Halloween is coming!

[thistlechaser]

I changed my default icon by mistake, but know what? It's fitting for October, so I'm leaving it.

And to continue that trend, I have two scary links for you.

Talk about Ebola is a lot scarier when you add the The Walking Dead theme music behind it.

(To be clear, I'm not scared of Ebola in general. Despite all the coverage it's getting in the news, it's very, very, very hard to be infected by it. Don't handle body fluids, don't handle corpses, and you'll be fine.)

For Story #2, I have to question if it could be true. I hope it's not. Roots grow out of vagina after woman uses potato as contraceptive.

"Sex education is a taboo subject in the conservative Columbian community..." See, parents? Stop being against sex education.

Comments

[ghost-light.livejournal.com]

I love the new icon!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

We match! :D

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

Despite all the coverage it's getting in the news, it's very, very, very hard to be infected by it.

If it really is that hard, then how did a trained nurse wearing protective garb become infected? If someone sneezes on you in the subway, coughs into their hand and then touches a doorknob, then presto - you've handled bodily fluids. It's also contained in saliva, mucous and all other bodily fluids (http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/transmission/). The virus can live on surfaces for up to 15 minutes. To completely avoid bodily fluids, you'd have to be sure to be out of the range of a sneeze from an infected person (about 25 feet), which is going to be hard in our crowded cities. A sneeze contains bodily fluid, and sprays all over the place. It's not a virus that's only transmitted through blood/sexual contact like the AIDS virus. And, if catching it through contact is really that difficult, why are 100 people in the US being monitored that had simple contact with that man who dragged it in?

I don't understand why western countries like the US and Europe aren't closing their borders to any flights to and from West Africa. No, we have to be "politically correct" bleeding hearts and risk a global epidemic, and this risk is being forced on all of us whether we like it or not.

I have to question if it could be true.

Snopes.com assumes it's not true. Apparently it's an urban legend that's been circulating since 1990.

[voidmagus.livejournal.com]

Subway? The place that makes crappy sandwiches? Why would I go there?

That sounds more smartass-y than I mean it. Much of the country doesn't have public transit. That removes a lot of opportunity to be exposed to other people's bodily fluids. From the time I wake up to the time I eat lunch - so, my morning, commute to work, work for 4 hours - I am exposed to nothing touched by a human being other than me (unless someone has been using my desktop then woe will fall upon them).

Anyway - just because you've touched the virus with a hand or something doesn't mean you're infected. Broken skin or the like. If you have no open cuts or anything on your hand and you touch something infected, there's about 15 minutes of danger. Same kind of rules as flu season - be careful touching things, wash your hands, and definitely don't rub your eyes/pick your nose/etc. Flu is pretty damn contagious, and I'd say Ebola is too. But people like me in a mid-size town in average America...short of some kind of aid worker coming here from Africa, there's no risk. Much of that risk can be mitigated by acting like its flu season.

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

Subway? The place that makes crappy sandwiches? Why would I go there?

LOL! Touché actually.

Much of the country doesn't have public transit.

Germany (and much of Europe in general) has a lot of public transit and it's very frequented by a lot of people. Broken skin, sure, but what about mucous membranes? How many people catch the flu while outside and without having immediate access to soap and water? Many of us do touch our eyes or lips without even thinking much about it. And ebola, at least this strain, has a 50% fatality rate so far. I realize there's a lot of hype and fear-mongering in the media, but on the reverse side there's a lot of placating of the masses too, saying it's so, so hard to actually catch. I don't think it's that hard to catch at all, and one person spreading the virus is enough to infect countless others, who in turn infect countless others, just as it happened with the AIDS epidemic. I'm not a fan of fear-mongering, but I don't think we're taking enough precautions to detain this in West Africa where it originated.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

but on the reverse side there's a lot of placating of the masses too, saying it's so, so hard to actually catch.

That's not placating of the masses, that's the truth. Ebola isn't new. Back in... 1995-ish I read a book about it saying the same thing. It's a scary disease, one that could easily cause panic, but it's hard to catch and spread.

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

I hope you're right, but I guess we'll see.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

And, if catching it through contact is really that difficult, why are 100 people in the US being monitored that had simple contact with that man who dragged it in?

Because people lie. If that guy grabbed a little girl and forced a kiss onto her, do you think he'd tell the CDC? If he has a mistress on the side that his wife doesn't know about, he would likely not tell anyone. So they have to cast as wide of a net as possible, just in case. (That guy especially lied, multiple times. But anyone could lie, either out of fear, wanting to protect other people, or for a multitude of other reasons.)

If it really is that hard, then how did a trained nurse wearing protective garb become infected?

You could counter that with 'why haven't other trained nurses in protective garb gotten it, if that one did?'. Likely the same reason in my point above: Either she (he?) made a mistake and didn't tell anyone, or there was a flaw in her protective system and she didn't know about it.

I don't understand why western countries like the US and Europe aren't closing their borders to any flights to and from West Africa. No, we have to be "politically correct" bleeding hearts and risk a global epidemic, and this risk is being forced on all of us whether we like it or not.

Because it's unnecessary, not because it's un-PC. Do you really think that anyone would risk a "global epidemic" just to be PC? Don't you think the majority of people would rather close the borders? Closing them would be the "safer" (in political terms) option than leaving them open and trying to accurately set people's understanding of the risks of catching it.

Snopes.com assumes it's not true. Apparently it's an urban legend that's been circulating since 1990.

I'm glad to hear that! It's such a disturbing mental image, I'm happy it's wrong.

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

Sure, people lie about things like that, and they'll continue to do so. But how far is it possible to cast a safety net? Limit it to the 100 people he had contact with? Expand it to the 1,000 people they in turn had contact with? The 10,000 they had contact with? They say the virus isn't contagious until the person becomes symptomatic at least, but the nurse only developed a fever. There are plenty of people who go out and about running a fever and think nothing of it.

Do you really think that anyone would risk a "global epidemic" just to be PC?

You have more trust in politicians than I ever will. Especially the US and EU are over-eager to meddle in foreign affairs, and I'm frankly sick of it.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I don't trust politicians at all, but it's their skin on the line as much as ours. If Ebola became the plague that you're worried about, they could catch it just as easily as you or I. Do they have access to better medical care? Yeah. But with a 50-60% death rate, who in the world would willingly take that gamble?

I "trust" them to handle this correctly only because it could hurt them as much as it could us.

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

I think we have to agree to disagree. Politicians have access to much better facilities and medical care and possibilities of secluding themselves than we do. Same thing with the EU sticking their noses into the Ukraine thing, provoking Putin into threats of shutting off the gas pipeline that provides much of Europe's energy. Call me selfish but I don't give a fuck about the Ukraine. What I do give a fuck about is whether or not I freeze this winter. Merkel doesn't care about that and she doesn't need to because she's guaranteed a warm place to park her fat, lying butt whatever happens. So could any crisis hurt them as much as us? Not on your life.