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
March 18, 2009
While there's a compelling argument to be made that newspapers are doomed regardless of what they try, I think Ezra Klein is wrong when he argues that there's no market for local news. Atrios writes:
This is the reason I'm so often pretty unsympathetic about the way many journalists whine about…
March 17, 2009
In the midst of all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the death and cooptation of business journalism inspired by John Stewart's skewering of Jim Cramer, it's important to remember one thing: that's the business model. Or to put it another way, the customer is always right.
If you ever…
March 16, 2009
Over at The Reef Tank, Ava has an interview with yours truly. I particularly liked this bit:
How can one relate marine biology to climate change and/or global warming?
Simple: the carbon cycle. Our oceans are the planet's lungs every bit as much as the rainforests. And right now, we're acting…
March 16, 2009
I'm always loath to criticize mainstream discussions of the antibiotic resistance, particularly when the link between antibiotic use in agriculture and antibiotic resistance is raised. But, while NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof meant well, he missed the mark.
In his column about MRSA ST398, he…
March 15, 2009
Because AIG is paying bonuses to the division that created a lot of Big Shitpile (italics mine):
The American International Group, which has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, plans to pay about $165 million in bonuses by Sunday to…
March 15, 2009
There has been a lot of commentary about George Will attacking the observed phenomenon of global warming by referring to a poor analysis of research findings--an analysis that has been refuted by the study's authors. This has been followed by discussions of the future of journalism and other such…
March 14, 2009
Isn't this kinda missing the point? Here's an ad I saw in the Weekly Dig:
Yes, an organic cigarette would probably be less harmful than one...laced with dioxin. But it's still a cigarette. It's not good for you. In fact, it's bad for you.
I think the label organic has jumped the shark....
March 13, 2009
Here's some good reading for you to start your weekend. Science-related stuff first:
They Tried to Outsmart Wall Street
50 Reasons I Reject Evolution
The next evolutionary step for evo psych
Secrets of the toilet
Other:
Our Cognitive Dissonance on Both Hiring, and Firing, Teachers En Masse
If…
March 13, 2009
I know I make the point a lot that much of movement conservatism/Modern Republicanism operates in a intellectuallycognitively similar manner to the creationist movement. But the reason the comparison is instructive is that creationism (whether young earth or intelligent design) is so obviously…
March 12, 2009
....AARRGGHH!!! One of my pet peeves are political polls that don't get at how self-described political identification matches actual opinions: in other words, are some moderates actually like liberals or conservatives and so forth. By way of Matt Yglesias, we find that the Center for American…
March 12, 2009
Nicholas Kristof has an interesting op-ed in the NY Times about the relationship between pig farming and MRSA. I'll be curious to see what he writes about in his next column, since he says, "This is a system that may help breed virulent "superbugs" that pose a public health threat to us all. That'…
March 11, 2009
I think it's a spoof. Maybe it's an homage? Either way, combining the comic strip Peanuts with Frank Miller (writer of the comics The Dark Knight Returns, Ronin, Sin City, and many others) is interesting...
March 11, 2009
A while ago, economist Paul Krugman described the institutional loss of knowledge in the discipline of economics:
And the latter group, the equilibrium macro side, was so convinced of the logical correctness of its position that schools dominated by that view stopped teaching demand-side economics…
March 10, 2009
I've written about urban-based, vertical farming before. I recently stumbled across this website, The Vertical Farm, that describes vertical farming some more. It also has cool pictures like this:
(click here to embiggen)
I have no idea if this could work, and I don't think farming within cities…
March 9, 2009
Merry Monday! Science links first:
Top 10 Worst Things In Nature
Don't Bury the Next Generation of Researchers Under Billions in NIH Funding
A Very Optimistic Genetics Paper
Darwin, Atheism, and the Catholic Church
Spoiled: Organic and Local Is So 2008
Other:
Republicans are Failing their…
March 9, 2009
Currently, I'm working on a post about funding and how it's led to employment problem in science....
