A Somewhat Old, But Capacious Handbag

The Singh thing: law being an ass

2009-05-09T04:32:00.010-04:00

Disclaimery bobbins: I kno o about law. This post is my opinion based on a bit of cursory reading and if you want 100% reliable truefacts the legal bloggers are a much better place to look.

The blogs are all over this story, but it's not in the papers yet. Physicist Simon Singh followed up his successful pop-sci book Fermat's Last Theorem with a new one called Trick or Treatment? on alternative medicine. In it, he called out* the British Chiropractic Association for promoting bogus treatments. The BCA, as is usual for a pore ole downtrodden group of penniless but well-meaning practitioners who just want a chance to debate the evidence, sent in the legal team.

The libel court's preliminary ruling, which lawblogger Jack of Kent describes as astonishing, was that to defend himself, Singh will have to prove that the BCA are deliberately and knowingly lying to patients. This is going to be almost impossible, because they are probably not doing so, which is why Singh never said they were in the first place. He was saying the treatments don't work, which they don't, and that the BCA promotes them, which it does.

I wish Simon all the best with the case and will for deffo buy his book now.

*In the present-day American meaning of "publicly challenged them", not the Regency "slapped them in the face with a glove, dashed a glass of Burgundy over their small-clothes and demanded single combat." Although that would be much cooler.

I fear change

2009-05-06T06:01:00.004-04:00

but I signed up for one of them there twitter accounts anyway. I used my real name, so if you know it, you can find out what I had for lunch without all that tedious mucking about with blogs. Interweb friends who don't know my real name are welcome to email me and ask!

Also, sorry I didn't join in Blog Against Disablism Day like I said I would. Blogger wouldn't let me post because some lagging mongrel of a 'bot thought it was spam. It's true: my blog ate my homework.

Good.

2009-04-29T11:31:00.005-04:00

Commons defeats are nearly always good news.
Gurkha soldiers, who have for many years done the UK's most dangerous dirty work for a pittance, have now earned the right to come and live here if they so wish. Immigration minister Phil Woolas is wailing that up to 100,000 Nepalese will immediately swarm over to enjoy our renowned cuisine, fine weather and welcoming disposition, but as Monty Python so elegantly put it, this statement is quite meaningless as the phrase 'up to' clearly includes the number 'nought'.

I suppose I should grudgingly thank my otherwise fuckwitted MP for supporting the Gurkhas. It's also nice to see the Lib Dems getting off their arses for once, although it'll take a few more examples before I forgive them for being such a pathetic bunch of milquetoasts over the Iraq war.

I bin to London Zoo again

2009-04-28T12:06:00.006-04:00

However, this here potto is from Quebec zoo.

Nocturnal House Triolet
If I only had a potto!
They're my favourite sort of lorid.
I would keep it in a grotto,
if I only had a potto,
and I'd feed it on risotto -
all those grubs and gum sound horrid.
If I only had a potto!
They're my favourite sort of lorid.

Addendum
A potoroo
Could live there too,
Inside the potto grotto zoo.

HOOOOOOO!

2009-04-01T11:16:00.005-04:00

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

How many did you get right?

Tuesday Evo-Psych Bollocks from the Institute of Pissing About

2009-03-10T11:31:00.008-04:00

I think I'll make this a regular feature. Everyone else does.

When cave-ladies ground up roots and seeds to make pies for their cave-husbands, a white colour indicated the food was free of toxic contaminants. Cave-ladies accordingly evolved to value white above all other colours, which is why women today all long for a white wedding dress!
However, cave-ladies also needed to be able to tell when their cave-pie was cooked to a delicious golden brown. Women's visual systems therefore make a far more acute distinction between white and brown than those of men, who in our evolutionary past only saw the pies in their cooked state. For this reason, men can't see dirt and should never do laundry.

Thanks to Pandagon and Physioprof for inspiration.

MMM PIE #2

2009-02-17T16:03:00.005-05:00

Behold our Sunday lunch! Cromagnon did the steak and mushroom filling, and I made flaky pastry using the recipe from Huge Furry-Witteringfool's MEAT cookbook. The result was even more yumscrumpshytastic than Pie #1 (a hot water crust pork pie), and all the rolling and folding of the pastry was jolly good fun in a playing-with-plasticene sort of a way.

It makes me want to rap about the pie.

