Monthly Archives: October 2012

Is there a Chiropractic "Cure" for Colic?

Uncategorized

Somebody asked me about colic and Chiropractic treatments. The evidence for: One or more very small studies suggest that some kids have upper spinal “damage” associated with childbirth, and some Chiropractors carried out minor “manipulation” thus reducing the colic. This evidence is very weak, as the assertion that there is an upper spinal damage syndrome is unverified, there is not an independent (or any kind of, as far as I can tell) measurement that the treatment affected the injury that may or may not have been there, and the effectiveness of the treatment is indicated in studies that did not use controls (everything that doesn’t kill you gets better, so even dangling a rubber chicken over the infant could work) and this is all based on reported recall data by parents who were predisposed to believe that the technique worked.

Meanwhile, there have been studies of this, and the studies show mixed results. Interestingly, the better the methodology, the less “result” among the handful of studies that have been done. In the end, there is no evidence that Chiropractic treatment would actually work for colic, and it is known that Chiropractic treatments can have damaging effects.

At the very least, if you bring your infant or toddler to a Chirpractor make sure of two things: 1) that only “mild manipulation” is used, nothing more, because more can cause damage and b) your income level is high enough that you can toss money down the drain and still have the resources to otherwise provide for the child.

And, above all, before you even bother, READ THIS.

There are actually a few things that MIGHT kinda sorta work for colic mentioned in that article, which I’ll let you discover by reading it.

Will the next space disaster be a debris collision? And Kessler Blankets.

Uncategorized

Sitting on top of enough explosive stuff to send a heavy weight into orbit at a high speed is dangerous, and that has cost lives in the space program. Re-entering the earth’s atmosphere, effectively imitating a meteor as it burns up owing to the translation of the aforereferenced kinetic energy into heat is also dangerous and has taken lives. But increasingly, just sitting there in a sealed box floating above the air far away from everything is becoming as dangerous as it sounds owing to an increased amount of space litter, and earlier this month another event has contributed what experts say is a “not insignificant amount” of litter to the problem.

The Russians recently launched a large rocket intended to put into orbit a couple of communication satellites, but the rocket stopped working on the way up, floated around for several days, and then exploded, creating an arc of new debris that shares orbital space with lots of satellites and the International Space Station. Apparently, similar events in recent years have led to a situation in which the ISS regularly adjusts its orbit to avoid space junk.

It is important to note that this recent explosion did not produce an imminent threat, but over time the situation becomes worse as more debris is added to the mix.

As of Tuesday evening, there were no orbital debris threats to the space station requiring any action, according to Josh Byerly, a NASA spokesperson.

The 450-ton complex can change its orbit, when necessary, to avoid individual pieces of space debris. The maneuvers have become more common since 2008 after a Chinese anti-satellite test and the high-speed crash of two satellites collectively sent approximately 5,000 chunks of space junk into the paths of spacecraft in low Earth orbit.

The Oct. 16 breakup marked the third explosion since 2007 of a Breeze M stage left with partially-full propellant tanks after a launch failure.

Each of the previous Breeze M breakups in 2007 and 2010 produced about 100 pieces of debris, according to NASA’s orbital debris program office.

Tracking equipment is said to be pretty good at finding debris that is “large” (tennis size or more) but most of the debris is small (bug-size). The small stuff acts like an erosive material when hitting things like the ISS, but larger objects would be more of a problem. “Erosion” can be mitigated against with “bumpers” that absorb the effects, but solar panels, antennas, etc. have to be exposed and are thus subject to damage by even small particles.

If a largish object hits something like a satellite or the ISS, Continue reading Will the next space disaster be a debris collision? And Kessler Blankets. →

What Open Source Software has Good Usability?

Uncategorized,

Are you interested in software usability and open source? If so, my friend Jim would like your help. He is doing a study of usability in Open Source software. I’ll post his entire request below along with a link to his blog. Also, he’ll probably be doing some other interent based interolocution about this; I’ll pass on to you whatever he passes on to me.

Here’s the thing. Jim has been involved in Open Source software for a long time, and is the creator of FreeDOS, and it doesn’t get much geekier than that. (I think the FreeDOS developers manual may be written in a dialect of Klingon.) What he’s looking for is a good example of Open Source software (any platform, does not have to be Linux) that has a medium amount of complexity that can be served up for analysis of positive and negative (but mainly positive) aspects of usability. I’m going to suggest the following list for consideration:

Open Office Writer
The Gimp
Nautilus
VLC
Shotwell or Digikam
Gedit
Synaptic
an IM client
Gwibber

This list runs from way complex on the top to (probably) way simple at the bottom. I would think that a study needs to be of more than the simplest applications because there won’t be enough to work with. (These are mostly GUI based applications; not sure if Jim is looking for any cli applications. VLC is certainly both.)

