Mike Dunford is a graduate student in the Department of Zoology at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, where he studies evolution. He's also a contributer to The Pandas Thumb. As is the case with everyone else here, his opinions are his own, and do not necessarily represent those of any organization he is affiliated with.
February 28, 2007
I apologize for the way the blog looked earlier today, with all text appearing in bold and italic print. I screwed up the post before this one, and forgot to close a couple of html tags. The problem is...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 8:03 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Let's face it. It doesn't take much familiarity with the Gospels to figure out that Merrill's conduct would only have been featured there as an example of what not to do. The man clearly has not in any way, shape, or form internalized any of Jesus' teachings. He might call himself a Christian, but turning away a sick child because of their parent's appearance is as absolutely unChristian as one could conceivably get.
Posted by Mike Dunford at 4:07 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
February 27, 2007
As far as I can tell, it looks like conservatives are mostly mad at him for being rich, smart, and a liberal all at once.
Posted by Mike Dunford at 9:55 PM • 30 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Jake Young just drew my attention to one of the most wonderful signs of Bronx revitalization I've heard of in years - a beaver is making its home on the banks of the Bronx River near the Bronx Zoo....
Posted by Mike Dunford at 2:27 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A sane reader (presuming, of course, that we have one) might wonder why we are so obsessed with a right-wing lunatic website that is, at first, second, third, and fourth glance indistinguishable from a parody of right-wing lunacy. The reason that a website like this should spark concern as much as laughter is simple: this particular website is an extreme symptom of a condition that has become extremely widespread, particularly (but not exclusively) among the political right in America.
Posted by Mike Dunford at 3:30 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
February 26, 2007
Quite a few Sciencebloggers have already weighed in on Egnor's specific arguments, with PZ and Orac leading the charge. They've already dealt with the basics of his information theory arguments, so I'm going to focus mostly on his basic appeal to complexity.
Posted by Mike Dunford at 5:38 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Amanda Adams of OMB Watch was kind enough to draw my attention to a post by Paul Sherman over at the blog of the Center for Competitive Politics. It appears that Mr. Sherman liked neither the tone nor the...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 3:14 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
February 22, 2007
Over the last few days, I've had a lot of conversations with scientists about what scientists can do to help change the way that the American public views science. The phrase, "what can I do?" has come up more...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 11:51 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
February 21, 2007
One of the things that Conservapedia is very upset about is Wikipedia's failure to give Christianity credit for the Renaissance. . . Strangely enough, though, the Conservapedia entry for "The Renaissance" - wait for it - doesn't give Christianity credit, and lists humanism as the "primary philosophy of the Renaissance."
Posted by Mike Dunford at 5:12 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
February 20, 2007
PZ has a brief post up commenting on an article on the Lippard Blog about a "dog" target that is routinely shot by DEA agents training for raids. Both link to an article that provides a list of numerous cases where police have killed pets. I think my take on the situation is a bit different from either of theirs, probably because of my past EMS experience.
Posted by Mike Dunford at 9:17 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Earlier today, I got an email from a gentlemanlawyer named Mark Fitzgibbons. Mr. Fitzgibbons had apparently just read one of my posts about the "astroturf lobbying" bill. (It's encouraging to note that Mr. Fitzgibbons, who claims to be very concerned...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 7:56 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
February 17, 2007
It isn't possible to adequately describe what a long military deployment is like for those left behind, but I'm going to try anyway. I'm going to try, even though I know that my own experience and my own views aren't...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 12:36 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
February 16, 2007
According to media reports, the anti-impotence drug Viagra was recently used in the UK to save the life of a premature infant. Yes, you did read that right. This case was apparently an instance where necessity and desperation were the mothers of invention, and it shows us just why it is so important for doctors to learn the basics of human physiology, instead of just "cookbook" medicine.
Posted by Mike Dunford at 8:08 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I was watching M*A*S*H a few days back and saw this scene. For some reason, I can't quite get it out of my mind. Frank: Well, everybody knows war is hell. BJ: Remember, you heard it here last. Hawkeye: War...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 11:54 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
February 14, 2007
But seriously, folks, watch the video. Franken does the best job of explaining what government is for that I've seen in a long, long time....
Posted by Mike Dunford at 11:06 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Presidential hopeful John Edwards just released his plan for ending the Iraq war, making him the second of the major Democratic candidates to announce a proposed solution to our involvement in the conflict (Barack Obama sponsored a bill, S.433, last...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 7:12 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
February 12, 2007
As you may know, today is the 198th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. Birthday wishes have been posted on a number of blogs, as an assortment of scientists and scientific enthusiasts mark the occasion. For my own little...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 3:55 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
February 8, 2007
In an article made available today on the New England Journal of Medicine's website, University of Chicago researchers report on the results of a study that assessed how the moral beliefs of physicians affect their advice to patients. There is...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 5:06 PM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
PZ Myers reports (and the report is confirmed on both CNN's and Richard Dawkins' websites) that tonights episode (Thursday, 8 Feb, 8pm Eastern) of Paula Zahn Now will revisit the story of the atheists, and replace the uninformed panel discussion...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 12:36 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
February 7, 2007
Update: It appears that CNN will be re-airing the story at 8 pm Eastern tonight (Thursday, 8 Feb). The original panel will be replaced by an interview with Richard Dawkins. A recent CNN story on atheism has sparked a great...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 2:12 PM • 19 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
February 6, 2007
Representative Dave Weldon (R-FL) recently issued a press release that has been getting a little bit of play at a couple of blogs on the political right. In the press release, Weldon accuses Democrats of taking money from NASA to...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 9:15 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
On this particular day, I had been doing quite well. I'd found lots of wallaby droppings, and most looked fresh enough to be good candidates for DNA extraction. (You know you're doing science when "getting excited about the quality of this crap" isn't a figure of speech.)
Posted by Mike Dunford at 4:33 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Looking through the few months worth of posts here, it occurs to me that I haven't done a lot with one of the first categories I set up - the "An Incomplete Autobiography" one. I'm going to try and start...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 3:42 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
February 5, 2007
Texas governor Rick Perry's recent decision to mandate that all 6th grade girls in Texas be given the new HPV vaccine has a lot of people up in arms. What I just don't understand is why the absolute jackasses who are objecting to this are being treated as if they hold a legitimate point of view that is somehow worth debating.
Posted by Mike Dunford at 3:07 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
February 3, 2007
Just because. Hat tip: Countdown...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 1:01 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
February 2, 2007
Over at the Discovery Institute's Media Complaints Division, Michael Behe seems to be a wee bit concerned by the attention that a recent Nature paper is getting, moaning that, "It seems some scientists have discovered that one way to hype...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 5:55 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I didn't join the crowd of Sciencebloggers paying tribute to Molly Ivins yesterday because I didn't know what to say. Everything, it seemed, had been said - frequently by Ms. Ivins. Today, I read her last column. The whole thing...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 8:03 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
February 1, 2007
. . . there is an equal and opposite reaction, plus an unlimited number of unintended consequences. The Flintshire County Council in Wales recently decided to change their procedures for de-icing the local roads. Instead of spreading rock salt, which...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 3:15 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
As several bloggers have already noted today, the White House has somehow altered the search function on their website so that it ignores virtually all mentions of the phrase "global warming." The funny thing is, they couldn't even manage to...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 12:35 PM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
There are actually a number of places where I think her analysis does not adequately consider various factors, but one of the errors is so large that its effects will pretty clearly eclipse all the rest. This particular error is clear cut, and clearly resulted in estimated costs that were far higher than they should have been.
Posted by Mike Dunford at 12:27 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
