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Language Log » The unbearable loss of words
"Since aphasics often produce nonsense words without realizing that they aren't real words, one of the goals of therapy is to give the patient feedback on which words are real. But West would often produce bona fide words that were unknown to the therapist."
language  pestilence  via:newsmary 
january 2012 by kevan
Slouching toward a bananapocalypse? | Grist
"Success in the globalized food trade has come to mean planting crops far away from where they evolved, in a climate as similar as possible, and then sitting back and collecting the profits until the pests show up."
food  bananas  pestilence  via:blech 
november 2011 by kevan
This Is a Mosquito Getting Killed By a Laser - Gizmodo
Tracking mosquito movement and burning their wings off with a pinpoint laser. "The idea behind the 'Death Star' laser is that it could be used to control mosquito populations in developing countries in hopes of reducing the number of deaths due to malaria."
insects  light  death  pestilence  technology  via:waxy 
february 2010 by kevan
Infodemiology and Infoveillance | Eysenbach | Journal of Medical Internet Research
"Analyzing how people search and navigate the Internet for health-related information, as well as how they communicate and share this information, can provide valuable insights to health-related behavior of populations, including for example the level of understanding of health issues, knowledge about health-related conditions, and so on."
medicine  pestilence  surveillance  maps  twitter 
september 2009 by kevan
Kill or cure?
"The Daily Mail frequently brings us news of which objects have been discovered to cause cancer, and which have been shown to prevent it. In some cases, they do both. In order to make sense of this vast resource of clinical information, I've scraped the Daily Mail’s website for articles mentioning cancer."
news  pestilence  science  delusions 
july 2009 by kevan
Mobile phones: Sensors and sensitivity | The Economist
"Sense plans to collect positional information from a control group of infected patients. [They] will then be able to determine which neighbourhoods these patients frequent, and their commuting patterns between them. They hope this will then enable them to work out the characteristics of typical TB patients, so that they can then spot potentially infected people in the wider population."
phones  maps  pestilence  surveillance  via:badscience 
june 2009 by kevan
Predicting Flu With the Aid of (George) Washington - NYTimes.com
"Dr. Brockmann, visiting from Germany, heard about [wheresgeorge.com] in idle chatter and realized that it was just what he needed: a map of face-to-face transactions, exactly the kind that spread influenza."
pestilence  money  simulation 
may 2009 by kevan
BLDGBLOG: This Diseased Utopia: 10 Thoughts on Swine Flu and the City
"Just as our city streets are wide enough to accommodate the turning radius of a specific class of passenger vehicle, our office cubicles, kindergarten playrooms, courts of law, and university lecture halls could be measured against the infectious vectors of specific pathogens."
cities  design  architecture  pestilence  ballard 
april 2009 by kevan
Google Flu Trends
"We've found that certain search terms are good indicators of flu activity. Google Flu Trends uses aggregated Google search data to estimate flu activity in your state up to two weeks faster than traditional systems."
pestilence  maps  web  via:waxy 
november 2008 by kevan
Dept. of Entomology: Stung: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker
"Langstroth determined that if frames were placed at this 'bee-space' interval of three-eighths of an inch, bees would build honeycomb that could be lifted from the hive, rather than, as was the practice up to that point, sliced or hacked out of it."
bees  science  pestilence  design 
january 2008 by kevan
Persistent coughs melt away with chocolate - 22 November 2004 - New Scientist
"Those given theobromine needed about one-third more capsaicin to produce coughing than those who took codeine. Codeine was only marginally more effective than the placebo at preventing coughing."
medicine  food  pestilence 
october 2007 by kevan
BBC NEWS | Health | Virtual game is a 'disease model'
"Computer models allow for experimentation on virtual populations without [ethical] limitations, but still rely on mathematical rules to approximate human behaviour. [...] A virtual world may be a way to bridge this gap, said Professor Fefferman."
mmorpgs  pestilence  simulation  via:penguin 
august 2007 by kevan
Serenity (2005)
Less of the smugly retort-crammed dialogue than what I saw of the series; some good, casual moral ambiguity, but a lot of stock-issue monochrome cliche as well. Some lazy resolutions, some nice lines about how we build the future.
