Somalia is full of pirates, why don't you try it there? They don't have any fancy wooden Warships though.

I'm so sorry to hear that. I know how emotional it can be, I was with my grandmother when she died, after quite some time looking after her as she had been very ill.

* Gives Crewdroog a very big hug *

The P-39 is tricky to fly and it has a hugely obstructing canopy frame. However, my biggest gripe with it is the really weird gun layout that combines light machine guns, heavy machine guns and overpowered cannon in a mix that keeps ammunition running out of some weapons whilst still keeping the rest operational.

Ebola. Getting really tired of hearing about a disease that has infected 8 Americans in a nation of 319 million. And it's not airborne. And it doesn't have a long shelf life. Unless an Ebola victim ejaculates into your eyeball, you're odds of getting it are a bit slim. Yet somehow the media has turned this thing into a giant flu monster that molests kids and worships Allah. Fear.. it might be an effective emotion to manipulate, but it sure does get goddamn annoying to watch.

The media loves to hype things, especially American media (no offence intended to Americas). Imagine if this was the 1918 flue pandemic, I wonder how the media would react then. Imagine the public panic today if such a pandemic like Spanish Influenza resurfaced.

Just a bit of history about the 1918 flue pandemic:
1. It lasted for two years (1918-1920)
2. It was airborne, Ebola is not.
3. It infected over 500 million people - it even reached remote locations, such as the Arctic.
4. The death toll was between 50-100 million deaths. This was the equivalent of 3-5% of the whole world's population.

One of those "my medical condition is keeping me awake" nights! Always fun!

This Chvrches album is pretty ballin' though.

That's why there was so much hysteria over the H1N1.
Pretty much any infectious diseases professional is waiting for the other shoe to drop. And one of the reasons why they're so afraid is that there's a very good chance that the new variant flu will come out of China or Asia, where they're not known for their medical resources. Also, a country that's reliant on tourism for much of its income tends to hide things that will make tourists avoid them, like say, an epidemic.
And of course, people as a herd are stupid. We don't listen. We escalate matters. We hide sick family members. We try and escape while infected.
And of course there's also that 50% who won't believe, won't take precautions and go on to keep on spreading an infection.
It's not a matter of if there'll be a new killer flu, it's when.

Have a read of The Viral Storm by Nathan Wolfe for a few sleepless, but edifying nights.

Big hug from me too. I don't know how bad it is in terms of she suffering and how she copes with it (clinging to life or waiting peacefully), but at least you have the opportunity to be there and say goodbye.
My last remaining grandparents are not very close. I guess I will one day just receive a phonecall telling me where and when a burial will take place. My late grandparents died when I was a kid and I didn't even know until some time after (my parents are dIvorced). I still feel like I've missed saying goodbye to them sometimes.

i have missed that opportunity. my granddad died in a different country. apparently he did ask for me. the last time we saw each other, was when we had a harsh discussion on unimportant things. i was mad and wished him to be dead, now he is and i still feel like a piece of sh*t.

That's a pretty shit situation to be in. Guess it's not that easy to go on with unresolved issues like that under the hood.
Not having been in this situation I can only offer second hand advice: Some people sai it helps to visit the grave and talk to it. I could imagine this would help me, but people are of course different.

Like I said, my grandparents from father's side vanished quite some time ago. I didn't bother me much when I was young. But when I met my wife her grandma was already in her death bed and I had the chance to kind of accompany her in her last few months. Only then I realized what I had missed from that part of my family.

Fortunatly my kids have had the chance to meet their gand-grandparents. I wish we were closer but they are rather difficult people. They're both over 80 and have lived a pretty hard life and have endured a lot. My grandfather is not the fittest anymore and grandma... Tough woman but last time I saw her I was pretty shocked by like exhausted she looked.

I avoid visiting that country. mainly because i'm afraid to see my granddads favourite spot on the couch being empty.

I think people are more worried about how lackluster the government is about containing Ebola. Imagine if Ebola did spread easier. Not something some people want to imagine, but it's what I think about when I hear another plane full of people that might have been infected.

Just wanted to say again....I wish there was something I could do besides express further condolences. :( *Hugs, beer, coffee, hot chocolate, whatever seems best*

thank you all for the kind words.

It is a horrible disease, but people are clearly becoming hysterical over it due to media hyping the fear. Statistically, people are much more likely to die in car wrecks or even just the regular, boring flu than Ebola. But Ebola seems new, exotic, terrifying. People don't seem to hear the real facts of the disease, such as its shelf life when exposed to oxygen, which is about 6 hours. It's a specifically close contact disease that requires fluid transmission. Unless containment efforts are bordering on incompetent (and they are), there's nearly zero chance that most people are going to even know someone who knows someone who knows someone that got infected.

Just more proof of how easily people are manipulated into problem-reaction-solution via the twisted minds at the ministry of truth.