On the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday

I’m engaged in a little mini-skirmish in another venue with organizers and fans of the ScienceOnline conference thingy, which they apparently prefer to hold on the Fri-Sat prior to the US National holiday in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Now, you may not have noticed but ScienceBlogs (and let us face it, the science blogosphere generally) is kinda light on people from the groups which are most fond of this holiday. African-Americans, of course, but also the union/organized labor folks, organized farm workers and Latino-Americans. Even the dirty-hippie peacenik contingent is a bit light around these parts (although we do have this guy). So enthusiasm and respect for MLK Jr. Day may not be what it could be. This has ever been the case.

The campaign for a federal holiday in King’s honor began soon after his assassination. Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed in 1986. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.

Mercury poisoning is directly responsible

…for some fantastic blogging.
If you are anything like me you have kept looking sadly at the updating-blogroll widgets of your favorite academic bloggers lately. Watching as the time-since-last-post for one of your favorite blogs keeps ticking upwards, verging finally into the several months territory and you have been …wondering.
Is the blog dead? Is it ever coming back? Did the blogger turn out the lights, sneak over to the next abandoned building and IM everybody but you?
It was with great relief that I noticed that the Mad Hatter is back and the tea party is rollicking!