samedi 30 novembre 2013

Responsible Law Abiding Citizen shoots Harmless Inner City Youth

(insert link to shooting story with details not fully established nor likely to be in the near future)



Feel free to use the parties in this dispute as a symbol for a victimized class and/or predatory menace of your choice. Racial component optional.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269498&goto=newpost

Actor Paul Walker, 40, dies in car crash

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/30/showbi...html?hpt=hp_t1



"Fast & Furious" star was killed in a car crash today.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269495&goto=newpost

Dear American Cancer Society: bite me

Of course there are I'm sure charities which are similarly unbelievable in this way, but this is one I've long backed:



http://www.charitywatch.org/articles/eyepoppingpay.html





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269494&goto=newpost

Community paramedics

Not exactly certain which forum this belongs in, but i'm sure the mods can handle that. .. So in light of all the complaints regarding Obamacare, I thought i'd share a recent news article indicating the benefits of adopting a "community paramedic program" that might save us all a bundle. Seems to me, keeping repeat visitors out of emergency rooms would be a great way to start decreasing the overall cost to consumers that are in turn forced to pay for those who cannot afford emergency room care. Afterall, what do most low income people do when their physician decides to take a two week vacation, or don't provide afterhours visits, while their child comes down with a simple cold? > emergency room. Thoughts and other idea's, outside the ACA, that might help conserve medical resources would be well appreciated.





http://www.jems.com/article/news/min...dic-program-ke





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269493&goto=newpost

Attacked by/sex with, an unseen entity

Are some people at times being attacked unseen entities? In a previous post I discussed unseen entities commonly referred to as Jinn, spirits, ghost, demons, and poltergeist. During the discussion it became apparent that there seem to be a number of people who claim to have been attacked in a sexual manner, by something which they perceive as non-human/non-beast, and something which is unable to be see.



All of the following individuals claim to have been sexually assaulted (or engaged in the act of sex) by something which they were unable to see:

-Karmen Snedeker

-Allen Snedeker

-Doris Bither

-Mark Gillan

- The Artist Kesha (Kesha Rose Sebert) is another person who has recently made the claim that she engaged in a sexual encounter with a ghost/spirit, or what she has describes as "sexy times" with a ghost/spirit. She also stated it as “I did go to the bone zone with a ghost”, during an interview with Conan O'Brien, which aired December of last year.



Kesha has also spoke about her encounter/encounters in the following terms “It was a sexy time, it wasn’t like sex,” in some interviews.



I'm not sure exactly what to make of her claims, as she also makes many other fantastic claims which, to my knowledge are unsubstantiated, such as the following:



“I went on a spirit journey by myself. No security guard. No managers. I just went around the world and lived on a boat.”



“I was in Africa rehabilitating baby lions. I went diving with great white sharks, and just went on this crazy spirit quest.”



She has also made the claim that she "brushes her teeth with a bottle of Jack (Daniels)", although some may consider her use of this phrase "poetic license".



*Ghost sex Interview for 4Music.com featuring Kesha.





Hollywood depiction of an unseen entity style attack

In the movie Hollow Man which stars Kevin Bacon, the director shows a scene where the main character is able to operate and even attack others without being visually detected.



Hollow Man attack Scene

Deleted scene from Hollow Man





So my questions are the following:

If there exist some unseen entities which are able to attack us at will, what can be done about it? In many countries authorities have been known to go after those who they believe to be involved with what is commonly referred to as Black Magic/The Occult/directing these unseen entities towards unsuspecting individuals, with the intent of doing some type of harm. Although this is something which many believe to be quite difficult to prove, some also consider it an issue not worthy of any serious effort, as the perceived attack could very well exist only within the mind of the victim.



If this is something which is taking place should some type of system or organization be put into place in order to prevent people from taking advantage of a method which would essentially be the perfect crime, "The instigation of a crime which the perpetrator, can not be seen, no evidence is left behind, and despite any tangible evidence the victim is left with the feeling that a physical/sexual assault has taken place, and the mental suffering as a result of the attack seems to be quite real.



If Kesha's encounter was real as she claims, was it consensual? It sure seems that way. The other previously mentioned encounters seem to have left their victims fearful, in pain, and violated. So is it possible that Kesha's version of events are real? Are only real in her head? Or just some strange and twisted marketing scheme?



*My opinion on this is that if such unseen beings do exist, and people were somehow able to influence them to act in a certain manner, then the "perfect crime" scenario as depicted in the movie Hollow Man would truly exist.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269492&goto=newpost

Responsible Gun Owner gets herself killed over a few bucks in her purse

Three Charged With Killing 76-Year-Old S.C. Woman In Shootout




Quote:








A 76-year-old woman was killed in a shootout with attempted robbers outside her Anderson County, S.C., home early Saturday morning.



“She fought. She was a fighter. She shot him,” the victim’s brother, Ronnie Lollis, told local NBC affiliate WYFF News Channel 4.



Dorothy Hendrix returned home at about 1 a.m. when two armed men and one woman approached her attempting to rob her, coroner Greg Shore said. He said Hendrix pulled out a gun and fired at the suspects, and one of them returned fire, hitting her twice. One neighbor reported the gunshots to police.



"She was a fighter." Great. So she pulled her gun and got herself killed trying to avoid being robbed of a few bucks.




Quote:








According to Lollis, Hendrix bought a gun and learned to fire it for protection after the first attack.



I hope the people who did this fry, but the gun she had sure didn't protect her. More likely it got her killed.*



*Bonus points to the first person who tries to argue that if she didn't have the gun, they would have shot her anyway.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269487&goto=newpost

Why is The Wizard of Oz the only book by L. Frank Baum to be made into a movie

L. Frank Baum wrote several stories about Oz but unless I'm mistaken WOZ was the only book ever made into a movie.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269486&goto=newpost

'Preferred' pronouns gain traction at US colleges

IMO the headline exaggerates by implication.



This isn't "gender bending" is the commonly understood sense of "girls" being "boys" or vice versa.

Also, the examples in the article are at a school that only admits women.



'Preferred' pronouns gain traction at US colleges (AP)




Quote:








...



"Because I go to an all-women's college, a lot of people are like, 'If you don't identify as a woman, how did you get in?'" said sophomore Skylar Crownover, 19, who is president of Mouthing Off! and prefers to be mentioned as a singular they, but also answers to he. "I just tell them the application asks you to mark your sex and I did. It didn't ask me for my gender."



On high school and college campuses and in certain political and social media circles, the growing visibility of a small, but semantically committed cadre of young people who, like Crownover, self-identify as "genderqueer" — neither male nor female but an androgynous hybrid or rejection of both — is challenging anew the limits of Western comprehension and the English language.



...



Hmm. Maybe a way to stay a virgin while at college? I'm Including avoiding lesbian sex in that formulation.



