Search Content

Displaying results 62701 - 62750 of 87947

Why Does The Boston Phoenix Despise Teachers?

One of the subtle, but important things that influences national discussions of education is that the Washington D.C. public schools are dreadful. Not only do students do worse than would be predicted based on the poverty rate, but, according to the NAEP, the schools also do a worse job of educating poor students. Due to this repeated 'discovery', opinion makers, pundits, and politicians are bombarded with bad news about education and how our educational system is failing (in a fair number of states, our educational system surpasses that of every OECD country, so this really isn't a '…

A Birdday Thanks to the People in my Life

tags: birdday, birthday So I have eaten some chocolate-glazed marzipan cake, a few slices of home-made sourdough-rye bread (hot out of the oven, squeeee!) and now I am drinking some hot Glühwein while watching HP4 (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), and thinking about how magical the past few months have been for me. In the previous few months, my life has changed in just about every way you can think of; I went from being sued on a fairly regular basis for half a dozen unpaid medical bills to having all those bills finally paid off I went from being broke, unemployable and…

Birdbooker Report 86

tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books "How does one distinguish a truly civilized nation from an aggregation of barbarians? That is easy. A civilized country produces much good bird literature." --Edgar Kincaid The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of a wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that currently are, or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is edited by me and published here for your information and…

Free Books For My Readers

Everyone loves free books, right? Well, I know I do, and since I've got a huge stack of books in my apartment that are seeking a loving home, I want to share them with you. These books are duplicates of review copies, advance reading copies and uncorrected proofs as well as some books that I purchased or somehow obtained. All books are in excellent (like new) shape, unless otherwise noted. I am offering them to you several times per week for the next few months, free of charge, although I will ask you to pay the cost of the shipping envelope and postage for mailing each book to you. Below the…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

Image: Sneer Review. The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 5979 - 1884 - 1775 - 1231 - 1212 out of 579 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 4 weeks remaining, things are heating up and voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The…

Antarctica: Others Think I'd do a Helluva Job, Too

Since I have recently developed quite a history of visiting cold and snowy places, often during the winter, I wish to preserve that tradition. I am competing for the opportunity to go to Antarctica in February 2010 -- a dream adventure that I've always wanted to pursue (and almost did pursue when I was an undergraduate researching Fin Whales and Crabeater Seals at the University of Washington). To enter, all candidates must publish a picture of themselves and write an essay explaining why we think we are the best choice, and solicit votes from the public. Whomever receives the most votes wins…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

Image: Sneer Review. The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 5942 - 1858 - 1751 - 1229 - 1160 out of 575 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 4 weeks remaining, things are heating up and voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

Image: Sneer Review. The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 5892 - 1846 - 1696 - 1224 - 1118 out of 571 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 4 weeks remaining, things are heating up and voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

Image: Sneer Review. The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 5860 - 1841 - 1667 - 1218 - 1118 out of 568 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 4 weeks remaining, things are heating up and voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

Image: Sneer Review. The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 5815 - 1838 - 1662 - 1209 - 1117 out of 561 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 4 weeks remaining, things are heating up and voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

Image: Sneer Review. The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 5768 - 1838 - 1652 - 1208 - 1117 out of 553 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 4 weeks remaining, things are heating up and voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

Image: Sneer Review. The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 5715 - 1830 - 1628 - 1208 - 1117 out of 546 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 4 weeks remaining, things are heating up and voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

Image: Sneer Review. The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 5644 - 1825 - 1606 - 1208 - 1117 out of 539 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 4 weeks remaining, things are heating up and voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 5584 - 1823 - 1578 - 1207 - 1117 out of 536 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 4 weeks remaining (especially if the Quark site crashes), voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The top four…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 5481 - 1819 - 1575 - 1205 - 1117 out of 534 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 6 weeks remaining (especially if the Quark site crashes), voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The top four…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 5370 - 1817 - 1569 - 1202 - 1117 out of 533 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 6 weeks remaining (especially if the Quark site crashes), voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The top four…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 5015 - 1814 - 1558 - 1202 - 1117 out of 528 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 6 weeks remaining (especially if the Quark site crashes), voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The top four…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 4764 - 1809 - 1529 - 1202 - 1116 out of 524 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 6 weeks remaining (especially if the Quark site crashes), voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The top four…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 4727 - 1802 - 1517 - 1202 - 1115 out of 523 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 6 weeks remaining (especially if the Quark site crashes), voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The top four…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 4684 - 1796 - 1507 - 1201 - 1115 out of 519 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 6 weeks remaining (especially if the Quark site crashes), voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The top four…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 4623 - 1791 - 1498 - 1198 - 1115 out of 518 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 6 weeks remaining (especially if the Quark site crashes), voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The top four…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 4570 - 1785 - 1491 - 1193 - 1114 out of 512 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 6 weeks remaining (especially if the Quark site crashes), voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The top four…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 4520 - 1770 - 1483 - 1190 - 1114 out of 511 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 6 weeks remaining (especially if the Quark site crashes), voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The top four…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 4435 - 1759 - 1473 - 1176 - 1114 out of 511 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With less than 6 weeks remaining (especially if the Quark site crashes), voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. Many tens of thousands of votes have already been cast in this competition, so if the people who have cast their votes already decide to change them, they can significantly affect the outcome of this competition. The top four…

