Christopher Hitchens, I Salute You

I have been meaning to write about Palin's latest moronic remark about fruit flies and the backtracking she and others around her did to try to spin her ignorance into truth. The newly ratified colloquialism "EPIC FAIL" comes into mind. Christopher Hitchens has beaten me to the punch. His latest post at Slate, http://www.slate.com/id/2203120/, accurately portrays how most scientists feel about her. Dumb. She initially stated that fruit fly research (in Paris) is funded by earmark spending and gave the impression that it should be cut back. At a time when the NIH and NSF have been working on a tight budget and not funding enough research as it is, she has the audacity of cutting research dollars. Scientists have been speaking out and saying that Drosophila research is not only important in understanding developmental biology, but also leads to breakthroughs in transitional research for biomedical advances further down the line. While there are many people who are uninterested in the biological sciences for the sake of pure knowledge, I'm sure that almost everybody believes that medical breakthroughs that stem from this research is important to the quality of life for all people.

As soon as Palin realized her gaffe, she and those around her knew she had to backtrack. Her response was that the funded research was studying the effects of fruit flies on olive trees...in Paris---holy fucking shit commie foreigners. It's difficult to know whether or not she initially meant what she claimed in her response, but even if we take her word for truth, like she does with some version of the bible, and regardless of how poor her communication skills are, her statement is still a prime example of idiocy. According to the UC Davis IPM website, Bactrocera oleae is a major pest and "the olive fruit fly occurs in at least 41 counties in California and threatens virtually all commercial and fruit-bearing ornamental olive plantings". You would think that the government would support American businesses and help them survive. You would think that Mrs. Palin would want to keep these jobs in the country and like her major goal of keeping oil drilling local, why not keep olive production local. That way would wouldn't have to support the Euro-commies, or whatever they call them in Wasilla.

Protect Marriage....No on 8

The anti-gay crowd has managed to get a proposition on the California ballot that would deny same-sex couples the benefit of government sponsored marriage. They have a few arguments that don't really add up to much. One such argument is the nefarious claim that same-sex couples are getting a special right just because they're gay, another is that being raised by a same-sex couple is harmful for the kids, and my personal favorite claim; same-sex marriage impedes on their religious rights. Excuse me, but it is not a religious rights issue. Nobody is forcing anybody into marrying another person of the same sex. That would be a religious rights issue and I would protest against it while laughing hysterically. But that is not happening.

Sure is Hard

The GRE of course. All this studying for the subject test and the regular test. Sure is lots of work. Gre Bio on Saturday. Gotta keep studying. Refreshing and relearning everything I was supposed to know coming out of college. Getting into graduate school is the goal. Hang in there John Ilya is what I keep telling myself. All this work will payoff sometime.

Nature: The Beauty of Ugly

Last night I watched The Beauty of Ugly on PBS while taking a study break. I was really looking forward to this program because although I am not a wildlife biologist, I am both interested and concerned with the future of the Earth's biodiversity. Programs like this allow the wildlife to come into people's living rooms and if done correctly may have an influence on the way the public views biodiversity. Also, I have heard and am of the belief that traditionally uglier and scarier animals of the world are at a higher risk for extinction than their cuter counterparts due to their being less public attachment to them. This results in fewer funds for conservation efforts. I applaud Nature for taking up the topic whether they feel the same way I do about conservation efforts or if they just needed another idea for a program.

There were some really interesting animals on the program, two of which I have had the pleasure of studying in college; the Northern Elephant Seal for a behavioral ecology lab and the hagfish for a vertebrate physiology class. Others that were discussed were the Star-nosed Mole, Naked Mole Rat, Vultures, Proboscis Monkeys and various deep sea fish. But much like other nature programs that show various animals, the segments always end sooner than expected. There was a superficial explanation that the male Proboscis Monkeys use their proboscii as a sexual selection agents by attracting mates and intimidating other males. The segment could have been longer in order to discuss how researchers came to the conclusion that this was what the proboscis was used for.

I would also have liked to learn more about the Star-nosed Mole's tentacles. Again there were some superficial facts but I felt like they could have included more information regarding how researchers determined the sensitivity of the tentacles. More in-depth evolutionary history of the species would have been both fascinating and worthwhile to the audience.

My criticism of the show is not to say that I didn't enjoy the program. I did enjoy it and actually learned a few new fact. The criticism stems from my unknowing belief that these programs are primarily watched by people who have an interest in biology and evolutionary history. People that watch these shows for entertainment want more information detailing experiments and factual explanations of the life histories of these animals. The other group of people that watch these shows are high school biology students. This is another demographic that should be given more information about the animals. Just like we fault our school system on simply teaching students the bare facts and not training them how to reason, shows like this, ones that tout themselves as educational programming and will be seen in classrooms, should provide the audience with more than simply bare facts. The way that the researchers came to their conclusions would have helped this show tremendously.

Getting Somewhere

I think we're getting somewhere. The RIP'ed Vonnegut may even be happy with the way that things are going. Of course he wouldn't be happy with the tumbling economy or the fact that the most progressive savior we can muster is against gay marriage and won't work on truly universal health care. But I still think we're getting somewhere. Even though the guy we want to win doesn't have a coherent plan for getting out of Iraq, and if he manages to get the troops out he just wants to move them across and possibly through Iran into the gates of hell we now call Afganistan. Maybe that's the right thing to do. It's certainly true that there are terrorists in those countries that want to kill us. I think that progress is being made.

His science policy is well thought out which means that the person who I've decided Vonnegut was would have liked him. I like that.

Welcome

Hi all and welcome to my blog. I'll use this as both a personal blog relating to my life which is currently working and applying to graduate school, as well as one where I cover topics that interest me such as evolution, immunology, history of science, skepticism, politics, and atheism.

This blog is named Not Enough Cred is because I am interested in topics that I have some credentials in but other people have better credentials for. I have a BS in Biology from UCSC and I think that's a good start.

I may rant, I may rave, and I may just write. Comments are always welcome from people that I know and the general public.

Enjoy and stay a while.