Archive for category Skeptic
Tierney’s top 10 things you oughtn’t worry about
Tierney’s fun and often polarizing. His blog is fun to follow, especially the comments.
A quick response:
1: Killer hot dogs. I wasn’t worried.
2: AC in the car. I’ve had this debate with the neighbor. At highway speeds, it makes sense that, with all the newfangled car designs kids have today, rolling the windows down would increase drag. Scooting around town, however, you should suck it up and roll down the windows. Tierney neglects that side of the equation.
3: Foreign fruit. I hadn’t even really considered it before.
4: Cellphones causing cancer. I wasn’t worried. A woman I went to grad school with swore up and down her father’s neurosurgeon friend was seeing huge masses of huge masses in the skull above the ear. It never made sense to me (Why worry about non-ionizing radiation? I’m no expert of course, but nobody can explain to me how it works other than raising their voice that it must be so) and I chalked it up to the general EMF hysteria (that’s so unbelievable, Oh!). Later when I worked for neurosurgeons at Penn, I heard nary a peep about a supposed onslaught of cellphone-induced brain tumors. (In a somewhat related note, I met Ron Herberman this Spring while meeting with legislative types. I thought he was a nice fellow, but I think he’s talking before the science is in on this issue.)
5: Evil plastic bags. Sure, vs. paper, as Tierney states, “They generate less air and water pollution. And they take up much less space in landfills.” But they tend to look nasty as they hang from trees all winter long. Ick. I’m for plastic, my big reusable plastic IKEA bags. Cheaper than the wussy bags they sell at Trader Joe’s and about 8 times the volume.
6: BPA in bottles. I was worried. But to quote Tierney “Dose makes the poison.” I miss my Nalgene bottle.
7: Sharks. Yes, I know that, statistically, you’re more likely to die from dog bites and bee stings…but hell, I’m afraid of crap in the ocean that will eat me. I take pride from the fact that I recognize my fears are irrational. That is, at least I admit I’m nuts.
8: Melting ice. I wasn’t worried. Well, I was a little, but I was skeptical. Not of global warming, but skeptical of how it is reported.
9: The universe’s missing mass. I wasn’t worried. I figured if the universe collapses it’ll take it a little while. To be honest, I’d prefer the universe to contract on itself in the Big Crunch. The idea of the universe just petering out is almost more frightening. Gives me chills…which I guess is natural given all the entropy.
10: Unmarked wormholes. I wasn’t worried, but I am now. Thanks John.
Where’s the CERN Large Hadron Collider hysteria? (I asked the same in his comments section.) I guess John was looking for things that might happen this August, the first collisions aren’t supposed to happen until October. I do hope that I make it to my anniversary before the earth is sucked into a supermassive black hole…I’m looking forward to a dinner alone with the missus.
Set the alert status to Bizarre!
Posted by Grg in Science/Geek, Skeptic on Monday, July 14, 2008
British UFO sightings at ‘bizarre’ levels
That seems appropriate. I would expect bizarre levels of UFO sightings.
I’d quote from the article, but there’s not much “there” there. Same old, actually. Lights in the sky, etc.
UPDATE: Revenge of the h1 tag (in my browser, at least). Looks kinda cool though.
Strict standards for ghost hunters
Nearly all of the groups require people to fill out applications to join. No one interested in exorcising, or even taunting, the spirits need apply.
Former police officer Curt House said he will interview about a dozen of the 30 people who applied for his Clayton-area group, Triangle Paranormal Investigations. About five will be chosen.
Sample questions:
Can you use an electromag-netic field detector or a digital voice recorder — common equipment on hunts? Do you believe in ghosts?
“You’d be surprised how many people say ‘No,’ ” he said. “Just because you’re a fan doesn’t make you an investigator.”
Well, with such high standards, its a wonder how any one can join. Astronaut school must be easier.
Seriously, how come reporters never bother to ask people the evidence behind using emf detectors as de facto PKE meters>?
* I’ve been linking to Skeptoid/Brian Dunning a lot lately. Looking forward to seeing The Skeptologists, if the pilot catches on. They’re like the A-Team for Nerds, with Phil Plait as B.A. Baracus. Hmmm, maybe his initials stood for Bad Astronomer?
laer t’nsi hceeps esreveR
In this case, reverse speech advocates claim it is a way of looking into your subconscious. Dunning comes up with a reference I haven’t seen before (…if it is new to me…) that, while it might not explain the perceived phenomena, could help shade how we look at its practitioners.
