Autism-Vaccine Link Study Found Fraudulent

The 1998 study published in Lancet which linked autism with the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine has been judged fraudulent:

An investigation published by the British medical journal BMJ concludes the study's author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, misrepresented or altered the medical histories of all 12 of the patients whose cases formed the basis of the 1998 study -- and that there was "no doubt" Wakefield was responsible.

"It's one thing to have a bad study, a study full of error, and for the authors then to admit that they made errors," Fiona Godlee, BMJ's editor-in-chief, told CNN. "But in this case, we have a very different picture of what seems to be a deliberate attempt to create an impression that there was a link by falsifying the data."

Britain stripped Wakefield of his medical license in May. "Meanwhile, the damage to public health continues, fueled by unbalanced media reporting and an ineffective response from government, researchers, journals and the medical profession," BMJ states in an editorial accompanying the work.

And this particular fraud had significant consequences for public health:

The now-discredited paper panicked many parents and led to a sharp drop in the number of children getting the vaccine that prevents measles, mumps and rubella. Vaccination rates dropped sharply in Britain after its publication, falling as low as 80% by 2004. Measles cases have gone up sharply in the ensuing years.

In the United States, more cases of measles were reported in 2008 than in any other year since 1997, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 90% of those infected had not been vaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown, the CDC reported.

"But perhaps as important as the scare's effect on infectious disease is the energy, emotion and money that have been diverted away from efforts to understand the real causes of autism and how to help children and families who live with it," the BMJ editorial states.

People who's children have autism have been grasping for years to come up with a rationale that would explain autism, and give some hope of  prevention, at least for the future.  This paper came along at just the right time to provide that explanation, and convince far too many people to withhold vaccinations from their kids.  Measles is still a potentially fatal disease, causing an estimated 383,000-731,000 deaths world wide in 2003.   I hope this "scientist" is prosecuted to the fullest extent possible.

Ain't No Sunspots...

Well, not none exactly, but Solar Cycle 24 continues to under perform on sunspots and solar radio flux:

Why does this matter?  Periods of low sunspots abundance and solar activity have been linked to cold weather (See Maunder and Dalton minimums).  Will the sun slip into a long period of reduced activity and producea  new miny Ice Age?  We don't know.  But historically, periods of cold climate have been worse for the human race than warm ones...

Crazy 'Bout an Automobile

One of the great under appreciated guitarists.

Massive Fish Kill on Chesapeake Bay: Seen Here First!

I first reported at large number of dead Spot on the beach in this post on Dec. 27.  A few days later, a large kill of Spot was reported farther up the Bay on this fishing forum on Dec 31:





















The Associated Press has picked it up from a MD DNR press release, and today it was in a number around newspapers and news outlets in the region:

Large fish kill reported in Chesapeake Bay

The Associated Press

http://www.timesleader.com/news/ap?articleID=6207361

'Very large' fish kill reported in bay

The Baltimore Sun

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-01-04/features/bs-gr-fish-kill-bay-20110104_1_dead-fish-mde-spokeswoman-upper-bay

MDE: Fish Kill Caused By Cold Stress

WBAL (Md.) Television

http://www.wbaltv.com/r/26357581/detail.html

Blog: Giant fish kill in Chesapeake Bay

The Washington Post

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/giant-fish-kill-in-chesapeake.html

Remember, you heard it here first! 

Study: Internet surpasses TV as main news source for young adults

Illumination in the News

Cost of CFLs to triple in Europe

The cost of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) in Europe is skyrocketing because the EU is withdrawing the subsidy they used to encourage their adoption, as the incandescent lamp (Thomas Alva Edison's familiar glowing filaments) are being phased out (banned).   The CFL is a more efficient way to produce light than the incandescent bulb, using approximately 1/3 the energy for equivalent light.  However, many people do not like the color of CFLs, the fact that they take more time to warm up (especially in the cold), and the flicker.

However, there's always a loophole.  A German firm is re-branding incandescent lamps as space heaters.  Almost all the energy that an incandescent lamp wastes producing light goes to making heat, and they are remarkably efficient space heaters.    I expect this may happen in the US as incandescent lamps become unavailable when they are banned in the US in 2012.

One use that incandescent lamps are used for is to keep the bilge of a boat from freezing in cold weather.  A single small lamp on an extension cord placed in a bilge can keep the bilge pump from freezing solid, and allowing the boat to take on water and sink during a thaw or rain. I've been tempted, but never resorted to it.

We use many CFLs here at home.  The color doesn't bother me, and I've never noticed the flicker.  However, they are slow to warm when used in cold places (the garage and outdoor fixtures).  I don't see the need for a ban.  Lighting is usually a trivial part of a houses energy budget; water heating, refrigerators, and space heating consume far more.  And in general, I'm just opposed to mandatory bans of useful items just on the principle of personal freedom and free markets.

If you got it, #&@* it!

Otherwise, stick to video games:

January 4, 2011: After nearly two decades of effort to ban sex in the combat zone, an American commander has admitted defeat and issued orders de-criminalizing fornication in Afghanistan. Thus the latest version of General Order No. 1 issued in Afghanistan warns against heterosexual sex between troops, but no longer prohibits it. Since the 1990s, when American peacekeepers were sent to the Balkans, American commanders have been enforcing General Order Number 1. That means imposing a "no booze, no sex" rule on troops in a combat zone. The alcohol prohibitions apply on or off base, as do the prohibitions on sex, marrying locals or even gambling. Troops are encouraged to spend more time in the gym, or with their video games. Troops having sex with each other was generally tolerated, unofficially of course...

Save the Planet, Eat an Alien

A Diet for an Invaded Planet: Invasive Species

There’s a new shift in the politics of food, not quite a movement yet, more of an eco-culinary frisson. But it may have staying power; the signs and portents are there. Vegans, freegans, locavores — meet the invasivores.

