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
February 9, 2010
...the money. Over at Pandagon, Jesse Taylor, on the subject of the Focus on the Family anti-legal and safe abortion ad, asks (italics mine):
The question is instead this: if the anti-choice position is so true, so mainstream and so critical to the future of our nation, why did Focus on the Family…
February 9, 2010
The success of a European MRSA surveillance network shows just how stupid, foolish, and short-sighted the Obama Administration's decision to cut CDC antimicrobial resistance surveillance is. But let's turn this frown upside down campers, and look at the really cool website the European…
February 8, 2010
Who dat dem gonna beat the Saints? Oops, wrong marketing strategy. Geaux Saints! Links for you. Science:
Postdoctoral researchers at UMass unionize
First Federal Court Hearing on Whether Human Genes Should Be Patented
"Could You Patent the Sun?"*
Global Ocean Protection Measures Have Failed…
February 8, 2010
(from here)
By way of Maryn McKenna, we find that the Obama Administration has decided to massively cut the funding for the CDC's antimicrobial resistance and vaccination efforts. I thought this was the kind of anti-science bullshit that the Bush Administration did. From the IDSA (pdf):
Under…
February 7, 2010
I hear there's some kind of sporting event today. No excuse to not check out some links though. Science:
Random thoughts on CDC's swine flu effort: epidemiology and surveillance
In Praise of Deference
Seven habits of highly successful toads
Man Hunts Crocodile That Has Eaten Over 200 People…
February 7, 2010
If you're looking for a good primer on Big Shitpile and other recent economic events, I highly recommend Peter Goodman's Past Due: The End of Easy Money and the Renewal of the American Economy. It's well written, and does what many other books about the recent economic collapse fail to do: puts…
February 6, 2010
Over at DailyKos, there's a very good post about anti-vaxxer idiocy (I believe in rewarding non-science blogs with links when they take this stuff head-on). The author's motivation illustrates just how murderous this lunacy is:
Part of what infuriates me about this issue is that I'm aware of a…
February 6, 2010
A recent question posed by NY Times columnist demonstrates just how far to the Palinist right our political and social discourse has shifted:
I always wondered why Howard Zinn was considered a radical. (He called himself a radical.) He was an unbelievably decent man who felt obliged to challenge…
February 5, 2010
I believe that someone once said, "Thank God It's Friday." Links for you. Science:
Oh my fucking god. (Really, it's about science)
MTS43 - Rob Knight - The Microbes That Inhabit Us
New organism discovered in a dirty pond
Is There Sh*t in Your Salad? 39% of Bagged Salads Have Too Much Fecal…
February 5, 2010
There's been some discussion about Joel Kotkin's argument "The War Against Suburbia", kicked off by The NY Times making it their Idea of the Day. Leaving aside whether there should be a 'war against suburbia', it's just not true. First, there has been a decades-long policy of federal…
February 4, 2010
Crime in the urban hellhole known as Boston:
01/11/10 - At approximately 5:29 a.m., officers responded to a radio call for a removal from the French Library, located at 53 Marlborough St.
On arrival, police spoke to the executive director of the library (the witness), who stated that a male suspect…
February 4, 2010
I'll return to the Research 2000 poll I discussed Wednesday, and also talk about this Gallup poll Digby discusses (and I think misinterprets), because I think we have to really think about the data we're collecting--and the questions in those polls really are different in quality from each other.…
February 3, 2010
Here are some 'interesting' results from a poll conducted by Research 2000:
QUESTION: Do you think Barack Obama is a socialist?
Yes 63
Not Sure 16
No 21
But that's not the crazy part. There's more:
QUESTION: Do you believe Barack Obama wants the terrorists to win?
Yes 24
Not sure 33
No 43
Moving…
February 3, 2010
Are Democrats intentionally trying to lose the next election? Because that's the only possible way to explain this:
Twelve Democratic Senators spent last weekend in Miami Beach raising money from top lobbyists for oil, drug, and other corporate interests that they often decry, according to a guest…
February 2, 2010
Once again, Republican Sen. Judd Gregg makes me wonder what the Obama administration was thinking when they nominated him for Commerce Secretary--they must have really believed that post-partisanship bullshit. Gregg's latest eruption:
Judd Gregg just had a meltdown on MSNBC that came out of…
February 2, 2010
Merry Tuesday. Links fahr ya. Science:
The Case for 'Gray Power'
How many Americans received the H1N1 vaccine?
