Format Archives

Gem From the Anti-Politics Machine: They Only Seek the Kind of Advice They Can Take

I am starting to re-read the Anti-Politics Machine after some time… and, of course, started with the epilogue — the closest Ferguson comes to giving advice from his vivisection. here’s a gem that remains relevant ten-plus years later, in spite of major political changes in southern Africa: Certainly, national and international ‘development’ agencies do constituteContinue reading “Gem From the Anti-Politics Machine: They Only Seek the Kind of Advice They Can Take”

Some Nuggets From the Amber: Keshavjee’s ‘Blind Spot’

Just finished Salmaan‘s Blind Spot: How Neoliberalism Infiltrated Global Health. Below, a few tidbits of his weaving of the local and personal with the global, ideological, and ideal. everything below represents a direct quote and the page numbers are marked in parentheses. This book is intended to add to the conversation about how to moreContinue reading “Some Nuggets From the Amber: Keshavjee’s ‘Blind Spot’”

“Politically Robust” Experimental Design in Democracies and a Plea For More Experience Sharing

Sometimes I re-read a paper and remember how nice a sentence or paragraph was (especially when thinking that a benevolent or benign dictator might make research so much easier, as though easy was the main goal of research). So it is with the paper by Gary King and colleagues (2007) on “a ‘politically robust’ experimentalContinue reading ““Politically Robust” Experimental Design in Democracies and a Plea For More Experience Sharing”

On Science, from Eula Biss’s On Immunity

A nice reminder from Eula Biss (via On Immunity: An Inoculation) that science is a series of building blocks, with small tests and then bigger ones to see if each brick helps us reach higher and see farther. Science is, as scientists like to say, “self-correcting,” meaning that errors in preliminary studies are, ideally, revealedContinue reading “On Science, from Eula Biss’s On Immunity”

things i have been told about my writing and presentation style in the recent(-ish) past

just a small collection of not-really compliments: 1. you talk fast but it seems to work for you  –steve folmar 2. you use small words it seems to work for you  –derrick matthews 3. you use run-on sentences but it seems to work for you  -pop

sherlock holmes and the princess bride

when i need to decompress, zone out, and fall asleep, i have a tendency to watch familiar, i-can-recite-by-heart movies or TV shows to help. just enough distraction to close down my other thoughts, not gripping enough to keep me awake. the ‘sherlock‘ TV series has joined these ranks. the more i watch ‘a study inContinue reading “sherlock holmes and the princess bride”

i’m not sure that means what you think it means (gold standard)

some thoughts, from peter byass, here, for the next time you want to refer to a technique as the ‘gold standard’ and what may be behind such a guarantee: The verbal autopsy literature has extensively used and abused the concept of “gold standards” for validating cause of death determination. Metallurgists would say that 100% pureContinue reading “i’m not sure that means what you think it means (gold standard)”