j7uy5 | September 18, 2006Stumpy
is a fabled Texan Tan tarantula,
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphonopelma">Aphonopelma
anax, that was hit by a car and nursed
back to health with triple nail hardener. I assume that is
finger- and toenail hardener.
Stumpy had narrowly missed being yet another
uncounted statistic of unconscionable vertebrate vehicular tarantula
spiderslaughter.
How did Stumpy do? Apparently, the front leg is critical for
the male tarantula in the act of mating.
At first, it didn't look like he would be able to
mate. Later, after much maneuvering by paintbrush, he would finally,
often…
j7uy5 | September 18, 2006The rest of the world would be laughing at us about this, if we did not have nuclear weapons.
j7uy5 | September 16, 2006Yes!magazine is one of my favorite progressive publications.
The reason is that they tend to take a positive view of
everything. That is unlike a lot of politically-oriented
publications, most of which somehow manage to make everything sound
dire.
The latest issue has several articles on health care.
Specifically, they examine the case for single-payer,
universal coverage.
On the right is a graphic from one of the articles,
href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=1503">Has
Canada Got the Cure?
by Holly Dressel.
The article was adapted from Holly Dressel’s book
God Save the…
j7uy5 | September 16, 2006I missed this the first time around, but now I am "happy" to report
that the gender pay gap is narrowing. On August 31, 2006,
just in time for Labor Day, the US Dept. of Labor issued
href="http://www.dol.gov/asp/media/reports/workforce2006/factsheet.htm">a
report that shows a shrinking of the gender pay gap.
Here are two of the items they chose to highlight:
Although women, on average, may earn less than men for a
variety of
reasons, including differences in work schedules and career decisions
to accommodate raising their families or taking care of loved ones,
education is a great…
j7uy5 | September 15, 2006What Congress set out to do, was to come up with ethics reform
legislation that would show that they are addressing the concerns of
the public, in the wake of numerous scandals. Reportedly,
though, both parties were reluctant to put limits or their interactions
with lobbyists. Instead, they are going to settle for a
rather anemic rule change that requires lawmakers to acknowledge the
pork-barrel earmarks they sponsor.
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/14/AR2006091401674.html">
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/14/…
j7uy5 | September 14, 2006GARDASIL®,
the vaccine intended to prevent infection with
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_papilloma_virus"
rel="tag">human papillomavirus (HPV), was
controversial even before it was
href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/18/health/main1628221.shtml">approved
by the FDA.
href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/10/31/MNG2LFGJFT1.DTL">Debate
rages on use of cervical cancer vaccine Rob Stein, Washington PostMonday, October 31, 2005
(10-31) 04:00 PDT Washington -- A new vaccine that protects against
cervical cancer has set up a clash between…
j7uy5 | September 13, 2006There's a kerfuffle in Washtenaw County, Michigan, over the use of a
website that promotes the sale of "Impeach Bush" yard signs.
According to the
href="http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-19/115807203398650.xml&coll=2">Ann
Arbor News, the host,
href="http://www.hvcn.org/">Huron Valley Community Network,
is "indirectly operated using Washtenaw County resources."
Local political figures are complaining that tax dollars should not be
used in this way. Perhaps they have a point.
Perhaps not. One could equally well argue that the
County is not in the…
j7uy5 | September 12, 2006
This is from the
href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17391">Nasa
Earth Observatory site. If you've ever been curious
about the dynamics of sand dunes, be sure to go to their site and read
the little essay on the subject.
j7uy5 | September 11, 2006All day we've been hearing about the terrorist attacks that took place
on 9/11/2002. We've heard especially from the families of
victims, and from the workers who continue to have health problems.
Some of you probably even listened to our President talk
about 9/11.
Often we hear that 9/11 changed everything. Personally, I do
not think it is true. Yes, it changed everything for the
families of the victims, and for the workers who are having health
problems. But I don't think it changed the course of history.
We were going to attack Iraq regardless. We were going to see
a shift in the…
j7uy5 | September 11, 2006The adjective extreme has been extremely overused
in recent years. For example, I recently saw a sign in a gas
station that advertised an Extreme Meal Deal: a hot dog, chips, and
soda for $2.49.
