Toonces is the tip of the iceberg

In March 2012, The Atlantic had an interesting and much-discussed article called "How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy." The central argument of the piece wasn't based on owners' emotional relationship to their cats. Rather, science journalist Kathleen McAuliffe discussed a "parasite, which is excreted by cats in their feces." It "is called Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii or Toxo for short) and is the microbe that causes toxoplasmosi." Toxo is bad news according to the research of Czech evolutionary biologist Jaroslav Flegr:

Since the 1920s, doctors have recognized that a woman who becomes infected during pregnancy can transmit the disease to the fetus, in some cases resulting in severe brain damage or death. T. gondii is also a major threat to people with weakened immunity: in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, before good antiretroviral drugs were developed, it was to blame for the dementia that afflicted many patients at the disease’s end stage. Healthy children and adults, however, usually experience nothing worse than brief flu-like symptoms before quickly fighting off the protozoan, which thereafter lies dormant inside brain cells—or at least that’s the standard medical wisdom.

But if Flegr is right, the “latent” parasite may be quietly tweaking the connections between our neurons, changing our response to frightening situations, our trust in others, how outgoing we are, and even our preference for certain scents.

The bottom line is quite disturbing -- the cat parasite is linked to incredible human carnage.

[Flegr] also believes that the organism contributes to car crashes, suicides, and mental disorders such as schizophrenia. When you add up all the different ways it can harm us, says Flegr, “Toxoplasma might even kill as many people as malaria, or at least a million people a year.”

....Closer inspection of Flegr’s reaction-time results revealed that infected subjects became less attentive and slowed down a minute or so into the test. This suggested to him that Toxoplasma might have an adverse impact on driving, where constant vigilance and fast reflexes are critical. He launched two major epidemiological studies in the Czech Republic, one of men and women in the general population and another of mostly male drivers in the military. Those who tested positive for the parasite, both studies showed, were about two and a half times as likely to be in a traffic accident as their uninfected peers.

...two Turkish studies have replicated his studies linking Toxoplasma to traffic accidents. With up to one-third of the world infected with the parasite, Flegr now calculates that T. gondii is a likely factor in several hundred thousand road deaths each year.

This information made me think of an old SNL bit:




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Health care debate

"If you spell something wrong, do you really deserve surgery?"

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

I'm no health insurance expert, but that line clarifies a lot.


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The Republic of Texas

Chuck Norris is apparently thinking about running for the presidency -- of Texas.

In anticipation, I'm registering FiveOhFour.org any day now and plan to use the first post to explain how Republicans cannot hope to get to 253 EVs in the age of Obama.

In 2004, Bush-Kerry would have tied 252-252 without Texas. Though Bush might have won Maine as a native son in that election, it is more likely that neither candidate would even have been on that ballot. After all, Gore2000 would have prevailed 267-239 (Texas gained two EVs in 2004).

The 2010 census may shift a few EVs to red states, but we all know that Obama won a lot of purple states that Bush carried in 2004: CO, FL, IA, IN, NC, OH, NM, NV, and VA. They'll have to find 80 EVs to win in 2012.

The second post on my new site will explore the implications for the Senate, where the Republican caucus will lose 2 reliable votes.

If he pulls this off, Chuck Norris is a genuine American hero.


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fashionista policía

The Fashion Police are real, and they could be coming after your favorite baseball manager. Wednesday, during the 1st inning of a Red Sox-Yankee game, Boston manager Terry Francona was trying to decide whether his counterpart Joe Torre might order a bunt -- or perhaps a steal. The dangerous Derek Jeter had just hit a one out double.

Then, the unthinkable happened:

A security agent for Major League Baseball came into the Boston dugout and asked Francona if he was wearing his uniform top underneath his pullover fleece. Francona angrily showed the jersey top to the agent.

"I'm sure he was instructed," said Francona. "The timing was incredible. Unless this guy can put on a bunt play or something, he's got to stay ... out of the dugout. I've never seen anything like this before in my life. In the middle of the game, you have the fashion police. This is incredible. He made me show it. I was sort of in a hurry, because I thought Jeter was going to steal third. I was trying to go do my job."

As with so many personal stories in life, this one quickly led to Francona divulging too much private information in the public sphere:

"I don't want to get too personal. There are times when I get cold," Francona said. "There are times when I don't want to be tucked in. ... I don't want to get into sob stories, but all the stuff I wear underneath, I feel cooped up. I have two pair of tights. I get a little claustrophobic."

Is it any wonder that the Yanks swept the Red Sox and gained 3 games in the standings this week?

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