Should we fear a pandemic?

When SARS hit close to home, it showed how unprepared the system was for foreign illness. Then when avian flu was discovered, with no means of effectively treating it, people started talking pandemic. Apparently pandemics occur approximately every 25 years, and our last one occurred 34 years ago. So it looks like it could happen anytime if history is a reliable predictor. Scary.
Some shrug off the notion, thinking if an illness hits in one area of the world, the threat to the rest would be minimal. Think again. With frequent travel by plane, train and automobile, things can easily get out of hand and quickly.
Perfect example is the guy who has a serious and treatment resistant form of TB. He boarded a plane from Atlanta to Paris even after being advised not to travel because of his TB. With a selfish disregard for the potential that he could spread his TB to others, he traveled anyway, no-one to stop him. I have a few choice words for people like that, but I will refrain. Anyway, it gets better. Once in Europe, he was put on a no-fly list and told to seriously check into a hospital there. TB IS contagious, you see. And the kind he has is fatal in more than 50% of cases. What does this guy do? Well, first he takes 7 flights within Europe. Then he avoids the no-fly list after officials had tracked him down, and manages to board a flight from Czech to Montreal, then drives from Montreal back to Atlanta (where he should have STAYED IN THE FIRST PLACE). So now, this guy has exposed numerous countries and countless innocent people to his disease. How could this be allowed to happen? How could this guy not be charged with anything? Like hmm...reckless behavior, and if anyone does get infected, how about charging him with assault or even attempted murder?
I've strayed a bit from my pandemic topic but my whole point is to illustrate how quickly a disease could spread worldwide. Especially with idiotic selfish people who have no regard for the well-being of others, and a system that fails miserably at preventing the wrong people from traveling.
So should we be worried about a pandemic?

Internet-less

Like in a power outage, you don't truly realize how much you rely on something until you are without it. We switched ISPs recently, and on Monday our modem from the new ISP decided to have some sort of internal meltdown. We are actually still waiting on our new modem to arrive, but managed to borrow one in the meantime from a friend who had an extra.
I didn't realize how much we relied on the internet in our daily life. Without access to e-mail, being unable to update my blogs, or even check things like facebook, I felt like I was falling behind and overall disconnected. On top of that, I'm looking into at-home opportunities right now, but I had to put that on hold because all the info I need is...yup you guessed it...online!
It's bizarre to think that now the internet is a major form of communication and keeping with the times, and is a regular part of most of our daily routines. I've touched on this before, that not too long ago the internet did not exist. And we did just fine without it! But were we more or less productive, more or less knowledgeable? Hmmm...

Never stopped playing musical chairs

It seems our generation never stopped playing the childhood party game of musical chairs – except its not quite chairs this time – its jobs.
I look at myself, my husband, siblings, and all of our friends. We all tend to change jobs every few years – sometimes keeping with the same line of work, sometimes not.
This is a marked contrast to our parents and grandparents, a lot of whom would stick with the same company until it closed or they retired.
Musical jobs. Reflects the times for sure. It can be interpreted in a few different ways though. Are things this way because the economy is better – we have more selection? Or is the economy worse in that job satisfaction is difficult to find, which accounts for the frequent vocational venue changes? Or does it reflect on us instead of the economy? Are we the less focused, less loyal generation, changing our jobs like we change our socks – at the slightest stench? Are we ADD, getting bored too easily with one company, itching to move?
Definitely something to ponder!

No-name versus brand name for LCD televisions

I was surprised to see the drastic reduction in price for LCD flat panel televisions these days. When these first came out, they were upwards of a few thousand dollars. Now, you can get them for as cheap as the mid $500's depending on size and name brand.
You'll notice, there is quite a difference in the pricing for what I like to call no-name tv's and name brand (Sony, Samsung, Toshiba etc). For the same size tv, you can pay roughly $300 to $1000 more for the name brand version. It certainly makes the no-name tv's seem more appealing, especially to those on a budget.
However, what is in a name brand that allows them to jack up their price, is it the name alone? Actually, no, it's not. The name brand tv's have a much crisper picture both in HD and non-HD feeds. And for those out there who play video games, don't even bother with the no-name tv as the refresh rate is not there. In laments terms, that means crappy choppy graphics, sometimes blurred if you are moving quickly in the game. It can make an avid talented gamer play at a newbie level.

So it seems, it's worth saving up for the brand name versions, unless you don't watch very much tv and don't play games. In those cases, the no-name may suffice.

Am I a gamer?

Ok I never thought I'd say it, but I think I might be a mini "gamer". *sigh*
My hubby got Call of Duty 3 for xbox, and he was playing it all the time live against players from around the world! I was like "why do you have to play that all the time? jeez!" Then he told me to try it out. It's a first person shooter game, so I laughed thinking I'd be TERRIBLE - in the past I'd move the joystick and whoop looking up at the sky, then whoop, be looking down at the ground, instead of looking straight ahead!
So I tried the game begrudgingly, thinking I'd stink something serious! Well I actually turned out to be pretty good at it! Now, whenever we have spare time, usually late at nite, I find myself gravitating toward the game! We both recognize other people's screen names ("yup, he's good, oh he stinks, he got better, glad he's on our team" etc) and we both play a good game, so are forces to be reckoned with! Oh my, is it true? Have I become a "gamer"? LOL
Let's just say it's a fun new hobby!