Falsifiable prediction: Really not the wave of the future, even though I can handle it just fine if it turns out I'm wrong about that. :cool:





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269478&goto=newpost

Dubious anti-GMO article withdrawn; victory for proper science.

In September of last year the minor academic journal Food and Chemical Toxicology published a paper by Gilles-Eric Séralini (and others) allegedly showing health problems in rats fed corn which had been genetically modified to be resistant to the herbicide Roundup. They also, allegedly, found similar health problems in rats fed the herbicide along along with non-GM feed. The rodents experienced hormone imbalances, along with earlier, more frequent and more severe mammary tumors, compared to rats fed a non-GM diet. The authors claimed that the GM- or pesticide-fed rats also died earlier.



The paper was, and is, often cited by anti-GMO activists (including here) despite not standing up well to scrutiny (link, link). It was assessed and found wanting by governmental agencies, such as the European Food Safety Authority.


Quote:








Originally Posted by EFSA

The numerous issues relating to the design and methodology of the study as described in the paper mean that no conclusions can be made about the occurrence of tumours in the rats tested. Therefore, based on the information published by the authors, EFSA does not see a need to re-examine its previous safety evaluation of maize NK603 nor to consider these findings in the ongoing assessment of glyphosate.




Of course mere facts rarely stop those with an ideological agenda.......



However the journal in question has now formally retracted the paper, though not accusing Séralini and co of actual fraud.




Quote:








Originally Posted by FCT Editor

The journal Food and Chemical Toxicology retracts the article “Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize,” which was published in this journal in November 2012. This retraction comes after a thorough and time-consuming analysis of the published article and the data it reports, along with an investigation into the peer-review behind the article. The Editor in-Chief deferred making any public statements regarding this article until this investigation was complete, and the authors were notified of the findings.



Very shortly after the publication of this article, the journal received Letters to the Editor expressing concerns about the validity of the findings it described, the proper use of animals, and even allegations of fraud. Many of these letters called upon the editors of the journal to retract the paper. According to the journal’s standard practice, these letters, as well as the letters in support of the findings, were published along with a response from the authors. Due to the nature of the concerns raised about this paper, the Editor-in-Chief examined all aspects of the peer review process and requested permission from the corresponding author to review the raw data. The request to view raw data is not often made; however, it is in accordance with the journal’s policy that authors of submitted manuscripts must be willing to provide the original data if so requested. The corresponding author agreed and supplied all material that was requested by the Editor-in-Chief. The Editor-in-Chief wishes to acknowledge the co-operation of the corresponding author in this matter, and commends him for his commitment to the scientific process.



Unequivocally, the Editor-in-Chief found no evidence of fraud or intentional misrepresentation of the data. However, there is a legitimate cause for concern regarding both the number of animals in each study group and the particular strain selected. The low number of animals had been identified as a cause for concern during the initial review process, but the peer review decision ultimately weighed that the work still had merit despite this limitation. A more in-depth look at the raw data revealed that no definitive conclusions can be reached with this small sample size regarding the role of either NK603 or glyphosate in regards to overall mortality or tumor incidence. Given the known high incidence of tumors in the Sprague-Dawley rat, normal variability cannot be excluded as the cause of the higher mortality and incidence observed in the treated groups.



Ultimately, the results presented (while not incorrect) are inconclusive, and therefore do not reach the threshold of publication for Food and Chemical Toxicology. The peer review process is not perfect, but it does work. The journal is committed to getting the peer-review process right, and at times, expediency might be sacrificed for being as thorough as possible. The time-consuming nature is, at times, required in fairness to both the authors and readers. Likewise, the Letters to the Editor, both pro and con, serve as a post-publication peer-review. The back and forth between the readers and the author has a useful and valuable place in our scientific dialog.




The anti-GMO fringe has received this decision with the calm rationality they're known for; accusations of undue and inappropraite influence from the GMO industry, hysterial rants describing the decision as "illicit, unscientific, and unethical" and imputations of "irregularities" within the process.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269477&goto=newpost

The Priceless Pearl.

Going forward into sustainability - working on it together.



19 minutes of overview.



http://www.upworthy.com/some-strange...rning-to-earth





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269476&goto=newpost

MLK Assasination

Please excuse me if this has been discussed here before. I looked around and did not find anything on the MLK assasination.



I did a paper in College about it. My conclusion was that James Earl Ray was a patsy and a mysterious character named "Raul" set him up, among other players. There were several people who just simply disappeared after the assasination. After MLK's death, within days, a cluster of tall bushes/trees were cut down. Why? Theory is that there's a somewhat famous pic of Ralph Abernathy and others pointing in the direction of the shot. It did not jive with where Ray was - or somthing like that. A lot of mysterious circumstances surrounding the ordeal.



James Earl Ray died I believe in 1998. He denied it til his death.



I wrote this paper 20 years ago. I now do not believe much at all in conspiracies....but I did get an "A" on the paper. Ha!





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269475&goto=newpost

Fossil's can be created in sixty years?

Today while fishing I met my first young earth and universe creationist. He claimed that the earth was a hair over 6,000 years old and that we were created by God and that the vastness of the universe is much too big for us to comprehend. He also threw out most of modern science.



He also made the claim that fossil's can be created in sixty years. I told him that was hogwash. How do YEC's come up with this claim, and what "evidence" do they derive this from?





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269474&goto=newpost

The Gay Agenda

Is the Liberal Media brainwashing your children into homosexuals? Planting the Seeds of Satan? Can they be stopped? Will there be an cleansing of society by the unearthly Satanic Sexual Ways being taught our children since birth by Liberal T.V. broadcasts?





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269472&goto=newpost

Gender differences in PISA tests

The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (also known as PISA) is held every three years and the results from the 2012 test will be available in a few days.



While I was checking to see if the 2012 results were out I happened to come across analysis of the 2009 results for each country and analyzed them by gender.



The analysis is at this link. Click on Annex B1, which will then upload an excel spreadsheet with tons of tables.



Here’s some of the results:





Reading (Table I.2.3)



In every single country girls had better reading scores than boys. The difference was statistically significant in every country whether it was in Europe, North America, East Asia, the Middle East, wherever. I was not expecting the results to be so consistent across the world, and while I have no definitive answer for why this would be the consistency across numerous cultures and peoples would seem to indicate that there is a biological component to it. Is the area of the brain that handles reading better developed in 15-year-old girls than boys? Are hormones playing a role?





Mathematics (Table I. 3.3)



Unlike the reading scores when it came to math boys generally performed better than girls. In all OECD countries boys’ scores were either better or the same as girls – girls did not perform statistically better in any OECD nation. In 23 (of 35) OECD nations the difference between boys’ and girls’ scores was statistically significant.