The journal Science published an article in 1981 by Remez, Rubin, Pisoni, and Carrell called Speech perception without traditional speech cues. By playing what they called a “three-tone sinusoidal replica”, or a complicated sine wave sound, they found that people were able to perceive speech, when in fact there were no traditional speech sounds present in the signal. So rather than laughing at a reverse speech advocate, instead appreciate the fact that there is good science driving their perception of what they’re hearing. They’re not making anything up, they’re just unaware of the natural explanation for their phenomenon.
It is something of a theme — ooh, ooh, a pattern — that I’ve seen in recent years, where popular paranormal topics are given physiological explanations. That is, when we see shadow people, experience an out-of-body sensation, or believe we have past lives…it could be just faulty wiring in the brain. Not a mental problem, per se, just a epiphenomena of the way we’re put together, like blind spots.
Death Hysteria from the sky! A Peruvian mystery illness round-up
Posted by Grg in General stuff, Grg's Reference, Science/Geek, Skeptic on Thursday, September 20, 2007
There’s a new article (well, new to me) on Space.com from a Peruvian scientist who says it really is a meteorite and has, gosh darn it, actual evidence.
While I wouldn’t say it is the final word on the topic, it is the first report I’ve read that actually quotes scientists on site. It also clarifies some numbers: 200 people supposedly sickened, and the crater is 65 feet wide and 15 feet deep. Of course, these numbers fluctuate with every telling of the tale.
Jose Mechare, a scientist with Peru’s Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute, said a geologist had confirmed that it was a “rocky meteorite,” based on the fragments analyzed.
If it is good enough for Mechare, it is good enough for me. I guess by rocky, he means stony. He suggests that the meteorite impact could have led to water — or whatever chemical — vaporizing at the site, which might explain the illnesses.
That’s a nice theory, but it turns out there’s no sign of illness. In fact, I sense a big sign of vindication around here…
But a team of doctors sent to the isolated site, 3 1/2 hours travel from the state capital of Puno, said they found no evidence the meteorite had sickened people, the Lima newspaper El Comercio reported Wednesday.
Modesto Montoya, a member of the team, was quoted as saying doctors also had found no sign of radioactive contamination among families living nearby, but had taken blood samples from 19 people to be sure.
He said fear may have provoked psychosomatic ailments.
While, I can’t claim total victory for the mass hysteria idea, I do want to point out that most of the reporting involved here circled around a few (often highly) educated guesses — well, in addition to pure sensationalism. Here we have tons of media coverage surrounding an odd event in a remote place, with little in the way of first hand accounts. It pays to be skeptical.
Then again, this could just mean that space rocks can hypnotize! Everybody panic again!!!1!!1!!
The Skeptical Inquirer has a bit more on the delusions of crowds, with examples through history. For another example, although not specifically about mass hysteria, the Skeptic’s Dictionary, tells the tale of the Indian Monkey Man panic. Turns out, the perp was just a fakir.
Here are some “good” links (quotes to indicate link to Pravda) , on the story thus far, as reported.
Wiki has a good summary page on the goings on.
Yahoo/Space.com: A not-erroneous alternative explanation.
Pravda: Pravda means truth, nyet!
Space.com: Fodder for the space nerd demographic, a sci-fi twist.
It think it is safe to assume no zombies, for now. And if you’ll excuse me, I have to think of where I’m going to put all these cans of Chef Boyardee and boxes of shotgun shells.
…or nothing fell from the sky at all.
Posted by Grg in Dumb thoughts, General stuff, Science/Geek, Skeptic on Thursday, September 20, 2007
A couple features of the event reports suggest there was a space rock involved, said geophysicist Larry Grossman of the University of Chicago. The bright streak of light and loud bangs seen and heard by locals are consistent with a meteor streaking through Earth’s atmosphere, he said. Most meteors do burn up, never becoming meteorites (which is what they’re called if they reach the surface).
Because no one actually saw anything impact at the crater site, it’s hard to say whether a space rock was involved because they are often deceptive as to where they will land. Many times, people swear a meteor landed nearby when in fact it was so far away that it dipped below the local horizon but never actually struck the ground.
I think I’ll stick to mass hysteria, even if it is some geological feature. Still, much like the scientists quoted in this article, I’m basing my opinion on hearsay. The beauty of my theory is that it works for either meteorites or geysers — I somehow doubt the entire village walked over to the crater and got sick.
