbreak, and the earthquake in Mexico - how long do you think it will be before some religious nutter tries to blame it on sodomy, or promiscuity, or secularization?
I have just come across an item in the Telegraph online that displays an absolutely shocking level of stupidity. It relates to the new research that has shown that using bonjela in teething babies could in some cases cause a potentially fatal illness. The author in the telegraph article has decided that this research (which she states was probably conducted by men, with the implication being it was undertaken only to cause mothers trouble) is a bad thing, and that women should not be told of things which could kill or injure their babies.
Firstly I am slightly offended that the article exists under the heading "news", because it is not news. It is the vacuous, facile opinion of a rather stupid woman.
Secondly, and rather disturbingly the author of the article basically states that she would risk a potentially fatal reaction in her child rather than lose a nights sleep.
Thirdly, she then states that a homeopathic remedy that she refers to as (and I kid you not) "Baby Cocaine" would be better anyway, even though she has no idea what it is even made out of.
I am just saddened/annoyed that this has even been printed, and I am left wondering how it is possible that someone so stupid even managed to procreate. It is idiocracy all over again.
If you can bear it, check out the stupidity for yourself.
Today I attempted to partially overcome three of my fears, with some success.
OK, when it came to the arachnids I failed dismally. I did attempt to bring the clean washing in off the line but unfortunately a spider had climbed into one of my socks and I didn't dare get it back off the line. Instead I stood in the garden and squealed pathetically before almost tearing my earring out of my ear when it brushed against my neck and I thought the spider was on me. When I went back into the kitchen and was clearing round I opened the bin to find there was a spider in there too. I attempted to solve this problem by throwing rubbish at it before shutting the lid and vowing to make someone else take the bin out next time.
Later on in the day though, when getting off the bus at the shops near my house I saw a pitiful looking dog wandering in the main road. It was wearing a collar but was unattended and looked to be in a right state. It wasn't very big, somewhere between a jack russel and a labrador in size, but it had a huge abscess on its back and one near its bottom, its fur was falling out and it was filthy and matted as it wobbled along. No one else seemed to be paying attention to it except for the driver of the car that was behind it on the road who was thankfully driving very slowly. So I realised that I was going to have to do two things that scare the hell out of me: approach a dog I don't know, and walk out into traffic. But I couldn't do nothing, so I walked into the road, grabbed the dog's collar and steered it back to the pavement. I was in a pickle then though, because once out of the road the dog refused to move any further with me, I couldn't let it go as it might have gone back into the road and I couldn't reach my phone to ring anyone to help me. So I just kind of squatted down next to the dog at the side of the road and kept one hand on its collar and the other at the back of its head so it couldn't bite me, as it seemed scared and in pain I thought it may go for me. I talked to it though, in case that helped. After a couple of minutes a man came over to help me, who had been driving the other way when he saw the dog and went to find a parking space. Luckily he was more of a dog person and he had a spare lead, and he carried the dog off to the local vets. Hopefully it will be OK.
Still, it was only afterwards that I realised that I had walked into a road AND handled an unknown dog and survived to tell the tale. So well done me!
I just read in the Times online that David Attenborough is to be the patron of an organisation called the Optimum Population Trust, who campaign about the increasing problem of overpopulation of our planet. He has met some criticism from the kind of idiots who cannot see that the Earth has finite resources and is only able to sustain certain levels of human (or any other) population before food and land will become too scarce but personally I am glad to hear that such an organisation exists.
It is better to control population growth through education and birth control now rather than seeing large scale deaths due to disease and famine and a lack of resources in the future.
I believe that religion is a major factor in the problem of overpopulation, mainly due to the backwards stance of some major religions on contraception and the demented desire the religious seem to have to try and breed more followers of each particular religion in the hope that the increase in numbers will lead to some kind of world dominance.
Anyway, I digress. The article is here (beware there's a nasty picture of a scary 8-legged nasty on the same web page)
I am not going to show this to Himself, because if I do then he will probably want an extra ear of his own. But I will show it to you instead:
Just look at that!
