tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2932316118250667492024-03-13T01:02:20.326+00:00Punk PsychologistGobbing in the face of pseudoscience...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-1248303523595450662019-12-10T13:35:00.001+00:002019-12-10T13:36:50.273+00:00Darwin Day Celebration Lecture 2020<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="false"
DefSemiHidden="false" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="375">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footer"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of figures"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Mention"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Smart Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hashtag"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Unresolved Mention"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:107%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6v1IkuXVC4Q/Xe-dkdVOJFI/AAAAAAAAHLc/WZjg1mro5IAhFLnwqRca4toe8PTqLbnigCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Darwin%2BDay%2Bposter%2B2020%2Bsmall.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="738" data-original-width="524" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6v1IkuXVC4Q/Xe-dkdVOJFI/AAAAAAAAHLc/WZjg1mro5IAhFLnwqRca4toe8PTqLbnigCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Darwin%2BDay%2Bposter%2B2020%2Bsmall.JPG" width="226" /></a><b>Are Human Brains Wired Up to Do Science? How Cognitive
Constraints Can Lead Us Astray in Research.</b></div>
<b>
</b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By
Prof Dorothy Bishop FRS</span></b></div>
<b>
</b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">University
of Oxford</span></b></div>
<b>
</b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Darwin
Lecture Theatre</span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thursday
27 February 2020</span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">7.00-8.30pm
(Free refreshments from 6.00)</span></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All
Welcome!</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dorothy
Bishop is Professor of Developmental Neuropsychology in the Department of
Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford. She is a Fellow of the
Royal Society, and an expert on children’s communication and language who
pioneered the study of twins to identify genetic influences. On Twitter, @DeeVyBee
is a passionate advocate of open science, and a savage critic of poor
statistics in research. In this lecture, she will look at some of the causes of
“bad science”: maybe our brains are just not wired right for thinking
scientifically?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To
book your FREE tickets, visit </span><a href="https://darwinday2020.eventbrite.co.uk/"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://darwinday2020.eventbrite.co.uk</span></a></i><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-43391842007262952132019-02-13T21:50:00.000+00:002019-02-13T21:57:18.093+00:00Darwin Day Celebration Lecture 2019<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MBeCRCnkvSY/XGSQ8UToCjI/AAAAAAAAEhs/LYGX17E03y4qMnaJ4LDPEsnIkQ26yeMigCLcBGAs/s1600/darwin%2Bday%2Bposter%2B2019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1040" data-original-width="720" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MBeCRCnkvSY/XGSQ8UToCjI/AAAAAAAAEhs/LYGX17E03y4qMnaJ4LDPEsnIkQ26yeMigCLcBGAs/s400/darwin%2Bday%2Bposter%2B2019.jpg" width="275" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://darwinday2019.eventbrite.co.uk/" target="_blank">https://darwinday2019.eventbrite.co.uk </a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-29066563895487029642018-01-12T13:33:00.000+00:002018-01-12T13:33:48.041+00:00Darwin Day Celebration Lecture 2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d9tHFJodly8/Wli40msbRMI/AAAAAAAACJk/Roq0gXs4XTcuB_qGgre9gb0y9OUgqBh5gCLcBGAs/s1600/darwin%2Bday%2B2018%2Bofficial%2Bposter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="522" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d9tHFJodly8/Wli40msbRMI/AAAAAAAACJk/Roq0gXs4XTcuB_qGgre9gb0y9OUgqBh5gCLcBGAs/s400/darwin%2Bday%2B2018%2Bofficial%2Bposter.jpg" width="281" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://darwinday2018.eventbrite.co.uk/" target="_blank">http://darwinday2018.eventbrite.co.uk/</a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-7208741532550173852017-02-21T13:15:00.002+00:002017-02-21T13:15:10.860+00:00Darwin Day Celebration Lecture 2017<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8RTEsAYXF8g/WKw8zs2mXuI/AAAAAAAAAx0/BN2BAFUlYVEppYI75nPD6lcy7W_SeXLxACLcB/s1600/darwin%2Bposter%2B2017%2Bofficial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8RTEsAYXF8g/WKw8zs2mXuI/AAAAAAAAAx0/BN2BAFUlYVEppYI75nPD6lcy7W_SeXLxACLcB/s400/darwin%2Bposter%2B2017%2Bofficial.jpg" width="283" /><b></b></a></div>
<b>Darwin Day Celebration Lecture 2017</b><br />
<br />
All Welcome!<br />
<br />
<a href="https://darwinday2017eventbrite.co.uk/" target="_blank">Reserve your tickets here </a><br />
<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-62560465786430218532015-03-24T15:22:00.000+00:002015-03-24T15:22:16.588+00:00Placebos: Not Just Pills!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8qwPi7sBwkA/VRF7shZNyGI/AAAAAAAAAQw/P0zWOEqNS-Q/s1600/The-Beach-Boys-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8qwPi7sBwkA/VRF7shZNyGI/AAAAAAAAAQw/P0zWOEqNS-Q/s1600/The-Beach-Boys-001.jpg" height="120" width="200" /></a></div>
I just came across a fantastic example of a placebo effect, in an unusual context without a sugar pill in sight. According to <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/rhodri-marsdens-interesting-objects-the-fake-beach-boys-mixer-10085425.html" target="_blank">Rhodri Marsden in the Independent</a>, the Beach Boys were getting sick of Murry Wilson (Brian, Dennis and Carl's dad) interfering with their studio set up, until engineer Chuck Britz created a completely fake mixing desk for him to fiddle with. This kept him happy and quiet, and let them get on with their recordings in peace. What a great idea!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v4aEWMpPO3k/VRF9ttVJXwI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/YuTxWtlp2Lo/s1600/12PageIMG92-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v4aEWMpPO3k/VRF9ttVJXwI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/YuTxWtlp2Lo/s1600/12PageIMG92-5.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a>The story reminded me of my old mate Dave, a notorious beer monster. At one party, the booze was running low when I heard him arrive, already quite pissed from the pub but (of course) bringing no beer of his own. I knew our dwindling supplies were in danger, so I quickly stuck an empty Party Seven under the tap and filled it with water. Dave was delighted when I presented it to him, and spent the rest of the evening happily sitting on the stairs, jealously guarding his treasure and slowly working his way through the lot.<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-78789614687194846022014-09-09T15:01:00.002+01:002014-09-09T15:02:20.415+01:00These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KnAlLydifAs/VA8IAkGVMXI/AAAAAAAAANg/5DXPdW99FTI/s1600/baby-duck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KnAlLydifAs/VA8IAkGVMXI/AAAAAAAAANg/5DXPdW99FTI/s1600/baby-duck.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
Actually it's just a bunch of links to websites that inspired my interest in quackery and pseudoscience. I am posting it here because my old web page has disappeared from the server at work. But feel free to read on...<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Now then. Can I interest you in five gallons of lukewarm water, pumped
into your rectum? No? How about if we make it... ...coffee flavoured? If you
think I'm joking, check out "Jos-hua Medicine man" at the </span><a href="http://www.hps-online.com/nsectionfast.htm" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Ultimate
Resource for Colon Care Online</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">. This site certainly tells you more
than you ever needed to know about the joys of deep bowel cleansing. On the
other hand, you can get a real doctor's opinion at </span><a href="http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/gastro.html" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Quack Watch</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">. Whatever you do, just please,
please, don't try this at home.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Fortunately, not all bodily secretions are bad for you. In fact, if you
believe <a href="http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/urine.htm"><span style="color: blue;">Shirley Lipschutz-Robinson</span></a>, you can cure ALL diseases
with nothing more than your own urine. Sometimes, you just splash it all over,
and sometimes you need to quaff a few jars, but if you do you will be free from
cancer, rabies, polio, AIDS and anything else you may care to name. Wow. I
shall never think of a "beaker of the warm south" in quite the same
way ever again. Just one question: if urine-drinking cures all ills, does that
mean eternal life? If so, pass me a flagon of my finest <i><a href="file:///N:/M_ESLEA/WWWnew/files/piss.wav"><span style="color: blue;">Aqua
Vita</span></a>, </i>post haste.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Shirley, no doubt, would suggest Urine Therapy as an ideal remedy for
chronic or acute ear infections, hearing loss, sinus congestion, ear pain,
itching, allergies, ringing (tinnitus), or vertigo. However, since you may find
it difficult to piss into your own ear (don't take my word for it, feel free to
try) you may prefer to look at <a href="http://www.arden.net/earcandle/"><span style="color: blue;">Roberta Cruz's Ear Candling</span></a> pages. Candling, we
are told, will cure all the ailments mentioned above. This truly mind-boggling
"therapy" involves shoving a candle into the ear, lighting it, and
letting the smoke draw all the nasty "toxins" out from deep within.