But
href="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=14&click_id=125&art_id=vn20060910094616232C393327">Extreme
Drug Resistant tuberculosis is no hyperbole:
Dr Tony Moll of the Church of Scotland hospital at
Tugela Ferry was the first to alert the world to the emerging human
tragedy when it was found that HIV positive people who had appeared
initially to "do well" on antiretroviral…
j7uy5 | September 11, 2006There is a lot of
information about
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagus_nerve_stimulation"
rel="tag">vagus nerve stimulation as a treatment
for depression, that you can get from the latest New York Times article
(
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/business/yourmoney/10cyber.html?ex=1315540800&en=7877734ab451d64f&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss">Battle
Lines in Treating Depression, permanent link) on the subject.
Unfortunately, most of the good information is found by
following links. The article itself is pretty bad.
The author launched into a…
j7uy5 | September 11, 2006Actually, it was many days ago; but it still is relevant:
href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/09/60minutes/main592330.shtml">Bush
Sought ‘Way’ To Invade Iraq?
During
the campaign, candidate Bush had criticized the Clinton-Gore
Administration for being too interventionist: "If we don't stop
extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions,
then we're going to have a serious problem coming down the road. And
I'm going to prevent that."
This refers to his first Presidential campaign, obviously.
It's hard to believe that he actually said that, once.
j7uy5 | September 10, 2006Today is suicide prevention day. Dr. Serani has the details
href="http://drdeborahserani.blogspot.com/2006/09/world-suicide-prevention-day-91006.html">here.
j7uy5 | September 9, 2006But this time, being late is further proof of my point. (It
would have proved it more convincingly if I never went to a party.)
href="http://www.nerdtests.com/ft_nq.php?im">
src="http://www.nerdtests.com/images/ft/nq.php?val=1795"
alt="I am nerdier than 98% of all people. Are you nerdier? Click here to find out!">
Additional evidence: in eighth grade, I got a book from the library to
learn to use a slide rule. When I was 17, I learned computer
programing. I use Linux. I have two LCD monitors
connected to the computer I am using now, which I built a few years
ago.
One of the…
j7uy5 | September 9, 2006The
little guy pictured to the left is
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dapoxetine" rel="tag">dapoxetine,
a drug under development for the treatment of
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premature_ejaculation"
rel="tag">premature ejaculation.
I wrote about this
href="http://trots.blogspot.com/2005/05/cns-pipeline-updatewas-dr-angell-right.html">before,
in the context of recent criticism of the pharmaceutical industry.
Some have argued that the industry spends too much time and
money developing drugs that we no not really need.
That is not too much of a problem, except…
j7uy5 | September 8, 2006Just a quick note to spread the word: The University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine has put up an online archive of material about the 1918 influezna pandemic.
The 1918-1920 Influenza Pandemic
Escape Community Digital Document Archive
In the summer of 2005, the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School was contacted by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and asked to conduct research into and write a report on American communities that had experienced extremely low rates of influenza during the infamous 1918-1920 influenza…
j7uy5 | September 8, 2006This has been a topic here at ScienceBlogs, and elsewhere. In
this post, I point out some of the blogosphere commentary, and provide
links to some commentary published in journals that might otherwise
escape widespread attention.
href="http://scienceblogs.com/seed/2006/04/psychiatry_experts_linked_to_d.php">
class="linkTitle">Psychiatry Experts Linked to Drug Makers--
And?
The New York Times reported yesterday that many of the authors of the
DSM-IV, the sine qua non diagnostic manual (I'm 300.00, thanks for
asking) for mental health professionals had ties, either before or
after…
j7uy5 | September 5, 2006
href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/09/060901-monkeys-photo.html">This is a pair of
twin albino pygmy monkeys, recently born at the Frösö
Zoo in Ostersund, Sweden.
They are featured in the National Geographic website's Photo in the
News section. Click on the photo to visit the site, and see
the full-size picture.
j7uy5 | September 5, 2006Via the
href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0831/p15s02-stct.html">Christian
Science Monitor:
Formerly a part of Yugoslavia, and on the brink of
ethnic war only a few years ago, Macedonia has become what may be the
first "wireless country" in the world. With $3.9 million from the US
Agency for International Development, the Macedonia Connects program
has brought wireless Internet service to the country's 460 primary and
secondary schools, which had already been equipped with 6,000 computers
donated by the Chinese government.
On.Net, a Macedonian company, was contracted to build the $7…
j7uy5 | September 4, 2006You might have seen the article, The Terrorism Index, in Foreign Policy magazine a while ago. If you did, here is a reminder of the high points. If you did not, go read the whole thing.