Logo finalists for National Laboratory Week

Received an email asking me to vote on the final two logo choices for National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week. Here they are ...

I've voted for #2.

I hate patents ...

... they're a pain in the ass and a ton of work. Enough said.

Food labeling laws to soon take effect

On October 1st. It's called "Country of Origin Labeling", problem is ... not all foods will have it.

That’s because the regulations exclude a variety of foods that fall under the labeling requirement but are considered to be processed, including roasted peanuts, breaded chicken and bacon. The exemption for processed food also means that certain foods that are mixed together don’t have to be labeled, such as a bag of lettuce that includes both Romaine and iceberg, or a package of frozen peas and carrots.

Well, it's a start I suppose.

Of course, retailers have an additional 6 months to fall into compliance ... so I wouldn't exactly look for these labels on October 1.

If Jim Marshall were my House Rep ...

... he'd lose my vote for approving the bail out. This part of his justification is particularly full of crappola ...

Deep down, we all know that a financial rescue is necessary.

Speak for yourself Marshall, not all of us feel that way. At. All.

How about you spend less time trying to throw my hard earned tax dollars at idiots, and spend more time preventing those idiots from messing up my retirement in the future?

Speaking about vaccines ...

... check out the following vaccination campaign.

Every Child By Two.

Umm, Jenny ...

... no, she's (she being Amanda Peet) not wrong. Maybe I wouldn't go so far as to call you a parasite ... but the fact of the matter is ... vaccines are not linked to autism. No way, no how. From the link:

The findings here mirror those of a Danish study that demonstrated ongoing increases in ASD diagnosis despite removal of thimerosal from vaccines, as well as Canadian data demonstrating no decrease in ASD diagnosis for children vaccinated with non-thimerosal-containing vaccines.

What does that mean? That autism is on the rise, and the culprit people are blaming for the autism (thimerosal) isn't even there any longer!

I know Jenny seems to disagree, and I know ... her child has autism, and that sucks. I'm sure she's seeking a reason as to why, but she's looking in the wrong place, and by doing that she's diverting attention away from seeking the true cause. And worse yet, these scare tactics are ruining current vaccination programs, and children are suffering because of it.

“I am so distressed with what is happening, and now our mission has become more difficult,” Carter said. “As a result of all this there is an outbreak of measles and whooping cough.”

Lovely. Perhaps misery loves company ... Jenny?

The Journal of Clinical Investigation released a News brief in 2008 entitled Attention Focuses on Autism (PDF, 2 pages), (link to non-PDF version at PubMed) and concluded:

As was noted to the JCI by Gerald Fischbach, Scientific Director of the Simons Foundation, an organization that seeks to fund research in basic sciences and mathematics, including autism research, “There is no epidemiological evidence of a link between vaccination and the development of autism, and it is exceedingly unwise not to have your child vaccinated, as the consequences of this can be devastating, not just for the unvaccinated child but also others in the community.”

I've never been a fan of wrestling ...

... and this just gives me more of a reason to not care about it.

"Scrumpox", or herpes gladiatorum, is a skin infection caused by the herpes virus, which can cause coldsores. It is spread through direct skin-to-skin contact so it is common among rugby players and wrestlers. Symptoms can start with a sore throat and swollen glands and the telltale blisters appear on the face, neck, arms or legs. The disease is highly infectious, so players who are infected are often taken out of competition to stop the virus from spreading.

Lovely, huh?

Even better, once you have herpes, you have it for life.

"Herpes virus can hide in nerve cells for long periods of time and symptoms can reappear later," said Dr Yanagi.

Yay?

Oh, and this particular strain? Deadly.

"Two of the wrestlers died as a result of their infections, so cases like this do need to be investigated," said Dr Yanagi.

Which runs counter to most herpes infections. Typically, it just creates open, quite attractive looking sores on the affected areas of your body.

Evidence of water on Mars ...

... at least from a historical perspective.

Phoenix has found minerals on Mars that suggest the craft's bone-dry landing site may once have been quite wet, researchers announced on Monday. The lander has also spotted the first hints of snowfall, in clouds high above the ground.

Water is the main prerequisite for life.

Depression? Not likely ...

Here is the Wall Street Journal's take on the issue. Yep, you've got to go read the story on the other side of the link.

Furthermore, U.S. nonfinancial companies have just under $1 trillion in cash on their books. Even though Wall Street is dead, innovation is not: In the months to come, clever new financial go-betweens will spring up and find a way to get that cash flowing again. It's hard to see how a depression could get under way when so much capital is waiting in the wings.

There is this as well ...

"Diversification is dead." There's an old saying that the only things that go up in a down market are correlations -- the tightness of the linkages among various assets like U.S. and foreign markets, stocks and bonds, commodities or real estate. Normally, one asset will tend to zig while another zags. But in bear markets, they converge -- and in really terrible bear markets, they move in complete lockstep.

