Mad rantings about politics, evolution, and microbiology
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.
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January 31, 2007
Category: Economics
Not that it seems to help. But, by way of Gadflyer.com, I came across this table which lists national weekly gas prices.
Posted by Mike at 8:48 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major public health threat. Currently, there are only a few antibiotics that are effective against it, and resistance is even a problem with these antibiotics. There is a potential treatment that might be effective against MRSA: heteropolymer (HP) antibody therapy.
Posted by Mike at 4:04 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 30, 2007
Bush is trying to do an end run around the newly elected Democratic Congress. Because we all know the American people spoke clearly in the last election, and they said, "We want to gut environmental and worker protection!"
Posted by Mike at 12:44 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 29, 2007
I recently posted about creationists who want their 'biology' courses to be taken seriously by universities. Josh takes to task a libertarian who states "if we chose to mandate what is taught about human origins, and we are true democrats, we should mandate equal time for creationism and evolution." So, I found on the internets a description of Biology for Christian Schools, a creationist textbook, written by the textbook's authors.
Posted by Mike at 8:27 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I write often about irresponsible antibiotic use. But I want to make one thing clear: antibiotics are critical, life-saving and health-improving drugs. In the U.S., every year roughly two million people contract hospital-acquired infections (this ignores infections contracted outside the hospital). Roughly 96% don't die. Antibiotics are a major reason, if not the major reason, for why the mortality rate is so low. I'm pointing out the obvious because of an email I received.
Posted by Mike at 12:26 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 28, 2007
Here are some weekend links for you. First, lotsa science:
Posted by Mike at 9:37 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Here's an excerpt from an essay by Albert Camus "The Unbeliever and Christians." I think it's an interesting humanist perspective on religion.
Posted by Mike at 11:35 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 27, 2007
Sara Robinson raises an interesting solution to "end the Intelligent Design fiasco", one that has been discussed here at ScienceBlogs before. Her suggestion is to have universities declare: "Teach what you like, it's all fine with us. But if you put ID in your science courses, we will not accept those courses as adequate for admission to our campus."
Posted by Mike at 2:30 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Healthcare
Because a good healthcare system isn't like the Manhattan Project or putting a man on the moon.
Posted by Mike at 9:49 AM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 26, 2007
The Peter Pan syndrome is in full effect at the White House. After meeting with George Bush, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described the meeting.
Posted by Mike at 11:35 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 25, 2007
Category: Camus
Commenting on this post by John Horgan about religion and defeatism, PZ writes:
Posted by Mike at 6:42 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 24, 2007
I give Sen. James Webb a compliment about his post-State of the Union speech, and he goes and votes against Sen. Dodd's amendment to require Congressional approval to increase troop numbers in Iraq. Also voting in surprising fashion were Democrats Casey, Cardin, and Nelson. Republican senator Hagel showed that he's another all-talk Republican: despite his blistering criticism of the Bush administration, he also voted against Dodd's resolution.
Posted by Mike at 6:26 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Group Selection
A while ago, Bora referred to a short article about David Sloan Wilson, whose research program examines group selection (among other things). Any discussion of group selection is almost always contentious, largely because there is a fundamental confusion (or conflation) of two different phenomena: the evolution of groups and selection among groups (i.e., group selection).
Posted by Mike at 5:45 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Well, kinda sorta. I'm mentioned in a UPI article about rapid diagnosis of influenza and antibiotic use. Rather than repeat the UPI story, here's the abstract:
Posted by Mike at 12:06 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
No, I'm not referring to Bush's State of the Union, but Senator James Webb's response. What's interesting is how hard he hit the economics:
Posted by Mike at 8:43 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 23, 2007
Let's just say, for sake of argument, that Bush's proposed tax plan for healthcare would actually lower premiums. There's something rather obvious that his plan seems to miss.
Posted by Mike at 5:20 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Seed Magazine, the meatworld Overlords of ScienceBlogs, has an article about Acinetobacter baumannii, a bacterium which can be resistant to virtually every antibiotic used to treat it--and in some cases, all antibiotics.
Posted by Mike at 10:21 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 22, 2007
Today is Blog For Choice Day. So I thought I would write about why I'm for legal and safe abortion. It's rather simple...
Posted by Mike at 7:38 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A few days ago, I posted about the conservative dogpile over at the Weather Channel because one of their bloggers had some very scathing comments about global warming denialists. I found this post by a self-described "literature guy" which makes two very good points.
Posted by Mike at 12:39 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 21, 2007
Category: Bloggity Blog
Here are some weekend links for you. First, the science:
Posted by Mike at 8:38 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This is from a speech given by Adam Werbach, former head of the Sierra Club. It's an interesting speech, and worth thinking about, but this quote about funders cracks me up.
Posted by Mike at 11:36 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 20, 2007
...but I saw Al Gore speak last night, and he's not going to run for president. He did, however, have a lot of interesting things to say.
Posted by Mike at 10:52 AM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 19, 2007
A few weeks ago, climatologist and Weather Channel blogger Heidi Cullen suggested that...
Posted by Mike at 4:20 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bloggity Blog
One of the weird things about the internets is that one's fifteen minutes of fame get compressed even further into about fifteen seconds.
Posted by Mike at 12:05 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 18, 2007
Category: Cancer
There's an article in the New Scientist about researchers who are using dichloroacetate ('DCA') to treat many different cancers.
Posted by Mike at 7:27 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
In the developed world, shigellosis, a diahrreal disease caused by the bacterial species Shigella, typically isn't considered dangerous, even though it makes about 450,000 ill in the U.S. To shorten the length of illness and to reduce potential infection of other people, antibiotics are typically prescribed, usually cotrmoxazole or ampicillin. However, a recent shigellosis outbreak is cause for concern.
