Monday, January 16, 2012
Beaten To The Punch.....
Just when I was about to write an article on this, PZ beats me to the punch.... again.
I swear, how do they all have TIME for this sort of thing?
Privatization of peer-reviewed research
Is it my imagination, or are Republicans trying to privatize EVERYTHING?
I swear, how do they all have TIME for this sort of thing?
Privatization of peer-reviewed research
Is it my imagination, or are Republicans trying to privatize EVERYTHING?
Yes, I Wrote That
" I think that in order to be a religious scientist you must have a serious amount of cognitive dissonance going on. Science is about fact; it is about empirical exploration of our world. It depends upon logic, thinking critically, and the ability to weigh evidence.
Religion, on the other hand, is about faith (defined as belief without evidence). It is wholly dependent on the suspension of faculties relating to critical thinking. If one were to go out and look for evidence for a supernatural being, or for evidence that the bible is more than a collection of tribal legends written by bronze age goatherds, then you would come up with an awful lot of nothing.
You must therefore demand rigorous scientific testable evidence for one part of your life and accept faith as the only explanation for the other portion of your life. Dissonance it truly is, if one is to accept both."
Go look for more at Atheist Shit That Rocks.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Surgery and The Doctors
While I was in the waiting room at San Francisco General Hospital for my surgical consult, I caught wind of a very terrible daytime television show called The Doctors.
This particular episode was about sex in America and the current state of how people approach sex. I had multiple problems with this episode, not least of which was the fact that the rather excrable Ann Coulter was on. I shall break it down for you point by point.
When arguing about the rise of teen pregnancies, not ONCE did anyone mention the incredible damage that abstinence only education has done to this country's youth. Education on sex, how to prevent disease and pregnancy, and how to handle sexual situations is critical to decreasing these numbers, and yet all they could talk about was how people need to take better control of their kids and the teenagers need to take some responsibility for their actions. This is total bullshit, as the numbers bear out.
Ann Coulter started spewing random 'facts' about how 90% of people in jail were the product of single parent homes and how single parents are contributing to the breakdown of morals in this country. I was deeply proud of the doctor who pointed out that she was the product of a single parent household, and now she's an MD. If I'd been on that panel I would have said something like "This is hardly the fault of the person who sticks around and makes sure that the child is well taken care of. Those millions of couples who want to adopt don't exist. Ann, you have a long and sordid history of playing fast and loose with the facts, and I frankly cannot take any numbers you come up with out of your head seriously."
After Ann finally went away (thankfully) it became a show about slut-shaming. There was a pregnant 15 year old girl (was she really?) on who said that the condom broke. It's not nearly as common as people make it out to be. The whole point of the program from then on was "See? If you don't have sex you never have to deal with this."
It was all about scaring the crap out of kids in order to get them to never have sex. If they wanted to really help (I'm thinking about the gynecologist on the show who said some incredibly ignorant stuff) they would educate the kids: this is how birth control works, this is how condoms work, this is what the real risks are but lets talk in terms of statistics and how likely it is that you get diseases. Did they talk at all about the benefits of Gardisil and whether or not they should have it? Did they talk at all about Pap smears and pelvic exams and why they were a good idea? Nope. It was abstinence education all over again.
On a completely different note, I have a surgical date which thankfully does NOT involve me missing school. I am very very grateful for that.
I hope to finish my discussion of action potentials and hopefully look at the Dr. Oz show for juicy tidbits to debunk. Once I'm done with action potentials, I think I would like to talk a bit about imaging techniques and brain cancer/central nervous system tumors.
Yes, I'm back.
This particular episode was about sex in America and the current state of how people approach sex. I had multiple problems with this episode, not least of which was the fact that the rather excrable Ann Coulter was on. I shall break it down for you point by point.
When arguing about the rise of teen pregnancies, not ONCE did anyone mention the incredible damage that abstinence only education has done to this country's youth. Education on sex, how to prevent disease and pregnancy, and how to handle sexual situations is critical to decreasing these numbers, and yet all they could talk about was how people need to take better control of their kids and the teenagers need to take some responsibility for their actions. This is total bullshit, as the numbers bear out.
Ann Coulter started spewing random 'facts' about how 90% of people in jail were the product of single parent homes and how single parents are contributing to the breakdown of morals in this country. I was deeply proud of the doctor who pointed out that she was the product of a single parent household, and now she's an MD. If I'd been on that panel I would have said something like "This is hardly the fault of the person who sticks around and makes sure that the child is well taken care of. Those millions of couples who want to adopt don't exist. Ann, you have a long and sordid history of playing fast and loose with the facts, and I frankly cannot take any numbers you come up with out of your head seriously."
After Ann finally went away (thankfully) it became a show about slut-shaming. There was a pregnant 15 year old girl (was she really?) on who said that the condom broke. It's not nearly as common as people make it out to be. The whole point of the program from then on was "See? If you don't have sex you never have to deal with this."
It was all about scaring the crap out of kids in order to get them to never have sex. If they wanted to really help (I'm thinking about the gynecologist on the show who said some incredibly ignorant stuff) they would educate the kids: this is how birth control works, this is how condoms work, this is what the real risks are but lets talk in terms of statistics and how likely it is that you get diseases. Did they talk at all about the benefits of Gardisil and whether or not they should have it? Did they talk at all about Pap smears and pelvic exams and why they were a good idea? Nope. It was abstinence education all over again.
On a completely different note, I have a surgical date which thankfully does NOT involve me missing school. I am very very grateful for that.
I hope to finish my discussion of action potentials and hopefully look at the Dr. Oz show for juicy tidbits to debunk. Once I'm done with action potentials, I think I would like to talk a bit about imaging techniques and brain cancer/central nervous system tumors.
Yes, I'm back.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Surgery On A Scientist Part Two
I went in for blood work today, just to make sure that my liver and kidneys can handle the extra stress of the anesthetics and painkillers that will be part of the surgery. Blood tests can test for different enzymes made by the liver, and it is important to make sure that they are at the appropriate levels before surgery. If they are too low, recovery can be difficult. The liver clears the drugs from the system, so you want to be sure that the organ is performing adequately.
Butterfly catheters are really quite interesting. There was a little prick of pain and then this exceptionally sharp piece of metal went into my arm. I watched it disappear. And then rich red blood came out.
I enjoy understanding and watching things like this. What can I say. The dissection and understanding of any phenomena around me is my way of interacting with the world.
So once I get the test results back I should have all my ducks in a row for the surgery. According to the online forums, a tonsillectomy is a great way to lose weight.
Butterfly catheters are really quite interesting. There was a little prick of pain and then this exceptionally sharp piece of metal went into my arm. I watched it disappear. And then rich red blood came out.
I enjoy understanding and watching things like this. What can I say. The dissection and understanding of any phenomena around me is my way of interacting with the world.
So once I get the test results back I should have all my ducks in a row for the surgery. According to the online forums, a tonsillectomy is a great way to lose weight.
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