~tasha~
Age: 124
6356 days old here
Total Posts: 47628
Points: 0
Location:
United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Cats Have Patience
As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows, cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human kind. - Cleveland Amory
~tasha~
Age: 124
6356 days old here
Total Posts: 47628
Points: 0
Location:
United Kingdom, United Kingdom
I've learned that no matter how thin you slice it, there's always two sides. I've learned that it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be. I've learned that it's a lot easier to react than it is to stop and think. I've learned that you either control your attitude or it controls you. I've learned that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had, and what you've learned from them, than how many birthdays you've celebrated. I've learned that it isn't enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you just have to learn how to forgive yourself. I've learned that no matter how badly your heart is broken, the world won't stop for you. I've learned that backgrounds and circumstances might have influenced who you are, but we are responsible for the people we become. I've learned that you can't make somebody love you, all you can do is be somebody who can be loved. I've learned that the word 'love' has many meanings, but it loses value when over-used and most importantly, I've learned that no matter how old or wise you think you are, life never stops teaching.
~tasha~
Age: 124
6356 days old here
Total Posts: 47628
Points: 0
Location:
United Kingdom, United Kingdom
The seed of love you've planted in my heart.... Where I thought none could survive.
Tiny roots spring forth, surging, searching for nourishment. Breaking apart the hardness there.
With tender care you water it.... and watch it grow. The long, strong stem bursts upward Fighting for life, and finding your light.
A bud, so fragile, so determined Swells into fullness filling my breast. Green healing leaves reach out, Unfolding one by one erasing our sadness.
Soft, pink petals as loving as you.. Envelope my heart finding completion. Glowing moon and stars dim in comparison To the blossom created by our love.
~tasha~
Age: 124
6356 days old here
Total Posts: 47628
Points: 0
Location:
United Kingdom, United Kingdom
The crystal liquid was tinted by the blue moon Autumn leaves chimed love that went too soon. Silver circles etched in blue would grow- grow upon the water- then fade and go.
Ten years have come and gone but prints of you and bluemoon linger on. Two shadows on blue tinted water that night blended as one, long shadows painted by light.
I come here alone with the blue moon to think, sitting upon old Emaline's bank. I watch blue tinted silver circles shine like the night of bluemoon when you were mine.
I feel in the palm of my hand, cold pressure of a golden wedding band. Into liquid flowing crystal, tinted blue, I fling memories-- and the golden circled ring.
~tasha~
Age: 124
6356 days old here
Total Posts: 47628
Points: 0
Location:
United Kingdom, United Kingdom
1: Let's Swine-flu Party Like It's 2009
Since the outbreak of swine flu in spring 2009, "swine flu parties" have appeared. Though not specifically for children, swine flu parties operate on the same principle as the "chicken pox party": The idea is for attendees to become infected with a mild strain of swine flu in order to build resistance against a possibly more dangerous version of the strain down the road.
The CDC doesn't recommend doing this. Here's why: Although most people who have contracted the swine flu have had relatively mild symptoms and recovered quickly, others have had very severe cases and some people have died. It's impossible to know how the swine flu will affect you.
Contracting the swine flu now won't necessarily protect you against a genetic variation of the strain. And while you may fortunately bounce right back after willfully contracting swine flu, you could pass it along to someone who isn't so fortunate, or so willful in their desire to contract it. So, in an attempt to protect yourself against a future unknown, you may just get yourself -- or others -- extremely sick from a current known threat to your health. Your best defense isn't a strong offense when it comes to swine flu, so don't go charging head-first into it. Your safest play is to avoid it altogether, so clear your social calendar of any upcoming swine flu parties.
~tasha~
Age: 124
6356 days old here
Total Posts: 47628
Points: 0
Location:
United Kingdom, United Kingdom
2: It's Not Worth All the Hype
We've been through the SARS hype, the bird flu panic, and now swine flu? Much ado about nothing, right?
You couldn't be blamed for thinking so. Swine flu caused fewer deaths in 2009 than the common flu virus did. It has a low mortality rate, most people didn't catch it, and most of those who did experienced only mild flu symptoms before recovering. So what's with all the hype and alarm swirling the swine flu?
On the one hand, the WHO has given its full attention to the swine flu, labeling it a pandemic in June 2009. However, its spreading appearance around the globe has been somewhat anticlimactic, given all the official concern.
In this age of nonstop news and information, pundits, producers and publishers need something to fill up any voids in the 24-hour news cycle. However, the media for the most part is simply quoting their sources, and these sources -- chiefly the CDC and WHO -- are informing them that there is something for people to be concerned about.