The true devotee then gets all excited, believing that the ash remaining is in
fact a pile of impurities extracted from their very brain. What can you say? If
that weren't enough, Roberta even claims that having clean ears improves the
supply of oxygen to the brain! Marvellous.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Here's an easier way to live forever. No kidding! Jusy by putting
magnets on your pinkies, or across your toes, you can align your cells and make
them denser and better able to fight off germs. Says who? <a href="http://www.alexchiu.com/"><span style="color: blue;">Alex Chui</span></a>,
that's who! Alex's "Eternal Life Devices" will make you physically
younger, and remove wrinkles, fat and scars. Even better, if you don't want to
buy them, he provides instructions on how to make your own. For me, however,
the best things on the site are the little snippets of personal information.
Alex wants China to invade Taiwan! Alex's favourite celebrity is Alicia
Silverstone!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The biggest problem with pseudoscientific therapies is that they can be
very dangerous, either directly (people have died from infections caused by
poorly-sterilised colonic equipment, for example) or because people who believe
the quacks do not seek proper medical help for their problems. This site,
however, contains probably the most dangerous pseudoscientific claptrap I have
ever seen. Check out "Jasmuheen" of the <a href="http://www.selfempowermentacademy.com.au/"><span style="color: blue;">Cosmic
Internet Academy</span></a>. Jasmuheen is a "breatharian", which
means that she never eats or drinks anything (she claims), but subsists instead
on a diet of "Prana", or light, which comes from "the Divine One
Within". The breatharians claim to be "Knights of Camelot" who
can cure all famine and hunger (and even anorexia) by teaching people to live
on Prana. Unfortunately, press reports suggest that several of Jasmuheen's
followers have already died from starvation and dehydration. How, then, can she
have survived since 1993 without sustenance? Perhaps she gives the game away
when she reveals that although <i>technically </i>she never eats, she does have
occasional meals purely for the "pleasures of taste and social
interaction". Sheesh. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sadly, some quackeries have become almost respectable. <a href="http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/homeo.html"><span style="color: blue;">Homeopathy</span></a>, for example, sounds almost plausible
if you think (as I did) that it involves administering very small doses of
various irritants in order to cure the very problems that would be caused by
larger doses. After all, you might say, isn't that how vaccination works? Well,
no, actually. And it turns out that the doses used in homeopathy are so small
that the "medicine" contains NONE of the supposedly active
ingredient! How then does it work? The answer is that of course it doesn't
work. Homeopaths and homeopathic techniques always fail double-blind tests (a
good example is the study performed by <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2002/homeopathy.shtml"><span style="color: blue;">BBC Horizon</span></a> in 2002). Like all pseudoscientists,
the homeopaths love to dress their quackery in scientific clothes. Here's a
terrific example, from a site maintained by <a href="http://www.mercola.com/2002/may/8/prayer.htm"><span style="color: blue;">Joseph
Mercola</span></a>, who believes that the molecules of water can be physically
changed by positive or negative thoughts! This research so inspired me that I
wrote an article with no words for <i>Homeopathy</i>, one of the discipline's
most prestigious "scientific" journals. Sadly, they will not be
printing it any time soon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Now here's a wonderful site, which includes everything I love about
pseudoscience on the internet. <a href="http://www.trepan.com/"><span style="color: blue;">Trepanation</span></a> is the ancient practice of drilling a
10mm hole in the skull, either to release demons (ancient justification) or to
reduce pressure and improve blood flow (modern pseudoscientific justification).
This site includes a number of truly stomach-churning trepanation pictures.
Please do not try this at home! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Let's now turn, with some relief, to some less dangerous idiocies. For
example, why do so many people insist on paranormal explanations for simple
phenomena like crop circles? Enthusiasts
for this art form have been forced to accept that many (even most) circles are
made by humans. They still insist, however, that at least <i>some</i> cannot be
explained. How can they tell the difference? By <a href="http://skepdic.com/dowsing.html"><span style="color: blue;">dowsing</span></a>,
another load of pseudoscientific nonsense! Sadly, most dowsers really believe
in their powers, and they are always dismayed when (inevitably) they fail in
controlled tests. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Have you got a few more minutes to spare? How about visiting Donna
Ciaciarella, devotee of <a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~donacia/"><span style="color: blue;">Past Life Reading</span></a>. For just eighty dollars she
will tell you all about your previous incarnations. Or try the <a href="http://www.abduct.com/"><span style="color: blue;">Alien Abduction
Experience Research</span></a> site, with its self-test questionnaire. Could
YOU have been abducted, and not even realise it? Well obviously, since the
aliens are bound to have some kind of memory-erasing mind beam. Maybe they come
and probe you every night, then wipe your brain before morning? This is the
place to find out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-26750567936626826452014-01-19T20:21:00.001+00:002014-01-19T20:21:39.274+00:00Darwin Day Celebration Lecture 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YMrqyerGoDY/UtwzntmtHqI/AAAAAAAAALU/C0u0HJ06RUc/s1600/darwin+day+poster+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YMrqyerGoDY/UtwzntmtHqI/AAAAAAAAALU/C0u0HJ06RUc/s1600/darwin+day+poster+2014.jpg" height="400" width="275" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-71861527220869851302013-12-15T18:28:00.001+00:002013-12-15T18:33:09.101+00:00Worden Park - Boxing Day 10k<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KilUKJy1eAI/Uq3uZLwqy_I/AAAAAAAAALA/qorkTbzmozA/s1600/banner2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KilUKJy1eAI/Uq3uZLwqy_I/AAAAAAAAALA/qorkTbzmozA/s320/banner2.jpg" width="241" /></a></div>
I am 49, overweight, have a history of knee problems, and haven't run further than the bus stop since I gave up playing football nearly 20 years ago. Despite this, I decided in November to have a go at the <a href="http://www.runningdiary.co.uk/race/boxing-day-10k" target="_blank">Worden Park Boxing Day 10k</a>, giving myself just six weeks to get into shape.<br />
<br />
The reason for this madness is to support my girl Izzie Butchart in her preparations for the 2014 London Marathon - a much more ambitious plan than my own! - on behalf of <a href="http://www.arc-uk.org/" target="_blank">ARC</a>, an excellent charity who provide impartial and evidence-based advice to expectant and bereaved parents throughout and after the antenatal screening and testing process. Her big sister Caroline (a proper runner, unlike me & Iz) is coming up for xmas too so there will be three of us running for ARC on boxing day.<br />
<br />
If you would like to incentivise us by donating to this fine charity, please do it via <a href="http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=IzzieButchart" target="_blank">Izzie's marathon page</a> so it helps towards her target. If we can get her up to £1,400 before xmas I will also dye my hair bright pink for the race, and Caroline is going to run in a giraffe costume. I know - the mind boggles! Come along and cheer us along if you live near Leyland: you know you will need fresh air after all that christmas excess, and I for one will need all the help I can get...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-90058673117670532832013-01-21T12:33:00.002+00:002013-01-21T12:36:43.720+00:00Darwin Day Celebration Lecture 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EoAVva2YOHc/UP01OBSD8YI/AAAAAAAAAIs/AarAFUAZyWA/s400/darwin+day+poster+2013.jpg" width="275" /></div>
<br />
Exciting news! The eighth annual Darwin Day Celebration Lecture will
take place on Thursday 28 Feb 2013 at 7.00pm in DBLT. I am delighted to
say that the lecturer will be Prof Bruce
Hood, from the University of Bristol. Bruce is a famously dynamic and
engaging speaker: you may have seen him on TV giving the Royal
Institution Christmas Lectures in 2011. The lecture will be entitled
"Darwin's Vision: The Evolved Mind".
