LawTalkers - General discussion

In case you have been too busy with your spawn to read The Awl, I commend to you Tom Socca's column called Underparenting:

Link to all of his articles, including Underparenting.

A small excerpt:

I never heard of the column but thanks for the link. Hilarious:

Quote:

People on the subway would give up their seats at the first sight of the Bjorn, at least on the 7 train. (On the Beijing subway, they did not.) It's nice but confusing, if you're an able-bodied and not-yet-old man, to receive that particular courtesy. Is having a baby strapped to your chest a disability? Or is the baby the disabled person? Or is it just a cumbersome piece of luggage? I wasn't sure about my own answers to these questions, but it was good to be able to sit, even though it meant that the never-properly-positioned straps of the Bjorn would ride up into some new, even less ergonomically correct, position.

Link

cheval de frise

10-20-2009 02:23 PM

Re: H1N1 Virus Flu Shots

Quote:

Originally Posted by Icky Thump (Post 401320)

Hell no.

http://drtenpenny.com/the_truth_about_the_flu_Shot.aspx

I'm sorry to say so, but this is a steaming pile of nonsense.

CDF

Sparklehorse

10-21-2009 02:00 PM

Re: H1N1 Virus Flu Shots

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheval de frise (Post 404322)

I'm sorry to say so, but this is a steaming pile of nonsense.

CDF

Here is a link to an interesting but scary story about a pregnant woman's experience with swine flu. This bit really caught my attention:

Quote:

“We have friends who get flu symptoms and say, ‘Oh, I’m not going to a doctor,’ ” Mr. Opdyke added. “And we say, ‘Do you not understand what we went through?’ I can’t imagine why there’s so much nonchalance.”

That nonchalance strikes close to home.

As they said this, Ms. Opdyke was doing her daily physical therapy, struggling to lift one-pound weights. Her therapist interrupted to announce that she opposed flu shots.

“Have you ever read the labels?” she asked. “They’re so full of toxins.”

Asked if she realized that a shot, had it existed in June, might have saved her client and her baby, she frowned and went back to her clipboard.

Fugee

10-21-2009 02:08 PM

Re: H1N1 Virus Flu Shots

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparklehorse (Post 404467)

Here is a link to an interesting but scary story about a pregnant woman's experience with swine flu. This bit really caught my attention:

I got my seasonal flu shot last night. When they have enough of the H1N1 vaccine for people who aren't in the high risk category, I'll most likely get one of those as well.

Atticus Grinch

10-21-2009 02:19 PM

Re: H1N1 Virus Flu Shots

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparklehorse (Post 404467)

Here is a link to an interesting but scary story about a pregnant woman's experience with swine flu. This bit really caught my attention:

People overvalue risks with human causes and undervalue those that seem randomized or have no attribution. Ask 10,000 people whether they oppose irradiating foods or eating genetically modified produce that is pathogen-resistant, and they will tut-tut about the "unknown risks" of runaway mutations being unleashed on the ecosystem. Ask them how those "unknown risks" compare to the 76 million cases of food-borne illnesses in the U.S. last year, or the 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths, and they will frown and turn back to their clipboards.

In other words, people will go to great lengths to avoid a death that is someone's "fault," even if it means tolerating hundreds or thousands of deaths that are no one's "fault" except in our systemic failure to prevent them.

Adder

10-21-2009 02:25 PM

Re: H1N1 Virus Flu Shots

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atticus Grinch (Post 404469)

Or to put it differently (and steal from Nassim Taleb, citing others), they will be willing to pay more for insurance that protects their home from damage due to a specific threat (fire, flood, hurricane, terrorism, or whatever) than for a generalized policy that covers loss for any reason (including those specific threats).

Replaced_Texan

10-21-2009 03:22 PM

Re: H1N1 Virus Flu Shots

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fugee (Post 404468)

I got my seasonal flu shot last night. When they have enough of the H1N1 vaccine for people who aren't in the high risk category, I'll most likely get one of those as well.

I was just talking to a medical resident who was told that they're not sure if they're going to have enough H1N1 for the medical personnel. I'm getting my regular shot tonight and if there's any H1N1 left over in a few weeks, I'll get that then.

Hank Chinaski

10-21-2009 03:25 PM

Re: H1N1 Virus Flu Shots

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atticus Grinch (Post 404469)

aren't you just saying people like evolution, as long as the selection is "natural?" I don't read politics board anymore, so i forget. are you the sock that is anti-evolution?

Cletus Miller

10-21-2009 03:31 PM

Re: H1N1 Virus Flu Shots

Quote:

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan (Post 404480)

Supposedly, there is enough in Chicago that they are starting free clinics this weekend for all in "high risk" categories.

Fugee

10-21-2009 03:50 PM

Re: H1N1 Virus Flu Shots

Quote:

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan (Post 404480)

If there is that much of a shortage, I guess I won't hold out any hope there will be enough left over for me in the near future.

1436	10-21-2009 04:05 PM

Re: H1N1 Virus Flu Shots

Quote:

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan (Post 404480)

From what I gathered from our less than stellar news service, the shortage in Texas may be localized. Other states are getting far more than we are. The fingers are already pointing, but I won't speculate on where they will land.

PresentTense Pirate Penske

10-21-2009 04:49 PM

Re: H1N1 Virus Flu Shots

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1436 (Post 404497)

Bush?