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This week post of the week is a news article, about the Swine Flu and becoming complacent. Which could be a big deal, we here in the US have just had our third death from it nearing 2800 confirmed cases. http://wtop.com/?nid=106&sid=1655772 and with the first case in Canada
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D98272F00&show_article=1 now is the time not to become complacent.

US public at risk from complacency over flu -CDC * As fear of flu subsides, CDC concerned about complacency* CDC officials worried H1N1 could return in the fallBy Matthew BiggATLANTA, May 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. public could become more vulnerable to a flu pandemic if complacency about the need for heightened vigilance sets in, health experts said on Wednesday.Those concerns would escalate if the H1N1 virus that has killed two people in the United States and made 642 others sick mutates into a more virulent form by the start of the traditional flu season in the fall.In all, there are 1,516 confirmed cases of the swine flu virus in 22 countries, according to the U.N. World Health Organization.But in the United States fear about flu appears to have subsided since the epidemic came to public attention more than two weeks ago because many cases appear to be mild."The risk of complacency, or a sense that we have weathered this, is a serious one," said Stephen Redd, director of Influenza Coordination at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta."What we are going to be looking very hard at over the months to come is what's happening in other parts of the world and really trying to understand whether we would be at risk for a resurgence in the fall," Redd said.CDC officials say they walk a fine line between ramping up public warnings to encourage people to take precautions such as washing hands while not adopting an alarmist posture that could risk their authority as the epidemic persists.In one small sign of waning public interest in the flu threat, nationally syndicated talk show host Neal Boortz told his audience recently that the issue of flu was getting "really overblown."New York has seen 97 cases of H1N1 flu, though most have been mild, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was aware of the need to calibrate warnings to the public."There is always that danger (of crying wolf)," said Bloomberg in an interview. "There is always the danger of over-reacting (but) government has the responsibility to tell people what's going on and what to do about it.""When I start talking in New York about disease ... the first thing I say is: 'I'm going to tell you what we know and what we don't know. And I'm not going to speculate on anything between," Bloomberg said.NEW STRAINSThe CDC has spent years preparing for a pandemic and ranks communicating with the public on an equal footing with studying potential viruses and finding vaccines.Dozens of scientists and public health specialists work amid a low volume of chatter at its 24/7 Emergency Operation Center, which is equipped with computer monitors, table lamps and hand sanitizer.Teams of scientists collate and analyze data while others provide input on subjects ranging from ethics to policy to how to deal with the media.The room is dominated by a series of flat-screen televisions set on one wall, each showing a critical piece of information and one tuned to CNN.Elsewhere at the CDC, researchers are monitoring the virus to see if it could mutate into a more deadly strain.They are conscious of a historic parallel -- in 1918, a relatively mild flu pandemic emerged, only to return with a vengeance months later to kill millions.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N06283215.htm

Here is an article that might have made next weeks list, but it is important to understand, why people go the extra step of preparation. Here is a heroic story of a man and his wife and by prepping before hand for obvious dangers, not only saved themselves but their home also. So please enjoy.

Couple survive Mission Canyon firestorm in bunker
By COLBY FRAZIER — May 8, 2009From the wooden deck at Richard Martin’s Mission Canyon home, sweeping views of destruction can be seen in all directions.To the north, on a hillside that butts up against his home, the smoking skeletons of three of his neighbor’s houses were visible through the burned limbs of oak trees. To the west, a steep slope littered with charred bushes and trees. To the south, downed power lines lie on the darkened earth (at the height of the fire’s siege in the canyon, the power lines fell on Martin’s deck). To the east, the blackened edges of the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens are visible, as is the ridge beyond, where an occasional yellow-suited firefighter lugged a hose up a hill.Yet, in the middle of this scene, Martin’s house stood mostly unscathed.As the firestorm approached at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, police officers — two sets at two different times — knocked on Martin’s door, asking him to leave.“I told them we were staying,” he said. “They were polite, they said ‘We recommend against that.’ They shook my hand and said ‘good luck.’”Long before the officers arrived on his doorstep — 31 years to be exact — Martin, 73, knowing full well he lived in a canyon that could explode in flames at any moment, started preparing.First he did the obvious, clearing brush around his home and trimming up trees and shrubs, creating what fire officials call “defensible space.”Then he went the extra mile.His home, a multilevel structure made of stucco, has wooden eaves, three large wood decks, and is surrounded by oak trees on steep slopes. It’s the kind of home fires love to burn. So Martin took his fire protection measures to the next level.He installed three Rain Bird sprinklers on the roof and built a concrete bunker in order to “have a shelter in a firestorm.”The bunker is 5 feet by 7 feet. The space is just big enough for Martin, his wife Penny, two folding chairs, three filing cabinets filled with important documents and photographs, and an ample supply of food and water. The concrete walls of the bunker are about 8 inches thick; it also has a concrete ceiling. When Martin built it, he knew the day might come when his home would perish, so he put a 5-inch gap between the main home and the bunker, though it appears they are connected.“Basically, we’re equipped,” he said. Any proper East Coaster might scoff, writing Martin off as paranoid.But firestorms in Santa Barbara County aren’t all that unusual, especially in the last year. And on Wednesday night, a firestorm is exactly what arrived at Martin’s doorstep.Martin said the flames came unexpectedly from the west. “I always expected it to come from the east,” he explained.He said the flames charged down the hill behind his house, but he was ready: the sprinklers were on and he had water hoses around his house ready to fight spot fires.Sometime around 5 p.m., flames had overrun everything around Martin’s home.He said the flames were “coming from everywhere.”Martin added: “The wind was screaming, embers were flying from everywhere.”Every five minutes, Martin, with a bandana tied around his mouth and nose, would run around his house, putting out spot fires.He said five minutes was about all he could take in that environment. The wind was blowing so hard, he could feel glowing embers smacking him in the chest.“The firestorm, it insults all your senses,” he said. “If I stayed out [there] very long, I wouldn’t survive.” The heat was nearly unbearable. On the north side of Martin’s home, the outside pane of two double-paned windows cracked from the heat. A plastic, circular thermometer mounted to the side of the house, melted, but remained in place.“It sort of looks like a Dali thermometer,” he said, referring to the surrealist painter Salvador Dali.Nevertheless, Martin periodically charged out from his bunker, spraying down the brush. At one point, a flaming log rolled onto the bottom step of his north deck, which if left unattended, most likely would have torched the entire house.As fire crews and media trucks rolled up Mission Canyon Road yesterday afternoon, Martin and his wife were busy cleaning up ash and burned vegetation.Martin surveyed the scene, recalling how his wife woke up at 4 a.m. and rushed outside to extinguish a pesky set of flames near their firewood pile.“We probably put that thing out six times,” he said.
http://www.thedailysound.com/News/050809MissionBunker

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