…. Smith, that is. It’s Dick Smith’s 66th birthday and so this site wishes a happy birthday to Mr. Smith with hopes that there will be many many more.

Dick Smith, for those who don’t know, is an Australian businessman and aviator. He’s best known for Dick Smith Foods and Dick Smith Electronics. He’s also apparently quite confident, because not only does he put his face on everything, but he doesn’t seem to mind using the name “Dick” even-though it makes people giggle. Sure, he could call himself Rich Smith or even Rick Smith, but he’s Dick Smith and he had that name first!

So why am I wishing a happy birthday to an Australian businessman?   I’m not even Australian, after all.

It’s because Dick Smith went out of his way and beyond any call of duty to donate money to buy ad space and help in the fight against the AVN and the harm they cause to public health.

That is something that deserves more thanks than I can probably express. Dick Smith didn’t step forward and pony up the cash to help out because he had to or because he had a stake in it any more than anyone else. He’s not a pharmaceutical exec and not even a doctor. He did it because he didn’t like children dying of preventable disease and he wanted to do something about it and had the funds to do so.

For that I know that many of us in the anti-bad science movement and the skeptical activism community are eternally grateful. It’s helped as a big hit to one of the most prolific national anti-vaccine movements. I can only hope that the effort the Aussies have put into crushing this monstrous and dishonest group will be an inspiration to more around the world to fight against quackery and misinformation. In the internet age, these groups don’t do damage to just their own country, but can do damage worldwide. The successful efforts to root out the AVN have not only been a victory for Australia, but a victory for science, medicine and humanity.

No person of means is required to step up and contribute to this kind of effort, so when they do, they deserve gratitude for what is really a gift to the greater good.

Happy Birthday Dick Smith!

If there’s one thing this world really needs, it’s more Dicks!

In the past couple of weeks there has been an enormous increase in the amount of spam/advertising/bogus comments showing up on this site.   It might be because this site has gotten onto some list of sites for spamming or it might be just a general increase in spam across the net or it could be because there has been quite a bit of traffic recently.

Whatever the case, these comments and link-backs really get in the way of having a meaningful discussion and are a huge annoyance.   It’s important to catch them as much as possible, because many spammers are able to detect if the comment has been successfully posted and, if it was, they will continue to post to the site.  If it’s not, the spambot may know enough not to bother with the site anymore.

For this reason I’ve had to increase the level of filtering.   This includes filtering messages from certain IP ranges, domains and email addresses, as well as messages which contain certain key words and phrases.   Some of the filtering methods also include filtering messages which fit a profile derived from public spambot lists.   Sites that receive spam report it to various databases and the patterns are used to reconize when the spambot comes to another site.

Unfortunately, as the filtration standards are made tighter, more legitimate messages are likely to get moderated as suspicious.   They are not deleted!  They end up in a spam folder which I regularly review and approve messages that are not spam and don’t belong in there.   However, this might take a day or so, because I do have a life aside from this site.

So if your comment does not show up, that is probably why.   Please don’t keep trying to post the same message 20 times in a row and then start posting messages about how you’re being censored.   That’s not what’s happening.   It’s just an issue of the spam filters not being perfect.

Recently the magazine Popular Science ran a major story on individuals who believe they have electrosensitivity or electrohypersensitivity.   I’m sorry to say that it was an example of horrible reporting that really only talked about the issue as if it were proven real.   It stated the claims of the various individuals who claimed to have the condition without once considering that it might be “all in their head” and not real at all.   (I’m working on a post with a more definitive and full report on all the problems with the PopSci article.)

While it did contain some language about how long term harm, such as cancer, is not proven to be related to RF radiation, it reported about being “Allergic to radio Waves” is if it were conclusively proven as fact. Not surprisingly, the story has generated a lot of hype and has been championed by those who insist that the condition exists.

Well then, I’m going to make an offer.   I contend that electrohypersensitivity is not real.   The condition is psychosomatic.  RF fields do not produce nausea, headache, fainting, skin rashes or any other acute effect on the human body.   No person can, under controlled conditions, show that they manifest these symptoms more often around a low power rf transmitter than when away from radio sources.

Do you think I’m wrong?    Then prove it.   I’m willing to put up one grand of my own money to be proven wrong.   Honestly, I’m so confident about this, I’d put up more than that, but I want this to be a credible challenge and so I’ll put up an amount I know I can provide if I need to. I’m very serious and I’m willing to make the effort of setting up a test to conclusively and fairly settle the issue. And I will eat my words and fork over the money if you can prove me wrong!

The Challenge:

To prove that you manifest symptoms of electrohypersensitivity and that these symptoms are reliably linked to RF radiation by demonstrating the ability to detect the state of RF transmissions in a controlled enviornment.

The Reward:

1.   One thousand US Dollars, provided in the form of a certified check, money order or other mutually acceptable monetary instrument.

2.   I will admit I was wrong about electrosenstivity / electrohypersensitivity not existing.

3.  Your case will be brought to the attention of researchers, with whom I am in communication, and efforts will be made to report your condition and the verification in peer reviewed journals.

