National Post doesn't understand evolution, either The National Post, which is one of Canada's prime hotbeds of climate change denialism, has an editorial showing that they don't understand evolutionary genetics either.

Toni Vernelli, a dedicated British environmental crusader, may strike some as a deeply devoted champion of her cause. Frankly, she strikes us as more than a little off balance, perhaps even cultish. At 27 (Ms. Vernelli is now 35), she had herself sterilized in order to "protect the planet." Prior to that, she had an abortion rather than bring another consumer/ emitter into the world.

"Having children is selfish," she recently told London's Daily Mail newspaper. "It's all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet. Every person who is born uses more food, more water, more land, more fossil fuels, more trees and produces more rubbish, more pollution, more greenhouse gases and adds to the problem of over-population."

Toni Vernelli obviously gets the modern understanding of evolutionary genetics. Genes behave in ways that appear to us as selfish.

The National Post, obviously doesn't get it:

We like to think (as most people do) that giving another person life and agreeing to raise them through infancy, childhood and the teenage years into adulthood is the height of selflessness, not selfishness. How much easier to be able to come home from work when you want, not when a child needs picking up from school, or to go out when you want and not have to worry about being home in time to put children to bed and get the babysitter home. No pretending to enjoy animated television or movies. No sitting up nights nursing a scared and feverish little one. No 6:30 a.m. hockey practices. No fights with a ninth-grader over friends, clothes or hair. No worried late nights waiting for a high schooler to return with the car.

Yes, most people think having children is unselfish, because it "ruins" your previous life. Suddenly, you're a full-time child care worker. And having no children seems selfish, because you can do whatever you want, have more disposable income, and far fewer wrinkles than your child-rearing peers.

But from the gene's point of view, having children is exactly the most selfish thing that can possibly be done: pass on your genes to the next generation. That's point of kids. Keep the genes moving. From a gene's point of view, Vernelli is so unselfish her combination of genes are going to go extinct.

The National Post's stupidity continues, and I can't be bothered to pick it all apart. It winds up with:

Finally comes the most indelicate observation of all: If it is selfish of environmentalists to have children because of the damage those offspring would do, isn't it even more selfish for those environmentalists to stay alive themselves when they are consuming every bit as much water, land, fuel and timber, and producing just as much pollution and greenhouse gas? Why sacrifice the lives of their potential children before they have sacrificed their own? Mightn't suicide be the ultimate sacrifice an environmental extremist should make for his or her beloved planet?

Even suicide isn't a solution, nor the ultimate sacrifice for the environment. The bacteria, fungi, insects and worms that devour our bodies are all greenhouse gas emitters. So you can't win, even in premature death.

Labels: biology, evolution, news, science

  ¶ 2:39 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Swoon 212 - November 26, 2007 Pet Shop Boys - Minimal (Radioslave remix) (Parlophone)
Prosumer and Murat Tepeli - Turn Around (Cassy Smooth mix) (Ostgut Ton)
Shinedoe - Phunk (Ricardo Villalobos mix)
Lopazz - Share My Rhythm (Get Physical)
DJ Yellow and Astrid Suryanto - Alone
Tom Middleton - Shinkansen (Big Chill)
Danuel Tate - Bloss (Wagon Repair)
Ghislain Poirier - Hit & Red (Ninja Tune)
Hospitals - Poppycock
DJ Vadim - Saskatoon (Bbe)
Caribou - Niobe (Merge)
Feu Therese - (Nada)
Artist of the Year - If It Ain't Dirty It Ain't Fun (Universal)
Boys Noize - Arcade Robot (Last gang)
Navid Tahernia - Mylikestyle (Kompakt)
Donnacha Costello - Opal
Tiger Stripes - Mad at me (Get Physical)
Reshuffle - Hedonism (Liebe Detail)
Cobblestone Jazz - Slap the Back (Wagon Repair)
Burial - Near Dark (Hyperdub)
Luisito Quintero - Quintero's Jam (Bbe)
Chromeo - Call Me Up (Last gang)
Citywide Vacuum - Souvenirs (Eleven37)

download (expires eventually)

Labels: dance, dj, Music, Swoon, Tech-house, Techno, Tracklist

  ¶ 7:10 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Swoon 210 - October 29, 2007 Terre Thaemlitz - The Archive of Silence (Mule)
Jochem Paap - Mbnt-plng (Fax)
Paul Kalkbrenner - Altes Kamueffel (Bpitchcontrol)
Peace Division - Voodoo
Shinedoe - Phunk (Ricardo Villalobos mix)
Gurtz - Sum
RQM and Filewile - Damn (Jahcoozi remix)
Deadmau5 - Not Exactly (Mau5trap)
Cobblestone jazz - Hired Touch (Wagon Repair)
Maxime Dangle - Love Water (K2)
Daniel Briegert - Belten Wummler (Oscar remix)
Luka and Lazo - Dust no 4 (Barem remix)
Einmusik - De medici (Italic)
DJ Remy - Wink (Armed)
Crowdplease and St. Plomb - 18 Years (One Day in Boston remix) (Mental Groove)
Tiefschwarz - Blow (Radio Slave mix)
Robag Wruhme - Dopamin (Musik Krause)
Trentemoller - Gamma (Minilogue remix)

