Hiatus?

Uh, for that 1 or so people people who read this blog--I may not come back to it.

Blogging takes more time then I have.

DISCLAIMER: I can't cite the diabetes study, as I read the Times article and lost it, but the study on men and memory can be found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/vp/22652909#22652909 . I queried the guy who did the study, but he never responded to me.

I would rather "professional" news reporters not report on science than get it so badly wrong. Example: NBC anchorman implied that men can't remember details in their emotional context and that women can't do anything but remember details with their emotional context.

Another example: the old saw about type 2 (insulin resistance) diabetes being linked to obesity continues to be part of the "standard" description of newsreporters. Science news reporters should not use "standard" descriptions without fact checking them. According to the New York Times, the recent studies have indicated that weight gain is often linked to diabetes-treating medications, a timeline ignored in many statistical studies. Also, there are a statistically significant number of people with low body fat who have type 2 diabetes. At the same time, other Times articles report on a strong link between obesity and diabetes, suggesting that reporters are summarizing results, making them a mouthpiece for the latest study, rather than individuals taking responsibility for the accuracy of what they write.

The same, of course, goes for smoking and lung cancer--a statistically significant number of people who smoke get lung cancer within twenty years (after twenty years, the risk drops tremendously for people who have quite smoking). However, a statistically significant number of people don't get lung cancer. Plus, with the rise in lung-cancer rates among non-smokers, these statistics are likely to change (this rise was cited by a physician).

Obama's Lies

Anyone else a little pissed that Obama is repeating the same old lie about more African Americans being in jail than in college? Don't the leaders of the community see how this helps to influence that little suburban black boy who thinks of jail as a right of passage, and is angry that it is denied to him? Why must so-called leaders buy into myths instead of fighting them?

Of course, I dislike Obama anyway. The typical arrogant outsider who recognizes the flaws of the Washington political community but doesn't respect the system enough to learn how to fix it! Of course, we do need a leader who will reverse Bush's changes, bringing the government back to the slow, behemoth that helps keep our country relatively stable.

Oh, for a non-insane Nixon!

Iowa

I'm not happy that Obama won. Some voters are actually ignorant enough to think that having a multi-cultural perspective is enough. It isn't. You also need to have the mental skills, the background knowledge, and the self-knowledge, to make a serious study of others and how they will react to your policies.

However, I would almost be happy if Huckabee won the Republican nomination, if he was defeated. It would finally be a message to that arm of the Christian right that they are NOT mainstream.

Huckabee--a symbol of the sad lack of education in our preachers. Either that or he is a serpent in disguise, telling lies and manipulating his flock in pursuit of a so called deeper truth that is in reality nothing more than the pursuit of his own power.