Great word

Disambiguation. Found it in a query string parameter for a Medline search: DISAMBIGUATION=true&FUNCTION=search&SERVER2=server2... It's going right up there with "misunderestimate" for my favorite irritatingly useful but made-up words.

Infectious diseases reading list

OK, apparently I am hogging the blog. But ... I was talking to Lisa about my fascination with infectious diseases and she asked for some book recommendations, so here goes (in order of my favorites):

1. Laurie Garrett, The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World out of Balance (1995)
   
2. McCormick, Level 4: Virus Hunters of the CDC (1996)
3. Richard Preston, The Hot Zone (1995; yes, it's terribly sensationalized but I liked it)
4. Pete Davies, The Devil's Flu (2000)
5. Geraldine Brooks, Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague (2001; fiction)
6. David Oshinky, Polio: An American Story (2005)
   

I like the books that have a man vs. microbe/evolutionary biology take on the subject. Bioterrorism books don't interest me much -- maybe because I haven't come across any good ones.

On my "to read" list:

1. John Barry, The Great Influenza (2004)
2. Moote & Moote, The Great Plague: The Story of London's Most Deadly Year (2004)
   
3. C. J. Peters, The Virus Hunter (1998)

Ellen's done some reading on this topic as well, as I'm sure other Chix have.

It's a buzz-word world

I missed a comment Ellen made on the Action Item post, but this is an absolutely brilliant idea:

"Think I'll explore translating old radio into business speak. Podcast, anyone?"

Perhaps we could use the Executron for the translations. This reminds me of an Edward Tufte class where he showed a satirical Gettsyburg Address as Powerpoint.

Time on Your Hands? Part 3

The Merriam-Webster site has a chicken-themed word game that's a massive time sink for anyone who's ever enjoyed Boggle or Anagrams. I think so, anyway. (Requires shockwave/flash plug-in.)

At last....

Prototypes! Woo hoo!

Best thing I heard yesterday

There were several pieces of good news yesterday (Ah-nuld took one on the chin, Democrats won two gubernatorial victories in Virginia and New Jersey). But for me the best news was the school board election in Dover, PA, which ousted 8 Republican school board members who had added "intelligent design" to Dover's science curriculum. The election was literally swept by the Democratic challengers, who apparently won on a platform that creationism belongs in comparative religion courses, at best.

Score a couple for the good guys. Further proof that all politics is local.