Labels: dance, dj, Music, Swoon, Techno, Tracklist

  ¶ 7:04 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Swoon 209 - October 22, 2007 Breeder - Tyrantanic (Slacker mix)
DVAS - Relif (Pop Echo)
Lopazz - 2 Fast 4 U (Get Physical)
Boys Noize - The Battery (Last gang)
Paul Hartnoll - Patchwork Quilt (Acp)
Caribou - Melody Day (Four Tet remix) (Merge)
Citywide Vacuum - Carbon Valence (Eleven37)
Einmusik - 69 (Italic)
Lopazz - We Are (Get Physical)
Danuel Tate - Slim Jim Boko (Wagon Repair)
Swayzak - Distress And Calling (K7)
Snax - Honeymoon's Over
Caribou - Niobe (Merge)
Tom Middleton - Starq (Big Chill)
Irob - Breeze (Luca Bacchetti mix) (Tenax)
Marc Houle - Techno Vocals (M_nus)
Easy Changes - Caviar (Foundsound)
Silver City - Shiver (K7)
Patrick Chardonnet - Eve By Day (Connaisseur)
Burger/Voigt - Bring Trance Back To Reality (Kompakt)
Le Noir - Eleny (Radio Slave mix) (Fling)
Jesse Somfay - Grasping Stars (Meerestief)
Bitrate - Hauntingly Silent (Db)

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Labels: dance, dj, House, Music, Swoon, Techno

  ¶ 6:56 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Housewatch - Episode 4.8 A little bit delayed, since I knew this would be an unusual episode to explain. (I have kept it very simple. Many of the dirty immunological details have been ignored.) Anyway, the patient had lupus, which is an autoimmune disease. The body's immune system loses its ability to distinguish self from non-self, and attacks its own tissues.

Why was it so hard to catch? Basically, he didn't show the usual symptoms, including the characteristic "butterfly" rash, which spreads across the face under the eyes. In the patient's case, a transfusion of improperly matched blood was affecting his blood cells, which was causing most of his symptoms, and masking or overlapping many of the lupus symptoms.

The explanation was really rushed at the end, but the ultimate problem was the patient had type A blood, while they thought he had AB. So, when given AB, he had a violent reaction to it, which was causing all the bloody episodes. They gave him type A blood and steroids to control the lupus, and he recovered.

Like I said, a lot of immunological difficulties have been swept under the rug.

Random speculations: Big Love got the axe this week, and was turfed for disloyalty. A little surprising, I thought his religion would keep him in. I think 13 is next. If she has Huntington's, she's out of there. Either way, she appears to have a fatal flaw that will get her kicked out soon. I presume the plastic surgeon will go, due to age, leaving us with Amber and Kutner to form the new team, along with Foreman.

Labels: biology, HouseMD, medicine, television

  ¶ 1:35 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Swoon 211 - November 19, 2007 Bitrate - Hauntingly silent (Db)
Legion of Green Men - Slowbaq (Post Contemporary)
Hrsta - Entre La Mer et L'Eau Douce (Constellation)
Dante and Dhula - Why Do The Wicked Ones Rule (Do Right!)
Akiko Kiyama - Untitled (District of Corruption)
Dusty Kid - Milk (Systematic)
Pierce and Twirdy - Cuaba (Babicz in Full efx)
Raudive - Needles (Steve Bug mix) (Poker Flat)
Pheek - De Begg Degg
Terre Thaemlitz - Yann Live at acropolis (Max Mohr remix) (Mule)
Louderbach - Season 6 (Ellen Alien away remix) (M_nus)
Mike Shannon - Devotional (Cynosure)
Cobblestone Jazz - 23 Seconds (Wagon Repair)
Chymera - A Question
Dj Remy - Scrap (Armed)
HOSH - Steppenwolf
Samim - Zleep (Get Physical)
SCSI-9 - Another Day Acid (Kompakt)
Sasha - Coma (Emfire)
Aril Brikkha - Berghain (Kompakt)

download

Labels: dance, dj, Music, Swoon, Tech-house, Techno, Tracklist

  ¶ 9:59 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Housewatch - Episode 4.7 A great convergence of ideas this week on House, M.D., but probably not the way the producers intended.

This week's patient had Lyme disease, an infection you get through tick bites. The tick carries a bacteria that it gets from deer and other large forest creatures. It's named for Lyme, Connecticut, and is prevalent throughout New England.

The disease wasn't found very quickly, because the characteristic bulls-eye rash at the site of the bite was hidden under his hair.

Sound familiar? It should. Scrubs used the exact same plot three weeks ago.

Convergent evolution? Two shows of writer independently coming up with the same idea? Unlikely. Most likely, the writers and medical advisers read the same news story or journal article and thought that would make a good story.

One can only imagine the groans from the staff of House, M.D., as they realize Scrubs has beat them to the plot!

If caught in time, Lyme Disease is treatable with antibiotics. If you want to hear an endless "he said, she said" debate, google "post-Lyme syndrome".

Labels: biology, HouseMD, medicine, television

  ¶ 10:09 AM 0 Comments Links to this post