<br />
<br />
More info at: <a href="https://mail.uclan.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=DqAIt5mVZE-wkF537-Fdx_bGWRFry88IlHjpMeqj01uKyY4w5Mabz-RyntxiHBL4gKcaNOprOU8.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.uclan.ac.uk%2fdarwin" target="_blank">
www.uclan.ac.uk/darwin</a> <br />
Reserve a seat here: <a href="https://mail.uclan.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=DqAIt5mVZE-wkF537-Fdx_bGWRFry88IlHjpMeqj01uKyY4w5Mabz-RyntxiHBL4gKcaNOprOU8.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fdarwin2013.eventsbot.com%2f" target="_blank">
http://darwin2013.eventsbot.com/</a> <br />
<br />
Doors will open at 6.00pm. There will be a cash bar and bookstall in the Darwin foyer as usual. Hope to see you all there!<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-20365769572064977852012-01-17T14:42:00.002+00:002012-01-17T14:43:57.982+00:00Darwin Day Celebration Lecture 2012<div style="text-align: center;">
Reposting due to slight change of title. More details <a href="http://www.uclan.ac.uk/darwin">HERE</a><br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q4KY5jSDUG0/TxWItL6Wr0I/AAAAAAAAAIY/EfOF3jBWOYw/s1600/darwin+poster+2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q4KY5jSDUG0/TxWItL6Wr0I/AAAAAAAAAIY/EfOF3jBWOYw/s400/darwin+poster+2012.jpg" width="276" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-20106563845277533742012-01-06T13:23:00.003+00:002012-01-06T13:27:53.301+00:00Darwin Day Celebration Lecture 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CUbUVKzPTQM/Twb1rcdxfeI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/nGTksTou2Pw/s1600/darwin_poster_2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CUbUVKzPTQM/Twb1rcdxfeI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/nGTksTou2Pw/s640/darwin_poster_2012.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-23502012087249169102011-01-27T06:52:00.004+00:002011-01-27T06:55:30.487+00:00Darwin Day Celebration Lecture 2011<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/TUEWUn5zHTI/AAAAAAAAAH4/XxoaGAavyhY/s1600/darwin%2Bday%2Bposter%2B2011.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 222px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/TUEWUn5zHTI/AAAAAAAAAH4/XxoaGAavyhY/s320/darwin%2Bday%2Bposter%2B2011.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566755157971246386" border="0" /></a>The School of Psychology is proud to present our sixth annual Darwin Day Celebration Lecture, to be given by Nicholas Humphrey of LSE on Monday 7 March at 7.00pm. In "Soul Dust: The Magic of Consciousness", Prof Humphrey will outline his startling new theory of consciousness: how is it possible? What biological purpose does it serve? Why do we value it so highly?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />To reserve free tickets: <a class="weblink" href="http://darwinday.eventsbot.com/" target="browserView">http://darwinday.eventsbot.com</a><br />Event homepage: <a class="weblink" href="http://www.uclan.ac.uk/darwin" target="browserView">http://www.uclan.ac.uk/darwin</a><br />For more about Nicholas Humphrey: <a class="weblink" href="http://www.humphrey.org.uk/" target="browserView">http://www.humphrey.org.uk</a><br /><br />Nicholas Humphrey is known for his work on the evolution of human intelligence and consciousness. He also studied mountain gorillas with Dian Fossey in Rwanda, was the first to demonstrate the existence of “blindsight” after brain damage in monkeys, and is the only scientist ever to edit the literary journal Granta.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-86537229801976810872010-04-25T17:35:00.016+01:002010-05-05T11:37:43.053+01:00Why I am voting LABOUR...<div style="text-align: right;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/S-FFtN1oOYI/AAAAAAAAAHY/FbVD-QHyJY4/s1600/Vote-Labour.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/S-FFtN1oOYI/AAAAAAAAAHY/FbVD-QHyJY4/s200/Vote-Labour.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467728065715517826" border="0" /></a></div>It is a strange quirk of my political history that, despite years of lefty activism in various places, I have never voted on the winning side in a general election: never for the winning candidate in my own constituency, and never for the party that won overall. And it looks like this election will maintain that trend, because I have decided to give my vote to the warmongering Thatcherites once known as the Labour Party, who will surely lose tomorrow, both here in Ribble South and across the nation, wherever my cross is drawn. This has not been an easy decision for me, but, having made it, I feel obliged to try to encourage others to do likewise. So this is why I am voting Labour...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Labour Party is more than its leadership</span><br /><br />I have been a socialist all my adult life, but have never felt particularly close to the Labour leadership. I joined the party in Orpington in 1982, aged 17, inspired by Tony Benn and Ken Livingstone more than Kinnock, Foot et al, who were cravenly supporting Maggie's Falklands War at the time. We fought the 1983 election on an excellent manifesto, much of which (control of the banks, for example) has been subsequently vindicated by the recent financial collapse. We lost, largely because of the moronic patriotic fervour that followed the Falklands conflict and the disruptive influence of the new SDP, but also because senior Labour figures (including former PM Jim Callaghan) betrayed the party by speaking out against conference policy on disarmament. Subsequent leaders have been no better than Callaghan when it came to betraying the party's ideals, but the fact remains that the Labour Party was established by the unions to be the political voice of working people. It was the parliamentary wing of the labour movement, and, in theory at least, still is. It is a democratic socialist party with a massive membership of (mostly) very nice people who care about others. It still deserves our support.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I don't trust the Liberals</span><br /><br />My first real experience with Liberals came during the Peter Tatchell by-election campaign in Bermondsey in 1983. Despicably, they fought a deeply personal and openly homophobic campaign: it was clear to me that they would do and say anything, no matter how hypocritical, to win. Over the years I have seen the same thing many times, in local and national campaigns. They are simply opportunists. They have no real ideology, and will support whichever party or policies will give them the best hope of power. They can be very effective in opposition but their performance in councils they control is less than impressive, and for all their progressive rhetoric, they will happily work with Tories if it helps keep them in office. If Clegg wakes up with a large number of seats on Friday, nobody knows what he will do with them. I suspect even he hasn't much of a clue. In other words, if you vote Liberal, you have no idea what kind of Government you might get. This is not democracy!<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I don't like tactical voting</span><br /><br />By 1987 I was living in Leeds NE. This was a safe-ish Tory seat where the Liberals thought they were in with a good shout of an upset. Labour's hopes were third at best, and many in the local party were in favour of a tactical campaign: send activists off to work in more winnable areas, and vote LibDem to keep the Tories out. I absolutely hated this kind of surrender. I always felt that Leeds NE was winnable in the long run, given the strength of the local Labour party, and sure enough we managed to get big swings to Labour in both 1987 and 1992, bucking the national trend and turning the seat into a Labour marginal which was duly won by the party in 1997.<br /><br />Another reason to hate tactical voting is that it reinforces the cult of the leader. To my mind, it is a serious mistake to think you are voting for Brown, Cameron or Clegg, unless you actually live in one of their constituencies. You are voting for your local MP, a person to represent you, and should should do your damnedest to make sure you get the best representative you can.