It's bad this year. Real bad.

The flu season is getting worse, and U.S. health officials say it's partly because the flu vaccine doesn't protect against most of the spreading flu bugs.

The flu shot is a good match for only about 40 percent of this year's flu viruses, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

The situation has even deteriorated since last week when the CDC said the vaccine was protective against roughly half the circulating strains. In good years, the vaccine can fend off 70 to 90 percent of flu bugs.

Gonna get personal with you people for a moment.

I could have told you that the flu was bad this year. I see a lot of sick people during my day, and I do not work in a hospital. I've actually had two people come in with pneumonia.

They actually stand here, expectorating chunky mists of diseased lung-juice into the air not two feet away from me, and discuss how terrible they feel. And then they have the nerve to expect sympathy instead of a face full of Lysol and my foot up their ass.

A plea:

Please, you pathetic assholes, go the fuck home and stay there.

I'll just be over here washing my hands and passing a torch over every surface you fucking contaminated.

Another tip: if some folks at your place of business insist on coming in when they're sick, do yourself a favor and name the flu after them when it starts spreading around the office.

One place of business I know of did this and it worked pretty well. Sick employees decided to stay home more because they didn't want their workmates bitching for a solid month about being brought low by 'The Lisa Flu.' Or what have you.

/Public Health Advisory

FLAMING COMMENTS UPDATE: This is the problem with posting personalish-ranty stuff. The comments section is now ablaze with people taking sides.
I had no idea this was such a divisive issue.
Just want to reiterate how much I admire and genuinely like all of you and that I hope we can still be friends after it's over, you inconsiderate mucus-spraying humps.

Posted by: LauraW. at 02:50 PM | Comments (163)
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Mike Huckabee (Buffoon-AR) is took the weekend off from campaigning to visit the Caymans and pick up some cash. Get this:

Mr. Huckabee said the matter was simple: He came here because he needed the money.

Yet, when asked how much he received, he suggested that he did not know.

“The speakers’ bureau does it, and I sign a contract, they send it,” Mr. Huckabee said. “I could know it if I dig through my files.”

He added, “There are a lot of different ways in which the expenses and different parts of it are accounted for before I ever get mine; there’s a commission.” Then he added, “It’s not nearly as much as a senator makes in a year.”

You've got to be kidding me. That's the benchmark? A senator's annual salary? I'm hoping that answer was directed at some inane question from a reporter and not something that just occurred to Huckabee at the moment. As if the speaking fee for a single evening with him is even close to the level of a senator's annual salary...perhaps of his competitor former-competitor, John McCain.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 01:05 PM | Comments (14)
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Tom Hanks and HBO have a pretty great track record of working together (From the Earth to the Moon and Band of Brothers). Now add in David McCullough's outstanding book on John Adams and you are talking serious American history geek awesomeness!

I don't have HBO but will be ordering it ahead of the March 16th premiere.

Adams' contribution to the founding of this country doesn't get much play compared to Washington, Jefferson and Franklin but it's hard to imagine how the Revolution would have started or been successfully prosecuted without him.

If you have any interest in the Colonial/Revolutionary period and haven't read McCullough's book, you owe it to yourself to do so. McCullough tells the story through the letters between John and Abigail and captures a wonderful relationship between two people who love each other dearly but spend a large part of their lives separated from each other and at the center of the founding of this nation.

I can't wait to see how Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney bring these two interesting and complex people to life.

Posted by: DrewM. at 01:00 PM | Comments (45)
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Referring to the charges of "plagiarism" being alleged by Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson. I agree and I can't believe how big a deal this is. (For example, it's all over the news and memeorandum.)

Wolfson says that Obama "lifted" the words and ideas of Obama-supporting Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. Patrick responds that he and Obama often exchange ideas. An Obama spokesman counters with this video of Clinton "borrowing" Obama's lines, including "Fired Up and Ready to Go ."

This isn't the type of accusation that actually sways voters; it's more likely just to exacerbate tensions between Obama and Clinton supporters. Wolfson should have thought twice about bringing it up. (Not that I'm complaining. Let them duke it out.) Obama is going to come out looking better than Clinton when it's over, given that Patrick says "we do that all the time" and Obama says "I forgive you, Hillary." It just looks petty.

MORE: Seriously, I'm not sure why Wolfson would even bother talking about this. It's not like they're going to be able to portray Obama as an idiot who couldn't come up with his own stuff. Obama's way too smart for that inference to stick.

Is it possible that Wolfson woke up in the morning, realized that he had nothing negative to say about Obama to the morning press gaggle, and this is the best he could come up with?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 12:52 PM | Comments (33)
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Zimbabwe's inflation rate now qualifies as a tidbit for News Of The Weird.

