Comics are all kinds of cheesy goodness

Heres a tasty selection of all the best comics I've read this weekend around the interwebnettoob. Check em out after the jump.

UK Papers report utter crap - no-one surprised

Terry Pratchett is a brilliant author. While some may read this and disagree, I would like to gently make the point that I'm the one writing this and you can bugger off. He has stated many times during his career how he is an atheist, and "blames god for not existing" and he was recently diagnosed with Alzheimers. If you've read any of his novels he takes the idea of gods and puts it in its proper place of comedy and ridicule. But recently my attention was drawn by Moogs to an article in the Times about TP finding god, and he asked what I thought about it. I'll admit, my first reaction was unfavourable.

I mean, the temerity of the man - how dare he! But after a few seconds I calmed down and wondered if it was indeed true - it didn't really go with everything else he has said about religion. So I did a wee bit of research, read the article on Times Online and did a search for any other bits of info surrounding TP and his conversion to god bothering. What did I find? Not much - the article points to an "unexplained experience" he had when he was first diagnosed with Alzheimers.

“I’m certainly not a man of faith, but as I was rushing down the stairs one day . . . it was very strange. And I say this reluctantly, because I am trying to deal with this situation in as hardheaded a way as I can. I suddenly knew that everything was okay, that what I was doing was right, and I didn’t know why.”

"It was a thought that all the right things are happening in the circumstances; and I thought, ‘Well, that’s all right then.’ I don’t actually believe in anyone who could have put that in my head – unless it was my dad, and he’s been dead a few years.”

“It is just possible that once you have got past all the gods that we have created with big beards and many human traits, just beyond all that, on the other side of physics, there just may be the ordered structure from which everything flows.

“That is both a kind of philosophy and totally useless – it doesn’t take you anywhere. But it fills a hole.”

Ok, time to get the deconstruction stick out.

The first point to make is that all of these statements have been made in different interviews. He said some of it an interview as reported on Times Online, and in another interview in the News Review. Two separate interviews, probably about two completely different things, and bad quote mining = stupid Times Online article.

Secondly, he doesn't ever say "I've found god, I'm off to bash some bibles". The headline for the piece in Times Online was "Alzheimers leads atheist Terry Pratchett to appreciate God", and in the Telegraph it was "Terry Pratchett hints he may have found God". No he doesn't - he says he had an unexplained experience. The closest he comes to saying god is "I'm not a man of faith". So does this mean every time someone proclaims that they are not of faith, they actually are? What sort of bizarre and twisted logic is that?

And thirdly, the phrase "unexplained experience" does not mean god. Nor does it mean the flying spaghetti monster, or Ramadama Ding Dong had anything to do with it either. In fact, usually when people use the word "unexplained" people immediately leap into the UFO category, and its surprising they didn't this time. He says that he felt "everything was ok" and that "all the right things are happening in the circumstances". So what he's saying is that he felt at peace with himself at that particular time, and happy with the way things are going. I see no god in that. I feel happy frequently, and at peace with my decisions in life - but at no time do I interpret a divine hand in my life. Just because everything is going your way, does not mean some benevolent beardy weirdy sky god has his eye on you.

Its a load of bollocks in my opinion - a sloppy peice of journalism created by some nancy in between his sessions at the boozer. And the other papers have just copied it verbatim because its mildly interesting, and they can't be bothered checking the facts. What rubbish.

As an aside, even if this were accurate (and I have no way of verifying this unless TP decides to respond to my email) who cares? I don't care if he suddenly clutches at the rosary, and heads down to the local guilt merchants for a session in "all the things he's done bad". That's his prerogative. It has no bearing on my opinion of him as a writer and I will continue to buy his books until they stop becoming good books to read. I hope he continues to write for many years to come, and his "embuggerance" of an illness goes into recession, or is cured (no thanks to the NHS). Sure, it would be disappointing to see someone with a serious brain disease succumb to religion, but again - who am I to say what he should believe in?

I think the best indicator of the veracity of these articles is something he said during the interview :

“Faith in what? If I get pushed in this corner, I believe in the same God that Einstein did. Einstein was a clever bloke."

And what did Einstein have to say on the subject?

If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.
Albert Einstein, 1954, from Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press

Alien statue to scare the crap out of mom.

I want one. I want 4. Can you imagine having these things loitering around the dark corners of your house, ready to scare the flying crap out of people? Brilliant. Its 7 foot 7 inches tall, steel, foam, latex and resin model on a 4 x 2 foot base. The cost is a bit prohibitive (US$5200 + shipping), but money is no object when it comes to art like this. Check out the home site over at Monster Galaxy.

See more pictures after the jump

Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?

Its not really that surprising to someone like me that we don't see the headline "Psychic wins dickloads of cash!", apart from the fact that your average editor probably wouldn't go with the adverb "dickloads". I was asked recently whether or not I believed in unmapped potential in the human brain, to which I answered "yes - especially in mine if the teachers in my school days are to believed", but I knew that was not the point they were getting at. Do we have the ability to predict the future, speak to each other over great distances using only our minds, or find my bloody car keys?
Absolutely! But not in the way you may be thinking.

My economics teacher many years ago was very fond of the saying "There's no such thing as a free lunch", as I'm sure many Economics teachers are. I've found that particular piece of advice more relevant in everyday life than anything else he ever said. Probably because it's the only thing I can ever remember him saying, but that's not important right now. My point is that you can apply that epithet to absolutely everything - all rewards require effort or payment in some form to be acquired. We work to gain money to pay bills and buy things we want. We cut firewood to stay warm. We throw water at the neighbour’s cat to stop it crapping on the lawn.

