February 19, 2006
Speaking of Wake Up Calls
Yesterday, the Fickle Finger of Fate (a phrase of my childhood-- oh, I do hope I don't date myself) picked me up and hurled me down the back stairs, flipping me entirely around so that I landed on my softest cushion, and then , like a slingshooter, arched my back to give my head a little extra momentum with which hit the Barbie -- hard. I had the presence of mind to shout "Oh shit" on the way down. I was shaken, but remarkably intact, though I can feel the various landing sites this morning. I'm really fine, but I must ask myself what the universe is trying to tell me, since it left me in good enough condition to type.
Wake up, perhaps? I certainly have been doing my civic duty by alerting my loyal readers to the burgeoning of a fascistic dictatorship in the USofA. That couldn't be it.
Maybe "they" - (oh, I'm such a polytheist sometimes, forgive me) want me to talk about the avian flu again. If you will remember, I was throwing around the the suggestion to buy Tamiflu rather early in the game. Now it's unavailable, and perhaps ineffective, but, so far, it's all the medicine we've got. You will be heartened to know that there is a new venture capital fund dedicated to pandemic prevention drug development. A chance to get rich and do something nice for mankind -- hardly ever the case in this day and age.
Actually, the media seem to be covering the spread of H5N1 more adequately -- Europe and India have it. Revere at Effect Measure says "If Europe starts to see human cases, we would be in a qualitatively different phase, no longer able to maintain it is the peculiarly close relationship with poultry in China, southeast asia, Indonesia and Turkey that has made these localities the site of human outbreaks."
I am left to remind you to be prepared in other ways, buy supplies, (at least get started), get your papers in order, and wash your hands--- to remind you of FluWiki, the term social distancing, and Dr. Gratton Woodson's Guide. which you should print out now, for future reference.
The severe weather alert just popped up on my screen, perhaps that's it. Let's see, last Sunday we had eighteen inches of show, followed by a sudden thaw with the weather reaching 60 degrees by mid-week, culminating in a massive cold front which moved in on Friday -- severe weather warnings -- high winds and rain - and now it's 5 degrees. This is not counting Katrina, Rita, the tsunami, or the melting of Greenland and the polar ice cap.
Maybe the message is to use the contrast to be cheerful and optmistic - which, come to think of it, I am. I will focus on what I want, rather than what I don't want. I do want peace, tolerance and appreciation for differences., consciousness and a global sense of safety and caring to prevail. Perhaps a wake up call is in order to get there from where we seem to be. Perhaps I am here to tell you that sometimes wake up calls don't feel very good.
Photo note: I've been meaning to publish this shot for weeks before it got buried. It's a perfect illustration for a fall down the backstairs -- those are not my backstairs -- love those triangles
Posted by Dakota at February 19, 2006 06:58 AM