GAME
+ SANE
+ NAME
+ NAMES
———–
BLAME
Today’s Alphametic follows the theme from my rheumatology literature review/critical essay that ran at SCQ on Tuesday, as does this lovely Odetta ditty, “You Don’t Know My Mind.”
As I report for Demockeracy this week, in these troubled times of toxic peanuts and toxic debts, the world is a very nutty place.
“You Make Me Sick: Does Maladaptive Psychology Cause Autoimmunity?“ Today at The Science Creative Quarterly, you can read my answer to this crude yet common academic query, in the form of a critique of faulty causal inferences in the rheumatology literature on stress and autoimmunity.
I think the critique is also potentially applicable to other literatures, such as the popular Type A hypothesis in cardiology that I footnote in this essay, in which high-functioning atherosclerotics are blamed for their heart disease as if it were behavioral, and thus volitional, and thus not threatening to those who know better than to make themselves sick. I can’t find any work that corrects for potential covariates such as the relatively recently discovered genetic mutation I mention. More broadly, there doesn’t seem to be scads of research out there on defense mechanisms in the psychology of medical research… Please email me if you know different, as I would love to see the data.
RADIO
+ VIDEO
———-
FUTURE
As I report for Demockeracy this week, new eco-friendly vehicles with a specially American twist are running in Westchester.
In other Demockeratic news, this is your last chance to write a brief humor essay on the given topic for a chance to win (by popular vote) the cash prize of $50. The topic (by yours truly): Great Depression Causes Great Getting Back Together with Jerk Boyfriend.
Due to the tanking economy and the general propensity of paid humor writing venues to go the way of the dodo (but less funny), after this week you’ll have to get back together with your jerk boyfriend for free. (Diversions: another venue that doesn’t pay offers more on struggling writers and idiot boyfriends.)
The coolest radio station in town, 106.1 the Corner, was kind enough to interview me this morning about my art, Charlottesville’s First Fridays, and my current First Fridays exhibit at H&E (the Gallery at Fifth and Water). You can listen to this Featured Community Interview on my Contact page, under recent press coverage. Thank you, Charlottesville!
(Artwork is “Lilies with Music (Reprise),” oils on 30″ x 40″ stretched canvas.)
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