filmlog  3stars  space  future  pestilence  secrets  weapons  via:brendan 
july 2007 by kevan
Things To Come (1936)
Aerial warfare, the fascistic rise of science (dictatorial conquering is fine so long as your poison gases are non-lethal), and an extremely vague and angry Luddite rejection of "progress". Impressively difficult to keep in the context of 1936.
filmlog  3stars  war  science  future  technology  society  apocalypse  pestilence 
july 2007 by kevan
Mobile Phone Virus Scare Jumps from Pakistan to Afghanistan
"The rumours claimed that 'as soon as you answer your phone blood comes out of your mouth, nose and ears and you die'. [...] Government authorities are blaming local Taliban for spreading the scare story."
phones  pestilence  delusions  death  viruses 
may 2007 by kevan
BBC NEWS | From Our Own Correspondent | When vodka is your poison
"They called it the yellow death. It started in the summer when dozens of people turned up in casualty, a vile shade of yellow."
russia  drinks  poison  pestilence  death 
march 2007 by kevan
Twelve Monkeys (1996)
Tighter rules of time travel than I remembered, and the wandering-zoo-animal apocalypse trope is always a good one. A few nice touches of the world ending gradually. Didn't remember the ending being so concretely unambiguous.
filmlog  4stars  time  delusions  pestilence  monkeys  terrorism  prison 
march 2007 by kevan
Nothing Sacred (1937)
Weak screwball comedy that never really gets going, with an uncomfortable attempt at comedy domestic violence, and a generally weird and morbid attitude throughout, with a radium-poisoned girl being the toast of New York for being so "doomed".
filmlog  2stars  news  pestilence  secrets  lies  love  death 
december 2006 by kevan
Eurogamer - First Impressions - S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl
Very odd press event for a Chernobyl-set FPS, sounding a lot like they've just been paid to pretend they were there. "Unbelievably, we're no more than 200 metres from Reactor 4, the site of the worst nuclear accident in human history."
games  russia  pestilence  dereliction  apocalypse  mutation  weapons  via:levez 
november 2006 by kevan
Viral Fossil Brought Back to Life -- ScienceNOW
"In a controversial study, researchers have resurrected a retrovirus that infected our ancestors millions of years ago and now sits frozen in the human genome."
science  genetics  viruses  history  apocalypse  medicine  pestilence 
november 2006 by kevan
Small Crimes in an Age of Abundance - Matthew Kneale
Short stories pivoting around tiny, bad decisions. Unsurprising twists and something of an air of stapled-together leftovers that Kneale had knocking around, but the writing's good, the viewpoint omnisciently unjudgemental.
booklog  crime  secrets  lies  coincidences  drugs  medicine  police  writing  pestilence  terrorism 
october 2006 by kevan
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Figures moving slowly through a grim, black-and-white, 15th-century Swedish apocalypse, pursued by an oddly pranksterish Death. Had forgotten about the slowed, priest-fuelled, mediaeval end of the end of the world.
filmlog  3stars  death  apocalypse  pestilence  chess  religion 
july 2006 by kevan
World War Z - Max Brooks
Preview copy. Looking very good so far, a coherently described pandemic spreading through 21st-century channels from a single individual, pieced together from a global perspective deeper than the usual cliches. The avian-flu parallels are quite chilling.
booklog  zombies  war  apocalypse  pestilence  world 
july 2006 by kevan
Guardian Unlimited | Weekend | Call that risky?
"Hitting a rather macabre note, [energy production] risk is measured in deaths per terawatt year. 'By far the most dangerous is hydro. When a hydro dam goes in a populated area, it can kill 35,000 people in 40 minutes.'"
terrorism  electricity  death  water  maths  future  pestilence  apocalypse 
april 2006 by kevan
Guardian Unlimited | Interest surges in trials despite patients' plight
"'The industry has been very concerned this would have a negative impact on clinical trials, but the odd thing is more people seem to be showing an interest,' said Dr Roberto Solari [...] 'I don't think people realised there was money to be made.'"
drugs  medicine  science  money  pestilence 
march 2006 by kevan
Lab Notes - So You've Decided to Raise the Dead
"[Zombie bacteria] could slowly poison the mitochondria [and] then take over their function once respiration stopped. If it invaded already-dead tissue, its job would be even easier because there'd be no immune system to fight off the infection."
