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Nematodes are not designed, they evolved

The latest fatuous obsession by Paul Nelson, Philosopher of Biology at the Discovery Institute, is a real corker. He has decided that nematodes could not possibly have evolved, because scientists (real ones, not creationist pseudoscientists) have produced an extremely detailed literature documenting their development; because Brenner, Horvitz, and Sulston (no creationists among them) won the Nobel Prize for their work describing the cell lineages to produce the worm; and because he doesn't understand developmental biology at all. I've got palm impressions in my forehead from smacking myself…

The UT-M.D. Anderson Cancer Center embraces quackademic medicine

I'm a cancer surgeon. I started out as a general surgeon, but my passion and scientific interest goaded me into specializing in cancer. Ultimately, I ended up subspecializing even more, ultimately becoming a breast cancer surgeon, but through it all cancer, not just breast cancer, has remained my clinical and scientific passion. So has science-based medicine. Developed as a response to the concept of "evidence-based medicine" (EBM), SBM postulates that clinical care should be based on the best science available, including the consideration of basic sciences and prior probability. EBM…

The director of NCCAM wants a "nuanced conversation" about "complementary and alternative medicine"

To say that I haven't been much of a fan of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) throughout the years is a gross understatement. If you want to see the depths of my—shall we say?—lack of enthusiasm for NCCAM, feel free to type "NCCAM" in the search box of this blog and in particular look for posts that have "NCCAM" somewhere in their titles. It won't take you long to find posts by yours truly with titles as awesome as NCCAM: I say we take off and nuke the entire center from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure and NCCAM in the news: Why does it still exist?…

As feared, Houston cancer quack Stanislaw Burzynski (mostly) slithers away from justice again

I've been blogging fairly regularly about Houston cancer quack Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski since 2011, and now the story is over...sort of. Unfortunately, as you will see, the ending is far from ideal. It is, however, somewhat better than I had feared it might be. What I'm referring to, of course, is the final ruling of the Texas Medical Board regarding Dr. Burzynski, the Houston cancer doctor who has been a frequent topic of this blog because of his practices of charging desperate cancer patient tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of dollars for his "antineoplastons" (ANPs) and, later, what he…

The 21st Century Cures Act passes, potentially turning the FDA into a puppet of the pharmaceutical industry

Well, it’s done. Today, the Senate passed the 21st Century Cures Act, a bill designed to weaken the FDA and empower pharmaceutical companies, sending it to President Obama’s desk. There’s no way Obama won’t sign it, as it contains provisions funding his Precision Medicine Initiative, and he supported it all along. For all its flaws, I knew the bill’s passage was inevitable since after the election, when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated that the bill was a priority. I knew it even more when the Senate linked the bill to the “Cancer Moonshot” initiative spearheaded by Vice…

#CDCTruth protest 2016: Harassing CDC employees in the service of antivaccine pseudoscience

I noticed the other day that I haven’t been visiting the merry band of antivaccine activists and bloggers over at their very own wretched hive of scum and quackery, Age of Autism, nearly as much as I used to. I have mentioned them in passing a couple of times recently, but nothing caught my attention sufficiently to be worth applying a bit of the old Insolence, Respectful or not-so-Respectful. Part of that has been intentional, as I no longer like to give them any more attention than I need to. Part of it was unintentional and more because, quite frankly, AoA has been mighty boring lately. I…

Homeopathic nosodes: A clinical trial of magic

As hard as it is for me to believe, I’ve been writing about homeopathy for more than a decade now. Regular readers, of course, know that homeopathy is quackery, utter pseudoscience based on prescientific vitalism based on two “laws”: the Law of Similars and the Law of Infinitesimals. The former states that, to relieve a symptom, you use a substance that causes that symptom in healthy people. There is, of course, no science or logic to support this as a general principle other than sympathetic magic. The latter Law states that to make a remedy stronger, you must dilute it. That in itself is…

If you really want critical thinking, why restrict where you're calling for it?

