Dollar vs Euro

Back on April 22, 2008, 1 Euro was worth $1.60, a new high. As recently as July 22, 2008, 1 Euro was worth $1.59. And then began a quick decline in the Euro's value compared to the dollar. As the US financial crisis has worsened, the dollar has climbed against the Euro. As of October 28, 2008, 1 Euro is now worth only $1.26. Wow. That is a 21% decrease in value from July to October, a three month period. Currencies just completely baffle me. See more at the Google Finance page.

Elections - maybe not on Tuesday

Why do we vote on Tuesday? It made sense back in 1845. But since then, it has become a hassle (at least in states that don't have early voting). According to the article, 25% of Americans who don't vote report that it is because they were too busy or had a conflicting schedule. There is now legislation to move election day to the weekend to make it more convenient.

Endorsements

I've been thinking about what the most devastating endorsements would be. My dad told me about a recent Will Ferrell skit where he is dressed as George Bush endorsing John McCain, and the McCain character is trying as hard as he can to escape. If Republicans really want to win the election, they should have had George W. Bush endorse Obama.

Nicholas Kristof points out a recent "endorsement" of John McCain by an Al Qaeda-affiliated website.

A look at "political analysts"

Jon Stewart takes a look-see:

"Liberals hate real Americans"

Here are the most interesting paragraphs from a Gail Collins piece in the NY Times:

Opening for a McCain rally in North Carolina last weekend, Representative Robin Hayes said he wanted “to keep the crowd as respectful as possible.”

In order to pursue that goal as efficiently as possible, Hayes then announced that “liberals hate real Americans that work and accomplish and achieve and believe in God.” This was an especially unfortunate turn of phrase given the fact that he had begun his remarks by saying he wanted to “make sure we don’t say something stupid.”

All this was a direct outgrowth of Sarah Palin’s own comments in North Carolina, in which she praised the “pro-America” areas of the country. But Hayes had clearly been absent for the day in scurrilous campaign school when they explain that you aren’t supposed to specifically name the anti-American parts.

Meanwhile, over on MSNBC, Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota was launching into the Obama/terrorist spin when she suggested that the news media should investigate “the views of the people in Congress and find out: Are they pro-America or anti-America.” So far, the only person who’s felt the impact of her call to reinvent McCarthyism for a post-Communist planet has been her opponent, a hitherto totally ignored Democrat named Elwyn Tinklenberg, who was stunned to discover in the following days that he had received close to $1 million in donations.

Making Babies in NC

Here are some interesting stats from the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics on births in NC in 2007.

Youngest Mother	10
Oldest Mother	53
Youngest Father	14
Oldest Father	76
Sets of Twins	2,135
Sets of Triplets	63
Sets of Quadruplets	5
Sets of Quintuplets	0
Most Births Occurred on	Sept 14	487
Fewest Births Occurred on	Dec 25	208
Day of Week Most Births Occurred	Friday	21,207
Largest Live Birth	14 lbs. 0 ozs.
Total Births	130,886

Curious that the fewest number of births occured on Christmas Day.

McCain Rallies:

Some quotes from a NY Times article:

When a man told him he was “scared” of an Obama presidency, Mr. McCain replied, “I want to be president of the United States and obviously I do not want Senator Obama to be, but I have to tell you — I have to tell you — he is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States.” The crowd booed loudly at Mr. McCain’s response.

Later, a woman stood up at the meeting, held at Lakeville South High School in a far suburb of Minneapolis, and told Mr. McCain that she could not trust Mr. Obama because he was an “Arab.”

Mr. McCain replied: “No, ma’am, he’s a decent family man, a citizen, who I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. And that’s what this campaign is all about.” (He did not correct her false depiction of Mr. Obama.) At that, the crowd applauded.

...

Crowds in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have repeatedly booed Mr. Obama and yelled “off with his head,” and at a rally in Florida where Ms. Palin appeared without Mr. McCain, The Washington Post reported that a man yelled out “kill him.” At the same rally, a racial insult was hurled at an African-American television cameraman.

...

At one point, after a voter told him he wanted to see a “real fight” at the debate and the crowd responded with a roar, Mr. McCain replied, “We want to fight, and I will fight, but we will be respectful.”

Then he added, “I admire Senator Obama and his accomplishments, I will respect him.” The crowd interrupted Mr. McCain to boo, but he kept talking. “I want everyone to be respectful and let’s make sure we are, because that’s the way politics — —”

At that point, Mr. McCain was drowned out by applause.

It appears that McCain is putting some effort into explaining to his supporters that Obama is a respectable person, which I appreciate. His television ads don't seem to do that though. Frank Rich writes that things have gotten way out of hand.

Heart Risks

A little post from the Wall Street Journal comparing McCain's and Obama's risk of a cardiac event in the next 10 years. This particular post says it is the risk of "death or heart attack":

McCain: 

17% - if he is taking blood pressure medications for kidney stones and not blood pressure, as his doctors claim.

22% - if he is taking blood pressure medications for blood pressure problems.

Obama:

1% - if he is not smoking, as he claims.

3% - if he is sneaking cigarettes.

So, as you can see, there is a big difference in health risk. Age is largely the reason for the huge difference. I have seen a couple other numbers thrown around, which don't appear on a well-known journal, but I'll note one anyway.

