Swine Flu virus - informations and precautions

U.S. Human Cases of Swine Flu Infection
(As of April 28, 2009, 11:00 AM ET)

State	# of laboratory confirmed cases
California	10 cases
Kansas	2 cases
New York City	45 cases
Ohio	1 case
Texas	6 cases
TOTAL COUNT	64 cases

The swine-flu virus continued its gradual global march on Tuesday, prompting countries to strengthen efforts to stem its spread, while President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.5 billion in supplementary spending to prepare for a possible swine-flu pandemic and installed the newly confirmed Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, to help lead the fight against the disease. In the U.S., the caseload rose to 67 across five states — 45 of them in New York City, where health officials are investigating two new possible outbreaks at city schools — with more virus samples awaiting laboratory confirmation. New Zealand and Israel confirmed their first cases, while Canada, the U.K. and Spain saw small upticks in their swine-flu caseloads.

Several countries tightened border controls and discouraged travel to affected areas — Cuba suspended all flights to and from Mexico — but the World Health Organization kept the pandemic alert level at Phase 4, still two phases below a full pandemic. Outside Mexico, the apparent epicenter of the A/H1N1 virus, there have been no deaths confirmed from the flu and relatively few hospitalizations, and health officials continued to preach the need for a calm response. "What we see in the United States, or have been seeing so far, has been milder," said Richard Besser, the acting director for the Centers for Disease Control.

WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley singled out air travel as an easy way the virus could spread, noting that the WHO estimates that up to 500,000 people are on planes at any time.

Governments in Asia — with potent memories of previous flu outbreaks — were especially cautious. Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines dusted off thermal scanners used in the 2003 SARS crisis and were checking for signs of fever among passengers from North America. South Korea, India and Indonesia also announced screening.

In Malaysia, health workers in face masks took the temperatures of passengers as they arrived on a flight from Los Angeles. China said anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms within two weeks of arrival had to report to authorities. China, Russia and Ukraine were among countries banning imports of pork and pork products from Mexico and three U.S. states that have reported swine flu cases, while other countries, such as Indonesia, banned all pork imports.

The CDC says people cannot get the flu by eating pork or pork products. Germany's leading vacation tour operators were skipping stops in Mexico City as a precaution. The Hannover-based TUI said trips through May 4 to Mexico City were being suspended, including those operated by TUI itself and through companies 1-2 Fly, Airtours, Berge & Meer, Grebeco and L'tur. Japan's largest tour agency, JTB Corp., suspended tours to Mexico through June 30. Russian travel agencies said about a third of those planning to travel to Mexico in early May had already canceled.

What You Can Do to Stay Healthy

There are everyday actions people can take to stay healthy.

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.

Try to avoid close contact with sick people.

• Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people.
• If you get sick, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

American Idol Top 7 : Adam Lambert- If I Can’t Have You

American Idol's disco night wasn't as much fun as it usually is; not even the usual wildy-creative Adam Lambert performance could save it. I think as we get closer to the end, the finalists are playing it safe instead of letting loose and going for it. Either that or they just really can't pick good songs. I mean, three Donna Summers songs?!

Adam Lambert's slowed-down, soulful "If I Can't Have You" was easily the best of the night--as Simon said, nobody's ever heard the song like that. It didn't give me goosebumps like some of his other performances, but it's one I'd watch again.

Kris Allen was next-best, taking an Adam-like risk with his guitar and folk art take on "She Works Hard for the Money." I didn't love it, but liked that he tried something different, and he definitely has charisma. Best part was it prompted Paula's comment about how much she loved that Kris went "shopping in the women's department."

Bee Gees If I Can’t Have You lyrics and song were written by the members of the group, Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. As sung by Yvonne Elliman, the song was immortalized in the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, and as such takes its place among iconic hits of the disco era. The song was covered by Kim Wilde in 1993.

Now with the Adam Lambert If I Can’t Have You performance, the singer gave the song his characteristic emotionally intense delivery for which he has become known as much as the spirited rock star arena style performing which brings the audience to their feet. The tender side of the performer is equally mesmerizing as the singer dons slicked back hair and a suit, evoking an iconic Elvis Presley look. The Idol favorite can add this one to his strong of memorable performances alongside Steppenwolf Born to be Wild, Tears for Fears Mad World and the Smokey Robinson classic, Tracks of My Tears. The judges were all pleased. Randy Jackson told him he loves how he can “sing everything,” and declares that he has “got it majorly going on” and has a “hot one tonight.”

Kara Dioguardi calls the singer brilliant, and says that the Adam Lambert If I Can’t Have You is his ” most memorable performance,” and she goes on to note the emotional connection he has made with the song. Noting his look, she called it ‘Saturday Night Live meets Clark Kent’ although meaning to say ‘Saturday Night Fever.’

Paula Abdul cays he is “awesome” and can expect to be in the finals. She literally cried during the performance.

