I Have the Flu. "Deadly" Hong Kong Type A. Booga Booga Panic!

The flu is out in Japan and the mass media and big pharma are doing their best to scare us all about this horrible new scourge! Oh my god! Some people have even died this time! Whatever shall we do? In fact, I now have the flu. My lips are bleeding and I have been coughing up blood....

Nah. Not really. But if I were that would make a great movie, eh? I just came back from the doctor and when I told them that I think I have the flu, they all stood at attention and put me in a different room from the other patients!


Wow! I didn't know I was so bad. I just thought I was tired and probably catching something. Didn't have a fever or anything either.


On Saturday I started feeling very tired. I took a few naps that lasted for 3 hours. That's quite unusual for me. I haven't been drinking any alcohol and been on the Raw Food Diet since Jan. 6. I plan on losing weight this year and getting down to the same weight I was when I was 25. I figure that I can do that in six months, no problem. I've done it before!


It's actually quite easy to do, really. With the Raw Food Diet, you don't eat any cooked foods so of course it eliminates breads, pastas and rice... Oh and fermented grains like booze. Of course booz is a no-no. 


The Raw Food Diet is a great diet that I recommend to anyone because you don't have to suffer; you can eat all you want! Just as long as it fresh fruits and veggies that you are munching on.


I've done this diet before and, when I did, even though everyone around me got sick or the flu, I didn't.  But, darn it, looks like this time I did. I don't feel so bad, just a cough sometimes and a fever. I just came back from the doctor and he ordered me not to go outside and spread the flu to others. He said that I have to stay indoors for five days!? Can you believe that? Five days! 


At first, when I heard this, I wanted to go on a vacation somewhere or use the extra time to finish my blog stories about drug rehab, but darned if I'm just not exhausted all the time. I get up and do some work and 15 minutes later I feel like I'm about to pass out and I go back to sleep!


I'm sure that, had I not been on raw food, I'd have felt much worse; As eating cooked food tires your body out and your body needs energy to fight off colds. But, if this keeps up, I won't be doing anything but short posts like this.


Damn you flu virus!


The Daily Yomiuri reports: 


The number of flu-stricken patients reached about 1.11 million in the week ending last Friday, an increase of about 400,000 from the previous week, according to figures compiled by the health ministry. In the week starting Jan. 16, the number of patients suffering from influenza reported to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry from about 5,000 medical institutions was about triple that of a week earlier. The number of patients per medical institution during that period was 22.73 persons, up from 7.33 persons the week before, according to the ministry. 


Even so, this year I have a mild cases of the influenza, folks do not get flu shots for your babies and small children. They are not safe. This having a headache for a few days and not feeling well is a hell of a lot better than having a child with Autism.

People this age are the only people who should have flu shots

Here, below, the mass media tries to scare people because two ninety some year old folks died from complications associated with the flu. Why is this news?

It used to be that catching the flu, while a serious sickness, did call for patients to be quarantined. I was. Chuckle!


If I can live to be 90-years-old and then get offed by the flu virus, I'd consider that a pretty good deal.

Crisis in Groupon Boardroom & Greek Coup Du Etat?

It's been written on these pages since the beginning of 2011: Groupon has BIG trouble. Now, with events in Greece completely throwing a wrench into the Eurozone and markets, it looks like Groupon could suffer greatly from events in Athens. It must be confirmed by the latest news today: There must be crisis in the EU and the Groupon boardroom bordering on a full-blown panic.


Here's the details you need to know:


Groupon IPO is Nov. 4th, 2011. They are expected to price on Nov. 3.


The stock market is crashing on fears of a Greek referendum on an EU funded bailout. Who is in charge of Greece? No one knows.


The Dow Jones lost nearly 2.5% today.

Nov. 1, 2011. Two days before Groupon pricing Dow Jones

drops nearly 2.5%... Situation in Europe up in the air. 

Groupon must IPO. Their situation is getting serious. They have yet to turn a profit and, if the books were closed today, they'd be over $221.7 million dollars in the red. Groupon is running out of cash.


SF Gate reports:



Groupon remains unprofitable. The company had $243.9 million in cash at the end of September and still owed merchants $465.6 million. The 8.4 percent increase in cash from the prior period was outstripped by the rise in marketing costs, which jumped 37 percent to $234.4 million.


The company has used 85 percent of the $1.11 billion it has raised from venture capitalists and other investors to buy equity from early investors eager for a return, instead of funding growth. That is contributing to a potential cash crunch, said Sam Hamadeh, chief executive officer of PrivCo, which provides financial data on more than 20,000 private companies.

With two days to go until IPO and the stock market's crashing worldwide, then Groupon must be in a panic... If not, then the stuff they were smoking when they rejected the $6 billion dollar offer from Google must be really killer weed! 



*NOTE & IMPORTANT UPDATE: Let me go on a limb here. I predict that Greece will exit the Euro as Panpadreou has replaced all his military leaders (they were NATO experienced). I suggest that this portends a Euro zone departure. This is roil markets even more in the next 24 hours. This move seems to be an effort to head off a military coup de etat.


Mish Shedlock has an interesting take in Is Papandreou Preparing for a Military Coup or Afraid of One?