Posted by Mike at 12:43 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bloggity Blog
...over at The Voltage Gate (who's partying like it's 1779).
Posted by Mike at 9:55 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 17, 2007
It would appear that seven U.S. attorneys, some of whom are in the middle of investigating Republicans, have been sacked and replaced by Republican political appointees. Thanks to the Patriot Act, these appointees, regardless of their qualifications, don't have to be confirmed by the Senate.
Posted by Mike at 5:59 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
There's an interesting article about the norovirus outbreak in Boston. At this point, over half a percent of all the residents of Boston have gone to the emergency room due to this virus--which means even more have been sick.
Posted by Mike at 12:10 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 16, 2007
I grew up in Virginia, and unlike transplant George "Macacawitz" Allen, I've never been pollyanish about Virginians' attitudes on race and religion. But what VA Republican State Delegate Frank Hargrove said in a recent interview was shocking.
Posted by Mike at 8:45 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bloggity Blog
I'm a little under the weather, so I thought this would be a good time to talk about the 'basic concepts' idea floating around ScienceBlogs.
Posted by Mike at 11:49 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 15, 2007
You'll hear a lot today about Martin Luther King and race. But what you won't hear nearly as much about, particularly from conservatives, is his views on economic justice.
Posted by Mike at 10:22 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 14, 2007
Category: Bloggity Blog
Here are some links for you. First, SCIENCE:
Posted by Mike at 9:40 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The frustration of the soldiers in Afghanistan must have just 'surged.' Why? Because, as part of the Bush-McCain surge, soldiers in Afghanistan will be withdrawn and sent to Iraq just in time for a Taliban offensive:
Posted by Mike at 6:11 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
So those who oppose global warming are using the same strategy as the creationists: teach the 'controversy.'
Posted by Mike at 10:18 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 13, 2007
The most common hospital-acquired infections in intensive care units are ventilator-associated pneumonias ('VAP'), which have mortality rates between 20-50 percent. The more quickly the appropriate antibiotic can be given to the patient, the more likely the patient is to survive. Researchers in Spain have developed a rapid technique for determining which antibiotic (or antibiotics) to use.
Posted by Mike at 4:54 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 12, 2007
Category: Oil
By way of Litbrit at Shakespeare's Sister, I came across a Greg Palast article about possible motivations for a troop increase in Iraq. Palast writes (bold in original; italics mine):
Posted by Mike at 12:38 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 11, 2007
Right-wing dorkball* Michael Ledeen has discovered why Iraq has not gone exactly as planned:
Posted by Mike at 8:27 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Massachusetts is trying to tackle the problem of hospital-acquired ('nosocomial') infections by adding $1 million dollars in funding to track and monitor hospital compliance with infection control measures. As I've discussed before, nosocomial infections are a huge problem, and may account for roughly a quarter of all hospital costs.
Posted by Mike at 2:30 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Architecture
Today, the Boston landmark Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Arlington Street is no longer: it has become the Taj Hotel.
Posted by Mike at 12:24 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 10, 2007
...you know the wheels have come completely off. Said Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson:
Posted by Mike at 7:14 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Let there be no doubt, Bush still has tremendous potential to foul things up (and make lots of people dead). But Little Lord Pontchartrain just cried uncle:
Posted by Mike at 5:37 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Over at DailyKos, Darksyde comments on the motivations of the Kansas creationists:
Posted by Mike at 12:16 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
White House spokesvermin Tony Snow yesterday just propelled us a little bit further down the path of either tyranny or impeachment:
Posted by Mike at 10:00 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 9, 2007
Mike responds to a post I wrote that questioned Speaker Pelosi's call to increase the military by 30,000 troops.
Posted by Mike at 7:02 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 8, 2007
Suppose you were a very large media corporation, and you found out that some of your radio subsidiaries were espousing specific acts of violence toward other people (last I checked, that's called terrorism). You would:
Posted by Mike at 6:38 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Did you vote for that? I didn't. It's great that Pelosi said on national television that Bush won't be receiving a blank check. But it's another part of the interview that bothers me. From Crooks and Liars:
Posted by Mike at 10:21 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 7, 2007
Category: Bloggity Blog
Here are some links for you. First, the science stuff:
Posted by Mike at 9:41 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: NIH
How does the entire NIH go offline?
Posted by Mike at 4:45 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
While Iraq was the national backdrop for the 2006 elections, individually many campaigns succeeded (or did better than they had any right to do) due to a desire to end corruption (e.g., the Ohio state elections). Yet Rahm Emanuel, head of the DCCC, and the Congressional Black Caucus just don't seem to get that.
Posted by Mike at 11:18 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
but Lindsay still kicked ass with getting NYC to take the problem of illegal advertising seriously. Well done.
Posted by Mike at 10:33 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 6, 2007
...while professionals do logistics. There's a fascinating interview with Wesley Clark where he discusses the lessons of Hurricane Katrina.
Posted by Mike at 11:11 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 5, 2007
Category: Religion
Now that I've pissed some people off about rape, I thought I would calm things down by turning to a more sedate topic: Richard Dawkins and religion.
Posted by Mike at 2:55 PM • 167 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 4, 2007
Category: Fucking Morons
Have you ever been really, really hungry? Well, this python certainly was.
Posted by Mike at 2:45 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A while back I posted about how awful it would be for the FDA to approve the use of cefquinome, an antibiotic similar to the medically important drug cefepime. I even coauthored a letter about it. Well, it turns out the IDSA wrote a letter about cefquinome too.
Posted by Mike at 12:10 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks