Zika is here, swimming in shit, third book

So the news reported that we now have our first confirmed homegrown cases of Zika infection right next door in Miami.  Of course this comes as no surprise. How anyone thought they would be able to contain the spread of a mosquito based disease is beyond me.  In no time at all Zika will literally be everywhere, spreading birth defects far and wide.  I wonder if the No Choicers will feel differently when they are informed that due to their Zika infection their fetus will be born with a miniature head and/or other horrible defects.  It seems like a pretty insidious thing as the symptoms could easily be confused with dozens of other ailments.  I am glad that I have no potential child births in my future.

Speaking of Zika, one of the big issues with the 2016 Olympic games is they are being held in Brazil which is a huge hot spot for the virus.  Any spectator or athlete that is attending the games is taking a huge gamble on becoming infected.  If you are not pregnant and don’t plan on becoming pregnant in the near future it isn’t a huge deal as the body will eventually flush the virus from your system.  However if that is not the case I think you are nuts if you are down in Rio.

If a mosquito spread pestilence wasn’t bad enough, Rio has another big problem, disgusting conditions around the Olympic venues.  I had no idea that Rio has India-like third world living conditions in parts of the city where raw sewage runs down the streets.  This sewage dumps directly into the waterways, the same waterways used for various Olympic events.  From all accounts it is disgusting and dangerous.  A study of the water revealed  “The first results of the study published over a year ago showed viral levels at up to 1.7 million times what would be considered worrisome in the United States or Europe.” Rio was supposed to mount some sort of monumental clean up effort but even now, a few days before the start of the games the water is still basically one large toilet.

To me this is just the latest example of why the Olympics may have run it’s course.  Recent decades are ripe with examples of the Olympics bringing financial ruin and disaster to host cities.  The doping scandals that seem to be a part of every games makes any result questionable if PED’s were involved or not.  Just like so many other things in the world, the core of the Olympic spirit has mutated.  It’s not really about the athlete’s struggle to succeed, it’s about money.  For the IOC to ignore serious health hazards and elect to plow ahead with the Rio games is just further reinforcement of this principal.

I finished up my third Warcraft novel last night.  It’s a hard thing for me to force myself to just read a book instead of doing something else.  There is a simple and peaceful feeling when you stimulate your mind with nothing more than the turning of a page.  Unfortunately this feeling is something that will be all but lost on the current generation of youth.

Have a spectacular day!