Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
…and this is a pharyngula stage embryo.
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With the Virgin Mary's image appearing in churches and auto parts stores all over the country this holiday season, it was bound to happen. Now Dan Quayle has turned up in the bathroom sink of Horschmeyer's Philly Cheesesteak Parlor in El Cerrito. … The eerie manifestation was first spotted last Tuesday by Elvira Banks, 35, the establishment's pickled tomato slicer. 'I recognized him right away,' Miss Banks, a past president of the El Cerrito Dan Quayle Fan Club, told reporters. … The mysterious image in the sink bowl looks like a large brown stain. It surrounds the drain, which Miss Banks insists is 'the vice president's mouth opened in a call to all Americans to support the president in the current Middle East crisis.' … So far, there has been no scientific explanation of the phenomenon. The closest anyone has come was the admission by janitor 'Foggy' Phelps that he had poured a cup of the parlor's coffee in the sink the night before the image was first seen. 'I guess I forgot to rinse it down,' he said.
[Arthur Hoppe, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 December 1990]
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Category:
Posted on: February 27, 2008 9:35 PM, by PZ Myers
But perhaps some of our Korean readers will appreciate it. All I know is that I was interviewed for an article on the Han/Warda paper, and that's my face in the Korean news.
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Comments
I dig the freaky blogger D&D beholder.
Posted by: J | February 27, 2008 9:42 PM
It says: "Koreans: Don't Tell This Man That We Accidently Erased The Interview" Then it has a bunch of sports scores and the weather report for Seoul.
Posted by: horrobin | February 27, 2008 9:44 PM
Looks like you will have a celestial dictatorship of readers.
Posted by: danley | February 27, 2008 9:48 PM
Does anyone know the taxonomy of Beholders? Perhaps it is a secret member of Cephalopoda that only PZ knows about.
Posted by: BobK | February 27, 2008 9:54 PM
Any D&D player worth their salt knows that Beholders are from the aberration family...come on!
Posted by: darrell | February 27, 2008 10:20 PM
Wow! Eight eyeballs on tentacles!
Posted by: DustPuppyOI | February 27, 2008 10:21 PM
I can read Korean. It says, "Godless evilutionist PZ Meyers was shown to be a fraud in the upcoming film EXPELLED which stars Ben Stein. Don't miss it in theatres once its producers have convinced enough ministers to encourage their flock to see it."
Posted by: Jeff | February 27, 2008 10:22 PM
It's been years, but I was pretty sure the Monstrous Manual indicated that they were intelligently designed/special creations/exobiological imports. I thought an Aberration was a Construct that was self-propagating.
What's the life-span of a naturalist in Greyhawk?
Posted by: rpenner | February 27, 2008 10:25 PM
It says because of your expert "hawk eye" you helped the Hon Professor Han find critical editing errors just before publication of a groundbreaking manuscript he had written, thereby saving him from certain dishonor.
Posted by: me | February 27, 2008 10:28 PM
I have no idea what the article says, but I certainly recognize the Flying Spaghetti Monster when I see him.
PZ, I believe you've been pwnd by pseudo-religionists.
Posted by: Acronym Jim | February 27, 2008 10:29 PM
@7: Currently constructs are a completely different creature typ...oh wow...
WHY DO I KNOW THIS?!
Posted by: darrell | February 27, 2008 10:34 PM
The first article outlines the commandments of our His Noodliness, followed by an article about his highest priest (You, PZ), followed by an article about pirates successfully landing a 747 loaded with baby squid at a safe distance from the cafes and seafood bars of Seoul.
Posted by: Chris | February 27, 2008 10:41 PM
That is absolutely hysterical. This has happened to me in Japan a few times (I'm big in Japan). Only without the squid. (but I usually get skeletons)
Posted by: greg laden | February 27, 2008 10:49 PM
Great photo! Got rid of the bald spot and double chin at the same time. I wish my wife could do that.
