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Heathkit, Shostakovitch and inside baseball

I doubt many of our regular readers will be surprised to hear that at least one of The Reveres was sort of geeky while young (now, of course, he's just sort of geeky while old). I thought about this objectively (geeks don't think we are really geeky; we just think the things we do that others call geeky are "interesting") when I ran across (via Slashdot: warning sign #1) a link to The Technologizer (warning sign #2) picking the Ten Most Tarnished Brands in Tech. This isn't about scandals. It's about once proud brandnames that nobody cares about any more, like Netscape or Commodore. And on the…

From Best American Science & Nature Writing, warnings on antibiotics and vaccines

Best American Science and Nature Writing 2014, edited by Pulitzer-winning writer and professor Deborah Blum, features two pieces that remind us how public-health interventions can become less effective if we as a society don't use them appropriately -- and, based on the spelling of the authors' last names, they're right next to each other in the anthology. Maryn McKenna's "Imaging the Post-Antibiotics Futre," published in Medium, and Seth Mnookin's "The Return of Measles" from the Boston Globe Magazine warn that diseases we thought we'd conquered could easily return and become major killers…

Amputations, hospitalizations the subject of new OSHA reporting rule

“OSHA nunca llego.” [Translation: "OSHA never came."] That was the disappointed phrase I heard from a worker who told me about his on-the-job injury. He was a temp worker hired by a moving company to relocate a small manufacturing company. The worker’s shoe got caught in a faulty industrial dumbwaiter and his toes were smashed. He was patched up at a local urgent care clinic, but developed a serious infection a couple of weeks later. Gangrene set in and his toes had to be amputated. He still suffers pain and walks with a limp. The fact that “OSHA nunca llego” surprised this worker. Like the…

San Jose Mercury News investigates the drugging of California foster children

The San Jose Mercury News has begun publishing a multi-part series on the alarming use of psychotropic medications among youth in California's foster-care system. Karen de Sá writes: With alarming frequency, foster and health care providers are turning to a risky but convenient remedy to control the behavior of thousands of troubled kids: numbing them with psychiatric drugs that are untested on and often not approved for children. An investigation by this newspaper found that nearly 1 out of every 4 adolescents in California’s foster care system is receiving these drugs — 3 times the rate for…

Poultry workers appeal to White House, USDA must abandon new poultry slaughter rule

The billion-dollar poultry industry chews up its workers and spits them out like a chaw of tobacco. One of those workers is in Washington, DC this week to make a plea to the Obama Administration. For 17 years, Salvadora Roman, 59 worked on the de-boning line at a Wayne Farms poultry processing plant in Alabama. The production line ran at an incessant pace that forced her (and her co-workers) to make tens of thousands of repetitive motions on each and every work shift. Her hands and wrists eventually became so swollen and painful that she requested to be moved to a less hand-intensive task.…

Occupational Health News Roundup

In case you missed it before the holidays, ProPublica's excellent "Temporary Work, Lasting Harm" piece is well worth a read. (Univision also produced and aired a version of the story.) Michael Grabell, Olga Pierce, and Jeff Larson tell the story of 21-year-old Day Davis, a temporary worker killed on his first day working at a Bacardi bottling plant, and others who died while on temporary work assignments. A ProPublica analysis of workers' compensation claims in five states found that temporary workers face a significantly greater risk of on-the-job injuries compared to permanent employees.…

Toxicologist John Froines: epitome of irreproachable scientific research and effective public health advocacy

A marriage of public health science and civil rights is one way to describe the lifework of John Froines, PhD, professor emeritus at UCLA School of Public Health. After a 50-year career in academia and public service, and the untolled contributions from it, Froines was recognized this week by the internationally renowned Collegium Ramazzini. The nomination letter submitted to the Collegium by his colleagues captures many highlights of Froines’ impact over several decades, such as: His high-profile role in the 1960’s anti-war and civil rights movements His position with the Vermont State…

Good news for home care workers: Fairer pay is on the way

Earlier today, Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez announced that the Department of Labor has finalized a rule extending minimum-wage and overtime protections to home care workers. Starting on January 1, 2015, the wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act will apply to home health aides, personal care aides, and other direct care workers employed by agencies. The agencies will have to pay workers minimum wage ($7.25/hour in those states that haven't adopted higher minimum wages) and 1.5 times their regular wage for hours worked above 40 per week. In addition, workers who travel…

