99% of us awoke this morning with no more that the usual aches and pains some of us have acquired through wear and tear. The people of my generation drank from a hose, rode bikes without chain guards or helmets on gravel roads, climbed trees (and fell out), used willow sticks to propel mud balls at targets, played ball without gloves, played hockey without shin guards or gloves, played football without armor. We froze our toes skating on outdoor rinks, drank and drove, smoked like chimneys, survived chicken pox, a couple of varieties measles, whooping cough, colds, the flu, pneumonia, and are still here. The 1918 influenza epidemic infected an estimated 500 million people -- or about one third of the world population at the time -- and resulted in about 50 million deaths. The polio virus first hit Canada in 1910. That virus hung around for decades, sometimes dormant sometimes not. Between 1949 and 1954 about 11,000 Canadians were left paralyzed. In 1959 the...
A discussion on political, economic and social issues in British Columbia, and Canada