A quick update on the migration to a new domain

I'll keep checking! Both here and there. If for no other reason than to see what the trolls may be up to.

It might be a good time to convert some of your blinking lights from incandescents to LEDs.

No rush. Get it right. All of us regulars will be at the new site as soon as you are able.

Throughout my travels across Woo-topia (tm) , I've yet to see ANY of the usual suspects mention Orac's move.( Not even Truth Wiki )
NOT ONE!

This is interesting because I think if the positions were reversed, many of us would be reporting it or discussing it at the very least.

I know how much they hate Orac *et compagnie* so they would find a way to mock or insult them even though there's not much of a reason to do so -but did that ever stop them?

This makes me assume that these people are not very good at seeking out information.

They're probably too busy sharing pictures of Andy or organic produce on facebook

Please be patient.

I think I'm getting withdrawal symptoms.

This is worse than that holiday in a rural pension where the proprietor's idea of wi-fi was a length of string and two paper cups.

If I go full-on Trainspotting I'm going to have serious trouble explaining it to the NHS. Although that might get you some new readers!

@Orac,

Have you applied any respectful insolence towards artificial intelligence?

If Yes, can you provide a quote for my next book?

@Narad,

I'm writing a scholarly book about artificial intelligence and would like your input on the marketing paragraph below:

The notion that computers could be “intelligent” was discussed by Alan Turing in the paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence (1950) in which he proposed what became known as the Turing test: if a machine could convince you through conversation that it was human, it was doing as much as any human could to prove it was truly thinking. Today, artificial intelligence invokes a sense of wonder and amazement in many people, but for some, it’s an opportunity. Since the year 1987, at least one hundred forty-eight patents titled with the phrase “artificial intelligence” have been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The book Patents and Artificial Intelligence – Thinking Computers provides an easy-to-read summary of such patents. Within many of the summaries, there are inventor profiles and news articles that are insightful and thought-provoking. Pioneering inventors hail from Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, and Taiwan. Prominent organizations include Amazon, Disney, Ford, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and Sony. Diverse quotes present the emotional impact of artificial intelligence. Chapter ten describes select patent-pending applications intended to expand the boundary of computing mechanisms. In the final chapter, anticipation builds as artificial intelligence turns from invented to inventor. In reverence to mankind’s ability to create, this book is meant to explore the applicability of “intelligent” machines that can think to the nth power in a blink.

I second Michael's comment. When you're set up, we'll be there.

"too busy sharing pictures of Andy or organic produce"

They should start a webzine: Playwoo.

Pardon, does anyone have the URL for the new blog?

Weird, indeed. Any more blog post-less days and Young Master Crosby will fire up the conspiracy machine and tell us The Truth about why you're not posting.

Even those who, like me, never comment will be there. I never miss your blog.

can't believe that they can't even bother to do URL redirects for a little while :-( could have done a patreon or gofundme so that ppl would have 6 months of redirect.

This is interesting because I think if the positions were reversed, many of us would be reporting it or discussing it at the very least.

AoA certainly went through a period in which they would rage against National Geographic even when it was out of the picture and complain about "Science" Blogs. Then again, it may be a function of commensurate moribuntity.

^ "moribundity"

Long day.

Not "moribundance"? I have a sad.

I will definitely keep checking! I learn so much here, and I'm so happy that the transition is going as quickly as it is.

Can you please provide a link to a video of your talk at QEDCon?

I don't see any RSS feeds on new page right now. Are there plans to make some notification options for new blog posts also?

As a regular reader who enjoys your work, I’ll be looking forward to R.I. Mark III??

I'll be there.

Despite my status as chronic lurker and very occasional poster, I will be watching very anxiously for your new site to open up the floodgates of insolence again!

@Chris: try blogname dot com for the site.

I have been missing my near daily dose of insolence so much that I have been reduced to reading posts at a secret other blog by that guy you sometimes plagiarize from.

Chris -

http://respectfulinsolence.com/

By the way that is a different "Chris" than who you typically think of. I was told to switch from the .net that I found, to .com on the other thread.

It is because of Travis that I cannot post with my regular email that is hooked into my gravatar.

@ Chris:

You can change your email at gravatar.com--I just did. I had been blaming WordPress for my gravatar not showing up any more, but I didn't realize every time you use a new email, you have to let them know.

Of course, then it'll probably disappear from all your older posts....

I didn’t realize every time you use a new email, you have to let them know.

And they will track your behavior at every Gravatar-enabled site and sell it to the highest bidder, even if you don't use Gravatar.

For your entertainment whilst Orac fiddles with the intertubz...

As you may know I follow woo in all its splendor,
recently major league woo-meisters Null and Adams have sought to cash in on peoples' fears about natural catastrophes -
whenever there's a hurricane, flood, earthquake, tsunami or wildfire you can be assured that they'll ramp up fear and then hawk their wares-
survival gear, videos/ books on
survival, food caches to store, supplements, air and water filters etc. -
and preach to their followers about the rewards of 'preparedness' as they describe in detail the horrors Nature can inflict upon us.

Thus, recent events have kept both busy-
just today I heard Null offer a premium** - for 400 USD! - a water filter because people are dying of water borne illnesses in Puerto Rico.. You may be next.

Adams sells expensive Ranger Gear for preppers ( Natural News)

All of which hilariously illustrates the depths to which they'll sink. What's next, insulting young war widows?

