Arg, the stupid, it hurts...
"Our immune system “adapts” to the invading pathogens and “evolves” to fight them, such that when it encounters a biologically similar pathogen (which itself may have evolved) it has in its armory the weapons needed to fight it" ... "It is with considerable irony, then, that as a full-throated opponent of the nonsense that calls itself Intelligent Design, your anti-vaccination stance makes you something of an anti-evolutionist. Since you have been so vocal in your defense of the theory of evolution, I implore you to be consistent in your support of the theory across all domains and to please reconsider your position on vaccinations."
So, if I've got this right, the reasoning is... Evolution is dogma. Immune responses involve change... change is evolution, therefore, vaccines are safe! Why can't all the stupid people disagree with me? It would make reading the internet much more pleasant.
_
respond?
(5)
12:57:13 PM,
Monday 19 October 2009
-
Fast, Cheap and Out of Control might potentially have been interesting if I had not previously been overexposed to MIT style blithering about artificial intelligence.
_
respond?
09:06:42 PM,
Sunday 18 October 2009
-
I have had a day unlike most days. I went to work for an hour at 7am, treated a random homeless guy to egg mcmuffins, and then played 5 games of Go in a basement, over the course of 8 hours. And then with the fake hollywood snow on the way home.
_
respond?
07:08:25 PM,
Sunday 18 October 2009
-
respond? (1)
12:02:57 AM, Sunday 18 October 2009
-
I thought I had totally escaped all interest in baseball, but it seems that there's a Pedro exception.
_
respond?
(3)
04:50:05 PM,
Friday 16 October 2009
-
I'm pretty stunned to learn there's never been a good study on flu vaccine effectiveness. I nearly didn't read this, because I thought, vaccine deniers, Jim Carrey, and then I got angry about the upcoming Christmas Carol. but I was mistaken to get so sidetracked. It's an excellent article by the excellent Shannon Brownlee, who is my favoritest health care wonk.
_
respond?
(4)
05:15:51 PM,
Thursday 15 October 2009
-
Gibbon suggests that one of the reasons early christians were persecuted was because they were suspected of being atheists. It's a joyfully subversive book.
_
respond?
(4)
11:48:15 PM,
Wednesday 14 October 2009
-
Watching Joan Baez documentary, and thinking she would have been a great playback singer.
_
respond?
11:00:24 PM,
Wednesday 14 October 2009
-
I think I've set a personal record for irritability today. Not irritation: no one related to me is within 100 miles. But I feel a tremendous capacity for irritation within me. I'm going to be unbearable when I'm old and sick.
_
respond?
05:37:45 PM,
Wednesday 14 October 2009
-
Having an impeachment process for managers probably wouldn't be a good idea, but it's really painful when an entire team has lost confidence in their manager. Especially when the manager is a good person in the wrong job.
_
respond?
(2)
11:27:24 AM,
Tuesday 13 October 2009
-
First bicycle accident today. Had to come to an extremely rapid stop, and the back tire came out from under me. Don't remember hitting my head, but my bicycle helmet does, and I am mildly concussed, though not so much that the Mayo clinic webpage thinks I need to seek further care. Typing really isn't working very well at all. Errors every 3rd word or so. Ah well. Outside Alewife, in the bike lane, and there was a bike commuter riding down the bike lane, the same bike lane, but in the wrong direction. The car looked left, saw me, decided, correctly, that I was far enough away, then looked right, and saw this guy going the wrong way, so hesitated. The wrong-way biker swerved up onto the sidewalk, so the car, having forgotten me, pulled out right in front of me. I am proud of myself for not swerving left (I don't know if I had space, but at least shortly afterwards there was a cab there). I ended up not even touching him. I somehow derailled my chain, and hit my head behind my left ear, I'm guessing from the marks on the helmet on my handlebars, but I don't really know. But I was wearing leather gloves, because it's stupid cold out there, and had heavy pants on, so don't even have a scratch to show for it.
The moral of the story is not to cycle in unpredictable ways, even if you feel completely safe doing it, because it spreads unpredictability throughout the system. I don't blame the car driver at all: He had made the go decision, then hesitated. He had a line of cars behind him. Very easy mistake to make. The cyclist is a moron though, and the bike lane there is pretty dumb as well: Before it was installed, I used to cycle along the median, which I think is much safer. I'm not sure what I could have done differently. I already had my hands on the brakes as soon as I saw the guy coming the other way. I was maybe too focused on him and not enough on the car. I couldn't have been going any more than 10 mph. I could have had a light, but it was only 5pm, and I was wearing my dayglo jacket.
I think the bike is okay, it's making a funny noise, but I think it was making that this morning too. I proceeded to cycle all the way home, which, by the time I got home, I had decided had been a dumb idea. The typing seems to be getting better. It's just a slight shakiness of the fingers, I think.
Baseball is much more watchable when mildly concussed.
edit: Actually, it can't just be a shakiness of the fingers. spelling 'spelling' 'pselling' could be, but bike just isn't bick, and fingers just isn't finkers. I thought I was just tired when I got home, but then I tried to tell erika what happened, and I had difficulty composing coherent sentences. I could think fine inside my head, or I thought I could. It's kind of nifty. _respond? (16)
07:29:56 PM, Monday 12 October 2009
-
I am learning that Dwight Yoakam, while good, is best in moderation, and somewhat prone to duets. I'm gradually realizing that looking for more things like Hank Williams isn't going to work, except superficially.
_
respond?
(1)
12:33:36 PM,
Monday 12 October 2009
-
site & script courtesy of Moss
