Author Archives: kirkmike157

Good Bone

Posted on March 16, 2023 by kirkmike157

Laurie Goodrich is an orthopedic surgeon whose typical patient weighs between 900 and 1,200 pounds. Her OR contains a gantry crane that lifts the anesthetized patient from the hallway floor and swings them gently to rest on an operating table … Continue reading →

Posted in Drug Development, Natural History, R&D, Science | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Saga of Blackie Mac

Posted on March 15, 2023 by kirkmike157

Blackie Mac was a disappointment from the outset – a solid black colt born into a family of Appaloosa horses where if you don’t come with spots we’d rather not have you. Everyone just bit their lip and said nice … Continue reading →

Posted in Short Stories | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Why Free Trade Isn’t

Posted on March 4, 2021 by kirkmike157

Originally posted on Skating Under The Ice:
I lived for eight years in the Solomon Islands, 1985 to 1991 and 2007 to 2009. The Solomons are a nation of about three hundred islands just south of the Equator. The only thing…

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Unmasking the Truth

Posted on June 4, 2020 by kirkmike157

As the COVID-19 pandemic of February and March 2020 unfolded like the slow-motion train wreck that it was and still is, each week brought a new, unexpected scene. For several weeks, we shopped for our groceries as we always had, … Continue reading →

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Science Guy

Posted on March 17, 2020 by kirkmike157

The Eastern Market district of Detroit is on the wrong side of the freeway. The Fox Theatre, the big new stadium where the Tigers play – they’re over on the other side. Here in the Market, each block is an … Continue reading →

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I Know This Man

Posted on February 20, 2020 by kirkmike157

My son would probably not have reached his normal adult height if it had not been for the barbacoa burritos at Chella’s Restaurant on Liberty Street in Ann Arbor. I was there with him a lot. Several nights a week. … Continue reading →

Posted in Short Stories | 2 Comments

17 Questions About Glyphosate

Posted on December 9, 2019 by kirkmike157

Originally posted on Thoughtscapism:
Many worry about pesticides for health or environmental reasons, and the most common target of general concern is undoubtedly glyphosate, the active ingredient in the famous weedkiller RoundUp. I find that the best thing to do when something worries me,…

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Putin’s Poisons

Posted on January 11, 2019 by kirkmike157

Vladimir Putin is the current totalitarian ruler of Russia, which isn’t in itself an historically surprising circumstance. From the Tsars to the Bolsheviks and on through the present, a single despotic person has generally ruled over Russia, and frequently over … Continue reading →

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New paper provides no evidence that polar bears ate whale carcasses to survive Eemian interglacial

Posted on November 26, 2018 by kirkmike157

The scientific press is increasingly publishing baseless speculation mixed together with actual research papers including data and experiments. Such speculative papers usually have a blatantly political message which seeks to shroud itself under the cloak of Science, when in fact … Continue reading →

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Saturated Fatty Acids

Posted on October 5, 2018 by kirkmike157

Originally posted on Chemtymology:
Before chemists had a detailed understanding of molecular structure, newly discovered chemicals were named on the whims of the discoverers. By the end of the 19th century the number of organic molecules known to science had…

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