** he gets free airtime on Pacifica's landbased NYC station and according to Doug Henwood who worked there gets paid handsomely for his products by the financially strapped station. IIRC 40 or 50%.
-btw- the hoary old cad , who instructs listeners about where is best to live because of AGW, lost much in the Naples FL hurricane. Adams, who doesn't buy AGW, had flooding in TX.

Schadenfreude for us. Not the first time

To help DW keep an eye on woo behavior - - -

Humans recognize patterns. Looking at Jaks site, the pattern that jumps out at me is that the comments for his post mostly consist of a coupla fellow travelers posting off topic, and more than a few responses from Jake himself (about 30 to 40%, I'd guess).

Until the last 3.

His 29 SEP post has 24 comments, 22 from Hans, 1 from Jake, and one from some other guy, almost all completely off topic, as you would expect.

The 21 OCT post has 1 comment, from Jake himself. Not and addendum, as he has done in the past, but a comment.

The 23 OCT post has 5 comments, all from people I've never noticed posting in the past, mostly passing for on topic.

Change doesn't really bother me, and I well understand human behavior isn't predictable with a small number of samples. But, dayum, it smells like something isn't right.

I noticed in the "new" Respectful Insolence website it states,

"A statement of fact cannot be insolent."

This is a falsehood in that the postpositive adjective "insolent" can be an attribute adjective for the noun "fact".

Furthermore, the words "can not" renders the statement absolute thereafter further reinforcing its falsehood.

Several suggestions:

1) A statement of fact may be disputed with insolence;
2) A statement of fact may be insolent.
3) A statement of insolence may be disputed with fact; and
4) A statement of insolence may be fact.

Hope this brings clarity to the new and exciting RI website.

Apparently, Mr. Dochniak never bothered to read this page on the new blog:

https://respectfulinsolence.com/about-respectful-insolence/

OK, I'm getting tired of this whole transition and am rethinking it. So here's what I'm probably going to do. I still need to update the internal links as much as I can, and I don't want to open the new blog for business until that's done because it involves a massive search/replace function of the whole database that, if it goes wrong, could bring the site down, However, I've found plugins to do this task, and Alain has offered to assist me by producing a script, which will be very helpful. I also still need to import the most recent comments.

Once I complete these two tasks, though, I will probably announce the new blog and shut down commenting on this blog for good, even though I still don't plan on posting any new material on the new blog until the middle of next week at the earliest. This will give you guys a chance to kick the tires and point out any issues, while still given me a chance to understand more how to deal with a site that is mine and one alone with only the technical help the hosting service provides.

with only the technical help the hosting service provides

You can also add in my help when needed. I'm not going away and you are definitely not alone with the tech help from the hosting services.

Alain

From the link at #32

However, discussions on Usenet rarely reached a particularly wide audience...

Back in the day, I was talking with a young guy who fancied himself The Lord’s Gift to Humanity and Technology. I mentioned Usenet (I don’t remember why, exactly), and he ask what it was. I explained that it was a system of message boards that covered almost every conceivable topic, and a few topics that, those who conceived of, or were interested in, should probably shot, imprisioned, or institutionalized.

He ask me for the URL.

He was shocked to learn that you can do things on the Internet without a browser.

@Orac (#32),

I read it and would like to say oops...

He was shocked to learn that you can do things on the Internet without a browser.

Speaking of which, I need to install a new rendition of kde and at the very least, add the kontact groupware suite because I just built a server (web, smtp and imap for now, more later) this weekend and need an email client (Kontact incidentally) to move off gmail (I have my own domain).

Alain

kde & Kontact, on my laptop that is.

Al

You do realize that I now have no idea what you're talking about... :-)

I do actually. I was replying to Johnny but I might explain the whole thing up:

Since over a year, I have been building entire Linux distributions which, for the most part are lighter weight compared to most Linux distribution out there.

Recently (early September), I bought a domain: vocatus.pub (Vocatus with a capital V as first letter is the latin translation of alcohol, lowercase v is another word) and this weekend, among a whole host of work, I set it up with a new Linux distribution of my own and the needed software to host a website and have email services.

Now to get back to my laptop, I need a good set of software and KDE (which is built from source) is my desktop user interface. You can have a look at ht_tps://www.kde.org/plasma-desktop for the desktop and ht_tps://www.kde.org/applications/office/kontact/ for Kontact.

as for my website, it live at ht_tp://vocatus.pub/

I plan to use that virtual machine to tests software that I will develop later on (ht_tp://ofbiz.apache.org/ among others) for the beer brewing industry around here but in the meantime, I've been taking care of the algebra behind brewery operational cost & profit which will goes in ofbiz (an Enterprise Ressource Planning system).

To get back on kde and kontact, I usually start a script before going to bed and it build overnight (takes 2 or 3 hours at most).

Alain

As for my choice of latin translation of common words, it is because I need to be compliant with Quebec's 101 law which mandate French as company name; latin fit the bill but it also fit the bill for an easily pronounceable english word.

Alain

MJD: Don't you have to be intelligent to go spouting off about artificial intelligence? I don't think you know anything about how computers work. I mean, you don't seem to know much about anything, but you seem more out of your depth than you usually are with this stuff. Maybe you should start off with baby steps like, say getting a library card.

Egads the graphics are yuuuge!

