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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April 30, 2007
I've argued before that the Republicans can't win elections without their racist base. Well, apparently they can't win without their cracked-in-the-head base either.
Posted by Mike at 7:32 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Most biologists, when writing for a lay audience, go through great pains to make complex subjects comprehensible. Gilder, by contrast, takes a subject matter that biologists have successfully taught to thousands and thousands of high school and college students and makes it sound hopelessly complex. Having softened up the reader with the technobabble equivalent of channeling the goddess Ramtha, he can then make unsubstantiated declarative statements like "intelligent design theory begins by recognizing that everywhere in nature, information is hierarchical and precedes its embodiment."
Posted by Mike at 9:50 AM • 15 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 29, 2007
Category: Bloggity Blog
Here are some links for you. Let's blind you with some science.
Posted by Mike at 8:21 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
We can't have that.
Posted by Mike at 1:18 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Friday, Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias resigned because he had received 'massages' from an escort service. One of Tobias' major effects on U.S. foreign policy was to promote abstinence-only sex education.
Posted by Mike at 11:44 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 28, 2007
..do we have to name everything Seamus? Yesterday, the Boston Globe had an interesting story about curing a sick tapir at the Franklin Park Zoo using antibiotics.
Posted by Mike at 12:12 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 27, 2007
While washing your hands for 15-20 seconds with soap and water is the best way to prevent the transmission of infectious disease through hand to hand contact, in a pinch, alcohol santizers work well. Good news from Australia: you can use sanitizers and drive.
Posted by Mike at 9:48 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 26, 2007
Category: The Soviet
I think the investigative power the Democrats currently wield--and the threat of subpoena--is starting to get to Secretary of State Condoleeza "Ferragamos" Rice.
Posted by Mike at 7:00 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Humor
This is an abomination against the Evil Baby (which kicks Flying Spaghetti Monster's and the Mouse of the Disco Ball's asses--I mean that in the nicest ecumenical way possible).
Posted by Mike at 9:50 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 25, 2007
Hopefully, by now, the anti-Wiley blogswarm is getting geared up. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, ScienceBlogling Shelley over Retrospectacle was threatened with a lawsuit by Wiley Interscience for reproducing part of a figure and a table. My suggestion: take them out at the fucking knees. Trash their impact factor.
Posted by Mike at 8:42 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 24, 2007
I've invented a new unit of time, the Samuelson Unit, which is the length of time required for the Social Security system to become 'bankrupt.' Oddly enough, Social Security is always DOOMED roughly 34 years from the time of the estimate. Here's a pretty picture to illustrate the point.
Posted by Mike at 7:41 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Named after economist Robert Samuelson, who, along with the Concord Coalition, is fighting the Glorious War on Social Security. It's inspired by the Friedman Unit, named after NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who predicted for several years running that the "next six months" will be critical in Iraq. So what's a Samuelson Unit?
Posted by Mike at 8:56 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 23, 2007
...stoopid media tricks to ensue.
Posted by Mike at 3:33 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Tonight, at 6:30pm, at the Boston Public Library, there's a meeting "Preparing Boston Residents for Pandemic Flu." I'm going, but with a great deal of pessimism.
Posted by Mike at 12:25 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
ScienceBlogling Mike Dunford has an interesting post asking whether we should save the Hawaiian plant, the williwilli. It's a good post, but I have two comments, one silly and one serious. The silly comment is that how could anyone let a plant named the williwilli become extinct? It's so damn cute (and is the plural williwillies?) Onto the serious point.
Posted by Mike at 9:52 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 22, 2007
Yesterday, PZ and Amanda both argued that a model for the acceptance of atheists should be the suffragist movement. I think that's the wrong model: the appropriate model is the mainstreaming of Jews into American society.
Posted by Mike at 10:56 AM • 22 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Bloggity Blog
Here's some links for you. Merry Spring!
Posted by Mike at 8:28 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 21, 2007
I would like to think certain things transcend political, religious, and ideological divides. One might think that Meals-on-Wheels, a program that relies heavily on donations, discounts, and volunteers to bring meals to elderly shut-ins would be liked by all. I would like to think that aiding frail, elderly people is about as universal as it gets. But never underestimate the moral depravity of the conservative ideologue.
Posted by Mike at 11:21 AM • 35 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 20, 2007
Because I want to talk about some of the 'framing' issues without getting everyone all het up about God stuff.
Posted by Mike at 10:25 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 19, 2007
'E. coli conservatives' is Rick Perlstein's phrase, not mine. After all, the Mad Biologist is quite partial to E. coli; I suppose that makes me an E. coli liberal. Granted, this has nothing to do with Perlstein's column, which had to do with the failure of the FDA to keep out food supply safe. Onto the column.
Posted by Mike at 7:11 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
One of the things that has been revealed by the VA Tech shooting is that the government keeps a database of prescription drug users. While I think the data should be de-identified (not linked to a specific individual), those data are critical for public health.