The Test Setup:

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As I get a lot of questions on what my position is on global warming, I’ve decided to answer them and hopefully put the issue to rest (although I’m sure that won’t happen).   Here are some of the common questions I get.

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NOTE:  See the question mark on the end of the headline?   That means this is not reported as verified fact but rather as a possible event that is being reported
Reports have come in from Mexico describing an apparent meteorite strike that left a thirty meter crater in an area of the country about 100 miles northeast of Mexico city.  The impact is reported to have occurred yesterday evening at approximately 18:30 (6:30 PM).   This would have been around 00:30 GMT, assuming that the reported timing is correct.   Thus far there’s not a lot of information outside of the Mexican press, but based on a number of reports it does appear that there was some kind of event that did occur in the area of Pachuca, Hidalgo Mexico.

Reports include sightings of a flaming object streaking across the sky, but it should be noted that until independent verification and more data becomes available, it can’t be stated conclusively that it was indeed a meteorite.   It is possible that this could have been a piece of “space junk,” an aircraft accident or possibly even something as mundane as a propane tank exploding.  It would not be the first time that a terrestrial explosion as reported as a meteor strike.

Via Bad Astronomy:

There have been some reports of a possible meteorite in Mexico — here is one news report translated into English.

Reports are a bit sketchy right now, but apparently a bright flaming object was seen coming down about 100 miles northeast of Mexico City on Wednesday around 18:30 local time. There was a roar that was loud enough to shake buildings. Another news article is reporting a crater 30 meters in diameter was found.

At the moment this is all I know. It’s not clear if this was actually an impact event from a meteorite or some terrestrial event. In 2007 a small meteorite struck in Peru, causing a lot of confusion (with me at least!) over the source of the event; there was a lot of speculation before an actual meteorite impact was confirmed. Before that impact, it was not considered likely that a small meteorite could actually hit the ground fast enough to make a crater in the ten-meter size range (they slow down or break up high in the atmosphere), so the Peru event was a surprise. It’s still not completely understood how the meteoroid survived to hit the ground.

So it’s possible this Mexico event is a meteorite, but we don’t know yet. I’ll post more information as I find it.

Possible Seismic Confirmation???

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Interestingly I was an observer to a disaster today without even knowing it.

My parents are out of town for a while and because I live quite near to them, I am staying at their home to take care of the dogs and keep down the fort.   Their home is in Guilford CT, which is about 15 miles, as the crow flies, from Middletown CT.   That’s slightly closer than where I’d otherwise be.  A bit before noon, I felt and heard what I would describe as  “surge” of wind or vibrations.    My parents house is fairly large and when a gust of wind hits it broadside, you can hear and feel the windows and walls rattle.   This event was a bit like that, but far more acute.  While wind gusts last a few seconds, this was more like a surge of pressure that lasted under a second.   It shook the house more than normal, to the point where it felt a bit like it might have been a seismic event, transmitted through the ground.

It was noteworthy enough to make me go to the window and look outside to see if there was something going on, like maybe a big truck or something else that could account for this weird sudden surge of pressure and vibration.   The event was not like a “BOOM” but perhaps a bit like a “thud,” although not an easily heard sound.   It may have been infrasonic – the kind of sound that you don’t hear directly but which you can feel in your chest and which you can hear indirectly due to the reverberations it causes.

It’s hard to describe the event, but the words “thud,” “woosh” and “surge” are the best I can come up with.

In any case, I went back to what I was doing, which was writing the previous post (the one about diamonds).

Turns out a natural gas power plant blew up and killed at least five people!!!

It seems a bit ironic that it’s called the “Clean Energy Plant” or at least it was, before much of it was blown up.   It’s far too early to tell exactly what happened here, but it’s worth noting that the event is not entirely unique.   Some enormous explosions have occurred at natural gas fired power plants over the years, as well as at natural gas pumping stations, storage depots and other facilities that support them. A massive natural gas explosion in New Jersey left hundreds homeless in 1994 and deadly natural gas explosions have occurred in recent years in Russia, Texas, Virgina, Alaska, several parts of Canada, China, India and numerous other places. This includes explosions at the power plant location, as was the case in St. Petersburg Russia.

I have to admit that while I’m acutely aware of the potential for disaster that lurks wherever you find massive amounts of flammable gas, this reminder hit especially close to home.   In addition to living near a natural gas power plant, I also live about 20 miles from a nuclear plant.  The nuclear plant, unlike the gas plant, has never killed anyone or had a major incident that effected the safety or property of those who live in the area.    This shouldn’t be surprising, however, because while the American  natural gas industry’s safety record is fairly descent, it’s far from spotless, unlike the nuclear energy industry which has never had even a single solitary incident in it’s history that endangered the local community or caused loss of life to citizens in the area.