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Labour is the only option in Ribble South</span><br /></span><br />In the run-up to the 1997 election, I was suspended and eventually expelled from the "New" Labour party, along with a number of good comrades, for reasons I won't go into now (though it is a cool story, and I am very proud of my part in it). I also moved to Preston. Since then I have voted green or socialist whenever there has been a suitable candidate, and spoilt my ballot papers when there were only the three main parties to choose from. What's different now, that I should return to the Labour fold? I think this is the first election since 1992 in which I am genuinely fearful of a Tory win. The idea of PM Cameron cutting public services and screwing the environment while giving tax breaks to the rich makes me feel as sick as I used to feel about Thatcher in the long, losing 80s. So I think it is time to swallow my pride.<br /><br />Even if I wanted to vote tactically, in Ribble South I have no option. It is a two horse race: the bookies have the libs at 100-1 here, the same as the deranged Little Englanders (UKIP) and the nazis. My Labour candidate, David Borrow, seems a pleasant enough chap considering he strongly supported Blair's illegal war. So I will put on a metaphorical clothes peg and vote for him, and I would urge you to do likewise.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-40343695871605268102010-03-04T14:30:00.006+00:002010-03-04T14:41:53.286+00:00Chopsticks At Dawn: Duelling With NapoleonHere is a brief clip from the 2007 BBC3 show <em>F*** Off I'm Small,</em> in which Dominik Ritter and I ran an experiment called the Chopstick Game to see whether small men really have the so-called Napoleon Complex. Would the shorter guys turn out out to be more aggressive than average height controls?<br /><br /><br /><p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw2PYzdGfS4JtNwAq1EsoeqyQTEHnxj39PI1fAPDwMiLUrOQbwsoUHeRFKoevDPDn7a5-GPTzzuJ-zI536evQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-17705571488098388712010-02-22T16:52:00.001+00:002010-02-22T16:58:50.766+00:00Homeopathy Does NOT Work On Babies or Animals!Homeopaths have today been on the end of a <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmsctech/45/45.pdf">mightily rigorous shoeing</a>, courtesy of the House of Commons Science & Technology Committee here in the UK. <a href="http://gimpyblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/the-evidence-check-on-homeopathy-is-released-and-it-is-devastating/">Gimpy</a> and <a href="http://www.dcscience.net/?p=2782">DC</a> have already posted excellent blow-by-blow accounts of the Committee's "Evidence Check" report, which dismisses homeopathy as pure placebo and denounces homeopaths for their slapdash and misleading attitude to the scientific evidence. <br />
<br />
Predictably, the homeopaths have quickly started squealing about how unfair all this is. The <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8524926.stm">BBC</a> quotes Robert Wilson, of the British Association of Homeopathic Manufacturers, saying how "disappointed" he is:<br />
<blockquote>He said the MPs had ignored evidence that homeopathy was effective. "There is good evidence that homeopathy works, for example in animals and babies, neither of which experience placebo effects." </blockquote>I wish I had a pound for every time I have heard this pathetic argument. It is so obviously false that it immediately reveals that the speaker either has not thought for two seconds about what they are saying, or that they simply do not care that they are bullshitting. If you do not agree, pause for a moment before reading on, and see if you can think of any ways in which a placebo effect might work on a baby or animal.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/S4K0_4Oc-PI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/fQsXTVDRC6U/s1600-h/sam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/S4K0_4Oc-PI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/fQsXTVDRC6U/s200/sam.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
Finished? OK, here is my list of possible mechanisms, in no particular order. If you have some different ones, or can explain why mine are wrong, let me know in the comments...<br />
<br />
<ol><li>The effect is psychological, and operates upon the owner/parent. Because they expect the treatment to work, they see improvement where there is nothing, or nothing more than normal time-limited or cyclical changes in the condition. This effect is greatly enhanced when the owner/parent is highly motivated to see improvement, either because they have a strong personal belief in the treatment, or have invested time, money and credibility in it. It will also reassure the "worried well" parent/owner whose baby/animal is not actually ill in the first place.</li>
<li>The effect is real, but derives from changes in the parent/owner's behaviour and emotional state. Because they know their baby/animal is receiving treatment, they become less anxious. The babies/animals pick up on this mood change and so relax more themselves.</li>
<li>The effect is real but derives from changes associated with the treatment, rather than the treatment itself. For example, if the baby/animal has received extra care and attention, a change of diet or sleep patterns, and a break from work or other activities, these could have caused the improvement. Similarly, if an alternative treatment has been given in conjunction with real medicine, parents/owners may attribute any success to the treatment rather than the medicine.</li>
<li>The effect is real and arises as a conditioned response to the rituals of care. If the baby/animal has previously improved after taking real medicine, then the administration of a placebo in the same way can evoke the conditioned response. </li>
<li>The effect is real and arises as part of the acute phase response to an injury. Pain or inflammation evolved to stimulate the suffering organism to immobilise the injury site and to seek help. Once this has been achieved, the pain/inflammation is less necessary and can dissipate.</li>
</ol>In other words,virtually all of the <a href="http://punkpsychologist.blogspot.com/2009/03/homeopathy-is-antiscience-part-2.html">many factors</a> that can influence the placebo effect in adults, can also produce placebo effects in babies/animals. Placebos DO have an effect upon babies and animals. Homeopathy does not.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-56381956867526655802010-01-21T00:06:00.004+00:002010-01-21T00:17:54.875+00:00Wolf Photo Is A Fake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/S1eZlIGBYDI/AAAAAAAAAHA/I0it8O382o0/s1600-h/P1020577.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/S1eZlIGBYDI/AAAAAAAAAHA/I0it8O382o0/s400/P1020577.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
</div><br />
Oh no, I am very disappointed to see that <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/20/wolf-wildlife-photographer-award-stripped">José Luis Rodriguez has been stripped of the prize he won for these fantastic wild wolf photos</a>. They are wonderful shots alright, but I suppose with hindsight there are one or two clues that it might not have been a really wild woolluf...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/S1eaDZi6b5I/AAAAAAAAAHI/C49gWLmVYxw/s1600-h/P1020579.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/S1eaDZi6b5I/AAAAAAAAAHI/C49gWLmVYxw/s400/P1020579.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-45258055474819523512010-01-08T12:06:00.004+00:002010-01-08T12:09:56.095+00:00Artist of the Week!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/S0cYYJveOzI/AAAAAAAAAG4/uCsNGz_S5Kg/s1600-h/jez.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/S0cYYJveOzI/AAAAAAAAAG4/uCsNGz_S5Kg/s200/jez.jpg" /></a>Wow, this is cool. My brother-in-law Jez is the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/jan/06/artist-jeremy-millar">artist of the week</a> in the Guardian! Check out the story - and there's more on <a href="http://www.jeremymillar.org/index.php">his own website</a> if you're interested. I'm ashamed to say that modern art makes very little sense to me (it's like an in-joke I'm not in on) so I find a lot of what he writes incomprehensible, but he certainly makes some beautiful images and objects. <br />
</div><br />
