MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'clash'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:14:45 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4304922&cid=t_202573_109_f&fid=34817&url=http%3A%2F%2Fshrinkwrapped.blogs.com%2Fblog%2F2011%2F01%2Fthe-greatest-trick-the-devil-ever-pulled.html In the last century evil ideologies emerged which denied human nature and were consciously devoted to enabling the emergence of a "New Man," Utopia to follow.  These ideologies were socialist in nature and required that those who were not "part of the solution" would need to be removed so that the Utopian socialist vision could be realized.  We remember one of the versions of socialism, National Socialism, (collectivism based on ethnicity rather than class) as the most profoundly evil system, one based on the genocide of innocents.  Yet, while Communism has been responsible for more death and destruction than Nazism, the Left has managed to obscure its historical roots in genocide and retains the moral high ground in much of its... ShrinkWrapped blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4304922 Mon, 03 Jan 2011 15:50:50 +0100 4304922 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4197145&cid=t_202573_109_f&fid=34817&url=http%3A%2F%2Fshrinkwrapped.blogs.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F11%2Fits-their-nature-ii.html In Its Their Nature I discussed how the character of a culture can fail when its elites adopt impossible standards for the societal ego ideal.  An example from the life of George Soros, a man who has devoted himself to increasing freedom but has evolved into believing that West Civilization, exemplified by Israel and the United States, is the greatest danger to freedom in the world today, sparked a fair amount of discussion.  It is clear that our character is being tested by the current times in fundamental ways.  What of our enemies? The people who speak in the name of Sharia supporting Islam, whether radical Sunnis in al Qaeda or Hamas or radical Shia in Iran or Hezbollah, have summed up their Cultural Ego Ideal in a simple statement: We love death mor... ShrinkWrapped blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4197145 Tue, 23 Nov 2010 16:26:32 +0100 4197145 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3920795&cid=t_202573_87_f&fid=34872&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblisstree.com%2Ffeel%2Fold-folks-love-bashing-young-folks%2F photo: Thinkstock Every time your elderly parents or grandparents shake their heads in disapproval at today’s youth, don’t feel badly for them. The old crones actually like it. Apparently, German researchers claim that the old bats enjoy reading negative news about us confounded whippersnappers, because it makes them feel good about themselves. We could’ve figured this one out on our own if we’d just been counting the number of times we’ve heard Nana and Pop tell stories starting with, “In my day, young people never…” via MSNBC Today Post from: BlissTree Old Folks Love Bashing Young Folks (Source: Healthbolt) Healthbolt blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3920795 Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:20:03 +0100 3920795 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3802444&cid=t_202573_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F07%2F29%2Fbad-science-mytype-ipad-research%2F I hate to give press to a “research firm” that doesn’t know the first thing about reporting statistics or basic methodology in their own “research” report. I guess that’s what happens when you get a bunch of people together who are mostly technologists, not statisticians or social scientists. This past week, MyType, a Facebook personality application that takes your data and then sells aggregated reports based upon your answers to their quiz, released a report about the iPad. They suggested that iPad owners and those looking to buy one were “selfish elites” while those who were iPad critics were characterized as “independent geeks.” You can already tell that this isn’t exactly going to be a scientific analysis, right? First... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3802444 Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:22:05 +0100 3802444 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3652482&cid=t_202573_109_f&fid=34817&url=http%3A%2F%2Fshrinkwrapped.blogs.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F06%2Fpassionate-intensity.html The best lack all conviction, while the worstAre full of passionate intensity. The Second Coming -- William Butler Yeats In the aftermath of the Turkish inspired Gaza "Humanitarian" incident, Israel has been attacked with a frenzied passion not seen since the days of the Third Reich.  A great many words have been written attempting to make sense of the reactions of the sophisticated, mostly liberal, European and American elites, which have at times mirrored the mindless rage of the Palestinians and their enablers.  