Some divers in the Florida Keys recently held a lionfish derby, the idea being to kill and eat lionfish, an invasive species. Local chefs cooperated by promoting the lionfish as a tasty entree. The idea drew editorial support from Andrew Revkin in a post on The Times’s Dot Earth blog in which he also mentioned an attempt by some fisheries biologists to rename the invading Asian carp “Kentucky tuna” to make it more appealing to diners. And the Utne Reader recently ran an article about Chicago chefs turning their attention to the same invasive fish...

If you can't beat 'em, eat em. 

Of course, we've been eating invasive species for a long time, and helping them invade so we could do so.  The list of animals that we have introduced to North America deliberately and accidentally is huge and growing.   Wild goats, cows, a variety of birds including pheasants, horses (at least some people eat them).  The Smithsonian Institution has a large laboratory group devoted to studying the many marine animals that have invaded the western hemisphere via ballast water and other means of transport.  In San Francisco Bay, most the the current species are thought to be invaders.  There even have been serious proposals to transplant a foreign species of oyster, Crassostrea ariakensis, to replace the moribund populations of Chesapeake Bay's native Crassostrea virginica.  They taste the same to me.

...The movement will, of course, need the support of cooks and eaters as well as hunters and environmentalists, but I see that happening already. Witness the request for a good python recipe on Chowhound. Among the comments, some downright disrespectful, was this, which I take to be a sign that Mr. Landers and Ms. Kesel are on the right track: “We usually cook alligator and snake in an étouffée.”

 I recall eating rattlesnake in my youth, and it was kind of like chicken on a fishy skeleton.  It would take a big one to replace a good steak. But I hear the Burmese pythons in Florida get pretty big.

Will North Dakota Become the New Alaska?

Continuing the question theme.  Go north, young man!

One of my father's proposed solutions to government bloat that I've always favored is to move the nation's capital to Fargo, North Dakota.  It's so  unpleasant there, particularly in winter, that climate avoidance alone would shrink the government at least 50%.  Plus, it would put the Capital much closer to the geographic center of the country (especially after we "incorporate" Canada...).  And think of the jobs created by moving all that marble.

But, now that Nodak seems to be looking towards becoming a rich state, maybe that's not such a good idea after all.

Other states may be grappling with massive budget deficits, but North Dakota is sitting pretty, thanks to the Bakken-Three Forks shale oil deposit.

Can you imagine, actually producing a useful product and selling it to other people is a way to become wealthy?

Like California during the Gold Rush of 1849 and Alaska during the go-go 1970s, North Dakota is suddenly the place to be.

Of course, later California became the land of lotus eaters (Hey, I was there!), and it's economy has steadily declined as a result.

Giant Pussy Eater Captured in England

Continuing the theme of giant canides

Cat-killer trapped by vet

Weighing almost two stone and measuring four feet from his nose to the tip of his tail, this is thought to be the biggest fox ever found in Britain.

Twice the normal size of the species, it was trapped and killed in a garden in the South East after apparently devouring a pet cat.

The discovery has fuelled fears that urban foxes are hunting new prey after getting bigger and bolder as they gorge themselves on leftovers, including treats put out for them by animal lovers.

And look, a Ginger Kid, too.  How much cuteness can you stand?

Sorry for the title.  I just couldn't help myself.

Are You Smarter Than a Caveman?

Not really sure, but our brains are shrinking

When it comes to brain size, bigger doesn't always mean better. As humans continue to evolve, scientists say our brains are actually getting smaller.

The downsizing of human brains is an evolutionary fact that took science writer Kathleen McAuliffe by surprise.

"I said, 'What?  I thought it was getting bigger!'" she tells NPR's Jacki Lyden. That was the story up to 20,000 years ago, she learned. Then, the brains of our ancestors reversed course and started getting smaller — and they've been shrinking ever since.

Cro-Magnon man, who lived in Europe 20,000 to 30,000 years ago, had the biggest brains of any human species.  In comparison, today's human brain is about 10 percent smaller. It's a chunk of brain matter "roughly equivalent to a tennis ball in size," McAuliffe says.

So we don't really know if intelligence is tightly coupled to brain size.  Clearly, some intelligent people have smaller brains.  Women, in general have smaller brains than men (they are also generally smaller in stature), but just try to argue that women are less intelligent as a result.  I like the domestication angle:

"A smaller brain is the signature of selection against aggression," Hare tells Lyden.  "Another way to say that is an increase in tolerance."

Hare says when a population selects against aggression, they can be considered to be domesticated.  And for a variety of domesticated animals like apes, dogs or turkeys, you can see certain physical characteristics emerge. Among these traits are a lighter and more slender skeleton, a flattened forehead — and decreased brain size.

 Which explains the difference between Vikings and Metrosexuals...

Why Do We Get Fat?

We don't know...

But it's a great article, pointing out how closely our bodies regulate weight even when we do gain weight.

That's my third post in a row starting with a question.  I guess I'm back to 4 years old, tonight.

Why did 4000-5000 Blackbirds Die in Arkansas?

"They realized they were in Arkansas" (Stolen from a friend)

The comments at MSNBC are hysterical.

Why Should I Pay for Someone Else's $#!*?

Flush fee paying for local sewage upgrades
Fee increase could be on the horizon

Anne Arundel residents and businesses have been paying the state's "flush fee" since 2005, and now the money is starting to flow back into the county.

The Cox Creek sewage plant in Pasadena is getting a flush fee-funded upgrade to cut down on pollution. And in 2011, the Annapolis, Broadneck, Patuxent and Maryland City plants will start construction. Broadwater and Mayo will come later.

"There's a lot of work going on right now. The progress is going very well," said Bob Summers, acting state secretary of the environment.
Statewide, 16 plants have been upgraded, 15 are under construction and 29 are in design or planning stages.

The sewage plant upgrades will cut down the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus in the treated water that flows from the plants into rivers and the Chesapeake Bay.