Solar powered lawn mower?

I've been thinking a lot lately about the environment and ways to improve it or at least slow down how much damage is being done to it. It got me thinking about lawn mowers. Back in the day, they had the push ones. Then the gas powered ones. Now electric ones. The push ones are the most environmentally friendly, however, if you've ever used one, you'll know they are very time consuming and ultimately not very effective.
The gas powered ones - little pollutants. It's nice to know you don't see many of them in stores anymore. The electric ones - more environmentally friendly, but still use electricity, which we should aim to conserve.
Why then, when I go to my local hardware store, don't I see solar powered lawn mowers? Solar power has come a long way, and to power something so small, I think it would be perfect! And when do you usually mow your lawn? Well not on a rainy day, but a sunny day of course! So you can be charging and powering it all while you mow....and...they would be cordless! Fabulous!
I'm sure there are solar powered mowers out there somewhere, and it would be nice to see them replace the now-popular electric ones in stores.

Sunny Grey Skies

Here we are, not quite mid-May, and we've already had a couple of smog days and smog warnings. It seems to be happening much earlier and more frequently than it used to, with even some smog days in the winter months.
This really should be a wake up call that our environment IS changing, obviously not for the better. We really do need to start making some lifestyle changes for the sake of our air alone.
I know many have said it before, but we do need to cut down on our energy consumption so that those dreadful coal-fired energy plants don't have to work so hard to power us. It would be fantastic to see coal-fired energy completely replaced with a cleaner alternative, however, I doubt that will happen in our immediate future.
Another thing, now that hybrid vehicle technology is here, how about making hybrid vehicles the same price as 100% fuel driven vehicles, and phase out the 100% fuel driven vehicles altogether. Stop making them! Then, say 10 years down the road, everyone would have a hybrid car once their old car was caput and needed to be replaced.
I could go on and on here, like many have and like many do, but I will end with trees. Everyone should plant more trees wherever possible. Trees help to clean our air, so the more the better! Plus, makes for a beautiful landscape.
If everyone just made even small adjustments, like turning off a light when you leave a room, using energy efficient technologies, or not cooling your house as much with the air conditioner in summer months, it would make an impact, and is easy enough for the average person to do. Isn't it worth it if we could breathe easier?

Goodbye power sucking humming monitor....

...and hello energy friendly, eye friendly flat screen LCD computer monitor! Yes, we finally got rid of our dinosaur of a huge clunky computer monitor and replaced it with something very thin, quiet and nice! I must give kudos though, to the old monitor, seeing as it was 7 years old and still worked well. However, it was time to step out of the dark ages and move on...

Why did we wait so long? Well, the other one worked just fine for one thing, and for another, the LCDs used to cost a pretty penny. Now, you can find them for around $100. Sweet! It's funny how much technology prices depreciate. I was told of a time when calculators cost $50-$100 or more, now you can go to any old convenience store and buy one for $3! Funny how that works, isn't it?

Well I didn't win Super 7....

...but I did get indexed (again) in Google, and so did one of my other blogs that was a virgin to the index game! YAY! I am so happy! I feel like I'm playing the flower game here (Google likes me, Google likes me not, Google likes me!) as I was indexed last week then dropped now indexed again. I just hope I stay indexed!

In the meantime, I think it wise to figure out what the heck a sitemap is and draw one up so that my indexing windfall sticks! :)

Google why don't you like me?

Oh my, I have been trying to get this blog and two others of mine indexed on Google since I started the blogs! I've added my urls, verified my sites. I don't know what else to do!

And this site was actually indexed for a few days, then got dropped, and I have no idea why! I've been advised to create a sitemap, but you know, that is a little beyond my realm of computer knowledge at this point in time!

Oh Google, why don't you like me? I feel at this point like my chances of getting indexed on Google are about as likely as me buying a winning Super 7 ticket today...

*sigh*

Share a story, fill a tummy

I was watching an advertisement on tv the other day for Country Crock and they have a fantastic campaign going on right now. If you go to their website and click on the link to tell a story about a time you shared with someone or someone shared with you, they will donate a meal to a family in need. They will donate up to a million meals to families in need. Now how fantastic is that?

I'm going to head over there to share a story so that someone will be able to have a hot meal - something most of us are fortunate enough to take for granted.

Two thumbs up Country Crock! :)

Cell Phone Woes........

Ok, so I'm not an avid cell phone user by any means. However, I do like to have one handy for when I'm out to check in at home, or in case I ever ran into car trouble. We're talking the occassional 3 minute call here maybe once or twice a week. So it seemed logical to get a pay as you go phone instead of a monthly plan. I was initially on a Bell prepaid plan, but ended up leaving them as I would buy the cheapest phone card and the dang things expire after 30 days. I would usually only have used maybe $2 of my $10 card by then, which is super wasteful.
So, wanting a camera phone anyway, when Virgin Mobile came along, I jumped on their prepaid phone. With them, the $10 card would last 6 months. I was like, that's great because that's how long it would take me to use it most likely. Well that was all fine and dandy, until suddenly in stores I could only find $15 prepaid cards, and now guess what? The cards expire after 45 days. So basically, it's the same issue as I had before. *sigh*
It's really unfortunate the phone cards have to expire at all considering you've already paid for them. Just forces you to buy more - can you say cash grab?