Food cravings

There was a time when rich, greasy food didn't make me queasy. I could eat fried foods and chips and cookies and candy bars and chocolate like nobody's business: Starburst, Kit Kats, Twix, cookies, Rocky Road ice cream, BLT's, hamburgers, french fries, chips, Cheetos and M&M's. The list goes on.


Tonight I'm reminded of Godfather's Canadian Bacon and Pineapple pizza which I would order with extra beef and extra cheese. Oh man - chewy, greasy goodness with a hint of smoky saltiness from the Canadian Bacon and a refreshing pineapple in nearly every bite. Mmm-mmm-good. Just as good day two after a few minutes in the microwave. And day three even.
(The picture above is only a close approximation of the pizza I used to eat. This is the Super Hawaiian. My pizza didn't have anything except cheese and extra cheese, beef and extra beef, Canadian Bacon, and Pineapple)



I'm also having a flashback to my days of eating at Burgermaster in Bellevue, WA on Northrup. It was on my way home from work. I L O V E D the bacon-lettuce-and tomato sandwich. The greasy bread was not overly greasy, the bacon was crispy and the lettuce and tomato were fresh. I'd also order a large fries and four tartar sauce. I bought the fries so I'd have something to put the tartar sauce on. I thought they used the best tartar sauce. Mouthwateringly tangy, but with a touch of sweetness as I recall.
On Fridays I might order double of everything and eat both the fries and one of the sandwiches in the evening. I'd have the second sandwich the next day because even after a night in the fridge it was still the best BLT I ever had.
(Again, the picture is only a close approximation. This one looks like the bread was toasted; Burgermaster grills the bread like on a grilled cheese sandwich. Also, no tartar sauce. The thing this picture gets right is the way the sandwich is stuffed with bacon!)

Strangely, I didn't gain weight. I was younger then, and I smoked cigarettes so it must have negated all the caloric intake.

Sadly in my mid-40's I suffered too much to continue eating greasy, fatty food.

Now, I think about my old favorites and sigh.

The Supreme Court

Idealogues should not be on the Supreme Court. That's what 'activist' judges are, in my opinion. Their only goal is to promote a point of view.
Are Scalia and Thomas idealogues? Does the consistency of their point of view mean they're idealogues?

Antonin Scalia believes we should interpret the Constitution using the same standards the authors of the Constituion used when writing it. Anything else is a twisting of the original intention to suit transitory cultural mores.
The counter argument is that the Constitution is a 'Living Document'. It's designed to change as we gain new scientific knowledge, or as the opinion of the people in our society change.

To the best of my understanding, Antonin Scalia would not have a federal law against slavery; he would have the state's individually make the law. The same holds true for abortion and gay marriage because neither of those specific questions are mentioned in the Constitution. When Justices of the Supreme Court interpret the Constitution as providing a freedom it doesn't specifically note, the Justices are overstepping the bounds of their authority as described in the Constitution's balance of powers.

In the 1940's and 1950's the Supreme Court acted in a way that Scalia would have liked, right? Individual states were supposed to make laws that outlawed discrimination based on race. Mostly they did. But some states didn't.
Yet, in the country as a whole, the idea that 'all men are created equal' had become the commonly held belief; it's the American ideal that everyone is equal under the law.

What are we to do when old beliefs won't die away fast enough? We can't allow little pockets of discrimination to exist within our borders. At some point, America has to stand for something bigger than federalism and the right of states to maintain their own brand of discrimination. There are moral high grounds that we aspire to. Its in our Constituion.

Given that, I can't see how Scalia can maintain his position about the original intention of the authors of the constitution. I suspect there's some additional nuance about his position that I don't understand. I'll research it some more.

In the meantime, the original question - does Scalia's point of view make him an idealogue?
Is it true that Conservatives tend to agree with the original intention philosophy and that Liberals tend to agree with the Living Document philosophy?
And, if so, how will we ever get along?

I don't know and I don't know and I don't know.

During the upcoming nomination hearings for Sotomayor (pronounced 'so-toe-my-yore') the bottom line of the questioning will be about this argument - original intention vs living document. We'll see what happens.

Doctor Who and his Companion

Is it just me, or do these people look really young?
He's 26 and she's 21.

Hmmm...

Okay, okay - just 'cause they're young doesn't mean they can't have a good story, right? Of course not!

I will have no expectations.
I will have no expectations.
I will have no expectations.

I miss Christopher Eccleston.

