DI: consult a lawyer

I am amused that now the Disco Institute is reduced to complaining that Judge Jones adopted the ACLU’s findings of fact in the Dover trial. It’s true that Jones didn’t write a big chunk of his decision, because he literally accepted the opinion of the DI’s opponents.

Apparently, this is a common judicial practice. I didn’t know that, but shouldn’t the DI know about it? Don’t they have a lawyer or lawyers working for them (they sure have a scientist deficiency)? Couldn’t they have asked someone on their staff whether this was ordinary procedure before they started complaining?

Oh, wait.

Casey Luskin. No wonder they screwed up. That boy has a reputation for rank incompetence and getting the facts wrong.

Satan’s perfect food: Tofu!

What a terrific title: A devil food is turning our kids into homosexuals! It’s from Wingnut Daily, of course, and it’s simply one of their kooks taking a germ of fact and amplifying it into a flaming reactionary whimper of fear. He’s complaining about soy.

Soybeans do contain compounds called isoflavones that resemble and weakly mimic estrogens. I’ve read a few papers that discuss their possible effects on human physiology, and they usually fall into the category of “Hmmm…suggestive, no evidence either way yet, needs more study.” Our wingnut author seems to have a different source than the scientific literature, though, because he makes some rather definitive claims.

Doctors used to hope soy would reduce hot flashes, prevent cancer and heart disease, and save millions in the Third World from starvation. That was before they knew much about long-term soy use. Now we know it’s a classic example of a cure that’s worse than the disease. For example, if your baby gets colic from cow’s milk, do you switch him to soy milk? Don’t even think about it. His phytoestrogen level will jump to 20 times normal. If he is a she, brace yourself for watching her reach menarche as young as seven, robbing her of years of childhood. If he is a boy, it’s far worse: He may not reach puberty till much later than normal.

So, I searched PubMed, and there’s nothing on soy and menarche or menstruation; I found a few articles on soy and puberty, and they say things like “The literature offers no evidence of endocrine effects in humans from infant consumption of modern soy-based formulas” and “To date, no adverse effects of short- or long-term use of soy proteins have been observed in humans and exposure to soy-based infant formulas does not appear to lead to different reproductive outcomes than exposure to cow milk formulas” and “Available evidence from adult human and infant populations indicates that dietary isoflavones in soy infant formulas do not adversely affect human growth, development, or reproduction.” There are many more papers on its putative effects on breast cancer and the symptoms of menopause, and even there it’s a study in ambiguity: some reports of slight positive effects, many more stating that there isn’t a detectable effect.

There doesn’t seem to be any strong evidence that eating tofu will turn your sons into girlie-boys, I’m afraid; there are better grounds to be concerned about known endocrine disruptors like atrazine and PCBs.

Of course, I have failed to take into the synergistic effects of water fluoridation, that commie plot, or the corrupting influence of Big Agriculture on science, that capitalist plot. I am amused at the fact, though, that here in rural Minnesota, where the kids rail against those homosexuals, that one of the most important crops these kids’ parents raise is soybeans. I wonder what the effect of this WND wingnuttery would be on conservative farmers out here? I expect that would trigger a more strongly measurable response than what the soybeans are doing to their gonads.

Ah, but what do I know. The author has impeccable credentials.

James Rutz is chairman of Megashift Ministries and founder-chairman of Open Church Ministries. He is the author of “MEGASHIFT: Igniting Spiritual Power,” and, most recently, “The Meaning of Life.”

See? He’s a gladhanding Jesus-promoter who makes his money founding “ministries” and selling self-help books. You can trust him.

Klein KO (1998) Isoflavones, soy-based infant formulas, and relevance to endocrine function. Nutr Rev 56(7):193-204

Merritt RJ,
Jenks BH (2004) Safety of soy-based infant formulas containing isoflavones: the clinical evidence. J Nutr 134(5):1220S-1224.

Miniello VL,
Moro GE,
Tarantino M,
Natile M,
Granieri L,
Armenio L (2003) Soy-based formulas and phyto-oestrogens: a safety profile. Acta Paediatr Suppl 91(441):93-100.

Go, squid, go!

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We can learn from nature:

Inspired by the sleek and efficient propulsion of squid, jellyfish and other cephalopods, a University of Colorado at Boulder researcher has designed a new generation of compact vortex generators that could make it easier for scientists to maneuver and dock underwater vehicles at low speeds and with greater precision.

In addition, the technology — seemingly inspired by the plots of two classic sci-fi films — may soon allow doctors to guide tiny capsules with jet thrusters through the human digestive tract, enabling them to diagnose disease and dispense medications.

(The two films, by the way, are Fantastic Voyage and Inner Space; I think only the former classifies as an SF classic.)

While the details are awfully thin, there are more pictures and movies online. Hint—don’t waste your time with the mpgs, they only show the titles; you’ll have to watch the ugly wmv files.

Reason #8 to vote for Pharyngula

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People, you aren’t doing your part. Yesterday, I had an almost 600 vote lead over the star-gazing bone-bag; this morning, it has narrowed rapidly to little more than 200. At this rate, he’s going to catch up and pass me today, and then the suppression of the majority invertebrates will continue to be perpetuated by this wicked chordatecentric minority. Vote, vote, vote!

