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Skeptic Summary #389

Our Ninth Summer Spectacular!

Talk about anything - Filthy and HalfMooner return!

Taking daily vitamins & supplements healthful? - As long as you don't take too much.

Unbelievable - Sexual harassment allegations, and big names are on the table.

Editor’s Choice: My TAM thread - SFN-ambassador Kil reports more from TAM 2013

Awesome job NASA! — Curiosity Rover has landed.

Brian Dunning has pleaded guilty to wire fraud — The ol’ irony-meter is pointing to red.

Dr. Jeffery Life and Cenegenics — How dangerous are steroids anyway? Apart from making holes in your wallet.

Election 2012 — For anyone who hasn’t guessed: American political effects are felt world wide.

Fighting back — Against haters, misogynists, and bigotry within atheist and skeptic ranks.

God-given racism — About using the Bible for an argument.

Increase mileage with a single wire — Classic pseudoscientific fraud.

Our creator was a computer — Someone credulous took The Matrix one step too far.

Poltergeist phenomena — We need something else than a hoax to measure.

Predictably, the gun control debate heats up — Another mass shooting keeps the subject hot.

Rebecca Watson Not Appearing at TAM — Last year’s thread continued. Now read “Unbelievable,” above.

What would you say to this argument about atheists — “Atheists have no morals of their own,” we answer, “wrong.”

Lileks.com — Where to begin? Put together by journalist, columnist, and blogger James Lileks, I think Lileks.com can fairly be called a series of websites, all accessible from the home site. I think the whole of it can best be described as a celebration of pop culture. My kind of site!


For example, you might want to pursue The Institute of Official Cheer, which links off the homepage. And in there you will find The Gallery of Regrettable Food, complete with descriptions and photos of food best left alone or forgotten. Take for example the menu item called Meat Meat Meat, or Gel-Cookery — as Seen on TV!. Every menu and sub-menu item is explained or at least commented on by Lileks, full of wit and not too long. So in a way these can be should also be seen as blog entries, even though they also galleries.


An example of Lileks’ comment at the top (really the side) of The Institute of Official Cheer:

If you’re just joining the Institute, welcome! If you’re coming back for another visit, apologies for not doing this sooner. The Institute of Official Cheer has been on the internets since 1996 or so; it goes fallow for a while, then springs to life with an enormous new project, gets some half-baked redesign based on some fancy I got that looked good right up until I uploaded it.

This is the most recent example of that, I suppose.

Many old sites have been given a new look, and the Gallery of Regrettable Food is beginning its 14th year with a total overhaul, and a billion bytes of new material. The 70s site was new for 2011, and full of horrid things.

What can I say? It’s the Institute. It’s just a place full of stuff. Enjoy.

And if you click the link to The Gallery of Regrettable Food, you also get this:

What were they thinking? How did they eat this bilge?

Good questions, but you won’t find them answered here. This is a simple introduction to poorly photographed foodstuffs and horrid recipes. It’s a wonder anyone in the 40s, 50s and 60s gained any weight; it’s a miracle that people didn’t put down their issue of Life magazine with a slight queasy list to their gut, and decide to sup on a nice bowl of shredded wheat and nothing else. It wasn’t that the food was inedible; it was merely dull. Everything was geared for a timid palate fearful of spice. It wasn’t non- nutritious &mdsah; no, between the limp boiled vegetables, fat-choked meat cylinders and pink-whipped-jello dessert, you were bound to find a few calories that would drag you into the next day. It’s that the pictures are so hideously unappealing…

Also off the homepage is a menu item called Everything. It includes Roadside American which includes a section called Coffee and Chrome, a collection of old restaurant postcards, and again with commentary. There is also an Audio and Video section. In fact, starting right from the homepage, with its menu items leading to more menu items that lead to more menu items, the site is vast (Lileks has been blogging and collecting this stuff since the mid nineties) and fun fun fun!


And look. I have barely scratched the surface of this site (sites?) What I posted here are just example menu items. Not even necessarily the best examples because the menus and sub-menus items were too numerous for me to get to. I’m still exploring Lileks.com myself. But take it from me, because when have I ever steered you wrong?



Okay… Knock it off. Anyone can have a bad day.
Did I forget to mention that James Lileks also has a free-standing blog called The Bleat?

