Flu Not a Worry in Far North Dallas

From the Centers for Disease Control:

The most recent FluView report for the 2014-2015 flu season shows that flu season is beginning in the United States. There are reports of flu illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths, and activity is expected to increase in the coming weeks.

CDC recommends an annual flu vaccine for everyone 6 months and older. There are documented benefits from flu vaccination, including reductions in illnesses, related doctors' visits and missed work or school. Vaccination also prevents flu-related hospitalizations and deaths. While some of the viruses spreading this season are different from what is in the vaccine, vaccination can still provide protection and might reduce severe outcomes such as hospitalization and death.

If you have not been vaccinated yet this season, get your flu vaccine now.

Source: CDC.

That's what the CDC says. But The Dallas Morning News didn't ask the CDC. They didn't ask local doctors or health experts. Instead, they asked area readers for their advice about the flu. The result is kind of like a typical online comments section.

After the jump, The Dallas Morning News readers' wisdom that the News passes on without fact-checking.

Someone Inconvenienced by President's Visit to City

Local resident [insert name] was inconvenienced yesterday when the President of the United States visited the city for a [pick one: vacation/fundraiser/official event]. Traffic was [pick one: congested/gridlocked/detoured]. Local resident [insert name]'s [pick one: wedding/birthday/bar mitzvah] had to be [pick one: moved/delayed/rescheduled/canceled]. Said another local resident [insert name], who may or may not have had anything to do with the affected event, "This just goes to show that the President is [pick one: insensitive/incompetent/a Kenyan Muslim socialist atheist]".

[Note to editors: There, I just wrote the template for your go-to story whenever the President leaves the White House on an otherwise slow news day. You're welcome.]

[Note to readers: You don't need a template to take to Facebook/Twitter to vent about the President. You're very good at doing that on your own. Don't count to ten. Don't think it over. Don't sleep on it. Just log onto Facebook now, now, now, and post away. Your Facebook friends will thank you for it. Trust me.]

Review: Gone Girl

Amazon

From Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn:

A long exhale. 'What about Amy?' That is what I didn't take long enough to consider. I simply assumed I would bundle up my New York wife with her New York interests, her New York pride, and remove her from her New York parents -- leave the frantic, thrilling futureland of Manhattan behind -- and transplant her to a little town on the river in Missouri, and all would be fine."

After the jump, my review.

Frank (2014)

IMDB

Frank (2014): Band led by eccentric with large fake head goes to SXSW. Quirky as it sounds. Unlikable characters but ultimately touching. C+

Review: The Book of Strange New Things

Amazon

From The Book of Strange New Things, by Michel Faber:

He closed the book. His hands were trembling. He knew that there was quite a decent chance that he would die in the next thirty days, or that, even if he survived the journey, he would never return. This was his Gethsemane moment. He clenched his eyes shut and prayed to God to tell him what He wanted him to do."

After the jump, my review.