Fallen Houston firefighters raise national death toll to 37, 2013 especially deadly for Texas crews

[Updated below 7/1/2013] A public memorial service will be held tomorrow at Houston's Reliant Stadium to honor the city's four firefighters who died on-the-job on May 31.   About 150 firefighters responded to tackle the blaze at the Southwest Inn, a two-story motel adjacent to the I-59 freeway in Houston.  Firefighters Robert Bebee, 41, Robert Garner, 29, Matthew Renaud, 35, and Anne Sullivan, 24 were battling the fire when a portion of the building collapsed and they were trapped.  Another 12 firefighters were injured in the call, and three of them remain hospitalized. It's been a deadly and…

Economic development and mortality: Samuel Preston’s 1975 classic

By Sara Gorman In the late 1940s and 1950s, it became increasingly evident that mortality rates were falling rapidly worldwide, including in the developing world. In a 1965 analysis, economics professor George J. Stolnitz surmised that survival in the “underdeveloped world” was on the rise in part due to a decline in “economic misery” in these regions. But in 1975, Samuel Preston published a paper that changed the course of thought on the relationship between mortality and economic development. In the Population Studies article “The changing relation between mortality and level of economic…

At the Edge of Spring

Spring is a trick of the light - it should be, after all, since ultimately the shift of seasons is about angles and sun. At some point in March the light changes - a new "certain slant of light" and thus, spring is here. It will be a while most years before the green and the daffodils or even the spring peepers arrive in upstate NY, but in the meantime, the sky and the air and the angle of sun says spring. Seed starting is in full swing now and I sometimes feel I spend far too many of my days elbow deep in potting soil - but the smell of moist compost is energizing as well. It is…

Barbara Ehrenreich on the Criminalization of Poverty

From Counterpunch, Ehrenreich, who, along with Jonathan Kozol and the late Joe Bageant and a vanishingly few others, tells the true story of American poverty more clearly than anyone else explores how we punish the poor:: The viciousness of the official animus toward the indigent can be breathtaking. A few years ago, a group called Food Not Bombs started handing out free vegan food to hungry people in public parks around the nation. A number of cities, led by Las Vegas, passed ordinances forbidding the sharing of food with the indigent in public places, leading to the arrests of several…

Double Dip My Aunt Fanny!

We now all know the limitations of Standard and Poor, what they missed and what they didn't, why to blame Republicans, why to blame Obama, and that Austerity is the new watchword in the US, while rioting has taken everyone's imagination in the UK (wow, aren't we timely?) Most of us are worried that the US will slip back into a recession. You shouldn't be. The reason you shouldn't be worried is that the good news is that the US was never *really* out of a recession. Sure, in economist terms, we technically had some quarters of growth and a nice extended stock market rally, but in the net,…

Let the Blogging Begin - ASPO Conference

Greetings, I'm John Bell, one of the people helping Sharon live-blog the ASPO conference in Washington D.C. Sharon has asked us to introduce ourselves and tell her readers why we are attending the conference. I am writing this as I travel to Washington D.C. on the train. First, I have help start Transition Westchester, a currently unofficial Transition hub for Westchester County, NY. Westchester County comprises the immediate northern suburbs of New York City. Currently, Transition Westchester is trying to inform the people of the region of the issues of peak oil, climate change and the…

Failing grade for OSHA's promises to improve whistleblower program

In the words of Myron Levin at Fair Warning: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) once again has ripped the whistleblower protection program. ....[It] blames glaring weaknesses on chronic inattention from OSHA leaders." This latest GAO assessment, "Sustained management attention needed to address long-standing program weaknesses," is an update on a more comprehensive review the oversight agency released in January 2009. GAO analysts continue to identify serious deficiencies in the practices and procedures used by OSHA to ensure that the investigation and disposition of whistleblower…

Department of Defending Itself

Back in April, a Government Accountability Office report explained how the White House Office of Management and Budget was holding up EPAâs IRIS (Integrated Risk Information System) assessments. OMB had started requiring an âinteragency reviewâ process allowing agencies that might be affected by the IRIS assessments to provide comments on the documents â and as result, some of these outside agencies can effectively block completion of IRIS assessments, which inform federal environmental standards and many environmental protection programs at the local, state, and even international level. The…

A Litany of Delays on PFOA at EPA, ATSDR

An attorney representing a large group of PFOA-exposed individuals sent a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and ATSDR Director Howard Frumkin, urging them not to delay any further the release of hazard information and risk assessments on the contaminant perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, a.k.a. C8).  Mr. Bilott was writing on behalf of residents who live near DuPont's Washington Works plant near Parkersburg, WV and  "who continue to be exposed to this poison in their residential drinking water on a daily basis."    In a 2005 legal settlement with the residents, DuPont agreed…

Big Worries About Small Particles

Companies have evidently realized that marketing anti-bacterial products to U.S. consumers is a good way to make money, and are pushing a wide array of products that claim to have bacteria-fighting properties. (I've seen socks, computer products, toys ... and even a handy hook you can use to avoid touching a potentially germ-ridden door handle.) This might seem like a good thing - bacteria cause some pretty nasty diseases, after all - except that they're using nano-sized silver particles to fight the bacteria, and we don't know nearly enough about the effects of all the nano-sized particles…

Michael Taylor to Tackle Food Safety at FDA

Several months ago, I attended presentation by Michael Taylor, a former FDA deputy commissioner for policy whoâd recently become a professor here at the George Washington Universityâs School of Public Health. Taylorâs presentation, âBuilding a Prevention-Oriented Food Safety System: FDAâs Challenge and Opportunity,â explained why itâs so hard to ensure that our nationâs food supply is safe; factors range from the complexity and variety of food products to the fragmented regulatory structure for food. I remember that during the Q&A, someone brought up âthe egg rule,â and it prompted groans…

VP-Biden, Families and Worker Safety!!

President-elect Obama's news release on Sunday, Dec 21 said that VP-elect Joe Biden will be chairing a new White House Taskforce on Working Families.   I was surprised, but thrilled to see that workplace safety standards are part of this group's charge.   I am not kidding.  Seriously, it says, "Restoring labor standards, including workplace safety."   Very cool.  I'm encouraged to know that the Obama-Biden team recognizes that what happens in the workplace does NOT stay in the workplace, but affects the heart, soul and health of working families.  Whether it's the physical toll…

Bisphenol A (BPA) back in the news

by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure We've discussed the component of plastics bisphenol A (BPA) here before (here, here) but yesterday the Journal of the American Medical Association published a significant paper with an accompanying editorial that deserves mention. A panel of the FDA was scheduled to meet the same day to review FDA's draft assessment that BPA was not a safety problem in the US food supply and environment. As a result of the JAMA article, the ranking member of the Committee on Finance, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has written to the Commissioner of the FDA asking for a…

Iraq veterans and Lou Gehrig's Disease

by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure Bush has announced he will reduce the forces in Iraq by 8000 by early 2009. My first thought (after "that's it? I thought we were victorious"; and let's get all of them out now as fast as we can) was to wonder what condition they will be in and what's in store for them in the future? I thought about that particularly because of the emerging scientific literature on strange and rare diseases in Gulf region veterans. One of these diseases is Lou Gehrig's Disease (medical name, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS). ALS, while rare (about 1 - 2 cases per…

Asking Too Much of Pigs and Bees - and Workers and Waterways

Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivoreâs Dilemma, writes in the latest New York Times Magazine about two stories that âmay point to an imminent breakdown in the way weâre growing food today.â The first is the rise of community-acquired MRSA (thatâs Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a nasty antibiotic-resistant bacteria) and the growing body of evidence linking it to the overuse of antibiotics in industrial pig production. The second is Colony Collapse Disorder, which is wiping out many of the honeybee colonies that farmers rely on for crop pollination. âWeâre asking a lot of our…

Butter Flavoring, Bumps, and Barbie Accessories

By Paul D. Blanc The interconnections among toxic butter flavoring, fatal coal mine "bumps," and tainted Barbie accessories may not be immediately obvious - but they all reflect the failures of an increasingly compromised U. S. regulatory apparatus. In early September, news broke that the artificial butter flavoring chemical diacetyl had caused severe lung disease in a hapless consumer who liked his popcorn just a bit too much. The resulting publicity spurred the leading industrial user of diacetyl, ConAgra, to remove the chemical from its product line. Thus was accomplished in one day what…

NYT Helps in Typical Rape-victim Smearing

We should have predicted this when we discussed the UVa Rape story in Rolling Stone last week, it was just a matter of time before people would start suggesting the central figure in the story, Jackie, might be fabricating. I would be surprised if this response did not occur, because sadly it is so typical. What I'm surprised by is that the New York Times, is credulously repeating this smear led by Richard Bradley, and Jonah Goldberg of all people. Still, some journalists have raised questions about the story. Richard Bradley, who as an editor at George magazine was duped by the former New…

What is an internist, and why should you care?