Two of the more important discussions are worth highlighting. Walter Russell Mead has written a much linked post discussing the recurrence of a, perhaps naive, facilitation of atrocity, by those who Stalin once referred to as "useful idiots... ShrinkWrapped blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3652482 Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:25:27 +0100 3652482 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3629702&cid=t_202573_109_f&fid=34817&url=http%3A%2F%2Fshrinkwrapped.blogs.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F06%2Fthe-new-millennial-mania.html Recent conceptions of Mania have likened it to a Seizure Disorder.  In this construct, an unstable groups of cells in the Cerebral Cortex become highly excitable and begin to fire with an increased frequency and intensity.  As they stimulate all of the neurons with which they have synaptic connections, these neurons are recruited into an ever widening network of neurons firing at elevated rates and intensities.  In a Seizure disorder, the network rather quickly becomes disorganized and the neural functioning becomes grossly impaired.  The result is a disorganized firing of neurons leading to loss of consciousness and uncontrolled stimulation of the end organs (muscles) which results in the typical spasmodic twitching of the Seizure victim.  In Mania, such elev... ShrinkWrapped blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3629702 Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:59:19 +0100 3629702 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3625602&cid=t_202573_109_f&fid=34817&url=http%3A%2F%2Fshrinkwrapped.blogs.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F06%2Fusing-a-scalpel.html Over the last few years we have learned that the best way to protect ourselves against terrorism is to target the leaders of the terrorist groups.  Generally the leaders of such groups desire martyrdom, but primarily for their followers.  The leaders of such groups typically cry (to paraphrase St. Augustine) "Dear Allah, let me become a martyr... but not yet."  Even when the leaders do desire martyrdom, removing the leaders means that they are replaced by terrorists with less knowledge, sophistication, and ability.  Killing Imad Mughniyah did not destroy Hezbollah, but has eroded their ability to commit terrorist acts out of the area.  (That Hezbollah has become a powerful paramilitary force is another matter entirely.) It is incontestabl... ShrinkWrapped blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3625602 Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:33:43 +0100 3625602 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3617909&cid=t_202573_109_f&fid=34817&url=http%3A%2F%2Fshrinkwrapped.blogs.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F06%2Fa-time-of-testing.html The news out of the Middle East is dispiriting.  Israel has suffered a major defeat in the information war being waged against it.  Among Israel's friends the reactions ranges from anger at the Israeli government for botching the response to the aid convoy to appropriate concern that Israel Does Not Understand 4GW.  The soldiers who boarded the Turkish ship were inexcusably unprepared by their military/political superiors for the violent reception they met. Yaacov Lozowick points out the ecology of Israel's existential crisis: We need to step back and remind ourselves of the broad picture of the concentric circles at whose center we live. The outer circle is the utter hatred large swathes of the Muslim World bear towards the idea and reality of a Jewish state. As... ShrinkWrapped blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3617909 Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:16:23 +0100 3617909 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3585682&cid=t_202573_109_f&fid=34817&url=http%3A%2F%2Fshrinkwrapped.blogs.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F05%2Fdrawing-cartoons.html Today is Everybody Draws Mohammed Day.  Nick Gillespie explains Why We’re Having an Everybody Draw Mohammed Constest on Thursday, May 20: Before the calendar page turns to Thursday, it’s worth meditating on the whys and wherefores of the contest, which was inspired by a jihadist death threat against the creators of South Park and was originally suggested by Seattle artist Molly Norris. Soon after asking everyone to draw the Prophet in solidarity with the arguably millions of people repressed by threats of theologically justified violence, Norris herself went into ideological hiding, suggesting instead that everyone draw another target of South Park satire: former Vice President Al Gore. While Gore, who likes to credit himself with understand... ShrinkWrapped blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3585682 Thu, 20 May 2010 17:02:38 +0100 3585682 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3552317&cid=t_202573_109_f&fid=34817&url=http%3A%2F%2Fshrinkwrapped.blogs.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F05%2Fthe-fatal-illness-and-impending-death-of-multiculturalism.html Many ideas that have motivated men become doomed well before the opinion leaders notice the inevitability of their decline and death.  For example, in June, 2007 I suggested that Anthropogenic Global warming had already peaked as a political issue: The Beginning of the End for "Global Warming" The "Global Warming" catastrophe has not yet occurred (safely established as >40 years in the future) but the first signs of the Apocalypse are scheduled for the next several years, when the danger will supposedly become irreversible.  