Thursday, April 30, 2009

What you need to know about swine flu

Here's what you need to know:

Q: How do I protect myself and my family?

A: For now, take commonsense precautions. Cover your coughs and sneezes, with a tissue that you throw away or by sneezing into your elbow rather than your hand. Wash hands frequently; if soap and water aren't available, hand gels can substitute. Stay home if you're sick and keep children home from school if they are.

Q: How easy is it to catch this virus?

A: Scientists don't yet know if it takes fairly close or prolonged contact with someone who's sick, or if it's more easily spread. But in general, flu viruses spread through uncovered coughs and sneezes or — and this is important — by touching your mouth or nose with unwashed hands. Flu viruses can live on surfaces for several hours, like a doorknob just touched by someone who sneezed into his hand.

Q: In Mexico, officials are handing out face masks. Do I need one?

A: The CDC says there's not good evidence that masks really help outside of health care settings. It's safer just to avoid close contact with someone who's sick and avoid crowded gatherings in places where swine flu is known to be spreading. But if you can't do that, CDC guidelines say it's OK to consider a mask — just don't let it substitute for good precautions.

Q: Is swine flu treatable?

A: Yes, with the flu drugs Tamiflu or Relenza, but not with two older flu medications.

Q: Is there enough?

A: Yes. The federal government has stockpiled enough of the drugs to treat 50 million people, and many states have additional stocks. As a precaution, the CDC has shipped a quarter of that supply to the states to keep on hand just in case the virus starts spreading more than it has so far.

Q: Should I take Tamiflu as a precaution if I'm not sick yet?

A: No. "What are you going to do with it, use it when you get a sniffle?" asks Dr. Marc Siegel of New York University Langone Medical Center and author of "Bird Flu: Everything you Need To Know About The Next Pandemic." Overusing antiviral drugs can help germs become resistant to them.

Q: How big is my risk?

A: For most people, very low. Outside of Mexico, so far clusters of illnesses seem related to Mexican travel. New York City's cluster, for instance, consists of students and family members at one school where some students came back ill from spring break in Mexico.

Q: Why are people dying in Mexico and not here?

A: That's a mystery. First, understand that no one really knows just how many people in Mexico are dying of this flu strain, or how many have it. Only a fraction of the suspected deaths have been tested and confirmed as swine flu, and some initially suspected cases were caused by something else.

Q: Should I cancel my planned trip to Mexico?

A: The U.S. did issue a travel advisory Monday discouraging nonessential travel there.

Q: What else is the U.S., or anyone else, doing to try to stop this virus?

A: The U.S. is beginning limited screening of travelers from Mexico, so that the obviously sick can be sent for treatment. Other governments have issued their own travel warnings and restrictions. Mexico is taking the biggest steps, closings that limit most crowded gatherings. In the U.S., communities with clusters of illness also may limit contact — New York closed the affected school for a few days, for example — so stay tuned to hear if your area eventually is affected.

Q: What are the symptoms?

A: They're similar to regular human flu — a fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people also have diarrhea and vomiting.

Q: How do I know if I should see a doctor? Maybe my symptoms are from something else — like pollen?

A: Health authorities say if you live in places where swine flu cases have been confirmed, or you recently traveled to Mexico, and you have flulike symptoms, ask your doctor if you need treatment or to be tested. Allergies won't cause a fever. And run-of-the-mill stomach bugs won't be accompanied by respiratory symptoms, notes Dr. Wayne Reynolds of Newport News, Va., spokesman for the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Q: Is there a vaccine to prevent this new infection?

A: No. And CDC's initial testing suggests that last winter's flu shot didn't offer any cross-protection.

Q: How long would it take to produce a vaccine?

A: A few months. The CDC has created what's called "seed stock" of the new virus that manufacturers would need to start production. But the government hasn't yet decided if the outbreak is bad enough to order that.

Q: What is swine flu?

A: Pigs spread their own strains of influenza and every so often people catch one, usually after contact with the animals. This new strain is a mix of pig viruses with some human and bird viruses. Unlike more typical swine flu, it is spreading person-to-person. A 1976 outbreak of another unusual swine flu at Fort Dix, N.J., prompted a problematic mass vaccination campaign, but that time the flu fizzled out.

Q: So is it safe to eat pork?

A: Yes. Swine influenza viruses don't spread through food.

Q: And whatever happened to bird flu? Wasn't that supposed to be the next pandemic?

A: Specialists have long warned that the issue is a never-before-seen strain that people have little if any natural immunity to, regardless of whether it seems to originate from a bird or a pig. Bird flu hasn't gone away; scientists are tracking it, too.

Anwar 2nd Most Influential Man in rigged TIME poll

On 15 April 2009, Anwar Ibrahim's office was quick to claim credit for the Opposition leader when the list of 100 Most Influential Man was announced.

1. Anwar Antara 100 Tokoh Paling Berpengaruh Dunia 2009
2. Anwar Ibrahim - The 2009 TIME 100 Finalists

Now, the results are out and he is 2nd but the poll was rigged. I wonder what TIME will say or if Anwar Ibrahim's office will still claim credit to this.