Posted by: Jim | February 27, 2008 10:55 PM
I think it says something about you openning for Eric Clapton in Pyongyang.
Posted by: Tony Popple | February 27, 2008 10:58 PM
OT (off topic) yet OT (on target): At this moment the Discovery channel is showing a show that shows octopi being used as some kind of evidence!
Posted by: Crudely Wrott | February 27, 2008 11:05 PM
The shadow of the tentacles comes up with a atomic-ish symbol (3 electrons? Li?).
Other than that, I have nothing to add.
Posted by: inkadu | February 27, 2008 11:06 PM
It says:
I'd start by shaving the beard, and trading in the specs on contacts.
Posted by: Eamon Knight | February 27, 2008 11:09 PM
followed by an article about pirates successfully landing a 747 loaded with baby squid at a safe distance from the cafes and seafood bars of Seoul.
Thank heavens!
By the way, the squid ink pasta putanesca was AMAZING tonight, as was the fried calamari. The ritual consumption of our "deity's" representation is truly a good thing.
Posted by: MAJeff | February 27, 2008 11:09 PM
Do you know which paper or magazine it was? I speak and read a little Korean but the photo is a little blurry. I would prefer to see the original site, if that is possible. There are a few Korean blogs discussing your name, the paper and humiliation, but I cannot find the original article.
Oh, they also point out that Warda is Egyptian - I have to wonder if they are trying to shift the blame - Hwang Woo-seuk's American partner (the pair that claimed to have great success in cloning) was torn apart by Korean media (and seems to have deserved it - but no more than Dr Hwang).
Posted by: kwandongbrian | February 27, 2008 11:18 PM
That's a pretty good likeness of you, but I think your eyestalks are slightly longer than that.
Posted by: Phil Plait | February 27, 2008 11:20 PM
I have it on authority (mine) that its a really detailed personals ad from the Korean edition of "Playgirl". It starts if "Hi, my name's PZ and I'd like to study your biology..."
Posted by: Bride of Shrek | February 27, 2008 11:43 PM
I don't know Korean, but I can transcribe it poorly.
Posted by: brtkrbzhnv | February 28, 2008 12:24 AM
The headline says something along the lines of of "All Your Base Pairs Are Belong to Us", and the headline next to the first picture reads: "Main Screen Turn On."
Posted by: Teucer | February 28, 2008 1:00 AM
I cannot tell if the above comment is incredibly racist or just bizarre...
Posted by: Josh Schraiber | February 28, 2008 1:01 AM
If you give me a bit I can get it translated for you. I got a butt load of favors owned to me by a butt load of Korean friends :)
Posted by: Mindme | February 28, 2008 1:14 AM
Yikes! Its the FSM!
Posted by: DocWazoo | February 28, 2008 1:20 AM
Ok, I actually know some korean, and the title above the bolded text actually phonetically reads: "bul-lo-guh pa-ling-gyoo-la ma-e-yo-su" which is korean phonetic for blogger pharyngula doctor meyers. It's been several years since I've had to translate Korean, but it actually looks like the picture and the article are about you and pharyngula in Korean. It's legit. My old korean teacher was also a fervent godbot, sweet lady, but loved to preach... so I'm looking in the text for "Ha-Na-Nim" which is korean for god. Its saying that you're a blogger, a scientist, an american and it mentions evolution a few times. However, I dont see any mentions of god or atheism in korean. I'm a bit rusty, and i'm sure some smarter people will see it, but I'm very interested to see the translation.
I'll grab my old textbooks and see what i can come up with. Nevertheless, you, being pictured by a cousin of the beholder is absolutely appropriate. I can only say I'm a little jealous :)
Posted by: jp sherman | February 28, 2008 1:59 AM
I've always wanted an article written about me in a language I couldn't understand. The hard decision is whether to get it translated or leave it as a mystery. ;)
Posted by: Slyer | February 28, 2008 2:12 AM
#2
"It says: "Koreans: Don't Tell This Man That We Accidently Erased The Interview" Then it has a bunch of sports scores and the weather report for Seoul."
It's only a matter of time before science proves that Seoul doesn't exist.
Posted by: October Mermaid | February 28, 2008 2:15 AM
As Americans, don't you just bomb anything you don't understand?
Posted by: Brownian, OM | February 28, 2008 2:16 AM
"As Americans, don't you just bomb anything you don't understand?"
As an American, I find this comment horribly prejudiced, even racist. It disgusts me that people still think this way about Americans.
Everyone knows Americans SHOOT what we don't understand. Most of us can't afford bombs.
Posted by: Christopher Petroni | February 28, 2008 2:23 AM
The headline for the PZ photo article on the right says roughly:
the smaller font:
"Blog paringgoola (no ph or ability to write ry in Korean) master, a professor of the University of Minnesota"
the bigger headline says (roughly)
"he (or maybe the blog) helps to swiftly disseminate information about the credibility of research "
From the headline it doesn't seem like they're trying to make it seem like an evil american is once again try to trash Korean science while he then steals Korean ideas for himself. A popular anti american theme here in the land of the morning calm.
Posted by: Mindme | February 28, 2008 2:24 AM
As requested, this is the page.
http://hani.co.kr/arti/science/science_general/272574.html
The article is linked from the front page of the online version.
http://hani.co.kr/
Posted by: JohnnieCanuck, FCD | February 28, 2008 3:46 AM
The big headline says "A plagiarism case spotted within 8 hrs since publishing: the Strength of Science Blogs". Also my hearty thanks to Brownian OM(Am Korean).
Posted by: passenger | February 28, 2008 3:58 AM
Here is Google translation's first effort. As jp sherman points out foreign words are often translated as characters that phonetically approximate the original sound of the foreign word. Google doesn't know many of these.
After eight hours' thesis plagiarism 'OK, the power of science blog!
Domestic professors' thesis critiques' journals announced onrainpan
Comments beulrogeuseo screening discussion question... 'plagiarism' disease
, But a full-scale domestic 'science blog era' after preparation
The maximum growth gongronjang blog is a science, and science.
Recently, a blog is an international scientific journals abroad onrainpan to identify plagiarism in a paper published critiques of the papers that came out, the cancellation announcement, science blogs around the eye of his dad. Comments on this blog discussions and research scientists in various activities, and then 23 minutes to eight hours to determine plagiarism.
Being a professor at the University of Cairo, Egypt, and Mohammed Wada Inje thesis critiques of professors' mitochondria, the soul and body of the missing links: Scientific evidence of danbaekjilche ' onrainpan June 23, it announced. Some bloggers were immediately when the paper was published deungjae automatically receive the information and systems. 'Pim' (PIMM), a master craftsman of biotechnology Attila chodasineun blog e-mail sent to the "Report of the 25th green, and the Title 'soul' he wrote scientific papers on the same terms and Bizarrely yeogyeotda" . He questioned the relevance of science thesis blog post in the olryeotgo raised, as the paper is a discussion topic dwieoeo comment. 100 visits a month from chodasineun mangeon blog 'paringgulra' owner Paul Myers (biology) professor at the University of Minnesota have announced this fact.
Myers, a professor of February 6 in his blog 'absurd failure of the peer review' called Creationism perspective that the title of the journal Science how the papers containing colleagues to pass the examination strongly questioned whether. 10:07 a.m.. Discussion 2:00 pm Comments that happen as a blogger who is 17, said some of the evidence that plagiarism. This is a tough 20 yeogunde 6:30 p.m. plagiarism. John McDonald of Delaware professor of plagiarism cases that the United States made public until the controversy is a comparison chart three periods. official said, "After receiving the harshest criticisms original research papers. Abbreviated screening, unlike in the wild, I know," he said.
