Archive for October, 2007
October 25, 2007 at 10:30 am · Filed under Skepticism
After attempting to stifle criticism through legal means and having it blow up in their faces, the Society of Homeopaths have released a press statement. The best part of it is:
Due to the unpleasantness and surprisingly vitriolic nature of the postings on the Quackometer website and others, The Society has taken a conscious decision not to respond to these bloggers.
So basically they are now taking a homeopathic approach to criticism; take what they would’ve said or done and diluted it down until nothing is left, based on the theory that diluted vitriol will combat all the undiluted stuff.
I’m sure that will work almost as well as real homeopathy…
October 18, 2007 at 11:54 am · Filed under Food
Jeremy Cooperstock is a very clever man. According to his resume he is:
an associate professor in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, a member of the Centre for Intelligent Machines, and a founding member of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology at McGill University. He directs the Shared Reality Lab and leads the technical development of the Ultra-Videoconferencing system, for which he was recognized by an award for Most Innovative Use of New Technology from ACM/IEEE Supercomputing and a Distinction Award from the Audio Engineering Society. Cooperstock’s past accomplishments include the Intelligent Classroom, the world’s first Internet streaming demonstrations of Dolby Digital 5.1, uncompressed 12-channel 96kHz/24bit, multichannel DSD audio, and three simultaenous streams of uncompressed high-definition video. Cooperstock is a member of the ACM and chairs the AES Technical Committee on Network Audio Systems.
Wow. Impressive stuff, and it all sounds very exciting, but none of the above is why I like Jeremy Cooperstock. The reason he has earned a place on my prestigious blog is that he publishes “Jeremy and Vinita’s Montreal Restaurant Guide“, an honest, humorous and very useful look at the Montreal restaurant scene. It’s the first place I go to when I want to find out about a particular restaurant, or I’m looking for somewhere new to try.
I only have one request of Mr Cooperstock, if he happens to read this. Please, please add a last updated date so we can see how fresh the information is…
October 16, 2007 at 10:17 am · Filed under Music
My latest iPod methodology is to listen to my music album by album in alphabetical order by album title. This makes my listening fairly random, musically speaking.
Here are the albums I’ve listened to so far. Can you name the artists without Googling? (If the artist is in the title, I’ve mumbled it)
- …And Out Come The Wolves
- …Somewhere More Familiar
- 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1
- 100 Broken Windows
- 12 Memories
- 1977
- 20 Golden Greats
- 23 Great Recordings By
- 40oz To Freedom
- 9
- A Decade of *mumble* Music
- A Grand Don’t Come For Free
- A Life Less Ordinary
- A Little Bit Of Mambo
- A *mumble*
- A Place in the Sun
- A Smile Makes a Lousy Umbrella
- *mumble* Live
- Absolution
- Achtung Baby
October 15, 2007 at 3:13 pm · Filed under Conservation
Recently a UK court decided that Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, could be shown in British schools, despite an attempt by a school governor to suppress it on the grounds that it is biased. The movie now has to be preceded by a disclaimer, but I’m guessing the film itself will have more impact on kids than any warning given by a teacher will. That school governor may be calling it a victory, but it’s a very hollow one.
So is the film biased? Well yes, of course it is, but what isn’t? Most of the history I learned in school was biased in some way, as was the religious education I was given. We learned about evolution through natural selection in science without any mention of creationism so I suppose that was biased too. Luckily most of the biases I was faced with were toward the truth (apart from the religious education).
Instead of trying to suppress information like this, schools should be actively promoting critical thinking at all levels, giving the kids the tools they need to take information and process it with care and skepticism instead of just accepting what they’re told.
Yes, An Inconvenient truth contains bias; Yes it contains exaggerations; but the message is clear, and it is an inconvenient truth.
October 12, 2007 at 9:20 am · Filed under Skepticism
I’m reposting this article in full as the original author was forced to remove it from his site after legal bullying from the Society of Homeopaths. I’m not the only one to repost it. When will people learn that suppression of information by legal means will never work on the internet?
