From World Health Organization statistics, World Malaria Report 2009:
* Half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria
* An estimated 243 million malaria cases occurred in 2008
* An estimated 863 000 malaria deaths occurred in 2008; 767 000 of those (89%) occurred in Africa.
2 Comments | 
Disease, Health care, Malaria, Science, WHO - World Health Organization | Tagged: 2009, Africa, Disease, Malaria, Malaria Deaths, WHO - World Health Organization | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore was born January 7, 1800. Had he lived, Millard Fillmore would be 210 years old today, and probably very cranky, and looking for a good book to read.
Millard Fillmore (unknown artist, circa 1840) - National Portrait Gallery
Would you blame him for being cranky? He opened Japan to trade. He got from Mexico the land necessary to make Los Angeles a great world city and the Southern Pacific a great railroad, without firing a shot. Fillmore promoted economic development of the Mississippi River. He managed to keep a fractious nation together despite itself for another three years. Fillmore let end the practice of presidents using slaves to staff the White House (then called “the President’s Mansion”).
Then in 1852 his own party refused to nominate him for a full term, making him the last Whig to be president. And to add insult to ignominy, H. L. Mencken falsely accused him of being known only for adding a bathtub to the White House, something he didn’t do.
As Antony said of Caesar, the good was interred with his bones — but Millard Fillmore doesn’t even get credit for whatever evil he might have done: Fillmore is remembered most for being the butt of a hoax gone awry, committed years after his death. Or worse, he’s misremembered for what the hoax alleged he did.
Even beneficiaries of his help promoting the Mississippi River have taken his name off their annual celebration of the event. Fillmore has been eclipsed, even in mediocrity (is there still a Millard Fillmore Society in Washington?).
Happy birthday, Millard Fillmore.
Millard Fillmore was a man of great civic spirit, a man who answered the call to serve even when most others couldn’t hear it at all. He was a successful lawyer, despite having had only six months of formal education (a tribute to non-high school graduates and lifelong learning). Unable to save the Union, he established the University of Buffalo and the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society. And, it is said of him, that Queen Victoria said he was the most handsome man she had ever met.
A guy like that deserves a toast, don’t you think?
Resources:
5 Comments | History, History images, Hoaxes, Japan, Millard Fillmore, Politics, Presidents | Tagged: History, Hoaxes, Japan, Millard Fillmore, Millard Fillmore's Birthday, Politics, Presidents | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore turns 210 tomorrow.
Millard Fillmore in the 1850s, wondering about that birthday cake. Wikimedia, via New York Times image
How do you plan to celebrate?
Some are planning big fetes:
From 10:00AM to 3:00PM on Sun Jan 10, 2010.Save the date! Cayuga-Owasco Lakes Historical Society will once again host a birthday party for Millard Fillmore on Sunday, January 10 from 10:00am to 3pm. The history museum at 14 West Cayuga Street will be open for visitors and will serve refreshments in honor of our 13th President’s birthday. This will be the last official function until March, 2010. Throughout December the house will be open on Mondays 9:00 am until noon. If you have not visited lately, the recently refurbished Fillmore Room features a timeline of his life and presidency as well as photos and memorabilia. (From Auburnpub.com)
Tradition is on a glide path at the University of Buffalo, a school founded by Millard Fillmore; from the UB Media Center:
Media Advisory: UB to Commemorate 210th Birthday of Millard Fillmore
Release Date: January 6, 2010
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The University at Buffalo will uphold a longstanding winter tradition as it celebrates the 210th anniversary of the birth of Millard Fillmore, UB’s first chancellor and the 13th president of the United States, at a ceremony to be held at 10 a.m. Jan. 7 at Fillmore’s gravesite in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
The outdoor ceremony marking the 210th anniversary of Fillmore’s birth on Jan. 7, 1800, is hosted by UB, the Forest Lawn Group and the Buffalo Club. It is free and open to the public.
The commemoration address will be delivered by James A. Willis, UB executive vice president for university support services. Wreaths will be presented by Col. Timothy G. Vaughn, 107th Mission Support Group Commander, New York Air National Guard, representing the White House; Marc Adler, adjunct professor in Millard Fillmore College and immediate past president of the UB Alumni Association, representing UB; Charles M. Mitschow, president of the Buffalo Club; and Dean H. Jewett, chairman of the board of the Forest Lawn Group.