Comments Europe has confirmed this blog plagiarism "collective intelligence, the web is a great show Story" "fantastic blogs," "rational saw hope in the future" as they celebrate fell. Chodasineun "blog this space many people would not have to spell everything out research papers and plagiarism to quickly balhigin been possible," he said.
The new blog is a science in recent years, many scientific journals have the same Discussion of the scientific criticisms are looking for space science and tens of thousands of day-to-day operations, or blog sites are created specialized research critic of the bloggers autonomous Organization (bpr3.org) kkuryeojil enough to be rapidly expanded. Plagiarism and research, but they are denying one of the major concerns.
In the era of full-scale domestic science blogs are also trying to prepare. Bulletins researchers' Brick 'Biological Research Information Center operated by the first half of this year, the researchers plan to promote science blog to partially implement. One researcher, "to inform his own research and other studies while receiving criticism that the domestic critics in the scientific culture gradually ppurinaeril blog," "The blog is a frequent critic thesis scientists have done everything it would not participate mid situation," he said. Blogs in domestic science, and scientists are scattered in a blog jeonmuneopchena sojipdan several criticisms of the network, will lead a discussion 'hub' blogs are still not being noticed. Ohcheolwoo reporters cheolwoo@hani.co.kr
[Hankyoreh related articles]
▶ "jagged... more suspected cases jjagipgi find a thesis"
▶ 'plagiarism disgrace' scientific papers published clear finish
▶ academia 'bakmiseok plagiarism' kaenda
▶ editorial / Republic of Korea Republic of plagiarism?
Posted by: JohnnieCanuck, FCD | February 28, 2008 4:00 AM
After open-source peer review when the paper showed up, we now get open-source translation of the news article...
It's only a matter of time before Google decides to buy Pharyngula.
Posted by: Stephen Wells | February 28, 2008 4:25 AM
@36:
"OK, the power of science blog!"
I like that. It should be the unofficial motto of PZ or something. :)
Posted by: Muffin | February 28, 2008 6:05 AM
The translation is hilarious.
official said, "After receiving the harshest criticisms original research papers. Abbreviated screening, unlike in the wild, I know," he said.
To the uninitiated this would seem to have something to do with natural selection...
Also
Myers, a professor of February 6
Now that's a specialism!
Posted by: Jit | February 28, 2008 6:08 AM
Hard to comprehend the translation with all the goofy phonetic transcriptions of loan-words.
I think "onrainpan" might mean "online". In korean there is no real distinction between "r" and "l". Other strange words may be deciphered likewise...
Posted by: Fedor Steeman | February 28, 2008 7:39 AM
"John McDonald of Delaware professor of plagiarism cases that the United States made public until the controversy is a comparison chart three periods."
A professor of plagiarism? Just how does one become a professor of plagiarism?
Oh Google and you're literal translations!
Posted by: Brian Knoblock | February 28, 2008 7:59 AM
Just as an update: I notified the Glycoconjugate Jounral of the other Warda and Han plagiarism that Sarah W. found. We'll see how they respond....
Posted by: James F | February 28, 2008 8:16 AM
Cephalopods get eaten in Korea...
Posted by: rlrr | February 28, 2008 8:22 AM
It's easy! You don't even need to write your own thesis or papers or lesson plans!
Posted by: phantomreader42 | February 28, 2008 8:52 AM
Praise be...is that the many seeing eyes of our great Noodly maker?
Posted by: STA | February 28, 2008 10:11 AM
It's an obituary. It says, "Man falls asleep with fan on. Dies from suffocation".
Posted by: Deepsix | February 28, 2008 10:13 AM
I speak Korean fluently. It says,
Using atomic radiation, Korean scientists recently caused a computer screen to mutate into into an 8-eyed, superintelligent automatic pilot. After reading a blackboard full of differential equations describing the flow of air over a wing, the automatic pilot safely landed a commercial airliner, pulling it out of a steep dive just 50 meters above the ground, and using only 60 meters of runway. American scientist PZ Meyers commented that the autopilot reminded him of a certain species of ocotopoda, and wondered what it would taste like sauteed in butter, garlic, and parsley.