Things get interesting when we look at the non-OECD countries. In a handful of those countries girls performed statistically better.



There might be a cultural component. I analyzed it by geographic region and:



1. In Scandinavia girls performed the same as boys (except in Denmark)

2. In former Soviet-bloc countries it was also more even, in 9 of 13 countries there was no statistical significance between girls and boys

3. However in the rest of Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand boys were resoundingly better, being statistically better in 16 of 18 countries. In none of these countries were girls statistically better than boys.

4. In East Asia boys and girls were even in 6 out of 9 countries, with boys better in the remaining three.



Why is there such a discrepancy in places like UK, US, Canada, Germany, France and Australia, when in other parts of the world it appears to be a bit more even?





Science (Table I.3.6)



Of the three categories science had the least variation between boys and girls in OCED countries. Of the 35 OECD countries boys were statistically better in 9, girls were statistically better in 5, and in the remaining 21 countries there was no difference.



Things are a little more varied in the non-OECD nations and the differences in terms of absolute results were also larger than in the OCED nations. Surprisingly of the 31 nations boys were statistically better in only 2, girls were statistically better in 16, and in the remaining 13 countries there was no difference.



Where did boys perform better? Predominately in Western Europe, North America and South America. Since I counted Scandinavia as separate from Western Europe before then Denmark is the outlier as the only country not in the above regions where boys were better than girls. In Finland girls were better and there was no statistical difference in the remaining Scandinavian countries.



In every Soviet-bloc country girls either performed the same as boys or better than the boys.



Interestingly girls performed statistically better than boys in 9 out of 10 countries with a predominantly Muslim population. (You could argue that Qatar and UAE do not have predominately Muslim populations in which case the results are 7 out of 8 countries).





Any thoughts as to the differences in reading, math and science?





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269470&goto=newpost

Tea Party solution to Sandy Hook (it involves George Zimmerman)

I just now found this. It is a bit old but incredibly fascinating especially the last bit given current context.




Quote:








On KMOX radio here in St. Louis Mo. they were running analysis by CBS people, and Bob Schiffer made the statement (I paraphrase) “I’ve seen a lot of these sorts of tragedies over the years, but I now have a sense that we are no longer going to put up with it.” Now, whatever could that mean?



In his liberal world you can’t stop this sort of thing except through law, and that of course means gun control.



snip




Quote:








I’m tired of the therapeutic culture that spawns this sort of thing; cultural relativism makes it impossible to condemn the worst villains. In the old days everyone would be mad as hell - now we are sad and weepy. The change in the American character is astonishing. And still nobody will stand up and lay blame where it belongs - in a culture that has kicked God out of our collective sight, that eternally blames cultural institutions and our most cherished principles for acts of criminality rather than moral character flaws, that refuses to recognize Evil.



snip




Quote:








You see it in the schools where children may no longer be corrected. There was a time when teachers actually spanked children; now a teacher is in peril if he verbally chastises a bad kid. God, of course, has long been gone from the schools. We tell children they are animals, and that it’s o.k. to do whatever feels right because it’s “natural”.



snip




Quote:








Popular culture has made murder, rape, mayhem, hatred, and violence “cool”. Rebellion has become the noblest of acts. All this with the blessings of people like William Ayers, who has been very influential in modern education. We are creating monsters in our schools.



So there you go. It is the liberals fault.



Then he goes on to make ten suggestions for preventing these tragedies in the future. I will paraphrase them here for the sake of brevity.



1) Don't send your kids to schools, teach them at home so they only hear your message on how to think. Also they're safer if they never see the outside world.



2) Abolish teacher unions. Because....evil groupthink. Also...see below.



3) Teach kids to wonder if black culture is responsible for black violence. Call this a "frank discussion of race and culture." Then ask if white culture does the same. Never mind trying to figure out what these concepts even are.



4) Don't cover school massacres in the news. If no one knows they happen they won't do them!



5) Correct kids when they do things wrong. Was this ever stopped? I'm pretty sure kids still get in trouble when they break rules. At least everywhere I look they do.



6) People feel powerless if there is too much government. Minimize the size of government. Less government obviously means less violence. I'm sure Somalia is a Garden Of Eden paradise.



7) Restrict sex in movies. Kids are violent because they are overly stimulated with lust.



8) Increase the war on drugs. Travyon Martin was likely high (in their minds) and that is somehow relevant to Sandy Hook. We all know the real reason we haven't won this war is because we haven't tried hard enough.



9) See below



10) Go back to church because if people knew about the Ten Commandments these things wouldn't happen.



It is 9) that is the kicker. So I will quote it in full.




Quote:








Support the creation of local organizations to act as “neighborhood watch” for schools. Had George Zimmerman been at the front door instead of some mechanical card reader those children would still be alive. Perhaps it’s time we start asking for volunteers to protect our children. It will require security checks, but isn’t that worth it? This dovetails with the union problem; the unions will fight this measure tooth-and-nail.



Yeah, I wonder why unions would fight having untrained neighborhood Rambos inside their school armed with guns? Ones known to suspect children of crimes based entirely on their appearance.



How evil are unions to object to that?





Then we get a nice conclusion.




Quote:








This sort of thing is not lost on these “troubled” youths and evildoers. They see a world that refuses to condemn violence, that approves of vengence and hatred, that shrugs off any and every sort of vile action. If the President won’t condemn evil why worry?



So....Obama doesn't condemn violence....somehow. And society is too tolerant of violence...somehow...which clearly means we need more violence...somehow...and obviously more untrained armed nutbags tasked with protecting children they likely hold in contempt for being "different."



Which will totally work...somehow.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269461&goto=newpost

!11!!VATICANGATE!!11!!

http://www.alan.com/2013/11/29/jeb-b...tican-embassy/



And, again, the mainstream GOP makes something up, caught in a complete and total, outright lie.



First, it's a "Vatican Facility" not an embassy, and it's not being closed, it's being moved closer, and moved into the same building as the standard Embassy.



This lie appeared from a number of GOP sources pretty much simultaneously, making it clear that this was a knowing, intentional lie that was spread for purely dishonest political purposes.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269458&goto=newpost

Now I've seen everything.

https://twitter.com/PeterPlausible/s...85173334663168



I suspect someone is being heavily and inappropriately ironic, but it's hard to tell.



Rolfe.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269457&goto=newpost

Ezekiel

In Ezekiel 1 he seems to be describing a spaceship in the only way a biblical man could having not seen one before. Does anyone else think so.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269455&goto=newpost

Indian skeptic tackles "miracles"

There was an event recently in Doha where an Indian skeptic, Hulikal Nataraj, was giving a demonstration of popular tricks used by Indian "miracle workers". I wasn't there but someone I know said it was a good lecture.



I did a search and his name isn't in the JREF forum so I figured I'd post this link so he'd have a bit of recognition for his work.



link to article and pictures





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269447&goto=newpost

Woo-meisters to annoy on Twitter?