Meanwhile, this bit about illegal short selling is jaw dropping. I have no idea of this very long article (pdf) is in tinfoil helmet territory or not, but, if it's at all accurate, it looks like…
March 8, 2009
This little security breach and its cause are disturbing (italics mine):
A Cranberry company that monitors peer-to-peer file-sharing networks discovered a potentially serious security breach involving President Barack Obama's helicopter.
Tiversa employees found engineering and communications…
March 8, 2009
One of things I never got around to blogging about after the 2008 election was how lower-income whites do vote Democratic, even in the South, despite misperceptions on both the left and right to the contrary. In that vein, Amanda, commenting on Alexandra Pelosi's campaign documentary, clarifies a…
March 7, 2009
In Colorado, someone is very bothered by the idea of kosher salt:
You've heard of kosher salt? Now there's a Christian variety.
Retired barber Joe Godlewski says he was inspired by television chefs who repeatedly recommended kosher salt in recipes.
"I said, 'What the heck's the matter with…
March 6, 2009
Here are some links to start your weekend with. Science, health, and related things:
And the Oscar Goes to...Not Its Voting System
New Horizons
Yeast population genomics
Robots: The Big Picture
Hey NIH! How about using the stimulus as a testbed for new ideas?
Evolution in Action
Other:
Memo to…
March 6, 2009
In the past, I've referred to Peter Pan Conservatives--those who think that winning wars is largely about will (and not logistics, supply, or local political conditions). Well, Treasury Secretary Geithner is now practicing Peter Pan economics:
...top officials in the Obama administration and at…
March 6, 2009
Dominionists for Tancredo 2012, that is. In response to this post about creationist wackaloons and giraffes, over at the Dominionists for Tancredo site, we find:
Evolutionists would have you believe that the giraffe neck "evolved" so it could reach food higher and higher in trees.
But God created…
March 5, 2009
In the midst of the hysteria by the top two percent over Obama's tax plan (TEH SOCIALISMZ!! AAIIIEEE!!!), this article by ABC News about people who make more than $250,000 per year and are trying to lower their annual incomes below $250,000 makes one realize that professionally successful and…
March 5, 2009
Who knew Warren Buffett had his own special tax bracket? With reporting like this, who needs Republicans? From a NY Times story about limiting the tax break for charitable donations by the rich (italics mine):
"If you're a teacher making $50,000 a year and decide to donate $1,000 to the Red Cross…
March 5, 2009
Despite some of the gnashing of teeth and wailing around these parts about how mean we are to creationists on ScienceBlogs and how this will backfire, as I've noted before, creationist is slowly becoming mainstreamed as a pejorative (as opposed to a religious belief that should be exempted from…
March 4, 2009
The nitwits at CPAC are running around, claiming that Obama's, well, everything is sending us down the dark path of socialism (although Henry Paulson and George Bush did pretty well on that score. Got TARP?). But these claims are ridiculous--and to some conservatives' credit, they understand this…
March 4, 2009
...and you listen. If you're unaware of this, the confirmation of two good science appointees, Jane Lubchenco for NOAA Administrator and John Holdren for Science Advisor, are being obstructed by anonymous Senate holds (one isn't so anonymous and is by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ). ScienceBlogling…
March 4, 2009
...for conservative budgetary policy. From Matt Yglesias:
Their other big [conservative] idea is feigned stupidity. Michael Steele pretended not to know what a fish passage barrier removal program is. Turns out that these are programs designed to remove barriers to the passage of fish. So that…
March 3, 2009
Remember when Obama Commerce Secretary nominee Republican Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) decided not to take the job on account of Gregg's unwillingness to join an administration that was fiscally irresponsible. Well, there might have been something else involved:
Sen. Judd Gregg, President Barack…
March 2, 2009
One of the few saving graces of being a Democrat is that we're typically not anti-science. And then there's Democratic Senator Harkin (who is very good on other issues). Along with Republican Senator Bill Frist, Harkin was the driving force behind the National Center for Complimentary and…