NOVA beta — Since making this my Pick earlier this year, NOVA beta has come online with many more wonderful science shows for your streaming pleasure. Check it out again if you haven’t been there in a while. And if you have never been there, what are you waiting for?

Yes, it’s true. I have highlighted episodes from PBS’s fantastic science series, NOVA, before in these picks of mine. I didn’t bother to pick NOVA itself before now because hey, who doesn’t know that it’s by far the best continuing science series on television? If you don’t know that, you probably aren’t reading this Pick anyhow.


NOVA Online has been around for a while now. There’s no secret about that. But things have changed and they are continuing to change. They have improved many of the features that were there (but I can’t show you the differences because it’s all NOVA beta now) by bringing it all together in a way that is much easier to use.

About This Beta:

Our Website Has Changed — Here’s Why
So what’s a beta anyway? If you’ve visited NOVA Online in the past, this site will look and feel very different. That’s because we’ve come up with some new ways to design, organize, and present our content to make it more useful for you.

Since 1996, NOVA — the most-watched prime-time science series on American television — has been working with journalists and scientists around the world to put great web-original content online. Today we have thousands of resources covering everything from string theory to the evolution of flight to how the Pyramids were built.

But it’s time for an overhaul so we can make it easier for you to find more of what you’re looking for. This is just a first step, with a small fraction of our entire site presented in this new way. It’s a chance for us to evolve, test new ideas, and get your feedback. Over time, our goal is to migrate all NOVA content into this new site, and to continue to improve on what we’ve done here.

But for now, take a look around and tell us what you think. What do you like? What don’t you like? Have you found a bug? Please send an e-mail to novabeta@wgbh.org. We’re looking forward to hearing from you. And, if you can’t find what you’re looking for, search the NOVA Archive…

There’s a note about broswer compatibility, but take it with a grain of salt. I’m using Chrome for Mac and the site is working perfectly. Also, don’t worry about there not being enough content. I’m unsure of how long they have been working on this change, but there’s loads of content. And I mean several days’ worth. And more if you are unwilling to skip meals to surf NOVA beta!


So what’s there? I only need to choose one of the categories on the menu to give you an idea. How about Nature? That should keep us occupied for a while. Right off they are featuring three stories. Click the photo going by on New Species in the Old World and listen to the story. Click another and there is an interactive on Bugs That Live on You. (Is that one of those fun gross-out stories that we love even though it leaves us itching for more?) Then there are the editors’ picks like Australia: First 4 Billion Years. That one is really an ad for an upcoming NOVA show appearing on your TV next month. (And as usual, it will soon after be available online for later streaming.) The ad includes a program description, showing dates and so on. It’s a heads-up which is fine because it’s the PBS NOVA series that makes this site possible. Plus we love NOVA.


Moving along… Under Nature and all the other menu items that you would expect to see on a science site is a list of pages for your watching, reading and viewing pleasure, and they are only a click away:

Article (23)
Audio Slide Show (5)
Audio Story (4)
Episode Transcript (2)
Expert Q&A (15)
Full Episode (11)
Interactive (18)
Interview (11)
Producer’s Story (1)
Quiz (3)
Slide Show (23)
Video Short (31)

By the way, the Nature menu shows 166 links, and that’s not even close to the most items in a category. Body+ Brain has 295. And there are nine menu items in all! So there is no shortage of really cool stuff to learn and be entertained by. And because NOVA beta is rather new, expect it to grow. As they said, “This is just the beginning.”

This one was easy. Seeing misinformation about GMOs is a daily occurrence for me on Facebook. It hasn’t let up and if anything, the voices against genetically modified foods have only gotten louder and even more irrational. In this recent story, Militant Filipino farmers destroy Golden Rice GM crop, dated August 9th, 2013, a Greenpeace activist argues that Golden Rice is the “poster boy” of the industry. “This is playing with the lives of people when you are using Golden Rice to promote more GMOs in our food.” In other words, there is nothing wrong with the rice but they oppose it anyway, because they see it as giving legitimacy to other GMOs. How’s that for logic? Greenpeace misinformation was the motivation for the farmers to destroy the crop. And that was just last week! So I’m going to add a few more pertinent links at the end of this pick. Thanks for reading.

