:: GussetBLOG ::

:: Friday, December 11, 2009 ::

Pledge Wall

A message from Simon Singh:

“It has been 18 months since I was sued for libel after publishing my article on chiropractic. I am continuing to fight my case and am prepared to defend my article for another 18 months or more if necessary. The ongoing libel case has been distracting, draining and frustrating, but it has always been heartening to receive so much support, particularly from people who realise that English libel laws need to be reformed in order to allow robust discussion of matters of public interest. Over twenty thousand people signed the statement to Keep Libel Laws out of Science, but now we need you to sign up again and add your name to the new statement.

The new statement is necessary because the campaign for libel reform is stepping up a gear and will be working on much broader base. Sense About Science has joined forces with Index on Censorship and English PEN and their goal is to reach 100,000 or more signatories in order to help politicians appreciate the level of public support for libel reform. We have already met several leading figures from all three main parties and they have all showed signs of interest. Now, however, we need a final push in order to persuade them to commit to libel reform.

Finally, I would like to make three points. First, I will stress again - please take the time to reinforce your support for libel reform by signing up at www.libelreform.org. Second, please spread the word by blogging, twittering, Facebooking and emailing in order to encourage friends, family and colleagues to sign up. Third, for those supporters who live overseas, please also add your name to the petition and encourage others to do the same; unfortunately and embarrassingly, English libel laws impact writers in the rest of the world, but now you can help change those laws by showing your support for libel reform. While I fight in my own libel battle, I hope that you will fight the bigger battle of libel reform.”

Signed. View the pledge wall.

Labels: Freedom, Law, Liberty, science

:: Dan 11.12.09 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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THE IMPACT OF ENGLISH LIBEL LAW ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
A REPORT BY INDEX ON CENSORSHIP & ENGLISH PEN
9 OCTOBER 2009

BHA on BBC Consultation
"We want an end to the privileged status and position of religions and religious broadcasting by the BBC, and for some programmes about humanism or from a humanist perspective to be broadcast. In spite of legislation making clear that religions and beliefs, including non-religious beliefs such as Humanism, should be treated equally in terms of broadcasting, the BBC continues to resist doing so.
We want the BBC to fulfil its obligations and include Humanist programmes in its broadcasting!"

Radio 4 Front Row from Tues, available to stream for a week
"Lord Mandelson recently announced the government's plans for tackling illegal file sharing online. Under new measures, repeat offenders who ignore warning letters could have their internet connection removed. High-profile figures including Lily Allen and Radiohead's Ed O'Brien have been weighing into the debate over what approach the government and music industry should take to tackle the problem. Minister for Digital Britain Stephen Timms, CEO of UK Music Feargal Sharkey and Cory Doctorow, the journalist and supporter of copyright liberalisation, discuss the issues surrounding the file sharing debate."
Plus a report on Health & Safety vs cartoon violence.

Labels: Animation, Humanism, News, P2P, Politics, Religion, science

:: Dan 11.11.09 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Síle Lane on keeping libel laws out of science
Following Simon Singh's "Beware the Spinal Trap"
"We must ask why the cost of defending a libel case in England is 140 times the European average and why 90% of cases are won by the claimant."

It's heartening to know that at the Liberal Democrat party conference yesterday there was a fringe event on Defending Free Speech: Keep libel laws out of science.

Labels: Copyright, Freedom, Law, News, Politics, science

:: Dan 21.9.09 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Reposted in its entirety as part of a publicity effort against the chiropractic assheads trying to silence the brilliant science writer and thoroughly nice bloke, Simon Singh. Enjoy:

Beware the Spinal Trap

Some practitioners claim it is a cure-all, but the research suggests chiropractic therapy has mixed results – and can even be lethal, says Simon Singh.

This is Chiropractic Awareness Week. So let's be aware. How about some awareness that may prevent harm and help you make truly informed choices? First, you might be surprised to know that the founder of chiropractic therapy, Daniel David Palmer, wrote that, "99% of all diseases are caused by displaced vertebrae". In the 1860s, Palmer began to develop his theory that the spine was involved in almost every illness because the spinal cord connects the brain to the rest of the body. Therefore any misalignment could cause a problem in distant parts of the body.

In fact, Palmer's first chiropractic intervention supposedly cured a man who had been profoundly deaf for 17 years. His second treatment was equally strange, because he claimed that he treated a patient with heart trouble by correcting a displaced vertebra.