During its history of roughly five decades, there have been a handful of worker fatalities in the US nuclear industry.  Nearly all of them have been from common workplace accidents found in all industries, such as falling off of a ladder or catwalk.   There has never been a death of a worker at a US nuclear power plant due to reactor malfunction or a nuclear accident.  There has been only one death attributable to a “nuclear” accident of any kind – a worker died as the result of a criticality accident in 1964 at the Woods River Junction reprocessing plant when he improperly mixed a solution of uranium and plutonium, resulting in unexpected critical.    Of course, the US is not alone in this.   With the exception of the former Soviet Union, most other countries with a nuclear industry have a spotless record and the rest have a nearly spotless one.

Sadly, in a single event, the natural gas industry has killed five times that many.   So which one is the dangerous one again?

In one of the greatest  losses of information in human history, eclipsed only by the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, it seems that the original tapes containing recordings of the unconverted vide0 from the Apollo-11 mission have most likely been destroyed.   This probably occurred sometime in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s, although it has not been specifically confirmed that all copies were degaussed at the time, it is known that many tapes in the collection from the era were.

At this time, there remains a very slim chance that there may be some of the original M22 tapes, most likely the on-site duplicates, that may have escaped degaussing and are hidden away somewhere in the US, Guam or Australia.  Although, that seems at best, a very long shot.   More likely to have survived was at least one recording, a possibly two made at the Parkes observatory on a modified  Ampex VR-660 video tape recorder.   If this tape exists, it is most likely in the archives of either the US government or the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. However, thus far, efforts to locate these tapes has also proven fruitless.

There is, however, another potential source of at least some of the information lost during the scan conversion process, which could be of use in the efforts to restore the video recordings, or which at least could provide some additional record for posterity:  Still images.

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Cancer treatment and especially chemotherapy seem to draw quacks like few other things.   Various misinformed and dishonest parties will have made any number of claims about cancer therapy and have pushed their own forms of snake-oil as an alternative.

Of course, forgoing effective science-based treatment can result in unnecessary loss of life, but to those suckered the deadly lies can be very attractive.  What makes things like chemotherapy such easy targets is that despite being lifesaving in the long run, the individual treatment sessions don’t make patients feel better and the side effects are well known for being unpleasant.   This aids in perpetuating the myth that it makes things worse.

James Randi has just finished up a course of chemotherapy which he was on for a few months.   Last time I saw him he had just finished some major abdominal surgery and was wheelchair bound (or rather, he was supposed to be, but he kept getting up out of the wheelchair despite being reminded that he shouldn’t do that so much.)    Now that he’s done with his chemo he relates his experience in this video.   Of course, we all wish him the best.  His prognosis is excellent for two reasons:  the cancer was detected early on and was treated immediately with the best that good, science-based medicine can provide.

Too bad it’s not their primary ship, the “Steve Irwin,” which is the base of operations for the pirate operation known as Sea Shephard, but their new “stealth,” “high tech” speedster that cost a cool 1.5 million.   The  Ady Gil, a fast yet flimsy boat had suffered many problems in her short lifetime before having her bow completely smashed by a Japanese security vessel defending their civil ships which were being endangered by the illegal operations of Sea Shepperd.   All six crew members escaped the sinking hulk. Hopefully they’re off to a Japanese courtroom.

If the Adi Gil looks familiar it’s because it had previously been used for the stunt known as “EarthRace.“   Earth Race was an attempt to “raise awareness” for global warming by racing around the world in a vessel powered by biofuels – not that biofuels are actually environmentally friendly, mind you, but it was an excuse to build a big fast boat on donated money.

Earthrace did succeed in setting a new marine around-the-world record.  It also did manage to achieve one kill.   While speeding through the crowded waters off the coast of Guatemala, the Earthrace vessel struck a small local fishing vessel.    Of the three working stiffs onboard, Earthrace scored one kill and two serious injuries.

Sea Shepherd had previous stated that they would use this vessel to “physically block” whaling operations.   The incident, according to Sea Shepherd occurred when the Gil attempted to ram a whaling support ship.  This leaves two, possibly three menacing vessels still afloat, but it’s still great news for marine safety, civil navigation of the world’s oceans and rule of law.

Now a molded carbon fiber and resin reinforced hull may have a high strength to weight ratio, but it doesn’t generally come out the winner when rammed into a very large structure of marine grade steel, dumbass.

I haven’t worken up to news this good in a long time.   It seems the new decade is looking good already!

Best Wishes that for a very very high energy holiday season and a bountiful new year.

This holiday season, may you and all your friends and family enjoy relief from the bitter cold through artificial heating and may your nights be happy, secure and brought by the glow of incandescence, fluorescence or whatever lighting you may have.   Of course, for those who are in Australia or South America, may your days be cooled by air conditioning.   Here’s hoping all your travels are safe, comfortable and rapid, and may all your pantries overflow with a surplus of safe and pathogen-free food.   And may your health be maintained by the best medicine that science can produce.

However you may celebrate your holidays and whether it is Christmas, the Yuletide, Solstice, Chaunaka or otherwise, here’s hoping that the power of many many kilowatts will serve for your comfort and protection.  Terajoules of comfort and joy, for all of mankind.