It’s time for the skeptical community to take on the issues surrounding GMOs. What I mean by that is there is so much baloney flying around the Internet of a decidedly anti-scientific nature, including outlandish conspiracy theories (Be sure to watch the Alex Jones videos), bogus studies, fear mongering and conclusions based more in ideology than good science, it boggles the mind. And Because it’s the skeptics who challenge that sort of thing, I believe that the time has come for a vigorous science-based response like that seen in reply to climate change denial and anti-vaccination pseudoscience. Of course, there has been some push back already, but it’s been rather tepid, all things considered. As a force with a cause, we are arriving late to the party. Much of the damage is already done.


What I’m going to do is provide some links to what I believe to be the best sites where people have laid out the case for why I think we should step up our activities in the area of GMOs, with good information on the subject and that sort of thing. I could rant about the anti-GMO “truthers” but there are people who are much more knowledgeable on the subject than I am, and have done more research than I have and are more qualified to present the case. So I’ve gathered a few of them up, hopefully making this pick a one stop shopping entry for those who need access to the lowdown on GMO nonsense.I think this might be a great place to start. The link includes an interview with Mark Lynas and the full presentation he made before The Oxford Farming Conference back in January:

Former Anti-GMO Activist Says Science Changed His Mind

For years, British environmental activist Mark Lynas destroyed genetically modified food (GMO) crops in what he calls a successful campaign to force the business of agriculture to be more holistic and ecological in its practices.

His targets were companies like Monsanto and Syngenta — leaders in developing genetically modified crops.

Earlier this month he went in front of the world to reverse his position on GMOs.

At the Oxford Farming Conference in Britain, Lynas apologized for helping “to start the anti-GMO movement” and told his former allies to “get out of the way, and let the rest of us get on with feeding the world sustainably.”

He spoke to Jacki Lyden, host of weekends on All Things Considered, about his change of heart.

There is also this one by Lynas from a speech hosted by the International Programs &mdsah; College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (50th Anniversary Celebration), and the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, Cornell University:

Time to call out the anti-GMO conspiracy theory

I think the controversy over GMOs represents one of the greatest science communications failures of the past half-century. Millions, possibly billions, of people have come to believe what is essentially a conspiracy theory, generating fear and misunderstanding about a whole class of technologies on an unprecedentedly global scale.

…

This is what has happened with the GMOs food scare in Europe, Africa and many other parts of the world. Allowing anti-GMO activists to dictate policymaking on biotechnology is like putting homeopaths in charge of the health service, or asking anti-vaccine campaigners to take the lead in eradicating polio.

I believe the time has now come for everyone with a commitment to the primacy of the scientific method and evidence-based policy-making to decisively reject the anti-GMO conspiracy theory and to work together to begin to undo the damage that it has caused over the last decade and a half.

And then there is this:

“Monsanto Protection Act” is a bullshit, made-up term. There is no such thing.

And this:

Five “Monsanto Protection Act” Myths

It’s amazing how successful that bit of baloney has been. Even people who are not against GMOs have fallen for the twisted propaganda version of a provision that is essentially there to give farmers protection, once they have planted approved crops, from red tape and regulatory mistakes. The provision was not written to protect Monsanto. It was written to protect farmers. But the baloney doesn’t stop there:

Top Five Myths Of Genetically Modified Seeds, Busted

Having just stepped into the shouting match over patents on genetically engineered crops, there are a few small things that I, too, would like to get off my chest.

I say small things. I’m not talking about today’s big hot issues: Whether genetically modified organisms — GMOs — should be labeled, or cause cancer in rats, or might improve the lives of poor farmers in Africa; none of that.

This is about something simple: Seeds of GMOs. Various myths have grown up around these seeds. Like most myths, they are inspired by reality. But they’ve wandered off into the world of fiction…

This one is by my favorite video blogger, C0nc0rdance:

GMO: Are we playing God?

