Odds and Ends------in Mid-Winter 2010

It is midwinter 2010 and we haven't had a blockbuster storm yet. I am in the beautiful Lamar Souter Library on the campus of UMass in Worcester, Ma. waiting for my new student a nephrologist) to get out of her seminar and come for her second lesson with me. This is a magnificent library. I am sitting in a glassed in booth with a large screen which I can attach my laptop computer to. It is a perfect setting in which to work with someone one on one. Of course, the Atrium at St Vincents was fine also, but I think this is better. (However, the salad bar at St. Vincent's is better so.....take your pick!!)........
Yesterday I presided over my second veterans' meeting of MIANE (Military Intelligence Association of New England in Woburn, Ma. Our guest speaker had been a sergeant in the U.S. Army Rangers and had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He received both the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He brought photographs with him. It was his unit that captured Saddam Hussein and it was he personally that arrested "Chemical Ali" the person who gassed so many Kurds. He was very humble though and did not want to take much credit for that because he said Chemical Ali simply walked in and surrendered. He said they had been searching for him for a long time. His photographs showed a landscape that looks very dry, barren, and not unlike the moon! This gentleman now works in security for a biotech company. What kind of security? He protects the company against animal advocates who may resort to violence in their zeal to protect animals used in science research. This young man was very impressive indeed.
.........A new senator will be sworn in in Washington in a few hours..........I wonder what Ted would say........They say the "independent" vote put him in office....we shall have to count his votes to see how independent he remains......The Health Bill remains a national problem waiting to be solved.......The huge unemployment situation along with high medical costs makes it a staggering problem......A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF CANNOT STAND......Let's hope Abraham Lincoln was wrong, but unless we can stop the bickering between the left and the right, and the political types stop thinking about POWER as the only goal in life, we are finished.......
Enough of the "gloom and doom"......Fairouz, that marvelous student of immunology in New York is going to France for a short vacation soon......Don't let anyone tell you scientists don't work hard!...They work long hours and when they get some time off, it is well deserved.....have a nice trip, Fairouz,,,,,,,,,A bientot!.......I hope you have all seen Marisa Fusaro's play up in Canada......It was great!..the website is www.reademtheirwrites.com ......Well, I better go now........Au revoir.......