OMG!@!!BIRDFLU!!!1

Is anyone else tired of the culture of fear that is spread by the sensationalist media in order to sell units and make a profit? For whatever reason today, seeing yet another story on bird flu just pissed me right off.

The BBC has a good FAQ about bird flu.

Quick test: does anybody know how you get bird flu? Anyone? The answer from the article:

Humans catch the disease through close contact with live infected birds.

Birds excrete the virus in their faeces, which dry and become pulverised, and are then inhaled.

You get it by inhaling dried bird shit. The total number of worldwide deaths from bird flu so far? Ninety-three. 93 of 6,000,000,000. More people will die in car accidents or starve to death today than that (and you don't see people doing much to change that). It should also be noted that 50% of the people who contracted bird flu have survived it.

So I guess all the fear-mongering is around the suggestions that 'experts' say it could mutate into a human virus and start wiping us all out. Well, fair enough. Here is a list of some other things that COULD happen:

• a big-ass meteor could hit earth and cause hundreds of years of perpetual winter from the fallout enterting the atmosphere
• another earthquake could happen beneath the ocean causing another devastating tsunami
• Jesus could return to earth and start whisking people away

Now, I'm all for seeing problems and pre-empting them - that is, coming up with solutions before they actually become a problem. I just take issue when so much misinformation and hysteria is spread. It seems like every week there's a story that "H5N1 HAS BEEN FOUND IN A BIRD IN [REMOTE PART] OF [EUROPEAN COUNTRY]. BIRD FLU IS HERE! NEXT WEEK PEOPLE ALL AROUND THE WORLD WILL BE DROPPING DEAD! AT LEAST WE HOPE SO BECAUSE THAT WOULD SELL A LOT OF PAPERS!" I guess ultimately that's what I read between the (head)lines, and that's what frustrates me.

My heart goes out to the families of the people who have died from the illness, and I would advise workers on poultry farms in infected countries to exercise precaution, but for the rest of us, let's not start panicking until there's something the panic about, ok?

Saw this today...

Dedicated to my Oxford crew:

"...Being British is about driving in a German car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then travelling home, grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV. And the most British thing of all? Suspicion of anything foreign..."

Sad but true

A young man was found guilty of stabbing both his parents to death. Where, of all places? Wiltshire.

Olympic Hockey

I'm actually really glad that Canada got shut out of medal contention in men's hockey at the winter olympics. I think we really ought to put more effort into defining ourselves by our social values rather than sporting achievements. Just my 2 cents though.

And actually, all that said, it's not like I even really believe in nationalism....

Good stuff

After disappointingly scant updates from my fellow bloggers lately, I was treated to not one but TWO great entries that I suggest you spend some time with:

• Suzie's soundtrack to her life
• MP's list of things she likes
  

I may make similar entries in the future, we shall see...

Honestly..

You train your entire life for it, every last bit of your energy is focused on it, finally, your dream comes true and you make it to the olympics, only to be banned because you were insecure about your hairline.

Pardon the language, but honestly, how fucking stupid do you have to be? If you're gonna dedicate your life to something, don't blow it because of some superficial nonsense. It's only hair for pete's sake. This is coming from a guy who's already balding at the age of 23. Lots of people have full and bushy heads of hair. Not many people have olympic medals. I'm much more impressed by the latter.

Then again, it did say that it was banned for being a 'steroid mask' - so it's quite possible he was taking the 'hair-restoration medication' just to hide his juicing. Either way, that's dumb.

A little perspective, please...

According to the CBC, well, I don't know how to summarize, just go scan this story quickly.

Now, to be fair, I am not a parent. I have no capacity to begin to imagine what it must be like to lose a child. I also have no idea what it would be like to discover that said child's brain was not incinerated with the rest of him. However, I don't understand how getting $15,000 from a hospital is going to right this wrong.

Who decides on these values anyways? $15,000 seems like such an arbitrary number. Missing a liver? $7,000. Missing the left arm? $22,000. Again, all my sympathy to the father for losing his son but $15,000 is not going to bring him back to life, and it's going to be taken from an institution that would otherwise be trying to help people. Surely there is a better solution to this conundrum. To me, this story just underlines how we've all become driven by money and really care little for one another.



As a PostScript, to give you a better understanding of my worldview; I guess I've also never really understood the whole 'respect for the dead' thing either. I mean, to me, a body is just a vessel which carries the soul, which is really the 'consistency' of a person - their love and hopes and dreams and fears and personality traits and all of that. So I don't really understand why people venerate the carcass after the true 'person' has departed it. It would be like giving an old car a nice, pretty paint job before taking it to the junkyard - nonsensical. Celebrate the person, not the thing that contained them. Just my 2 pence.

Valentine's Day

meh.