From David Gorski at Science-Based Medicine:

Antivaccine versus anti-GMO: Different goals, same methods

Countering ideologically motivated bad science, pseudoscience, misinformation, and lies is one of the main purposes of this blog. Specifically, we try to combat such misinformation in medicine; elsewhere Steve and I, as well as some of our other “partners in crime” combat other forms of pseudoscience. During the nearly five year existence of this blog, we’ve covered a lot of topics in medicine that tend to be prone to pseudoscience and quackery. Oddly enough, there’s one topic that we haven’t really written much about at all, and that’s genetically modified organisms (GMOs). GMOs, as you know, are proliferating, and it’s quite worth discussing the potential and risks of this new technology, just as it is worthwhile to discuss the potential benefits versus the risks of any new technology that can impact our health, not to mention the health of the planet. Unfortunately, GMOs have become a huge political issue, and, I would argue, they have become just as prone to pseudoscience, misinformation, and bad science as vaccines, with a radical group of anti-GMO activists who are as anti-science as any antivaccinationist or quack…

Here’s a very good article, also on the subject of the left once again throwing in with anti-science, with a title that tickles me. It comes from The Daily Kos, which is a decidedly left-of-center news source. And that makes me happy.

GMO Truthers need to be kicked out of the Progressive movement

I consider myself to be part of the “far left.” I also have multiple scientific degrees and work in the health care field. I strongly believe that my science background has resulted in my Progressive ideology. The reason being is Progressivism is a fact and science based ideology, whereas Conservatism is a faith based ideology. Conservatives offer religious, faith based solutions to social problems. Moreover, they rely on faith in the “invisible hand” for solutions to the economy, and any free market outcome — whether good or bad — is a moral outcome regardless of its practicality. Hence, wanting to let the economy hit rock bottom after the financial crisis, because that was the “moral”/free market thing to do.

Why do I bring this up? Because a biologist recently wrote a diary criticizing the far left for being a home for GMO truthers. And, unfortunately, Meteor Blades recently promoted GMO nonsense on the front page.

I would probably say that most progressives don’t know much about GMO at all because this topic — especially the science behind it — is not discussed nearly as much as something like climate change or evolution. And this is perfectly all right! It is impossible to know everything about everything. You know GMO has something to do with big corrupt corporations (i.e. Monsanto) and there are a lot of people and groups you inherently trust who say GMO is bad, so you are naturally inclined to think of GMO as a negative thing.

However, the great thing about this issue is that is is very science based. And you can look at independent research to come to a firm, fact-based conclusion on where to stand. Now there are people with a severe case of cognitive dissonance who, no matter how much science you shove in front of their face, will refuse to accept reality. I have very little patience — or respect — for these people, whom I call GMO truthers. For the rest of you hopefully this diary will educate you about this issue and encourage Progressives to distant ourselves from this anti-science crowd. Being associated with GMO truthers and people of their ilk is making Progressives look bad…

A site of enormous value is The Genetic Literacy Project. I have also used them as a guide to relevant blogs and stories. They would have been my pick for this Summary, but I chose to cover more territory by highlighting several articles and videos. Maybe I’ll single them out for my next pick.

So okay. I could just going on like this. But let me leave you with this 250-page meta-analysis that should put many questions about GMO safety to rest. It won’t, but it should. As an introduction to this meta-study:

Commission publishes compendium of results of EU-funded research on genetically modified crops

In order to help inform debate on genetically modified organisms, the European Commission is publishing today a compendium entitled “A decade of EU-funded GMO research”. The book summarizes the results of 50 research projects addressing primarily the safety of GMOs for the environment and for animal and human health. Launched between 2001 and 2010, these projects received funding of €200 million from the EU and form part of a 25-year long research effort on GMOs.

European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn said “The aim of this book is to contribute to a fully transparent debate on GMOs, based on balanced, science–based information. According to the findings of these projects GMOs potentially provide opportunities to reduce malnutrition, especially in lesser developed countries, as well as to increase yields and assist towards the adaptation of agriculture to climate change. But we clearly need strong safeguards to control any potential risks.”

A publication for scientists, policy-makers and other stakeholders

This new publication aims to contribute to the debate on GMOs by disseminating the outcomes of research projects to scientists, regulatory bodies and to the public. It follows up previous publications on EU-funded research on GMO safety. Over the last 25 years, more than 500 independent research groups have been involved in such research.

