A Brief Guide on the Swine Flu

Hey everyone, I've written a brief guide to the Swine Flu for Associated Content, and I would appreciate it if you took a look! Thanks!

The Mexican Swine Flu Outbreak: A Threat to your Health?

Sir's Random Dashes of Inspiration - Fromager's Tribulations (Part 5)

Oh my god, guys! It's the last part! Hopefully you've read this from the beginning (I'm quite amazed that you haven't died from a heart attack yet, zorlone) and you'll enjoy this... uh... "creative" ending.

Our friends then entered Patrick’s room… “What are you doing in my room?!?” asked the latter, in his grinding voice, while he threw the piece of cheddar he was nibbling on in a basket made of cheese.”We’ve come to end your reign of tyranny and cheesiness, Patrick!” replied Jordan. ”That’s right, you fat, evil man!” added John quite obnoxiously. So our heroes and our antagonist clashed in a mighty battle… which lasted 20 seconds. As fat and slow as Patrick was, he only managed to crawl over to John’s foot and let his floppy arms fall upon it, inflicting minor bruises to himself, as Jordan was reciting a magical spell and John was cowering before Patrick’s mighty blubber. As soon as the spell was ready, Jordan let loose his inner might. A flash of light occurred and all you could then see was a giant scissor-shaped angel with a mighty hammer. It was Jordon, the true form of Jordan! The mighty, heavenly scissorsmith. His hammer descended upon Patrick’s frightened face and hit his hat really softly. Millions of tiny scissorlings exited the head of the hammer and proceeded to trim Patrick’s scraggly beard into friendly mutton chops. Cut off from his beard, and thus from his power, Patrick fell in a coma.

Many thanks yet again to our anonymous Googled Benefactor.

"Don't Forget the Scenery" by G.

Imagine a family of four on a road trip that goes for about a thousand miles. The dad is driving, the mom is sleeping, and the kids are plugged in to a mp3 player or watching some movie. While their minds are all contained to the car, the scenery that lies outside will never enter their memories. You could always go driving, you could always take a nap, and your electronic devices aren't going to take a vacation in the Bahamas. But the landscape they travel through isn't a common sight. In their rush to reach their destination, they miss the little things among the road. Sadly, that's the kind of life most of us have been reduced to these days. But whether this is out of necessity or of ambition, we need to realize that a life of just surviving is no life at all.

Times are tough; I don't need to elaborate on that. But I also know this; if we don't take a little time to appreciate the little things that we got now, we might not get that chance later on. The one thing that can't get taken from you is what you hold in your head; it's the world's most secure safe for the time being. In our most dire hour, it's a real comfort to travel back and envelop ourselves in the warmth of good memories. It doesn't even have to be something spectacular; just remembering a sunset or a peaceful brook gives you a calm mental retreat in a world of chaos. But my main point; no matter how much you get caught up in your ambitions, or how hard your working to stand on your own two feet and survive, not looking out at the scenery once in while makes for a hollow and empty mind. Don't let potentially good things pass you by on your journeys. Regret is a feeling that is very hard to soothe.

Sir's Random Dashes of Inspiration - Fromager's Tribulations (Part 4)

Sorry for being so late! Don't really have an excuse except my crappy memory.
On to the story! (Now with 35% more magic and awesome!)

When they arrived in front of the gigantic, black, and crooked tower, they could just gasp, awed by its awesomeness. Of course, it was imposing, but not too imposing for our heroes, who proceeded to enter it. As they entered, they could see the multitude of traps laid there for visitors. After a couple of hours, traps, fake pennies and little cuts, our friends got through. Of course, there just had to be a big magical door blocking the way at the end.
“What are the magical words?” asked the door.
John proceeded to reply: “Err… please and thank you?”As John was contemplating the sense of his answers, the door threw a bunch of rocks (Hey, it’s a magical door, remember?) at our heroes. John quickly proceeded to fall face-first on the floor, to avoid his rock as Jordan round-house kicked the rest to oblivion.All except one… The One Rock To Rule Them All. Except it just kept going and killed the janitor that was looking at the scene.”No, you moron! It’s open sesame!” yelled Jordan.
The door opened, but not before it could throw another rock at John’s manhood (Don’t worry, he also has a magically enhanced jock-strap).

Thank you, anonymous googled benefactor, for this piece of awesome.

Sir's Random Dashes of Inspiration - Fromager's Tribulations (Part 3)

As he arrived in the fields, John could see armies, wait, what am I saying? He could see hordes of mice running towards a far away building with cheese on their backs! It was obvious John should act… at least to feed himself. So he decided to take a stick and poke a mouse with it. Of course, his results hurt the mouse and got him all the attention in the world. As soon as he did so, the mouse released a piercing howl (don’t ask me how it did it), which alerted every other mice in a large radius. The mice were all looking at John, and John was looking at the mice, as Jordan was looking at the sky’s pale blue color. Suddenly, the mice started attacking John, who threw Jordan at them in desperate defence. Before he could even realize it, all the mice were laying flat. “How did you do that?” asked he Jordan.
- Eh, well, a magical pair of scissors has its benefits…
- Whatever you say…
Our heroes then crossed the field…

This one's also from Google.

