I'll take obscure deadly bacteria for $2000

Tularemia has been in the news recently. According to the CDC it's caused by a naturally occuring bacteria and has the potential be turned into a biological weapon. It's probably for this reason that the University of Texas at San Antonio has been awarded a grant to study the bacterium.

Tuleramia was in the news recently when an outbreak of 96 cases was reported in the Nizhni Novgorod Region of Russia. This area was famous for a bioweapons lab during the Cold War which obviously led to speculation that the origin of the bacteria was not natural.

The other notable recent event involving Tuleramia was a detection by sensors at the National Mall during the recent Antiwar rally in Washington.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notified the states of Maryland and Virginia and the District of Columbia Friday that an airborne form of Tularemia bacterium was detected by air sensors in the vicinity of the National Capital Mall during the weekend of Sept. 24 - 25.

Since then, additional tests from these collectors have all been negative. Subsequent laboratory tests performed on the Sept. 24-25 samples have supported the presence of low levels of the bacterium in the environment.

He answers to you

Stewie Live

Ping

Pong.

By special request

Eyeballoverload.

Blunders in Baghad

Time magazine is a bit late to the party to start doing actual reporting on the colossal mistakes in Iraq but they do a fine job here. If they had been doing this sort of thing before the war, many of the disasters they talk about now could have been avoided.

Five men met in an automobile in a baghdad park a few weeks after the fall of Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime in April 2003, according to U.S. intelligence sources. One of the five was Saddam. The other four were among his closest advisers. The agenda: how to fight back against the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. A representative of Saddam's former No. 2, Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, was there. But the most intriguing man in the car may have been a retired general named Muhammad Yunis al-Ahmed, who had been a senior member of the Military Bureau, a secret Baath Party spy service. The bureau's job had been to keep an eye on the Iraqi military—and to organize Baathist resistance in the event of a coup. Now a U.S. coup had taken place, and Saddam turned to al-Ahmed and the others and told them to start "rebuilding your networks."

Lyrical montage

Somewhere at this moment.

Bush is losing it

When this article in Capitol Hill Blue first made the rounds three weeks ago, it seemed too preposterous to be true.

While President George W. Bush travels around the country in a last-ditch effort to sell his Iraq war, White House aides scramble frantically behind the scenes to hide the dark mood of an increasingly angry leader who unleashes obscenity-filled outbursts at anyone who dares disagree with him.

But two new articles in Newsweek and Time seem to confirm that earlier account.

Judging from the blistering analyses in Time, Newsweek, and elsewhere these past few days, it turns out that Bush is in fact fidgety, cold and snappish in private. He yells at those who dare give him bad news and is therefore not surprisingly surrounded by an echo chamber of terrified sycophants.

This almost makes you wonder if Capital Hill Blue was correct in their earlier assessment that Bush was taking anti-depressants to control his mood swings.

Eternal war

The NYTimes magazine has a must-read piece to commemorate the 4th anniversary of September 11th that attempts to write the history of the past four years of the United States and its wars. It's rare to see this kind of analysis anywhere and even rarer to see it combined with some quality writing.

Bacon on Bacon

Kevin bacon explains his feelings on the six degrees of Kevin bacon meme. (via Robotwisdom)

AmItheOnionOrNot

See if you can tell which of these headlines are from The Onion and which are from less-satirical news sources. Is there still a difference between fact and fiction? Mouseover for the correct answer.

Officials Uncertain Whether To Save Or Shoot Victims

Emergency agency called a disaster

Louisiana National Guard Offers Help By Phone From Iraq

Dipping His Toe Into Disaster

Bush Will Lead Probe Into Katrina Response

Bush: 'It Has Been Brought To My Attention That There Was Recently A Bad Storm'

"Things are going remarkably well"

Michael Jackson writes song for hurricane relief

White Foragers Report Threat Of Black Looters

Plugging the hole

A day by day account of the struggle to fix the the hole in the 17th Street wall. The problem withe the repair efforts is that the they begin until days after the breach. The wall likely failed on Monday, according to the article, but it wasn't until Wednesday night that the Army Corp of Engineers got involved. What was the reason for the delay? (via Robotwisdom)

Oh my

Coeds with colds. (via Hork)

Civilization is only three days deep

Over the course of a few days a large portion of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama have turned into the third world. There are two basic responses to this. One is that no matter what we do, we are powerless against the strength of the forces of nature. The other is that the effects of a hurricane can be made ten times worse due to the the incompetence of the Bush administration.