Maybe you should start off with baby steps like, say getting a library card.

Since the Samuel Johnson quote that gives the blog its name seems to be throwing him, perhaps he should start with Boswell's Life. Maybe he has a theory as to the cause of the good Doctor's OCD.

Very Rev: I'm afraid that's too advanced for him.

Just another lurker sticking my nose above the commenting parapet to say: I'm in withdrawal and looking forward to your posts on the new site when you have the time.
Cheers

Another 20 kids vaccinated from the evils of influenza today. Another 20 left with anaphylaxis due to latex plunger resulting in autism.

Perfect score. High five bitches!!

Johnny: "I mentioned Usenet (I don’t remember why, exactly),..."

That is where I first encountered Orac with my older more poisonous 'nym of HCN (it is a play on my initials).

I am using the old HCN email because of some troll in Wisconsin. Oh oh... I just noticed it is misspelled. Oh well, Orac has my actual email address (I emailed him some video I took of him discussing Daleks at TAM 9).

Also, I don't know if anyone here has seen this article:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/23/bear-in-myanmar-has-giant…

Basically, wow. I know it's not on topic, but since we're all left to our own devices for now, I thought I'd post it and see what people thought.

OT but interesting

The apparently very reputable journal Child Development seems to have made a slight error and published a nice bit of woo that I don't remember seeing mentioned here—Electromagnetic Fields, Pulsed Radiofrequency Radiation, and Epigenetics: How Wireless Technologies May Affect Childhood Development http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.12824/full

A response by two British authors is here (good read). Regular RI readers might find the reference list, especially under the letter G amusing. https://peerj.com/preprints/3355/

@ jrkrideau:

That woo is incredibly similar to the crap I hear courtesy of prn.fm and assorted anti-vax theorists ( AoA, TMR, Fearless Parent etc).

EPIGENETICS! Oy vey.

Cell phones, computers, wifi, televisions, smart meters, electrical wires ( indoor and out) cause autism, ADHD, cancer and just about everything.

Or else problems with the microbiome cause everything.

MJD: Don’t you have to be intelligent to go spouting off about artificial intelligence?

That's never been an impediment either to him or a whole bunch of other people. Nor should you expect it to be. After all, the opposite of artificial intelligence is natural stupidity.

PGP (#42) writes,

I don’t think you know anything about how computers work.

MJD says,

I've placed this in the books preface:

AI is best thought of as a friend in that friends let friends reboot.

@ PGP and Orac's minions,

Is there any hope of us becoming friends at the "new" RI website?

I’m writing a scholarly book about artificial intelligence and would like your input on the marketing paragraph below

It begs the question, viz., "this book is meant to explore the applicability of 'intelligent' machines that can think to the nth power in a blink" (the latter phrase is also idiotic), and as I've noted before, the jig is up – the very phrase should be retired. Jesus, even back when I was in grad school, it was clear that the field was just "programs [or, now, dedicated machines] that do cool things."

Write this (PDF), get a Ph.D. Roger Schank's fundamental legacy is irritating phone trees in which one has to keep shouting "agent" at the robotic voice.

^ I would also file AlphaGo Zero in this category. Mining a search space isn't "intelligence."

^^ And as for the Turing test, I've gotten people to argue with the output from dadadodo.

Eric Lund: Hah! Good point.

Aside, does anyone else hate automated phone services with the passion of a supernova? Those things might have been designed as a particularly refined sort of torture, and they're almost bad enough to make me believe in the supernatural. Or aliens.
On the latest adventure in tech support (tm) I somehow got redirected to the accounting department, which I suspect was located in Calcutta.

Oh well, since I'm home with little to do today...

Here are recent finds that the minions might think hilarious...

- look at the website for World Mercury Project- ( RFK jr**)
whilst the site is rife with hilarity-
look at who works with them, partners etc.
but my own absolute FAVE is a photo of.....drumroll..

A few puddles of mercury with a syringe nearby

the fluid in the syringe is tinted ever-so-slightly grey ( a similar tone to the dreaded liquid)
I think this suggests that there is SO much Hg in vaccines
You can SEE it. Holy crap.

Or
look at linked in profiles for Jacob Crosby ( Austin, TX) and
Michael J. Dochniak ( MN)

** RFK jr married the actress who plays Larry David's ex-wife on his show. I'm waiting for the former to show up since friends and family are frequently featured playing funny versions of themselves.
That episode would write itself I'm sure.

which I suspect was located in Calcutta

Tamil Nadu is a better guess.

Aside, does anyone else hate automated phone services with the passion of a supernova?

Make room for me on that bench.

I recently had occasion to attempt to set a PIN for a credit card (which was recently upgraded to the newfangled kind with the chip). Any time I tried to choose a PIN in the automated system, I got bounced to a person who couldn't actually help me--the best they could do was send me back into the automated system. OK, so the live support people aren't supposed to know my PIN, and there are good security reasons for that, but a system that does not achieve such a basic goal is bad customer service.

I have no idea where the call center might have been--they spoke adequate English and their employer was paying for the call. They just couldn't help me do the thing I wanted to do.

Tamil Nadu is a better guess.

Yeah, I guarantee nobody I've ever gotten over there spoke any Indo-European language natively.

In case you've ever wondered why Verizon customer service people sound like they hate their lives, they use prison (slave) labor for this purpose. I am not making this up.

