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Rational Alchemy 09/19/2009
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Rational Alchemy Podcasts
Written by Brian Walsh
Monday, 21 September 2009 17:19
I don't know how do describe this one. Vanessa Guttormson came up to discuss the excellent Food For Free Thought fundraiser at Metro State University. As happens when a friend comes on the air, we quickly went off track. When we managed to hold it together, we discussed Food For Free Thought and the upcoming Denver Skepticamp.
More information on todays show can be found below.
Twitter First, a quick reminder that I’ll be checking my Twitter feed during the show. Direct message @rationalalchemy to comment.
Norman Borlaug Dies Norman Borlaug, an agronomist and Nobel Prize winner passed away Sept. 12 at the age of 95. People often ask the question, “What has science ever done for me?” Norman Borlaug, more than anyone else, had the answer. The father of the Green Revolution, his work breeding high yield wheat, which earned him the Nobel, saved more lives than anyone in recent history. His work is considered to have doubled world food production and ended or mitigated worldwide famines. Though many have forgotten his name, his contribution to the world, saving literally billions of lives is the truest testament to the power of science.
More Scientology Censorship That paragon of equal rights and rational thought, the Church of Scientology is at it again. Not content with trollish and abusive behavior, they’ve set their sights on Australia. The Australian branch of Scientology has submitted a proposal to the local Human Rights Commission to remove the protection of anonymity from the internet and to remove sites that criticize Scientology. They have tried this many times in America, but have never had any success.
Scientology, being the lunatic fringe cult that it is, has little choice but to try to impose legislation that would broadly affect the entirety of internet users just to protect themselves. No authority accepts them as a religion, so they need to take very broad tactics to defend themselves. This is nothing new or interesting from them.
The biggest problem they face, besides from their obvious illegitimacy, is that the proposal they submitted can’t be enforced even if accepted. The internet is self-healing and utterly impossible to regulate.
While I’m still of the opinion that Scientology is a dying example of pseudo-everything, this latest stab of desperation reminds me they’re not quite dead yet.
Poor Kevin Trudeau It seems Kevin Trudeau is unable to pay his FTC mandated fines. Trudeau is best known for his late night infomercials claiming to provide, for a modest fee, the knowledge hidden from the citizens of the world by a devious cabal identified only as “They”. Secret medical knowledge, weight loss plans, and financial advice have been sequestered by “They” only to be bravely uncovered and provided, in convenient book form, by Kevin Trudeau. At least that’s what he says. Trudeau claims to be a valiant consumer advocate that is being unfairly targeted and silenced by his critics.
In 2008 Trudeau was fined over $37 million for publishing allegedly “patently false” claims in his book The Weight Loss Cure 'They' Don't Want You to Know About. In the book he claimed to have an easy to follow diet that allowed dieters to eat whatever they want. Instead, they had to follow massive calorie restrictions, have hormone injections and follow strict and implausible rules for the rest of their lives.
In the face of the fine Trudeau claims not to make money from his books and that they were written for the public good, not his own.
Geller App Uri Gellar is on the iPhone. The phony psychic who bends spoons with him mind only in the sense that his brain sends signals to his hands to tighten his grip and twist has announced a spoon bending iPhone app.
The instructions on his website read: Once you've downloaded and installed the App on your iPhone, rub your finger gently over the marked spot, and transfer your mental energy - putting all of your mental energy and focus into making the spoon bend. Say the magic words "one, two three BEND!" continue rubbing the spoon, and focusing all of your mental power on having the spoon bend - until it begins to bend by itself!
I’ll remind listeners that the iPhone has a touch screen.
The use of the English libel laws to silence critical discussion of medical practice and scientific evidence discourages debate, denies the public access to the full picture and encourages use of the courts to silence critics. The British Chiropractic Association has sued Simon Singh for libel. The scientific community would have preferred that it had defended its position about chiropractic through an open discussion in the medical literature or mainstream media.
