Category Archives: Uncategorized

Mammography’s Shadows, VII: Legacies

Good science gives the same answer to questions posed by both male and female investigators.  But good science normally only answers questions as they are posed.  In the case of breast cancer, ordinarily only females experience the disease, with its attendant costs to themselves—and opportunities for others.  The same is true for current breast cancer […]

June 29, 2015 – 3:00 pm | By Sylvia Kraemer | Posted in Healthcare, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Mammography’s Shadows, VI: The National Cancer Institute Weighs In

Like all federal agencies the National Cancer Institute is subject to indirect political pressure through congressional and executive branch control of agency budgets.  Such pressure can and does influence programmatic decisions. That had been the case with the Breast Cancer Demonstration Project of the 1970s (see this blog’s post for May 25, 2015, “Mammography’s Shadows: […]

June 18, 2015 – 3:37 pm | By Sylvia Kraemer | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

That ‘Vision Thing’

Not the least of Maine’s glories is her coastline, thousands of miles of it, with countless harbors offering respite or refuge for her many sailors.  And experienced sailors know that, while they can find a harbor on a nautical chart, the likelihood of their arriving there depends upon a well-weighted keel and their crews’ ability […]

August 18, 2014 – 5:34 pm | By Sylvia Kraemer | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

The New Enclosure (Part II)

The notion that the things we create belong to us is not new; it dates back at least to 560, when Ireland’s King Diarrmait ruled against the monk Colmcille, who had secretly copied his mentor Finnian’s psalter.  (Legend records Diarmait’s judgment as “To every cow belongs her calf, therefore to every book belongs its copy.”) […]

July 14, 2014 – 4:42 pm | By Sylvia Kraemer | Posted in Environmental Policy, Intellectual Property, Open Systems, Science and Engineering in the Law, Science and Policy, Technology in US Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Why The Liberal Arts?

  It’s difficult to hear a discussion of education in the United States without being reminded of the urgency of increasing students’ proficiency in ‘STEM’ (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines.  This, we learn, is necessary to secure their competitiveness in a technology-driven job market.  What is too rarely pointed out is that a primary […]

January 23, 2014 – 10:02 am | By Sylvia Kraemer | Posted in Art and Culture, Colleges and Universities, Education, History of Ideas, Uncategorized | Comments (1)

National Public Wi-Fi: Why it Matters to You

  A recent proposal by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman, Julius Genachowski, would recover some of the country’s little used radio and TV broadcast radio spectrum in order to create a national public wireless (WiFi) network.  Telecommunications companies, which make money selling data plans to enable smart phone and Wi-Fi computer users to access the […]

February 16, 2013 – 3:45 pm | By Sylvia Kraemer | Posted in History of Ideas, Open Systems, Politics, Science and Engineering in the Law, Technology in US Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Lessons From Our Table

One of the blessings of the past holiday for this Maine parent was the return of adult children home for Christmas.  Humorists console some of us with tales of dysfunctional families to help dispel the mixed emotions conjured up by the holidays.  A largely functional family is also a blessing. Ours has slogged its way […]

January 7, 2013 – 11:53 am | By Sylvia Kraemer | Posted in Art and Culture, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Senator Rubio’s Mistake

An astronomer writing in Slate recently takes Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to task for being unable (or unwilling?) to give the astronomers’ answer to a reporter’s question, posed during a press interview, about the age of the Earth.  After noting that the question has nothing to do with the proper subject of the interview, Rubio […]

December 4, 2012 – 5:31 pm | By Sylvia Kraemer | Posted in Art and Culture, Current History, History of Ideas, Politics, Science and Policy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Ten Tips for the 53%

In a recent letter to the editor of the local newspaper a reader supports Mr. Romney’s assertion that 47% of the American public depends on federal benefits, and therefore undeserving of the presidential candidate’s concern.  The letter writer then shares with us his pride at being part of the other 53%, Without mentioning national defense […]

October 27, 2012 – 5:23 pm | By Sylvia Kraemer | Posted in Current History, Politics, Science and Policy, Technology in US Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Maine: The Costs of “Political Speech”

In its article on forced ‘disappearance’ to eliminate political opposition, Wikipedia lists no less than 22 countries where ruling parties have resorted to this practice.  Among the better known are Argentina and Chile, under the regimes of Jorge Rafael Videla (1976-1981) and Augusto Pinochet (1976-1981), respectively. As a means of eliminating unwelcome political speech, ‘disappearing’ […]

October 17, 2012 – 10:33 am | By Sylvia Kraemer | Posted in Current History, Open Systems, Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)