I've tried to annoy Deepak Chopra a bit about stuff written about him or related to him, but the old quack seems to ignore me (maybe he has blocked me). Are there other woo-meisters on Twitter worth annoying?





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269446&goto=newpost

vendredi 29 novembre 2013

Exploding Whale video.



Quote:








A dead sperm whale explodes in the Faroe Islands as a man attempts to open its stomach. The mammal's insides suddenly surge open as the man in protective costume runs to shield himself from the slime. Sperm whales are not killed on the Faroe Islands. This whale had died of natural causes



http://www.theguardian.com/world/vid...-stomach-video



Not for the feint hearted.



Not something anyone would want to mop up either.



Erk.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269439&goto=newpost

Single moms should be forced to have their babies then give them up

http://www.christianpost.com/news/ad...option-109268/




Quote:








Killing your "problem" or "unwanted" pregnancy through abortion is never an acceptable option (unless the child is a direct and immediate threat to the mother's continued physical life.) In an abortion, the baby always dies, and we lose that child's unique and never to be known God-given gifts and contributions to the world. Further, an abortion is much more traumatic physically to a mother's future reproductive life than carrying a baby to term would be. There are also often lingering psychological issues for the mother as well.



Keeping the baby is almost never preferable to allowing a baby to be adopted into a solid, faithful Christian home. A single mother who keeps her baby is quite often denying that baby the father that God wants for that baby, and every baby, to have.



Yes, in the name of love. Because what could say "love" more than a woman being put through the torment of a pregnancy she didn't want then giving up the baby after enduring it all?



If this is what God wants then I will be his/her enemy.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269437&goto=newpost

Obviously Agenda 21 is just like The Hunger Games

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrckj...sc-APX6wV1twLg



More nuttiness from Alex Jones.




Quote:








we are living in The Hunger Games...We are already living in this and this is Agenda 21.




Quote:








This is all coming true, this is all happening, this is actually the Agenda 21 exact plan...This woman [author Suzanne Collins] who wrote it is either a total patriot and aware of what’s going on and super smart, or she’s a total operative. We’ve tried to contact her many times, obviously.




Quote:








all over the country the military is rolling out, preparing for war, not with Al Qaeda but with the Tea Party, with gun owners, with veterans, with Christians



Ms Collins I'm a huge fan of your work and was totally able to see how your books paint a bleak picture of how a non-binding treaty with the United Nations to supportive sustainable development will obviously lead to an autocratic, authoritarian, fascist, dystopian hellhole where children are ritually sacrificed on TV to create fear. Why won't you write me back?



-Alex (big fan)





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269436&goto=newpost

Responsible Pilot Crashes into Glasgow Pub

Helicopter crashes into Glasgow pub




Quote:








A police helicopter crashed into the roof of a pub crowded with Friday-night revelers in the Scottish city of Glasgow, trapping a number people under the debris, rescuers and witnesses said.



Urban search and rescue specialists were working to make The Clutha Bar safe to access so firefighters can pull victims out, according to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.



People remained trapped inside the one-story building, and communication was established between those trapped in the debris and rescuers, said Lewis Ramsay of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.








via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269433&goto=newpost

RESPONSIBLE GUN OWNERS SAVING LIVES

RESPONSIBLE GUN OWNERS SAVING LIVES AND PREVENTING CRIME



“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” I’m getting tired of all the Libernazi threads on this forum that read something like this, “RESPONSIBLE GUN OWNER ACCIDENTALLY SHOOTS BABY FUR SEAL!” ….blah, blah, blah. It seems that all you hear about guns in the media are the tragic things that happen with guns. It is usually way over sensationalized, taken out of the greater context of guns and other potential implements of destruction in general like alcohol, tobacco, cars, medical mishaps and poor diets, just to name a few.



On this particular list of the top 15 causes of death, “homicides” came in 15th, but not all homicides are caused by guns. There are quiet a few different ways to kill someone without resorting to guns, albeit, guns probable do account for the majority of homicides, but this is one of many ways you can lie, distort and mislead with statistics and numbers.



My point in this thread is not to argue over a bunch of lists. I have no intention of playing the, “Oh, yeah! Well, my list knows karate, ju jitsu and kung fu and can kick your list’s ass, so there! Neener, neener, neener.” If you want to play with each other, then feel free, we’re all consenting adults here. If you need privacy, then hang a sock on the doorknob so we can let you have your moment.



Rather, my purpose with this thread is to present gun homicides into the overall scheme of things. I tried to be fair and show comparable lists from different sides of the issue. I intentionally left off the list one pro-gun site because the numbers it gave seemed way over the top.

http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/u...auses-of-death

Top 15 Causes of Death

• 1. Heart Disease

• 2. Cancer

• 3. Stroke

• 4. Chronic Lung Disease

• 5. Accidents

• 6. Alzheimer's

• 7. Diabetes

• 8. Influenza and Pneumonia

• 9. Nephritis/Kidney Disease

• 10. Blood Poisoning

• 11. Suicide

• 12. Liver Disease

• 13. Hypertension/Renal

• 14. Parkinson's Disease

• 15. Homicide

Death Rate



http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_stat...ortality/#cigs

Cigarettes and Death

Cigarette smoking causes about one of every five deaths in the United States each year.





http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm

Alcohol Use and Health

There are approximately 80,000 deaths attributable to excessive alcohol use each year in the United States.1 This makes excessive alcohol use the 3r d leading lifestyle-related cause of death for the nation.2



http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6089353/#.UpaodeKabKc

Alcohol abuse kills some 75,000 Americans each year and shortens the lives of these people by an average of 30 years, a U.S. government study suggested Thursday.

Excessive alcohol consumption is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States after tobacco use and poor eating and exercise habits.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which published the study, estimated that 34,833 people in 2001 died from cirrhosis of the liver, cancer and other diseases linked to drinking too much beer, wine and spirits.

Another 40,933 died from car crashes and other mishaps caused by excessive alcohol use.





http://www.justice.org/cps/rde/justice/hs.xsl/8677.htm

Preventable Medical Errors – The Sixth Biggest Killer in America

***Preventable medical errors kill and seriously injure hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. Any discussion of medical negligence that does not involve preventable medical errors ignores this fundamental problem.