You might think that modern chiropractors restrict themselves to treating back problems, but in fact they still possess some quite wacky ideas. The fundamentalists argue that they can cure anything. And even the more moderate chiropractors have ideas above their station. The British Chiropractic Association claims that their members can help treat children with colic, sleeping and feeding problems, frequent ear infections, asthma and prolonged crying, even though there is not a jot of evidence. This organisation is the respectable face of the chiropractic profession and yet it happily promotes bogus treatments.

I can confidently label these treatments as bogus because I have co-authored a book about alternative medicine with the world's first professor of complementary medicine, Edzard Ernst. He learned chiropractic techniques himself and used them as a doctor. This is when he began to see the need for some critical evaluation. Among other projects, he examined the evidence from 70 trials exploring the benefits of chiropractic therapy in conditions unrelated to the back. He found no evidence to suggest that chiropractors could treat any such conditions.

But what about chiropractic in the context of treating back problems? Manipulating the spine can cure some problems, but results are mixed. To be fair, conventional approaches, such as physiotherapy, also struggle to treat back problems with any consistency. Nevertheless, conventional therapy is still preferable because of the serious dangers associated with chiropractic.

In 2001, a systematic review of five studies revealed that roughly half of all chiropractic patients experience temporary adverse effects, such as pain, numbness, stiffness, dizziness and headaches. These are relatively minor effects, but the frequency is very high, and this has to be weighed against the limited benefit offered by chiropractors.

More worryingly, the hallmark technique of the chiropractor, known as high-velocity, low-amplitude thrust, carries much more significant risks. This involves pushing joints beyond their natural range of motion by applying a short, sharp force. Although this is a safe procedure for most patients, others can suffer dislocations and fractures.

Worse still, manipulation of the neck can damage the vertebral arteries, which supply blood to the brain. So-called vertebral dissection can ultimately cut off the blood supply, which in turn can lead to a stroke and even death. Because there is usually a delay between the vertebral dissection and the blockage of blood to the brain, the link between chiropractic and strokes went unnoticed for many years. Recently, however, it has been possible to identify cases where spinal manipulation has certainly been the cause of vertebral dissection.

Laurie Mathiason was a 20-year-old Canadian waitress who visited a chiropractor 21 times between 1997 and 1998 to relieve her low-back pain. On her penultimate visit she complained of stiffness in her neck. That evening she began dropping plates at the restaurant, so she returned to the chiropractor. As the chiropractor manipulated her neck, Mathiason began to cry, her eyes started to roll, she foamed at the mouth and her body began to convulse. She was rushed to hospital, slipped into a coma and died three days later. At the inquest, the coroner declared: "Laurie died of a ruptured vertebral artery, which occurred in association with a chiropractic manipulation of the neck."

This case is not unique. In Canada alone there have been several other women who have died after receiving chiropractic therapy, and Professor Ernst has identified about 700 cases of serious complications among the medical literature. This should be a major concern for health officials, particularly as under-reporting will mean that the actual number of cases is much higher.

Bearing all of this in mind, I will leave you with one message for Chiropractic Awareness Week - if spinal manipulation were a drug with such serious adverse effects and so little demonstrable benefit, then it would almost certainly have been taken off the market.

Ben Goldacre of Bad Science explains the history of the legal case here and here.
Here are a couple of posts from Dave Gorman on the subject
See Jack of Kent's blog for updates on the legal case as well as many other important stories.
For example, he links to this Observer story citing mathematicians reluctance to speak out about banks in the wake of the recent crunch for fear of libel threats. If chiropractors can do it then the banks sure will.
See Sense About Science for the campaign to keep libel law out of science, including a list of places the article has been republished. Amusingly some of those are ad carrying sites which are now providing advertising for chiropractic services alongside the article.

The Skeptic website is also worth a read

Labels: Freedom, Law, News, science

:: Dan 30.7.09 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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With appolgies to PhysicsWeb for quoting verbatum but I know some of their stories are locked to non-registers users:

Should we ‘split wood, not atoms’?

By Hamish Johnston

If you visit rural North America in the winter you might be surprised by how many homes are heated by burning wood in sophisticated “dual-fuel” central heating systems.

But is this good for the environment?

Yes — as long as the wood comes from sustainably managed woodlots, according to Paul Grogan at Queen’s University in Canada.

Writing in the Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education, Grogan and colleagues claim that a woodlot 3.5 hectares in size would provide an average household with carbon-neutral heating in perpetuity.

The reason, of course, it that carbon given off by woodburning is offset by new growth in the woodlot.

The usual objection to such biofuels is that they are derived from nasty monocultures that displace food crops. Not so in Grogan’s calculation, which is based on a woodlot of native species — so it’s good for the local ecosystem.

