As has been shown in pretty much every major (and minor) news outlet in the world, there are now cases of Ebola as diagnosed in Texas; one from a Liberian man who contracted it there but was in Dallas when he started manifesting symptoms, and one from a nurse who had treated him. This is an interesting NYTimes article regarding, among other things, health care workers who have contracted Ebola. However, and this is made very clear; there are many more diseases that are causing deaths for which we have vaccines and should be more concerned (influenza, pertussis, measles, etc). Reference this article and this article about NIH science funding and how budget cuts are negatively impacting our preparedness (hat tip to Kelly AT for linking that last one).
This is a very well-written article regarding the index of infectivity for several viruses, " a mathematical term that tells you how contagious an infectious disease is " based on average number of people who contract it (and i appreciate the clarification notes given).
A conversation the other day involved how airports are now starting to assay temperatures of travelers, and i mentioned that most seem to be using handheld thermometers. My apologies; i'm pretty sure i said 'laser', but these seem to in fact be infrared. According to wikipedia, the mechanism " consists of a lens to focus the infrared thermal radiation on to a detector, which converts the radiant power to an electrical signal that can be displayed in units of temperature after being compensated for ambient temperature ". Neat.
With the high temperature this week having been around the 50s, it's getting to be beard season. Several of the males i know seem to have definite red tones in their facial hair, despite being otherwise dark blond or brunet (also, side tangent, according to wikipedia, " Although brunet is the masculine version of the popular diminutive form used to describe a little boy or young man with brown hair, the use of brunet is uncommon in English. One is more likely to say of a man or boy, "He has brown hair" or "He is brown-haired", than to say, "He is a brunette" (or brunet). The term brunette is the feminine form of the French word brunet which is a diminutive form of brun meaning "brown/brown-haired", the feminine of which is brune. ") Anyhow, red beards (not Redbeard) are a common enough trait that i did a little research. Evidently, it's a genetics co-dominance issue tied to a specific gene (HCL2) on chromosome 4. If you (male) have one copy of this gene, your might have a red beard, and two copies would dictate all body hair to be red. (Other genes which are said to impact red hair are " themelanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R), which is found on chromosome 16 ", as documented in this article among other references.)
After enjoying a bottle (or 3) of wine one night last week with Jack and Leslie (Congrats again on submitting your thesis, Jack!), the phrases 'to tie one one' and 'to tie one down' were bandied about. To tie one on usually means you're drinking, but why? Apparently, that's not well known, but might be related to the British phrase 'tie a bun on' (origins also unclear). There's a lot of speculation in the commentary found here, including " "tie a bun on" came out of British theater. Getting drunk after performances, a drunk male might raid wardrobe and come back dressed in women's clothing. The "bun" was a wig with the hair tied in a bun. It was the theater equivalent of wearing a a drunk wearing a lampshade. ", and the necessity of needing to tie on one's night cap after a few too many drinks. Another semi-related-but-temporally-distinct idiom origin i was looking up this week is 'pop the question', which commonly, conventionally refers to a marriage proposal. Turns out, this one's not as well documented. i managed to find that the earliest mention of it dates to 1826, to English dramatisct and playwright Mary Russell Mitford. Given that date, i'd imagine the citation refers to Foscari: a tragedy. Interesting in whatever regard; probably it refers to what folks seem to hope is the surprising/startling nature of the question.
Something amusing is this pictorial representation entitled "Chart-Topping Songs".
Many of my friends are rather excellent writers. i was kicking around the other day and came across this list of Advice For Writers, by writers. Seems pretty solid, and i appreciate the Terry Pratchett one.
Kar and Roommate; Our recent rainy, chilly weather puts me in mind of the music of John Mayer, and while listening via youtube the other day, i tripped over a John Mayer/Brad Paisley dual concert
(via CMT Crossroads, dated 2004) the other day online. i am fond of
both musicians, and as noted, they both tend to write thoughtful music,
though JM's is less witty than BP's; hearing one cover the other's songs
is really weird (whoa, Why Georgia?!). Further looking into this, it appears as though they've collaborated more recently, at the 2013 AMAs . Huh. Moreover, and this is less weird, it appears that Mr. Mayer and Keith Urban have also had dual concerts - reference this and particularly this. Huh. Moreover, i found a playlist from a show he did in 1999, for which i have had various song tracks since probably 2003 (recognizable due to his on-stage patter), but had no idea their origin. You get credit for that one, Kar, given that i'm pretty sure they were originally on a mix cd from you. Anyway, nice to figure that out.
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