Posted by: Joe Bob | February 28, 2008 11:32 AM
Which one are you? The bearded guys or the creepy tentacle eyes? :)
Posted by: Michelle | February 28, 2008 11:33 AM
I know a young Korean woman who lives in Japan teaching Japanese how to pronounce R's to communicate with Europeans. I'll see if she can translate the whole page. if I see her in the chatroom I meet her in.
Posted by: Aerik | February 28, 2008 11:34 AM
#49
Chatroom, eh? Say no more! Chatroom! Wink, wink, nudge, nudge! A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat, eh? But still...whooooaaaaa, eh? Whoooooaa!
Posted by: Archbishop Nudge | February 28, 2008 12:02 PM
I can do that one better: I've written an article -- a whole series of them, actually -- in a language I couldn't understand!
I've mentioned here before that my wife and I spent a year in Korea, teaching in a commercial English language school. The company that owned the school was Si-Sa-Yong-O-Sa, a giant publishing firm specializing in English-language books, tests, and study materials. One of their products was a monthly magazine, The Study of Current English, that covered topics of interest to English learners, but which was published (mostly) in Korean. For about 9 months, I wrote a regular column in which I explained the meaning of idiomatic expressions in Doonesbury cartoon strips. While I drafted the columns in English, they were translated into Korean for publication (only the Doonesbury strip itself and direct quotes from it appeared in English).
So I have a whole set of published articles, under my byline, that I can't read!
Posted by: Bill Dauphin | February 28, 2008 12:04 PM
Once again, Pharyngula has the best blogfans ever! The spontaneous translations made me laugh out loud.
Posted by: Monado, FCD | February 28, 2008 1:17 PM
I wrote a regular column in which I explained the meaning of idiomatic expressions in Doonesbury cartoon strips.
Damn, I miss Doonesbury. And Jim's Journal.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | February 28, 2008 1:20 PM
Hey fellows. I'm a korean. U r so mean. Why did u write that even u don't know what it means.
This means that scienceblog-payryngula-was found a fake paper by blogers during 8 hours. So it wants to tell how strong blog is.especilly blog for science.
Posted by: CHOI S.Y. | February 28, 2008 1:39 PM
Do the Boston papers not print it? It's available on teh intertooobz, you know. (I would post a link, but navigating to a comic strip site on my work computer would probably set off alarms.)
Or were you making a subtler comment about the current state of the strip?
Posted by: Bill Dauphin | February 28, 2008 2:50 PM
I meant to add, re Doonesbury, that I'm very pleased to have a book that reprints the original strips Trudeau drew for the Yale newspaper, when he was a student there. It's fascinating to look back at them and see how his work has evolved.
Posted by: Bill Dauphin | February 28, 2008 2:53 PM
I believe it says that you are Mr. Sparkle.
Posted by: DiscordianStooge | February 28, 2008 3:24 PM
Or were you making a subtler comment about the current state of the strip?
Actually, the pain pills and sedatives had me thinking of something altogether different (Bloom County). disregard...I think bed may be in order.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | February 28, 2008 3:28 PM
So it's an article about that bogus, plagiarized paper that somehow passed peer review but was recently outted by the many-eyed creature(s) of ScienceBlogs?
Posted by: Kseniya | February 28, 2008 3:32 PM
Uh... Ignore me. I'll catch up.
*stare*
(This is no mere cold. Maybe it's walking pnemonia. I seem to be coughing up small amounts of blood. Let's hope it's not the start of a scene from Alien or The Hidden.)
Posted by: Kseniya | February 28, 2008 3:47 PM
I seem to be coughing up small amounts of blood.
GO. TO. A. DOCTOR.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | February 28, 2008 3:52 PM
But... but... I'm IMMORTAL!
(Don't worry. I will.)