And in many parts of North America — particularly in the East — the amount of native woodland is actually increasing as unproductive farmland is taken out of production. So food crops are not being displaced…

…or are they?

I’m guessing that some of this farmland is going out of production because it is cheaper to grow food in say Mexico and then truck it across North America — than it is to grow the same crop 50 miles from New York City.

So, should we ‘split wood, not atoms’ as that old hippy bumper sticker says?

Labels: Environment, science

:: Dan 17.7.09 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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The perfect formula for a talk, a review of Ben Goldacre’s presentation at Bristol’s Festival of Ideas. Wish I saw this now. Or that a transcript was online.
Check the Bad Science blog.

Labels: science

:: Dan 22.5.09 [Arc] [1 comments] ::
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Sociologists are too sceptical of science…

Labels: philosophy, Physics, science, sociology

:: Dan 13.3.09 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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"Turritopsis nutricula is a hydrozoan, and it’s considered by scientists to be the only animal that cheated death. They’re able to return to polyp stage due to a cell change in the external screen (Exumbrella), which allows them to bypass death. As far as scientists have been able to find out, this change renders the hydrozoa virtually immortal."

Labels: Ecology, science

:: Dan 11.12.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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"TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader."

Kevin Kelly: The Next 5,000 Days of the Web
"At the 2007 EG conference, Kevin Kelly shares a fun stat: The World Wide Web, as we know it, is only 5,000 days old. Now, Kelly asks, how can we predict what's coming in the next 5,000 days?"

Dan Dennett: Can we know our own minds?
"Philosopher Dan Dennett makes a compelling argument that not only don't we understand our own consciousness, but that half the time our brains are actively fooling us."

Deborah Gordon: How do ants know what to do?
"With a dusty backhoe, a handful of Japanese paint markers and a few students in tow, Deborah Gordon digs up ant colonies in the Arizona desert in search of keys to understanding complex systems."

Labels: ants, Ecology, philosophy, science, web 2.0, web 3.0

:: Dan 7.12.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Betraying the fact that I was away on work most of last week the yawning gap in posts is now filled with a link dump of Radio 4 listening and Independent articles that I collected whilst on the road:

The Moral Maze - Should a person's political views ever disqualify them from doing a job?

"This week the Moral Maze asks should a person's political views ever disqualify them from doing a job?

"Some members of the BNP in professions like the police and prison service, face losing their job after the leaking of the party's membership list. While others, for example, teachers will not.

"Where do we draw the lines over freedom of belief and expression?

"Should we have a right not to be offended or have we lost our nerve over freedom of expression and are we becoming a more intolerant, illiberal society?"

Very interesting listening, it's a massive grey area. I found myself sat in a carpark for 20min listening to this as I didn't want to miss any of it when I was checking into a hotel.

Woman found guilty in 'cyber-bully' case

"A housewife who posed as a teenage boy to send hostile emails to a neighbour's daughter was found guilty yesterday of several minor charges related to the "cyber-bullying" that prompted the girl's suicide.

"The case made legal history because it revolved around charges that Ms Drew lied on the fake MySpace profile, violating the site's terms of service which require users to provide "truthful and accurate" registration information.

"Ms Drew had throughout the trial denied that she was using her computer when the fateful, final message to Megan was sent. While she knew of the existence of "Josh Evans", she claimed the hostile emails were sent by her daughter, Sarah, and several friends."

Yes, that's right. Blame your own daughter. Nice one.
RIP

The phone that says bling bling

"Frank Nuovo cradles in his palm what is, if not the world's most costly mobile phone, then perhaps its most elegantly conceived. It's the Vertu Boucheron 150, designed by Nuovo himself, a dapper, serious Californian whose passion for his product is entirely unapologetic. Formerly head of design at Nokia, he is the founder and chief designer of Vertu, the world's leading maker of luxury mobile phones."

I commented on these back in 2005 and apparently showed myself to be a lowlife (see comments). My opinion hasn't changed.


Crusher
Originally uploaded by gusset.

How turtles got their shells

"The fossilised remains of an ancient reptile that lived 220 million years ago may have solved the puzzle of how the turtle got its shell and, in the process, cleared up one of the most enduring mysteries of animal evolution.

"The latest discovery, made by palaeontologists excavating in China's fossil-rich province of Guizhou, shows that the shell of the turtle evolved from bony growths that expanded from the spine and ribs, rather than the merging of bony plates found in the skin of some reptiles."

