mikethemadbiologist

There's a very interesting interview with William Greider about Social Security (no, really, it is worth reading). But I think part of the interview highlights why blogs and other non-traditional media forms have such power (italics mine): TL: How does this play out in day-to-day reporting? WG: My…

Happy Wednesday. Links for you. Science: An amazing, though clearly little-known, scientific fact: We get more snow storms in warm years! Farm animals get 80% of antibiotics sold in US The paradigm is dead, long live the paradigm! Other: KRUGMAN AND MINION Kathleen Hanna and Kurt Cobain It's Not…

I'm not even going to mention why it took fifteen hours to get from DC to Boston. By plane. Except that US Airways sucks. Anyway, you might have heard about the placebo-effect article recently published in PLoS One. I was going to blog about this yesterday, but events overtook my schedule (by…

Before Congress took off before the Christmas break, they actually managed to do something productive and pass the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" act, which banned open gays and lesbians from serving in the U.S. military. Unfortunately, the DREAM Act, which would have allowed undocumented…

Mary Carmichael has a great video (and associated post) about the rise of genetic denialism--ridiculous arguments that 'genes don't cause disease.'* Carmichael offers two reasons why the argument is flawed; I'll offer a third in a bit, but I do want to note one minor point of disagreement with…

Links for you. Science: Ancient humans, dubbed 'Denisovans', interbred with us Hub care sites see rise in stomach bug cases African elephant is two species, researchers say Other: What Haley Barbour's amnesia tells us: Like any good Southern conservative of his generation, he ignores the entire…

The Fiscal Times, a propaganda arm for Pete Peterson (although how one could tell the difference between The Fiscal Times and the ostensibly non-partisan Washington Post), has an article that purports to describe how difficult it is for the 'average' family that makes $250,000 per year. If we spot…

Links for you. Science: The Dangers Of Externalizing Knowledge Risk is the ally of the underdog The Physiology of Foie: Why Foie Gras is Not Unethical Other: I Think That Jason Kuznicki Does Not Understand the History... Saving Social Security: Stopping Obama's Next Bad Deal Heh Today's FCC ruling…

Because that's how Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen was able to kill a provision that would have helped the State Department prevent child rape. No, really: Non-governmental organizations, women's rights advocates, and lawmakers from both parties spent years developing and lobbying for…

Even though I'm Jewish, I plan to forgo the traditional Jewish Christmas repast of Chinese food and indulge in our family's tradition of a Christmas turkey--the Chinese restaurants are just full of Jews. Eek. So I'll just leave you with two videos--can't believe these are more than two decades…

It's my birthday. I'm....eleventy gajillion years old. Sigh. Well, links anyway. Science: The someecard for all post-docs ... Mexican Archaeologists Say Tonina Ballgame Court may Be the One Described in Popol Vuh The Truth About Holiday Weight Gain Other: America's self-loving Jews aren't…

It's my birthday today, but instead of buying me presents, how about helping ProMED, a non-profit organization that provides important disease and health information to over 155 countries? Here's some more information about what ProMED does: ProMED-mail - the Program for Monitoring Emerging…

Links for you: Peter Orszag: Everything Wrong With This Town (Comes Back To How Much This Guy Got Laid Here) Could You Retire Without Social Security? (no) Moore and me continues The ghost towns of China: Amazing satellite images show cities meant to be home to millions lying deserted How Do…

It's safe to say that Thomas Watson Sr., the first chairman of IBM (International Business Machines), truly revolutionized computing. While I'm sure Sam Palmisano, the current chairman of IBM, is a smart guy and has done some good things, I haven't heard anyone claim he's a technological…

Links for you. Science: The disposable academic: Why doing a PhD is often a waste of time (nothing regular readers of any science blog aren't familiar with, but interesting to see it hit The Economist) Finding their place in the sun: Schools in Plymouth, Milton pursue partnerships with solar power…

Democrats need a better class of pundits, ones who aren't so enamored of their own cleverness, while at the same time, utterly ignorant of political history. It would help, for instance, when trying to defend the estate tax. Matthew Yglesias, in a fit of contrarianism worthy of William Saletan,…

Links for you. Science: Economy Forces Big Budget Cuts for Science Fairs Wik-Bee Leaks: EPA Document Shows It Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees To classify humanity is not that hard Other: 'Our lives became something we'd never dreamt': The former Israeli soldiers who have…

Education 'reformers' constantly talk about how schools need to be run more like businesses. Now, like Comrade PhysioProf, I do think good management is important. But what does good management have to do with business? So asks David Carr (italics mine): On Wall Street and on Silicon Valley…

Almost vacation. Almost. Still have links for you. Jet-propelled calamari: Rare photos of squid species that can leap through the air to dodge predators Science, Blinding QCut Other: Global Housing Boom Matthew Hoh's Afghanistan: An Insider Talks Why is Obama leaving the grass roots on the…

So can the banks. A key impediments to economic recovery is underwater mortgages: people repay housing loans for more than the underlying property is worth. Many Dirty Fucking Hippies sane people have recommended that banks be forced to 'cramdown' these mortgages*. This would make the banks'…

I've hit the green gooey phase in my cold (that's actually a good thing). Yippee!! Let's celebrate with some links. Science: 'Rockstars of Science' hurt the cause of science education How the Republican Party broke up with Science New Obama Scientific Integrity Memo Is Late And Vague Yet another…

While there's been some discussion of the massive cut, albeit temporary, in the estate tax (arguably the tax cut least likely to produce jobs), the new gift tax rules are even more obscene: Families would be able to make tax- free gifts to their children or others of as much as $10 million, an…

Happy Saturday. Links for you: Firms See Long-Sought Goal in Sight: Major Pay Cuts The trace elements of a nation The Best Sites For Getting Some Perspective On International Test Comparison Demagoguery Do international test comparisons make sense? A True Wake-up Call for Arne Duncan: The Real…

So Google has released this Ngram thingee that searches for words in all of the archived Google stuff. So I decided to look for the words "MRSA", "staphylococcus", and "Staphylococcus." Here's what I found: You'll note that both staphylococcus and Staphylococcus surge around the same time as the…

Driftglass makes an excellent observation: What happened this week was that the GOP finally dropped its last fig-leaf and with it, any pretense of a conscience. In 2004, the Cheney Administration offered the imbeciles, cowards and bigots who despised this country enough to re-elect the worst…

Well, technically speaking, it's Fox News, but, really, what's the difference? Fox News has a website, Fox News Latino, that ran with this headline: Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem Are Having an Anchor Baby. It's like a nervous tic or something. They just can't help themselves. And remember, as…

I've written before about the municipal and state level fiscal crises that are occurring across the U.S. (and, yes, this was not only predictable, it was predicted). Well, now we have a new crisis: no more BABs. BABs is short for Build America Bonds program, and there are two types of BABs: 1)…

I hab a colt. No reason not to give you some links though. Science: The Desperate Battle Against Killer Bat Plague Non-GMO foods: nonsense The Bad Daddy Factor: Drinking, smoking, taking prescription meds or failing to eat a balanced diet can influence the health of men's future children Other:…

No doubt they hate us for our freedoms (or something), but if I were an Afghan, this might just push me over the edge: Prime among Atmar's concerns was a party partially thrown by DynCorp for Afghan police recruits in Kunduz Province. ...according to the leaked cable, that money was flowing to…

In education circles, the education 'reformers' based on the recent release of the international PISA results, which placed the U.S. in the middle of the pack (as one might expect, high performing U.S. states did well). Needless to say, 'reformers' worked themselves into high dudgeon: one…