Also I just found out that Haribo uses slave labor to make their gummies. I am sad because they were my favorite.

Eric Lund: They just couldn’t help me do the thing I wanted to do.

That was the exact problem I had, with a different thing. Turns out the problem I had wasn't with the thing I purchased from the company, but the way it was interfacing (or not) with the computer. And no one at the company knew what to do with a PC.

Narad: Yeah, I probably didn't get the region right, but it was definitely not in the US. Even worse, I think my call was at the beginning of their morning.

JP: Well, that's a bummer. I wouldn't expect too much out of Verizon, but I'm surprised about Haribo. Aren't they swedish?

DW: I hadn't heard of fearless parent, and now I'm depressed and confused. How in the world is being barefoot and pregnant empowering?

@PGP:

Haribo is German. But it turns out that global capitalism poisons everything (the slave labor is from Brazil.) At least Haribo has pledged to investigate and fix it, but who knows if anything will come of that.

What's next, no Legos or stuffed animals for my nephews? I guess the saying is true, "there is no ethical consumption under capitalism." Just about everything involves exploitation somewhere down the line.

I *have* to use Verizon, sadly. They are the only company that gets service where I live. (I'm on my brother's family plan.)

I get to have fun with Directv and Verizon in January. Since they are not available in Thailand, I plan on getting out of the contracts because they can't provide service. I am sure they are going to yell and scream for their termination fees.

One of the big problems is sourcing for parts of products. Currently there is a large fresh veggie recall that is rippling through the food industry. If you use one of the contaminated source vegetables in one of your products, you need recall your product. When Peanut Corp of America sent contaminated peanuts out, over 5,000 products were recalled.

This is a problem throughout industry, not just food. One bad supplier can screw up lots of other products. Of course NN will test all these to make sure they meet their standards (or is that profit margin).

I learned the hard way with DirectTV to NEVER EVER enroll in an auto payment program.

When I moved two years ago, I went from a home I owned to a rental, and had to get cable instead. DirectTV was supposed to send me a "recovery kit" for the chip in the box (which I got to keep) but never did.

They took $200 out of my checking account without my authorization. I demanded they return it, and I really had to fight to get them to admit they were the problem. They sent me the money back on a card. I couldn't get cash off this card, which meant I risked losing money because I couldn't use it for partial payments either.

I got the last laugh. I found out what my balance was after I'd spent most of it, andI went to the gas station and told the clerk I wanted $XX and XX cents exactly in gas, leaving me with a zero balance.

They never did send a "recovery kit" to my new address, and I still have the worthless chip and their worthless boxes.

Panacea, DirecTV won't even get to play that trick with me because the bank account will no longer exist.

I will be direct depositing to my Thai accounts.

I can hardly wait to retire and begin a new adventure in life.

The apparently very reputable journal Child Development seems to have made a slight error and published a nice bit of woo that I don’t remember seeing mentioned here—Electromagnetic Fields, Pulsed Radiofrequency Radiation, and Epigenetics: How Wireless Technologies May Affect Childhood Development http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.12824/full

Sage and Carpenter have come to Oracian attention, IIRC, along with their BioInitiative project. This new attempt by Sage and Burgio to stovepipe their fantasies into a new arena (Child Development) sounds like grist for the mill.

HDB: I was really impressed by the quality of the BuzzFeed article discussing the original "wireless in your baby's brain!" article and the various rebuttals.

Just proves they're not all clickbait and listicals.

the quality of the BuzzFeed article

The comment thread, however, is a compendium of Crazy and sadness. Schumann frequences! Mitochondrial chromophores! Secret military research that everyone knows about! Tobacco science! Suppression of the Truth!

The Sage & Burgio paper invokes Blank's "DNA = fractal antenna", which is wrong on so many levels (in a fractal way) that to take it seriously is to prove one's fundamental incompetence.

Is there any hope of us becoming friends at the “new” RI website?

If ‘us’ includes me, then, no. It’s not a question do which forum we’re on, and it’s not me, it’s you. You say a lot of things I disagree with, you say them in a really stupid way, and you do a few things I think are stupid. You’ve given me no indication that you have any redeeming qualities. I believe you are sincere in your stupid beliefs, but you are still wrong. Being wrong isn’t really the problem, i’ve been wrong, and probably still am on a coupla points. But you continue to be wrong even when presented with evidence to the contrary.

If you want friends, I would suggest Jake’s place. They will disagree with your latex fetish (it’s all about the mercury, don’t ya know?), but as long as you are unliked by our host and his minions (and you are), you will be just fine by them.

But AoA might be an even better fit. They know vaccines cause autism, as do you, but they seem to accept any hypothesis as long as vaccines are involved.

And don’t overlook the Canaries, Bolen, sMothering, and Food Babe (what are the broccoli bands made of?).

You have choices. Please use them. Exclusively.

@PGP: Fearless Parent is a conspiracy site, and dear Louise Habakus Kuo, who never met a vaccine she liked or a conspiracy theory the didn't, writes for them. Makes me ashamed to live in the same state.

MJD: AI is best thought of as a friend in that friends let friends reboot.

That's your intro? Dude, do yourself a favor and scrap the book right now. You don't seem to have even the most rudimentary knowledge of AI. You also are confusing computers with true A.I. Computers are not intelligent.