zombies  science  genetics  pestilence  nano 
march 2006 by kevan
The Omega Man (1971)
The last gun-toting scientist in the world, versus a horde of Luddite Goth monks. Nicely emptily post-apocalyptic, but it's a bit too black and white and arbitrary, at times. And red all over. Why couldn't they make realistic stage blood in the 70s?
filmlog  3stars  apocalypse  science  pestilence  dereliction  weapons  technology  religion  via:lori 
november 2005 by kevan
The Knights of Saint Edmund
"In an attempt to prevent the desecration of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, one of England's most historic towns, the Knights of St Edmund have decided to unleash a 1,000 year old curse against Centros Miller Ltd., Miller group and Debenhams."
shops  religion  magic  pestilence 
november 2005 by kevan
Telegraph | News | Trawler steamed into germ warfare site and no one said a word
In 1952. "A destroyer and a fisheries vessel shadowed her from over the horizon, listening to her radio broadcasts, waiting to see if she called for medical assistance."
war  water  pestilence  secrets  science 
september 2005 by kevan
SOM | EpiSims | Controlling Smallpox: Strategies in a Virtual City Built from Empirical Data
Virtual model of a smallpox outbreak. "The attack is presumed to be covert, so until people become symptomatic around day 10 they continue with their normal activities."
simulation  pestilence  terrorism  via:jones 
september 2005 by kevan
Yahoo! News: Mice Infected With Bubonic Plague Missing
"Federal official said the mice may never be accounted for. Among other things, the rodents may have been stolen, eaten by other lab animals or just misplaced in a paperwork error."
rodents  pestilence  apocalypse  science  medicine 
september 2005 by kevan
The Rake: The Life-Giving Secret of Bees
"We know the bees use propolis to seal cracks in the hives, and for other purposes—like embalming invaders [but] they don't collect very much of it, and not all of them are that interested in it." Might be good for rustproofing barbecues.
bees  pestilence  construction  science 
september 2005 by kevan
Stay Free - The History of Psychosomatic Illness: An interview with Edward Shorter
Psychosomatic symptoms as cultural fashions. "I have a lot of problems with a particular version of bioethics we have today that says it's unethical to lie to patients. If we can help patients by lying to them, then by all means, lie to them."
medicine  history  psychology  delusions  memetics  pestilence  society  via:mindhacks 
august 2005 by kevan
BBC NEWS | The disease that makes people zombies
Sleeping sickness. "But in the late stages, when the parasites have invaded the brain, the signs become more obvious and ominous. Victims find it hard to concentrate. They become irritable, their speech is slurred and they stop eating."
pestilence  zombies  brains 
july 2005 by kevan
Popular Science: Can This Fruit Be Saved?
"After 15,000 years of human cultivation, the banana is too perfect, lacking the genetic diversity that is key to species health. What can ail one banana can ail all."
bananas  apocalypse  genetics  evolution  pestilence  famine  via:holly 
july 2005 by kevan
icWales - Rise of super-pigeons due to food litter
"Fast food leftovers on Welsh streets is creating overweight 'super-pigeons', that rely on waste to survive." [...] "Pigeons become dependent on you for their diet and when flocks gather this spreads disease and drives smaller birds away."
pigeons  litter  food  pestilence  birds 
july 2005 by kevan
The Royal Tenenbaums (2002)
"Immediately after making this statement, Royal realized that it was true." Throwing a broken family back together, in a film that manages to be facetious without ever quite being throwaway.
filmlog  3stars  children  pestilence  lies 
july 2005 by kevan
icScotland - Hospitals may ban bedside Bibles
"Bosses from Leicester's three main hospitals said they were considering moving the holy book from patients' bedsides because it may cause offence and may be responsible for spreading the superbug MRSA."
religion  books  pestilence 
june 2005 by kevan
New Scientist - Being a loner reduces immunity and heart health
"Students with the smallest social networks - mixing with between four to 12 people in a two-week period - had an 11% poorer response to the same component than those with the social networks of over 20 people."
society  pestilence  psychology 
may 2005 by kevan
Times Online - Mystery of toads that explode in the night
"Suddenly, after nightfall, they start to balloon to more than three times their normal size and can barely crawl before popping. Their entrails are expelled distances of up to one metre."
