“The new cash crop,” by Team Hymas. Wind turbines dotting the landscape near the stonehenge memorial in the Columbia River Gorge.

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As flu pandemics go, H1N1 sometimes seems hard to compute, given all the information flooding our way. Is it a panic? An impending storm? A party theme?

Yes, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that some people are hosting “swine flu parties” where people who know someone with H1N1 purposely hang out and try to get infected. Their goal is to get a mild case and gain natural immunity, so they won’t catch a more dangerous version later on. Health officials, not surprisingly, say this doesn’t work and isn’t smart. “While the disease ... has been mild for many people, it has been severe and even fatal for others,” the federal health agency says. “There is no way to predict with certainty what the outcome will be for an individual or, equally important, for others to whom the intentionally infected person may spread the virus.”

Meanwhile, as news about the flu continues to spread at viral speed, a Montana health official offers a few facts to help put things in perspective. Elton Mosher is the influenza surveillance coordinator and an infectious disease expert with the Department of Public Health and Human Services. Here’s his view of the flu, plus statistics from the World Health Organization and CDC:

Oregon is home to the country’s first reported fatal case of swine flu in a cat.

The cat, a 10-year-old male, died Nov. 7 near Portland.

The Oregon State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory examined the dead cat and discovered he carried the H1N1 virus.

While this is the third confirmed case of a cat with H1N1, it is the first fatality in a feline reported nationwide