The Tufted Titmouse

Scientology sez: swine flu iz conspiracy!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:48:08 PST

Leaked email from OSA (Office of Special Affairs) UK:

From: Graeme Wilson
Date: Sun, 3 May 2009 23:25:57 +0100
To: Graeme Reid Wilson
Subject: Mexico and "swine flu"

Dear All,

Please see below briefing and request from Gaby Gadiot, who is coordinating Volunteer Minister help to people in Mexico whose lives are being put at risk by measures taken to combat "swine flu."

It appears that the actions being taken in response to the so-called "swine flu" are causing more disruption than the flu itself. So far, 9 people have been confirmed as having died from swine flu. Compare that to 250,000 who die of "regular" flu every year around the world. Meanwhile, share prices are soaring of the drug companies selling drug in vast quantities in preparation for the heralded pandemic.

Do let Gaby know if you can do anything to help.

Best

Graeme

"Swine flu in Mexico has seen the closure of public places: schools, restaurants, markets and even churches. (including our own churches who continue to produce from their own homes). So far, this measures seem to have created a bigger problem than the flu. This has had a devastating impact on many workers, street sellers and small businesses already struggling to survive. Thousands of people have lost their sources of income. Thousands more have seen their livelihood wiped out.

"Entire families and even communities have no income, no food and are unable to keep a roof over their heads. This makes them even more vulnerable to flu. Mothers have been advised not to breast feed their babies to avoid the risk of infecting them. By not being able to go out to work, they can't provide milk.

"Please donate what you can. Just £15 provides enough milk to keep a baby alive for one month. Just £40 buys a food parcel to keep a whole family for a fortnight.

"Your donations will be sent directly to the volunteers helping these families to supply them with basic food, fresh dinking water, soap, bleach, vitamins to help their immune system etc. (they will also be getting TWTH booklet and assists as needed)

"Food, vitamins etc. will keep the nutrition in, which is important for the immune system and of course keeps them up tone and less likely to key in. THESE actions will be creating a healthy situation rather than "resisting" and concentrating on "not getting sick".

"With your contributions we can help bring order and calm into this area. Please send your donation by cheque or bank transfer to:

"In the UK:

"Effective Life Solutions
"28 Chequer Road
"East Grinstead
"West Sussex
"RH19 3BW
"Account number 76556811 Sort Code 090126"

Women's Soccer is Serious Business

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:17:54 PST

Return of the Dark Eyed Juncos

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:32:34 PDT

When I arrived home yesterday around dusk I heard a steady chit... chit... chit...* in the woods nearby. It was softer than a chipmunk's call and then it moved suddenly several yards away and I knew it had to be a bird. But who?

Now I see several dark eyed juncos in the bushes and the memory of their calls returns to me. Of course! How could I forget.

This is the time of year when the cute little guys suddenly mob us. They'll hang around until springtime when they'll just as suddenly head west and north for their breeding season.

Fun facts: Dark eyed juncos like to make a pew-pew-pew noise kinda like sci-fi phaser sounds.#
_________________________________
Sound files here.
* Click "Chip notes (Slate-colored race)" to hear.
# Click "Kew calls ("Slate-colored" race)" to hear.

Church of Scientology guilty of fraud in France

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:34:25 PDT

From MSNBC.com.

updated 8:03 a.m. ET, Tues., Oct . 27, 2009
PARIS - A Paris court on Tuesday convicted the Church of Scientology of fraud and fined it more than half a million euros — but stopped short of banning the group as requested by prosecutors.

The group's French branch immediately announced it would appeal the verdict.

The court convicted the Church of Scientology's French office, its library and six of its leaders of fraud. Investigators said the group pressured members into paying large sums of money for questionable financial gain and used "commercial harassment" against recruits.

I'm glad France and Germany are capable of distinguishing dangerous sects from more benign religious groups. We have a hard time doing that in the US for a variety of reasons.

It's true that lots of religious groups have strange ideas and may promote bigotry or backward ideas. Still, it's worth noting that many largely ignore their more unpleasant official teachings and spend most of their time trying to be helpful to those who seek them out.

