Monthly Archives: March 2007

Economic End Times and a Coming Housing Implosion

Posted on March 17, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

By ‘End Times’, I’m not referring to the significant global decrease in food production, or the Far East trade war over sand (I’m not kidding–Indonesia has declared a sand embargo against Singapore). Putting those two news items together does have an apocalyptic feel to it. No, what I’m referring to is that mortgage foreclosures and homeowner vacancies have reached record highs.
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Posted in Bidness, Economics, We're Really Fucked | 11 Comments

Funny Slogan of the Week

Posted on March 17, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

This picture is from the ACT UP protest against Joint Chief of Staff General Pace’s bigoted remarks
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Posted in Humor, Military | 3 Comments

Triumph of the Morons: More from the Peter Pan Conservatives

Posted on March 16, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

Hear the Mighty Roar of the Peter Pan Conservatives: those conservatives who think that policy failures are not due to strategic, tactical, or logistical flaws but solely due to to a lack of will. It appears that this way of thinking has completely permeated Little Lord Pontchartrain’s brain. Neocon Irwin Stelzer had a luncheon meeting with the president. His description is chilling.
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Posted in Conservatives, Fucking Morons, Iraq, Little Lord Pontchartrain, Middle East, Military, Terrorism | 9 Comments

I See Stupid People: The Michael Egnor Edition

Posted on March 15, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

Luskin and Egnor himself are treating this as a case of arrogant Ph.D.s beating up on a simple country neurosurgeon who is armed only with common sense. This is a lie.
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Posted in Antibiotics, Conservatives, Evolution, Fucking Morons, Microbiology, Mutation, Public Health, The War on Science | 13 Comments

Go Support Majikthise

Posted on March 15, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

Lindsay of Majikthise is holding a fundraising drive.
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Posted in Bloggity Blog | Comments Off on Go Support Majikthise

Agriculture, Antibiotic Use, and Genes in the Environment

Posted on March 14, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

Who would ever think that ‘wastewater lagoons’–lakes full of animal shit–could be so interesting? And important in understanding how agricultural antibiotic use increases the frequency of antibiotic resistance genes.
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Posted in Agriculture, Antibiotics, Microbiology | 2 Comments

Lactoferrin: It Might Actually Prevent Disease

Posted on March 14, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

You might not know this, but your body produces a whole bunch of antibacterial compounds, one of which is lactoferrin. It’s found in breast milk and mucosal substances such as tears and saliva. Lactoferrin hasn’t really been investigated as a medical antibiotic because many disease-causing bacteria (e.g., E. coli) also live on (and in) people as harmless commensals, and consequently, have evolved resistance to lactoferrin. However, a new paper suggests that some lactoferrin might kill these pathogens.
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Posted in E. coli, Human Genetics | 1 Comment

When You’re to the Right of Paul Nitze, You’re…

Posted on March 13, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

…missing circuits in your head. James Carroll, in House of War, describes the bumpy road that nuclear hawk Paul Nitze, who advocated nuclear first strikes during the Berlin Crisis and the Cuban Missile Crisis, had during his Senate confirmation hearings.
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Posted in Conservatives, Fucking Morons | 3 Comments

Why Resistance Matters: the Things That Don’t Show Up in the Statistics

Posted on March 13, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

Last night, I was reading some of the comments you leave here, and, in response to a post about a surgeon who thinks evolution is irrelevant to medical practice (Got Antibiotic Resistance?), fellow ScienceBlogling Mark left a comment. I’ll get to the comment in a minute, but tragically, I hear stories like his far too often.
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Posted in Antibiotics, Evolution, Healthcare, Microbiology, MRSA, Public Health, The War on Science | 1 Comment

What About Antibiotic Resistance Doesn’t Egnor Understand?

Posted on March 12, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

I haven’t been able to respond to Michael Egnor’s idiocy about evolution because I’ve been recovering from a meeting, but fortunately my fellow ScienceBloglings have. But I’ll add my two cents.
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Posted in Antibiotics, Creationism, Evolution, Fucking Morons, Microbiology, Public Health, The War on Science | 8 Comments