Category: Uncategorized
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Science always has been, and always will be, political
Inevitably, with the announcement of The March for Science on Earth Day, April 22nd of this year, come the inevitable naysayers decrying the politicization of science. Astroturf groups such as ACSH (diversity excludes white dudes and scientists from industry!), have of course decried the effort as a liberal conspiracy, but I was sad to see…
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What a conspiracy theorist president means Part 2 – Amanda Marcotte interviews me for Salon
Amanda Marcotte, who I’ve enjoyed reading since her days at Pandagon, was curious about what having a CT president might mean. For some crazy reason, she thought she should ask me about it. Briefly, I tried to summarize the patterns of thought conspiracy theorists engage in, their willingness to accept any belief if confirmatory of…
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John Oliver, right on drug rep influence
It is amazing how powerful a free lunch is. And the data are real, that people tend to favor those who do nice things for them. That is why, despite new rules about the amount drug companies can give to doctors, or all the rules on disclosure, the pharma reps are always going to push…
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In other news, herbal supplements are truly placebos
My favorite news story of the week, herbal supplements don’t contain anything at all apparently. Why should we be surprised that big placebo is selling placebos? The authorities said they had conducted tests on top-selling store brands of herbal supplements at four national retailers — GNC, Target, Walgreens and Walmart — and found that four…
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Excellent GMO debate hosted at Intelligence Squared – a summary
The GMO debate hosted by Intelligent Squared was excellent and informative. I admit I learned things from listening and that’s always a bonus, but it’s worth watching to see the “respectable” arguments against GMO posed and dealt with very effectively by the pro-side in this debate. Spoiler alert, the pro-GMO side spanked the anti-GMO, going…
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Psychics like Sylvia Brown are immoral frauds
In the wake of the dramatic events surrounding the discovery of three women including Amanda Berry, being held captive for a decade by a monster, it’s important not to forget another sociopath played a role in this drama. That sociopath is the psychic who told Amanda Berry’s mother that her daughter was dead: Her mother,…
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The Good, Not So Good, and Long View on Bmail
Denialism blog readers, especially those at academic institutions that have/are considering outsourcing email, may be interested in my essay on UC Berkeley’s migration to Gmail. This is cross-posted from the Berkeley Blog. Many campuses have decided to outsource email and other services to “cloud” providers. Berkeley has joined in by migrating student and faculty to…
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Bittman changes his tune on Sugar Study, while Mother Jones Doubles Down
There’s been an interesting edit in Marc Bittman’s sugar post, as he has now changed his tune on the PLoS one sugar study, now Bittman acknowledges obesity too is important. That was big of him, it is after all, the most important factor. Maybe my angry letter to the editor had an effect, but he’s…
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Gun control Part III – Some final questions for Matt and closing remarks
Go by and check out Matt’s second response on gun control. I think this response is a good argument. After all, my arguments are correlative. It is impossible to do randomized controlled trials on whole countries after all. I would ask a few questions in response to this rebuttal, however. Matt, what do you think…
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NYT shows how pointless Connecticut's Assault Weapons ban is in 2 images
See here for why existing assault weapons bans are just pointless demagoguery. There is no functional difference between the assault version and non-assault version of the same rifle.