Pandemic!

Got your attention, didn't I?

Last night I watched a made-for-TV movie called "Pandemic", starring Tiffani Amber-Thiessen as the LA based CDC quarantine officer, Faye Dunaway as the CA governor, and a host of other reconizable no-name actors. IT was what you'd expect. Every time Tiffani's charcter, Dr. Kayla Martin, introduced herself, "I'm Dr. Kayla Martin from the LA Center for Disease Control, I just laughed. Yes, we have a quarantine office out there, but I doubt it's staffed with someone like Dr. Kayla Martin. But it is LA, I could be wrong I guess.

The movie was basically an induced panic-fest about the 'deadliest and fastest virus ever seen'. Not avian flu, but something much worse. Right. Aside from my base cynicism, it isn't hard for me to understand why there is a public image issue around infectious disease control and the pending 'pandemic'. Do these people not hire sciene advisors? I'm afraid the truth wouldn't make good TV though. One of my good friends from grad school has (I think) served as a science advisor for popular TV shows - and I guess there is a limit to how 'real' TV can be made.

Oh wait, isn't that what 'reality TV' is? Hard to tell the difference anymore.

Then, thius afternoon I was reading an article about personal cellphone jammers (a neat idea, but apparently illegal in the US) that emit a high-powered radio frequency that creates a 'dead zone' around the user. A quote from one of the users on the lack of cellphone ettiquette:

"There’s no etiquette,” he said. “It’s a pandemic.”

Now, I agree, cell phone ettiquette is spotty at best, but pandemic? I'm not sure that's really what he means. Unless he's trying to induce mass panic.