Living the dream

While I certainly don't approve of violence or what this man did by any means (and I do hope he gets prison time for it), I can at least say that I understand where he is coming from.

There were several times when I fantasized about throwing a boiling hot latte in a customers face. Sadly I'm not joking. The difference is, I never *ACTUALLY* did it...

Pure Genius

I thought nothing would ever top Fight Club for my favourite flick of all time. That was, until I found out that they're doing a BOLLYWOOD REMAKE of Fight Club. Surely dancing and musical numbers can only improve on what is already perfection, no?

Follow the link to watch some samples.

My favourite so far is the 3rd one, where, in the midst of the (presumably hindi?) singing, are the english lyrics "You gotta go Fight Club!"

*shudder*

If only they were really like this...

I just stumbled across this video and thought it was worth sharing. It is a speech by Bush which has been extremely well edited to make him sound like he's telling the truth for once :P

I especially like his message to the Iraqi people...

More election reform

Ok, just a quick one before I go to sleep.

The situation: Canadians elect a Conservative Minority government. David Emerson runs in Vancouver as a Liberal. Emerson wins his riding. Days after winning, he is offered a position in the new Conservative cabinet, and accepts, thus defecting to the Conservative party.

If this is 'within the rules,' then what the HELL is the point of having an election? This means that, in theory, couldn't the conservatives (or any party) place a lot of phony candidates within the other parties, have them win their seats, and then give them all cabinet positions in order to bolster their ranks? This could, in theory, change a minority government into a majority. Granted it's a bit of a stretch, but the fact that it's even possible indicates to me that something is clearly wrong with the system.

I'm not saying people shouldn't ever be allowed to change their minds or their political viewpoints during the course of their life, far from it in fact. However, I do feel that defecting to the opposing party mere DAYS after being elected within different party is just plain wrong. Apparently, I'm not alone in this either.

A Boy and His Blob

I made another comic.

because it's more fun than looking for a job.

Enjoy. or don't. i couldn't care less.

Misdirected Anger - The Sequel

WARNING: I am about to expound on two very contentious and controversial issues. It should be known that my opinions are based upon the information that I have, however I am always open to new suggestions and any positive, helpful discussion. If you feel differently than I do, please feel free to leave a comment stating why.


Ok, so first of all, I saw Munich last night. I thought it was an ok film up until the last scene. In it, the Israeli guy who's assassinated a bunch of the Munich kidnappers is talking to his director in Brooklyn in the 1970's. They have the following conversation:

Avner: Did we kill to replace the terrorist leadership, or the Palestinian leadership? You tell me what we've done!
Ephraim: You killed them for the sake of a country you now choose to abandon. The country your mother and father built, that you were born into. You killed them for Munich, for the future, for peace.
Avner: There's no peace at the end of this, no matter what you believe, you know this is true.

Then there's a little bit more about how Avner should go back to Israel, he says no but invites Ephraim over for supper, he declines and they both walk away as the camera pans up to this image:


I know Spielberg (who is an American Jew) claims that he was trying to address both sides of the issue, however by ending with this image, it seems to suggest that Palestinians had something to do with September 11th, or that the Palestine-Israel conflict was somehow the motivation for the attack. This, despite the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi Arabian, and that NONE of them were Palestinian nationals. The only, ONLY connections I can see between the Munich kidnappings and September 11th is that both were carried out by groups of Islam extremists. However, even there, they had different motives and different goals. I suppose it could be argued that the September 11th attackers were angry with the US for supporting Israel, however I think the issue is much larger and more complex than that. By making this tenuous link, Spielberg seems to paint all Arabs with a broad stroke which I am uncomfortable with.


On the other hand, I turn to the protests and riots (which are now killing people) over the Muhammad cartoons originally printed in Denmark and Norway. What baffles me is why people in Muslim countries would boycott Danish brands like Arla, when in fact, Arla has nothing to do with the newspaper that printed the cartoons in the first place. And actually, the only thing they DO have in common is their nationality. Why should they be punished for something in which they had no part contributing? Such behaviour is akin to, oh, I don't know, suggesting that all Arabs are terrorists...

Write what you know.

I had so much fun that I decided to make another one, although I think that's it for today.

[edit] I worked on the speech bubbles so that they now look, well, I wouldn't say 'good,' but at least 'improved' - I embiggened the font as well, for easier-reading purposes [/edit]

A Masterpiece...

...it is not, but it may become the first in a series of cartoons I share with you folks. I'm fairly certain what I'm doing is illegal, but until I hear that for a fact, I'll continue to make some more (notice to copyright holders: let me know if you want these removed - I certainly don't claim any rights to the artwork). As you can tell, my paint shop pro skills are rather feeble, but hopefully they will improve over time. I'll write more about my 'life' later on...for now, enjoy this (click on the thumbnail for the large version)