Scientology is another kettle of fish. It's nothing like the typical religious groups most of us know from our communities. It's history reveals that the word "religion" is nothing more than a legal loophole --a protection from the IRS and scrutiny for fraudulent claims.

Which other religion has so many associated front groups? I find the effort to hide the connections between Scientology and the natural medicine movement and the anti-blasphemy or "hate speech" movements disturbing, particularly when these groups seem to have connections to the UN and human rights movements around the globe.

The Scientology-Naturopathy Connection

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:37:39 PDT

About ten years ago I knew someone friendly to $cientology who also had a number of odd health ideas. She wanted people to write to authorities in support of Hulda Clarke, who I understood to be some sort of quack. I smiled politely and ignored the strangeness.

When Tom Cruise ranted about using vitamins, detox, and excercise to treat depression, I thought, "what a douche," and not much else. Naturopathy was an unknown to me then. But now the naturopathic theme in Cruise's rant seems obvious.

$cientology has been funding schools of naturopathy in Britain.

Some discussion of mercury militia and DAN! $cientologists here.
_________________________________________
Front groups:
= Ability Academy Inc. (dba, Delphi Academy of San Diego)
= Ability Apple School
= Ability Plus Academy of Colorado, Inc.
= Ability Plus Connecticut, Inc.
= Ability School of Utah
= Academy for Learning (formerly, Mission of the Children, Inc.)
= American Detoxification Foundation
= Applied Education, Inc. (dba, Delphi Academy of Sacramento)
= Applied Scholastics Colorado
= Applied Scholastics Hawaii
= Applied Scholastics International
= Applied Scholastics of Florida, Inc. (dba, Applied Scholastics East U.S.)
= Applied Scholastics of Orange County
= Applied Scholastics Outreach
= Applied Scholastics Western United States
= Association for Better Living and Education International
= Bear Hill School, Inc. (The)
= Bridge Publications, Inc.
= Building Management Services
= Canyon View Academy
= Carroll Rees Academy and Arts
= Cherish the Children Foundation, Inc.
= Chicagoland Academy, Inc. (dba, Delphi Academy of Chicago)
= Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization, Inc.
= Church of Scientology International
= Church of Scientology Western United States
= Church of Spiritual Technology (dba, L. Ron Hubbard Library)
= Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR)
= Citizens for an Alternative Tax System
= Clearwater Academy International
= Clearwater Community Volunteers, Inc.
= Criminon International
= Criminon Western United States
= Criminon, Inc.
= Delphi Academy of Boston, Inc.
= Delphi Academy of Florida
= Delphi Schools, Inc.
= Earth Organization
= Ebony Awakening, Inc.
= Education Basics and Beyond, Inc (also, The Brighten School)
= Excalibur Foundation
= Flag Ship Trust (FST)
= Foundation Church of Scientology Flag Ship Service Organization (FFSSO)
= Foundation for a Drug-Free World
= Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education
= Foundation for Religious Freedom (took over Cult Awareness Network)
= Friends of Narconon, International
= Golden Academy and Tutoring Center
= Happy House
= Hollywood Education and Literacy Project (HELP Harlem)
= Hollywood Education and Literacy Project (HELP Los Angeles)
= Hollywood Education and Literacy Project (HELP Miami)
= Hollywood Education and Literacy Project (HELP Orange County)
= Hollywood Education and Literacy Project (HELP Portland)
= Hubbard College of Administration (strangely, this entity advertises itself as "secular", but is registered as a religious entity at the IRS)
= International Academy of Detoxification Specialists (dba, New York Rescue Workers Detoxification)
= International Foundation for Human Rights and Tolerance
= Jensen Family Foundation
= Lafayette Academy
= Lewis Carrol Academy of the Arts, Inc.
= Literacy and Education Ability Resources Network, Inc. (dba, LEARN, Inc.)
= Literacy and Education Awareness Project
= Los Gatos Academy
= Minnesota Applied Study Technology, Inc.
= Mojave Academy, Inc.
= Narconon Drug Prevention and Education, Inc.
= Narconon Eastern United States
= Narconon Florida, Inc.
= Narconon Gulf Coast, Inc.
= Narconon Hawaii
= Narconon Idaho, Inc.
= Narconon Inc.
= Narconon International
= Narconon Northern California
= Narconon of Georgia, Inc.
= Narconon of Oklahoma, Inc. (dba, Narconon Arrowhead)
= Narconon of the South, Inc.
= Narconon Sacramento
= Narconon Southern California
= Narconon Stone Hawk
= Narconon Western United States
= New Era Publications International ApS (Denmark)
= New Era Seniors, Inc.
= New Mexico Ranch School, Inc.
= New Village Academy ("NVA uses study technology as an umbrella methodology woven through the subjects." )
= Phocis, Inc.
= Pinewood Academy of Literacy and the Arts
= Pollack Family Foundation, Inc.
= PROCIVICOS (Volunteer Ministers for Civil Protection)
= Religious Technology Center (from Form 1023)
= Renaissance Academy Inc.
= Say No to Drugs
= Scientology Missions International (from Form 1023)
= Second Chance Program, Inc.
= Sequoia Academy, Inc. [ref, ref]
= Set A Good Example [SAGE] Foundation (formerly, Concerned Businessmen's Association of America, Inc.)
= Shuttleworth Leadership Society International (also, Shuttleworth Academy/Mary's Schoolhouse)
= Standard Education, Inc.
= The Bryan and June Zwan Foundation, Inc.
= The Community Learning Center, Inc. (dba, World Literacy Crusade of Pinellas Co.)
= The Literacy, Education and Ability Program
= The Truth and Freedom Foundation
= The Way to Happiness Foundation International
= WISE (World Institute of Scientology Enterprises)
= World Literacy Crusade International
= World Literacy Crusade of Florida, Inc.
= Youth for Human Rights International
= Youth Specialist Centers, Inc.

