(no subject)

I don't know how I feel about this article..

(It describes a study which shows that circumcised men have an AIDS infection rate that is 50% less than uncircumcised.)

Part of me thinks that this is interesting, but another part is concerned that many men will see this as a license to have more unprotected sex. It seems to me that, as a species, we are not very good at analyzing risk, so that instead of seeing "circumcision == safer", people will instead see "circumcision == safe".

I suspect that we will see an unintended consequence of increasing the infected population, as men assume that they are safe, and have more unprotected sex... In effect spreading the virus to more people once they have been infected.

Thoughts?

Dolphins

When I was in second grade, I got to write my first report. I remember being told that it had to be three paragraphs, and that I could include a picture. We were given some of that large-lined paper (with the dashed middle-line) to write it on. The teacher then helped us each to pick an animal that we could research (with the help of the librarian) and write the paper.

I think it took us all a week, and I remember being so proud when I was done.

I picked the Yangtze river dolphin. It was special because it could "see" with sonar in the Yangtze river, even though the river was so clouded with mud that visibility was zero.

Later, as an adult, I read Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams, where he recounted a humorous account of trying to record the noise in the Yangtze river. See, the shift in China from oar and wind powered boats to motor boats caused the noise level to go up in the river. This meant that the dolphins couldn't maneuver in the black/brown water. As such, they became endangered.

Now they're gone.