Finally, do yourself a favor and enroll in a writing class. That sentence reads like something a precocious first grader might write. At your age, you can and should do better.

MJD:Is there any hope of us becoming friends at the “new” RI website?

No, because you're an intellectually challenged creep.

MI Dawn: I am aware of LKH, and I note that Kelly Brogan also writes there. I'm just surprised that two formerly professional women both supported Trump and seem to be advocating for women to abandon the public sphere entirely. They've got a really odd mix of rightwing cant and hippie-dippie Earth mother nonsense going on there.
(As I wrote elsewhere, I have a really low tolerance for both nonsense and performative emotion.)

@Johnny (#73) and PGP (#75),

Thank you for your advice.

I've always been able to depend on both of you to acknowledge my concerns at this unforgiving blog.

Here's MJD's FINAL list of Orac minions at Scienceblogs Respectful Insolence:

1) Johnny (the bad one)
2) lilady (RIP)
3) PGP (Pgpig)
4) Narad (daran)
5) Denise Walter (it)
6) Herr doktor bimler (Interestingly confusing)
7) Prometheus (wimpy and assertive)
8) Orac (The one)
9) Eric Lund (A Genius)
10) JustaTech (kinda mean in a good way)

then...

99) MI Dawn (More salt than sugar)
100) Alain (unpredictable)

...at this unforgiving blog.

That sounds as if there is something you’d like to be forgiven for. I confess that I don’t recall you asking for forgiveness for, well, anything. Remind me.

Here’s MJD’s FINAL list of Orac minions at Scienceblogs Respectful Insolence:

Any particular sort criteria in that list? Why is our host included in the list if it’s a list of his minions?

HDB@72: As a rule, you should avoid reading the comments at news sites, including BuzzFeed. That's where trolls like to hang out when they are not under their respective bridges.

Ditto YouTube comments. A few are informative, most are troll-infested.

I consider Facebook and Twitter to be questionable neighborhoods for the same reason. These things have their uses, but they are far too easily abused. Which is why neither of them have reached the point where I would consider it more useful than annoying to have.

@ Eric Lund:

I know what you mean:
I look over a few twitter accounts of twits... I mean ANTI-VAXXERS and WOO-MEISTERS..
and oh wow, what loads of crap

AND I don't do facebook but one of the computers I use belongs to someone who does and I can tune in.
( also public fb sites of the usual suspects)
There are also loads and loads of crap - and a few smart people who put up artwork, liberal news and television comedy clips-

Crap is mostly bragging about children/ grandchildren/ expensive travel/ restaurants/ home renovation.. Food porn. House porn

ALSO there's a clueless relative who continually sends e-mail news which is basically a TV station's news.
As if no one can do this on their own

Another relative sends him ultra rightwing memes and videos when he is quite left. Clueless as well.

But hey, I read Bolen and Adams so no damage to me,

I see we both made the list.

"AI is best thought of as a friend in that friends let friends reboot."

Pure nonsense. Doesn't speak well for your grasp of AI.

Hey, food porn is a good genre. And I like seeing pretty pictures of travel and kids and so on.

Facebook does have a lot of crap - mainly from right wing relatives - but I mainly like it for keeping in touch with friends. Also I'm in some good groups - including mushroom ID groups and political groups - and I post a lot of politics and news. And sometimes get in arguments.

Twitter is more fun and less stress because I have no family on there and I choose who I follow well. Also there are a lot of jokes.

Also I just got a very good rundown of how to make sauerkraut and related things in the Anarchist Cooking Club on FB. I might have to try it.

Previously misposted:

Paging Alain. Tara could also use some migration help.

Also I just got a very good rundown of how to make sauerkraut

From scratch?

From scratch?

Yep. Just cabbage and salt, although you can gussy it up. It also had a description of the fermentation process, where to buy an affordable air lock lid thingy, and so on.

I will admit that food porn from restaurants leaves me cold. I am only interested in people's cooking.

@JP: my mom used to make jars of sauerkraut every year and can them. My brother adored it. As you said, just a huge crock with sliced cabbage and salt in water. We didn't have an air-lock thing...just a huge stone crock that we kept plastic wrap over. Stirred daily. But I forget how long it took.

Yep. Just cabbage and salt, although you can gussy it up. It also had a description of the fermentation process, where to buy an affordable air lock lid thingy, and so on.

I recall some amusing stories from MDC involving barrels and kraut gone bad, but I have to ask why you're doing this when there are perfectly fine options available in the grocery store.

@ JP:

Unfortunately most of this is bragging about expensive places to eat.
HOWEVER one guy is a socialist who REALLY hates Trump and finds
interesting articles/ photos.

re sauerkraut
many woo-meisters mistake it for the nectar of the gods or fountain of youth so they endlessly carry on about its probiotics' effects on the microbiome or suchlike.
Anti-vaxxers go on and on because the GI tract is the second brain and if you fix it, the regular brain gets well
( * a la* Wakefield I suppose);
Others rave about kombucha.

Kombucha scares me ( and not much else does)

I mean, if I were going to buy an airlock and so forth, I'd be doing this.

but I have to ask why you’re doing this when there are perfectly fine options available in the grocery store.

First of all, for fun. And I imagine it makes good sauerkraut.