Update: Antarctic Vote Count

The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 4331 - 1753 - 1456 - 1172 - 1114 out of 506 candidates registered. I am in third place and sloooowly creeping up on second place. With only 6 weeks remaining, voting is changing rapidly as previous voters reassign their votes and new voters cast theirs for the first time. The top four vote-getters are receiving most of these votes, so I need your votes more than ever to recapture first place, so please ask your friends and relatives to vote for me now! Further, there have been many tens of thousands of votes cast in this competition, so if…

Would you like fries with that?

Years ago we used to joke that the cigarette murderers should just short circuit the process and add chemotherapeutic agents to their products. One stop cancer initiation and treatment. That was years ago. Functional beer is another emerging product identified by Datamonitor, with beer manufacturers trying to regain ground lost to increasingly popular wine by launching new products with health benefits. These include vitamin beers, such as Stampede Light, which contains B-vitamins, folic acid and folate, as well as Germany's Karlesberg Braueri functional beers aimed at women, made with…

Tamiflu and behavior "problems"

Over a year ago reports from Japan began to circulate that the influenza antiviral, Tamiflu, which is prescribed there often for uncomplicated seasonal influenza, was causing abnormal behavior, most worrisomely delirium and suicidal behavior in children. The drug is approved for adults and children over a year old. At that time the FDA decided the evidence was insufficient but planned to revisit the issue in a year. Now the year is up and FDA has apparently decided the evidence is stronger. They are now recommending patients who take Tamiflu be "monitored" for abnormal behavior. It isn't…

No one home

It sounds reasonable at first. If hospitals and clinics are going to be overwhelmed in a flu pandemic, prepare to care for sick family members at home. But what if there's no one to care for you at home? That's the position of the one in four Americans who live alone. Even for those that have others to care for them there are serious barriers: Almost half of those surveyed said they would run into financial problems or might run out of important drugs if health officials asked them to stay home for a week or more, said Robert Blendon, a Harvard School of Public Health policy expert who will…

Nuclear threat in North Korea and US response

We've not said anything about the North Korean nuclear issue before but we are doing so now, joining with Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) in expressing our concern over the spread of nuclear weapons and the apparent failure of the Bush administration to address it effectively. PSR was the deserved recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize for their decades long effort to end the threat of nuclear holocaust. The North Korean threat highlights the issue once again. Nuclear weapons in the hands of any nation is a danger to all of us. The United States recognized this when it signed the…

Freethinker Sunday Sermonette: judgment day

From war hero to atheist pariah. Pat Tillman was a pro football player who gave up his career to enlist in the Army after 9/11. He went to Afghanistan and was killed in combat, his death an icon for the patriotic fervor that served the neocon debacle perfectly. But Pat Tillman turned out to be an embarrassing disappointment for the flag wavers. For one thing, we now know that after he got there he came to the conclusion the war was "fucking illegal." Then we found out he had been killed by American bullets. Not that we'd know any of this from Pentagon sources. It's his family that has pushed…

On academic leadership

No, the purpose of this post isn't to reveal the secrets of successful academic leadership. If I had those, believe you me I'd be writing this from my villa on the French Riviera. However, I am heading off to the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians in Boston next week where I hope to be a least a little more enlightened and educated along that path. Not surprisingly I've been watching the blogosphere these last few months for insightful posts and articles about academic leadership, in particular academic library leadership. I've found a few…

From the Archives: Ambient Findability by Peter Morville

I have a whole pile of science-y book reviews on two of my older blogs, here and here. Both of those blogs have now been largely superseded by or merged into this one. So I'm going to be slowly moving the relevant reviews over here. I'll mostly be doing the posts one or two per weekend and I'll occasionally be merging two or more shorter reviews into one post here. This one, of Ambient Findability: What We Find Changes Who We Become, is from May 2, 2008. ======= Ambient findability describes a fast emerging world where we can find anyone or anything from anywhere at anytime. We're not…