This does not however stop us yearning for the ability to get that easy money. "Wouldn't it be neat if" and "I wish I could" are always the beginning's to sentences of dreaming and fantasy. And dreaming and fantasy is squarely where psychic ability lies. It’s the mental equivalent of a free lunch - no real effort for big return. Speaking to the dead, moving objects by thinking about it, reading events yet to occur and speaking to others across large distances without talking. Wouldn't it be cool if we could do these things? Sure, but if wishes were doughnuts I'd be Homer Simpson. These things are all highly improbable, and all the current scientific testing and data tells us that its not possible for a human to perform any feats of psychic ability any more than it can produce a 20 kilowatt laser out of its butt.

Most of the psychic abilities that people profess to hold in high regard (a 2005 Gallup Poll indicated that 41% of Americans believe in ESP) are all ways of getting answers without any hard work. Can we find out what happened to a person without searching every square inch of ground between here and Timbuktu? Can I find out what my mother thought of me before she died without months of intensive therapy to realise I just need to let her go? Can I make the remote control come to me without me getting off my fat ass? I think most people want to believe in psychic abilities because it’s an easy way out, and people love easy answers. When was the last time a majority of people were satisfied with an answer to a question that was complex and convoluted? People like simple and straightforward, and much like religion, psychic abilities fill that niche in our psyche. How did that happen? God\psychic ability did it. Michael Shermer says “Most of us, most of the time, want certainty, want to control our environment, and want nice, neat, simple explanations...We must always work to suppress our need to be absolutely certain and in total control and our tendency to seek the simple and effortless solution to a problem. Now and then the solutions may be simple, but usually they are not.” ¹

But I reckon there is a way we can have our cake and eat it too, and it won’t be through a bunch of scam artists, phone operators or tinfoil hat wearing new-agers. It’ll be science baby, and its not too far off neither.

Telepathy
With modern mobile telephony, we pretty much have this one now anyway. You can with the press of a few buttons speak to virtually anyone in the world, or with the appropriate routing, anyone on the moon as well. We already have the ability to communicate via phone without speaking and the next step is of course to have this technology implanted in our body. By the time they get to that stage, computing power will be so compact that we won’t just be talking, but we’ll be doing business and other important things like sharing pr0n.

Telekinesis
Combine the ability to voice commands without speaking, and small robot army’s of either specific function robots, or multipurpose nanotech, we can do pretty much anything. Sound a bit farfetched? We are making leaps and bounds in nanotech, and not too far off we will be able to perform the smallest operations by programming these nanobots to do the job for us. The ability to affect objects physically with our brain power is something we can do now with remote manipulation of robots. Remove the joystick and console, and wire it directly to our brain and you have in essence the basics of telekinesis. Also why get the remote to float across the room when you can change the channel by thinking about it?

Speaking to the dead
We can already, but not it a conversational “Yo deadhead - hows it hanging?” kind of way. Advances in forensics and medicine allow us to interrogate the dead to get information specific to their life and their death. Every year we expand the techniques for extracting information from the dead, and we increase the reference material to which we refer to when deciphering that information. While we may never get the answer out of the corpse about what they thought of our Sharon, we can tell if it was indeed our Sharon that had a hand in their death.
I know that people want answers from the dead more as a reminder of who they were when they were alive, and to delay the realisation that they are gone forever. But today’s advances in digital recording technology also make it virtually impossible for anyone to be truly gone forever. Everyone leaves an imprint in this digital world through home video, television, cell phone cameras, YouTube, Google Video and many other shared mediums.

Predicting the Future
The more we know about the past, the better we can predict the future. That does not mean we won’t make the same mistakes, and it will never be foolproof, but what is? Tell me one thing in this universe that involves human decision, that will 100% reliably, every single time a coconut, never fail always be correct? With faster computing power and more and more accurate modelling programs we can predict outcomes faster and more accurate than ever before. This allows us to look to the short or long term and make decisions based upon our projections for the future.

It all sounds very next century I know, but most of the technology or techniques are currently available or in development at the time of writing this post. The biggest problem people have is not that its available, or that we as a species can accomplish these technological marvels, but that its based on hard work. And that’s why, for a while at least, psychics and seers will be able to fleece the unsuspecting mark by selling them the dream of easy answers. Until technology reaches the point where it overtakes these charlatans and delivers the ability to accomplish these feats without “magic”, they’ll be sniffing round the fringes for a while yet.

¹ - from Michael Shermers book Why People Believe Weird Things (2002) p59

It's Official - Ice Found on Mars

The Mars Phoenix lander has done what it was sent to Mars for. It had found solid evidence of ice on the red planet. The lander dug a small trench which revealed a white shiny substance. This has been up for much debate over the last week as to whether or not it was ice or salt. But it looks like it is probably ice.

Mars has a different atmospheric pressure than here on Earth, that being the case liquid water can not exist. What happens is that when ice is exposed to the atmosphere it literally turns straight to gas, skipping the liquid stage, this is called sublimation. NASA has just announced that the patch of white shiny stuff they found has started to vanish, this can only mean that sublimation is taking place. The only real thing left for Phoenix to do now of find evidence of organic compounds that lead to life.
This is a major discovery, we now have evidence that water existed on Mars and is still there in ice form.
Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona said:

"It must be ice, these little clumps completely disappearing over the course of a few days, that is perfect evidence that it's ice. There had been some question whether the bright material was salt. Salt can't do that."

