Another win for science

You know how the widespread use of antibiotics has caused a wide spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria? Researchers at NYU have discovered a mechanism responsible for much of this trait: an enzyme that produces nitric oxide. Armed with this information, current drugs can be made more potent and even work against infections that were formerly immune.

Texts From Last Night Dot Com

I know all of you computer literate folks have probably already heard of this site, but this here is gold.

(480): You were running around the house covered in syrup, with shredded down pillow feathers on your body screaming "AFLACK!" at everyone.

Turns out economists aren't perfect

...and neither are the markets. Paul Krugman recently published a piece in the NYT saying what he's been saying for a while: the dominant school of economic thought in the US, which dictates that markets are perfectly efficient and investors are perfectly rational, might be a little inaccurate.

He presents an interesting story about the academic culture in the economics world with respect to dissenting opinions; the audience at conferences will begin to talk and giggle if a presenter appears to take a Keynesian standpoint. The dogma of the perfectly efficient market is never questioned, even when evidence suggests otherwise. Naturally, Krugman has his own biases and the article is a simplifcation for layfolk, but I find it truly unsettling that this powerful, high-paid people in charge of vast sections of the economy simply don't accept that people and corporations do not always act rationally.

Placebo

Apparently, an increasing number of promising drugs have failed the standard double-blind placebo test in recent years. Part of the reason is that the placebo effect is getting stronger.

The article explains that though placebos are crucial to the practice of medical science, they have never been thoroughly studied until recently. This article answers a lot of interesting questions:

-Why it matters where you conduct your study

-Why aspirin doesn't work as well on alzheimer's patients

-Why antidepression medication works better in conjunction with therapy (or analrapy)

-Why Dr. House may in fact not be such a great physician at times (he is pretty good when he is tasked by the writers of the show to do some lengthy exposition to the patient; he is not so good when he is acting imperious and unapproachable, or stabby)

-Whether 'nocebo' is a real word

Hobo Code

The one that was not discovered by John
Hodgeman.

MacGyver!

If you have some (lots of) time, you can watch MacGyver at CBS.

Only a matter of time

Before we have these things rampaging through our neighborhoods murdering children. CHILDREN!

http://www.wired.co.uk/wired-magazine/archive/2009/09/start/the-robot-lumberjack-fire-fighter.aspx

Real-time CO2 simulation map

This map displays the carbon dioxide emissions, birth rates, and death rates in each country, in real time.

The coolest house in the world

I don't remember if this has been posted before, and I know that Ethan at the very least has seen and enjoyed it.

We need this. America needs this.

Barney Frank is a rock star

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was greeted with shouts and boos at a town hall meeting on health care at a senior center in Dartmouth, Mass., Tuesday night, an event that was targeted by supporters of perennial independent political candidate Lyndon LaRouche. But the combative House Financial Services Committee chairman met fire with fire.

In case you were wondering

I am now in San Diego. However, until I have a house and an internet connection, my online presence will be severely limited.

Ever wanted to drop off the face of the Earth?

You are not alone. Turns out that a signficant fraction of missing people are intentionally missing.

The article at Wired details how these folks are hunted down using modern data collection techniques. If you're on the grid, you're probably going to be found. A particularly clever trick:

"Then Klein decided to set up a Web site about the disappearance. Purporting to be asking for tips, it was designed specifically to trap visitors’ IP addresses. Suspecting that McDermott was in contact with at least one confidant from his former life — and relying on the investigator’s maxim that people on the run always monitor the pursuit — Klein blocked search engine crawlers from cataloging the site. He gave the URL only to McDermott’s friends and family. Ninety-six hours later, it started registering multiple daily hits from an IP address in the beach town of Sayulita, Mexico. Klein says he eventually tracked McDermott around South America and contacted him through an intermediary."

One common mistake, as it turns out, is keeping your old personality. Even folks who want to become a new person entirely eventually relax back into the person that they were, and that's when they get caught.