Posted by: Kseniya | February 28, 2008 3:59 PM
And with the blood thing: how well humidified is your space, and how hydrated your body? I notice that when I'm sick, and I get dehydrated, there tends to be a bit more blood in the mucus than when I'm well hydrated.
But get your ass to the physician! And stay well rested and hydrated!
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | February 28, 2008 4:02 PM
And just wait...the older you get, the more shit goes wrong. It's really awesome!
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | February 28, 2008 4:04 PM
Sorry Kseniya and MAJeff, but you've both been found guilty of being sick and weak. Off to the rendering vats with you.
We are Darwinists after all.
Posted by: Brownian, OM | February 28, 2008 4:21 PM
CHOI S.Y.: The comments were joking about our inability to understand the article, not about the article itself. Thanks for confirming its topic, which I agree is noteworthy.
Posted by: amonynous | February 28, 2008 4:37 PM
Sorry Kseniya and MAJeff, but you've both been found guilty of being sick and weak. Off to the rendering vats with you.
Oh, well. It was a good run while it lasted. And if last night's dinner was my last good meal, I can die with that.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | February 28, 2008 4:40 PM
Aside from the lost-in-translation hilarity, can anyone enlighten us as to what has actually happened at the journal as a follow-up?
-The paper is now listed in the back pages of Volume 8, issue 3 as retracted. The PDF of the text is no longer available.
-The abstract has been removed both from the journal and from the PubMed citation, and replaced with the retraction statement.
- There has been no indication that anything else will be done, apart from a weak claim in James Randerson's blog at the Guardian, in which the editors say they're looking into it.
This story seems to have disappeared from the spotlight in recent days, and it would appear that the journal's current strategy of "wait it out and the problem will disappear" is working.
What power does someone like PZ have to push the journal for real hard answers? Not wishy-washy apologies but real hard facts about what has changed at the editorial level to ensure this NEVER happens again, and to restore confidence in the journal?
So far, I haven't heard anything to convince me that the journal's integrity has been restored. It has now been over a month since this paper first appeared. That is more than long enough for a full investigation, and yet we have not heard anything. Please keep up the pressure on Proteomics - the editors cannot be allowed to get away with such a massive screw-up just because the story has faded out of the blogosphere!
Posted by: Virgil | February 28, 2008 4:51 PM
Spot-on, Jeff. My space tends to be dry. I'm aware of this problem and take steps to ameliorate it, but my efforts are inconsistent...
But enough about me. Have you read The Stand?
Posted by: Kseniya | February 28, 2008 5:05 PM
I actually have been neglecting the humidifier for the last couple weeks myself (bad boy!), and the Diet Coke doesn't help.
Haven't read The Stand. Anything like Logan's Run?
I'm just pissed that I ended up canceling class today. I'm going to hold a special research techniques session next week, and figure out how to make up the rest of the material (shouldn't be hard; just means re-doing some scheduling over the weekend)...I just can't wait for it to warm up. When I walk more, my back tends to be stronger and this kind of nonsense doesn't happen.
Just loving my kitty.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | February 28, 2008 5:11 PM
Haven't read The Stand. Anything like Logan's Run?
not a bit.
It's Stephen King's book about a virus that basically wipes out humanity, except for pockets of immune folks, who then for some odd reason sort themselves into "good" and "evil" camps and vie for the fate of the world.
comical mayhem ensues.
what Kseniya is likely referring to is that the sign someone was infected with the virus (100% fatal if infected) was coughing up blood.
Posted by: Ichthyic | February 28, 2008 5:20 PM
I once gave an email interview (in English) to a Taiwanese magazine. I answered their questions kind of glibly, though with self-deprecating humor. When they sent me a copy of the issue, it dawned on me that my answers were translated into Chinese. I still don't know if the humor survived the translation or if I just ended up sounding like a jackass.
Take away lesson: if you're going to be translated, don't try to be funny or cute.
Posted by: jpf | February 28, 2008 5:24 PM
Noooo. Not at all. More like I Am Legend. I loved it.