The Gentle Art of Homeopathic Killing
by Le Canard Noir
The Society of Homeopaths (SoH) are a shambles and a bad joke. It is now over a year since Sense about Science, Simon Singh and the BBC Newsnight programme exposed how it is common practice for high street homeopaths to tell customers that their magic pills can prevent malaria. The Society of Homeopaths have done diddly-squat to stamp out this dangerous practice apart from issue a few ambiguously weasel-worded press statements.
The SoH has a code of practice, but my feeling is that this is just a smokescreen and is widely flouted and that the Society do not care about this. If this is true, then the code of practice is nothing more than a thin veneer used to give authority and credibility to its deluded members. It does nothing more than fool the public into thinking they are dealing with a regulated professional.
As a quick test, I picked a random homeopath with a web site from the SoH register to see if they flouted a couple of important rules:
48: • Advertising shall not contain claims of superiority. • No advertising may be used which expressly or implicitly claims to cure named diseases.
72: To avoid making claims (whether explicit or implied; orally or in writing) implying cure of any named disease.
The homeopath I picked on is called Julia Wilson and runs a practice from the Leicestershire town of Market Harborough. What I found rather shocked and angered me.
Straight away, we find that Julia M Wilson LCHE, RSHom specialises in asthma and works at a clinic that says,
Many illnesses and disease can be successfully treated using homeopathy, including arthritis, asthma, digestive disorders, emotional and behavioural difficulties, headaches, infertility, skin and sleep problems.
Well, there are a number of named diseases there to start off. She also gives a leaflet that advertises her asthma clinic. The advertising leaflet says,
Conventional medicine is at a loss when it comes to understanding the origin of allergies. … The best that medical research can do is try to keep the symptoms under control. Homeopathy is different, it seeks to address the triggers for asthma and eczema. It is a safe, drug free approach that helps alleviate the flaring of skin and tightening of lungs…
Now, despite the usual homeopathic contradiction of claiming to treat causes not symptoms and then in the next breath saying it can alleviate symptoms, the advert is clearly in breach of the above rule 47 on advertising as it implicitly claims superiority over real medicine and names a disease.
Asthma is estimated to be responsible for 1,500 deaths and 74,000 emergency hospital admissions in the UK each year. It is not a trivial illness that sugar pills ought to be anywhere near. The Cochrane Review says the following about the evidence for asthma and homeopathy,
The review of trials found that the type of homeopathy varied between the studies, that the study designs used in the trials were varied and that no strong evidence existed that usual forms of homeopathy for asthma are effective.
This is not a surprise given that homeopathy is just a ritualised placebo. Hopefully, most parents attending this clinic will have the good sense to go to a real accident and emergency unit in the event of a severe attack and consult their GP about real management of the illness. I would hope that Julia does little harm here.
However, a little more research on her site reveals much more serious concerns. She says on her site that ’she worked in Kenya teaching homeopathy at a college in Nairobi and supporting graduates to set up their own clinics’. Now, we have seen what homeopaths do in Kenya before. It is not treating a little stress and the odd headache. Free from strong UK legislation, these missionary homeopaths make the boldest claims about the deadliest diseases.
A bit of web research shows where Julia was working (picture above). The Abha Light Foundation is a registered NGO in Kenya. It takes mobile homeopathy clinics through the slums of Nairobi and surrounding villages. Its stated aim is to,
introduce Homeopathy and natural medicines as a method of managing HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria in Kenya.
I must admit, I had to pause for breath after reading that. The clinic sells its own homeopathic remedies for ‘treating’ various lethal diseases. Its MalariaX potion,
is a homeopathic preparation for prevention of malaria and treatment of malaria. Suitable for children. For prevention. Only 1 pill each week before entering, during and after leaving malaria risk areas. For treatment. Take 1 pill every 1-3 hours during a malaria attack.
