I really shouldn't be watching the news.

Helloooo H5N1. Welcome to Merrie Englande.

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Wikipedia: A MMORPG for self-denialists.

It's gotten to the point where careful investigation is needed just to tell parody from reality. I think that means reality is broken.- Noclevername.

Better that many turkeys than that many Brits.

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Gimme a minute to read through Jay's latest observations...

well not right now but maybe around thanksgiving time.

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If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.
Contact Carl Sagan

Kill a few now, there will be that much more around Thanksgiving!

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I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol. A human.

Whoever says "perception is reality" is daft. It's merely an abstraction, and often not a very good one.

Does anyone else think this whole bird flu thing has got a little out of hand? The news reports of 130 people being killed as a result of the virus. 130 people might sound like a lot. If it were 130 people in the same town, it would be. But 130 people WORLDWIDE! I'd be willing to bet more people were killed by hamsters in the same year!
Then of course there's the fact that nobody has proven conclusively that the virus is actually transmissible to humans AND the fact that even if infected turkey meat made it to a supermarket somewhere, any trace of the virus would be destroyed in the cooking process.
Call me cynical but I think this scare has more to do with 24 hour news channels needing something to report than any real cause for alarm.

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God: I refuse to prove that I exist. For proof denies faith and without faith I am nothing.
Man: But the Babel Fish is a dead giveaway isn't it? It proves you exist and so therefore you don't. Q.E.D.

Well there was SARS for Toronto that was blown why out proportion a few years ago as well, the thing with the bird flu is it can become a flu like the 1918 flu that killed millions.

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If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.
Contact Carl Sagan

Does anyone remember an old episode of WKRP in Cincinatti which involved turkeys? $40000000 to the person who can quote that episode

(disclaimer: monetary amount may not be exactly as shown)

Pete

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PJE

There's so much I don't know about astrophysics. I wish I had read that book by that wheelchair guy.

Actually, one of Alice Cooper's most famous (or infamous) moments comes from the same assumption--they're birds; they can fly! ("Oh, the humanity!")

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Well, I'll go for the quote:

"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!"

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SeanF

"Ask to understand, but don't challenge unless you have the knowledge."--NEOWatcher

The contents of this post are ©2008 by SeanF and may not be copied or retransmitted in any form without the express written consent of SeanF

I love IMDB.

"...hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement" always cracks me up. Really classic.

There was some seriously underappreciated acting talent behind the delivery of that little soliloquy with a straight face...

"As God Is My Witness, I Thought Turkeys Could Fly"

Just classic.

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"If we die, we want people to accept it. We're in a risky business and we hope if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life." -Gus Grissom

Davros, you know how folks here like to "correct" folks who are ignorant of photograghy or the engineering involved in going to the moon?

Let me point out some "highlights" of H5N1. With medical treatment AND hospitalization, more than half the people who contract H5N1 die. That's a higher death rate than smallpox. (except for hemorraghic smallpox, which approaches 98%) Now you can catch this from the dander and dried secretions of the infected birds aerosolized into the air. That includes blood. Okay, that said, do your turkey dinners come magically cooked right out of the grocery bag? Or do you have to handle raw and bloody turkey parts like I do? That part of your post tells me you don't do your own cooking. So your wife or mom gets it instead. (Remember the 50% death rate?) But its okay, 'cause you dodged the bullet.

Now I'll assume when you say transmissable to humans you meant person to person. Its obviously transmissable to humans if they can catch it. Just not person to person yet. Well its not yet, but how does that change? The more things that catch it the greater the probability of a mutation that will allow this to happen. This is because when someone or something has more than one type of flu at the same time the virus' will swap chromosomes in the cell. That's the big scare.

And here's some creepy facts about this flu. Animals normally considered immune to the flu are catching it and dying rapidly. Cats large and small, bears, racoons, all animals that scavange dead animals like flu infected birds.

When you talk like that you remind me of a drunk who gasses up his car while smoking a cigarette and saying "Everybody knows the end of a cigarette isn't hot enough to ignite gasoline" Right now we smell smoke in the gas station. Would you wait until we actually see flame?

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Gimme a minute to read through Jay's latest observations...

Due to a miscalculation on my part, I don't actually have $4000000 , but well done!

A big turkey costs about $40 or so, and a wet bag of cement only costs probably $2.00 (or less) (A dry bag is about $4.00 or so in Canada), due to the fact that a wet bag of cement is not very useful unless used right away!

$40 * 156000 = $6,240,000...what a waste

Pete

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PJE

There's so much I don't know about astrophysics. I wish I had read that book by that wheelchair guy.

Well aware of that thanks and I don't mind in the least if I'm shown to be inaccurate about what I say.

Ok so we've establised that this virus is pretty nasty if one happens to contract it. I never disputed that. The point I was making is that out of all the many thousands of people who have come into contact with infected birds (worldwide remember) only 130 of them have died. Also most of them worked in the industry so had a much greater exposure.

Sarcasm noted. I do all my own cooking thanks and I'm well aware how messy preparing a turkey can be. However a good deal of Bernard Matthews (the affected factory in this case) products come pre-cooked and/or processed so consumer risk is reduced right there. In the case of non pre-cooked turkey products, basic food hygene (washing hands etc) would help also.

That's the point. It's a scare. I'm not suggesting we all pretend this virus doesn't exist or that poultry producers shouldn't be careful not to allow infection to spread unchecked, what I am irritated by is the media (and by extension the public at large) harping on about a repeat of the flu pandemic the killed millions in the early part of the last century. The average joe on the street is about as likely to die of bird flu as he is likely to be struck by lightning. (maybe even less likely I don't have any statistics handy )

See above - the only point I'll add here is that Racoons etc. aren't renowned for cooking their meat before they eat it.

I defy anyone to ignite gasoline with any tobacco based product! And for the record I don't drink and drive. I'll just reiterate my point - I'm not against a healthy dose of caution among those in the industry. What I am against is people drumming up fear among consumers about something that is of practically no danger to them.

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God: I refuse to prove that I exist. For proof denies faith and without faith I am nothing.
Man: But the Babel Fish is a dead giveaway isn't it? It proves you exist and so therefore you don't. Q.E.D.

it comes down to the $$ signs.
Like Mad Cows Disease...
How much is Beef up to per pound now-a-days?

turkey must sure taste nice, if it's worth dying for.....

Devros, I did drift over towards the snotty side in that post. Sorry, there was no need for that.

I have the very same problem with my own local media. Just last night I went on a rant because a promising young colledge athelete was found dead at the bottom of one of our famous beach cliffs. (120 foot drop)The media reported, "And he had four times the legal limit of alcohol in him!" with a lurid tone of voice. Really? What's the legal limit for being found dead at the bottom of a cliff? I'll have to check the law books on that. I know while driving a motor vehicle the legal limit is .008. And as long as you are not being a public nuisance its not against the law to be drunk. So what legal limit are they talking about?

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Gimme a minute to read through Jay's latest observations...

What about the Public Intoxication charge?