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Not the typical butterfly – but this is the protein folding structure from a South American hemorrhagic fever – the Machupo virus. The article was found on Science Daily. A striking resemblance to a butterfly, maybe even a Hesperiidae (photo from Papiliones of America).
Illud communicari!TV ostendunt versantur cepi brevi “Doctores“, hodierno erat titulus episode “Medical ingruentes Tecum non Ignore”. Nam magna ex parte medici sanitas se positive egurgitant affirmationes. Dicunt etiam de malleus conterens petram “sanus” bona enim et ciborum “pericula,” of all kinds of common household bacteria/chemicals and everything else. By and large nothing apocryphal. But then Dr. Lisa Masterson opened her mouth with this advice for people looking to quit smoking (paraphrased from memory) “You can try these, it is called EZ-Quit spray. They are HOMEOPATHIC … You should still consult your doctor because, you know, some of these ingredients can be strong”. The ingredient list is “Antimonium crudum 5C, Caladium seguinum 5C, Ignatia 5C, Lobelia inflata 5C, Nux vomica 5C, Tabacum 5-7-9C. Inactive ingredients: Purified water, alcohol 20%.” Primis, let’s understand the “C” scale of potency measurement. A 1C potency is one part ingredient diluted in 100 parts water, autem 1:100 ratio. A 5C solution is equivalent to 10^-10 power dilution or .0000000001mg of “active” ingredient. So drink up, you would need to drink one of these to get enough active ingredient: But thats the whole point! In homeopathy, the single molecule of ingredient that comes in contact with water MAGICALLY imparts its power to the water molecules. When asked to explain this most homeopaths invoke quantum mechanics. Good to know they are totally ignorant of science. The basic principle of homeopathy states that the MORE diluted something becomes the MORE powerful it is. The standard dilution is 30C or 10^-60 , but it does go up to 10^-1500. You would literally need to consume a sphere of water the size of our solar system t*wo billion times for one single molecule of ingredient. And thank god there is .0000000001mg of Nux vomica in the solution because that is commonly known as strychnine, an incredibly powerful alkaloid toxin with an LD50 of 10mg. In doses of less that 5mg it acts as a powerful stimulant and was used historically for stomach aliments and even for doping by athletes. Strychnine hasn’t been used since the invention of safer medicines. Homeopathy is absolutely bullshit. There is zero supporting evidence, in fact in the UK they finally agreed to stop funding this insanity; which is no surprise since any intelligent person who understands the true principals of homeopathy should know better. Lorem ipsum, anyone who creates a homeopathic medicine that is scientifically proven, can apply for the JREF million dollar challenge. Is it any surprise that it remains unclaimed? M.. Lisa is a complete moron and a quack. It is scary to think she spreads this misinformation on public TV, but not all that surprising. She should issue an apology for recommending homeopathy and the california medical board should consider disciplinary action or pull her license. Of course this won’t happen… But think of the potential dangers, consider the case of the parents that killed their daughter with homeopathy. Now, enjoy James Randi explaining Homeopathy: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWE1tH93G9U] Illud communicari! Leave a Reply Name  Scepticismo  Medicina alterna, Scientia malum, Homeopathy, JREF, Quack, Scams et Fraus, Scepticismo Euge, I bet if I was selling something it would show up pretty damn low on this chart. Infra potest videre praeferebantur secundum ad sua scientifica efficacia remedia alia alternative. Quia plus post praesentem explicationem rating, sed etiam remedia sunt praeferebantur substructio in singulis clamium – green tea for instance rates very poorly for cancer but very well for cholesterol. Take notice of just how much is below the “worth it” line.
Continue reading Buy Chris’s all new healing tonic! Illud communicari!Because I would have been subjected to haec. Loqui de immanitate vastatur! CALLIDE, iustus kidding, Sed in hoc est a frenum ridiculam. In hac voce usus Limbaugh dicit quod, quia scientiae “parabilia”, et oderunt eum, non quia. Sed verum est quod non fit, they chose Rush because it was the “most annoying sound [illi] could think of”. Not too surprising that the liberal entomology agenda hates Rush (joke), but I know I sure do. If you blared that blabbering buffoon at me for an hour I’d Plath myself. It turns out these guys were on the right path however. While Limbaugh perhaps predictably had no effect on the insects, sounds recorded of the bark beetles did. When recordings of the sounds made of the beetles in their tunnels were fired back into the trees they observed the insects flying into a fury and killing each other. Sounds like it may be a useful tool if they can find a way to deliver this to trees without wiring each one with speakers. I don’t think that blasting these recordings Apocalypse Now style into forests will be plausible or effective so hopefully they can think of something else clever. The story might be amusing but I think does a disservice to their cause in general. Using Rush was nothing but an attempt to grab press, which is clearly working. Would anyone have read a story about bark beetles otherwise? I probably wouldn’t have even given it a look. In the end the takeaway story for me is that I think to myself “interesting, they found a potentially useful tool against bark beetles”. But to the less science literate or politically motivated they likely think “great, more liberal scientists wasting our tax dollars playing music to beetles”. We already know what republicans think about science. Please, let’s not throw more fodder into the backwards minds of the anti-science republican agenda (CALLIDE, admittedly, fundamental republican fiscal policy is something I can understand… but they are a pack of morons the rest of the time). I don’t believe that Limbaugh has commented on this specific story, but is it difficult to imagine what he has to say? Illud communicari!Rivers Cuomo wrote me a song. Not bad, but now I think I want that mantis costume for Halloween. And of course I am obliged to point out that earthworms are not insects… [vimeo=14822451] Illud communicari!Came across haec article today care of Doug Yanega at UC Riverside, which spurred the search for further information. Quis scit quid illa “flores” in actu, are? 10 punctis ad vere primum ad coniecto… fortasse aut praedam aliquam terribilis?