Posted by Mike at 10:04 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 18, 2007
At this point, it still seems unclear what happened at VA Tech, and like all tragedies, there probably would have been, in hindsight, many places where someone could have intervened and stopped the madness. One area that needs to be examined is the role of campus disciplinary systems.
Posted by Mike at 3:20 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The hilarious picture below accompanied a very interesting NY Times article about chimpanzee intelligence
Posted by Mike at 10:16 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 17, 2007
Category: Sharks
...you probably won't like this video. But if you like sharks, you'll love this video.
Posted by Mike at 5:07 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Instapundit is arguing that, had the Virginia Tech students been armed, fewer students would have died. Even if this were correct, it ignores all of the other times students would have guns. Do you really think drunk college students should be carrying? That's almost as stupid as invading the wrong f-cking country.
Posted by Mike at 9:44 AM • 40 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 16, 2007
Former Republican governor and presidential hopeful Tommy Thompson just entered the running for the Stupid Asshole of the Week. From his comments to the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington D.C....
Posted by Mike at 6:24 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I found two good posts about taxes: one describes why we need them, and the other describes how much of your taxes go to pay for something you probably don't even think about.
Posted by Mike at 5:40 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 15, 2007
Category: Bloggity Blog
Happy day before Patriots' Day. Tomorrow, I'll be watching the Boston Marathon (I don't really have a choice; it goes right past my building). Anyway, here's some science and other links for you:
Posted by Mike at 8:57 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 14, 2007
You might do a little better if your campaign advisors don't insult your own party's base.
Posted by Mike at 1:41 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
After reading Mike Dunford's letter to his representatives about the War in Iraq, I decided to write my own. Hopefully, it will have more influence than the other letters I've written...
Posted by Mike at 10:28 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 13, 2007
While I'm not as bothered by the Pope's statement about evolution as PZ is, what's troubling is the scientific misunderstanding shown by his statements.
Posted by Mike at 10:12 AM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 12, 2007
Category: Iraq
According to CNN, a bomb blast has killed at least two people in the Iraqi Parliament. This might even challenge the Unified Theory of The Surge.
Posted by Mike at 12:12 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I've never really considered myself an anonymous blogger, even though I blog under the pseudonym "Mike the Mad Biologist." I think about fifteen minutes of serious investigation would reveal my identity (nefarious as it is). It's more of a minor affectation than anything else. But two incidents in the past week illustrate why not having your name directly linked with criticism of Little Lord Pontchartrain might be a good thing.
Posted by Mike at 9:55 AM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 11, 2007
Category: A Fungus Among Us
No, not those hideous boots! The Ug99 wheat rust fungus.
Posted by Mike at 6:40 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 10, 2007
Category: Humor
While walking to work a couple of weeks ago, I saw this Smart car tooling around Boston. And it's no ordinary Smart car either...
Posted by Mike at 4:21 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I've mentioned the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) before. Today, I'll be attending the NARMS public hearing.
Posted by Mike at 9:20 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 9, 2007
Category: Evolution
From the archives, here's something about how we might be underestimating the strength of natural selection when we look at molecular data.
Posted by Mike at 6:58 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 7, 2007
I've just finished reading Chris Mooney's and Matt Nisbet's Science article about communicating science to the general public. It's right on target.
Posted by Mike at 12:44 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 6, 2007
The AFL-CIO has a very interesting website site that calculates how much CEOs are paid relative to the average U.S. worker. While useful, for many economic conservatives, it won't matter at all, since, well, that's why they're conservatives. But I've devised my own comparison that will matter to even the most doctrinaire conservative:
Posted by Mike at 9:53 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A huge number of antibiotic prescriptions are filled due to the misdiagnosis of sore throats. Here's something from the archives about this problem while I'm away.
Posted by Mike at 7:04 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 5, 2007
From the archives comes this bit about the ludicrous (and willful) misunderstanding that creationists have regarding 'beneficial' mutations,
Posted by Mike at 12:54 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 4, 2007
From the archives comes this post about the effect antibiotic resistance could have during an influenza outbreak.
Posted by Mike at 5:59 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 3, 2007
You can't go wrong with the title "Residence time and food contact time effects on transfer of Salmonella Typhimurium from tile, wood and carpet: testing the five-second rule." And it only gets better.
Posted by Mike at 7:01 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 2, 2007
Category: Jewish Stuff
If you celebrate Passover, have a good seder. If not, I hope the Great Matzo Ball brings you lots of gifts anyway. And here's a helpful video about matzah.
Posted by Mike at 11:53 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 1, 2007
Garry Wills, in an essay from the NY Review of Books, "Bush's Fringe Government", writes the following about the reign of Little Lord Pontchartrain.
Posted by Mike at 11:13 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