Hey, guess what? A California school district has adopted a new science policy aimed at getting students to think more critically ... about evolutionary theory. It is not entirely clear whether members of the Lancaster School District board of trustees recognize that the policy effectively singles out evolution for scrutiny, or whether they were duped. But I'm pretty sure I've heard this song before. Here's the coverage from the Antelope Valley Press: LANCASTER - The Lancaster School District board of trustees voted to implement a "philosophy" of science instruction that encourages…

The Miss USA contestants on evolution

It was a hard job, but someone had to do it. A few days ago, I sat down and watched a 15 minute video of Miss USA pageant contestants as they pondered the question: Should evolution be taught in schools? Then I watched it again. And again. Until my eardrums bled I had a complete and accurate transcript. So that you don't have to do endure the same agony, I present the transcript below, as a service to the community, with timecodes relative to the video above. Enjoy. You can find the names and biographies of each state's contestant at the Miss USA site. "Should evolution be taught in…

Finger Tree Update: I forgot something

As an alert commenter pointed out, I left out one really important thing in my earlier post about finger trees. That's what I get for trying to write when I'm sick :-). Seriously, this is a point that's implied by the post as it stands, but never explicitly stated - and since it's really important, it should be stated explicitly. The monoid-annotated tree structure doesn't replace the original data structure: it's superimposed on it. So, as I said: cons-cell style lists are ubiquitous and beloved by functional and non-functional programmers. In finger trees, you're not getting rid of them…

Christian Conscientious Objectors

Get ready for some more conservative cognitive dissonance: man finds Jesus and comes to believe that the occupation of Iraq is immoral: A U.S. soldier who said his Christian beliefs compelled him to love his enemies, not kill them, has been granted conscientious objector status and honorably discharged, a civil liberties group said on Tuesday. Capt. Peter Brown -- who served in Iraq for more than a year and was a graduate of the elite U.S. military academy West Point -- said in a statement issued by the New York Civil Liberties Union that he was relieved the Army had recognized his beliefs…

Airport Security and Insulin Pumps

It appears that Logan airport security overreacted a little. From skippy: star simpson, who sounds like the cartoon character host of the view, was the mit student who was arrested at logan airport last week for wearing a "hoax device," which airport police thought was a bomb, but was really just geek computer art. ....so, because most people in charge nowadays are luddites when it comes to science and technology, suddenly the rest of us have to keep our heads down and minds firmly ensconsed in the 19th century as well? (make that the 16th century...there were actual machines at work in the…

More Samuelson Stupidity About Social Security

Once again, Robert Samuelson tries to argue that Social Security is DOOOMMMEEDDD! one Samuelson Unit from now. Samuelson falls back on his old standby--lumping Social Security and Medicare together. Mark Thoma explains: The main problem is rising medical costs, and unlike the misplaced emphasis on Social Security in the last election, there is a lot of focus on health care reform in the political debate this time around. Samuelson seems to have completely missed the connection between health care reform and his pet column peeve, hence his claim that the problem is being ignored in the…

Nothing in Politics Makes Sense Except in the Light of the Evolution Controversy

Well, Dobzhansky actually said, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution", but, as I've mentioned before, there's a lot to be learned from the sociopolitcal controversy surrounding evolutionary biology. Over at Pandagon, Amanda writes about Ross Douthat's ridiculous claim that those who favor legal and safe abortion are eugenicists (italics mine): Anti-choicers who engage the "OHMIGOD EUGENICS" argument are advancing what might be the classic bad faith argument. They're not interested in stopping eugenics so much as creating a wedge issue that will cause liberals to…

Kansas Republican Party: Party Before Country

(from here) The Kansas Republican Party has a loyalty oath that its candidates have to sign. And it's not to country, but to the Republican Party: I, _______________, promise never to abandon my present Republican Party affiliation for the purpose of political gain. The Republican Party, both nationally and domestically, was founded on sound and principled ideals, that include but are not limited to, personal liberty, individual freedom, responsive and citizen-based Government, life-affirming values, economic growth, strong and cutting edge military, low taxes and a mutual respect for…

How to Fund Stem Cell (and Other) Research

The Democrats aren't doing any better funding stem cell research--or any other research. Empty pockets at the Next Hurrah writes: http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/07/will-democrats… Inflation in the life sciences this year is estimated at 3.7%; thus, Congress's increase [of 2.8%] is yet another year of real-dollar budget cuts for NIH. Even worse, the way they're allocating the money, most NIH institutes would see an increase of less than 2.5% under the Senate plan and less than 1.7% under the House plan, increases well below the level of inflation (Facts and figures on…

How Does Dan Balz Know What 'Democrats' Think?

