November 7, 2009
Category: Influenza • Vaccination
One of the problem with influenza vaccine production (as well as some other vaccines) is that the vaccine is made by injecting into chicken eggs--infecting chicken embryos--and then harvesting and killing the virus for use in the vaccine. This is a very time-consuming process that takes months. A holy grail of influenza vaccine production has been a cell-culture based production method, since this would allow much faster production of virus (and thus vaccine).
It sounds like this will soon become reality:
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Posted by Mike at 10:30 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 6, 2009
Category: Lotsa Links
Thank the Intelligent Designer it's Friday; I've had a long week. Anyway, here are some weekend links for you. Science:
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Posted by Mike at 4:01 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Influenza
A couple of days ago I was talking with a long-time reader who couldn't understand why those Democrats who favor healthcare reform weren't beating the drug companies over the head with the failure to produce enough swine flu vaccine. After all, if you're a drug manufacturer, you should be able to produce drugs. Said reader made an argument (albeit more colorfully) similar to Steve Benen's (italics mine):
Taken together, it seems the president immediately recognized the seriousness of a public health issue, mobilized officials, launched a public information campaign, and ordered the creation and distribution of a vaccine. The White House sought out all the right advice, from all the right people, and acted quickly. This isn't my area of expertise, but it sounds like the White House has been responding to the H1N1 problem exactly the way it should.
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Posted by Mike at 10:02 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 5, 2009
Category: Civil Liberties • Internet • News Media
Over at BoingBoing, we read about the leaked version of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a copyright treaty (so much for the Obama Administration's commitment to transparency. Maybe it's something in the White House water?). Two items caught my eye:
•That ISPs have to cut off the Internet access of accused copyright infringers or face liability. This means that your entire family could be denied to the internet -- and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living -- if one member is accused of copyright infringement, without access to a trial or counsel.
•That the whole world must adopt US-style "notice-and-takedown" rules that require ISPs to remove any material that is accused -- again, without evidence or trial -- of infringing copyright. This has proved a disaster in the US and other countries, where it provides an easy means of censoring material, just by accusing it of infringing copyright.
This shows a complete lack of understanding of the internetz.
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Posted by Mike at 10:03 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 4, 2009
Category: Conservatives • Democrats • Healthcare
Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah doesn't want Democrats to pass a successful healthcare bill because then people might think Democrats do helpful stuff. Then people would vote for Democrats. Then...TEH SOCIALISMZ!!:
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Posted by Mike at 4:20 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 3, 2009
Category: Bidness • Economics • Education
It's not a failure of monetary policy, but fiscal policy.
Over at The Quantum Pontiff, ScienceBlogling Dave Bacon asks if college tuition is a bubble:
But what I find interesting, and what I've never been able to figure out, is the larger trend (ignore the last two years, please). Why are tuition prices increasing at such a fast rate for four year colleges? For example, see slide 5 of this presentation where one sees that over the last three decades, the inflation adjusted price of college has more than tripled at public four year universities and gone up nearly as much a private four year universities....
My own theory is that we are in the middle of a leverage driven bubble. Okay, yeah, its a stretch, but its fun to look at the numbers.
I think Dave is right that the continuation of the ludicrous increases in college tuition is due to funny money--just as the final stages of the ridiculous run up in housing prices was due to 'ninja loans'*. To explain what I mean, let's first think about what putting two kids through private college entails (and remember that rising private college tuitions allow public institutions to raise tuitions and still seem like a bargain).
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Posted by Mike at 9:55 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 2, 2009
Category: Lotsa Links
Sunset in Boston is at 4:36pm today, which means, if you're in Boston and reading this, it's dark out. Anyway, to chase away the darkness, here are some links. Science:
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Posted by Mike at 4:44 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Boston • Massachusetts • Voting
There's an election Tuesday in Massachusetts, and here's who the Mad Biologist endorses.
U.S Senate: This is tough. Both Rep. Mike Capuano and Attorney General Martha Coakley have strengths and weaknesses. Both are reliable liberals, but they have different emphases. Capuano has very good constituent services, and he understands the importance of scientific research to the MA state economy. He does, however, have some shady fundraising associations with Rep. Murtha. Coakley has a very good record as Attorney General, including bringing successful suits against Wall Street firms for fraudlent practices. She would also be excellent on civil liberties, including abortion. Given her experience to date though, it's hard to know what her stands on economic policies are. Early on, I was a Coakley supporter, now it's a toss up.
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Posted by Mike at 10:09 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 1, 2009
Category: Basic Human Decency • Religion
Some thoughts on the Theology of Jerks. Earlier this week, there was some minor amusement over Christian scholar Richard Beck's claim, at his blog Experimental Theology, that Christians (presumably he means fundamentalists) are lousy tippers:
Take, for example, how Christians tip and behave in restaurants. If you have ever worked in the restaurant industry you know the reputation of the Sunday morning lunch crowd. Millions of Christians go to lunch after church on Sundays and their behavior is abysmal. The single most damaging phenomenon to the witness of Christianity in America today is the collective behavior of the Sunday morning lunch crowd. Never has a more well-dressed, entitled, dismissive, haughty or cheap collection of Christians been seen on the face of the earth.
We can snicker all we want, but Beck does make what I think is a pretty radical statement for a lot of self-identified* Christians (italics mine):
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Posted by Mike at 10:24 AM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Mad rantings about politics, evolution, and microbiology. Comment policy: say what you want, but back it up with an email address. I don't like anonymous trolls.