A bit of background for non-Maryland (or even ignorant Maryland) readers.  The state of Maryland collects a Flush Tax of $30 a year for all water users in Maryland (they say sewer, but the tax applies to water systems that supply water to communities with septic systems).  The money ends up in the states hands, and the state is supposed to dole it back out to municipalities to upgrade their septic systems in an effort to protect the Bay.

Why can't cities pay for their own shit?  There are a lot of advantages to living in cities.  Jobs, schools, shopping, and lots of entertainment are close by.  Someone one picks up your garbage at the curb.  Someone pipes away your shit.   People choose to live in cities for those reasons and pay extra for many of those amenities.

Some of us choose not to live in cities, for other reasons.  Housing may be cheaper, the living simpler, with room to take the dog off the leash on the beach,  but you might have to go further to jobs, schools, shopping and entertainment.  We haul our own garbage to the transfer station.  And we pay for, and maintain our own mini-septic systems to take care of our shit.  Why should we help pay for the cities shit too?

They will argue that our turn will come, that eventually, after all the ancient municipalities have their systems finished with gold pipe (it's inert, you know, and won't rust away), there might be some left over to upgrade ours.  I don't believe that for a minute.  By the time the cities have all had their shot at the funds, it will be time to start again on the worst new offenders in the bigger cities.  The state will never use Flush Tax money to build a sewer system in Long Beach. 

The Clock Says it's Time to Go Now

Back to the "grind".  It's been a nice week and a half, burning "use or lose" vacation, but the bills have to be paid, so it's time to meet the carpool and head up the road.  Skye will resent not going to the beach every day, but huskies are good at sleeping when there's no excitement to be had.  "Beach" blogging will go back to being a weekend affair, but science news will pick up again after the New Years lull, so I shouldn't lack for topics to post, just time.

Now, just because, have a Chesapeake sunrise:

Going Bionic, at Home

Transcending the Human, DIY Style

Lepht Anonym wants everyone to know the door to transcending normal human capabilities is no farther away than your own kitchen. It’s just going to hurt like a sonofabitch.

Anonym is a biohacker, a woman who has spent the last several years learning how to extend her own senses by putting tiny magnets and other electronic devices under her own skin, allowing her to feel electromagnetic fields, or — if her latest project works — even magnetic north.

Since doctors won’t help her, she does it in her own apartment, sterilizing her equipment (needles, scalpels, vegetable peelers) with vodka. Good anesthetic is largely impossible to buy, so she screams a little, and sometimes passes out. But it’s worth it, for what’s on the other side.

Kind of a neat idea, but I don't think I could do it. I did cut a wart off myself once.  That was enough.

For decades, transhumanists have argued that science and technology are approaching (or have approached) the point at which humans can take evolution into their own hands. They can transcend limitations of sensation or movement or even lifespan that are purely the accident of evolution. Some thinkers focus strictly on the “post-human” physical body, while others write of evolved social systems, as well.

Can I get X-ray vision, you know, like in the back of the old comics?

An American body-modification artist of a similar mindset has created small metal discs of neodymium metal, coated in gold and silicon, which give off mild electric current when in a electromagnetic field. When inserted under the fingertips, this current stimulates the fingers’ nerve endings, allowing the bearer to literally feel the shape and strength of electromagnetic fields around power cords or electronic devices.

 OK, now that might come in handy for doing electrical work, but it's not as cool as X-ray vision would be.

But it isn’t for everybody, this cutting yourself up in your own kitchen. She’s the first to warn people that it hurts. A lot. Every time, you don’t get used to it. Afterward, people may not be inclined to understand, to put it mildly. (“Avoid normal people,” she warns. “They’re stupid.”)

Well, maybe not stupid, just normal, and content to stay that way.

Seen at the Beach

Fog!

Justice Italian Style

Seen at Volokh's (normally a staid legal site):

A TOPLESS sunbather is being investigated by police after being accused of sensuously rubbing sun cream on herself on a public beach. Police were called to a beach at Anzio south of Rome by a furious mother who said the way the “attractive” sunbather was rubbing lotion on her body had “troubled her sons aged 14 and 12.” ...

“She is amazed that she is being condemned for simply sunbathing topless,” [the woman’s] lawyer Gianluca Arrighi said.

“Let’s be clear my client is tall, brunette and has an ample breast and is therefore going to naturally be sensuous when she applies cream to her chest....” ...

 Well, the verdict is in:

Now, reader Belkys Guerrero writes that “the claimant mother has been condemned for ‘calumnie’ ... (a false accusation leading to the beginning of a criminal trial) and ordered to pay 25k to the young woman.” He points to an Italian video on the story, but since I can’t speak Italian I can’t understand it, except to note that the word for “topless” in Italian is apparently “topless.”

and offers two links to Italian papers (Google translate appears to bear out the result).

I Hope the Bear Gets Him and Not the Kids

The incredible story of how BBC cameraman filmed world's deadliest bears - and ended up introducing them to his children

Really, I hope the bear doesn't get any of them. Nevertheless, the black bear is one of the most unpredictable animals in the Western Hemisphere, and encouraging them to think of people as a source of food is the classic way to get in trouble with a bear.


Woman Survives Vicious Bear Attack - Watch more Funny Videos

I Miss All the Fun

Shopper Gets Naked, Sexually Harasses Customers

Police in Maryland say a 22-year-old woman caused a major inconvenience in a convenience store when she stripped naked, made obscene comments to customers and sprawled out on the floor in front of the doughnut rack.

Deputies in Hebron cuffed Jennifer Marie Riegler on Dec. 18 after employees at a Royal Farms store called cops about a nude woman who had been harassing shoppers.

Store employees told police the suspect entered the store just before 9 a.m., took off all of her clothing, made lewd remarks to customers and workers, behaved in a sexually suggestive manner, then got on the floor at the foot of the doughnut display, according to WBOC.com.

  Actually, it's kind of funny and sad at the same time.  The insane often are.