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 and see his shift from optimism to anger as the sign of an opportunistic politician. He and his most loyal supporters argue that that's not the case, that the Edwards of 2008 is a reflection of a changed country and his and his wife's changed personal situation. We're offended, huh? I know some…

The Deal Democrats Should Be Making with Any Attorney General Nominee

Instead of focusing on partial drowning interrogation during the hearings for the attorney general, John Dean tells us what Congress should be doing. From Talking Points Memo: Nixon's Attorney General had been removed (and was later prosecuted for lying to Congress) - a situation not unlike Alberto Gonzales's leaving the job under such a cloud. Nixon was under deep suspicion of covering up the true facts relating to the bungled break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate, not to mention widespread rumors that he had engaged in abuses of power and corrupt…

Bush Can Just Make You Crazy

By way of Litbrit at Shakespeare's Sister, I came across a Greg Palast article about possible motivations for a troop increase in Iraq. Palast writes (bold in original; italics mine): Here's my question: Who asked the waiter to deliver this dish? Who asked for the 21,000 soldiers? We know the US military didn't ask for the 21,000 troops. (Outgoing commander General George Casey called for a troop reduction.) We know the Iraqi government didn't ask for the 21,000 troops. (Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is reportedly unhappy about a visible increase in foreign occupiers). So who wants the…

Some Post-New Year's Links

Since it was a long weekend, here is a whole bunch of links for you. First, the science stuff: There's a new edition of Animalcules, the Carnival o'the Wee Beasties. The Ayres Ice Shelf is disappearing. But, really, there's no such thing as global warming... Jason Rosenhouse at EvolutionBlog rips apart Peter Hitchens Compulsive Centrism in the evolution vs. ID conflict. Darksyde discusses the real geology of the Grand Canyon, not the faith-based version What's left of the Amazon rainforest is turning into savannah due to global warming. Sandra discusses how bacteria are killed by…

Here Comes the Iraq Dolchstosslegende

For those of you just joining tonight's program, the Nazis are the bad guys Just when you think the Peter Pan Right can't possibly get any daffier, they just manage to do so. By way of Crooked Timber comes this synopsis of a Michael Novak article in the Standard: Josh Marshall links to a Michael Novak piece in the Standard - a piece that is surely the apotheosis of Green Lantern foreign policy (well, until next week); complete with vulnerability to the hideous yellow streak that is the MSM. It begins ... horribly: Today, the purpose of war is sharply political, not military; psychological…

Democrats Win National Congressional Vote By Nearly Four Million

So after reading Brad DeLong's post about how the Democrats won with a 13.4% majority in the Senate (if you total all the votes cast for each party), I decided to do the same with the Congressional races, since everyone votes for a congresscritter. Before I get to the results, here's some caveats: I didn't include uncontested races. Since I was pulling data from CNN.com which didn't have totals for uncontested races, I'm underestimating the number of Democratic votes cast (the Democrats had far more uncontested seats than Republicans). This could result in an additional 1.2-1.5 Democratic…

What Do You Mean "We", Kemosabe?

I've discussed before how former Bush supporters and loyalists suffering from buyer's remorse are now frantically trying to revise history and offer (lame) excuses for why they were so foolish. driftglass brings up another tactic that we'll hear often: everybody went along with Bush. driftglass, who takes Chris Matthews to task over this rhetorical strategy, has a stereotypical calm, collected, restrained response to Matthews: Uh, no Chris. "We" didn't elect him, and "we" never thought having a halfwit sock puppet as the leader of the free world was a particularly good idea.... Uh, no.…

What Josh Says (About the Middle East)

Josh, at Thoughts from Kansas, has a superb explanation of why the blogospheric left has largely remained silent about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Matt Yglesias has been pondering why the left half of the blogosphere doesn't write more about Israel. My answer is simple: Everyone involved sucks. The Palestinians were terrorists for decades, and killing children and other non-combatants is never, ever acceptable. Accidents happen, and we forgive accidents. But targeting non-combatants just isn't OK. So they suck. But they have fair complaints: their situation is horrific and something or…

Kids Don't Know Antibiotics

A recent Harris survey reveals that 61% of children aged eight to eighteen think that viruses can be stopped by antibiotics. The Harris Interactive summary explains why this matters (italics mine): Today's young people, tweens (ages 8 to 12) and teens (ages 13 to 18) are raised in a world where potentially deadly viruses frequently make news headlines. In addition to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) the virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), recent public attention has also focused on viruses such as those which cause bird flu (avian influenza), Human Papillomavirus…

Microbiology Is Getting Hammered...