“…The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) seminal study of preventable medical errors estimated as many as 98,000 people die every year at a cost of $29 billion.1 If the Centers for Disease Control were to include preventable medical errors as a category, these conclusions would make it the sixth leading cause of death in America. 2







RESPONSIBLE GUN OWNERS SAVING LIVES AND PREVENTING CRIME:





http://www.reddit.com/r/dgu



1

8



[11/28/13] Man killed during Clay County (KY) burglary



(wkyt.com)

submitted 10 hours ago by pongo000

• 1 comment

• share

2

17



[11/27/13] Houston (TX) homeowner greets teen robbers’ fake gun with real gun



(khou.com)

submitted 19 hours ago by pongo000

• comment

• share

3

10



[11/27/13] Suspect, 82, in Union Gospel Mission shooting likely won’t face charges (Seattle, WA)



(blogs.seattletimes.com)

submitted 18 hours ago by pongo000

• 1 comment

• share

4

0



[11/28/13] Different verdicts in two self-defense cases make quite the contrast (FL)



(miamiherald.com)

submitted 7 hours ago by pongo000

• comment

• share

5







15



Bad DGU[11/27/13] Partial verdicts in stolen pizza fatal shooting trial (Philadelphia, PA)



(philly.com)

submitted 21 hours ago by pongo000

• 5 comments

• share



This list goes on and on and on. I stopped counting at 30 pages.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269428&goto=newpost

CNN scraping the bottom of the barrel with 'Heaven' Story

If anyone has not seen it yet, please log onto cnn.com I can't link yet, but you all know what it is, plus the experience of navigating to CNN and seeing "Is Heaven Real?" in the center of the page is well worth it. I would have posted in Religion/Philosophy sub-forum, but as I view religion as paranormal silliness...:D Mods, feel free to move if I have erred. And if I've erred, no heaven for me!! I know news is now entertainment more than anything, but this seems designed to do nothing other than gain hits and appeal to the Christian right who feel CNN is too liberal. Maybe just me?





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269427&goto=newpost

Is this Solar Power plan feasible?

Japan Wants To Turn The Moon Into A Giant Power Plant




Quote:








Shimizu Corporation, a Japanese architecture and engineering firm, has a plan to effectively turn the moon into a giant solar power plant, reports Inhabitat.



It proposes building a massive collection of solar panels (a “Luna Ring”) 6,800 miles long by 12 miles wide on the moon’s surface.



...


Quote:








If operating in ship-shape, Shimizu says it could continuously send 13,000 terawatts of power back to Earth. By comparison, it took the United States all of 2011 to generate 4,100 terawatts of power.



Sounds cool... but I have no idea.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269415&goto=newpost

Cold-Heartded Vigilante Gal Cares More For Sofa Than Wounded Man



Quote:








“The only time I cursed was when he was going to lay down and bleed all over my couch,” Melissa said. “Don’t you dare bleed all over my (expletive) couch! He lay down on the floor.”



Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2013/11/16/303...#storylink=cpy



Just because someone breaks into your house 3 times in one night is no reason to be rude.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269409&goto=newpost

Kids Today: 14 year old Rapes, Robs, Murders His teacher



Quote:








He wore gloves and a mask as he followed Ritzer into a second-floor bathroom after the argument armed with a box cutter.



He raped her, slit her throat with the box cutter, wheeled her body outside in a large recycling bin and dumped it in the woods behind the school.Her body was found naked from the waist down with the three foot branch still inside her corpse, which was covered in leaves. HR Bra was pulled down and her top pulled up.



...



Chism was also seen on CCTV emerging from the bathroom after killing Miss Ritzer, leaving the building and using a service elevator to return with a recycling bin in which he stuffed her body.



The new details come after Chism was indicted in a Massachusetts court on charges of murder, aggravated rape and armed robbery on Thursday.





District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett also said in court on Thursday the teen stole her iPhone, credit cards and underwear.He was found with her underwear and a bloody knife in his bag.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ed-object.html



Good thing he didn't have a gun. Someone might have got hurt.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269407&goto=newpost

Armed Busybody Teen Shoots 11-Year-Old Trying To Play

11-year-old boy recovering after getting accidentally shot in the head






Quote:








The 15-year-old was reportedly playing with the gun, accidentally pulled the trigger and shot the 11-year-old in the head. The boy's father and girlfriend were reportedly not aware the teen had a gun.



Police believe the handgun came from the teen's grandmother’s house in North Carolina, where he had been visiting.



What is this world coming to that a young man can't even get to play with a gun he got access to at his GamGam's house without some innocent kid getting shot in the head?



Oh, and remind me again about the gunnutter's alternative ideas about how to guarantee the safe storage for firearms and prevention of access to those guns by unauthorized persons and children.



Because no one likes the idea of a forced, mandatory implementation of safe storage of firearms.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269405&goto=newpost

Armed Busybody Shoots Youth Trying To Turn Life Around



Quote:








The family members of a robbery suspect that held a store employee at gunpoint in Alabama are lashing out at the Good Samaritan who shot him and stopped the robbery.



Adric White, 18, was shot five times after he allegedly tried to hold up a Family Dollar store in Mobile on Nov. 12.



“If [the customer's] life was not in danger, if no one had a gun up to him, if no one pointed a gun at him - what gives him the right to think that it's okay to just shoot someone?” a relative, who wished to remain anonymous, told FOX10. “You should have just left the store and went wherever you had to go in your car or whatever.”




What is this world coming to that a young man can't even get his armed robbery career off the ground without some Gunloverstanian shooting him 5 times?




Quote:








White was out of jail on bond after previously robbing The Original Oyster House at gunpoint just a little over a month before he robbed the Family Dollar.



This poor youth is just not very good at this.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...n_4323080.html





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269404&goto=newpost

Amish Parents of 10 year-old Refuse Chemotherapy, flee

http://gma.yahoo.com/amish-girl-leuk...ries.html?vp=1



So this story comes up at least once a year: Religious parents do not want their child to suffer through chemotherapy, so they disregard a court order and escape to an undisclosed location. Good luck tracking their calls, NSA.



Forum members expressed surprise at the number of commenters on general news sites calling Sylvia Browne a fraud. I expected as much. What I didn't expect was to see the vast majority of commenters supporting the parents in this case. Lots of anecdotes about loved ones who lost 50% of their body weight and "died anyway." Then there's typical boilerplate about "Government tyranny!" and "Freedom of religion!"



From the article:


Quote:








"We've seen how sick it makes her," Andy Hershberger, Sarah's father, told ABC News in August. "Our belief is the natural stuff will do just as much as that stuff if it's God's will."



Which is stupid.




Quote:








"If we do chemotherapy and she would happen to die, she would probably suffer more than if we would do it this way and she would happen to die," he said.



This inverts traditional positions. Social conservatives tend to support life at any cost (e.g., Terri Schaivo, euthanasia), while liberals often consider the importance of quality of life.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269390&goto=newpost

Scientific Spirituality

The Omega Point theory is about how the universe is being pulled into more and more complexity and consciousness by a point that is always ahead of us.



"Omega Point is a term coined by the French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955) to describe a maximum level of complexity and consciousness towards which he believed the universe was evolving.