That's not bad going, the craft has only been there for 24 days. It was day 20 when the hole was dug and 4 days later they an ounce that they have found ice.

Needless to say that the discovery has come at an interesting time. The US Presidential candidates have been announced and who knows what is in store for NASA and space exploration. Hopefully this will encourage the new President to re-examine the current policies and throw a bit more money their way.

This is another nail in the coffin of intelligent design or creationism (whatever its called). I see a future that many have predicted, seas on Mars and colonists walking the land breathing the air. Start terraforming now I say.

Death star invades my body, and I'm not happy.

Its that time of year again. Winter has spread its dusky wings across our Land of the Long White Cloud, causing all who dwell within to cry "Ah shit - flu season". Yes, that picture to the left is not Darth's Hangout, nor the Emperors Crib - its a 3D representation of the dreaded flu virus (see more at 3DScience.com). And the little bastard got me this year. So since I was forced to spend the last few days, and the next few as well, getting to know it so intimately, I figured I'd check out what makes this virus unique - does the rep live up to the hype?

Its a pretty fearsome idea really, that something as small as a virus, be it influenza or other, can lay an organism such as ourselves to waste. We can't see it, we can't predict its arrival and nothing we can do can protect us from its onslaught. It has the ability to put a severe dent in the worlds population, and can mutate at such a rate that standard vaccination programmes will never control it to the extent that vaccination inhibits other diseases.

Lets look at the score board Miss Ford
It's been with us from the very beginning, and dare I say it, it'll be there at the end too. The first recorded case of the flu was roughly 2400 years ago by our man Hippocrates, and we have never looked back. Every year between 40,000 to 50,000 New Zealanders report to the doctor with its symptoms (1-1.5% of pop), and every year between 30 and 100 Kiwis die from it, although generally from secondary complications such as pneumonia, rather than the virus itself. The flu was at its worst during the 1918-1919 Spanish flu epidemic when the infection rate rose to 50% globally, and current estimates say killed 50-100 million people. In the first 25 weeks of the pandemic it killed 25 million people. Contrast that with HIV\AIDS which has killed 25 million in 25 years.

But whats yours dad?
Theres several different strains, and you've probably all heard of H5N1 (bird flu) which was bandied around in the last couple of years as being the next big global killer. Luckily for us, it never happened, as it never mutated into a very effective transmitter between humans, and those who caught it were typically in extremely close contact with birds. But what's with the H's and N's? The H and the number stand for which one of several known types of the protein hemagglutinin, an antigenic glycoprotein found on the surface of the influenza viruses. It is responsible for binding the virus to the cell that is being infected. The N stands for the number of the known types of the protein neuraminidase and thats a glycoside hydrolase enzyme. It is frequently found as an antigenic glycoprotein and is found on the surface of the Influenza virus. They use these two markers to type the strain of influenza virus, along with other information to make it more specific, such as first species its found in, the different species of flu virus (A, B or C) and even the country of origin.

"I say we roll them in there and nerve gas the whole fucking nest"
After the Spanish flu pandemic, successive pandemics have had smaller footprints in terms of deaths and cases reported. This has been put down to better response with antibiotics to control secondary infections in the post Spanish Flu years. These days we also have vaccinations (up yours Jim Carrey!) to help us fight the good fight, thanks to the US Army who after losing thousands of men in the first world war, developed a vaccine for use in the 1940's. That has continued on to today where we have Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere vaccine that is updated every year with the most prevalent strains. It is seen here in NZ as the injection of the dead virus strains that we can get for free if we are in the high risk categories and some employers pay for it if they are nice.

The best defence is a good offence
The best way to avoid the flu is, well, luck I suppose. There's no real way to avoid the little bastard, but you can lessen the odds. The virus is more predominant in winter, and although there's a few good hypothesis's no-ones exactly sure why. So during winter, be extra vigilant about your personal hygiene. Stay away from people in the 2nd and 3rd day of infection as they are at their peak of infection, and stay infectious for up to 10 days. Its an airborne and contact virus so when you cough and sneeze (if you've caught the blighter), save others by doing it into a snot-rag or tissue. Children are more infective that adults, giving off the virus up to 2 days before exhibiting symptoms and remaining infectious for up to 2 weeks after.

Your best bet is to take to the hills and live in a cabin for a few months every year. But remember, birds and other animals such as pigs carry the flu, so if its a choice of living in a hut being a vegan for months at a time, or flu for 10 days, I'll take the flu thanks.

So bugger all you can do about it really. Grin (or grimace) and bear it. Stock up on tissues, lemons and DVD's, and prepare to endure a visit from your favourite friend - the Flu.

More info check the following :

MOH Website - Ministry of Health NZ
Wikipedia - for more information that you'll ever understand
Facts and figures for New Zealand - lots of up to the week reports on how the flu and other diseases are progressing in NZ.

Best News in Ages – Top Gear is BACK.

That’s right, I just found out that Top Gear is back on our screens this week; well it is if you live in England. For those of us that live outside the homeland we have to find other ways to keep up-to-date. But that is beside the point. The point is that we will have the gang back, Jeremy will no doubt be power sliding flash cars shouting “power”, the Hamster will be polishing his teeth and James May will be going slow.

Top gear is undoubtedly the best show on TV, it is funny, dangerous, intelligent, stupid and outrageous all at once. Even members of the fairer sex like the show (probably has something to do with Richard Hammond), my wife finds it funny. The 1st episode of season 11 is on BBC2 on June 22 and will feature a Ferrari F430 Scuderia.

