Here are links I found interesting on February 5, 2013:
Jenny McCarthy: Antivaccination promoter won’t be speaking at charity fundraiser – From the article: "Fighting anti-vaxxers is critical. The misinformation they spread is incredibly dangerous. First, because it’s simply wrong, almost to a letter. Second, because it spreads fear, and then parents don’t vaccinate their kids or get booster shots themselves. And when that happens, herd immunity drops, and when herd immunity drops, kids start getting infected. Some die. This is no joke: It happens in Australia, it happens in the United Kingdom, it happens here in the United States. My own home of Boulder, Colo., had a big outbreak last year of pertussis, and one baby came very close to death."
Enough, already – Can you believe it? Someone actually has the nerve to disagree. My friend Tom says: "I’m fed up with the Aaron Swartz hagiography and subsequent bullshit garment-rending from people who didn’t know him well, or at all. I’m still reading fresh examples of anguished wailing and blogging and Twittering about the guy. But to me, he seems unworthy of the sainthood that’s being thrust onto his corpse."
Here are links I found interesting on January 11, 2013:
Controversial anti-vaccination book removed from sale – "Australia's largest online bookstore will no longer sell a book that promotes the "marvellous" benefits of measles." It should come as no surprise that this dangerously misguided book was written by an American anti-vax wacko.
The Uncommon Origins of the Common Fork – "When we pick up a dinner fork we rarely think about how or why it came to be. Using it is as natural as using our own hands. But the fork is a relative newcomer to the table, appearing many centuries, even millennia, after the knife and spoon. The fork’s short and rocky history is the story of the evolution of etiquette and table manners. It’s also the story of how a doomed Byzantine princess, a French Cardinal disgusted by his dinner guests, and an intrepid English traveler forever changed the way western society eats." I found this interesting, but then again, I find history interesting in general.
A real person, a lot like you – Derek Sivers blogs a bit about how computers, email, and social networking make us forget that the people on the other side of the screen are people, too. Thanks to @kirshen on Twitter for sharing this timely link.