...when it comes to funding and resources. And this will have serious ramifications for your health. In talking to a hospital clinical microbiologist today, he told me that microbiology labs in hospitals and states are suffering from two problems. The first problem is that, unlike the Chemistry and Hematology laboratories which have been able to cut their personnel due to technological advances, most of the work done in microbiology laboratories is still labor intensive. Most microbiological diagnoses require isolating strains to pure cultures, and there's no rapid or cheap way to do this…

Another debate with creationists

Oh, when will we learn? Michael Shermer and Donald Prothero duked it out with a pair of Discovery Institute charlatans recently, to predictable results: the creationists cried victory afterwards. It simply doesn't matter that they had no evidence. Anyway, a couple of things struck me as too typical in these affairs. The creationists changed the topic the morning of the debate, from the general "Origins of life" to the "Adequacy of Neo-Darwinian natural selection and mutation to explain the origin of life", which already skews the subject. It's amazing how common it is for creationists to…

First Al-Queda, Now...

...Al-NAMBLA? (which refers to this) driftglass explains: Americans have many questions tonight. Americans are asking: Who was the pervert that solicited sex from this page? The evidence we have gathered all points to a collection of loosely affiliated Republican organizations known as al NAMBLA. They are the same Republicans who stood by the Rotting Corpse of Tom DeLay; the same Republicans who stood by while Jack Abramoff looted and perverted the American government. Al NAMBLA is to Republican Powerbrokering what the mafia is to crime. But its goal is not merely making money; its goal is…

Apparently, Feminists Aren't Allowed to Have Breasts

Ann Althouse, law professor and asshole extraordinaire, has decreed that Standing Straight Up with Breasts is whorish. Jessica Valenti from Feministing had a meeting with Bill Clinton and other bloggers--here's the photo. I bring this up because women can't be the only ones who decry this age-old smear tactic of calling women whores when all else fails, including the legitimacy of your arguments. We men have to decry this too. In a related vein, I once explained to someone that Jews can't be the only ones who decry anti-Semitism: of course, we're going to oppose it--it's what people who…

GOATS ON FIRE!

Kooks are like stray cats: give them a little bit of attention, and they end up following you everywhere, making annoying squalling noises and clawing at your door. A perfect example is David Mabus aka Dennis Markuze aka That Insane Prat, who, now that registration is a barrier to posting his little kook-droppings here, has taken to trying to flood my mailbox. Ha ha, the laugh is on him, my mailbox is already flooded! Also, I've got filters up the wazoo there, anyway. There a whole lot of skeptics (and the entire faculty of the University of Minnesota Morris, too, who have marveled and…

WHO Backs Cotrimoxazole for HIV Patients

One of the 'low tech' life-saving advances for HIV patients has been the prophylactic use of the antibiotic cotrimoxazole. Cotrimoxazole, a combination of two antibiotics, trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole, is effective against bacteria, including Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia ("PCP") and toxoplasmosis, two of the leading killers of AIDS patients. The WHO's support of universal prophylaxis of HIV patients with cotrimoxazole will greatly increase the adoption of this critical disease prevention strategy. Many developing countries have been reluctant to adopt the use of this drug as a…

I See Stupid People: The Lebanese War Edition

Juan Cole nails it: It was such a stupid war. It was thick-as-two-blocks-of-wood strategy on all sides. It was moronic for the Israelis to plan it out last year. It was idiotic for Hizbullah to cross over into Israel, kill soldiers, and take two captive. It was brain dead for the Israeli officer corps and politicians to think they could get anything positive out of bombing Lebanon back to the stone age and making a million people homeless. It was dim-witted for Hasan Nasrallah to threaten Israelis with releasing poison gases from Haifa chemical plants on them. It was obtuse for the Israelis…

Some Comments on the Media and Iraq Via Brad DeLong

I'm swamped with work, but I wanted to draw your attention to a few posts by Brad DeLong about the media coverage of the Iraq War. There are two very good comments about Washington Post reporter Thomas Ricks' explanation for why the media wasn't more critical of the war progress when they had sufficient information to write about the problems (here and here). DeLong summarizes Ricks' mea culpa: He assigns blame to congress because without the aircover provided by senators asking touch questions at hearings, Tom Ricks found that his editors at the Washington Post would not let him write the…

