hey you heard about all the crap they are finding in tap water now

ETA: BTW...I meant to tell you earlier cherrful....we already have a pandemic....HIV.

I'd like to completely cosign with what AKAMonet said above and add a few things.
Outbreak is not an accurate movie in regard to viral transmission and epidemic at all. If you are interested in some good reading, I would suggest a few books--"Virus Hunter" by Dr. C.J. Peters and "The Coming Plague" by Laurie Garrett. They are a good place to get an understanding of some of the emerging diseases and their mechanisms. A caveat however, they can be dry reading and not at all like "Outbreak" or "the Hot Zone."
You might also check out one of the NOVA specials that was done in interviewing Ken Alibek, who defected from Russia as their former Chief Deputy of bioweaponry. He is someone I worry about.

Eh....

Yeah--an aging system with a short supply of potable water... Don't have a disaster and have immunity problems like HIV--you WILL die...

Somethings in water cannot be cleaned out. Like radioactive water or Hexa-valent Chlorohydrated water (in that one movie)...

Anyone remember The Hills Have Eyes when the deformed mountainers were drinking that thick green water?

Exaggerated social commentary mixed with "horror." But gross nonetheless.

I thought that was from inbreeding..but then I never really watched that flick to pay attention to the story.....heh

It seems to be a disgusting combination. I believe it was the original where Big Brain discussed the background of what happened with the nuclear testing and the drinking water. This movie made some people paranoid about people who live in the mountains and stuff like government testing. :(

Sidebar: I never saw the 1977 original The Hills Have Eyes. If I can ever find it, I heard it was good. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hil...yes_(1977_film)

AKA Monet, Yeah, I saw "I am Legend". I loved that movie. Exactly what I was talking about, and Daemon I would hardly call AIDS a huge pandemic. I was talking about something that could possibly end civilization as we know it. Something that would cause the loss of key people. I think the loss of key people would be very crucial. Think about it. Losing pieces indiscriminately from a highly complex system is very dangerous, and one of the most profound results of complex systems research is that when systems are highly complex, key individuals matter. I say this because these are the people whose actions link all the rest.

I don't know if you guys remember back in 2000 when a strike blocked petrol deliveries from the UK's oil refineries for 10 days, nearly a third of motorists ran out of fuel. Some train and bus services were cancelled, shops began to run out of food, hostpitals were reduced to running minimal services, hazardous waste piled up, and even bodies went unburied.

What would happen in a pandemic when a lot of truck drivers are sick, dead or too scared to go to work? Seriously, I think even if a pandemic were mild, many might have to stay at home to care for sick family members, or look after kids whos schools are closed. Even a small impact on road haulage would cause serious problems.

Other than AKA Monet, I don't think you guys are seeing the big picture. When I saw "Out Break" I was like "No way!" There has to be more to it than this. I mean c'mon, it's not the virus that would cause the biggest problem it's how it would effect everything else around us. Things we rely on to live. They really should have added these things to the movie. It would have been much more realistic.

Look at some of the companies that use or sell commodities from coal to asprin. Well, they really don't keep large stock piles of this anymore because it's so expensive. They rely instead on frequent small deliveries. So if delivery drivers are infected, or people they work with are, these companies are totally screwed.

I know in hospitals that they rely on daily deliveries of drugs, blood and gases. I guess if a pandemic broke out, they would have to make sure they had enough ventilators. Eventually they would run out of oxygen, because I would think they generally wouldn't have more than a two day supply, but I could be wrong on that. Equally critical is chlorine for water purification plants too. Trucks also need fuel, so what if staff at the refineries that produce it have the disease or are too scared to show up for work? Things that make ya go hmmm.

Thanks, AKA Monet, "I am Legend" is exactly what I'm trying to convey, if I haven't already.

AIDS? Oh please.:rolleyes:

btw: I was laughing SO hard at the "nasty and funky" comment.
lol lol lol.:p:p:p:D

Cheerfull..

I have to respectfully disagree....when millions are dying in Africa from this disease and you have new drug resistant strains popping up and we still aren't all that much closer to a vaccine or cure after 20 years...and more cases are popping up among young people around your age...it's not something we can brush off lightly.

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/ma...=nlfhivworld11

Daemon, I wasn't brushing it off at all. It's just that AIDS has its limitations.

How so?

AIDS can't live long without a host, and it's not airborne.

Thank God for that...but the problem is...it's still spreading thru other modes of contact and worst yet is that people have been told how to prevent it and yet still do not take precautions even when they are readily and widely available....what does that say about us as a species?

I'm just realizing that this was intended to be a real serious discussion. :)


My bad, homeslice.

I agree with cheerfulgreek about AIDS. That's what my "Eh..." response to Daemonseid's mention of AIDS was about.

I know what you're getting at, Daemonseid, and AIDS is a pandemic in many areas. It is correlated to a number of social variables including living conditions. However, AIDS isn't airborne as cheerfulgreek said and you can't get it through drinking water or touching someone on the elbow. So, it's similar but different than what cheerfulgreek and AKAMonet were getting at.