Some people might argue that poker is a game of psychology and feelings. Others argue that it's a game of math. Really, though, it should be a blending of both.

I've mentioned here several times before the potential security risks of the increasing use of RFID chips in all kinds of things, from their original uses for inventory tracking to passports and identification credentials. Since these chips are designed to be read from a distance, they can be scanned by someone just walking by, if he has the appropriate equipment.

After seven consecutive quarters of declining house prices, the typical Philadelphia home actually rose in value by an average of 6.8% on a quality- and seasonally- adjusted basis this past spring. This is a reversal from nearly two years of price declines.

There isn't an indigenous American sadhu tradition, ascetic wanderers on the (south Asia) Indian model. But we do have, thanks to our vast open spaces, celebrated individual instances of semi-ascetic wanderers in the American West and Alaska.

The title refers to a Jewish-American military unit who are parachuted into Occupied France prior to D-Day to kill Nazis brutally and without mercy. To put that another way, two words which do not feature in the script are "Geneva Convention". However, whilst the film draws on the likes of Robert Aldrich's The Dirty Dozen and Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West for inspiration, with Quentin Tarantino at the helm, this was never going to be a conventionally gritty wartime revenge flick either.

The New York Times has a report that a group of Israeli scientists has demonstrated the feasibility of producing "counterfeit" DNA, in a test tube, mimicking that of a selected person, such that currently used tests cannot distinguish between the counterfeit and the real thing.

As the major newspapers write their obituaries for the public option, progressives across the nation are making it clear: no public option, no mandate to buy private health insurance. If it is true that there are not enough votes in the US Senate to pass the public option, then what do we do?

The global battle to eradicate poliomyelitis is already 9 years behind schedule. To make matters worse, type 2 poliovirus, which was declared eradicated in 1999, has returned. There are three serotypes of poliovirus, each of which causes poliomyelitis. The vaccine used by WHO in the global eradication effort is a trivalent preparation comprising all three serotypes.

Recently while driving north on the New York State Thruway I passed the exit for the town of Coxsackie, NY (population 8,884). I grabbed my camera and photographed the exit sign, and reminded myself to write about the virus named after this small town.

We've had several discussions on the value of personal protective equipment (PPE) in preventing influenza infection. CIDRAP has an excellent summary of an Institute of Medicine meeting on this subject. The IOM has been asked to make recommendations about how to protect healthcare workers against swine-origin H1N1 influenza.

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