"The Art of Perfection" by G.

Sorry for my recent absence; work, computer trouble, etc has kept me away from here for awhile. But I'm here now, so I hope you enjoy this small snippet of thought.

When I speak of perfection, I don't mean to be perfect overall. That would be ridiculous, and in my opinion it would make life utterly boring. Perfection is an art; a process you go through to master a skill or talent. Some of us strive for this; ache for it. Some look at it like it's some kind of disease; one that forces you to work endlessly after a goal that always seems to be just out of reach. But the best and brightest, they aren't born with it, no matter how easy they make it look. Maybe they have a affinity to something, sure. Some kind of aptitude, fine. But there is no bypassing the journey to get there. They practiced, practiced, practiced; gave all they could give until their skill was no longer a skill. Until their talent became easier than breathing. That's perfection. Because even if you don't make it to the mountain summit, the climb to the top has already transformed you, and no one can take that away from you.

We have a very unique ability to learn. But it dosen't just end there. Because we can refine what we learn. You can embrace a skill and talent as your own. People sometimes think that a hobby or skill is something that we simply hold in our brain. But the master of a craft knows better. He's made an almost spiritual connection to his talent. Because of this, he'll always be more skilled. Practice brings experience; experience you will never learn from a textbook. Everyone starts somewhere; all those celebrities on television, famous authors, heroes, and those who are simply damn good at what they do. But what worked for another person won't necessarily work for you. You have to find your own way to the top; a path unique to you.

This is perfection; the journey to connect with your talent until it becomes a part of you that is impossible to replace. So to all you aspiring writers, athletes, computer wizards, lawyers, doctors; hop to it.

Thanks for reading! Always like a good comment, so fire away.

Sir's Random Dashes of Inspiration - Fromager's Tribulations (Part 2)

As he stepped outside of his house, John saw an old lady stuck under a horse. Intrigued by the elder’s position, he decided to go and help her, after hearing her pleading: “Help! Help me! You look strong, young man, please come on over and get this horse off of me!”. As John was a brave, young man, he lifted the fallen horse with his strong arms, thus freeing the old lady. “Thank you, mighty hero!” she said. “It is now my duty to help you back… See that field over there? And that little spot in the distance? That’s Patrick’s tower… You should find him there.”
- Alright… but, how did you get under that horse…?
- Ugh… long story. Well, I was going through the city with my son, when the horse got scared and ran away… of course it didn’t take long for it to fall over me. My son, as the coward he is, preferred to flee and leave me to die.
- Uh… hold on a second… grandma, is that you? You know, dad told you like 5 days ago that this horse was a fake… look, it’s made of linen and yarn!
- Oh… right… well… Get out of my way, brigand!

And thus his grandmother ran away. But, she managed to doodle something for him before going on her senile rampage! John picked the map and made his way towards the fields of impending-immediate-and-not-so-far-away doom.


This one was taken from Google.

"Being Biased" by G.

When I hear someone say that another person's opinion is "biased", I give a quiet chuckle. I mean, how can someone not be biased? I'm sure I'm biased in some shape or form; the life I've lived and the experiences I've etched into the farthest corners of my brain effect who I am whether I like it or not. Obviously it isn't a good thing to be biased; your cutting off your mind from potentially useful and interesting ideas. But it seems to be in our nature. So dear reader, how should be approach this?

One of our ultimate goals should be to view everything through a lens that is unprejudiced. But this is the kind of glowing, flowery statement that sounds good, but is very difficult to follow through with. Think about what "bias" is; your actions and thoughts being influenced by a prejudged perspective. Is a prejudged perspective always bad? Being honorable, trustworthy, even having a strong sense of right and wrong; those are all prejudged no? A morally upstanding person would think that a thief deserves to go to prison, yet the thief might have just been trying to support his family, no matter the cost. There is no shame in being biased, because we are all a product of our experiences. What's "right" to you or me isn't the same to another person.

This isn't meant to give permission to have everyone run rampant with their biases. No. What I do mean is that being biased is a normal thing; it bears good and bad fruit. A cop who holds justice in high regard is, in a way, just as biased as a racist or a sexist. They all are being guided by whatever perspective they have molded in their lives thus far. So to go back to the question I asked earlier; how should we approach this? By going beyond our natural instincts. You would be surprised what you discover when you look at new things with no expectations. Want to be a better person? Simply experience life without prejudging what the future will hold. It's a tough thing to do; bias is something that is very deeply integrated into our minds. But trust me when I say, it's definitly worth it. So tell me, what's your take on bias?