Vote Yes on MA Proposition 1 Because...
Category: Taxes
the Mad Biologist needs more fine prime rib. Please, won't you help?
Posted by Mike at 11:16 AM • 7 Comments •
Mike the Mad Biologist
Mad rantings about politics, evolution, and microbiology
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Profile
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.
Recent Posts
- Gromia sphaerica: It's a Cool...Macrobe?
- Political Controversy and Research
- The Net Neutrality Canard: A New Corporate Conservative Wedge
- The Fourth, Unnamed Horseman of the Apocalypse That Is the GM Bailout
- Why the "Center-Right" Debate Is Maddening: It's the Lack of Statistics, Stupid
- Are We Talking About the Same Democrats?
- The Irrationality of the Health Insurance Market
- Why Political Corruption Matters: Dianne Wilkerson
- "Facts Alone May Not Completely Allay Fears": Sums Up the Theopolitical Rightwing Pretty Well
- How Will the GOP Rebuild?
Donors Choose Drive
Thanks!
Recent Comments
- wesele on The Net Neutrality Canard: A New Corporate Conservative Wedge
- antijen on Gromia sphaerica: It's a Cool...Macrobe?
- anon on Gromia sphaerica: It's a Cool...Macrobe?
- Pandie & Dingdong on I Don't Think This Represents the Design Philosophy of the Smart Car
- MattXIV on The Net Neutrality Canard: A New Corporate Conservative Wedge
- Brett Glass on The Net Neutrality Canard: A New Corporate Conservative Wedge
- a on Myanmar: This Is What Courage Really Looks Like
- Coriolis on The Net Neutrality Canard: A New Corporate Conservative Wedge
- chris y on The Net Neutrality Canard: A New Corporate Conservative Wedge
- meme on A War on Christmas Question
Archives
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Blogroll
- All The World's A Stage, Act For Change
- MyDD
- Chris Mooney
- Thoughts from Kansas
- Pharyngula
- The Public Trust
- Keats' telescope
- Laughing Wild
- groupThink
- Dancing in the Divine
- Craig's Thoughts, Theories, and Tantrums
- media in trouble
- Neo Commons
- MajikThise
- Living the Scientific Life
- YoungFemaleScientist
- Respectful Insolence
- Everyone Loves Hedgical Trevor
- Salon.com
- The Gazetteer
- Nameless Rantings
- dadahead
- She Flies with Her Own Wings
- A Pondering of Fools
- Henry's Webiocosm Blog
- Jon Swift
- Divine Afflatus
- cannablog
- Independent Bloggers' Alliance
- The Thermal Vent
- The Burned Over District
- Mixter's Mix
- Lab Cat
- If I Ran the Zoo
- Rev. BigDumbChimp
- ... ponderings of a fool
- Drinking Liberally in New Milford
- Scientia Natura: Evolution and Rationality
- Middle Raged Punk
- Primordial Blog
- ... ponderings of a fool
- SuportVaccination.Org
- Aetiology
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- driftglass
- Battlepanda
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- skippy the bush kangaroo
- The Scientific Activist
- Deep Weeds
- The Corpus Callosum
- Complex Medium
- This Human Project
- Left in the Heartland
- A Mind Occasionally Voyaging
- Nice Shoes, Wanna Fock?
- Societas
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- Tied To the Tenure Tracks
- The Raven's Gazette
- Studying Biology and Environmental Science
- postgenomic
- Welcome to Shakesville
- Military Religious Freedom Foundation Blog
- Mad Melancholic Feminista
- ¡Viva La Evolución!
- comment is free...
- Melissa McEwan
- Marisacat
- The Panda's Thumb
- King of Zembla
- are you effin' kidding me?
- Eccentricity
- A Concerned Scientist
- Utenzi Blog
- Graphic Truth
- Universal Acid
- Scriptoids
- phronesisaical
- Muton
- A Beginner's Mind
- Altair4 Redux
- PSoTD
- Liberal Street Fighter
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- Tangled Up in Blue Guy
- Sorting Out Science
- The force that through...
- jobsanger
- no fish, no nuts
- The Barefoot Bum
- ywut
- miriam's ideas
- decrepitoldfool
- Philosophers' Playground
- Yhetti
- Endosymbiosis
- The Crone Speaks
- blue collar scientist
- Crinch Pin
- Moue Magazine
- Balls and Walnuts
- over the cliff, onto the rocks
- Argue With Everyone
- Passing Afternoon
- Centerface! Adventures in Post-Democracy
- La Casa de Los Gatos
- CultureVultures
- Lance Mannion
- Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog
Science Links
These links do not indicate support of this blog's statements by these groups
October 31, 2008
October 30, 2008
Chuck Hagel on Know-Nothingism
Category: Conservatives
I'm glad to see a conservative Republican recognize the importance of not being a fucking moron.
