Wednesday, October 29, 2008

This cowboy can't be throwed

There's a big lab at the UT Med branch in Galveston that houses some of the most frightening organisms on the planet, the viruses such as Ebola that could well wipe out half the human race if they got loose in the population. [Whether that would be a totally bad thing is a discussion for another post.] Despite the fact that Galveston Island gets whomped by some ferocious winds, the people at the lab swear that it is unsinkable.
“It’s crazy, in my mind,” said Jim Blackburn, an environmental lawyer in Houston. “I just find an amazing willingness among the people on the Texas coast to accept risks that a lot of people in the country would not accept.”

Read the whole story here in the NYT.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Galveston is in danger of hurricanes.
The Midwest is in danger of tornadoes.
The Southeast is in danger of hurricanes also.
California is in danger of earthquakes.
The Northwest is in danger of volcanic activity,
The whole country is in danger of terroristic activities.
Seems nowhere is safe.
Where do you suggest locating such a laboratory?

The Loon said...

OK, lemme me get my pore old addled head around this reasoning here. How's this:
My friend was bitten by a brown recluse spider while she was in bed sleeping. Therefore, I might as well go sleep on the railroad tracks, as one can obviously come to harm anywhere during sleep. Nah, I don't think do ... some places are more dangerous than others, and certain hurricane landing sites are likely to be worse than better. Why tempt fate? Not like they came and asked me anyhow.