Illud communicari![youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHdKEhFM7mY&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0] Illud communicari!Quod quidem nunquam vidi ante. Auctus te semper tantum date mihi kitsch quod aliquis cum illis, exterminati sunt in, etiam ludens cards. Sed luctus erat quis nisl et elit Lorem aliud insect. (Non habent de whimsey Myers et PZ ut terror illius esset vinculum.) Autem, omnia quidem sunt Typis images. New hoc anno est a stego, entomology cards! Si enim videris I deorsum aliquo insigni – non sunt pictures, sed etiam insectis. Super haec imago a link:
wow- et sequuntur In hac habitasse platea Plura ad futura Facebook. Opinor haec versio moderna “tobacco card”, quae est an susicivus inserta in regularis collectores card card sarcinas. Morbi pretium elit anno exeunte res redeunt permittas quod supra. Secundum ESPN, haec enim sunt super cards $100 quid ad eos qui non possunt capere insect. Et loquar tecum respice in e-bay Unus inventus est currently ad ullas $87.00. Vade figuram. In omnibus, Stego occulte dimittere 30 alia genera animalium. Vetus est dorso timey singulis card “Lorem ipsum dolor” et denique de insect blurb. Sunt etiam “certus,” quod sit genuinum,, quicquid id est. An ipsi a consiliis taxonomist? Quisquis mea bet habent minor hourly rates… Qui me usque in papilionem resiliunt, positum a parte illorum sunt adeo clausa specimens. Putem diffusa esset specimen magis blanda, nemo cognoscit, nisi forte sic praeparati stego. Qui canitis cum lots of tempus redditur facere mantids inviso placebant. Agitur quidem de illis quot, hoc patet in plerisque non sustineatur. Inde, opinor, in fine, ut, qui inter ipsum dolor sit conuersationis nunquam bis insect starter, et maxime, quod Collectible. Itaque miror, quid cogitet PETA… CALLIDE, nos ut sciant multa iam. Illud communicari!Veni per haec article today and it put a smile on my face. A traveling malaria researcher came across an “electronic mosquito repeller” for sale in his in-flight catalog. Being an intelligent man, he realized this was total and utter BS. He also realized this product probably sells best while in-route to malaria ridden countries; and that there were naive tourists walking around with $23 worthless pieces of crap on their belts feeling protected. The airline, KLM, had likely been selling the item with no second though whatsoever, just part of the standard issue crap-on-a-plane shopping selection. So as soon as Bart Knol returned home he began to dig deeper. He contacted KLM and tried to figure out why they were selling this item. Politely, the airline offered a response from the manufacturer backing up the efficacy of the device – and stated that they sell over 1,000 a month. Clearly that couldn’t be acceptable – in fact there has been research conducted to test just this sort of machine – all of which showed zero effect. Again Knol informed KLM of this fact, with evidence in hand, and received a surprising reply. “The product will no longer be for sale on KLM aircraft from March onwards“. Son-of-a-bitch. He confronted a company that was selling a scientifically falsified device. Instead of blowing this scientist off – they looked at the evidence – and acted logically. Within 2 months Knol had KLM pulling the product from its shelves. The airline should give Knol a lifetime supply of vouchers for his suggestion. Imagine if you will: a gullible tourist headed to Africa for your first safari. Wanting desperately to avoid the sometimes horrible side effects of anti-malaria medication they see this miracle product that will keep them safe instead. Euge, the product failed to work, and he contracts malaria while running from elephants in Kenya. Attempts to sue the company failed since they were based in Sri Lanka – but not to worry, KLM has vast and deep pockets. 10,000,000 euro later, KLM pulls the product form the shelf and the dead tourists kids replace everything they own with gold. But no, instead, a vigilant skeptic stepped up and saved the day! Thanks for your skepticism Knol, you get a high-five. The action he took provided KLM with evidence they were conducting a wrongdoing. Had the airline been sued in the future and this prior knowledge had come to light, they would have lost. I wish KLM could appreciate it just as much as I do, but at least they took the proper action. Fly KLM. It’s always nice to see a story like this because this is certainly not how things usually happen. Take for instance the “dowsing for bombs” scandal brought to our attention by the JREF. I guess it’s a bit difficult to call it a scandal because the press only briefly covered it here in the US. Quickly: A British based company was selling dowsing rods, that consisted of nothing more than metal rods and handles, as bomb, gun, knife, drug and even body detectors. The major buyer was the Iraqi government in around tens of millions of dollars. People bet their life on this machine; and it failed, 100% of the time. Even today the Iraqis swear by this device. But let’s not forget the history of this detector, which is basically the same as the “Quadro Tracker” bought by OUR government in the late 90’s. At least in the QT issue we only purchased 1,000 units and quickly tested them to discover the fraud. The result – the FBI issued a warning against it. The company promptly picked up shop and moved to the UK to re-invent this device sold to Iraq (amongst other countries). Thankfully the scammer, Jim McCormick, was recently arrested in Britain for fraud and the item has been banned for export. Go find your own MozStops, Pest Repellers, SunBeams and SOLAR powered mosquito repellers (hey you can be green while being a sucker) and take that store to task! gravissime, this crap is everywhere and it’s 100% fraud. Illud communicari! 2 comment - (Leave a Reply Name) Natural, Scepticismo Dowsing, JREF, Minime vafro,, Mosquitos, pseudoscience, Scams et Fraus, Scepticismo Look above, I’ve created a new page for techniques. Ever wonder how something is done? Ask me how and I will illustrate. Illud communicari! |
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