Has the swine flu story been overblown?

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Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you have been bombarded with news coverage of the swine flu for several days now. And when the World Health Organization raised its pandemic alert to the second highest level — of 5 — yesterday, the media couldn’t get enough of it. After all, this stuff sells newspapers and gets ratings. But when you take a look at the numbers, it seems like the story might be overblown…

The WHO has confirmed 257 cases of swine flu worldwide. 97 cases in Mexico, with seven deaths. Mexican officials have reported much higher numbers — 2,500 cases and more than 150 deaths — but those numbers haven’t been confirmed. In the U.S., the WHO says there are 109 confirmed cases with 1 death. Out of a population of more than 300 million people, that hardly seems to be cause for alarm.

And scientists who are studying the virus say this strain of influenza doesn’t look as deadly as strains that have caused previous pandemics. In fact, some suggest that the current form of the swine flu virus may not even do as much damage as the regular flu.

More than 13,000 people in the U.S. have died of complications from seasonal flu since January; and it’s expected to continue killing hundreds of people a week. In total, about 36,000 people a year die from the flu in this country; and worldwide, the annual death toll is somewhere between 250,000 and 500,000.

One scientist tells the Los Angeles Times that just because the swine flu is being identified in more countries doesn’t mean it’s spreading especially quickly, saying: “You don’t ever find anything that you don’t look for.”

Cafferty File: Tell Jack how you really feel Blog Archive – Has swine flu story been overblown? « – Blogs from CNN.com.

30
Apr 2009
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First of the Month

bone thugsWell tomorrow is indeed the 1st of May and the checks should start rollin’ in. :p

Bone Thugs-n-Harmony is an American hip hop group from the Glenville section of Cleveland, Ohio. They are best known for their fast-paced, aggressive rapping style and harmonizing vocals. The group was mainly produced by Los Angeles producer, DJ U-Neek. In 1997, the group was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance with their song “Tha Crossroads” from their E 1999 Eternal album. Since its conception in the early 1990s the group has been honored with numerous other awards. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony also collaborated with 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., Big Pun, and Eazy-E while they were still alive.

Here is the song of the week…

[Birds singin', snorin', roster crowin', and an alarm clock]

[Chorus: Layzie & Bizzy (repeat 4x)]

Wake up, wake up, wake up it’s the 1st of the month
To get up, get up, get up so cash your checks and get up

[Krayzie]
Hey my nigga we havin’ a wonderful day and I won’t fuck with me. Why?
‘Cause it’s the 1st of the month and now we smokin’, chokin’, rollin’ blunts
And sippin’ on 40 ounces thuggin’ come come we got the blessed rum
From jumpin’ all nights we high
Hit up the block to where? East 99
I get with my nigga to get me some yayo
Double up nigga what you need?
We got weed to get P.O.Ded
Fiend for the green leaves
Give it up it’s the foe sure you better lay low
Cause the po-po creep when they roll slow
If you can’t get away better toss that yayo
Keep your bankroll
Yeah we havin’ a celebration, I love to stay high
And you better believe when it’s time to grind
I’m down for mine crime after crime
Fin to creep to the pad cause mom’s got grub on the grill
If we got the food, you know it’s the 1st of the month
and my nigga we chills foe real

[Chorus 4x]

[Bizzy]
Wake up and I see that my sister is already dressed
She said “I’m gonna run and go get my stamps
Watch and make sure no one snatches my check” nigga that’s the mailman
Sort through the mail and put it up in-a me pocket
So I be hittin’ the 99 to get me a dub
Foe forty bucks but ain’t nobody ride that rita
Hop on the 10 to the click
Ready to get ‘em up with-a me thugs
And to cash that dum
I gotta get paid play player holla holla
Saint Claire got much to offer
Whether it be weed on 93
Or off on the glock glock for some dollars, so
Get a bag of dope and a quarter roll, oh
Most all of my niggas got the same, and we gonna roll it all up to smoke
Hittin’ that reefer hydro, you know the cut, so fuck them po-po
Toss all that yayo, and we’re gonna say no
Runnin’ through the alley and into the melee
Up on the second the sundown
Those run from January,November,December remember the 1st of the month

[Chorus 4x]

