Have I got a deal for you

CARLY WEEKS
From Monday's Globe and Mail
January 26, 2009 at 4:09 AM EST

For the newly laid off, life can seem bleak. Days once marked by painful morning commutes, endless meetings and wilted sandwiches at lunch now consist of hours spent searching online job ads, unshowered and bathrobe-clad, as thoughts drift to food banks and burning personal belongings for warmth.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

Tough times call for creative solutions, and as a growing number of Canadians are finding out, there are ways to get through life without draining their savings.

Read on...

In Peacenik's ongoing effort to provide useful information in the face of disaster Peacenik posts this piece on bartering. Peacenik could have titled this post "When it rains it pours". Global financial news continues to frighten. The barter economy approaches. And this headline from the Vancouver Sun is absolutely terrifying: Abbotsford farm facing avian flu outbreak to cull 60,000 birds. Peacenik's Google Alert picked this story up. So just when everything is going to hell in a handcart, bird flu arrives in Canada with a vengeance. Should you be concerned? Peacenik is.

Bird Flu??? What dat????

How does Peacenik unwind when he's not tracking political corruption, fiscal incompetence, peak oil, haywire weather, wars, economic collapse and the travails of the Leafs.. Peacenik likes to stay on top of the coming bird flu pandemic.

In case you're not up to speed, the H5N1 virus is a virus that is killing birds all over the world, but not yet in Canada. Humans who are in close contact with infected birds also are getting the H5N1 virus, particularly in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Egypt. Some are dying from it. The fear is that when the virus mutates and there is effective human-to-human transmission a pandemic may be unleashed. To date there has been some human-to-human transmission, but it has remained contained.

Governments, corporations and NGO's are all monitoring and making recommendations on how to prepare for a possible pandemic. People who attend presentations on the coming pandemic invariably are shocked by what they learn. Governments and businesses are stockpiling Tamiflu, an anti-viral drug that lessens the effect of the H5N1 virus, but does not provide immunity.

Why should you be concerned? When there is a pandemic, there is a possibility of societal collapse. Kids don't go to school. People don't go to work. Food stops being delivered to the grocery store. Hydro plants stop being maintained. Water plants stop being maintained. People die faster than they can be buried. The police stay home. Read John Barry's "The Great Influenza" for a good history about the Spanish flu, the last great pandemic.

But you can make up your own mind. Should you be prepping? Should you have some Tamiflu? Should you be worried? Check out some of these links. It's hard to stay in a state of heightened concern forever. Peacenik was more concerned about and prepared for birdflu three years ago. Has Peacenik let his guard down? Or is birdflu one of those over-hyped doomsday scenarios that never happens? Why does Peacenik have cartons of Kraft dinner in his closet?

An excellent website for tracking birdflu.

This is a nice science fiction like read about life in a pandemic in Kingston, Ontario.

The canadian goverment information site.

A good general site for pandemic preparedness.

The World Health Organization.

Check out Dr. Grattan Woodson's "Preparing for the coming Influenza Pandemic". It tells you what medicine you would need in a pandemic.