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Stop eating seeds! You might get bird flu!

L

Lau

Guest
Original poster
So this guy says....

From the BBC website Have Your Say: Are You Worried By Deadly Bird Flu?
" I am worried by the increase in people eating seeds and the chances of bird flu crossing the species gap using the plant kingdom as a genetic bridge. It seems eating seeds is seen as fashionable and healthy these days and people aren't being warned to the dangers of such a lifestyle choice."

Fr. Matiban, Catenham, England
Click to expand...

Sorry, slightly pointless, but just had to share, had a right giggle at him.... :p
 
eva01

eva01

macrumors 601
Feb 22, 2005
4,720
1
Gah! Plymouth
ugh people like that annoy me.

I am going to live my life the way i want to, if i end up dying from it, so be it, i died the way i lived.
 
B

Blue Velvet

Moderator emeritus
Jul 4, 2004
21,929
265
eva01 said:
...i died the way i lived.
Click to expand...


Yeah, much better to die on your feet eating pumpkin and sunflower seeds than to live on your knees. :)

This bird flu is getting people worried though.
 
Apple Hobo

Apple Hobo

macrumors 6502a
Mar 19, 2004
796
0
A series of tubes
I am worried by the increase in people eating seeds and the chances of bird flu crossing the species gap using the plant kingdom as a genetic bridge. It seems eating seeds is seen as fashionable and healthy these days and people aren't being warned to the dangers of such a lifestyle choice.
Click to expand...

1) When did eating seeds become fashionable, and why was I not notified? Major League baseball players don't look very fashionable while they munch on their sunflower seeds. Chewing and spitting, spitting and chewing. Chew chew, spit spit, scratch crotch, pick nose. :D Have there been any fashionable celebrities or supermodels spotted blowing chunks of seed shells out of their mouths?

2) Eating seeds is a "lifestyle choice"?
 
CanadaRAM

CanadaRAM

macrumors G5
Oct 11, 2004
12,417
6
On the Left Coast - Victoria BC Canada
Apple Hobo said:
1) When did eating seeds become fashionable, and why was I not notified? Major League baseball players don't look very fashionable while they munch on their sunflower seeds. Chewing and spitting, spitting and chewing. Chew chew, spit spit, scratch crotch, pick nose. :D Have there been any fashionable celebrities or supermodels spotted blowing chunks of seed shells out of their mouths?

2) Eating seeds is a "lifestyle choice"?
Click to expand...

No, but eating worms is...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3287733.stm

" Nobody likes me, everybody hates me,
Guess I'll go eat worms,
Long, thin, slimy ones; Short, fat, juicy ones,
Itsy, bitsy, fuzzy wuzzy worms.

Down goes the first one, down goes the second one,
Oh how they wiggle and squirm.
Up comes the first one, up comes the second one,
Oh how they wiggle and squirm. "
 
Lacero

Lacero

macrumors 604
Jan 20, 2005
6,637
3
I predict 1/10th of the world's population will die from the bird flu by 2015.
 
emw

emw

macrumors G4
Aug 2, 2004
11,172
0
Blue Velvet said:
This bird flu is getting people worried though.
Click to expand...
The U.S. is investing $4B in research and vaccine stockpiling. Wow.

All the news reports start off with "could result in a million deaths in the US if there is an epidemic" followed closely by "65 people died last year in China."

I guess I need to learn more about the possible effects. If the death rate was so low, why such concern? Is it because other areas have no resistance built up?
 
Applespider

Applespider

macrumors G4
Jan 20, 2004
10,939
1
looking through rose-tinted spectacles...
emw said:
I guess I need to learn more about the possible effects. If the death rate was so low, why such concern? Is it because other areas have no resistance built up?
Click to expand...

The avian flu is pretty much still in the scaremongering phase until or if, it manages to pass from human to human rather than from avian to human as has been the case til now. Not being an avian or a flu expert, it's hard to know how much of a threat it really is.

The reason that they're reporting it and coming up with contingency plans is that 60 people in Asia died out of 117 who were infected. That's a very high mortality rate. There are estimates than 25% of the population might be infected so you'd be talking about losing a swathe of populations. Apparently also in the early 20th century epidemics, it wasn't just the elderly/young who died, there were lots of otherwise healthy adults.

However, to agree with Lau, some of the comments on the BBC site are ridiculous with posters suggesting that they can no longer eat chicken just in case...
 
CanadaRAM

CanadaRAM

macrumors G5
Oct 11, 2004
12,417
6
On the Left Coast - Victoria BC Canada
M

mpw

Guest
Jun 18, 2004
6,363
1
CanadaRAM said:
Not really, because all the prediction requires is that mortality by 2115 is equal or greater than the number of people alive today. Looking on the Bell curve, early deaths of those not born yet could push the figure above 100%.
Click to expand...
Oh you're going to look so stupid when I live to 150years old and dig out this thread to mock you! :D
 
dobbin

dobbin

macrumors 6502a
Jan 28, 2002
587
5
England
Lacero said:
I predict 1/10th of the world's population will die from the bird flu by 2015.
Click to expand...

That's theoretical possible but very unlikely. The infection rate of a pandemic flu is expected to reach up to 25% - i.e. 25% of all people will catch the flu. Current estimates for deaths range from 0.37% - 2.5% of those infected (in western countries with stockpiles anti-viral drugs and, after some time, a vaccine.)

So your figure of 10% deaths is unlikely.

0.625% is probably more realistic for developed countries.

Still this could mean around 350,000 deaths in the UK alone.

As for the timing, there is no way to know when this will happen. It could be this year, it could be next year, or it might not be for another decade. It will happen at some point though, almost certainly.
 
rainman::|:|

rainman::|:|

macrumors 603
Feb 2, 2002
5,438
2
iowa
wait a minute...

is "seed eating" really a lifestyle? i mean, habit, or fondness, but a lifestyle? Are there people in LA that only associate with seed-eaters, they have private parties and all that? is there a secret elitist subculture i'm missing out on??? i must know!
 
L

Lau

Guest
Original poster
rainman::|:| said:
wait a minute...

is "seed eating" really a lifestyle? i mean, habit, or fondness, but a lifestyle? Are there people in LA that only associate with seed-eaters, they have private parties and all that? is there a secret elitist subculture i'm missing out on??? i must know!
Click to expand...

It is if you're a bird. As in avian, not lady. Maybe that's where Fr. Matiban from Catenham, England saw the connection, and just ran with it.... ;)
 
dornoforpyros

dornoforpyros

macrumors 68040
Oct 19, 2004
3,070
4
Calgary, AB
I choose to eat seeds the day you choose to eat cow!

I was born a seed eater.

Seed eaters should have the same rights as everyone else reguardless of our life style choice! :p
 
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