Have a look at Jim’s criteria below and make a few suggestions. The list above is just to get the brain juices going.

Here’s Jim’s RFI:

What programs have good usability?

I want to ask for your help in my study.

For my study, I want to do a “deep dive” on usability in open source software. After speaking with several “thought leaders,” my thinking now is that it’s better to do a case study, a usability critical analysis on an open source software program that has good usability. The results will be a discussion about why that program has good usability, and what makes good usability, so that other open source programmers can mimic the good parts.

I’ll also discuss what features are not good usability examples, so programmers can avoid those mistakes. But the focus will be more on the good and less on the bad.

Picking the right open source program is a tricky thing. The ideal program should be not too big (for example, very complex menus can “lose” the audience in the details) but neither should it be too small (a trivial program will not provide as valuable of results). The program should be approachable by general users.

There’s no reason the program needs to be a Linux program. However, I prefer that the case study be of an open source program. Many open source programs also exist for Windows and MacOSX.

The original blog, which you should visit, is HERE.

Will I see you at Mayday Books Wednesday PM?

Uncategorized

I’ll be at Mayday Books with other authors of Atheist Voices of Minnesota: an Anthology of Personal Stories for a thing. Specifically, we’ll form a panel to discuss how atheism informs our political views and activism.

The discussion will be moderated by George Kane, and the panelists include Ryan Bolin, Greg Laden, M.A. Melby, Kim Socha, and Stephanie Zvan….

Mayday Books is a unique and fascinating little bookstore. Located in the West Bank community in Minneapolis, it’s a volunteer collective dedicated to selling radical and left-wing literature, and providing a space for political education and camaraderie.

After the discussion, which should end around 8pm or shortly after, those who want can hang out at Mayday Books for some social time and further discussion. Some refreshments will be on hand.

The event will be at 7:00 PM. Let me know if you want to get together beforehand at the nearby Anarchist coffee shop or something.

Breaking: Michael Mann Suing National Review and Competitive Enterprise Institute

Uncategorized,

My friend and colleague Michael Mann just released the following information:

Lawsuit filed against The National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Institute 10/22/12

Today, the case of Dr. Michael E. Mann vs. The National Review and The Competitive Enterprise Institute was filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Dr. Mann, a Professor and Director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, has instituted this lawsuit against the two organizations, along with two of their authors, based upon their false and defamatory statements accusing him of academic fraud and comparing him to a convicted child molester, Jerry Sandusky. Dr. Mann is being represented by John B. Williams of the law firm of Cozen O’Connor in Washington, D.C..

Dr. Mann is a climate scientist whose research has focused on global warming. In 2007, along with Vice President Al Gore and his colleagues of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for having “created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming.”

Nevertheless, the defendants assert that global warming is a “hoax,” and have accused Dr. Mann of improperly manipulating the data to reach his conclusions.

In response to these types of accusations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation and seven other organizations have conducted investigations into Dr. Mann’s work, finding any and all allegations of academic fraud to be baseless. Every investigation—and every replication of Mann’s work—has concluded that his research and conclusions were properly conducted and fairly presented.

Despite their knowledge of the results of these many investigations, the defendants have nevertheless accused Dr. Mann of academic fraud and have maliciously attacked his personal reputation with the knowingly false comparison to a child molester. The conduct of the defendants is outrageous, and Dr. Mann will be seeking judgment for both compensatory and punitive damages.

Journalists interested in further information regarding the filing of this lawsuit may contact Dr. Mann’s attorney at 202-912-4848, or jbwilliams@cozen.com.

Why Romney's "Route to the sea" gaffe is way worse than you think

Uncategorized

In last night’s debate, Mitt Romney said this:

“Syria is Iran’s only ally in the Arab world. It’s their route to the sea.”

This is not the first time Romney has said this. In March, he said, “Maybe one of the few bright spots in the Middle East developments in the last year has been the rising of the people in Syria against Assad. Obviously, as you know, Syria is Iran’s only Arab ally in the region. Syria is the route that allows Iran to supply Hezbollah with weapons in Lebanon. Syria is Iran’s route to the sea …” When he said that in March, the Washington Post called him on it, but apparently his campaign ignored the correction.

Romney’s assertion that Iran is landlocked is wrong at several levels, but even the fact checkers and press are ignoring the truly alarming reason why this wrongness must be taken into account when considering Mitt Romney’s ability to manage US foreign policy. I’ll get to that in a moment. But first, a bit of factual context.

Here is a map of Iran, courtesy of the CIA: Continue reading Why Romney's "Route to the sea" gaffe is way worse than you think →