| | Author | Message |
|---|
Wicksy
| | #1 posted August 12, 2009 at 4:06pm (EDT) |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/81967...
A group of rabbis and Jewish mystics have taken to the skies over Israel, praying and blowing ceremonial horns in a plane to ward off swine flu.
About 50 religious leaders circled over the country on Monday, chanting prayers and blowing horns, called shofars.
The flight's aim was "to stop the pandemic so people will stop dying from it", Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri was quoted as saying in Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
The flu is often called simply "H1N1" in Israel, as pigs are seen as unclean.
According to Israel's health ministry, there have been more than 2,000 cases of swine flu in the country, with five fatalities so far.
"We are certain that, thanks to the prayer, the danger is already behind us," added Mr Batzri was quoted as saying.
Television footage showed rabbis in black hats rocking backwards and forwards as they read prayers from Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism which counts the singer Madonna among its devotees.
The shofar is the horn of a ram, and is used to mark major religious occasions in Judaism.
| FauxLo 
| | #2 posted August 12, 2009 at 5:56pm (EDT) |
Small men that imagine themselves to be more powerful than they really are.  How sad. | Wicksy
| | #3 posted August 12, 2009 at 6:12pm (EDT) |
They are great dancers though!!  | icurok
| | #4 posted August 12, 2009 at 6:34pm (EDT) |
Meanwhile in the UK where people think you can diagnose flu over the phone
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/... | FauxLo
| | #5 posted August 12, 2009 at 6:46pm (EDT) |
That's awful. | cerealkiller  
| | #6 posted August 13, 2009 at 7:59pm (EDT) |
icurok wrote:
> Meanwhile in the UK where people think you can
> diagnose flu over the phone
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/...
Actually, I like that system. Saves running to the doctor when you know damn well you'll just be given an antibiotic. My medical place has that option. For non serious stuff like upper resptiratory infections, etc. you just call, speak to a nurse and they call in a prescription for you to your pharmacy. Saves me a 30 minute drive each way to the doctor and a $20 co-pay. | LindaH  
| | #7 posted August 13, 2009 at 8:54pm (EDT) |
Where, how, what?
I'd love to be able to do that. I hate going to the doctor when I know exactly what is wrong with me and exactly what I need. | icurok
| | #8 posted August 14, 2009 at 4:40am (EDT) |
> Actually, I like that system. Saves running to the doctor when you know damn well you'll just be given an antibiotic.
It's a good system under normal conditions. The problem is that now, when everyone is panicking about swine flu, you have people phoning a hot line because they think they've got it and only describing the symptoms that fit that diagnosis. "Hello, National Swine Flu Hotline? What's that? You've got a headache, aching joints and a sore throat? You totally need Tamiflu". | autumnlight
| | #9 posted August 30, 2009 at 12:21pm (EDT) |
icurok wrote:
> |> Actually, I like that system. Saves running to the doctor when
> you know damn well you'll just be given an antibiotic.
>
> It's a good system under normal conditions. The problem is that now,
> when everyone is panicking about swine flu, you have people phoning
> a hot line because they think they've got it and only describing the
> symptoms that fit that diagnosis. "Hello, National Swine Flu Hotline?
> What's that? You've got a headache, aching joints and a sore throat?
> You totally need Tamiflu".
I completely agree. Three members of my family have been 'diagnosed' with swine flu over the phone, though they were better and back to work within 4 days. They clearly just had a cold. Also, if these diagnosis figures are what the country's statistics are based on, that means we will never know accurately how the flu is spreading or how many people actually have it. | cloudhugger
| | #10 posted August 30, 2009 at 12:33pm (EDT) |
And what a great way to dispense more pharmaceuticals! | Iseult 
| | #11 posted August 31, 2009 at 8:57am (EDT) |
Speaking of the swine flu, the title of this article made me laugh so hard: "UN warns over swine flu in birds" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8224923....). I found it so funny because of the panic over avian flu couple of years back. | they 
| | #12 posted August 31, 2009 at 9:13am (EDT) |
There is renewed panic here in my city right now because school started back. People are getting sick at the schools and being quarantined. Seriously. Right now, there are students quarantined in the basement of a college's alumni center. It's all over the news... a bunch of schools. Funny how the first 3-4 paragraphs of the article is always written to scare the piss out of the reader.... then it always ends with "H1N1 is not any more dangerous than any other flu." |
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