We are much too sophisticated to prematurely ridicule the alarmists* but it is safe to say that the "Global Warming" crisis as a poltical issue has already passed its peak; its political utility will end with the 2008 Presi... ShrinkWrapped blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3552317 Tue, 11 May 2010 15:17:21 +0100 3552317 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3359063&cid=t_202573_109_f&fid=34817&url=http%3A%2F%2Fshrinkwrapped.blogs.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F03%2Ffrom-holden-caulfield-to-jihad-jane.html Holden Caulfield was the literary embodiment of adolescent existential angst.  He was familiar to all of us who grew up privileged in America.  We were blessed with freedom and amazing wealth compared to every prior generation, but suffered from a paucity of meaning.  The baby boomers grew up in an era where God and country were slowly becoming less important and central than the aggrandizement of the Self.  The 1960s were a time where John F. Kennedy's stirring Inaugural speech on January 20th, 1961: "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." Morphed into Grace Slick singing, in 1967's After Bathing at Baxter's: Rejoyce Steven won't give his arm to no gold star mother's farm;War&#39... ShrinkWrapped blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3359063 Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:59:30 +0100 3359063 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3287802&cid=t_202573_109_f&fid=34817&url=http%3A%2F%2Fshrinkwrapped.blogs.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F02%2Fwhat-are-you-willing-to-die-for.html [Update at end] In post-religious, secularized Western countries, the answer to the title question tends to devolve to "nothing" beyond the self and its interests.  Western elites are fond of instructing their inferiors to sacrifice for their Utopian ideal of the moment but sacrificing one's life for the "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness" for others is typically seen as the province of less well educated, less sophisticated, non-members of the elite.  America still has enough young people who value what this country has to offer that they are willing to put their lives on the line for us, but Europe has long since surrendered to the progressive forces of history and eschews self-defence of their ideals.   For Western elites, people who... ShrinkWrapped blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3287802 Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:47:28 +0100 3287802 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3153439&cid=t_202573_109_f&fid=34817&url=http%3A%2F%2Fshrinkwrapped.blogs.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F01%2Fwho-are-we-fighting.html In Synthesis I noted that among other problems in our current confrontation with those who wish to do us harm is a conspicuous lacunae in our acknowledgement and naming of the enemy.  According to the Bush administration we were fighting "Terror", a tactic and a first order derivative of an enemy entity; according to the Obama administration, we are now fighting "man caused disasters" or some other second derivative of the enemy.  In my humble opinion, our enemy is radical, expansionist, fundamentalist Islam in all its iterations.  One version of this is that of Thomas Friedman, who believes we are involved bystanders to the real struggle within Islam: Father Knows Best Every faith has its violent extreme. The West is not immune. It’s a... ShrinkWrapped blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3153439 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:28:37 +0100 3153439 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3052197&cid=t_202573_109_f&fid=34817&url=http%3A%2F%2Fshrinkwrapped.blogs.com%2Fblog%2F2009%2F12%2Fsocietal-regression-watch.html [Update at end] Recently there have been two occasions to note regressive responses, one on a macro level and the other on a more micro level. Last week the Swiss voted in a referendum to outlaw the building of any new Minarets in their country.  Elder offers a cogent explanation of the subtext for the ban, of which both proponents and opponents are behaving in a disingenuous manner; my excerpt focuses on the proponents of the ban: Minarets, Switzerland, and power of symbolism However, the opponents of the minarets are being equally deceptive in hiding their motivation. They pretend that the ban is to preserve the skylines of their towns, but in reality the movement to ban minarets is completely about the fear of Islam and Muslims. The initiative came from right-wing and ultra-conse... ShrinkWrapped blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3052197 Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:55:09 +0100 3052197 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2934782&cid=t_202573_109_f&fid=34817&url=http%3A%2F%2Fshrinkwrapped.blogs.com%2Fblog%2F2009%2F10%2Fwhile-we-sleep.html One of the great motivating forces in human events is inertia.  