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
January 22, 2008
Olivia Judson describes what it would take to prevent almost all rabies deaths from Africa (rabies currently kills around 55,000 people annually):
To eliminate the disease from humans, therefore, it needs to be eliminated from dogs. And the way to do that is through dog vaccination. (At first, it…
January 22, 2008
Erm, maybe not:
It takes real skill to simultaneously screw up munies and the stock market.
One can only hope that maybe some money floods back into the U.S. because of this.
January 21, 2008
If you're in the U.S., unless you've been living in a cave, you're aware that major banks and investment firms have taken huge financial hits. As a result, they are laying off thousands of workers. This puzzles me.
I understand in the short term why these firms would slash payrolls (I'm not an…
January 21, 2008
(Yes, it's LOLFeral Pigs)
A recent article in Emerging and Infectious Diseases just made the explanation of the E. coli spinach outbreak much more complex.
When the contaminated spinach story broke, there were a lot of accusations bandied about that this showed that either corporate factory…
January 21, 2008
One of the things that is often neglected on Martin Luther King day is his dedication to economic justice. What is forgotten--often willfully--is that he was an advocate for racial and economic justice. From a speech he gave to striking sanitation workers in Memphis on March 18, 1968 (italics…
January 20, 2008
That bond issue to build a new school or road just became more expensive. Say hello to higher property and sales taxes or cuts in services. Strap on the ol' thinkin' cap and I'll get to 'splainin' it.
Got it strapped on tight? Good.
If you're a municipality and you want to float a bond to build…
January 20, 2008
After the New Hampshire primary, I wrote:
The most surprising thing is that, looking at the exit polls for Iowa and NH, it really seems that Clinton and Edwards were competing for the same electorate. The storyline was that Edwards and Obama were duking it out for the "change" vote. Not so much…
January 19, 2008
Physioprof simplifies it for us:
Shills for Wall Street gamblers said that, even though prices for shit that ordinary people need to survive are skyrocketing, prices for shit they can do without are not going up quite as fast, thus justifying actions by the Fed that are going to further increase…
January 19, 2008
I happy to see that others are coming around to the idea that the abortion debate is ultimately about the establishment of religion (italics mine):
She [Keenan] was saying more that the people in the mushy middle feel like they're in a moral quandary about abortion, because it's all mixed up with…
January 18, 2008
Amanda Marcotte reminds us of the origin of the states' rights claim (italics mine):
For the slower (willfully and not) people out there, the rhetoric about protecting the innocent states from the all-powerful federal government--rhetoric that would have basically every stalwart Republican and…
January 18, 2008
I had read this NY Times review by Timothy Noah of They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons, but, until maha revisited it, I hadn't realized that I missed the importance of one part of the review (italics mine):
Just about the only place the neoconservative movement can't locate Hitler is…
January 17, 2008
61% of women who have abortions already have children. So much for the 'irresponsible slut' propaganda. By way of Jill at Feministe, I found this Guttmacher Institute report (italics mine):
The majority (61%) of U.S. women who have abortions are already mothers, more than half of whom have two or…
January 17, 2008
Other than Atrios, I'm the only one who thinks Romney would be the hardest Republican for Democrats to beat. Here's why.
The Somerby Effect. One thing to keep in mind is that the traditional media narratives, while trivial for all politicians, are strongly biased against Democrats ("Obambi",…
January 16, 2008
Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann (MN) is trying to prove that she is more stupid than the Gingrich disciple who thought we could eliminate the National Weather Service because the Weather Channel had it covered (really). To wit:
Today, Rep. Eric Cantor (VA), the chief deputy Republican whip in…
January 16, 2008
According to the NY Times' John Tierney, post-Sept. 11th fear of terrorism might be detrimental to one's health:
But worrying about terrorism could be taking a toll on the hearts of millions of Americans. The evidence, published last week in the Archives of General Psychiatry, comes from…
January 16, 2008
The NY Times has an article about the MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus) strain that is spreading rapidly among gay men. One factor is that a subset of the gay population is immunocompromised due to HIV, and consequently, is more likely to acquire MRSA skin infections.
This strain…
January 16, 2008
By way of ScienceBlogling Razib, I came across this Reason article by Ronald Bailey summarizing the presidential candidates views' on evolution. Bailey highlights two reasons what lack of support for evolution says about a candidate:
The candidate probably is weak on the separation of church and…
January 15, 2008
Inspired by ScienceBlogling Razib, I wanted to see where I fell on the Electoral Compass:
Not too surprising.
Where do fall out?
January 15, 2008
John Aravosis demonstrates once again why I refuse to call myself a progressive (italics mine):
Seriously, any plan to bail these people out had better include a test to prove that they were hoodwinked by their mortgage broker. Otherwise, they gambled and they lost. Lots of people bought homes…
January 14, 2008
While reading this unclear AP story about the genetics of autism (here's a clearer version), it struck me that the word allele needs to enter alongside the word gene.
Too often, in popular accounts, we hear people say things like "she was diagnosed with having the breast cancer gene." This is, of…
January 14, 2008
Certain political acts are beyond the pale, such as cutting a teen suicide hotline. Unless they're gay, then it's called positioning. In light of the Great Orange Satan's and others' calls for Michigan Democrats to muck up the Republican race by voting for Romney, I thought revisiting his cuts for…
January 14, 2008
According to the Boston Globe, bisphenol A levels lower than those found in 93% of people led to obesity in mice:
Thousands of chemicals have come on the market in the past 30 years, and some of them are showing up in people's bodies in low levels. Scientists studying obesity are focusing on…
January 13, 2008
the blogs keep rolling on. More Blogroll Amnesty**. If you link to me and you're not an asshole or a fucking moron, let me know and I'll return the favor (instructions below). For now, say hello to: Tangled Up in Blue Guy, Sorting Out Science, The force that through..., jobsanger, no fish, no…
January 13, 2008
TEH STUPID. From Bob Somerby:
The second trait is the corps' sheer stupidity--an artifact of palace culture. Did she cry on purpose? they're asking today. Well, no, she didn't, we confidently state. If you think she did, you may not understand why acting schools exist. Or why they can be…
January 12, 2008
Whether or not you like maps, if you're in Boston, you should see this exhibit.
The Boston Public Library's Norman B. Leventhal Map Center has an incredible exhibit of New England maps, "Boston and Beyond: A Bird's Eye View of New England." All of the maps are realistic in that every street and…
January 12, 2008
Once again, someone in the traditional media is projecting their personal opinion onto millions of people without any evidence. Washington Post reporter Dan Balz in one of those hideous 'news analysis' pieces:
Edwards has offended many Democrats with his candidacy. They question his authenticity…
January 11, 2008
Ian Welsh makes a very important connection between personal economic incentives and corporate behavior:
What would you do, or rather, what wouldn't you do, if you knew that by working hard for five years you'd have enough money that you need never, ever, work again for the rest of your life? Not…
January 11, 2008
Dave Neiwert, of Orcinus, reviews conservative propagandist Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism. This part jumped out at me (italics mine):
Liberal Fascism is like a number of other recent attempts at historical revisionism by popular right-wing pundits -- including, notably, Michelle Malkin's…
January 11, 2008
The sound you're hearing is the heads of everyone who cares about civil liberties going BOOM! According to the AP, the telephone companies cut off the FISA wiretap programs when they weren't paid on time:
Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals…
January 10, 2008
You might have heard of push polling. But is there now 'push focus grouping'? Push polling is where you call up voters, and ask faux-poll questions that are actually designed to smear a particular candidate. For instance: "If Candidate X were to have had sex with farm animals, would you be more…