D-Notice vs the Confederate Yankee

Yesterday, the US blog Instaputz had a post which showed that the claims that a right-wing US blogger - the Confederate Yankee (whose name suggests he's a twat) - that he never labelled people "traitors" to be a complete load of rubbish.

This encouraged me to go over to CY's site, search for the term "treason", and leave the following comment:


After pressing the submit button, the following came up:


However, it my comment has not been published, even though later comments have been.

I guess the fact that my comment wasn't exactly favourable has nothing at all to do with it... Tweet

The Sun Lies: Conclusive proof of Nessie!

A new, brief post over on the Sun Lies by me: about how Nessie has been "spotted" on Google Earth... Tweet

The Sun Lies: Wi-fi Stress makes you ill, follow-up

A few weeks ago I put up an article on the Sun Lies about some guy who claimed to suffer from Electromagnetic Hypersensitity.

I wasn't convinced to say the least...

It now turns out that I was right to be sceptical: a systematic review has just been published in the journal Bioelectromagnetics. In summary, it doesn't exist.

(via @Krelnik) Tweet

The Sun Lies: Tunisian Duodecaplets

I have a new post over on the Sun Lies.

This one is about an alleged multiple birth that will be taking place in Tunisia.

PS. No posts recently as I've been moving house.

UPDATE (19/08/09): According to the Torygraph, it's fake. The "mother" has refused medical tests and gone into hiding.

UPDATE (20/08/09): The Sun now admits it's a fraud. Tweet

The "Secure" ID Cards

From the Daily Mail:

Adam Laurie is no ordinary hacker. In the world of computing, he is considered a genius - a man whose talents are used by government departments and blue-chip companies to guard against terrorists and cyber-criminals.

[He] hold[s] one of 51,000 ID cards issued by the Home Office to foreign nationals currently working or studying in Britain.

[He] picks up a mobile phone and, using just the handset and a laptop computer, electronically copies the ID card microchip and all its information in [12] minutes.

He then creates a cloned card, and with a little help from another technology expert, he changes all the information the card contains - the physical details of the bearer, name, fingerprints and so on. And he doesn't stop there.

With a few more keystrokes on his computer, Laurie changes the cloned card so that whereas the original card holder was not entitled to benefits, the cloned chip now reads 'Entitled to benefits'.

As a chilling twist, he adds a message that would be visible to any police officer or security official who scanned the card: 'I am a terrorist - shoot on sight.'

To be honest, I'm surprised it took that long for him to do it... Tweet

Home Office: Keep innocent people on DNA database

At the end of last year, the government lost a case in the European Court of Human Rights over having innocent people's DNA on its DNA database.

Since then we've been waiting to see how they would respond. To say that they have been dragging their feet and not-exactly-willing-to-comply would be putting it mildly.

Well it now appears that the police have been told to ignore any demands to remove samples. The official reason is that they should take a wait-and-see approach as to the government's response. However, knowing what the Home Office is like, they won't make any decision, or will just make a token concession...

When I take over, the only samples will be of those of people with unspent criminal convictions. I guess my position is just too unreasonable for the Home Office to take... Tweet

A "Head/Brick wall" interface...

Here's a very effective way to wind yourself in a period of about 50 70 minutes.

The famous Evilutionist Richard Dawkins interviews Wendy Wright of the Concerned Women of America.

They discuss evolution and science generally and the impact on politics:



(I've only linked to the 1st part of 5 7; the others are linked to from the clip)

To this is one of the most frustrating things I've ever come across is putting it mildly.

No thanks to Distillated who sent me the link... Tweet

The Sun - Tabloid Lies Truths

I found this on the Sun while looking for articles to rip into:

Regulating quacks helps them prey on gullible patients

Herbal medicine and acupuncture face new Government controls, health minister Ann Keen announced earlier this week.

"Patient safety is paramount," she says adding that the Government wants to introduce safeguards to ensure anyone offering the alternative remedies meets "professional standards of care and safety".

It sounds sensible but it's actually a charter for licensed quackery.

Unlike doctors, herbalists and acupuncturists won't have to provide proof their treatments work.

Anything that gives an official seal of approval to alternative medicine is bound to increase its credibility and popularity. And that is why regulation is far from sensible.

As Britain's leading expert on alternative medicine, Professor Edzard Ernst points out: "If you regulate nonsense, it is still nonsense."

And NHS cash is wasted on homeopathy - also known as sugar pills and "magic" water - another example of the way regulation adds an aura of respectability to unproven treatments.

Homeopathic "remedies" are licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority. But Professor Michael Baum, of University College London, says: "This is like licensing a witches' brew as a medicine so long as the bat wings are sterile."

I'm not mentioning it on the Sun Lies, because the Sun is absolutely right with the complete disdain it shows to the plans.

This, however, is the killer quote:

We all had a laugh at the flu advice given to Russian football fans - "Drink a lot of Welsh whisky as a form of disinfection".

But thousands of Brits are still swallowing homeopathy and other unproven remedies - and I know which one I would rather down.

I can only hope that their coverage of other science and health topics will be of a similar standard. Tweet

Quail has a new nest

The Daily Quail has moved to a new t'internet address: http://www.dailyquail.org/.

Update your bookmarks accordingly. Tweet