According to a Dr. McDougall, McCain's heart risk is 27% (apparently assumes diuretics are for blood pressure), and Obamas remains 1% and 3%. McDougall also says that "Over the next 4 years a man of 72 years has a probability of dying of 16% and over 8 years, 38%.  At age 47 a man has a 2% probability of dying of within 4 years, and 5% within 8 years." I haven't verified these calculations, nor can I vouch for the veracity of the website, but common sense says that a 72 year old with various health problems is at much greater risk of dying or further health problems than a healthy 47 year old.

All that said, for what it's worth, McCain's doctor says that he is in "excellent health." From what I can tell (which is admitedly limited), he is holding up well during the brutal campaign season, which I imagine would be difficult for anybody.

Neutrophil Attack!

Check out this cool video of a neutrophil chasing down and phagocytosing a bacterium. This is another video we watched in class. It looks like an old computer game, or maybe a cellular-level COPS televison episode:

The Inner Life of a Cell

Really cool video. Wish I had my very excited professor narrating for you, but at least you've got an entertaining soundtrack:

The Great Schlep

A video on why you should tell your Jewish grandparents living in Florida to vote for Obama.

Good Morning America "Balances" UNC

The ABC show "Good Morning America" visited Chapel Hill on Saturday, September 20. Students supporting Obama showed up in big numbers, but ABC removed about 20 in the front and replaced them with McCain supporters.

Lipstick on a Pig

Stephen Colbert cuts through the truthiness:

Obesity Epidemic

Our carbohydrate metabolism professor presented us with this data from the CDC on the rise of obesity in the United States. Notice that in the mid-1980s, there aren't even data for obesity. My how things have changed. Staggering.

I recommend just using the CDC site to get a better view of the data. I tried fooling around to make Clipmarks do a decent slideshow for probably an hour, but basically the program is huge hassle and I need to stop wasting my time with it. And it stopped at 2004 instead of going all the way to 2007. 

Michael Dukakis Says Something Funny

"I owe the American people an apology. If I had beaten the old man, you'd have never heard of the kid."

- Michael Dukakis, 1988 Democratic Party presidential candidate

Republicans Storm Back in Polls

I remember checking this 2008 Election simulator a couple months ago, and Obama was winning 90+% of the simulations, and I believe as high as 98%. Wow, have times changed. VPs were chosen, conventions were had, and generally, the attacks have gotten more and more slimy. On the Republican side, it looks like something is working. Now Obama is now winning 61% of simulations. Many states that were considered toss ups, like NC, are now "leaning Republican." There are still nearly two months before the election, but Democrats are already panicking. Fundraising is coming up short, while Republicans are going strong.

Anyhow, here is an interesting youtube video looking at John McCain's recent ads:

Oh the Hypocrisy

Jon Stewart Lays Down Some Truth

The Real America

Here is a little excerpt from Paul Krugman's recent blog post during a visit to the Emergency Room:

But here’s the thing — what strikes me here (as it does whenever I spend some time in a workplace) is how much the real America resembles the idealized multiracial, multicultural casting you see on TV. The staff here includes whites, blacks, Asians, Hispancis, a young Muslim woman in a headscarf, all mingling and working together cheerfully.

I wanted to highlight this paragraph because I have often felt the same way. Our medical school class is pretty diverse, and even the faculty is as well. I'm sure there are still plenty of tensions and I think that there is still a lot of self-segregation when people are left to their own devices, but nonetheless, a lot of progress has been made.

DNC Acceptance Speech

I just watched Obama's 2008 presidential nomination acceptance speech. I thought it was decent, but frankly, it paled in comparison to his 2004 convention speech. The 2004 speech was about the American dream; how people can be accepted and thrive in the US, and how that opportunity is unique, and how that opportunity is a source of pride for our nation. Basically, the speech focused on positives of America and it's potential. Barack talked about the unity of all Americans; we're all in this together. It's impressive to watch how the crowd grows more and more excited as they hear the speech. I remember reading an article about it a day later proclaiming "A Star Is Born," talking about how Obama made an incredible impression. I watched the speech and was impressed with how well he captured the moment. Re-watching the speech now, I found it fascinating to see that he talks about hope, a word which has become synonymous with his campaign this year.

The 2008 speech, however, didn't quite stir me. Sure, I liked the platform planks, his plans for energy independence, getting out of Iraq responsibly, offering college education to those who serve their communities, and many more. I liked that he did mention the American dream. But I suppose that what turned me off were all of the negative comments about McCain and Bush. I think that the hope and positive message in the 2004 speech were what made it so special. I found the shots at McCain to be unnecessary and out of place. A lot of them were from old information, like bring up his economic advisor's "nation of whiners" comment. That was from months ago. If people are undecided or voted for Bush or McCain at some point in the past, but are curious and happen to be tuning into the DNC, they're probably going to be turned off to hear the candidate bashing the other candidate. I think that there is plenty of room for criticizing other candidates, but doing it while the national spotlight is on you isn't really the best timing. I think it'd be fine if Obama created a youtube channel and posted videos of John McCain contradicting himself, saying stupid comments, and generally making himself look bad. Or if he put such ads on television for voters to see. I think that's a better place to criticize someone. But if the country is tuning in for a convention, and times are bad, I think they're going to want hope and encouragement more than seeing the blame game old cracks on Bush. Some people don't appreciate it when you say mean things, but I think appreciates inspiration. Anyway, I'm mostly rambling at this point and I only heard his speech live, so I should think a little more before I write anything else.

Here is the 2004 speech in case you haven't seen it in a while:

Part 1:


Part 2:

Live Explosive Removed From Soldier's Body

Here is an inspiring video they showed us in school about a soldier in Afghanistan who was impaled with a live RPG. He was airlifted out and operated on to remove the live explosive from his body. Wow.