Riegler was subdued, placed in restraints and taken to the Peninsula Regional Hospital in Salisbury before being arrested and charged on Dec. 23.

 I hope they find something treatable.

 Hit tip to Bill

Best Wishes to Brian

Brian, a friend, and sometimes reader and commenter who provided the basis of this post, was struck by blood clot in his lung on New Years Eve.  Characteristically, the clot became apparent as he was returning from a duck hunt.  He was rushed to the hospital, diagnosed and treated.  He's back out of the hospital, and resting, I hope.

His description of the onset:

My buddy and I had just got off the water and I was towing the boat up the road when it hit like a knife through my side (behind the lowest point of my left ribcage). I couldn't breathe with out the stabbing. I pulled over and let my buddy drive and I NEVER do that. I avoid hospitals but knew something was seriously wrong and had my buddy take me there duck boat and all. I am very grateful I was driving with someone or I doubt I would have made it. BTW, he did a real good NASCAR job while towing the boat and I feel bad for scaring the hell out of him. I will admit, I was scared shitless and thought I was checking out. I tried to choke out some one liners to keep myself going but came to the realization how much my checking out would hurt my kids and {wife} and I didn't want to win the MOO death pool either so I concentrated on breathing. I remember lamenting how I was going to quit smoking tomorrow but it was intent on killing me today.

and his treatment:

Pulmanry Embolism (blood clot in left lung). Don't know where it came from. Ultrasounded my legs and all was well. ECG, BP, cholesterol all great. Doctor said my lungs sounded great for a smoker and said I am strong as a bull internally. They think the clot may have come from all the kneeling I do when duck hunting or 3 days ago when I sat cross legged for 8 hours on the livingroom floor doing my frame bag inventory. Other than that, they don't know.

For now, I am on lovenox at $500 every 2 days (will need for 3-10 days) and cuomadin for 3, 6 or 12 months. This was and is going to be an expensive weekend without insurance. I'll just pay several hundred dollars or so each month until it's paid off.

BTW, the lovenox shots in the stomach twice a day suck.

 and the ducks?

Maybe Thomas Jefferson Should Have Used Smaller Words

Ezra Klein (WAPO, MSNBC) on the Republicans plan to read the Constitution at the aloud at the opening of the new Congress:



I agree that it is a gimmick, but even gimmicks have their place; in this case to remind Congress what their job should be and what it shouldn't be.

Others have trashed this statement. Don Surber did a particularly fine job:

...Ezra Klein made the biggest mistake that can be made by a liberal — progressive — socialist — communist — no labelist — whatever the heck they call themselves on the 31st of the month.

He was being honest.

He does not believe in the Constitution.

He is cynical about it and he projects that same cynicism onto those who disagree with him.

That shocked the left’s system. Being honest does that to them. They use euphemisms to hide their true beliefs. The reason, for example, that they see “illegal immigrant” as racist is that they cannot imagine anyone other than a Mexican  as being an illegal immigrant. They use “undocumented worker” because they want to promote poor Jose coming here to make a grub stake. They do not see the criminals or the relatives from Ireland or the Asian student who overstayed a visa. It’s always  this stereotype...

and Iowahawk did one of his wonderfully funny parodies:

...Please explain, in your own words, "What the Constitution Means to Me." Use footnotes where necessary, specifying relevant sources. Your essay should be 500 to 1000 words, not including footnotes.

The Constitution is very important. It is very important because the Constitution is an important part of the American government, which is as we all know very important also. It can be juxtaposed with other important books and journalism writings which can be found in various history studies.

According to Wikipedia¹, the Constitution was discovered over 100 years ago, but is still going strong today. It was discovered by the "Founding Fathers" such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and so forth. Although we often call them the "Founding Fathers" there were many women who were also important in this process who have been far too overlooked. Although these people are now mostly passed away, we still remember them for their importance...

and adds this:

Anne Althouse split the difference, agreeing it's a gimmick (while acknowledging the value of a gimmick with a video of strippers...), but gently trashing Ezra too:

He'd said something utterly banal. It's what everyone around him has been saying for years. He must have expected that people would either ignore him or shrug him off as a man with no original or interesting ideas. And suddenly he's getting derided, called an idiot or worse. How can that happen?!

The banal thing was that reading the text of the Constitution doesn't get you to the answers to the difficult questions that arise today. The text must be interpreted, and political preferences will tend to pull people along toward the interpretation they want.

Remember when they were all trashing Bush (and quite erroneously) for allegedly  saying that the Constitution is "just a piece of paper".  Don't expect the Post or MSNBC to show a lot of interest in pillorying him for this.

UPDATE: Ted writes to comment that he thought Madison was generally given credit for writing the bulk of the text of the Constitution. The point still stands.

Who Says Kids Don't Appreciate the Classics Anymore?

Pachelbel's Canon in D:

A kid and a guitar. This one has been around the block a few times...

A girl and a pole:

Both beautiful in their own way. Pole dancers are trying to make pole dancing an official Olympic sport as early as 2012. I think she makes a pretty good case.

Aw, Mother and Daughter Share...

... an underage boyfriend and criminal charges.

(Chandler, Arizona) Two months ago, Susan Brock, 48, was arrested for engaging in a years-long sexual relationship with a boy and now her daughter, Rachel Katherine Brock, 21, has been arrested for doing the same things as mom for about the same period of time. Both are being held without bond.

 Father and husband less than thrilled.

"I have filed to divorce my wife," he said. "I cannot divorce my daughter. She is my blood. I will always be her dad. And she needs one now more than ever. Nothing can ever make this situation right other than raising awareness so other families can avoid such sorrow. As a person of faith I ask for your continued prayers."

 Mugshots:

Mother

Daughter

 

 The daughter looks positively happy. Girls will be girls.

We Went to a Movie Last Night...

...Care to guess which one?

