Reuters, February 17, 2004: “Italian researchers said on Tuesday they had found a new variation of mad cow disease… … “They [infected cow’s brains] look much more like the brains of people with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or CJD — not the kind that people catch from eating infected beef, but the kind that arises mysteriously in […]
Quote: “It’s probably another ‘don’t worry’ observation”
Posted by Ben on February 17, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/quote-its-probably-another-dont-worry-observation/
GloFish Central
GloFish: a genetically engineered zebrafish (Danio rerio) with a fluorescent protein from jellyfish and coral. Initially designed as a kind of pollution detector—the idea being that the fluorescent proteins would “turn on” when in the presence of certain kind of toxins—what the researchers got instead was a fish that glowed all the time. GloFish Zebrafish […]
Posted by Ben on February 16, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/glofish-central/
Bulletin: Any terrorists using their real names may be questioned
Are you on the list? “U.S. security agents have a master list of five million people worldwide thought to be potential terrorists or criminals, officials say. ‘The U.S. lookout index contains some five million names of known terrorists and other persons representing a potential problem,’ Brian Davis, a senior Canadian immigration official in Paris, said […]
Posted by Ben on February 16, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/bulletin-any-terrorists-using-their-real-names-may-be-questioned/
Splutterings: A 20% downward revision
“Last month’s announcement on Shell’s reserves outraged shareholders and knocked more than $15bn off its stock market value as investors contemplated less than 11 years of reserves at current output rates against more than 13 before the downgrade.” from the Guardian: Thursday February 5, 2004 (Though of course calculating reserves depends on current price, technology, […]
Posted by Ben on February 5, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/splutterings-a-20-downward-revision/
Dolphin-girl, there is hope for us yet!
I’m not sure when the word chimera was commandeered for the pseudo-evil designs of genetics, but it surely must have been a fine, fine day. In a story from the New Scientist, pigs and humans become one, at long last! Read the story on pig-human chimeras, it’s interesting. And fun, too! (via the irrepressible die […]
Posted by Ben on January 14, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/dolphin-girl-there-is-hope-for-us-yet/
A pet peeve
Fox rhymes with: box, socks, stocks, smallpox, and even Goldilocks. Faux rhymes with: bow, flambeau, crow, Soho, bravo and overthrow. With faux, fox does not rhyme. I don’t mind the implications, intent, or sentiment of cleverly mixing and matching Fox and Faux, as is the case in some places with the spicy phrase “Faux News.” […]
Posted by Ben on January 7, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/a-pet-peeve/
Also from Harper’s
A South African beauty queen was mauled by a hippo in Botswana, and a large crocodile ate a young man in Australia. Piranha attacks were on the rise in Brazil.
Posted by Ben on December 30, 2003
https://www.swordbilled.com/also-from-harpers/
A Spongiform Timeline, Mad Cow, Mad Cow!
A brief history of that devilish cow-spawned disease, gleaned from Harpers (the history gleaned from Harpers, that is—not the disease). Enjoy! (note: dates refer to week, and not necessarily the exact day of events) 2000 Aug 1: British Health Dept Bulletin states that 500,000 people could die from BSE by 2030. Happy day. Nov 28: […]
Posted by Ben on December 30, 2003
https://www.swordbilled.com/a-spongiform-timeline-mad-cow-mad-cow/
Warm and Fuzzy
Fiction (from a story): …Jane Doe lived on North Street Drive when the CJD first would have manifested itself… Unlike its ‘partner-in-crime’ vCJD, Jane Doe’s form is not linked in any way to contaminated beef. Said Tom Hahn, of the National Cattleman’s Beef Association, “people are scared of the littlest things these days. They hear […]
Posted by Ben on December 24, 2003
https://www.swordbilled.com/warm-and-fuzzy/
About a plane: An Old Ghost
“The Museum currently has over 80 aircraft and dozens of space artifacts on display including the Space Shuttle “Enterprise”; an SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft; the Dash 80 prototype of the Boeing 707; the B-29 Superfortress “Enola Gay;” and the de Havilland Chipmunk aerobatic plane, to name a few.” “As a frequent history-channel watcher and WWII […]
Posted by Ben on December 15, 2003
https://www.swordbilled.com/about-a-plane-an-old-ghost/