Monthly Archives: May 2012

Romney Proposes School Vouchers: Fire Up the Hissy Fit!

Posted on May 25, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

My timing is awesome. As one of his bold initiatives, Mitt Romney has proposed a school voucher program: Mitt Romney proposed a significant restructuring of the American education system on Wednesday, one that would revamp funding formulas, encourage more charter … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservatives, Democrats, Education | 1 Comment

Links 5/24/12

Posted on May 24, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

Links for you. Science: NHGRI collaborates with Smithsonian to produce new genome exhibit Plotting interpretable phylogenies Troves of Personal Data, Forbidden to Researchers Rise of the coyote: The new top dog. Shape-shifting coyotes have evolved to take advantage of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Lotsa Links | 1 Comment

The Congressional Retirement Plan™: The Bill Clinton Edition

Posted on May 24, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

A few years ago, I described what I call the Congressional Retirement Plan, which describes the most powerful source of political corruption–the need for a post-politics ‘soft landing’: So, Mad Biologist, how is this about money? It’s simple: it’s about … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Corporations, Governance, and Government: Not All Firms Are Created Equal

Posted on May 24, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

DeLong’s heart is usually in the right place, but I think he’s wrong when he kinda defends Romney and Bain Capital: I don’t think it’s Bain Capital’s business to worry about the overall level of employment in the country, or … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Romney | Comments Off on Corporations, Governance, and Government: Not All Firms Are Created Equal

Links 5/23/12

Posted on May 23, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

Links for you. Science: Lies You’ve Been Told About the Pacific Garbage Patch Worst Column Ever by Times Pundit David Brooks: “When the Good Do Bad” (but there are so many to choose from…) When Should Schools Start in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Lotsa Links | 1 Comment

The Facebook IPO and the ‘Malincentivization’ of the Technology Sector

Posted on May 23, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

I agree with Stanford professor Steve Blank about the Facebook IPO (boldface mine): THOMPSON: But you think Silicon Valley is screwed, whether Facebook lives up to that valuation or not. Why? BLANK: I teach science and engineering. I see my … Continue reading →

Posted in Internet | 2 Comments

It’s Time for Liberals to Throw a Conserative-Style Hissy Fit: The Private School Subsidy Edition

Posted on May 23, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

Conservatives often get upset over the idea that their tax dollars will be used to fund things they don’t like. Instead of quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes, we should just return the favor and target something they hold dear–using public tax … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservatives, Education | 5 Comments

Links 5/22/12

Posted on May 22, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

Links for you. Science: Evaluating a 1981 temperature projection (people seem to forget that error bars go both ways) Test All Baby Boomers for Hepatitis C, CDC Urges Global Warming: An Exclusive Look at James Hansen’s Scary New Math: A … Continue reading →

Posted in Lotsa Links | 1 Comment

White Births Account for Less Than Half of New Births: The Question

Posted on May 22, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

In a NY Times article about the recent finding that white births now account for less than half of all new births in the U.S., Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, co-director of Immigration studies at New York University, asks: The question is, how … Continue reading →

Posted in Census, Racism | 3 Comments

Why Do We Think Papers Are a Good Grant Success Metric?

Posted on May 22, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

Admittedly, I’m not sure what the alternative would be. But whenever discussions of NIH policy arise, inevitably these two figures by former NIGMS director Jeremy Berg showing a weak correlation between grant funding and paper output are raised. What I … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, NIH, Publishing | 2 Comments