What are the soldiers thinking about?

I wonder what North Koreans think about their place in the world? Do they wonder about us?

Thursday

These are challenging times...
Nukes in North Korea, Taliban in Pakistan, Ahmadinejad in Iran, war in Iraq and Afghanistan, politics and terror in Palestine and Israel, unsettled economy, possibility of getting laid off, trying to save money, and I'm not in synch with my boss.
I'm at a loss. I'm not sure how to set things right - or rather, how to adjust my own behavior to better handle the challenges. Keep Calm and Carry On, I guess.

Tomorrow I'll continue striving to be more peaceful, more loving, more compassionate, more aware, more present, more articulate, and more joyful than I was today. Those are the qualities I value.

Good Luck to me.

My choice for a super power

If I could choose any super power I would choose the power of transportation (just like Samantha and Jeannie had). Instant, no side effects, never-ending. I could travel the world without it costing a penny. I could visit people on a whim with no long drive. I could tour other countries and still come home to eat my own food. I could be anywhere I wanted whenever I wanted. And I could pop right back out at any moment. If its too crowded and I'm feeling uncomfortable, I can transport right home. If I'm in Egypt looking at the pyraminds but I don't want to mess up my digestive system by eating the food or drinking the water, I can come home for lunch in a flash. And be back at the pyramid in an hour. I suppose I could even jump to another planet. My superpower would be so precise, I'd never run the risk of transporting into a building or a mountain or anything like that where I'm trapped. If I'm cold at work, I could take my lunch on a South Pacific island. If its too hot, I can sleep somewhere with an air conditioner. I'd never need to buy a hotel.

I'd be so happy.

Third Rock from the Sun

I LOVE this show. I've gotten so much pleasure watching the DVD's. I've gone through the series a couple times. Over this Memorial Day weekend, while not spending money and cleaning out my bedroom, bathroom, closets, etc, I watched a lot of episodes. I'm afraid if i watch them too much they'll lose their magic for me. Which is why I'll wait a long time before watching it again.
I like every character, and all the crazy situations they get into. Dick is priceless. Sally is fun, and with Don is endearing. Mary is her own sort of crazy fun. Harry is over the top, and I love Tommy for being the old man in a kid's body and the voice of reason who could still be a goofball.

Abortion vs Torture

(I don't have any appropriate graphic to present for this topic)


In this morning’s Short Takes section of the Oregonian, a writer asks “Why do many on the left see no problem when a doctor sucks a baby from a mother's womb through a vacuum yet consider slapping around captured terrorists to get information a crime against humanity?”

Why? You may believe life begins at the moment sperm and egg combine.
I do not.

I see humans as both animal and spiritual.
You can’t deny we have biological imperatives and impulses.

Yet, there’s something that sets humans apart from other biological beings of the Earth.
To the best of my understanding it’s a consciousness we receive from the universe, or God, if you prefer.

I believe the time and choosing of a soul or consciousness combining with the body is not fixed. It may or may not happen at conception; it may or may not happen at birth. It may happen sometime during the pregnancy, but it just as easily could happen after a baby’s birth.
Every soul has its own time and choosing.

You can’t prove your belief and I can’t prove mine. So, it’s best if we respect each other’s faith understanding and allow each of us to make the choice to the best of our ability.


As far as terrorists go, I believe they are soul-filled beings and should be treated as such.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences to actions.
It means using physical and psychological bullying tactics to get what we want is never the right answer.
That holds true in a world at war, and on our own school playgrounds.
The lessons we teach our children at home, church, and school should be the lessons they carry throughout their life’s work; not abandoned when they’re feeling threatened or afraid.

Thursday blog entry

Okay - I tried. I wrote the previous blog entry yesterday to publish today so it can be my Thursday entry. But, Blogger still says I wrote it on Wednesday. Darn. I'll know better next time.

In any event, to honor my commitment, this is a blog post specifically done on Thursday.

But, its going to be about "Lost" again.

I just want to reiterate the conversation from last week's episode between Jacob and the Trickster.

"They come, fight, they destroy, they corrupt. It always ends the same." -Man #2
"It only ends once. Anything that happens before that, it's just progress." -Jacob

That's my philosophy of life these days - we get to keep trying again every day and nothing is ever a failure until you stop trying. While you continue to try, you make progress, and eventually you will win - whether that win is the original goal you set for yourself or not. Excellent fun!!

Guns and Parks

What do these three images have in common?





