I just finished making a mix cd that includes a bunch of new bands I got into this year and songs off 2008 releases from bands I loved already. Send me an address if you want one mailed to you!
Including, but not limited to:
She & Him
Of Montreal
Crystal Castles
Titus Andronicus
...and more.
My resolutions are: NO MORE REDOs, to get into grad school (I'll take both the hook and crook options, please), and to start playing tennis again.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
fuck you, pharmaceutical industry
Roomie and I were watching TV this evening when a commercial for Menactra came on. In it, smiling kids and teens are happily going about their business. This is interrupted by threatening typed overlay warning that "meningococcal disease can kill in less than 24 hours" and "children aged 11-18 should be vaccinated!!!11111eleven" like seen in these screenshots from the website:
Does this disturb anyone else?
I felt annoyed by the sensationalism, but decided to do a quick internet search to gather some statistics. Maybe, I told myself, I'm underestimating the problem. Maybe, self, you're simply too cynical....
First thing's first: how many incidences of meningitis are there? According to the National Meningitis Association, there are 3000 cases in the U.S. annually, 300 of which turn out to be fatal. According to the googles, the current U.S. population is about 300,000,000, giving us a 0.001% occurance and a 0.0001% rate of fatality.
So the commercial seems a little over the top with the death threats and all. But again-- total population isn't a very fair gauge given that they're targeting 11-18 year olds (the website says 2-10 year olds should consider being vaccinated, but whatever. I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt...) The best statistic I could find for the youth population is here and says we're roughly talking about 64,000,000 people. Assuming those 3000 cases are all within this age group, let's say the incidence rate increases by almost a factor of 5 to 0.0047%.
...
I get that meningitis is a devestating illness to those who give it. I don't mean to undermine the importance of treatment and/or prevention. But. Is it really ethical to use an advertising campaign that gives the impression that AT ANY MINUTE YOUR PRECIOUS CHILD COULD DIE!!!!! Especially given the mass hysteria the public is prone to?
Which leads to... What kind of profits are we talking about?
According to the CDC vaccine website, Menactra costs about $100 a pop. If even 10% of the people in the targeted age group had the vaccine, we're talking about $640,000,000 in profit. I don't know how much it cost the company to develop the vaccine, and I know drug development is expensive and all, but $0.64 billion is a lot of money.
And scaring the shit out of parents is a good way to get that profit margin up.
Does this disturb anyone else?
I felt annoyed by the sensationalism, but decided to do a quick internet search to gather some statistics. Maybe, I told myself, I'm underestimating the problem. Maybe, self, you're simply too cynical....
First thing's first: how many incidences of meningitis are there? According to the National Meningitis Association, there are 3000 cases in the U.S. annually, 300 of which turn out to be fatal. According to the googles, the current U.S. population is about 300,000,000, giving us a 0.001% occurance and a 0.0001% rate of fatality.
So the commercial seems a little over the top with the death threats and all. But again-- total population isn't a very fair gauge given that they're targeting 11-18 year olds (the website says 2-10 year olds should consider being vaccinated, but whatever. I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt...) The best statistic I could find for the youth population is here and says we're roughly talking about 64,000,000 people. Assuming those 3000 cases are all within this age group, let's say the incidence rate increases by almost a factor of 5 to 0.0047%.
...
I get that meningitis is a devestating illness to those who give it. I don't mean to undermine the importance of treatment and/or prevention. But. Is it really ethical to use an advertising campaign that gives the impression that AT ANY MINUTE YOUR PRECIOUS CHILD COULD DIE!!!!! Especially given the mass hysteria the public is prone to?
Which leads to... What kind of profits are we talking about?
According to the CDC vaccine website, Menactra costs about $100 a pop. If even 10% of the people in the targeted age group had the vaccine, we're talking about $640,000,000 in profit. I don't know how much it cost the company to develop the vaccine, and I know drug development is expensive and all, but $0.64 billion is a lot of money.
And scaring the shit out of parents is a good way to get that profit margin up.
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