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EV71 Outbreak In China Sparks Fears For Olympics
OMNIpotusCOM writes "CNN is reporting an outbreak of Enterovirus 71 (or EV71), that has affected more than 3700 children and killed over 20, is creating concern for the visitors and athletes expected for the Beijing Olympics in August. The virus can cause 'poliolike paralysis,' according to the article."
I guess a gathering of people from all over the world, who stay for a while then go back home, does provide a certain degree of danger when it comes to spreading any type of contagious disease.
The Long Now Foundation
Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
I'm sorry, I think "news for nerds, stuff that matters" covers medicine, politics, and social sciences. Try to stop clicking your ball-point pen and snapping your suspenders in unbridled rage whenever someone suggests that something besides computers is nerdy, you're making the rest of us look like idiots.
But every few Olympics, we have someone like South Korea hosting, and dictatorships get weakened. Is South Korea an extreme? Perhaps. Are they an isolated case, and will they be an isolated case in the future? I think not.
Ninjas and pirates. How piquant.
Suppose that driving carries a 0.005% chance of death, and that a person drives an average of 2.5 times per day for 10 years. This person has a 45% chance of dying in a car accident during those years. Because this calculation is wrong by more than one order of magnitude, driving must actually carry less than 0.0005% of death. I rest my case.
A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
After the SARS outbreaks in 2003, China has been much more open on reporting outbreaks of transmissive diseases. The suppression of SARS taught them that openness would not cause panic but solve it. We just hope they apply the lesson during the Olympics and to other areas of governing.
If we'd judge everything on financial grounds we'd live in a world that is as boring as the shitty projects most of us work on. (Yeah sure, your work of course is exciting and you come home filled with joy and pleasure every day.)
Let's not throw away money. But OTOH, let's NOT die "sad but rich".
The only problem with this logic is that you want to compel under threat of force individuals to contribute to the building of Colosseums. That's what taxes are - they're not some kind of charity. Choose not to pay them and you'll see the not-so-nice side very quickly.
I'm not some kind of anti-tax nut - taxes are certainly essential to run the primary functions of government which are essential. I'm not entirely opposed to some aspects of social justice as well within reason. However, when you're talking about building sports megacomplexes why not let those who make the money spend the money? Just have the International Olympic Organization fund the construction of the facilities they use (or choose to use existing facilities). They can recoup those costs through ticket sales and television rights. They'll need to regulate their spending so that they break even.
As soon as you make the organization that runs the olympics pay for the olympics you'll start to see them question whether we need events that nobody actually watches, and whether the facilities REALLY need to be built to a given standard. You'll also see them asking questions like - why do all the events have to be held at the same time in the same place? Why not just host them all over the place at various times durning the year and just use existing facilities?