801. The Mind of the Market

Comment #109532 by annabanana on January 9, 2008 at 6:50 am

Diacanu,
I forgot to mention, you've obviously missed my post in reference to you on the dinosaur article...maybe it'll cheer you up ;)

802. The Mind of the Market

Comment #109531 by annabanana on January 9, 2008 at 6:47 am

Diacanu,

Not to worry, I'm sure there are cute girls wherever it is that you are who aren't dating libertarian economists. My roommate is a single, hot, atheist...so there have to be more floating around somewhere.

al-rawandi, I know you and Diacanu have had your share of quarrels, but speaking to him like that is only going to start another one...

803. It was a bad year for God.

Comment #109528 by annabanana on January 9, 2008 at 6:41 am

Coel,

Oh yes we do, by electing those who are in charge of making the rules.

Not exactly, haven't you noticed the PATRIOT Act still being in place? The last round of elections did nothing to dislodge it and pretty much anyone who knows anything about it would like it removed.

804. The Mind of the Market

Comment #109517 by annabanana on January 9, 2008 at 6:32 am

lol...I understand, I date one.

I don't think economics is science, but it's kind of like an extended phenotype, I suppose. A product of the human mind, so naturally the human mind can be scientifically explored...right?

805. Could there be a Darwinian Account of Human Creativity?

Comment #109513 by annabanana on January 9, 2008 at 6:28 am

How do you explain dna codes from one kind to another with the correct information

wooter

Are you asking how DNA replicates itself? If so, I'll be happy to explain. I wasn't quite sure. You might want to brush up on your punctuation a bit or else proofread before you post. I'm having a hard time interpreting some of your posts.

806. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #109509 by annabanana on January 9, 2008 at 6:21 am

My roommate got a dollar the other day that had "In God We Trust" blacked out with a sharpie, and it had something stamped underneath it to the effect of quit putting God all over the place...it was pretty cool...was that one of you guys?

807. The Mind of the Market

Comment #109501 by annabanana on January 9, 2008 at 6:17 am

Diacanu, What's wrong with neuroeconomics, or cosmoclimatology for that matter?

Tyler Durden, hey I suggested it first ;)

I work in government, so I have a little bit of time to read online...

808. The Mind of the Market

Comment #109496 by annabanana on January 9, 2008 at 6:13 am

windweaver, Thanks so much for that critique on Paul. I just wish at the end of it he hadn't completely turned around and said that a vote for Paul was better than a vote for any of the other candidates...

809. The Mind of the Market

Comment #109486 by annabanana on January 9, 2008 at 6:03 am

I'm going to have to quit my job so I have time to read all of these books. Either that or find a job that pays me to read them. Wouldn't that be great?

810. Another critic who hasn't read the book

Comment #109207 by annabanana on January 8, 2008 at 3:10 pm

What impresses me about the Pharyngula thread on this very same subject (url given above) is how most of the Commenters stick to the point, instead of waltzing off into little private conversations that really should be dealt with in private e-mails.

This is understandable, but I must say that I've learned quite a bit from the discussions about or derived from these articles. I've also sharpened my debating skills a bit. I suppose I'll wander off to the forum now with my tail between my legs.

811. Another critic who hasn't read the book

Comment #109115 by annabanana on January 8, 2008 at 11:21 am

All I have to say is...excuse me, but what?

812. Did mozzies, not a meteor, do for the dinosaurs?

Comment #109073 by annabanana on January 8, 2008 at 9:20 am

Yes, I just saw a program on the discovery channel (not that they're always accurate) about the australopithecus (one of our hominid ancestors, what Lucy was) and at the time things like ancestors of the big cats and ancestors of the elephants were the top predators at the time. Australopithecus was the prey for some of these animals. Obviously, we eventually became top predators.

EDIT: Instead of one of our hominid ancestors, read our possible hominid ancestor.

813. Stop House Resolution 888

Comment #109072 by annabanana on January 8, 2008 at 9:15 am

*cries* I just found out my Representative is one of the co-sponsors. I'll try to write him an angry letter, but can he vote against it if he helped write it?

814. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #109052 by annabanana on January 8, 2008 at 8:25 am

We have the choice in South Carolina of getting one of two normal license plates. One of them has the top portion of a flagstaff with the American flag and the S.C. flag and above the numbers says "In God We Trust", but you have to pay extra to get the license plate that essentially the same, but says "In Reason We Trust".

815. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #109030 by annabanana on January 8, 2008 at 7:24 am

I didn't quite understand that either, Steve. Of all things that would make you move to Canada, removing a word on a piece of paper money is what would actually spurn one to move? Baffling to say the least.

816. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #109028 by annabanana on January 8, 2008 at 7:20 am

Hahahaha Tycho the Dog, you caught me. How did you know?

But seriously, even though this is the scary interweb, that is actually me in my avatar, as disappointing as that may be.

817. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #109026 by annabanana on January 8, 2008 at 7:14 am

Thanks for all of the advice on where to live. I'm sure if the Americans here were advising someone from Europe to move to the states, we'd have the same sort of arguments and somewhere along the way, it would get brought up that the North won the war. If I seriously were to move, I think I'd prefer to be in warmer climates, but good beer would most definitely be preferable, since I consider myself a beer snob. I live in one of the warmer parts of the states and it's still not quite warm enough for me. I was thinking that if I were to stay here, I might move to Miami where it's almost always warm.

Baeoz, I don't mind lots of critters since I'm a bio nerd. We have venomous snakes and spiders where I live, but people don't get bitten by them frequently. We have jellyfish, too, and the occasional portuguese man of war (one of which stung me, or deployed its nematocysts, if you like). I think the only thing in Aussie that sounds super scary are those little cube jellies that can be deadly, and even if not deadly, cause one to be in hours of agonizing pain.

On a more serious note, I'm beginning to be extremely disheartened by the current political situation. Yesterday, my friend at work said she was moving to Canada if God was removed from our money, etc. I quickly reminded her that Canada was more secular than the U.S.

Also, as for House Resolution 888, my mom is good friends with one of the top aids for our Representative, so I think I may try to get in touch with him and have a word. It may or may not do any good, but we'll see. Either that or I'll tell my mom and she'll yell at him. I told her about H.R. 847 and our representative turned out to be one of the sponsors, so I'm pretty sure she was going to say something about it.

818. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #108719 by annabanana on January 7, 2008 at 1:14 pm

I was only 18 when Bush was elected (or forced his way into office) the first time, so unfortunately, I didn't really understand what it meant as I hadn't fully immersed myself in politics, so don't be too quick to judge me. Also, I'd like to live abroad as it should broaden my horizons, so if I'm going to do it, doing it when some moron gets elected couldn't be a better time, could it?

819. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #108714 by annabanana on January 7, 2008 at 1:07 pm

Miss Teen SC: "I personally believe the U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, uh...people out there in our nation don't have maps, and, uh, I believe that our education like such as South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as and...I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., err, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our...

Mmmhmmm...

820. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #108709 by annabanana on January 7, 2008 at 12:56 pm

It sounds wonderful. We are planning to visit for two weeks this summer, even if we don't move there. I'm very excited. It will be my first time in the U.K.!!

821. Did mozzies, not a meteor, do for the dinosaurs?

Comment #108688 by annabanana on January 7, 2008 at 12:24 pm

AshtonBlack, do you mean a hypothesis? Or is it an actual documented theory? (I'm asking genuinely as I do not know)

822. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #108686 by annabanana on January 7, 2008 at 12:21 pm

al-rawandi, How do you think I felt????!!!!! I'm from there!!!

823. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #108685 by annabanana on January 7, 2008 at 12:20 pm

...And like, the Iraq, and stuff...

824. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #108683 by annabanana on January 7, 2008 at 12:19 pm

No seriously, it's really bad. I went to a not so good public high school. I took all honors classes except for the ones we were forced to take along with everyone else. One of those forced classes was government/economics where the teacher literally went over each test IMMEDIATELY BEFORE we took it and a lot of people still failed or didn't score above 70%. Also, not that this is an accurate sampling of the population, but haven't you ever seen the surveys Jay Leno does on the streets and they find all of these "normal" people that can't answer a question you'd think a three year old would know? It's disheartening to say the least.

I have a friend who lives in Sheffeild, he says we can stay with him until we get a place. :)

825. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #108661 by annabanana on January 7, 2008 at 11:52 am

Why do think my roommate and I seriously have plans to move if the election ends badly?

826. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #108655 by annabanana on January 7, 2008 at 11:48 am

Yeah, but with crappy policies like "no child left behind" which sounds good only nominally, what can we expect?

827. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #108649 by annabanana on January 7, 2008 at 11:40 am

radiohead1000, public schools in the U.S. are lacking in a lot of areas. Somehow I came out unscathed, but I think that was mostly due to the fact that my mother nurtured my inquisitive mind. Didn't you hear about Miss Teen South Carolina? Apparently, most people can't even point out normal geographical things like the PACIFIC OCEAN on a map. I don't recall evolution being covered an any detail whatsoever. It would be easy to ignore it if you were used to ignoring other things in the name of religion.

