Avian Flu (2006) - No confirmed deaths in the West from the avian flu.
Mad Cow Disease (1993 -peak) - NO DEATHS - Strong evidence indicates that classic BSE has been transmitted to people primarily in the United Kingdom, causing a variant form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). In the United Kingdom, where over 1 million cattle may have been infected with classic BSE, a substantial species barrier appears to protect people from widespread illness. Since vCJD was first reported in 1996, a total of only 231 patients with this disease, including 3 secondary, blood transfusion-related cases, have been reported worldwide. The risk to human health from BSE in the United States is extremely low.
Oh yeah! Lest we forget...Y2K! OMG! (Thanks, Marie!)
WHY don't we hear about these things?
2016 - Of the 10,497 people who died in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes in 2016, there were 6,479 drivers (62%) who had BACs of .08 g/dL or higher. The remaining fatalities consisted of 3,070 motor vehicle occupants (29%) and 948 nonoccupants (9%). The distribution of fatalities in these crashes by role is shown in Table 1.
2015 - Of the 10,265 people who died in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes in 2015, there were 6,424 drivers(63%) who had BACs of .08 g/dL or higher. The remaining fatalities consisted of 2,908 motor vehicle occupants (28%) and 933 nonoccupants (9%). The distribution of fatalities in these crashes by role is shown in Table 1. (link is to a PDF that wants to download)
HPV - Depending on which website you access, there are somewhere around 80 to 100 strains of HPV of which several are recognized as "high-risk" for various forms of cancer. The CDC acknowledges that HPV is so common throughout the populous that it is beyond epidemic. Although the virus is purported to resolve within two years asymptomatically, I know of two people who have undergone treatment for cancer and/or are receiving treatment for a pre-cancerous condition. There is no diagnostic for males; they have developed a means of detecting the virus in women.
In addition, the CDC recommends all children approaching puberty and up to the age of 21 be vaccinated against the virus. (I've undertaken the anthropological study and have, for the last eight months, been asking people at random if they heard from their children's school nurse about the vaccine; none have.)
It is apparently of enough concern that it was mentioned in a one-sentence remark by Paul Stamets in Fantastic Fungi. He commented that a strain of mycelium may offer curative opportunities.
yes yes yes. Thank you for this. Actually I feel quite out of sorts about the whole thing. And my meditation these days is not knowing is a beautiful place to be, openhearted.
ReplyDeleteAnd at this moment what comes to me, that i will/hope come to see that there is no right or wrong. Like here i mostly agree with what you say, but than at the end you say something i still strongly agree with, as i am still stuck in the the dimension of right and wrong, true or false. Very much appreciated this post, giving some context. Thank you.
Hey Sweetie,
DeleteRight and wrong are simplistic concepts that appeal to the stupid. Stupidity is defined as willful ignorance...the unwillingness to think, either because it's too hard or because it's considered elitist.
Right and wrong are useful for controlling stupid people. Stupid people easily recognize right from wrong and can be convinced that there are simple answers...there is no need to think.
Stupidity, and right and wrong, are appreciated by people willing to accept definitions from authority figures; followers are easily led by their parents and/or their government.
Right and wrong are useful to people interested in power and wealth. They enable them to manipulate people who don't think about anything, who believe what they are told.
Common examples of stupidity are racial prejudice, nationalism, deification or religious belief, the opinion that there is right and wrong.
For thinkers, right and wrong are irrelevant. Thinkers are concerned about what action will provide a solution to a dilemma. Various kinds of dilemmas arise when different people with different values come together. The Puritans, who were driven out of England, brought to the New World their stupid religious beliefs about the superiority of man over all other beings/animals and their stupid belief that nakedness was bad. Many have suffered, mostly Native Americans and First Nation peoples, but, in fact, the whole culture can attribute much of its stupidity to their legacy.
I wouldn't waste your time meditating on getting rid of right or wrong. Just recognize it, like refined sugar, for its stupidity, and go your own way. If you feel like your thoughts are troubling you, consider them like clouds and let the stupid ones float away. But if you think about some of your thoughts you might recognize some useful ones...solutions to dilemmas; you might consider putting them to use.
And maybe ask your husband to get a vasectomy. It's much less invasive than a hysterectomy and less harmful than you taking birth-control pills. But be careful; you may find yourself sitting there, with a big truck in your driveway, your 12-pack of Coors Lite and nothing to do but sit in your house and watch TV...or shoot your gun.
You WILL, of course, probably have enough toilet paper to keep your bottom clean for a while. But what then?
haha reading back what i wrote, to see if i did not tell lies, i do see i wrote agree where i meant to write disagree. I love it when i am the butt of my own joke.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've seen that myself. No sooner do I say, "I would NEVER do that" than I find myself doing it.
DeleteAs for butts, I try hard to present myself as an asshole. That way The Stupids can feel comfortable calling me a butt-head. (Wouldn't want to give 'em pause for thot, dontchyaknow?)