On related news Jalopnik just announced that BBC America have cast the presenters of the US version of Top Gear which will be produced by NBC. They are Adam Carolla who is know for been on the Manshow with Jimmy Kimmel, Tanner Frost who apparently is a well known rally driver and drift racer, and a chap called Eric Stromer who is a TV construction type guy. I have to say that I am cynical about this as half the reason that the British version works is because they are all former journalists or radio personalities that have an unbridled passion for the motorcar but mostly because they are all seriously good mates. I don’t know, maybe it will take a while for the US team to gel and become popular. It will be interesting to see who the guests in the reasonably priced car will be, what with being in the US where most of the famous people in the world hang out.
Jay Leno pulled out of the project saying "it would be impossible to re-create or live up to the standards of the British show."
No word yet as to when the US version will air, only to say that the pilot is currently being filmed.
Top Gear Season 11 trailers (click the link and then select from the options)
Trailer 1
Trailer 2
Bloopers and Uncut.

RIP Stan Winston. 1946-2008

This is sad news. Stan Winston has passed away at the age of 62 after a 7 year battle with multiple myeloma, a type of cancer. Winston had a prolific career in the special effects arena and created many icons of modern cinema. He regularly worked with the likes of James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton and was directly responsible for the practical effects in films such as the Terminator, Aliens and Jurassic Park.

Winston won four Oscars in a career that spanned over 40 years. The Visual effects Oscar went to Winston and his team for Aliens, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park and he also won one for makeup for Batman Returns.
It was Stan Winston that gave the Predator the classic facial mandibles and enabled James Cameron to recognise the monster puppet that was used to bring the Alien Queen to life.
Close friend Arnold Schwarzenegger had this to say:

"The entertainment industry has lost a genius, and I lost one of my best friends with the death Sunday night of Stan Winston. Stan's work and four Oscars speak for themselves and will live on forever. What will live forever in my heart is the way that Stan loved everyone and treated each of his friends like they were family."

The film industry has truly lost a great person with a great imagination. Few people have influenced the design of films like Stan and he will be sorely missed.

RIP Stan Winston. 1946-2008

The Happening, and why it sucks balls

M. Night Shyamalan's latest flick has hit the screens and apparently nearly everyone thinks its crap. Check out the reviews its getting at Rotten Tomatoes where they think "People drop dead; remain more animated than Wahlberg". Not surprising really - all his movies except the 6th Sense have sucked in my opinion. The latest claim is that his new flick The Happening is a bare faced proponent of Intelligent Design, that lovely religious movement trying to cram the Bible into everyone's science class. But is it?

I'll go on record as saying I've never seen this movie, and I never will. M. Night Shyamalan's ability at writing good screenplays has degraded to such an extent that the endings are no longer unpredictable and subtle, but are more likened to the end to a torturous session on the toilet after 3 solid days of eating bran. His last three films Signs, The Village and Lady in the Water have all been differing degrees of awful - so much so that I ignored Lady in the Water completely after reading a synopsis.

His latest foray in movie crappiness, the Happening, is according to some people a thinly veiled attempt at endorsing ID. But is this all that surprising? It a well know fact that MNS is down with the g.o.d. and a quick look over his past films shows the themes and motivations behind all his screenplays and what they all have in common.


Praying with Anger (1992) - young man returns to home country, finds god and stops riot by preaching.

Wide Awake (1998) - 10 year old boy seeks God, has crisis of faith, finds god again.

The Sixth Sense (1999) - boy sees ghosts, Bruce Willis tries to help him sort out his life. Surprising lack of god.

Unbreakable (2000) - Bruce Willis and Sam Jackson talk a lot, and find out they are super heroes. god had nothing to do with it.

Signs (2002) - In a return to form, MNS has fellow god botherer Mel Gibson as a priest in a crisis of faith save his farm from invading aliens by believing in god.

The Village (2004) - people in olde village terrorised by boogie man (just a man in a suit, much like christianity) find out they are living in big olde theme park because of all the godlessness in the world.

Lady in the Water (2006) - MNS takes peyote, loses his freaking mind and makes a weird film about story monsters coming alive. god does not appear in this film, all though was originally on the billing, and replaced at later stage by nargles from Harry Potter. Kills film critic in movie in vain hope that life imitates art.

The Happening (2008) - MNS hires fellow god botherer Marky Mark to be a science teacher who spouts crap like "evolution is just a theory", and "spontaneous evolution". Turns out everyone is dying in the film because god is mad at us, so he makes the plants turn bad.


Oh well, lets hope he "see's the light" so to speak and makes a better movie next time. I'm not holding my breath.

Quack Health Part 2 : Vaccinations and why famous people should be ignored

Jim Carrey - Ace Ventura, bizarre bodily contortionist style comedian, and an actor who has made several highly entertaining movies.

Charlie Sheen - Hot Shots star, Hot Shots 2 star and Wall Street star. All round prolific actor who has made more movies than I've had hot dinners.

Jenny McCarthy. Um....who? Oh that’s right – the playboy chick.

What do these three have in common? Are they aliens? Are they Anti-Vaccine proponents? Are they out of their freaking minds? Yes. Yes they are. Well, except the bit about the aliens.

I never understood why we put people such as this on a pedestal outside of their given field. Sure they have great acting talent, and they make us laugh, but how exactly does that translate into intelligence or knowledge? We idolise these people for evoking emotion on the silver screen, and I don’t have an issue with that. I admire and envy people for their acting talent just like I admire the All Blacks for their rugby skill. You watch them and think “Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to do that?” But that’s where it ends and that’s where it should end. Just because someone is talented in one field, does not automatically infer talent in another.