According to the Central Statistical Office, Zimbabwe's December inflation hit 66,212 percent.

It was almost triple the November inflation rate of 26,741 percent. The higher prices were felt on food and non-alcoholic beverages which zoomed by 79,412 percent on the last month of 2007, versus price increase by 58,493 percent for non-food items.

How does that work, precisely? Say I'm buying a...I don't know...wildebeest hide or some shit. Doesn't the price actually change as I'm paying for it?
That puts a kink in the ancient art of haggling doesn't it?

Buyer: I'll give you twenty three.

Seller: Fifty-eight is the best I can do.

Buyer: (looks at the clock, starts sweating) It has a stain. Seventy-six seems like a fair price for this damaged item.

Seller: That's less than my cost! One hundred and thirty-five, and that is my final offer.

Buyer: Deal?

Seller: I'll be ruined! I need three hundred or my children will starve.

Buyer: GODDAMMIT.

Posted by: LauraW. at 10:52 AM | Comments (69)
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Half hour breakfast meeting in New York on Friday 3 months ago, shit. Seated at a window table for a nice photo op.

Here's a scenario I could really get behind. Hillary steals wins the nomination, Bloomberg decides to spend a bazillion dollars and runs with Obama as an independent!

Heh.

This March 4, I know a certain Texan who is casting a vote for Hillary.

UPDATE: reliapundit says it's old. Really old. That's what I get for listening to a story on Rush and looking for it with my awesome google skills.

This guy apparently heard it too.

So I may yet be vindicated, which won't help cause I'm still a moron.

more: Gabriel found this Armstrong Williams column that splains, but it's still nothing more than a rumor.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 10:39 AM | Comments (19)
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Check out Honey Trapping! A growth field where you get to meet interesting people in casual social settings, flirt with them, and ruin their lives.

Martinez is a "honey trapper" -- or as he likes to call himself, an "integrity tester" -- one of a growing team of private detectives who are hired by wives, husbands or partners to test the loyalty of their loved ones.

"It's growing all the time," he says of his business, the Expedite Detective Agency (www.ex-da.com), which charges 300 pounds ($58 for an integrity test on a potential cheat.

Martinez refutes accusations of marriage-wrecking, arguing that his customers come to him when they are already concerned about their partner's fidelity or when rumors have led them to suspect an affair. But he admits around 80 percent of targets fail the test and turn out to be ready and willing to cheat on a partner.

I'm on the fence here. I guess it's an OK thing to do. But.

No matter what the motive for setting up your mate, the relationship is likely doomed. Either you're being cheated on, or you're a sick control freak who shouldn't be with that wonderful person who can't be induced to stray by a professional flirt.

At least they aren't sabotaging ordinary guys or gals with model-hot bait. They try to match the attractiveness of the Trapper to the Trappee. Which seems fair...er. I guess.

Posted by: LauraW. at 10:19 AM | Comments (47)
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A Phillie (Mike Kendrick) is told he's being traded to Japan.

Not super-funny, but the look on his face throughout this is pretty good.

Thanks to DavidR.

Posted by: Ace at 09:11 AM | Comments (4)
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Bush says the US will recognize them. France has followed suit (followers! hah).

Unsurprisingly other nations who have their own separatist problems (Russia, Spain) have protested along with Serbia.

And commenter Sobek declares their new flag to be butt-ugly.

Indeed.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 07:54 AM | Comments (84)
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Box office surprise? Jumper is on top of the box office, having made $27 million this weekend. It got only 15% fresh rating over at rottentomatoes.com, but I saw it anyway on Friday and liked it. Of course, I wasn't operating under the false impression of several negative reviewers who seem to have thought that it was a superhero movie (I read the book when I was a kid).

I'm not doing a full-blown review because there's just not that much buzz about it. I will say that the characters seem real, although not especially likeable; the location filming is gorgeous, though always too brief; and the story is good, but incomplete. This is clearly a set-up for a sequel and it leaves several important elements unresolved, especially the main character's movement from all-around douchebag to good guy. Probably the most noteworthy part of the film, aside from its simple but compelling premise, is its special effects. There's no overstated CGI in this one, but the makers found a way to turn the straightforward mechanic of teleportation into several gasp-worthy moments.

A glance at the other films out right now leads me to believe that Fox picked the right weekend to release this movie. Jumper's nearest competitor at almost $20 million was Step Up 2. To the frustration of many who dislike its pretentious dialogue or teen pregnancy story, Juno remains in the top ten in its eleventh week of release.

So, what did you guys do this weekend? And if you could teleport anywhere on Earth at will, where would you go and what would you do?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:52 PM | Comments (63)
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