It's Randomonium!

Sarah Palin is such a Lou Dobbs. If you just keep saying it’s a “fair question”...

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:04:19 -0600

Sarah Palin is such a Lou Dobbs. If you just keep saying it’s a “fair question” but don’t actually ask the question, is there even a difference?

Comcast Buys NBC, Clouding Online TV’s Future

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:34:11 -0600

Comcast Buys NBC, Clouding Online TV’s Future

Make My Logo Bigger Cream

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:21:14 -0600

Make My Logo Bigger Cream

These Lady Gaga parodies have gone too far. This one is a font...

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:07:17 -0600

These Lady Gaga parodies have gone too far. This one is a font parody.

(via kottke)

Ruh roh.

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:06:15 -0600

Ruh roh.

Moxy Früvous - My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors If your baby...

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:05:01 -0600

Moxy Früvous - My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors

If your baby loves a bunch of authors, here’s the perfect gift this year.

The Bitch is Back

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:08:21 -0600

The Bitch is Back:

GQ names Ayn Rand the writer of the year and nails the problems in her Flinstonian writings and unoriginal followers.

In time, [the reader] begins to understand that his ordeal consists of two phases. There is the reading itself, which is one thing. And then there is the digesting, which is quite another. Overall, the experience eerily replicates that of devouring a family-size bag of Cheetos in a single sitting. During: irresistible, bracing, the thing at hand imparting vitality, fertility, potency. After: bleccchh.

Climate change: Mail-strom

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:21:53 -0600

Climate change: Mail-strom:

Why it took The Economist to write the most even-handed and level-headed review of so-called “Climate Gate,” I guess I’ll never fully understand.

None of this is evidence of fraud. Looked at broadly, the e-mails seem to show a pretty workaday picture of scientists, with frustrations and sloppinesses, disagreements, opponents badmouthed, and cultural differences bridged (for example, explaining to an American colleague not just why a particular person is a prat, but what a prat is in the first place). Some of the e-mails may, looked at in a context not currently available (those posted were a selection), add weight to previous criticisms by Mr McIntyre and others. But that, in itself, is not dramatic. Many of these issues were aired in the most recent IPCC report, though not particularly thoroughly. And the idea of anthropogenic climate change rests on a great deal more than just tree-ring records, useful as they are for providing context to the current warming.

I truly believe that even if the scientists included in the stolen correspondence actually believed that climate-change was false and were completely and utterly trying to create a massive hoax, it still wouldn’t explain the thousands and thousands of other scientists, media, think tanks and independent researchers who have come to the same conclusion: Earth is getting warmer. Even if these scientists were terrible people, the emails don’t change the data.

As explained in the article above, climate scientists now not only release all of their data, but also their proprietary algorithms used to examine the data.

If these emails supposedly support the idea that these few climatologists have been punking the world, everyone who has ever looked at climate data must be involved in the hoax or idiots.

In order for these emails to validate a belief that climate change is a hoax, or even that they represent manipulation of the data and the debate, would require a conspiracy far greater than the 9/11, Gay and Jewish Conspiracies combined.

The Mammogram Mess

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:05:06 -0600

The Mammogram Mess:

While everyone seems to be talking about “more” health care, care “rationing” and a lot of other stupid things, I think we’re missing the point. The real issue here is better health care.

Here’s a case in point. The U.S. Preventative Services recently suggested pushing back the suggested age for regular mammogram testing from 40 to 50 years old.

…Mammography isn’t all that great. One 1998 study following a group of women over 10 years found that 23.1 percent had a false positive result on a mammogram. Since the median number of mammograms they had was only four, the researchers calculated that “the estimated cumulative risk of a false positive result was 49.1 percent … after 10 mammograms.” A false positive can mean more scans, radiation exposure, biopsies, and even surgery. This, on top of lots of anxiety. The researchers also found that these false positives resulted in $33 of additional spending for every $100 spent on screening.

The same arguments could be made about bypass surgery and angioplasty, which only truly benefit a small fragment of heart patients, but bypass surgery serves three purposes: 1) Doctors and hospitals avoid lawsuits; 2) Doctors and hospitals get paid per procedure, whether a procedure is necessary or not (in this case, they get paid a lot); 3) Few patients are comfortable with a suggestion to do nothing, because we’re trained to think that more tests and more procedures are actually better*.