Labels: evolution, Fashion, Law, Liberty, science, Secuirty

:: Dan 2.12.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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César A Hidalgo - Thinking outside the cube on physicsworld.com
"The discovery that many complex systems are actually well structured networks has not only changed the landscape of physics, but also how we visualize patterns in science."

See some of César's visualisations on his own website.


[large]

Labels: Art, Maths, Physics, science, Visuals

:: Dan 2.12.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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A previously unknown arsenic-loving bacteria may provide a way to keep one of Canada's most toxic sites from poisoning one of the country's largest lakes and river systems ... "We found bacteria that will grow below 10 degrees. You could theoretically use them to help remove arsenic completely from water."

Labels: Environment, science

:: Dan 15.9.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Sarcasm Seen as Evolutionary Survival Skill

Please forgive the lengthy quote:

"Evolutionary biologists claim that sociality is what has made humans such a successful species. We are masters at what anthropologists and others call "social intelligence." We recognize and keep track of hundreds of relationships, and we easily distinguish between enemies and friends.

More important, we run our lives by social calculation. A favor is mentally recorded and paid back, sometimes many years later. Likewise, insults are marked down on the mental score card in indelible ink. And we are constantly bickering and making up, even with people we love.

Sarcasm, then, is a verbal hammer that connects people in both a negative and positive way. We know that sense of humor is important to relationships; if someone doesn't get your jokes, they aren't likely to be your friend (or at least that's my bottom line about friendship). Sarcasm is simply humor's dark side, and it would be just as disconcerting if a friend didn’t get your snide remarks.

It's also easy to imagine how sarcasm might be selected over time as evolutionarily crucial. Imagine two ancient humans running across the savannah with a hungry lion in pursuit. One guy says to the other, "Are we having fun yet?" and the other just looks blank and stops to figure out what in the world his pal meant by that remark. End of friendship, end of one guy's contribution to the future of the human gene pool.

Fast forward a few million years and the network of human relationships is wider and more complex, and just as important to survival. The corporate chairman throws out a sarcastic remark and those who "get" it laugh, smile, and gain favor. In the same way, if the chair never makes a remark, sarcastic people are making them behind his or her back, forming a clique by their mutually negative, but funny, comments. Either way, sarcasm plays a role in making and breaking alliances and friendship."

[via sarcasmom]

Labels: Humour, psychology, science

:: Dan 17.7.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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'A psychology researcher has controversially claimed that stupidity is causally linked to how likely people are to believe in God. ...

That professional skeptics don't believe in a creator is perhaps not all that surprising. [University of Ulster professor Richard] Lynn argues, however, that it is their intelligence that directly gives rise to the boffinated classes' non-God-bothering tendencies. He said: "Why should fewer academics believe in God than the general population? I believe it is simply a matter of the IQ. Academics have higher IQs than the general population."

Lynn pointed out that most children do believe in God, but as their intelligence develops they tend to have doubts or reject religion. Similarly, as average IQ in Western societies increased through the 20th century, so did rates of atheism, he said.'

Labels: News, Religion, science

:: Dan 16.6.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Jesus Could Have Walked on Ice

Rare conditions could have conspired to create hard-to-see ice on the Sea of Galilee that a person could have walked on back when Jesus is said to have walked on water, a scientist said today.

The study, which examines a combination of favorable water and environmental conditions, proposes that Jesus could have walked on an isolated patch of floating ice on what is now known as Lake Kinneret in northern Israel.

Looking at temperature records of the Mediterranean Sea surface and using analytical ice and statistical models, scientists considered a small section of the cold freshwater surface of the lake.

The results suggest temperatures dropped to [-4 degrees C] during one of the two cold periods 2,500 –1,500 years ago for up to two days, the same decades during which Jesus lived.

Labels: Environment, Literature, Religion, science

:: Dan 22.4.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Futurist Ray Kurzweil Pulls Out All the Stops (and Pills) to Live to Witness the Singularity
Ray Kurzweil, the famous inventor ... is attempting to travel across a frontier in time, to pass through the border between our era and a future so different as to be unrecognizable. He calls this border the singularity. Kurzweil is 60, but he intends to be no more than 40 when the singularity arrives.