Taken from the Guardian online.
Have a look at these web pages, they make interesting reading:
First, an article from the National Secular Society regarding the plight of islamic apostates.
Second, the website of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (ex-muslims, or apostates live in fear of death. Leaving islam is a "crime" for which the punishment is death under sharia law)
Last but not least is One Law for All, a campaign against sharia law in Britain.
The National Secular Society has been in the news today regarding a report it has written on the cost of hospital chaplains. The NSS has worked out, using data obtained under the freedom of information act, that hospital chaplains are costing the NHS about £40million every single year. The NSS are not arguing that hospital chaplains should be banned, merely that rather than being paid for by the NHS, out of public money they ought to be paid for by the religious organisations that they represent.
I agree. After all, the NHS is struggling for cash whereas the major religions are some of the richest organisations in the world. £40million could be better spent on nurses, cleaners, allied health professionals or even on providing counsellors who had a broader remit that simply trying to convert new followers or convince the dying to believe they would live forever in "the afterlife".
Read the article here.
Followers of the sikh faith have also been in the news today following a debate over their rights to carry weapons.
According to the sikh faith, followers are meant to carry a knife or dagger with them at all times, supposedly to represent the struggle over evil. However some sikhs have been complaining because the knife crime laws mean they are being challenged over their persistent carrying of weaponry. Sikh campaigners are claiming that they should be allowed to carry their weapon at all times despite the laws that the rest of us are ruled by, because they claim a sikh would never use his weapon offensively.
I have several issues with this.
Firstly I thought that one of the principles of our legal system was that all are meant to be treated equally, regardless of religious affiliation. Therefore it is not right that one religious group should be excepted from a law against weapons. Or are we to allow muslims to be polygamists, or christians to pelt homosexuals with rocks?
Secondly, the claim that a sikh would never use the weapon offensively are ridiculous. Are they honestly trying to claim that there is not a single sikh who has ever got into a fight? I don't believe that for one second.
Thirdly, who is to say that a "sikh" carrying his knife into a packed venue, or onto a train or aeroplane really is a sikh? If it becomes stated legally that a sikh can carry his weapon wherever he goes then what is to stop people of other or no faiths, who have an violent agenda of their own simply dressing as a sikh in order to legitimately carry their weapon?
As far as I am concerned if the rest of us cannot carry a knife because this encourages violent crime then the sikhs shouldn't be allowed either.
article is here.
Dentists have come into the firing line again after new figures have shown that 30,000 children every year are being admitted to hospital due to tooth decay. I'm afraid I cannot see how this is the fault of the dentists. I can see how you could blame lazy parents who fail to teach their children how to brush their teeth properly, who fail to take them for twice yearly dental checks and who fail to provide them with a healthy balanced diet opting instead for sweets and fizzy drinks. I can see how you could even extend some for the blame to the government for messing up NHS dental provision so that many dentists have reduced their opening hours or gone private. But I don't see how you can lay the blame for this one with the dentists themselves.
People have such a rubbish attitude to their oral health. Even in areas where dentists have all gone private, the cost of a twice yearly check up and adequate oral care in the meantime is only a minimal cost. Yet people balk at paying it for themselves or their children, despite spending thousands of pounds on nice cars, fancy clothes, the latest trainers or a cable TV package. Sometimes people are really stupid. But that is not the fault of the dental profession.
article here
Well, it would appear that the government has quietly started the next step of its Orwellian nightmare, er sorry I mean anti-terrorist measures as from yesterday they are monitoring our online movements. Every website you access or attempt to access, every email you send, including the sender, recipient, the time and your location, you network of online contacts, all of this will now be stored for 12 months and available for the government to stick their nose in at any time. Worryingly it seems that even junior employees will have access to some of this information.
