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Polish pianist stops show with anti-US tirade

Obama insisted the shield was part of a defensive posture against Iran, not Russia, and that he intended to remove it as soon as the threat from Iran subsided. But many Poles have accused the US of wanting to mount a military occupation of their country, and fear the shield could make them a target of Russian aggression.

Seriously? What do they have that we want? I mean, I can come up with nothing worthwhile in Poland that would make us go to the trouble of mounting a military occupation.

Though go, pianist dude:

Shortly after 9/11, his piano was confiscated by customs officials at New York's JFK airport, who thought the glue smelled funny. They subsequently destroyed the instrument.

Holy shit, I'd be pissed too. That was probably in the hundreds of thousands of dollars we're talking here.

Oh, and the ideological stuff was on, as well. But the piano!

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"A vaccine was used to protect humans from a version of swine flu in the US in 1976. However, it caused serious side effects, including an estimated 500 cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome. There were more deaths from the vaccine than the outbreak."
Health Q&A: What is Swine Flu

This? Why I've never gotten a flu shot. I've never seen numbers before, though, I just thought it was a mild possibility and that in my non-immunocompromised situation, sucking it up with the flu for two weeks was better than any chance at something like that. Really puts it into perspective.

Man, thank god it's nearly summer here, though. Schools will start closing for break soon, which will mitigate any danger if we decide to close them in certain places. Personally, I think that if they do start closing things, colleges should be the first to do so (and not just because I'm at one). Most of them will be done in the next few weeks anyway, but you're in even closer contact than with school-aged kids because of the dorms. You might not have as fragile an immune system (though approaching finals time, I'd bet poor nutrition + no sleep puts us all close), but if it spreads, it'd spread fast. Dining halls? They're hardly the most sanitary of places. I have no illusions that people don't pick up two forks and then put one back, things like that. We would all die lickety split.

A totally random thing because I was looking at the grocery ad online: why do they say "Advertised special" in the advertisement? Aren't they all, by definition, if they're in there, advertised specials?

Some more Swine Flu talk.

WHO to stop using term 'swine flu' to protect pigs after Egypt started slaughtering all of theirs yesterday. Seriously, guys, are you really that stupid that you wouldn't, idk, ask somebody first if the pigs were actually dangerous? Rather sad, however, is that it's a pretty blatantly racist move. Who is hurt by their mass slaughter? The farmers, yes, and the Christians. Most of Egypt doesn't eat pork. Do you think that if they did, they would have been so hasty?

But WHO? I think that ship has sailed. Influenza A just doesn't have that porcine ring to it.

They're even trying to make a big deal about some White House staffer who, along with his family, all have it. Seriously, guys, it's just a different type of flu. It's weird that it's spreading all crazy like, but unless there's something else going on with your immune system, it's just going to make you feel like dying. Last theory I heard (possibly in a practitioners' update from the NIH?) was that there was some other virus in that town in Mexico where all the deaths happened that was synergistically making them more susceptible to the flu.