In this theory, developed by Teilhard in The Future of Man (1950), the universe is constantly developing towards higher levels of material complexity and consciousness, a theory of evolution that Teilhard called the Law of Complexity/Consciousness. For Teilhard, the universe can only move in the direction of more complexity and consciousness if it is being drawn by a supreme point of complexity and consciousness.



Thus Teilhard postulates the Omega Point as this supreme point of complexity and consciousness, which in his view is the actual cause for the universe to grow in complexity and consciousness. In other words, the Omega Point exists as supremely complex and conscious, transcendent and independent of the evolving universe." -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Point



For something to be scientific it has to be successfully applied to the scientific method. The Omega Point theory can be tested using the scientific method.



"The scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge.[1] To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning.[2] The Oxford English Dictionary defines the scientific method as: "a method or procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses."[3]

...

Four essential elements[45][46][47] of the scientific method[48] are iterations,[49][50] recursions,[51] interleavings, or orderings of the following:



* Characterizations (observations,[52] definitions, and measurements of the subject of inquiry)



* Hypotheses[53][54] (theoretical, hypothetical explanations of observations and measurements of the subject)[55]



* Predictions (reasoning including logical deduction[56] from the hypothesis or theory)



* Experiments[57] (tests of all of the above)" -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scienti...entific_method





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269386&goto=newpost

Math terminology question

Is it correct English to call the result of subtraction a "remainder"?



I think that "difference" is the preferred term.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269382&goto=newpost

jeudi 28 novembre 2013

1000s of hominid fossils found in South Africa.

Cavers have found a treasure trove of hominid fossils in South Africa. No word yet about the species.



http://agridigest.com/2013/11/28/stu...inid-treasure/





And an ongoing blog at National Geographic...



http://newswatch.nationalgeographic....ar-expedition/



Steve S





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269376&goto=newpost

Your own, unanswered mystery, miracle or coincidence

I'm curious to hear if any of you have ever had a moment of mystery, miracle (used in the loosest sense) coincidence that scared you, saved the day, always made you wonder etc. It seems that many skeptics and atheists refrain from sharing these types of stories because of the inevitable "snap up" by theists as a "see!" moment.



But on the other hand, by not showing how common these types of stories are, do we lend to the weight they have in believers lives?





So to begin, here are a list of weird coincidences:





http://whatculture.com/film/8-mind-b...y-happened.php



Share your own. I shared one in another thread about my house being struck by lightening when I was a kid. (We had just finished a Godzilla marathon and thought he was attacking us.)



What's weird about it is that two years later our house was struck by lightening again. It happened on the exact same day too. Not the same date, the same day, the third Wednesday in August.



Weird huh?





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269374&goto=newpost

Nature of skepticism

Thought for the day here, and this is nothing more than my own impression.



Being a skeptic is like being a counter-puncher in boxing. I'm not the world's best expert on boxing but I don't recall any of the sport's great champions who were basically counter-punchers.



Gennady Golovkin is probably the best professional fighter there's ever been since Duran and a couple of weekends ago, he put on a sort of a clinic on how to beat counter-punchers:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJzHhB8SfQY



Most of the counter strokes never landed and in the odd case in which one did, Stevens still got the worst of it.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269373&goto=newpost

Say Goodbye to California as We Knew It?

http://www.fromthetrenchesworldrepor...-in-cali/66869







Getting to the Bottom of a Fish Die+Off in Southern California



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfpI8X5Zp0U







Harbingers of Death on CA shores!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNFXnTXS_QQ





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269371&goto=newpost

The Starchild Project

The Starchild Project - Official Website



THE STARCHILD SKULL is a 900-year-old bone skull found in Mexico in the 1930s. The Starchild Project has been working with independent researchers attempting to determine what this unusual skull is since 1999. The results uncovered by the research team ruled out all known deformities, and presented the scientific community with a genetic and physical profile so diffferent from human that it could be a new species.



Ongoing DNA testing has already discovered a high percentage of unusual DNA, and the Project aims to recover the entire genome, which will allow experts to determine if the Starchild Skull is a new species. Eventually we hope that this Skull will assist in the development of scientific and medical advances



http://www.starchildproject.com/





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269370&goto=newpost

Wind Farms Don't Cause Illness

Studies have shown that "wind farm illness" is caused by negative attitudes and reports on wind farms.



"The onus falls on the media to report on health fears about wind farms cautiously, particularly given strong evidence that it is the discussion itself that may be creating and perpetuating health complaints."



http://theconversation.com/wind-turb...spin-can-20845



Another study released in March: Windfarm sickness spreads by word of mouth



The first article also links to a summary of 19 studies showing wind farms don't cause illness.

http://tobacco.health.usyd.edu.au/as...lthReviews.pdf



Yet again, we see that false balance in the media contributes to fears and myths.



Anti-wind-farm activists get a lot of publicity in the media in my area. :mad: What's it like where you live?





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269367&goto=newpost

Explain this space rocket launch vid

Couldnt find a place to put this.

Saw this linked on Cluesforum,(it's fake obvs ;) )wanted someone with intelligence to explain the odd TV vs Live picture delay as it's bugging me. All seems to be out of sync with each other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-f3wXAnjgE





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269365&goto=newpost

Scientific inevitable?

A friend of mine told me there is nothing that is scientific inevitable, for example we cant be 100% sure that the sun will rise tomorrow.



I guess this is similar to the phrase "everything is relative". I told him the laws of physics is inevitable in all refrence frames..just like the speed of light in vacuum will always be c independent on how you measure it.



Sure I'm right?





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269361&goto=newpost

It is not just the gangs and their guns.......

https://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/S...-Gang-Problems



"These estimates suggest that gang-related homicides typically accounted for around 12 percent of all homicides annually."







So what are the rest of the population up to with their guns?



"a curious Philadelphia resident, wondered what it felt like to be hit by a bullet... so he took a gun and shot himself in the shoulder."



"When officers asked her why she shot herself, the woman told police she was "joking around."



"He apparently did not realize that a semiautomatic pistol, unlike a revolver, automatically inserts a cartridge into the firing chamber when the gun is cocked. His chance of winning a round of Russian roulette was zero, as he quickly discovered."



"The man had been standing in his front yard and aiming his gun at a neighbor's dog with malevolent intent. But his markmanship proved lacking that day. When he squeezed the trigger, he hit his own foot"



"An Allegheny Power spokesman advised people not to shoot at electrical insulators." (You can guess the rest)



http://cgi.darwinawards.com/cgi/sear...lts=50&begin=1





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269354&goto=newpost

Serious Conservative ACA Alternatives

OK, conservatives, let's hear your plans for health care reform.



I know the GOP loves them some tort reform, and buying insurance across state lines, but that doesn't solve the problem of rising medical costs and preexisting conditions.