Posted by Mike at 4:17 PM • 7 Comments •
Why VRE Is a Problem
An epidemic strain of VMRSA only has to get lucky once...
Posted by Mike at 10:02 AM • 1 Comments •
October 29, 2008
What California's Proposition 8 Really Means
I suppose this puts me in league with known domestic homosexualists.
Posted by Mike at 4:24 PM • 5 Comments •
Electronic Voting Machines Work Fine As Long As You Don't Want to Vote for Obama
Category: Voting
Note to election officials--a good way to restore faith in the validity of election results is to have the demonstration machine function properly.
Posted by Mike at 10:05 AM • 4 Comments •
October 28, 2008
Thank the Intelligent Designer I Voted for Chang-Diaz, or Else...
A while ago, I endorsed Sonia Chang-Diaz over Dianne Wilkerson for MA State Senate because I thought Wilkerson had some ethics problems. I didn't know the half of it.
Posted by Mike at 4:23 PM • 1 Comments •
A Question for Geologists About Mineralogy Museum Exhibits
Category: OOH! SHINY PEBBLE!
Is there more than "OOH! SHINY PEBBLE!"
Posted by Mike at 10:07 AM • 8 Comments •
October 27, 2008
About That Limiting NIH Applications Post...
Given that we've now had several generations of scientists trained under the R01 system, it's scary to move slightly away from it. But I'm not convinced that R01s are the highpoint of the system.
Posted by Mike at 9:54 AM • 1 Comments •
October 26, 2008
An Interesting Revision of the Peer Review Process
Category: Publishing
A gradual peer review process?
Posted by Mike at 11:35 AM • 6 Comments •
October 25, 2008
Palin Refuses to Call Bombers of Women's Health Clinics Terrorists
And the Coalition of the Sane are the ones who aren't 'real' Americans and are 'weak on terrorism'?
Posted by Mike at 4:34 PM • 7 Comments •
About That Fruit Fly Research...
This isn't Palin, this is mainline Republican operatives doing this. This pig-headed, willful stupidity is institutional, not individual.
Posted by Mike at 9:14 AM • 7 Comments •
October 23, 2008
A Tale of Two Polls
Just how bad are Bush's approval ratings?
Posted by Mike at 4:53 PM • 7 Comments •
Quote of the Day: Brad DeLong on Joe Klein's Removal from the McCain Campaign Press Pool
Category: 'Snuggles' McCain
Getting thrown off the campaign plane (while it's parked) is a good thing.
Posted by Mike at 4:04 PM • 0 Comments •
How a Lack of Regulation Led to the Collapse of AIG and Possible Bank Nationalization
Category: Big Shitpile
With complex financial instruments, if there's no regulation, nobody knows if someone is facing incredible risk.
Posted by Mike at 11:02 AM • 4 Comments •
Bachmann Ditched by RNCC
Category: Conservatives
The NRCC cuts Michelle Bachmann loose.
Posted by Mike at 8:38 AM • 0 Comments •
October 22, 2008
The Ghosts of Tulsa and Rosewood and the Potential for Post-Election Violence
For all of the trauma associated with the 1960s riots, we seem to have forgotten that most race riots in the U.S. have been instigated by whites against non-whites.
Posted by Mike at 4:08 PM • 4 Comments •
McClatchy Bureau Chief Attacks Compulsive Centrist Disorder
"Does the truth lie halfway between say, slavery and abolition, or between segregation and civil rights, or between communism and democracy?"
Posted by Mike at 10:34 AM • 4 Comments •
October 21, 2008
DCCC Lowers the Boom on Bachmann
Category: Conservatives
Bachmann certainly deserves this for her McCarthyite tactics.
Posted by Mike at 3:54 PM • 0 Comments •
One Way to Limit the Number of NIH Grant Revisions: More Scientific Leadership from NIH
Because funding is a free-for-all, the system is rewarding grantsmanship at the expense of novelty, with the added bonus of overworking the reviewers.
Posted by Mike at 11:10 AM • 8 Comments •
October 20, 2008
A Question for the McCain PR Flack About 'Real' Virginians
Are black Virginians 'real' Virginians?
Posted by Mike at 4:56 PM • 3 Comments •
The Rage of the Obama Haters Will Get Out of Control
I worry that if Obama wins, Obama supporters are going to be hurt or killed.