More and more often now we see movie stars and musicians making bat shit crazy pronouncements (I'm looking at you Tom) and it seems to be expected of everyone to say "Well he was in that movie with the dolphin, so he must be right!" Media saturation of these so called A-list celebs has lead many people to jump on just about any bandwagon, regardless of the cause. “I mean, look at the winning smile - surely someone who smiles so well couldn't possibly be wrong?”
Fame is not a substitute for intelligence, or critical thinking. If there is no evidence to support a claim, made by anyone, then it can be relegated to the waste heap of bullshit, cast out by the trowel of fact finding, and buried under the mounds of wooly thinking.

I don't have a beef with people believing weird things - no no, really I don't. If you believe that theres a omnipotent beardy weirdy in the sky, wtching your every molve, judging you against some shifting code of morals, and listening to your thoughts – go for gold. I will add the rider that if people state these beliefs, and try and coerce others to sing along, I reserve the right to ridicule them if there's no evidence to back them up. And that's where the three aforementioned actors come in.

Charlie Sheen has recently told his ex-wife Denise Richards that he will sue the doctor if she asks him to vaccinate their children. Yes, he is more concerned with his kooky ideas that vaccines have a link to Autism, than the benefits of vaccination. Rather than investigating the information at hand, and having even a remote grasp of reality, he is forcing his beliefs on his children who now will have no protection against measles, mumps or rubella. Has he ever seen a child with mumps? Wouldn’t he want to do anything in his power to avoid having his children go through that? I for one hope Denise tells him to shove it, and gets it done anyway.

Jenny McCarthy had a baby boy in 2002, and she stated on Oprah in 2007 that he had been diagnosed with autism. This, in no uncertain terms, sucks. I have no idea who Jenny McCarthy is, what she's like as a person, or how she performs as a mother, but I don't wish Autism on my worst enemy. It’s hard on the parents, and must be hell for the poor kids. And when you are in that unenviable position, you must be desperate to find someone to blame, someone to take the rap, and something you can point the finger of blame squarely at and say "that's the root cause of all my problems". That's a pretty common response - whenever something goes wrong, everyone wants to find that one root cause that started it all and squash it. Bush invaded Iraq because of the WMD's. Petrol prices keep rising because the US invaded Iraq. Autism cases are on the rise because more children get vaccines now than ever before.

But life is never that simple. When was the last time something that was subject to so many variables ever had a single root cause? A good analogy I think is the Coke and Mentos experiments. When people started firing Mentos into Diet Coke causing fountains of froth, people began to wonder why so much bang for such a little sweet? It was assumed to begin with that the substance in the sweet (gum arabic) and the carbonation of the Diet Coke was the root cause of the violent chemical reaction. This sounds plausible, until you actually do a bit of science and test it. If you throw a Mentos into soda water, the reaction is not that great, which means it ain't just carbonation or gum arabic. So individual testing of each Diet Coke ingredient plus the Mentos sweet showed that not one, but ALL of the ingredients played a role in the fountain effect. But there was something else - when one of the flavoured versions of Mentos was used, virtually no reaction was seen at all. This meant there must have been a difference between the flavoured and mint Mentos. And there was - the physical properties of the Mentos was found to be pitted, as opposed to the flavoured one which was smooth. This meant that the sweet had millions of nucleation sites, causing a sudden and violent out gassing of the CO2 in the Diet Coke. The point that I make here is that although we automatically assume one or two root causes for things, its often never that simple. In fact, when some outcome has several possible variables acting on it, you can guarantee the answer will most likely not be just one of the aforementioned variables. Something that only repeated and reliable testing can prove.

Jenny McCarthy however, decided not to take a scientific approach to discovering the cause of her sons Autism. She has linked his autism with his MMRI (Measles, Mumps and Rubella Inoculation) vaccination at the age of 15 months. I cannot say where she got this idea from, but its fair to say there's plenty of kook's out there peddling their stupidity, waiting for anyone to buy into it. And when you feel aggrieved like Jenny probably did, its a safe bet to say it was an attractive idea to blame the vaccine.

She, and her partner Jim Carey, have organised a group to protest against vaccinations called "Green our Vaccines" who's mantra is "pro-safe vaccines", but is pretty obviously leaning towards the anti-vaccine crowd. They are not alone in this idea that vaccines cause autism. Plenty of kooks and weirdos have come out of the woodwork over the last few years stating that they "know" there is a link, and big Pharma or the Government are conspiring to cover it all up. So what the hell are they on about? Here's a quick run down of their arguments

Too Many Vaccines at once
A popular argument is that there are too many vaccines given to children under the age of two. This began when a study of 12 children was done in England by Andrew Wakefield, who suggested a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Subsequent peer reviews failed to support the hypothesis, and the CDC, along with the UK NHS have both concluded there is no link between Autism and the MMR vaccine.
Another variant of this is that anti-vacciner's say that too many at once will deplete the immune system, allowing other diseases to take hold where they may not have. The biggest problem with this hypothesis is that there is no correlation between the admittances to hospital or doctor visits, and vaccinations.

Thiomersal
An organomercury preservative used in vaccines since the 1930's, it is claimed there is a direct link between the mercury content of the vaccine and Autism. To date, there has been no reputable study that has concluded a link between Thiomersal and Autism.

Aluminium
Compounds containing Aluminium are used as immunologic adjuvants in vaccines, and there have been several recent studies into adverse effects of these compounds. All have come back with results showing no adverse effects.