And a Good Start

The beach was very still today; no winds to speak of and lots of other folk, including some serious shark tooth hunters.  Hunting was good today.  We found 36 teeth in all, including a cow shark, a drum's tooth, and this fine mako that Georgia discovered in the last few minutes of the walk.

It would make a nice necklace, if she didn't already have one about twice as large.

Stale Link Dump

Over the past couple of weeks, I've stashed away a few articles in the digital fridge that I had hoped to comment on.  Since these things get stale and stink after a while, I thought I would get rid of them and start looking for fresher material.  You may have run into some, or many of these, elsewhere by now:

Beware drunken, violent Finns.  Or drunken violent anyone for than matter.

Polar bears not endangered.  Obama administration decides not to use a false assertion as an excuse for carbon controls.  Good on them.

Red meat has a calming effect.  A good steak always makes me more contented.

If the FCC had regulated the Internet.  Jack Shafer at Slate imagines how the internet would have grown with the FCC in charge.

Is gravity a mechanism for conservation of information?  This is beyond my pay grade.

Man blames Tabasco spill for lewd acts on airplane.  Yeah, sure...

Nine major stories nearly everyone got wrong. See #8 particularly.

94 Year old man claims to be world oldest father.  Uh huh.  Great beard, though.  I can see why he's a chick magnet.

Kudzu and the Federal government.  A lesson in unintended consequences.  Like we need more.

Eight botched environmental predictions.  You can't tell these guys they've been wrong before too often.  If it can't be falsified, it's not science.  If it is, it's wrong.

Is Irritable Bowel Syndrome an infectious disease?  It came as quite a shock when ulcers turned out to be largely a bacterial disease as well.  This could be a wonderful finding for millions of people.

Lunchbox mix-up leads to charges for Sanford student.  If only zero tolerance policies were enforced on politicians.  This one is still ongoing, and the politicians are becoming uncomfortable.  Good.

Well, that should keep the mess in there down for a while.

Women Cheat More...

... and Forgive Less

One in five said they would "definitely" have an affair if they fell for another bloke

In contrast, just nine per cent of fellas were certain they would betray their partner.

 and

But while 15 per cent of men would forgive a cheating wife or girlfriend, just 12 per cent of women would take back a partner who strayed.

It's seems to me, as long as people continue to do it two at a time (and I think that's still conventional, despite Hustler), that to achieve these kinds of results, you need more women who cheat with a small number of men, and a lesser number of men who cheat with more women.  Some sort of "conservation of sex" principle.

Stolen from Fisk

My Wishes for You in 2011

May peace break into your home and may thieves come to steal your debts.



May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills.



May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!



May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy



May the problems you had, forget your home address!



In simple words ............



May 2011 be the best year of your life!!

Comedian to go Celibate

Russel Brand, married to Katy Perry, tweeted a picture of her sans makeup.

Half a Cup of Rock and Rye

I was wandering around the local liquor store a couple weeks ago, and I ran across a bottle of "Rock and Rye".  I have been singing about "Rock and Rye" for a few years, but never realized it was a particular drink; I just thought it was rye whiskey on ice.  Turns out, it is rye whiskey with a heavy dose of rock candy or horehound, and some lemon.  You can either make it at home or buy it premixed.  It was widely used as a home remedy in the past; after all, nearly everybody feels better after drinking a little whiskey, and "a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down".  Of course, I had to buy a bottle, and I've been nursing it along a half a cup at a time.

Now that we're going to do Atkin's for a while, I guess I'll have to give it up, or try making it with Splenda...

And the song?  Nearly my favorite Dead song. A lousy video, but the sound is decent, and the solo outstanding.

Time to Start Over

The jar of shark's teeth (and other small miscellaneous fossils). Each year for the past several, we have started with a fresh jar on Jan. 1 and added our new fossils to it.  This year we failed to fill it to the brim, due to weekends away, brush that had slid down into our path, and bursitis.  Below is our take for the year:

The total weighs 1 lb 5 oz according to our highly accurate kitchen scale.  In front of the jar are some of the nicer or more unusual pieces, including the extinct mako shark teeth (thought by some to be the ancestor of today's great white), a snaggle toothed shark's tooth, a collection of black drum's teeth (the small black bead like teeth) a couple of cow shark's teeth (multiple points, like a saw), and a cluster of joined ray plates (Georgia found that yesterday), and a long skinny intact ray plate, that we've never intact before.  You can see some better photos of teeth from Calvert Cliffs here.

Happy New Year!

And to welcome 2011, a few old-time cuties:

From one of the foremost Pinup Artists, Alberto Vargas, from 1942

A little older

A whole lot more recent...

and finally an NSFW Vargas from Playboy

Thank Goodness for the Space Program

NASA invention leads to SmartBra

NASA developed its intelligent memory foam in the '60s to make its aircraft seating safer and more comfortable.

It's still experimenting with the stuff, looking at potential uses in spacecraft parts and structural engineering products for the future.

But, for today at least, it's being used to make bras.

 NASA has credited itself with a large number of spinoffs from it's technology, but I don't know if this one has made the list yet.

"A derivation of the foam is used in the memory foam mattresses. It's also used in the safety lining of racing car helmets, and so I realised it could have a lot of practical uses, and this softening and expansion could have a lot of benefits."
Hang on. Softening and expanding? What exactly does this bra actually do?

"It can boost the cleavage when it detects a rise in body temperature," Dr Nielsen said.

"Such as when a woman gets a little flushed when she gets excited. It can kind of do some of the flirting for you."

But we're not supposed to be looking, or are we?

"But it also has a lot of practical benefits."

"For example, if you're exercising and it detects a rise in body temperature, it can expand to offer more support when you need it."

"The bra, according to Dr Nielsen, can also adapt to a woman's changing shape and size, meaning you're less likely to have to shop for another bra down the line.

Dr Nielsen, who holds a PhD in biochemistry and has used it to pursue his business in what he calls "biocosmeceuticals", says the product may also make life easier for women dealing with ill-fitting bras."

