March 29, 2016

Tim Minchin and Matildas Perform "When I Grow Up" on Conan

If you haven't seen the musical, it's absolutely wonderfully hilarious.



Note: The music starts around 3:40 or so...

March 28, 2016

March Against Monsanto Is Marching Against Vaccines!

They use the old "additives" routine here:
http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/actors-robert-de-niro-feels-the-heat-decides-to-cancel-controversial-vaccine-documentary/

And here they claim that the HPV vaccine does not work at all, but Big Pharma makes a lot of money! of course
http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/big-pharma-profits-are-the-only-thing-the-hpv-vaccine-protects/

But, you know, the anti-GMO movement is all about science!

March 28, 2016

Imagine that. Coincidences happen.

"A woman had given birth to naturally conceived identical quadruplet girls, which is very rare. And she said, "The doctors told me there was a one in 64 million chance that this could happen. It's A MIRACLE!" But, of course, we know it's not, because things that have a one in 64 million chance happen ... ALL the TIME! To presume that your one in 64 million chance thing is a miracle, is to significantly underestimate the total number of things that THERE ARE. ... Maths."

-Tim Minchin

March 28, 2016

Mike Adams noticed Tribeca Film Festival yanked Andrew Wakefield’s antivax film. CT Hilarity ensues!

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/03/28/mike-adams-noticed-that-the-tribeca-film-festival-has-yanked-andrew-wakefields-antivaccine-film-hilarity-ensues/

"...

So agitated by De Niro’s decision are antivaxers that the chief antivaccine loon at his very own wretched hive of scum and quackery, Mike Adams, wrote not one, not two, but three posts in the course of a day. Behold their conspiratorial looniness:

1. VAXXED film pulled from Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Film Festival following totalitarian censorship demands from pharma-linked vaccine pushers and media science trolls

2. BREAKING: Robert De Niro was clearly threatened by the vaccine establishment to censor the VAXXED documentary from Tribeca… new details emerge

3. Calls mount for Robert De Niro to resign from Tribeca after betraying his own autistic child in censoring VAXXED documentary film

Who knows? By the time I wake up in the morning and my post goes live, Adams may well have written two more. It wouldn’t surprise me. I had to wash the spittle off the inside of my screen after letting Adams screeds spew forth.

..."

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On edit:

Mike Adams Now Blames The Nazis!

http://www.naturalnews.com/053449_Tribeca_Film_Festival_Sloan_Foundation_eugenics_and_depopulation.html

This is just funny stuff. It's ugly, ludicrous stuff, but you have to laugh.


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If you need a good laugh, give this piece a read.

March 27, 2016

The public has a right to not be disinformed.

Why labeling of GMOs is actually bad for people and the environment
http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2012/06/06/why-labeling-of-gmos-is-actually-bad-for-people-and-the-environment/

How Scare Tactics on GMO Foods Hurt Everybody
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/528331/how-scare-tactics-on-gmo-foods-hurt-everybody/

A Principled Case Against Mandatory GMO Labels
http://fafdl.org/blog/2014/08/16/a-principled-case-against-mandatory-gmo-labels/

March 27, 2016

If the communication isn't supported by a science-based justification, it's meaningless.

And it is a waste of government resources. Meaningless information is disinformation.

http://fafdl.org/blog/2014/08/16/a-principled-case-against-mandatory-gmo-labels/

March 27, 2016

Pseudoscience To Shine At Houston Science Museum

http://www.science20.com/kevin_folta/pseudoscience_to_shine_at_houston_science_museum-168974

March 26, 2016

Bringing grassroots organizing and science to Vandana Shiva

http://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/bringing-grassroots-organizing-and-science-vandana-shiva

"On an uncharacteristically sunny afternoon in Salem, Oregon, Dr. Vandana Shiva came face to face with science activism. We, the protesters, were a self-described bunch of “science nerds” from MAMyths, Vegan GMO, and PDX Skeptics in the Pub. We gathered in front of Willamette University across the street from Oregon’s state capitol building around 6pm. One by one, our allies arrived in carpools assigned at the previous evening’s meeting in the upstairs lounge of a Northeast Portland pool hall. There, we had reflected on our experiences during a counter-demonstration at the March Against Monsanto last May. We had discussed communication strategies that a few of us practiced in the Alliance for Science’s recent course on Strategic Planning and Effective Grassroots Organizing in Mexico. We aimed to keep our message friendly, approachable, and positive. The next day in Salem, when car trunks popped open and our posters came out, our slogans reflected a theme quite different from the fear-mongering we often see:

“Don’t start a fight. Start a conversation.”

“Food Facts. Not Fear.”

...

These signs provoked a variety of reactions from people headed into Dr. Shiva’s presentation. She’d been invited to speak at Willamette University as part of the Dempsey Lecture Series. Prior details about the specific topic of her presentation were scant. Dr. Shiva speaks on a wide variety of topics, many of which I find agreeable in principle. We were not there to argue against her philosophy or politics. We were there simply to counter the misinformation she’s been known to spread about genetic engineering.

..."

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It's sad that science-based folks have to spend time on things like this, but it's good to see the movement growing.

March 23, 2016

First look: Conditions at Malheur Refuge after occupation (Media Given A Tour)

http://koin.com/2016/03/23/first-look-how-the-occupiers-left-malheur-refuge/

"For the first time since the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge ended February 11, the media was allowed into the area to see the remnants of the occupiers.

...

The cost of the cleanup is not fully known, even by officials with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Part of the cleanup will be the remediation of delicate, ancient archaeological items. Some were very damaged, officials said.

Safes were broken into at the refuge. Mondy, cameras and computers are missing and officials said that is just the beginning of the inventory.

Members of the media on tour were advised to watch their step in certain spots along. After some pipes burst, officials said, militia members defecated “everywhere.”

..."

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Gallery at the link.

March 23, 2016

How big were the great pianists' hand-spans?

How far could the great pianists stretch their hands? We take a look at just how big the hands of the greats were, from Rachmaninov to Liszt and Barenboim to Lang Lang.
Read more at http://www.classicfm.com/instruments/piano/pianists-hand-span-infographic/#2f3whhMMDocvtDHJ.99

"Did you know that Daniel Barenboim, one of his generation's most respected pianists, can manage to straddle a 9th on the piano, where the likes of Rachmaninov and Liszt could handle a whopping 13th?

Use our beautiful infographic to discover just how far some of history's keyboard greats could stretch their ivory-tinklers, from the surprisingly tiny to the majestically huge."






Has anyone tracked down the Drumpf's piano teacher?