HIV Denialism

I'm sure my fine readers will have heard about this, but I wanted to provide a link so you can read the PLoS article your own self:

Smith TC, Novella SP (2007) HIV Denial in the Internet Era. PLoS Med 4(8): e256 doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040256

HIV denial has taken root in the general population and has shown its potential to frustrate public education efforts and adversely affect public funding for AIDS research and prevention programs.

For further reading, check out Tara's awesome blog Aetiology.

I'll have a nice big post up on the Festival of Fear as soon as somebody gets me the rest of my pictures!!!

Pasta with Chipotle Cream Sauce

Or, Southwestern Mac n' Cheese.

I know that chipotle is on its way out, but I'll never stop loving it! Never! So give this a whirl sometime if you wanna.

You'll need:
1 lb of pasta (I like the Bionature whole wheat gobetti for creamy sauces)
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp butter
~1 c cream (or so -- I didn't measure it that well)
1 c veggie broth (from cubes is ok, but don't use the whole cube! it'll be too salty!)
~1/4 onion, skinned
1 garlic clove, crushed with the flat of a knife
couple peppercorns
Bay leaf
1-2 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, chopped finely
1-2 tsp adobo sauce (to taste)
1-2 c shredded manchego cheese
Some grated parm (not the stuff in the green can!)

1. Put the pasta water on to boil. Meanwhile, heat the broth and the cream in a pan with the onion, garlic, peppercorns and bay leaf until just simmering. Turn off heat and let stand.

2. Make a roux -- melt the butter, then briskly whisk in the flour. Cook until light brown and nutty smelling.

3. Strain the milk/cream mixture into the roux and whisk vigorously until combined. Continue whisking until the sauce thickens. Add the chopped chile.

4. Lower heat under sauce to very low, stir in most of the cheese, and continue cooking while the pasta cooks. This will ensure no uncooked flour taste remains.

5. Drain the pasta and return to the pot. Check the sauce for hotness, and adjust to your preference with another chile, or some adobo sauce. Toss with the pasta, then toss in the rest of the cheese. Top with some fresh salsa (not the stuff out of a jar!), some cilantro, or some toasted pepitas.

Enjoy!

Edited 4/18/09 because I noticed my instructions in 3 were vague. Sorry!

Crazy Theocracy Censorship!

From Pharyngula, we have this story of a crazy Turkish creationist (you might know the name Harun Yahya) successfully petitioning the Turkish government to block access to all Wordpress blogs, because some of them wrote mean things about him. Check it out. The whole story is completely batshit insane.

Instructions for viewing Wordpress blogs in Turkey.

You know, when I listen to the news these days, all I hear is an endless refrain of "religion makes you insane, religion makes you do insane things..." over and over and over.

ETA: Let's not forget Turkey wants to join the European Union. Let's hope the EU will let them know in no uncertain terms that this sort of totalitarian dictator-style censorship won't fly as part of the EU.

Science journalism embarasses me (again)

I'm sure you've all seen these articles shouting at us that "science's" picture of human ancestry is "muddied," "challenged," or in "doubt."

Lots of other people have blogged on this, so I'll just make a couple points and then send you to them for your edification. Because I'm lazy and it's my blog, that's why.

It seems like the only people who really think evolution is either cut and dried or some kind of straight line are journalists. My first point is simple and quick -- the articles are incorrect in their overblown assumptions of what this means for the study of human evolution, nothing is cast into doubt, and our understanding of where we came from is still substantially the same as it has been. For further reading on this topic, see Questionable Authority, Pharyngula, and/or John Hawks.

My second point is that this isn't the first time "science" journalists have blown something out of proportion. I feel I'm in a relatively good place to comment on this, as I graduated with a dual major in Magazine Journalism and Earth Sciences. When I attended Newhouse, there were no -- zero -- none -- zip, nada, zilch -- classes on science journalism. This appears to still be the case.

I asked my advisor why there were no science journalism classes, he told me that nobody wanted to take one and nobody wanted to teach one. He acknowledged that this was problematic, and that there are only about five really competent science journalists out there, but that the school wasn't going to offer a course nobody wanted, that nobody needed, and that they couldn't get anyone interested in teaching. While it's nice that you are required to take six credits of science classes (FYI, at SU that's two 1-semester, 3-hour/week courses), just knowing science and knowing newswriting really isn't enough. A good science journalist needs to be able to understand what is going on, and needs to be able to describe that well to laypersons. This doesn't seem to be something that is/can be developed by taking biology 101 one semester and newswriting 305 the next. Students wishing to go into science journalism would be better served by an integrated course that offers basic intro-level information on a variety of "hot" topics, as well as instruction on how to communicate this information to non-science folks. It's easy enough to design a course like that, certainly. But Newhouse is an extremely good journalism school, and if they don't even offer a science writing course, well, what's up with that?