Also, unless you want to drive to Portland, you can't get good (fermented) sauerkraut here, only the vinegar kind, which tastes vingar-y and is limp and disappointing. Also you can't use the vinegar type to make bigos, which I would like to make this winter.

@ #76 MJD

. . . list of Orac minions . . .

Despite my lower level of comments here and singular sense of humor, I have communicated several times with our Master Masher of Medical Mendacity and you didn't even put me in your top 100! Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?

but I have to ask why you’re doing this when there are perfectly fine options available in the grocery store

I can't answer this one specifically for sauerkraut, since I've never tried to make my own. I did attempt kimchee once, but was dissatisfied with the results and haven't tried again.

I can, however, answer in the case of pasta sauce. Commercial tomato-based pasta sauces are mediocre or overpriced, and usually both. I can make my own spaghetti sauce that is at least as good as the mass market stuff, for a lot less. I can even adjust the spice level to my liking. Oh, and I have much less risk of getting a product with too much sugar in it.

Likewise with pizza. I haven't gone so far yet as to make my own pizza dough, as there are dough balls available in the grocery store. But if I start from one of those dough balls, I can put the toppings I want on the pizza, and even experiment a bit, rather than being stuck with the old cheese/pepperoni/sausage/"supreme" quadrumvirate. Again, the cost of my method is similar or less than the commercial stuff, even if I use good stuff for ingredients.

If JP thinks (s)he can make better sauerkraut than the commercial stuff, for less cost, then more power to her.

I prefer my own homemade pizza, too; I make the dough myself, it is easy and cheap. It comes out much better than "take and bake," and just as good if not better than the pizzerias around here.

@ sirhcton (#91),

You scare me, that's why you're not listed.

That's the biggest compliment one can give to an Orac minion.

@Johnny:

I mentioned Usenet...

He ask me for the URL.

He was shocked to learn that you can do things on the Internet without a browser.

Actually, in theory you can do Usenet directly via browsers. RFC 1738 originally defined the nntp:// and news:// URI schemes to talk directly to NNTP/NetNews servers from browsers, and older Netscape versions did support it for a time. RFC 5538 still has them defined. That said, I'm not certain anybody really supports them anymore.

Also you can’t use the vinegar type to make bigos, which I would like to make this winter.

Madam, you do recall that you're speaking to a Bohunk, right? Are you looking in the refrigerated aisle? I've made dandy bigos. Yes, you may have to rinse the stuff out, and no, I'm not disparaging home prep for either quality or entertainment value, but c'mon.

Kombucha scares me

I've always imagined the main SCOBY as being housed in the toilet tank by the die-hards.

Yes, dear, I have looked in the refrigerated aisle. I used to buy Bubbie's, after all.

I dunno, more than one recipe I have read (Polish, English) says not to use vinegared sauerkraut.

Kombucha scares me

I think I have mentioned this, bit I quite like good kombucha. I like a couple of the store brands (spendy though), and a couple of my friends make a really good batch. I don't like it enough to make it, though.

MJD: If you want a more forgiving environment, go mix with your fellow dolts at Age of Autism or "Thinking Moms" or anywhere else, really. Alternatively, try not being dumb.

JP: Seconded on the 'only good food porn is recipe porn.' I got a look behind the scenes of a food shoot a few times, and that kind of ruined menu photos for me. I like playing around with recipes myself. I don't think I'd go so far as to make sauerkraut myself. (I don't like it that much, and we have enough Eastern European influence here that it's relatively easy to find.)

I get to, in the near future, learn a whole new way of eating. At the end of January when I move to Thailand I will be learning to eat Thai. Since I am not a real fan of hot peppers, this could become interesting. I don't plan on eating at the many western fast food places that have invaded Chiang Mai.

I like to cook, so my lady is going to have to teach me. My diet is going to be in her control.

I think I need to find something to stop the pepper burn, any suggestions?

Oh boy. I have never been foolishly enough to order "Thai spicy" at a Thai restaurant; I usually get a step up from mild to be honest. (Thai food is a *lot* spicier than Mexican food; I do love it.)

Actually living in Thailand, I am afraid you will probably just have to adjust to spicy food.

JP, we'll see if my stomach survives or how long it takes to adjust.

JP,

I prefer my own homemade pizza

Can you point me to a recipe, pretty please? (the groceries around here sell 10KG of floor for 9$).

Alain

JP,

for the dough that is.

Al

@Alain:

This is the one I use:

https://www.google.com/amp/www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/pizza…

There are other recipes out there, but some call for special flours and so on, and I like to use a stand mixer, which this recipe is meant for. I'm sure it would come out just as well done by hand, though.

Rich: Coconut milk or any sort of fat helps stave off the burning. Also, DO NOT EVER touch your eyes or any soft tissue directly after handling a pepper: if you do, wash with milk, not water.

Many thanks JP,

One thing that I wonder about that recipe is about replacing the instant dry yeast with wet yeast from a beer fermentation.

I'll try that.

I also consider buying a bread making machine. Beer yeast based bread, should be good.

Alain

@Alain:

My uncle makes beer, and sometimes I help. I don't know about using wet yeast in bread - I mean I've never tried it - but one thing that is really nice is to bake bread using the spent grain from making beer, especially from a dark beer.

Actually, we have a bottle of Uncle Gary's mead lying around; he made a sort of half beer, half mead last year that he called "Viking Brew" and it was good - also strong - and so I am interested to try the mead. My friend Sara F. makes mead (and also pickled garlic and stuff) and it is very good. Actually, I bet she would have some tips.

