rare bird

The answer might surprise you.

Michael Osterholm, infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota, said on Gary Eichten's "Midday" that another flu pandemic is inevitable: "This is not a matter of if. This is a matter of it will happen. And it's really a situation of planning how we are going to get through it." A caller asked what his chances of living through a pandemic would be. Osterholm said 95%. However, he said that the chances for pregnant women would be 50%, as they have weakened immune systems.

"The Cabir virus mainly targets three mobile operating systems - Symbian, Windows Mobile and a third used by NTT DoCoMo, a mobile phone operator in Japan. It then destroys files and data, dials calls top-rate numbers and emergency services, and drains the battery of the cell phone. Infected mobile phones then scan for other vulnerable phones using Bluetooth wireless connection and send a file that contains the worm to such phones. The latest variants of the virus – Cabir.H and Cabir.I – spread rapidly when new phones come into contact with each other." Now that's [un]wired.

If global warming hits the world full force, it will make the 2004 tsunami look like a baseball game. The best documentary I ever saw on this subject is After The Warming , by James Burke. He projects what the world will go through until 2050, if the warming started in 1998. (The film was made in 1991.) Droughts in America, disasters in the Third World, the rise of Japan and Asia as the pre-eminent superpowers, a global carbon trading system - a revolution in history to rival WW2 and the atomic age. Granted, the changes are coming more slowly than he projected, but given what we know now, this should make prophetic watching.

Get ready for another browser grudge match. MSFT is not going to give up on the browser war just because of Firefox. IE 7.0 is coming, and it will try to compete with Firefox's security features. Will it feature tabbed browsing?

It was my Dad's birthday yesterday. Just for fun I googled him and found these patents in his name from when he worked at 3M. Pretty cool to realize your Dad is an inventor.

It's not an important holiday simply because it happens to be your dating anniversary (Sean) or wedding anniversary (Hamlet). The Teaching Company is giving away a free lecture from their High Middle Ages series about the origins of this holiday and how it became associated with love and courtship. Listen to it with a loved one. Or listen to it alone and laugh at us foolish neo-pagans.

"Shortly after the fall of Baghdad, the U.S. government hired South African mercenaries as bodyguards and police trainers. The contract later proved embarrassing when two of the former bodyguards were arrested in Zimbabwe on charges of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea."

Niebuhr was one of the most important theologians of the 20th century. As this program demonstrates, his influence only seems to grow with time.

Apparently, this was causing a surge in UFO sightings. The X-Files comes to Iran.

STAR WARS The magazine's interview with the film-maker and a great photo portfolio, including the original stars (my gosh, they've gotten old. Oh yeah, that's right; I was a kid then).

Like 99.9% of technical writers out there, I use Arial as my primary font. Today I received a document in Helvetica, which I haven't seen for years. Just for fun I googled it and found out there is a fierce anger in the typographic world over the fact that Arial is a knock-off (and a bad one at that). This is also thanks to MSFT, since Windows chose to adopt Arial and Apple chose Helvetica, and Windows won. Of course only professionals can tell the difference. But that's the whole point, isn't it?

Don't know if anyone saw this in Sunday's Star Tribune (free registration required). "Remember James Watt, President Ronald Reagan's first secretary of the interior? My favorite online environmental journal, the ever-engaging Grist, reminded us recently of how James Watt told the U.S. Congress that protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, "after the last tree is felled, Christ will come back."" By the way, in Minnesota the last Friday of April is Arbor Day. Go plant a tree.

Every generation brings along a person who re-discovers the gospel of God for their time. Paul did it - he set the stage; Augustine did it; Luther and Calvin did it; Edwards did it; Wesley did it; Barth did it; C.S. Lewis did it; Stott and Packer have done it; and now I believe Brian McLaren is doing it. "More to come," as Johnny Carson would say...

Rare Bird welcomes Vision Man, our Lifestyle and Entertainment editor! He is chief sound engineer at a liberal arts college whose expertise ranges far and wide. Listen, those with ears to hear.

What a great idea - learn from professors with Harvard and Yale quality without having to go there! Follow the link for an excerpt on Luther.

One of the issues reported by Jon Gordon is that the song "Happy Birthday" is used in the film. Apparently it is also under copyright and cannot be used without a license. If any song should be in the public domain, it's "Happy Birthday."

The browser wars are back! Will open source prove to be the development model that can actually challenge MSFT's decade-long dominance? If you don't already have Firefox, get it here . Even if you run OS X, or don't speak English! Let's show the world that open source can compete.

Finally , a music radio station that is not owned by someone out of town, with DJ's that have personality and are allowed to express them. These guys are from RadioK and Rev-105, classic Twin Cities "modern rock" formats that have a mind of their own. And ... no ... commercials! Pinch me.