frogs  death  mysteries  pestilence  germany 
april 2005 by kevan
Illnesses Created by Advertising
"Advertising created so many illnesses in the 1930s that the trade magazine Printers' Ink began a 'disease watch' of sorts." Includes 'Morning Acidity', 'Choker's Cramp' and 'Shift-Key Fatigue'.
advertising  pestilence  lies  via:holly 
april 2005 by kevan
BBC NEWS | TV soaps' ails fuelling sickness
"More than nine out of 10 GPs claimed to have seen patients reporting symptoms based on what they had seen on TV or read in newspapers and magazines."
psychology  pestilence  television 
april 2005 by kevan
The Independent: Schiavo parents claim daughter has tried to tell of desire to live
"Mrs Schiavo had tried to vocalise the sentence "I want to live". She was only able to complete the first two words but her intention was clear, the lawyer said."
death  law  famine  pestilence 
march 2005 by kevan
Reuters: Optimism May Make for a Longer Life
"Optimists, Giltay and his colleagues note, may be better at coping with adversity, and may, for example, be more likely to comply with medical treatment if they do fall ill."
medicine  pestilence  psychology 
november 2004 by kevan
BBC NEWS | Health | Vibrating trousers treat angina
"The cuffs inflate and deflate with each heartbeat, pushing the blood up the leg towards the heart, while an ECG heart monitor checks the heart rate."
clothes  limbs  medicine  pestilence  technology 
october 2004 by kevan
Guardian Unlimited | US scientists warn of out-of-town health hazard
"Suburban sprawl reduces the time people spend walking and increases the time they spend sitting in cars."
cities  pestilence  transport 
september 2004 by kevan
New Scientist | Dear diary, you make me sick
"Regular diarists were more likely than non-diarists to suffer from headaches, sleeplessness, digestive problems and social awkwardness."
pestilence  psychology  weblogs 
september 2004 by kevan
SocietyGuardian.co.uk | How I survived Chernobyl
"A couple of seconds later, I felt a wave come through the room. The thick concrete walls were bent like rubber. I thought war had broken out. We started to look for Khodemchuk but he had been by the pumps and had been vaporised."
apocalypse  death  medicine  pestilence  russia  science 
august 2004 by kevan
BUNGAROOSH (BUNGAROUCHE, BUNGLAROUGE?)
"However you spell this concoction, it is the mixture which makes up many of the structural walls of Brighton and is responsible for much structural instability, dry rot, dampness, and probably plague and pestilence as well."
architecture  brighton  cheating  construction  pestilence 
july 2004 by kevan
Hearing Steps
"If the person falls, or limps or shuffles - warning signs of diseases such as osteoarthritis or Parkinson’s - the monitor alerts a computer to send a message to a caregiver." - would also be good for live-action Thief.
medicine  pestilence  sound  technology  walking 
july 2004 by kevan
CDC - Kids' Page - Infectious Disease Cards
"Gotta catch 'em all!" says Ole.
cards  games  pestilence 
july 2004 by kevan
Reuters: Doctors find SARS virus in tears of patients
"...may mean that the virus could be spread through tears, in addition to droplets from coughs or sneezes."
eyes  medicine  pestilence 
june 2004 by kevan
BBC NEWS | Technology | First mobile phone virus created
"Because the worm requires Bluetooth technology to travel, it is geographically constrained to a radius of about 30 metres."
pestilence  phones  viruses 
june 2004 by kevan
New Scientist : Doctors' ties harbour disease-causing germs
"This study brings into question whether wearing a necktie is in the best interest of our patients."
clothes  medicine  pestilence 
may 2004 by kevan
Cancer Act of 1939
"No person shall take any part in the publication of any advertisement [...] containing an offer to treat any person for cancer, or to prescribe any remedy therefor, or to give any advice in connection with the treatment thereof."
advertising  law  pestilence 
may 2004 by kevan
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Made in the shade
"There exists a popular misconception that sunscreens protect against skin cancer, although manufacturers never say this."
pestilence  psychology  science  skin 
may 2004 by kevan
The Infected Stand United
Infertility-diseased Breedster bugs decide to make disease-spreading their game objective instead, zombie style. With crass AIDS references.
games  insects  meta  pestilence  society  zombies 
april 2004 by kevan
Old or Obsolete Names for Diseases and Disorders
"SIMPLE SMILING JESUS: spinal meningitis"
history  language  pestilence 
april 2004 by kevan

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