Monthly Archives: December 2015

Ferguson Effect Fables

Posted on December 28, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

I’ll try to deal with this in more depth later this week, but we observe, by way of Kevin Drum, that Heather MacDonald is, once again, attempting to claim there’s a ‘Ferguson Effect’: crime rates are increasing because police are … Continue reading →

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Amgen’s Bidness

Posted on December 28, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

As we’ve discussed many times in the context of high-stakes student testing, Campbell’s Law is a bitch. That is, any metric to which outcomes are attached will eventually be gamed by those being measured, rendering the metric useless as a … Continue reading →

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Links 12/27/15

Posted on December 27, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

Links for you. Science: Spread of antibiotic-resistance gene does not spell bacterial apocalypse — yet bioMérieux and Illumina announce the launch of bioMérieux EpiSeq™, a revolutionary Next-Generation Sequencing service for epidemiological monitoring of bacterial infections (covered this here) Surprise: School … Continue reading →

Posted in Lotsa Links | 1 Comment

A Very Serious Foreign Policy Question

Posted on December 27, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

Vote here (and, no, I’m not going to rickroll you. This time).

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Palinism Enters the Mainstream

Posted on December 27, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

It seems the notion of the Republican Party being a white nationalist party is picking up currency among the punditocracy. Over at Vox (boldface mine): You don’t see working-class Latinos and African Americans rallying to Trump’s standard, even though economic … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservatives, Racism | 1 Comment

Links 12/26/15

Posted on December 26, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

Links for you. Science: “no one deliberately writes a “fraudulent review” Study tracks the evolution of pro-creationism laws in the U.S. Student Slaps Florida Public Schools With Suit for Refusing to Teach Evolution Because It Contradicts the Bible Bright Lights, … Continue reading →

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Why Krugman’s Sort of Pessimism Is Right For the Wrong Reasons

Posted on December 26, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

Paul Krugman observes this about the pace of technological innovation (boldface mine): You see, I got my Ph.D. in 1977, the year of the first Star Wars movie, which means that I have basically spent my whole professional life in … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Energy, Public Health | 2 Comments

Christmas Links

Posted on December 25, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

Gut Yontif to the Pontiff! And anyone else who’s celebrating. Science: Zika Virus Spreading in Latin America, Raising Concerns Resistance to a Last-Ditch Antibiotic: Invisible Spread Last-Ditch Drug Resistance: An Early Warning And Chance to Act As combination drugs engulf … Continue reading →

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A Non-Spoiler, Very Short Review of Star Wars

Posted on December 25, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

In short, it was good. Not great, but good, and fun to see on the big screen. One thing that’s a little weird is that, unlike the very first movie, which could stand alone (i.e., if another one hadn’t been … Continue reading →

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Christmas in D.C.

Posted on December 25, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

Since I gave you a post on my birthday, today you’re getting various pictures of Christmas-related stuff in D.C. Let’s start. T street NW, between 15th and 16th, Dupont Circle, during the day: At night: Rooftop Christmas on Swann St. … Continue reading →

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