# 2745
One of the nice things about having a body of work on the Internet - in this case well over 2700 blogs - is that I can watch to see which of my old blogs continue to attract attention, and downloads.
I rarely know when I write a blog whether it will have `legs'. Whether a month from now, or a year from now, people will still be downloading it.
Obviously, breaking news stories have a limited shelf life. After a day or two, perhaps of interest only to some future historian chronicling the lead up to the first pandemic of the 21st century.
Luckily some of the essays I've written cover subjects like rehydration, community resilience, communications, or some other more `enduring' topic. These, to my great surprise, continue to be accessed - sometimes months or even years after I first wrote them.
Next to getting paid, that's the nicest thing that can happen to a writer.
So, if your interest goes beyond today's influenza news, try looking for older essays using the SEARCH BLOG function at the top of the page.
Want to know about the Nipah Virus? Or whether pigeons can shed the H5N1 virus in their feces? Or how to build a basic solar charging system? Or how to build a first aid kit?
Just enter some simple search terms, like: Nipah or pigeons or Solar and you'll get multiple returns.
And if you'd like to use these essays on your own site, or post to a forum, you certainly can . . .with some minor restrictions.
The essays in this blog are published under the Creative Commons License 3.0 ( Noncommercial-Share Alike ) meaning any non-commercial entity may:
- to Share — to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work
- to Remix — to make derivative works
as long as you offer it under the same terms, and provide attribution: to Michael Coston or Avian Flu Diary (with a link, please).
Which means you can reprint it (but not sell it), as long as you provide a link back to this blog.
While it isn't required that you notify me, I'm always pleased to hear whenever any of my work gets reprinted across the web.
Of course, I don't always get credited.
One of my earliest blogs, on a slow day in February 2006, was a Top Ten List (Reasons why you may be taking avian flu too seriously). Certainly not the most important, or memorable blog I'd ever written.
I knew I'd made it as a blogger when, nearly a year later, I get one of those supposedly funny emails forwarded to me, with my list ( but no attribution!) in it.
To save my readers the search, here they are again. The top 10 signs you may be obsessing about Avian Flu.
10. You always look for shopping carts with heavy duty shocks.
9. You not only plan to cut down all the trees in your backyard for a clear field of fire, you are planning to do a midnight clear cutting of your neighbor’s yard as well.
8. You’ve tried repeatedly to warn Sylvester to stay away from Tweety-bird.
7. You’ve bought a windshield squeegee with a 10 foot handle
6. The stock boys at every supermarket in town know you by your first name, and run when they see you coming.
5. You’ve installed an in-line chlorinator for your lawn sprinkler system.
4. The Flu Wiki logo is burned into your monitor’s screen
3. If a pandemic doesn’t happen, your backup plan is to use your preps to open a pharmacy.
2. You’ve started telling your spouse that you’re surfing porn sites instead of admitting you’re back on the FluTrackers again.
And the number one sign you may be obsessing about Avian Flu
1. You can use the terms Orthomyxoviridae and hemagglutinin in the same sentence.
Okay, not the most informational post I've ever made.
But with a little bit of effort, I suspect you can find something better in the archives.
Give it a shot.
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