Yesterday, the 111th House of Representatives not only passed a bill that, if signed by President Obama, will reform the credit card industry, it also passed an amendment to the credit card bill that allows loaded guns in national parks as long as it conforms to state laws.

Bear with me here – it’s a confusing story.
First the Senate took up the Credit Card Bill. The banking lobby felt the bill might pass and wanted it to go away. Tom Coburn sponsored an amendment that allows guns in national parks where they conform with the states laws. The banking lobby thought this would be a good poison pill - kill the bill with an amendment many Democrats (in either the house or the senate) would disagree with. The bill passed the Senate anyway and was sent to the House. The House leadership didn’t want Democrats to vote against the Credit Card bill only because of this new gun rule (which reverses a rule that's been in place since the Reagan years by the way), so they decided to allow Representatives to vote on the two items separately. The Credit Card bill passed, but the gun amendment passed as well (279 - 147). When the bill is sent to President Obama, the bill and the amendment will be packaged back together. Since the President doesn't have a line item veto (I'm against the line item veto in principle, but its painful to see this happen) he'll have to sign the bill or veto the bill in its entirety. In the current economic and international climate, Obama feels the credit card bill is too valuable, so he'll probably sign it, even though it has that stupid gun thing in it. My only hope is that he's got a secret plan for how to negate the new gun rule. And that's the story.


FYI - here are some of the bill numbers I could gather from multiple websites:
S Amdt 1067, S Amdt 1058, HR 627.

Here are some websites that might be helpful for further research: govtrack.us and OpenCongress

And here is an article from Daily Kos by mcjoan that I thought was interesting.

On how many levels do I hate this?
1. 'poison pill' amendments are dishonest and negate useful debate.
2. both Democratic Senators from Oregon voted FOR the amendment. Ugh.
3. the stated purpose of the amendment (sponsored by Tom Coburn) is "to protect innocent Americans from violent crime in national parks and refuges.” That sounds like fear-mongering to me. I hope I've established I HATE fear-mongering.
5. its a cynical attack - the banking industry didn't believe it had the votes to overturn the credit card bill on their own merits so they got this amendment added to elicit lots of emotion and, they hoped, tip the scales in their favor. Once again, corporate America is playing fast and loose with integrity.
6. a gun debate diverts attention from the very real economic and international problems we're facing in our country.
7. I don't understand people who are more concerned with saving themselves a buck here and there when they won't starve or be homeless for the loss of the buck. The credit card companies make plenty of money as it is without their jacked up fees and manipulative practices. It seems such a waste of good people's time to cater to their greed. And unfortunately, there are corporate lobbyists who will do the corporation's dirty work for them - all for the love of money.
8. So, now we have a credit card reform bill that has possibly been watered down, and the NRA has their guns in National Parks rule, all in one disgusting political maneuver. The real powerbrokers - corporations with money - may be abandoning the Republican party, but they're still alive and well in America. They're like parasites and will go to whatever party or people will help them in their greedy goals. Blech!!

I should say I'm against guns in the national parks because I'm against guns and violence in general. I'm doing my best not to debate guns in this post because its the tactic I'm disgusted by. If the amendment were a progressive, pro-choice, gay-marriage, animal rights, or some other kind of amendment, I'd still disagree with the tactic.
I admit though, if it was an amendment I agreed with, I wouldn't say much - I'd keep my mouth shut and hope nobody noticed so it might pass.

Perspective

Knowing I'm not the only person who would have thought to use "excellent adventure" in the title blog, I did a blog search on the words and randomly picked a couple to review. The first two I picked were Brad's Excellent Adventure about a man's deployment to the Middle East (good writing), and Lynn and Danny's Excellent Adventure about a couple who traveled to Africa (Uganda) for a year to work in medicine (poignant writing). I haven't read extensively in either yet - several posts each so far - but I'm amazed by the courage of many people's journeys, and how truly excellent our adventures are.

And, I don't think mine is any less adventurous even though its homebound and more mundane. Life's gifts are offered in a multitude of ways.

Bless us all.

...and on a personal note

Along with the bleak national and statewide economic news last week, my employer laid off 5 people and I suspect there are more to come before the end of summer. I've been asked to 'be more visible' and work at the office instead of from home, which means I'm more likely to be tired at the end of the work day, and I'm less likely to be interested in sitting at the computer.

I'm trying not to feel anxious about what may or may not come. Most of the time I remain calm, but every once in a while I give in to the fear I may lose my job. I want to be financially and emotionally prepared for whatever will come - that's all I can do.