[Wish]
It’s the 1st of the month
Gotta grind gotta get mine
In the hood that I claim
I slang on that double 9-9
Gotta find them dubs
Gonna get a forty, can a thug get love?
What’s up?
Try to stand on my corner
Nigga you’z a gonna Saint Claire niggas don’t like that
And sellin’ them dummies makin’ that money come back nigga get pap pap
From the 1st to the 15th niggas smoke plenty weed
But I gotta save gotta come up
Put my rocks on the cut
When I get high nigga blaze that blunt, huh
Time to roll to the pad
Count up my profits and add it to the stash
Gotta watch my back see for niggas that’s tryin’ to rob me, fool
But never no shorts no losses
Dumpin’ keepin’ this niggas up off me see
Gotta search the whole block
Spend a couple of bills
Thugs smoke a lot of weed on the 1st

[Chorus 2x]

[Layzie (Krayzie)]
Wakin’ up feelin’ buzzed off up early mornin’ stretchin’
I’m yawnin’ lightweight bent chugga lugga take a fifth to the dome
Instead I kick it with my trues
But it’s the 1st so I’m getting my hustle on
Hop on the phone, calling up Krayzie Bone
Wanna know did you O.G check come? (She put me down)
I’m a hop on the bus with Biz (Yo Brother let’s get drunk)
And I’m coming with blunt after blunt
Of this skunk
Nigga T just put me down
Oh God how I love when the 1st come around
Now I’m feelin’ black and mild, headed cross town
‘Cause niggas the 1st to get celebrated
Rushin’ to the block cause I wanna get faded
Lookin’ all wild cause I’m getting me hair braided
We heavy off into this game
True to the 1st just call me that pro slang
Them nickels and dimes and 20′s and 50′s
The 1st be the day for the dopeman
Slangin’ that cocaine fool, and I’m working late tonight
And all them fiends be lovin’ them thugs
‘Cause I got them rocks for them pipes
Come come with them ends
I gotta get paid on the 1st, gotta blaze up my spliff
Get live with the Bone Thugs, Poetic Hustlers in the graveyard shift
On the 1st

(chorus 7xs)

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Apr 2009
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10 Things Rednecks Can Do To Help The Environment.

RedneckSo here is a plan for rednecks to help out on Earth Day.
 
#1 – Save water. If she’s brown, flush her down.  If she’s yellow, let it mellow.

#2 – Don’t peel out at every stop sign, save some gas and cut down on emissions for once.

#3 – Newspaper is not a great alternative to toilet paper. Recycle it instead.

#4 – Save electricity. There is no need to have the race on tv, listening to the radio, having the fan blow on your feet and playing playstation all at the same time.

#5 – That pyramid of beer cans is worth money. Recycle them.

#6 – Keep the environment clean.  Spitting your tobacco out everywhere and spilling oil in the lake is no longer the “cool thing to do”.

#7 – Get a muffler.  Having the loudest truck on the block is not more important that cutting down on emissions.

#8 – Prevent energy leaks at home.  Maybe its time to get a door on your trailer instead of the plastic tarp.

#9 – There are no such thing as monsters. When you leave a room, turn off the lights.

#10 – If and when you do decide to shower, take shorter showers.

———————————————

Earth-day-final-714896Earth Day, celebrated April 22, is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970 and is celebrated in many countries every year. This date is Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.

The United Nations celebrates an Earth Day each year on the March equinox, which is often March 20, a tradition which was founded by peace activist John McConnell in 1969.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Replenish and Restore this Earth Day EVERYDAY!

22
Apr 2009
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Automagically Post to Facebook and Twitter

magic_hat_kzmrKinda cool.  I found a couple of wordpress plugins that update my facebook profile as well as my new twitter account with just one post from my wordpress blog.

Lazy? Yes, but its really easy to update 3 different places all at once.

Here is the info if you would like to do the same:

WordPress to Facebook

WordBook
This plugin allows you to cross-post your blog posts to your Facebook Wall. Your Facebook “Boxes” tab will show your most recent blog posts.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordbook/

(you will also have to allow this in facebook with an application)

WordPress to Twitter

Twitter Updater
The Twitter Updater automatically sends a Twitter status update to your Twitter account when you create, publish, or edit your WordPress post. You can specify the text for the updates, and also have the option to turn the auto update on/off for the different post actions in the admin panel.

http://blog.victoriac.net/blog/twitter-updater/

Thats it. Just install the plugins into your wordpress admin and post away.  FYI, the Twitter Updater settings in the latest 2.7.1 version of wordpress can be found under the “Tools” tab…took me a bit to find it.

