Wednesday, March 14, 2007

And now… watch my head explode!

Look back at my posts from 2005 and you’ll see a very different blog from the blah-blah-blahg posts I write now.

I used to have a great passion for outing the evils of childhood vaccinations and the over-drugging of small children with psychotropics and antidepressants. My intention had been to make a documentary about vaccinations. After far too many years beating my head against the wall with broadcasters who were in and then out, I gave up. I stopped reading about the issues about 18 months ago when income generation became more of an imperative than making change in the world.

But I still have subscriptions to a variety of news sources with the key word vaccine. 95% of the time I ignore the stories. Not today. And I’m more angry at this moment than I was when He-who-shall-not-be-named told me he was leaving the country.

The gist of the story:

Merck's chickenpox vaccine Varivax not only loses its effectiveness after a while, but it has also changed the profile of the disease in the population, U.S. researchers reported Wednesday.

The study confirmed what doctors widely knew -- that the vaccine's protection does not last long.

And with fewer natural cases of the disease going around, unvaccinated children or children in whom the first dose of the vaccine fails to work have been catching the highly contagious disease later in life, when the risk of severe complications is greater, they said.

"If you're unvaccinated and you get it later in life, there's a 20-times greater risk of dying compared to a child, and a 10 to 15 times greater chance of getting hospitalized," said Jane Seward of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, who worked on the study.

So this is where my head explodes. An idiot like me knew this six years ago. I’ve watched my friends coerced into having their 5-years olds get the chicken pox vaccine and wondered what I could have said to have been more convincing than the doctor who was pushing the shot. Nothing, apparently.

The thing that kills me is that measles used to be one disease – about as dangerous as chicken pox is, killing about 100 kids a year in the States – and typically kids who are already immuno-comprised. But today the measles virus has mutated into several strains, all of which have to be included in the shot, of course…

Vaccines are not benign. In many cases, they can cause terrible side effects. In most cases the disease for which the vaccine purports to protect the child is not a serious health risk, rather it’s a serious inconvenience for a parent to take time off work to stay home with a grumpy kid who has measles or chicken pox.

I can’t get enough oxygen to get into why and how the vaccine promoters manage to get away with convincing government and public health officials to recommend their shots – and in some American States, forcibly make every kid get the shots or be prevented from attending public school….

If you’re interested, I’ve ranted on these topics before…

Meningitis (Marketing) Can Strike Out of the Blue

Volunteers Needed for Anthrax Vaccine

Ahhh… May, June, July, August 2005… there’s stuff there abut vaccines.

And here’s the full story, Chicken Pox Vaccine Fades Over Time.

Monday, March 12, 2007

If a painted black cat crosses your path...

Super quick post.

Last week, while roofers were replacing the shingles on my house, door-dudes were here replacing the French doors to my back deck, mon dieu! Condensation between the window panes… door frame starting to rot – who’s crazy idea was it to build a city in the middle of a rain forest??

Anyway… new, unpainted doors. Rain for the past week. Today the first sunny break. So I donned my painting duds and set out to put some protection on the primer before my new doors started to suffer water damage.

All’s going well. I’m 3 minutes from done with just one paint drop on the deck, easily wiped up and onto my jeans.

And then all chaos breaks loose. Gryphon, who until today was the only good cat in the brood, decided it was a good idea to sit on the paint lid – which of course was sitting paint side to the sky! Bum onto black oil-based paint can lid, quick change of mind, lid upturned on deck (peanut butter side down, of course!), cat disappeared back into the house.

Easy to follow Bad Cat III’s path – and the number of times he sat down. Four. Four black, oil-based paint, cat bum prints on my floor.

And now, instead of doing the work I desperately need to get done, I have to find Gryphon and cut his painted tail feathers from him… I figure the embarrassment he’ll suffer having a bare ass is better than the stomach upset he’ll feel if he licks the paint off…

I will be the crazy cat lady one day… heading quickly down that path…

Oh - and if anyone mentions karma... I'll be shipping all three bad cats to you. Consider it fair warning.

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Friday, March 09, 2007

At least I’m not pregnant with twins

That’s my new motto.

It was a line used on me last week at the conference I was animating in Toronto. The woman who was organizing the logistics had been handed the event at the last minute by her colleague who had to leave town. It was a little chaotic for all of us.

I threw my hands up at one point, shaking my head at some mess-up and she quickly put it all in context for me… “at least you’re not pregnant with twins.”

She had just found out that that was her situation. I had to agree. And over the last week I’ve called on that blessing several times.

Mr. Wonderful’s car was totaled while it sat in his yard and we goofed around in Whistler (in my car) last Sunday. He’s only getting $750 from ICBC since it has such high mileage… but at least he’s not pregnant with twins!

My eleven-year old house had a new roof put on this week since the original one was flying off in the wind. The initial quote was for $10,000 (tax in). The damage was worse than we thought. Final bill is over $13,000… but at least I’m not pregnant with twins!

The exterior wall behind my chimney has been slowly rotting for over a year. I’ve diligently ignored it but now the damage has gone into the structure. So now I have to pay for more work than would have been required last spring when I first noticed the damage. No doubt that I’m an idiot, but at least I’m not pregnant with twins!

My fabulous roommate announced today that he’s moving out to live with one of his friends. I’ll be very, very sad to lose his company… but… at least I’m not pregnant with twins!

Yes, crap flies freely around my house these days… but I have little to complain about when compared to what I could be dealing with. And … I’m not pregnant – with twins or otherwise. Thank god for small blessings!