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Credence for mountain lion sightings in PA

In a followup to this story Connecticut officials have reported
some “amazing” news.

…they said that the Connecticut Cougar had made its way east from the Black Hills of South Dakota and that genetic testing matched samples of an animal confirmed as having been in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

That means that the animal traveled more than 1,500 miles to Connecticut, more than twice as far as the longest dispersal pattern ever recorded for a mountain lion. The news stunned researchers trying to make sense of the first confirmed presence of the species in Connecticut in more than a century. Many believed that the animal must have been released or had escaped from captivity.

Daniel C. Esty, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said that the journey was a remarkable and positive reminder of the ability of wild animals to survive and adapt, but that there was no evidence that mountain lions were returning to the state.

“This is the first evidence of a mountain lion making its way to Connecticut from western states, and there is still no evidence indicating that there is a native population of mountain lions in Connecticut,” he said.

But the finding may add at least a smidgen of mystery or paranoia to dozens of reports of similar creatures in Connecticut and the Northeast, most of them investigated and then dismissed as mistaken impressions. Before the animal was reported seen in early June in Greenwich, the last confirmed sighting of a mountain lion in Connecticut was in the late 1800s.

This news means that the animal passed through Pennsylvania en route to Connecticut.

Antivaxxers are dead wrong

The false idea that vaccines cause autism is so awfully rampant across Pennsylvania, the U.S. and across a good bit of modern society.

Dr. David Gorski at Science-Based Medicine has an excellent explanation of why this totally debunked idea is still so entrenched and pervasive in our culture.  He says:

The hypothesis that vaccines cause autism has been about as thoroughly falsified through research as any health hypothesis can be.

That sort of claim is verifiable with sound evidence. Antivaxxer claims can be made up out of whole cloth. Evidence? Well, that’s secondary to the knee-jerk reaction of fear that comes with a potential threat to your child. Consider this…

Anti-vaxxer first claimed that the vaccine preservative thimerosal, which contained a form of mercury and was used in several childhood vaccines, was poison and triggered autism. At the end of 2001, thimerosal was removed from almost all vaccines. Did the rates of autism decline? It was an excellent way to see if, indeed, thimersol was the culpret.  Gorski notes:

Basically, if thimerosal-containing vaccines were a cause of autism, we would have expected to see a decrease in autism prevalence beginning three to five years after the removal of thimerosal. Epidemiological studies have failed to find such a decline and have also failed to find evidence of correlation. [...] thimerosal exposure in children fell almost overnight to levels lower than the 1980s, which was before the beginning of the “autism epidemic.” At the very least, one would expect autism rates to fall back to 1980s levels if thimerosal in vaccines were a driving force behind this “epidemic.” They haven’t. Quite the contrary, they’ve continued to climb.

Rather than give up the idea they had so much invested in, antivaxxers went another route. And, another. At this point, their hypothesis are ridiculous and unsustainable. Yet, the belief persists. 

Big cat mystery in Connecticut. Are they in PA?

Last week, after a cluster of sitings of a mountain lion in Greenwich, Connecticut, an animal was hit by a vehicle and killed about 30 miles distant.

The problem is — there is not a native population of mountain lions recognized to exist in Connecticut. Or New York. Or Pennsylvania. The Eastern Cougar was officially declared extinct last March. Yet sightings are not uncommon. I’ve heard tales of mountain lions (also called cougars, pumas, panthers) from all over PA. Check out stories from 21 states here at the US Fish and Wildlife site.

Connecticut officials, who are trying to determine if their dead cat is the same as the one sighted days earlier, state that the animal was likely an exotic pet that escaped. The alternative would be something wildlife officials are not prepared to admit – that the big cats have migrated back into the northeastern US after being eradicated.

Another sighting occurred in Connecticut after the carcass is produced. What does that mean?

It can mean a few things. First, when people are primed to see an animal, they actually see it. That is, they report that they had sightings and likely believe they have. But, it could easily be a misinterpretation. It is a well-known phenomena where people mistake the distance and size of animals they spot in the wild. Or, they do not see enough of the animal to make a true identification but see enough for their brain to fill in the rest and perceive a big cat. Or, the continued sighting can mean that people are on the watch for the animal and actually DO spot more. They have selective attentiveness. When we look, we might find.

The existence of big cats in this region is not too hard to believe. This WAS a native habitat. They can exist here without too much trouble. There is food and shelter for them. The suggestion that western cougars have migrated back here from areas where they currently exist is not going over too well with state wildlife biologists. That’s not hard to understand. There is little hard evidence that this is the case.

Some think it’s conspiracy or denial. It’s neither. It is a good habit of looking for evidence to be more than just suggestive, but definitive. To establish that there is a population takes a lot of work and many years.

One body won’t do it. Sadly, we need multiple dead bodies, DNA mapping and location data. There have not been bodies produced, however. This raises serious red flags. In other states, such as Florida, the animals are killed on roads. Yet we have no carcasses in PA. Here is a great article by KSRI Facebook group member and Patriot News reporter Marcus Schneck that gives us the status of the missing mountain lions of PA.

If they are here, they could be escaped imports. Or, they may be pioneering travelers who have returned to recolonize. But, there are not many and we can not call them established. Hopefully, more conclusive data will be forthcoming. Until then, in the official capacity, they are absent.

Maybe our lions walk on two legs, attend football games and eat ice cream.

Raw milk controversy in Pennsylvania

The Patriot News has posted an editorial regarding the sale of raw milk. They advocate that “As long as raw milk drinkers understand the higher risks, they should be allowed to drink it.”
http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2011/05/fda_offers_raw_deal_on_raw_mil.html
Comments that followed http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/05/your_comments_raw_milk.html were mostly in favor of the removal of government interference and the allowance of the sale of raw milk.

KSRI provides analysis of the issue for your consideration. Please check your own sources to verify all information given ANYWHERE.

Science-based medicine versus alt med

How do you want your medicine? Science-based or entertainment-based?

Science has been the best and most reliable way to discover things about nature. Why? Because the process of science (the whole scientific method in all its simplicity and complexity, depending on how you view it) makes attempts to remove human bias and correct errors. Another potential way to discover things is through “revelation” – saying that something just came to you or a voice spoke to you. Some people think that’s an OK way to find things out but, seriously, it is not too reliable. This is the way that ideas of witches, demons, aliens and all sorts of magical entities were introduced to humans.

Medicine used to work by means other than science. When we started to apply science to medicinal modalities, we found that some were actually dangerous, some worked OK (and we discovered more about how they worked), and some only appeared to work because we hoped they did (like homeopathy and over-the-counter cough medicines). This brings me to the best blog and source of information out there on science-based medicine. It’s called Science-based Medicine (SBM). (Convenient!) Contributions are made by experienced and respected physicians and professionals. Best of all, the quality of the posts is incredibly high. It’s my go-to place when I hear about some questionable medical subject.

This is a post that revisits some background to the blog and the concept of alternative medicine:

What do you call alternative medicine that has been scientifically proven to work?
The answer: Medicine.
That’s because alternative medicine by definition is medicine that either hasn’t been scientifically proven to work or has been scientifically proven not to work, while “integrative medicine” is nothing more than “integrating” unproven “alternative” medicine with medicine scientifically proven to work.

The point of the post is also to highlight the trouble with people like Dr. Mehmet Oz, a popular television personality, endorsed by Oprah and given his own show. He’s also a purveyor of nonsense such as homeopathy, faith healers, psychics and unconventional diagnoses. This makes for good TV entertainment but crappy health advice. Dr. Steven Novella, a main contributor to SBM has made an appearance on Dr. Oz’s show to dispute the advice and information given out. Dr. Oz does not do science-based medicine. He does a TV show. Please note that it is Dr. Oz’s show which means that editing will make him look good and the show will appeal to his own audience. But I might suggest you try to overcome bias and think about the core of obtaining knowledge using scientific evidence. Whom do you believe?

Have you really listened to the critique of celebrity health promoters? How do you want your medicine, science-based or entertainment-based? Isn’t your health important enough to find out the BEST answer rather than the most popular and trendy one?

Here is the show’s segment with Dr. Steve. Dr. Oz does a great job of weaseling out of addressing the real issues – that there is no good evidence for alternative medicine modalities.  And here is more from Dr. Steve after the show aired. Guess who I think is the smarter of the two Docs in that debate.

On the importance of sanitation. You miss it when you don’t have it.

This topic may appear to have little to do with rational thinking but bear with me.

The capital city, Harrisburg, has been plagued with water problems since Monday. Workers were let out early, given the day off Tuesday and sent home after lunch today (Wednesday) when the problems were not yet resolved.

As I walked to my car today, I heard a few comments about how “lucky” state workers were. I see remarks on the news stories about it. Hmm, let’s think about this. How lucky is it for hundreds of people to work in a building when the bathrooms are locked, there is no drinking water, no place to wash your hands and you have to go down many floors to a portable lavatory?There was one or two for each building and only a few dozen that were publicly available in the entire Capital Complex.

Long treks to the bathrooms (and there were lines) aside, this is a dangerous, unsanitary situation. The sprinkler systems did not work. What if someone was ill? What about womens’ hygienic needs? What about the spread of bacteria? It was more than just a nuisance.

This incident reminded me of three things.

Super shoes. Shape-up? Or ship-out?

I admit to being REALLY skeptical of rounded, thick-soled athletic shoes such as Sketchers Shape-ups and Reebok’s EasyTone. I remember the days of Dr. Scholl’s exercise sandals that made my feet hurt (as well as prone to trips and falls) but didn’t do squat for my calf muscles. Do super shoes work?

How vaccines work

Here is a video from an excellent website about how vaccines work. Visit Immunize for Good to get the facts on vaccines – one of humanities greatest inventions for saving lives.

Mystery creature in Butler County

Not sure at all what to think of this: Mysterious tall creature reported In Pennsylvania. It’s a fantastic story. But, what does one do with such a story? There are no established facts outside of remarks from one witness. No other evidence. As much as we would like to, it’s impossible to determine what the witness observed with any certainty.

A story can tell us where to look to for something but I’m very unclear what the witness may be describing and what we might be on the lookout for….