International eforts:

Another organization concerned with enforcement of human rights is the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The OSCE is an inter-governmental body which consists of more than 50 European countries, as well as the United States and Canada.

The OSCE has developed a series of treaties which have recognized the vital need for infusing human rights principles into agreements considered essential to resolving conflicts.

The Church of Scientology International’s Human Rights Office in Brussels is a nongovernmental organization (NGO) with the OSCE. Its staff regularly participate in human rights sessions organized by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the OSCE and other intergovernmental bodies and also organize regular roundtables and conferences on human rights themes.

And it's all really, really there!

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:28:00 PDT

Lyrics:

[deGrasse Tyson]
We are all connected;
To each other, biologically
To the earth, chemically
To the rest of the universe atomically

[Feynman]
I think nature's imagination
Is so much greater than man's
She's never going to let us relax

[Sagan]
We live in an in-between universe
Where things change all right
But according to patterns, rules,
Or as we call them, laws of nature

[Nye]
I'm this guy standing on a planet
Really I'm just a speck
Compared with a star, the planet is just another speck
To think about all of this
To think about the vast emptiness of space
There's billions and billions of stars
Billions and billions of specks

[Sagan]
The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it
But the way those atoms are put together
The cosmos is also within us
We're made of star stuff
We are a way for the cosmos to know itself

Across the sea of space
The stars are other suns
We have traveled this way before
And there is much to be learned

I find it elevating and exhilarating
To discover that we live in a universe
Which permits the evolution of molecular machines
As intricate and subtle as we

[deGrasse Tyson]
I know that the molecules in my body are traceable
To phenomena in the cosmos
That makes me want to grab people in the street
And say, have you heard this??

(Richard Feynman on hand drums and chanting)

[Feynman]
There's this tremendous mess
Of waves all over in space
Which is the light bouncing around the room
And going from one thing to the other

And it's all really there
But you gotta stop and think about it
About the complexity to really get the pleasure
And it's all really there
The inconceivable nature of nature

No Can Haz Flu Shot

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 11:48:32 PDT

From FailBlog.

Pod People Screening Exam

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 08:15:42 PDT

Warning: May provoke excessive facepalm and/or an OMGWTF BBQ!!!

From a comment at Orac's site:

I'm apparently the only one who saw just perhaps the faintest glimmer of Maher's opinion beginning to "evolve" in a postive way on this matter.

