“A list of all the Snapple ‘Real Facts’ found under the bottle caps.”
Daily Archives: 18 Dec 05
Annals of Emerging Diseases (cont’d.)
Tests dash hopes of rapid production of bird flu vaccine: “The results of first large-scale trials of a low-dose vaccine against H5N1 bird flu have been announced – and they are unexpectedly disappointing.” (New Scientist) Even with the addition of an adjuvant chemical to stimulate the immune system, low-dose inoculation with H5N1 virus raises measly immune responses. The lower the dose of virus that can be used, the more doses of vaccine could be produced rapidly to cope with a spreading worldwide epidemic.
Surprising Factors Cause Airplane Noise
“Noisy airplanes flying over homes and neighborhoods emit a roaring, whirring din that sounds as if it might come from the engine, but researchers have determined the primary cause of the noise is airflow over the plane’s wings, flaps and landing gear.” (Discovery Channel)
Mass media’s last blast
“Does America still have any interest in the big, lumbering, predictable media of Hollywood and Manhattan?” (LA Times)
Swiss hospital the first to allow assisted suicides
“A university hospital in Switzerland yesterday became the first in Europe to allow assisted suicide on its premises. The university of Lausanne said it would allow patients from new year’s day to kill themselves on its wards, provided they were incurably ill and of sound mind.
The decision is likely to reopen the already heated but inconclusive debate across Europe about how far doctors and hospitals can go in helping those who are determined to end their lives.” (Guardian.UK)
The Restless Children of the Dalai Lama
“‘Some people don’t want to be enlightened, at least not immediately. We are ordinary Tibetans. We drink; we eat; we feel passion; we love our wives and kids. If someone sort of messes around with them, even if they’re an army, you pick up your rifle. …[Tibetans have an] affinity to their place they live in. And they don’t want the Chinese there. And his Holiness cannot understand this.'” (New York Times Magazine)
The Christmas Truce of World War I
“Amid the carnage of the Great War, enemy soldiers put down their weapons and came together to celebrate the season of peace. How did the cease-fire come about?” (The World)