This is nothing short of being totally outrageous. It is a murderous delusion. David Colquhoun has been writing about this wicked scam recently and it is well worth following his blog on the issue.
Let’s remind ourselves what one of the most senior and respected homeopaths in the UK, Dr Peter Fisher of the London Homeopathic Hospital, has to say on this matter.
there is absolutely no reason to think that homeopathy works to prevent malaria and you won’t find that in any textbook or journal of homeopathy so people will get malaria, people may even die of malaria if they follow this advice.
Malaria is a huge killer in Kenya. It is the biggest killer of children under five. The problem is so huge that the reintroduction of DDT is considered as a proven way of reducing deaths. Magic sugar pills and water drops will do nothing. Many of the poorest in Kenya cannot afford real anti-malaria medicine, but offering them insane nonsense as a substitute will not help anyone.
Ironically, the WHO has issued a press release today on cheap ways of reducing child and adult mortality due to malaria. Their trials, conducted in Kenya, of using cheap mosquito nets soaked in insecticide have reduced child deaths by 44% over two years. It says that issuing these nets be the ‘immediate priority’ to governments with a malaria problem. No mention of homeopathy. These results were arrived at by careful trials and observation. Science. We now know that nets work. A lifesaving net costs $5. A bottle of useless homeopathic crap costs $4.50. Both are large amounts for a poor Kenyan, but is their life really worth the 50c saving?
I am sure we are going to hear the usual homeopath bleat that this is just a campaign by Big Pharma to discredit unpatentable homeopathic remedies. Are we to add to the conspiracy Big Net manufacturers too?
It amazes me that to add to all the list of ills and injustices that our rich nations impose on the poor of the world, we have to add the widespread export of our bourgeois and lethal healing fantasies. To make a strong point: if we can introduce laws that allow the arrest of sex tourists on their return to the UK, can we not charge people who travel to Africa to indulge their dangerous healing delusions?
At the very least, we could expect the Society of Homeopaths to try to stamp out this wicked practice? Could we?
October 9, 2007 at 8:52 am · Filed under F1
It had to happen sometime, but I expected it to happen through bad luck, not stupidity. Lewis Hamilton retired from a Grand Prix for the first time this season, bringing the championship down to a three-way battle in the last race.
This wasn’t bad luck though, it was a direct result of bad decisions either by Lewis or by his team. It was obvious his tyres were completely worn out at least two laps before his exit. By the time he actually tried to get into the pits the canvas was clearly visible on one tyre and had been for about a lap. Why did they leave him out so long? What were they trying to achieve?
There was tyre confusion throughout the field thanks to some very variable weather conditions, which caused some people (like Sebastien Vettel) to get lucky with their strategy and some people to get unlucky but everyone else managed to get their drivers into the pits before they went ice skating.
Apart from the shock exit of Hamilton the race was another fairly dull one. The weather added some interest, and it was good to see Button fight his way up to a sixth place finish, but there still wasn’t a whole lot of racing.
Brazil is going to be very interesting. Lewis has to score at least six points to guarantee his championship if Alonso wins the race. If Kimi wins the race Lewis only needs three points. I expect Lewis to be very cautious, while Alonso and Raikonnen will throw caution to the wind and just go for it. I’m not sure about Kimi, but if Fernando gets the chance to push Lewis off the track he will take it.
October 5, 2007 at 11:56 am · Filed under Geeky, Rants
While standing in line to pay at Omar De Serres recently, I heard the cashiers asking each person, regardless of payment method, for their postal code. I found this a little odd, and un-necessarily intrusive. So when I got to the cash, and the guy asked me for my postal code I said “I don’t have to give you that, do I?” and he said “Nope” and continued with my transaction.
What is this un-necessary data collection for? At first I though it was so that they could send junk mail to known customers, but my wife pointed out that a postal code usually only targets a set of addresses, not a single dwelling. Jen thinks that it’s so they can analyze sales data per customer area, but what would be the point, and why not just asked for the first part of the postal code?