Diet Coke... feh. Caffeine. Sodium. Aspartame. In a word: drying.
Posted by: Kseniya | February 28, 2008 5:33 PM
Diet Coke... feh. Caffeine. Sodium. Aspartame. In a word: drying.
One thing to remember: the darker the yellow, the more dehydrated you are.
Enjoy everyone!
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | February 28, 2008 5:37 PM
I gotta get my urolagnic friend to read this site!
Posted by: Brownian, OM | February 28, 2008 5:45 PM
this is what happens when raised in a medical household (mom-nurse; dad-veterinarian; aunt-md) in which after dinner conversations almost always ended up in the PDR coming off the shelf; and then having a career that has included editing medical research papers and working in a neurology research clinic, among all that sociology stuff and the music degree. Some odd juxtapositions.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | February 28, 2008 5:49 PM
's all right, Jeff--I always tell everyone my decorum receptors were burnt out with all those bio courses, but Mr. thalarctos says for that to be true, I'd have had to have some to begin with, and he's seen no evidence of that.
Hope urine better health very soon!
Posted by: thalarctos | February 28, 2008 6:29 PM
So I have a whole set of published articles, under my byline, that I can't read!
I would be so totally paranoid that it had been replaced with something entirely different without me knowing about it. For all you know, you are now the magazine's expert in 70s porn.
not a bit.
It's Stephen King's book about a virus that basically wipes out humanity, except for pockets of immune folks, who then for some odd reason sort themselves into "good" and "evil" camps and vie for the fate of the world.
You are bleeping kidding me. I spent MONTHS trying to find a good fiction novel about disease to use in my interdisciplinary disease-based class and never came across this. Ok, weeks. A few hours, at least. Dammit.
Posted by: Carlie | February 28, 2008 8:30 PM
(#78) "The Cobra Event" by Richard Preston was good, and he seems like he has a clue. There should be nonfiction about the 1918 flu - I think there's a Katherine Ann Porter story, "Upon A Pale Horse" about it. I have lots of disease nonfiction at home.
Posted by: Hap | February 28, 2008 9:01 PM
I spent MONTHS trying to find a good fiction novel about disease to use in my interdisciplinary disease-based class and never came across this. Ok, weeks. A few hours, at least. Dammit.
ooh,
try "Blood Music" by Greg Bear.
way more interesting (shorter, too).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Music
then there's the classic:
"The Andromeda Strain"
(written before Crichton went bugfuck nuts)
Posted by: Ichthyic | February 28, 2008 9:05 PM
You are bleeping kidding me. I spent MONTHS trying to find a good fiction novel about disease to use in my interdisciplinary disease-based class and never came across this. Ok, weeks. A few hours, at least. Dammit.
And there is an entire genre of AIDS fiction--almost anything written by American gay men in the late 1980s; it was the fact of gay male life during that time. (Hell, there's Angels in America--if ya want theater instead)
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | February 28, 2008 9:07 PM
Wasn't it Bersani who wrote that all gay sex during that time was group sex because the spectre of death was always in the room with you? I think it was him; but I remember that sense.
One of the only moments I've ever been stunned into silence in a classroom was when a student said to me, while we were studying ACT-UP, "You mean there hasn't always been AIDS?"
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | February 28, 2008 9:10 PM
I wasn't touching Crichton, he's totally soured for me now. :( At the time I was pretty narrowly focused on trying to find historical fiction; real pandemic, realistic responses, fake characters, something besides the Decameron or Journal of the Plague Year. These are all good ideas, though, and I'll look them up for next semester. I particularly like the conceit of focusing on the immune folks battling it out, because we spent a lot of time on how small groups can get targeted and demonized during such events (using the Russian Jews in the New York typhus epidemic of 1892 as the main example)
MAJeff and Kseniya, have some fluids and feel better soon.
Posted by: Carlie | February 28, 2008 9:40 PM
One of the only moments I've ever been stunned into silence in a classroom was when a student said to me, while we were studying ACT-UP, "You mean there hasn't always been AIDS?"
I was telling my students about the early days, when a child in my school district was HIV positive and his school made a separate trailer for him and wouldn't even let him in the main school building for assemblies because they were so scared, then realized none of the other people in the room had even been born when that happened.
Posted by: Carlie | February 28, 2008 9:43 PM
I was telling my students about the early days, when a child in my school district was HIV positive and his school made a separate trailer for him and wouldn't even let him in the main school building for assemblies because they were so scared, then realized none of the other people in the room had even been born when that happened.
A couple years ago that hit me. Someone was doing those "Your freshman this year..." things, and what came up was that the AIDS crisis was no older than pretty much all of my students. That was such a depressing moment.
I've got a summer course on Mass Media and Queer America, and one thing that serves as a central point in the class: AIDS changed everything. I don't think they have any clue how much AIDS changed queer life and the place queers occupied in American society--and having them watch Philadelphia juxtaposed against Silverlake LIfe (a bit unfair, I know--but we talk about genre; more importantly we talk about narrative position within the relations of producing media texts, and the intended audiences--too much for this comment) is still an overwhelming experience for me...blows them out of the water.
I can't wait to get a full-time gig and expand this to a semester-length course.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | February 28, 2008 9:55 PM
AIDS crisis was now older than pretty much all of my students.
That little letter matters.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | February 28, 2008 9:56 PM
yes, Archbishop Nudge, a chatroom. At stickam.com
Posted by: Aerik | February 28, 2008 10:29 PM
LOL. I'd like to tell you that this page's URL is floating around in some Korean sites... :)
The title says "Plagiarism in a paper confirmed in 8 hours: the power of science blogs!" (Sorry, there's no "OK" there.) And then there's an interview article, too. URL is:
http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/science/science_general/272573.html
BTW don't trust google Korean-English translator for ANYTHING. Just type any sentence, translate it to Korean and then back, and see it for yourself. (Warning: if you're drinking something, put it down first. I'm not liable for any damage to your keyboard or books.)
Posted by: jick | February 28, 2008 11:44 PM
If anybody is VERY interested in a translation, tell me and I'll give it a try in a few days... if I can find some escape time from two screaming kids.
Posted by: jick | February 28, 2008 11:49 PM
's all right, Jeff--I always tell everyone my decorum receptors were burnt out with all those bio courses, but Mr. thalarctos says for that to be true, I'd have had to have some to begin with, and he's seen no evidence of that.
Telling urban kids about growing up as the vet's kid--including like coming home to find bowls of rocky mountain oysters sitting in salt water in the refrigerator--always gets some interesting responses. When you grow up with certain smells and stories at the dinner table, well, not much grosses you out after a while.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | February 29, 2008 12:08 AM
Wow. I never heard of Silverlake Life. I'll have to put it on my List. I did see something a few years ago called And The Band Played On. Whew.
One of my dad's friends is bisexual. (He's married with children now, but years ago he was in a de facto marriage with another man. He lost dozens of friends to the virus. I can't even imagine.) Anyway, point is, I mentioned the movie to him shortly after I'd seen it, and this is what he said: "Robert Gallo will burn in Hell."
:-|
Posted by: Kseniya | February 29, 2008 12:35 AM
The Band Played On is one of those weird ones. Shilts' writing of the book got some of the epidemiological stuff ok, but also fucked it up in a causal-blame-based way, so that one person became, rather than the center of an epidemiological cluster, the person responsible for spreading HIV. It's not without its merits and its problems.
Philadelphia I despise to this day. It's straight America letting itself off the hook for its own callousness; but it was a major Hollywood production so in order to make any money that's basically what it had to be.
Silverlake Life is a man documenting the last year of his life. The most devastating scene is when his partner videotapes his body the day he dies. This was a time when wasting was very, very common. He looked like he'd died in one of the camps. It's