WASP-18 and the planet of doom

Around the star WASP-18, astronomers have discovered a huge planet that orbits it in less than a day and that is slowly spiralling inwards. The planet, WASP-18b, is about ten times as massive as Jupiter. It has a temperature of thousands of degrees and is subject to massive tidal forces. The star is also affected by the planet, as it is causing a huge bulge of plasma to extend out for thousands of kilometers. WASP-18b will crash into its parent star in approximately one million years.

Just like Wag the Dog

Not like this is unexpected, but a new literature review published in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry has asked a question— whether ”there is an abortion trauma syndrome”— and has found an answer: No.

The review showed that studies that showed a causal link between elective abortion and mental disorders had problems with methodology, including failures to account for confounding variables and issue with sample selection. The conclusion was that, “…The most consistent predictor of mental disorders after abortion remains preexisting disorders, which, in turn, are strongly associated with exposure to sexual abuse and intimate violence. Educating researchers, clinicians, and policymakers how to appropriately assess the methodological quality of research about abortion outcomes is crucial….” (emphasis added).

In other words, the most likely women to have mental health problems after an abortion are those who have preexisting mental health problems before an abortion.

Hence, with this additional evidence, anti-choicers cannot claim that any sort of “abortion trauma” (or “post-abortion”) syndrome exists. To continue to claim otherwise would be just like Wag the Dog; where in the film political operatives invent a war for political purposes, in this case it would be anti-choicers inventing a mental disorder for political purposes. Hence, if they were really desiring to improve women’s mental health, they would stop shouting at, harassing, and hurling invective at women, and would instead work to prevent rape and sexual harassment.

Hat tip to Serena Freewomyn.

Obviously, an Ig Nobel Prize is in the cards…

…for studying what would happen if zombies attacked.

New study shows HPV vaccine is safe

A new study published in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association has found that HPV vaccine is safe:

Most of the [Adverse Events Following Immunization] rates were not greater than the background rates compared with other vaccines, but there was disproportional reporting of syncope and venous thromboembolic events. The significance of these findings must be tempered with the limitations (possible underreporting) of a passive reporting system.

In other words, serious reactions to the vaccine were not more common compared to any other vaccine. In the unlikely event someone got a serious reaction, the reaction was more likely to be fainting or blood clotting.

So now there’s no excuse for anyone to be pro-cancer.

Draining arguments that hold as much water as a sieve

In contrast to its position earlier this year, the United States Department of Justice has issued a new brief in its defense of the Defense of Marriage Act. The brief defends the law while expressing opposition to it and at the same time countering common arguments against same-sex marriage. Dale Carpenter at the Volokh Conspiracy has a discussion, and I quote this gem from it (emphasis added):

[After a quote from the brief] …This new position is a gift to the gay-marriage movement, since it was not necessary to support the government’s position. It will be cited by litigants in state and federal litigation, and will no doubt make its way into judicial opinions. Indeed, some state court decisions have relied very heavily on procreation and child-rearing rationales to reject SSM claims. The DOJ is helping knock out a leg from under the opposition to gay marriage….

Personally, I think that the DOJ is trying to have it both ways; it is trying to appease LGBT rights activists by shooting holes through opponents’ arguments, while at the same time defending the act in order to appease social conservatives. In the end, I think that the likeliest result will be that the DOJ pisses off both sides. That’s what a “purple” action is likely to do.

Wikipedia passes 3 million articles

Wikipedia has surpassed the 3 million article milestone. Article 3 million is Beate Eriksen.

Wikipedia has both good stuff and bad stuff. For example, it covers American roads, recent tropical cyclones, and popular culture very well. And these are some interesting topics. But it is also lacking in the hard sciences; coverage of those is rather deficient.

There’s also the power structure involved. For example, there is a claim that being a sysop/administrator (a kind of user with special privileges) is “No big deal“. That claim is utter nonsense. You see, if being an administrator is no big deal, why is (you or someone else) losing it such a big deal? And again, if adminship is no big deal, why is (you or someone else) remaining an admin such a big deal?

I am not sure whether Wikipedia will be a success in the long term. By its nature it covers current events better as articles can be updated in nearly real time as information becomes available. But this will not improve its coverage of neglected topics; lesser–known countries, more obscure fields, and the like. However, its power structure and hierarchy will simply get worse as users try to pad their egos and have power over others.

I begin to wonder

History repeats itself:

Just like with the economic stimulus package, a number of state-level Republicans are backing Tenth Amendment resolutions asserting that any future health care plan violates states’ rights.

This all raises an interesting question: how many of these “states’ rights” Republicans show the same fervor in opposition to the PBABA and DOMA?