In the geopolitical realm this is a most powerful force that causes nations to slide inexorably into disasters that hindsight predicts 100% of the time.  In 1980 the USSR was expected to be a rival for the foreseeable future and Ronald Reagan was derided as a cowboy likely to lead us to disaster.  Instead, within a decade the Berlin Wall crumbled and the monolith shattered in short order, to the surprise of all the Solon and commentators.  Once the USSR fell, its disintegration, in retrospect, was noted to be inevitable. The Executive can only focus on a limited number of problems at a time.  If Obamacare is the primary concern of the administration, there is less energy and attention avail... ShrinkWrapped blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2934782 Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:07:00 +0100 2934782 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2464090&cid=t_202573_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F0qhfSNKvets%2F This month’s Cato Unbound features Robert Wright, who offers us an excerpt from his new book, The Evolution of God. He looks at the possibility of religious tolerance from a game theoretic and evolutionary psychology perspective: Is there a fundamental “clash of civilizations” between Islam and the West? Or just a communication failure? Wright argues that we can work toward understanding by realizing the limits and biases of human moral reasoning: You might not guess it to read the headlines, but by and large the relationship between “the West” and “the Muslim World” is non-zero-sum. To be sure, the relationship between some Muslims and the West is zero-sum. Terrorist leaders have aims that are at odds with the welfare of Westerners. The West’s goal is to hurt t... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2464090 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:53:46 +0100 2464090 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1024236&cid=t_202573_122_f&fid=34755&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneuropsychological.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F11%2Fbrainy-non-brain-event-future-is.html Julien Temple's new documentary about Joe Strummer, The Future is Unwritten, opened a couple of weeks ago at the IFC off 4th Street in Manhattan. An excellent movie about an extraordinary musician! Check it out when it comes to your city. (Source: BrainBlog) BrainBlog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1024236 Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:27:00 +0100 1024236 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1022143&cid=t_202573_122_f&fid=34755&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneuropsychological.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F11%2Fbrainy-non-brain-event-future-is.html Julien Temple's new documentary about Joe Strummer, The Future is Unwritten, opened a couple of weeks ago at the IFC off 4th Street in Manhattan. An excellent movie about an extraordinary musician! Check it out when it comes to your city. (Source: BrainBlog) BrainBlog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1022143 Tue, 13 Nov 2007 03:27:00 +0100 1022143 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=828182&cid=t_202573_133_f&fid=35096&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAutismVox%2F%7E3%2F149631503%2F My son Charlie starts school in a week: He is in the (gulp) 5th grade, and has one more year to go before entering middle school. Reading has long been hard for Charlie. He does Edmark and Distar at school, has a special reading curriculum with his Lovaas program at home, and I’ve started doing online programs like Headsprout with him. It is slow-going for Charlie, who never showed signs of hyperlexia. Indeed, Charlie often seems to have to work really hard to see the letters of a word as one unit and to distinguish between “B” and “D,” and he is only sporadically interested in being read to, and then only for a few minutes. Some recently noted articles about autism and reading have helped me to further reflect on Charlie’s learning-to-read odyssey. In L... Autism Vox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=828182 Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:32:51 +0100 828182 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=551388&cid=t_202573_133_f&fid=35452&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.graphictruth.com%2F2007%2F04%2Fthose-evil-liberals-what-bushiet-thinks.html This article illustrated with products from Shirt Lords (Union of Evil Overlords) and The Horror Haven (Baphomet poster). Please consider them for help decorating your evil liberal bodies and lairs.You can syndicate this site using our atom feed. (Source: Graphictruth) Graphictruth blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=551388 Mon, 02 Apr 2007 04:00:00 +0100 551388 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=505829&cid=t_202573_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F004152.html Julian Simon and others (myself included) have argued we do not have to worry about near to medium term future shortages of natural resources because technological advances create access to... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=505829 Wed, 28 Mar 2007 04:00:00 +0100 505829