disaster of the ordinary

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/10/03/health/1247464978948/tainted-meat.html

Paul's mention of "poles of Infamy" and his "quiet" examples made me begin to muse about the scale and amplitude of catastrophe.

This article and video made think about the catastrophe of the everyday, the ordinary. While this class traces large scale disasters-known and reported, or as Marko pointed out- the unreported, large trees crashing in the woods. We are bombarded, usually via "the human interest story" with the always unfolding disaster of just getting out of bed. That cup of coffee is carcinogenic, that burger is blighted, the very dust in the corner of out rooms-quite unsettled, poisons us one-by-one.