First Looks category archive

It appears that thinking the whole swine H1N1 flu thing is over may be a mistake:

A novel flu likely circulated in Philadelphia in April and May of 1918, causing mild illness and going largely unnoticed. It returned in September, eventually killing more than 16,000 people in the city and 500,000 nationwide.

While the public may be over the initial scare from Mexico last month, it is the longer-term scenario – a version of 1918 would be the most extreme – that keeps pandemic experts up at night. A seeming resurgence of swine flu in New York over the last several days and its continuing spread worldwide haven’t helped.

“This one may or may not come back in September or October. It may or may not come back in December. It may or may not come back at all,” said Howard Markel, a medical historian at the University of Michigan and author of When Germs Travel: Six Major Epidemics That Have Invaded America and the Fears They Have Unleashed.

Q. How are hot dogs made?

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Regulars on the Arthur Godfrey Show:

After all, aren’t these the same folks who were going to save Chrysler?

Daimler is taking a 10 percent stake in Tesla Motors, a U.S. based electric car start-up, as it expands its green auto business, the head of Daimler’s research department said on Tuesday.

Off to drink liberally.

Find a chapter near you.

The Philadelphia Shrinquirer does its part.

First, John Yoo, who gives me the vapors, and now, for the vapors, Aye, there’s the rub.

What rub?

Why, the Vicks, of course.

The CIA? Make stuff up? Oh, the horrors.

I’ve been following it, but Brendan lays it out very well.

It smells real bad.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has sold out to the forces of darkness.

Seriously creepy. Almost, indeed, blasphemous.

Via Balloon Juice. Follow the Balloon Juice link for commentary.

Over at Jack’s Place.

Triumph Brewing Company, 2nd and Chestnut, Philadelphia, Pa., Tuesdays, 6 p. For drivers, there’s plenty of parking on Front.

Whether or not I make it depends on how bad my dentist beats me up Tuesday morning.

The Wilmington News-Journal analyzes the spray paint on the wall:

The most prolific taggers are mostly teenagers who think of themselves as artists, police said. They don’t think of their work as vandalism, don’t fear police and are motivated by a desire to earn respect by painting as much visible graffiti as possible.

“They all come from artistic backgrounds and a lot of these kids are very gifted, they’re just using it the wrong way,” said Officer Phil Young, who investigates taggers for the Elsmere police.

Though taggers come from all racial and economic backgrounds, the majority in Delaware are white middle- to upper-class youths ranging in age from 13 to 22, police said.

“It’s a whole culture that people don’t know about,” said New Castle County police Officer LaVincent Harris. “It’s their life. … If you can’t read it, so what? They want respect and notoriety.”

Wonder how the dollar amount of the damage compares to the time-honored practice of stealing stop signs?

Regarding the naming of the carriers Bush and Ford:

People are not going to know the Bush’s namesake was a brave Navy pilot who served admirably in World War II; they are going to think it was named after ‘Dubya,’ a draft-dodging, Cheney yes-man. Ford’s claim to fame was giving President Nixon a full pardon. Why does he (sic) deserve to have a carrier named after him?

I would not want to be the navigator of the Carrier Bush. I wouldn’t be able to believe anything the instruments told me.

You know him as Phillybits and know his photography from Scene In Philly.

His computer’s power supply is kaput and his economy is like everyone else’s.

If you can, please help him out.

Details here.

This reminds of the Forensic Files episode about the mold-infested house.

These days, the Dunaways spend as little time as possible in the house.

Two months ago, Jason discovered the walls were built with dozens of sheets of Chinese-made drywall, which has been the focus of complaints in several states by people who say it emits a corrosive gas that damages household electrical systems and causes respiratory problems.

Now, electric fans hum throughout the house in an effort to dissipate the unpleasant odor. Sheets of plastic cover large scars cut out of a half-painted living room wall. And the Dunaways debate moving their children to West Virginia to get them out of the home.

And, in related news in the same part of the world,

Five Hampton Roads home-owners filed a lawsuit Friday against a local developer, a distributor and a Chinese manufacturer of defective drywall, seeking damages in excess of $5 million and class-action status.

Among the allegations in the lawsuit, filed in Norfolk’s U.S. District Court, is that the companies were negligent for selling the drywall and not warning homeowners and customers that it was defective.

Such wallboard has been the focus of complaints in several states by people who say it emits a corrosive gas that damages household electrical systems and causes respiratory illness.

“The heart of the complaint was that these companies installed drywall into homes that was unfit for the purpose and in fact has now caused these homeowners to have houses they can’t live in,” said Richard Serpe, the plaintiffs’ Norfolk attorney.

Somehow, this doesn’t pass the smell test.

Boeing Co., the second-largest U.S. defense contractor, is leasing drones to government agencies and militaries seeking to bypass years-long purchasing processes, a market the company says may grow to $10 billion in a decade.

What makes procurement “years-long” (if, indeed, it is so) are redundant and cumbersome procedures enacted to protect the purchaser from vendors who try to game the system.

Not that Boeing would ever do something like that.

Oh. Wait.