Hey! I knew this one!

golem

•noun (in Jewish legend) a clay figure brought to life by magic.
• an automaton or robot.
— origin late 19th cent.: from Yiddish goylem, from Hebrew golem ‘shapeless mass’.

The other day when I was walking down the hallway, I passed three Chinese women who were talking to each other in Chinese.

I heard, Chinese Chinese Chinese Chinese school bus Chinese Chinese Chinese Chinese.

I love coming across things like that.

An Experiment in Treason (2002) Bruce Alexander

Mister Donnelly takes Jeremy out to Portsmouth to see Benjamin Franklin perform an experiment. Although his politics is reviled by many, others are fascinated by his scientific experiments, and may have some sympathy for his politics. While Jeremy is gone, there is a brutal murder during the course of a burglary, and Clarissa briefly takes Jeremy’s place as Sir John’s eyes.

An Experiment in Treason

Since it came out Friday, you may have missed it.

Researchers looking into the 1918 flu have done mouse studies to look at what made that flu so deadly.

The first comprehensive analysis of an animal’s immune response to the 1918 influenza virus provides new insights into the killer flu, report federally supported scientists in an article appearing online today in the journal Nature. Key among these insights, they found that the 1918 virus triggers a hyperactive immune response that may contribute to the lethality of the virus. Furthermore, their results suggest that it is the combination of all eight of the 1918 flu virus genes interacting synergistically that accounts for the exceptional virulence of this virus.

It seems like people tend to ignore the flu as something that’s under control. But in the United States 20,000 to 30,000+ people die every year from the flu. An understanding of what made the flu of 1918 so deadly may help as we try to prepare for the next flu pandemic.

Michelle: My cat has lost his mind.
Michael: What are you doing?
Michelle: Coloring.
(more…)

Here’s an opinion poll of sorts–your response to the following question is requested:

Regarding the layout of this portion of my website, I’ve always gone with the two column layout–text on the left, navigation, links, and other miscellany on the right. Primarily because I typically have used smaller monitors, and don’t like scrawny columns of text. But also because I want the text to come up first, so placing it on the left makes it come up first (this is an oversimplification. I know.)

However, CSS allows me to change the order in which elements appear, so I should be able to have the text appear first (should) and then smaller columns on the left and right appear afterwards. This would allow some of the items in my right column to appear higher up (like the wonderful picture of me, as well as the wonderful things people have had to say about me)

But that would–on some monitors–leave the main, center column rather narrow.

Plus, it’ll make the page look more busy.

So, the question is, does anyone actually have an opinion about this? If you do, in fact, have an opinion about web page layout, please share. :)

Michelle