My favourite Jez story is about the Ballard interview mentioned briefly in the Grauniad piece. JG Ballard is famously reclusive so for Jez to get a long interview with him was quite a feat, and apparently it went incredibly well. Ballard talked at length about his life and work. It was solid gold! To safeguard this precious treasure he made a copy of the tape before sending it to be transcribed. But horrors, the transcriber told him the tape was blank! His copy turned out to be blank too. He had accidentally copied the blank one over the the interview rather than the other way around, wiping the interview forever. The two blanks eventually became an artwork themselves, his <a href="http://www.jeremymillar.org/works-detail.php?wid=6">Erased Ballard Interview</a>. Neat.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-71445376146241934652010-01-06T09:47:00.002+00:002010-01-06T15:11:53.019+00:00It's Cold!<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/S0RYixq09WI/AAAAAAAAAGw/1xfYvlyXJ7o/s1600-h/P1020587.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/S0RYixq09WI/AAAAAAAAAGw/1xfYvlyXJ7o/s200/P1020587.JPG" /></a>Oh dear, no posts for six weeks? I really am not much of a blogger! I had planned a few updates over Xmas but ended up with no internet for more than a fortnight as a result of the big freeze. We were in Northern Ireland, in the glens of Antrim, which was stunning in the snow that fell on our first night and didn't go for the whole fortnight. I tried to get the car out after a couple of days, but ended up stuck and had to be pulled out of a snowdrift by a tractor. We were staying up a steep lane in Glenshesk that remained impassable (for our car at least) for more than a week. Made it to Cushendall on Xmas eve to collect a goose, but had to leave the car at the bottom of the hill and carry all the shopping home by hand. It was all quite an adventure.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/S0RXwgJNOzI/AAAAAAAAAGo/SJC1iZnfLA4/s1600-h/P1020584.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/S0RXwgJNOzI/AAAAAAAAAGo/SJC1iZnfLA4/s200/P1020584.JPG" /></a>We did manage to see a few sights in the second week - the giant's causeway, Dunluce Castle, a sheep with a pink mohawk. The usual tourist stuff! The causeway was ace. The road down to it was polished ice. We climbed down the grassy bank instead, watching people on the road sliding down on their arses. One woman slid for at least 50 yards on her back, spinning around and laughing hysterically. It was worth the effort though - a truly amazing spectacle. What a place! The sky was so clear you could see the paps of Jura.<br />
<br />
Now we're back in Preston, and it's even colder. Preston rarely gets snow - it's too near the sea - but there's plenty out there today. So now I have to walk into work...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-81532040243988236272009-11-24T09:17:00.018+00:002009-11-25T09:34:16.548+00:00Facilitated Communication for 23-Year Coma Man?<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/SwulluV2AjI/AAAAAAAAAGg/CwANX4vrBlo/s1600/coma+man.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/SwulluV2AjI/AAAAAAAAAGg/CwANX4vrBlo/s200/coma+man.JPG" /></a><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/23/man-trapped-coma-23-years">In the newspaper yesterday</a>, it was a heart-rending story. A man lies in a coma for 23 years, until a brain scan reveals he is actually conscious after all, and has been all that time. He is given a keyboard, and wow! He can tell us all about his thoughts and feelings, and how he coped throughout his long imprisonment, trapped inside his own body. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/SwuiTo4xo9I/AAAAAAAAAGY/Ge29592i9jY/s1600/Rom-Houben--46-002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/SwuiTo4xo9I/AAAAAAAAAGY/Ge29592i9jY/s200/Rom-Houben--46-002.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8375557.stm">On TV last night</a>, it looked like something else. Rom Houben was not exactly typing out his own messages. They were being typed by a "helper" who was holding his hand and carefully aiming his index finger at a flat touchscreen. He did not appear to be even looking at the screen (as you can clearly see in these pictures from the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8375557.stm">BBC</a> & <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/23/man-trapped-coma-23-years">Guardian</a>), yet he typed with amazing speed and accuracy. Now read this extract from the <a href="http://www.skepdic.com/facilcom.html">Facilitated Communication (FC) page at the Skeptic's Dictionary</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">FC clients routinely use a flat board or keyboard, over which the facilitator holds their pointing finger. Even the most expert typist could not routinely hit correct letters without some reference as a starting point. (Try looking away from your keyboard and typing a sentence using just one finger held in the air above the keyboard.) Facilitators routinely look at the keyboard; clients do not. The messages' basic coherence indicates that they most probably are produced by someone who is looking at the keyboard.</span><br />
</blockquote>The resemblance is uncanny, is it not? Needless to say, FC is complete bollocks. It is easy to test: show the patient some stimulus or other with the facilitator absent, then bring them back in and ask what it was. If they can only "see" what the facilitator has seen, it is not communication. Has this been done for Coma Man? None of the stories I have read seem to have mentioned this possibility. Are we being taken for a ride?<br />
<br />
I will expand this post later if I have time to find the full article...<br />
<br />
<b>UPDATE: </b>I have found the journal article mentioned in the news stories above. It's open access and can be read <a href="http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2377/9/35">here</a>. It's an interesting study of 103 patients, comparing different diagnosis methods. It doesn't include any details of individual cases but it does say that the main indicator of consciousness was "purposeful eye movements" rather than the foot tapping mentioned in the Grauniad article. This paper clearly isn't the source of the story. More digging needed...<br />
<br />
<b>UPDATE 2: </b>Now the mighty Randi is on the case. He seems pretty sure it's a <a href="http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/783-this-cruel-farce-has-to-stop.html">cruel farce</a>. <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/11/really_this_guy_is_conscious.php">PZ Myers</a> is sceptical too, but it also looks like the story is proving popular with <a href="http://maggiesnotebook.blogspot.com/2009/11/rom-houben-coma-not-coma-steven-laureys.html">right-wing yanks</a> keen to restart the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Schiavo_case">Terri Schiavo</a> debate. I smell a rat. I smell a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8210000/8210394.stm">giant rat</a>...<br />
<br />
<strong>UPDATE 3 (Wednesday): </strong>Now it's getting ridiculous. The Grauniad today has a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/nov/24/locked-in-syndrome-belgium-research">full page</a> on the case, again without a single sceptical word. There is more detail of the foot movements mentioned in the earlier article, but it stinks!<br />
<blockquote>Nicolaes (Rom's mother) recalled: "We needed to make him press the mouse. But how? He was lying down. He's very spastic. He can't control his movements. The doctor saw that he was moving his right foot. We put the mouse under the foot and were shouting, 'Push, Rom, push, Rom, push.' And he pushed. The computer said 'I am Rom'."<br />
</blockquote>This is just plain daft. He goes in one second from barely being able to move, to being able to type a coherent sentence with one "spastic" foot? Clearly the computer must have been pre-programmed to say "I am Rom" on a single click. I could shove a mouse under my dog's paw and get the same effect!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-36883673582985068112009-11-05T16:19:00.000+00:002009-11-05T16:19:50.854+00:00The Science of Homeopathy<blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">"I'm going to explain to you exactly actually how it works..."<br />