A (long) while back, I gave you a brief explanation of what an "internist" is. I later gave you a personal view of primary care medicine and some of the challenges involved in creating an infrastructure of primary care (only 2% of American medical grads are going into primary care). We also had a little chat about medical mistakes and medical training. No matter what changes we ultimately make in the way we train internists, one of the lessons that residency teaches is to identify who is truly sick. I don't mean who is faking it, I mean being able to look at someone briefly and decide…

What the family values folks don't get about family

On the weekends, my four-year old daughter comes to work with me. There isn't much for her to do. She certainly isn't allowed in patient rooms. She doesn't help me make medical decisions. But we spend twenty minutes each way in the car laughing. We walk around the hospital, everyone greeting her, everyone her friend. One time, when she was actually admitted to the hospital, she wasn't scared at all because, "all my friends are there." Friday night, we went to services. My mother-in-law was singing, and she asked us to come. Normally, I'm not one for formal religious observances---it's…

Antibiotic-associated colitis---a difficile problem

It's that time of year again---the time of year when everyone gets the sniffles, and everyone wants an antibiotic. Even folks who know better, who know intellectually that an antibiotic isn't going to fix their viral illness still harbor a strong suspicion that it just might help---and it couldn't hurt, right? Well, I've got two words for ya'll: eat shit. No, I don't mean that as an insult, I mean it quite literally. But you'll have to keep reading to see what I'm talking about. Many readers are aware of the problem of antimicrobial resistance---the phenomenon whereby bacterial diseases…

Privacy Cagematch---DHS vs. HHS

OK, this post gets a big IANAL stamped across it. I don't know the legal ins and outs here (and I'm not sure if anyone does), but the new announcement by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding laptop computers puts physicians and other health care providers in a bit of a spot. HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is the law that governs the privacy of your medical information. It is very, very detailed, and requires quite a bit from your doctor. You've signed a form at the office of every provider you've visited that notifies you of your privacy…

Conscientious objector or deserter?

The discussion we've had since Friday regarding the Bush administration's latest foray into theocracy brought up some interesting points. We discussed implications of the draft regulations including likely limitations on access to safe and effective birth control. But there is another issue here that disturbs me greatly. Last week we talked a little bit about medical ethics. I'm not an Ethicist (Mike! Are you reading?), but I am a "practical ethicist", as are all health care providers. How do ethics inform the discussion of what care we can or cannot provide? First, let's take the…

Medical Hypotheses---"just make shit up; we'll publish it"

Orac was kind enough to pollute my inbox with the latest idiocy from the journal that has never met a crank it didn't like. As Orac says, "Medical Hypotheses [is] the journal where the editors encourage the authors to make shit up." Before I tell you about the latest "hypothesis", let me give you an idea of what kind of thinking goes into this publication. The latest issue has an editorial that argues that it is the "maverick" scientist who makes the real scientific breakthroughs, and that teamwork is only for the "modestly talented". Not that there's anything inherently wrong with being…

The Placebo effect, how significant is it?

Are placebo's really effective? So asks Darshak Sanghavi in Slate, citing this study from 2001 that shows the placebo effect, compared to passive observation, to be relatively minor for improvements in pain or objective measures of health. This is an interesting topic, but unfortunately, a really bad article. Given how many alties love to stress the role of placebo and its apparent proof of the benefit of positive thinking, we should critically re-evaluate the evidence that placebos on their own can do anything more than improve subjective symptoms. Although there is a fair amount of proof…

Deadly distrust

Gregg Mitman's article in the September 17th New England Journal of Medicine, "Ebola in a Stew of Fear," is unfortunately all too prescient. Dr. Mitman highlighted "the ecology of fear" in Western Africa. Fear is present on both the part of Westerners (scared of Africa's yellow fever, malaria, Ebola, its mere "different-ness"), and by native Africans (of whites' history of colonization and slavery, of medical exploitation dating back well over a century). Fear of each other. This history of fear, the cultural legacy of decades of mistrust of both Western people and their medical science,…

