Archives
When and Where Matter in Understanding Violence in Baltimore
Posted on July 31, 2017
If you been paying attention, Baltimore has been in the grip of an epidemic of violence going on two-plus years now. If you look closely at the crime statistics, you’ll see that there was an increase in the rate of homicides per day starting around March or April of 2015. The riots/uprising/call-it-what-you-will that happened at […]
What Do I Tell My Child?
Posted on July 29, 2017
The podcast This American Life had a very interesting episode the other day. It was called “Fear and Loathing in Homer and Rockville.” The podcast dealt with the topic of immigration when immigration had nothing to do with the problem perceived by the subjects of the podcast. Or, rather, immigration was seen as the cause of […]
Hail to the Bees
Posted on July 23, 2017 3 Comments
When I was a child, I was always afraid of bees and other insects. You can thank the fire ants in Chihuahua for that. They always managed to sting me in the summers that I spent there running around with my cousins. Grandpa would compound the hurt by adding merthiolate (thimerosal and alcohol, basically) to […]
Imagine This, but with Guns…
Posted on July 19, 2017
One of the most common counter-arguments from people who oppose any form of gun control is that people will kill people with other “tools” if guns are not around. They’ll say that guns are just “tools” and that it’s the “bad” person holding the gun who has a say in whether or not someone will […]
Epidemiological Podcast S0E2: The Weight of the Evidence
Posted on July 12, 2017
On today’s podcast, I talk to you about a recent tragedy in our family and how it helped me understand anti-vaccine parents a little more. Not completely, but just enough to realize that there is very little in the way of a debate that one can have with them.
See, When people who don’t believe that vaccines save lives tell you that there is no evidence that vaccines are safe, they’re either misinformed or lying. On the flip side, when they tell you that there is evidence that vaccines cause autism, they’re either misinformed or lying again. There is plenty of evidence for both arguments out there, but only one set of “studies” pass the biological plausibility test (not to say anything about ethics).
However, because an injury (perceived or real) to a child triggers such a deep-seeded, primal reaction, it’s hard to be logical or reasonable. When parents see autism as death (when it’s not), their search for answers becomes chaotic and full of inferences that are misguided. Anti-vaccine people looking to make a buck take advantage of that, and then we’re off to the races on trying to stop further harm, encourage critical thinking, and have an actual debate based on facts.
In about 33 minutes, I tell you about the different kinds of studies out there, and I explain to you why we cannot do a vaccinated vs. unvaccinated study like the antivaxxers want, but we’ve done plenty of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated studies in an ethical and scientific way.
Good Night, Good Dog
Posted on July 10, 2017
Callisto, the wonderful dog we adopted seven years ago, passed away peacefully after a short battle with disease. She leaves a dog-shaped hole in our hearts as she was very much our daughter. My wife and I wished she could have stuck around to meet the baby, but the universe has a funny way of […]
Patriotism and Such
Posted on July 4, 2017 2 Comments
Did I ever tell you the story of my grade school years in Mexico? I was in school there for kindergarten, first, second and third grade. Then I did one year in El Paso, Texas, and then it was back to Juarez, Chihuahua, for fifth grade. By sixth grade, we got our permanent residence and […]
Epidemiological Podcast S0E1: The Perfect Epidemiological Surveillance System
Posted on July 2, 2017
Today, I thought I’d share with you a 15-minute presentation I gave in Mexico City last about two weeks ago. It was on a paper I wrote based off a previous blog post. I talk about what I imagine to be the perfect system for keeping track of the population’s health… That is, if money, technology, laws, and ethical considerations were not in the way of such things.
Yes, I’m giving the podcast a season and names. The first season runs from now until the end of the year and will be season zero, along with previous episodes. Kind of like “the lost season” if you will. Then, starting in 2018, I’ll have a first season of six podcasts with pre-planned topics and a little more preparation. You guys deserve it… And it’s a good way to be just creative enough to be doing something but not too busy to forget about the dissertation (which should be almost done when 2017 ends and 2018 begins).
Putting things in focus
Posted on June 20, 2017
Once in a while, you need to just focus and see the beautiful things out there.
The laws that you are going to break
Posted on June 12, 2017 4 Comments
The immigration debate has been front and center in my life for almost all of it. There are many people in my extended family who came to the United States illegally, or they came legally and overstayed their visas. They build lives here, living under the radar or with fake documents, and their children are […]
EpidemioLogical 