</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">You may have already seen this video when it first did the rounds a few months ago, giving everyone a good laugh. Now it seems that <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/11/charlene_werner_wants_to_go_hi.php">someone is trying to get it taken off the internet</a>, with the entirely predictable result that hundreds of bloggers are now posting it all over again. Poor Dr Charlene Werner is rather embarrassed by all this attention. Good! This is as dense a pile of teh stoopid as you are ever likely to encounter! Enjoy...<br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object height="265" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/C0c5yClip4o&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/C0c5yClip4o&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="320" height="265"></embed></object><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-62857910846302763602009-10-15T13:43:00.002+01:002009-10-22T13:35:58.740+01:00Racism, Celebrities and the Poo Bin Mystery<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/StcO0T_3MEI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/xuzfUMI6yTI/s1600-h/bins2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/StcO0T_3MEI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/xuzfUMI6yTI/s200/bins2.JPG" /></a>I have been a dog owner for a few years now, and like all good owners I always pick up my mutt's crap and bin it. At first, this usually meant just lifting the lid of the poo bin and dropping the bag inside, but soon I began to notice that the bins round my way were gradually being replaced by bigger, chunkier receptacles with a lock on the front and a big metal flap on the lid. You lift the lid and place the bag on the flap, then when you close the lid the poo drops inside. To retrieve it, should you be minded to do such a thing, you would need the key to unlock the front. Why? What is the point of that? I began to wonder, is dog poo <i>valuable</i>? Is there a thriving market in dogshit derivatives? Is the borough council trying to corner the market in a precious commodity here? What are my hound's mounds <i>worth</i>?<br />
<br />
I have been thinking about racism a lot this week. I went to Bolton v Tottenham last Saturday, with some old mates from London who follow the Spurs all over the country. They told me about their Sol Campbell song: a ditty so vile and so offensive that it has finally been officially outlawed by the club after years of complaints and <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2021801.ece">hypocritical tabloid outrage</a>. Anyone caught singing it nowadays is immediately ejected from the ground and may be banned for life. Undaunted, the crowds now simply hum the tune instead. "Dum dum dum-de dum-de dum..." they go, and everyone knows exactly what it means: "Sol, Sol, wherever you may be, you're on the verge of lunacy, and we won't give a fuck when you're hanging from a tree, Judas cunt with HIV". Nice. My view is that this is an incontrovertibly racist song. That may not be the intent (my friends were quick to deny it and you don't have to look far on the net to find <a href="http://www.sportingo.com/football/a10423_spurs-fans-racist-booing-sol-campbell-they-if-you-believe-newspapers">convoluted self-justifications</a>) but you simply cannot sing "hanging from a tree" to a black man without evoking the spectre of lynching. To argue otherwise takes a special kind of stubborn stupidity, a wilful refusal to step outside your own narrow worldview, and I expect better from Spurs fans who endure hissing and similarly obnoxious songs about "gassing the Jews".<br />
<br />
Then <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/09/strictly-come-dancing-bruce-forsyth">Bruce Forsyth</a> did something similar, defending dimwit nonebrity Anton du Beke for his <a href="http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/showbiz/strictly_come_dancing/533578/laila-rouass.html">you-look-like-a-Paki</a> "joke". Can Brucie really be so dim or so divorced from reality that he really thinks "Paki" is no worse than "Limey" as an insult? Maybe in Brucieworld it isn't, but has he ever tried to imagine what it feels like to suffer that kind of abuse? Was he ever spat at or insulted in the street, or his kids beaten up for being "Limeys"? I don't think so. And if that scandal wasn't bad enough for the BBC, it then turned out that they featured the BNP on <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2009/oct/01/bbc-bnp">Radio 1's Newsbeat</a> show last week, giving a platform for two racist morons (introduced as simply "young guys who are BNP members.. ..Joey and Mark", but who were actually Joey Smith, managing director of the BNP's record label, and Mark Collett, BNP Director of Publicity) to tell millions of listeners that London-born footballer Ashley Cole "came to this country" and will never be "ethnically British". And all this is in advance of Question Time next week, at which head nazi Nick Griffin will be presented as a democratic party leader. I have no doubt that Griffin will keep his nastier racist thoughts well-hidden on this show, and that the BNP will gain enormously from the coverage, however well his opponents perform. <br />
<br />
The BBC used to make far better programmes about the BNP. In 2003 they gave a camera to Andy Sykes, a former BNP member in Bradford who had seen the light and decided to expose the truth about his erstwhile colleagues. Was it true, as Griffin claimed, that the BNP had modernised, become more professional, moved away from its racist past? No. Sykes's undercover filming for Panorama revealed them (surprise surprise) to be knuckledragging thugs just like their NF skinhead predecessors of the 70s (sadly, the film has disappeared from Google video, although there is more Panorama material about the BNP <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/programmes/2001/bnp_special/default.stm">here</a>). At one point in the film, a group are meeting in somebody's house when they are joined by a late arrival, who boasts proudly that on the way to the meeting he has emptied the dog poo bin at the top of the road and posted the bags through the letterboxes of Asian families along the street. What larks! And what a eureka moment for me! Could this be the answer to my poo bin mystery? Is this why the boxes now have to be locked up as tightly as the night safe at the bank, to stop racist scumbags using the contents to terrorise their neighbours? I don't know for sure, but to this day I have never again picked up a dogturd without thinking of the BNP. This, Brucie and Anton and Spurs fans, is why you should never joke about "Pakis" or black men "hanging from trees". Whatever your intentions, it makes you part of a culture of racist violence and oppression.<br />
<br />
Who knows, maybe there is another explanation for the Fort Knox poo bins, but it is something to think about if you watch Griffin on the box next week. Every time you see his smug, pudgy, lopsided face, imagine a hand inside a pale brown plastic bag coming down on a huge pile of steaming, squidgy, stinking shite.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-85202377737514324642009-09-15T11:57:00.000+01:002009-09-15T11:57:01.758+01:00A Very Hard Easy Probability Question<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/Sq9yQ13LnXI/AAAAAAAAAGI/YnimChuOsMQ/s1600-h/risk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" mq="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/Sq9yQ13LnXI/AAAAAAAAAGI/YnimChuOsMQ/s200/risk.jpg" /></a></div>Here is a question I set my students today. It is, mathematically speaking, very easy. It can be solved using mental arithmetic, and requires no complicated formulae or advanced concepts at all. It is not a trick question. However, people always find it incredibly difficult to get right, and many people fail to understand the solution once it has been explained to them. I have had vitriolic arguments with distinguished colleagues who refuse to accept my reasoning. What do you think? I will post my answer in a day or two, but in the meantime let's hear some suggestions...<br />
<br />
The question is this. <em>Imagine you have been tested in a large-scale screening programme for a disease known to affect one person in a hundred. The test is 90% accurate, and you test positive. What is the probability that you have the disease?</em><br />
<br />