Labels: science

:: Dan 29.3.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Goatlab Radio with Dan Gusset, Ana Kissed and special guest James Binray - Jan 2008 [60MB MP3]
Tracklist:

• Robot Ninja Dinosaur Bastards - Come and Get Demented with the Dino Bastards (Wrong Music)
  
• Bernard Cribbins - Gossip Calypso
  
• Datach'i - I'm Not Afraid To Watch You Die (Planet Mu)
  
• Frog Pocket - Heavy Grunts (Planet Mu)
  
• Jimmy Soul - If You Want To Be Happy For The Rest of Your Life
  
• Bogdan Raczynski - Lowlands (Rephlex)
  
• Portishead - Machine Gun (ATP bootleg)
  
• The Tuss - Shiz Ko E (Rephlex)
  
• Lily Allen - Smile (acoustic)
  
• Hot Roddy - Crust Mantle Hell (Wrong Music)
  
• Phthalocyanine - Breakfast Beer (Planet Mu)
  
• DJ Lumpy's Penis Song (title not known)

I was feeling ill for this one so it's a bit more downbeat this month. Sorry to Chris Cook (Hot Roddy) who I couldn't remember what other artist name he went by, as his Same Actor work eluded me temporarily.)

WoBcast Unplugged - The return of the West of Bastard podcasts with DJ Lumpy, Andrewherring and Juxtaposeur. Worth the download for The Bony King of Nowhere from Bagpuss, Maypole (the oldest song in the English language, as heard in the Wicker Man soundtrack) and Destroying Something Beautiful's beautifully fragile acoustic version of Word Up.

Grimonmbiet: The best of 2007 mix [direct download and torrent]

CERN Poscast
Thanks to Bristle for pointing this out in the comments to the previous post. A chat-show style podcast of people visiting the CERN Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, including the likes of Dean of Guildford Cathedral the Very Reverend Victor Stock, comedians Kevin Eldon and Simon Munnery, and Torchwood / Shark Attack 3: Megalodon star John Barrowman. I think this is about as internet as it gets. Even the greatest of the surrealists never dreamt of shit like this.

If you're interested in what's going on with Addict Records (as I mentioned in the Goatlab radio show) have a listen to Meatsock's interviews with Dan Doormouse [70MB MP3] and Billy Stunt Rock [51MB MP] he recorded for the whus.org show.

New net-lab releases "available to download today for zero pennies..."

NL35 - X&Trick - Planes, Trains and Highways
X&Trick on top form presenting his unique blend of Drum ‘n’ Bass, Industrial, Hardcore and Breakcore with plenty of fantastically obscure noises, thick bass and dischordant synths. Introduced by a collaborative track with Chevron, “Brighton”, each track on the release is recorded in a different location around the world and named accordingly. Dark, hard hitting and at times definitely summarising the euro/belgium scene, the release is also quite diverse, with the more melodic starting track through to “Dubai”, which is reminiscent of an Evol Intent / Current Value style dark drum and bass, and then completed by the pounding techno of “Gent”

NL36 - Mully - Dalston 2066
A collection of delicate pieces constrasting Mully’s previously heard style of work, each track an amalgamation of flowing melody, micro-beats, and ambience. Many of the tracks have a warm, contemplative feel, though also with a melancholy vibe throughout. “Icelandia” and “Beach” are definite first listen favorites, with tracks like “She Will Lose” that take a few more listens to really appreciate.

Labels: GoatLab, MP3, Physics, Sci-Fi, science

:: Dan 18.1.08 [Arc] [2 comments] ::
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Stephen Hawking LEGO

Labels: Lego, Physics, science

:: Dan 17.1.08 [Arc] [1 comments] ::
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I mentioned Trevor Cox's new acoustics programme on Radio 4 last week. If you missed it you can listen again here: The Sounds of Science.
[13MB MP3 from podcast]
The second (and final) programme is on tonight at 9pm GMT.

Labels: Acoustics, Radio4, science

:: Dan 31.10.07 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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I've always been bad with faces, and Mrs P very good with them Often when watching TV she'll point to obscure actor and say "Hey look, it's the guy that was in that episode of Voyager, where the..." etc. I usually have to wait for them to speak and then identify them by the voice rather than the looks.



I was flicking through a magazine the other day and found this photo. If it wasn't sat along side many other pictures of this famous person there’s no way I would have worked out who it was. So I covered the text underneath it and held it up to ask Mrs P if she knew who it was. She glanced away from World of Warcraft and said, "It's Courtney Love," then turned back to skinning some beast she had just slaughtered. But how did she know. "It's obvious; the lips, the eyes." I, on the other hand, am instantly fooled by something as simple as a hair colour change.

Then, in another magazine, I found this: Identity crisis. "We can all forget a face, but some people draw a blank when looking at their colleagues, friends, even their parents. Alanna Maltby — who once failed to recognise her boyfriend — reports."

I think I may have an acute form of prosopagnosia. At least I have an excuse now.

Labels: Personal, science

:: Dan 6.9.07 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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