Monthly Archives: March 2007

Attorneygate: Just How High Does It Go?

Posted on March 22, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

The more you stare at this scandal, the more you feel like one of the proverbial blind men trying to figure out what the hell that elephant is.
Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Liberties, Conservatives, Little Lord Pontchartrain, Pig Screwer, We're Really Fucked | 1 Comment

More on Attorneygate

Posted on March 22, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

Yesterday, I was a little miffed about the coverage of the growing US Attorney scandal. During said crankiness, I wondered how we have reached the point where the legality of an action is the only criterion to use when judging if that action is ethical.
Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Liberties, Conservatives, Pig Screwer | 3 Comments

Impact Factors and eigenFACTOR.org

Posted on March 21, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

In scientific publishing, one of the important things is what is known as the “impact factor” which is the the average number of citations a journal receives over a 2 year period. The impact factor is often used by librarians and researchers to determine which journals to purchase and where to publish. There are some problems with the impact factor, however.
Continue reading →

Posted in Bioinformatics, Publishing | 6 Comments

Why I Can’t Stand the Media (Sometimes)

Posted on March 21, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

The good news is that the Senate overwhelmingly rescinded Bush’s ability to appoint U.S. attorneys without Congressional approval–one of those ‘terror-fighting’ ‘improvements’ that somehow found its way into the Patriot Act. But the coverage of the story is awful.
Continue reading →

Posted in Little Lord Pontchartrain, News Media | 4 Comments

The Evolution of My Opposition to Creationism

Posted on March 20, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

In response to my latest post about Michael Egnor, I received a couple of comments lamenting my intemperance towards Egnor. Below is the long version, but Mark sums up the short version quite nicely.
Continue reading →

Posted in Creationism, Evolution, Experts, Fucking Morons | 20 Comments

Here Comes the New Republican Talking Point

Posted on March 20, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

Just watch: the Republicans are going to blame the Democrats for fouling up the Justice Department. From U.S. News:
Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Antibiotic Resistance in Chimps

Posted on March 19, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

There’s an interesting news story about antibiotic resistance in wild chimpanzee populations that claims to have found transfer of resistant Escherichia coli from humans to wild animals.
Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, E. coli, Ecology, HIV, Microbiology, Viruses | 1 Comment

The Straight Bullshit Express: the Condom Edition

Posted on March 19, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

Full disclosure: I have never bought into the belief of the Compulsive Centrists that John McCain is moderate. A detailed look at his voting record shows that he is often very conservative, with the occasional moment of lucidity (e.g., recognizing that global warming is actually happening). But it is truly pathetic to watch a man who clearly doesn’t agree with the theological conservatives twist himself into a pretzel in an effort to placate them. He’s done it with evolution. Now, he is ‘confused’ about condoms.
Continue reading →

Posted in Compulsive Centrist Disorder, Conservatives, Fucking Morons, HIV, John "Snuggles" McCain, Microbiology, Public Health, Religion, The War on Science, Viruses | 7 Comments

Some Sunday Links

Posted on March 18, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

Happy Belated Evacuation Day! Here are some links for you.
Continue reading →

Posted in Bloggity Blog | Comments Off on Some Sunday Links

Sunday Sermon: Freeman Dyson on Total War

Posted on March 18, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

Many of you will know of Freeman Dyson as a world-class physicist. But he was also assigned to RAF Bomber Command during World War II. Here are his thoughts on bombing of urban areas.
Continue reading →

Posted in Military, Things That Make Ya Go Boom | 6 Comments