Posted by Mike at 3:05 PM • 11 Comments •
Hilzoy's Response to Wilson's On Biology and Morality
Category: Ethics
What if "we can hold both that morality is a human contrivance and that biology is not relevant to answering moral questions"?
Posted by Mike at 11:01 AM • 2 Comments •
October 19, 2008
New Addition to the Blogroll
Category: Bloggity Blog
Say hello to Princess Sparkle Pony. Because commentary like this is priceless:...
Posted by Mike at 6:37 PM • 3 Comments •
Bachmann, Creationism, and Why the Lefty Blogosphere Matters
Category: Creationism
Helping fight creationist and all around slimeball Michellle Bachmann.
Posted by Mike at 11:35 AM • 2 Comments •
October 18, 2008
George Bellows Exhibit at the Boston Public Library
Classic American Prints.
Posted by Mike at 3:21 PM • 2 Comments •
Why People Should Not Buy Their Dogs Gourmet Dog Food
Category: Humor
The toilet bowl rebuttal.
Posted by Mike at 10:45 AM • 0 Comments •
October 17, 2008
More AIG Follies
Category: Fucking Royals
The arrogance of AIG's executives, even after a bailout, can only be called by its true name--corruption.
Posted by Mike at 4:28 PM • 2 Comments •
The GOP Needs New Followers, Not Leaders
Category: Conservatives
Someone tell me how exactly we're supposed to reach these 'values' voters? Because abortion isn't the issue; race is.
Posted by Mike at 11:00 AM • 9 Comments •
October 16, 2008
Oldest Bug EVAH! Discovered
Category: Insects
A 310 million year old mayfly.
Posted by Mike at 4:14 PM • 4 Comments •
The Willful Ignorance of Joe the Plumber
Willful ignorance as a defense mechanism against cognitive dissonance.
Posted by Mike at 10:28 AM • 6 Comments •
October 15, 2008
The Misuse of Journal Impact Factors
An excellent editorial in the Oct. 10 issue of Science by Kai Simons points out a very obvious problem with how impact factors are used.
Posted by Mike at 4:49 PM • 3 Comments •
One Way to Deal with the Large, but Hidden Cost of Parking
Could stackable electric two-passenger cars reduce traffic-related ills?
Posted by Mike at 11:05 AM • 5 Comments •
October 14, 2008
No Change in Mortality Due to Antibiotic Resistance
How one views a recent article on the mortality due to antibiotic resistant infections depends on whether you're a glass half-full or half-empty type.
Posted by Mike at 11:05 AM • 0 Comments •
October 13, 2008
iElephants?
Category: Elephants
Who knew that elephants could text?
Posted by Mike at 4:43 PM • 1 Comments •
Influenza: Preparing for the Follow-On Bacterial Pandemic
Whether it's an influenza pandemic, or 'just' annual influenza, what actually does the killing is the secondary bacterial infection, not the virus.
Posted by Mike at 11:08 AM • 3 Comments •
October 12, 2008
The Republican Party Has Created Safe Spaces for the Right Wing Nutters
Category: Conservatives
You're supposed to keep the nuts out of the limelight.
Posted by Mike at 4:54 PM • 9 Comments •
William Ayers and G. Gordon Liddy
If Obama has a 'Ayers problem', why doesn't McCain have a 'G. Gordon Liddy problem?'
Posted by Mike at 11:19 AM • 4 Comments •
October 11, 2008
October 9, 2008
How Companies Price Drugs
We've always been told that the U.S. consumer has to pay high prices for medicines because of high R&D costs. A former CEO of Pfizer claims otherwise.
Posted by Mike at 11:40 AM • 9 Comments •
October 8, 2008
'Folksiness' and the Swing Vote That Shall Not Be Named
Labor calls out the Swing Vote That Shall Not Be Named.
Posted by Mike at 11:04 AM • 9 Comments •
October 7, 2008
The Human Microbiome, 16S, Pyrosequencing, and Phylogenetics?
I'm not certain you can have all four. Let's start at the beginning....
Posted by Mike at 11:05 AM • 3 Comments •
October 5, 2008
The Flawed Assumptions of the Bailout Bill
What if the assumptions of the bailout are wrong?
Posted by Mike at 11:33 AM • 1 Comments •
October 3, 2008
Even Nobel Laureates in Economics Don't Invest Wisely
Category: Economics
Most people don't think of themselves first and foremost as economic agents, but as human beings and citizens.
Posted by Mike at 10:58 AM • 1 Comments •
October 2, 2008
Indels in Phylogenies: How Should We Treat Them?
Anybody know how to incorporate indels into models of molecular evolution?
Posted by Mike at 10:39 AM • 7 Comments •