According to the projects’ results, there is, as of today, no scientific evidence associating GMOs with higher risks for the environment or for food and feed safety than conventional plants and organisms…

The study:



A decade of EU-funded GMO research (2001-20100)
This was not the only study done. Not by a long shot. GMOs are becoming one of the most studied biotechnologies out there. But I see no reason to list them, and the EU meta study is very impressive if for no other reason than to counter the often-heard claim that there isn’t enough research being done, and that it’s too soon to draw any conclusions from the research and study results that have been done. The sad thing is in Europe, governments aren’t really listening to the scientists. Anti-GMO activists have had an enormous influence on the decision-making process in many European countries. And it’s now getting worse over here on that score.

Additional links, added for this Summary:

• Is GM food safe? 600 published saftey assesments


• Allergic to Science — Proteins and Allergens in Our Genetically Engineered Food


• Media and NGO Misinformation Alert: No, Hornless Cows Are Not ‘Frankencows’ — Unless You Don’t Understand Genetics


• Suppressing Technology Will Not Feed Hawaii or the World


• The anti-science of the Greens is a political strategy


• A Race to Save the Orange by Altering Its DNA


• The GMO Crop (mis)Information Page

I’ll stop here. And believe me, I could go on. As I said, along with fighting against climate change denial and the anti-vaccination movement, it’s time for Skeptics to become informed and active in fighting against yet another area of scientific denial. Feeding the world is literally at stake.

SkeptiQuote: Some believers accuse skeptics of having nothing left but a dull, cold, scientific world. I am left only with art, music, literature, theater, the magnificence of nature, mathematics, the human spirit, sex, the cosmos, friendship, history, science, imagination, dreams, oceans, mountains, love, and the wonder of birth. That’ll do for me. — Lynne Kelly

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Area 51 and its purpose declassified: No UFOs, but lots of U-2 spy planes

Atheism Doesn’t Suck: How Science Does Not Prove Atheists Are Less Happy, Healthy, and Sane

Church of Scientology sets opening of long-delayed Flag Building in Clearwater

The Discoveroids’ War on Science

Doubtful News

Eugenie Scott inducted into the IIG Hall of Honor

FDA warns one brand of vitamin B supplement contains dangerous steroids

Genetic Signature of Autism Believed Found

A Glimpse of Earth, Shining Brightly, From Very, Very Far Away

Iowa Health Official Warns Against Tapeworm Diet

Kitten nearly dies from vegan diet

Leah Remini Files Missing Person Report for Scientology Leader David Miscavige’s Wife

Mystery Baby: 3-Month-Old Boy Catches Fire; What is Spontaneous Human Combustion?

A new scientific explanation for near-death experiences

Not So Good For a Laugh, Actually

Prepare to Be Shocked!

PZ Myers Helps Us Plunder the Riches of L. Ron Hubbard’s Book of Scientology Evolution!

Royal amateur medical expertise

Science Is Not Your Enemy

Skepticality #212 — The Science of This vs. That

Stephen Meyer’s Fumbling Bumbling Cambrian Amateur Follies

‘Teenage Exorcists’ Explain the Dangers of Sexually Transmitted Demons

The Time-traveling Reincarnated Space Barbie

Turkish Prime Ministry Inspection Board cites ‘telekinesis’ as possible cause of mysterious suicides

When Planets Attack

Who Invented the Little Grays? Hollywood or The Hills?

Why UFOs Have Never Visited Earth — and Probably Never Will

William Jennings Bryan Joins Discovery Institute

Got some skeptic news items? Send them to us, and we’ll think about adding them.

The 12 cognitive biases that prevent you from being rational

Academics call out Dr. Oz as misleading

Don’t Take Your Vitamins

Flintstones Archaeology

From global warming to fluoride: Why do people deny science?

Humans are very stupid — but we’re smart enough to know it

No, you’re not entitled to your opinion

An open letter to Penn & Teller about their appearance on The Dr. Oz Show

The Periodic Table of Irrational Nonsense Ver 3.0

The Placebo Phenomenon

Psychics fail tests of their abilities in academic setting

Stanislaw Burzynski and the Antineoplaston Scam

What Percentage of Prisoners are Atheists? It’s a Lot Smaller Than We Ever Imagined

What Psychic Sylvia Brown Didn’t See

Hallucinations, by Oliver Sacks.



