Flus, booze, and the news

I submit they should brand this service as "Flugle." Google says it can tell where flu outbreaks are happening, as they're happening, based on what people are searching for. Check out their U.S. flu map here. The company says it's able to pinpoint outbreaks about two weeks before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention realizes there's something going on. This is simultaneously interesting and terrifying. I'll reiterate my April 2006 claim that people will one day learn to loathe Google and all its power.

I bet these people are a blast around the holidays. A state trooper in Indiana arrested a woman for drunk driving and called her husband so he could come pick up the couple's one-year-old son. Turns out the husband drove to the station drunk, so the cops arrested him and called the grandparents. Do you see where this is going? The grandparents had also been drinking. But somehow the grandma was still under the legal limit. So not only did she avoid arrest, she also got to drive the little boy home.

Sure he was ugly, but he was no Sam. The reigning ugliest dog in the world, Gus the Chinese Crested has died in Florida. It's unclear if the World's Ugliest Dog Contest organizers crown a runner-up each year so there can be a dog to step into the busy schedule of charity work and appearances at golf tournaments.