tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71238993607143900742024-03-18T19:28:46.354+00:00Birmingham SkepticsBirmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.comBlogger169125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-29697710839477271422015-09-06T22:27:00.002+01:002015-09-06T22:31:06.210+01:00Skeptical about drug laws – Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Welcome to
part 2 of my skeptical about drug laws series, based on a talk I gave at
Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub open mic night on May 27th. <a href="http://www.brumskeptics.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/skeptical-about-drug-laws-part-1-phil.htmllink" target="_blank">In part 1</a> I
gave an overview of the problems encountered when medical researchers attempt
to conduct research using schedule 1 drugs on any level, which in turn makes
the research very expensive, surrounded in red tape and generally slows the
progress of research into some serious medical issues to a halt. I then looked at why the compounds in
question were designated schedule 1 in the first instance – supposedly it
related to their harm and abuse potential, however, this was shown to be
completely out of line with the scientific data and research.<br />
<br />
So now it is time to address these compounds individually, to explore the
effects of these compounds, look at their harm potential in more detail and
discuss what role they might play in medicine if drug laws are allowed to be
based on actual science. The first to be
explored is MDMA.<br />
<br />
<u>MDMA<br />
<br />
</u>MDMA is more commonly referred to as “ecstasy” or “molly”. Chemically, it is described as
3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine.<br />
<br />
MDMA was first synthesized by Merck chemicals way back in 1912 as an
intermediate in the development of an anti-haemorrhagic drug. It lay in obscurity until its rediscovery by
the late great chemist Alexander Shulgin in the 1960s. Alexander Shulgin was a pioneering chemist
who synthesized in excess of 200+ novel compounds with psychoactive activity
from a lab in his back garden in Lafeyette , California, and was renowned for
self-administering the compounds that he synthesized! He and his wife authored the books PIHKAL
(Phenylethlamines I Have Known and Loved) and TIKHAL (Tryptamines I Have Known
and Loved) as well as The Shulgin Index – a comprehensive textbook of chemical
synthesis and data concerning psychedelic compounds. Shulgins story is worthy of a long article in
itself (see the link at the end for “Dirty Pictures”, a documentary about
Shulgins life and legacy), but suffice to say he acted as a mentor to some of
today’s leading neuropsychopharmacologists, and the compounds he developed may
yet still hold many potential benefits.<br />
<br />
But back to MDMA – after Shulgins rediscovery, recreational use started to be evidenced
in the 1970s. Typically the effects of
MDMA include euphoria, increased well-being, sociability, self-confidence and
extroversion. It is also often described
as an entactogen – increasing empathy or the feelings of closeness with
others. With this in mind it is not hard
to see why it found a welcome home in the rave and dance scenes. As well as recreational use, many
psychiatrists and therapists were also finding utility in the drug, as they
began to implement MDMA-based therapy into their sessions as they found it to
have positive effects and outcomes with their patients, and was favoured due to
its lack of hallucinatory effects, shorter duration of action and allowing the
user to stay cognitive throughout the therapy sitting (LSD visuals were found
to be rather distracting!). This was noticed to the point where Leo Zeff, a
psychotherapist, came out of retirement to travel America introducing
psychiatrists to the drug to promote its use in therapy. MDMA was made a schedule I drug in 1985, despite
the protest of many well respected psychiatrists on the basis that they had
seen its medicinal benefits first hand.<br />
<br />
<u>MDMA Mechanism of action</u></span></span></div>
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</u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Above you can see the chemical structure of MDMA, along with some of the
main neurotransmitters present in the brain.
Note the similarity in shape and similar atoms present – in very general
terms this is how MDMA mediates its actions within the brain, by resembling
already existing structures such that it binds in a lock-and-key fashion, the
slight differences in chemical composition affecting receptor activity and
downstream processes. A detailed
explanation of MDMAs action in the brain isn’t really necessary here, but
suffice to say it induces serotonin release and stimulates serotonin receptors
which is largely responsible for producing its subjective effects. It also
increases levels of oxytocin, prolactin and cortisol, effecting areas of the
brain relating to mood and fear response.</span><br />
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<u style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">MDMA Safety<br />
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</u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So once again we approach the subject of MDMA safety. One of the main arguments for the danger of
MDMA is that it is neurotoxic (Parrott 2014).
The validity of such claims is hampered by bad study design. Actually, that’s being overly kind. The main study that got all of the press was
a 2002 paper published in the well-respected </span><i style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Science</i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> journal (Ricaurte </span><i style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">et
al</i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> 2002), which stated that even a single dose of MDMA could lead to
permanent neurological damage with a similar profile to that seen with
Parkinsons patients. The paper was later
retracted, because it turned out that due to a mix up, instead of the
experiments being run with MDMA, the scientists had in fact been using
Methamphetamine (Crystal Meth for all you Breaking Bad fans). I think at this stage it’s important to point
out that despite MDMA having methamphetamine in its name, the two compounds are
very different in their effects and mechanisms under which they work, and this
is common in chemistry (Dimethyltryptamine, a powerful hallucinogen, differs
from the neurotransmitter Serotonin (5-Hydroxytryptamine) by only two carbon
atoms, one oxygen atom and four hydrogen atoms, for example).</span><br />
<br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
So bad study design doesn’t quite cover the complete screw up evidenced
here. The retraction didn’t get nearly
as much press, and in the meantime several laws were introduced in America on
the basis of the original paper which meant club owners would be held
accountable for any patrons using MDMA in their premises, ultimately putting
MDMA users in more danger, and these remained in place after the retraction. </span><br />
<br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
There are other issues with MDMA neurotoxicity studies in that animal models
don’t match up well with human models in terms of the receptors present and the
concentrations of drug required to observe the detrimental effects. Moreover, my own issue with these studies is
that they are based on recreational drug users – these will be people who have
used the drug many times, on consecutive weeks for durations lasting weeks,
months and even years. This I believe means
it is in no way reflective of the type of long term effects that may be
observed in a therapeutic MDMA user, since the dosage and frequency of
administration does not come anywhere close to that of the recreational user. In addition, we cannot possibly hope to
account for the quality and consistency of street sourced MDMA with regards to
its purity – frequently powders and pills sold as MDMA are found to contain 5%
or less and are often substituted with other stimulants such as BZP, mephedrone
or methamphetamine, so to use “MDMA” users as a data set when an untold number
of drugs may be at play in regards to detrimental effects witnessed is not
reflective in any way of the actual safety profile of MDMA itself. As we saw in Part 1 – clinical trials require
pure compounds in order to perform research, so to disregard this rule when
looking at safety data is, quite frankly, ludicrous and detrimental to medical
research.</span><br />
<br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
So if MDMA is so safe, why has it been attributed to so many deaths in
newspapers? The main problems
encountered with recreational drug use are threefold:</span><br />
</span></div>
<ul>
<li style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Hyperthermia – Due to vigorous dancing in poorly ventilated areas with
inadequate water intake.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Hyponatremia – Due to overconsumption of water.
A classic example of ecstasy being attributed to death in the UK would
be the 1996 case of 18 year old Leah Betts, whose picture was on the front page
of many newspapers showing her attached to life support equipment after taking
ecstasy which prompted a strong campaign against ecstasy use. What was less published was the fact that
after taking ecstasy, she consumed 7 litres of water in a 90-minute period. This leads to the dilution of electrolytes
within the blood, and as such water enters into the cell due to a higher sodium
concentration gradient, and those cells swell as a result. When those cells happen to be brain cells,
the result is cerebral oedema, leading to coma and death. MDMA also has an antidiuretic effect due to
promoting secretion of anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) which in essence stops the
kidneys from releasing water in the urine, furthering the dilution effect of
sodium in the blood, which exacerbated the situation. This I believe is more a testament to poor
education in drug safety than lack of safety of the drug itself. People have died from water intoxication when
no MDMA has been involved </span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">(</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication#Notable_cases" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication#Notable_cases</a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">).</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In addition we have again the problem whereby there is no way to verify what is
being sold as MDMA actually is MDMA. In
recent media a lot of deaths attributed to “bad ecstasy” have been because what
was consumed was actually a compound called PMA (para-methoxyamphetamine) which
has a very narrow window between the dosage that would be used for recreational
purposes and that which is toxic. To
call this “bad ecstasy” is akin to me filling a beer glass with bleach and
giving it to someone to drink, and calling the fallout the result of a “dodgy
pint”.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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In either case, the therapeutic setting is not a rave, and dancing is not
encouraged as far as I’m aware, and excessive water consumption is completely
unnecessary in this scenario so these issues do not come into play, and
therefore are not valid arguments against the safety of MDMAs use in therapy in
my opinion<br />
<br />
<u>Medical use of MDMA<br />
<br />
</u>So what are the potential medical benefits of MDMA?<br />
<br />
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder<br />
<br />
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating anxiety disorder
characterised by re-experiencing of trauma, hyperarousal and avoidance
symptoms, and is a major worldwide public health problem. It is seen frequently in war veterans and
army personnel, rape victims, victims of child molestation and violent crime,
as well as first-responders such as paramedics, fire fighters and police. It can occur due to any traumatic event. To give a scale of the seriousness of this
condition, one study indicated that there is an average of <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/02/us-usa-veterans-suicide-idUSBRE9101E320130202" target="_blank">one suicide per 65 minutes in US veterans</a> with additional studies attributing this to a higher degree of PTSD suffered by
those that had experienced combat or dealing with post-combat guilt (Sher <i>et al</i> 2012). <a href="http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/01/14/2012-military-suicides-hit-record-high-of-349.html" target="_blank">The death rate of soldiers is four times higher as a result of suicide than of those killed in the line of duty</a>. Clearly, there is a problem here that is not
being resolved with conventional treatment.
I’m not sure if we need studies to confirm any suspicions that being a
victim of rape or child molestation would leave lingering issues, so I think it’s
safe to assume they suffer the same kind of mental anguish on a daily basis.<br />
<br />
The current treatments available for PTSD include serotonin-selective reuptake
inhibitors (SSRIs) – the same drugs primarily used to treat depression -
cognitive behavioural therapy and other psychotherapies, though these all have
limited efficacy. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">MDMA is thought to be
useful in treating PTSD since it allows the patient to stay emotionally engaged
while revisiting previous traumatic incidents without being overwhelmed by
anxiety, allowing psychotherapy to occur within the </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">window of tolerance</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for
Psychedelic Studies) organisation is currently carrying out a number of studies
with the end goal to get MDMA listed as a FDA approved medicine by 2021.</span><span style="color: #0bd0d9; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">These include an already completed pilot study which
involved 20 patients with chronic PTSD refractory from both psychotherapy and
psychopharmacology, with an 83% positive response rate in the non-placebo group
(Mithoefer <i>et a</i>l 2010) with zero adverse effects. An additional 5 studies are currently in
progress. All are conducted under
double-blind placebo conditions and adhere to proper experimental design. An additional point that I think is
worthwhile taking into consideration is that the CAPS score (the gold standard
measurement of PTSD severity) was reduced by an average of 53.2 points across
participants taking MDMA compared to 20.5 for the placebo control group (those
who unknowingly did not take the drug).
This is important because Zoloft, an SSRI, is an FDA approved treatment
for PTSD and was shown to reduce CAPS score by just 10.2 overall across 187
participants (Brady <i>et al </i>2000). It is also very important to note that MDMA
use in therapy consists of 2-3 sessions spaced out over a number of weeks with
non-drug therapy before, in-between and after.
It is not intended as a regular prescription and the patient will not be
dependent on its use. I encourage you
to look into the common side effects of taking a regular prescription of Zoloft
when contemplating the harm potential of MDMA in a therapeutic setting and have
a think about which has the greater risk.
You might find yourself rather disturbed or surprised. Or both.
This is not to say that SSRIs like Zoloft and others are not without
their uses and benefits even when potential adverse effects are taken into
consideration, but if nothing else it seems nonsensical to approve the use of a
low efficacy drug whilst denying the medical utility of one which has been
shown to be 5 times more effective based on what I believe is non-justified
safety concerns.<br />
<br />
<u>Social Anxiety in Autistic Adults<br />
<br />
</u></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Social anxiety is
characterized by a fear of scrutiny and avoidance of social interactions and is
frequently observed in those with autism.
Higher functioning autistic adults have a greater risk for developing
psychiatric problems including social anxiety, due to the lack of obvious
autistic traits and an expectation to conform to societal norms. Increased oxytocin leads to an increased
ability to infer emotions from facial cues and thus react more appropriately to
a give interaction – in autism, interpretation of non-verbal communication is
at a much lower level than those who do not have autism. It isn’t hard to see how this can lead to
awkward and misinterpreted social interactions, particularly when coupled with
an inability to understand abstract concepts and metaphors and idioms (phrases
such as “its raining cats and dogs” or “I have got butterflies in my stomach”
are likely to be taken literally, and thus make no sense – a good comparison is
Dave Batistas character Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy film). MDMA increases oxytocin levels and therefore
assists effective interpretation of feelings and intents.<br />
<br />
Early work from the 1960s/1970s indicates that the positive effects of MDMA
could help relieve symptoms and feelings of social anxiety and its related
issues to due increased openness, talkativeness and increased social
interaction that is observed under the influence of MDMA. It is hoped that better study design and
improved ethics, safety, monitoring and follow up will show MDMA as a viable treatment
in alleviating the symptoms of social anxiety in autistic adults (Danforth <i>et al</i> 2015). <br />
<br />
<u>Summary<br />
<br />
</u>What I hoped to have demonstrated in the above paragraphs is that MDMA has
a very real medicinal potential for treating conditions which affect a huge
number of the population, for which the current treatments aren’t
satisfactorily effective. Thus they
remain suffering from their conditions – and I think it is important to take
into consideration that it is not only themselves that are effected by their
illness – as with so many mental health problems, those close to them also feel
the brunt, whether it be in relation to job performance or ability to function
as a husband/wife/father/mother. The
science doesn’t seem to justify to restrictions placed on research using MDMA,
and I think that the research is vital and needs to be done urgently to clarify
exactly to what extent we can use the compounds we have available to us now in
a safe manner. Once again I will state
my belief that current drug laws, based on politics and not science, have
caused far more harm than they have ever prevented.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<u>References<br />
<br />
</u></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">BRADY K., PEARLSTEIN T., ASNIS G.M., BAKER D.,
ROTHBAUM B., SIKES C.R. and FARFEL G.M (2000)
Efficacy and safety of sertraline treatment of posstraumatic stress
disorder. <i>A randomized controlled trial.
The Journal of the American Medical Association. Vol.283, No.14, pp1837-pp1844</i>.<br />
<br />
DANFORTH A.L., STRUBLE C.M., YAZAR-KLOSINSKI B., and GROB C.S. (2015)
MDMA-assisted therapy: A new treatment
model for social anxiety in autistic adults.
<i>Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry.<br />
<br />
</i></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MITHOEFER M.C.,
WAGNER M.T., MITHOEFER A.T, JEROME L. and DOBLIN R. (2011) The safety and efficacy of
3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine assisted psychotherapy in subjects with
chronic, treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder: the first
randomized controlled pilot study. <i>Journal of psychopharmacology, Volume 25,
No.4, pp439-pp452.<br />
<br />
</i>PARROTT A.C (2014) The potential
dangers of using MDMA for psychotherapy.
<i>Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, Volume 46, Iss.1, pp37-pp43.<br />
<br />
</i>RICAURTE G.A., YUAN J., HATZIDIMITRIOU G., CORD B.J. and MCCANN U.D (2002)
Severe dopaminergic neurotoxicity in primates after a common recreational dose
regimen of MDMA (“Ecstasy”). <i>Science,
Vol.297, No.5590, pp2260-pp2263.<br />
<br />
</i>SHER L., BRAQUEHAIS M.D. and CASAS M (2012) Posttraumatic stress disorder, depression,
and suicide in veterans. <i>Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine,
Vol.79, No.2, pp92-pp97.<br />
<br />
</i><u>Useful links<br />
<br />
</u><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXHyKyoHJzo" target="_blank">Dirty Pictures – Alexander Shulgin Documentary</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><br />
<br />
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Podcasts
featuring Rick Doblin from MAPS:<br />
<br /><a href="http://chrisryanphd.com/tangentially-speaking/2014/11/3/98-rick-doblin-maps" target="_blank">Tangentially Speaking No. 98</a> -</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBT4m4aFlJc" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0f6fc6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">London Real </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Rick Doblin </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">–</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> Fighting the good fight</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBT4m4aFlJc" target="_blank">June 2013</a> </span></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXZh2BBAZnk" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">London Real </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Rick Doblin </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">–</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> MDMA therapy</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> May 2014</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju9Ccx5Rk_E" target="_blank">Duncan Trussell Family Hour No. 149</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DRQP2CiMHU" target="_blank">Joe Rogan Experience No. 371</a></span></div>
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Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com283tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-78346811460235197862015-07-19T20:31:00.000+01:002015-07-20T00:21:49.431+01:00Skeptical About Drug Laws - Part 1 <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyZnkitI0RhBRDA-AoV8SmGvOH6lo-iXT_57L134Mvx5RBUKrss_AK13SsJqH53XpWUbkNVG7FWUmg03kKMcfeHZpPAiMI-7LVaIkuAdXUWhIOfmN7f7kmNSbuZDEUA5_F0zfz15iiMq6K/s1600/20150527_200008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyZnkitI0RhBRDA-AoV8SmGvOH6lo-iXT_57L134Mvx5RBUKrss_AK13SsJqH53XpWUbkNVG7FWUmg03kKMcfeHZpPAiMI-7LVaIkuAdXUWhIOfmN7f7kmNSbuZDEUA5_F0zfz15iiMq6K/s320/20150527_200008.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phil Walsh at the Open Mic</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On May 27</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 2015 I decided to try my hand at
giving a talk at Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub
(SitP) open mic night. SitP have
regular guest speakers who come to give presentations relating to an area of
their expertise centred around dispelling misconceptions about a particular
topic and focussing on good scientific enquiry.
Their open mic nights give us mere mortals a shot at presenting a topic
of our choosing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The presentation I gave was based on the current drug laws
regarding certain compounds, and how these laws prevent vital medical research
being carried out, and as such prevent treatments for some very serious medical
conditions being available to those who need them the most. I felt this was relevant to the spirit of
SitP since skeptics by nature are very keen to dispel myths regarding bogus
“miracle cures” and charlatans selling false hope, or worse, driving people to
actually cause themselves harm. My
argument was that we don’t need to look far to find bad science regarding
medicine – we have it right on our doorsteps governed by law right this moment,
and that fact is worthy of equal scrutiny.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Typically we are asked to give a 15 minute talk, I think I
was clocking in around 25 minutes before I threw myself off stage as it wasn’t
fair to the other presenters that evening to hog all the stage time. And I still had plenty of slides left.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With this in mind, I thought I would provide an overview of
the topics covered in my presentation in blog form – this will allow me to go a
little more in-depth on some parts, so that those that didn’t have a chance to
attend the evening won’t miss out on what was presented, and those that were in
attendance get a refresher with additional material.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To keep this interesting I will break the article into 3-4
parts, which should hopefully allow some time to reflect on the information
being presented before the next part goes live. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Without further ado, here is:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptical about drug laws, </span><u style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part
1: The Current situation.</u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Currently in the UK, when British law states that a
particular drug or compound is illegal, it is classified into both classes and
schedules. Classes you’ll likely be
familiar with – these dictate the degree of punishment dealt if a person is
found to be in possession of, producing, trafficking or distributing a
particular drug. Schedules however state
the potential harm, and any medical utility of a given drug.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Schedule 1 drugs are described as such:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<i><span style="line-height: 200%;">Drugs belonging to this schedule are thought to have no therapeutic
value and therefore cannot be lawfully possessed or prescribed. These include
LSD, MDMA (ecstasy) and cannabis. Schedule 1 drugs may be used for the purposes
of research but a Home Office licence is required</span></i><i><span style="line-height: 200%;">”</span></i><i><span style="line-height: 200%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Schedule 2 drugs are described as
such:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="line-height: 200%;">Can be prescribed and therefore legally possessed and supplied by
pharmacists and doctors. They can also be possessed lawfully by anyone who has
a prescription. It is an offence contrary to the 1971 Act to possess any drug
belonging to Schedule 2 or 3 without prescription or lawful authority. Examples
of schedule 2 drugs are methadone and diamorphine (heroin). Schedule 3 drugs
include subutex and most of the barbiturate family</span></i><i><span style="line-height: 200%;">”</span></i><i><span style="line-height: 200%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Schedule 4 drugs are prescription only, and schedule 5
are over-the-counter medications and so require no prescription.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What we are concerned with is the statement for schedule 1 compounds <i>“</i><i>Schedule 1 drugs may be used for the purposes of research <b>but a Home Office licence is required</b></i><i>”</i><i>.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What this means is that in practice, conducting
medical research using schedule 1 compounds is virtually impossible, because
obtaining a home office licence is a lengthy and arduous process. And here’s why:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
In order to obtain a home office licence, you must:</span></div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; text-indent: -18pt;">A</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">pply for and pay for
a home office licence </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">–</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> this
costs between </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">£</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">3000-5000 and lasts
for 1 year.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Adhere to the
necessary storage and security requirements </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">–</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> the compounds require storage in a designated secure location with
careful management of who has access to them.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Carry out DBS checks
for all personnel </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">–</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> it</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">’</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">s not good for your
application if your lead researcher happens to have a raging drug addiction
after all!</span></li>
</ul>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So far, so good – these
requirements aren’t
unreasonable, and I don’t think
anybody is suggesting that these compounds available on a free for all basis, but
it should be noted that each of these adds to the administrative burden and
cost of obtaining the licence and performing research.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
The problems begin to arise when:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Additional costs come
in the form of import licences – the
majority of compounds will be sourced from overseas, simply due to
availability. This then requires an
import/export licence to be obtained at the cost of the research group.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">The compounds will
likely also have to be manufactured to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">–</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> these are a set of
guidelines that dictate a specific protocol for the manufacture of a particular
compound in order to ensure quality and consistency.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">This therefore means that the manufacturer
must be approved to produce the compound to GMP specification.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Very few manufacturers, if any, will have
this approval for the compounds in question </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">–</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> this makes sense when you think about it: since no one is purchasing
the drug (due to the difficulties being described here) then the manufacturer
has no incentive to go to the expense and labour of obtaining GMP status for
that drug, and as such are unable to offer the drug, so no one can buy the drug</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">…</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">.and so it goes round
and round in a circle.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Even if a suitable
manufacturer is found, the price for a given product is usually astronomical – and example
being £10,000 for 1g of Psilocybin quoted by one manufacturer, which is quite
remarkable when it is relatively simple to grow a mushroom containing this
compound in its natural form at bigger quantities for 1/300</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> of the
cost.</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Once a compound is
sourced and transported back to the UK, it will require tableting and
dispensing from a schedule licenced site -
only 4 hospitals in the entire UK hold such a licence, therefore
producing an array of logistical problems.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">In addition, many
documents have a time limit –as such, should
a given task in the entire process take longer than expected or meet delays
(and believe me, in R&D, there are no shortages in unexpected delays and
circumstances) then it may be that the time limit for a given document expires,
and thus the process has to be started from the beginning.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Funding is also an
issue – government funding
is little to none, and pharmaceutical companies have no incentive due to
patents for these compounds being long expired, and therefore will not turnover
a worthwhile profit for any investment.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In practice, obtaining a schedule 1 licence for the
purpose of research takes several years at typically costs 10-fold above that
for legal drugs (Nutt 2015). It should also be noted that the stigma attached
to these drugs reduces enthusiasm for research groups to take them on, so the
added red tape and administrative workload does nothing to encourage research
groups from taking on a research project using these compounds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>So why are these compounds listed as schedule 1?</b></i><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rationale for placing any drug in a schedule 1
category is supposedly because these compounds have a high risk for harm and
abuse, and therefore are restricted in this fashion in order to reduce their
recreational use and abuse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">…….but how accurate is
this?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some may recall that Professor David Nutt
was sacked from his position as chairman in the Advisory Council on the Misuse
of Drugs (ACMD), triggered by his claims that ecstasy was statistically less
harmful than horse riding based on a 2007 study on drug harm published in The
Lancet (Nutt <i>et al</i> 2007), and ultimately because he argued that drug
laws were not based on science but led by politics. The findings of this study were in agreement
with other studies across Europe which had reached similar conclusions (Van
Amsterdam <i>et al</i> 2010).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think it is important to note here that in
response to his sacking, Dr Les King (advisor to the Department of Health and
senior ACMD chemist), Marion Walker (Clinical Director of Berkshire Healthcare
NHS foundation Trusts substance misuse service and Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s representative on the ACMD), Dr Simon
Campbell (former president of the Royal Society of Chemistry and subsequent CBE
and knighthood recipient for services to chemistry), Ian Ragan (scientific
consultant) and psychologist Dr John Marsden all handed in their resignation
form the ACMD in protest. I mention this
to highlight that Professor Nutt was not some lone maverick with leftfield
ideas, but a respected scientist whose views and opinions were held in high
regard by peers of equal esteem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Following this dismissal, he set up the Independent Scientific Committee
on Drugs (ISCD). A 2010 study brought
together a team of experts, who reviewed drug harms using a ranking system
which based the harm potential of 20 drugs using a 16 category matrix, 9 of
which related to drug harms towards the individual and 7 related to drug harm
towards others (Nutt <i>et al</i> 2010).
This then produced a rank of the most harmful drugs based on their cumulative
scores out of a maximum of 100.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A pint of the Victoria Pubs finest Longhorn IPA to whoever can guess
which drug came out ranking as the most harmful overall……<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(image sourced from Nutt <i>et al</i>
2010).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That’s right friends, as the graph about
demonstrates, alcohol is by far the leading contender for most harmful drug out
of all those we see listed. The
following graph shows the same data with the categories under which each drug
was scored.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(image sourced from Nutt <i>et al</i>
2010)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This perhaps isn’t so surprising – imagine if the papers tomorrow announced
the rise in use of a new drug which caused lowered inhibitions, had high abuse
and addictive potential, overdose could lead to organ failure, coma or even
death, users were known to become violent and if driving under the influence
posed serious danger to all around them, amongst a myriad of other consequences
and lets not forget -in true tabloid fashion – THIS DRUG IS AVAILABLE IN YOUR CORNER SHOP AND TO YOUR KIDS NOW! Well, we’d expect this drug to banned with immediate
effect. Yet all the above can be
attributed to alcohol, and it has zero medicinal benefit. This isn’t a bash at alcohol though – hundreds of thousands of people can and do
enjoy a tipple without consequence every weekend up and down the country. I simply use it to highlight that the laws
which govern scientific research using certain compounds is not in line with
the scientific evidence for potential harm and abuse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The data presented isn’t perfect though – it only analyses the harm potential, and
does not take into account any medical utility or benefit. Were this to be factored in, we would expect
substances like heroin, cocaine and cannabis to drop a few points (these do
have legitimate medicinal uses) whereas compounds such as alcohol, tobacco and
crack cocaine would remain where they are. It also should be taken into consideration
that for some points of harm to society, which factors in the cost of
processing through the judicial system, prisons and customs. This is not adjusted for the scale of use, so
with cannabis as an example, the usage is far higher amongst the population
than say GHB, and thus there will statistically be a far higher number of
arrests and criminal charges brought up against cannabis related offences,
which will subsequently skew the points ranking, making cannabis appear to be
more harmful than compounds such as mephedrone, butane and benzodiazepines,
which in realistic terms I do not believe to be the case, and I don’t think the evidence would agree with
either.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clearly, from what we have seen so far, the harm potential
of a particular drug is not in line with the restrictions placed upon it. It can be strongly argued that the holding
back of medical research has caused far more harm than it has ever prevented. As a result, research using certain drugs is
made exceedingly difficult, and as such, potential therapies for a range of
conditions go unexplored.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In part 2, I shall give an overview of some
of the compounds in question which are currently subject to the restrictions
discussed above detailing the evidence that shows they have the potential to
become vital medicines for a range of very serious illnesses that affect
thousands of people up and <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">down the country every day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the meantime, if you like the subject
matter here, I encourage you to check out my previous blog post <a href="http://brumskeptics.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/a-white-lie-cant-hurtright.html" target="_blank">reviewing a previous talk</a> given at SitP on the subject of lying by Dr Mike Drayton, and also
to check out the <a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/" target="_blank">SitP website</a> to keep up to date on upcoming talks and articles
of interest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>References used in this post:</b></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NUTT D.J. (2015) Illegal
drug laws: clearing a 50-year-old obstacle to research. <i>Public Library of Science Biology, Volume
13, Supp.1.</i><span style="color: #0bd0d9;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NUTT D.J., KING L.A.,
SAULSBURY W. and BLAKEMORE C. (2007) Development of a rational scale to assess
the harm of drugs of potential misuse. <i>The
Lancet, Volume 369, No.9566, pp1047-pp1053.</i><span style="color: #0bd0d9;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NUTT D.J, KING L.A. and
PHILLIPS L.D. (2010) Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision
analysis. <i>The Lancet, Volume 376,
No.9752,pp1558-1565.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">VAN
AMSTERDAM, J., OPPERHUIZEN A., KOETER M. and VAN DER BRINK W. (2010) Ranking
the harm of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs for the individual and the
population<i>. European Addiction
Research, Volume 16, No.4, pp202-pp207.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>This post was contributed by SitP regular Phil Walsh.</i></b></span></div>
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<br />Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-64115762272463296062015-06-17T23:50:00.000+01:002015-06-17T23:58:37.538+01:00Cancer Quackery in Birmingham<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwUAAY8UBSy7CPQTSanMDR5gbggT7KknXvyetLBjD1uVLdnU60FpLt1FQDgmnpalLeg_MFx_XPKyQ8bqa58gDVDT7dW51JlZv6HJshpsMgzFG9YYf9Mep2j2-VoE7ZSRGW05_UeA_GoqDg/s1600/WPA_quack_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwUAAY8UBSy7CPQTSanMDR5gbggT7KknXvyetLBjD1uVLdnU60FpLt1FQDgmnpalLeg_MFx_XPKyQ8bqa58gDVDT7dW51JlZv6HJshpsMgzFG9YYf9Mep2j2-VoE7ZSRGW05_UeA_GoqDg/s320/WPA_quack_poster.jpg" width="248" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.treeoflifemagazine.co.uk/page70.htm" target="_blank">Brian Clement is speaking at the Buddhist Centre this weekend</a>. If you don’t know him he is the director
of the Hippocrates Health Institution in Florida and peddles all kind of
quackery from enemas to naturopathic diets and a whole load more. The claims
that he makes for his cures are extreme and in this country possibly even
illegal given the ruling of the<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_Act_1939" target="_blank"> Cancer Act which forbids people to claim that they can cure cancer</a>.<br />
<br />
Yet claim this he does and has done, to the point of persuading a family to
halt the curative chemotherapy that had a good chance of beating the leukaemia
that their daughters had. The effect of this was all too predictable and all too
disastrous. A very full account of much of what is known about Brian Clement can
be found over at <a href="https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/brian-clement-and-the-hippocrates-health-institute-finally-under-the-spotlight/" target="_blank">Science Based Medicine</a>.<br />
<br />
Brian Clement has law suits outstanding against him, he uses the title Doctor,
despite having no professional medical qualifications and he claims to be able
to cure cancer. He makes a lot of money from people’s illness and offers them
spurious remedies and unproven and unsuccessful curatives for what can be very
serious conditions.<br />
<br /><a href="http://corkskeptics.org/2015/06/11/brian-clement-alternative-cancer-practitioner-you-are-not-welcome/" target="_blank">Other venues on this speaking tour have cancelled his events in light of the concerns that people have</a>. There is only a short time before he is due to talk
but if you think that Brian shouldn’t be spreading his misinformation in
Birmingham you could <a href="http://www.birminghambuddhistcentre.org.uk/?page_id=34" target="_blank">contact the Buddhist Centre</a> and let them know, it’s very
possible that they are not aware of the extent of Brian’s claims and may be as
concerned as we are. You might also want to tell <a href="http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=SystemAdmin%2FCFPageLayout&cid=1223092622826&packedargs=website%3D4&pagename=BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FCFWrapper&rendermode=live" target="_blank">trading standards</a> or <a href="http://www.moseleyforum.org.uk/node/258" target="_blank">the local MP</a> what you think about his assertion to be able to conquer cancer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><i>This blog post was written by Patrick Redmond one of the organisers of Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub</i></span>Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-8787532451484511112015-06-14T22:25:00.001+01:002015-06-14T22:25:13.979+01:00A White Lie Can't Hurt......Right?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGew6JP0wteDMkkmSuuFvb28IHrPNArQq2AWiLrF965_G6Z_2s1jsxLHkOPVIJxGOybpGkRQ1AbLniNea5XDAzQyv05FqFF0462c7TnS62KrpkXvY1giOTCOGIraXrbORFzMtcb4cOJCIu/s1600/001+-+Dr+Mike.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGew6JP0wteDMkkmSuuFvb28IHrPNArQq2AWiLrF965_G6Z_2s1jsxLHkOPVIJxGOybpGkRQ1AbLniNea5XDAzQyv05FqFF0462c7TnS62KrpkXvY1giOTCOGIraXrbORFzMtcb4cOJCIu/s320/001+-+Dr+Mike.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On Wednesday 10<sup>th</sup> of June at Birmingham
Skeptics in the pub, Dr Mike Drayton graced us with his presence in order to
give a fascinating talk on the psychology of lies and lie detecting.<br />
<br />
Dr Mike Drayton is an <span style="background: white; color: #222222;">organisational
development consultant, a clinical psychologist and expert in
negotiation. He has a Doctorate in Psychology from the University of
Birmingham and a BSc in Social Psychology from LSE. He is a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Medicine and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological
Society, and spent 20 years working in mental health within the NHS before
working as an independent consultant psychologist.<br />
<br />
</span>Dr Drayton ran through some common misconceptions about the nature of
lying and how good (or rather how bad) we are at detecting lies – it seems we
underestimate how good we think we are at lying, and conversely overestimate
our abilities to detect lies. This
addressed the commonly thought ways of detecting when someone is lying to us –
things such as avoiding eye contact (he tells us that in fact, a person lying
will hold an unnatural degree of eye contact as a form of overcompensation),
the person in question shifting in their seat and other subconscious cues like
scratching of the head, placing their hand over their mouth and so forth. It turns out that these aren’t so much signs
of deception but more signs of anxiety – likely to be experienced by anyone
undergoing interrogation regardless of whether they are telling the truth or
not. Better ways of determining if a
person is being truthful or not are by asking seemingly irrelevant questions
relating to the matter, since a liar has formed a storyline and timeline in
their mind and this will throw them off their course, as will asking the person
to recount the events in reverse order.
He discussed the motivations for lying – self gain, making others feel
better, the so called “groupthink” whereby in order to avoid tension and
conflict a group of people may accept lies at face value without employing any
form of critical evaluation.<br />
<br />
The effectiveness of devices such as the polygraph machine –which measures
heart rate, blood pressure, respirator rate and galvanic skin response – was
called into question. Whilst the basis
under which they detect lies seems plausible – establishing a baseline response
to fairly normal questions such as name, place of birth, mother’s maiden name
etc – there is actually very little established evidence with regards to their
efficacy. He also raised an interesting
point in that psychopaths would pass such a test with ease due to their lack of
empathy or emotion, and as such would not exhibit the typical responses we
might expect to observe in someone trying to be deceitful. <br />
<br />
What does have more credence is the analysis of what are termed
Microexpressions – tiny, fleeting facial expressions that occur in 1/25 to 1/15
of a second so as to be barely perceivable in normal conversation. Research into this field was pioneered by Dr
Paul Eckman in the 1990s. The process generally
relies on catching these microexpressions (usually be means of slowed down video
footage) which seem to betray what a person is saying, as if the real story is
told on the subconscious level. As an
example of this put into practice, a short video clip was shown which related
to the story of Karen Matthews who in 2008 faked the kidnapping of her
daughter. In the video shown, when the
footage is slowed down, we can see moments where she very momentarily smiles
during a press conference relating to the disappearance of her daughter – not
the sort of behaviour one would expect from a mother whose daughter was missing
and her status unknown. Other examples
included video footage of Ted Haggard – an American evangelical minister who
was recently accused of purchasing and using crystal meth as well as having
homosexual relations with a male escort (relevant due to his condemnation of
homosexuals as part of the beliefs that he preaches) and how his facial
expressions contradicted his statements regarding the allegations.<br />
<br />
Other examples of patterns exhibited during the telling of lies included head
movement directly opposite to what was being said (a politician stating he
would be happy to take paternity tests to determine the legitimacy of a child
he was alleged to have fathered whilst shaking his head the whole time) and the
language patterns used to distance oneself from the event in question (Bill
Clintons classic “I Did.Not.Have.Sex with that woman” – note the emphasised
words that don’t flow like normal conversation and the use of “that woman” as
opposed to “Monica” or “Miss Lewkinsy” as would typically be expected when
referring to a person).<br />
<br />
Another interesting point brought up during the discussion was the question of
whether it is ever ok to lie, by which we mean so called “white lies”. I had read an essay by neuroscientist and
philosopher Sam Harris (whose works and books I thoroughly recommend) and the
subject of white lies. In the essay,
Harris argues that, when given some thought, it is actually quite hard to
really justify any white lie. Take for
example a wife asking her husband if she looks fat in particular dress – now;
any man alive knows he is in for a rough night in the doghouse should he
respond with anything other than “You look wonderful dear”. But let’s think about this for a moment – if
indeed the wife is perhaps a little overweight, and you informed her so (in a
nice manner of course) then this may prompt her to take action – maybe start
eating more healthily, taking up exercise and generally improving her
lifestyle. In turn she can expect to
lose weight, generally feel better about herself and reward herself with better
health and improved health prospects – diabetes and coronary heart disease are
no joke – perhaps more so if the couple have a family who they want to see grow
up, and the children surely don’t want their mother to pass away at an early
age. So here we have to ask ourselves –
are we really doing our partner any favours by lying to them?<br />
<br />
Another example that Harris gives is when a friend produced a screenplay for
him to read and review. The screenplay
was of significant length and clearly the friend had put a lot of time and
effort into it. Any good friend might be
economical with the truth if they thought it was not good and severely lacking
in some departments, but not wanting to hurt their friends feelings told them
they thought it was ok and worth presenting to some Hollywood big shot who
might turn it into a production. But
again, let’s think about this. This
friend might have one shot at presenting their work to the big director, and if
they come forth with relative garbage, the director might turn them away, and
disregard instantly any further work that person brings their way, effectively
ending this persons career before it has even started. Would it not be better to give an honest
opinion, so that the friend may then go back and work on the shortcomings, to
make it the best possible piece of work that they can produce, and then submit
it to the director? In the grand scheme
of things, you are being far kinder to the friend by being honest than you are
by saving them a short moment of embarrassment and disappointment that they
will need to go back and rework their piece.<br />
<br />
When Dr Drayton asked the audience for examples of where a white lie might be
acceptable, one audience member replied “Santa Claus” – after all, it’s just a
bit of fun right? Well, we could argue
that the inevitable revelation of the non-existence of Santa Claus might lead
to a certain building of mistrust between the child and their parent – a lie
ongoing for years without much justification that a child can comprehend. It’s worthwhile taking the time to try and
think of ways in which a white lie would be acceptable and then try to find
reasons why, actually, they might not be, though implementing this into your
daily routine would be no mean feat I’m sure.<br />
<br />
This brings me back to the discussion of microexpressions – I recall reading an
article in New Scientist where Dr Eckman said one of the pitfalls of being able
to do this is that you can’t really turn it off once you have turned it on, so
you can never effectively be lied to again – he gave an example of asking his
wife if she enjoyed the dinner he had prepared, whereby she responded that it
was wonderful, whereas her microexpressions told a different story. This begs an interesting question in my mind
– would we want to live in a world where we couldn’t be lied to? Maybe sometimes we are content with the
answers we are given, regardless of whether they are sincere or not.<br />
<br />
There was nowhere near enough time in the evening to tap all of Dr Draytons
wealth of knowledge and experience and I don’t think I would be alone in hoping
to hear more from him in the near future.<br />
<br />
Be sure to check out the <a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/" target="_blank">Birmingham Skeptics webpage</a> for details of the next
upcoming talk which is sure to be as intringuing and thought provoking as that
given by Dr Mike Drayton.<br />
<br />
You can follow Dr Mike Drayton on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Michael-Drayton/679119978859886?pnref=lhc" target="_blank">Facebook here</a>: <span class="MsoHyperlink"><br />
</span>And on twitter here:<a href="https://twitter.com/mikedrayton" target="_blank"> @mikedrayton</a><br />
<br />
You might also be interested in looking up an Infinite Monkey Cage podcast from
January 19<sup>th</sup> 2015 entitled<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04yfsst" target="_blank"> “Deception” that covers many of these point</a>.<br />
<br /><b><i>
This blog post was written by SitP regular Phil Walsh</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-14105185201287618452015-04-26T17:58:00.000+01:002015-04-26T17:58:31.070+01:00Open Mic Night - May 27th 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQfC5aFvZsRUpbHYBqdMyB3k6ooQiHbtH9oHaastiXAZihPVXFvjLoYFRNjJ89QXALKX9vQwLvUI4nyXi5LDmetrPaFtoj1-nNyH49CQrt-L94aZfHkN8UqUxMKsR00XmUKcXLe3DLTpi5/s1600/mic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQfC5aFvZsRUpbHYBqdMyB3k6ooQiHbtH9oHaastiXAZihPVXFvjLoYFRNjJ89QXALKX9vQwLvUI4nyXi5LDmetrPaFtoj1-nNyH49CQrt-L94aZfHkN8UqUxMKsR00XmUKcXLe3DLTpi5/s1600/mic.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's our <a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/Event.aspx/2402/Open-Mic-Night" target="_blank">fantastic open mic nigh</a>t and we've got five brave volunteers who have come forward for your education and edification. You can find details of them and their talks below. This is a really enjoyable event and takes the place of our monthly social, but we will be hanging around for a drink or two afterwards.</span><br />
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<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We start at 7.30pm and each speaker gets 15 minutes. It'd be great to see you there and you can let us know you're coming on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/504169029725989/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> if you use that social medium.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why Internet Dating Doesn’t Work – Dr Martin
Graff</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Romantic relationships play a huge part in
our physical, social and emotional well-being.
Successful relationships promote better health and even aid in faster
recovery from illnesses. Not
surprisingly, most of us seek to find a romantic relationship. However, should we resort to online dating to
find this? Drawing on psychological
research, this talk focuses on seven reasons why we shouldn’t. Some of the principal considerations are that
we make bad decisions in online dating and people are certainly not what they
seem to be meaning that such a matching system is not a good predictor for the
sustainability of relationships in a face-to-face context. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr Martin Graff is Reader and Head of Research in
Psychology at the University of South Wales.
He is an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society and a
Chartered Psychologist. Over the years
he has carried out research in the areas of <span lang="EN-US">cognitive processes
in web-based learning, individual differences in website navigation, online
interaction and the formation and dissolution of romantic relationships online
and offline. He has also carried out
research in the areas of online persuasion, and online disinhibition, and has
supervised several doctoral degrees in this area.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From Richard Dawkins to Freud’s Death Instinct - Mike Waller<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dawkins
says we are exquisitely refined organisms whose evolutionary function is to
transmit copies of our genes. In this context, the evolutionary persistence of
depression seems to make no sense. Apart from its psychological effects, it is
heavily implicated in many life-threatening behaviours and illnesses. In
"Family stigma, sexual selection and the evolutionary origins of severe
depression's physiological consequences" (JSECP, 2010,4(2): 94-114) I
build on Hamilton's suggestion that a badly impaired embryo might be
"programmed" to self-eliminate if its condition would impede the
aggregated reproductive prospects of its kin. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white;">Stockbreeders
know that family merit is the best guide to successful breeding, a reality
unlikely to have been missed by natural selection. If so, individuals perceived
as performing relatively badly in respect of close kin might well impose (by
way of impaired family reputation) a reproductive penalty on their kin group
well in excess of their own potential gene throughput. Here too, deeply
unpleasant though the idea is, self-elimination would make sound evolutionary
sense. With WHO identifying depression as the illness that, globally, causes
most disability, I believe this an idea that should be full explored as a key
guide to treatment. </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Mike Waller</span><span style="background: white;"> has had an interesting and varied academic and
professional career studying government, management and psychology. A fully
paid up Dawkinsite he became interested in the problem of depression. His peer
reviewed paper on this subject was published in the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Journal
of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology (4(2): 94-114) in 2010.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptical about Drug Laws – Phil Walsh<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<i>There are a plethora of instances where
science is absent when it comes to so called medicines and treatments for a
variety of ailments – from homeopathy to bogus cancer treatments which can
actually cause harm.....but what about when science is absent from the laws
which govern the progress of medicine? This is worthy of equal scrutiny and in
this short presentation I hope to give a brief review of the problems
encountered when trying to perform research with certain compounds and
highlight some which show great potential for therapeutic use but are hindered
by the issues described.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Phil Walsh</span><span style="background: white;">
is 31 years old and holds an honours degree in pharmaceutical chemistry and a
master’s degree in clinical biochemistry. He has been working in research and
development within the immunodiagnostics industry for the past 9 years. His
other interests are based in neuroscience, psychology and an unhealthy penchant
for podcasts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Great Porn Phallusies
- Rachel</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Rachel</span><span lang="EN-US"> is a
regular consumer and occasional creator of pornography; she became excited when
she realised that the field of pornography was an apparently untapped well of
pseudoscience and logical fallacies. Tonight she intends to celebrate naughtiness,
challenge assumptions, and look at the facts behind what 'everybody knows'
about porn<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rachel says that there will be no explicit images in
this talk although there may be some page 3 type content. It will also include
some frank discussions of porn, sex, sexual assault, drugs, addiction, and use
of adult language. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<b>Skeptical Activism: Why and how to get
involved - Richard Sutherland<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From naive
atheism at age 8, Richard became aware of the skeptical community and movement
around 2005 via discovering the James Randi Educational Foundation site and
forum, as well as the now defunct UK Skeptics forum. He was then inspired to
get involved in campaigning, initially targeting 'psychics such as Gary Mannion
the 'psychic' healer. This included getting BBC Children in Need to withdraw
support from an event he was attending, and being interviewed for a BBC
documentary on Mannion. He subsequently carried out an email campaign to
theatres hosting 'psychic' shows making sure that many who did not already
started to incorporate disclaimers on publicity material. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 2008, alerted
by a JREF Million Dollar Challenge, Richard started a UK campaign against the sellers
of fake bomb detectors, which contributed to media coverage of the issue, and
played a minute part in the perpetrators finally being brought to Justice some
5 years later, and seeing 3 of 5 jailed, and one receiving a suspended
sentence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He started attending
Birmingham SitP in 2012</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-66516585423819745912015-04-24T03:55:00.000+01:002015-04-24T04:05:56.276+01:00Astrology is Balls<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
On 17<sup>th</sup> April on Radio 4's
satirical programme “The Vote Now Show” Jon Holmes presented a
pre-recorded piece with the aim of seeing if he could find anyone to
predict the result of the forthcoming UK General Election.</div>
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He first visited the polling company
YouGov followed by David Cowling, Editor, BBC Political Research.
Neither could give definitive answers.</div>
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He then visited, well, let Jon take up
the story... [Transcription below]</div>
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So, to recap,</div>
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1 The job of an astrologer is to keep him/herself popular by making
positive predictions which everybody likes the sound of;</div>
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2 Astrologers can be very successful if their predictions are so
vague that you could read anything you wanted into them;</div>
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3 If they are sufficiently vague they can never
get into trouble;</div>
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4 Being vague is something astrologers should be proud of;</div>
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5 Astrology is balls.</div>
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You can catch the full episode on BBC
Radio 4 Extra for the next few days and on the iPlayer for the next
three weeks <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qk706" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here.</a> </div>
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Transcription:</div>
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<i><in studio="" the=""></in></i></div>
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<i>JH The polls can't tell me, he can't tell me. Where next? The next
logical step, of course. Time to meet Jonathan Cainer the astrologer
from the Daily Mail</i></div>
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<i><interview></interview></i></div>
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<i>JC Of course the trouble predicting an election or the outcome of
any competitive sport or activity is that you deeply upset the people
who'd rather wish that the event went the other way.</i></div>
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<i>JH Yes, I suppose you do but that's part of the job though isn't
it so you've got to, um...</i></div>
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<i>JC Not really</i></div>
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<i>JH Oh</i></div>
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<i>JC The thing is you... The job of an astrologer is to keep
yourself popular by making positive predictions which everybody likes
the sound of. If I were to stick my neck out and predict the result
of this election not only would I upset all the people who didn't
want that to be the result but at the same time I'd lay myself open
to terrible mockery should I turn out to be wrong.</i></div>
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<i>JH But again, isn't that part of the risk of your job anyway?</i></div>
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<i>JC Not if you can avoid it, I mean Nostradamus made a very
successful career out of giving his predictions in cryptic French and
Latin puzzles and therefore anyone could interpret anything into
(sic) and so he was always right when you wanted him to be right and
never got into trouble for saying anything which you could hold him
to account for.</i></div>
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<i><in studio="" the=""></in></i></div>
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<i>JH Which is basically saying astrology is balls and so I just say
what I think people will like. But on your behalf I persisted.</i></div>
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<i><interview></interview></i></div>
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<i>JH So the answer is that you can't predict the outcome of the
General Election</i></div>
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<i>JC Astrologers have a long, proud tradition of being vague
wherever possible and I would be absolutely insane to stick my neck
on the line for it.</i></div>
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<i><in studio="" the=""></in></i></div>
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<i>JH But look, I wasn't going to give up right 'cause he's got
mystical powers, so I asked him again outright, “Who is going to
win the Election?”</i></div>
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<i><interview></interview></i></div>
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<i>JC I'm trying to steer as clear as I can of answering that
question.</i></div>
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<i>JH I can tell that, yep. What's the... I'm Taurus</i></div>
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<i>JC Are you?</i></div>
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<i>JH So what's the... what am I typically? What are typical
Taurean...</i></div>
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<i>JC To be a Taurean is to be tenacious; it's to be very fond of...</i></div>
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<i>JH Asking questions that people don't want to answer?</i></div>
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<i>JC Absolutely, you wouldn't give up. So this could be a long
interview.</i></div>
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<i><in studio="" the=""></in></i></div>
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<i>JH It wasn't because I've stopped him there. You know, fat lot of
help that was; we're still no closer.</i><br />
<br />
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<br />
<i>Posted by @christheneck </i></div>
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Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-13829918111952416972015-01-01T20:47:00.000+00:002015-01-01T20:47:04.529+00:00Thank you WHSmith<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #2c2b2b; font-family: arial; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<b>Happy New Year to all you out there!</b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #2c2b2b; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
This is a good time for showing people how much you appreciate their gifts and deeds, and our friends at the Good Thinking Society have asked us to pass on a request for you to quickly and easily send out just one more thank you letter...</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #2c2b2b; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #2c2b2b; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
In October, WHSmith stopped selling the magazine <em>What Doctors Don’t Tell You.</em> Although we are not aware if this was as a result of complaints from those who support evidence-based medicine, we applaud this decision heartily.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #2c2b2b; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<em>What Doctors Don’t Tell You</em> has since been campaigning for a return, untruthfully claiming to have been “banned” following a “relentless campaign by Pharma-sponsored trolls” and urging readers to complain to <a href="mailto:customer.relations@whsmith.co.uk?bcc=marsh@goodthinkingsociety.org&subject=Thank%20you%20for%20your%20decision%20not%20to%20stock%20What%20Doctors%20Don%27t%20Tell%20You" style="color: #1772af; text-decoration: none;">customer.relations@whsmith.co.uk</a>.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #2c2b2b; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
This strategy seems to have been successful once already – Tesco had stopped selling <em>What Doctors Don’t Tell You </em>but appeared to reverse the decision following pressure from the magazine’s supporters.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #2c2b2b; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
We therefore encourage everyone to write to the same address, <a href="mailto:customer.relations@whsmith.co.uk?bcc=marsh@goodthinkingsociety.org&subject=Thank%20you%20for%20your%20decision%20not%20to%20stock%20What%20Doctors%20Don%27t%20Tell%20You" style="color: #1772af; text-decoration: none;">customer.relations@whsmith.co.uk</a>, in order to thank WHSmith for removing this magazine from the shelves and to remind the company of our reasons for concern.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #2c2b2b; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
We have provided a template email below. Please feel free to either use this in its entirety or, preferably, edit it to make it your own. Individual personal emails may be more likely to have an impact. Just tweaking the opening paragraph makes a huge difference, e.g., <em>As a regular visitor to your branch in Exeter, I write to…</em></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #2c2b2b; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Just take the text below, cut and paste it into an email, add your name at the bottom and send it to <a href="mailto:customer.relations@whsmith.co.uk?bcc=marsh@goodthinkingsociety.org&subject=Thank%20you%20for%20your%20decision%20not%20to%20stock%20What%20Doctors%20Don%27t%20Tell%20You" style="color: #1772af; text-decoration: none;">customer.relations@whsmith.co.uk</a> (this link will automatically send us a copy of your letter to WHSmith – if you’d rather not share it with us, simply remove us from the bcc option).</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #2c2b2b; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Many thanks,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #2c2b2b; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Laura Thomason<br />Project Leader<br /><strong>Good Thinking Society</strong></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<blockquote style="background: rgb(249, 249, 249); border: 1px dotted rgb(227, 227, 227); clear: both; color: #2c2b2b; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; padding: 0px 18px 5px 10px;">
<div style="border: 0px none; margin-top: -5px; padding: 0px;">
Dear WHSmith,</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
I write to congratulate you on the decision to stop selling <em>What Doctors Don’t Tell You</em>. As several medical experts have pointed out, this magazine is consistently misleading, often dangerously so. I feel that it is potentially damaging for reputable mainstream retailers to give this magazine the credibility of a place on their shelves.</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
This magazine challenges well known and effective health interventions and advocates unproven pseudoscientific alternatives. Previous articles have wrongly claimed that <a href="http://jdc325.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/safe-wddty-magazine-kills-up-to-200000-a-year/" style="color: #1772af; text-decoration: none;">the HPV vaccine has killed up to</a><a href="http://jdc325.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/safe-wddty-magazine-kills-up-to-200000-a-year/" style="color: #1772af; text-decoration: none;">1700 girls</a>, that <a href="http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2013/02/incurable-stupidity-and-irresponsibility-at-wddty.html" style="color: #1772af; text-decoration: none;">Vitamin C is an all-purpose elixir which could cure polio and AIDS</a> and that <a href="http://wwddtydty.com/2013/11/like-water-for-chemo/" style="color: #1772af; text-decoration: none;">homeopathy “reverses cancer”</a>.</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<a href="http://www.nightingale-collaboration.org/news/143-wddty-9-taking-stock.html" style="color: #1772af; text-decoration: none;">The advertising is equally problematic</a>. The Advertising Standards Authority found that eleven of the ads in just two issues of the magazine were in breach of advertising guidelines on several counts. A further eleven ads from the same two issues were also problematic, with the advertisers agreeing to amend future advertising.</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
It is this sort of behaviour that has resulted in strongly negative coverage of the magazine on social media and in mainstream media (including The Times and BBC Radio 4).</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
I am aware that the publishers of <em>What Doctors Don’t Tell You</em> have been lobbying to persuade you to change your mind, urging readers to complain and falsely claiming that they have been “banned” from WHSmith following a campaign by “Pharma-sponsored trolls”. The truth is that I am just one of a huge number of concerned customers who does not want other customers to be misled and potentially harmed by flawed medical articles and adverts.</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
I trust that you will understand that the concerns regarding this magazine are legitimate and justified and that the responsible decision is to continue to not stock <em>What Doctors Don’t Tell You</em>.</div>
<div style="border: 0px none; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Yours sincerely,</div>
</blockquote>
Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-4012478183874383832014-10-31T16:45:00.000+00:002014-10-31T16:45:08.906+00:00BIRMINGHAM SKEPTICAL ACTIVISTS - ACT 1: Psychic Awareness Month
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As part
of the Good Thinking Society <a href="http://goodthinkingsociety.org/projects/psychic-awareness-month">Psychic Awareness Month</a>, Chris
Richardson and Richard Sutherland fearlessly handed out leaflets to
an audience attending a performance by Derek Acorah at The Prince of
Wales Theatre, Cannock on October 30th.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We say
fearlessly because of the proximity to Halloween, and claims by
Acorah that he can summon up the dead. Despite these ominous
portents, the event went off without so much as a hitch, let alone an
attack by zombies!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Carefully
following Good Thinking guidelines not to make a nuisance of
themselves, Chris and Richard stationed themselves to one side of the
entrance. As audience members arrived they confirmed that those
entering the theatre were there to attend the performance, and then
asked if they would be good enough to take a leaflet. The vast
majority accepted, with only two exceptions. One woman who saw the
headline and turned away a bit huffily, and another (with partner)
who stated that she is a 'medium' and gave Richard and Chris the evil
eye, or at least a dirty look. One woman was clearly au fait with the
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/oct/07/campaign-psychic-sally-morgan">Mark Tilbrook situation</a> and asked Richard if he was Mark.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhvZuQN8xMBaaiDRl5TrRcyoTIlq2cEgcrXJpOiIQq2f2eynAalVdeNRAg6QHVB8oGKA5IFNfU6ZSXtvIYaLXTKDKcbex8TDodoP-eqdRPn1tzIg_reZYYX9Sfbeods759yb4EpCKCGAWR/s1600/20141030_185759.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhvZuQN8xMBaaiDRl5TrRcyoTIlq2cEgcrXJpOiIQq2f2eynAalVdeNRAg6QHVB8oGKA5IFNfU6ZSXtvIYaLXTKDKcbex8TDodoP-eqdRPn1tzIg_reZYYX9Sfbeods759yb4EpCKCGAWR/s1600/20141030_185759.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Richard making polite enquiries of attendees</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">At a
guess no more than 150 attended. Predominantly middle aged and female
in small groups (2 to 4), although some mainly older couples.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">At one
point a very jolly chap working for the theatre asked if Chris and
Richard would like to come into the theatre lobby. Without saying so,
he gave the impression he approved of what they were doing. They
politely declined. About half way through the duty Manager emerged to
ask them to move away as they were causing an obstruction. It was
politely explained that they were specifically standing to one side
of the doors so as not do so, and that since not on private property
they were entitled to be there, and that we would be extremely
careful not to inconvenience the audience arriving in any way. She
didn't seem very happy about it but gave up and went inside. A bit
later the jolly chap popped his head around the door and had a laugh
about the fact that he had asked them in and "the boss" had
wanted to get rid of them.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">From
other reports it seems that Derek Acorah and Colin Fry have avoided
confrontation with people leafleting, so all in all it was pretty
uneventful, but hopefully may have prompted a few to question their
support for such events.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We are aiming to continue with a wide variety of activities, not necessarily involving standing outside theatres!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">If you
are interested in participating in future Birmingham Skeptical
Activist initiatives please email Richard on rgns@hushmail.me.
Alternatively, let Patrick or Chris know. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Good
Thinking can be found <a href="http://goodthinkingsociety.org/">here</a>.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwzC-6AU8skpNo27NhOhCW3F0esqiARibtYAi92ZTPXN-KqzgN8MxJrEeZHC4tJVg9pHg1iIEWvbqY_BvfyGS1GN1VTZ4N1KD72VEPQzA8_ft3opSzXNvfkbpciNVDxT0pcaiEYi3eZOJA/s1600/GTS.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwzC-6AU8skpNo27NhOhCW3F0esqiARibtYAi92ZTPXN-KqzgN8MxJrEeZHC4tJVg9pHg1iIEWvbqY_BvfyGS1GN1VTZ4N1KD72VEPQzA8_ft3opSzXNvfkbpciNVDxT0pcaiEYi3eZOJA/s1600/GTS.PNG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Good Thinking Society leaflet</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-83462317669196495982014-10-25T16:30:00.000+01:002014-10-25T17:06:51.539+01:00Hots Potato<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This
post has been a long time in the making dating back to an email
thread we received from one of our SitP attendees in July 2012 but a recent occurrence shows the issue isn't going away any time soon.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Shortly before that time the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)
had upheld a <a href="http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications/2012/6/Healing-on-the-Streets_Bath/SHP_ADJ_158433.aspx">complaint</a> made by <a href="http://hayleyisaghost.co.uk/healing-on-the-streets-why-i-am-not-a-group-generally-opposed-to-christianity/">Hayley Stevens</a> against an organisation
called “</span></span><a href="http://www.hotsbath.org/"><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Healing on the Streets – Bath</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">”
who had been handing out leaflets in May 2011: Our correspondent had
found a similar organisation,</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
</span></span></span><a href="http://www.thecrossway.org.uk/healing-on-the-streets/"><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">The Crossway</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">using
similar wording, on Harborne High Street, Birmingham and, being the
good skeptic that they are, had made a similar complaint to the ASA
against them.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">For
those unfamiliar with Healing on the Streets (HOTS) it was originally
an organisation founded in Coleraine, Northern Ireland in 2005 to
“simply invite people to sit on chairs so we can pray for them”.
Okay, that could be thought of as merely a little bit strange until
you realise that they claim that “</span></span><a href="http://healingonthestreets.com/what-is-it/"><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">God loves you and can heal you</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">”
presumably through the power of their prayer. Many organisations have
bought into the HOTS ethos which can be extremely lucrative (HOTS –
Bath have taken in</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
</span></span></span><a href="http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/CharityWithoutPartB.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1133098&SubsidiaryNumber=0"><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">£137,000</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
in the last 4 years).</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">It
is a well known phenomenon that any interventions can have a </span></span></span><a href="http://www.skepdic.com/placebo.html"><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">placebo</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
effect and many people may assume that sugar pills, saline injections
and sham therapies o</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">f
all kinds may be responsible for an improvement in fairly trivial
conditions. They ignore the many reasons that a condition may improve
in favour of a belief that it was caused by the intervention. One
classic case is that treatment for a long-standing condition which
comes and goes, such as a bad back, will be sought when pain and
immobility is highest. The fact that the sufferer has a lifetime's
experience of knowing that the condition improves with time (and
without intervention) is thrown out of the window if they take some
pointless pills, or receive some other attention (such as being
prayed for) when it is at its worst.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This
wouldn't matter too much if people working under the HOTS banner
limited their attention to bad backs and similar minor and
self-limiting ailments but they don't. The leaflet given to our
correspondent asked if people suffered from “</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Back
Pain, Arthritis, MS, Addiction, Cancer, Ulcers, Depression,
Allergies, Migraines, Asthma, Paralysis, Crippling Disease, Phobias
or any other sickness, illness or injury” and offered “Healing on
Harborne High Street”.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5eFa4pB-NxlcfNoyow31ri553zDPovB1C6u0Vl9oC0mEBXjtMrkf4fx8SahYltyaIhA5pY-sz46lZZNXug81TxVQTbEbWpGEHKTyb8BRu3X6fjeBjktHfRA3An07gLsCB_CZDJNe7FRlv/s1600/Healing+side+2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5eFa4pB-NxlcfNoyow31ri553zDPovB1C6u0Vl9oC0mEBXjtMrkf4fx8SahYltyaIhA5pY-sz46lZZNXug81TxVQTbEbWpGEHKTyb8BRu3X6fjeBjktHfRA3An07gLsCB_CZDJNe7FRlv/s1600/Healing+side+2.jpeg" height="320" width="265" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So
anything then. Pneumonia, diabetes, sepsis, meningitis, AIDS, Ebola?
You name it, they'll pray for you. Needless to say relying on prayer
over medical expertise can have </span></span><a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=parents+manslaughter+prayer&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=nts&gfe_rd=cr&ei=IwVHVNvBJtL9cf_lgoAO"><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">dreadful consequences</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">.
</span></span>
</div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In
their </span><a href="http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications/2012/6/Healing-on-the-Streets_Bath/SHP_ADJ_158433.aspx"><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">adjudication</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
the ASA noted that HOTS – Bath had not provided any evidence that
they, or anyone else, could heal using prayer and upheld Hayley's
complaint about the leaflet adjudging the claims to be both
misleading and irresponsible. They also adjudged that the ads could
discourage essential treatment for conditions for which medical
supervision should be sought. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">This
adjudication made </span></span></span><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/02/02/uk-christian-group-ordered-to-remove-ads-claiming-it-can-heal-people/"><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">international news</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
the summation for action the ASA said:</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.23cm;">
<span style="color: blue;">“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The ad must not appear
again in its current form. We told HOTS not to make claims which
stated or implied that, by receiving prayer from their volunteers,
people could be healed of medical conditions. We also told them not
to refer in their ads to medical conditions for which medical
supervision should be sought.”</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So
pretty much cut and dried then. Another organisation had used almost
exactly the same wording with a list of medical conditions they have
no hope of healing so our correspondent awaited the adjudication
against The Crossway. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">They
didn't get one.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
ASA contacted our correspondent saying that the issue had gone to
their Compliance Team, an arm of the ASA which deals with repeat
offenders. When this was queried they were told that:</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.21cm;">
<span style="color: blue;">“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
Crossway’s website demonstrates, in our view, that they are
distributing the ads that you have objected to under the name of
Healing on the Streets:
</span></span><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.thecrossway.org.uk/healing-on-the-streets/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">http://www.thecrossway.org.uk/healing-on-the-streets/</span></a></u></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">.
Also, Healing on the Streets’ own website shows that they are a
national organisation, who can assist church groups to set up local
branches: </span></span><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://healingonthestreets.com/"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">http://healingonthestreets.com/</span></a></u></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">.
The similarities between The Crossway’s literature and that of
other leaflets produced by Healing on the Streets, in addition to
their use of the blue “Healing” banner, which is used by other
H.O.T.S. groups, also suggests that they are a local group who are
endorsed by the national H.O.T.S. organisation.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: blue;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.21cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="color: blue;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.21cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
the course of their response to this complaint, our Compliance team
will contact The Crossway to inform them that the advertising they
are handing out is in breach of our Code, but we would consider that
the advertiser is Healing on the Streets. We will also contact them
and demonstrate that a local group affiliated to them is still using
adverts that are not compliant with our Code.”</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This
would be fine if it worked however it appears that it had already
happened and this was already a repeat offence: </span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">.<a href="https://twitter.com/Hayleystevens">@Hayleystevens</a>
<a href="https://twitter.com/_JosephineJones">@_JosephineJones</a>
Letter from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ASA?src=hash">#ASA</a>
today. HOTS Loughborough now with Compliance Team over claim on
leaflet.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">— AJG (@SkepticBarista) <a href="https://twitter.com/SkepticBarista/status/172995849599729665">February
24, 2012</a></span></span> (via Twitter) </blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Furthermore
the message still didn't get through and it looks like it won't any
time soon:</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZwNS2Hu4zUx1BpEDJ5XwpFQt8OImDWFVNjjRsmWXXDmgjib6K5EpQXsdWNhNYdJxzohth6WHtQpr0REBuZN3dFBRo3KtWgsYPqErisaTrlTEJi1DajD9VaYq3Ejr3JajMXYc_9dSbBAeU/s1600/Healing+Patrick+Cutdown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZwNS2Hu4zUx1BpEDJ5XwpFQt8OImDWFVNjjRsmWXXDmgjib6K5EpQXsdWNhNYdJxzohth6WHtQpr0REBuZN3dFBRo3KtWgsYPqErisaTrlTEJi1DajD9VaYq3Ejr3JajMXYc_9dSbBAeU/s1600/Healing+Patrick+Cutdown.jpg" height="320" width="284" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">(18</span></span><sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
August 2012, </span></span><a href="http://www.vineyardnetworkchurch.com/blog/event/2011/01/healing-on-the-streets/"><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Vineyard
Network Church</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.vineyardnetworkchurch.com/blog/event/2011/01/healing-on-the-streets/"> Birmingham</a>)</span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Also
got a Healing on the Streets (HOTS) flyer - guessing this is vague
enough not to be actionable with the ASA? <a href="http://t.co/CHf6wZhy">pic.twitter.com/CHf6wZhy</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">—
James O'Malley (@Psythor) <a href="https://twitter.com/Psythor/status/254573400444522496">October
6, 2012</a></span></span> (via Twitter) </blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">(October
2012, </span></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.ovc.uk.com/Groups/135146/Oxford_Vineyard/Members/Gather/Healing_On_The/Healing_On_The.aspx">Oxford</a>)</span></span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">While
I'll accept that people believe that prayer can heal cancer,
It seems a tad irresponsible to promote it. <a href="http://t.co/esQTPKffGU">pic.twitter.com/esQTPKffGU</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">—
David James (@StortSkeptic) <a href="https://twitter.com/StortSkeptic/status/523744866690691072">October
19, 2014</a></span></span> (via Twitter) </blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">(October
2014, </span></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.stjames-church-bishops-stortford.org.uk/healing-on-the-streets/">Bishop's Stortford</a>)</span></span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
latest breach was last weekend.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Although
we have been keeping our eyes open for breaches (posted on Twitter or
Facebook for instance) it is inconceivable that there aren't some
we've missed and indeed a much larger number that won't have been
spotted or posted at all. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Also
an appeal against the original complaint confirmed that the websites
of these different groups running HOTS activities do not fall under
the ASA's jurisdiction so HOTS could not even appear on the ASA's </span></span></span><a href="http://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Non-compliant-online-advertisers.aspx"><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Non-Compliant </span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Online Advertisers </span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Non-compliant-online-advertisers.aspx">List</a>.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We
know that some of these breaches have not been reported to the ASA.
Of those that have you will find no public record of them being dealt
with by the ASA as they have not been adjudicated upon. The ASA has a
system of reporting “<a href="http://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications.aspx#2">Informally Resolved Cases</a>” whereby an
advertiser agrees to stop using certain wording in their adverts but
it appears that this is also not being used. It's almost as if
they don't want these further breaches to be mentioned anywhere.
Indeed, our correspondent received this from the ASA when asking if
the Harborne breach could be publicised:</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;">
<span style="color: blue;">“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As
the previous adjudication was made public, we have no recourse to
prevent you from making our response public, should you so wish. I
would like to point out of course, that any large scale public
disclosure of the breach could potentially affect the advertiser’s
willingness to comply with our Codes, as part of the ongoing
compliance work we are doing with regard to Healing on the Streets.”</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We
can only hope, that due to this blogpost, any willingness of HOTS
organisations to comply with the ASA's codes hasn't been damaged too
much.</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A small aside: </span></span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Although this issue seems a bit complicated the initial complaint by our correspondent took only 10 minutes and many issues of dodgy advertising are cut-and-dried. Also, anyone reporting such issues are guaranteed anonymity by the ASA by law. We have continued this in this blogpost by not naming our correspondent at their request.</span></span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>We are currently setting up a <b>Birmingham Skeptics Activists</b> strand and one of our possible aims may be to police the West Midlands area to weed out dodgy advertisers such as this.</i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>If you think you can spare the occasional 10 minutes then please consider <a href="http://brumskeptics.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/skeptical-activism-call-to-arms.html">giving us a shout</a>.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-8436768880268346082014-10-04T16:33:00.000+01:002014-10-04T17:09:02.791+01:00SKEPTICAL ACTIVISM - A CALL TO ARMS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-mtyxZBJwo-XU5QyP39VKEhoYVpD2d8XiIxdsJZ5fVpEIA4rsPFruNzYzlhGizw_YTRmfk-0UCUBQOrlVcihKZNtuEdKL0lWARDO5PEe2NTVbhNg3y12uvev_13humgmbTmwOm4evGEJh/s1600/bss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-mtyxZBJwo-XU5QyP39VKEhoYVpD2d8XiIxdsJZ5fVpEIA4rsPFruNzYzlhGizw_YTRmfk-0UCUBQOrlVcihKZNtuEdKL0lWARDO5PEe2NTVbhNg3y12uvev_13humgmbTmwOm4evGEJh/s1600/bss.jpg" height="279" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br />
<br />
If your goat has been got by a scam, fraud, or woo then please read on.<br />
<br />
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Some of you may have attended the Birmingham SitP talk by Michael Marshall of Merseyside Skeptics Society, and Project Director at Good Thinking Society.<br />
<br />
For those who weren't there, amongst other achievements, Michael was instrumental in organising the 10:23 campaign, which successfully spread the word about the ineffectiveness of homeopathy.<br />
<br />
You can find out more about Good Thinking at:<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7123899360714390074" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1411032449586_17353"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7123899360714390074" name="yui_3_16_0_1_1411032449586_17352"></a><br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://www.goodthinkingsociety.org/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">http://www.goodthinkingsociety.org</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> <br />
<br />
That talk inspired me to want to develop an idea that has been been running around in my head since I started attending SitP a couple of years ago.<br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Having taken part in a few skeptical activist activities myself (e.g. carrying out a survey of attendees at a Colin Fry show in London; campaigning against Gary Mannion , 'psychic surgeon'; and establishing a campaign in the U.K. to expose and help bring an end to the fake explosives detectors trade - see ADE651 and GT200; I am interested in setting up Birmingham Skeptics Activists as a spinoff from the main group</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> <br />
B.S.A (Bull Shit Annihilators; just kidding!) will be a group of people who are prepared to take part in campaigns to combat the panoply of nonsense that surrounds us. It may be pseudoscience, quackery, 'psychics', or creationism in schools. One example that still resonates with me was the talk by one of the speakers at the first open mic night on cancer quackery, and how her dad was sadly taken in by people in the area offering false hope via quack 'cures'. Targeting, exposing and bringing people like that to justice is a compelling motivation. Campaigns may involve anything from emailing your M.P., protests, leafleting, blogging or other coordinated action.<br />
<br />
I recognise that not everyone has the time or the inclination to take part in skeptical activism, but I am sure that some of you will want to get involved.<br />
<br />
<i><b>What we need:</b></i><br />
<br />
What we need is a bit of your time every now and then.<br />
<br />
<i><b>What we don't need:</b></i><br />
<br />
We're not after your cash, in fact we'll be looking to cover any expenses and you don't even have to be close to the centre of Birmingham as there are plenty of things going on almost everywhere. We're also not looking to drag you along to a load of committee meetings either.<br />
<br />
Depending on the level of support, over the next couple of months we will look to establish Birmingham Skeptics Activists and agree how best to move forward with this initiative.<br />
<br />
If you are interested please let me know. I will also be at next <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/764809553560631/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming">SitP featuring Chris French</a> on the 8<sup>th</sup> of October, or feel free to email me on<b><i> rgns(at sign)hushmail.me.</i></b><br />
<br />
Richard Sutherland<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-45774217454217970272013-12-16T15:37:00.000+00:002013-12-16T15:37:05.817+00:00Round-up Week ending 15/12/2013<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdJS8PeVng6bqbLZE8nvygR01MRXjiCfvpdqA6e9RXYhsjSG7gcgsU54KBhs-jndWvG2caVJ3K3B46fhinmaJU8kvrzKx2C6bTDTFOUNtHFiuYiOSvJjoGnnAJGJIIDI6uvBq0M6fQkpjv/s1600/dna2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdJS8PeVng6bqbLZE8nvygR01MRXjiCfvpdqA6e9RXYhsjSG7gcgsU54KBhs-jndWvG2caVJ3K3B46fhinmaJU8kvrzKx2C6bTDTFOUNtHFiuYiOSvJjoGnnAJGJIIDI6uvBq0M6fQkpjv/s200/dna2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In order to finance production of his <a href="http://skeptoid.com/">Skeptoid</a> material, which includes podcasts and
books, Brian Dunning regularly asks fans to send him donations in the form of
monthly “micropayments”. This week he published <a href="http://skeptoid.com/blog/2013/12/08/inside-my-kickstarter-project/">a
comprehensive balance sheet</a> for his new Skeptoid book clearly feeling the need
to justify every dollar donated. No doubt having <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ebay-the-fbi-shawn-hogan-and-brian-dunning-2013-4">pleaded
guilty back in April to wire fraud</a>, he now feels this level of transparency
is necessary to help rebuild his credibility. You have some bridges to build
though Brian as despite your <a href="http://skeptoid.com/blog/2011/10/05/a-partial-explanation/">earlier
denials</a> that you made little money, the <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/sanfrancisco/press-releases/2013/laguna-niguel-man-pleads-guilty-to-defrauding-ebay">FBI
disagree and believe you defrauded Ebay to the tune of $5.2 Million</a>.. Much
as I admire Skeptoid, until you come clean over your finances I for one will
not be donating micropayments anytime soon.<br />
<br />
The latest DNA evidence for the earliest humans appeared this week with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25199679">fossil samples
placing on the timeline at 400,000 years ago</a>. This is a four fold earlier extension
on the previous best DNA evidence. How is the science doing at the other end of
the timeline though, the contention that various Cryptids are surviving relict
populations of extinct humans or human like animals? Unsurprisingly, not at all
well with no meaningful evidence despite years of "research". Leaving
aside Brian's Dunning recent behaviour there is much to admire in Skeptoid and
his podcasts on <a href="http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4040">the Almas</a>,
(surviving Neanderthals), <a href="http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4269">the
Yeti </a>(relic populations of <span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Gigantopithecus)</span>
and the <a href="http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4077">Orang Pendek</a> (unknown
human species) are well worth a listen.<br />
<br />
Rbutr promises to be a <a href="http://www.theleader.com.au/story/1951383/rebuttal-alive-on-the-net/?cs=12">useful
new tool</a> as you can use it to track down rebuttals and opposing view's to
any online article you may be reading. Whilst I haven’t found it that effective
yet, to be fair it is early days for this newly launched browser based
extension. The “Rebuttals” are crowd sourced though so it will be interesting
to see how the developers can maintain the high levels of quality control
needed for it to be useful.<br />
<br />
Rbutl did however source for me useful rebuttals to journalist <a href="http://aeon.co/magazine/nature-and-cosmos/why-its-time-to-lay-the-selfish-gene-to-rest/">David
Dobbs recent attack</a> on what he sees as the prevailing gene mutation dominated
view of evolution. In “Die Selfish Gene, die” Dobbs argues that this dominant
view is overstated and how genes are expressed is more important a driver of
evolution than random mutations. He uses the example of the placid grasshopper
contrasted with the aggressive locust. Whilst these animals differ in terms of
both appearance and behavior they are in fact the <a href="http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/a-brain-chemical-changes-locusts-from-harmless-grasshoppers-to-swarming-pests">same
species</a> and a single common genome shares the genetic instruction for both.
Whether the genome is “read” for grasshopper or locust is dependent on
environmental factors. Similarly consider how a single bee genome can variously
be <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/animals/arthropods/insects/bees/honey_bee/three_types_of_bee_in_each_colony_full.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/animals/arthropods/insects/bees/honey_bee/three_types_of_bee_in_each_colony.shtml&h=336&w=608&sz=64&tbnid=nKfXMYlzc0ewoM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=163&zoom=1&usg=__X0DjGaLq2qItcxaOt2VDBmVtXIg=&docid=-TfOS8HgnBJrjM&sa=X&ei=-GanUvmGIcq10QXb4YD4BQ&ved=0CDsQ9QEwAg">read
for drone, queen or worker</a> in order to make up a fully functioning hive. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The natural world is full of other examples of a single genome producing
variation in this way and Dobbs's point is that the importance of this gene
expression has been marginalized as the focus is on teaching how gene mutations
are the main drivers for evolution. As he puts it, it's "how the book is
read rather than what is written " that is most important. Whilst the
article did find it's supporters notably <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/12/03/higher-order-thinking/">PZ
Myers</a>, most rebuttals were negative for example from <a href="http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2013/12/05/david-dobbs-mucks-up-evolution-part-i/">Jerry
Coyne</a>. And then <a href="http://www.richarddawkins.net/foundation_articles/2013/12/6/adversarial-journalism-and-the-selfish-gene">Dawkins</a>
himself chimes in and accusing Dobbs of trying to create controversy where none
exists; most evolutionary biologists have accepted the importance of genetic
expression and Dawkins had already said as much way back in "The Selfish
Gene”. <br />
<br />
A new study shows that due to the gravitational effects of Jupiter, <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24678-astrophile-europas-choppy-ocean-looks-friendly-to-life.html?utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=SOC&utm_campaign=hoot&cmpid=SOC%7CNSNS%7C2013-GLOBAL-hoot#.UqgPD2RdV2w">Europa’s
oceans are most likely very turbulent and chaotic.</a> This is good news
for Europa’s claim to be the most likely other
place in our Solar system to support life as any life would benefit from the
resulting nutrient stir and flow. Outside our solar system <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/106988/this-exoplanet-is-turning-planetary-formation-scenarios-upside-down/#ixzz2mi3uN7MQ">a
gas giant orbiting further than expected from its sun</a> has brought into questions
our theories of planetary formation. Is the search for dark matter <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24733131">entering its
final stages</a>, or maybe it was already discovered in 1997 during <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24689-hints-of-cold-dark-matter-pop-up-in-10yearold-circuit.html?utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=SOC&utm_campaign=hoot&cmpid=SOC%7CNSNS%7C2013-GLOBAL-hoot#.UqgPxGRdV2w">an
earlier study</a> and nobody noticed?<br />
<br />
The anti GM brigade <a href="http://www.elsevier.com/about/press-releases/research-and-journals/elsevier-announces-article-retraction-from-journal-food-and-chemical-toxicology">lost
their favourite study this week</a>. The much hyped report that GM corn causes
cancer in laboratory rats has been retracted – turns out to have been a crappy
study after all.<br />
<br />
On a final note, Lady Gaga announced she will be <a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/lady-gaga-to-sing-in-space-in-2015-2013611">gigging
in space</a> by 2015!<br />
<br />
</span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week’s round-up was provided by Steven
Ebrey. If you would like a go at contributing to the round-ups let us know.</span>
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Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-43674639836765061402013-11-26T21:44:00.000+00:002013-11-26T21:44:36.983+00:00The Round-up Week Ending 24/11/13<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This week’s round-up has been brought to you courtesy of
Jade Quarrel who you’ll find running our book group each month. The next one is
on Sunday 15<sup>th</sup> of December and is covering <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/263030837184470/">Sam Harris’s <i>Moral
Landscape</i></a>. Don’t worry if you don’t have time to read the book, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTKf5cCm-9g&feature=youtu.be">gen up
on the ideas</a> and join in the discussion. Keep track of all our upcoming
events <a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/">on our other website</a><br />
<br />
I’ll now hand you over to Jade.<br />
<br />
Top scientists reveals that science is mostly <a href="http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/science-technology/science-mostly-made-up-2013112181324">made
up</a> for the riches and glamour. Lets hope they don’t hear about it in Texas
where they are on their way to approving <a href="http://tfninsider.org/2013/11/22/big-news-science-education-advocates-thwart-late-night-hijacking-of-texas-science-textbook-adoption/">textbooks</a>
containing the still disputed theory of evolution. Despite debates around the
theory one of its earliest proponents (<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24839299">Wallace</a>) has
been honoured.<br />
<br />
Those scientists have been researching the inheritance of fear and have found
that mice inherit the fears of their fathers<a href="http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/11/15/mice-inherit-the-fears-of-their-fathers/">
this research</a> has been described as ground breaking and complete rubbish. .<br />
<br />
Research relating to how the brain
operates is given a human feel by Voytek describing the sensation <a href="http://blog.ketyov.com/2013/10/what-does-it-feel-like-to-hold-human.html?m=1">of
holding a brain</a>. Incidentally I saw the Welcome exhibition on the brain and
Manchester science museum and was struck by how beautiful <a href="http://www.katharinedowson.com/gallery/view/10">MRI</a> scans can be
(Katherine Dowson) Whilst <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuroskeptic/2013/11/21/neuroscience-cup-coffee/#more-4572">Neuroskeptic</a>
ponders the neuroscience of everyday life and what (if anything) prevents
neuroscience from explaining all human behaviour more is discovered about <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/nov/22/pieces-of-light-new-science-memory-charles-fernyhough-review">memory</a>
but I forget what and we learn more about how <a href="http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/when-orgasm-triggers-light-show-first.html">synthetics
experience sex</a>. If this inspires you then there may be an app to turn you
into <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=8-apps-that-turn-citizens-into-scientists">a
scientist</a> <br />
<br />
In IT news something clever happened with a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24934786">quantum computer</a>
and a world record but I don’t really understand what…And </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">the Smithsonian has released a new 3D
modeling tool, complete with scans of some of its most famous objects so we now
have </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">the
ability to print <a href="http://io9.com/you-can-now-print-your-own-wooly-mammoth-thanks-smith-1464385721">3D
mammoths</a> (everybody likes mammoths). Whilst we are trying to recreate
ancient life the US government are attempting to protect currently endangered species
by destroying large stocks of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/06/us/in-a-message-to-poachers-us-to-destroy-its-ivory.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1&">ivory</a>.
<br />
<br />
There have been plenty of things to look at this month; Open culture features
the homes and studies <a href="http://www.openculture.com/2013/11/see-the-homes-and-studies-of-wittgenstein-schopenhauer-nietzsche-other-philosophers.html">of
philosophers</a> including Wittgenstein, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. How did I
not know that Nietzsche had a book called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gay_Science">The Gay Science? </a> Shane Gehlert takes us on a tour of the <a href="http://www.kuriositas.com/2013/11/i-need-some-space.html">solar system</a>
and this solar system <a href="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8csa1c8J11qb67mxo1_500.gif">gif</a> is
beautiful too. This time lapse map of <a href="http://memolition.com/2013/10/16/time-lapse-map-of-every-nuclear-explosion-ever-on-earth/">every
nuclear explosion</a> on earth is informative, chilling and beautiful. <br />
<br />
</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Christians are excited at a new way
to hear the gospel (with thanks to </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/2013-10-31/a-new-musical-will-tell-the-tale-of-jesus-christ-using-the-music-of-britney-spears">Britney</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">)
The restyling of the catholic church is causing some concern with the </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/prosecutor-warns-of-a-mafia-threat-against-pope-francis/2013/11/13/52762d56-4ca5-11e3-bf60-c1ca136ae14a_story.html?tid=sm_fb">mafia</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. Changes in legislation are causing
concern for the church with </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-springfield-bishop-to-perform-exorcism-on-day-samesex-marriage-becomes-law-20131114,0,6035686.story">a Springfield bishop</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> performing exorcisms on the day
same sex marriage becomes law. The threat to marriage must seem very real with
the news </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/11/01/atheist_marriages_may_last_longer_than_christian_ones_partner/">that atheist marriages</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> may last longer than those
sanctified in the church. <br />
<br />
<b><i>This
week’s round-up was put together by SitP organiser Jade Quarrell. If you'd like a go at doing it let us know.<br />
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Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-33566464116495681542013-11-21T14:34:00.002+00:002013-11-21T14:34:43.166+00:00Weekly Round-up Week Ending 17/11/2014<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Welcome to the <i>better late than never</i> weekly round-up.<br />
<br />
I want to start off by saying how grateful we are to Dr Tim Grant on his inaugural Skeptics in the Pub talk last week. It was a highly entertaining and illustrative exploration of forensic linguistics. For those of you that want to know more here’s a set of links that you’ll enjoy. First off is a paper Tim wrote on the linguistic analysis of <a href="http://practicum.brooklaw.edu/sites/default/files/print/pdfs/journals/journal-law-and-policy/volume-21/issue-2/jlp_v21ii_0.pdf">SMS messages in the case of the murder of Amanda Birks</a>. Here’s a more recent article <a href="http://theconversation.com/the-linguistic-clues-that-reveal-your-true-twitter-identity-20457">on the linguistic clues that reveal your true twitter identity</a>. This is the <a href="http://www.hackerfactor.com/GenderGuesser.php">Gender Guesser webpage</a> that he demonstrated in his talk. And finally link to the <a href="http://www.forensiclinguistics.net/">Centre for Forensic Linguistics</a>.<br />
<br />
Not one but two tales of university sports based misogyny made the news this week as first Stirling University <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/womens-blog/2013/nov/15/female-students-misogyny-british-universities-sexism-stirling?CMP=twt_fd">Men’s Hockey Team</a> and then <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/11/20/cardiff-university-football-team-banned-rape-powerpoint_n_4308326.html">Cardiff University’s Football team</a> disgraced themselves. There was further dismay when Cellular Solutions revealed their <a href="http://usvsth3m.com/post/66885216944/the-cellular-solutions-staff-page-does-something-seem">unbalanced staffing structure</a>. And whilst we’re talking of balance here’s <a href="http://www.cellularsol.co.uk/news/statement-from-our-managing-director-damian-mottram">a statement from their managing director on the subject.</a><br />
<br />
Let’s move on the little explored territory of paranormal kitchen based phenomena. Firstly the mysterious case of <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2503733/Paranoid-android-Cleaning-gadget-switches-moves-kitchen-hotplate-suicide-bid.html">the suicidal robot cleaner that apparently chose to end it all with a cooker</a> and then the terrifying tale of <a href="http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10800352.Brighton_cafe_becomes_the_latest_victim_of_exploding_tea_towels/">spontaneous towel combustion</a>. Actually, after reading those stories I can see why they’re little explored.<br />
<br />
According to some scientists this is <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/35-billionyearold-horribly-smelly-fossil-found-in-australia-is-oldest-ever-complete-example-of-life-on-earth-8940031.html">the fossil remains of the “oldest ever complete example of life on Earth</a>”. Although according to others it might not be. But hey, that’s <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/11/inquiring-minds-alison-gopnik-baby-einsteins">how scientists think as any baby would know</a>. However, if you’re a scientist and you stumble across the oldest actual living creature, what do you do? <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10447117/Worlds-oldest-creature-was-507...but-scientists-killed-it.html">Kill it of course mwuhahaha</a>!<br />
<br />
Here’s an article <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2503370/Quantum-physics-proves-IS-afterlife-claims-scientist.html">on quantum physics and the afterlife</a> from the Daily Mail that I swear is word for word a conversation I had as a drunken student many years ago.<br />
<br />
Here’s a little something for you cycling fans out there. A great set of films on the <a href="http://www.openculture.com/2013/11/the-art-science-of-bike-design.html">science of bike design</a>.<br />
<br />
Some visuals for you now starting with the photographically documented story of <a href="http://www.viralnova.com/werewolf-syndrome/">a family’s experience of werewolf syndrome</a>. Click here for one of those <a href="https://twitter.com/Gotham3/status/401120129137655810/photo/1">eye bending optical illusion things</a>. And not particularly skeptical but still oh so good, <a href="http://www.demilked.com/dogs-shaking-heads-shake-carli-davidson/">high speed photos of wet dogs shaking their heads</a>.<br />
<br />
Despite our best efforts, Birmingham Skeptics has yet to secure funding from Big Pharma so maybe there’s a chance from <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/experts/2013/11/20/lets-not-forget-alternative-medicine-is-a-huge-industry/">Big Alt Med</a>. Perhaps we could get royal patronage, maybe<a href="http://edzardernst.com/2013/11/a-tribute-to-prince-charles-champion-of-anti-science-on-his-65th-birthday/"> Edzard can put a word in for us</a>.<br />
<br />
If you enjoy random linkage you really need to get <a href="https://www.facebook.com/birminghamskeptics">liking our Facebook page</a>. Roy Beddowes populates it with all manner of links that might be of interest to those of a skeptical and science bent. To give you a taste of what goes on there, and not in any way a shameless space filling exercise, here is a selection of the goodness recently posted therein:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/11/05/repurposed-private-parts-5-animals-use-genitals-creative-purposes/">The unexpected ways that animals use their genitals</a>.<br />
<a href="https://medium.com/p/892b57499e77">Imagining the post-antibiotic future.</a><br />
<a href="http://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/security/4-new-ways-to-smuggle-messages-across-the-internet">Four new ways to smuggle information across the internet.</a><br />
<a href="http://sploid.gizmodo.com/watch-toy-robots-hilariously-poke-fun-of-our-smartphone-1467914738">Toy robots picking fun at our smartphone addiction.</a><br />
<a href="http://www.upworthy.com/if-3-little-girls-did-this-to-my-house-id-do-everything-i-could-to-get-them-full-rides-to-stanford?c=gbfb">Girls and girls’ toys.</a><br />
<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/teacher-told-to-sound-less-northern-after-southern-ofsted-inspection-8947332.html">Don’t be too Northern for Ofsted!</a><br />
<a href="http://io9.com/50-000-generations-of-bacteria-prove-that-evolution-nev-1466803805">50,000 generations of bacteria prove that evolution never stops.</a><br />
<a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/the_kids/2013/11/chickenpox_vaccine_is_it_really_necessary.html">Chickenpox nostalgia.</a><br />
<a href="http://gizmodo.com/nasal-ranger-smelloscope-will-save-denver-from-stinky-1464506344/1464692251/@jesusdiaz">Behold the smelloscope!</a><br />
<a href="http://www.aeonmagazine.com/being-human/my-paranormal-adventure-in-pursuit-of-life-after-death/">The paranormal pursuit of life after death.</a><br />
<br />
We’ve got an extra talk this month, no less than Simon Singh himself taking us through the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/569672649772260/?ref=2&ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming">Maths Secrets of the Simpsons</a>. We expect this to be a popular event and any money collected on the night will be given over to Medicins San Frontieres. You can also sign up for our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/592069257507006/">Christmas themed talk with the wonderful Mike</a> Hall and our December Book Group who will be reading and discussing Sam Harris’ <i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/263030837184470/">The Moral Landscape</a>.</i><br />
<br />
We’ve got events posted up for months to come and <a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/">you can get details for them here</a>. True some of the details are sketchy but that just means that these are new talks, being written and thought through just for us and you will be the first to hear them. We’ll fill in the gaps when we get the info.so keep checking back.<br />
<br />
Although Simon’s talk is on the subject of Maths he’s happy to take questions on anything for the Q and A. perhaps you can ask him about his <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/sep/30/highereducation.uk">career as a pop song lyricist</a><br />
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<i>This week’s round-up was assembled by Patrick Redmond (@paddyrex) with the usual help of the linkmaster, Roy Beddowes.</i></span><o:p></o:p></div>
Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-41583123462703276802013-11-06T00:18:00.000+00:002013-11-06T00:48:39.443+00:00The Round-up Week Ending 03/11/2013<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As promised it’s another miscellany of the good, the bad and the geeky from Birmingham Skeptics. We hope that you escaped the spooky season unscathed and not too terrorised by the mobs of marauding younglings in their quest for sugary satisfaction. Whether you are a fan of Halloween or not the fact that you do or don’t celebrate it could have something to do with <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/10/31/how-british-colonialism-determined-whether-your-country-celebrates-halloween/">those good old British colonials</a>, don’t you know. If you’re fascinated by some of the myths and facts around that holiday here’s a bunch of articles from our fiends (yes, bad pun intentional) at <a href="http://www.livescience.com/topics/halloween/">Live Science</a>.<br />
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Always with an alternative view to events we have comedian, skeptic and neuroscientist, Dean Burnett, with some <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2013/oct/31/halloween-costumes-science">science inspired Halloween costumes</a>. We’ll move away from Halloween but stick with costumes and some fantastic photos of cosplay proponents at home in this <a href="http://www.kpic.at/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=56&Itemid=113">collection by Klaus Pichler</a>. Of course there are times even in this field that nature just provides <a href="http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/01/green-caterpillar-bears-uncanny-resemblance-to-iron-man-4169615/">a natural advantage</a>.<br />
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Dean mentions transhumanism in his article, <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/170112-brave-idiot-transhumanist-pioneer-self-implants-a-computer-into-his-arm">here’s a do-it-yourself example</a> that’s only slightly disturbing.<br />
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You must have heard of <a href="http://www.wddty.com/">What the Doctor’s Don’t Tell You</a>, the online peddlar or dangerous nonsense. When it moved into the medium of print <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/oct/03/health-magazine-sue-simon-singh-twitter">Simon Singh</a> and others called for major high street vendors to boycott it. That battle is still on with Andy Lewis <a href="http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2013/09/call-to-action-tesco-and-wddty.html">suggesting a bit of direct action that you can do to influence its outcome</a>. And joining the battle this week we have the not at all confusingly named but still brilliant <a href="http://wwddtydty.com/">What “What Doctors Don’t Tell You” Don’t Tell You</a>. In the interests of balance (ironic though that seems) <a href="http://www.anh-europe.org/news/how-the-the-times-tried-to-stop-you-from-reading-wddty-mag">here is the view from the other side</a>.<br />
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It’s been ages since we’ve had Chris French to Birmingham, and I’m wondering whether we should ask him again. He’s an extremely entertaining speaker and a lovely bloke too. If you can’t get to hear him speak though, you could do worse than buy <a href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/academics/christopherfrenchexpertcomment.php">this book he’s co-published with Dr Anna Stone on Anomalistic Psychology</a>.<br />
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Since we’re on the topic of skeptical reads I’m going to cunningly and subliminally slip in the first of several events that you need to put into your diary. Birmingham Skeptics has an excellent book group that runs every month. November is a good month to try book club… <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1416028691949504/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming&source=1">We are reading Does God Hate Women by Ophelia Benson and Jeremy Strangroom</a>. This book has been described <i>as ‘at once a joy to read and a call to arms’</i>.It looks at the role of culture and religion in the subjection of women drawing on examples from many countries. At 177 pages it is small enough to read on the bus. Ophelia Benson is a columnist for Free Inquiry and <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2013/03/qed-panel-on-god-belief/">was accused of being a feminazi after her appearance at QED conference where she discussed ‘A question of God?</a>’ Even if you don’t think that you have time to read the book (and you probably do) you can still turn up for the great company and join in the conversation.<br />
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I saw Ophelia on that panel at QED and many of you will be interested and happy to know that <a href="https://qedcon.org/">once more that great skeptical event is due to happen</a>, albeit at a different venue. The Gala dinner has already sold out but you can still get tickets to the event and I would totally recommend doing so. And here's a way to help some that perhaps <a href="http://hayleyisaghost.co.uk/qed-tickets/">should go but cant go, to go</a>.<br />
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Change of course now as we head out to sea for the next few stories. This article presents <a href="http://news.discovery.com/animals/kraken-theory-resurfaces-with-new-evidence-131031.htm">new evidence for the kraken</a>, though to my mind it’s sketchier than the picture used to illustrate it. Ever the fan of people that overthink non-problems <a href="http://deepseanews.com/2013/10/fishful-thinking-five-reasons-why-mermaids-cant-physically-exist/">we have five reasons that mermaids can’t physically exist</a>. Far more frightening is the potential effects of over gorging on the <a href="http://www.thekitchn.com/use-caution-when-eating-escola-66602">apparently delicious but dangerous escolar</a>. Only tenuously linked to the sea but still great fun <a href="http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/10/a-yarn-bombed-tree-squid/">is this yarn bombed tree squid</a>.<br />
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God Vine reckons that <a href="http://www.godvine.com/Woman-Drowning-in-her-SUV-is-Miraculously-Saved-1342.html">the “miraculous” saving of this woman from her oversized sinking car</a> is proof enough of God’s existence and goodness. What’s that, you’re not convinced? What would it take to make you believe? <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1160689/lightning-strikes-clown-twice-on-same-day">Being struck twice by lightning in the same day was enough for this literal clown</a>.<br />
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Jann Bellamy takes us through <a href="http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/full-of-energy/">her experiences of energy medicine</a>. We may as well continue through the looking glass of healing with this bizarre tale of <a href="http://www.wfxg.com/story/23847706/pastors-use-hyperbaric-chambers-as-alternative-medicine">pastor prescribed hyperbaric oxygen treatment</a>.<br />
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If reading stuff like that makes you want to scream you could probably do with assembling one of <a href="http://www.japanalyst.com/want-sing-karaoke-your-room-here-s-personal-sound-proof-cardboard-room-just-you">these nifty doodahs</a> in order not to disturb your neighbours. You could practice your <a href="http://io9.com/an-alphabet-of-alien-sounds-1457049381">alphabet of alien sounds</a> in there.<br />
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Talking of making things, if you are the kind of person that likes to put things together and work on projects, you could do worse than get involved with the people over at <a href="http://www.fizzpop.org.uk/">Fizzpop</a> with their Makerspace/Hackspace. True they tend to hold some of their events on nights that clash with us, but we like them so much that we’ll forgive them that. They’ve got a Make the Space event not yet up on the website that will be happening this Saturday the 9<sup>th</sup>, a good time to go and meet them; otherwise every Wednesday is an open day.<br />
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As somebody that tends to cough and splutter through the high pollen season I can at least take solace in the thought that there might be <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/science-sushi/2013/10/24/allergies-evolve-save-life/#.UnZ3bPnwmSr">an evolutionary role</a> to allergies.<br />
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Here’s a few experiments from the days when <a href="http://www.madsciencemuseum.com/">scientists were unencumbered by ethics committees and sanity</a>.<br />
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Peru have reopened the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/27/peru-ufo-investigations-office-reopening">The Department of Investigation of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena</a>. Well if you have an office with a cool name like that why wouldn’t you?<br />
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An interesting article here examining the evidence base, or lack of it, for <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/23/4947304/trauma-counseling-psychological-first-aid-new-study">psychological first aid</a>.<br />
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For all you fans of palaeontology, <a href="http://planetsave.com/2013/07/25/hadrosaur-tail-discovered-in-mexico-first-intact-hadrosaur-tail-yet-discovered/">the remarkable Hadrosaur tail that’s been unearthed in Mexico</a>.<br />
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You can always tell when I’m getting to the end of my links as they get more disjointed and singular. Many of these were provided by Roy Beddowes who does an excellent job of populating our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/birminghamskeptics">Facebook page</a> with all manner of goodness. Like it now and join in the fun.<br />
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Before we get to the obligatory but ever so essential plugs of our upcoming events I’m going to cram in a <a href="http://what-if.xkcd.com/68/">What if</a>, just because I’m a big fan and I’m the one writing this<br />
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Now get those diaries out and don’t you dare skip past this bit. Our next speaker is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/682294065114408/">Dr Tim Grant on the fascinating subject of forensic linguistics</a>. Make sure you’re along for that one, it’s a SitP premiere and should be really good. If you’re on Facebook let us know you’re coming on the event page. Only two weeks later we’ve got <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/569672649772260/">Simon Singh</a> and to take us into Christmas the irrepressible <a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/Event.aspx/1641/The-Nativity">Mike Hall</a>.<br />
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Now shh and don’t tell anybody about the next bits but I’m going to give you a sneak preview into next year and it’s not even up on the website. All I’ll say so far is <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/10079244/The-911-conspiracy-theorist-who-changed-his-mind.html">Charlie Veitch</a>, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/sep/15/ben-gunn-murder-love-life-after-prison">Benn Gunn</a>, vegans and veggies, and vampires.<br />
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I’ll leave you with a taster of Simon’s upcoming talk. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This week’s round-up was put together by Patrick Redmond with helpful links from Roy Beddowes.</i></span></div>
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Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-91297330656553752782013-10-27T23:00:00.002+00:002013-10-27T23:01:50.625+00:00The Round-up: Week Ending October 27th<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s been a long time, too
long to be honest, but here is the return of the Weekly Round-up. The man who’s
kicked it back into existence is SitP attendee Steve Ebrey. There’s a few of us
who will keep it going along with Steve and if you fancy taking a turn then let
us know; always happy to have more contributions and more hands to the wheel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you’ve finished
reading the round-up don’t forget to make a note of our next event as Dr Tim
Grant brings us the world of <i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/682294065114408/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming">Forensic
Linguistics</a></i>. Now I’ll hand you over to Steve’s Round-up:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Possible made up disease of
the week is <u><a href="http://www.richarddawkins.net/news_articles/2013/10/23/-wind-turbine-syndrome-blamed-for-mysterious-symptoms-in-cape-cod-town">Wind
Turbine Syndrome .</a></u> The description of the symptoms, suffered by a few
people living near wind farms, are suitably vague; “<span style="color: #333333;">headaches,
ringing in the ears, insomnia and dizziness”. Also, I can continue <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24621394">to shun healthy smoothies</a>
in favour of caffeine as coffee is back good for us again this week. Oreos on
the other hand are to be avoided as they have now been scientifically proven to
be as <a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/beta2/news/oreos-addictive-as-cocaine/">addictive
as cocaine</a>. Or maybe not, the<a href="http://www.velvetgloveironfist.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/junk-science-of-week-possibly-of-year.html">
Oreos story turned out to be bad science</a>, or more accurately bad logic.</span></span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Talking of junk science,
have you checked your <a href="https://rationalmale.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/smv_curve1.jpg">Sexual
Market Value (SMV)</a> score lately, which judges how valuable you are based on
your sexual attractiveness? This anti-feminist, anti-science output from the <a href="http://manboobz.com/wtf-is-a-mgtow-a-glossary/">manosphere</a> is nicely <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/10/24/13609/">taken down by
PZ Myers here</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Moving on to good science,
specifically astronomy, the number of exoplanets discovered to date <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24549384"> passed 1,000</a> this week. The record for how
many planets we have found orbiting a single star appears to have also been broken
this week <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24642603">with
a seventh planet</a> identified around the catchily named <span style="background: white; color: #333333;">KIC 11442793, </span>a white dwarf
2,500 light-years away from earth. Most of the 1,000 exoplants discovered so
far are Jupiter like gas giants but only 12 of them are believed to be in the
goldilocks zone, a term coined to describe the not-too-hot and not-too-cold planetary
orbits thought necessary to sustain the conditions for life. So from this can
we estimate how many earth like planets might be out there? According to <a href="http://exoplanets.newscientistapps.com/">New Scientist”s interactive
galaxy map</a>, the numbers extrapolate to an estimated 15-30 Billion earth
like worlds in our galaxy alone, so it’s hard to imagine that life wouldn’t
have developed on some of these. Beyond our Milky Way, the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24637890"> most distant galaxy</a> to date was also reported
this week, identified by the Hubble Space Telescope at a whopping 30 Billion
light years from earth.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Crypto news! A <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24564487">polar bear/brown bear
hybrid</a> unknown to science has been put forward as the latest identity for
the Yeti. Meanwhile, an <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/oct/22/wallaby-london-highgate-cemetery-video">out
of place Wallaby</a> was videoed at London’s High Gate Cemetery and, even more
excitedly, a <a href="http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2013/10/16/21200001.html">Dragon was
snapped</a> flying overhead in Truro. Wired Magazine’s absurd creature of the
week is the human flesh eating <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/10/absurd-creature-of-the-week-botfly/">Botfly</a>
(the squeamish should skip the video!). A couple of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24619600">Sea Serpents</a> (OK,
Oarfish) have for some reason been beaching themselves on the Californian coast.
Also, could it be that <a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/10/18/236997513/serpent-experts-try-to-demystify-pentecostal-snake-handling?utm_content=socialflow&utm_campaign=nprfacebook&utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook">Pentecostal
snake handlers</a> are not bitten because of their special God granted
protection? Surely their immunity is nothing to do with the fact they keep their
snakes hungry and sick and too weak to resist!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two candidates for this
week’s mindless behaviour file include an <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONBJtnu-Rtk">unprovoked attack on a
Predator street performer</a> in Brum and a couple of <a href="http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/18/21023331-utah-scout-leaders-who-toppled-ancient-rock-we-did-something-right-the-wrong-way?lite">Boy
Scout Leaders causing damage</a> at Utah’s Goblin Valley State Park. Meanwhile
a man dressed as a <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/watch-hilarious-moment-man-dressed-2479651">crap
ghost</a> also tried to rob an off-licence. Finally this week, Happy Monday’s
Shaun Ryder, who recently turned investigative UFOlogist, releases his new book
on <a href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/happy-mondays-star-shaun-ryder-6235993">mysterious
lights in Salford</a>, just in time for Xmas!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Steve Ebrey attends Birmingham
Skeptics in the Pub. Cheers Steve!</b></i></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-45571179134222331732013-06-23T18:04:00.001+01:002013-06-23T18:04:40.396+01:00The Round-up Weeks 24-25<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Hello and welcome to the Birmingham Skeptics Round-up. First of all I’d like to ask if anybody out there has a connection with a person with a name beginning with S? I’m getting a woman with glasses and a large bank balance, something like Scally.... or Silly? Anyway, the overwhelming feeling that I’m getting is that she is </span><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/article-2345456/Psychic-Sally-awarded-payout-cheat-claim.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">very pleased with herself</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">, although there are many around her that are </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jun/21/sally-morgan-tv-psychic-libel-payout"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">feeling confused</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> even </span><a href="http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/sally-morgan-libel-suit/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">some that are far away</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">.<br />
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If you have ever felt cheated by the services of a psychic this is perhaps </span><a href="http://www.anorak.co.uk/358043/strange-but-true/football-boss-breaks-into-mystics-house-over-love-spell.html/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">not the way to try and get recompense</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> .<br />
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It seems totally unjust that as I sit here typing this on a dull and damp Sunday that my eyes should be itching and my nose streaming due to that supposedly summery malady of hay fever. </span><a href="http://www.scilogs.com/in_scientio_veritas/gullibility-pseudoscience-headlines/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">Perhaps acupuncture can provide a solution</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">!<br />
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Let’s have a little section on some evolutionary wonderment. First up for you paleontological twitchers some illustrations from </span><a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/06/dino-bird-field-guide/?pid=7126&viewall=true"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">a field guide to winged dinosaurs</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">. Hopping along next are </span><a href="http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/06/12/poison-camouflage-and-the-rainbow-of-evolution/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">some exquisitely colourful amphibians</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">.<br />
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Still on natural history and the evolution of feathered things Kate Yandal takes on an interesting question in the (perhaps unfortunately titled article if you come from the UK and never left the 70s) “</span><a href="http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/35898/title/Why-Many-Birds-Don-t-Have-Penises/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">Why Many Birds Don’t Have Penises</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">”<br />
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From real life evolutionary processes to the beautiful and hypnotic world of the artificial with </span><a href="http://www.mrkism.com/adiatomea.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">aDiatomea</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">.<br />
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An interesting piece from Dave Logan on the need for </span><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-57443315/why-geniuses-dont-have-jobs/%20http:/lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/15401"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">inclusivity of those oft misunderstood geniuses in the workplace</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">.<br />
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You know that unpleasant but essentially self-limiting illness </span><a href="http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Norovirus/Pages/Introduction.aspx"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">norovirus</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">? Well here is a free sample of a preventative and cure from those lovely people over at </span><a href="http://www.healingdownloads.com/norovirus.php"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">Healing Downloads.</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> <br />
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Pointing and laughing at plainly ridiculous beliefs is easy, but not always appropriate. How do you react to somebody who adopts </span><a href="http://www.sickchirpse.com/navenna-shine/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">a ridiculous suicidal diet</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> in the belief that it will help them live longer and better?<br />
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This seems like the logical place to put a list of i</span><a href="http://listverse.com/2013/06/12/10-bizarre-things-people-believe-in/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">llogical things that people believe in</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">. <br />
Of all the pictures it was no.3 that evoked the biggest response from me, p</span><a href="http://bigthink.com/insights-of-genius/a-nauseating-corner-of-psychology-disgust"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">robably due to some evolutionary psychology factor or other</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">. And we’ll smoothly segway here into a promotion for our next excellent talk from evolutionary psychologist Kat Ford on </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/386839394754625/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">just how good we really are or aren’t at discerning character from faces</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">.<br />
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Mind you, perhaps that old debate on the significance of </span><a href="http://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/13-grandmas-experiences-leave-epigenetic-mark-on-your-genes#.UccID_k3uSr"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">nature vs nurture is not so dichotomous after</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> all. <br />
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First of a recurring lego theme here as word gets out that they are launching their own </span><a href="http://lego.gizmodo.com/lego-will-make-a-mars-curiosity-rover-set-513633690"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">Mars Rover</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">. Not to be outdone by the Lego Boffins, Europe is well underway for their </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23010103"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">next planned Rover to the red planet</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">. It may well have to be that we satisfy ourselves with mechanical exploration unless they can find a good solution to the </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22718672"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">radiation problem.</span></a><br />
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You might have noticed in the article about the Lego Rover a link to </span><a href="http://lego.cuusoo.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">Lego Cuusoo</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> where fans can submit models for consideration. One cool person is using this to try and get Lego to redress its gender bias and </span><a href="http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/15401"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">promote women in STEM and other fields</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">.<br />
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Head for the hills, as </span><a href="http://carlmaxim.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/new-age-terrorists-develop-homeopathic-bomb/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">New Age terrorist unleash their ultimate weapon</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">!<br />
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</span><a href="http://humanism.org.uk/2013/06/18/humanists-welcome-girlguiding-inclusion-of-non-religious/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">Girl Guides no longer have to declare allegiance to God.</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> In the interest of balance I should point out </span><a href="http://woodcraft.org.uk/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">that other non-religious organisations for the occupation of your children exist</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">. We should however remember that religious persecution is a real problem and consider the </span><a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/06/22/illinois-pastafarian-wants-to-wear-a-colander-on-his-head-for-his-drivers-license-picture-but-gets-rejected/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">human rights of such groups as the Pastafarians.</span></a></div>
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How to destroy your opponents using </span><a href="http://io9.com/how-to-dominate-at-monopoly-using-basic-math-533134425"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">math when playing monopoly</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">. A fascinating story of </span><a href="http://youarenotsosmart.com/2013/05/23/survivorship-bias/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">maths warriors and an interesting discussion on recognising success</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> from David McRaney. If maths is a subject that floats your boat then put down the 27<sup>th</sup> of November in your diary. We have Simon Singh coming to Birmingham Skeptics to reveal </span><a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/Event.aspx/1646/The-Simpsons-and-Their-Mathematical-Secrets"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets.</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> I don’t need to be psychic to know that this will be a popular and brilliant talk.<br />
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The final Lego connected story here as we look at the </span><a href="http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-06/are-lego-figures-getting-angrier?src=SOC&dom=fb"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">effects of angry Lego figures on our children.</span></a></div>
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</span><a href="http://debunkingdenialism.com/2013/06/11/mainstream-climate-science-defeats-global-crank-mike-adams/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">Emil Karlsson takes on Mike Adams’ climate change denialism</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">.<br />
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The longest day has come and gone and we’re in that countdown to winter so old friend Dean Burnett takes us through the </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/brain-flapping/2013/jun/21/happiest-day-of-the-year-scientific-analysis"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">supposedly happiest day of the year</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">.<br />
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The anti-vaccination community of Australia </span><a href="http://www.northernstar.com.au/news/media-authority-blow-for-avn/1903650/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">thankfully continue to struggle</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> in what has been a very bad couple of years for them.<br />
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A review here of a book on the </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/books/review/mortal-sins-by-michael-dantonio.html?ref=review&_r=0"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">child abuse scandal within the Catholic Church.</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> If you like books, discussions and interesting company then make sure you come along to this month’s </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/273633369443600/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">Book Group to discuss Guns, Germs and Steel.</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> The month after that will be Ben Goldacre’s Bad Pharma.. And if you can’t wait that long to meet up with some lovely sceptical type people then we have our </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/121105144765378/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">social this week at the Square Peg</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">, hope to see you there.<br />
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</span><a href="http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/Schwarcz+cars+subject+dope+testing/8521787/story.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">Dope testing in Formula 1,</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> but for cars and not people.<br />
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The </span><a href="http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2013/06/07/the-francis-crick-institute-three-steps-closer-to-reality/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cancerresearchuk%2FSHhE+%28Cancer+Research+UK+-+Science+Update%29&utm_content=Google+UK"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">Francis Crick Institute takes a step closer to reality</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> and contributing to the fight against devastating diseases. Actor Brian Cox also promotes the potential benefits of genome sequencing in the </span><a href="http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/education/genome-research-reveals-brian-cox-s-real-life-story-1.103774?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeedhttp://lego.gizmodo.com/lego-will-make-a-mars-curiosity-rover-set-513633690http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/06/dino-bird-field-guide/?pid=7132"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">understanding of the human condition</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">.<br />
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If you ever need a dose of true Bible based insanity then look no further than </span><a href="http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">Prophecy News Watch</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">.<br />
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Most of these links have been provided by the excellent Roy Beddowes. If you get a bit impatient waiting for these round-ups you should </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/birminghamskeptics"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">like our Facebook page</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> where he keeps it populated with a regularly updated stream of the rational and not so rational wonders of the internet.<br />
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Here’s a short run through of some of his latest posts for us:<br />
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</span><a href="http://freshphotons.tumblr.com/image/53298966139"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">Carl Sagan’s universal order of creation, illustrated.</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">, </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22981920"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">Astronaut gives lecture from space</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">. </span><a href="http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-priests-dating-forum-uncovered-vatican180613"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">Gay priests forum uncovered in the Vatican</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">. </span><a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/overthinking-it/2013/06/17/the-transit-of-the-iss-enterprise/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">Transit of the ISS across the Moon.</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2013/06/inside-alpha-atheists-foray-christianity"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">Inside Alpha, an atheist’s foray into Christianity.</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><a href="http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2013/06/22/daily-mail-admits-secretly-fracking-for-vitriol-after-reserves-run-dry/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">And finally the Daily Mail admits fracking for vitriol</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">.<br />
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If you fancy having a go at doing one of these round-ups for us then let us know via any of the usual methods and we’d be more than happy for you to do so. We’d even send you over a list of links that you could use or ignore.<br />
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Remember to come along to our events and to look further into the future keep checking </span><a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">on this webpage.</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> Please note </span><a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/Event.aspx/1570/Open-Mic-Night"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">our upcoming open mic night</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">. We’ve had a couple of applications but we’re looking for more so don’t be shy.<br />
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Finally we’ll leave you with this sceptical warning for the guilty parent:</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This round-up was put together by Patrick Redmond with the welcome assistance of Roy Beddowes.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-9929364945719005072013-06-13T21:23:00.001+01:002013-06-17T08:25:25.936+01:00The Round – up Wks. 22 to 23.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV9KT4P_EndG5IXQn1CoDBWwcV8OQmpSnA02SK0YHQsuQQrOnyPeczMVohAgR0ZB579_VvvYCRo-Kfm7gEjEAPR9WNVBqB1bmyR5OvK4mrrDn1372R2XiJbrinVCInHyEk0VjhD6qzgWTP/s1600/harry.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV9KT4P_EndG5IXQn1CoDBWwcV8OQmpSnA02SK0YHQsuQQrOnyPeczMVohAgR0ZB579_VvvYCRo-Kfm7gEjEAPR9WNVBqB1bmyR5OvK4mrrDn1372R2XiJbrinVCInHyEk0VjhD6qzgWTP/s200/harry.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Hello and welcome to another Round-up.<br />
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Creationism is the hot topic this week at Sitp so, <span class="MsoIntenseEmphasis"><span style="color: windowtext;">fresh from his stint on the BBC’s best advert for atheism, The Big Questions,</span></span> we had Jonny Scaramanga visiting us on Wednesday night to tell us about his fundamentalist experiences, old beliefs, and the goings on “<a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/Event.aspx/1581/Inside-Britains-Creationist-Schools">Inside Britain’s Creationist Schools</a>”.<span class="MsoIntenseEmphasis"><span style="color: windowtext;"> This was a fantastic talk and if you were unlucky enough to miss it Jonny has a channel up on </span></span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/jonnyscaramanga">YouTube</a><span class="MsoIntenseEmphasis"><span style="color: windowtext;"> with some of his back story and you can <a href="http://skepticaldvds.blogspot.co.uk/">check here</a> to get hold of the DVD when it’s all edited and nice.<br />
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</span></span>Psychic Sally’s <a href="http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/trial-date-set-tv-pyschic-sally-morgans-libel-case-against-daily-mail">libel case against The Daily Mail</a> started on Monday 10th June and is slated to last at least three weeks. Talk about conflicted! Well, I (don’t) like The Daily Mail and I (don’t) like Sally Morgan, but which is better? Only one way to find out… With bonus <a href="http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/science-technology/sally-morgan-to-be-represented-by-disembodied-voice-of-abraham-lincoln-201201264821">Daily Mash repost</a> and an extract from Richard Bacon’s <a href="http://www.windmill-books.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Extract-3-Series-of-Unrelated-Events.pdf">A Series of Unrelated Events</a> to boot.<br />
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Zack Kopplin at The Guardian reports that <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/20/creationism-textbooks-louisiana-schools">Louisiana's legislators are continuing their legislative jihad to keep the theory of evolution out of the state's public school science classrooms.</a> <br />
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<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/06/gop-candidate-yoga-opens-you-to-satanic-possession/276570/">Yoga opens you to Satanic possession</a> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">says GOP candidate,</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPZJJBN2hL8"> luckily there's a high energy workout that doesn’t compromise your spiritual
beliefs</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">More gems from the confused E.W. Jackson <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/05/republican-candidate-evolution-false-because-chimps-cant-talk/">here</a>.</span><br />
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What a week! Fitting a kitchen and dealing with nuisance neighbours has led to interactions with a plumber wearing a <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/news/2009/10October/Pages/Copper-bracelets-and-arthritis.aspx">copper bracelet</a> and a <a href="http://www.learnhistory.org.uk/cpp/met.htm">Peeler</a> sporting a blue holographic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Balance">Power Balance band</a>. Plenty of rib digs from Mrs B to ‘be nice’– oof!<br />
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By marketing products as “free from” GM, aspartame, MSG and parabens, supermarkets are <a href="http://m.guardiannews.com/science/blog/2013/may/09/supermarkets-unfounded-fears-food-health">playing on people's fears</a> based on rumours about these substances. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Similarly, Professor Joe Schwarz explains that the important point to understand is</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"> <a href="http://blogs.nature.com/soapboxscience/2013/05/29/the-presence-of-a-chemical-is-not-the-same-as-presence-of-risk">that the presence of a chemical is not the same as presence of risk.</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.thejournal.ie/rainfall-ireland-noahs-flood-895386-May2013/">Global flood in 2345BC – whole of Ireland evacuated!</a> Let’s read that again… <br />
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When the abuse of insulin injections, syrups that cause vomiting and fasting pacts amongst friends fail in keeping your weight down, how about resorting to a painful <a href="http://world.time.com/2013/06/04/the-miracle-tongue-patch-beauty-conscious-venezuelas-new-extreme-diet/#ixzz2VRAEkErM">hernia repair patch stitched to your tongue?</a> Hmm…perhaps someone should mention this treatment to <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/jun/02/michael-douglas-oral-sex-cancer">Michael Douglas</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext;"> who invokes a very strange law of similars as a cure for his cancer.</span></span> Anybody care to suggest a (preferably clean) name for Michael’s new ‘opathy’?<br />
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Research by Oxford University Psychologists suggests that a <a href="http://machineslikeus.com/news/belief-science-increases-stressful-situations?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MachinesLikeUs+%28Machines+Like+Us+-+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=Google+UK">'belief in science'</a> may help non-religious people deal with adversity by offering comfort and reassurance.<br />
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<a href="http://dianedimond.net/a-spooky-house-the-law-and-you/#more-6489">Ghosts,</a> <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/05/30/richmond_hill_bans_number_four_in_new_addresses_because_of_superstitious_connotations.html">Triskaidekaphobics and tetraphobics</a> stigmatize properties.<br />
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To boldy go: <a href="http://www.opposingviews.com/i/religion/christianity/star-trek-darkness-promotes-bestiality-says-pastor-kevin-swanson-audio">Star Trek Darkness promotes bestiality</a> claims another pastor who fails to understand evolution, biology, species, etc.<br />
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Penned by Paul Burns for Freethinker Magazine and almost as long: <a href="http://freethinker.co.uk/2012/12/22/if-cats-wrote-the-bible/">If cats wrote the Bible.</a><br />
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<a href="http://o.canada.com/2013/06/06/spain-builds-submarine-70-tons-too-heavy/">Misplaced decimal point could sink submarine</a>. A mere 70 tons too heavy!<br />
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Senior<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Salvation Army<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>officials go on record that LGBT parents should be<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.truthwinsout.org/blog/2012/06/26448/">put to death</a>, as the Bible instructs.<br />
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Not sure if this is really Round-up material – just found it a bit odd: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Windsor_(goat)">William Windsor (goat)</a>.<br />
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America's Best Christian takes time to explain to less informed Christians the curious details of the Lord's concept of marriage: Betty Bowers <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFkeKKszXTw">Explains Traditional Marriage to Everyone Else</a>. <br />
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Consumers don’t know that taking megavitamins <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/opinion/sunday/dont-take-your-vitamins.html?_r=2&">could increase their risk of cancer and heart disease and shorten their lives</a> reports Paul A. Offit at The New York Times.<br />
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<a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuroskeptic/2013/06/02/when-trick-questions-become-false-memories/#.UazYkkCxd4l">Simply asking people whether they experienced an event can trick them into later believing that it did occur:</a> Studying the misinformation effect on Dutch soldiers deployed in Afghanistan.<br />
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During a speech on the senate floor, a Democratic lawmaker cited an interesting source to urge his colleagues to get serious about climate change; <a href="http://www.alternet.org/belief/does-god-hate-climate-change">The Bible</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://spiky.anarchic-teapot.net/2013/06/does-homeopathy-rot-your-brain-hmc21-tilts-at-the-asa/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FtyLrp+%28Short+%26+Spiky+blog%29&utm_content=Google+UK">Swears abound at Short & Spiky as a question is posed. Does Homeopathy rot your brain?</a><br />
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Half the size of a paperclip, weighing less than a tenth of a gram, inspired by the biology of a fly, with submillimeter-scale anatomy and two wafer-thin wings that flap almost invisibly at 120 times per second:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2013/05/robotic-insects-make-first-controlled-flight">Flight of the Robobee</a>.<br />
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Nothing to see here, just a regular day at the office<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NZAuIxs74SQ">: Pope performs exorcism</a>.<br />
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Following the evidence: <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/crossexamined/2013/06/magician-uri-geller-teaches-much-about-bible-miracles/">Magician Uri Geller teaches much about Bible miracles</a>.<br />
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Can’t say we’re surprised by this statement from the next article ‘Every day in a small museum in Kentucky, a few hundred adults and children stare at a diorama of Adam sitting next to a placid dinosaur’; no doubt slack-jawed too as we would be. Slightly late for Darwin Day nonetheless an interesting read - <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/02/ken_ham_s_books_and_museums_creationist_empire_starts_to_crumble_as_we_celebrate.single.html">Big trouble in Creationist paradise.</a><br />
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Further updates from the Creation museum comprise of an exhibit to include <a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2010/12/kentucky-creationist-museum-will-feature-dragons-unicorns/18126/">unicorns and dinosaurs</a> and, in a push to diversify, adding secular fare such <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/05/creation-museum-zip-lines_n_3391857.html?utm_hp_ref=arts">as zip lines and sky bridges</a>. Sounds like a good way to celebrate your kinship with the primates – go ape.<br />
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Emil Karllson takes on Intellihub, an online “alternative” news site<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>that claims to provide “independent news for independent minds”,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>in this excellent point by point takedown of a recent ant-vaccine post: <a href="http://debunkingdenialism.com/2013/06/10/irrefutable-evidence-shows-that-anti-vaccine-activists-still-have-no-clue/">Irrefutable Evidence Shows That Anti-Vaccine Activists Still Have No Clu</a>e.<br />
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Bringing things to a close, there’s just space to point you towards our <a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/">future events</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/146360225552138/">book club pages</a>, and keep an eye on our FB and Twitter updates; we may have a surprise speaker in store later in the year. <br />
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<span class="MsoIntenseEmphasis"><span style="color: windowtext;">“If there is one thing about science that everyone should understand, or that would at least clear up much misunderstanding, then it is the concept that science offers only provisional knowledge about the world, and not anything absolute”. Not so good if you like your dinosaurs just the way they are: </span></span><a href="http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2013/02/02/a-tiny-feathered-dino/">(For Ken)</a>…..<span class="MsoIntenseEmphasis"><span style="color: windowtext;"> </span></span>F U science! (NSFW due to >20 swears)</span></span><br />
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This week’s Round-up was compiled by SitP regular Roy Beddowes.</span>
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<!--[endif]--></span>Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-31802444481239040422013-05-24T22:45:00.002+01:002013-05-24T22:51:27.503+01:00The Round-up Week 19-20<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsiAbabqM4ZKzYw0DNsDMXme8XZyBS1rZPesSpMVW7uG2HIZfbrXO7BBdhmOZpDPSii2ylCvK6rsR2v-Gr7nMMY7cUT3dTDNl5r0EXRgQR9zEVzyeYXPvy_YxKt3EJH8s_AUJPRd0-i0Q2/s1600/NoahEarthAsBowlingBall_sRGB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="A picture of bowling ball earth." border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsiAbabqM4ZKzYw0DNsDMXme8XZyBS1rZPesSpMVW7uG2HIZfbrXO7BBdhmOZpDPSii2ylCvK6rsR2v-Gr7nMMY7cUT3dTDNl5r0EXRgQR9zEVzyeYXPvy_YxKt3EJH8s_AUJPRd0-i0Q2/s200/NoahEarthAsBowlingBall_sRGB.jpg" title="" width="196" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Welcome one and all to the weekly round-up of bits and bobs that have fallen off the web and into sceptical clutches. If you missed our latest talk by Julia Hyland then shame on you, it was a very different experience to the usual SitP as <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.516626111734111.1073741834.165238370206222&type=3">these ace photos</a> by resident photographer <a href="http://simonbrettellphotography.co.uk/">Simon Brettell</a> show. But then again, every month brings you something different at Birmingham Skeptics <a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/">as a glance down this web page will illustrate</a>.<br />
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Let’s start with a great link that will stay current for a long time, </span><a href="http://hereistoday.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">here’s where you are today and for many todays to come</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">. <br />
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</span><a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/fire-in-the-mind/?p=456&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DiscoverMag+%28Discover+Magazine%29#.UZ6aKrU3u8A"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Angelina Jolie made the news lately with her brave and informed decision</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">. Our old friend Dean Burnett </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/brain-flapping/2013/may/15/angelina-jolie-breasts-public-ownership-body-parts"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">takes some of the more ridiculous commentators on this to task</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">.<br />
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From star of the nerd community to dependent on the herd community </span><a href="http://www.wired.com/geekmom/2012/05/mayim-bialik-disappoints/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mayim Bialik disappoints this blogger</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">. Just in case you need a reminder of </span><a href="http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/theperch/index.php/heraldsun/comments/anti_vaxxer_clap_trap_is_inexcusable/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">why anti-vaccination is a bad thing</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">.<br />
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Have you been loving the antics of the tweeting, singing space oddity that is <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/10054981/Astronaut-Chris-Hadfield-returns-to-Earth.html">Astro Chris Hadfield?</a> Well it seems not everybody has, <a href="http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=192489">and this blogger has a bit of an axe to grind</a>.<br />
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I love gadgets and gizmos and shiny flashing things in general, but it’s as good to cast a sceptical eye over the claims of some of these as it is the offerings of your local apothecary. Here are a couple of good examples with <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5934137/stop-wasting-money-on-sonic-bug-repellants-they-dont-work">insect repellents</a> and <a href="http://consumerist.com/2008/03/03/do-coat-hangers-sound-as-good-monster-cables/">audio cables</a> don’t throw away those coat hangers!<br />
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Another must buy has to be <a href="http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/blogs/facepalm-of-the-week-non-gmo-salt">non-GM salt</a>.<br />
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Witches are <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/africa/2013/05/13/broomstick-flying-witches-to-be-brought-down-in-swaziland">brought down towards earth in Swaziland</a> and a look at the kind of <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2013/05/11/years-oaths-curses-and-obscenity/GPsKCHDogxaGi8rfE59baP/story.html">curses we all use</a>.<br />
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Next up is a thoughtful piece by Mike Hanlon on the <a href="http://www.aeonmagazine.com/world-views/michael-hanlon-unreason-belief/">persistence of unreason and the continued survival of quackery in a scientific age</a>. Mind you, it’s perhaps not slo surprising that quackery thrives and survives when respected corporations such as the BBC gives tacit approval to some of its <a href="http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2013/05/bbc-devon-promotes-dangerously-deluded-hiv-homeopaths-in-africa.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bbc-devon-promotes-dangerously-deluded-hiv-homeopaths-in-africa">more dangerous and harmful outlets</a>.<br />
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It’s frustrating when the BBC get things so wrong as they can be so good. I’m always entertained by their constantly updating science stories on such wonderful topics as our <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22622689">fantastic fungal feet</a> and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22611143">evolving and elusive cockroaches</a>. Not from the BBC but in a similar vein is this tiny but <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/tiny-spiders-found-in-china/">beautiful new species of spider discovered in China</a>.<br />
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Remember Harold Camping and his <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/harold-camping-admits-hes-wrong_n_1335232.html">message that the end was nigh?</a> Well it seems this time <a href="http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2013/05/12/news/b7dba93f-da61-4482-ba66-e93af687bdda.txt?viewmode=default">that it just might be</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://humanism.org.uk/2013/05/22/government-approves-25-new-religious-free-schools/">The government approves 25 new religious schools.</a> And if bringing religion into matters of education wasn’t bad enough how about its <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/christianrun-nhs-surgery-criticised-for-refusing-to-prescribe-morningafter-pill-8604481.html">influencing the administration of healthcare?</a><br />
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Here are <a href="http://www.alternet.org/belief/9-questions-atheists-might-find-insulting-and-answers">some questions that Greta Christina thinks might offend atheists</a>. Here’s an atheist that wasn’t offended but <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/05/21/asked-by-wolf-blitzer-if-she-thanked-god-for-surviving-the-tornado-oklahoma-woman-responds-im-actually-an-atheist/">gave a great answer to a pretty dumb question</a>.<br />
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Read <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/kumare-fake-guru-exposes-real-desperate-desire/story?id=16980674#.UZDvXLX05ug">this story of film maker Vikram Gandhi</a> and his experiences a fake yet successful Yogi, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3BJ23H5yBQ%20kumara">then listen to him tell the story in his Tedx talk</a>.<br />
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The discovery of some smashed up skulls makes this writer wonder if <a href="http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/stone-age-people-may-have-battled-against-a-zombie-apocalypse">Stone Age people were worried about zombies</a>. Seems like a lot of speculation to me but to be sure they should send Tony Robinson and the boys in to dig a few trenches and drink some real ale, that’d provide a definitive answer. Here’s a better use for a load of bones, <a href="http://twistedsifter.com/2012/08/sedlec-ossuary-bone-church-czech-republic/">a beautiful and macabre ossuary in Czechoslovakia</a>. <br />
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<a href="https://plus.google.com/+YonatanZunger/posts/EfmdR6VWvRM">Just why are barns red?</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-tesla-museum-campaign-purchase-lab-20130509,0,4996501.story">The current news</a> is that Matthew Inman of <a href="http://theoatmeal.com/blog/tesla_museum_saved">The Oatmeal</a> has brought the Tesla museum a good step further into existence. (Did you see what I did there, hey, hey… I’ll get my coat)<br />
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Apparently forcing your employers to do Scientology <a href="http://boingboing.net/2013/05/10/forcing-your-employees-to-do-d.html">exercise will not lead to a harmonious workplace</a>. Who would’ve thought? If you want more information about the Scientology organisation just wait a bit and <a href="http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/scientology-hq-corrupt-sinister-dangerous-3865668">they’ll have a shiny new centre in the heart of our very own city</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.improbable.com/2013/05/08/more-flying-saucer-patents-russian-federation-style/">Russian style flying saucer patents.</a><br />
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Daniel Loxton says <a href="http://www.skepticblog.org/2013/05/14/skeptics-are-not-everythingologists/">that Skeptics are not Everythingologists</a>. But then how would he know?<br />
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Do you shop at Abercrombie and Fitch? I don’t think I fit their target demographic <a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865579870/Abercrombie--Fitch-only-sells-to-cool-good-looking-people.html">if this is anything to go by</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://what-if.xkcd.com/46/">What if a bowling ball was blown up to the size of the Earth?</a><br />
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For an ongoing miscellany of stories such as these make sure you follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/Brum_Skeptics">Twitter</a> and “Like” our lively <a href="https://www.facebook.com/birminghamskeptics">Facebook feed</a>. Our next talk is on Wednesday 12<sup>th</sup> of June with <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/197807933676613/">Jonny Scaramanga, “Inside Britain’s Creationist Schools</a>”. One last date for your diary, Rogue Reporter and friend of Birmingham SitP is <a href="http://www.theelectric.co.uk/programme.php?film=634">back in Brum for one night only</a>. I'll be there and can't wait to see how his talk has developed since from his<a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/Event.aspx/566/The-Street-of-Shame"> first visit here all that time ago</a>, it was brilliant then.<br />
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That about wraps it up, just time to leave you with the aforementioned Chris Hadfield to play us out:<br />
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<i>This round-up was eventually put together by Patrick Redmond with much help from the ever reliable and much appreciated Roy Beddowes<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-71248763468113035472013-05-10T23:14:00.000+01:002013-05-11T12:48:14.011+01:00Round-Up Shorts – Wk17 to 18.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hello and welcome to the latest bare-bones Round-Up.<br />
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Let’s kick this week’s edition off by pointing you towards our <u><a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/"><span style="color: blue;">Future Events page,</span></a></u> and what a glorious shiny events page it is with all 2<sup>nd</sup> Wednesday of the month slots filled right up to November, you lucky people. There’s so much good stuff to be had there without me banging on about it here wasting precious Round-Up space. Tootle on over and have a look-see.<br />
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Right up to date with the first of our links: Six years on from this <u><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/oct/27/usa.jonronson"><span style="color: blue;">Jon Ronson cruise experience</span></a></u>, blundering predatory ghoul, Sylvia Brown, <u><a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/05/06/in-2004-psychic-sylvia-browne-told-amanda-berrys-mom-her-daughter-was-dead/"><span style="color: blue;">is still getting it wrong</span></a>.</u> <br />
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Fancy having a go yourself? No, not like Sylvia Brown pulling vague answers out of her nether regions, <u><a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Cold-Read"><span style="color: blue;">How to Cold Read</span></a>.</u> Now there’s an Open Mic Night challenge. </span><a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/Event.aspx/1570/Open-Mic-Night"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyone up for it?</span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
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Just the weather for them – Skeptic </span><u><a href="http://www.cafepress.co.uk/+skeptic_boxer_shorts,336372124"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">shorts</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.<br />
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</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Going back to our skeptic roots:<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/apr/27/ouija-boards-dowsing-rods-bomb-detectors">The unseen force that drives Ouija boards and bomb detectors</a>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meaningless labels applied to your existence – we have a test for that: </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; padding: 0cm;">Astrology,</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"> a Practical Test: </span></span><u><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.smarterthanthat.com/astronomy/astrology-a-practical-test-objects-that-affect-you-at-birth/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Objects that affect you at birth.</span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
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</span></span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 12pt;">Lifted straight from our Facebook page, BBC interviews </span><u><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.psychology-101.com/2012/04/barnum-statements.html"><span style="color: blue;">Barnum Statement</span></a></span></u></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="background: white;">generator - gives oxygen to bullshit:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Graphology - </span><u><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22215082"><span style="color: blue;">discriminating against people on the basis of pseudoscientific non-sense</span></a></u> for over 100 years. <br />
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Today’s weather is brought to you by….<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNaetBsNWeE&list=PLE44A944CEC145988">Christian Cloudbusters</a>, and there's a new <u><a href="http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/41845_GOP_Rep._Joe_Barton-_Bibles_Great_Flood_Is_Evidence_Against_Man-Made_Climate_Change"><span style="color: blue;">climate change</span></a> </u>theory in town.</span><u><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
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</span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/may/06/nigel-evans-reiki-massage-head-bruise?CMP=twt_gu"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bruise on the noggin caused by non-contact mystical wavy hand energy</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Allegedly.<br />
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</span><u><a href="http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/4400-sign-up-to-help-secure-hospitals-fate-123522n.21008159"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A CAMPAIGN has begun to safeguard the future of Scotland's only homeopathic hospital</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></u></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.jacksofscience.com/chemistry/the-scientific-process-through-stock-photography/">The scientific process through stock photography</a>. Will somebody please turn that microscope round!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">Genesis 9:20-25 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Shem and </span>Japheth </span><a href="http://discardingimages.tumblr.com/post/45487167233/drunken-noah-ham-mocking-shem-and-japheth"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">did facepalmeth</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><a href="http://discardingimages.tumblr.com/post/45487167233/drunken-noah-ham-mocking-shem-and-japheth"></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> It’s in the Bible. Must be true then!<br />
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This week’s candidates for Tool of the Week:-<br />
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</span><u><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-22403852"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Local election 2013: 'Put disabled down' councillor re-elected in Cornwall</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.<br />
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</span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/may/04/bnp-members-breed-elections"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BNP calls on members to breed more after elections disaster.</span></a></u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> How about ‘breed’ off.<br />
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<u><span style="background: white;"><a href="http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/physical-excercise-prevents-you-becoming-gay-claims-uk-councillor-candidate270413"><span style="color: blue;">Physical exercise prevents you becoming gay, claims UK councillor candidate</span></a></span></u><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Destined to be as ubiquitous as microwave ovens, 3D printing is about to take off, however, I’m quite taken by the simplicity of this design: <a href="http://www.shapeways.com/model/999231/darwin-s-cladogram-tree-with-finches.html">Darwin's Cladogram Tree with Finches.</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><span style="background: white;"><a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/wallace100/blog/2013/03/12/a-statue-of-wallace-has-now-been-commissioned?fromGateway=true"><span style="color: blue;">Co-discoverer of Evolution by Natural Selection</span></a></span></u> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white;">soon to have a statue at The Natural History Museum. <br />
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</span>Round-Up Property section: <u><a href="http://www.thedellessex.co.uk/history/"><span style="color: blue;">Wallace house up for sale</span></a>.</u> <br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background: whitesmoke;"><span style="background-color: white;">Have vampires and wizards replaced aliens in our imaginations? James Gray at the RA:</span> </span><u><a href="http://rationalist.org.uk/articles/4139/they-didnt-come-from-outer-space"><span style="color: blue;">They didn't come from outer space</span></a>.</u> <br />
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In a merger of past and present cultural tracking, </span><u><span style="background: white;"><a href="http://www.opposingviews.com/i/health/mental-health/fema-planning-zombie-ufo-crash-disaster-exercise"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">FEMA Planning 'Zombie UFO Crash' Disaster Exercise</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.<br />
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</span><a href="http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/05/stranger-visions-dna-collected-from-found-objects-synthesized-to-create-3d-printed-portraits/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DNA Collected from Found Objects Used to Create 3D Portraits</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.<br />
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</span><a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/345396/fossil-cookies"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fossil Cookies</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. <br />
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</span></span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; border: 1pt windowtext; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">Brain science with a difference: </span><span style="background: white; color: black;">Prosopagnosia - </span><span style="color: windowtext;"><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23482-mindscapes-the-woman-who-cant-recognise-her-face.html">The woman who can't recognise her face</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://hackneycitizen.co.uk/2013/04/26/leo-igwe-hackney-attic/">Nigerian human rights campaigner, Leo Igwe, tackles belief in witchcraft and speaks in favour of atheism during Hackney Attic talk</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u> </u>The <span lang="EN" style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Daliesque</span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong> </strong></span><u><span style="background: white; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://twistedsifter.com/2013/04/when-google-earth-goes-awry-clement-valla/"><span style="color: blue;">When Google Earth goes awry</span></a>.</span></u></span><span style="background: white; color: #444444; font-size: 12pt;"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
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</span></span><u><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/celebrity/richard-dawkins-to-star-in-70s-style-sitcom-about-god-2013050167300"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Richard Dawkins and God to star in 70s-style sitcom</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.<br />
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</span><a href="http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/skeptics_organize_in_indonesia"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Skeptics Organize in Indonesia</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Gah! The things they do to noodles!<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/ayaan-hirsi-ali-fgm-was-done-to-me-at-the-age-of-five-ten-years-later-even-20-i-would-not-have-testified-against-my-parents-8534299.html">Ayaan Hirsi Ali: ‘FGM was done to me at the age of five. Ten years later, even 20... I would not have testified against my parents’</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
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<u><a href="http://nz.sports.yahoo.com/news/article/-/17038413/athletes-warned-of-placebo-effect/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Use of placebos by athletes should be regulated</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> It’s cheating, claims expert.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://twanight.org/newTWAN/photos.asp?ID=3004094">One full year of solar motion</a> captured in a figure of '8' loop with a weird name.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Free your mind and your ass will follow: </span><a href="http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/11/why-does-music-feel-so-good/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why Does Music Feel So Good</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">?</span><a href="http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/11/why-does-music-feel-so-good/"></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<u><a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/02/fox-news-guest-scientific-enlightenment-and-reason-led-to-the-holocaust/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fox News guest: Scientific ‘enlightenment and reason’ led to the Holocaust</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.<br />
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</span><a href="http://io9.com/traditional-psychological-diagnoses-are-going-out-of-st-493966169"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Traditional psychological diagnoses are going out of style</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="background: whitesmoke;"><span style="background-color: white;">A powerful organization of mental health researchers has said it will not be using the </span></span></span><a href="http://io9.com/5966101/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-american-psychiatric-associations-updated-guidelines"><span style="background: whitesmoke; color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">new</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> DSM-V. </span><u><a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/brainwaves/2013/05/07/no-one-is-rejecting-the-dsm-but-it-is-almost-time-to-transform-it/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Correction</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.<br />
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<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u>
<a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/view/513781/moores-law-and-the-origin-of-life/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As life has evolved, it's complexity has increase exponentially, just like Moore's law.</span></a><br />
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<u><a href="http://sphericalbullshit.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/what-i-would-say-to-creationists-if-i-was-more-of-a-dick/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What I would say to creationists if I was more of a dick</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Rant and swears alerts – don’t say you weren't warned.</span><br />
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<u><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oSCX78-8-q0#!"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Boy And His Atom: The World’s Smallest Movie</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.<br />
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</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let’s end with some implosions.</span><br />
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<i><span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week’s Round-up was hastily compiled by SitP regular Roy Beddowes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-7803952153902962922013-04-26T22:15:00.000+01:002013-04-27T18:23:05.245+01:00The Missionary Position Christopher Hitchens - Brum Skeptics Book Group<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCPj90uAX7BG73mY25goYmNoKbiNFJ_mzeehsCAanyNGOsa-qjh__EKr1hjtK80rxn_Rrfw_LncGyV_Dbl5ZWTJJ2Q-mV5MVvp0f9fcKGD_WXZNFkOYS7M160h9Eok52L0C7n6muxbETRg/s1600/missionary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCPj90uAX7BG73mY25goYmNoKbiNFJ_mzeehsCAanyNGOsa-qjh__EKr1hjtK80rxn_Rrfw_LncGyV_Dbl5ZWTJJ2Q-mV5MVvp0f9fcKGD_WXZNFkOYS7M160h9Eok52L0C7n6muxbETRg/s200/missionary.jpg" width="115" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <a href="http://brumskeptics.blogspot.co.uk/p/skeptic-book-group.html">book club met</a> in Yorks Bakery to discuss Christopher Hitchens writing about Mother Theresa. 10 people attended and as the book was only 100 pages we had nearly all read the whole book.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thinking about Mother Theresa most people in the group felt that prior to reading the book they were aware of her, had never thought about her much but knew she was ‘good’. She is famously good- I can remember learning to read from a book detailing her good works. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christopher Hitchens challenges the myth within national consciousness that she is good on a number of levels: <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">She claims political neutrality accepting donations from (seemingly) anyone who will donate to her mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This neutrality though hides a political element – she has been photographed with some controversial political figures – and as she is famously good lends credence to their political platforms. <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">She helps the ‘poorest of the poor’ and the ‘lowest of the low’ but she does this by trying to assist them in enduring their suffering- sitting at the bedside of the sick mopping their brows, rather than by trying to bring about structural change that would provide jobs and services to change their condition. <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Her position on population control is controversial- she is very much against both contraception and abortion whilst working in countries where resources are struggling to meet the needs of an expanding population. In her Nobel prize acceptance speech she described abortion as the greatest threat to peace. <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Her organisation demonstrates an absence of accountability- large amounts of money are raised by her organisation and it isn’t used for the purposes we would expect. It isn’t used to build modern hospital, or to provide medicine; large amounts don’t appear to be used at all and sit untouched in bank accounts. The organisation doesn’t publish accounts demonstrating good stewardship of these funds. <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">She is criticised for her missionary zeal- the purpose of her work is for the greater glory of god. Funds are devoted to alter ornaments and nuns have secretly converted the sick on their death beds.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Our conclusions as a group after some wide ranging discussions were slightly unexpected. We felt that within her world view (which we weren’t prepared to accept) she did think she was doing good. If you accept the conceit that heaven exists and noble suffering will gain you entrance then her actions make sense. We felt that she hadn’t been duplicitous about her world view but that ‘we’ had chosen to assume it was something else (although, it did seem slightly hypocritical that she had accepted expensive medical attention when she was ill). In short we accepted that she had done ‘bad’ but not that she was evil. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We discussed charity (the nature of giving, whose benefit is it for- the giver or the receiver) and international development. When looking at international aid we considered its purpose (to help the starving, to ensure politicians enter heaven, to secure British jobs and contracts or to stem migration).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The book itself came in for some criticism. It was very short and a number of areas (such as the structure and function of the organisation) would have benefitted from expansion. Direct quotes from people who had worked with Mother Theresa were used to illustrate points which added weight and life to the book. Christopher Hitchens has fantastic use of language constructing some brilliantly descriptive insults).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We were glad to have read the book, it changed how we saw Mother Theresa and one participant working in international development felt that it would change some aspects of her work. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">After the book discussion we adjoined to the pub where we discussed the relative merits of cushions, Iron Man films and the potential existence of Shrewsbury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This is the documentary Christopher Hitchens made before writing the book.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><strong>This review was by Jade Quarrell</strong></em></span></div>
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Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-77136922360718261582013-04-24T20:47:00.001+01:002013-04-24T20:47:17.617+01:00The Round-Up – Wks 15 &16<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Time
to resuscitate the Round-up; stand back nurse! <br />
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Welcome back to our weekly collection of link based interestingness. Whilst
we’re administering green glowing serum and CPR let us point you towards our
forthcoming talks that we lovingly put together to challenge and entertain you.<br />
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We produce awesome <a href="http://skepticaldvds.blogspot.co.uk/">skeptical
DVDs</a> too if you can’t make it to us on the night.<br />
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On May 8<sup>th</sup>, Julia Hyland will be with us <a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/Event.aspx/1453/Bringing-Disease-to-Life">Bringing
Disease to Life</a> <a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/Event.aspx/1453/Bringing-Disease-to-Life">in
an interactive talk on medical make up effects</a>. Hopefully, the participants
on the night won’t have too awkward a train/bus ride home; and Will Storr will
be with us in September to tell us about his <a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/Event.aspx/1514/The-Hero-Maker">Adventures
with the Enemies of Science.</a> Those helpful people at The Rationalist
Association have been kind enough to turn out a short review of <a href="http://rationalist.org.uk/articles/4111/book-review-the-heretics-by-will-storr">Will's
book here</a>. Speakers for June, July, August and September are primed and
ready to go so keep checking back here for updates. Oh, and don’t forget our
usual monthly <a href="http://brumskeptics.blogspot.co.uk/p/skeptic-book-group.html">book club
meet in May too.</a> Here’s a bit more information on the continuing story of <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/hela-publication-brews-bioethical-storm-1.12689">Henrietta
Lacks</a> as it’s our book club pick.<br />
<br />
Just digging around the <a href="http://rationalist.org.uk/">RA</a> site I’ve
come across this excellent collection of <a href="http://rationalist.org.uk/articles/4102/six-graphic-novels-every-humanist-should-read">graphic-novels-every-humanist-should-read</a>,
fortunately your friendly neighbourhood Birmingham skeptic doesn’t have far to
go to for a local <a href="http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2010/nostalgia-comics-birmingham-looking-great-and-now-with-added-small-press-and-back-issues/">comic
book store.</a> And <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/02/12/darwin-graphic-biography-smithsonian/">this</a>
I just have to have a copy of – checkout complete – gimme!<br />
<br />
What with the death of Margaret Thatcher, the Boston bombings and QED, let’s
see what we can pull out of the big news stories from the past week or so:-<br />
<br />
This is still languishing on my to-read pile. An excerpt from Hitch 22: <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/04/that-time-margaret-thatcher-spanked-christopher-hitchens/274779/">That
Time Margaret Thatcher Spanked Christopher Hitchens.</a><br />
<br />
Having had my interest piqued by a recent lecture, and with some whisperings of
a future talk at Sitp, here’s a piece on
the <a href="http://theconversation.com/witnesses-are-forgetting-clues-to-the-boston-bombings-quickly-12935" target="_blank">Boston bombings and the fallibility of memory</a> when
gathering eyewitness accounts, accompanied by this article from the Beeb on the
unreliability of crowd-sourced material and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22214511">how internet detectives
got it wrong.</a> Here’s <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/04/the-saudi-marathon-man.html?mobify=0">another</a>
on the Saudi Marathon Man.<br />
<br />
The effects of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22204076">James McCormick's</a>
morally bankrupt behaviour.<u><br />
<br />
</u>Properish science now with white coat and glasses and everything: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=b2clbE5KkeI#!">Proof
that water has memory</a><u>;</u> featuring Paul the glass of water.<br />
<br />
From the firmament to the earth: <a href="http://io9.com/read-what-happens-when-astronauts-poop-their-pants-in-s-471427022">When
you poop in space, everyone screams</a> & <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/04/130414-hell-underworld-archaeology-mount-olympus--greece/">Archaeologists
Find a Classic Entrance to Hell.</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22206854">The number of humanist
wedding ceremonies in Scotland will soon overtake the number of Church of
Scotland weddings, it has been claimed.</a><br />
<br />
As mentioned by Robin Ince during the recent convention - did anyone complete <a href="http://scicommbobulate.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/qedcon-bingo.html">QED
bingo?</a> Eyes down. Dressed like Who,
42; Elevatorgate, No.8. For your prize of a mini picnic table condiment holder
please contact Tulpesh in Sweden.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://roguemedic.com/2013/04/creation-mathematicians-demand-equal-time-for-biblical-pi-in-the-classroom/" target="_blank">Creation Mathematicians Demand Equal Time for Biblical Pi in
the Classroom.</a><br />
<br />
Icelanders love genealogy, so much so that Engineers at Iceland University have
developed an <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/04/18/business-iceland-geneaology-smartphone-app.html?cmp=rss">Icelandic
app that warns you if your date is a relative</a><u>; </u>complete with 'Incest
Prevention Alarm' feature.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.scotsman.com/edinburgh-evening-news/latest-news/award-for-anti-racism-poster-1-2886868#.UWWYGEwu3aQ">Award
winning anti-racism poster becomes national campaign tool.</a><a href="" name="_GoBack"></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/apr/13/department-health-andrew-wakefield">The
DOH tell Andrew Wakefield to go do one</a>, I mean, issued a statement
dismissing claims from the discredited doctor. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/brain-flapping/2013/apr/20/andrew-wakefield-untrue-facts?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Dean
Burnett breaks out the law of misinformation similars.</a><u> <br />
<br />
</u>And the award for the <a href="http://blogs.bbk.ac.uk/research/2013/03/07/most-obscene-title-of-a-peer-reviewed-scientific-article-an-amusing-award-for-a-serious-academic-paper/">“Most
obscene title of a peer-reviewed scientific article”</a> goes to… Professor
Jean-Marc Dewaele. (Warning - features some bloody excellent swears)<br />
<br />
Two disturbing stories from India: <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/04/05/where-virginity-is-for-sale-in-india/" target="_blank">Auctioning virginity off to the highest bidder</a> & <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/24/india-rape-disturbing-attitudes-men?CMP=twt_gu">Is
this what Indian men really believe?</a> Skipping across the Persian Gulf for
this outrageous example of the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22010122">law of retribution.</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.distancetomars.com/">Distance to Mars in pixels.</a> The
return trip is quicker by sidebar.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22146456">Want to go to
Mars? Dutch organisation Mars One says it will open applications imminently.</a><br />
<br />
Sounds like Scientpoetryology rap: The asteroid belt provides a convenient
low-gravity platform for travel to other parts of the “gah-LAX-ee.” And we
learn that to outsiders, our solar system is known as “Space Station 33.” It
can only be… <a href="http://tonyortega.org/2013/04/02/why-isnt-scientology-more-open-about-space-opera/">Hubbard.</a><br />
<br />
Round- up quickies: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OtFSDKrq88">Dawkins</a>
plus Stephen Law = <a href="http://xkcd.com/54/">xkcd</a>; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=o8TssbmY-GM">Wringing
out Water on the ISS - for Science!</a><u> </u>; <a href="http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201304022007-0022651" target="_blank">Saudi
cycling - now for women</a> and <a href="http://www.freewebs.com/oolon/SMOGGM.htm">SMOGGM.</a><br />
<br />
The Museum of Mental Health in Salem was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/01/us/cuckoos-nest-hospital-is-now-a-museum.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=2&" target="_blank">Once a ‘Cuckoo’s Nest.'</a> Ah, Juicy Fruit...<br />
<br />
Cartoon corner: <a href="http://amultiverse.com/2013/04/17/the-corn-god/">The
corn god.</a><br />
<br />
This is encouraging. <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/21/us-china-religion-idUSBRE93K02D20130421">China
says aims to banish superstition, promote knowledge.</a> This not so much - <a href="http://www.odditycentral.com/news/eyeball-scraping-the-vanishing-trade-practiced-by-sichuan-barbers.html#more-33731">eyeball
scraping</a>. No video? What a relief! As we’re in the bonkers treatment
section: Anarchic Teapot’s jaw is floored after viewing the quite charming
sounding Massage aux batons, or <a href="http://spiky.anarchic-teapot.net/2013/04/chiropractic-stick-massage-who-needs-stones-to-break-your-bones/">Chiropractic
stick massage</a>. (More swears – and gasps) Hey, why stop at three links - <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/animal-chiropractors-say-their-drugless-nonsurgical-adjustments-are-cheaper-than-vet-care/2013/04/16/84680144-a6ca-11e2-9e1c-bb0fb0c2edd9_story.html">Animal
chiropractors say their drugless, non-surgical adjustments are cheaper than vet
care.</a><br />
<br />
We’re not out of the crazy woods yet: <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/04/21/just-because-ted-doesnt-promote-pseudoscience-doesnt-mean-theyre-censoring-deepak-chopra/">Deepak
Chopra takes offence </a>at the new TED guidelines regarding invites for people
who use bad science or pseudoscience in their talks and Taslima Nasreen’s take
on <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/taslima/2013/04/23/stupid-celebrities/">‘Stupid
Celebrities’.</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/broken-dreamcatcher-floods-swindon-with-unresolved-anxieties-2013042266264">Broken
dreamcatcher floods Swindon with unresolved anxieties.</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/news/513821/renewables-cant-keep-up-with-the-growth-in-coal-use-worldwide/">Despite
remarkable growth, solar and wind power aren’t making a dent in carbon
emissions, says a new report from the International Energy Agency. </a><br />
<br />
Since 9/11, voice scientists have been searching for a way to find a person's
unique 'voiceprint': <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-race-to-fingerprint-the-human-voice-8493867.html">The
race to fingerprint the human voice</a><u>.<br />
<br />
</u>Adam Rutherford and Steve Jones discuss the origins and future of life, Spidergoat
and bible science in this excellent episode of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rv8dv" target="_blank">Start the Week.</a>
Steve Jones’ book <a href="http://www.ideasfestival.co.uk/2013/events/steve-jones-2/">The Serpent’s
Promise</a> is out soon, Adam Rutherford’s <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/apr/06/creation-origin-life-rutherford-review">Creation:
The Origin of Life</a> is on the shelves right now. Go get ‘em.<br />
<br />
Ben Goldacre gets down and dirty in the link packed <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-goldacre/prescription-drugs_b_3018272.html">What
Doctors Don't Know About the Drugs They Prescribe.</a> <br />
<br />
Many of the ideas of conspiracy theorists are based on a misunderstanding of
science—or a stubborn refusal to acknowledge it. <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130404-american-conspiracy-theories-polls-debunk/">National
Geographic runs through the polls</a><u>,</u> Crispian Jago charts <a href="http://crispian-jago.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-conspiracy-theory-flowchart-they.html">The
Truth.</a><br />
<br />
Finally, finishing as we started, in a
now classic account of cocking around with hypodermics, ‘How (not) to
communicate new scientific information: <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1464-410X.2005.05797.x/full">a
memoir of the famous Brindley lecture.</a><u>’<br />
<br />
</u>You’ll be requiring a video then, <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/101060/apollo-11-in-100-seconds/">Apollo 11
in 100 seconds.</a> (Any visual metaphors connected to the above link were completely
unintended)<br />
<br />
<i>This week’s Round-up was compiled by SitP regular Roy Beddowes.<br />
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Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-68625559802914649532013-04-10T16:40:00.002+01:002013-04-10T16:43:24.764+01:00Drying For Freedom<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><b>This is happening on 24th of April at the Vic</b></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>One of our aims at Birmingham Skeptics is to help support interesting events often around ideas you might not have ever even thought of before. We were contacted about a fantastic opportunity to do just that with the release of “Drying for Freedom”. In his debut full feature, Steven Lake examines themes of electrical dependence, environmental exploitation and the role of the humble washing line. </i><br />
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"DRYING FOR FREEDOM is a global exploration of the environment, freedom, communities and corporate exploitation, revealing the extent of the challenge we now face. The film includes contributions from Verona, Mississippi, where investigations are underway in a unique clothesline murder case, to Concord, New Hampshire and the home of Alexander Lee the leader of the world's leading clothesline pressure group. It reveals of our electric heritage and events leading up to millions of clothesline bans within US communities where the restrictions of freedom has become an un-environmental way of life.<br />
<br />
DRYING FOR FREEDOM is the new environmental battlefield, exploring energy waste, consumer exploitation, restrictions in basic human freedoms and the impact this has on our planet. Our future is hanging on a line!"<br />
<br />
The film is a wonderfully engaging debut full feature from UK filmmaker, Steven Lake. The film has won awards for Best Environmental Feature and Best Artistic Response at Climate Week, it has also been officially selected for many film festivals all over the world.<br />
<br />
This screening takes place as part of the 'Hanging Out Festival':<br />
"The DRYING FOR FREEDOM HANGING OUT FESTIVAL is a global film festival showcasing the award winning environmental movie Drying For Freedom in venues across planet Earth."<br />
<br />
<b>The film will be followed by a talk and Q and A session from the director, Steven Lake.<br />
</b><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/292558387544584/"><b>Here is a link to the Facebook Event:</b></a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><a href="http://vimeo.com/36605168">Drying For Freedom - Official Trailer</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/whitelanternfilm">White Lantern Film</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is proudly an associated event to Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub.</span></div>
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Skeptics in the Pub exists to put on thought provoking and entertaining events promoting science and examining the evidence behind ideas.<br />
</span><a href="http://www.skepticsinthepub.co.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">http://www.skepticsinthepub.co.uk/</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br />
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Tickets are £5 on the door to cover the expenses of the event.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-50800029257451635832013-04-01T23:23:00.000+01:002013-06-12T10:44:38.012+01:00The Round-up - Wk13.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hey kiddies, do you know what time it is? IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME! (Well,
sorta!)<br />
<br />
</i>Welcome to the latest woo thumpin’, science lovin’, Round-up. There’s
nothing like using a disgruntled and incredulous super-hero to assist in a take-down
of irrational nonsense.<br />
<br />
First up for a good biffing - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dFYfeADX7g">one of a series of amusing
videos</a> on Homeopathy; lays out the familiar history coupled with an
undiluted dose of snark and unfettered use of the word bollocks. This is one creep
who just won’t stay down. Let’s tag Steven Novella and bring him into the
debate: <a href="http://www.skepticblog.org/2013/03/25/debating-homeopathy-part-i/#.UVClimTp_nw.twitter">Debating
Homeopathy Part One.</a> <br />
<br />
Following <a href="http://blog.ted.com/2013/03/18/graham-hancock-and-rupert-sheldrake-a-fresh-take/">T.E.D’s
removal</a> of the Sheldrake and Hancock talks from their YouTube channel, news
of more unusual presentations announced under the TED banner in California have
surfaced - <a href="https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/oy-vey-tedx-continues-the-woo-now-with-more-self-help/">Jerry
Coyne picks up the story.</a><br />
<br />
Debating Homeopathy: Seconds out, <a href="http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/debating-homeopathy-part-ii/">Part
2.</a><br />
<br />
Still doing your research into Steiner Waldorf Schools after the Andy Lewis
talk? Here’s a <a href="http://www.dcscience.net/?p=3528">3 part series</a> of articles
from DC’s improbable science for you to get your teeth into.<br />
<br />
Nope! In Australia a preponderance of anecdotes just won’t cut it: <a href="http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/federal-government-to-crack-down-on-dodgy-miracle-cures-snake-oil-merchants-and-unproven-treatments/story-e6frea83-1226607133295">Federal
Government to crack down on dodgy 'miracle' cures, snake-oil merchants and
unproven treatments</a><u>.<br />
<br />
</u>Clerical pants on fire! <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/2013/03/church-england-commits-sins-against-statistics">Church
of England commits sins against statistics.</a> <br />
<br />
A custom, prevalent in the southern tip of Malawi, is <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/21/world/africa/seodi-white-women-malawi/index.html?hpt=hp_c4" target="_blank">widow cleansing</a><u>,</u> a traditional practice in which a
widow is expected to have unprotected sexual relations (increasing the chance
of HIV infection), in order to cleanse herself of a curse. A similar example of
superstition and a cultural mind-set trumping common sense can be seen over in
Kenya, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21859665">where a condom
advert has been pulled after religious complaints.</a><br />
<br />
With a nod to Rupert Sheldrake’s <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AOWPbPDitQ">morphic resonance</a>,
dowsing and sticky foil, along with some musings on <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/content/listening-113">human temporal asymmetry
energy patterns being captured in photographs </a>(yup!); welcome to the mystical
world of <a href="http://www.johnmorrish.com/wordpress/?page_id=8">hi-fi
tweakery.</a> Okay – goddammit! I admit it. I did do that thing with crocodile
clips and a reef-knot way back in the 1980’s. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/christian-easter-eggs-fail-to-crack-open-supermarkets-8547592.html" target="_blank">Christian Easter egg fails to crack supermarkets</a> despite
some backing of the Bishops.<br />
<br />
Not much of a welcome in the hillside: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-21951876">Swansea
measles epidemic - MMR vaccine take-up disappointment.</a> Of course none of
this is helped by untrained and influential celebrities spewing <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/04/23/jim-carrey-loves-the-pro-disease-movement/#.UVgnPRyxfGf">antivaccination
propaganda.</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://newsthump.com/2013/03/28/easter-shock-as-jesus-accused-of-bereavement-leave-scam/">The
real Easter story</a> according to News Thump.<br />
<br />
Influencing nineteenth century discussions about the mind, brain and the
effects of damage on the personality: <a href="http://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/2006/12/04/the-incredible-case-of-phineas-gage/">The
incredible case of Phineas Gage.</a><u> <br />
<br />
</u>Have you ever wondered what goes on inside a cancer Research Lab? Wonder no
more as an article posted earlier this month takes us <a href="http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2013/03/14/a-day-in-the-life-of-birmingham-cancer-research-uk-centre/">behind
the scenes at Birmingham University’s Cancer Research Centre.</a> Make a note
of those people’s names; I want to know why we haven’t seen them at Sitp.<br />
<br />
Some people with vested interests prefer to <a href="http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/gateshead-tanning-salons-no-cancer-link-1753065">ignore
or distort evidence</a>, whilst others find <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/revealed-the-tiny-bluetooth-weapon-in-the-fight-against-cancer-8541750.html">ingeniousnew ways</a> to collect it.<br />
<br />
Inspired by Crispian Jago’s original <a href="http://crispian-jago.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/periodic-table-of-irrational-nonsense.html">Periodic
Table of Irrational Nonsense</a> comes the <a href="http://www.b3ta.com/challenge/irrational-science/page1"> B3ta image challenge.</a> Not sure why Ben
Goldacre’s pictured laying waste to a city, but I quite like it.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ebm-first.com/craniosacral-therapy.html">What alternative
health practitioners might not tell you:</a> Craniosacral Therapy = medical
fiction mainly helpful for anything with a subjective end-point; additionally, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2042-7166.2011.01111.x/abstract">the
therapeutic value of Chiropractic for athletes remains uncertain.</a><br />
<br />
Banning 'gay cure' posters on London buses was not unlawful, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/03/22/gay-cure-bus-posters_n_2931266.html">a
High Court judge ruled on Friday</a>, but suggested two prominent campaigns,
one by Stonewall and one by atheist campaigners, should also not have been
allowed because of their offensive nature.<br />
<br />
Web cartoon time - <a href="http://www.theatheistpig.com/2013/03/25/miracle-babies/">The Atheist Pig:
Miracle Babies.</a><br />
<br />
Combining planetarium production technology with high resolution brain imaging
techniques - <a href="http://www.neurodome.org/" target="_blank">welcome to
Neurodome.</a><u> </u>Get some serious neuroscience related perks if you
contribute to their <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1100424922/neurodome-a-dome-format-film-that-explores-the-bra">Kickstarter
campaign.</a><br />
<br />
Crowdfunder is an innovative funding platform helping project owners' ideas
become realities. However, <a href="http://articles.philly.com/2013-03-27/news/38043632_1_fbi-memo-fbi-agent-washington-field-office">despite
the online interest</a><u>,</u> this one’s obviously <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/london-ufo-museum-project">struggling
to draw in the funders.</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.atheistberlin.com/study">Shoes packed with Atheist tape go
walkies in the US.</a> More comments over at <a href="http://bigthink.com/neurobonkers/modern-day-real-life-demonstration-of-the-lost-letter-technique-exposes-discrimination-against-atheism-in-the-us-postal-service">Big
Think</a><u> </u>and a reference to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Milgram">Stanley Milgram’s lost
letter experiment</a>, to boot!<br />
<br />
In this<u> </u><a href="http://www.epjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/EP07398441_c.pdf">new study</a><u>
</u>(pdf), the correlation between societal success & lack of belief in the
supernatural does NOT mean lack of belief leads to success. It does <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/jerseyguy/chart-societal-successvsbeliefinsuprnatural">show</a>
that societal success does NOT DEPEND on belief in the supernatural. <br />
<br />
Zombie nation: <a href="http://style.uk.msn.com/health/zombie-nation-the-outside-forces-controlling-human-brains">Recent
research shows how pesky parasites may be affecting the behaviour of up to a
reported 40% of the population.</a> More on this subject from our blog archive
of 2011, and from friend of Brum Sitp, Peter Harrison, with <a href="http://brumskeptics.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/can-brain-parasites-influence-human.html">Can
brain-parasites influence human culture on a global level?</a> (2022 blog views
to date). Bit late there with the ‘news’ MSN!<br />
<br />
Three of my favourite things - Hip-hop, Science and Bruce Lee: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q7Xz90t394&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">Greydon Square: Final Kata.</a> Let your head bob!<br />
<br />
Fantastic four: Magic handshake penis stealer <a href="http://imgur.com/GBYzNpO">shot
dead</a>; sex education teacher <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2013/03/saying-vagina-investigation-idaho-science-teacher.php">investigated
for saying vagina</a> ; <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21901544">Punxsutawney Phil
Groundhog 'indicted'</a> and <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/21-weirdly-angry-mail-online-commenters">21
Weirdly Angry Mail Online Commenters.</a><br />
<br />
We’ve not had a link from Michael Shermer for a while. Let’s rectify that with
a piece from Scientific American on the principle of pluralistic Ignorance: <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-skeptics-break-the-cycle-of-false-beliefs">How
skeptics can break the cycle of false beliefs.</a><u> </u><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21922834">Well I wouldn't have
heard it if I hadn't believed it!</a> EVP – capturing thoughts whilst in the
air or just natural phenomena such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia">apophenia</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia">auditory pareidolia?</a> <br />
<br />
A bittersweet and profoundly sad article now as an artist documents the decline
of his motor and perceptual skills: <a href="http://www.visualnews.com/2012/10/20/slipping-away-self-portraits-show-descent-into-alzheimers/">Self-portraits
show artist's descent into Alzheimer’s.</a> Click through for more of the story
at NYT.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.upworthy.com/a-very-powerful-quote-gets-the-beautifully-illustrated-treatment-it-deserves?g=3&c=ufb1">A
Very Powerful Quote Gets The Beautifully Illustrated Treatment It Deserves</a>.<br />
<br />
Time to wrap things up, so I’m going to plug a local talk (local to me)first,
as Curator of <a href="http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/home-of-charles-darwin-down-house/">Down
House</a>, Annie Kemkaran-Smith, will be in Lichfield at <a href="http://www.erasmusdarwin.org/events/">Erasmus Darwin’s House on 2nd May</a>
with ‘Charles Darwin at Down House: An Ordinary Life or an Extraordinary Man’. Get
your tickets early though as it’s quite a small venue. <br />
<br />
Dr Rupert Sheldrake will be with us at Sitp in a matter of days and Hitchens’
The Missionary Position is up for discussion on the 21<sup>st</sup> at the
usual venue. We’re very much looking forward to Bringing Disease to Life in May
and some of you may have noticed that we’ve posted up Will Storr for September.
Need to know more? Drop by our <a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/">events
page</a>, make a note in your diary and keep an eye on our news feeds.<br />
<br />
Right, go grab a handful of triangular chocolate and settle down to a video triple
bill: Slightly off topic but still fascinating - book editor turned artist Lee
Hongbo: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gttdbqX4SWA">Out
of Paper</a>; The mystery of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xe-f4gokRBs">Prince
Rupert's Drop</a> and the shocking <a href="http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-03/watch-flying-drone-get-zapped-tesla-coils">Tesla
Drone.</a><br />
<br />
Enjoy & share (the Round-up, that is, not your chocolate) and have a great
week.<br />
<br />
</span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week’s Round-up was compiled by SitP regular Roy Beddowes.</span>
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Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-60652050033005164392013-03-24T23:31:00.000+00:002013-03-24T23:32:29.601+00:00The Round-up - Week 12<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUIrOEadbnfYh9Qo7AZD621ZBeAQRzac4c5Zzr9r0Fz1rPfaOVV9Vu8v2QrAvCjwzHn1bQ2IeFAN-7D1J77aCC0qsWN5wu8E5tKwoy3nD6-LCWf42Fr9WXJNB4o6h3eqcBPNcp0Zm7-5_A/s1600/VoyagerReverse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUIrOEadbnfYh9Qo7AZD621ZBeAQRzac4c5Zzr9r0Fz1rPfaOVV9Vu8v2QrAvCjwzHn1bQ2IeFAN-7D1J77aCC0qsWN5wu8E5tKwoy3nD6-LCWf42Fr9WXJNB4o6h3eqcBPNcp0Zm7-5_A/s200/VoyagerReverse.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Hello and welcome to the spring edition of the Round-up, mind you, for many of us looking out of the window today it seems more like winter. It might be good to have an educated discussion about global warming at this point, </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/political-science/2013/mar/19/science-policy" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">but maybe not if the government has their way</a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">. Ben Goldacre has more than a few words to say about the </span><a href="http://www.badscience.net/2013/03/heres-my-paper-on-evidence-and-teaching-for-the-education-minister/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">use of evidence in education in this excellent post</a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">.</span><br />
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<br />
Dean Burnett puts </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/brain-flapping/2013/mar/21/women-in-science-know-your-limits"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">women in their rightful place</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> over at the Guardian. More women in science here with a review of a book looking at the fascinating history of the </span><a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/03/20/the-girls-of-atomic-city/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">women behind the Manhattan Project</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">. And here is a young woman </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-21860438"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">who has already got her name into the science books,</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> quite literally.<br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21866532"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Voyage 1 is leaving the solar system again</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">, or </span><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/voyager20130320.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">maybe not.</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-21842269"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jedi blessing your wedding you could have.</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Although there are some marriages that they </span><a href="http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/international/jedi-church-split-on-ewok-wookiee-marriage-2013032063244"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">might feel are just a light jump too far</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">. Sticking with the Jedi theme, do we really know the truth </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2dvv-Yib1Xg"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">behind that Death Star deal</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">, well do we?<br />
<br />
From an out and out parody to a piece of film that has been doing the rounds of the conspiracy sites. <a href="http://boingboing.net/2013/03/20/video-evidence-of-obamas-sha.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29">Is Obama’s bodyguard a face changing alien</a>?<br />
<br />
Couple of gift ideas now, for that ghost hunter in your life you can pick up this fully functioning </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/K-II-Meter-Switch-Ghost-Hunting/dp/B001PFPTCS/ref=pd_sim_office_5"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">EMF reader for a bargain price</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">, and for the more artsy scientist </span><a href="http://bza.biz/project/wavefrom-necklace/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">how about a necklace of their own voice?</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<br />
Not content to just sift through the Bible for evidence to support their views it seems creationists will turn their powers of textual analysis <a href="http://www.csicop.org/si/show/monsters_and_dragons_and_dinosaurs_oh_my_creationist_interpretations_of_beo">on other unsuspecting ancient writings.</a><br />
<br />
Every cloud might not have a silver lining <a href="http://www.livescience.com/27953-earthquakes-make-gold.html">but earthquakes might have a gold one</a>.<br />
<br />
Everything you need to know about <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yPm4YwejnnY">Pope Francis in forty-seven seconds</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.funzug.com/index.php/wildlife/a-lizard-that-looks-like-spiderman.html">Spiderlizard, Spiderlizard does whatever a Spiderlizard can</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2013/03/announcement-journal-of-medical-ethics-special-issue-on-circumcision/">The ethical considerations around circumcision from Brian Earp</a>.<br />
<br />
Ilkley are hosting <a href="http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/10293900.Ilkley_all_set_for_major_Medicine_Festival/">an alternative medicine festival</a>, grab your tent, load up your arnica and head out on there. If you prefer to take your unproven remedies in a more exotic setting how <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2294450/Caves-banish-pain-Now-really-holeistic.html">about a luxury hole somewhere in Australia</a>? This next couple of pieces relate to Australia too as the call goes out for pharmacists, those qualified people that the public tends to trust, <a href="http://theconversation.com/pharmacists-should-drop-products-that-arent-backed-by-evidence-12646">to not stock remedies that have no basis in evidence</a>, and we ask the question of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/15/windfarm-sickness-spread-word-australia">whether windfarm sickness actually exists.</a><br />
<br />
Here’s a question relevant to a Skeptics in the Pub, <a href="http://io9.com/could-you-drink-beer-instead-of-water-and-still-survive-457081579">can you survive just on beer and no water?</a><br />
<br />
There are all kinds of ways of protesting or showing support for a cause. Here’s a guy that found a way to make a colourful stand for the LGBT community right on the doorstep of <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/03/19/nonprofit-paints-rainbow-house-across-from-westboro-baptist-church/">those loveable hatemongers</a> the Westboro Baptists.<br />
<br />
Our next speaker at the SitP is Rupert Sheldrake and if you’re familiar with his work you’ll understand that we’re expecting a lively evening. If you want a bit of background <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/05/rupert-sheldrake-interview-science-delusion">here’s an article that’ll bring you up to speed on some of his ideas</a> ready for the evening. He’s no stranger to contentious debate <a href="http://blog.ted.com/2013/03/14/open-for-discussion-graham-hancock-and-rupert-sheldrake/">as this recent episode with Tedx shows</a>.<br />
<br />
They say there are lies, damned lies and statistics. So here are <a href="http://brumskeptics.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/risky-voice-analysis.html">lie detectors</a>, <a href="http://mindhacks.com/2013/03/16/a-brief-history-of-narcoanalysis/">truth drugs</a> and <a href="http://www.cracked.com/article_20318_the-5-most-popular-ways-statistics-are-used-to-lie-to-you.html">why not to believe the statistics</a>.<br />
<br />
Chad Orzel explains <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2013/03/20/why-should-you-think-like-a-scientist/">why you should think like a scientist</a>. Here’s a great post on the <a href="http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/evolved-to-gamble/">Gambler’s Fallacy</a> by somebody that has no problem doing so, Steve Novella. <br />
<br />
Steve was a key speaker at the first <a href="http://qedcon.org/">QED conference and we’re only a few weeks away from the next</a> and I’m already getting excited. One of the speakers this year is Richard Dawkins, who, love him, hate him or be indifferent to him, has certainly played a major part in the discussion and promotion of atheism. <a href="http://machineslikeus.com/videos/richard-dawkins-blind-watchmaker?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+MachinesLikeUs+%28Machines+Like+Us+-+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=Google+UK">Here is one of his early works opposing the creationist view</a>.<br />
<br />
What’s the harm of alternative medicine? <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/2013/03/15/swiss-police-arrest-healer-accused-of-infecting-16-with-hiv-using-acupuncture">Quite a lot in some cases unfortunately.</a> <br />
<br />
I love a good squid me, and the bigger the better. Scientists have turned up some interesting facts about the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21829711">ironically hard to find and mysterious giant squid.</a><br />
<br />
A great <a href="http://www.nature.com/scitable">free science resource here</a> provided by the people over at Nature. Not one of their articles but of interest nonetheless is this brilliant study looking at <a href="http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/03/evolution-via-roadkill.html">the not so natural selection effects of road traffic</a>.<br />
<br />
Like something straight out of Jurassic Park comes <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/deextinction">this article on bringing extinct species back to life</a>. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/fire-facials-setting-your-face-on-fire-in-the-name-of-beauty.html">Here is the scariest looking beauty treatment that I have ever seen or heard of</a>. See if you can find it on <a href="http://crispian-jago.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-venn-diagram-of-irrational-nonsense.html">Crispian Jago’s venn diagram of irrational nonsense</a>.<br />
<br />
Lots of ethical and scientific considerations here as a controversial <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21806911">form of IVF moves a step closer</a>.<br />
<br />
Before the final closing video a reminder to keep checking our <a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/">various internet pages for upcoming events</a>. You can always find links to <a href="https://twitter.com/Brum_Skeptics">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/birminghamskeptics">Facebook</a> and our DVD page around this site if you look hard enough. I’ve already plugged the Rupert Sheldrake talk but just to say that seats are limited so if you are coming and have difficulty standing for the duration then use one of those social networking outlets or our email and we’ll reserve one for you. Also don’t forget our <a href="http://www.facebook.com/events/173669646115166/">social this week</a> and the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/498270313563416/">upcoming book group</a>, great chances to meet excellent people and get down to the nitty gritty of things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I'll leave you with this brilliant film capturing images and much more relating to the ISS.</span></div>
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/61083440">The ISS Image Frontier - "Making the invisible visible"</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user1722616">Christoph Malin</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This post was put together by Patrick Redmond with lots of help with links from Roy Beddowes. If you fancy having a go at a round-up yourself or doing a blog post for us then please get in touch.</i></span>Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7123899360714390074.post-90444389434068563682013-03-18T20:03:00.001+00:002013-03-18T20:06:53.996+00:00Risky Voice Analysis<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3nmIcchAE2mAZYsh4i5HPhu0LH6sHsF0cVXg8xlBGlEVVCUXoOMqN5UfxDNJH7P0g5Ykg1cPGAZKr7bU65ZsXS_qXE4s3AJvUidEGicvU95fC6SYA7luSPOloZ-8O6zBKG5hvUcKgOwEx/s1600/polygraph-tracing.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="A polygraphic display." border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3nmIcchAE2mAZYsh4i5HPhu0LH6sHsF0cVXg8xlBGlEVVCUXoOMqN5UfxDNJH7P0g5Ykg1cPGAZKr7bU65ZsXS_qXE4s3AJvUidEGicvU95fC6SYA7luSPOloZ-8O6zBKG5hvUcKgOwEx/s200/polygraph-tracing.gif" title="Polygraphic Tracing" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I was happy to be asked
to write a feature for the latest Skeptic magazine picking out skeptical and
science based stuff from the news. It was good fun but as usual I wrote too
much and so I’m reproducing here part of that piece which they didn’t have room
for. If you want to read the rest of what I wrote plus a load of other great
articles then follow this link for details on <a href="http://www.skeptic.org.uk/">how to subscribe/send off for one</a> or pick up a magazine at <a href="http://birmingham.skepticsinthepub.org/Event.aspx/1304/The-Science-Delusion-Freeing-the-Spirit-of-Inquiry">our
next Skeptics in the Pub event</a>. The article follows:-</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jan/23/conservative-council-lie-detector-benefits">Leader
of the Cornwall Council Tory group, Fiona Ferguson, has resigned her position.</a>
The prompt for this has been the rolling out of Voice Risk Analysis (VRA) in
her area as a means of determining benefit cheats, specifically people that
might be falsely claiming single person’s council tax relief. In these days of
austerity you would expect a Conservative councillor to support any means
possible to claw back money; so why the impassioned move?<br />
<br />
VRA is a lie detector technology developed by Israeli company Nemesysco, that
will allegedly help benefit officers determine from a telephone call whether the
person is a potential high risk claimant deserving further investigation. Well
actually the websites of Digilog - the company with the UK license for the technology - and
Capita , that well known repository of public money who employ their tools on
behalf of the government, fall over themselves to avoid that term. However if
you dig around Capita’s website you will eventually find this sentence … <i><a href="http://www.capitarvs.co.uk/DigiLog-Truth-Verification-OLD">“Lie detection
is a difficult process, but Digilog's approach using voice risk analysis
ensures a fast and accurate verification of the genuine nature of applicants.” </a></i> Oops, duck, walk quack etc.<br />
<br />
You can understand their reluctance in calling it a lie detector though. Most
people outside of the Jeremy Kyle core demographic understand the unreliability
of polygraph devices in general. Despite the fact that some agencies such as
the FBI and CIA employ them, scientific institutions all around the world have
trialled polygraphs in all kinds of situations and found not enough evidence of
accuracy or reliability to be able to advise their deployment. <br />
<br />
Polygraphs as generally understood measure a range of physiological indicators
such as blood pressure, skin conductivity, respiration and so forth to provide
stress level comparators which hopefully indicate veracity. Capita claims to be
able to do this just by having an operator monitor variations in the voice and
speech patterns of the caller. There are immediate limitations apparent even
discounting issues such as people with speech impediments or English as a
second language.<br />
<br />
In 2010 Francisco Lacerdo and Anders Eriksson, respectively professors of
Linguistics and Phonetics co-authored a review of the previous fifty years’
worth of evidence of the reliability of this type of technology. <a href="http://www.senseaboutscience.org/pages/reporting-the-truth-on-lie-detectors.html">Nemesysco’s
response was to threaten them with libel claiming that the report was
inaccurate</a>. As we all know, the correct method for challenging and
progressing science is not to review it in the open but to squash it in the
libel courts. Francisco Lacerdo continued to speak out about this technology
and I can heartily recommend researching him and finding his blogs and articles
on the subject. The original paper, <i><a href="http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~julia/papers/eriksson%26lacerda07.pdf">Charlatanry
in forensic speech science: A problem to be taken seriously</a>,</i> is still available online.<br />
<br />
Cornwall are not the first or only council to deploy VRA, there are others
around the country doing so and the Internet is littered with Freedom of
Information requests to councils asking them if they use it and how they apply
it. Some such as Harrow have tried it, found it ineffective and abandoned it.
The Department of Works and Pensions actually commissioned <a href="http://www.dwp.gov.uk/local-authority-staff/housing-benefit/security/voice-risk-analysis-vra/">an
evaluation trial that ran from 2007 to 2010</a> in twenty-four different
regions. The final sentence of the final report from this reasonably thorough
two phase trial was <i>“No further trialling
of VRA is planned and on the basis of this evaluation we cannot make any
recommendations for its use within benefit processing.”<br />
<br />
</i>Just a few months afterwards <a href="http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2009-2010/rrep716.pdf">this
more positive but qualitative</a>, evaluation was released by the DWP. It
focussed more on how people felt using VRA and how fast staff could work
through cases rather than on accuracy. Perhaps this was deemed more important
as the system continues to be used to this day in some regions, perhaps one
near you.<i><br />
<br />
</i><a href="http://www.badscience.net/2013/01/i-made-this-radio-4-documentary-on-randomised-trials-on-government-policy/">Ben
Goldacre</a> and others have recently argued for a greater use of trials and
evidence to guide public spending. To those
that agree with this approach the decision to outlay money in rolling out VRA
must appear to be a very odd one indeed.<br />
<br />
<i>By Patrick Redmond</i></span><o:p></o:p></div>
Birmingham Skepticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13457491922023498093noreply@blogger.com1