I just thought this was an odd bit of media scaremongering.

Wow. 189 dead and one million infected. That’s a mortality rate of 0.019% (as compared to the morality rate of normal flu: 0.1%.) Yeah, yeah, I know – mortality trails infection rates.

And just to clear things up:

GENEVA — The World Health Organization says tests on swine flu samples from Ukraine show no significant mutation of the virus.

WHO had sent an expert team to Ukraine last week after reports of an unusual flu outbreak.

AP: WHO says swine flu samples from Ukraine showed no significant mutation

To me, seals look like dogs that have evolved to live in the oceans.

On a related note, this is a very cool National Geographic documentary on Dolphins. They talk about dolphin society and pack hunting. (55 minutes long)
http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/dolphins_the_wild_side/

My ex-girlfriend truly believes 2012 is the end of the world. She bet me 50 dollars that the world would end in 2012. I explained to her if the world is going to end, then there’s no way I could pay her. I either win the bet, or we’re all dead. With a frustrated look on her face, she doubled the bet to 100 dollars.
-Thomas, UCSD

[Via]

Nothing to do with anything, just a cool video of a bus ride through a forest fire in Australia.

I’ve been listening to John Hummel’s 52 Weeks, 52 Religions podcast lately. He’s a former Mormon who’s out doing interviews with religious groups around Tampa Florida. About half of his interviews are with various Christian denominations, but he includes Muslims, Jews, Satanists, Pagans, etc in his podcast. It’s interesting stuff if you like hearing people talk about their religious beliefs.

One of the questions that he asks people during the interview is: “do you think the world is getting better, worse, or is it just as it’s always been?” One thing that’s struck me is that virtually every Christian group says that the world is getting worse. Most non-Christian groups seem to pick “better” or “same as always”. It’s remarkably pessimistic of Christians. Afterall, the human condition – in terms of education, health, lifespan, free-time, entertainment, etc – is far better in modern times than it has ever been in history. It seems that the Christian groups don’t really care about those things so much as being completely focused on people following their conservative version of morality and belief in Christianity. I suppose it could also have to do with Christian eschatology – since they believe the world will go to shit before Jesus returns.

His website is available here. The podcast only contains the last 10 episodes, but they’re all available on his blog.

Sadly, I don’t think this is too far from reality:

WASHINGTON—Claiming that the president was preying on the public’s fear of contracting a fatal disease last week when he declared the H1N1 virus a national emergency, Republican leaders announced Wednesday that they were officially endorsing the swine flu. “Thousands of Americans—hardworking ordinary Americans like you and me—already have H1N1,” Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said during a press conference. “Now Obama wants to take that away from us. Ask yourself: Do you want the federal government making these kinds of health care decisions for you and your family?” Other prominent Republicans opposing Obama’s declaration of emergency include Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, who urged residents of his state to continue not washing their hands, and radio host Rush Limbaugh, who made a point of dying of the virus during his show on Wednesday.

Source: The Onion

Years ago, Colorado was one of fourteen states that had voted to legalize medical marijuana. The problem was that the federal government still said it was illegal, leaving it in a legal limbo. With Obama’s recent comment about letting state laws stand, there’s been a kind of gold rush. I don’t know how it’s been in other parts of the country, but the free newspapers have been filled with medical marijuana advertisements. I’ve even seen advertisements taped to newspaper machines. You know — just like other respectable medical treatments.

Personally, I don’t care if marijuana is legalized. But, I think it’s rather amusing to see all these places spring up. It seems like most of them are being run by subscribers to ‘High Times’ magazine. A friend of mine saw one place named “Dr. Reefer”. Here’s a few images from a real ad I spotted in The Onion. They’re obviously not going out of their way to seem like a respectable medical treatment.

Medical Marijuana for Asthma, ADD, ADHD, or PMS? And, if you don’t have any of those 23 problems, maybe they can find an illness that does require it.

This is an old story, but I just heard about it. Catholic League president Bill Donohue issued a press release back in 2006, condemning Jessica Delfino for her sacrilegious musical comedy. As far as I can tell, she’s a relatively obscure New York comic, but Bill likes to complain. From the press release:

“Jessica Delfino is taking her ‘Merry [Shitmas] Tour’ on the road. Described as ‘rife with Christmas-themed debauchery,’ Delfino worked last night in New York City, appears in Washington, D.C. tomorrow and travels to South Durham, North Carolina on Thursday. Her performance includes the showing of an obscenely-titled video banned from YouTube that features her rapping about her vagina, complete with obscene pictures flashing in the background. Rapping about her genitals, she sings, ‘it will become your true religion.’

“None of this is without malice. And at a time when radical Muslims are accusing Americans of harboring a depraved understanding of liberty, it only provides ammunition to the enemy.”(Link)

Yes, she’s hardening the opinions of Muslim terrorists. (Assuming, of course, that they are even aware of her existence, and can understand English well enough to know that she’s singing about her vagina.) I wonder if Bill Donohue knows that Muslim terrorists had a plan to kill the pope. I guess even the Pope isn’t good enough to placate the terrorists. On second thought, he is a blasphemer against God for believing in the trinity. A Jessica Delfino video:

A related video where the comedian Louis C.K. talks to Bill Donohue about the press release Donohue wrote about his show, Lucky Louie.

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/victim_in_fatal_car_accident

[Update: As Bourgeois_Rage points out, this seems to be a hoax letter sent to a newspaper.]