Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Annals of Mind Control

Posted on February 13, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Via Slashdot comes news that Mind Control Parasites in Half of All Humans:

According to a Yahoo News story, half of the world’s human population is infected with Toxoplasma, a parasite shown to alter the brain function of rats, inducing them into behavior that benefits the parasite but is suicidal for the rat. So what affect does it have on humans?

The research is by Dr. E. Fuller Torrey — a name of some controversy for his earlier research in schizophrenia — so it’s not surprising that he suggests there may be a link to it. (According to the Wikipedia article linked above, Dr. Torrey “told The New York Daily News his wife thinks he is going to be assassinated by cat lovers.”)

Myself, I’d like to see a whole set of correlations of Toxoplasma infection to various behaviors, such as spending, eating, and — why not? — voting…

Posted in Science/Medicine | 4 Comments

Historical Parallels and the Cheney Shotgun

Posted on February 12, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Probably the best historical parallel for Vice President Cheney’s shotgun accident while quail hunting is Talking Point Memo’s remark that,

Dick Cheney now joins Aaron Burr as one of the two vice presidents to shoot someone while in office. Are we leaving anyone out?

That said, questions swirl around the incident, including just how severe the injuries are, and why the Veep’s office waited 24 hours to acknowledge the incident.

TalkLeft has some background on the legal issues. It appears lawyers were not in season…

Posted in Politics: The Party of Sleaze | 4 Comments

This Sounds Scary

Posted on February 11, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Bird flu has been identified in Greece, Italy and Bulgaria as well as Nigeria. Which means it’s Coming soon to a neighborhood near you.

Yikes.

Posted in Science/Medicine | Comments Off on This Sounds Scary

Decreasingly Hypothetical Questions

Posted on February 10, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Here are three genuine, not utterly hypothetical, questions inspired by the revelation that Libby fingered Cheney as the person who instructed him to leak information from a National Intelligence Estimate hyping Iraq’s supposed efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction. I really don’t know the answers; all I have are guesses at best.

  1. Does Vice-President Cheney have the legal authority to declassify material single-handedly?
  2. And even if he does, if Cheney proved also to be the source of an instruction to leak information about Valerie Plame, does his legal authority extend to the exposing the identity of a covert CIA agent?
  3. And if the answer to either question above is “no” does that amount to an impeachable offense?

My guesses–and they are only guesses–below. Make your own before peeking.

Continue reading →

Posted in National Security | 13 Comments

Plame Scandal for Beginners

Posted on February 10, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Juan Cole explains the Plame scandal in pictures. Simple enough for anyone to understand.

Posted in Politics: The Party of Sleaze | Comments Off on Plame Scandal for Beginners

I Used to Live at ‘No Mother’

Posted on February 10, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Fun Anagram Map of the London Tube (via Boing Boing).

We lived at ‘What Stampedes’ and ‘No Mother’ while worked near ‘Spicular Dicyclic’. Caroline usually walked to work from ‘Lob Horn’. (Ordinary tube map for comparison.)

Posted in UK | Comments Off on I Used to Live at ‘No Mother’