The invocation will be presented by The Rev. Joel Miller, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo. The UB Police Color Guard will present the flags, and West Richter, a UB student and member of the UB Marching Band, will play taps.
A reception with refreshments will immediately follow in the Forest Lawn Chapel.
Fillmore helped establish UB, serving as its first chancellor from 1847 until his death in 1874. He also was instrumental in framing the charter transforming the Village of Buffalo into the City of Buffalo. He helped establish Buffalo General Hospital, the SPCA, the Buffalo Historical Society, the Fine Arts Academy, Buffalo Savings Bank, Buffalo’s public library system and the Buffalo Club. As a congressman, he secured funding to enlarge the Buffalo Harbor and expand the Erie Canal. Fillmore served as president from 1850 to 1853.
This year marks the 45th anniversary of UB’s stewardship of Fillmore’s service, but the tradition to honor Fillmore dates back to 1937. From 1937 until 1965, the ceremonies were staged by the City of Buffalo and the Buffalo Board of Education. The events were administered by Irving R. Templeton, a 1909 graduate of UB, who scheduled two programs annually on or near Jan. 7, one in City Hall and one in Forest Lawn.
The responsibility shifted to UB when Templeton died in 1965. Although UB participated in the Fillmore birthday commemoration during Templeton’s stewardship, the university took over the ceremonies and made it a community event starting in 1966.
Media arrangements: Charles Anzalone onsite at 440-8824.
According to Buffalo Rising!, tradition wins out at Forest Lawn, New York, too:
By Sandy Starks
Okay… the frenzy of holiday visits and activities are past, the decorations are put away, and the final game in regular season football has been played. The winter doldrums are about to set in, and what are we to do?
The Forest Lawn Cemetery Heritage Foundation has come up with programming that will help you get over the inevitable winter blues. We all love the Summer in the Cemetery tours the cemetery offered each year, so in 2010 the folks at Forest Lawn have decided to celebrate the winter season by hosting a four-part series of concerts and lectures to be held at the historic chapel, located in the heart of the cemetery.
On the second Sunday of each month, January through April, at 2PM, programs will include a mini concert, followed by a lecture on a topic related to Forest Lawn and the History of Buffalo. This Sunday January 10th, the topic will be The History of Music in Buffalo.
Music Librarian, Raya Lee, teams up with one of Buffalo’s favorite musical talents, Bruce Woody, to discuss how music evolved in Buffalo. The lecture includes information about the opening of the first music store in 1827, the first performance of super-star Jenny Lind in 1851, an overview featuring the greatest musical artists of the day, their stories, and the birth of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
People featured in the lecture include Millard Fillmore, James P. Sheppard, owner of the first music store in Buffalo; Marian de Forest, Zorah Berry, and conductors John Lund and Charles Kuhn. Tunes, some we are familiar with such as “Shuffle off to Buffalo,” “Buffalo Gals,” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (Harold Arlen), will be played throughout the lecture.
The series continues with a program on February 14th, with The Entertainers and Writers of Forest Lawn, presented by: Forest Lawn researcher, Patrick Kavanagh with a musical presentation performed by Buffalo musicians Billy McEwen and Joe Head.
Many of us know about Darwin Martin of the Larkin Soap Company but there is much to know about John Larkin and the company itself. The March 14th program, A Review of the Larkin Soap Company – A Man and His Products will familiarize us the dynamic Buffalo business. Larkin Enthusiast Jerry Puma will talk about the Larkin Soap Company and bring some of his Larkin collection for you to view. A musical presentation by The Docenko Brothers rounds out this fun yet informative day.
The series concludes on April 11th, with a talk by Author Laura Pederson (if you haven’t read the book Buffalo Gal yet, that is another way to beat the winter blues), talking about Smokestacks & Skyscrapers: A Lighthearted History of Buffalo. The musical presentation will be by Grace Stumberg, a rising Buffalo musical talent and student at Villa Maria College.
Admission is $15. Tickets may be purchased at Forest Lawn’s administration office, 1411 Delaware Avenue or by calling 716.885.1600. Ask about the discount that is available for all four programs.
Leave a Comment » | History, Millard Fillmore | Tagged: History, Millard Fillmore, Millard Fillmore's Birthday, University of Buffalo | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
How bad is it? Washington Monthly features a solid, long story on what is going on in Austin this week and next in Texas social studies standards. I wish that outstanding publication had a much greater circulation.
Even in Minnesota, P. Z. Myers is concerned: “Be afraid” he warns his readers. In comments there, a guy named BlackWolf puts it bluntly:
Once, a guy in a schoolbook storage room was the killer.
Now, the books themselves are becoming dangerous.
You can help. You can testify next week. You can send comments. The Texas Freedom Network can help you be heard.
Please let the State Board of Education know that Texas, and the nation, needs good social studies standards. As we noted last month, it’s time to stand up for education and social studies:
Make Your Voice Heard at January Public Hearing
The process of revising social studies curriculum standards for Texas public schools is moving into a critical stage. And a public hearing the board has scheduled for January may be the only opportunity for you to speak out against the far right’s efforts to corrupt standards for history, government and other social studies classes.
The final drafts of the proposed standards prepared by writing teams made up of teachers, academics and other community members are reflective of mainstream academic scholarship in the various subject areas. It is clear that members of these writing teams largely resisted intense political pressure from far right, rejecting attempts to remove key civil rights figures and make other politically motivated revisions. (See the Background section at the bottom of this e-mail for a more detailed account of the politicization of this curriculum process.)
But as with science and language arts, far-right SBOE members are already plotting to undo the work of the writing teams of social studies.
Take Action
The State Board of Education so far has scheduled only one public hearing on the proposed standards. That hearing is likely to occur either on January 13 or January 14 in Austin.
If you are interested in speaking at the hearing, please click here. TFN will help you register to speak before the board and be an effective voice against efforts to politicize our children’s classrooms.
This may be the only opportunity the board provides for Texans to speak out on the proposed standards. If we are to prevent far-right SBOE members from turning social studies classrooms into tools for promoting political agendas, then it’s critical that the board hears from people like you! Click here to sign up for more information on how to testify in January.
___________________________________________________
Background on Social Studies Review Process to Date
Earlier this year, TFN exposed and derailed several attempts by the far right to hijack the social studies curriculum revision process. Members of the state board – or their appointees to review panels and writing teams – tried at various times to:
- Remove civil rights champions like César Chávez and Thurgood Marshall from the standards, calling them poor examples of citizenship
- Turn Joseph McCarthy – who discredited himself and dishonored Congress with his infamous Red-baiting smear campaign in the 1950s – into an American hero
- Rewrite history and portray America’s Founders as intending to establish a Christian nation with laws based on a fundamentalist reading of the Bible
Members of the writing teams largely rejected these fringe ideas in the final drafts of the standards they submitted to the board. Chávez and Marshall remain in the curriculum. The American history standards do not whitewash the damaging history of McCarthyism. And under the proposed standards students would still learn that the Founders created a nation in which all people are free to worship – or not – as they choose without coercion or interference by government.
We must ensure that the board adopts curriculum standards that reflect mainstream academic scholarship in social studies. This is vitally important because the results of this decision will be reflected in the next generation of social studies textbooks around the country.
Click here to let TFN know you are willing to testify at the state board.
2 Comments | Education, Education quality, History, Social Studies, State school boards, Texas, Texas Freedom Network | Tagged: Education, Social Studies, Standards, Texas, Texas Freedom Network, Texas State Board of Education, Textbooks | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
4 Comments | denialism, Hoaxes, How do we know what we know, Humor, Moon, Rampant stupidity | Tagged: denialism, Hoaxes, How do we know what we know, Humor, Moon Landing, Rampant stupidity, Wrestling | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Campaign print from 1848 presidential election:
Millard Fillmore, Whig candidate for Vice President - Currier and Ives print, 1848, After a daguerreotype by John Plumbe, Jr. - Library of Congress
January 7, 2010, is the 210th anniversary of Millard Fillmore’s birth.
2 Comments | Campaigns, Elections, History, History images, Millard Fillmore, Politics, Presidents | Tagged: 1848, Campaigns, Currier and Ives, Library of Congress, Millard Fillmore, president | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Another in a series on the history of global warming; this comes from the Earth Observatory at NASA (visit that site — the image is more stunning, larger):
Black Soot and the Survival of Tibetan Glaciers
Posted December 15, 2009
download large image (677 KB, JPEG) acquired September 26, 2009
download large animation image (9 MB, M4V) acquired August 1, 2009 – November 9, 2009On the Tibetan Plateau, temperatures are rising and glaciers are melting faster than climate scientists would expect based on global warming alone. A recent study of ice cores from five Tibetan glaciers by NASA and Chinese scientists confirmed the likely culprit: rapid increases in black soot concentrations since the 1990s, mostly from air pollution sources over Asia, especially the Indian subcontinent. Soot-darkened snow and glaciers absorb sunlight, which hastens melting, adding to the impact of global warming.
NASA climate scientists combine satellite and ground-based observations of soot and other particles in the air with weather and air chemistry models to study how the atmosphere moves pollution from one place to another. This image is from a computer simulation of the spread of black soot (“black carbon” to climate scientists) over the Tibetan Plateau from August through November 2009. It shows black carbon aerosol optical thickness on September 26, 2009. (Aerosol optical thickness is scale that describes how much pollution was in the air based on how much of the incoming sunlight the particles absorbed.) Places where the air was thick with soot are white, while lower concentrations are transparent purple.
The highest concentrations of black soot are in the right-hand side of the image, over the densely populated coastal plain of China. But high concentrations occur over India, as well, and the black soot spreads across the southern arc of the Tibetan Plateau, which is defined by the towering peaks of the Himalaya Mountains. (Note: Topography has been exaggerated to highlight features that influence air movement). The animation shows how the black carbon pollution from India often circulates at high concentrations for several days against the base of the Himalaya, periodically “sloshing” over the rim of the mountains and spilling northward over the plateau, before being carried away over the Bay of Bengal or the Arabian Sea.
Writing about the implications of the study for the Goddard Institute for Space Studies Website, NASA climate scientist and study co-author James Hansen said, “[C]ontinued, ‘business-as-usual’ emissions of greenhouse gases and black soot will result in the loss of most Himalayan glaciers this century, with devastating effects on fresh water supplies in dry seasons. The black soot arises especially from diesel engines, coal use without effective scrubbers, and biomass burning, including cook stoves. Reduction of black soot via cleaner energies would have other benefits for human health and agricultural productivity. However, survival of the glaciers also requires halting global warming, which depends upon stabilizing and reducing greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide.”
References
- Xu, B., Cao, J., Hansen, J., Yao, T., Joswia, D., Wang, N., Wu, G., Wang, M., Zhao, H., Yang, W., Liu, X., and He, J. (2009, December 8). Black soot and the survival of Tibetan glaciers, Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. Open Access article, published online before print. Accessed December 11, 2009.
- Hansen, J. (2009, December). Science Briefs: Survival of Tibetan Glaciers. NASA GISS Website. Accessed December 11, 2009.
NASA image by Gregory Shirah, Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio, based on model simulations from the Goddard Earth Observing System Model, Version 5 (GEOS-5). Caption by Rebecca Lindsey.
3 Comments | Climate change, climate_change, Geography - Economic, Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, Glaciers, Global warming, NASA, Rivers, Science, Water | Tagged: Black Soot, Climate change, geography, Glaciers, Global warming, NASA, Science, Tibet | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Have you found Texas Tribune yet? It’s a new, on-line newspaper, and generally it’s terrific.
See their collection of stories already about the State Board of Education. The collection can substitute for at least one cup of coffee to get your blood flowing in the morning.
Leave a Comment » | Education, Journalism, News, Newspapers, On-line education, On-line learning, Scandals, State school boards, Texas, Texas Education Agency (TEA) | Tagged: Education, Journalism, Newspapers, Scandals, Texas State Board of Education, Texas Tribune | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Birther “Dr. Kate” sez there’s a case coming to a hearing in Pennsylvania that will go to the Supreme Court no matter how this hearing turns out.
Here’s the table of contents to Kerchner v. Obama. Here’s the full complaint, according to Dr. Kate.
Probably the best thing going for the plaintiffs is that Orly Taitz only appears by name in a bizarre accounting of everything ever said on the issue (except for the lack of evidence and reasons this case will fail which, oddly, isn’t included in the complaint; everything else is included).
I predict the case will be dismissed, but it may be dismissed with prejudice. That is, if it really does come to a hearing. Is that really possible?
Warn others so they don’t get trampled:
17 Comments | Barack Obama, Birth Certificate, History, How do we know what we know, Jurisprudence, Justice, Law, President Obama, Presidential Eligibility, Presidents, Rampant stupidity | Tagged: Barack Obama, Birth Certificate, Birthers, denialism, History, How do we know what we know, Jurisprudence, Kerchner v Obama, Law, Presidency, Rampant stupidity, Taitz | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Nancy Sharon Colllins, reporting after her recent work at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, including reading some original letters and other writings of Edith Wharton, wonders what would be the effect on history and literary studies, had Edith Wharton used Facebook instead of keeping her journal and writing copious numbers of letters.
And that got me thinking: What if Edith Wharton had Facebooked? Had she lived in our time and communicated digitally, I wonder what her literature would be like. Looking at five days of cursive writing and personal letters made me realize that her compulsion to jot down her thoughts was no different than ours today when we tweet about what we had for lunch or share some fab link we just discovered. The difference between a letter written longhand and a Facebook post is that one takes a little bit longer (and leaves a more lasting trace), but the purpose is the same. Whether we live on a grand, Whartonian scale or a quieter, more ordinary one, we feel more significant when we share intimacies about ourselves with others.
There’s a good warm-up and/or journaling exercise in there for literature teachers.
4 Comments | Bell Ringers, Books, Lesson plans, Lessons of history, Literature, Teaching, Technology, Technology in the classroom, Warm-up exercises | Tagged: Books, Edith Wharton, Facebook, History, Journals, Lesson plans, Letters, Literature, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
From Vimeo, that wonderful Space Shuttle launch video that Phil Plait raved about, just over a month ago. Just for fun.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Bob Park is probably right (he usually is). The International Space Station doesn’t have enough science value to justify the expense of it. A lot of the work we do in space exploration could better be done by robots. But you know, I grew up in that era when a manned space launch was a school-stopping experience. I was still in high school when Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon. So I will be saddened when the shuttle launches come to an end.
Let’s hope the next chapter of space exploration will be at least as cool.
1 Comment | Astronomy, NASA, Science, Space exploration | Tagged: Art, Cool Video, NASA, Science, Space exploration, Space Shuttle, STS-129 | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
This is a post out of history, from the good people at NASA’s Earth Observatory, on July 6, 2007. For those of who are not climate scientists or particularly advanced in our acumen in dealing with the large datasets and complex mathematics of global warming, this Earth Observatory Image of the Day may improve understanding.
Atmospheric Temperature Trends, 1979-2005
Posted July 6, 2007
Climate models predict that the build up of greenhouse gases should warm the lower layer of the atmosphere, called the troposphere, and cool the layer above it, the stratosphere. Greenhouse gases accumulate in the troposphere where they absorb energy radiated from the Earth and re-emit energy back to the surface. Because the gases trap heat in the lower parts of the atmosphere, the stratosphere cools down. This pattern of warming in the lower atmosphere and cooling in the stratosphere is a hallmark of greenhouse gas warming in global climate models.
These images show temperature trends in two thick layers of the atmosphere as measured by a series of satellite-based instruments between January 1979 and December 2005. The top image shows temperatures in the middle troposphere, centered around 5 kilometers above the surface. The lower image shows temperatures in the lower stratosphere, centered around 18 kilometers above the surface. Oranges and yellows dominate the troposphere image, indicating that the air nearest the Earth’s surface warmed during the period. The stratosphere image is dominated by blues and greens, indicating cooling.
Globally, the troposphere warmed, and the stratosphere cooled during this period. Local trends varied. The greatest tropospheric warming was in the Arctic, where warming is amplified as snow and ice melt. The Antarctic, on the other hand, showed cooling. Some researchers have explained the localized cooling as a side effect of the ozone hole on atmospheric circulation over Antarctica. Loss of ozone cools the stratosphere, a change which intensifies the vortex of winds that encircle the continent. The stronger vortex isolates the air over the continent, cooling the stratosphere even further. At different times of the year, the unusually cold air dips down from the stratosphere and into the troposphere.
The cooling trend in the stratosphere was probably not solely due to greenhouse gas warming at lower altitudes; loss of ozone also cools the stratosphere. In the stratosphere, two warm spots over Antarctica and the Arctic appear to defy the overall cooling trend. One explanation for these warm spots is that polar stratospheric temperatures can fluctuate widely. The poles, especially the Arctic, experience periodic events known as sudden stratospheric warmings, during which the vortex of winds that circles the poles breaks down. When this happens, the stratosphere can warm several tens of degrees Celsius in a few days. Although these events are more common in the Arctic, a significant sudden stratospheric warming also occurred in the Antarctic stratosphere in 2002 and may help explain the apparent warming trend. Whether the localized warming trend is significant is still uncertain.
The measurements were taken by Microwave Sounding Units and Advanced Microwave Sounding Units flying on a series of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather satellites. The instruments record microwave energy emitted from oxygen molecules in the atmosphere. Warmer molecules release more energy than cooler molecules, so scientists can measure the temperature of the atmosphere by recording the amount of microwave energy being emitted. Early analyses of these measurements showed little or no warming in the troposphere, where models predicted that warming should be occurring. For a time, these measurements caused some people to question the validity of global climate models and greenhouse gas warming. Scientists discovered, however, that the satellites carrying the microwave instruments had drifted in their orbits over time, so that more recent measurements were taken at a different time of day than older measurements. Once scientists accounted for this bias and other differences between the individual instruments, the measurements showed a warming trend in the troposphere, consistent with surface observations of rising global temperature.
Re-analysis of the satellite measurements answered one of the frequently asked questions about global warming: why didn’t the early satellite data show warming in the lower layer of the atmosphere? To read more on this topic, see Global Warming Questions & Answers, which addresses this and other common questions about global warming.
Further reading
- Global Warming Questions & Answers on the Earth Observatory.
- Global Warming, a fact sheet published on the Earth Observatory.
- Fu, Q., Johanson, C.M., Warren, S.G., Seidel, D.J. (2004, May 6). Contribution of stratospheric cooling to satellite-inferred tropospheric temperature trends. Nature, 429, 55-58.
- Johanson, C.M., Fu, Q. (2007 June). Antarctic atmospheric temperature trend patterns from satellite observations. Geophysical Research Letters, 34, L12703.
- Karl, T. R., Hassol, S. J., Miller, C. D., and Murray, W. L., editors. (2006). Temperature Trends in the Lower Atmosphere: Steps for Understanding and Reconciling Differences. A Report by the Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research, Washington, DC. Accessed June 8, 2007.
- Ramaswamy, V., Schwarzkopf, M.D., Randel, W.J., Santer, B.D., Soden, B.J., Stenchikov, G.L. (2006, Feb 24). Anthropogenic and natural influences in the evolution of lower stratospheric cooling. Science, 311, 1138-1141.
- Remote Sensing Systems. (2007, June 12). Description of MSU and AMSU Data Products. Accessed July 5, 2007.
NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of Remote Sensing Systems. Caption information courtesy Carl Mears, Remote Sensing Systems, and Paul Newman and Joel Susskind NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Spread the historic word:
2 Comments | Clean Air Act, Climate change, climate_change, Cost of Green, Global warming, Green Politics, Science, Technology, War on Science | Tagged: Climate change, Environmental protection, Global warming, Green Politics, History, Politics, Science, Stratosphere, Troposphere | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
I usually like Chris Rock’s comedy. He’s profane, so you can’t use it in class. But he’s often quite witty while exposing key problems of society.
I bumped into a YouTube video of a few minutes of Rock’s rant against doctors and science at an odd site called HealthNoob.com. On the one hand, Rock is ripping off Voltaire and others from the 18th century who noted that doctors of that time rarely cured anyone — without antibiotics and a very incomplete understanding of the human body and diseases, how could they?
On the other hand, the idea that physicians don’t want to cure people gained considerable traction among African Americans over the past 40 years, especially fueled by comedians like Dick Gregory who, God bless him otherwise, thought most of the medical establishment conspired against African Americans at every turn. Rock builds on that platform. This is not a good trend. Especially to the extent that wrong views of medicine discourage African Americans from seeking health care that could prevent serious disease until it’s too late, spreading disinformation does no one any good.
Past that, such comedy encourages crazies to crawl out of the woodwork and spread even more disinformation. For example, in the comments at HealthNoob.com, some wag claims that DDT caused polio in the 1930s, apparently ignorant of the fact that DDT was not available for use until after 1939, and not available for use on farms until 1946. This is grotesque urban legend.
Here’s Rock’s rant, below (not safe for work or school due to profanity); below that, the response I left at HealthNoob.com (which is “in moderation” as I write this).
Give us your views in comments, will you? Is Rock way off base? Is his comedy routine here more damaging than funny?
At HealthNoob.com, I responded:
This conversation is certainly deteriorating.
A couple of observations:
Polio is caused by a virus. No one is sure exactly where it came from, or why it wasn’t more widespread prior to the 20th century. It well may be that it was around, but harmless, until a 20th century mutation caused it to become deadly. In any case, we know it’s a virus, and that’s why and how the vaccines worked against it. It’s not caused by chemical exposure, though some exposures may insult human immune systems and make some people more prone to get the disease the virus causes.
