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.
mikethemadbiologist
Posts by this author
November 18, 2010
Because it's the sucker's play.
So Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky--a real Democrat, not a Very Serious fiscal 'conservative'--has released her own deficit plan. It's a perfectly good plan: the numbers add up (no magic asterisks, such as 'we will lower Medicare expenses [somehow]'), and…
November 18, 2010
Gabe Rudy, blogging at our 2 snps, has a really good introduction to sequencing technology and its history. It's worth the read, but I don't entirely agree with the reason given for why ABI SOLiD lost out to Illumina:
Coming to market at the same time, but seeming to have just missed the wave, was…
November 17, 2010
Links for you. Science:
You (patent pending)
Drug testing and basic statistics
HPV Vaccine: Why Are So Few Women Getting Vaccinated? (when HuffPo gets it right, reward good behavior)
Other:
Vouchers only for the faithful
Teachers Take Charge To Save Ailing Public Schools (interestingly, the very…
November 17, 2010
Or something. By way of Howie Klein, we discover that Blue America PAC, which supports candidates, who among other things, are not global warming denialists, is faced with a nuisance lawsuit. This attack is led by 'Let Freedom Ring, Inc.', a conservative faith-tank. And who funds Let Freedom…
November 17, 2010
Because that's what it seems they're claiming. I'll get to that in a bit. Rolling Stone invited Matt Taibbi, David Gergen, and Gary Hart to discuss political events of the day. The subject of the Tea Party came up, at which point Taibbi said:
To me, the main thing about the Tea Party is that…
November 16, 2010
Cloudy, gray. Maybe some links will help? Science:
The likelihood of pollen from GE cotton causing harm to the environment is about as likely as a poodle escaping into the wild
Empiric antibiotics in the ICU
Study shows reusable bags contain high levels of lead content
Other:
Money and the…
November 16, 2010
Following on yesterday's post about the use of the "OOH! SHINY PEBBLE!" trick by focusing on deficit reduction, we find that, over at TPM, Rotwang nails the deficit reduction misdirection hooey too:
I beg you all to not get embroiled in the bankrupt pastime of figuring out how to balance the budget…
November 16, 2010
A while ago, I discussed the observation that seventy percent of stocks are held for eleven seconds (yes, you read that correctly). It's absurd, since there's no way that the status of the underlying companies has changed (and that information has been made public) in an eleven second time span.…
November 15, 2010
Just another Manic Monday. Links for you. Science:
Time Warp: Recent right-wing rejections of Einstein's theory of relativity echo Nazi dismissals of what they called 'Jewish Physics' (they're not attacking science, they're just trying to defend their culture space)
Juiced
Serious Fun With…
November 15, 2010
Last night, I went to the spanking brand new Art of the Americas Wing at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. I can't recommend it highly enough. It's a beautiful space. If you're a regular denizen of the MFA, you've probably seen some of the pieces on temporary exhibit, but it's great to see them…
November 15, 2010
What I find most disturbing about the Simpson-Bowles report, among many disturbing things, including a number fetish, is that our political discourse, which is usually mostly irrelevant, has become even more so. Why?
Because we're focusing on the wrong deficit.
While this deficit proposal is…
November 14, 2010
Yesterday, it was 62 F. In Boston. In mid-November. Let's celebrate with some links. Science:
Obesity behaves like a contagious disease agent
30,000 people is not actually that many people
The world's best underwater photographs 2010
Other:
My Application for Peter Thiel
Tragedy of the…
November 14, 2010
I'll have more to say about the report put out by the chairmen of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, but this section, found on page 6, "Our Guiding Principles and Values", indicates the lunacy and moral bankruptcy of the commission*:
Bring spending down to 22% and…
November 14, 2010
This should be the new Democratic talking point about tax cuts:
We need to change the thinking. Taxes are not too high. Incomes are too low. If you are having problems paying your taxes then you need a raise, not a tax cut. Democrats need to practice this response to anyone talking about tax cuts.…
November 13, 2010
A warm fall day. If you're stuck inside, here are some links for you. Science:
Dire Consequences of NIH Cuts
Rare Hits and Heaps of Misses to Pay For
NDM-1, the supergene: Further (community?) spread
Other:
Making religion of economics: The arguments of market fundamentalists don't fit the facts…
November 13, 2010
Certain things make me bang my head against the wall. Politically, one of those things is the complete lack of real concern over the employment deficit by our political betters, especially by Democrats. Here's the latest installment of stupidity (italics mine):
To fight the worst recession since…
November 12, 2010
Links for you. Science:
Obfuscatory Vaccination Math
New Statistical Model Moves Human Evolution Back Three Million Years
Twinkie diet helps nutrition professor lose 27 pounds
Other:
Segregation: The Invisible Elephant in the Foreclosure Debate
This Is How Michael Caine Speaks
Can liberalism save…
November 12, 2010
Simply put: it's very stinky. We read with interest this post by Jon Walker about the possibility of legalization of marijuana use in Massachusetts (and the near passage in California).