In the meantime, I think...

Dick Cheney has a skewed vision of the world.

Notre Dame students (and others) who protest the President being asked to give the commencement address at the Catholic university's graduation today are part of the problem. What would happen if nobody listened to each other? What if I know you disagree with me so I refuse to hear anything you might have to say? Where would we be if everyone did that? Their attitude makes no sense in a world where even the Christian God wants people to make an informed CHOICE about what to believe.

The Lost season finale really was pretty great. I believe in the real John Locke and I believe in the Island. I've never given much thought about the island's power on its own, but now that John Locke is more dead than we knew - I want him to be resurrected by the island. Maybe the smoke monster is part of the island power instead of a manifestation of Jacob or the Trickster.

I kind of wish Nancy Pelosi hadn't gotten herself into the argument about whether the CIA briefed her on waterboarding or not. Nothing good can come of it, for any of us.

There was a great piece on This American Life this week about how most banks are not taking advantage of a win/win situation because they're too big to know better. In general, on paper, most of the foreclosed homes could have a renegotiated contract - lowering the interest rate or extending the term of the loan or something like that - which would keep homeowners in their homes. The bank wouldn't have to take back, maintain and sell the property (all very costly) and the homeowners wouldn't have to lose their homes. And it goes on the bank's book as a performing loan. One loan servicer is doing just that. But, most of the others companies and banks are NOT doing it. Why? Because the banking system is on autopilot.
I mean, really - this is the idea that any of us lay people have had for nearly a year, right? I wonder if I even said it in my blog earlier? It makes no sense why they wouldn't do it. I think I'll write a letter to Obama about it.

That's all for now. As a reminder: Life is interesting. We're being given opportunities every day to recognize the beauty of nature, marvel at the complexities of people around us, and most importantly, every day we get to try again to be more aware, more now, and more love. This is Vickster's Excellent Adventure!!
(by the way - I just changed my blog heading from Welcome to Vicksterville to Vickster's Excellent Adventure)

Lost, Season 5 Finale "The Incident"

Okay - well, well, well...hmmmm...
Warning - this post contains information you may not want to read if you're still working through any of the episodes for the previous five seasons.

1. My most pressing question was answered - is this show about science or religion?
2 - I'm disappointed I followed the 'resurrected' Locke this season when it seemms he's really The Trickster. Darn! I liked how he turned the tables on Ben and he seemed so decisive. I thought his faith had been finally rewarded.
3 - First scene, great. Jacob (God?) and the Trickster. Jacob thinks, given enough lessons and time, humanity will figure out how to make better choices, while the Trickster thinks humanity will always revert to fighting and destroying.
4. I predict Season 6 will start back at the beginning of the show again (time is reset) and we'll see the first five years played out with different scenes that explain some of the details and puzzles. When Juliette caused the bomb to explode it really did reset the timeline and humanity has another chance to get it right, to do better as Jacob said in the first scene. There's no telling how many times this series of events have played out. Probably a whole heckuva lot.
5. My secondary prediction is that, if Jacob is not God, then Jacob and the Trickster are just two souls who got stuck in the timeloop and its a really big version of Groundhog's Day.
6. My worry about my first prediction is that they'd have to get so many actors back to the show that have already left. I think they could easily get around it by making them less important in the spiritual development of the Lost crowd.
7. It was good to see the answer to the question about what lies in the shadow of the statue. But, I don't know what the answer is. I suspect as I begin reading some of the blogs I'll find out.
8. So, all the 'dead' people who are still living mysteriously - Claire, Christian, Locke, etc - were really The Trickster. He's been setting up the scenario of someone killing Jacob (he found the loophole) for all these years.
9. The true 'Others' really are good guys I guess. And the 'battle' really is bigger than big.
10 - Rose and Bernard (good to see them again) have it mostly figured out at this point. They get that being together and enjoying each moment is the key to a happy life.

For me, the big questions are answered and the details are not as important (though they're very interesting). Which, not surprisingly, is my view on religion and spirituality as well.

I feel comfortable with the big answer (there is a force of love in the universe that directs us all toward a higher path if we listen and learn) and am okay with whatever details they come up with to support the answer (because details are oftentimes distractions anyway and create most of humanity's destruction and violence.
Consider that all the people who believe in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam believe in one god and that is a big area of agreement, yet they still find a way to fight about the details.