Hey JP!

What do you do for sauce on homemade pizza?

Yes, dear, I have looked in the refrigerated aisle.

And there is none? No vinegar in Krrrrisp Kraut.

@sadmar:

For red sauce, I use whatever I have on hand, usually some canned pizza sauce (one can always spice it up.) I mean, for pasta with red sauce, I will make my own ragu or whatever, but I haven't gotten to the point where I have homemade red sauce on hand.

I also make a pizza with a little mozz, some gorgonzola, pears, and caramelized onions, and for that I just brush the crust with a little olive oil.

@Narad: Nope, sadly. I'm not in Chicago, or even Portland. There is a little hippy outfit that sells femrmented krauts, but they are all stupid expensive.

he made a sort of half beer, half mead last year that he called “Viking Brew” and it was good – also strong – and so I am interested to try the mead.

I remember once brewing a beer/mead with equal parts of malt extract and honey. Opened after two weeks it was disqusting, but then I put the rest of the bottles away and couldn't find where I had hidden them for six months (yes, drunkenness was involved) and in that time it suffered a sea-change into rare and strange and rather tasty.

DO NOT EVER touch your eyes or any soft tissue directly after handling a pepper

IOW don gloves -- or take your gloves off -- before toilet breaks. Trust me.

I love that most threads on RI evolve into food discussions...:)

An idea for a guest contributor on the new RI:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154966141331981&set=gm.105350…

MI Dawn writes,

I love that most threads on RI evolve into food discussions

MJD says,

Epiphany:

Orac's minions often think with their stomach, making their comments acrid from an excess of natural secretions..

Also, DO NOT EVER touch your eyes or any soft tissue directly after handling a pepper

I dunno. A little groin warmth on a cold day can be cozy, after a fashion.

Narad: It's not warmth, it's just burning. I've touched my eyes a couple of times after handling a hot pepper and that was bad enough. Also, like I said, you have to wash with milk.

It appears that the New York State Senate is being lead down the Chronic Lyme Disease path.

Actually, in theory you can do Usenet directly via browsers.

I've seen people FTP with a browser, and there are web sites that provide USENET access, but why would you want to. It's like walking with your laces tied together - there's just better and easier ways to do it.

Thai food is a *lot* spicier than Mexican food...

Back in the day, when my daddy was off in Viet Nam, one of the hispanic guy in his barricks received a 'care package' from home containing among other things a few jars of pickled peppers. As GIs do in such a situation, they were shared around, along with a coupla beers, and laughter and good times were being had by all. This included offering a pepper to the little old lady housekeeper they hired to clean the common areas, as was the custom of the day. Mama-san made some noise, then ran off, and they were concerned that they had offended her. Then she came back with her pickled peppers, and offered them around.

'Hotter than a coal fire' is how dad described them.

Back on topic - - -

I suspect that our host's concerns of loosing Google juice may be underestimated, and RI may soon be a distant memory.

Jake has noted that Science Blogs is coming to an end, and he is refusing to tell any of his copious readership where to find the new site. This will no doubt hasten the demise of RI, as thousands will now not get the word of where to find our host's musings.

/sarcasm

http://www.autisminvestigated.com/scienceblogs-die-eviction-notice/

That said, Autism Investigated will not link to any new domain of any former “Science”Blogger. Autism Investigated will throw any comments containing those links in the trash. Cut off their oxygen, and let them wither away into nothingness.

JP:

Do you have recommendations for good premade pizza sauce, in either cans or jars? We've tried what Trader Joe's sells, but were underwhelmed...

I just get whatever is on sale, to be honest. Classic is pretty good.

*Classico

Narad: It’s not warmth, it’s just burning. I’ve touched my eyes a couple of times after handling a hot pepper and that was bad enough. Also, like I said, you have to wash with milk.

I'll take the burning over soaking my balls in milk, thankyouverymuch. Perhaps some people are made of sterner stuff.

^ I am reminded, though, that The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo by Oscar Acosta (Hunter Thompson's "Samoan attorney") goes on at some length about hot peppers and dairy. I found it to be a good read, but I don't know whether it's still in print.

@hdb:

I remembered the name of the style of beer/mead: it is called Braggot, and apparently was quite popular in medieval Europe.

The bottle of mead we have had been sitting around for a couple years, but I don't think it goes bad, that is kind of the point. I don't remember how long Sara aged her mead for, but it came out good (sometimes she would add things for flavor, like berries.)

@ Johnny:

Right, few people @ RI know how to look up stuff on the net.**

HOWEVER don't Orac and his minions usually mention or link to whomever they critique so that others may read the original?
I know I do always. I want to spread the cheer.

I venture that you, Rebecca, Narad, Lawrence and I have already contributed to Jake's cumulative hits.

Orac has a large readership and is quoted in SB articles and non-web media as Dr DG. He writes in actual journals and speaks at medical conferences as well as at skeptical gatherings.
He has another site where he writes and a following on twitter. He may be sought out by other blogging collectives.
He has a few real world jobs.

I also doubt that Orac is searching for work via linked in as well. ( see linked in Jacob Crosby Austin TX).

Indeed, Orac is so well known that Mikey continually attacks him in his inimitable, potentially libelous manner. He's been targetted by Null's minion, Richard Gale, by Bolen, whale.to and diverse anti-vaxxers far and wide.

