some good reading for the week

The Trouble With Quibbles: With Films Like 'Star Trek,' Overzealous Fans Exert an Unhealthy Pressure on Moviemakers. A brilliant essay on the downfalls of extreme nerdery.

Norwegians set to descend on Westby for Syttende Mai. Syttende Mai means "May 17th," the Norwegian celebration of independence from the evil Danes.

It turns out the flu that's been going around isn't really Mexican, it's full name being "swine influenza A (H1N1) triple reassortant virus, A/Wisconsin/87/2005 H1N1." It originated in Wisconsin in 2005. Finally, a sober and scientific review of this recent outbreak in Newsweek:

It is the manner of human beings to seek blame during times of fear. Fingers are now pointing, either at the entire pig species Sus domestica, or at the nation of Mexico. Such exercises in blame are not only scientifically ill founded, but are likely to prompt government actions that, at the very least, are useless and, at worst, harmful for efforts to control a pandemic.

The author is Laurie Garrett, a science writer with a science background, and the only writer ever to have been awarded all three of the Big "Ps" of journalism: The Peabody, The Polk (twice), and The Pulitzer. It's a long article but well worth your time to read.