Happy Darwin Day, every one

2009-02-12T09:48:00.010-05:00

I was going to write a bah-humbug post about how this Darwin Day stuff is getting on my wick a bit, and we should be cheering for all the thousands of people who've given us 150 years of cool science, rather than just one Founding Father. But today's Araucaria crossword got me in the spirit. I'll be making a traditional roast tortoise tonight, and following the old Darwinmas custom of hitting wildlife with a stick.

Edit: I just invented the Origin of Species drinking game. Each player has to read out a whole sentence from the book without stopping for breath. If they can't do it, they take a swig and try the next sentence instead. If they can, the book passes to the next player. It'll go like this:

Player 1: "Finally, then, I conclude that the greater variability of specific characters, or those which distinguish species from species, than of generic characters, or those which are possessed by all the species; that the frequent extreme variability of any part which is developed in a species in an extraordinary manner in comparison with the same part in its congeners; and the slight degree of variability in a part, however extraordinarily it may be developed, if it be common to a whole group of species; that the great variability of secondary sexual characters and their great difference in closely allied species; that secondary sexual and ordinary specific differences are generally displayed in the same parts of the organisation, are all..."
(Drink)
"All being mainly due to the species of the same group being the descendants of a common progenitor, from whom they have inherited much in common, to parts which have recently and largely varied being more likely still to go on varying than parts which have long been inherited and have not varied, to natural selection having more or less completely, according to the lapse of time, overmastered the tendency to reversion and to further variability, to sexual selection being less rigid than ordinary selection, and to variations in the same parts having been accumulated by natural and sexual selection, and thus having been adapted for secondary sexual, and.."
(Drink)

Let me know if you try it and survive.

Today's irresponsible tripe courtesy of Jeni Barnett

2009-02-06T12:41:00.010-05:00

Global Radio and LBC, who employ actress Jeni Barnett, are threatening to sue Dr Ben Goldacre after he posted an excerpt from her radio show and pointed out what a dangerous spew of woo-crazed drivel it was. Ben's taken the mp3 down because he wants to keep his house, but some other naughty internet people have put it back up again elsewhere. Here's a transcript of part of it (minutes 20-22):

Jeni Barnett: So what would you say – I mean, it’s not my job to say to people don’t do it, it’s not my job to do any of that, but you’re allowed to have your say. What would you say to people – as a mum of eight little lives that you are deeply responsible for – what would you say to people who are in two minds about it?
Caller: Er… I would never recommend having children vaccinated, and people think I’m very strange, but all my younger children that haven’t been vaccinated have been very very healthy. The youngest had measles about three months ago and he was fine, he wasn’t very well for about a week, ten days, and then he was fine and none of my others picked it up. So I think they must have a certain amount of natural immunity and I’m far, far happier for them to have developed that natural immunity than to be constantly being filled with artificial substances.
Jeni Barnett: Well thank you so much, my darling. That’s Amanda in Hayward’s Heath. “Just was listening to your show. If people actually took the time to look at what’s in vaccines, they would think twice about giving them to their children. As well as not being 100% effective, they also have cancer-causing agents. Also, a child’s immune system takes approximately 2 to 3 months to fully get up and running from birth. Also, if we look at the countries who have the highest populated vaccinated, you will notice that they have the most allergies. I’m not totally against immunisations, but we should be giving children at least a year to develop their own immune system to deal with the onslaught.” I didn’t say that. I wish you’d given me your name.

Three things that really grind my gears about this are:
1. Babies are not epidemiology qualifications. (Tara, who has both, would no doubt agree.)
2. Blah blah all we want is a chance to debate the evidence blah blah big pharma has all the money blah blah take down that criticism or our team of highly-paid lawyers will kick your arse.
3.

I'm A Celebrity, Get Me A Job With The Tory Party

2009-02-02T08:21:00.007-05:00

TV presenter Carol Vorderman has been appointed the Conservatives' "Maths Tsar" by David Cameron. No, really. She'll be touring schools and then delivering a report with suggestions for new education policies. Perhaps one day, thanks to her expert* guidance, British schoolchildren will be sufficiently numerate to work out that MMR is safe, "detox" is bollocks, and taking out a high-interest loan secured on your home is a very bad idea.

*Third class degree in engineering and knows her times tables.

Last-minute virtual shoe throw

2009-01-20T10:45:00.003-05:00

THUNK! Bye, Dubya.

Oh yes.

