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[JDNelson]

Okay, here's the deal.  As Rahm Emanuel says, never let a perfectly good emergency go to waste.  So here's my idea to cash in on the swine flu pandemic.  

Personalized medical face masks.  While everybody else is wearing boring white painter's masks, those with a flair for fashion can wear their choice of hip, new flu masks.

Some ideas I'm floating are:  zebra striped, leopard spots, and my favorite... cartoon mouths so you can look like you're smiling or laughing or sticking your tongue out all of the time.

Who's in?  We need to move fast to get into production soon enough to cash in...

[Jay Kadis]

Better hurry.  Once everyone discovers the paper masks do not prevent infection the bottom is going to drop out of the market.  Influenza virus is just as happy to infect through the eyes as through the nose/mouth.

[Daniel Farris]

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/04/28/f-flumasks.html

[JDNelson]

If it was just about the protection, there would be no market for flavored condoms, now would there.  My worst case scenario is they find a cure for this damn thing and I'm left holding onto 500K masks.

[Jay Kadis]

JDNelson wrote on Thu, 30 April 2009 12:56

If it was just about the protection, there would be no market for flavored condoms, now would there.  My worst case scenario is they find a cure for this damn thing and I'm left holding onto 500K masks.

Not to worry, something else is undoubtedly just around the corner.

The media are playing up the H1N1 variant big time.  I just read that the "swine flu" epidemic of 1917-18 had a death rate of about 2.5%.  (Of course there were a lot of deaths because nearly everyone got it and there were no antibiotics to treat bacterial super-infection.)  If you read the press coverage you'd think it was 99%.  Some perspective is sorely needed.

[Berolzheimer]

http://news.3yen.com/2009-04-29/pig-mask-for-the-porcine-pla gue/

[Taproot]

Jay Kadis wrote on Thu, 30 April 2009 14:05

The media are playing up the H1N1 variant big time.  I just read that the "swine flu" epidemic of 1917-18 had a death rate of about 2.5%.  (Of course there were a lot of deaths because nearly everyone got it and there were no antibiotics to treat bacterial super-infection.)  If you read the press coverage you'd think it was 99%.  Some perspective is sorely needed.

Especially between bacterial and viral (and antibiotics and vaccines) and......


In regards to the 1918 epidemic comment, that's like saying the Holocaust had only a small death toll..........percentage-wise. Come on, man!

[JDNelson]

Berolzheimer wrote on Thu, 30 April 2009 13:20

http://news.3yen.com/2009-04-29/pig-mask-for-the-porcine-pla gue/

Arrrgghhh... they've beat me to it!

Oh well, I'm always thinking WWMMD*.



*what would Milo Minderbinder do?

[Jay Kadis]

Taproot wrote on Thu, 30 April 2009 13:46

Jay Kadis wrote on Thu, 30 April 2009 14:05 The media are playing up the H1N1 variant big time.  I just read that the "swine flu" epidemic of 1917-18 had a death rate of about 2.5%.  (Of course there were a lot of deaths because nearly everyone got it and there were no antibiotics to treat bacterial super-infection.)  If you read the press coverage you'd think it was 99%.  Some perspective is sorely needed. Especially between bacterial and viral (and antibiotics and vaccines) and...... In regards to the 1918 epidemic comment, that's like saying the Holocaust had only a small death toll..........percentage-wise. Come on, man!

The difference between death rates of 2.5% and 99% is pretty significant, especially if you get the disease!  Comparing it to the Holocaust is apples-and-kumquats.

[Berolzheimer]

Guess who owns the patent on Tamiflu-


http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/31/news/newsmakers/fortune_rums feld/

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11 48

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/tamiflu.asp

[mgod]

You know, I'm sorry, but that's so predictable and inevitable that I actually laughed after I clicked on the first link there.

You gotta give these guys points for consistency. They got all the angles covered.

DS

[Berolzheimer]

mgod wrote on Thu, 30 April 2009 15:57

You know, I'm sorry, but that's so predictable and inevitable that I actually laughed after I clicked on the first link there. You gotta give these guys points for consistency. They got all the angles covered. DS

Yes they do.  If there's a disaster to be profited from you can bet Cheney, Rummy & the rest of the corporatists have their fingers in it.  Doesn't provide much incentive for them to fix or protect things.

[rollmottle]

[Taproot]

Jay Kadis wrote on Thu, 30 April 2009 15:29

The difference between death rates of 2.5% and 99% is pretty significant, especially if you get the disease!  Comparing it to the Holocaust is apples-and-kumquats.

Not trying to start and argument Jay. The comment just rubbed me the wrong way. The 1917-1918 epidemic was nothing to sneeze at (pun intended). I've had to stop watching the news. I guess that's what put me in a bad mood to begin with. Pretty ridiculous.  

[Jay Kadis]

Taproot wrote on Fri, 01 May 2009 06:43

Jay Kadis wrote on Thu, 30 April 2009 15:29 The difference between death rates of 2.5% and 99% is pretty significant, especially if you get the disease!  Comparing it to the Holocaust is apples-and-kumquats. Not trying to start and argument Jay. The comment just rubbed me the wrong way. The 1917-1918 epidemic was nothing to sneeze at (pun intended). I've had to stop watching the news. I guess that's what put me in a bad mood to begin with. Pretty ridiculous.

While the current threat may well be exaggerated, the 1918 flu was indeed quite virulent. My grandmother told the story of going to the theater with a friend and finding the next day that the woman had died overnight. It killed mainly by suffocation, likely due to the immune response it triggered. That is certainly something we want to avoid. But there is no indication this H1N1 strain is anything like that and that's why we need to question the hype that surrounds it.

The usual flu death rate is about 0.1% and if this comes close to the 2.5% of the so-called Spanish flu we'll be in for trouble.  But compare that to the 90+% death rate from hemorrhagic fevers like Ebola and you begin to get the picture.