The Intellectual Property Fight That Could Kill Millions
The Duration of PostDoc Training
Dual Function Of Post-Doctoral Training
Other:
Mr. Obama's Junk Economics: Democrats Relinquish…
February 2, 2010
As someone who is Jewish, and thus at an elevated risk for Tay-Sachs disease, a degenerative disease that inevitably kills small children, and does so miserably, I appreciate the need for genetic screening. So, while it's not perfect, I think companies like Counsyl that are selling screening for…
February 1, 2010
Just looked at the White House's proposed HHS budget for 2011, and it seems like the NIH budget will increase from $30.8 billion to $32.1 billion, with over six billion spent on cancer (are you listening Orac?). Other civilian research agencies will be getting bigger increases (Intelligent…
February 1, 2010
I keep reading stories about how the iPad will revolutionize everything--or not (here's one example). There are also lots of complaints about how the iPad is betwixt and between an iPhone (or similar device) and a laptop. But these posts are missing the point: the iPad is an attempt to sell…
January 31, 2010
It's still freezing. A good reason for links. Science:
Why The iPad Is Crap Futurism
British Newspapers Make Things Up
Life Imitating Life
UnPolitical America: A Crisis of Political Illiteracy?
Other:
A Colossal Failure Of Governance: The Reappointment of Ben Bernanke
Ladies, meet your new…
January 31, 2010
If you live in a city, you're probably familiar with Zipcar. It's the car rental service that let's you rent by the half-hour, which is very useful if you don't own a car, and need one to run the occasional errand. Guess what comprises five percent of Zipcar's fleet:
Hello [Mike the Mad Biologist…
January 30, 2010
As I say often (probably far too often), ultimately policies have to help the majority of voters, and when they don't people stay home. Outsourced to Gin and Tacos (italics mine):
It is plainly obvious that Democratic candidates can't expect success without the voters who showed up in 2008, and…
January 29, 2010
It's Freezing Friday. Links to keep ya warm. Science:
The Evolution of an Internet Meme
Science Channel Refuses To Dumb Down Science Any Further
It was the best of sources, and the worst of sources: the Internet and health information
In Defense of the Beta Blocker
Increasing NIH funding means…
January 29, 2010
A very quick, nearly Twitter-esque point. Reading this post by Mike Stark about the Bernanke confirmation, it is remarkable (and disturbing) how few senators seem to realize where Bernanke stands on unemployment. What's worse is how far off the radar screen the Fed is for so many of the senators…
January 29, 2010
Sure, there were some nice parts in Obama's State of the Union speech. But this part is the equivalent of flat-eartherism and creationism (italics mine):
Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years. Spending related to our national security, Medicare, Medicaid,…
January 28, 2010
It's Thursday. And that means links. Or something. Science:
China Second to US in research, set to pass in 2020
Research Project Grant Support For "Younger Researchers"
On the latest NIH soft-money kerfuffle
Collins warns Universities to roll back soft money jobs...sortof
Shrimp's Dirty Secrets…
January 28, 2010
Or something. Tuesday, I wrote about the reporting on the Oregon ballot initiatives, but, of course, the ballot initiative itself actually matters. And Oregon voters approved the tax increases (italics mine):
Yesterday Oregon voters delivered a huge victory for progressives by approving Measures…
January 28, 2010
Over at The Tree of Life, Jonathan Eisen asks:
What do people think are the potential benefits that could come from finishing?
For those who don't know what genome finishing is, I'll let Eisen give the short summary:
Finishing: Using any combination of laboratory, computational and other analyses…
January 27, 2010
Merry Wednesday. Links for you. Science:
The 2,700 year old Pashtun link to Israel (should end with a question mark)
Network Theory: A Key to Unraveling How Nature Works
Rice, alcohol and genes
Experts stunned by swan 'divorce' at Slimbridge wetland
Is Algae Worse than Corn for Biofuels? A new…
January 27, 2010
Because I simply can't handle any more Democratic clusterfucks or depressing thoughts about science funding, I want to vent my spleen on bad political reporting. Take this story about two tax-related ballot items in Oregon. One might think that a story about two proposed tax-related measures in a…