2009-01-19T14:40:00.001-05:00

Hipy papy chrithsmuths thudthdy

2008-12-24T18:28:00.004-05:00

Double helix socks (what I am knitting for my brother for Christmas but aren't finished yet), modelled by a small aubergine. Here's a cable chart in case anyone else wants some:

OMG! Weirdo child-people enjoy their jobs!

2008-12-15T09:08:00.010-05:00

Hurrah for Laura Howell, the first woman to draw a weekly cartoon for the Beano! She's been included in a cheery series of BBC articles about kids' dream jobs, along with a chocolate taster, a video game designer and the chief model-maker at Legoland.

No hurrahs for whoever linked it from the BBC front page with the title "The jobs that mean you don't have to grow up." Shto? Do Legoland managers spike the tea urn with hormone antagonists so their employees grow no body hair? Are chocolate tasters exempt from council tax? Can't Laura wash her own clothes and stay up after 8.30pm if she likes?
No, no, I understand. They're using "grow up" to mean "resign yourself to pointless drudgery for most of your waking hours for most of your life."

I once heard on the radio about a Nigerian village in which river blindness was so common that the inhabitants believed losing one's sight was a natural part of growing up. Losing one's sense of fun and purpose isn't natural either, and we've got less excuse for believing it.

I told you Canada was a sensible place.

2008-12-08T06:49:00.008-05:00

Q Transmissions, a Canadian skeptical radio show, is holding a contest! Record yourself singing these lyrics and you could achieve FAME and a PRIZE.

As some commenters have pointed out, the scansion is dodgy in parts and I couldn't be arsed to think of many three-syllable rhymes. But if you are not completely satisfied, you can have your money back! Here, just peel it off the screen:

I suggest you spend it on reading the first chapter of a swashbuckling adventure story.

Amazon knows best

2008-11-24T12:45:00.008-05:00

If anyone was wondering what to get me for Christmas, Amazon keeps pestering me with recommendations for not only "Coalescent Theory: An Introduction" by John Wakeley:

This monograph is intended mainly for biologists but it will also be of interest to mathematicians who wish to see how this branch of applied probability theory plays out in a biological setting.

but also "Zachary Quack Mini Monster" by Lynley Dodd:

Zachary Quack is back! The irrepressible little duckling is starring in his own story and is more pittery-pattery, skittery-scattery than ever.

I can't decide which I'd like best, so it's probably better to go for something in between like Hairy Maclary's Great Big Noisy Selective Sweep.

What genre-busting title does your recommendations page inspire?

Recipe November! Sossij and tomato casserole

2008-11-23T15:44:00.005-05:00

1 onion, chopped
2 tbs groundnut oil
6 sausages
200ml cider
50g tomato puree
4 sundried tomatoes, chopped finely
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
4 sticks celery, chopped
100g red lentils

Heat the oil in the bottom of a heavy saucepan, and brown the onion and sausages. Then cut the sausages into chunks (I stick my kitchen scissors in the pan to do this) and stir in all the other ingredients. Add more cider or water if needed to cover the vegetables. Simmer gently for about 45 minutes until the lentils are soft, season to taste and serve with mashed potato.

Recipe November! Supersticky banana loaf

2008-11-20T16:30:00.002-05:00

Preheat the oven to 170 deg C and grease or line a loaf tin.
Sift 225g self raising flour into a mixing bowl.
In a jug, mash 3 overripe bananas with a squeeze (about 1 tsp) of lemon juice, then mix in 50ml milk, 50g golden syrup, 50g malt extract and 70g brown sugar. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour and stir together adding 150g sultanas to make a stiffish batter. Scrape the batter into the tin and bake for 1 hour.

Recipe November! Lime and Ginger Cordial

2008-11-18T15:33:00.001-05:00

Pour 200ml boiling water into a large heatproof jug, add sugar until the volume hits the 300ml mark, and stir until the sugar's dissolved.
Slice 3 limes and a thumb-sized lump of ginger thinly and stir them into the syrup. Cover and leave overnight then strain into a bottle. Dilute to taste with sparkling water. It's got a nice bitter gin-and-tonicy tang to it.

Another blogfriend writes a book! Buy it too!

2008-11-17T16:38:00.005-05:00

Cell biologist Jennifer Rohn (editor of LabLit) has her first novel out this month. This impresses me even more than the non-fiction - imagine being paid to make things up!
Thanks to rpg for letting me know.

