UN says Avian Flu still a Threat

In a recent report (March 2007) the UN says that the Avian Flu is still a threat (specifically in countries like Nigeria, Indonesia and Bangladesh) but there has been some progress over the 10 years. http://www.terradaily.com/reports/UN_Says_Bird_Flu_Still_A_Threat_999.html What the article doesn't

say is the number of researchers and the amount anti-flu vaccinations for humans have

both dropped sharply world-wide. IF the virus mutates to be transmitted from person

to person (which it has not yet only bird to bird & bird to human) we would be less

prepared in some areas than we were a year ago. The good news is that there is a better

understanding world-wide of the threat and cases are more likely to be reported.

NYC Hurrican Evacuation Plan- All Wet

This is the front page article in todays NYC Metro newspaper about the absurd NYC OEM evacuation plan for New York. (http://ny.metro.us/metro/local/article/Citys_hurricane_plan_Floodprone_subway/12424.html)

It is a pretty critical article of the city's plan to use the subway to evacuate the city if a hurricane is coming. The article points out that last August 2.7 inches of rain swamped the subway reducing service by 50% for over 29 hours. The article also points out that even with 1 1/2 inches of rain in one hour will "seriously effect service on almost all non-elevated lines" due to the need to constantly pump out water. What it doesn't mention is that currently according to the ever optimistic MTA the subway system is already running at 70% capacity during normal hours and 99% during the five "rush hours". So even if there was no rain, it would be impossible for the subways to evacuate everyone. They miss that people evacuating would be loaded down with baggage, even if everyone limited themselves to teh basics. That would also assume that every MTA worker would remain behind to run the trains and the system. It also misses the point for an evacuation to be efficient people would have to be heading to a location where they could get off the Island, probably Port Authority, Grand Central and a few inter-city transit hubs. Thus certain train routes would even be fuller than during rush hour, where people are moving in a more decentralized way. The bus system is even more strapped running at higher capacities and would have to deal with added traffic of those wishing to flee above ground. The list goes on and on about the impracticality of this "plan" which is really no plan. The article also fails to point out that three independent government bodies including the NY Legislature all have pointed out the infeasability of this plan, which by the way cost the tax payers about 2 million to draw up. This should not surprise any readers of this blog, other than it made it on the front page of a local paper.

Interesting Blog

Here is a link to a woman working on a lefty blog about post-cataclysm technology and preparedness. She is writing one preparedness tip per week for a year, trying to get people ready. It is clever and funny but has some good practical advice also. Check it out:

http://blog52.wordpress.com/