SARky
Apparently SARS is on the downturn now. One by one, the "infected" countries are dropping off the danger list (although I would imagine this isn't going to include China for quite some time). But when you think about it, really, was there all that much of a threat? It warrants concern of course, but surely not the mass hysteria that the WHO (World Health Organization) seems to have instigated. I mean, currently the estimate of SARS cases in Asia is something like 5000. But that's a cumulative figure - that's people who have it, as well as people who have had it. The vast majority of people who contract SARS...well, recover.
Currently about 500 people have died from SARS in Asia. And if you compare this with the, oh, 36000 people or so who die from influenza each year in the United States (and I haven't heard the WHO issue warnings against travelling to the USA yet), or the, oh, 42 million people estimated to be living with Aids/HIV, 5 million HIV new infections last year, and 3.1 million Aids-related deaths. I'm not saying "don't take precautions" - I'm just saying that it isn't worth suffering a 50% fall in business confidence in Asia and whole percentage points off annual GDP, for a disease that, let's face it, isn't even airborne.
Of course, I'm just pointing this out now because my parents are bordering on hysterial about me going to the movies (or any other crowded place, really) at any time, although I suspect this is more to do with not wanting me to leave the house to have fun, ever, rather than "taking SARS precautions". Is that me just being an angsty teenager? :P I don't mean it, really. Don't mean to be sarky either ;) I can appreciate the concern...a month or two ago. But SARS is being contained now. And retrospectively, as I've pointed out above, it doesn't really warrant the levels of paranoia I've seen. I mean, there have been no end of rotten text messages flying around KL over the past several months, saying that a waiter in this or that restaurant "coughed suspiciously" (sarspiciously, hurhur), and killing business sentiment even more...stupidness. Anyway.
Oh, and here's something else to think about. I've never been all that good at coming up with Clever Quips...I think my mind just doesn't work that way, or something. But I can definitely see the potential in the following picture:
Like I said, I can't put it cleverly, but I mean look at it, it's gotta be something about Bush not being intelligent enough to sign his own half of the treaties, and having to copy Goh Chok Tong. Or something. Or even something completely different. Or you could make speech bubbles above their heads. I don't know. I'm sure some of you out there are brilliant Funny/SARky (hurhur) Caption/Speech-bubble writers (James and Will spring rather quickly to mind). I'll pick the one I think is funniest and put it up somewhere on my site properly (and I'll even give you credit, too [big WOOHOO] :P). Anyway. Give it a shot, why don't you :)
[04:51PM Update]: (with much eye-rolling directed to Ken) Photo above courtesy of Far Eastern Economic Review, scanned in by me.