First! Yahoo!

Good day. It is refreshing to see such well-thought advice shared in a calm yet slightly cheerful manner. Why is this important? There seems to be a lot of panic in public communication in urban environments, while the reality is much simpler and less dramatic than presented by many commentators. It is also important that balanced life styles are promoted, again in a calm manner, the most effective way to influence behaviour. Well done.

A few notes: While washing hands frequently is a good idea anyway, the H1N1 flu's spread is predominantly airborne.

The idea that you can still be sick from the flu, but because your fever has declined you are no longer contagious is highly questionable IMHO. If you have the virus in you, and you sneeze, you're spreading it. That you can be sick with the flu for 10 days but only contagious for two is most likely an easy cop-out since it is easier to get people to stay home for a day or two than for ten.

He's top 20 in the world again now and had a chance to be top 16 before 2010 Australian Open with these 2 tournaments and the points and matches he could've won and gained. Now without playing, his season is over and he won't be a top 16 seed for Australia most likely, so his 3rd round will be tough for him probably now against a top 16 player, instead of the 4th against maybe top 8.
Just Tommy's luck. He can't beat Isner and his big serve anyway, so he might as well lose to Isner again in the 1st or 2nd round, like he usually does against big John.

To Sarah's update above, Christie probably won, or gained votes anyway, specifically because Corzine tried to make Christie's weight an issue in an ill-considered desperation ad. Christie turned the tables in a hilarious Imus interview that was replayed on other news channels and the Internet over and over days before the election. So what we thought might be a cynical, mean politician winning with dirty tricks, the People appear to have punished him for being a cad regarding the weight issue.

I do think that the #1 way to tackle the weight issue is for the available food in as many locations as possible to be healthy choices. Natural. Low Fat, Low Sugar and Low Salt simply mean that a company hasn't dumped huge quantities of that junk into the food. Americans need to retrain their tastes, and there have to be financial incentives/disincentives, for example in health care costs, in order to work.

One area I might disagree with Haas is that if you have some extra weight on you, H1N1 is less likely to kill you since your body has extra energy stores to use when you are unable to eat and get weak. Chris Christie would probably have a better time with the illness than Haas. A small advantage to the extra cushion...the other being that your body doesn't get cold (and subject to microbes) quite as easily.

I think the number one way to tackle the weight issue,is for those who have a weight issue, to be motivated to stop having one, not by forcing people to eat what others want them to, or forcibly stopping them from eating what they want to. I also don't think thin people should be penalized and kept away from whatever sugary, salty great tasting food they want just because other people don't have the self control to eat those kind of foods in moderation.

My gripe with fat people:

I am on the fit & lean side. The fat ones often pick me to sit next to in public transportation, since they get more space.

So there I am sitting with some else's belly on my lap. Not to mention paying for the extra fuel planes/busses etc. use to lug these people around.

I know several people with weight issues. Just look at their diets ( quantity & quality). They are often lucky they didn't weigh another 100 pounds. I am, of course, too polite to point this out to the above mentioned people.

Often I hear them wax eloquent about weight loss issues, which looking at their stature, they are ill qualified to talk about.

Tom