The same argument can, and has been made, with radiation and chemotherapy. Cancer death rates have not dropped much in the past few decades. Patients are terrified they’ll get a placebo in a clinical trial (which is absolutely untrue. They get the best currently available treatments). Doctors hesitate to send patients to clinical trials because oncologists make 80 to 90 percent of their income from chemo and radiation and get nothing in return for recommending trials.

If anything should be under discussion, it should be research funding.

The food movement often complains that sugar and empty carbohydrates (corn) get subsidized while foods high in government-recommended nutrients don’t. (Fresh produce costs more than a McDonald’s meal, for example). The medical world needs to make a similar argument. Funding structures need to be put into place to reward and encourage research from the bottom up and clearly explaining to patients that more testing doesn’t necessarily work in their favor**.

*We’re all pretty stupid. We know drivers, who, instead of waiting for a train or a light, will keep their car moving to try to get around the train or light, even when doing so won’t mean reaching a destination faster.

**Check out the Sorry Works! Coalition, which has shown in a few hospitals that simply apologizing for incorrect diagnosis reduces malpractice costs incurred at hospitals. Doctors that clearly communicate with patients can be more valuable than any test.

"The interesting part of this is it’s happening right before Copenhagen. And, so, the timing..."

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:12:31 -0600

“The interesting part of this is it’s happening right before Copenhagen. And, so, the timing couldn’t be better. Whoever is on the ball in Great Britain, their timing was good.”

- Sen. Inhofe lauding a criminal breach of a computer system. I wish more politicians encouraged breaking the law for the purpose of politics.

Oh, wait. No. No I fucking don’t.

Couple slips though security to crash state dinner

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:03:00 -0600

Couple slips though security to crash state dinner

Fact: Thanksgiving was deemed a national holiday by Abe Lincoln in 1863

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:01:00 -0600

Bonus fact: Minnesota tops the country in turkey production, with 45,500,000 turkeys raised this year. Overall, turkeys raised this year are down 8%, however.

Super bonus fact: Tryptophan isn’t exactly what makes you sleepy. You’d need to eat dozens of turkeys on their own for the drug, which is found in turkeys, but not at levels needed to cause drowsiness in humans, to have an affect on your body.

Studies suggest that meals high in carbohydrates, such as stuffing, potatoes and fresh bread, triggers insulin to be released. Blah blah blah, some amino acids are released into your muscles, but not the tryptophan and the next thing you know, your brain is producing serotonin and melatonin making you sleepy.

Swap out the turkey dinner for most other kinds of meat, which contain about the same amount of tryptophan and you’ll produce similar results.

Add in the stupid parade and boring football games and you have a recipe for nap time.

Obama's Thankless Thanksgiving

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:58:00 -0600

Obama's Thankless Thanksgiving:

It’s now official: So in vogue are attacks on President Obama that even his proclamation calling the nation to a day of Thanksgiving has become the focus of criticism.

Cruising on the Ark of Taste

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:57:00 -0600

Cruising on the Ark of Taste

"It's like twitter. Except we charge people to use it."

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:23:32 -0600

"It's like twitter. Except we charge people to use it.":

mirza:

An interesting conversation between a logo designer and an obnoxious client. This deserves to be on Clients From Hell

Wow. Just wow.

This is West Fargo, ND, STEM team, with Gov. John Hoeven. The...

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:03:42 -0600

This is West Fargo, ND, STEM team, with Gov. John Hoeven. The team has apparently done will in the robotics competition, but I fear they’ve been bamboozled with a mechanical Turk that is just a child wearing a milk jug on his head!

Catullus 16 - Wikipedia link of the day

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:57:28 -0600

Catullus 16 - Wikipedia link of the day

My colleague, Jed, comes through with another great find today (start your own tumblr already,...

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:35:59 -0600

My colleague, Jed, comes through with another great find today (start your own tumblr already, Jed!). Some researcher(s) at AT&T mapped out music using data from last.fm. Notice Bob Marley Island.

See also, the landscape of movies, a map I don’t agree with at all, but it’s fun nonetheless.

Meteor lights up sky above Utah.

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:25:07 -0600

Meteor lights up sky above Utah.

Scrubby dubby, baby. (Via blogonthe)

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:12:23 -0600

Scrubby dubby, baby.

(Via blogonthe)