Well, then, if it's just for support, I guess it's OK.

We got a memory foam mattress recently, after 30 some years of sleeping on a water bed originally purchased as a poor post-doc. Great support, a little warm sometimes.

And because TPIWWP:

Thoughts on One Month and 1000 Page Views

Yesterday was the one month anniversary of this blog. By my count, this is the 110th post. And sometime yesterday, it received the 1000th page view, not counting a few tens that I have inadvertently generated by looking in from devices that were not signed in. A thousand may not seem like much, but it may very well exceed the readership of all the scientific literature I've written to date.

First, I want to thank all of you who came to view (even if you only came once, and won't see this). It is a small bit of narcissism on my part to presume that I have something interesting to put out there, and you're rewarding it.

I know who a fair number of you must be, because the software shows the source of originating traffic. A large number of you are from message board forums that I have frequented (to say the least) for the last several years. I can see that when I post a link on one or more of these boards to a blog post, the hits spike for a while. And so I have reason to believe that I'm on a first name basis (at least digitally) with many of you. However, these forums also have a fair number of "lurkers" so I suspect that there's a fair number I don't know. I got a hit from Russia yesterday. Probably a wandering robot, or a lost soul. Who knows?

I've had a few major themes going: Chesapeake Bay, and its environs, both from a personal and from a scientific and policy perspective. Science in general, especially the weird and provocative. Music, good and bad. I haven't spent enough time on this one. Politics; a bit, but I have tried to keep it toned down, and related to one of the other themes. Obviously, I come at this from a conservative bent, but there are many great conservative political blogs out there, and I won't pretend to compete with them. I have a post simmering in the background about how science and conservatism make sense to me. And last, but hopefully not least, a little humor tucked into most of it.

Anyway, before this post wanders off too far, I'd like to plug for a little feed back. If you found a post interesting, what was it? If you found a post lacking, which one and why? Have a suggestion for a post, e-mail me (the link is at the top of the page). I'd like to get a dialogue going in the comments sections if possible.

And thanks again, for indulging me.

Bait and Switch

So now that DADT is repealed, ROTC will come back to the Ivy League schools, right?  After all, they were using DADT as the excuse not to allow ROTC on campus.  Never mind, it wasn't ROTC or the military that put DADT in place; it was Congress.  A college damn sure isn't going to bite that hand.

Not if former Washington Post columnest Colman McCarthy has his way.

It should not be forgotten that schools have legitimate and moral reasons for keeping the military at bay, regardless of the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." They can stand with those who for reasons of conscience reject military solutions to conflicts.

They can stand with Martin Luther King Jr. and his view of America's penchant for war-making: "This madness must cease," he said from a pulpit in April 1967. Even well short of the pacifist positions, they can argue the impracticality of maintaining a military that has helped drive this country into record depths of debt. The defense budget has more than doubled since 2000, to over $700 billion. They can align themselves with colleges such as Hobart, Earlham, Goshen, Guilford, Hampshire, George Fox and a long list of others that teach alternatives to violence. Serve your country after college, these schools say, but consider the Peace Corps as well as the Marine Corps. 

Will the Ivies have the courage for such stands? I'm doubtful. Only one of the eight Ivy League schools - Cornell - offers a degree in peace studies. Their pride in running programs in women's studies, black studies, and gay and lesbian studies is well-founded, but schools have small claims to greatness so long as the study of peace is not equal to the other departments when it comes to size and funding.

and

I admire those who join armies, whether America's or the Taliban's: for their discipline, for their loyalty to their buddies and to their principles, for their sacrifices to be away from home. In recent years, I've had several Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans in my college classes. If only the peace movement were as populated by people of such resolve and daring.

ROTC and its warrior ethic taint the intellectual purity of a school, if by purity we mean trying to rise above the foul idea that nations can kill and destroy their way to peace. If a school such as Harvard does sell out to the military, let it at least be honest and add a sign at its Cambridge front portal: Harvard, a Pentagon Annex.

Did you expect different?

 

We'll Fix It This Time, Really!

EPA unveils a new plan to save Chesapeake Bay.  First they promised to fix it by 2000, then by 2010.  I was here. I remember.  To date progress has been minimal.  As noted here previously, CBF upgraded the Bay from a D to D+ a couple days ago (coincidence?) largely due to more crabs.

Do we really think the EPA has enough political will or clout to force Baltimore and other aging municipalities to deal with their sewage problems, and farmers to deal with their nutrient and sediment problems, or will they try to solve the whole problem by de-industrializing the United States via carbon emission caps?

Seen on the Beach

Chesapecten sp. laying among the cobbles.  Looks hardly more than 1 million of it's 3-8 million years of age. Chesapecten jeffersonius (one of several species of fossil scallops), Virginia's State Fossil, was named for Thomas Jefferson.  We find they make decent soap dishes.  Click to embiggen.

Favre: Not guilty

Apparently, being a bad photographer pays off.  They couldn't identify his dick in the photos...

But just because they had to go to the trouble of looking at them, they fined him $50,000 anyway, for being one.

New Meme: Conseratives Have Better Developed Brains (or something)

A British team reports that conservatives have larger amygdalae than liberals on average, while having smaller anterior cingulate cortexes.

The "exciting" correlation was found by scientists at University College London who scanned the brains of two members of parliament and a number of students.

They found that the size of the two areas of the brain directly related to the political views of the volunteers.

However as they were all adults it was hard to say whether their brains had been born that way or had developed through experience.

Liberals in the media raced to say that therefore, political leanings were hardwired; conservatives were more influenced by the fear conditioning with which the amygdyla is commonly associated ("Conservatives have larger Fear Center"), while liberals were more influenced by the warm and fuzzy anterior cingulate cortexes role in reward anticipation, decision-making, empathy and emotion.

Some conservatives, who apparently aren't too afraid to google, quickly noticed that larger amygdalae were also associated with greater social skills (a much larger social network).