Understanding this kind of question is very important, because it leads to exactly the dilemma you might face if you were screened for a major killer like breast cancer or testicular cancer, and tested positive. Should you immediately opt for a risky procedure to investigate further, or would that be to submit yourself to unnecessary surgery? Gerd Gigerenzer wrote the book <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reckoning-Risk-Learning-Live-Uncertainty/dp/0140297863/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253011803&sr=8-2">Reckoning With Risk</a> about this kind of problem (it's a brilliant book too, so read it if you can), concluding that thousands of people are facing unnecessary dangers because of poor understanding of probability. Over to you...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-71666993913095305232009-09-03T17:27:00.005+01:002009-09-03T17:33:21.271+01:00Happy New Year!New <i>academic </i>year, that is. By 'eck, it's been a busy, wet summer. I really feel like I need a holiday, but instead here come hundreds of new students. Welcome to Preston, guys! Here's a few bits and pieces to start with...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/Sp_kH4sOKLI/AAAAAAAAAF4/q-3h_VhZnQQ/s1600-h/1010-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/Sp_kH4sOKLI/AAAAAAAAAF4/q-3h_VhZnQQ/s200/1010-001.jpg" /></a></div>I'm doing <a href="http://www.1010uk.org/">10:10</a>. Are you? Follow the link, and pledge to reduce your carbon footprint by 10% in 2010. Also, while I am in campaigning mode, watch <a href="http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=11570">THIS FILM</a> too. Good, isn't it?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/Sp_utJmfvGI/AAAAAAAAAGA/ENq__dAKJoc/s1600-h/pig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/Sp_utJmfvGI/AAAAAAAAAGA/ENq__dAKJoc/s200/pig.jpg" /></a>Now, if that was a bit serious for you, check out this beautiful <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Acupuncture-Model-Chart-Book-SM-9/dp/B000HX79BS">model pig</a>. I love the customer reviews underneath! If it was just a bit cheaper I would definitely buy one.<br />
<br />
What else is new in the world of quack (or should that be "oink") medicine? Following a campaign by <a href="http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/index.php/site/project/392/">Sense About Science</a>, the WHO declared that homeopathy should NOT be used to treat HIV, TB, malaria, influenza or infant diarrhoea. Wahey! This is perfectly sensible advice, of course, since homeopathy is completely useless for all these conditions (as it is for all conditions, in fact), but it is still nice to see the WHO taking a stand. The reaction of the homeopaths has been predictable: <a href="http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/08/society-of-homeopaths-are-shambles-and.html">the usual bluster, whining and cherry-picking of evidence</a>. When will we be rid of these murderous imbeciles? Homeopathy is dead, dead, dead, but the corpse just keeps on twitching.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, <a href="http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/index.php/site/project/390">Simon Singh's libel case</a> against the back-crack quacks rumbles on, but legal blogger Jack of Kent has decided to take a <a href="http://jackofkent.blogspot.com/2009/08/on-sabbatical.html">sabbatical from blogging</a>! How will I keep up now? I hope this does not mean I have to swallow my pride and join the infernal <a href="http://twitter.com/jackofkent">tweety thing</a>.<br />
<br />
I have been ill myself for the past couple of weeks, but there is one complementary medicine I do approve of and sure enough, a few doses of <a href="http://www.scottishholidays.net/distilleries/strathisla.html">uisge beatha</a> have made me feel a lot better (I like to use it in conjunction with a few crystals of dihydrogen monoxide, to enhance the effect). My trip to the <a href="http://www.rebellionfestivals.com/">Rebellion</a> festival was probably the cause of my malady: I am really too old now for a four-day bender of alcohol, junk food, late nights and serious mayhem. Not that it will stop me going again next year! Here are a couple of highlights - the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R87XTdGZFA8">Exploited </a>and the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBctTu9pjo4&feature=related">UK Subs</a>. See what you missed?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-15647592769426776722009-08-07T11:37:00.022+01:002009-10-22T13:36:26.898+01:00Oh Noes, What Have I Done???I'm off to <a href="http://www.rebellionfestivals.com/">Rebellion</a> in a bit, but first I thought it was time to rediscover the past. I had many punky hairstyles back in the day, but I have been a bit sensible lately. Enough! So I went down to Boots looking for L'Oreal Super Blonde, which is what we always used for that platinum peroxide <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Idol">Billy Idol</a> look, which is cool on its own or is a great base for brighter colours. I ended up with L'Oreal Blonde Supreme, which sounds similar, doesn't it? Eh? Maybe not!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">Here's me before, during and after...<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/SnwL4IR1Q4I/AAAAAAAAAE4/fsen_FQQFzs/s1600-h/before.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367177914841645954" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/SnwL4IR1Q4I/AAAAAAAAAE4/fsen_FQQFzs/s200/before.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 150px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 200px;" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/SnwNcEQeioI/AAAAAAAAAFY/nJJ2xeqx4FI/s1600-h/during.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367179631749139074" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/SnwNcEQeioI/AAAAAAAAAFY/nJJ2xeqx4FI/s200/during.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 150px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 200px;" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/SnwNMdn-k2I/AAAAAAAAAFQ/ZI90MUi1Ybk/s1600-h/after.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367179363680686946" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/SnwNMdn-k2I/AAAAAAAAAFQ/ZI90MUi1Ybk/s200/after.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 150px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
That's not Billy Idol! I'm flamin GINGER! Aaargghh!<br />
Oh well, it still takes a bit of colour OK. Blackpool here I come...<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/SnwPGDZnfwI/AAAAAAAAAFo/e81_CvtP4to/s1600-h/colour.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367181452585172738" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bmqReJkAT2E/SnwPGDZnfwI/AAAAAAAAAFo/e81_CvtP4to/s200/colour.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 150px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
<br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293231611825066749.post-48562039258886225942009-07-09T15:54:00.024+01:002009-07-17T10:02:37.073+01:00UCLAN CAM Review - Full Report<hr />UPDATE: July 15. The report of the UCLAN working party review of complementary medicine, as approved by the Academic Board last Thursday, has now been published. For the moment it is only on the staff intranet but I assume it will be public soon. UCLAN staff can find it at <a href="https://staff.uclan.ac.uk/9930.htm">https://staff.uclan.ac.uk/9930.htm</a><br /><br />UPDATE: July 17. David Colquhoun has now posted the <a href="http://www.dcscience.net/uclan-CAM-report-15-July-09-final_publication.pdf">full report</a> and <a href="http://www.dcscience.net/?p=1899">his own analysis</a> of its conclusions.<br /><hr />Here is my section-by-section commentary on the report of the UCLAN working party review of complementary medicine.<br /><br />Section 1: Introduction<br /><br />The review is framed as a response to "concerns expressed by some colleagues within the University" but it never explains what those concerns were/are. I would have liked to have seen responses to my seven specific complaints, which I set out here exactly as they were submitted to the review team.