That's what is happening now, but it will not last indefinitely. It never does. While diversification does not work all the time, it does work over the course of time. There's nothing wrong with raising a little cash if that would prevent you from panicking completely. This is particularly true for retirees. Whittle down your stock position gradually, in baby steps -- say, 1% at a time -- not in one fell swoop. And set a limit beyond which you will not go; otherwise, when stocks stage their inevitable recovery, you will miss out.

If you're like me, you'll ride it out. It's about the only thing you can do, but it's the only smart, sensible thing to do as well.

Just Say No!

To any sort of bailout. Here's why. Yes, you'll have to read the link.

The fact that government bears such a huge responsibility for the current mess means any response should eliminate the conditions that created this situation in the first place, not attempt to fix bad government with more government.

Damn skippy!

Ain't this the truth ...

Farmer's Markets

If you want to keep a portion of your money local, support your local farmers

"Farmers markets are an increasingly popular source of fruits and vegetables," said Schafer. "Locally grown and locally known sales of fresh produce strengthen the connection between farmers and the community."

Recently the USDA awarded $3.4 million to farmers markets around the nation.

House to Rep. Barney Frank ...

... you don't know what you're talking about ... so sit down, and shut up.

I suppose I could live to regret it, but I don't think I should have to pay for this bailout of idiots by idiots.

The waiting game ...

... so I currently have two first authored manuscripts out for review. One has been out for almost a month, the other for a couple of weeks. I'm not sure when I'll hear back from the editors from the respective journals, but I hope it's soon.

This is one of the hardest parts of the whole peer-review process. You know who your editor is, but you have no idea who the reviewers are, and as such you have no idea how your research is going to be viewed and accepted ... if it's accepted at all. Now where I work, we do a round of "in house" peer-review prior to sending it out to the journal. Typically we're asked to pick two experts in the field, preferrably not collaborators on other projects of ours, and send it to them to get their opinion on whether the paper would have a legitimate chance of passing through the peer review process. Both manuscripts of mine were received favorably, and I addressed the comments laid forth by the reviewers of both papers. The hope is, they catch anything which could be considered "deal breaking" so when it gets into the actual peer-review process, things should go rather smoothly.

These are my first, first-authored papers with my new job ... so we'll see how well the process works. One of the papers, I'm extremely confident will see the light of publication soon. I may have to do some edits, but I cannot envision any major rewrites or new experiments. I'll get it back, I'll do the revisions ... and it'll get published. The second one ... I'm a bit more concerned. It's from my graduate school days, and was gutted by my old academic adviser ... half of it went into a paper of the new post-doc (with the promise that we'd share first authorship) and I was left with the residual to get published. Is it strong enough to get published? Several people think so, and I think so to ... but it's one of those borderline cases. I'd say it's definitely an LPU (least publishable unit). I'd have loved to add a bit more work to it ... but I left my graduate career behind almost four years ago, and I can't bring a human pathogen into an environmental lab ... it just isn't going to happen. So, I have to hope the reviewers don't shred it to bits. It also highlights one of the problems a lot of new PhD's have ... they lose control of their projects once they graduate. This paper would have been much stronger if I had gotten a chance to publish it in grad school, but I lost any leg I had to stand on once I ceased to be part of the "family" of the lab.

If you have a pet lizard ...

... listen up.

New bacterial organism identified which can cause fatal disease in lizards.

Skin infections are common in pet lizards and can lead to fatal organ disease and septicaemia. Infections are particularly risky in lizards that are bred in captivity for release into the wild, as they can spread into the wild population. The cause of these diseases has been unclear but now researchers in Belgium have discovered a new bacterium responsible for dermatitis in desert lizards.

The organism? Devriesea agamarum

The name is derived from Devriesea referring to the veterinary microbiologist L.A. Devriese and agamarum after Agama, an Old World reptile. See, that's the cool thing about getting to name a new species of life. Heck, they even identified a new genus so they achieved double glory!

Boomer Sooner!

At least my alma mater is ranked #1 in football.

And today ...

... I'm not.

Though, to be honest ... this really isn't about Chicago. This is about the Metropolitans stinking again in September. Listen guys, with 17 games to go (with a three game lead in the division) all you can do is win 7 of them (and finish three games down)? Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

If you guys trot out the same stinking starting rotation and bullpen you trotted out this year, I'll find another team to root for*.



*Yes, I'm bluffing, but damn ... two years in a row?

Today ...

... I am a Cubs fan.

Thanks for nothing Barney Frank ...

... you big jerk.

"These two entities—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—are not facing any kind of financial crisis," said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. "The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."

That quote comes to you from the year 2003. Gee, an ounce of prevention five years ago might have saved us from this staggering pound of cure in 2008.

Barney Frank, the latest incompetent to be exposed by scandal. Why do these people remain elected into office? Wake up folks, vote these idiots out of office!

Financial Crisis ...

If this is the case, then I say to hell with the bailout.

First, the good news: Even if warnings of economic catastrophe aren't enough to win approval of a controversial $700 billion Wall Street bailout, the economy is not at risk of falling into a depression, most experts agree.

Cost of running the government for half a year: $650 Billion
Cost of proposed bailout: $700 Billion

Interesting, eh?