We don't need no stinking vaccine
Some critics of the vaccines say that we don't really need to be vaccinated in the western world, and that all the major diseases always only break out in areas of high poverty, overcrowding and poor sanitation. This, however, is utter crap. We have outbreaks of disease such as measles every year in every developed country, and if immunisation rates weren't as high as they were, we would be in a lot more shit than we are now. heres a excerpt from an open letter to the US Government from a heap of US health and science groups :

A decision not to vaccinate is not just an individual decision. Because these diseases are spread from person to person, the decision to leave a child unvaccinated not only leaves that child susceptible to vaccine-preventable diseases, but permits the spread of those diseases to the surrounding community, including infants too young to be immunized and those suffering from immunodeficiency conditions. The ongoing measles outbreaks across the nation are a clear, current example. In each instance, the outbreak was started by an unimmunized individual who spread the infection to others, including children whose parents had opted not to have them immunized and infants less than one year of age who were too young to have received measles vaccine.

Its all bollocks. The fact (and I emphasise the word fact) is that there have been no scientific links between autism and inoculation programmes. None. Nada. Zip. There have been several studies done into a possible link and every single one has come up negative. There is no evidence. Not a single shred has ever been produced that can prove a link between Autism and vaccinations.

But that doesn't stop the anti-vaccine crowd, oh no. All these bastards do is drum up fears in already nervous parents, who then make ill-informed decisions about their children putting not only them at risk, but everyone else in the community as well. Parents are supposed to make decisions based on the best welfare for their children, and they cant do that if whack jobs like Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey are all over the TV saying crap like "don't immunise your child or they might become autistic!". Its annoying, its dishonest and its dumb. Like Orac said, I didn't know Dumb and Dumber was a documentary.

The only thing I can take heart from all of this, is that the number of people who believe there is an Autism-Vaccine link is still very small. A majority of people still understand the principles behind vaccination, and agree that the risk of complications during immunization are far lower than the risk of catching one of the diseases if you are not immunised, and that there is a large risk of even small percentages of the community not being immunised. As long as we take care not to listen to idiots like Jenny and Jim, and think a bit more skeptically about this sort of stuff, we'll all come through ok.

For more information check out these sites :

Science Blogs - Oracs Insolence
Autism News Beat
Science Based Medicine
AutismDiva - Autism : Its not like you think
Evidence Based Medicine

Blow Up Doll Gets Quick Ride To Work - No Pun Intended

Here in New Zealand just like most other countries there are issues with traffic congestion, especially Auckland which is the largest city. Some drivers have been coming up with some novel ways to beat the transit lane rules that have been put in place to reward those who carpool. Those who have three or more people in a car are allowed to drive in the same lanes as buses, taxis and motorbikes therefore making their journey shorter by up to fifteen minutes. Some enterprising commuters have started taking their blow-up dolls to work in an effort to make it look like they carrying the allotted amount of passengers.

Blow up dolls, mannequins and medium sized dogs dressed in children’s clothes have all been employed by drivers trying to get to work quicker. I commend them for thinking of ways to beat the rules but they should really just get more real people in the car. Drivers that get caught are fined NZ$150 and are usually caught by officers standing on the side of the road noting down registration plate numbers. They first noticed something was wrong when cars were stopping at lights had passengers that were not moving.

At least if it is a quiet day at work then there is something to do to break the monotony.

"There were some odd people that tried these antics," said North Shore city council officer Andre Dannhauser

Check out the video from one of our local news broadcasters who reported this after Reuters broke the story.

News Video

The Emperor : Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb

Some people have ordinary workstations, 1 monitor, crappy post-it notes all over everything, and more crap than you can shake a stick at. Well screw that. From now on, we should ALL be issued with new workstations from Novelquest, designed by Patrick Laflamme Duval. Modelled after a scorpion, the tail section rises up to let the user be seated, and then descends again with "the three monitors at the perfect height and angle for perfect viewing comfort". Nice. Click on the image left to embiggen.



NovelQuest via Gizmodo

Guns are bad m'kay

Ah yes, guns are useful for only one thing. Putting successively larger holes in things to make sure they go away. But its looks like we've found another use - comedy! Yes for every able gun toting marksman out there, we also have the dimwits and idiots who forget the principle rules of firearms - don't point it at anything you don't want to die, and don't forget the safety. Check out the vid after the jump for a Benny Hill inspired look at all those people who should NOT have a gun. Darwin would be proud.

Those wacky Creationists!

Ever wondered what's inside the temple of stupidity that is the Creationist Museum in Kentucky? Ever felt like having a peek but aren't willing to shell out the dolleros to fund the fundies? Well wonder no more, and don't bother going - demonbaby has done a fairly huge write up on his site, covering all the bases and checking out the gift shop too. I heartily recommend you take a visit to his blog and read what he has to say. Clear, humorous and chock full of fruits/nuts.

Exploring The Creation Museum - America's New Mecca of Fanatical Ignorance
[Currently Going To: Hell]

Two Eyed Brown Snake vs One Eyed Trouser Snake

In a clash of the titans match up reminiscent of Ali vs Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle, a man was bitten on the wanger by a snake in Laura, 300km north of Cairns in north Queensland, Australia. It happened a few weeks ago, and because its the outback, these things take time to come to the attention of anyone else. Mr Zutt said he had crouched down by the side of the road to take a dump when the attack took place.

"I squatted down – I reckon I must've nearly sat on his head," he said.
"As soon as I felt it, I yelled. As would anyone I reckon - any guesses what he was yelling?

Arrrrrrgh fuuuuuuuck!