“Have you ever seen something that wasn’t really there? Heard someone call your name in an empty house? Sensed someone following you and turned around to find nothing?

Hallucinations don’t belong wholly to the insane. Much more commonly, they are linked to sensory deprivation, intoxication, illness, or injury. People with migraines may see shimmering arcs of light or tiny, Lilliputian figures of animals and people. People with failing eyesight, paradoxically, may become immersed in a hallucinatory visual world. Hallucinations can be brought on by a simple fever or even the act of waking or falling asleep, when people have visions ranging from luminous blobs of color to beautifully detailed faces or terrifying ogres. Those who are bereaved may receive comforting ‘visits’ from the departed. In some conditions, hallucinations can lead to religious epiphanies or even the feeling of leaving one’s own body.

Humans have always sought such life-changing visions, and for thousands of years have used hallucinogenic compounds to achieve them. As a young doctor in California in the 1960s, Oliver Sacks had both a personal and a professional interest in psychedelics. These, along with his early migraine experiences, launched a lifelong investigation into the varieties of hallucinatory experience.

Here, with his usual elegance, curiosity, and compassion, Dr. Sacks weaves together stories of his patients and of his own mind-altering experiences to illuminate what hallucinations tell us about the organization and structure of our brains, how they have influenced every culture’s folklore and art, and why the potential for hallucination is present in us all, a vital part of the human condition.”

— Book Description

Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids, by Daniel Loxton and Donald R. Prothero.



“Throughout our history, humans have been captivated by mythic beasts and legendary creatures. Tales of Bigfoot, the Yeti, and the Loch Ness monster are part of our collective experience. Now comes a book from two dedicated investigators that explores and elucidates the fascinating world of cryptozoology.

Daniel Loxton and Donald R. Prothero have written an entertaining, educational, and definitive text on cryptids, presenting the arguments both for and against their existence and systematically challenging the pseudoscience that perpetuates their myths. After examining the nature of science and pseudoscience and their relation to cryptozoology, Loxton and Prothero take on Bigfoot; the Yeti, or Abominable Snowman, and its cross-cultural incarnations; the Loch Ness monster and its highly publicized sightings; the evolution of the Great Sea Serpent; and Mokele Mbembe, or the Congo dinosaur. They conclude with an analysis of the psychology behind the persistent belief in paranormal phenomena, identifying the major players in cryptozoology, discussing the character of its subculture, and considering the challenge it poses to clear and critical thinking in our increasingly complex world.”

— Book Description

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11. What is a Skeptic and Why Bother Being One?
12. Calorad
13. Evolution is a Lie, and you Skeptics KNOW it!
14. Kent Hovind is a Big Phony!
15. How Do Vaccines Work?
16. Skeptic Summary #371
17. The Biblical support for a Flat Earth and Geocentricism
18. Miracle Thaw Tray
19. TAM5
20. Preaching that Anti-Evolution Propaganda
21. The Myth of the Missing Moon Dust
22. Laetrile
23. Quantum Age Water
24. N. 25, June 2002: Ecology vs. ecophily — being reasonable about saving the environment
25. The Laundry Solution
26. Sports Fandom and Soccer
27. Skeptic Summary #376
28. Skeptic Summary #358
29. Evolution is a Lie, and you Skeptics KNOW it! Part 4
30. Questioning the Validity of False Memory Syndrome
31. The Truth About The Bible And Evolution
32. More on the Polonium 218 Controversy
33. Natural Childbirth: Under the Skeptical Movement's Radar?
34. Skeptic Summary #367
35. Skeptic Summary #372
36. Skeptic Summary #365
37. Kent Hovind is a Kwazy Kweationist
38. Evil Skeptic II: A visit to the Conscious Living Expo
39. Come & Receive your Miracle: A Sunday Afternoon at a Robert Tilton Crusade
40. The Myth of the Missing Moon Dust
41. Skeptic Summary #349
42. Skeptic Summary #374
43. TAM4
44. Newton’s Third Law
45. Evolution is a Lie, and you Skeptics KNOW it! Part 3
46. Evidence Cited as Hard Proof of the Existence of Satanic Cults
47. Skeptic Summary #381
48. Evolution, Scientology Style
49. Tommy Debates the Bible Answer man
50. Skeptic Summary #379

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