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Posted
minx said:

Dru said:

I am bogged down in "Nekropolis" by Maureen McHugh. About half way through. Will finish it when unemployed with more time to waste.

 

Just finished rereading "The Picts and the Martyrs" by Arthur Ransome.

 

Bathroom reading is the new Alpinist and the March/April issue of American Scientist. Two good complementary pieces on how flu pandemics originate, and growing antibiotic resistance. shocked.gifshocked.gif

 

scary stuff antibiotic resistance is although it isn't relevant to a flu outbreak.

 

i found it interesting that so many new variants of the influenza virus start in asia. (Before anybody hollers about me being a racist...there's no such motivation in my statement. Just an interesting phenomena!)

 

 

yes the article explains why that occurs. nothing to do with race, more to do with domestic and wild fowl, pigs, and humans living in close proximity. the slaughter of a million chickens probably stopped the bird flu from spreading.

 

asian bird flu was extremely virulent - 6 deaths out of 18 infections. current SARS outbreak (not a flu) is much less virulent - 50 to 60 deaths out of 1400 cases according to an article i read online this morning.

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Posted

i haven't read anything about it recently but i seem to recall that there is a definite corrolation w/the amount of fowl, particularly ducks and geese.

 

population density in some areas only facilitates the spread.

Posted
Muffy_The_Wanker_Sprayer said:

I just finished _Fierce Inavalids Home From Hot Climates_ by Tom Robbins though.

 

Good and rascally. smile.gif Strangely current.

 

Tom Robbins RULES

 

I am currently reading the fountainhead- Ayn Rand

Wow fountainhead would be a good read, along with atlas shrugged.

I am reading "Kiss or Kill", actually rereading it. Geek_em8.gif

TTT

Posted
To_The_Top said:

Muffy_The_Wanker_Sprayer said:

I just finished _Fierce Inavalids Home From Hot Climates_ by Tom Robbins though.

 

Good and rascally. smile.gif Strangely current.

 

Tom Robbins RULES

 

I am currently reading the fountainhead- Ayn Rand

Wow fountainhead would be a good read, along with atlas shrugged.

I am reading "Kiss or Kill", actually rereading it. Geek_em8.gif

TTT

 

there are couple biographies of Ayn Rand that are worth reading. She was an odd duck

Posted

"Atlas Shrugged" sucked. The first half was OK, but towards the end, she went totally off on her "Phallocentric Capitalism Will Save the World" rant. I found myself thumbing through the crud to get to the end, a sure sign of a crappy read.

Posted

I've got the new issue of "Canadian Scientist"

There's a great article on mating techniques that allow partners to simultaneously watch hockey during intercourse,

and an even better article on the thermodynamics involved in enebriation and ice fishing. Fascinating stuff.

Posted (edited)
Dru said:Just finished rereading "The Picts and the Martyrs" by Arthur Ransome.

 

Love that series. Read them all as a kid, and just re-read the first two, _Swallows and Amazons_ and ???

 

All people with kids owe it to them to find these books for them.

 

edit: ??? = _Swallowdale_ thanks dru. smile.gif

Edited by snoboy
Posted
snoboy said:

Dru said:Just finished rereading "The Picts and the Martyrs" by Arthur Ransome.

 

Love that series. Read them all as a kid, and just re-read the first two, _Swallows and Amazons_ and ???

 

All people with kids owe it to them to find these books for them.

 

swallowdale.

Posted

I'm currently reading "Athenais - The Real Queen of France", a history of the mistress of Louis XIV and assorted court shenanigans at Versailles. Quite a trashy book really. Has more intrigue, backbiting, scheming, and catfights than cc.com! blush.gif

Posted
minx said:

i haven't read anything about it recently but i seem to recall that there is a definite corrolation w/the amount of fowl, particularly ducks and geese.

There are separate strains of flu that infect fowl, pigs and humans. As I recall, humans can't get fowl flu, but pigs can get both human and fowl strains. If a pig is infected with both simultaneously, then virulence factors from the fowl strain can incorporate into the human strain and thus become infectious to man.
Posted

you gotta read the article, its like you say about pigs but there are times/situations when humans can directly get the bird virus. or it can go through bats, horses, seals, whales, etc all explained in the magazine

Posted
Dru said:

you gotta read the article, its like you say about pigs but there are times/situations when humans can directly get the bird virus. or it can go through bats, horses, seals, whales, etc all explained in the magazine

 

CBS-

 

This is dredging from waaaaaaaaay back. I did some reading on this for a project. In some cases humans can contract that fowl virus. Often, it is a mutation of the fowl virus passed along and mutating through a variety of hosts.

Posted

'Guns, Germs and Steel' has brief coverage of the topic of microbes hopping from domestic animals to humans. Laurie Garret's 'The Coming Plague' has more extensive coverage complete with references for further research if you're still hungry for more info.

 

Currently reading 'The Lying Stones of Marrakech' SJ Gould, and 'Survey, Design, and Construction of Trail Suspension Bridges for Remote Areas'

Posted
Thinker said:

Laurie Garret's 'The Coming Plague' has more extensive

coverage complete with references for further research

if you're still hungry for more info.

 

this is a good book thumbs_up.gif

Posted

 

I just cracked "the last full measure" by Shaara. Just finished the first 10 chapters of Atkin's Physical Chemistry . Any of you read Wolfram's

 

A new kind of science ? I'm a few hundred pages in and wondering if it's worth the other 600. wazzup.gifcry.gif

Posted

Just finished "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand, perusing "Animal Speak" by Ted Andrews, about to pick up "Anthem" and "We the Living" by Ayn Rand; dig through "Capitalism and Freedom" by Milton Friedman on occassion, as well.

Posted
glen said:

 

Any of you read Wolfram's A new kind of science ? I'm a few hundred pages in and wondering if it's worth the other 600. wazzup.gifcry.gif

 

after reading the book review i decided it wasn't worth starting.

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