June's passing

She just bought two pairs of new shoes. This is the refrain my brain keeps returning to, as if that will make the outcome any different. She hardly ever bought new shoes, or clothes, and especially furniture. Yet in the past year, as she decided she'd go on dialysis and stick around awhile, she purchased all of that. The shoes were just mere weeks ago. So she can't really be gone. My Grandma had been preparing for her death for literally decades. She'd occasionally show me things--knick knacks, collectibles, heirlooms, etc.--that she'd tagged with a sticker on the bottom bearing my name. She…

Enteroviruses and Type I Diabetes Mellitus

Student guest post by Andrew Behan Type I Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) is a disease most affecting children (previously named juvenile-onset diabetes). However, adults can still develop this life-threatening illness. Research in the genetic arena has provided evidence this disease is partially due to inheritance, leaving a portion of causality yet to be determined. More specifically, a look at certain viruses which attack the beta cells of the pancreas, the cells responsible for producing insulin, have provided new information regarding etiology of T1DM. Some recent research aimed at…

Academic blogging: addressing criticisms

Thanks again to those who blogged, commented or emailed regarding our PLoS Biology manuscript. Nick already has his own response here, highlighting posts such as Larry's, Blake's, Drug Monkey's, Thomas', and Carlo's. Several criticisms ran along the same lines: that, as Nick notes, "that further institutionalizing blogs risks compromising their inherent spontaneous and independent 'blogginess'". I agree with much of what he says in response: We by no means argue that all blogs should be more institutionalized. In fact, I would argue that institutionalized blogs will and should remain a…

Schizophrenia: is it really just "all in your head?"

This is the second of 6 guest posts on infectious causes of chronic disease. By Courtney Cook Scientists have been aware of a relationship between infections and mental illnesses for quite some time. For example, during the 1918 influenza pandemic, some patients were seen to exhibit a delirium unlike that which had typically been associated with a viral infection. In a 1926 report, Karl Menninger called it a "schizophrenic syndrome" and further observed that two-thirds of those diagnosed with schizophrenia after having influenza fully recovered from the mental illness within five years.…

"Twelve Diseases that Changed Our World"

I asked yesterday what readers considered the most important diseases in history. This was prompted by a new ASM Press book, Twelve Diseases that Changed Our World, written by Irwin Sherman. As I mentioned, Sherman included many diseases readers expected--plague, cholera, tuberculosis, smallpox, syphilis, malaria, influenza, yellow fever, and AIDS. He didn't include a few that popped up repeatedly in the comments--leprosy, measles, and typhoid (or typhus, for that matter). While I think a study of these could have been illuminating (especially leprosy, since much of the stigma…

Danica McKellar's "Math Doesn't Suck"

It's not a rosy picture for girls in math. As Barbie infamously framed it, girls should think that "math is hard." While Mattel (rightly) received a lot of flack for that comment, the sad fact is that Barbie was reflecting the attitude many girls tend to take toward mathematics education: it's difficult, it's boring, and who needs it anyway? Surveys have shown that, while girls and boys in elementary school show similar attitudes toward mathematics, by junior high girls tend to have a negative attitude toward math, along with lower confidence in their ability to handle math problems. Of…

Religion and Science symposium: Iowa, 2007

A looong time ago, I mentioned that I spent St. Patrick's Day weekend in Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, at a symposium I helped to plan (but neglected to blog! Oops). Along with other scientists, theologians, philosophers, and generally interested persons, we worked for a bit over a year to put this symposium together. Why? The principal aim of the conference is to clarify the causes of the conflict between science educators and those who wish to have Intelligent Design taught in public schools. We do not claim to be neutral on this issue. We are convinced that ID is not good science…

Did an Investigative Reporter Awaken the CPSC?

By David Michaels Most media coverage of Fridayâs announcement by the Consumer Products Safety Commission and a crib manufacturer that one million cribs were being recalled missed the story behind the story. Stung by an avalanche of bad publicity on its failure to protect children from toys with lead paint or dangerous magnets, the CPSC appeared to be getting ahead of the problem, taking action after the death of (only) two infants. In fact, the CPSC had known about the risk of infant suffocation posed by these cribs for many months, and the Chicago Tribune had been investigating the…

More Flavoring Lawsuits

Jeff Lehr at the Joplin Globe reports that a new round of lawsuits has been filed against makers of an artificial butter flavoring used at a microwave popcorn plant in Jasper County, Missouri. Exposure to artificial butter flavoring â in particular, the chemical diacetyl â has been linked to severe obstructive lung disease, and the 44 plaintiffs in the two latest lawsuits allege that exposure to butter flavoring caused severe impairment of their lungs. Lehr explains: The lawsuits represent a second round of legal action against International Flavors and Fragrances Inc., and Bush Boake Allen,…