Friday Fun: Building the ultimate cookbook library

Nice article by Rob Mifsud in the Globe and Mail the other day combining two of my favourite things: food and books! First, some pointers. Ditch the superstore and head to a shop that specializes in cookbooks. As Jonathan Cheung, co-owner of Appetite for Books in Montreal, points out: "I have personally cooked out of at least 700 of the cookbooks in the store. So we have a personal knowledge of how certain books could work for certain people." Understand your cooking limitations, expectations and audience. Mika Bareket, owner of Toronto's Good Egg, tailors her recommendations based on a…

Lane Anderson Award for Canadian science books: Call for submissions

As long-time readers of this blog with know, I'm a huge supporter of science books. One of my definite soft spots is the annual Lane Anderson Award for the best Canadian science book in both adult and young adult categories. As such I'll point out that the submission deadline for the 2014 award is fast approaching. If you or anyone you know published a Canadian science book in 2014, please consider submitting it for consideration for the award. The award website is here. Some of my previous posts about the award are here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS  …

Best Science Books 2014: The Guardian

As you all have no doubt noticed over the years, I love highlighting the best science books every year via the various end of year lists that newspapers, web sites, etc. publish. I've done it so far in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. And here we are in 2014! As in previous years, my definition of "science books" is pretty inclusive, including books on technology, engineering, nature, the environment, science policy, history & philosophy of science, geek culture and whatever else seems to be relevant in my opinion. Today's list is The Guardian Best Books of the Year Science,…

Reading Diary: Really Big Numbers by Richard Evan Schwartz

This one's a bit of a head-scratcher. Richard Evan Schwartz's Really Big Numbers has a great premise. A kids book that takes some fairly advanced mathematical concepts and presents them in a lively, engaging and understandable format. So far, so good. Schwartz does a commendable job of taking the concepts surrounding Really Big Numbers and explaining them in a fairly comprehensible format, from simple counting to very high numbers, visual representation of big numbers, conceptual representations when there's no more space for dots on the page, an explanation of powers of 10 all the way to…

Star Trek lives!

One of the things that keeps me from throwing in the blogging towel in an era when climate change denial seems to be a prerequisite for membership in the party of Abraham Lincoln is the quality of the comments I get. The praise is nice, the thoughtful exploration of the ideas I introduce is better, but what I really enjoy are the snarky swipes at my character by those who can't come up with anything more cogent to post than a dismissive reference to Star Trek. See here for a typical example, The first thing that occurred to me when such comments began to appear -- almost immediately after I…

How Can America Remain Competitive in Engineering? Gain Insight From Leading Engineer and Educator Dr. Darryll Pines

The ‘Nifty Fifty (times 4)’, a program of Science Spark, presented by InfoComm International, are a group of 200 noted science and engineering professionals who will fan out across the Washington, D.C. area in the 2014-2015 school year to speak about their work and careers at various middle and high schools. Meet Nifty Fifty Speaker Dr. Darryll Pines The field of engineering represents a key and formidable force in the STEM equation, especially as the country works to retain a competitive edge in innovation around the globe. Among the noted leaders and visionaries in this effort is Darryll…

Role Models in Science & Engineering Achievement: Seyi Oyesola -- Nigerian-born anesthesiologist and critical care physician

Co-inventor of "Hospital-in-a-Box", a solar-powered, life-saving operating room which can be transported to remote areas of Africa and set up quickly Although he spent part of his youth in America (including going to high school in Cleveland, OH), Seyi Oyesola's heart was always in his native country of Nigeria as he dreamed of returning there to become a physician and help his people.  After completing high school here, he returned with his family to his homeland where he earned his medical degree and began his internship training. But he soon discovered that on his meager salary as an…

Save The World Through Science and Engineering! Call for Entries for the 2012 Kavli Science Video Contest!

How does science and engineering save us, improve us, and preserve our world? Which solutions can be re-imagined for a better tomorrow, and how? Where should we explore next? What should we build next? How will we get there? The next stop is the future! The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) recently asked some of the world's leading technological thinkers to identify what needs to be done to make people and our planet thrive. Their findings can be found here. Our video contest theme this year is inspired by these NAE Grand Challenges. Use the power of video to express your visions about…

The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings: Day 3

From June 29th through July 4th, 25 Nobel laureates and over 550 young scientists from all over the world are gathering in Lindau, Germany, at the 58th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. This year's meeting is dedicated to physics. Beatrice Lugger, managing editor of ScienceBlogs.de, is in Lindau and will be sending her impressions of the meeting daily through July 4. ScienceBlogs.de is also undertaking a German-language blog covering the meetings, here. Additionally, keep an eye out for short video interviews, in English, of Nobelists at Lindau on the ScienceBlogs homepage. Here are the…

Live from Neuroscience 2007...