Above Maher does seem to have moved from confident anti-vax to "teach the controversy." A step in the right direction, I grant you. But not a clear sign of better things to come.

Are my readers cozy? All tucked in under the covers? Then it's time for a little bedtime story. Tonight's selection is called, "Pod People Screening Exam."

Once upon a time in a far away kingdom lived a fair princess who'd been dating Bill Maher. Many days she was happy, for Bill could be charming. Other days she was sad, for when Bill was unhappy he was very insulting. These emotional ups and downs drove the poor princess crazy. So she made an appointment to see Dr. Titmouse at her nest in the woods.

"Oh Titmouse," said the princess, "my feelings were hurt. Bill was to dine at my place around 6:00. But at 7:00 he called to say he was stuck at the mall with his ex picking out appliances or something. Could I put his plate in the fridge? He would try to make it by 8:00. But the time passed. I waited, then I worried. Then I left voicemail on his cell around 10:00 Finally near midnight he was at my door. But he was so tired he didn't want to talk. He kicked off his shoes and crashed on my couch.

The next morning I asked what happened. He was grumpy. He said, "Why are you so demanding? So inflexible? You know what your problem is? You're too needy. You're pathologically jealous."

And so the weeks passed. The princess soon realized that she and Bill would have to part. But this made her so sad she couldn't think what to do.

Then for no reason at all things seemed to change for the better. The princess and Bill were together most evenings. They danced, laughed, talked, and planned. "I was a jerk," Bill confessed, and he explained why: politics at work, balloon payment on the condo, an evil ex making threats --all too much on his plate at once.

The princess wished to cut Bill some slack. "But what do you think?" she inquired of the Titmouse.

"Let me ask you this," said Titmouse, "If the shoe were on the other foot, if you were the one stuck somewhere and he were the one waiting, would you perhaps forget to call?"

"Hmm," puzzled the princess. "Knowing the guy's in love with me? And probably going crazy waiting? No, I couldn't see myself blowing off a phone call. Not in a million years."

Titmouse replied, "Well of course not. You're human. You're not a pod person."

"Pod person?" queried the princess.

"Rent Invasion of the Body Snatchers." said the Titmouse. "Some people only seem human."

"But," asked the princess, "if they seem alike, how do you tell which is which?"

The Titmouse answered, "You must ask yourself the shoe-on-the-other-foot question. If the answer is, 'not in a million years,' then what you have on your hands is a pod person. Cut your losses and move on."
* * * *

If I were in Maher's shoes, if several smart people had been telling me that I'd been talking crazy talk on national TV, would I simply keep on as before? Would I continue to contradict the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and Richard Dawkins? Would I insist I was right without a pause for self-study and reflection?

No, not in a million years.

Pediatricians, WTF?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:50:35 PDT

From a comment left at Orac's blog.

Quiz: How many stoopids can YOU find in the text below?
___________________________________________

Hi--

I miss all of you.

I just saw an eight-month-old boy who got two vaccines then lost his language, motor skills, reaction to his own name and responsiveness to his 3 year old sister. This all happened three hours after a DPT/HIB combination. All previous observation and video of this little boy is normal. Lots of great video of a vibrant, talkative happy baby.

He has autism now. No proof, but the temporal proximity of the regression to his vaccines is daunting to those of us who would like more rigorous proof rather than just a collection of hundreds of pieces of anecdotal evidence. Tempting to assume causation even if only this one case/child.

Just thought you'd want to know. I usually see these kids in my office months or years after the event the parents think caused the problems. I have read hundreds of emails and spoken to thousands of parents who are certain that vaccines triggered or mightily contributed to their children's autism.

Not this time: This family came to my office just days after the vaccines, distraught that he was no longer talking,smiling, acknowledging his sister or his mom and dad and was flapping his hands a lot.

What do you think?

Jay

Posted by: Jay Gordon, MD, FAAP | April 27, 2009 3:44 AM

___________________________________________

"FAAP" means "Fellow, American Academy of Pediatrics."

Tilting at Windmills

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:04:51 PDT

From PartiallyClips.

And so de Urf wuz saved!