Is Leeds anywhere near Sheffeild (sp?)?

828. Did mozzies, not a meteor, do for the dinosaurs?

Comment #108641 by annabanana on January 7, 2008 at 11:31 am

Vinelectric, Diacanu's avatar is kind of sexy, methinks. It leaves the air of mystery...

In regards to the article, I'm always fascinated by things like this. Parisitology was a great class. Plasmodium falciparun is my favorite (to study, I mean)!

829. US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists

Comment #108599 by annabanana on January 7, 2008 at 10:22 am

I've already said this, but I'll say it again. If one of the a-holes gets elected, I'm moving to Europe. I just have to figure out what to do with my car...anyone need to buy a car?

830. Huckabee: Guns, God and rock'n'roll

Comment #107385 by annabanana on January 4, 2008 at 12:50 pm

I would think if overwhelming evidence pointed to the fact that some person caused a great amount of suffering and harm to innocent people, they may have what was coming to them if they suddenly found themselves whisked away to sunny Gaza on a red-eye flight.

Didn't GWB cause lots of innocent people to suffer? Can someone whisk him away now?

Oh, $hit! Now there's a wire tap on my phone, d@mn patriot act.

831. Huckabee: Guns, God and rock'n'roll

Comment #107241 by annabanana on January 4, 2008 at 10:01 am

Ok, I know that experience can be really important, but as a young person who has been discriminated against in competing for jobs because of her lack of experience, I can confidently say that I KNOW that I am smart and capable enough to do those jobs I wasn't hired for and may have even done them better than the persons who were hired.

Experience does not necessarily equal success just as inexperience does not necessarily equal inability to perform well, in this case, as president of the United States.

832. Huckabee: Guns, God and rock'n'roll

Comment #107236 by annabanana on January 4, 2008 at 9:56 am

As well as killing as a solution to killing is ridiculous....

833. Huckabee: Guns, God and rock'n'roll

Comment #107230 by annabanana on January 4, 2008 at 9:50 am

Another problem I have with Ron Paul is his stance on abortion. He seems to think that there is never any need for it and he's ok with Roe v. Wade being repealed as well as abortion being a state's decision.

Can you imagine the death toll because of this? I guarantee you women will still do everything they can to have an abortion whether legally or not when they want to. Go look at the statistics on abortions. 1 in 3 women will have an abortion before she is 45. Imagine if one in three women is trying to give herself an at home abortion the proportion of women that will die or possibly die or worse, have the kid, not want it and send it into the awful foster system (all the while enduring the mental and physical tolls a pregnancy takes on your body).

834. Huckabee: Guns, God and rock'n'roll

Comment #107213 by annabanana on January 4, 2008 at 9:24 am

I would say either Clinton or Obama. I think both of them are secular enough, intelligent enough, and motivated to do the right things in our country. What specifically do you need to convince you that a vote for one of the two would be worth it?

835. Huckabee: Guns, God and rock'n'roll

Comment #107194 by annabanana on January 4, 2008 at 9:02 am

Well for you to be all holed up in California, Paul might be fine, but if South Carolina had the opportunity to have a constitutionally limited government with Christian underpinnings, they may actually do it.

These jerks are supporting Paul and trying to ruin my state:

http://christianexodus.org/

836. Huckabee: Guns, God and rock'n'roll

Comment #107182 by annabanana on January 4, 2008 at 8:51 am

Yes, my boyfriend, a deist, supports him, but when I showed him that essay by Ron Paul he did some logical acrobatics to account for it and reconciled it within himself...

837. Huckabee: Guns, God and rock'n'roll

Comment #107180 by annabanana on January 4, 2008 at 8:45 am

Darn, quill beat me to it!

838. Huckabee: Guns, God and rock'n'roll

Comment #107175 by annabanana on January 4, 2008 at 8:41 am

Hahaha, epeeist, I definitely wouldn't mind the socialized medicine...I suppose you've read the other thread and my rants about the pharmaceuticals, but I wouldn't mind living in Europe. At least if a crappy president wins it'll be motivation for me to up and do it.

al-rawandi, Ron Paul best represents your views? He's a Christian, too, who wouldn't mind the separation wall crumbling. What was it he said about a "robustly christian nation"?

839. Huckabee: Guns, God and rock'n'roll

Comment #107171 by annabanana on January 4, 2008 at 8:37 am

Well, maybe they'd like to have a cosmopolitan with Hillary rather than a beer?

840. Huckabee: Guns, God and rock'n'roll

Comment #107167 by annabanana on January 4, 2008 at 8:30 am

Also, in preparation that someone abhorrent will win, anyone over there in Europe have a spare room I can rent, pretty please?

