is it hot in here?

or cold? Neither, I have a cold. I have no complaints though. It could be a lot worse. People are relative creatures and we respond so heavily to stimulus right by us that we often miss the big picture. I listen to a pod cast Skepticality and one of the hosts Derek, a young man, had some bleeding in his brain. I read the daily updates and it reminds me that I'm healthy as all get out. It's interesting to see the skeptic's take on all this. That is a catastrophic event and yet my cold might get me down. Perspective.

That being said the media really plays on our reactionary tendencies. In Virus of the Mind Richard Brodie gives the example of an island where everybody fishes for food. Once in 20 years on that island someone dies from a shark attack. One time in 20 years. Safe thing to do, right?

Now hook up 40,000 islands like that with TV. Put reporters in aircraft that go from island to island talking about the shark attack of the day. Make that attacks of the day. Really soon what happens? People stop fishing.

So I sneeze, I'm fine... Keep fishing, k?