Sad but true: NCN got caught in a Google virus alert on December 16.  As far as we can tell, nothing infectious was on the site, but a couple of links could have led to trouble.  We’re having the site completely scrubbed and should be back to normal once the Google virus flag is removed.  That can take time, however, and in any case we want to apologize for any anxiety or inconvenience we might have caused.

And what is normal?  In our case, it includes our usual holiday break from posting.  We’ll be back on January 10, 2011.  So happy holidays and happy new year to all our readers, some of whom are shown below.

Photograph from Mercury Press.  The occasion is the 2010  5K Santa Dash, Liverpool, UK.