Suddenly the details are as important as, or more important than, the overall message????

Seems so. During the crusades, the Christians didn't care that Muslims believed in one God the way they did - they only cared that Muslims didn't believe that Jesus was God. And in the Middle East right now, people of one faith are fighting each other over the details of how that faith is practiced. Sad, sad, sad.

What makes it even sadder and more ironic is that the people are fighting over details at the cost of the overall concept.

And just to broaden the idea a little more, one of the reasons I like Barack Obama is that he tries to stay focused on what we can agree on, because if we forget about the details, and come together, we can get a lot of work done on the planet.)

I've gone a bit far afield of Lost in that last paragraph, but the main point is that, like my views on spirituality and religion, I think the details, while interesting, are less important than the overall concept.

I think the overall concept has been revealed in this episode - not just fate and destiny and faith, and whether the past can be changed, but more importantly, can humanity change and learn and grow and overcome our instincts for violence and fear, or are we doomed to live with wars and famine and negativity?

The Trickster keeps setting it up so he can prove to Jacob that humanity will never get ir right (Ben kills Jacob)
And Jacob continues to set in motion the plans to give humanity another try - one more time, they're getting better. Resetting time with the hydrogen bomb gives them another chance.

That's why, at the end, Jacob said "They're coming" he was telling The Trickster that its all going to start again so don't think this is over yet.

Really, I think this all makes perfect sense. Even at the end, when Jacob could have said something to ease Ben's anger, he didn't. He made sure Ben made the choice on his own. That's what God's all about, right? Everyone makes their own choice. Even in my spiritual belief its all about that - you make the choices, you learn from your choices.
Jacob is not going to give Ben an easy way out by telling him platitudes. He needs Ben to NOT need Jacob's approval. That will be when humanity has won out. Ben (or whoever The Trickster convinces in each time loop to kill Jacob) has to choose NOT to kill Jacob of their own accord.

While The Trickster is setting things up to prove that humanity will always choose murder and violence, Jacob is also setting up a scenario in which he uses the Swan station to create a time loop. So, although the bomb seems like a bad idea and not good - its really the right thing to do because it gives humanity another chance at getting it right.
Jack is right, Kate is wrong. But, neither of them understand why yet.
Maybe in the next life, brother.

Yeah - the more I think about it, the more clear it becomes.

Good job writers and developers of the overall storyline.
We'll see how you bring it to a final conclusion next year, but my idea that we see the whole story again from the perspective of knowing seems like a good one.
(And now, I might be disappointed if that's not what they do. I better try and keep an open mind).

What if...

What if I was accompanied, all day long, by an official observer of my life who never asked me for anything or needed anything from me - they just followed me around from bedroom to bathroom, to car, to kitchen, to work, to store, etc? Would I still feel, at the end of the day, that I needed to be alone?





And what if I found out the observer was me?





Aha! What's that all about?
Is it really the people that make me want to be alone, or is it the expectation I have that the people want something from me that I can't give them unless I DO some unknown thing that I'm always on the watch for clues to - which can be quite exhausting.
So, the 'what if' experiment - even if the person didn't want anything from me, would I assume they wanted something from me anyway?

What if...

...there is a really big sun storm, or an electro-magnetic pulse with such power it knocks out the electricity on Earth? If we rely on technology so much for everything, what would happen to our civilization? It seems we should make sure we can live without it before we decide to depend on it for everything. A backup system maybe?

Lost "Follow the Leader"

Good episode. Lots of info and setup for next week's finale.
John Locke is the very best. I like him a lot. I'd follow him. I don't know why Kate thinks he's crazy.
Jack, on the other hand, is an idiot. ID EE UT. I really don't like the way he thinks.

So, my current theory is that this 'battle' that's been going on forever is a battle between people who are trying to change the timeline so it goes back to 'normal' (whatever that is after all this time) and people who don't want to change the timeline. I'm reminded of a Voyager episode in which a man changed time and found that because of his change, his wife died. So, he spends the next years trying to make small changes in the timeline so his wife would live. There was also s Stargate episode where something similar happened. The gang ended up at a place where time kept repeating and repeating - Jack and Teal'c knew it was happening...is that the episode? Now I'm getting confused. Anyway - that's what my new Lost theory is. At some point in the faraway past, time changed and a cult has grown up around the idea that it must be changed back. But, what does that mean for our history, our way of life? Eh - its just a theory.