841. Huckabee: Guns, God and rock'n'roll

Comment #107164 by annabanana on January 4, 2008 at 8:24 am

Rtambree, Radesq is right. If you don't vote for someone who probably really is secular, i.e. the democrat, you're only stealing votes away from them which gives the faith-head the upper hand. A third party candidate hasn't won a presidential election since, well, I don't know if they've ever won, so why not place your vote where it will actually count AGAINST the faith head and not give him an advantage. Also, there are still the electoral votes to deal with. Even if the popular voters vote for a 3rd party candidate, that doesn't mean the electoral college will.

842. Monkey, Business

Comment #107129 by annabanana on January 4, 2008 at 6:44 am

Hungarianelephant,

I am not convinced (and probably never will be) that the pharmaceutical industry should simply be considered the same as all other businesses. I will concede that competition can drive innovation and that putting drug development under very strict mandates or in the hands of the government would probably slow the development of new/better drugs, but I still don't think that that means the industry should be able to continue to operate as it has been in recent years. The development of less drugs may or may not be a bad thing depending on the type of drug. As you say there are many NSAIDS out there, none better than the other, but the drug companies keep making one after the other when they really are not necessary, so the slowing of development of redundant therapies would probably be alright.

I don't agree with your analysis of how much a person "needs" a drug. There are some meds that can be done without and others that can't. I agree that perhaps insulin wasn't the best example since blood sugar can be somewhat controlled with diet. Other medicines, however, simply cannot be dismissed. HIV medicines, for example, can extend the life of the patient for many many years, whereas without treatment AIDS will develop and the person will die much earlier. To use a personal example, I have asthma, and not just moderately. I have it pretty bad. I could probably get away with not taking singulair or allegra-D or advair to help control my symptoms, but I am positive that I would have died already several times if it weren't for my albuterol inhaler, steroids (to control flare ups), and antibiotics (as it seems that my respiratory tract, being already compromised, is succeptable to respiratory infections such as pneumonia). And if it weren't for epinephrine, I would have died a few times, too, as I have severe food allergies that send me into anaphylaxis. Anyway, my point is that there are those drugs which are necessary to sustain life at all and those that simply improve the quality of life and sometimes help to elongate life.

Anyway, perhaps I am being to harsh on the pharmaceuticals sphere, but perhaps you are being a bit too forgiving. I don't know if there's a point in arguing any longer since it seems that we will never come to a consensus.

As an anecdote to end with, my boyfriend is an economics major and we frequently have trouble agreeing on things because he doesn't quite understand the science and I don't quite understand the economics.

843. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #106904 by annabanana on January 3, 2008 at 4:53 pm

My current favorite is from a microbrewery in Asheville, NC. It's called Highland Oatmeal Porter. I've heard that the guinness in Ireland is different than here, so I'm excited to try it whenever it is that I make it over to Ireland. I also just tried an english beer called Old Peculiar which was an "old ale" that was really good. Yucky for hops! Yay for porters and stouts!

844. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #106799 by annabanana on January 3, 2008 at 1:25 pm

I know, most gals like the light beer or girlie drinks, but after working in an "irish" pub (the Bible Belt's interpretation, at least), I turned into a beer snob. Unfortunately, I'm quite small, so I can only handle one or two beers at a time, so I don't drink that much. They should make alcohol in smaller bottles, just for me.

845. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #106791 by annabanana on January 3, 2008 at 1:06 pm

If you're speaking of Sam Adams Boston Lager, then I'm throwing up in my mouth as we speak.

If you're speaking about their specialty beers like the honey porter, then we can talk.

I'm a porter and stout kind of a girl. Get that pale crap away from me!

846. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #106781 by annabanana on January 3, 2008 at 12:56 pm

Yes, beer would be a good proof. Which kind? Guinness?

847. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #106774 by annabanana on January 3, 2008 at 12:46 pm

She's definitely not human, not with an a$$ like that.

848. Monkey, Business

Comment #106756 by annabanana on January 3, 2008 at 12:15 pm

Hungarianelephan,

I want to know why we are debating because despite your assertion that you made it clear in previous posts that you think reform is in order, I wasn't clear to me. I wanted to know whether or not we were on the same side or different sides of the fence (not that it's a black and white, one side or the other type of issue, clearly). So I suppose we are on the same side, but different patches of grass.

I never said that shortening the length of the patent was THE solution, I offered it as A solution. I'm coming at this argument from a biological/medical/pharmaceutical standpoint. I will freely admit and have freely admitted in previous posts that I am not an expert on economics. And as for my use of the word industry, I suppose I could have chosen a better word that encompasses the whole of it (market, consumers, government regulations, etc.). Your suggestions for solutions sound reasonable.

