 | Blogs > ChrisChadwick > Letting Go > The canary in the coal mine |
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There was a bird flu scare a year or two ago. Viruses are scary things--and many viruses are resistent to the treatments that we have available. The Black Death in the Middle Ages was estimated to have killed between 30% and 60% of the population of Europe. The Ebola virus has, by some reports, a 90% lethality. I ran across this in my searches about viruses at URL: http://seniorfriendfinder.com: All the genes of all influenza viruses in the world are being maintained in aquatic birds, and periodically they transmit to other species... The 1918 viruses are still being maintained in the bird reservoir. So even though these viruses are very ancient, they still have the capacity to evolve, to acquire new genes, new hosts. The potential is still there for the catastrophe of 1918 to happen again. --Dr. Robert Webster, Influenza Expert, Present Day. That's what I plan to use as my jumping off point for interjecting a crisis that will affect all of characters with whom I have peopled my imaginary world....and for the others who'll turn up along the way. I think of apocalyptic books as a kind of dystopia that paves the way for a new social direction.....some will try to seize the moment in order to turn the situation exclusively to their advantage. Others will try to take a longer view and try to make a world that is better for the human group. Things like clans, religions, and nations bring us together, but they also exclude those who are not part of the group. Will there come a time when the group of "humanity" becomes the one that each of us holds nearest and dearest? I can hope, though I think the jury is still very much out on that one. |
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5/26/2008 8:25 am |
what about the canary in the cold mine?????
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5/26/2008 4:04 pm |
Canaries were taken into coal mines as early harbingers of the air turning bad--if the canary started struggling, the miners knew it was time to turn tail and run because it was only a matter of time before they, too, felt the effects of whatever bad had just befallen the bird.
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5/26/2008 9:39 pm |
yes I know that was married to a couple of minors, was referrring that even though the title was Canarys in the cold mine there was no mention of canaries or cold minds in your blog.
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