mikethemadbiologist

"Will these be enough chickens for an angioplasty? No. Ok, then. Can I get a couple of weeks of chemo then?" (from ) Sadly, I'm not kidding. Republican candidate for Nevada's senate seat Sue Lowden thinks bartering farm animals is a way to control healthcare costs. No, really: A couple weeks…

For most people reading this blog, especially the scientists, budgets matter. Not only is most of the cool science stuff you read about here funded by government funds, but, unless you're independently wealthy, you're going to need an uncut, untouched by Peter Peterson Social Security. Regarding…

Last week, The AP described what living the life of Palin is like: Among the perks laid out in the contract, the former Alaska governor will fly first class from Anchorage to California - if she flies commercial. If not, "the private aircraft MUST BE a Lear 60 or larger ...," the contract specifies…

One of the best ways to deal with the problem of antibiotic resistance is infection control in hospitals. That is, if patients aren't getting infections, whether those be sensitive or resistant to antibiotics, then there's less of a problem. Massachusetts has released its annual report on…

On this Patriot's Day, we must never forget that the Heroic Struggle Against Our Demonic Turkey Overlords has not abated. Now they are assaulting the basic workings of our government: click to embiggen (from here) Preventing the Boston Transportation Department from the appointed rounds! (and…

Since I've raised this issue before, and it doesn't seem to have taken, the gloves are coming off. Once again, we see the sorry spectacle of blaming scientists for policy failures--all scientists, not a subset (consider this foreshadowing). As always the 'scientists' are described as bookish…

There's some kinda local race tomorrow or something. While I figure that out, here are some links. Science: E. coli illnesses at 5-year low in US ClimateGate Inquiry: No Scientific Misconduct From "Squeaky Clean" Researchers Lack of Trained Workforce Still an Obstacle to Smart Grid Success E. O.…

Whatever else one might say about Republican (for now) Florida Governor Charlie Crist, he was absolutely right to veto a bill that would link teacher pay to student performance (italics mine): Mr. Crist said Thursday that his decision was not political. He cited "the incredible outpouring of…

It's the willful ignorance: No, tea baggers believe stupid shit because they want to. It's willful ignorance. They spin outrageous theories because they know that the naked truth about what they believe would make them look like giant bigots and big meanies. So, instead of saying, "I don't want…

Thank the Intelligent Designer it's Friday. Let's celebrate with some links. Science: Intelligent Design Is Rotten Theology, Too Pavement power lights up Toulouse: Electricity generated by pedestrians used to illuminate street lights in France's technology capital The Trouble with the Truth:…

Maybe I should have worn this hat? I was going to write a magnus opus about the Tea Bugger rally on the Boston Common on Wednesday. But, as we used to say in more civilized times, meh. Basically, there was an hour of some really schlocky pseudo-patriotic music, wherein every third word was…

It's supposed to be rainy, so why not attend? Carl Zimmer will be there. MAS does really cool outreachy things like teacher training so they're worth supporting, even if you can't attend. Anyway, this found its way into my email machine: Join the Massachusetts Academy of Sciences as we spend a…

I'll have more to say about the rally tomorrow (short version: as was said in more civilized times, meh.). But I think it's worth noting that the Tea Partyers are even more wingnutty than Digby thinks: 1) The NY Times poll graphic compares Tea Buggers with all respondents. But keep in mind that…

Having just returned from the Tea Bugger/Palin rally on the Boston Common (abridged version: It's just the same shitheads that have been making the rest of us miserable for the last thirty years, only with a new name), I came across this superb post by Lance Mannion (italics original, boldface…

I'll have more to say about housing as an investment (hint: in quite a few cases, it's incredibly bad), but one thing to keep in mind is that people don't always protect their investments as well as they should. Last week, there was a massive, nine-alarm fire, in a Boston apartment building--…

Colin Schultz has an interesting post on science reporting, in which he bemoans how science journalism has become a small niche and is not consumed by a wider audience: The issue of recognizing and confronting the fact that not everyone is interested in science is where niche journalism programs…

Digby brilliantly snarks what I've been trying to describe for a while about the Tea Buggers: ...if you just remove the poor blacks from the equation it would be clear to everyone that America doesn't like Obama. Now, this isn't about race, mind you, not at all. It's about resistance to all these…

Blogging has been kind of off recently, between catching up from vacation and putting together a talk for a seminar; hopefully, things will return to normal soon. On the subject of public speaking, one of my weird talk-related habits is that, after I've put together my slides, I'm very nervous…

Merry Sunny Sunday! If you're stuck inside, here are some links for you: Clustering under the new NIH scoring system, just as predicted. Taxing the wealthy will kill the economy? Teabagger, please. Neo-Confederate History Month Fiscal Folly Report cites questionable charter-school practices Out-…

In fact, it didn't even require much in the way of theory. As financial reform legislation moves its way through the legislative process, we're going to hear a lot of claims along the line of "No one could have predicted this." Which makes me wonder if we're going to militarily occupy Wall Street…

I'm skeptical. Floyd Norris, who usually is smart enough not to join the 'Pain Caucus', claims it is in The NY Times: The federal government is now starting to build the institutions that will try to reduce the soaring growth of health care costs. There will be a group to compare the effectiveness…

It's as if funny accounting is second nature for these guys: The Republican National Committee at the end of last year struck a deal with the Michigan Republican Party that if the state party could raise what turned out to be a half a million dollars for the RNC from its donors, the committee would…

I was going to call this review "Naked Came the Economist", but ECONned: How Unenlightened Self Interest Undermined Democracy and Corrupted Capitalism by Yves Smith of Naked Capitalist is too well written. ECONNED can be divided in two major sections. The first part deals with the flawed economic…

If you haven't heard by now, a Fulton, Mississippi high school student who wanted to bring her same-sex date to the high school prom was tricked and 'invited' to a 'special event': McMillen tells The Advocate that a parent-organized prom happened behind her back -- she and her date were sent to a…

Before I got into genomics, I spent some time in science and health policy. On a couple occasions, I was invited to participate in a round table/white paper thingee where we were supposed to offer suggestions to NIH and other funding agencies. We would make recommendations, program officers would…

Every so often, Boston proposes raising the voluntary contributions it asks non-profit organizations to pay in lieu of property taxes (and other taxes), or instituting a consistent fee (right now, these contributions are negotiated with each institution). From The Boston Globe: After 14 months, a…

Recently, some people have been asking if Wall Street, Big Shitpile and the other elements of the Great Pandimensional Economic Clusterfuck of 2008-2009 would have been as bad if women were more common on Wall Street. My answer: absolutely not. What follows are some personal experiences as to why…

Republicans are in a bit of a bind regarding the U.S. Census. In the past, they have opposed "statistical sampling", which would readjust the Census results to account for undersampled groups, such as the poor and minorities, which typically vote Democratic. In fact, congressional Republicans…

...get drunk and hit you. Digby thinks that's the meaning of this poll by Gallup: A new USA Today/Gallup poll out this morning shows that more Americans blame the Democrats more than any other group when it comes to the inciting the violence and vandalism that have spread across the country in the…

Merry Sunny Saturday. In case it's not sunny and mid-70s where you are (that's what the weather's like in my undisclosed location), here are some links for you: Hyena laughs and giggles decoded Krugman as Failure Blowhards. Part One. Nothing new about tea partiers Cyberwolverines! Spock with a…