One idea I've heard in a couple places now is to couple tax exempt Health Savings Accounts (HSA's) with the provision that if medical costs exceed 20% of a person's income in a given year, the government picks up the tab for the remaining costs. Under this scheme government would be the insurer of last resort, and people with preexisting conditions wouldn't be totally wiped out in any given year.



If we could incentivize businesses to match HSA contributions, like they do with 401(k)'s, the average middle class family (income of $50,000 a year) could contribute 5-10% of income into an HSA, and thereby have a pool of $5,000-$10,000 a year to cover medical expenses. Healthy people could piggy-back some cheap catastrophic plan on top of the HSA's just to keep themselves out of bankruptcy. Or they might just depend on their HSA's if they know they won't be on the hook for more than 20% of their income. That should be sufficient for most families, if the govt. swoops in when things go really bad.



I imagine this would be fairly cheap for the government, business would love decoupling health coverage from employment, and people spending their own own money on non-emergency medical care might lead to lower prices.



Of course, that's just a broad sketch and leaves many questions unanswered, but I'm curious if any conservatives here support something like that?





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269349&goto=newpost

Happy Thanksgiving!!!





Best wishes to you and yours:).





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269343&goto=newpost

Delightful headline






via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269339&goto=newpost

China to land a rabbit on the Moon next month






via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269338&goto=newpost

Lewis collins Dead

An icon of the 70's due to his portrayal of Bodie in "The Professionals", Lewis Collins died today aged 67 after a 5 year battle with cancer. What a shame.



I always thought that he deserved a tilt at becoming the next Bond after Roger Moore, yet after "Who Dares Wins" his film and TV career seemed to falter.



Details and more background here.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269333&goto=newpost

Woman Accidentally Shoots Daughter

There are no words for this one.




Quote:








A Florida woman allegedly shot her daughter to death Monday night because she thought the person knocking on her door was the boyfriend she had just fought, police said Tuesday.



http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/26/us/flo...oots-daughter/



We were talking about this, last night at dinner. My POV is I understand the theory behind castle doctrines and stand your ground, a person should have the right to defend themselves, especially in their own home but there has to be a stronger definition of perceived threat impressed on the gun owner. Now this woman is being charged because this was just reckless and by her own statements, I don't get the impression that she intends to fight the charges. This just keeps on happening; a person feels a slight indication that there is a threat at their door and they shoot blindly. She says that she thought her boyfriend was coming back to kill her. He was in the hospital treating a head wound she gave him so obviously, there was a severely dysfunctional relationship going on. Perhaps her fear was justifiable or perhaps she is the aggressor, playing the victim, we don't have all the details, yet. What we do have is a woman who shot without knowing who she was firing at and ended up killing her own daughter, who had her grandchild in her arms.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269328&goto=newpost

mercredi 27 novembre 2013

VCA Animal Healing Center

From a VCA facebook post:




Quote:








Here's an incredible story: Toby, a previously paralyzed 5-year-old dachshund, can now walk again! A patient at VCA Animal Healing Center, Toby underwent electro-acupuncture, homeopathic injections, oral homeopathics and Chinese herbs and showed improvements at every visit during his few weeks of treatment! We're all so proud of Toby!



Wow, just wow. I would ask what kind of organization the VCA is that they are actually doing this kind of thing, but I've talked to enough people that have worked for the VCA that I know the answer. They have the center because there are people willing to pay money for such quackery.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269322&goto=newpost

Wanna bring down the 'Free World' this weekend?

Is it still OK to call it the 'Free World'?



Just get together with a bunch of your friends and ...





A Plea to Avoid Crush of Users at Health Site




Quote:








WASHINGTON — White House officials, fearful that the federal health care website may again be overwhelmed this weekend, have urged their allies to hold back enrollment efforts so the insurance marketplace does not collapse under a crush of new users.



At the same time, administration officials said Tuesday that they had decided not to inaugurate a big health care marketing campaign planned for December out of concern that it might drive too many people to the still-fragile HealthCare.gov.



With a self-imposed deadline for repairs to the website approaching on Saturday, the administration is trying to strike a delicate balance. It is encouraging people to go or return to the website but does not want to create too much demand. It boasts that the website is vastly improved, but does not want to raise expectations that it will work for everyone.



...








via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269313&goto=newpost

Black Friday

Went over to Best Buy and Staples to look at tablets and notebooks this evening.

There was a long line of tents at the Best Buy entrance.

Asked a lady there what was going on, and she said she'd been there since Sunday.

"Waiting for a good deal on something".. :confused:

I asked her if she was going to have any turkey tomorrow, and she said no.

I told her that was unpatriotic!

She said "I'm from Belize".

I told her.... "My country, my rules. You WILL have turkey tomorrow!"

And suggested the local McD's.

Very nice lady, great sense of humor.

Lots of jollity ensued.

I love it when that happens!





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269311&goto=newpost

Study says viewing natural wonders may spur a belief in god

http://now.msn.com/natural-wonders-i...god-study-says



It doesn't work for me. I've seen the grand canyon, Crater Lake, Obeserved icebergs camped out at Yellowstone etc but that never did anything spiritually for me. I went the atheist route and at age 66 never looked back.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269310&goto=newpost

Intresting how Dawkins is contradicting himself...

In the discussion about nothing, it's actually very intresting how Dawkins is contradicting himself. It's actually very funny



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v34QjYPuiEA



He acts as if he knows something about how it all began (big bangmodel) but people can easyly spot the contradicitons in his thinking.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269308&goto=newpost

What building is this in front of WTC 2?

I can't find it on Google maps, so I assume that in the 12 years its been removed, or damaged in the aftermath.



the red circle indicates the building.




Attached Images





File Type: jpg 2013-11-27_122934.jpg (18.3 KB)







via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269294&goto=newpost

HPV jab halves cases of precancerous lesions

Good christian people, your children engage in sexual activity. Keep them healthy.




Quote:








THE HPV jab has halved the number of the precancerous lesions in young vaccinated Victorian women. Research shows that five years after the immunisation program started, the number of serious cervical abnormalities has fallen.

Previous studies have shown a decrease in the prevalence of human papillomavirus in the population but Victorian Cytology Service (VCS) study director Professor Marion Saville said this was the first study to prove that the decline was due to vaccination.

Australia was the first country to introduce a government-funded HPV program in 2007.








via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269291&goto=newpost

Can a person gain muscle and lose fat at the same time?

This is a controversial topic in the fitness community, although I'm not sure if the controversy is only of the same kind as the 'controversy' in the scientific community about creation and evolution.



I've tried to look online, and found mostly advertisements or articles that appear to be written with vested interests.



It would seem to me that the answer is yes, at least in some cases, but I am not much of an expert on these matters.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269288&goto=newpost

Is there a "gun problem" in the US? (Please read definition before voting)

This is getting quite silly. The gun debate is so toxic that it seems the two sides can't agree on anything. Let's see if they can agree that there is a problem to begin with.