I'll tell you what's up with that. In all honesty, the people interested in becoming journalists are not, generally, in my experience only, people interested in science. I don't know why, really, except that science still has an image problem with a lot of people. Our kids aren't excited about it, people who like it are "nerds," and I think, personally, if you don't develop an enthusiasm for it when you're young, you just don't "get" it.

In addition, scientists aren't interested in journalism. The stereotype of the guys in white lab coats up in their ivory tower has some basis in reality. They often can't be bothered to clear up miconceptions about their work, and may not even know what the mainstream media is doing with their findings.

For any journalists who come across this entry, please know there are plenty of scientists just ITCHING to answer your questions. Good information is out there, so stop spewing shoddy crap you're all repeating off each other!

Seriously! If you have questions about evolution, go here. Biology, natural resources, natural hazards, geology, and water, try here. Weather, climate, fisheries, oceans? Try here. Cool space stuff, try these guys.

Support Amnesty International

Amnesty International is set to defy the Vatican and risk the wrath of Catholics around the world over its decision to back abortion for rape victims.

Key quotes from the article:

Amnesty's deputy general secretary, Kate Gilmore, denies the organisation has become "pro-abortion" insisting the organisation took as its guide legal not theological imperatives. "Amnesty International's position is not for abortion as a right but for women's human rights to be free of fear, threat and coercion as they manage all consequences of rape and other grave human rights violations," she said.

...

Darfur is not the first place in the world where military conquerors have used mass rape to subdue a population but the report put together by Amnesty International observers in the region in 2004 was particularly harrowing...

One survivor said: "Five to six men would rape us, one after the other, for hours during six days, every night. My husband could not forgive me after this. He disowned me."

...

In Peru, a 17-year-old girl discovered that her foetus had anencephaly - meaning that it was going to be born without a brain - but a doctor refused to allow her access to an abortion. She was compelled to give birth and breastfeed the child for four days before its died.

In the Sante Fe province of Argentina, a social worker told the organisation Human Rights Watch about a woman who went into hospital after having an unsafe abortion and was bleeding badly. "A doctor started to examine her, and when he realised, he threw down his instruments and said: 'This is an abortion. You go ahead and die'."

Yeah, folks, that's the kind of ghoulish stuff the Vatican is supporting. "You go ahead and die." Go back and read it again, and see if you can tell me where the "right to life" is happening. Find me the "Christian charity" and all that fuzzy warm feelings of love for the fetus are. Tell me where this is about anything other than punishing women for having sex. Go ahead. Explain it to me. I'm listening.

Or you could just go give money to Amnesty to make sure this sort of thing happens less frequently.

ACK

Now there it is.

WTF, yo?

Blogger users -- help me!

Guys, I need help.

I'm trying to add one of these:

to my sidebar, but however I choose to add it, it doesn't show up. It shows up on Preview, but after I save changes and click "view blog" it disspaears.

I also notice that ceiling cat is cut off.

WTF? How do I put my A over there, and how can I get ceiling cat back? It looks like my blog is all bunched up in general, actually. HELP ME!!!

Manmade extinction

The Yangtze river dolphin is the "first cetacean to disappear as a result of human activity." Moreover, the scientists now say "there is no longer any hope of resurrecting the species using a captive breeding programme." The dolphins were driven extinct largely because fishing boats would trap the dolphins in their gear.

As you probably know, China's rapid industrial expansion and booming population, coupled with a corrupt government that doesn't enforce environmental regulations (such as they are) have created a burgeoning environmental nightmare catastrophe.

Further reading:
EDGE of Existence
World Conservation Union
WWF
A Short History of China's Fragile Environment

Yay!

Sorry, don't know what's up with me and OK Cupid quizzes lately, but hey, it's my damn blog.

Your Score: Ceiling Cat

25% Affectionate, 34% Excitable, 42% Hungry

You are a master of stealth. They never see you coming. But you always see them coming. HEY-O!

To see all possible results, checka dis.

Link: The Which Lolcat Are You? Test written by GumOtaku on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

And anyway, I am totally watching you masturbate.

In only scored 12 on the "how autistic are you" quiz, though, so I didn't post that here :)