How is he accomplishing these gains? There’s the kitten factor, of course: by laying on the cute, he mobilizes the shallow masses who like superficial, pretty fluff (not my constituency, obviously). In his latest missive, he also engages in most egregious flattery.

I also know I have the most honest, wonderful, and — let’s face it — best-looking readers in the observable Universe (and that includes the depths of the ocean), so I know you’ll help out in this time of need.

Consider the flip side of that comment, though: he has also called you readers and supporters of Pharyngula dishonest, horrible, and ugly. How can you vote for someone who abuses you all so? Don’t you want to see him crushed?

Another factor is that he seems to be mobilizing his minions, asking them to display a truly hideous banner and urging their readers to vote for his blog. Well, two can play that game. Here are some tasteful banners/badges featuring Iridoteuthis or Wonderpus you can put on your blog if you voted for Pharyngula: use them freely, and tell all your friends to join in.

Copy and paste this code into your website for the small badge:

<div style="width:90; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2006.weblogawards.org/2006/12/best_science_blog.php"><img alt="pharyngula badge" title="Vote for Pharyngula in the Weblog Awards" src="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/upload/2006/12/pharyngula_rules.jpg" width="88" height="33" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 10px"><a href="http://2006.weblogawards.org/2006/12/best_science_blog.php">Vote</a> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/">Pharyngula</a>!</span></div>

Copy and paste this code into your website for the larger banner:

<div style="width:290; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2006.weblogawards.org/2006/12/best_science_blog.php"><img alt="pharyngula banner" title="Vote for Pharyngula in the Weblog Awards" src="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/upload/2006/12/pharyngula_rules_lg.jpg" width="280" height="72" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 14px"><a href="http://2006.weblogawards.org/2006/12/best_science_blog.php">Vote</a> for <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/">Pharyngula</a>!</span></div>

If you prefer, you can use the compelling hypnotic power of the Wonderpus to force your readers to vote for me. Obey the Wonderpus!

<div style="width:290; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2006.weblogawards.org/2006/12/best_science_blog.php"><img alt="hypno_pharyngula.jpg" src="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/upload/2006/12/hypno_pharyngula.jpg" width="300" height="80" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 14px"><a href="http://2006.weblogawards.org/2006/12/best_science_blog.php">Vote</a> for <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/">Pharyngula</a>!</span></div>

Vote for Pharyngula (and remember, you can vote every day!). Unless you like ugly banners and being insulted.

P.S. Oh, yeah, and vote for Anyone But Althouse in the Best Centrist Blog category. I’m pushing for The Moderate Voice.

Socializing them right into the hate camp

Ah, the pleasures of living in a small town in Red America: the high schools are fertile fields for fostering hate, and now it’s facilitated by technology, like Facebook, that allows them to sow it far and wide. My daughter is on a rampage right now, upset because her erstwhile peers at the high school have been putting their bigotry proudly on display. There is currently some ferocious babble going on in a Morris Area High School facebook site, and here’s one of the more outrageous comments:

Okay this is really random but it has to deal with the comment about homosexuality issue that Sibley brought up. Honestly why must our country keep discussing this issue. We all know it’s wrong and that it just shouldn’t be that way. If you want to go with the same sex move somewhere else. Please before we ship yah off. Honestly just get rid of them and then we won’t have this issue. Just ship them to Canada. But yah homosexuality is just wrong so just say no and get over it. It’s never gonna be right so yah!!

There’s more there—way too much more—and there are lots of kids who are blindly supporting that kind of statement. They say “it’s wrong” and that’s enough: their brains shut down, they’ve got nothing to back it up, and they just repeat the “just wrong” mantra over and over again, spicing it up with eliminationist calls to get rid of them. “So yah!!” sums up their reasoning perfectly.

Where do these kids pick up this kind of bigotry? From their parents and churches, of course, but also, the schools out here have been collaborators in a conspiracy of silence. A year ago last Spring, we had a perfect example: the university put on a play about tolerance and diversity, and regional schools boycotted the event, and the reaction to the Vagina Monologues has been similarly backwards. There are no processes in place to teach kids something more than their tradition-based dogmatic ignorance: the schools have given up, some of the churches encourage it, and whole families wallow in this level of stupidity.

And the kid who says we should ship all the gays to Canada? He’s student body president at the high school. He’s a member of the popular clique.

Reason #7 to vote for Pharyngula

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Yeah, I’m thinking of the kittens. I’m thinking real hard.

I was going to say, “Because if you don’t vote for me, I’m feeding the kittens to the Kraken,” but then I realized that the kind of people who’d vote for me would probably want me to feed the kittens to the Kraken. And then I realized it didn’t matter how anyone voted, because I was going to feed the kittens to the Kraken anyway. So what the heck. Kittens. Kraken. Kraken Chow. That’s the way it is. As the kittens must accept their fate, so must Phil.

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Vote for Pharyngula (and remember, you can vote every day!). Because the kittens won’t be spared whether you do or don’t.

P.S. I’m sure Respectful Insolence would love to have the endorsement of a kitty-grinding blog for Best Medical/Health Issues Blog. I’m holding out for the promise of a Hitler Zombie/EneMan crossover, though.