I think at this point, however, we may have to rule out zombie-death plague.
Speaking of mass hysteria…
Posted by Grg in Dumb thoughts, Skeptic on Thursday, September 20, 2007
The kicker is that warring factions within the US military brought it down, according to the article. Apparently these factions have held an uneasy truce since Warren Buffet negotiated a peace between America’s “war leaders” and its military “blocs.”
Well, allllrighty then…
Still, if you want a case study on how conspiracy nuts operate, just check out how the author links all sorts of disparate bits of information to form a sinister tale. For example, the fact that Barksdale Air Force base was where Bush was first sent on 9/11 and where the recent nuclear cruise missile incident occured, is Very Significant. The writer offers no reason why, but the fact that both things happened at Barksdale means they are somehow linked.
Space Bug, Solanum outbreak, or mass hysteria…
Posted by Grg in Dumb thoughts, Grg's Reference, Science/Geek, Skeptic on Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Over the weekend, a meteorite hit outside of a remote Andean town. Villagers claimed that the meteorite — which must have been fairly sizable to leave a 100 foot-wide crater — emitted a strange odor that sickened close to 600 people. They claim it caused headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. [link]
Now BoingBoing is citing Andromeda Strain. Instapundit (well a reader) alludes to a zombie exovirus. But, call me crazy, I’m putting my money on mass hysteria.
Now, admittedly, I’ve got no evidence to support this little. I’m just going by the account on MSNBC, but as much as I’d be geared toward a good zombie war, headaches and nausea are two common signs of mass hysteria.
A big freaking huge rock (100 foot-wide crater must have been some big bang) falls from the sky and I wouldn’t be surprised if a little panic didn’t set in. And not to pick on the poor Peruvians, either, because mass hysteria could and does happen everywhere. I mean, we tend to overlook hysterical episodes like epidemics of Satanic Ritual Abuse here, but laugh when we read that Africans think their schlongs are targets for evil magic.
Howstuffworks has a good column about the phenomena — coincidentally using an example of 600 “sick” Mexican girls. Here’s a news item from an episode from Belgium in 1999, where cases of illness far outweighed the possible effects of a contaminated batch of Coca-Cola.
Of course, this might be all wishful thinking on my part, since I’d rather people suffer mass hysteria than an alien death plague. (Zombie outbreak might be fun, but not anymore since having a kid. That said, the first Peruvian cannibal story I hear, I’m loading up on canned goods and firearms. )
Still, it isn’t beyond the realm of possibility to suppose that prion-like particles or even microbes could have ridden down from space. Let’s hope not.
However, going by the entirely a-scientific philosophy that life is always more interesting than you think but rarely more exciting — I’m going with the panicked populace theory. Of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t look both ways for the living dead before running out to the gym tomorrow morning.
Speaking of which, g’night!
UPDATE: Holy #$&! Glenn Reynolds linked to me, how cool is that. Hi Insta-readers!
Maybe I should blog about how my building’s security took away my 20 year-old swiss army knife this morning — even though, because I can’t find my ID, my bag has been going through the x-ray machine every morning for a week without incident. (Whoops, just did blog about it.) I think he’d like that kind of story. Funny part was how the guard couldn’t open the blade (I don’t think I’ve used the blade on that in ages) yet still insisted it was too long to pass through.
Years now of reading about similar incidents, I was sure they’d tazer my ass…or cause a bigger stink, at least. Turns out they’re just going to hold it until the end of the day, but they gave me a good finger-waggling lecture about how naughty it is to bring your Weeblos-era MacGyverknife to work. It is going to make it awkward to go out for lunch today…
UPDATE 2: UPDATE HARDER
According to this story, the crater is only 50 feet wide and only 150 people have been “sickened” by the deadly gas from the Martian tripod. But now, the story talks about skin lesions and luminous materials. Radioactive, perhaps?
Still, I’m sticking with mass hysteria until I see reports of Radioactive Incans flying over the countryside, murding thousands with their laser eyes.
Just like a gigolo, I ain’t experience no body
Posted by Grg in Grg's Reference, Science/Geek, Skeptic on Monday, August 27, 2007
Here’s a reference-y bit for me: a NYT article reports on inducing Out-of-Body experience. And here, from the Telegraph. While not conclusive, of course, it does add to the ever-growing body of evidence that many supposedly paranormal things are simply due to the problems in the hard-wiring of our brains.
