http://www.democraticunderground.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:06:16 Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:06:16 [div class="excerpt"]OK...there's a huge Mercola article alleging that the H1N1 pandemic is a "massive" illusion (created by, presumably, very large magicians with great big scary magic wands). I'm pondering tackling the entire article, but meanwhile, I think it'd be OK if I took on the "fact" sheet... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/416 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:22:27 Saw this via [link:twitter.com/jeffwagg|Jeff Wagg]'s twitter account. Looks interesting.

[div class="excerpt"]Firing Bullets of Data at Cozy Anti-Science
Published: November 4, 2009

“I always say that electricity is a fantastic invention,” the British economist Michael Lipton once told Michae... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/415 Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:11:27 I saw this on Richard Wiseman's blog. The illusion is from an art exhibit in Dresden, Germany entitled "Tour of Senses" which presents a number of illusions. Sounds like a fun exhibit. I'd love for something like that to come to my city.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y51/salvorhardin/forcedper... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/414 Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:56:38 Wallace Sampson writing at Science-Based Medicine seems to be arguing [b]against[/b] national health care for fear that the political system will be used to enshrine alt-med in federal health policy and law:
[div class="excerpt"]Licensing of chiropractors, acupuncturists, naturopaths in US states l... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/413 Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:12:44 Bolding mine...
[div class="excerpt"]Reinforcing its new policy role, Obama has brought his office under the purview of his Domestic Policy Council, delighting many faith leaders, particularly on the left. "The Bush office was totally disconnected from policy," says Wallis. "That White House was do... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/412 Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:18:27
[div class="excerpt"]The following is the second adapted excerpt of an upcoming article called “The Untold Story of Acupuncture.” It is scheduled to be published in December 2009 in Focus in Alternative and Complementary Therapies (FACT), a review journal that presents the evidence on alternative ... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/411 Sun, 30 Aug 2009 03:01:28 If this is your cup of tea, I had an interesting conversation with Daniel Loxton ("Where Do We Go From Here", Jr. Skeptic Magazine) and Jim Lippard today on Twitter. You can read it prefaced with my summary of my position at Neural Gourmet.
http://neuralgourmet.com/2009/08/26/conversation-nature-sk... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/410 Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:28:04 According to Media Matters, Fox Business Network is available in 49,000,000 households. Yet it only has 21,000 viewers. Wow. I wonder what the ROI for advertisers is? :D
http://mediamatters.org/blog/200908250009... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/409 Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:04:56 It's hard to believe that this didn't appear as satire on the Onion or Objective Ministries, but it's real. Apparently Christian parents are upset about a piece of whimsical playground sculpture at an UC Berkeley playground loosely modeled after the structure of DNA.

[div class="excerpt"]"My daug... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/408 Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:31:12 [div class="excerpt"]If you are exercising regularly as part of a weight loss program, then good for you. Studies have proven the value of exercise in reducing cardiovascular disease, preventing and treating diabetes, sustaining cognition, enhancing the immune system, and even reducing the risk of g... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/407 Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:17:36 An interesting article in the NY Times extolling Bassett Healthcare in Cooperstown, NY as an ideal model in both lowering health costs and improving quality of care. Bassett, whose doctors are salaried rather than receiving fees for services, has managed to deliver healthcare at costs that are lower... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/406 Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:43:15 This is a fairly lengthy article (~1,800 words) so I'm just going to post a few short snippets here. The article talks a little bit about how Sen's ideas are becoming influential in the Labour Party in the UK. I wish the Democrats could start seeing how Sen's ideas relate to inequality and economics... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/405 Sat, 25 Jul 2009 18:31:14 [div class="excerpt"]"The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."
-- Albert Einste... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/404 Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:28:05 Found on the [link:http://freethoughtfortwayne.org/2009/06/26/acedemic-pursuit|FreeThought Fort Wayne] blog...
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y51/salvorhardin/footballfail.jpg

Gotta have your priorities, right?

... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/403 Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:42:31 The numbers I found which were only good as of 2003 said that the average number of cigarettes smoked per day is about 15 for white males (about 9 for black males) over the age of 26. Slightly less than 20% smoke more than a pack a day.
Source: http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k3/cigs/cigs.htm

But th... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/402 Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:11:00 [div class="excerpt"]Do you ever wonder why some conspiracy theories, no matter how retarded they sound, seem to never die? Where do these things come from, anyway?

Well, it turns out that politicians have realized that in the Internet age, a good conspiracy theory can work wonders. So why not ju... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/401 Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:37:54 [div class="excerpt"]The unlikely friends of the Holocaust memorial killer
An anti-liberal ideology is being created by groups who would once have been sworn enemies
Nick Cohen
The Observer, Sunday 14 June 2009

... Yet for all his roots in neo-Nazism, von Brunn was also a transitional figure w... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/400 Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:39:11 [div class="excerpt"]Bayer Aspirin (325mg)

Active ingredient (in each tablet)
Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid). Pain reliever/fever reducer

Inactive ingredients
carnauba wax*, corn starch, hypromellose, powdered cellulose, triacetin
* may contain this ingredient
http://www.rxlist.com/aspirin... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/399 Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:27:22 Got the news a couple of hours ago and thought this would be of interest to the denizens of this group. I'll cross post in A&A and R&T too.

CFI is the parent organization of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (formerly CSICOP) and the Council For Secular Humanism. It's a press release, meant for... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/398 Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:11:21 Whether we believe in the divine or not, I think there's one thing everyone who posts in R&T here on DU does believe. The separation of church and state, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, is a cornerstone of our government and way of life. Every year bloggers from all over write for t... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/397 Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:35:18 This is a few days old, but I thought I'd post it anyway for anyone who might not have saw it in the news.

[div class="excerpt"]Rod Beckstrom, the Director of the National Cybersecurity Center resigned less than a year after the office was created as a division of the Department of Homeland Secur... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/396 Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:22:44 Clive Thompson writing for Wired and the New York Times however does.

[div class="excerpt"]This is the paradox of [b]ambient awareness[/b]. Each little update — each individual bit of social information — is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the litt... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/395 Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:03:54 This is one of the coolest things ever. Who'd ever think to use Tesla coils as speakers!? Well, apparently ArcAttack! did. Here's a video of the Doctor Who theme played on Tesla coils.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GJSH5Aw3yk

More on ArcAttack!'s website: http://www.arcattack.com... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/394 Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:04:04 You don't understand what evolution is, or how it works. I'm not trying to be mean when I say this. The popular portrayal of evolution is highly inaccurate so if that's all you've got to go on you're very likely to come to some very strange conclusions. Complicating the matter is that there are play... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/393 Sun, 28 Dec 2008 14:11:53 [div class="excerpt"] By definition, “alternative” medicine consists of treatments that have not been scientifically proven and that have not been accepted into mainstream medicine. The question I keep hearing is, “But what about acupuncture? It’s been proven to work, it’s supported by lots of good... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/salvorhardin/392 Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:55:48