Books reviews, current events, and other musings

 
After reading this headline, I can't help wondering what Seven of Nine thinks about future terrorist attacks.
posted by Julian at 11:44 PM

 
I gave up on Edward Hooper's tome The River: A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS after reading 380 out of its 1000+ pages. It's a well-written and exhaustively researched book, but it goes into excessive detail.

The fundamental hypothesis is fascinating. Hooper argues that early applications of the polio vaccine in Africa may have introduced AIDS into the human population. Certain monkeys and chimpanzees have simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIV's), which are genetically similar to HIV. Some oral polio vaccines were generated by passaging the polio virus through primate kidneys. Hooper investigates whether a polio vaccine, contaminated with SIV's, may have transferred the virus to humanity.

The theory sounds plausible, though the evidence supporting it is circumstantial. For example, the geographic region and time period where AIDS first appeared coincides with the large-scale testing of one variety of the polio vaccine.

However, the scientific and medical establishment attacks the theory vehemently. As an outsider, it's difficult to tell whether the criticisms are justified. This site lists arguments on both sides of the issue.
posted by Julian at 12:05 AM

 
I came across three blog-worthy items last week. I guess that the statute of limitations for posting hasn't run out yet...

According to the Christian Science Monitor, Vermont may reject federal education federal education funding because of mandatory school testing and its consequences. (Mentioned in Plastic) After years of conservative complaints about unfunded mandates, the Bush administration pushed through a doozy of one.

Jay Leno told the following joke:

President Bush strongly disagrees with this trip. He doesn't like Carter being down there. He said that he would remove the embargo against Cuba only if Castro would resign and allow a free election which the people are allowed to decide the president by the popular vote. And today Castro said 'you first.'

On Thursday's Fresh Air, linguist Geoff Nunberg had an amusing piece about the term blog.

The last item was a clear omen that it was time to start my own blog.
posted by Julian at 10:56 PM

 
Welcome to Julian's Jabberings, my first attempt at a web log!

It would be nice to start off by saying something profound. However, it's tough to write an intro without knowing where things are going. Instead, I'll just plunge into an arbitrary topic.

This evening I completed David Landes's book The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor. It was a fairly good book, with some interesting ideas.

Landes argues that a nation's culture and societal structure are strong factors that determine how well it does economically. For example, European society encouraged technological and organizational innovations. Those innovations, fostered by a concept of progress, let Europe surpass and eventually dominate the rest of world.

Within Europe, Spain ended up falling behind despite the wealth it received from overseas. Spanish society (remember the Inquisition) discouraged new ideas and drove off valuable people who didn't agree with the religion orthodoxy. Landes points out the similarities between colonial Spain and the present-day OPEC nations, none of whom can convert valuable resources into a long-term industrial infrastructure.

Wealth and Poverty of Nations goes into a lot more detail, of course. Even though it downplays some issues, such as colonialism and economic inequities within countries, it provides some worthwhile insights.
posted by Julian at 11:55 PM