The worst-case scenario is a bad one: The virus will mutate, become more contagious and more resistant to drugs and kill millions of people around the world. Another, more plausible scenario is that it doesn't mutate, but still infects a large percentage of people around the world, killing many, especially those in high-risk categories. Nobody knows, but the risk is real. Hope for the best, but be prepared for the rest.
~tasha~
Age: 124
6356 days old here
Total Posts: 47628
Points: 0
Location:
United Kingdom, United Kingdom
3: Swine Flu is a Lab-engineered Virus
Why would a shadowy quasi-governmental cabal of world industrialists engineer a deadly and highly contagious virus, you may wonder. Well, for any number of reasons. What better way to shut down the American-Mexican border than by releasing a highly contagious virus somewhere on the other side of that border? Or, perhaps it's just to thin out the world population, thereby allowing the survivors to divvy up the remaining resources. Maybe your long-neglected swine flu research center needs to drum up some funding for a new office espresso machine.
Some believe the genetic makeup of the virus is so peculiar that it must have been made in a lab. Adding fuel to the Internet-conspiracy fire, a retired virologist in Australia -- Adrian J. Gibbs -- announced his belief that swine flu was a laboratory accident after Gibbs studied publicly available gene sequencing information on the virus.
If this was swept under the rug or ignored, Gibbs' claims may be reason for sustained suspicion about the origins of swine flu. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) took the claim seriously and sought analysis of Gibbs' claims from many different scientists, experts and related agencies. WHO concluded that swine flu is in fact a natural mutation and wasn't created in a laboratory.
The mixing of RNA strands from different viruses is rare, but it happens, and a mix of human, swine and bird flu viruses have reassorted into a single strain before without any human tampering [source: Brown].
~tasha~
Age: 124
6356 days old here
Total Posts: 47628
Points: 0
Location:
United Kingdom, United Kingdom
4: I Don't Need a Mask/I Do Need a Mask
It's not unusual to see someone in the course of your public outings wearing what looks to be a surgical mask. It's enough to make you wonder if you missed an important announcement.
Most face masks you see in public are due to major respiratory issues or a deficiency in the immune system that puts the wearer at great risk of viral infection even in normal situations.
If you do contract swine flu, you should wear a flu mask if you're traveling or putting yourself in close proximity to others. If you don't have swine flu and are caring for someone who does, you may want to wear a mask -- but you need to be sure to dispose of the mask immediately after leaving his or her proximity. If you wear the same mask repeatedly or touch it with your hands, you may be more likely to get yourself infected than if you hadn't worn any mask at all.
Wearing a mask is a good idea if you work in a hospital or primary care center and make contact with patients who have flu symptoms. You may also want to wear a mask if you are going to a waiting room in a hospital or public health clinic, depending on the spread of the swine flu strain in your community.
Using a face mask isn't a failsafe against catching swine flu. And, after a while, masks get uncomfortable. Your best bet overall is to wash your hands frequently and avoiding touching your eyes, mouth or nose.
~tasha~
Age: 124
6356 days old here
Total Posts: 47628
Points: 0
Location:
United Kingdom, United Kingdom
5: You Can Catch It from Eating Pork
Some myths have murky beginnings, while others are of a more obvious origin. So it is with the belief that you can catch swine flu by eating contaminated pork. In the absence of any other information, it's a perfectly reasonable strategy to adopt.
Consider it a piece of bad luck for the pork industry that, when first studied, scientists discovered proteins in the flu virus that were also found in a flu virus commonly spread between pigs. Continued research would discover the virus also had a protein found in bird flu, as well as human flu. But right out of the gate, the new virus was identified as "swine flu." It didn't help that the virus was discovered in a rural part of Mexico, near a pig-fattening facility. (For the record, pig farmers have known about swine flu for years, and inoculate their pigs to prevent them from catching it.)
As soon as the new virus was called "swine flu," the pork industry took a hit. Pork prices fell, as well as prices for grain and other sources of pig feed. Egyptian authorities ordered a massive culling of pigs, causing an uproar among Egyptian pig farmers.
Swine flu isn't spread through the eating of pork, unless a human who has swine flu has sneezed on your ham sandwich. And even if it could be spread by eating pork, the influenza doesn't survive contact with cooking temperatures (160 degrees Fahrenheit, or 71 degrees Celsius).
Name aside, swine flu passes from one person to another, just like normal flu.
