Voice from the Past

I never got to know Ron Brown, nor did I bother to learn the details of the big dustup that led to his departure from WGEM. I do remember that he did some fine feature reporting, and of course I do miss the Quincy Dump in a sick sort of way.

So it was a pleasure when I turned on Weekend Edition Saturday before last and heard him reporting from Biloxi, Mississippi. As before, it was a darn fine feature.

You can read or listen to it here.

I Surrender

Reality has defeated any efforts to make snarky comments about it.

GENEVA (AFP) - A giant inflatable dog turd by American artist Paul McCarthy blew away from an exhibition in the garden of a Swiss museum, bringing down a power line and breaking a greenhouse window before it landed again, the museum said Monday.

The art work, titled "Complex S(expletive..)", is the size of a house. The wind carried it 200 metres (yards) from the Paul Klee Centre in Berne before it fell back to Earth in the grounds of a children's home, said museum director Juri Steiner.

Unfortunately, the audience will consist entirely of Republican legislators

"Blagojevich joked with reporters at the Illinois State Fair on Saturday, deadpanning that he is booked to speak at four in morning in a men’s room at Denver’s Colorado Convention Center."

In Between, There's the Alien Abduction

Friday, Aug. 15: Futures for Kids Day
Grandstand: ZZ Top with Brooks & Dunn
Hometown Pride: Quincy
Diaper derby contest (Special Events Tent)

Saturday, Aug. 19: Park District Conservation Day
Grandstand: Natasha Bedingfield with Vanessa
Hudgens
Arena: Go-kart races
Square dancers (Lincoln Stage)
Hometown Pride: Henry County

OK, it seems to be fixed

Some sort of snafu.....who knows.

What's the Matter with the Whig Website?

Service Unavailable

That's what I am getting this afternoon.

The Devil's in the Details

A letter in Sunday's Whig attempted to connect autism and flu shots, at least by implication:

"It is interesting to note that autism strikes 1 in 150 children except in New Jersey where it occurs in 1 in 95. New Jersey is one of the few states that requires all children get flu vaccines."

It is also interesting to note that these statistics come from a CDC study of data from 2002, a study that included data from all or parts of 14 states. To quote an article from the 2007 release of the study, "[T]hose states are not demographically representative of the nation as a whole, so officials cautioned against using the results as a national average."

And: "Also, the study does not answer whether autism is increasing — a controversial topic, driven in part by the contention by some parents and advocates that autism is linked to a vaccine preservative. The best scientific studies have not borne out that claim."

And finally, the New Jersey statistics came from only four counties in the northernmost part of the state, so it is difficult if not impossible to generalize from those numbers.

Oh, and by the way. . . New Jersey did not require the flu vaccine in 2002. That requirement only went into effect in 2007.