Basically, researchers induce an OBE by decoupling the sense of sight from their physical body through virtual reality goggles. (Oh wait, did I say basically?)
Money quote in the telegraph article from reformed parasychologist Susan Blackmore:
Dr Susan Blackmore, University of the West of England, commented: “Scientists have long suspected that the clue to these extraordinary, and sometimes life-changing, experiences lies in disrupting our normal illusion of being a self behind our eyes, and replacing it with a new viewpoint from above or behind. By using virtual reality techniques they have now shown that the feeling of being out of the body can actually be induced this way. This adds to previous work inducing OBEs in epileptics using direct brain stimulation, and extends it to healthy volunteers.
“Finding out that OBEs are a perfectly natural phenomenon does not prove there is no astral body, or soul, or spirit, but it certainly makes their invention superfluous. OBEs should be understood, not as evidence for the supernatural or life after death, but as a fascinating and exciting experience that potentially we can all have. Nothing really leaves the body in an OBE but the experience is no less interesting for that.”
That’s OBE, yeah, you know me, some more text after the break.
Continue Reading Just like a gigolo, I ain’t experience no...
Art Bell gets even weirder
Posted by Grg in Dumb thoughts, Grg's Reference, Skeptic on Monday, July 9, 2007
Keeping the conspiracy edge, he kept on with ghosts, UFOs and other strange phenomena. It was a great show. I mean, he was completely credulous with his guests and callers — and it worked. One moment, he’d agree with a caller that UFOs were aliens and the next, he’d agree with callers that UFOs were demons. Beautiful. It was just thing to listen to while filing papers at 3 a.m. or working on a term paper as the dawn began to break.
It was the perfect diagram of the fringe in the 90s : Art’s nonsense fueled the public’s fascination with the paranormal, which inspired the media, which, in turn reinforced the paranormalists viewpoint. Said differently, Art’s show was turned into the X-Files, which then served as further evidence for Art’s show.
Art made a mint off of it.
Less appealing was his personal life. When Art left his show for the first time in the late 90s (I belive, I’m going from memory), it happened while undergoing a horrible family crisis (his son was sexually assaulted by a teacher and had contracted HIV).
Not too long ago, his wife Ramona passed away, only for him to marry a young — really young, as in 30-40 years younger than Art — Filipina woman (Ramona was also Filipina, I believe) that he met over the Internet (natch).
He moved to the Phillipines, where she had his baby and he hosted the weekend edition of the radio show. Then they moved back to Pahrump, Nevada. He had another baby and has since, more or less, retired.
The soap opera gets weirder in the recent issue of Philly Weekly, where a mailroom manager at Philadelphia magazine named Vincent is revealed to be Art’s first son from a much-earlier, previously undisclosed, marriage. (This kid’s mom was Japanese — Art presumably met her, and began his Asian fetish, while he was stationed in Okinawa.)
Art abandoned Vincent, his mother and baby sister when poor Vincent was three. Years later, his sister tried to contact Art, during which time he pulled this cool move:
Later, when Minei turned 28, she says she sent a letter to Bell, who had by then achieved fame. He responded with a one-page letter. It reads: “Many years ago I spoke with your mom. She told me that you and [Vincent] had been adopted by the man who had married her. It seemed better to let your family remain undisturbed. She told me he was a wonderful man who was father to you and Michael … ”
He also sent a signed copy of his autobiography The Art of Talk. The inscription reads: “To Lisa, Here’s the ‘rest of the story.’”
Tacky bastard.
What gets me is that Bell abandons these kids (who were subsequently abused by an unnamed person, not Art) and he doesn’t consider it abandoning by any means.
Bell says, “I guess I wasn’t ready to apologize for something I didn’t know I had done. I’m not the kind of person who abandons people, and I didn’t think I had abandoned them.”
That’s just weird. My daughter’s two and — this isn’t about my ego here — but I can see she would be devastated if I left and never spoke to her again. She knows me. She loves me. She needs me. I’m not the greatest father in the world, I’m sure, but jeez, how could he had thought it wouldn’t matter?
That’s sociopathic, right there folks. I liked him better when I thought he was just a pandering douchebag, manipulating the gullible.
[link]
UPDATE: According to the wiki, he had a second Japanese wife before Ramona. Not that there’s anything wrong with having a “type” — but this isn’t so much a type with this guy than it is a collection.