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The American Academy of Pediatrics released a report yesterday discussing doctors, parents, and vaccinations.  If you read through the summary, you'll find a few relevant facts: 11.7% of pediatricians today refuse to have non-vaccinated children as patients.  More parents hesitate or refuse to vaccinate because of not thinking the vaccines are needed or because they don't want their child to be discomforted. i.e. The misconception of vaccines causing autism is going away. 87% of pediatricians encounter parents who either hesitate or refuse vaccines. While I am more than happy that the myth about vaccines and autism is disappearing, I have to wonder about parents who believe that vaccines aren't necessary.  Let's do a reality check.  The only disease we've eradicated from the general population is smallpox (which we don't vaccinate for anymore).  Otherwise, the other diseases we vaccinate for are still alive, well, and active in different parts of t

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. - The Life of Reason (1905), George Santayana   France Gets a Clue Yesterday I wrote a brilliant article on France and the banning of the burkini in terms of how this legislation parallels various points in history where government tried to control religion.  Sadly, this almost always leads to violence of some flavor. So imagine my surprise when I read the headlines this morning: France Suspends Burkini Ban   I supposed that after all the brouhaha with the police asking the lady at the beach to remove her burkini top, the French government (or at least the court system) decided that trying to ban clothing based on religion actually steps on personal liberties. Go France! Maybe we can learn from the past. Sony Offers New Online Service Sony, maker of the Playstation line of consoles, recently began a service called Playstation Now , which allows anyone with a Windows PC to play Playstation 3 games onl

The ice cream trucks are melting!!!

I have purposefully avoided talking about the election this year because in my honest opinion there is too much media coverage, too much speculation, too much gibberish, and not enough useful debates.  But I've noticed something happening that needs attention. While I enjoy a good joke, especially political jokes that don't target a specific person, I think that it can go too far.  I saw a petition trying to add Cthulhu to the presidential ballot (because why vote for the lesser evil when you can vote for the greater evil?). There is also a great meme going about the Internet: These jokes act as a vent for people wanting more palatable choices for president.  It feels nice to laugh along with others; I laugh too.    But when November rolls around, I ask that you vote in earnest.  I know it's tempting to do a write in vote for Bugs Bunny, Stewie  or Peter Griffin from Family Guy, Elvis Presley,... in order to send a message to the establishment that you do

Global warming - two words that can ignite a social firestorm today the way that "interracial marriage" did in the 1970s.  Ironic, because global warming is also causing literal firestorms in California at the moment.  Now some people would say that my second sentence isn't correct, because California has fires every year.  Seriously, Katfrog, why blame climate change for this year's fires? First, the current Blue Cut fire burst in on Tuesday, burning too fast and too hot for the firefighting operations to keep up for two days.  So far this fire has burned over 30,000 acres and as of now it's only 25 % or so contained.  This is only one out of the 3,874  wildfires that have burned California in 2016.  Second,  the traditional Southern California brush fire season doesn't start until the hot Santa Ana winds arrive this fall. But, I digress.  Effects of global warming have, are, and will continue to devastate different parts of the world.  In the U.S. alon