Monday, April 13, 2009

BN parties defend Bukit Gantang Chinese community over loss

Senior Barisan Nasional component parties defended today the Chinese community in Bukit Gantang, saying piecemeal offerings should not be seen as a guarantee of votes. The MCA and Gerakan both said the coalition’s failure to wrest the seat from the opposition could not be pinned down to any one reason.

The two parties were commenting on a statement by deputy prime minister and Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who said the dip in Chinese votes seemed to imply that “there is no appreciation for what we (BN) have done”.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, on Saturday also blamed Umno’s coalition partners, saying Umno could no longer rely on the MCA, Gerakan and MIC to regain the support of the non-Malays.

Gerakan deputy president Chang Ko Youn said yesterday that while it was quite obvious they lost out on Chinese votes, it was wrong to say the community was ungrateful to the BN for its contributions.

Admitting there had been mistakes on their part in strategising the BN’s campaign in Bukit Gantang, he pointed out that the non-Malay community’s dissatisfaction was not something that could be resolved with campaign promises and one-off allocations.
“We shouldn’t be looking for a scapegoat. What is more important is to find the reason why the anger of the non-Malays has not subsided since one year ago.

“We must realise that last-minute work is not effective anymore. It was too little, too late, and we need to find more continuous and long-term solutions,” he said.

MCA spokesman and central committee member Lee Wei Kiat, in a statement, said a RM1 million allocation could not be expected to sway the votes of the non-Malays, who, along with the Malays, were frustrated over numerous issues.

Among these, he said, were lop-sided decisions in licensing and diesel subsidies for fishermen in Kuala Sepetang, unresolved status of village land ownership in Perak and the problems in the implementation of the New Economic Policy.

MCA vice-president Datuk Kong Cho Ha said Muhyiddin should not draw such a conclusion merely based on the results of one or two by-elections.

MIC secretary-general Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam declined to comment on the issue when met in Malacca.

A country that encourage extortion?

Parking your car?? Do you see a man walking towards your car assisting you how to park, so on and so forth? Your car is parked and do you see him standing there still, right in front of your door? You get down from the car and he hands out his hand... and you either asked him "what do you want" or asked yourself "should i pay him?"

Park your car in Kuala Lumpur and wonder why you are still required to pay for parking fees even though you are not parking at a privately owned parking lots, but public parking spaces allocated by the government after 6pm (on weekdays & Saturdays) or even though on public holidays??

Those men will ask for money each time even though you know legally you are not required to pay a parking fee & you do not have to pay him. But why are you paying him?? For a simple reason, the government/ the enforcer could not be bothered to protect its citizen from these extortionist.

Perhaps they did something to curb this illegal activities but each Tuesday and Wednesday when I sit in the car waiting for my classes to start, I see the same thing. (they didn't extort from me because I'll be sitting in the car for at least 40 minutes from 530 to 610pm. They couldn't wait and walk away). There will be 2 men waiting and extorting money and if you don't they will curse you. I did just that once early March and came back to find out they spat on my new car.

There is a police station nearby, in Petaling Street where these people pray on their victims but i have not seen anything done. This place is near to Advance Tutorial College. My own lecturer paid, and i managed to take a picture of it. Here goes..

So, tell me... who are we to blame? And why are they not doing anything?!

Muhyiddin Yassin you are out of touch

Recent comments by our DPM Yassin only show that he has very little intellectual capacity. He had called the Chinese ungrateful and trying to be kingmakers. He claims after BN spend millions building chinese schools the chinese betrayed BN and voted for the opposition.

Mr Yassin, anyone with any brains can tell you that the problem with BN losing is NOT about building schools. It is all about UMNO & BN's arrogance and it's failure to deliver acceptable results for ALL Malaysians.

Mr DPM, UMNO's power base had always been with the Malays and if you fail to notice let me tell you, in the last few years the Malays are abandoning UMNO in ever increasing numbers and going over to PAS & PK.

Today's Malaysia is very different. The people are better informed and the ever arrogant UMNO can longer treat them as ignorant kampong folks. Forget the Chinese and the Indians, they are not you main cause of concern. MCA & MIC will always obey UMNO.

The Chinese & Indian support for PAS & PK is important but clearly insufficient to turn the tide and tilt the balance of power. It is the Malays shifting away from BN that is your main problem.

Don't blame the Chinese blame yourself, it is people like you in UMNO that are creating the shift and alienating the ordinary Malay folks away from UMNO.

The other day I was driving past Damasara and I saw this big sign that cried 6% discount for Bumiputras. Mr DPM, you think this sign will give the ordinary Malay a warm fuzzy feeling that your Government is doing something for them?

The answer is NO. The ordinary Malay knows that he cannot afford anything in Damasara even with the 6% discount. This sort of advertising will only make him more aware of the inequalities amongst the have and the have nots.

Mr DPM it is such thoughtless acts that you have to worry about. You guys in UMNO have failed to look after your power base and instead of fixing the problem you just want to blame it on the Chinese.

Share the country's wealth amongst all Malaysians instead of just the priviledged few and UMNO will rule for a thousand years. Keep going along the present path of blind self destruction and it will be the end of UMNO very soon.

Wake up and smell the kopi or is it too late already.