What's an unacceptable rate of return on capital? 10%? 20%? 30%? Why? Are you going to apply the same standard to every business in the country? If not, why not?

It depends on the capital. 10% of $100,000 is obviously a lot different than 10% of $1bn. I think it should be scaled according to the actual return, not just percentage. There are other factors to take into consideration as well. How much do they spend on marketing and advertising? How much do they spend bribing the doctors to prescribe their products (giving them pens ad nauseum, other brand labeled products, schmoozing them with sports tickets, etc)? How much do they pay their employees? How much do they give to charity? (All of those questions were directed towards pharmaceuticals) And no I don't think that all businesses should be held to the same standard because they are producing different products. Pharmaceuticals should be held to a strict standard since they are producing (in many cases, but not all) products that are necessities. Producing televisions isn't a necessity, so their standards shouldn't be as strict, but the television industry isn't going to be able to price things as high as the pharmaceutical industry can because if they price them too high, no one will be able to afford them and you don't HAVE to have a tv as opposed to people who HAVE to have, say insulin. The pharmaceutical company, keeping in mind what the market can bear, can drive it's prices further up and the market will have to bear it because in many cases people HAVE to have the medicine (or they think they do).

If I come up with a radical new treatment for HIV, say, today, it will cost me $1bn and around 10 years to get it into patients. What would you do? Simple question.

Why is this a simple question? If some pharmaceutical giant covers the R&D for me to develop a radical HIV treatment with the stipulation that they'll only back me if they have to be able to make a profit, are they going to make the treatment so expensive that only rich people can afford it? What about people in third world countries who have no money to buy it? Will they donate any of it to them? I don't think I would accept an offer like that, I guess if you want me to pin down an answer. There are grants you can get from NIH to fund R&D and plenty of people with earnest interest in helping the cause to only accept an offer from a pharmaceutical giant.

For me to say "what most people think" was a poor choice of words. I think it would be fair to say that "most" people are theists, so I don't want to base my opinions on that. What I will say instead is that with a sufficient knowledge of how the whole sphere of pharmaceuticals works, one can easily see that it is need of reform.

849. Monkey, Business

Comment #106712 by annabanana on January 3, 2008 at 9:45 am

*cracks knuckles* here we go.

Ok, I'll start by asking why you are so vehemently debating me. Are you making the assertion that the pharmaceutical industry is not in need of reform? or are you debating for the purpose of debating?

Be that as it may, you're still assuming, without explaining, that pharma "exploits" people and farmers don't. I genuinely don't understand this. Please help me with it.

Please re-read all of my previous posts. I feel as if I've supported my position quite well. In short, if I must, though, they exploit people by encouraging the pill popping culture and charging exorbitant amounts of money for their products. If you disagree with this assertion, then please provide evidence that they do not earn back every cent they spent on R&D, raw production cost, etc, plus some.

Is it that it encourages "pill-popping", as you say later in your post?

...

I'd certainly agree ...that pharma encourages it

eh?

No where did I say that they were the sole contributor to the pill popping culture. That's a whole other can of worms. Do you want to open it? (I'm asking seriously, because we can if you like). The pharmaceuticals, however, cannot be simply dismissed, however, from their guilt simply because they aren't the sole contributor can they?

Agreed. But I don't see what this adds to your argument. Are you seriously telling me that anyone takes a prescription because they don't know, or don't care, that better diet and exercise is an alternative? And even if they did, are you also going to condemn every manufacturer of products where there is a simpler, cheaper and possibly healthier alternative available? Because if so, that's going to be a very long list indeed.

First of all, I do think some people honestly don't know huge of a difference diet and exercise make. But that isn't the issue. And I also do condemn products that contribute to the problems of society, like obesity. And yes, it's a long list. But again, this isn't the issue at hand. If you want to open this can of worms, we can.

Now, what if I told you that it would cost you $1bn to ensure that it got to the people it could help. What would you do?

I find it extremely difficult to answer these hypothetical questions as not every detail can be ascertained. And I'll go back to my original point that I think you're debating for the sake of debate and the most people would be in agreement that the pharmaceutical industry is in need of reform.

850. Monkey, Business

Comment #106695 by annabanana on January 3, 2008 at 9:09 am

*shrugs shoulders in an innocent fashion with paired innocent face*

Rtambree OMG ROTFL! LOL

Sorry, that was ridiculous, but I love lolcats. Sometimes I have to go look at them when I'm on here and someone says something that insults my intelligence so I feel better.