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::dies and iz ded::

I probably missed your postings about it, but how is your vision these days, tommyrot? Is there a lot of permanent damage?

I haven't mentioned it recently. Coincidentally, I just got back from the ophthalmologist. He sounded a bit more pessimistic - he said that the eye is about the same as it was three weeks ago. He also said that there will be permanent vision loss (before it was "probably") and that "hopefully" it will improve over what it is now. Thanks for asking....

ION, I think I finally learned how to spell 'ophthalmologist,' although I remain suspicious of that first 'h.'

Definitely there are different benefits of all kinds if some people are part of a union and others aren't. Not sure why else they would do it, but it's not beyond the realm of my imagination.

The union thing is interesting. I'm trying to convince a dense associate that in a class action brought by people who invested in the company's retirement plans, if no one mentions more than one 401k plan, that's because there aren't any more. Her position is that we only have to look for documents about the "[company name]-[company subsidiary] 401k plan" not 401k plans in general. I guess she thinks there's lots of them around and the class action people are only interested in just the one. Uh, no.

So far behind...

re: Henson. An artsy friend told me that puppeteers are (or were) particularly susceptable to respiratory infections and problems. They spent a lot of time carving up bits of foam & using weird materials and glues -- it's like inhaling fiberglass for a few years.

I don't think concern about avian flu has any bearing on whether or not you should get a flu shot. I never get them, for all the reasons others have mentioned.

I wish to join the RoS fangirl club. You can have Praed if I can have young Winstone.

That is all.

I'm about to stage a mutiny. They had until noon to send me corrections or changes. I haven't heard "yes, go ahead" from anyone yet.

At 12:30, I'm zipping up what I have, sending it off to be published, and going to lunch.

My earlier bemusement at this clusterfuck is taking a lumbering turn toward bile and acrimony.

I don't think concern about avian flu has any bearing on whether or not you should get a flu shot.

Currently, the only thing stopping H5N1 from full-blown pandemic-hood is its difficulty in infecting human-to-human. The easiest way for this to change would be for someone infected with a human-adapted strain to catch H5N1, giving the two viruses a chance to exchange genetic information and give birth to a strain with H5N1's lethality and easy human-to-human transmissibility.

So while the flu shot won't protect you against H5N1, the fewer human-adapted strains of influenza infecting the general population, the better.

I got an extension on my essay without even have to ask for it! Wah-hey! It's the little things. If anyone wants to rub my head for luck, they're more than welcome. This kind of thing should be shared around.

This headline may be the best part: Customer glued to toilet seat sues Home Depot

To my mind, it becomes less funny when you learn that he didn't do it to himself, but was instead the victim of a prank.

I just opened my fortune cookie. Do you know what it said?

Right now you need to be patient.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA