The View from Number 80

Resurrection Inflation - the ultimate in wind power. Here is an enjoyably daft article about the supposed physical form that resurrected Christian's bodies may be expected to take in the afterlife. N.T. Wright, described on Beliefnet as a "renowned Bible scholar" (it is too much to hope that the N T stands for New Testament) is interviewed by Laura Sheahen, who surely had trouble keeping a straight face. It is believed by most Christians that they will be resurrected, but opinions differ as to whether the resurrected body is a "spirit" one or a material one. By careful examination of a letter written by a 1st century tentmaker, misogynist and religious fanatic, Wright thinks he has the answer. It depends on the word "pneumatikos", (obviously from which we derive  pneumatic), and whether this word is correctly translated from New Testament Greek as "spiritual". Ancient cultures, and many people still today, believe that bodies are animated by the spirit within, the ghost in the machine. (This is also the basis for a lot of quack "energy" medicine and New Age silliness.) This sense is connected with the act of breathing, or respiration, the breath of life. Note that this word, like inspiration, is related to our word spirit. Wright's idea is that the resurrected will have physical bodies animated by God's spirit (breath) and will be incorruptible. (Unlike many politicians). Apart from doubtless trivial queries that spring into the unbelieving mind such as, are those with missing body parts such as foreskins, liposucted fat and surgically-excised unsightly warts  reconstituted with these replaced, 80 could not shake the idea that the resurrected sound like the ultimate in blow-up dolls. For which, no doubt, 80 will burn in hell. Whether it will be a new body  that will be doing the smouldering and suffering pitchfork punctures or the tatty one 80 is using right now, it is not clear, although doubtless N T Wright would know. (If you have a moment to spare look at the discussion of the article on the right hand margin of the Beliefnet page. Partly unintentionally funny, but mainly deeply sad that people vex themselves over this codswallop.)

Wise Precept - when investigating strange phenomena it is sensible to have no preconceptions in order that one does not prejudge the results. This does not seem to have occurred to Yuri Labvin, chief of the Tunguska Space Phenomenon public foundation. He is leading an expedition to remote Evenkia, in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, to the site of the so-called Tunguska event. This was likely the impact of a large stony asteroid or possibly a comet, back in 1908, although facts are thin enough on the ground for some folk have more exotic explanations. Which brings us to Yuri Labvin, who told Pravda, before his departure to the blast zone, "We intend to find proofs that not a meteorite but an extraterrestrial spaceship clashed with the Earth." So much for scientific objectivity. He, and the other expedition members will use metal detectors to search an area 500 km west of where previous searches have been conducted. Labvin claims pictures taken from space show the presence of metallic debris, the aftermath of what Pravda calls a "technogenic catastrophe". (80 could find no definition of technogenic on the web, but clues from context would indicate the word means born from, or originating from, a technological process.) This article by Roy A. Gallant, Director of the Southworth Planetarium, University of Southern Maine, who has himself travelled to the Tunguska site, explains why further investigation of the 1908 event is important. He also notes all attempts to find a buried meteorite have been unsuccessful but adds that there is evidence for "an increase in the rate of biological mutations" in the area and along the path of the object's supposed trajectory. It is a pity, but it seems unlikely that Labvin and colleagues are going to add anything useful to our knowledge - unless of course he does turn up that spaceship................... (the technogenic hypothesis is discussed further here)

War On Drugs - this phrase takes on a whole new meaning in the light of this article in the Guardian by Ian Sample. It looks at the UK Ministry of Defence's (MoD) purchase and use of a stimulant drug called Provigil. (80 looked at the use of another stimulant, dextro-amphetamine, by the US Air Force in 2003 - see Hey Psst!) While this drug, also known as Modafinil, has legitimate medical uses the military are not employing it to combat narcolepsy but to keep troops awake for long periods, when mission or battlefield requirements dictate. In tests Provigil has been shown to more effective than caffeine or amphetamine in maintaining wakefulness, which explains why the MoD have been buying thousands of the tablets. The mechanism behind the two older drugs is known reasonably well but how Provigil does the trick is not. The list of side-effects is extensive but no more so than for a lot of prescription medicines which seem to list absolutely everything that may go wrong. The worry is this latest method of maintaining alertness is at best a short term fix and may well be storing up health problems for troops in the future. The MoD is understably wary of possible legal action from ex-servicemen, in a repeat of the Gulf War syndrome controversy. Jane's defence consultancy pointed out a more immediate worry for military planners "When you start filling in with pills, all your planning assumptions go out of the window. And when the effects of the pills wear off, you've no idea what kind of a zombie you're going to be left with." Sample's Guardian piece is detailed and informative on the background and use of stimulants by the military, including US and French forces, and notes that one American researcher believes the "jury remains out" as to "whether Provigil is better at helping people regain their ability to perform complex tasks on little sleep."

The Big Secret - about why Anne Coulter's USAToday spot commenting on the Democratic Convention in Boston was chopped was not that it was too scathing a column, too conservative a view, too right-wing a vantage point. No, as you can see the article posted on Coulter's website for yourself, all becomes crystal clear. It is a poorly written, cliched and amateurish attempt, even by the standards she habitually sets. USAToday buried it - why didn't Coulter have the sense to do the same? Perhaps she sees herself as a right-wing reflection of say, Mark Morford on a good day. In your dreams, Annie.

History Lesson - the San Francisco Chronicle's online presence SFGate.com's token right-wing attack dog, Adam Sparks, is barking up the wrong tree by sounding off against the Presbyterian Church for, of all things, anti-semitism. (Like many on the right he confuses criticism of the modern state of Israel with racial and religious hatred.) His reason is the church's condemnation of Israel's wall, currently under construction to keep out the very real threat of Palestinian bombers. The fact that other international bodies such as the UN and the EU have their reservations about the barrier only raises Sparks' blood pressure further, as he sees left-wing conspiracies all around, but it is the Presbyterians who cop it most in this article - topped only by the Palestinians. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a complicated issue with great wrongs on either side, but 80 was interested in the tack that Sparks takes. He disputes the right of the Palestinians to be there at all. "Who, exactly, are the Palestinians the Presbyterian Church supports? They are a media creation of an Arab people who in fact have no separate language, culture, written history or recognizable geographical borders." Here Sparks is showing his abysmal ignorance. The Palestinians are the indigenous inhabitants of the area, with roots going back to at least the Bronze Age and perhaps further. They are mentioned in ancient Egyptian writings as the Peleset and in the Old Testament as Philistines. They were inhabiting the coastal plain of what is now Israel before the foundation of either biblical kingdoms of Judah or Israel, or the current Israel, which was founded in 1948, following partition of the British mandate of, you've guessed it, Palestine, into Arab and Jewish states by the UN. Sparks is perfectly entitled to comment on the violent tragedy taking place in Israel and the Occupied Territories. 80 is not disputing the right of Israelis to live in peace, but to misrepresent history to make a point about about the current conflict is not helpful. Much of Sparks' diatribe about what he terms the "Irreligious Left" and its "hatred" of Israel is a gross misrepresentation and unreasonable. To call for fairness and evenhandedness in trying to resolve the differences between Israel and the Palestinians is not hatred of Israel - many moderate Israelis would agree. Being fair does not involve condoning the obscenity of suicide bombers, some only children, or attacks upon civilians, but does involve acknowledging the forces that have shaped these revolting developments. The current US administration's attitude of partisan support for Israel, or more particularly Sharon, does not help, and does little for the standing of the US elsewhere in the region. While the old men, Sharon and Arafat, entrenched in their hatred, continue to hold sway, little progress is likely to be made. Sparks has every right to his point of view and should certainly not be muzzled, but if he continues to foam at the mouth in such righteous, and raucous, indignation he runs the risk of appearing rabid. (For more on the identity of the Palestinians this page is useful but, much like Sparks' piece, biased. Here is a more reasoned appraisal from David Schafer )

(80 recommends to Sparks, or anyone else, The Bible In History by Thomas L Thompson. The subtitle of the book, How Writers Create a Past, is relevant to the entwined histories of the different cultures in the so-called Holy Land. For more see 80's Recommended Reading page. A note from Mammon, any items purchased via the Amazon links on these pages help towards the upkeep of this site)

Pricks and Pills - "Acupuncture works" is the claim after "26 trials involving over 3000 patients" by a team including "Anna Lee of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Mary Done of the New Children's Hospital in Sydney, Australia". The test looked at the ability of acupuncture to alleviate the feelings of nausea experienced by many post-operative patients. It was found that patients receiving acupuncture were 24% less likely to ask for anti-nausea drugs and that patients "were 28 per cent less likely to feel nauseous and 29 per cent less likely to be sick than patients receiving sham treatments, such as insertion of the needle at the wrong place or pretended stimulation of P6." P6, we are told, is a "pericardium" acupuncture point on the wrist. Pericardium is the membrane that surrounds the heart and quite what it has to do with either post-operative nausea or a point on the wrist is not clear. This is a very interesting account and will be worth following up as more details become available, but a couple of thoughts do occur straight away when reading the New Scientist report. Firstly, how does one tell where an acupuncture point is located? As the network of connections posited by this "therapy" is not detectable by any evidence-based methods, but appears to be subjective, where I say P6 is located may not be where you say it is. This has a bearing on the test procedure of inserting "the needle at the wrong place". What defines a wrong and a right place? Surely this will vary between practitioners and possibly between patients too. Secondly, what about "pretended stimulation of P6", how would that be done? 80 is wondering how you pretend to stick a needle in someone - is this even possible? Successful test or not, it may all be rendered superfluous if Singapore-based biotechnology firm Molecular Acupuncture (MA) can be believed. This article says that they are "on track to developing an acupuncture pill.." Initial tests, according to chief executive David Picard, are aimed at curing migraines by "mimicking the effects of acupuncture". This is quite a feat, as so far no one has suggested a believable, ie evidence-based, mechanism for the transfer of the effects of needle pricks on various parts of the body and illness. Molecular Acupuncture is backed by the Singapore government and $1 million is maybe small change to them, but if they have discovered a way of verifying the system of points or meridians in the human body that acupuncturists claim is there they could ask James Randi for that sum, as such claims are within the scope of his offer. Even if MA don't need Randi's prize money they could create a lot of goodwill by donating the sum to charity. As David Picard says "The research is focused on understanding, from a biological standpoint, what acupuncture does in our body." He is also quick to point out that his firm is not trying to "undermine traditional acupuncturists". If MA can show evidence for the "acupoints" and an underlying mechanism, something the traditionalists have not managed to do in "the thousands of years" they have been practicing, surely the firm will be doing them a favor. Whether Picard himself is anything to do with the scientific research side of MA is thrown into doubt by his statement "I don't intend to change mindsets. There are people, especially in Asia, who are eager not to put chemicals in their bodies, they can stick to acupuncture." Surely the people who are not keen "to put chemicals in their bodies" do this by eating and drinking every day of their lives....

Francis Crick (1916-2004) - best known as co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, has died at age 88. Here is his essay How I Got Inclined Towards Atheism, courtesy of Positive Atheism.

Shove It - still with US politics, many papers commented on Teresa Heinz-Kerry's less than polite request to the editorial page editor for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Colin McNickle, to "shove it". Mild by Dick Cheney standards, most coverage depicted it as either a typical foot-in-mouth error from the outspoken presidential nominee's wife, or praised her feistiness. This article at AlterNet, by Max Blumenthal, purportedlt tells the real background story to the incident and reveals a long-running campaign of slurs and lies going back years, and associates it with right-wing billionnaire Richard Mellon-Scaife, owner of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Blumenthal claims "McNickle's provocation of Heinz-Kerry represents the latest manifestation of a poisonous dirty tricks campaign Scaife has financed to undermine Heinz-Kerry, a fellow Western Pennsylvania philanthropist whom he considers his rival. And now that Heinz-Kerry has been thrust into the national spotlight by her husband's presidential candidacy, Scaife's smears are likely to intensify." Read the whole piece at AlterNet. It will be interesting to see if Blumenthal's prediction proves correct.

Quote - never mind the policies, it is the touchy-feely stuff that will get some people's vote. "He saved a hamster that was precious to his daughter, this makes him more real to me." Linda F. Jacobsen, a delegate from Missouri at the Democratic Convention, talking about John Kerry and quoted in the New York Times (reg rqd) Update - here is the story from the hamster's point of view.

The Bigots of Tampa - when Michael R. Harvey, a member of Atheists of Florida was invited by council member John Dingfelder to offer the city council invocation this proved too much like free speech for three council members, who walked out. One was quoted as saying "I just can't sit here and listen to someone that does not believe in a supreme being.'' The mayor, who did not attend the meeting said "I certainly don't agree with having an atheist come for the invocation, I think the invocation is a time for the council to start their day with an expression of faith.'' Which statement brings the number of religious bigots to four. Dingfelder, who attends a Jewish synagogue, said of his invitation "I was honestly hoping it would not be a big deal, obviously, I am a little naive about that.'' You may be naive, Mr Dingfelder, but you put councillors White, Alvarez and Ferlita and Mayor Iorio to shame as the small-minded hypocrites they truly are. (The text of Harvey's invocation can be read here (scroll down) courtesy of Humanist Network News)

Quote - "Ego? I don't know the meaning of the term." from the blessed Saint Nader in the New York Times (reg rqd), who is trying to repeat his spoiler tactics of the 2000 election, only this time partially buoyed up by funding from Republicans, who aren't likely to be backing him for his green credentials....

Holy Hoax - to no one's great surprise, well, not 80's anyway, the seeping statue of "the Miraculous Our Lady" belonging to the Vietnamese Catholic Community Centre at Inala, Queensland, Australia, is a hoax. (see Statue Sell-out) But it seems that every cloud has a silver lining as "someone involved with the chapel congregation has made money out of the hoax, selling DVD's of media coverage of the statue on the internet." Following a two month inquiry, Catholic Archbishop John Bathersby, has announced there was no evidence to support a miracle. Detailed examination using "X-rays of the main statute revealed two fine holes through which liquid could have been injected." and the oil that came from the statue and other items was "very likely one that is commercially available and it is possible that the substance was applied to them by human hands". Disappointingly, it appears no effort will be made to involve the police in the matter. Bathersby is apparently satisfied by the local church boss, a Father Joseph Nguyen Thanh Liem, when he says he had no knowledge of the DVD sales. Despite the fraudulent nature of the whole affair Bathersby offered this view of the attempts to turn a profit on the "miracle", "Many people, genuinely, believed these matters were miraculous and therefore I think that a person who genuinely believed that, may have felt that it was well worth trying to communicate this to the wider community and perhaps to people outside Australia." By charging for it - Bathersby failed to add... Naturally this has not gone down too well with the congregation, many of whom still believe a miracle was involved and that it is "a sign from God". What a come down for the old boy, from parting seas, burning bushes and unleashing world-wide floods to making a few cheap statues seep oil. It seems God ain't what he used to be. A final note, Archbishop Bathersby, referring to the belief that this seepage was a supernatural event, actually apologised to "the people who believed this to be so". Only in the field of religion do you have to say sorry for revealing a hoax and exposing people's gullibility. The sooner religious claims, all of them, are called to answer to the standards of evidence applied in other areas of life, such as used-car sales, the better. This deference to religionists is ridiculous. People are entitled to their faith but when their claims are testable and found wanting this should be acknowledged - not made the subject of an apology.

Update - to the above. The role of  Father Joseph Nguyen Thanh Liem in the oil seepage stories emanating from his church is greater than first thought. This article from The Courier-Mail makes it fairly obvious that he is the source for most, if not all, reports of these "miraculous" events. Perhaps the medieval phenomenon of the pious fraud is alive and well in Queensland, but until the whereabouts of the money made from this hoax is ascertained an impious scam is the more likely explanation.

Eat, Drink and Be - bloody careful you don't defile yourself. Islam is  "submission" to the will of God and the ramifications of this are entwined with every aspect of a Muslim's life. This includes dietary restrictions that are at least as nitpicking as those in Judaism. (Imagine if the Church of England gave out a ruling against the consumption of, say, Irn-Bru, by good Christians. The few that did not ignore the proscription altogether would merely assume the Archbishop of Canterbury had lost track of yet another of his marbles.) Now the Guardian informs us that the huge conglomerate, GlaxoSmithKline, fearful that their soft drinks, Ribena and Lucozade, may breach Islamic dietary laws, approached the UK Muslim Law (Shariah) Council. It seems that Ribena, a fruit drink, is filtered during production using pig-derived gelatin. (Never mind Islam, a good few vegetarians would not be too happy with this information) Lucozade, a fizzy "sports/health" drink is also tainted, not by porcine pollution, but by alcohol, namely "0.01% of ethyl alcohol". Amazingly, GlaxoSmithKline spent 5 months and an undisclosed sum ensuring that these products are acceptable to Muslims, proving one thing at least, the sales must justify the effort taken. Happily, the Muslim Law Council has given the all clear. The chairman said, "I see no harm in consuming Ribena and Lucozade which contain traces of ethyl alcohol and animal ingredients that do not bear their original qualities and do not change the taste, colour or smell of the product." After 5 months work that must have been a relief... The impression given by this statement is that  anything goes, so long as it has been processed so as to be unrecognisable, which, although unlikely to be the intention, does seem give the green light to most junk foods. As Islam has no central authority you may also ignore the ruling altogether if you wish. The deep problem is that many foods, of all sorts, contain traces of alcohol as part of the production process, including things as innocuous as bread. The question is, where do you draw the line? If 0.01% alcohol is acceptable, how about 0.1% or 0.125%? Applying rules today that were made up in a period long before there was any scientific analysis of the (unintentional) ingredients in our food is difficult, if not impossible. Matters are not helped by a tradition that believes that such dietary proscriptions are unalterable and of divine origin. Surely no pig products and no alcohol whatsoever is the safest way to go. After all, allowing even tiny amounts is the top of a slippery slope that may well end with a bacon butty and a pint of bitter......

Richard Dawkins - the BBC has an all-too-short interview with Richard Dawkins, partly prompted by his topping a poll from Prospect magazine of Britain's 100 top public intellectuals. Dawkins garnered almost double the votes of the next placing, Germaine Greer. His answer to the question "Do you get tired of being asked about the debate between science and religion - do you think it is time to move on?" illustrates that this debate can only become more important not less, and that "moving on" is not an option. "We can't move on as long as more than 50% of American voters believe the entire universe began later than the Middle Stone Age, and Tony Blair encourages such teachings in English schools on grounds of "diversity in education"". Dawkins also has a chance to mention his new book, The Ancestor's Tale, "a history of life going backwards through evolutionary time, in the form of a pilgrimage to the past" using Chaucer's Canterbury Tales as one inspiration. The book is due out in October.

Bush A Clear Winner - largely unremarked by the world press, and also missed by 80, was the World Stupidity Awards (WSA) presentation last Friday at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, Canada. Some of the winners were hardly a surprise, such as George "What, me worry?" Bush, who carried off The Stupidest Man of the Year award, voted by international internet users, and Private Lynndie "Abu Ghraib" England as his female counterpart, Stupidest Woman of the Year (80 noticed Michael Jackson was a runner-up in this category). There was a joint Stupidity Award for Reckless Endangerment of the Planet which went to the dream team of Bush and Blair and Stupidest Media Outlet (which has made the greatest contribution to furthering ignorance worldwide) went predictably to Fox News. Stupidest Statement of the Year went to George W Bush for "Major combat operations have ended in Iraq." who surely was the (absent) star of the evening. According to the WSA website "The evening ended with a musical tribute to the legendary idiocy of former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, followed by MiniKiss, a glam rock heavy metal tribute band performed by dwarves." Nominations are now open for the 2005 awards. (thanks to Morons.org for the heads-up and also for the item below)

Christianized? - or just educationally deprived. Here is an interesting (and worrying) survey taken by The Barna Group, ".....a full-service marketing research company located in Ventura, California. TBG has been providing information and analysis regarding cultural trends and the Christian Church since 1984." The overall poll, "How "Christianized" Do Americans Want Their Country To Be?", was broken down into a series of questions about such things as the display of the Ten Commandments (one version of them anyway) in public buildings, removing "In God We Trust" from the pledge (actually restoring the original pledge), teaching creationism in public schools (pretending religion is science) and, most disturbing of all, whether Christianity should be made the official religion of the US. Only the Evangelicals had a majority in favor of that one, but surprisingly the group labelled atheist/agnostic shows 8% in favor! One wonders at the accuracy of any of the answers after that. By the way, while Barna does a good job of apparent objectivity, defining atheists and agnostics as a "faith group" is a dead giveaway. George Barna, commenting on the "Christianity as official US religion" question, states "Almost 70 million adults favor such an amendment. That is a huge vote of confidence in the Christian faith – and a tacit statement about people’ concerns regarding the direction and lukewarm spirituality of the nation. If nothing else, this certainly indicates that given effective leadership, American Christianity could play a larger role in shaping the norms of our culture in the future." "Huge vote of confidence"? When 66% of respondents, a 2 to 1 margin, are against the idea? What's more those with a college degree were half as likely to be in favor than those without higher education - you can draw your own conclusions from that statistic.............

Quote - Here is another entry in the occasional "Yeah, Right" section."We don't do politics in the department of homeland security" Tom Ridge, the secretary of homeland security, answering suspicions that the latest terror alert is a Bush administration electoral ploy. He then rather ruined his own soundbite by declaring the intelligence behind the alert was "the result of the president's leadership in the war against terror." For more on this read the Guardian and the New York Times (reg rqd). Also see 80's Crying Wolf and Little Fish.

Bush and Kerry Together - in a hilarious (in 80's view) short movie laying out what they will do for the US if elected or re-elected. Parodying Woodie Guthrie's This Land, it takes a little while to load, but is worth the wait. Just go to JibJab and click to play. Update - see the movie while you can, as the copyright holders of the Guthrie song, Ludlow Music, do not consider the parody to be "fair use". According to this Wired piece Guthrie himself is on record at The Museum of Musical Instruments saying "anybody caught singin it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do." Update to the update - it now looks like it is, in the immortal words of Pete Townsend, a legal matter baby, from now on.

You Are What You Eat - if so, then Gillian McKeith must dine on bullshit. For a weekly dose of rationality seasoned with some quite understandable outrage, 80 recommends Ben Goldacre's weekly column in the UK Guardian. (A link to the latest issue is in the left margin of 80's homepage.) Now, Dr Gillian McKeith has a popular Channel 4 show called "You Are What You Eat", promoting her views on clinical nutrition and chockfull of pseudoscience and quackery. A couple of weeks back Goldacre took it upon himself to look at this woman's credentials, something which Channel 4 seems not to have done. Either that, or they don't care that McKeith is a quack so long as her show's ratings are good. McKeith's publicity describes her as "the eccentric but brilliant doctor" but after a check on her academic background Goldacre's opinion, and also the title of his column for that week, was "Eccentric, brilliant, bollocks". Among other revelations, he finds that her PhD is not from where she says it is, the American College of Nutrition, but like her Masters, was obtained from the Clayton College of Natural Health which is "a non-accredited correspondence course, which is not recognised by the US secretary for education for the purpose of educational grants." When some readers accused Goldacre of mounting a personal attack, he looked at McKeith's advice and the underlying theory. It seems her science is as dodgy as her qualifications, as Goldacre shows us in a second column, where he mercilessly and hysterically demonstrates her scientific ignorance. Her recommendations are so ridiculous as to be totally laughable. One example from Goldacre is "Her treatment for pimples on the forehead - not pimples anywhere else, mind you, only on the forehead - is a regular enema." If that isn't silly enough McKeith tells us the tongue is  "a window to the organs - the right side shows what the gallbladder is up to, and the left side the liver." Handily, many of the enzymes and supplements McKeith says you need can be bought easily - from McKeith. Do read both pieces by Goldacre and then you too are likely to react with disgust and dismay at the news that Channel 4 has offered this charlatan a second series. (For more on McKeith see Spiked and Healthwatch and lastly, Precautionary Tales. Quackwatch also mentions McKeith in a pretty damning article called The American Association of Nutritional Consultants: Who and What Does It Represent? - the conclusion is "Membership in them is a reliable sign of someone not to consult for advice."

Leprechauns of Atlantis - the Atlantis "discoverers" list (see below, What's In a Name?) has just added yet another name, that of Ulf Erlingsson, a geographer. There seems to be no end to these people. Following Plato's description of the imaginary civilization, he has found Ireland to be an almost exact match, after looking at data from all over the world. Plato's Critias says "It was a sunny island, marvelously beautiful, with rich forests for timber and a large level central plain which was overflowing with food crops, fruits, and flowers." Does this sound like Ireland? Anyway, Ireland, thankfully, is still there, yet Atlantis is best known for sinking beneath the sea. Erlingsson has an answer for this, saying that the inundation idea came from what happened to the Dogger Bank. This is a sandbank in the North Sea between Britain and Denmark, on the other side of the British Isles from Ireland. (That noise you just heard is the sound of a straw being clutched.) He told Reuter's "I am amazed no one has come up with this before, it's incredible." 80 begs to differ slightly, it is "incredible", but only if you take the literal meaning of the word, as in "beyond belief or understanding". Erlingsson's book (there is always a book) is called  "Atlantis from a Geographer's Perspective: Mapping the Fairy Land," in which he calculates the "probability Plato would have had access to geographical data about Ireland as 99.98 percent." 80 calculates a 100% probability that Fairy Land is where Erlingsson gets his ideas. It never seems to occur to all these Atlantis finders how odd it is that the only source for the story is Plato. It is is not known from Egypt, where the memory of the island civilization's downfall had supposedly been preserved over thousands of years, and it does not feature in Greek mythology. Neither is it remembered in Athenian history, yet it was an army from that very city that Plato says defeated the Atlanteans. Surely such a mighty deed would have been remembered? 80 does not bet, but the odds that Atlantis will be located in at least two more places before the end of 2004 would seem favorable.

What's In a Name? - back in October 2003, 80 noted the news (Atlantis Found) that Robert Sarmast, an architect, had joined the long list of nutters who claim to know the location of the mythical city of Atlantis. It has been conjectured to lie under the North Sea, off the coast of Spain, and even under the South China Sea. Sarmast locates the lost city off the coast of Cyprus, a boon for the tourist industry of the island no doubt, but his idea has met opposition from a "Paphos-based organisation that investigates paranormal phenomena..." Psychognosia, as they are known, have brought out the big guns to shoot down Sarmast's discovery, namely remote viewer (RV) and psychic spy, Joseph McMoneagle. Remote viewing was intensively, expensively and fruitlessly evaluated by the CIA and the US Army. McMoneagle was one of the subjects and has been making a living from psychic bullshit ever since - you can read more about him and RV here. He does not disappoint with his findings, which he gleaned by remote viewing into the past, 10,000 years ago, using coordinates of Sarmast's. He not only saw the people, but learned details of their education and social systems, in this "pre-Sumerian society." It all sounds like the usual Atlantis hokum but Psychognosia sees it differently. John Knowles, one of the husband and wife team that runs Psychognosia told the Cyprus Mail " that it was very likely that Sarmast would in fact uncover an ancient city where his expedition will take place but he said he (Knowles) was concerned that this would be presented as Atlantis, when in fact the likelihood is remote." So let's get this straight. Sarmast postulates Atlantis lies off Cyprus. Psychognosia, disputing this, calls in a remote viewer who reports visions of an ancient and enlightened civilization, 10,000 years ago, on the very spot Sarmast intends to search. Psychognosia take this as confirmation that whatever ancient city Sarmast finds, it will NOT be Atlantis. Is 80 missing something here? Knowles goes on to say "The bottom of the Mediterranean is littered with civilisations so I would not be surprised if some evidence of one is dredged up but they must know in their hearts that it is not Atlantis." Apart from the awkward fact that Atlantis never existed, this sounds much like the tale of the scholar who "proved" that Shakespeare's plays were in fact written not by him but by someone else, who used the same name. If anyone can explain what the point is to all this........keep it to yourself. 80 is quite confused enough thank you.

Google Trumps Bush Cards - as Google is gearing up for its stock offering, SFgate.com takes a timely look at the world's most popular search engine's policy on ads. The way it is applied looks like censorship to some folk, one of them being Jerry Vasilatos, who sells a set of playing cards emblazoned with "54 ways to beat George Bush". Vasilatos noticed his ads disappeared in May and after repeated queries he learned that he had violated Google's rules for content. He told the SF Chronicle "It's really ridiculous, I can understand them wanting to remove ads from hate groups or groups that advocate violence, but ads that are critical of the president?" The Chronicle obtained internal documents detailing some of Google's policies. One of interest to readers of 80 concerns the so-called Church of Scientology. This bunch have a history of misrepresenting themselves, most recently when their Narconon anti-drug program in schools was found to be pushing their irresponsible and pseudoscientific ideas to vulnerable kids. (see Hubbards Minions and Narconon Exposed) Google seem to be very aware of the underhand methods used by Scientologists (they have tangled with them before) and has made provisions accordingly. "Google gives special scrutiny to ads promoting the Church of Scientology. Workers are told to make sure the ads clearly disclose their affiliation to the church, presumably so that users know exactly what they're clicking on. If the ads don't, workers should reject them. No other religions are mentioned." says the Chronicle, which actually seems to accept that L Ron Hubbard's childish fantasies are a religion. (But then a good case can be made that all religions are childish fantasies) There are certainly inconsistencies in the application of the ad rules, according to the Chronicle, DemocratShirts are still plugging their range unhindered, which sport slogans such as "No one died when Clinton lied" and "I'd run for president, but my brother doesn't own a swing state!" These are easily as partisan as Vasilatos' deck of cards. The power held by a search engine such as Google is enormous and with so many ads ready to offend one group or another, the responsibility for what gets shown must be equally large. Whether the ads are actually effective at attracting customers or converts is a whole other question. 80, and likely a good number of others, is usually far too interested in the results of a web search to bother reading the ads that get thrown up as well. Oh, and by the way, you can buy the "The Deck of Bush" cards here.

Department of the Bleeding Obvious - here is an item that 80 did not mention on its first appearance, not from having missed it, but from assuming news like this is in the "dog bites man" category. This was wrong, as any news like this is worth mentioning. Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at the Peninsula Medical School, Plymouth, England reckons most such therapies are unproven. Furthermore, people can be dissuaded from seeking effective medical treatment by cancer websites in particular, and choose some unverified therapy instead, to their detriment. Ernst says "If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Don't believe ridiculous claims." Now there's a surprise. With the current general state of scientific ignorance how can claims be judged ridiculous? As in religion it is often the most ridiculous claims that attract the most enthusiastic adherents. To be fair, it is a good thing that Ernst has spoken out publicly, pointing out that the vast majority of complementary therapies have never been subjected to any rigorous scientific analysis at all. It is also a refreshing change for Ernst to say "I don't like the term alternative medicine, because these therapies are not an alternative to conventional medicine." He prefers to use the term complementary but there is a handy, ready-made acronym available (not original to 80) and that is sCAM, which stands for "So-called Complementary Alternative Medicine" and also sounds just right when spoken. (See Warning, Quacks At Large for a short list of rules to apply when looking at sCAM therapies, particularly on the web.  Among good websites for useful information are Quackwatch, HealthWatch and the Quack-Files. For more, check out the Anti-Quackery Ring, of which 80 is a member.)

Reagan and Bush - the next generation. If you read nothing else today do read this piece by Ron Reagan on George W Bush in Esquire magazine. This is the sort of thing that the word diatribe was coined to describe. That is not to say that this is an attack on Bush the man, but upon his administration and the incalculable damage it has done to the US and the world. Reagan's anger and outrage shine through, but this is not a slanging exercise. Nor is it a pro-Kerry rant, but an eloquent, informed and impassioned plea to avoid another 4 years of misrule.

Dumb Luck - it has long fascinated 80 how the most dreadful of accidents can happen to some religionists and then, when modern medical technology, in the hands of highly-trained professionals, saves their lives, it is a miracle wrought by God. Does it never occur to them to ask why did their deity, who watches over them so well, let the accident happen in the first place? A fine example of such blinkered perception is this story from The Brunswick News that was brought to 80's attention. (thanks, Jeff) Back in November 1996 Reverend Ken Creekmore and his family were driving to a Baptist Convention when their car was in a collision with an 18-wheeled tractor-trailer rig. Mrs Creekmore and son Ken Lee were both ejected from the vehicle which then rolled across their bodies. It appears that they were not wearing seatbelts. Creekmore himself, and baby son Griffin, both of whom remained in the vehicle, were barely injured. In fact Griffin was completely unscathed, which is surprising as he was not in a child's safety seat but actually travelling in his mother's arms. As this story unfolds it is obvious road safety was not a priority with the Creekmores. Creekmore states after the wreck he went to his son Ken Lee's side and, in his own words, "I actually saw him sigh and he didn't have a pulse. I literally saw him give up the ghost." Creekmore then passed out for a few moments from " a minimal head injury." So his testimony about his son's condition may not be too accurate, given the circumstances. He then states "When I came to, (emergency personnel) were in the process of putting my wife in the ambulance when I heard someone shout, 'The little boy's alive!'." We only have the word of the dazed and distraught father that the child was "dead" in the first place. Thanks to modern medical science and technology both Mrs Creekmore and Ken Lee, after extensive and prolonged treatment, were returned to health. Rev. Creekmore gives his view of the success brought about by the training, hard work and dedication of the medical team "Basically, my son had died and God restored his life. Even after surgery, the doctor communicated to us that Ken Lee wouldn't talk or walk again. But the Lord restored his brain and his mind and he's completely healed today." One wonders how well little Ken Lee would have fared without treatment, would miracles alone have been sufficient? Mrs Creekmore is apparently fully well today although 80 reckons her thought processes are a little odd. "Some people say, 'Why would God let a really bad thing like that happen to you,'" related Mrs. Creekmore. "But I think all along through this God was preparing a way to show us he loved us." God has a bloody funny way of going about it, just think what He would have done if he hadn't loved them so much. This is one kind of love 80 would like to avoid. What has the good Reverend Creekmore learned from his experience, apart from the obvious sense in wearing a seatbelt? Absolutely nothing. He is still happy to babble the same rot he no doubt did before the accident "Miracles happen so that we can have assurance that God is real, that the Bible is true. If there weren't miracles, there wouldn't be any Christians. Salvation is a miracle. The Bible is full of that — such as Daniel in the lion's den — and it still happens today. The Bible isn't a bunch of hooey. It's real and miracles happen every single day." So, his loving and merciful God hit him and his family with an 18-wheeled tractor-trailer rig and still failed to knock any sense into him. Now that is a miracle. (By the way, all through this touching story no one seemed interested in the driver of the rig and how he fared.) See Thank God for more "miracles".

Feynman Philately - long, long ago before email, we used to send messages using paper and ink. For some purposes it is still the method to use for communicating with a bureaucracy, the US Postal Service for example. After the recent death of Ronald Reagan there was a movement to have him enshrined on the currency and even a suggestion he should join the other heads on Mt. Rushmore. Now, even though Ron looks pretty good when compared to the current incumbent of the Oval Office, this is surely going too far. Many things can be attributed to Reagan and advancing our knowledge of the universe, teaching critical thinking, playing the bongos and kick starting a whole new area of technology are none of them. Whereas Richard Feynman did all this and more. Feynman Online has this to say "This web site is dedicated to Richard P. Feynman, scientist, teacher, raconteur, and musician. He assisted in the development of the atomic bomb, expanded the understanding of quantumelectrodynamics, translated Mayan hieroglyphics, and cut to the heart of the Challenger disaster. But beyond all of that, Richard Feynman was a unique and multi-faceted individual." If anyone deserves commemoration it is Feynman, which is why there is a movement afoot to put him on a postage stamp. This site, Friends of Tuva has all the info needed to petition the US Postal Service to have Feynman on a stamp. Previous attempts to do this have floundered, but added impetus has been given to the project by a mention in James Randi's newsletter, which is where 80 learned of it. Given Randi's huge readership perhaps this time it will be successful - it is certainly worth a try. The only barrier is the unaccustomed effort of setting pen to paper and mailing a letter, as the USPS likes to do things the old-fashioned way, after all they do sell stamps. Don't let it put you off, the full instructions and address to use are here.

Chaparral Chicanery - here is an article from the BBC News Health section that shows the kind of spin, unintentional or not, that creeps into a lot of reporting on findings in the the field of so-called complementary and alternative medicine. Take the first sentence "An ancient native American treatment for cancer has been shown to have a beneficial effect despite scepticism from the medical establishment." This is wrong from the outset, and although further into the article more detail is given, the damage has been done. The native American treatment is chaparral tea, promoted on many a quack cancer website but not recommended by the American Cancer Society, as there is no proof of its effectiveness. The US Food and Drug Administration also came down against its use because, as the BBC piece tells us "research showed it could damage the liver and the kidneys." What has been found by researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina is that a refined extract from chaparral may shrink tumours. That is not to say chaparral itself, but one substance out of possibly hundreds or thousands has been isolated, using scientific methods, and it may shrink tumours. This is a very long way from the apparent vindication of an "ancient native American treatment" that the initial sentence seems to promise. Also it was not specifically used for cancer treatment by native Americans, but almost as a cure-all for other, unrelated ailments. As for the "scepticism from the medical establishment", long may it continue so that any drug, herb or supplement has to meet rigorous testing before it is swallowed, injected or rectally inserted by a gullible member of the public. This is far from the first time a possible cancer treatment has been extracted from a plant (now including cannabis) and will not be the last, but to confuse chaparral tea with the refined chaparral extract M4N would be simple-minded. It is analogous to trying to hit the bull on a target in a shooting range. The unrefined plant is like using a shotgun to do the job, you may or may not hit the bullseye, but you sure as hell are going to cause plenty of collateral damage. Isolating one possibly effective extract from the raw plant is the equivalent of a sniper using a telescopic sight to hit the center of the target, and only the center of the target. As acknowledged, the BBC article does go into more detail but for many people the impression given by that first sentence is what they will take away with them. For an example of a totally irresponsible and, in 80's view, criminally stupid website on "alternative cancer therapies" take a look at the Wellness Directory of Minnesota (WDM). Chaparral is listed here by these clowns, who give the impression it has been suppressed not for safety, but for other, darker, reasons. "Chaparral has been on the FDA's hit list for some 20 years now. They almost got it entirely removed from the market place.". This is part of an all-too-common belief that there are many effective, "natural" treatments that are blocked by big pharmaceutical firms. WDM's warped view is summed up in this sentence "As science plods on, despite the Pharmaceutical Industry's wishes that all herbs were banned and the American Cancer Society's desire to steer you toward the slash, burn, and poison therapies, we are discovering more and more the anti-tumor effects of our ancient herbs." "Slash, burn and poison" is scaremongering idiotspeak for surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. It is frightening to think of the damage done to people's health when they swallow WDM's claptrap along with the unproven, untested therapies they promote. The BBC article is in fact a model of rectitude compared to this trash. Here the BBC are victims of their own excellent reporting record, as they are held to a higher standard than most. With the Wellness Directory of Minnesota on the other hand, the bar cannot be set low enough.

Diary Notes - The Fifth World Skeptics Congress is to be held from October 8th to the 10th at the Teatro Congressi, "Pietro d'Abano", Abano Terme, (Padua-Venice), Italy. For details of the program click here. If this is in the wrong hemisphere for you, then checkout the Skeptics Conference 2004, organized by the New Zealand Skeptics, from September 10th to 12th at St Andrews College, Christchurch. Features include "Divining for water, debating alternative medicine, discussing how people cope with new technologies." There will also be a demonstration of "ear-candling" if volunteers can be found......

#43 Speaks - For authentic, unscripted, cringemaking Dubya, take a look at this piece by Emil Guillermo on the president's performance fielding questions at Unity, a convention of more than 6,000 minority journalists. On a related subject, here is a Wired article asking who owns the copyright of Presidential speech? Documentary maker Robert Greenwald, about to release an updated version of Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War has been denied permission by NBC to include a clip of George W Bush speaking with Tim Russert on Meet the Press. The reason? NBC says it is "not very flattering to the president." Greenwald is still including it, and will, if necessary, see NBC in court. In passing, 80 notes that the excellent free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, has frozen the page dedicated to Bush. The Wiki pages can usually be updated by input from users but where a subject is too contentious a page is "protected" from updates until resolutions of conflicts are found. Reading through the page 80 could see nothing objectionable (certainly not by Ron Reagan's standards) but then 80's view of the 43rd president has been made abundantly obvious elsewhere on this site. The page on John Kerry is not protected, if you were wondering. On matters electoral, here is the latest method of trading votes that is sure to be a winner.........

WWJB? - What would Jesus buy? It seems that God and Mammon can co-exist quite happily after all. This model of harmony, this melding of faith and finance, has come about thanks to Cedar Rapids Family Christian Store who have introduced a Jesus credit card, bless them. Some have complained about using a Christian symbol to encourage folk to get into debt but store customer (and apparently amateur theologian) Rusty Parenteau "believes all of our money came from God to begin with." Which must explain why it is distributed so fairly, 80 supposes. The Cedar Rapids card is not to be confused with this one, available in various designs from DateJesus.com. That this is not your regular religious site is obvious straightaway from the subtitle "Jesus Seeks Loving Woman" - there is even a Compatibility Quiz for prospective dates. Merchandise is also available including an Anti-Sniper T-shirt (scroll down) covered in crosshairs to fool and confuse "prankster snipers". Of course credit cards won't appeal to everyone and the ever resourceful Landover Baptist Church have an offer to attract the younger set "Kids! Accept Jesus Christ as Your Lord and Savior and Get a Free PlayStation 2!" This is an evangelical masterstroke and sets a high standard for other proselytizing outfits to beat. The clever blending of faith and greed is bound to be a success in today's consumer society.