Jonathan's blog

From an article on abcnews.com titled "Germs Are Lurking in Your Office":

...the Top 5 places where viruses live in the workplace: the desk, computer mouse, telephone, doorknob and light switch. "Viruses can live for 72 hours on common surfaces like phones and desktops," Gerba said. Common areas, such as conference rooms, are not safe havens for germs because they are more likely to be cleaned than personal space, Gerba said. "Also, people at meetings are usually sitting relatively still," he said. "They aren't getting up to use phones, computer mice and keyboards."

A rare positive story out of Iraq. From a Washington Post story by Thomas E. Ricks reproduced on MSNBC.com:

The last time the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment served in Iraq, in 2003-04, its performance was judged mediocre, with a series of abuse cases growing out of its tour of duty in Anbar province. But its second tour in Iraq has been very different, according to specialists in the difficult art of conducting a counterinsurgency campaign -- fighting a guerrilla war but also trying to win over the population and elements of the enemy. Such campaigns are distinct from the kind of war most U.S. commanders have spent decades preparing to fight. In the last nine months, the regiment has focused on breaking the insurgents' hold on Tall Afar, a town of 290,000. Their operations here "will serve as a case study in classic counterinsurgency, the way it is supposed to be done," said Terry Daly, a retired intelligence officer specializing in the subject. U.S. military experts conducting an internal review of the three dozen major U.S. brigades, battalions and similar units operating in Iraq in 2005 privately concluded that of all those units, the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment performed the best at counterinsurgency, according to a source familiar with the review's findings. "Every time you treat an Iraqi disrespectfully, you are working for the enemy," McMaster said he told every soldier in his command. He ordered his soldiers to stop using the term hajji as a slang term for all Iraqis, because he saw it as inaccurate and disrespectful. (It actually means someone who has made the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.) One out of every 10 soldiers received a three-week course in conversational Arabic, so that each small unit would have someone capable of basic exchanges with Iraqis. McMaster, who holds a PhD in history from the University of North Carolina and is an expert on the Vietnam War, distributed a lengthy reading list to his officers that included studies of Arab and Iraqi history and most of the classic texts on counterinsurgency. He also quietly relieved one battalion commander who didn't seem to understand that such changes were necessary.

Garden Fresh Salsa Inc.'s "Jack's Special Salsa" is my new favorite, after being recommended to use by some friends from church. Give it a try if you can find it in your local grocery. There's a good article about the company in The Detroit News, including tales of salsa secret thievery and the fun fact that salsa has now passed ketchup as America's number one condiment.

Aronson ruefully recalls hiring two men in 1999 and entrusting them with some of his secret recipes. The pair -- Charles Maiorana and David Kernya -- set up a partnership and corporation, Buddies Foods, while still employed at Garden Fresh Gourmet. They also contacted Garden Fresh's customers about their line of products, all suspiciously like Garden Fresh Gourmet and similarly packaged. "It was quite a coincidence," said Aronson. Garden Fresh Gourmet filed a lawsuit against the pair in 2003 alleging unfair competition and theft of trade secret recipes. An Oakland Circuit Court jury found in favor of Garden Fresh Gourmet for more than $500,000 in damages. Since that verdict Maiorana has filed for bankruptcy. Garden Fresh had to file another lawsuit recently against the company when it was determined that a third partner existed. Buddies Foods is specifically enjoined from using a particular brand of tomatoes and vinegar used in Garden Fresh products.

An article in the NY TImes by Neela Baneerje titled "At Religious Universities, Disputes Over Faith and Academic Freedom" describes recent conflicts at Notre Dame:

A gay film festival opened at the University of Notre Dame last week with a sold-out showing of "Brokeback Mountain." On Valentine's Day, Notre Dame students staged a production of "The Vagina Monologues." Though the events have been held for the past few years, it may have been their last time on campus. In speeches and interviews recently, the Rev. John I. Jenkins, Notre Dame's new president, has said that staging the events on campus implies an endorsement of values that conflict with Roman Catholicism. The film festival had to change its name, and "The Vagina Monologues" was performed in a classroom, not a theater, by a group that was not allowed to sell tickets to raise money for women's groups as it once had. "Precisely because academic freedom is such a sacred value, we must be clear about its appropriate limits," Father Jenkins said last month in a speech before faculty members and students. "I do not believe that freedom of expression has absolute priority in every circumstance." The controversies at Notre Dame are the latest and most high profile among disputes at many other religiously affiliated universities about how to promote open inquiry and critical thinking while adhering to the tenets of a given faith. Tensions seem most acute at some Catholic and Baptist universities, in large part because student bodies and faculties have grown more diverse and secular over the years, some theologians and historians said.

In the middle of the night last night Lisa took Finn to the emergency room. He had been coughing, breathing rapidly and shallowly, and seemed to have a rapid pulse. It turns out that he has bacterial pneumonia. They tried to give him an iv for fluids and antibiotics, but they never could get one despite several attempts at poking. He seemed better to me when I saw him tonight than this morning. This morning, he seemed rather listless. Tonight he was perky and talkative and jumping around.