While I think the pros of legalization outweigh the cons (although I have no respect for those who pretend…
November 11, 2010
It's Veterans Day. Here are some links. Science:
The American System
Humans aren't the only creatures that grow their own food. Leaf-cutter ants, trees, and even protists do it too
Energy and science in America are in big, big trouble
Other:
Donovan McNabb, the Race Card and the Giving Tree…
November 11, 2010
Certainly, you shouldn't when the topic is education 'reform.' Some snarky bloggers refer to The Washington Post as the Kaplan Test Prep Company, since most of the Post's profits come from the KTPC, not the newspaper (both of which are owned by the Washington Post Company). Well, any claims The…
November 11, 2010
By way of Oliver Willis, we discover that the Corporate Democrat Third Way propaganda tank has decided that doubling down on failed Blue Dog policies is exactly what it will take to kill off the Democratic Party will resuscitate the Democratic Party's fortunes:
The party is about to come to a…
November 10, 2010
Links for you. Science:
An ID anniversary missed
The case against evidence: From fingerprints to high-tech CSI, forensic science plays a much smaller role than you would think
Great Migrations
Other:
Huzzah! Take That, Socialism!
White House thinks it was the stimulus that killed them (so they're…
November 10, 2010
...except maybe--and that's a very, very tentative maybe--doing nothing; I'll get to that later. Tyler Durden:
....what will be far more important to end consumers will be the push higher in food and energy costs. The problem, however, is that for the lowest 20% of Americans, as per the BLS, food…
November 9, 2010
Still at a meeting. But I've got links. Science:
Vaccination, Confirmation Bias, and Knowing Your Audience
Yes, please, let's have hearings on the evidence of climate change (a bit optimistic, but, if they happen, I hope this is how they play out)
Bear versus Bison
Other:
Why a Soccer Momma for…
November 9, 2010
By way of John Aravosis, we read this statement by President Obama made during a 60 Minutes interview:
Obama also expressed impatience with his liberal supporters for not understanding the deep divisions in the country - and that overcoming them was not simply a matter of a better message.
"I will…
November 9, 2010
If you haven't heard, there's a new antibiotic resistance gene, NDM-1, which stands for New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1. This gene has been found in Gram-negative Enterobacteriaceae (E. coli and Klebsiella), and confers resistance to every penicillin derivative. Like the KPC genes, this gene…
November 8, 2010
I'm at a meeting today, but no reason not to give you some links:
No Half Steps, No Equivocation
"Protest works. Just look at the proof"
Nov. 2: The Death Knell of Corporate Liberalism
Here We Go Again
Shirts vs. skins (I, too, have wondered why people think Sestak is so much better than Specter…
November 8, 2010
A while ago, in discussing deficit 'hawk' conservative Democrat Kent Conrad, I wrote this about so-called moderation:
Stupidly, Democrats have never pushed back against the idea that a hard-line deficit reduction hawk is a 'moderate', which I think might be what leads an astute political observer…
November 7, 2010
ScienceBlogs was screwed up earlier, but we're back in business. Have some free links--they're on the house. Science:
Climate change legislation didn't hurt Democrats
Same poop, different gut: For physicians and researchers alike, fecal transplants present an opportunity to gain insight into…
November 7, 2010
Personally, I hate setting the clocks back in winter. Since I basically wake up shortly after it gets light, I essentially lose an hour of sleep: going to bed an hour earlier really isn't an option--it's not like work shifts itself one hour earlier. And in Boston, the combination of being in the…