Fair suck of the sav, a snakes bit me willy!

Strewth, look at the size of that snake. Oh no hang on, its me old fella.

Mr Zutt was also quoted as saying "It really hurt." One would imagine so. He said he tried to remain calm as he inspected the damage. "He got me about halfway down," he said. "I saw fang marks and a bit of blood come out."

Ok - that's about all we need to hear really. Apparently he was taken to hospital where tests confirmed he had not been poisoned. On the way he had called his mum to say goodbye, preparing her for the worst. Not the nicest phone call to receive I imagine.

Oh hello Basil, hows the hunting trip going?
Well Mum, a snake just bit my John Thomas and I might be on my way out. Don't put it on my gravestone please.

His mates have been none too sympathetic either. "They've been saying things like `It was a trouser snake fight' and `He (the snake) saw the competition and got scared'," he said.

He said he would still venture to the outback but there would be no more "running through the bush barefoot and pig-hunting".

Bugger eh?

UPDATE : When the cubicle becomes just too much

I posted the other day about some cubicle freak going ballistic, and I mentioned that it looked quite real. Well, in another example of "don't believe everything you see on the internet" I've been told by the Internet that its a fake. Yes, irony is everywhere these days. Apparently its a viral marketing campaign for a new movie called Wanted with James MacAvoy and Angelina Jolie. Not quite sure exactly what the fuck the link between the two was supposed to be, but there you go. Obscure video links to obscure film. Who'da thought it eh.

Photo of Earth from Mars - Well done HiRISE

Oh my God the aliens are coming, run for the hills.... Aarrgghh!!!
Here is the best photo ever of the planet Earth taken from the orbit of Mars. This falls into the same realms as the photo that was taken recently of the Mars Phoenix lander descending to the Martian surface. Funnily enough both images were taken by the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and goes to show just how good that technology is.
So this is what we look like to an approaching invasion force, or to an alien race as it leaves our solar system after having its ass whipped by Will Smith.... Bigger picture after the jump.

This picture was taken on October 3, 2007, when Earth was 142 million kilometers away, that is amazing. It is similar to an image that was taken back in 2003 by the Mars Global Surveyor but this new image is a much better resolution.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Quack Health Part 1 : Insidious Advertising and Magnet Quackery

I normally try and ignore most advertising on the television. A majority of it holds no interest (toothpaste - it ain't that interesting), does not apply (do I really need another pair of high heels?), or is total bollocks (thanks whoever wrote the ad's for Dunedin). But tonight whilst watching the news and having a spot of dinner, I noticed an ad that has been on for quite some time and although I had noticed it in the past, I hadn't really paid much attention. But when I tuned in I realised it was an ad for good old, gen-eew-ine higgery pokery. Yes it was quack medicine from the 1800's, on prime time television.

Magnesleep, a product distributed by Body Magnetix for the duped masses all over New Zealand. Its their advertising we see most often, and certainly the one I notice the most, although I have seen others. I looked them up to see what they sold and what they claimed. Their website is decidedly unprofessional, and if I was purchasing something on this fact alone I wouldn't send them a cent. Their front page is full of good sales language - lots of descriptive words and emotion evoking, but little content or description of their actual product and its benefits. Here's a sample :

Imagine waking each day feeling better - refreshed, energized and ready to get into life. Imagine your aches and pains gone, your illnesses and injuries being eased away quickly and painlessly.

Sure - that's nice, but although they imply that's what their product does, they don't say it. Imagine this, imagine that - nice try but no substance.

It's not a dream! It's the reality you can enjoy, thanks to the amazingly effective magnetic therapy created by Magne-Sleep. We are magnetic therapy specialists, using only better quality magnets and manufacturing procedures. No short cut's - just better pain relief, better quality in every way.

Although they use the right words, they are still not really claiming to do anything other than what would be given by having a sleep in a warm bed (which is the wool part). "Magnetic Therapy specialists" = specialist in nothing. In fact, replace the word "magnetic" for "nothing" and its about right.

The next two paragraphs are much the same - no substance to the claims other than "Magnetic therapy has helped millions of people worldwide" and "Discover how magnetic therapy can make your life better, ease your aches, pains, illnesses and injuries and help you get the very best out of life". But how? Well, if you scroll past all the intro, past the prices for the products, past the guarantee (more disclaimer and refund policy) you get to a list of ailments this product is supposed to affect. here's the list :

ARTHRITIS, LOWER BACK PAIN, ASTHMA & ALLERGIES, ADHD, SKIN CONDITIONS, FIBROMYALGIA, DIABETES, SCIATICA, GOUT, MUSCLE SPASMS, LEG CRAMPS, BONE FRACTURES, INSOMNIA, STRESS & NERVOUS DISORDERS, SPORTS INJURIES, SPRAINS & STRAINS,CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME, CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME, HEADACHE & MIGRAINE, DEPRESSION LUPUS

Shit - is there anything it can't do? New Super bed blanket thing! Cures all ailments, feeds the hungry, makes you a cup of tea and leaps tall buildings in a single bound. Depression Lupus - I'm sad because I'm a werewolf? Ok - I couldn't help it. Lupus is apparently a very real condition with a lot of symptoms. I cant say I know a lot about it, so look it up on disease and medical sites if you are interested.

And what does the magic hoo-doo cost? Shitloads - from $190 for a single budget COTTON (not wool) version, and from $290 (single) to $429 (super king) woollen version. Compare that to a standard woollen underlay from a standard NZ supplier of $190 (single) to $350 (super king). And that's not the cheapest price I could find, merely the one I knew off the top of my head. So you pay an extra $70 to $100 for what? Some magnets.

