Apropos of nothing, here's my old community group in Arizona. The photo was taken during my trip in April when we had a "reunion supper." Truly a remarkable group of people!It's been an interesting few weeks for those of us interested in public health. Argentina has now admitted to 65 deaths due to influenza A (H1N1) and after last week's elections major steps were announced for containment: however, each city and province has its own policies. The gym a block away from me was closed for a week but the restaurant there stayed open. Cinemas were selling only half the tickets for a few days so that people could space themselves in the theaters, then many chose to close altogether. Yesterday was a public holiday to celebrate Argentina's independence, and today was declared an additional public "health" holiday for government workers. Here's an article from the BBC about some of the policies and their economic effects. The Minister of Health resigned last week (and it's now come out that she'd suggested postponement of the elections) and the government from one day to the next changed the number of swine flu cases from 1700 to 100,000.
Randomness:
Ads seen plastered all over a ritzy area downtown: "Spiritual advice. I'll bring your loved one in 7 hours. For every question I have an answer." Boy, that is a truly attractive worldview, isn't it? No mystery at all, an answer to every question. Isn't that what we want a lot of the time? Even if the answers aren't true?
Posters seen at the bank: "Immediate approval! Dream it. Get it. Enjoy it." In Argentina, credit is taken to new heights: when you purchase something on your credit card they will often charge your credit card in three to five (depending on the promotion) separate monthly installments!
And finally, the poster I enjoyed most this campaign season was from the Worker's Party: "Let the capitalists pay for the [economic] crisis."
And to continue the laughs, above you have Karina, Brandt, and me doing a cardio workout in Arizona. (There were other even funnier pictures of Brandt doing some great poses, but they were just too unflattering to the rest of us!)