The findings correspond to previous research that found that primates also have a larger amygdala, relative to the overall size of their brain and body. Like humans, primates live in fairly complex social groups, suggesting that a larger amygdala has evolved to help navigate these landscapes. The amygdala has also been shown to be involved with fear, emotion and even seizures, said Paul Sanberg, director of the University of South Florida Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair in Tampa. Sanberg was not involved with the new study. “It’s part of the ‘old’ section of the brain,” he explained. [U.S. News & World Report]

“People who have large amygdalas may have the raw material needed to maintain larger and more complex social networks,” said Barrett. “That said, the brain is a use it or lose it organ. It may be that when people interact more their amygdalas get larger. That would be my guess.” [The Guardian]

Interesting, but, much as as I asked in a previous article:

1. Do these patterns persist after a change in government for liberal dominated to conservative dominated or vice versa?  Does the amygdala grow in response to being in power?
2. What happens when a person shifts political orientation.  Does the amagdyla grow as a person shifts from liberal to conservative?  If the do, do they anticipate or follow that shift?  Is is possible liberalism is a childish state of the amygdala which sometimes persists throughout life?

1+1 = 2, right?

100 years ago this month, the first volume of "Principia Mathematica" was published. In this monumental undertaking Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russel attempted to derive all mathematics from a simple and consistent set of axioms. It contained such notable thoughts as:

Followed by a note to the effect that "The above proposition is occasionally useful."

The authors planned a fourth volume, but confessed to being intellectually exhausted.

Sea Ice!

Or rather Bay Ice:

I don't think it's going to last, though. Temperatures are going up. To see the state of Sea Ice world wide check out Anthony Watts Sea Ice Page.

Why Are You Looking at Me Like That?

Political Leanings Revealed by the Eyes

"Across a variety of tasks, we are beginning to find a consistent pattern where conservatives are more responsive to threat/disgust, more responsive to angry faces, and less sensitive to gaze cues than liberals," Dodd wrote in an e-mail to LiveScience. "Liberals, on the other hand, are proving to be more responsive to positive/appetitive stimuli, more responsive to happy faces, and more sensitive to gazes."

Consistent with the observation that "A conservative is a liberal who has been mugged by reality".

There are several possible explanations for the result, Dodd said. One possibility is that liberals are more empathetic and thus more responsive to others. Another theory is that conservatives are better at following instructions and were thus more likely to listen when the researchers said to ignore the face.

Dodd and his colleagues believe that a more likely explanation is that conservatives value personal autonomy more than liberals, making them less likely to be influenced by others.

The results are correlational, meaning there's no way to know whether your tendency to pay attention to others influences your political beliefs or whether political beliefs change behavior.

"Both possibilities exist," Dodd said. "I do tend to think that it is more likely that basic cognitive biases influence how you process the world, making you more or less likely to seek out liberal or conservative ideals."

 There are a number of interesting follow up questions to be explored:

1. Do these patterns persist after a change in government for liberal dominated to conservative dominated or vice versa?
2. What happens when a person shifts political orientation.  Do these patterns shift or not?  If the do, do they anticipate or follow that shift?

Was the World's Oldest Man Jewish After All?

Earliest modern human fossil found in Israel:

Archeologists from Tel Aviv University say eight human-like teeth found in the Qesem cave near Rosh Ha’Ayin - 10 miles from Israel’s international airport - are 400,000 years old, from the Middle Pleistocene Age, making them the earliest remains of homo sapiens yet discovered anywhere in the world.

The size and shape of the teeth are very similar to those of modern man. Until now, the earliest examples found were in Africa, dating back only 200,000 years.

Other scientists have argued that human beings originated in Africa before moving to other regions 150,000 to 200,000 years ago.

Homo sapiens discovered in Middle Awash, Ethiopia, from 160,000 years ago were believed to be the oldest 'modern' human beings.

Follow the link to Youtube to listen to Parts 2 and 3.

Illegal, Immoral, or Fattening

So what's your New Years resolution going to be?

Swiped from Ann Althouse

The Tiny Dancer Illusion

Which way is she turning?



I can see her turn clockwise or counterclockwise, depending on where I start the clip.  Another example of the way our brain interprets and imposes a perception on us that may not be real.

The Bay Gets its Annual Report Card - D+

Every year, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation grades the Bay on a number of factors. This year they upgraded it to a D+ from a D.

Factors listed as excuses for the improvement included higher crab abundance, spreading sea grass beds, and higher oxygen concentrations in the bottom waters.  Areas of no progress or continued  decline include nutrient pollution, and the striped bass.

Certainly, blue crab populations appear to have responded positively to attempts to throttle back the fishery.  Crabs appear to be on the ragged edge of being over-fished. However, crab populations are well known to be highly variable, and one or two years of good numbers should not be construed as proof that the problem is solved for good.

IMHO, much of the improvement noted this year (other than the crabs) may be due to a favorable climatological year; in 2010 we had no massive spring freshet that brought massive amounts of sediments and nutrients into the bay a massive pulse, setting up the conditions for greater oxygen problems later in the year.  That is improvement, and we'll take it and be happy, but it's nothing to count on.

More troubling, at least to those of us who fish, is the apparent decline in rockfish abundance.  It's been quite apparent to me for the past several years that the large schools of small and medium sized (6-17 inch) rockfish that we used to see off my stretch of coast have been declining in size and frequency.  It is these fish that will provide the sport and commercial catch for the next several years to come.  Many of us have been predicting a return to rockfish moratorium, and I had a DNR fisheries scientist echo this sentiment in a private conversation.

Sunrise or Sunset?

What Will Those Crazy Engineers Come Up With Next?

Filling a beer from the bottom!






I predict that the first household models will hit the stores this year.

Great Fleas Have Little Fleas Upon Their backs to Bite 'Em...