Why does the government need to carry out such measure on its own people? We now apparently have unmanned spy planes floating 50000 feet above the English countryside, our phone and internet activity is monitored, we are caught on CCTV an average of 300 times a day each, records of our bank transactions, credit card payments, benefits applicants, medical records are all being stored on huge databases to which too many people have access. If the government gets its way they will soon have even more information on us - our DNA, our iris scans, our fingerprints. Why the hell do they need to watch us so closely?
The actions of this government seriously disturb me, and the only reason I am not panicking even more is because the sheer amount of data they are going to be collecting will hopefully render it useless.
Anyway, see this article
and this legislation
I went to visit a relative in hospital today and I was appalled at the amount of other visitors who failed to wash their hands or use the alcohol hand gel on the way into the ward. This is despite the fact that hospital bugs seem to be in the news every week, despite the fact that there are large, obvious signs all over the hospital reminding people to wash their hands and despite the fact that there was a prominent dispenser of hand sanitiser right by the door of the ward.
I actually challenged one man who had blown his nose before entering the ward right before me, but who walked straight past the dispenser. I stopped him and pointed out that he needed to clean his hands. "Not me" he replied "I am clean".
Well, that was like a red rag to a bull, as I explained to him that actually, no, he wasn't clean, that he was risking the life not only of his loved one but also of all the other people on the ward. I pointed out that he would probably be among the first to complain if he or a family member contracted MRSA, and told him that he clearly did not understand infection control. His response was to shrug and walk on regardless.
Why are people so stupid and ignorant? Why do they not care if they are endangering the lives of others? Are they really so stupid and selfish and utterly lazy that they cannot be bothered to just clean their hands? It takes a couple of seconds and can and does prevent illness and death. Why the hell would you willfully ignore that when visiting the hospital? Sometimes I really hate people.
Apparently Offcom has fined the BBC £150000 over "Sachsgate". What I can't understand is why the Beeb as a whole have been fined, considering they are run on public money, and why the individuals involved did not receive the fine. Because money being taken from the BBC pot in this way basically means less money to do the things they are meant to be doing, like making programmes or delivering the news and so ultimately the fine is being paid by us the public and not by the individuals concerned who actually messed up in the first place, whatever role they happen to be in.
It is like when people sue the NHS for negligence or malpractice when in the majority of cases the grievance is against an individual doctor or nurse, not the organisation as a whole.
I can't be the only person who gets majorly peed off with rude behaviour in cafes and restaurants, but yet another incident today has got me riled.
I hate it when you go to a cafe for lunch, and although it is quite busy there are tables becoming available now and again. Then, when you are almost at the front of the queue some ignoramus comes in with their friends and goes straight to one of the few available tables while their mates join the back of the queue. Then, some other sheep-like retard from the back end of the queue decides that's a good idea and does the same. With the result that the people who have just purchased their food are left stood with a tray and nowhere to sit while the smug dickheads do their utmost to avoid eye contact which to me indicates that they KNOW they are twats. My way of dealing with this is to go and sit right next to them, because I am nice and non-confrontational like that.
Other things that piss me off in eateries:
People who talk loudly on their mobile phone throughout the meal, especially if it is someone who is supposed to be having lunch with you.
People who cough and sneeze without covering their mouth/nose as they do so.
People who leave their mess all over the table in establishments that ask you to clear your own rubbish away.
People who allow their young children to run around the place annoying the hell out of everyone else so that they can have a quieter meal.
I am sure there are more examples but you get the idea.
Surprisingly though, the worst culprits for the things mentioned above are the older generations - you know, the ones who like to complain about the "youth of today" having no manners.
I would just like to say I am getting really REALLY sick of headaches. I have had this headache, in varying degrees since 6pm on the 9th of January when I got hit by that blasted car, and every now and again, like this moment, it all gets too much and I just want to scream and break things. But I cant because even chewing is making it pound more than ever and I can't even lie down because my neck keeps going into spasm. I AM NOT HAPPY.
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