Recipe November! Peppadew Bacon Fusilli

2008-11-17T16:06:00.009-05:00

Peppadews are a tasty South African variety of piquante pepper which you can buy in a jar. Substitute any other peppers you like, but if they're raw fry them along with the mushrooms. I hold that fusilli is the best pasta shape cos it can't stick together as it cooks.

100g mushrooms, sliced
2 rashers streaky bacon, chopped
10g butter
1 crushed or chopped clove of garlic
4 or 5 peppadew peppers from a jar, sliced
100g fusilli
100g spinach, washed

The sauce takes about as long to cook as the pasta does, so get the pasta boiling first, then fry the bacon, mushrooms and garlic in the butter. When they're done, add the peppers and the spinach and put a lid on the saucepan so the spinach steams. Toss the lot together with the cooked pasta and eat it. Serves 1 if she ran home from work and got in STARVIN'UNGRY. Total distance run in training so far: 99 miles, or London to nearly Grantham up the East Coast Main Line.

Recipe November! Blue cheese pasta

2008-11-13T18:06:00.004-05:00

Another cheaty somebody-else's-recipe day: Cromagnon cooked me this made with Gorgonzola. NYOM.

"There is a powerful clarity of consciousness in her eyes."

2008-11-13T07:48:00.009-05:00

- Camille Paglia on Sarah Palin, via Pandagon

Sarah Palin was certainly the target of a lot of demeaning misogynist crap, which sucks even when the target is an evil theocratic wackaloon. I also suspect that if Palin had been a grey-haired man rather than a former beauty queen who fit so well into pernicious "bimbo" stereotypes, the world might never have noticed she was as dim as the microwave background. But 'ksake, she is dim, and ignorant, and incurious. If Paglia thinks otherwise, she's got a bad case of the deludes.
(Is anyone else reminded of a doting pet owner? Hey, Fluffy, biscuit! Biscuit, Fluffy! Aw, look at his eyes. He understands every word I say.)

Anyway, I propose a new system of degree classifications: First, Upper Second, Lower Second, and Powerful Clarity of Consciousness In The Eyes.

Buy my blogfriends' books

2008-11-12T07:24:00.009-05:00

It seems books are the new blogs.
Ed Yong of Not Exactly Rocket Science has written one that you ought to buy. Ed is a cancer researcher who writes clearly and entertainingly about life sciences, and his book, like his blog, is aimed at interested non-specialists who like their pop sci accurate and up-to-date.
For an even more diverse array of boffinry, try the Beano Annual of science blogging: The Open Laboratory, compiled by Bora "Coturnix" Zivkovic of A Blog Around The Clock.
Female Science Professor has put together a book too, about surviving academia and run-ins with Professor Troll. It's for a less general audience, but if you know a woman scientist she'd probably love a copy. Buy it here.
Lastly, Kate Harding and Marianne the Rotund have writ a real book with a real publisher about how dieting is shit.
Your Christmas shopping is now done.

PS: I almost forgot Bad Science! Everyone's favourite academic ninja rants lyrical about MMR, homeopathy and litigious copromancers.

Recipe November! Sweet Chestnut Paaaaie

2008-11-12T03:00:00.000-05:00

I heart Southern cookery, especially paaaaies. Here's an anglicised version of one of my favourites, with sweet chestnuts instead of sweet potatoes. I've always thought they had a similar velvety texture.

Pastry ingredients:
50g butter, diced
25g lard, diced
150g plain flour
3tbs cold water

Filling ingredients:
350g whole sweet chestnuts or 300g unsweetened chestnut puree
300g tin sweetened condensed milk
1 tbs dark brown muscovado sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 tbs cornflour
grated nutmeg

Rub the fats into the flour, sprinkle the water over, and squash the mixture together into a lump. Wrap your pastry in clingfilm and leave it to rest for 20 minutes, then roll it out and line a 9" diameter, 1.5" deep pie dish with it. Prick the pastry case all over with a fork and bake it, empty, in a preheated 220 deg C oven for 12 min. Remove from the oven and turn the heat down to 160 deg C.

Meanwhile, either boil and peel the chestnuts or open the tin of puree. I did it the long way but it took bloody ages. Using a blender, mix the chestnuts and all the other filling ingredients together.

When the mixture is lump-free, pour it into the pie case, sprinkle some nutmeg over it and put it back in the oven for about 40 minutes until the filling is just set. Let it cool a bit before serving with cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce.