Corruption of science
Feb. 26th, 2006 01:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pyesetzSome people used to say that the United States was sort of like Rome and would someday be overrun by barbarians. Ever wonder what the US would be like after the barbarians took over?
The FluWiki is the best source of info on avian flu. It's written by anonymous experts, who can't identify themselves because "they fear losing federal money for giving opinions that clash with the Bush administration".
Here is a study showing that glucosamine and condroitin are not more effective than their BigPharma equivalents. The study was funded by the US government, but run by researchers who also receive grants from the makers of Celebrex, Vioxx, and Tylenol. It shows an excessive "placebo effect", which suggests that they grabbed homeless people and offered them free medical care in exchange for taking part in this study. Because America is so stingy with its healthcare, there is a large pool of available test subjects who need medical care but can't afford it. Anyway the "general healthcare" caused 60% of placebo patients to say their joints improved, while 67% of herbal-remedy patients reported improvement. The utility of glucosamine and condroitin is therefore disproved because the 7% difference is not statistically significant.
But there's still something to be said for good ole' American heroism and brinksmanship. Based on this article (by NASA's chief climatologist, whom Dumbya has been trying to muzzle), I predict that the US will continue to do nothing about gobal warming for another 10-15 years, until the sea level rises about ten feet, then embark on a crash Y2K-style five-year program to switch over to hydrogen power. There is a good chance that this approach will actually work and my current location will not end up twenty feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.
* * * * *
"Boiled Rice" is a nice photo of our next Preznit.
Elsewhere in the world: anti-semitic cartoons drawn by Jews.
Cute baby animals: some quail that are not being shot at by the Vice President. ("Vice" isn't his middle name, it's his first name!)
The FluWiki is the best source of info on avian flu. It's written by anonymous experts, who can't identify themselves because "they fear losing federal money for giving opinions that clash with the Bush administration".
Here is a study showing that glucosamine and condroitin are not more effective than their BigPharma equivalents. The study was funded by the US government, but run by researchers who also receive grants from the makers of Celebrex, Vioxx, and Tylenol. It shows an excessive "placebo effect", which suggests that they grabbed homeless people and offered them free medical care in exchange for taking part in this study. Because America is so stingy with its healthcare, there is a large pool of available test subjects who need medical care but can't afford it. Anyway the "general healthcare" caused 60% of placebo patients to say their joints improved, while 67% of herbal-remedy patients reported improvement. The utility of glucosamine and condroitin is therefore disproved because the 7% difference is not statistically significant.
But there's still something to be said for good ole' American heroism and brinksmanship. Based on this article (by NASA's chief climatologist, whom Dumbya has been trying to muzzle), I predict that the US will continue to do nothing about gobal warming for another 10-15 years, until the sea level rises about ten feet, then embark on a crash Y2K-style five-year program to switch over to hydrogen power. There is a good chance that this approach will actually work and my current location will not end up twenty feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.
* * * * *
"Boiled Rice" is a nice photo of our next Preznit.
Elsewhere in the world: anti-semitic cartoons drawn by Jews.
Cute baby animals: some quail that are not being shot at by the Vice President. ("Vice" isn't his middle name, it's his first name!)
