Just a Quick News Flash

I've been really lax in my posting, haven't I?  Still too distracted, still not inspired enough.  But actually, I've been working on a post that's still not quite finished.  I'll stick this in to cover the bases in the meantime.

The flu epidemic is getting worse in Japan.  There are currently two different types going around.  To make matters worse, the news reported yesterday that the city of Kashima (i.e. where I work) is one of the worst-hit areas of the country, enough that emergency preparations are already being made.  Although the number is finally starting to drop, up until last Monday as much as 4% of our senior high student body, nearly 15% of the 9th grade class, was down with confirmed flu.  The overwhelming majority was from the same homeroom, so the school wound up declaring that homeroom quarantined and barring all its students from coming for a week.  It's the first time anything like that has happened in the history of this school.

And now we have a report of a renewed bird flu scare in China.  Egad.

Everywhere we look we are seeing reminders to wash our hands often and, more importantly, to gargle.  Unfortunately, although there has been no public mention of this here (for obvious reasons), a recent study in Australia concluded that use of mouthwash with alcohol, such as Listerine, vastly increases the risk of oral cancer.  In other words, possibly damned if you do, possibly damned if you don't.

Maybe this would be a good time to use my accumulating paid vacation time and pop off to somewhere more isolated, such as Iceland.

Stay healthy, everyone!