...And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum. And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on; While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on.
[1872 A. De morgan Budget of Paradoxes 377]

There's Got to be a Morning After

The hopefully final "blizzard of 2010" dropped about 3 inches of snow on the ground ending overnight. We managed to stiff Skye for a walk yesterday, but she was having none of that today. When we left this morning it 29 F and the wind was gusting to 35 from the north, but the sky was blue:
 

The beach was largely bare of snow, but it drifted nicely among the dunes, with some sand mixed in.

I'm Buying a Bottle Just to Encourage More Ads

Of course, you can count on the usual suspects to complain about blowing up the crocodile, so, below the jump, the apology:

I Guess There's Someone for Everyone...

But why doe Hugh Hefner always get the cute Playboy Bunny?

WASHINGTON - Hugh Hefner, the twice-married founder of Playboy, is taking the plunge again.
Hefner, 84, said on Saturday in a posting on Twitter that he and his girlfriend Crystal Harris, 24, got engaged on Friday.
“When I gave Crystal the ring, she burst into tears. This is the happiest Christmas weekend in memory,” Hefner tweeted.
Hefner, whose magazine was founded in 1953, was divorced from his second wife, Kimberley Conrad, earlier this year. His first marriage to Mildred Williams ended in divorce in 1959.
Harris was the Playboy Playmate of the Month for December 2009...

Oh, Yeah...

Somewhat racy picture of Crystal below the jump:

Aren't Alpacas Cute?

 
Let Uncle Sugar help you buy one!

Abstractly, supporting family-based agriculture sounds good. Government policies often harm small farms by favoring corporate agribusinesses. Government could help family farms by ending the subsidies that mostly go to the big guys. But that doesn't interest the politicians. They prefer to do things like creating tax breaks to encourage livestock breeding.

The tax breaks have led to a boom in alpaca breeding. Twenty-five years ago, there were 150 alpacas in America. Now, there are 150,000.

One website even advertises: "Have Uncle Sam Help You Buy Your Alpacas."

Rose Mogerman raises alpacas in New Jersey, the most densely populated state. "I fell in love with them," she said.

But she fell in love with the tax break first.

"Yes. I have to be honest," she said. "I might have had two. I wouldn't have had 100. ... I was looking for a tax shelter."

The Alpaca Breeders Association asked its members, on a scale of 1 to 10, what motivated them to get into alpaca breeding. More than half rated "tax benefits" a 10.

To Lay Me Down

Merry Christmas!

Santa done good.  I got a Kindle 3G, and Georgia got an allegedly squirrel proof bird feeder.  Had breakfast at IHop, and saw a few flakes of snow on the way.  Stopped at the liquor store (again) on the way home, and got ready to be snowed in, if necessary.

Offered in the Spirit...

of Roger Zelazny's "Agnostic's Prayer":

Please accept with no obligation, implied or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2011 but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

You can blame Ted for this...

Joy to the World

Christmas Cuties

And Hold the Fruitcake!

Atkins is Back!

Most people can count calories. Many have a clue about where fat lurks in their diets. However, fewer give carbohydrates much thought, or know why they should.

But a growing number of top nutritional scientists blame excessive carbohydrates — not fat — for America's ills. They say cutting carbohydrates is the key to reversing obesity, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

"Fat is not the problem," says Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. "If Americans could eliminate sugary beverages, potatoes, white bread, pasta, white rice and sugary snacks, we would wipe out almost all the problems we have with weight and diabetes and other metabolic diseases."

It's a confusing message. For years we've been fed the line that eating fat would make us fat and lead to chronic illnesses. "Dietary fat used to be public enemy No. 1," says Dr. Edward Saltzman, associate professor of nutrition and medicine at Tufts University. "Now a growing and convincing body of science is pointing the finger at carbs, especially those containing refined flour and sugar."...

I used the Atkins Diet to lose over 50 lbs a few years ago, and kept most of it off for at least three years.  We kind lost it after I switched jobs and donuts became more readily available.  Our health stayed good through out the time, contrary to everyone's fear of cholesterol and all.

With the planned events around the nuptials of #2 son next Sept, Georgia and I are planning to give it a shot again, to get a little trimmer.  Somehow, walking on the beach twice a week just isn't enough.

US gasoline use falls, never to rise again

Report: Americans using 8% less gasoline than 2006 peak, will never go up again

... Here's the hard data: Americans averaged about 8.2 million barrels of oil, or 344 gallons, per day in 2010, which is an 8-percent drop since the country's peak in 2006. Experts seem to agree that gasoline usage in the States will continue to drop – as much as 20 percent by the year 2030, despite millions of additional cars on the roads – barring any unexpected periods of economic boom or another meteoric drop in fuel prices...

 So stop bitching at us. Use by the Chinese and Indians will continue to rise, however.

Update:  Did you catch the typo in the quote?  What's a few orders of magnitude among friends?

The Human Tree Gets a New Root

Genome of Extinct Siberian Cave-dweller Linked to Modern-day Humans

...Researchers have discovered evidence of a distinct group of "archaic" humans existing outside of Africa more than 30,000 years ago at a time when Neanderthals are thought to have dominated Europe and Asia. But genetic testing shows that members of this new group were not Neanderthals, and they interbred with the ancestors of some modern humans who are alive today...

...Another type of analysis reported by the study's authors showed Denisovans contributed 4-6 percent of their genetic material to the genomes of present-day New Guineans. "They are ancestors of people in Papua New Guinea but not of the great majority of people in Eurasia," said David Reich, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, who led the research's population genetics analysis...

 OK, now this is cool.  In addition to neanderthals, who were recently shown to have contributed a small fraction of the genes of modern humans, this study finds a new group of primitive humans, co-existent with neanderthals, who contributed a larger share of their genome, although to a more limited geographic range of modern humans.  They have been dubbed the "Denisovans" from the Denisova cave in Siberia where the fossils were found.


Will they get their own series of Geico commercials?

30-30