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Woosh!

http://www.capitalcentury.com/1992.html

Ok so flu can be pretty bad but then theres problems with vaccines too.

e.g 1976 http://www.capitalcentury.com/1976.html

So given a random chance of catching swine flu, which may not be that bad and having the vaccine which could as bad or worse which do you go for?

Personally as a diabetic I'm supposed to get a regular flu shot anyway, although I don't. This flu is supposed to be worse for the fit and healthy due to the bodies immune system going haywire trying to contain the virus, perhaps having a weakened immune system is better in this case.

I'm fairly certain I'm not going to go for the shot even if its made available and just take my chances.

So is there anyone on here, who can make an informed choice?

I freely admit i have no medical training what so ever.
I'm I just being cynical in thinking the big pharma companies are going to make out like bandits.

I wonder how karma will work for those on here thinking that wealth should buy them the vaccine?

Quayle was watching children write on a chalk board. What flashcard was he looking at?

http://www.capitalcentury.com/1992.html

"What are we supposed to do?" I asked Keith Nahigian, the advance man who had prepared this little photo op," Quayle wrote.

"Just sit there and read these words off some flash cards, and the kids will go up and spell them at the blackboard," the handler told the VP. ...
Quayle looked at the blackboard, then at his contest card, and gently and quietly told the boy, "Youâ(TM)re close, but you left a little something off. The e on the end.

(That's the same source wikipedia cites and matches my own memory of the incident).

Besides, just because Obama can be stupid doesn't mean we should forget about when others were stupid.

True, but fair is fair. Obama is stupid enough to repeat anything he reads off a teleprompter and that puts him squarely in the mental category of a Dan Quayle. In fairness to Quayle, "potatoe" is an obsolete spelling and is not quite in the same category as congratulating yourself on hosting a party.

"Stand up, Chuck. So everyone can see you!"

the US culture was famously isolationist before and during most of WWI.

The US wasn't really isolationist before WWI. The term Banana Republic comes from the early 1900s when the US, in supporting US businesses importing bananas and other fruits supported undemocratic methods of gaining control of Caribbean and Latin American nations. Teddy Roosevelt's Big Stick comes in part front his sending US Marines to Tangier, Morocco to fight against Berbers who had taken US citizens in Morocco hostage. And about 100 years before that, Thomas Jefferson sent the Marines there to fight Barbary pirates.

For those few who haven't figured it out yet, most of the things ascribed to Quayle were made up by his liberal opponents.

Check out his own comments on the event in this article. While the media did blow it out of proportion, and it was used as an avenue to attack his intelligence, it did actually happen. As did several other gaffes. (Be sure to scroll down to read the things he actually DID say after the false attribution given by a Republican.)

I believe this story is not too biased. They point out the facts as I remember them - Quayle already had a reputation for not being too bright, and this reinforced it. The important "context" is that the card that was given to him had "potatoe" on it, and he was tired and didn't question it. Whether or not Quayle was less bright than average, once the reputation developed, everyone was watching for him to make blunders. I remember our college newspaper (The Technique) had a weekly column called "Quayle Bits" that ran a list of memorable statements that Quayle had made that week.

Who spells potato with an -e?

Dan Quayle.

The reason people referred to him as Strangelove is that he was a model for the mad scientist in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. Read more about it here.

Incidentally, there is nothing cool about Teller, whose activities included testifying at a congressional hearing against Los Alamos project leader Oppenheimer during the McCarthy era Red Scare.

He forever has his fame, however, for saving us from a President that could not admit when he was wrong, however. We get enough of those in the workplace, don't we?

Actually it's more important to have data that is representative of the whole, not merely as much data as you can get.

That's how the Gallup poll became famous. In 1935, the Literary Digest, then the most trusted poller, predicted Landon over Roosevelt 56/44. But LD came up with its results by polling a huge number of the upper class rather than a smaller number of everyone. Gallup polled a much smaller representative sample, and was correct in predicting Roosevelt's victory.