I’m so sick of this swine flu news that I’m beginning to wonder if CNN and Fox News are overdoing it just to get more Google hits and collect more advertising bucks.

Ugh.

Pardon my frustration, but my first office was one floor above multiple Biosafety Level suites containing the world’s most deadly microbes. So this all out media blitz about a supposed swine flu pandemic makes me laugh out loud a little.

Anyone remember the H5N1 avian flu (bird flu) scare?  How about SARS?

So you will have to forgive me if I dismiss the current hype as overkill while just one of many mutant forms of swine flu (or any other influenza variant) pops up on the CDC’s Emerging Diseases radar.

It’s a virus people… mutating and infecting new hosts is kinda what they do!  Let the CDC do their job and don’t be so fearful of the doom & gloom news.

Quick Tips for Protecting Yourself from Swine Flu

If you really want to protect yourself from Swine Flu, follow a few common sense tips like you would about any other variant of the flu bug.

1. Avoid crowded places.  One of the best things you can do is just stay home.  Hanging out in a large group of people is a surefire way to inhale an airborne pathogen like influenza.  If you’re worried about catching it, use your better judgment and try to avoid places where people congregate.  For example, stay home and watch a DVD instead of going to the movie theater.
2. Wash your hands frequently.  Old fashioned soap and water can significantly reduce your risk of catching or transmitting swine flu, or any other microbial contagion.  Carry a hand sanitizer with an alcohol base if you’re a germ-o-phobe.
3. Don’t touch your eyes or nose.  One of the least talked about methods of catching a cold or the flu is by touching commonly used items (doorknobs, stair handrails, dollar bills), and then rubbing your eyes or scratching your nose.  Use your shirt sleeve or back of your hand if you must scratch an itch.
4. Change seats when someone coughs.  We’ve all been on a plane or shared a cab with someone who looks like death.  Get up and walk away because you’re likely breathing in their saliva in aerosolized form.
5. Take care of your bod.  One of the best ways to cure a disease is to prevent it from gaining a gaining a foothold.  Do some cardio, eat your veggies, drink your OJ, and you’ll be a stronger flu fighting machine for it.

And please don’t hold this personally against the pig.  It’s not their fault their sole purpose in being bred is for a cheap form of protein for us to eat.

As John Travolta would say…

But bacon tastes good.  Pork chops taste good.

And with that, time to share some of my favorite reads from last week.

Best Reads from the PF Blogosphere

Just three states account for more than half of the foreclosure crisis.  Can you guess which ones?

If only every bar would be this recession conscious in their advertising: Spend $20 here and increase your odds of getting some.  The best ads are so simple.

With Obama’s new plan to curb high interest credit card debt, some are (rightly so) beginning to question the government’s true intentions.  I’m having some ambivalence on the issue since I view high rates as a prohibitive feature to keep future debtors away, but also hate the idea that we’ve become a society that depends on big brother to wipe our noses after we pick a fight with the biggest bully on the block.

A concise, well written retort to the National Association of Realtors’ constant hard sell tactics before, during and after the housing bubble.  They should change their motto to “it’s always a good time to buy or sell — since our livelihood depends on you getting sick of your current home.”

If you’re still buying high and selling low, you might want to check your own bad investment behaviors before hitting the sell button.  More appropriately, the sell button should be renamed the panic button in some cases.

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Photo by The Pug Father