The war on OxyContin

In general, I want to avoid rants on this blog, because I already rant enough in daily life. Every now and then, though, something really chaps my hide, and this story is one of them: the conviction of Dr. William Hurwitz on charges of drug trafficking. Dr. Hurwitz ran a clinic for treatment of people with chronic, debilitating pain. Patients came to him because he was one of the few doctors willing to prescribe opioids in large quantities, allowing them to regain their daily lives. Well, our society doesn't have a lot of sympathy for sufferers of pain, and combined with our strong Puritanical streak, we've created a situation where the possibility that a few will become addicted to painkillers outweighs the benefits to the other users. And so, the DEA came down on Dr. Hurwitz and it came down hard. Dr. Hurwitz has already served 2 1/2 years in jail and could serve up to 20 after sentencing. Even though the prosecutors could only obtain convictions on 16 of 45 counts, their goal has been achieved: doctors will be even more frightened of prescribing strong painkillers to those in agony. A more pathetic victory in the war on drugs could not be imagined.

John Tierney writes about Dr. Hurwitz's case here and Reason magazine ran a lengthy story on him at the time of his first trial.

Blogging astronomical discoveries

Via GNXP, I find that there are at least two blog posts --- here and here --- about yesterday's announcement of the first discovery of a potentially habitable planet outside our own.

One interesting aspect of the press release is that the paper itself has not yet been peer-reviewed, but is only submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics. I don't work in a competitive research area, so I can afford to take a highly principled, dim view of rushed publicity on exciting scientific results. In reality, though, the HARPS group (the Europeans who discovered the planet) didn't have much of a choice, since they knew that their main competitors, the U.S. Carnegie-Caltech group, have been monitoring the same star. And in fact, from what I could gather in news accounts, the Carnegie-Caltech group confirmed the radial velocity detection immediately though they are skeptical about the estimates of the planetary temperature and the potential for liquid water.

The planetary temperature estimate is based on a calculation of the luminosity of the star and assumptions of the planetary albedo (how much the planet reflects the incident light) based on those of Earth and Venus. The calculation is quite straightforward, so the skepticism centers on the albedo values chosen. Let's assume that the planet is a rocky body (not a given, but theoretically favored). The albedos of Earth and Venus are 0.35 and 0.64, respectively. So, yes, if the new planet has an atmosphere, its temperature is favorable for life. The albedos of Mercury and Mars, however, are 0.11 and 0.15, so assuming a planet that looks more like these bodies would push the planetary temperature up out of the liquid water regime. The authors didn't cite in the paper any justification for the values they chose, so the estimates of the temperature of the planet are speculative only.

It's an intriguing speculation, though, and made one hell of a press release.

Life is great in Colorado, part 25,682

Last weekend, husband, friend, and I hiked one of my favorite local routes, the Sleepy Lion Trail. I love this trail because it's close to home, a nice distance for a short morning hike, and covers varied terrain, including pine forest, open meadow, and a lake. (Okay, reservoir, but it's one of the water supplies for my city and this being dry Colorado, that's always a reassuring sight.) It also has beautiful spring wildflowers. The wild roses weren't out yet, but the pasqueflowers and cacti were blooming. Stopping to view the flowers is also a convenient opportunity to get your breath back on the uphill climb.

Now, I just need to get my cardio up so that I can bike up the trail on the other side of the mountain in a few weeks to see the wildflowers in full bloom.

Memories of Baltimore I.

As I sat tonight sipping my Manhattan, it reminded me of Baltimore. We lived there for three years during my first postdoc. Baltimore is a drinking town, a bar town. One of our favorite places was Simon's, a small pub in Butcher's Hill with a great vibe and even better food. The proprietor was Bruce, Simon's father. He was a courtly man who clearly loved the pub and its atmosphere. One night, he was quite excited to announce that he'd ordered "proper" Manhattan glasses. When we expressed interest, he offered to sell us part of the case. We took two of them home with us and we still have them. They're shorter and more squat than cocktail glasses (this is the closest match I've found online to the ones we have).

Before we moved away, Bruce died. His obituary in the local paper said that he's been a minister, a home builder, a basketball coach, and a candidate for local office. We knew none of these things, but we knew him as a warm host who made us comfortable at his place. I'm glad we have a way of remembering that. Cheers, Bruce.

Great foodie links

Manolo's Food Blog, where the dapper Mr. Henry offers up his thoughts on the many uses of buttermilk and the dangers of Italian food to waistline and pocketbook.

Michael Ruhlmann brings the perspective of a professional chef to the blogging world. He also occasionally hosts a Tony Bourdain rant for added value.

Foodie Farm Girl covers farming, gardening, and baking with equal charm. She is also part of A Year in Bread, a thorough look at bread-baking one category at a time, starting this month with pizza.

a la carte is not so much a blog as a collection of articles on classic French cooking.

waiterrant probes the dark underbelly of the restaurant business.

thecookscottage is a great source for Indian recipes and cooking techniques.

And if you follow the instructions, you get a gold star!

So, I'm subscribed to a service that emails out a list of recently published astronomy papers. Lately, I've noticed that all of the abstracts for papers published in Astronomy & Astrophysics are sub-divided into sections, e.g.,

Context: Pretty pictures rock. Aims: We wanted to acquire a pretty picture of the Eagle Nebula. Methods: We took out our backyard telescope and CCD and pointed it at the Eagle Nebula. Results: Pretty picture. Conclusions: We have a totally rad photo of the Eagle Nebula. Cool!

So, let me get this straight: we are supposed to be a group of intelligent, highly trained scientists undertaking original research of astrophysical import but we aren't presumed capable of writing a summary of our work without a paint-by-numbers superstructure? Now, as a caveat, A&A is a European journal, so they may be streamlining their structure as an aid to writers for whom English is not the first language. I must say, however, that most of the Euros with whom I work speak and write English better than the average American.

It was bad enough when I was an engineer -- those folks can be terrible writers -- but science falls under the arts and philosophy fields of academic endeavor. I don't think I'm asking too much when I request that the ability to write clear, concise, possibly even at times venturing into delightful prose be considered part of the job description.

Mmm, souffle

My husband and I went out for dinner last night to celebrate ou wedding anniversary. This morning, still under a happy food glow induced by foie gras and sweetbreads on brioche toast, I picked up Last Chance to Eat: The Fate of Taste in a Fast Food World, my favorite book on the joys of eating. Mallet intersperses memories of growing up in post-WWII Britain (where, due to years of rationing, the young cook had never seen an egg before) with the histories of some classic foodstuffs, including the egg, cheese, beef, and heirloom vegetables. She also bemoans the loss of flavor caused by industrialized food production and the food fear that has left so many unable to enjoy beef, eggs, and raw milk cheeses.

I love to cook and I love to eat good food, so Mallet has a sympathetic audience in me. Fortunately for the avid foodie, it's becoming easier to acquire "real food." Without leaving my home state, I can grow my own heirloom vegetables using seeds saved and propagated by numerous companies; join a farmer's co-op or travel to the local farmer's market or organic farm for fresh greens; buy Colorado lamb, buffalo, elk, all of which were happy, frolicking creatures before they became my dinner; purchase an interest in a cow as a source of raw milk; and get some really good goat cheese.

In fact, I think I'll go plan the dinner menu now...