Today, 30,000 scientists descended upon San Diego for Neuroscience 2007, the Society for Neuroscience's annual scientific meeting. With more than 16,000 presentations over just five days, the conference is more than any one reporter could possibly cover. But I'm going to do my best, posting daily wrap-ups here and highlighting some of the most interesting, mind-bending (no pun intended) presentations. The meeting kicked off today with its annual "Dialogues Between Neuroscience in Society" talk, which is traditionally given by someone who's not a neuroscientist. (In previous years, this talk…

Aaargh — I have to disagree with Harry Kroto

And it doesn't feel good. Kroto is a Nobel-winning chemist, and I've had dinner with him — he's a good guy, a very outspoken atheist, strongly on the side of science education, and all around smart and personable. So I hate to say it, but this opinion piece on the Michael Reiss affair is just too exclusionist for even me. Reiss, you may recall, was the education director for the Royal Society who resigned after making some conciliatory (or reported as conciliatory) remarks about creationism. I do not have a particularly big problem with scientists who may have some personal mystical beliefs…

Digital Biology Friday: Those BLASTed results!

Last week, we embarked on an adventure with BLAST. BLAST, short for Basic Alignment Search Tool, is a collection of programs, written by scientists at the NCBI (1) that are used to compare sequences of proteins or nucleic acids. BLAST is used in multiple ways, but last week my challenge to you, dear readers, was to a pick a sequence, any sequence, from a set of 16 unknown sequences and use BLAST to identify that sequence. This week, we'll examine the results. I did the experiment, too, with a completely different unknown sequence that's pasted below. This sequence is not part of the data…

Obligatory Reading of the Day - The Clash of Civilizations

Absolutely read this: If This Goes On....A Scenario. And read the comments (ignore the trolls, focus on people with insight and information). Funny, when I wrote this, people said that I was "paranoid" while the point of the post that too many people are not paranoid enough. I particularly like this comment by someone on digg: I'd move to another country if I wasn't so terrified of our foreign policy. On one hand, I do not see the utility of moving from one country to another to another until finally dying on the last Pacific island to feel the influence. On the other hand, I feel the…

The astronaut and the BB gun

The sad saga of Anna Nicolle Smith has pushed the equally sad story of Astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak off the front pages and it's not our intention to revive it. But we would like to call attention to one aspect that has received no discussion: Police said Nowak drove 900 miles, donned a disguise and was armed with a BB gun and pepper spray when she confronted a woman she believed was a competitor for the affections of Navy Cmdr. William Oefelein, an unmarried fellow astronaut. [snip] Police said Nowak told them that she only wanted to scare Shipman into talking to her about her relationship and…

Policies in the US on closing schools in a flu pandemic

The vexing problem of when to close schools in the event of an influenza pandemic and who will do it seems to be, well, still vexing. A brief communication in CDC's journal Emerging Infectious Diseases by Princeton's Laura Kahn makes clear the level of vagueness, if not confusion surrounding it in the US: The US Department of Health and Human Services' checklist regarding school closures gives conflicting messages. For example, it recommends that schools stay open during a pandemic and develop school-based surveillance systems for absenteeism of students and sick-leave policies for staff and…

We don't fish, but if we did . . .

If the Reveres fished, they'd put up a sign that says, "Gone fishin'". But we don't fish, so that wouldn't be true. By now everyone probably knows the Reveres are at the beach, allegedly on vacation. Since only one Revere writes at a time, I will use the first person here (it's easier), but I am speaking for the non-person composite that goes under the name revere/Revere. And the first thing "I" want to say is that the internet is eating me alive. Thanks to its magic I can now be connected to work 24/7. And I am. It's making me crazy (crazier?). It has to stop. I suffered through a couple of…

Late seasonal flu accompanying swine flu?

At Friday's press briefing on the swine flu outbreak, Canadian Press's Helen Branswell twice asked whether CDC's weekly flu surveillance data showing the uptick in swine flu but also an unexpected prevalence in seasonal influenza was an artifact of increased testing or something new and unusual. CDC's Dan Jernigan was not especially clear, but seemed to acknowledge there was a lot of seasonal flu around: The CDC said part of the increase is certainly due to the fact that much more influenza testing is going on these days, because of concerns about swine flu. But the agency said it seems that…

Blogiversary number four

Happy Blogiversary to us. Yes, it's our fourth Blogiversary, meaning Effect Measure has lasted longer than many marriages. Our first post was on November 25, 2004 at our old site over at Blogger. We moved here to Scienceblogs on June 9, 2006. According to Sitemeter, we've had over 1,650,000 unique visits, more than 3,000,000 page views and written over 2800 posts. On our Scienceblogs site alone we've logged almost 25,000 comments (we don't have a count for the Blogger era). There has never been a day without a post on the site, so that makes 1461 straight days of posting here. It makes me…