Scabies: the Insanely Itchy Ectoparasite

GENERAL
highly contagious ectoparasitic skin infection
mite: Sarcoptes scabii
makes superficial burrows in epidermis entering via hair follicles, lays eggs, has babies
worse in immunocompromised, malnourished, elderly or institutionalized individuals
Wikipedia says the Norwegian strain is worst (???)
no vaccine available
( notes )

The Senility Prayer

THE SENILITY PRAYER:
Lord grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,
The good fortune to run into the ones I do,
and the eyesight to tell the difference..

Males risk more when Attractive Females present

And this causes them to both perform more dramatically, and crash harder, as evidenced in a new study conducted on skateboarders ranging from their teens to 35. Obviously, we say. It turns out that these same males had higher levels of testosterone in their saliva when observed by an attractive female researcher, compared to when they were watched by a male researcher.
( links and abstract of the study )

Ahmadinejad Making Sense on Climate

He makes a good argument for the use of nuclear power to limit the burning of fossil fuels. And he paints the US opposition to this effort as a selfish gambit to keep the world hooked on oil. There's a translation of his speech here.