WANTED: A Stick for MSHA's Stickler

Richard Stickler, the Asst. Secretary for MSHA, announced a new educational campaign to increase awareness about black lung disease.  This latest initiative comes in response to surveillance data showing newly diagnosed cases of progressive massive fibrosis (PMF) among miners working in Lee County and Wise County, Virginia.  Stickler's "Control the Dust/Prevent Black Lung" campaign, which includes a personal letter sent to each and every underground coal mine operator in the country, is heavy on hand-holding with mine operators.   My question: Mr. Stickler, where's the…

Oh, to be able to make such a differenceâ¦

By Susan Wood The recent study in the NEJM clearly points out that our drug safety system is in need of repair.  We shouldnât need these constant reminders, from Vioxx to Ketek and now to Avandia.  Indeed FDA reform legislation is moving through Congress as we speak.  But does it do what we need it to do? The DrugWonks blog has accused those of us who are advocating for a more safety-focused FDA that is less dependent on restricted user fees of âbullyingâ the agency, but I only wish we were as powerful as they seem to think we are. The Senate bill, now known as S. 1082, the FDA…

UMWA's Report on Sago Disaster

The United Mineworkers of America (UMWA) will be issuing tomorrow (March 15) a report on the January 2006 Sago Mine disaster.  West Virginia Senators Byrd and Rockefeller are expected to join UMWA President Cecil Roberts in the Senate Dirksen Building at 11:00 am (EST) for a news conference releasing the report.  The UMWA will likely offer their own theory for the cause of the explosion. Based on previous statements and testimony offered by UMWA officials, I expect the union to reject the theory that the explosion was related to a lightning strike.  Instead, they will probably …

Archaea as human pathogens?

When I was in school, I was taught about the 5 kingdoms of life: Monera (all bacteria), and the eukaryotes: Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia. Since that time, there's been a bit of a change in the organization. This is largely due to investigation of the Archaea (sometimes still referred to as "archaebacteria"). It was recognized that these organisms were so unlike bacteria (and of course, unlike the eukaryotes) that they deserved their own grouping. Therefore, the most common strategy currently employs 3 domains of cellular life at a level above the kingdom: Bacteria,…

Skip David Blaine's* stunt; learn more about actual drowning risks

National Safe Kids week officially begins tomorrow, May 6th. This year they're highlighting pool and water safety--a good topic to brush up on if you have children that will be around pools or other swimming areas this summer. And it's not just swimming lessons and water wings that parents need to be concerned about. More after the jump. When it comes to safety, most parents do not know that drowning is one of the top two causes of accidental death among children. National Safe Kids Week activities and communications will educate parents and children about the steps they can take to…

PZ and Rosenhouse are correct

We've had another framing fight on scienceblogs today. Here's the timeline: Nisbet beats up a strawman of Atheists comparing themselves to women or blacks or gays in terms of civil rights struggle, and then asserts there are no violations of atheist civil rights - they're just unpopular. The commenters find cause to disagree with him repeatedly. Wait, I know what to do about this - here's the card. Those fundamentalists (controlling the country) who call them un-American, evil, sinful and hell-bound? Well, they're just And the problems atheists have? Those aren't real problems like…

Deer oh deer, this joke gets worse every time I use it

I'm going away for a little while. I leave you with this nice picture of a male Fallow deer Dama dama, taken from Neil Phillips' collection of UK wildlife photos (and used with his permission)... All deer are bizarre (I'll elaborate on that cryptic comment at some time), but Fallow deer are especially interesting: they differ from most other Old World deer in retaining spots into adulthood, in having a particularly long tail (for a deer) that is used in an unusual urination display, in having big rump patches, in lacking canines (although every now and again there are freaks: see Chapman…

An open letter to Seed

The commenting issues here are seriously driving me nuts. I've just written another letter of complaint on the Seed backchannel, which always seems to mean that it will sink into neglect once again, so I've decided to also post it here, publicly. I hate to air dirty laundry like this because I really, really like Seed, I respect all the people running the operation for both their goals and their willingness to work towards them, but they've just fallen down on the job of maintaining the basic nuts and bolts of the blogging system. Look. Fixing the commenting system has to be a high priority…