I remember back in the good ol' days of 2005 and 2006 when being against the wars was not only politically correct, but it was very popular. I remember receiving dozens of awards, uncountable accolades and even was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Yesterday's report on residential construction provided more evidence that step one of a housing bottom is underway " and that step two may be beginning. Total housing starts fell slightly in July because of weakness in multi-family. But starts of single-family homes increased to 490 thousand (at an annual rate), the fifth straight monthly increase and the highest level since last October.

In an effort to bring improved accuracy to lung cancer diagnosis, researchers at Vanderbilt University have been looking for ways to identify lung cancer earlier. As a result of these efforts, two new approaches show promise in accelerating lung cancer diagnosis and giving patients a better chance for survival.

Throw out everything you know about alien movies, especially everything you think you know about alien living amongst humans movies. Ready? Genre pallet cleansed? Good. District 9 is not your typical aliens-come-to-earth movie.

The open-access Public Library of Science (PLoS) has launched PLoS Currents, a website for the rapid communication of research results and ideas. The first research theme at PLoS Currents is influenza. The opening of PLoS Currents: Influenza was announced by Harold Varmus, Chairman and Co-Founder of PLoS.

Yesterday marked a new record in the divergence between oil and natural gas prices. As noted in a small item in the Wall Street Journal, the ratio of oil prices ($ per barrel) to natural gas prices ($ per million BTU) hit a record 24.5 at yesterday's close.

A new type of vaccine against influenza, made with virus-like particles, has been shown to protect ferrets from infection with the 2009 H1N1 swine-origin strain. What is a virus-like particle, and how is it produced? If you have been taking influenza 101, you know that new virus particles are produced in infected cells by budding.

I learned of the Bartimaeus trilogy, by Jonathan Stroud, from a list of ten fantasy series to get you over Harry Potter Withdrawal. The author of the list claims Stroud's series is actually better plotted than Rowling's, so this week I picked up The Amulet of Samarkand from the local library. It is certainly well written and nicely paced.

The ACLU has filed an interesting lawsuit in Georgia challenging the state's kosher labeling laws. At first I thought the argument was that the state could not crack down on deceptive labeling. But it turns out, as the ACLU's complaint makes clear, that there is not consensus about the requirements of kashruth among Jews (particularly between Orthodox and others, but even among different Orthodox sects). This forces the state to choose sides in essentially theological disputes, which, the ACLU quite sensibly argues, entangles the government in religion and constrains the religious freedom of rabbis and others who choose to practice a form of kosher observance different from whatever the state defines.

The guns in RIAA v. Tenenbaum have gone temporarily silent; now, there's post-game analysis and preparations for the next phase: challenging the jury's award of $675,000 in damages ($22,500 per song, at 30 songs).

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