Monthly Archives: October 2011

Links 10/22/11

Posted on October 22, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

Links for you. Science: Blumenthal, Corker Introduce Bill to Combat Antibiotic Resistant “Superbugs” (basically, it’s a drug development bill, but better than nothing) The Rising Value of a Science Degree When an Excel spreadsheet runs wild Roche Loses Control of … Continue reading →

Posted in Lotsa Links | Comments Off on Links 10/22/11

How Modern Monetary Theory Can Enable Liberals

Posted on October 22, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

And it has the virtue of being an accurate description of reality too. Bill Mitchell has a great interview in Harvard International Review about debt, deficits, and modern monetary theory. Mitchell contrasts the dominant New Keynesian paradigm with MMT: Well, … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | 1 Comment

Links 10/21/11

Posted on October 21, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

Links for you. Science: On Grad School Preparedness The Story of Spigelia genuflexa, or, Why Biology Needs YOU Separate the facts from flu fiction Microbial Myths: Common misconceptions about microbes in the built environment Other: David Brooks Does Not Get … Continue reading →

Posted in Lotsa Links | 1 Comment

Let’s Add $1 Billion to the NIH Budget

Posted on October 21, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

Drugmonkey points us to a letter by Reps Markey (D-MA) and Bilbray (R-CA): We urge you to join the following bipartisan letter supporting the proposed level of funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the FY 2012 Labor-HHS … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, NIH | 1 Comment

Listeria and the Failure of Privatized Regulation

Posted on October 21, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

You might have heard of the recent Listeria outbreak that was traced back to contaminated melons. Well, it turns out that the healthy and safety inspections–outsourced to private organizations–utterly failed (boldface mine): Government investigators said that workers had tramped through … Continue reading →

Posted in Microbiology, Public Health, The Rule of Law | 2 Comments

Links 10/20/11

Posted on October 20, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

Links for you. Science: Status of the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA) (this is good news) KANSAS SENATOR EMERGES AS NEW NIH CHAMPION (a science-friendly Republican. What a concept) The top ten worst graphs The Mystery of the Canadian Whiskey … Continue reading →

Posted in Lotsa Links | 1 Comment

Wall Street Loses the Homers

Posted on October 20, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

This is a very interesting polling result from New York (note that this refers to a NY state tax, not federal; boldface mine): Nearly three-quarters of New York voters say they want an income tax surcharge on the state’s wealthiest … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness, Taxes | 3 Comments

Let’s Pay People to Build Roads, Bridges, Ports and Railways

Posted on October 20, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

(from here) While a lot of things are fucked up, our transportation system should be high on the list: The U.S. population is forecast to grow by 100 million — a 30 percent increase — before the middle of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Jobs, Transportation | Comments Off on Let’s Pay People to Build Roads, Bridges, Ports and Railways

Links 10/19/11

Posted on October 19, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

Links for you. Science: A chimeric virus to cure leukemia? Yes, we can! Rick Perry officials spark revolt after doctoring environment report Evangelicals and the nonreligious do differ in science literacy Drug-Resistant Staph Infections in Europe Could Mark Start of … Continue reading →

Posted in Lotsa Links | 1 Comment

Because We Need Some Occupy Wall Street Humor

Posted on October 19, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

This cracked me up: Historical aside: To the extent Jesus’ assault on the money changers actually occurred, his point probably wasn’t anti-usury, but to emphasize that the end times were near, so you shouldn’t waste your time changing money (People … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness, Humor, Religion | Comments Off on Because We Need Some Occupy Wall Street Humor