Simon Cowell says that he did something original, that they were not expecting. He says he has never heard the song sung that way before and that the Adam Lambert If I Can’t Have You arrangement is memorable.

Bee Gees If I Can’t Have You Lyrics

Don’t know why I’m surviving every lonely day
When there’s got to be no chance for me
My life would end and it doesn’t matter how I cry
My tears of love are a waste of time
If I turn away am I strong enough to see it through
Go crazy is what I will do

If I can’t have you, I don’t want nobody baby
If I can’t have you ah ah, I can’t have you
I don’t want nobody baby, if I can’t have you ah ah

Can’t let go and it doesn’t matter how I try
I gave it all so easily to you my love
To dreams that never will come true
Am I strong enough to see it through
Go crazy is what I will do

Miss USA 2009 is Kristen Dalton of North Carolina

Miss USA 2009 is Kristen Dalton of North Carolina

Kristen Dalton, Miss North Carolina 2009, took home the Miss USA crown Sunday evening in Las Vegas, edging past Miss California Carrie Prejean and Miss Arizona, Alicia-Monique Blanco.

Dalton is part of a North Carolina pageant dynasty (we were surprised as you to learn that such a thing exists): Her mother was Miss North Carolina USA 1982 and her sister was Miss North Carolina Teen USA 2008.

Dalton, a blue-eyed blonde who studied psychology and Spanish at East Carolina University, hails from Wilmington and, according to the press release from the Miss USA organization, is a talented singer and dancer, though you wouldn't know it from the pageant, which, unlike Miss America, does not have a talent competition (although parading across a stage in a bikini designed by none other than esteemed tastemaker Jessica Simpson and gold high heels does require an abundance of balance, poise and at least two other things.

Kristen Dalton left for Las Vegas on April 2, armed with six bags of luggage, an iPod and her Bible. At 22, the reigning Miss N.C. USA, and former Miss Greater Wilmington 2006, is rehearsing from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily in preparation for the upcoming 58th Annual Miss USA competition.

Growing up with daily devotions and regular church attendance, Kristen knew pageants would be the perfect place to squash any negative opinions of rowdy pageant participants of the past.

"It feels really natural," Dalton said of her win. "I've worked so be here and this has been my lifelong dream and it's finally here. And whoever knew you could win in a turquoise gown?"

The 22-year-old blue eyed beauty from Wilmington is an aspiring motivational speaker and entertainer. Her mother was Miss North Carolina USA 1982 and her sister was Miss North Carolina Teen USA 2008.

Her current duties as Miss N.C. USA will keep Kristen busy as she works with the Miss Universe organization’s charitable alliances including Susan G. Komen for the Cure, The USO, Special Olympics, The American Cancer Society and speaking to youth audiences targeting issues such as peer pressure and perseverance. No stranger to hard work, Kristen is a financially independent college student by choice, and has worked at numerous jobs while attending ECU, at times employed at four different jobs at one time.

Sit Down, Shut Up: Pilot (series premiere)

Sit Down, Shut Up (series premiere)

Here is the new cartoon member “Sit Down, Shut Up”. This show depicts the lives and quirks of nine staffers at a high school in a small fishing town. This series shows that teachers have lives and personal problems too.

EP 1.1 Pilot

We are introduced to a group of teachers and staff at an elementary school and learn what really happens when the students go home. Knob Haven High School is facing a financial crisis and Acting Principal Sue Sezno has to either win a future football game in order to obtain donations from alumni or fire a faculty member. Meanwhile, Vice Principal Stuart Proszakian becomes addicted to pills that were confiscated from a student’s locker.

The problem with Fox's "Sit Down, Shut Up" isn't that it tries to be a meta-comedy that pokes fun at other animated series, riffing on characters' desire for catchphrases, the bleeping of dialogue and the challenge of being "hard to market." No, the problem is that the show just isn't funny.

It's one thing to make sly nods in the viewer's direction; it's another entirely to stock a series with characters named Miracle Grohe and Sue Sezno and expect people not to wince every time those heavy-handed puns slam home.

Writer and executive producer Mitchell Hurwitz is in the unenviable position of trying to follow his dazzling success with "Arrested Development," one of the best TV comedies in history. But that show had the benefit of stronger writing, editing and onscreen chemistry among the leads, and though it's possible to tighten punch lines or transitions over time, the characters on "Sit Down" will never resonate as anything other than caricatures -- crude placeholders for actual comedians.

Mixing animated protagonists with live-action backdrops, the series feels loose and undefined, like a moderately amusing short that inexplicably has been turned into a show.

"Sit Down" -- based on a short-lived (and fully live-action) Australian sitcom from 2000 -- revolves around the faculty and staff of Knob Haven High School, most of whom blandly dislike the students and spend their days caught up in their own problems: The coach has a crush on the science teacher, the drama teacher is bisexual, the German teacher is homeless and hooked on porn, etc. Jason Bateman voices the coach, Larry Littlejunk, whose name is funny once if you're 17, funny twice if you're high and lamented by anyone wanting to see real comedy.

