sb admin
Posts by this author
During today's confirmation hearing for M. Patricia Smith as Solicitor of Labor, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) referred back to last week's Senate hearing on "Meaningful Roles for Victims and Their Families." The dialogue went as follows:Â
00:72:30
Senator Murray:Â…
Oecophylla longinoda - Weaver Ants
St. Lucia, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa
Technical details:
Lens: Canon 35mm f2.0 lens on a 12mm extension tube
Body: Canon EOS 20D dSLR
Flash: Canon MT-24EX twin flash, hand-held for backlighting.
Settings: ISO 400, f/13, 1/160 sec
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure
Breathing easier, may be an apt phrase for an almost audible collective sigh of relief. So far, the incipient swine flu pandemic is not extremely nasty. Is this perhaps premature? The world's premier scientific journal, Nature, and many flu scientists,…
Here's some exciting news. Starting Monday, our Photo Synthesis host will be the multi-talented Steve Jurvetson. Steve will tell you that his main thing is rockets, but a bit of snooping about reveals that he's also a closet myrmecophile. But really. Who isn't?
I'll continue posting through…
Over the next week, two Senate committees will hold confirmation hearings on senior Administration officials who could play key roles in worker health and safety policy. First, the Senate HELP Committee will meet tomorrow (May 7) to consider the nomination of M. Patricia Smith for…
A few days ago I noticed the search term "Malagasy Mystery Ant" showing up in the stats for my other blog. This puzzled me, as it wasn't a phrase I was familiar with. So I googled it.
All mentions of the term trace back to a caption in the New York Times slide show from last week. Goodness. I…
Today, the CDC reports 403 confirmed cases of H1N1 (the flu formerly known as "swine") in the US, and the WHO reports a total of 1124 cases in 21 countries. There have been 25 deaths in Mexico and two in the US.
The increase in numbers is largely due to cases that had already been…
By Angene Johnson
After a recent dinner at my uncleâs house in Virginia, I finally had a chance to look at the March edition of National Geographic on my train ride back to Foggy Bottom (Washington, DC). Â As I flipped through the front of the magazine towards this monthâs cover article, on…
A Crematogaster ant is held up by a kleptoparasitic Milichia patrizii ant-mugging fly.
Last July, while wandering about the coastal forests of St. Lucia in eastern South Africa, I happened across an intriguing scene half-way up a spiny Acacia trunk. Some diminutive gray flies were pestering a…
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure
There have been questions in the comments about where the CDC estimate of 36,000 to 40,000 influenza related deaths a year comes from. It's a figure I've used a number of times here to say generally that regular old seasonal influenza may be a mild…
Orthodera ministralis - Garden Mantis (immature)
Melbourne, Australia
Technical details:
Lens: Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens
Body: Canon EOS D60 dSLR
Flash: Canon 550 EX, bounced off white paper above mantid
Settings: ISO 100, f/19, 1/200 sec
University of Maryland Law Professor Rena Steinzor called for fundamental changes to the role of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in federal regulatory review, at a House Committee hearing held on April 30. The Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight…
Most of my blog reading this week has involved swine flu; feel free to add non-flu-related links to other worthwhile blog posts in the comments. (More flu links are welcome, too.)
First, a few numbers: CDC has confirmed 141 cases in the US; Mexico reports that it has 358 confirmed cases; and the…
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure
Just a brief note to remind everyone about the case definitions CDC is using for reporting on swine flu (or whatever name we collectively settle on). In order to make sure numbers are comparable from day to day and place to place we have to decide on…
Weâve written before about the problem of contaminated water at the Camp Lejeune military base in North Carolina. Between 1957 and 1987, the baseâs water was contaminated with the industrial chemicals TCE and PCE, which are linked to a long list of health problems, including leukemia and neural…
Step 1. Locate a suitable patch of forest, field, or desert.
Step 2. Wait for a warm, moonless summer night.
Step 3. Using a long extension cord, plug in a blacklight. Or even better, a mercury-vapor lamp.
Step 4. Sit back and watch your prey arrive.*
*disclaimer. This technique…
Labor Secretary Solis announced today the next step in OSHA's effort to propose a rule to protect workers exposed to the butter-flavoring agent diacetyl. The Small Business Administration and OSHA identified 13 "small-entity representatives" (SERs, defined by SBA as companies…
by Kas
Joe Biden was on NBC earlier saying, âI would tell members of my family -- and I have -- I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now.â As examples of confined places, he mentions planes and subways.
Mr. Vice President, would you ride the train to Delaware tonight? Say it ainât so,…
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure
A student once complained that no horse was too dead for me to stop beating it. Long time readers are familiar with that here. Over the years I have said that the best way to prepare for a pandemic -- or any other grave threat to our communities -- is to…
Today, Roche announced funding for over a dozen genomes of organisms associated with the agricultural attine ants and the fungus they cultivate. In honor of the occasion, here's a sampling of a few of the attine species and their gardens.
Acromyrmex sp. nr. crassispinus, Argentina.
The fungus…
Here are a few articles and posts about Workers Memorial Day events. If you've got more, leave a link in the comments.
Las Vegas Sun: Safety advocates testified on Capitol Hill, while Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis attended the groundbreaking for a new National Workers Memorial and vowed that "The…
[This is a repost from the Myrmecos Blog, originally published February 2008]
In 1934, a diminutive book by an unknown author seeded the largest conservation movement in history. The book, Roger Tory Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds, pioneered the modern field guide format with crisp…
...is to add an actual human.
Dynastes granti - Western Hercules Beetle, Arizona
It's funny how our social primate brain works. We gain immediate emotional access to an image simply by inserting a member of our own species.
(Incidentally, that's one reason why David Attenborough's Life in…
UPDATE: Event photos are here
Early this morning, a few dozen of us gathered in front of the Department of Labor headquarters to observe Workers Memorial Day by remembering those who were injured or killed on the job and by calling for changes that will protect others from the same fate. What made…
The total number of confirmed US swine flu cases continues to rise: it's currently at 64, with 45 of those cases in New York City. This is something that CDC Acting Director Richard Besser told us to expect. Because samples from flu patients have to be sent to a lab for analysis, there's a lag…
Temnothorax marked for studies of individual behavior at the University of Arizona
Today's New York Times is carrying a profile of myrmecologist Anna Dornhaus. It is nice to see Anna's work receiving such attention, great and important, blah blah blah, but the really important part is this.…
Tomorrow, April 28th, is Workers Memorial Day. Tammy at United Support and Memorial for Workplace Fatalities has compiled an extensive list of events taking place across the US, and Hazards Magazine has links to events from around the world. Commenter Joan Lichterman also alerted us to an event at…
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure
Usually "What did you expect?" is a rhetorical question, but we have a more serious point to make. Let's start with the familiar and move on to the less familiar. Many of you are coming here to find the latest news about swine flu. It's an imprecise term…
Trimerotropis pallidipennis - Pallid-Winged Grasshopper - Arizona
Technical details:
Lens: Canon MP-E 1-5x macro lens
Body: Canon EOS 20D
Flash: Canon MT-24EX twin-flash, diffused through tracing paper
Settings: ISO 100, f/14, 1/250 sec
The U.S. government has declared a public health emergency over the swine flu. In a White House press briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano emphasized that this is analogous to the emergencies declared for the recent floods in Minnesota and North Dakota and for the inauguration -…