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 06:23:03 PDT

"CSIRO" is the Australian "Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation."

PZed, will you be my dad?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:53:03 PDT

I just finished reading PZ Myers' ancient review (2-23-09) of Bill Maher's Religulous:

On a related note, Bill Maher was one of the presenters for best documentary, and what did he do? Plugged his movie, Religulous, while moaning over the fact that it was not nominated. Bad form, Bill, very bad form. Maybe it just wasn't good enough.

I did finally see Religulous a few days ago, and I confess to being a bit disappointed. It consisted of a series of short interviews with, for instance, truckers at a truck stop chapel, Catholic priests, an "ex-gay" minister, a Muslim rapper, etc., and it was all capped with excellent and scathing monologue that strongly criticized religion. Don't get me wrong, it was good, and there were some funny bits, but something nagged at me throughout, and only when I saw the conclusion did I realize what it was.

Maher cheated. He had a clear idea of what his opinion was, but he wasn't sharing it with the people he was interviewing. They were left to flounder and make poor arguments in part because there are no good arguments for religion, but also because they were left in the dark about what they were arguing against. It may be funny, but it's no fair; contrast that with the Dawkins' documentaries on religion, which are less funny, but more honest, because the people on camera know (or should know) exactly what they are wrestling with.

A better Religulous would have recorded the closing monolog first, and sent that to each of the potential interviewees with a note saying, "Here's my position. Are you willing to argue against it on camera?" That would have made for a much more interesting movie, and Maher would have had to break a sweat to address criticisms…and it would probably be less funny. There's a reason Maher wasn't nominated for an Oscar, and I think it's because his documentary took no risks, and didn't probe very deeply.

Damn, PZ is a fast judge of character. I can see everything he saw now, but I missed most of it the first time through.

When I absent-mindedly watched Religulous on DVD some weeks ago, I thought, "Haha, long haired dude really does look a lot like Jesus." That's about as deep as I went with that film

Didn't watch the Oscars. So when I read a few moments ago that Maher was upset that he didn't get a nomination, I nearly fell outta my chair. Whaa? Must be kidding! No, not kidding. Oh wow.

PZ, I wish you'd been around to help me sort boyfriends back in the day when I was young and gullible.

Bill Maher Ridiculous

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:55:08 PDT

Maher has a lot going for him. He's smart and funny, and he does seem to learn and alter his views over time.

Below is one of Maher's better moments. This is the clip where the 9/11 Truthers heckle him during his show. He fairly effectively makes them look stupid. I imagine that doing stand-up all those years was good preparation.

But it must be said that Maher's understanding of medical science is rather feeble, particularly in the realm of HIV, vaccines (opposing some but not all vaccines CUZ U NOES MOAR DEN CDC still makes you an anti-vax loon), immunity, toxicology, and nutrition.

Celebrities can have opinions. But where public health is concerned, they must get the facts right or STFU. Medical misinformation kills.

If you have cancer, don't listen to Bill Maher.

Eco-Shenanigans

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:58:00 PDT

The brain does much more than just recollect

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:53:54 PDT

This meme is replicating all around the science blogohedron. I can't stop it.

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch
You must first invent the universe

Space is filled with a network of wormholes
You might emerge somewhere else in space
Some when-else in time

The sky calls to us
If we do not destroy ourselves
We will one day venture to the stars

A still more glorious dawn awaits
Not a sunburst, but a galaxy burst
A morning filled with 400 billion suns
The rising of the Milky Way

The Cosmos is full beyond measure of elegant truths
Of exquisite interrelationships
Of the awesome machinery of nature

I believe our future depends powerfully
On how well we understand this cosmos
In which we float like a mote of dust
In the morning sky

But the brain does much more than just recollect
It inter-compares, it synthesizes, it analyzes
it generates abstractions

The simplest thought like the concept of the number one
Has an elaborate logical underpinning
The brain has it’s own language
For testing the structure and consistency of the world

For thousands of years
People have wondered about the universe
Did it stretch out forever
Or was there a limit

From the big bang to black holes
From dark matter to a possible big crunch
Our image of the universe today
Is full of strange sounding ideas

How lucky we are to live in this time
The first moment in human history
When we are in fact visiting other worlds

The surface of the earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean
Recently we’ve waded a little way out
And the water seems inviting

Science Based Medicine is down

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 07:59:58 PDT

Science Based Medicine is down. I'm annoyed 'cuz I love that site. The writers there are real and they kick ass.

