Challenging Entrenched Entities, such as HIV, IE and Tin-Foil Hats

Sure, the HIV virus and Internet Explorer have nothing in common with each other, except this: today's blog discussions that challenge the long-term staying power of both.

Today's top news stories, for example, encompass BBC coverage of a UK man, Andrew Simpson (today's No. 2 burstiest person), whose body apparently has successfully (although questionably) fought off the HIV virus (No. 2 top news story) and another BBC piece (No. 13) about research efforts to use genetically modified bacteria to interfere with HIV reproduction. Only one hitch: Simpson apparently doesn't want to participate in more tests.

$1 to switch?
Today's ninth most-shared link outlines a campaign called Kill Bill's Browser, with Google offering $1 for each referral/person who switches from Internet Explorer to Firefox. BoingBoing (today's No. 30 top blog post) describes the campaign. Comments at the Uneasy Silence blog span common reactions.

Patriotism and such
A good portion of today's top blog posts pit right-wing views on the intelligence that led the U.S. into war (and resulting opinions of President George Bush, the concept of patriotism, and who voted for what) against left-wing grapplings with the bad intelligence they were subjected to, such as this "I Was Wrong on Iraq" column from former Sen. John Edwards. And while pundits debate, the name of Ali Hussein Ali is No. 3 among today's burstiest people. He was on one of the suicide bombers responsible for the hotel bombings last week in Jordan, and his widow has been arrested as a fourth bomber whose belt didn't explode.

Your face in the blogosphere
Blogger Philipp Lenssen from Germany wrote to inform BlogPulse of his new site, Forty Faces, which updates every half hour and features the photos of bloggers who just posted new entries. Details on how to include your face are at the site.

Passings...
Wrestlers today are mourning the weekend death of 38-year-old Eddie Guerrero, today's burstiest person. The World Wrestling Entertainment beefcake was found dead in a Minneapolis hotel on Sunday.

Tin-Foil Hats May Not Work!
If the guys at MIT with too much time on their hands are to believed, those tin-foil hats may not deflect brain-sucking radio waves as proficiently as some folks think.