Whatever the reason, I’m pretty sure it’s not of any benefit to the customer. It slows down the transaction, making people wait longer, and it’s just another small erosion of our privacy.
If someone asks you for personal data, ask yourself “do they need that?” before giving it to them. That’s especially true in an online setting.
October 4, 2007 at 9:07 am · Filed under Family+Friends
Four years ago today, my wife and I were married on the stairs of a grand old building, to the sounds of Blue Rodeo, with our friends and family around us. I’m especially glad that my Dad could be a part of that before his illness overcame him.
Since then we’ve spent a fabulous month in New Zealand; we’ve created an amazing baby boy and watched him grow into an even more amazing two year old; we’ve given up being homeowning suburbanites in favour of the relatively carefree and stimulating life of city-dwelling renters; we’ve started new hobbies and abandoned old ones; we’ve spent quality time with our family and friends including a trip to Prince Edward Island and several Xmases filled with excess.
It hasn’t all been sweetness and light though. I lost my father, Jen lost a friend; we battled depression and Aidan’s feeding difficulties; we survived all that as well as all the other changes inherent in bringing a new life into the family. We survived and we grew.
It’s fitting that our anniversary is always so close to Thanksgiving, because I have so much to be thankful for. I’m thankful for four years of married life with Jen as well as the five years of “shacking up” before that. I’m thankful that we have a healthy and ridiculously cute and adorable little boy. I’m thankful that we’re surrounded by supportive family and wonderful friends.
Happy anniversary Jen. I love you.
October 1, 2007 at 9:21 am · Filed under F1
Gerry Donaldson said this was a historic race, possibly the best in the history of Japanese Grand Prix. I’m afraid I have to disagree. It was certainly an entertaining race but most of the entertainment came from the conditions and the silly mistakes everyone was making. As far as actual racing is concerned it was mediocre at best.
The first 23 laps of the race were under the safety car with a real danger that the race would be abandoned. Having stayed up into the early hours of the morning to watch it, I was very relieved when they finally decided to go racing.
By that time, Ferrari were at the back of the field after starting their drivers on intermediate tyres. What were they thinking? The FIA had imposed a rule beforehand that all cars must start on full wets, but Ferrari claim the FIA’s email didn’t arrive on time. Leaving aside the dubious possibility that everyone but Ferrari would get their email on time, why did they need telling anyway? The conditions obviously demanded full wet tyres; going out on intermediates was just dumb and dangerous. (Yes, I know they’re not called intermediates any more, but that’s what they are).
Once the race was underway it was just a question of getting to the finish line without aquaplaning off the circuit or getting hit by another car aquaplaning off the circuit. Sadly Alonso was one of the first to get unlucky, in what looked like a nasty crash which brought out the second safety car.
During the second safety car period, Mark Webber and Scott Vittel became casualties too, with the blame resting firmly on Scott after he drove into the back of Mark while they were both looking good for podium positions. While Vittel was in tears on the pit wall, Mark’s subsequent interview with Louise Goodman was one of the highlights of the race:
“It’s kids isn’t it? They have not got enough experience – they do a good job and then they fuck it all up.”
The rest of the race was fairly uninteresting until there were just a few laps/minutes left. Ferrari suddenly decided to call Massa in from third place for a fourth pit stop. I haven’t been able to find their official reason for this but I’m guessing the official reason is complete fabrication and the real reason is they wanted Kimi, who was back in fifth, to get one more point.
In the end (and I’m still not sure if the end was by number of laps or the two hour deadline) Kimi came third and Massa sixth with some amazing racing from both of them in the final few seconds to try to get another place each. Hamilton did a good job to win the race, basically just keeping his car on the track through all the carnage, and Kovaleinan did a great job to get his car up to second place for his first podium.
Rain always makes a race interesting, but it’s a shame we have to rely on the weather to make Formula One entertaining.
