global warming

We homo sapiens tend to think that our opposable thumbs give us dominion over the Earth - and honestly, the fact that we have the capacity to pass along vast quantities of information from generation to generation through written communication is extraordinary. Yet, if the living beings on planet Earth formed a democracy, there is no doubt in my mind that homo sapiens would be a minority. It's possible that the bacteria, viruses and insects might lobby for us - and they are powerful lobbies. Dead species can't vote, so we have it pretty easy there as well.

Everyone's freaking out over the Swine Flu - enough so that even the global minority that use Twitter have misinformed the general public. Out of boredom, I started a rumor about a fish flu amongst some gullible people - because I find the whole pandemic fear somewhat funny. And this is where I explain myself.

First, starting a 'Manicou Flu' rumor would have only localized it to Trinidad and Tobago. Second, we've already have Creutzfeld-Jakob (Mad Cow Disease) scares - when there are no documented cases of humans getting it. The Avian Flu comes along - SARS, was it - and people freaked out. There went the turkey and chicken. Now Swine Flu - something that I'm surprised some angry feministas aren't screaming bloody murder about because of the obvious sexist slant to the disease o' piggy.

Step back a moment, freaks. The 'Swine Flu' is a strain of influenza. And guess what? People die of influenza - aka, 'The Flu', every year. A lot do. For example:

...During a typical year in the United States, 30,000 to 50,000 persons die as a result of influenza viral infection. Frequently cited numbers are 20,000 deaths each year, and 37,000 annual deaths. About 5-10% of hospitalizations for influenza lead to fatal outcome in adults...