oracknows | April 30, 2006Today is Führerstodestag or "Death of the Führer Day," I join my friend Andrew in wishing Holocaust deniers out there a very happy Führerstodestag! If there is indeed a hell, Adolf Hitler must surely be rotting in it.
In commemoration of Führerstodestag, I'm resurrecting a blast from the past, my post about this topic from my old blog published one year ago today. It's my way of wishing Holocaust deniers and Hitler-admiring Nazis everywhere a happy Führerstodestag!
60 years ago today: The end of the Führer
Sixty years ago today, the capital of the thousand year Reich, Berlin, was in…
oracknows | April 29, 2006Having lived in Cleveland for 8 years, I appreciate a Cleveland guy Derf's take on things. Even as a conserative-leaning sort, I have come to the conclusion that I'm with Barney as far as our President goes:
Click for the full size version.
oracknows | April 29, 2006When the test fits my interests, I cannot resist a fellow ScienceBlogger (although I did manage to resist this particular meme that's been spreading through our little community). Like a lemming, compelled by Grrlscientist, I answer:
Your Theme Song is Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd
"There is no pain, you are receding.
A distant ship's smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves."
You haven't been feeling a lot lately, and you think that's a good thing.
The comfortable part is nice... but you should really work on numb.
What's Your Theme Song?
A little bit scary, actually,…
oracknows | April 28, 2006Here's something I haven't done in quite a while: The Friday Random Top Ten. So, let's fire up iTunes, set it to "shuffle play" and see what comes up, shall we?
Here we go:
The Kinks, Going Solo (from: Word of Mouth).
David Bowie, White Light/White Heat (from: Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars: July 3, 1973, Hammersmith Odeon).
Alice Cooper, Elected (from: Billion Dollar Babies).
Dire Straits, Industrial Disease (from: Love Over Gold)
Frank Sinatra, London By Night (from: The Best of the Columbia Years: 1943-1952).
Morrissey, I'll Never Be Anyone's Hero Now (from: Ringleader of the…
oracknows | April 28, 2006I tell ya, life just ain't fair.
I work and slave for many years to master medicine, surgery, and molecular biology because I want to be part of developing new therapies for cancer. My reward? Instead of being in the lab directly participating in experiments, I spend more of my time begging for money to fund my lab (otherwise known as writing grant applications) than actually supervising the work that goes on there and worrying about losing the funding that I have. Pay lines for NIH grant applications keep getting tighter and tighter, and private sources are becoming way more competitive.…
oracknows | April 28, 2006Here's an interesting tidbit that I came across:
A new study, to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Political Economy, calculates the prospective gains that could be obtained from further progress against major diseases. Kevin M. Murphy and Robert H. Topel, two University of Chicago researchers, estimate that even modest advancements against major diseases would have a significant impact � a 1 percent reduction in mortality from cancer has a value to Americans of nearly $500 billion. A cure for cancer would be worth about $50 trillion.
"We distinguish two types of health…
oracknows | April 27, 2006I just have time for a short take today. (If you need more, fortunately, Bora has posted the 33rd Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle for your edification. Yes, my preamble was just an excuse to plug the Skeptics' Circle one more time.)
In the comments of yesterday's post about a medical student who is a young earth creationist, Karl asked a most interesting question:
I hope that you saw "House" last night (on FOX, of all places). A 15 year old faith healer shows up in the hospital. At one point he touches a patient who has been dignosed with terminal (Liver?) cancer. The cancer shrinks. House…
oracknows | April 27, 2006The 33rd Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle has been posted at Science and Politics. Bora has kindly provided an abstract:
Complaints like "hurts my brain" and "blows my mind" as a result of exposure to incredible stories have recently been definitively tied to the neuronal cell death (apoptosis). Furthermore, the notion of the usefullness of the Baloney Detection Kit (BDK) in protection of brain cells against the negative effects of incredulity has recently garnered significant support. In this review, the authors gather the most notable examples in recent scientific and medical literature on…
oracknows | April 26, 2006The latest Tangled Bank is up at The Inoculated Mind, this time with a nifty Star Wars theme!
Orac "Skywalker," Jedi Knight? I like it.
I like the reference to "Darth Voxer" (a reference to Vox Day and his antivaccination idiocy) even more...
oracknows | April 26, 2006Oh, boy.
Last week, as part of my series Medicine and Evolution, I mentioned the blog of a homeschooled medical student who also happens to be a young earth creationist and used her as an example of why I feared that credulity towards a a pseudoscience that is so obviously wrong based on the empirical evidence, so easily debunked with so little effort is an indicator of credulity when it comes to other forms of pseudoscience, like quackery. I hadn't really planned on mentioning her again any time soon, or even ever, as I thought my point had been made.
Then a reader had to point out to me…
oracknows | April 25, 2006Today, April 25, 2006 is Holocaust Heroes and Martyrs Remembrance Day. In commemoration, here's a list of almost everything I've written regarding the Holocaust, Holocaust denial, and anti-Semitism since the beginning:
60 years ago today: The evacuation of Auschwitz and start of the death march
The 60th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz: How I discovered Holocaust denial
60 years ago today: The liberation of Buchenwald
Sunday afternoon history lesson
60 years ago today: The liberation of Bergen-Belsen
60 years ago today: The liberation of Dachau
60 years ago today: The end of the…
oracknows | April 25, 2006I had wanted to proceed to part 5 of my Medicine and Evolution series, but, frankly, I wasn't much in the mood for anything serious over the weekend, and, let's face it, that case of the blog blahs continued even into yesterday. Otherwise I would have done my blog buds Abel Pharmboy and Bora more of a solid and tackled this a bit earlier, rather than posting about Jack Chick parodies and fluff about a possible new Star Trek movie.
Spurred on by Bora over at Science and Politics, Abel Pharmboy at Terra Sigillata has been discussing scienceblogging, whether it would be a good idea for science…
oracknows | April 25, 2006Grand Rounds, vol. 2, no. 31 has been posted at Health Business Blog. Check it out.!
oracknows | April 24, 2006This time, as part of their campaign of intimidation, they're suing a family that doesn't even own a computer:
A Rockmart family is being sued for illegal music file sharing, despite the fact that they don't even own a computer.
A federal lawsuit filed this week in Rome by the Recording Industry Association of America alleges that Carma Walls, of 117 Morgan St., Rockmart, has infringed on copyrights for recorded music by sharing files over the Internet. The lawsuit seeks an injunction and requests unspecified monetary damages.
The lawsuit states, "Plaintiffs are informed and believe that…
oracknows | April 24, 2006As a surgical oncologist whose practice is made up largely of treating breast cancer, I really hate guys like this:
MIAMI - A 76-year-old man claiming to be a doctor went door-to-door in a Florida neighborhood offering free breast exams and was charged with sexually assaulting two women who accepted the offer, police said Thursday.
One woman became suspicious after the man asked her to remove all her clothes and began conducting a purported genital exam without donning rubber gloves, investigators said.
The woman then phoned the Broward County Sheriff's Office, and the suspect fled. He was…
oracknows | April 24, 2006I'm actually surprised to find this out, but up until now there was a noticeable lack as far as medical blog carnivals go. Sure, we have Grand Rounds, but that's a general medical carnival that covers every specialty and all issues that relate to medicine. Although it's usually chock full of great blog material, Grand Rounds sometimes to be too big and unwieldy.
Fellow skepticClark Bartram (who also happens to be a pediatrician) has jumped into the fray by starting a new blog carnival, Pediatric Grand Rounds. He's posted the First Pediatric Grand Rounds, and plans on making it a biweekly…
oracknows | April 24, 2006Sometimes people come up with ideas that are just so mind-bogglingly inappropriate that I have a hard time grasping them. Case in point, recently Polish authorities granted permission by a local theater group to perform Jesus Christ Superstar at an old Nazi death camp:
POLISH authorities have withdrawn permission for the musical Jesus Christ Superstar to be performed at Majdanek, the former Nazi concentration camp, after protests by Jewish groups.
The Culture Ministry and the camp's management today said the performance by a local Polish theatre group could not go ahead.
"The play was to…
oracknows | April 23, 2006According to Trek Today:
Paramount Pictures announced today that Lost creator J.J. Abrams will co-write, produce and direct the eleventh Star Trek film, set for release in 2008.
According to an article in the Daily Variety, the new film will be a prequel to the original Star Trek series, featuring younger versions of characters like James T. Kirk and Spock. The movie will chronicle events such as their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and their first mission into outer space.
The as-yet untitled new film will be written by Abrams together with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. Abrams is the…
oracknows | April 22, 2006This Jack Chick parody is a bit incoherent at times, but parts of it are still pretty amusing nonetheless. I'm still not entirely sure what it's about, and maybe someone can help me out there. This particular parody seems to be a parody put together from more than one Chick tract. However, one of them is definitely this one.
(Click on image for the rest.)
oracknows | April 21, 2006OK, skeptics, listen up! Bora's set to host the 33rd Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle over at Science and Politics on next Thursday, April 27. If you haven't already done so, this weekend is the perfect opportunity to submit your best skeptical blogging to Bora before 5 PM EDST on Wednesday, April 26. Bora has posted instructions here.
Bora's an old hand at blog carnival hosting, as well as a big afficianado of blog carnivals; so I expect that this Circle will be only of the highest quality.