View Full Version : Won't we all die, anyway?
btdude
12-13-2002, 03:53 PM
This headline scares me to death (http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/12/13/bush.smallpox/index.html)
As I read it, I wondered how long it will be before we are all ordered to take the vaccine. I have read about the virus, I have seen the effects of it, and the effects of the (side effects) vaccine, itself.
I think Shiny posted a thread somewhere about this, and I am sorry for repeating it here. It just seems to me, as morbid as it sounds, that if something as catastrophic as infecting an entire continent is going to happen, would I rather not be dead, anyway? Would I not want those whom I care about most, to suffer as little as possible?
I don't know, I guess right now, I just think that trying to make us all live forever, or as invinceable (sp) as we can possibly be, is a moot point, if someone, anyone drops a bomb, delivers anthrax, or does other major harm that will wipe us all out anyway. Just a venting. Where are we headed?
A bit hysterical No? All of us oldsters here have had the vaccination once and we're just fine. As it wears off after 20 years, we're no longer immune and would have to take it again. Side effects are for sure far less than the actual disease. (http://www.globalaffairs.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3741)
tke711
12-13-2002, 04:03 PM
Considering the fact that the Small Pox vaccine was required up until 1972 when it was eradicated, I don't think it's that big of a deal to make it optional now.
For some strange reason, Small Pox, Anthrax, and other diseases just don't worry me too much. Some may call me naive or overly optimistic, but I just tend to not worry about that which I can't control.
I agree with you BT though, that we are all going to die anyway. Life is finite. Maybe that's why these things just don't worry me too much. Don't get me wrong, I'm in no hurry to leave this earth, but eventually I will. It's inevitable. I just choose to worry about the things that I can control.
My $0.02 for the day. :)
Steve
12-13-2002, 04:06 PM
The higher estimate of two people out of a million dying from the vaccination translates into approximately 500 people in the U.S. dying from it, assuming the entire census is inoculated.
Compare that to the hundreds of thousands guaranteed to die during an epidemic outbreak.
ShinyTop
12-13-2002, 05:14 PM
I received it both as a child and again several times in the Army during 26 years of service. I will not hesitate to take it again.
jamming
12-13-2002, 06:14 PM
The president said he has decided not to initiate a broader vaccination program for all Americans. He said neither his family nor his staff would be getting inoculated.
I believe we will not be ordered to take the vaccine, as civilians.
I am more scared of the West Nile Virus and the mysterious mosquito that does a fly-by of my monitor everynight than I am of small pox or Anthrax.
wapu
jamming
12-14-2002, 03:25 AM
Damn Wapu is onto the Monkey Dengu Virus Mosquito, I sent him for Christmas, time to go to Plan C. ;)
Thanks for that.:) They found dead crows up here with the virus. I wonder how they determine which crows to test?
wapu
jamming
12-14-2002, 05:33 AM
They look for Dead Crows, two feet in the air and laying on their little crow backs. Oh and they don't move unless you push or throw them. ;)
mikepd
12-14-2002, 05:58 AM
I'm not afraid of no damn mosquitoes. I say get one of those AC-130s and have at them! ;)
Considering the vaccinations and boosters I had as a child, it's a wonder I'm still here. If offered might as well do it again. I get a flu shot (yes, I know it's dead material-still feel like hell two weeks later) and a pneumonia shot every 5 years. Why not this? Better safe than uh-oh.
midranger4
12-14-2002, 10:29 AM
mosquitos = mobile hypodermic needles
I hate them as I have always had allergic reactions to their bites.
I gain great satisfaction every time I whack one of those flying typhoid Mary's.
jamming
12-14-2002, 10:34 AM
Originally posted by mikepd
I'm not afraid of no damn mosquitoes. I say get one of those AC-130s and have at them! ;)
I admire you mikepd, using an AC-130 verses a Florida Mosquito is like having a fair fight.:thumbsup:
Sierra Mike
12-14-2002, 11:00 AM
Hey, anything in the name of self-defense!
