SWINE FLU: WE HAS IT

H1N1: Now available in Hong Kong.

Bad: They've sealed off the Metropark Hotel in Wan Chai where the guy was staying.

Good: The Cheung Chau Bun Festival tomorrow is still go!

So ... Am I worried? No. Here's why.

For those of you who don’t know, I was here when SARS broke out six years ago. It killed 299 people in this city alone and another 475 worldwide.

However ...

From what I can tell, H1N1 isn’t quite the nasty piece of work that SARS is. The SARS mortality rate was 9.6%. The H1N1 isn't anywhere close to that. At least not yet. So comparatively, I’m not all that concerned. So far.

Theoretically, I should be more concerned that Margaret Chan, who was our minister of health back then and got a lot of flak for how she handled the SARS crisis (i.e. too calmly), is now in charge of WHO.

And she seems rather calm, doesn’t she?

Still, what do you want – ZOMG hysterics like this?

Or perhaps the "Mexican Wetback Bioterrorism" theory?

Or the "Michele Bachmann Democrat Coincidence" theory?

I prefer the “Don’t Panic” approach, thanks.

I feel fine,

This is dF

THE ONLY PIECE OF CLOTHING YOU’LL EVER NEED

[Via Percy Trout (link is NSFW)]

Designed with yr desires in mind,

This is dF

WELCOME TO THE WORKING WEEK, PART 2: NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT

In times like these, with unemployment on the rise and layoffs everywhere, a lot of people are probably finding themselves forced to go back to the kind of minimum wage jobs they used to do in high school just to get by until the Big Companies start hiring again.

Which must be tough, because most of us spend our lives trying to escape low-paying dead-end jobs where the only thing to look forward to besides the paycheck is getting off work, so who wants to go back to that lifestyle?

Still, if yr in that situation, if it’s any consolation, Tom Waits knows how you feel. And he’s the only songwriter I know who can actually make it sound romantic.

For proof, here’s “I Can't Wait To Get Off Work (And See My Baby on Montgomery Avenue)”.

WARNING: Recorded in 1977, as you’ll be able to tell from the audience shots.

It's hard to be romantic sweeping up over by the cigarette machine,

This is dF