Perhaps it's a DOS attack. Or maybe some spambots went crazy. Or maybe their hosting service is crap.

I'm looking forward to a story 'bout this...

Paging Dr. Gonzalez to Cell Block C

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:47:57 PDT

Dr. Gonzalez has spent the past 20 years promoting a goofy treatment regimen for people with pancreatic cancer involving pancreatic enzymes by mouth several times daily, coffee enemas twice daily, papaya juice, and a veggie diet.

Thanks to pressure from Senator Dan Burton, NCCAM funded a study comparing this wackaloon therapy to standard chemo. The graph above summarizes the study results published just last month. The SEER line represents historical survival rates across everyone in the US with pancreatic cancer. Note that the newer chemo regimen is a little better than the SEER line while the Gonzalez regimen... well, sucks ass.

Weird thing is, the study ended four years ago. Why the long wait to release the data to the public?

Turns out Dr. Gonzalez used his political connections and piles of money to suppress the results for as long as possible.

Dr. Gonzalez continues to prescribe this stupid coffee enema business to desperate, ill-informed people with pancreatic cancer and plenty of cash. I hope a few may Google his name and find out about that graph. Maybe they'll start the chemo before it's too late and so live a few months longer

More info here.

Crows use 3 tools in sequence

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:22:16 PDT

From here.

Car crash

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:17:45 PDT

From Fucked Gaigin: "The poster comments on YouTube that airbags and seatbelts did their job but everyone is still shaken up and feeling the aches."

As jarring as this is, I feel it's worth seeing. It's a good reminder to wear your seatbelt and stay alert. Bad stuff can happen fast.

HAHA, good one, Ramachandran

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 09:50:13 PDT

I'm reading a recent paper* in the journal Perception.

Say, since I'm commenting upon it here, can I get one of those cool research-blogging icons? Or must my comments amount to more than a snort and a little OJ out my nose?

You may not have known, dear reader, that some people feel a strong desire to hack off one of their limbs. They don't talk about these feelings much 'cuz they know others will recoil in horror at the thought. The word for this odd condition is "apotemnophilia."

One curious aspect of apotemnophilia that is unexplained by our model is the associated sexual inclinations in some subjects, namely a desire for intimacy with an amputee. These sexual overtones are probably one reason why people have held a Freudian psychosexual view of the disorder. We postulate that sexual 'aesthetic preference' for certain body morphology is dictated in part by the shape of the cortical representation of the body image and perhaps hardwired in the right parietal. This offers an alternative explanation of why ostriches prefer ostriches as mates (presumably even when smell cues are eliminated) and pigs prefer porcine shapes to humans (which is not to deny that the preference may partly arise through imprinting on one's parents). In rare instances humans prefer sheep (S M Anstis, personal communication) and women are attracted to Neanderthal morphology, but these may represent atavisms.

Haha, "personal communication." Good one.
__________________________
*"Sexual and food preference in apotemnophilia and anorexia: interactions between 'beliefs' and 'needs' regulated by two-way connections between body image and limbic structures. (Perception, 2009, volume 38)

Check me out, eh? Eh?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:22:54 PDT

Excerpt from Fuck You, Penguin:

"This egotistical little jerk was basically like "Check me out, eh? EH?" and then when people didn't respond he was all "Okay, maybe you don't understand, I AM ONLY ONE AND A HALF INCHES TALL" and stood next to a fucking ruler to illustrate his point.

Cactus

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:11:41 PDT

Obama's Socialist Agenda - Full Text

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:11:04 PDT

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Back to School Event

Arlington, Virginia
September 8, 2009

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.

I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.

Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

The Reaction Guys

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 05:50:03 PDT

WTF:

FTW:

A LOLtastic meme from a while back that re-surfaced today while surfing about. Go here for the story.

Atheist cat

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Benway) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 11:57:52 PDT