Denialism

Month: February 2009

  • Create Evolution-themed Art, get a grant from Burning Man!

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    MarkH
    in

    For those artistic evilutionists out there, Burning Man, the yearly festival celebrating freedom, expression, and self-reliance, is sponsoring art based on this year’s theme of Evolution. The details for getting a grant to support your artwork are here. So, come up with some ideas for interactive, creative expressions of what evolution means, where humans have…

  • The DC Circuit Gets Privacy, and So Do Your Phone Records

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    Chris
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    I’m very pleased with today’s decision from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals on recently-strengthened privacy protections for phone records. The short history goes something like this: the FCC created strong opt-in (affirmative consent) provisions for the sharing of phone records (who calls whom, for how long, etc). In 1996, the 10th Circuit held that…

  • The Autism/Vaccines Fraud

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    MarkH
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    I have to admit I’m somewhat surprised (even if Orac isn’t). We all knew that Andrew Wakefield’s research was bogus and the link between vaccines and autism was engineered by ideologues who fear vaccines irrationally. But fabrication of data? Sloppy research is one thing, but the need for cranks to be correct, no matter what…

  • The editors of PLoS should read PLoS

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    MarkH
    in

    What do this cartoon and the latest edition of PLoS One have in common? Well, reading Bora’s blog this week I saw an article entitled, Risks for Central Nervous System Diseases among Mobile Phone Subscribers: A Danish Retrospective Cohort Study and my ears perked up. We have been mocking the idea that cell phones cause…

  • Let the Bread and Circuses Continue!

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    Chris
    in

    Obama has delayed am important political risk: he’s pushed back the DTV transition. If the televisions stopped working on February 17th, we would probably have an impeachment trial (as soon as the televisions were back on again).

  • Choosing a Medical Specialty IV — Interviews!

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    MarkH
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    The process of choosing a medical specialty, and applying for residency programs is nearly complete as I have returned from my tour of the West Coast and am nearly done with interview season. This is when medical students travel the country at great (and unreimbursed) expense to find their future training program. When all is…

  • Popular Woo Mongers Bankrupt…in Berkeley!

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    Chris
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    The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Elephant Pharmacy, a “holistic” drug store has closed and will file for bankruptcy. Why should you care? Elephant was an upscale store based in the Bay Area, the epicenter for wooishness. If this type of business fails here, how well will woo do elsewhere? There’s something to be said…

  • MPR on Identity Theft

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    Chris
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    I’ll be on Minnesota Public Radio this morning with LA Times consumer reporter David Lazarus, talking about identity theft. Here’s the preview and I’ll post the stream later. I’m going to be talking about my recent articles on identity theft: Identity Theft: Making the Known Unknowns Known and Towards a Market for Bank Safety.

  • Let’s Just Hope There’s No Lead in Your Toys Until 2010

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    Chris
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    The toy companies that moved their production to China in order to save money apparently didn’t calculate the full costs of offshoring. Testing their products for lead is just too expensive, they argue. They have successfully lobbied to delay lead testing rules for children’s toys. Joseph Pereira and Melanie Trottman of the Journal report: Under…