<br /><blockquote><ol><li>Homeopathy is nonsense. There is no reason to think it could work. There is no good evidence that it works better than placebo for any condition. There is plenty of evidence that it does not work. To teach otherwise is to lie to our students, and to train them to lie to their patients. </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Homeopathy is not science. It is not even non-science, it is anti-science because its laws contradict the dose-response relationship and ignore the Avogadro limit. It invokes a mystical energy known as the “life force” which cannot be detected scientifically. Its advocates disparage the scientific method and ignore or distort the results of scientific analysis. </p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Homeopaths have been caught out many times giving dangerous advice, promoting worthless remedies, claiming to be able to prevent serious diseases, disparaging scientific medicine and so putting patients at risk of serious harm or even death. Are UCLAN homeopaths guilty of this? If they are not, why are they so secretive about what they teach?</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The Society of Homeopaths is not a fit body to participate in degree validations. UCLAN should have no dealings at all with a body which fails to enforce its code of conduct when members give dangerous advice, and which resorts to legal threats when criticised for this.</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Chinese herbal medicines are complex mixtures of substances, few of which have been tested for safety or efficacy, and which may carry significant risks of harm. It is unethical for anyone at UCLAN to be involved in giving Chinese herbal preparations to patients until they have been properly assessed for safety and effectiveness.</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Acupuncture may have some effects but they are certainly small (at best) and have nothing to do with Qi, meridians, yin & yang or non-existent “organs”. Such notions are unscientific and should not be taught as science. The same applies to many other nonsensical forms of CAM which UCLAN and associated colleges promote, including Bach flower remedies, cupping, moxibustion, auriculotherapy, therapeutic touch and astrological medicine.</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Proper scientific testing of CAM is certainly possible if researchers are properly trained in the scientific method, but UCLAN’s CAM courses appear to contain virtually nothing about research design or statistics. Where there is genuine science content, it is often directly contradicted by the CAM content. This is unacceptable.</p> </li></ol> </blockquote>Nevertheless, I am delighted that UCLAN did take my complaints seriously, and I welcome this report. As you will see below, some of my points have been addressed, but some are still outstanding.<br /><br />Section 2: Context<br /><br />This short section mentions the "wider debate and controversies" around CAM, but again does not mention any specific examples. I would have like them to acknowledge the sterling efforts of David Colquhoun, for example, to force the disclosure of teaching materials, and the resulting embarassment when it was revealed that Westminter's CAM students are being told things like "<a href="http://www.dcscience.net/?p=227">Amethysts emit high yin energy</a>" (UPDATE: July 17. DC has now posted <a href="http://www.dcscience.net/UCLAN_written_evidence-revised-131208.pdf">a copy of the evidence</a> he submitted to the review committee). Instead, the debate is described in rather dry fashion as relating to four themes: evidence/efficacy of CAM, suitability of CAMs as topics for university courses, the nomenclature of CAM degrees (specifically whether they should be called science), and the ethical/economic impact of CAM upon society as a whole.<br /><br />Section 3: Method<br /><br />The report explains that the review included a literature review (a list of papers is included later on, showing that some poor sod actually read much of Lionel Milgrom's epic series of inane quantum metaphor papers, which feat surely deserves a medal), some commisioned reports (which I would very much like to know more about), the preparation of a paper on the ethics of CAM by one of the reviewers (which I will also try to obtain), face-to-face meetings with interested parties (me included) and written evidence from a variety of individuals and groups.<br /><br />Section 4: Consideration of Themes<br /><br />Now we get to the meaty stuff! Each of the themes identified in section 2 is taken up in turn.<br /><br />Section 4.1: Efficacy<br /><br />Disappointingly, the reviewers decided that efficacy was outside their remit, due to the "volume and diversity of views". I think this was a mistake, since it undermines all their later comments about the importance of patient autonomy, which is only possible when patients are given adequate information on which to base their decisions.<br /><br />Section 4.2: The Role of Universities in Society<br /><br />I found this section unbearably waffly. There are lots of worthy statements about the importance of "critical thinking" but with no specific examples of what this means in practice it is impossible to say whether CAM students really develop these skills. There are lots of vague claims about the importance of "diversity" and of students being exposed to challenging ideas and debates, but, having ducked the efficacy question, there is no acknowledgement that some ideas have been completely discredited. Would the team argue that astronomy students must be taught astrology? Biologists, creationism? Would they really benefit from such "diversity"?<br /><br />Somehow, this conclusion leads to the first <span style="font-weight: bold;">recommendation </span>in the report: that UCLAN should provide some postgraduate research scholarships to "suitably qualified" staff and students, with multidisciplinary supervisory teams, to "facilitate development of a broad range of research skills" and "contribute to the generation of knowledge in CAM". Fair enough, I suppose, although it would seem very unfair if scarce resources were diverted into CAM at the expense of other disciplines. There are certainly some CAMs where more research would be useful (if it is of high enough quality) and I would be happy to help develop these projects. I would draw the line at homeopathy, however, which has already been studied in quite enough detail to know that it is useless. Ho hum.<br /><br />Section 4.3: Nomenclature.<br /><br />Not much to argue with here! I do accept that defining "science" can be tricky, and that disciplines differ widely in exactly how "Sc" a BSc or MSc should be. My big problem with CAM degrees is that they are often <span style="font-style: italic;">antiscience, </span>not just non-science, so I am very pleased with the <span style="font-weight: bold;">recommendations </span>here: that CAM degrees should be simply named "Bachelor with Honours in X" and called B (Hons) rather than BSc (Hons); and that there should be increased multidisciplinary input to CAM teaching so as to "facilitate greater exposure to subject expertise and different paradigms".<br /><br />Section 4.4: Ethics<br /><br />This is another somewhat waffly section, which takes two pages to explain that if you ignore the question of efficacy, there is no ethical reason not to teach CAM. However, the reviewers do note the need for patients to be protected from "lack of professional regulation, poor product quality assurance and inadequately trained practitioners". They therefore <span style="font-weight: bold;">recommend </span>that UCLAN should refrain from offering any CAM courses "until such disciplines have achieved statutory regulation status".<br /><br />There are different ways of looking at this. One could say it is just passing the buck. It could also been seen as circular, since one major aspect of regulation is training of practitioners. Alternatively, one could look at the current level of disarray among CAMs regarding regulation: the <a href="http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/06/government-bails-out-ofquack-as-it.html">dismal failure of the CNHC</a> to attract members in any number (only a few massage therapists have joined so far) and the <a href="http://www.zenosblog.com/">current implosion of the General Chiropractic Council</a> following the ill-advised attack on Simon Singh, and conclude that most CAMs will never get their act together to meet the necessary standards.<br /><br />Could this be the end of CAM courses at UCLAN? Watch this space...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4