Clips of President Obama’s speech to the NIH in December 2014 have been circulating on social media. Those clips tend to be of short duration and focus on his prediction of a global pandemic and the preparation for it. In contrast to Trump who cut the budgets of the NIH and CDC [1] [2], President … More During a pandemic, we need a president who speaks in paragraphs.
In a sea of absurdity, narcissism, and incompetence, it’s almost impossible to pick one topic to write about. Almost. The SARS-CoV-2 virus [1] that’s engulfing the globe is a pandemic with consequences not yet fully appreciated by many. I understand that. Not everyone is an epidemiologist or works for the CDC. What is incomprehensible is … More A pandemic is not the time for a Potemkin President
In these times, one of the best ways to ensure a post isn’t read is to write about the COVID-19 coronavirus. The story is dominating all channels of communication and marginalizing almost any other story. And that relentless, ubiquitous communication is part of the broader societal story. The intensive coverage and discussion of COVID-19 creates … More The novel coronavirus, COVID-19: A case study of the social amplification of risk
It’s interesting how humans are the only animal that indulges in counterfactual thinking. At times, our memories of events can haunt us because we believe we could have, should have, made a different and better decision about something. The problem arises when we judge our past actions through the lens of our present knowledge. It’s … More The fog of life
In a 2012 posting, I lamented the poor grammar used by some journalists. Unfortunately, I don’t think anything has really changed since then and it seems to me that the attacks on standard English as a standard have escalated. Maybe that’s the price we pay for having an overabundance of entertainment options. With so much … More Like, it’s another grammar rant.
I was returning from a grocery shopping trip when I saw two people standing on an interstate overpass waving a large trump flag. My thought was that this is a free country and after all, I am in Indiana, so why be concerned. Then I saw their leather jackets with the crude letters across the … More When hate comes home: Racism, Twitter, Trump and his enablers
As the country grapples with what constitutes an impeachable offense for a president, many opinions have been offered. What strikes me most profoundly are the words of James Madison at the Federal Constitution Convention in 1787 where the underlying intention of “High crimes and misdemeanors” was debated before those words became part of the Constitution. … More In 1787 James Madison knew one day there would be a Donald Trump
There is a credible case to be made that most published research is false. This notion was popularized in a 2005 essay by Stanford epidemiologist John Ioannidis titled “Why Most Published Research Findings Are False.” [1] As of this writing, the article has been viewed 2,833,883 times and cited 3,271 times. Several reasons have been … More Most published research is false – what does that mean for you?
Yes, again… Admittedly, I was behind the curve realizing that we may be in the throes of the sixth mass extinction in Earth’s history. It wasn’t until 2014, after reading Elizabeth Kolbert’s book, “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History,” [1] that I posted my first article referencing it, “Humans are a minor perturbation in the … More Oh no! Not that mass extinction thing again!
Strength comes in many different forms. What I’ve come to realize is that the person with the greatest strength is the one that remains positive when facing the greatest of adversities. I don’t know what the difference is between two people who face similar, overwhelming challenges and one responds with doom and withdrawal and the … More The strong among us.
Confronting Mediocrity 