Defining terms: By "gun problem", I mean a situation that warrants some sort of altering of laws or law enforcement procedures in order to increase the safety of the public.



And don't bitch about there being no "planet X" option. This is a serious issue, and a "yes" or "no" question.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269287&goto=newpost

Big bill for the JREF :(

Ouch! Isn't it someone's job to monitor this sort of thing?


Quote:








The Broward Property Appraiser's Office is yanking huge property tax exemptions from some non-profit organizations.



"All we want is each property owner in Broward County to pay his or her fair share," said Broward Property Appraiser Lori Parrish.

...

The property appraiser’s office recently removed the tax exempt classification from the James Randi Educational Foundation.



For years, the foundation's former offices at 201 SE 12th Street in Fort Lauderdale were tax exempt, but the property appraiser office says the building has been vacant for more than two years.



The Randi Foundation owes $23,115.00 after losing its exemption classification








via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269286&goto=newpost

Suggestions for finding Adjunct Work

After teaching for about 5 years now in a private company, I'm missing the days of "real" teaching in college and am considering going for an adjunct position. I found myself tearing up with nostalgia the other day, watching NUMB3RS I'd probably be qualified for something like a core curriculum English 1 or 2 course at this point because I haven't taught in a college at all.



I have about 12 years of experience teaching test prep type classes and I worked for a while teaching college entrance exam test prep and SAT verbal and writing test prep.



So I'm dusting off my resume and trying to give it a go for the spring semester. So any suggestions? What's the difference really between the CV and the Resume?



Any tried and true results out there? Should I try to apply at the college from where I graduated and suck up to professors there? Or is that frowned up.



Also, to apply as an Assistant Professor I'm assuming that's a highly competitive slot that requires experience.



I'm hesitating on this because I'm also loath to have to grade tons of papers. So any experiences you'd like to share would also be helpful.



Thanks in advance. :cool:





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269284&goto=newpost

USA Gun Death Figures

This puts things into perspective:



http://smartgunlaws.org/gun-deaths-a...es-statistics/




Quote:








In 2010, guns took the lives of 31,076 Americans in homicides, suicides and unintentional shootings. This is the equivalent of more than 85 deaths each day and more than three deaths each hour.1



73,505 Americans were treated in hospital emergency departments for non-fatal gunshot wounds in 2010.2



Firearms were the third-leading cause of injury-related deaths nationwide in 2010, following poisoning and motor vehicle accidents.3



Between 1955 and 1975, the Vietnam War killed over 58,000 American soldiers – less than the number of civilians killed with guns in the U.S. in an average two-year period.4



In the first seven years of the U.S.-Iraq War, over 4,400 American soldiers were killed. Almost as many civilians are killed with guns in the U.S., however, every seven weeks.5








via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269283&goto=newpost

How to go about verifying mathematical papers?

I have for many years had an interesting Nassim Taleb's work, most famously known for the idea of the Black Swan.



He has a lot of very interesting ideas in his books, supposedly back up by technical papers. If his ideas about prediction and risk, if true, could have a big impact.



The problem is I'm not knowledgeable enough in statistics among other math subjects to determine if he's right.



If you were in my position, how would you go about verifying his work?



Link to some of his papers.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_31.../edit?hl=en_GB





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Pope Francis and urges rich to share wealth

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...talism-tyranny



Pope Francis calls unfettered capitalism 'tyranny' and urges rich to share wealth...




Quote:








...He also called on rich people to share their wealth. "Just as the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills," Francis wrote in the document issued on Tuesday...








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Obama can I.D. immigrants on sight.



Quote:








OBAMA: As I was getting a tour of DreamWorks, I didn't ask, but just looking at faces, I could tell there were some folks who are here not because they were born here, but because they want to be here and they bring extraordinary talents to the United States.



Wow, just by looking at someone. That's pretty good. Get that man to Arizona!



http://www.realclearpolitics.com/vid..._at_faces.html





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New Children Video about Experience

Is it Possible that this could be a good description of Experience to Teach Children?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meagyBWluBQ



This video is not an Explanation as this Philosophy does not worship Explanations, instead it follows Descriptions...Below is a Description of Sequences of Experiences in the Physical Universe



Existence is Experience of Experience

Existence = Experience -> Experience



Awareness is Experience of Existence

Awareness = Experience -> Existence



Consciousness is Experience of Awareness's

Consciousness = Experience -> Awareness's



Oneness is Experience of Consciousness's

Oneness = Experience -> Consciousness's



Lucifer (Planetary) is Experience of Oneness's

Lucifer (Planetary) = Experience -> Oneness's



God Consciousness is Experience of Infinite Experience's

God Consciousness = Experience -> Infinite Experience's



KIDS WILL LOVE THIS! Oneness as a New Psychology :) and it is all Endogenous Dimethyltryptamine, (Meditation) and Love Based :)





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New computer time

I've been running XP for probably ten years now. My work computer has XP on it. Five years ago I had to pay extra to have XP installed on my last new home computer, instead of what was standard then.



Since then I have had to have a new work computer, but IT just loaded it up with XP again without even asking me if that was what I wanted. However, now I'm needing a new home computer I have a bad feeling that nobody will let me have one with XP.



What am I going to end up with? Will I like it? Will it be difficult to adapt to it?



Rolfe.





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Can you delete Google+ without deleting YouTube or Gmail?

I don't want a Google+ account. However, recently google have seemingly consolidated all their "services" into one, which means that they've automatically given me one, using my YouTube profile. It used to be the case that you could delete your Google+ profile while retaining all the rest, whereas now it seems that there's just the option to delete your entire google profile, which will completely erase your YouTube and Gmail accounts as well.



Is there something I'm missing, or do I really now have to be part of this artificial inflation of member numbers?





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Who's dumber: Creationists or Truthers?

Who's dumber, creationists or truthers? The competition is stiff but my vote is truthers because the creation of life or the universe wasn't broadcast on live TV for the world to see.





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mardi 26 novembre 2013

Peter Turner, mentalist

I've only fairly recently became aware of Peter Turner, the UK mentalist/mind reader. The more I see him perform (to laymen) or lecture (to other performers), the more I'm impressed with his work. He seems to have an innate understanding of human psychology and how to manipulate it (and, no, not in a fake NLP/Derren Brown kind of way). I find his combination of traditional methods and new thinking and great presentation skills amazingly impressive--in my view, a true new-generation mentalist taking that art to a new level (IMHO, as an amateur magician and mentalist).



Are others here familiar with his work? What do you guys think of him?



If you're not familiar with Pete, here's a video:















YouTube Video This video is not hosted by the JREF. The JREF can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website.
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