The entire series is that overt. Every joke is telegraphed a mile off or just plain flat, especially the attempts to break the fourth wall. For instance, Larry reminisces about a time Miracle (Kristin Chenoweth) went topless, and he repeatedly asks for a flashback.

Among major cast members, only Will Forte ("Saturday Night Live") manages to land a couple of actual laughs. His delivery breaks through the dully drawn scenes and uninvolving characters, if only for a moment.

Thunderblast

Thunderblast

Thunderblast is a female Transformer, and a member of an ancient race of Decepticons living on the Planet Earth. Prior to 2007, Thunderblast was the only female Decepticon ever to appear in a Transformers series in the United States. Thunderblast's vehicle mode is a speed-boat. She is armed with a quadruple-missile launcher that converts into a super-rocket launcher with use of a Cyber Key. She also has a 30. caliber Browning-style machine gun which mounts onto her boat deck in boat mode and which mounts onto the outside of her left leg.

Her tech spec indicates that she frequently takes advantage of her looks, counting on the fact that Autobots won't blast her on the grounds that she's female, using her charms to beguile them then destroy them. This deceitful gambit doesn't always work, however, as some opponents do not give her the chance mis lead them. She has a loose affiliation with Sideways. Despite her appearance, she is actually one of the ancient Decepticons freed by Starscream in his quest for power. In ancient times she posed as a siren, luring human sailors to their deaths with Cybertronian songs. However, her Takara bio indicates she is not without ambition. It is known that the Decepticon Shortround is infatuated with Thunderblast. Thunderblast is also a chronic side switcher. During the final battle between Galvatron and Starscream, she is heard to think that she would support whoever won.

Thunderblast is obsessed with power. Not attaining it for herself, but rather, latching onto a "male" Transformer who has a lot of power. She follows the strongest Decepticon she can find, and the stronger he is, the more infatuated with him she is. As such, she is usually seen clinging to Galvatron (who certainly doesn't reciprocate). But as soon as the power structure shifts, so does the focus of her affections.

Though she's fickle and flighty (and greedy and selfish and opportunistic and vain and overconfident and...) she's not completely stupid. She knows how to use her wiles to get what she wants, and she's no slouch in combat, especially underwater. She knows Autobots are generally reluctant to shoot at a female and uses that to her advantage as long as she can...at least, long enough to give them a face full of missiles.

She seems to have something resembling an actual friendship with Lugnutz. And while she's generally disappointed if guys aren't fawning over her, she's found that she wants nothing to do with the geeky Shortround, who is infatuated with her. On the other end of the spectrum, she has quickly gained the undying hatred of the human girl Lori.

Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron Engaged???

High School Musical sweethearts Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens are alleged to be taking their relationship to a new level, with a new report claiming the couple is engaged.

The National Enquirer claims that Zac proposed to Vanessa on a trip to Japan in January, and the pair are planning on a wedding next year.

“Zac hasn’t given Vanessa a ring yet. But he’s hoping the proposal will buy him some time with Vanessa’s super-strict mom, Gina, who didn’t approve of the sweethearts living together before they were married” claims a source.

“Vanessa’s mom has been putting serious heat on him to make an honest woman of her daughter. She is old-school and doesn’t approve of Vanessa living with Zac without some type of wedding promise.”

Spontaneous wedding proposal with no ring? Unlikely, but not impossible.

High School Musical brought him together with off-screen girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens, who played on-screen love Gabriella in the hit films.

He says: "The first time I met Vanessa, I was blown away with her beauty and her charm and elegance. I noticed that at the very first audition when we paired up together."

"We're not engaged," he says firmly, adding: "We had a good laugh over it." That should please his fans.

Even Zac agrees it's hard to find a place on earth where his face doesn't draw mobs of teenage girls.

"I don't mind that at all!" he smiles. "Most of the time they are very sweet girls who just come up and ask me for an autograph." It's not just the youngsters who set their sights on Zac.

"The moms are the ones that get absolutely crazy," he confesses. " That's the funniest part - if there's someone grabbing you too hard, it's usually a mom or a grandmother!"

Even though he's 21, he relies on his mother for advice on everything from handling fame to the birds and the bees. Earlier this month, it emerged that Efron had bought a home in Hollywood for around $1 million.

Zac Efron has admitted that his first ever kiss was a "pretty standard" affair.

Speaking on ITV1's This Morning, the 17 Again star revealed that his first smooch as a teenager had been nothing out of the ordinary.

"My first kiss was a pretty standard first kiss. We were in a tree fort in her backyard and there were candles and stuff," he explained.

The actor, who is currently dating his High School Musical co-star Vanessa Hudgens, also defended his recent racy photoshoot for Interview magazine.

"I'm growing up and this is part of it. That was such a fun shoot and pretty artistic and creative...and yeah, it was good [to take my clothes off!]"

17 Again is released in the UK on April 10 and in the US on April 17.