humor
pharyngula | May 21, 2007So there I am, reading an amusing couple of local comics mocking the conservative media, and my name comes up. And my picture.
I must protest, it's totally inaccurate. I would never get such a soul-satisfying introduction, and if I were on TV, I'd be sure to wear my best eyepatch, the one with the gold filigree.
pharyngula | May 21, 2007David Hone, the mastermind behind the Ask a Biologist site, forwarded this cute cartoon from Fritz at b3ta. I think I could be persuaded to jump on the "Teach the Controversy" bandwagon in this one specific respect.
Let's also see sermons on the lack of teleology, the cruelty and waste of nature, and the details of paleontology and molecular biology that make bible stories look like flimsy jokes.
grrlscientist | May 20, 2007tags: Harry Potter, humor, satire, streaming video
Okay, for the record, I think this streaming video is silly, but you might enjoy it [2:06]
grrlscientist | May 20, 2007tags: humor, satire, An Inconvenient Truth, streaming video
According to the latest streaming news on global warming, children are the greatest enemies of our environment [1:19]
oracknows | May 20, 2007It would appear that I must respectfully disagree (or be Respectfully Insolent, if you will) with fellow comic fan Scott over at Polite Dissent.
Two of my all-time favorite comics are Fantastic Four and (believe it or not, given my present day disdain for woo) Doctor Strange. Doctor Stephen Strange, for those of you not familiar with him, started out as an incredibly arrogant and greedy neurosurgeon who was involved in an auto accident in which he suffered nerve damage to his hands that impaired the fine motor control to the point where, while he could function normally in every day life, he…
evolvingthoughts | May 19, 2007"King Phillip Came Over From German Soil" - anyone remember that? It's a mnemonic, designed to make it easier to recall the Linnean ranks: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species. Unfortunately, ranks change (Phylum and Family were inserted in the 1870s at an international meeting in Paris), and a new one has been proposed (and hotly debated): Domain. So what should the mnemonic now be? "Dumb King Phillip..."?
There are a host of mnemonics for biology (and even more for medicine). Jason Grossman, sometime commentator and fulltime good guy, sent me this suggestion:
I needed a…
evolvingthoughts | May 19, 2007
Because it's easier than thinking and composing thoughtful essays, I am forced to follow Grrlscientist's example:
The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (JRR Tolkien)
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (JRR Tolkien)
The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (JRR Tolkien)
Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (JK Rowling)
Angels and Demons (…
omnibrain | May 17, 2007A great abstract I found via improbable research blog:
How to write consistently boring scientific literature
Kaj Sand-Jensen (ksandjensen@bi.ku.dk), Freshwater Biological Laboratory, Univ. of Copenhagen, Helsingørsgade 51, DK-3400 Hillerød, Denmark.
Abstract
Although scientists typically insist that their research is very exciting and adventurous when they talk to laymen and prospective students, the allure of this enthusiasm is too often lost in the predictable, stilted structure and language of their scientific publications. I present here, a top-10 list of recommendations for how to…
grrlscientist | May 16, 2007tags: superduperfriends, parody, humor, streaming video
This streaming political parody of the Challenge of the Superfriends is something I think you will enjoy watching [1:04].
j7uy5 | May 15, 2007What
is the correct follow-up for an impeachmint?
There
is only one possible answer...
omnibrain | May 14, 2007There's a humorous post over at Shrink Rap about using patients online communication style (specifically emoticons) to determine what treatment plan to follow. Here is a partial list:
:-)stable. cont prozac 40mg. f/u 3 mos.
:-))reduce prozac to 20mg. f/u 1mo.
:-))))d/c prozac. add lithium 300 tid. check TSH, creat. f/u 1wk.
:-Dadd depakote. check lithium level, LFTs, CBC. f/u 1wk.
:-|stable. cont prozac 40 mg. f/u 1mo.
:-(increase prozac to 60mg. f/u 2wk.
:'-(add wellbutrin SR 150mg. f/u 1wk.
X-(call 911. send to ER. check for OD.
Head over to Shrink Rap for the rest!
evolvingthoughts | May 13, 2007
In a number of cases recently, I have been struck at how ahistorical scientists are about their own discipline or field. For many years, working in a medical research institute, I noted that few citations in published papers were from more than five years before this paper was written. It was as if there was a rolling wall of fog following medical research at a five year remove. Some papers were cited before then - they were like distant mountains that one could see above the fog, the giants of the past.
One such paper was the paper by John Kerr and his colleagues in 1972 on apoptosis. It…
oracknows | May 13, 2007This week has been a bit of a rough and depressing week on the old blog, with the news that Battlestar Galactica will probably be entering its last season,the appearance of annoying conspiracy theorists in new posts and trolls in old posts, really irritating technical difficulties the ScienceBlogs site, and the need to debunk two particularly bad commentaries about the state of cancer research in this country. Worse, I see a further need to revisit at least one rather depressing topic from the past next week. To top it all off, I was on call last week. Given this, I think I need a dose of…
oracknows | May 13, 2007I don't know where EoR finds this stuff, but I like the way Deborah Ross thinks when she discusses offering alternative medical practitioners alternative methods of payment. Not surprisingly, they aren't interested:
There has been much fuss this week about the 'scientific status' of homeopathy, just as there is always a fuss about 'alternative' treatments generally. Personally, I have no patience with the dismissive and often contemptuous attitude these therapies can attract, as there are many useful treatments and products on offer out there. These include:
THE ALTERNATIVE CREDIT CARD (…
j7uy5 | May 12, 2007
href="http://www.southwestbioenergy.com/html/news_release__.html">Southwest
BioEnergy has announced a plan to build a
href="http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/">biomasss
electrical generation facility in
href="http://www.google.com/maps?q=Vado,+NM,+USA&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title">Vado,
New Mexico. Vado is rather close to the middle of
nowhere, but it also happens to be very close to a whole lotta cattle
and cows. Said quadrupeds produce about 275 tons of
manure per day.
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">
Sounds like a joke, but it is not. They think they…