As I promised last week, here is the link to the article in "Wired":
Author Simon Singh Puts Up a Fight in the War on Science
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Wired Gets It - Again
I just got my monthly dose of "Wired"... still in the print form, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a short, but very good interview with Simon Singh. If you don't know him, I'd recommend one of his excellent books:
He has spent the last two years fighting British Chiropractic Association's bogus libel lawsuit, and won!!!
In the interview, he talks about the lawsuit and science vs. pseudoscience struggle in general. In all, it's another proof that Wired is one of the few mainstream media outlets that promotes good and sound science.
As soon as the link is up on their page, I'll post it here.
He has spent the last two years fighting British Chiropractic Association's bogus libel lawsuit, and won!!!
In the interview, he talks about the lawsuit and science vs. pseudoscience struggle in general. In all, it's another proof that Wired is one of the few mainstream media outlets that promotes good and sound science.
As soon as the link is up on their page, I'll post it here.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
After the Debate
So, while I was unable to actually attend the debate, it seems that there was something interesting that happened there: John Tracy took a very typical right wing road, offending everyone and painting himself as the only one with any values:
John Tracy's comments at Pasco School Board candidate debate offend his rivals
There is more in the TampaBay.com Gradebook Blog:
Pasco School Board candidate Rev. John Tracy defends his debate night comments
You have to love what Mr. Tracy concluded:
We have to make sure we vote for someone much better to have any influence over our school system.
John Tracy's comments at Pasco School Board candidate debate offend his rivals
So Tracy told the audience at Thursday's candidate debate at Pasco-Hernando Community College that he was the candidate of family values and integrity. Not just one of them. The one.How funny...
There is more in the TampaBay.com Gradebook Blog:
Pasco School Board candidate Rev. John Tracy defends his debate night comments
You have to love what Mr. Tracy concluded:
This particular article misrepresents my statements and fails to accurately set the context of the debate forum. Lesson learned. Voters beware! Do not trust the press.That's right, blame the media for your own statements and try to twist the facts around, to make up your own reality. This attitude is so typical of the far right found everywhere, not only in this country.
We have to make sure we vote for someone much better to have any influence over our school system.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Pasco School Board Candidates Debate
Interestingly, there will be a live debate tonight between 12 candidates for the Pasco School Board, as reported by St. Pete Times:
Hear the Pasco School Board candidates debate
I would love to see it, or at least have a chance to read an extensive report on what all of them had to say.
More to come...
Hear the Pasco School Board candidates debate
I would love to see it, or at least have a chance to read an extensive report on what all of them had to say.
More to come...
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Time To Vote
Early elections are on around Pasco County, and this year one set of votes is the dearest to my heart: County School Board members. That's because I will soon have my son in the local school system and I would like to ensure that the system gets better, remains focused on good education and is not influenced by any ideology.
There is a broad set of candidates to select from, but one stands out of the crowd as particularly BAD. That's John Tracy. I have seen it coming long time ago, as I wrote here. While Tracy's web page has softened up a bit since last year, he still is for teaching creationism in public schools, as indicated in his very recent interview with St. Petersburg Times:
No, students should not have a choice what to learn in science classes! They should learn SCIENCE! If Mr. Tracy wants to teach his (or any other views) in his church, that's fine with me, but science is not based on personal opinions and beliefs. That makes it easy on who NOT to vote for.
Florida Citizens for Science has a nice summary of this issue for Pasco County: Details on Pasco school board races
There is a broad set of candidates to select from, but one stands out of the crowd as particularly BAD. That's John Tracy. I have seen it coming long time ago, as I wrote here. While Tracy's web page has softened up a bit since last year, he still is for teaching creationism in public schools, as indicated in his very recent interview with St. Petersburg Times:
Tracy said he is not out to change the curriculum. Still, he said, students should have a choice about whether they want to learn about evolution in science classes. He also called for making sure that religious references are not wiped out of history books.The whole article: Pasco School Board race features five candidates with diverse views
Tracy spoke about student equality, saying that schools should be neutral ground for people of all political and religious beliefs. He said schools need to deal with drug problems, which are growing. And as a parent who has his children in a private church school, he backed school choice.
No, students should not have a choice what to learn in science classes! They should learn SCIENCE! If Mr. Tracy wants to teach his (or any other views) in his church, that's fine with me, but science is not based on personal opinions and beliefs. That makes it easy on who NOT to vote for.
Florida Citizens for Science has a nice summary of this issue for Pasco County: Details on Pasco school board races
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Book Review: "Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine and the Search For a Cure
I've been gearing up to write something about this book for a few months now, but due to a complete lack of free time, as always it took me a bit more than I anticipated.
There is one simple sentence to describe this book: every new parent should read this one!!!
I wish this book had been out when my son was born, and my wife and I had to battle misinformation and pure nonsense of the anti-vaxx movement. It is consoling to know that we made all the right decisions at that time, even when the level of propaganda from the anti-vaxxers was reaching its peak.
"Autism's False Prophets" gives your an amazing perspective from the best source: Paul Offit is the top pediatrician and infectious diseases expert in the world. He's also an authority on vaccines, having co-invented one that's credited with savings hundreds of lives daily (see more info). He's been involved with the whole vaccines/autism controversy (not a real one, but that's how it is perceived) from the beginning and knows the details first hand.
The original publication date of this book was in 2008, which makes it slightly out of date, especially in light of recent events (Andrew Wakefield's original MMR paper retraction by Lancet, his medical licence being revoked in U.K. and numerous studies further discrediting any link between vaccines and autism), but the real value of this book and all the information it contains is in the fact that it shows how the whole MMR and autism link (and later just general vaccine/autism link) was manufactured and how the real data kept coming, showing there is no link at all. It also shows the unseen links behind some of the people "on the other side". We are used to hearing that it's the "big pharma" that influences our doctors, and it's the corporate interest and profit seeking that drive our medical establishement, but it is very educating to see that money might be behind some of the people who claim they are fighting for us, the consumers.
Unfortunately, even today, I still encounter people who refuse to believe and cause more harm than good, by spreading misinformation and sometimes pure lies to benefit their own, misguided causes. As we all know, the era of information abundance on the Internet makes making decisions much harder for many of us. It is even more important to find the right sources, and this book is the perfect one!
There is one simple sentence to describe this book: every new parent should read this one!!!
I wish this book had been out when my son was born, and my wife and I had to battle misinformation and pure nonsense of the anti-vaxx movement. It is consoling to know that we made all the right decisions at that time, even when the level of propaganda from the anti-vaxxers was reaching its peak.
"Autism's False Prophets" gives your an amazing perspective from the best source: Paul Offit is the top pediatrician and infectious diseases expert in the world. He's also an authority on vaccines, having co-invented one that's credited with savings hundreds of lives daily (see more info). He's been involved with the whole vaccines/autism controversy (not a real one, but that's how it is perceived) from the beginning and knows the details first hand.
The original publication date of this book was in 2008, which makes it slightly out of date, especially in light of recent events (Andrew Wakefield's original MMR paper retraction by Lancet, his medical licence being revoked in U.K. and numerous studies further discrediting any link between vaccines and autism), but the real value of this book and all the information it contains is in the fact that it shows how the whole MMR and autism link (and later just general vaccine/autism link) was manufactured and how the real data kept coming, showing there is no link at all. It also shows the unseen links behind some of the people "on the other side". We are used to hearing that it's the "big pharma" that influences our doctors, and it's the corporate interest and profit seeking that drive our medical establishement, but it is very educating to see that money might be behind some of the people who claim they are fighting for us, the consumers.
Unfortunately, even today, I still encounter people who refuse to believe and cause more harm than good, by spreading misinformation and sometimes pure lies to benefit their own, misguided causes. As we all know, the era of information abundance on the Internet makes making decisions much harder for many of us. It is even more important to find the right sources, and this book is the perfect one!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Joe Mercola's Nonsense In My Own Experience
So, last month I had a prolonged discussion with a "naturopath" about various kinds of "therapies" and science in general (I described it briefly here). One of the BIG NAMES thrown at me during that discussion was Joe Mercola and his woo-selling web site (no link here... I do not want to bump his Google rank).
As is was coming from a believer, Mercola was presented to me as an "authority" on various natural remedies and products. We did not discuss it in details, but I'd tried to point out that Mercola, while accusing everyone of various conflicts of interest, including the dreaded BIG PHARMA links, has direct financial stakes in most of what he's promoting, way more direct than any doctor has to the BIG PHARMA!
I stumbled upon a great article today from Orac, "Joe Mercola's shampoo woo", which dissects this problem to the core: it's always about money when somebody tries to sell you something "natural".
As is was coming from a believer, Mercola was presented to me as an "authority" on various natural remedies and products. We did not discuss it in details, but I'd tried to point out that Mercola, while accusing everyone of various conflicts of interest, including the dreaded BIG PHARMA links, has direct financial stakes in most of what he's promoting, way more direct than any doctor has to the BIG PHARMA!
I stumbled upon a great article today from Orac, "Joe Mercola's shampoo woo", which dissects this problem to the core: it's always about money when somebody tries to sell you something "natural".
New Show Worth Watching
This has been going around the blogosphere:
Phil Plait, TV Star
Sounds interesting and I know I'll watch it.
My son will have a blast too: he loves Discovery shows about cosmic disasters, UFOs and all kinds of weirdness!!!
If you want a taste of Bad Astronomer's style, read his books, they are excellent:
Phil Plait, TV Star
Sounds interesting and I know I'll watch it.
My son will have a blast too: he loves Discovery shows about cosmic disasters, UFOs and all kinds of weirdness!!!
If you want a taste of Bad Astronomer's style, read his books, they are excellent:
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Vacation Time - Revisited
As you might have noticed, my on-line activities have been slow in the last month, mostly due to summertime slump and vacation travels. From my occasional "woo-woo" debunking, I switched to my additional passions, which always have been: travel, hiking and outdoor photography (fortunately, they go together well). This year was slightly different, since it was the first time we went on an extended "exploration" trip with our 5 year old son. The "exploration" trip in our book means renting a car and going on an extended road trip from one hiking destination to another. Most of the time it also means extensive driving in between strenuous hikes. I was very worried how he would like the long walks, early days, strange hotels, and general lack of "quality" kids entertainment (Sponge Bob, for example), but I was very surprised to find out he loved it and he wanted more.
Our trip this year took us to Central and Southern California, a place I always wanted to visit, but never had a chance. We started in San Francisco, visited Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park, Yosemite National Park, Mono Lake surroundings (including Lone Pine), Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, made a quick stop in Legoland, explored Los Angeles a bit, and finally hit Big Sur on our way back to San Francisco.
We traveled in a fairly large group (three families, with kids around the same age), so it made it easier, but our various hikes stand as a testament, that kids can be introduced to nature at a very early age. In Yosemite for example, we managed to hike to the top of the Nevada Falls (hike descriptions here and here), a trail not easy to accomplish for most of the city dwellers of much more advanced age.
In addition to hiking, we managed to see a few gems that were worth every minute.
First one was the Alcatraz Island, with its famous prison. I was worried that it would be boring for my son, but he loved it and even managed to walk the whole personal audio tour by himself.
The second one was an unforgettable night at the Death Valley Junction's Amargosa Opera House Hotel. According to the management, it is one of the most haunted places in America, which I would believe, if only I'd been able to see anything out of ordinary... nope... not me. I did not see, nor hear, nor feel anything weird, and I suspect it is just a marketing plot (surprise, surprise!!!). However, the history of the place, the setting, and the Opera House itself with its amazing paintings is really something to see, so don't miss it when you are exploring the Death Valley and its surroundings.
Now, you can tell that I have been doing mostly image processing for the last few weeks, as I managed to stack up 5000 shots on my old, trusty Nikon, but that's what digital photography is all about: cheap volume and selection.
Our trip this year took us to Central and Southern California, a place I always wanted to visit, but never had a chance. We started in San Francisco, visited Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park, Yosemite National Park, Mono Lake surroundings (including Lone Pine), Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, made a quick stop in Legoland, explored Los Angeles a bit, and finally hit Big Sur on our way back to San Francisco.
We traveled in a fairly large group (three families, with kids around the same age), so it made it easier, but our various hikes stand as a testament, that kids can be introduced to nature at a very early age. In Yosemite for example, we managed to hike to the top of the Nevada Falls (hike descriptions here and here), a trail not easy to accomplish for most of the city dwellers of much more advanced age.
In addition to hiking, we managed to see a few gems that were worth every minute.
First one was the Alcatraz Island, with its famous prison. I was worried that it would be boring for my son, but he loved it and even managed to walk the whole personal audio tour by himself.
The second one was an unforgettable night at the Death Valley Junction's Amargosa Opera House Hotel. According to the management, it is one of the most haunted places in America, which I would believe, if only I'd been able to see anything out of ordinary... nope... not me. I did not see, nor hear, nor feel anything weird, and I suspect it is just a marketing plot (surprise, surprise!!!). However, the history of the place, the setting, and the Opera House itself with its amazing paintings is really something to see, so don't miss it when you are exploring the Death Valley and its surroundings.
Now, you can tell that I have been doing mostly image processing for the last few weeks, as I managed to stack up 5000 shots on my old, trusty Nikon, but that's what digital photography is all about: cheap volume and selection.
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