2. We know it wasn’t DDT, too. DDT was not available for use against insects by anyone prior to 1942. Polio was rampant before then (my brother caught polio in 1939). DDT was not available for use outside the military prior to 1946.
3. Diseases cured by medical care? Streps and bacterial infections, including tuberculosis (save for the drug-resistant kinds). Leukemia. Measles, almost. Polio wasn’t counted as eradicated until very recently (if at all). Goiter and iodine deficiency ($0.15 per ton of salt to “iodize” it, and cure goiter; the cheapest public health action ever).
4. Do you want to know how good cures work? The American Dental Association pushed for fluoridation to help prevent and cure dental caries. It worked fantastically. Now dentists spend more time fixing other stuff, and dental caries is basically a disease of the past — except for those people who don’t take care of their teeth or have some other special weakness to decay. Of course, were Rock to do something on that, he’d probably complain that fluoride causes disease instead of prevents it.
5. Ever heard of Voltaire? In the 18th century, he noted that doctors never cure anyone, but just hold the hand of the patient until the patient gets better, or dies. That changed with the advent of antibiotics. Interesting to hear Chris Rock rip off Voltaire.
16 Comments | Health care, Hoaxes, Science, Urban Legend | Tagged: Chris Rock, DDT, Health care, Hoaxes, Policy, Polio, Science, Urban Legend | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Conspiracy fans — a category which appears to include almost all climate change denialists — won’t like the news from Planet Green’s “Planet 100.” This little news show claims evidence that China was the source of the hacking of the University of East Anglia’s climate related e-mails.
Why won’t the denialists like it? They won’t like it because it makes sense: Who stood to profit from embarrassing scientists just before the Copenhagen meetings? China, who wished to avoid any binding agreements, would gain simply by sowing confusion.
Evidence is pretty thin, but for the first time since the hacked e-mails were published, there’s a plausible motive. Also, the source is also not wholly pristine or reputable in science stuff — the Daily Mail of London, which specializes in gossipy tabloid news. Watch that space.
P.S. — Don’t miss the squid invasion story in the same newscast.
Resources:
3 Comments | China, Climate change, climate_change, Cost of Green, Ethics, Global warming, Green Politics, Political Smear, Politics, Technology | Tagged: China, Climate change, Climategate, Cost of Green, E-mails, Global warming, Green Politics, Hacking, Politics, University of East Anglia | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
The first Republican Party nominee to the presidency, Gen. John C. Fremont, has stumbled and is spread out on the floor. Former Whig, now American Native Party (Know-Nothings) candidate Millard Fillmore carries a lantern, but is blindfolded. James Buchanan takes the pot of soup, victory in the 1856 presidential race.
From the Library of Congress American Memory Collection, published by Currier and Ives in 1856:
"Buck Takes the Pot, 1856 cartoon published by Currier and Ives - Library of Congress
Captions in the balloons, as read by the Library of Congress:
SUMMARY: A pro-Buchanan satire, critical of the divisive or sectionalist appeal of the other two presidential contenders in the 1856 race. “Buck” or Buchanan (left) has evidently won a card game over Fremont (fallen at right) and Millard Fillmore (at right, blindfolded).
Holding four aces and a large cauldron of “Union Soup” Buchanan vows, “I have fairly beaten them at their own game, and now that I have became possessed of this great “Reservoir” I will see that each and Every State of this great and glorious Union receives its proper Share of this sacred food.”
Fremont has tripped over a “Rock of Disunion” and fallen to the ground, still holding his large spoon “Abolition.” He laments, “Oh, that I had been born a dog!–This is too much for mortal man to bear. Had I not stumbled over that “Blasted” rock I might have reached the fount of my ambition and with this good ladle ‘Deal’ to the North, and leave the South to ‘Shuffle & Cut’ off their mortal coil, by starvation, I shall have to ‘Pass’!”
Behind Fremont, Fillmore wanders blindfolded, holding a Know Nothing lantern (reflecting his party’s nativist affiliation) and a spoon. He despairs, “I regret to say that ‘Going It Blind’ is a loosing Game, I did hope that I would be able to dip my spoon in the Pot without much difficulty.–My Hand is played out–‘Buck’ wins, and I am satisfied–Four aces can’t be beat! and Buck holds them.”
One severe handicap of these 19th century cartoons: They are much too wordy!
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