SM
ShinyTop
12-14-2002, 11:30 AM
Why do we not protect mosquitos as another animal? That's one of the things that puzzled me about animal lovers. They do draw distinctions, now, don't they?
jamming
12-14-2002, 11:34 AM
Mosquito = Insect
Insect not= Animal
OK?
ShinyTop
12-14-2002, 11:36 AM
No. The respect for animals is because they occupy the planet also. And I don't want to hear about mosquitoes killing people. Activists don't want you killing a bear or alligator coming at you. If it's respect of life I don't think they should rule our mosquitoes.
midranger4
12-14-2002, 11:39 AM
Mosquitos are a plague upon mankind and need to be utterly destroyed. I hate them, I hate them, I hate them !
Viruses and bacteria are living organisms as well, shall we protect them as well ;)
jamming
12-14-2002, 11:39 AM
Bah! Shiny Crazy, make Jamming talk like Cro-Magnon from beating head against Shiny's Wall of refusal. ;)
ShinyTop
12-14-2002, 11:43 AM
Hey, I am not an animal right's activist. They are protecting animals they prey on mankind, I am just wondering why not mosquitoes. Why is their right to live less than a two inch fish in an Oregon river? Sometimes I think they just hate man rather than love other animals.
mikepd
12-15-2002, 01:35 AM
I would not hesitate to use nukes against mosquitoes to *ensure* none of the little bastards escape. But AC-130s are *much* cheaper and I pay enough taxes already.
Shiny nice guy but obviously misguided. Will have to see that Rocco and Guido pay him a visit and explain to him the error of his ways. Complimentary 15% discount on hospital bill. ;)
jamming
12-15-2002, 01:37 AM
"Rocco and Guido, help Shiny with his wallet." ;)
Kingdom Animalia (http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/animalia.html) -> Phylum Arthropoda (http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/arthropoda.html) -> Class Insecta (http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/arthropoda/insecta.html)
jamming
12-15-2002, 02:11 AM
Originally posted by EMIG
Kingdom Animalia (http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/animalia.html) -> Phylum Arthropoda (http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/arthropoda.html) -> Class Insecta (http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/arthropoda/insecta.html)
OK point it out why don't you.....Shiny would of never figured it out.:thumbsup:
bruzzes
12-15-2002, 10:14 AM
Do any of you old timers remember the the polio vaccine in the 1960's?
A nice little sugar cube.
Later in the late !960's those little sugar cubes were laced with a little something ...different!;)
<center><small>whoa,,,look at all those pretty colors!...</small></center>
ShinyTop
12-15-2002, 10:22 AM
Jeez Louise, I never said they were the same. I was merely pointing out to the "let's never harm an animal" crowd that they pick and choose as much as the people who don't care what they do to animals. <small>And I though insects were invertebrates</small>
Frodo Lives
12-15-2002, 10:33 AM
Originally posted by ShinyTop
Jeez Louise, I never said they were the same. I was merely pointing out to the "let's never harm an animal" crowd that they pick and choose as much as the people who don't care what they do to animals. <small>And I though insects were invertebrates</small> Don't worry about it, Shiny. It just like those people who despise abortion because it is murder yet don't blink an eye about killing a deer or fish. Hypocrites. ;)
Lots of invertebrates are animals (from a taxonomic point of view): Sponges, worms, jellyfish, sea anomalies, etc.
Looking around a bit, I found a truly weird phylum (http://www.earthlife.net/inverts/mesozoa.html) in the animal kingdom.
mikepd
12-16-2002, 12:13 AM
Bruzzes, This old timer remembers the sugar cubes well. I also remember having to deal with those who used the sugar cubes for 'other purposes' when I worked as an x-ray tech. I prefered the sugar cubes as a child much better. ;)
EMIG, Weird does not begin to describe that phylum! Nature is truly diverse.