More MA Budget Cut Madness

More ridiculous budget cuts in Massachusetts at the local level. This time it's schools, not libraries. According to the Boston Globe, Shoreham, MA has failed to approve a property tax override leading to the following educational budget cuts: *shutting down the sixth-grade wing of the middle school and sending those students back to elementary school to save money. *All athletic programs. *Physical education classes. *Elementary and middle school fine arts classes. *Laying off an assistant high school principal. And what's behind this? Homeowners, particularly retirees: Override…

Ode to the Phrase "F-cking Moron"

Well, that isn't what Ezra Klein titled his post about blogospheric venom, but he should have. Klein writes (italics mine): ...part of the problem with blogospheric civility is that bloggers aren't addressing their posts to folks like Hiatt. They're writing for an imagined audience composed mainly of liberals who are shut-out of Washington Post editorial meetings but appalled by what emerges from them. The tone such an audience demands is not terrifically genteel. That said, these posts get back to -- or are sought out by -- their ostensible targets, who confuse a critique written for them…

Some Sunday Links

A special edition of Sunday links. Last week, I asked non-science bloggers to post five links that had something to do with science. So, I'll start by returning the linky love: (The list is in no particular order. Wouldn't want to play favorites...): Tai Haku has a list. The Ridger has a list. This View of Life has a list. The Argo has a list. Evil Mommy has a list. The Decrepit Old Fool has a list. It's never too late to start posting your list. Now, onto my list o'sciency stuff: Some public health from the Mad Biologist: a hepatitis C outbreak, and fluoroquinolone abuse. Keeping…

Punditry Versus Academic Writing

I usually stay away from the various pissing matches that occur between big name commentators. Watching Hollywood actors and actresses is far more entertaining, and unlike the famous and beautiful people, pundits are definitely NOT TEH HOT! But in the midst of a clash between Eric Alterman and Joe Klein, Alterman makes an interesting observation (italics mine): What you see with Klein, I think, is the panic of the pundit seeing his prestige destroyed by a blogosphere that can do for pundits what academics have always done for one another (and demonstrating why few pundits' work could…

The church of Josh Donlan

Josh Donlan has joined Shifting Baselines. If you don't know who Donlan is, read Re-wilding North America. A few months ago I suggested that biologists who argue against mass extinction on basically aesthetic or normative grounds need to remember that these are distinct from consequentialist homocentric and professional rationales (i.e., we must preserve for medical research and we must preserve so we can study evolution). I think Donlan does a good job being up front about his normative biases. I tend to share those beliefs and the values which inform those beliefs. I know that some…

Why biology blogs?

This is more the territory of Cognitive Daily, but I think I want to offer a possibility as to why Science Blogs is bio-heavy, as RPM observed. I think it is because biology is a science which intersects with intuitive cognitive biases we naturally exhibit as humans. I am suggesting that perhaps a content specific element is at work so that our folk psychology and folk biology perks up when biology wanders into their input domains. Now, there is a folk physics, but cutting edge (ergo, bloggable) scientific physics is so advanced and abstractly removed from our intuitive understanding of…

I do live...and welcome

Welcome. I suspect most of you have come via the previous iteration of this weblog. That variant continues, but I consider this weblog under the aegis of Seed a derived state which will offer up a different flavor. Alas, the launching of Science Blogs has caught me on vacation, so I haven't posted. That won't last long, but, for those of you who don't know me from my previous weblog, let me introduce myself. You know the pithy summary of my bio, as you see it on the right. Basically, I have a non-trivial, though not an exceptional (i.e., I'm not a doctor!) science education, and pay the…

"They Thought They Could Control" the Monster

Recently, I described how the out of control Tea Party Fort Sumter conservatives were created and encouraged. Athenae dispatches conservatives like David Frum who are SHOCKED that this could possibly happen: I feel about this the way I feel about people who keep grizzly bears and gorillas and tigers as pets. They keep animals that outweigh them as pampered houseguests, feeding them raw salmon and steak and putting cute little collars on them and shit, and then are ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED when their "best friends" get bored one day and eat their faces. I mean, COME ON. Did you really not think you…

