Candleblog

Vermont is effectively closed today, February 2, 2011, because of all the snow. It’s not quite the Feb. 14 record nor’easter from a few years ago, but it’s in that neighborhood. The free day has left me with little to do, hence this rare blog post. It’s Groundhog Day, and Encore is running a Groundhog [...]

It’s been a weird day. First the U.S. eked out a victory in the World Cup match against Algeria in the 91st minute, promoting the team into the knockout rounds, then Burlington was hit by and earthquake and President Obama fired the commander of military forces in Afghanistan over a Rolling Stone article. Meanwhile, the [...]

I just finished reading The Strain, the first book in a new horror trilogy by Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro and co-writer Chuck Hogan. This series was made specifically for Emily — it’s an apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic vampire/plague story featuring an epidemiologist as the lead character. It’s basically Emily crack cocaine (she just started it last [...]

Lopez Foods in Oklahoma supplies McDonald’s with Quarter Pounder and sausage patties. The McDonald’s corporation is so proud of the Lopez operation that they feature a short documentary about the meat processing plant on the company’s website (hat tip to my coworker Seth for the link). I find this film utterly disgusting. That the corporate [...]

First, read this excellent Q&A with health journalist and BoingBoing guest blogger, Maggie Koerth-Baker. All the important questions are covered. Seriously, read it. It will make you feel better. Now for everyone who read John Barry’s excellent but scary book on the 1918 flu, check out this Vancouver Sun piece that tries to look at [...]

In the last few days I’ve heard a number of folks (on the radio, in person, on TV and online — including on this blog) say that they are going to begin using (or up their usage of) antiseptic hand sanitizers in response to the threat of the potential swine flu pandemic. So this is [...]

This swine flu outbreak that people are calling a potential pandemic and that has killed dozens already and is present in at least North America and Europe may apparently be linked to… (thunder and lightning, please) the meat industry. The disease-tracking blog, Biosurveillance (via Grist.com, via Gerry Canavan) reports that the disease’s vector is likely [...]