Here’s a fun way to lift your spirits:
http://outbreaks.globalincidentmap.com/home.html
Provides a constantly updating world map showing locations of reported disease outbreaks. Each little symbol corresponds to a certain type (the “!” symbols littering the US, for instance, are mainly Enterovirus), and if you hover over a symbols a little window will pop up with the headline; you can click for the full story.
Interesting how regions have their own illnesses. The US seems dominated by Enterovirus. Eastern Europe has African Swine Fever. The Caribbean has Chikunguya. India has Dengue Fever. Keep in mind, these symbols relate to *reports* of diseases. Here in the US, we have an active press that just *loves* to report every case of anomalous sniffles, so it looks like we’re undergoing a zombie apocalypse. While western Africa is getting stomped by Ebola, but apparently there’s not much of a news industry there.
There is also http://www.globalincidentmap.com/ if you want the same sort of maps for terrorism, but sadly it requires signing up to get the incident details.