Well, Bird Flu should probably go now as the whole subject has lost its piquancy somewhat. It may rear its head at some point but for the time being its a dead parrot.
Origins is a good board. I remember pre-origins, and many good science threads were hijacked by religious debate. Origins has served a purpose and kept the science board clean. Besides, the debates with Trilobyte and so on are lively, interesting and fun - and with TFF, Terry T and Soilguy's responses it has been informative for me.
Please keep Origins in its current form - It is not unrelated to science.
'Not Quite Science' works well to allow more speculative discussions and prevents the real serious scientists from getting too frustrated with people posting way-out ideas in the science board.
I wonder, along with TFF, what kind of people will be attracted to a SF board. Probably people like the Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons:
Characteristics: Yellow skin
Brown hair worn in a pony-tail
Fat and constantly eating
Waddles when walking
Highly sarcastic attitude
Owns the Android's Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop
45 years Old
Virgin
Lives with parents
I.Q. of 170
Has prescription pants
Quotes: CBG: Alec, Alec, regarding that so called "silent" propulsion system in "The Hunt For Red October", I printed out a list of technical errors which I think you'd enjoy discussing.
CBG: Inspired by the most logical race in the galaxy, the Vulcans, breeding will be permitted once every seven years. For many of you this will mean much less breeding, for me, much much more.
Only joking, I'm a big fan of Niven, Asimov, C Clarke etc. and I stopped living with my parents five years ago at the age of thirty.
Blacknad.