I think John Locke said he's going to kill Jacob because he's going to kill the IDEA of Jacob as a mysterious figure. He's trying to get the truth out - the emperor has no clothes!

The bottom line is that my leaders of choice are John Locke and Barack Obama.

Scrubs Finale

Finale tonight worked perfectly for me. Good episode. This last season has been every bit as good as seasons 1-4. While I didn't love 5 and particularly disliked much of 6 and 7, they are part of the package. Taken as a whole (which we have to do in life. There are many years in my own life that didn't work as well as I'd like but on the whole, I'm pretty happy with things so far!), I enjoyed the show. They did a wonderful job creating characters that could be real and absurd. The character I liked the least - and won't really miss - is Dr. Cox. I thought he went too far with his rants. They were mostly unnecessary. That's who I am though. For a lot of people the rants made the show. I'm a little more like JD - kinda goofy sentimental and eternally optimistic.

Fever and Flu

Spreading potentially lethal pathogens, influenza virus particles (brown) invade cilia (blue) in the airways of the human lung.
Image by Karsten Schneider/Science Photo Library


It turns out, the flu virus does not like heat and humidity. Which explains why we don't see flu in the summer months.
It also explains the fever. What a miracle our body is! When confronted with a flu virus, our bodies increase our temperature to kill off the virus. Pretty smart.
Its a myth that you should either starve or feed a fever or cold. The main thing you can do is not put your body through additional stress - don't overeat or undereat. Make sure your body has what it needs to concentrate on killing those little viruses and stay calm. its a combination of the heat and our immune system that eventually kills the virus. If you have digestive issues along with the flu, the food you eat should, obviously, be easier to digest. At the least, make sure you get plenty of fluids.
It makes sense to me that you might want to allow yourself to have a bit of a fever since that means your body is fighting. I understand anything over 103 in an adult, however, is too high. And, you shouldn't have a fever more than a couple days. Anything longer and it might indicate you need the help of a doctor to kill the virus. (I don't know what they do, though).

How the flu virus works

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Agence France-Presse | 04/30/2009 1:12 AM

PARIS - The influenza virus is a tiny, redoubtable foe that survives by stealth and sheer numbers.

Seen through an electron microscope, it resembles a spiky ball, comprising a protective shell studded with rods. It measures around 100 nanometres (100 billionths of a metre, 0.000004 of an inch) across, which is about a thousand times smaller than a bacterium.

Because it is so minute, the virus is unable to carry around the enzyme toolkit that it needs to reproduce. Instead, it hijacks the machinery of cells in the throat, nose and lungs to do this.

It first enters the nose or mouth, inhaled in droplets expelled by a cough or a sneeze by an infected person.

A virus can also survive on surfaces for up to 72 hours, depending on the type of surface, temperature and humidity.

This means the virus can picked up on the fingers and transferred to the mucous membranes if the person touches their nose, eyes or mouth.

The virus uses its spike to bind to, and then invade, an epithelial cell in the respiratory tract.

Once inside, it releases a package of genetic instructions, called RNA, that use the cell's machinery to make parts for new virus particles.

The parts are knitted together to form hundreds of new virus particles that then burst out of the now wrecked cell and go on to infect other cells.

Cells that are attacked in the throat, lungs and muscles give rise to the classic symptoms of a sore throat, respiratory wheeze and muscle ache.

The high fever that is also a hallmark of flu is a response of the immune system against the invader. This defensive reaction continues until the viruses are eliminated.

Most people recover without complications after a week or two, but the disease can be dangerous for people with a chronic condition such as asthma or heart disease, or for the elderly, very young and others with a weaker immune system.

It can also lead to bacterial infection, such as bronchitis or life-threatening pneumonia.

Flu viruses fall into three main families.

Type A, the commonest, not only circulates among humans but also among birds and pigs, providing a unique opportunity to acquire new genetic variants that can leap the species barrier and spark a pandemic.

Type B can also cause epidemics, but usually produces a milder disease than Type A. Type C viruses, like Type B, are humans-only pathogens but have never been associated with a large epidemic.

Virus families are further sub-divided according to their two surface proteins, haemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N).

Mexico's swine flu virus has sparked alarm because it it presents a new genetic mix for which there may be no immunity and for which it will take months to devise and produce a vaccine.

It is a substrain of H1N1, presenting a new pattern of genes that resulted from a mix of existing viruses of human, pig and avian flu. Still unclear, though, is how contagious and virulent it is.

as of 04/30/2009 1:12 AM