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October 08, 2005
Of turtles and flu
While Toyota and Bar-Honda reshuffle cards and prospects of what was once a Ferrari secluded domain our flag-airline, Alitalia, is going on strike again. Check with your travel Agency to see if and when this very exclusive Italian-only feature will be in effect. If you are a returner you may have good knowledge of how to better exploit quality time at airports with those huge white whale-like carcasses parked in sight waiting for a crew and a destination.
In other news Northern Pakistan is pretty much devastated by what seems to be just a piece in a gigantic seismic puzzle involving the whole eastern backbone from the Alps down to Sumatra. Only consolation could be that one of the many thousands of victims may happen to be public enemy number 1, Osama Bin Laden, good at avoidance but at least can't predict earthquakes.
How you feel about AF a.k.a. H5n1 which is for now only affecting birds (latest is Romania, found in ducks), pushing for extensive killing and in some cases extermination? Scared? If AF, or avion flu, can travel from chickens to ducks to pigeons (but reported also in cats, rats and pigs) I would not be surprised to see it going epidemic within humans in a year. But despite special interest panic spread aplenty by manufacturers we'll be more than likely prepared for that. We were not prepared to find that the main point-of-entry for African immigrants in Italy, the island of Lampedusa, was a little Abu Ghraib (thanks to one of the few newspapers not owned by Berlusconi yet), but we certainly were prepared for Boy George arrested on cocaine (as in 1984), for kids flying off a bridge on a BMW (as in 1984, just different car brand), for black leather shoes returning in fashion (as in 1984, now made in Vietnam) and the freezing of our retirement reform bill due to insurers not happy with the retirees having too much control on what to do with their money (never seen before?).
And if CIA and the counterterrorism enchilada have been proven to be a waste of money in several instances now are getting into Sunday's comics full steam. NY subway attack warning for Sunday? Because, you know, subways get very crowded on Sundays. Or you did not know that?
On a private scale we finally agreed with the kid to get her an animal. Not the horse she wanted, not the cat but a tiny turtle which is now floating off her pool trying to grab the edge of a bedrock. The life of a small turtle (Ornate Redears are the most common type and come from Brazil) can be pretty nightmarish. Have you ever seen a young turtle 3 weeks old, very short legs and a big head trying to turn when she's facing one of the corners in her pool? She'll slap right with the right forearm (thus going left) and left with the left forearm (thus going right). The result is the turtle will keep honking her nose for awhile against the glass without moving left or right at all. Pathetic yet amusing. We should be getting a round bowl for...well, Rosie.
Checking our meteo-man via Dashboard, which has been fair so far, and solemnly declaring the Powerbook's keyboard the best keyboard ever made (by humans).
Rumor has it Zib will start pod-casting within the next few days. We're all in trouble now (at least she doesn't have a squeaky voice).
Posted by lck at October 8, 2005 02:05 PM