Australia 1, New Zealand 0

Next month, I'm going to be attending the Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne, and originally, I had planned to make this a grand tour and was even thinking about a side trip to New Zealand. Plans have changed — one of the consequences of my long journey to California and Ireland, lovely as it was, is that too much travel at once, with all the confinement and awkwardness, is that I've wracked up my back rather severely — I'm trying to get some mobility and quiet the shrieking agony right now so I can cope again, but I'm just afraid that another string of non-stop pinioning to airplane…

A Quiet Casualty of TSA Paranoia: Oddball Scientific Samples

While there are probably more immediate concerns when it comes to the security nanny state the U.S. erected after 2001, such as the continuing erosion of civil liberties (especially when the servant learns to love the lash), this recent article about Boston's Logan Airport security reminds me that there's been another casualty of our security paranoia: State police say nitrates detected in a piece of checked luggage at Boston's Logan International Airport were traced to a sample of mud brought back from a river in Hong Kong. Two gates at the American Airlines terminal were closed as a…

Paul Revere and Sarah Palin: Sending a Message Versus "Sending a Message"

By now, you might have heard that politicovangelist possible presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been burbling inanities about Paul Revere, including this doozy: He [Revere] who warned the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms, by ringing those bells, and making sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free. She then doubled down on her idiocy. Amanda Marcotte puts this into context: But I think it helps to understand that, for right-wing populists, this thing we call "…

DeLong on the Future of Economics (or Econ Departments)

I find reading economist Brad DeLong interesting since, even though I don't always agree with him on economics, he approaches his subject with the humility that scientific disciplines brutally instill in their faithful practitioners. This was an interesting notion regarding the future of economics education: It is the scale of the catastrophe that astonishes me. But what astonishes me even more is the apparent failure of academic economics to take steps to prepare itself for the future. "We need to change our hiring patterns," I expected to hear economics departments around the world say in…

'High-Stakes' Testing and What Education 'Reformers' Need to Learn

Yesterday, I described how education reform, which implies (or overtly states) that teachers need better incentives to improve outcomes, makes no sense when Massachusetts is considered. Yves Smith, in a post about the widespread failure of performance pay incentives, makes a very relevant observation to education reform efforts: Other factors can thwart an organization's meritocratic efforts (many of these observations derive from a 1992 paper by Patrick D. Larkey and Jonathan P. Caulkin, "All Above Average and Other Unintended Consequences of Performance Appraisal Systems"). Many people,…

Regarding NIH Funding, I Agree with...Newt Gingrich?

As long as NIH doesn't end the R2D2 funding mechanism, we'll be fine. The C3PO mechanism was always a joke, however. I'm hoping the concept that even a stopped clock is right twice a day is operative here: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) denounced on Thursday a Republican proposal to cut National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding in their long-term 2011 budget. The House GOP budget approved in February would slash $1 billion from the $31 billion NIH budget. The White House is seeking an additional $1 billion in 2012. "I would plead with Republicans in the House not to cut the NIH…

I HAZ LINKROT?!? On the Etiquette of Internet Citations

I'm a big fan of Brad DeLong's blog even when I don't agree with him. But one of the things that's bothered me is when he reprints posts in full. For bloggers, professional or amateur, links are currency. Reprinting the post in full means people won't be inclined to click through to your site. When asked about this, DeLong had an interesting answer: The answer is simple: Linkrot. Go, say, to a webpage of mine from the first half of the 2000s at random... Let's pick one: http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type/2003_archives/001202.html. See how many of the links I include lead to "…

Insulting religions and races; should it be allowed?

In the United States we have the free speech built into the law, so it is somewhat a moot point. Of course, as evidenced by comments in many other Western countries the limits to speech are bounded by public consensus. So I decided to look at the GSS in terms of response to one question: After I read each statement, please tell me if you strongly agree, aggee, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, or strongly disagree with the statement. a. Under the First Amendment guarnateeing free speech, people should be allowed to express their own opinions even if they are harmful or offensive…

France and nuclear power

France Reaffirms Its Faith in Future of Nuclear Power: Nuclear power provides 77 percent of France's electricity, according to the government, and relatively few public doubts are expressed in a country with little coal, oil or natural gas. ... France generates half of its own total energy, up from 23 percent in 1973, despite increased consumption. Electrical power generation accounts for only 10 percent of France's greenhouse gases, compared with an average of 40 percent in other industrialized countries, according to EDF. There is No Free Lunch, and life is about trade offs. Those who…