17
Apr 2009
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John Madden to Retire

johnmadden-small1Dang.  Football will not be the same!  There is something that time of year when a game is on and you here Madden’s voice.  Something that says hey its Fall and time to watch some good football.

Legendary football coach and broadcaster John Madden is retiring, he announced Thursday.
John Madden appears at the TV Critics Association Press Tour in Beverly Hills, California, in 2008.

John Madden appears at the TV Critics Association Press Tour in Beverly Hills, California, in 2008.

“It’s been such a great ride … the NFL has been my life for more than 40 years, it has been my passion — it still is,” he said in a statement released by NBC Sports.

Madden, 73, was a Hall of Fame coach for the Oakland Raiders, but is best known to millions as an ebullient football commentator.

He won 16 Emmy awards for outstanding sports analyst/personality, NBC said.

Football legend John Madden to retire – CNN.com.

16
Apr 2009
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How to be Annoying

NerdThe other day, my wife said I was annoying because I keep doing the same thing over and over.  I must admit that I do keep doing the same thing over and over, so I turned to the web to help step up my game.

Here are some tips that I found on how to be annoying:

Adjust the tint on your TV so that all the people are green, and insist to others that you “like it that way.”

Drum on every available surface.

Sing the Batman theme constantly.

Staple papers in the middle of the page.

Ask 1-800 operators for their home phone number. If they don’t give it to you ask why they are calling YOU at home.

Sew department store anti-theft detector strips into people’s backpacks.

Write the surprise ending to a novel on its first page.

Set alarms for random times.

Honk and wave to strangers.

Dress only in clothes colored Hunter’s Orange.

Change channels five minutes before the end of every show.

Tape pieces of “Sweating to the Oldies” over climactic parts of rental movies.

Decline to be seated at a restaurant, and simply eat their complementary mints by the cash register. lol.

ONLY TYPE IN UPPERCASE.

Pay for your dinner with pennies.

Repeat everything someone says, as a question.

Wander around the restaurant, asking other diners for their parsley.

Push all the flat Lego pieces together tightly.

At the laundry mat, use one dryer for each of your socks.

As much as possible, skip rather than walk.

Stand over someone’s shoulder, mumbling, as they read.

Leave your turn signal on for fifty miles.

Pretend your mouse is a CB radio, and talk to it.

Name your dog “Dog.”

Ask people what gender they are.

Reply to everything someone says with “That’s what YOU think.”

Lick the filling out of all the Oreos, and place the cookie parts back in the tray.

Forget the punch line to a long joke, but assure the listener it was a “real hoot”.

Follow a few paces behind someone, spraying everything they touch with a can of Lysol.

While making presentations, occasionally bob your head like a parakeet.

Make beeping noises when a large person backs up.

Leave your Christmas lights up and lit until September.

Sit in your front yard pointing a hair dryer at passing cars to see if they slow down.

Mow your lawn with scissors.

At a golf tournament, chant “swing-batatatatatata-suhWING-batter!”

Do not add any inflection to the end of your sentences, producing awkward silences with the impression that you’ll be saying more any moment.

Never make eye contact.

Shout random numbers while someone is counting.

Make appointments for the 31st of November.

15
Apr 2009
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Mito, Your Membership Has been Accepted

18It came down to two, Mito vs Blue. On last night’s show of From G’s to Gents, Mito took the grand prize.  I’ve always like this guy but I have always liked Blue as well so it was exciting to finally see who was going to win.

I personally feel that Blue was more deserving for first place as Mito just seems like he can sell himself enough in the real world to be very successfull.  I just thought that Blue could use the cash a little bit more.

14There were actually two winners last night as Mr. Bently awarded Blue with 1 year of housing, a Gentlemens club blazer and some extra cash to help out with.  Kind of cool to see the two of my favorites walk away with something.

There were two wrap-ups after the show and I didn’t get to catch the reunion yet.  I wanted to see what freaky Riff Raff and Fahim had to say…they were the worst of the worst and added some comic relief to the show.

So, congrats to both Mito and Blue and can’t wait to catch From G’s to Gents Season 3 next year.

15
Apr 2009
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