[What Is The Truth About The H1n1 Flu?]

 

SundanceFisher,

 

I work in the pathogenesis department at the University and we all see the media hype about H1N1 as something to fill in the news drought. However, to some extent the cynicism built up after SARS, etc is misplaced. It's like asking a skinny person why they're always exercising; confusing the goal for the outcome. To some degree, the fact that we haven't seen another Spanish Flu is because of these measures, not an argument for relaxing them.

 

The vaccine isn't a government experiment; it's something from the bug that'll evoke an immune response from you, thereby protecting you should you be exposed to the real thing in the future. Usually, this is a peptide cloned from a surface-exposed protein mated to a larger protein to enhance the effect. However, there is always a VERY, VERY slight chance that you'll have a severe reaction, and for that reason they are usually only administered to those in higher risk groups. Remember that bee stings kill people and it's more or less the same process. They'll have you hang out for a bit just to make sure. You have kids, which is the best way out there to get any disease, including this one, so I'd recommend you get it.

 

Immunity is immunity, regardless of how you got it. The problem with our increasingly sanitized lives is that if you're never exposed to anything, you're not immune to anything either, meaning that anything can make you sick. Don't go too crazy with the stuff.

 

This bug does seem to have more severe effects on the young, particularly young women, and even more particularly young, pregnant women. This is odd, since it's usually the old that are hit hardest for reasons I won't trouble you with. That said, it won't be a walk in the park for anybody. The death rate may be low because not many people have been exposed yet.

[Poll: Is It Time Yet For Classified Waters In Alberta]

Double the cost of a license and it'll still be cheap. In some limited circumstances, it may be prohibitive for casual fishermen and famililies, but this is not illiberal. For one, young children are already exempted, so a structure already exists to mitigate the effect on economically marginalized families.

 

From the many horror stories we review in this forum and my own experience, it appears to me that our major problem is not one of regulation, but of abuse and lack of enforcement. In 30 years of fishing in Alberta, I've had my license checked once, and that was in Fish Creek Park. Were I of a different frame of mind, I could easily do without one and have no fear of getting caught. What is the real problem: the fisherman in the pool below you interrupting your solace, or the trio of bait chucking louts on the cliff above tossing their beer cans about and hitting you up for weed?

 

In the past, our population density was low enough that these people would not have a catastrophic impact. But with our economic growth and the influx that came with it, I fear that this is no longer the case. Therefore, I believe that we should pay more to use this resource, that being the only way to conserve it.

 

At the end of the day, if you're trying to convince someone to conserve something, the real problem is that it is too cheap.

[Whats In Your Cd Player?]

If it ain't punk, it's crap:

 

Tiger Army

Social D

Knucklehead

Face to Face

Blood for Blood

Gogol Bordello

Voodoo Glowskulls

Planet Smashers

Rancid

Leftover Crack

etc, etc

[The Things I Lost This Year.....]

Perhaps if you did something about your dissolute lifestyle, or even your degenerate fishing companions, you would have the presence of mind to not lose them in the first place.