If you look at any of these websites like Body Magnetix, Biomag, Biomagnetic, you will notice the same formula. There are plenty of vague claims about supposed health benefits, several key phrases like "ease your aches, pains, illnesses and injuries", "all without pills and potions" or "as viewed by leading Western medical practitioners and researchers". They use word play and advertising jargon to convince the unwary and people in pain that their product will cure their problems. They point to specific studies that back up their claims of magnetic therapy. They claim magnets increase circulation because blood has iron in it. They say things like "the magnetic force stimulates nerve-endings to improve blood flow to injured or swollen joints, causing the blood vessels to dilate". Hmm - really?

Pills and Potions
This is a standard advertising technique used by fringe medicine. If you used the word potions along with pills, it evokes negative connotations by drawing on peoples mental picture of alchemists and pre-1800 style quacks selling tonics at sideshows. Ironically, this is exactly their area of trade and they apply it to science based medicine to give it a negative spin.

"Studies have shown"
Really? Which ones? These website make major claims and don't back them up with any evidence whatsoever. I will steal a few paragraphs from the Silly Beliefs site...

The following is typical of proponents of magnetic therapy:

The positive effects of magnetic treatment have been confirmed by clinical tests and are recognized by modern medical science around the world.

Do you believe these claims, and if you do, why? What clinical tests support magnetic therapy and since when has modern medical science proscribed a treatment of magnets? Since they provide no real evidence whatsoever that their claims are in fact true, this statement is worthless, just as worthless as the following claims that I might make:

'The positive effects of treatment using Eskimo magic has been confirmed by clinical tests and is recognized by modern medical science around the world'.

Or how about this one:

'Many scientists believe the Moon is made out of green cheese, and suppressed government files support this belief'.

These examples clearly demonstrate that saying something is true does not make it so. Magnetic therapy proponents can make bogus claim after bogus claim on their websites and in their promotional brochures, but this doesn't mean there is any truth to them. They can claim that science and research supports their claims, just like I can claim Eskimo magic works and that the moon is made of green cheese, but you shouldn't believe either of us until we provide supporting evidence.

A double-blind test study - apparently.
Some sites actually refer to a study conducted at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston on which people who had suffered Polio as a child and had pain related to that illness were treated with magnetic therapy. Although the results of that one pilot study of 50 people showed a statistically significant result in favour of magnet therapy, there were several major problems with the study, and the results have never been accepted as proof of the efficacy of magnets, except by the Magnet Salesmen. The key phrase here is "pilot study" - it was never a full blown test. The authors themselves acknowledge that the study was a "pilot study." Pilot studies are done to determine whether it makes sense to invest in a larger more definitive study. They never provide a legitimate basis for marketing any product as effective against any symptom or health problem.
Every other scientific study conducted within double blind testing, and large groups has shown there is no effect from magnets of the size marketed by the woo merchants like Biomag, Magnesleep and other such conmen.

So in conclusion what more do I need to say? Its pretty clear that there's no evidence to support any of this mumbo jumbo, but it continues to be pushed onto the unsuspecting public here in NZ. I think the Government should make these guys put up or shut up - scientifically prove that what you are selling has an effect on the diseases you claim to cure, or fuck off. They fleece the unsuspecting public for millions every year, and should be subject to the same kind of rigorous testing all other medicines go through.

See these websites for an even more in depth dissection of Magnet Therapy and its false claims.

Silly Beliefs - Magnetic Therapy - Healing or Scam?
Magnetic Therapy: A Skeptical View

Clint Eastwood V's Spike Lee (I know who my money's on)

One of the greatest actors of all time and the one man that should be ruler of the universe has told Spike Lee to ‘Shut his face’. Clint Eastwood made the comment in regards to what Lee said about there being no African Americans in the veteran filmmakers war films Letters to Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers. If I was Spike Lee I’d be shitting myself about now as Clint is probably not someone I would want knocking on my front door with a .44 Magnum in hand.

The Dirty Harry star, turned director said that the film Flags of Our Fathers was about the chaps that raised the flag in the iconic photo taken at Iwo Jima by Joe Rosenthal, and it just so happened that there was no African Americans in the story he was telling. He went on to say about the black troops that were actually there:

“they didn't raise the flag. The story is 'Flags of Our
Fathers,' the famous flag-raising picture, and they didn't do that. If I go
ahead and put an African-American actor in there, people'd go, 'This guy's lost
his mind.' I mean, it's not accurate."

Mr Harry responded to Lee’s jibe with the simple line “A guy like him should shut his face."

A lot of films are made about historical events and most of them take a lot of liberties with the actual facts and the fact that there are few depictions of African Americans is a testament to Eastwood’s film making and Spike Lee’s lack of knowledge about the subject. The moral to this story really is don’t piss off the man with no name or he’ll eat you for breakfast.

Go Pale Rider.

Classic prank - as long as you ain't the prankee

Mentos and Diet Coke - has there been a better find in chemical and prank history after compressed air and the whoopee cushion? We've seen all manner of interesting things done from Mythbusters testing exactly what it is in the two substances that makes the violent reaction, to the guys on Youtube with their Coke\Mentos synchronised musical fountains. Lets not forget all the idiots eating mentos and drinking coke to "see what happens". Darwin would be proud. But its always interesting to see new and inventive ways to use old tricks. See after the jump for a neat, and messy way to entertain yourself and perhaps make a new enemy.












How To Build A Mentos And Diet Coke Booby Trap