h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Would they call it 7-11 or 9-11??

Sorry... couldn't help it. I am bad.... very, very bad...

what my typing is a slice of, we may never know...

like that 1 too, Mudhooks! Bad by association ;-0.

Didn't hit that "shift" fast enough ''

I call it "Bug Fingers"... it tends to affect people who frequent chats. As to why I call it bug fingers....

I was trying to explain why I made so bleeding many typos. "Big Fingers" was what I intended to write but, as usual, I typoed and it came out "Bug Fingers"..... the name has stuck.

I was typin' <erm, on here, but didn't quite hit the arrow at the end...so now <erm & <erma're like George & Gracie or F. Scott & Zelda

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/04/28/finning_030428

Oi, bloomin' economic colonists

So, owt interesting happening over there? Or is everyone just worried about SARS at the moment?

We're not colonists! Colonists move to the place. We're imperialists for goodness sake.

What the he** is SARS?

You've heard that Toronto's thinkin' of changing the name of their hockey team?...to 'The North SARS'

Just so the hootooers outside know the truth, Jazzedupcurry and I, just a little west of the geographical centre of Canada, are farther from Toronto than the citizens of Matamoros (which means "Moor killer" by the way, but that's another thread) Mexico, Havana, Cuba, and most of the Contiguous United States of America. Our Prime Minister has just been on his holiday to the Dominican Republic; he was closer to Toronto then, than we are now. Most people coming to Toronto from the eastern end of Eurasia have stop-overs in the afore-mentioned contiguous United States, for what it's worth.

Again I ask, what the he** is SARS?

anhaga (globe and purple ribbon still in hand)

I believe the acronym stand for "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome" (everyone, correct me if I got it wrong) Pretty scary stuff.

You got it... (the meaning... not IT...)

Where you been anhaga... You think Toronto was panicked during the "snowstorm of the century"? You ain't seen nuhint' compared to the panic over the WHO's travel advisory cutting into the tourist-dollars...

Sorry, Clio. I was being sarcastic. I know what SARS is. My point was that I think, like many Canadians, that the panic about SARS in Toronto (not the panic in Toronto; there isn't any. The panic in other places about SARS being in Toronto) is a little (!) overblown. Banning visitors from Canada, as Taiwan has done, is silly: There's more chance of a visitor from Buffalo, New York bringing the infection to Taiwan than there is of Jazzedupcurry or I, from Canada, bringing the infection. Although, Jazzedupcurry does like Asian food . . .

(that was a joke)

Sorry, Mudhooks, simulpost.

Yes, I know there's panic about the economic impact of the WHO (who's the WHO? [ah, Mel, you goofy little joker!]) advisory. I just think that there's some pretty shoddy geography going on out there in the media and in some governments.

Clio!

Yeah, got ya anhaga...I think that's a fairly widely held sentiment...I mean, I doubt we're talking 'Black Plague' or anything.

By "panic" I was referring to the reaction of the City Fathers to the WHO advisory. I have family in Toronto and there haven't beem any calls seeking asylum in Ottawa.

I stopped riding the bus here in Ottawa, not because of SARS (though having people hack all over me during the commute, whether they are SARS-ridden or not, is ever so delightful!) but because I was tired of the smell..... Garlic and Poo days....

Has anyone else noticed a dramatic drop in standards of personal hygiene? When I worked retail, it was awful. Even well-dressed people reeked.

I may be mistaken, too, but I swear that there is some sort of message goes out to eveyone who normally takes the bus "Anneke is taking the bus today, don't forget to chew 8 cloves of garlic before you go out the door this morning".

Rant over.....

I'm great at dishing out the sarcasm but quite bad at responding to it. I tend to take questions at face value. Ah well. Pobody's Nerfect

I'm not sure if the SARS thing should be taken so lightly. Cases have started showing up here in Spain recently and also the 'unfrightening' figures we've been reading about are actually quite false. This has apparently been going on in China since last November and the numbers of cases suppressed and all of that.

Not trying to be ms.doom and gloom, but of course the media is going to play down this sort of thing. We are always the last to know, it seems.

az

Toronto had the bulk of the canadaian cases. As it stands now, all the cases presently being treatet are Healthcare workers who came in contact with it through their work. No new cases havebeen reported.

Really, with sensible precautions and information made available, the virus is much less of a threat than some would have us believe. That does not mean throwing caution to the wind and taking no precautions at all.....

The problem in China and its spread in Asia is that China ignored and/or hid the facts from the WHO (World Health Organization) and its own people. Even now, misinformation is widely available and little solid prevention information being given out. When you have a high population, high-density living and working, high illiteracy rate, a reluctance for authorities to act in a timely manner, and populations that cannot afford to visit a doctor, you have a recipe for disaster.

In China, University of Beijing students as late as last week believed that people who smoke don't get it. The official website for one of the Chinese news organization recommended the use to incense to cleanse rooms and yourself....

http://www.chinese-embassy.org.uk/eng/46648.html

Now, at least, correct information IS provided. At least it appears so.... Whether this is the information that is getting to the people, who knows. http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/SARS/60965.htm