Effect Measure
Archives for March, 2008
Germany free of bird flu. Oh, oh.
Posted by revere on March 26, 2008 Germany has been free of bird flu in poultry for three months. I predict they are about to have another outbreak. How do I know? Because every time I see something like this it’s like a signal to whatever fickle gods control these things: The German government declared on Tuesday the country is free of…
Of course the 4000th US combat death in Iraq is an artificial milestone. It’s not different than the 10th or the 3999th or what will for certain be the 4010th, a human being in the prime of life who is alive now but won’t be by the end of next week. But the number 4000…
Indonesia and collateral damage of their flu policy
Posted by revere on March 25, 2008 We’ve covered the Indonesian refusal to cooperate with international influenza surveillance system to a fare thee well (see posts posts here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and links therein), so this is just an update with some additional observations how Indonesia’s deplorable behavior isn’t that different than the…
Why do they hate us?
Posted by revere on March 24, 2008 The other day, as I was bemoaning the tanking of the dollar versus the Euro (yes, my European friends are not crying in their beer over it; I’m glad for them. Now they can visit), I mentioned that it wasn’t just the dollar that had taken a bath since GWB but also the US reputation…
Piped water: two edged sword
Posted by revere on March 24, 2008 If you want to know what advances in public health and medicine in the last 150 years have done the most for the overall health of the community a major contender for the top spot would have to be the provision of safe and abundant drinking water. The first piped water supplies for major American…
A grandpa looks at pediatric flu
Posted by revere on March 23, 2008 My children are no longer young. In fact they are old enough to have children of their own and when my daughter asked me if I thought her then 6 month old should get a flu shot I didn’t hesitate: Absolutely, I said. And he did. Two of them, the required number. That was just…
Freethinker Sunday Sermonette: for Love and for The Children
Posted by revere on March 23, 2008 Some arguments against atheism just cannot be answered. Seriously. Feel the Love! Not to mention the Peace and Joy. QED:
Fox News: an excremental contribution to the news
Posted by revere on March 22, 2008 If you live in the US you know that the Fox News Network prides itself on being the Voice of the Fatherland, connotation intended. Fox and its sleazy news anchors are not only doggedly pro-Bush but doggedly Far Right and poorly concealed racists and nativists. I don’t watch it (I take my daily shower before…
I’d love to hear the McCain – Lieberman pillow talk
Posted by revere on March 21, 2008 They say politics makes strange bedfellows, so now that John McCain and Joe Lieberman are in bed together I hope they screw each other’s brains out. John McCain may have sparked a little lover’s spat yesterday when he encouraged Americans to go to Canada to buy lower priced drugs, something Joe Lieberman (the Senator from…
A patch for flu vaccine production
Posted by revere on March 21, 2008 While we are all waiting for the other shoe to drop and a nasty, rip roaring flu pandemic to come rushing down the tracks at us, lots of companies have jumped into the pandemic vaccine sweepstakes. Reuters reports that at least 16 companies are testing flu vaccines and probably even more are involved in some…