In fact, if he's so weak why did Jake himself waste time writing about him and going to his events?

** in fact, I must brag:
my bing fu/ google fu is so good I just bought HALF price transcontinental airline fare for a popular locale during vacation time.At UNITED yet.

@Johnny: thanks for the info about Jake thinking he would have any impact on Orac's traffic. I needed a good belly laugh!

# 109 Alain

replacing the instant dry yeast with wet yeast from a beer fermentation

Don't do it. They are two different types of yeast.

You can buy cubes of wet yeast for baking (Metro should have them) but again it is not a beer yeast. Or you can use the traditional style dry yeast but I really don't think the beer yeast will proof properly.

I can confirm what people have said about touching your eyes after handling a chili. Yeouch! Once was enough.
Also, and related to the above:
How can you tell a chemist in the Men's Room?
He washes his hands before he takes a piss.

The bottle of mead we have had been sitting around for a couple years, but I don’t think it goes bad, that is kind of the point.

RLY? Regrettably, G—le Books doesn't have a scan of W.H.T. Tayleur's Homebrewing and Wine-making, which has recipes for country wines and, intriguingly, Cor!, a "jungle juice."

@Narad:

I mean, honey doesn't go bad. And wines get better with age up to a point. From what I've gleaned on the internet, mead ages well and a lot of people say it actually reaches its peak at about 6 years.

HOWEVER don’t Orac and his minions usually mention or link to whomever they critique so that others may read the original?

As a general rule, I try to, but when I cite Jake, I feel it’s absolutely necessary. I believe if I didn’t, then some one would pipe up ‘there’s no way he said that’, then I’d have to go get the link and post it anyway. It saves a lot of noise if I post it right off.

Jake’s blog is almost sad these days. There was never much to it, but the last few posts he’s made have been particularly content free. Now that he’s kicked out of UT, I imagine him sitting around, doing nothing but reading the web thinking he’s a journalist, and becoming more socially isolated by the day. No job, no friends, no classes, and more importantly, no prospects of any.

Narad: I'm not keen on either of those options, especially since washing with milk around soft tissue seems like a really good way to get a yeast infection. I'd like to keep my streak of avoiding those unbroken.

Johnny: "No job, no friends, no classes, and more importantly, no prospects of any."

And since he lives in Texas, lots of access to guns :/

MJD: No, unlike you, we just like tasty foods. I doubt you even know what an oven is for.

And since he lives in Texas Florida, with his mom

FTFY.

Jake’s blog is almost sad these days. There was never much to it, but the last few posts he’s made have been particularly content free.

"How is it that a president who met with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earlier this year to discuss a vaccine safety commission ends up appointing an executive from one of the biggest corporate perpetrators of vaccine injury? How is it that that same president met with Dr. Andrew Wakefield last year?"

Yah, Jake, it's a mystery.

Isn't Florida even more permissive than Texas when it comes to guns?

Rich: Also, speaking of beer, that is another way to quench the burning.

@jrkrideau

Don’t do it. They are two different types of yeast.

You can buy cubes of wet yeast for baking (Metro should have them) but again it is not a beer yeast. Or you can use the traditional style dry yeast but I really don’t think the beer yeast will proof properly.

I can understand,

Actually, I got this beer yeast book: Yeast: the practical guide to beer fermentation

When I was working in a few last job, in a microbrewery, I had this project for the boss (general manager that is) to figure out the psychometric of beer tasting and I understood the particular condition that yeast need to be withdrawn.

They don't do it the way one of my friend and I used 10 years ago which was to withdraw from the top of the fermenter after 3 or at most, 4 days after the start of fermentation.

The 3 or 4 days is right when yeast is under selective pressure (which it is always but that moment is crucial) to rise to top or drop down to bottom according to yeast vitality.

It has been a few weeks that I have been thinking about yeast selective pressure and how to take up some yeast from the top of my fermenters without spoiling the beer but that's a work in progress with due date around end of January 2018 when I'll fabricate the kit and fermenters.

What I meant to say is that, I will test with yeast based pizza crust but if it's not a success, dry yeast will be fine. They both come from the same family.

Alain

Most things are a mystery to Jake, sadly.

From arsenic to goat glands: A history of the world's worst medical cures.

The CBC Radio programme The Current had an interesting interview with Dr. Lydia Kang, co-author of a new book on the history of quackery.

Kang, L., & Pedersen, N. (2017). Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything (1 edition). New York: Workman Publishing Company.

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-october-27-2017-1.43…

There should definitely be alarm at RI over the prospect that it won't be linked to on Jake's site, and thus will wither and die from lack of attention.

By the same token, Kroger will go out of business if our local freebie arts paper stops accepting its ads.

Say, does anyone know who this ORAC was, the one whom it is claimed founded the blog?

Do you think they really existed or they are a mythic figure?

Ahh, mead. But of course it needs to be paired with mutton. Muttan and mead. But that should be paired with hookers and blow ftw.

I couldn't necropost on the old blog and thread.

For anyone who is interested, Rebecca Bredow is back.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2017/10/26/michi…

She has a new lawyer too. That's #4 since the case was moved to Oakland County.

@ Dangerous Bacon:

Ha ha!

re Jake-
do you know that he posts MISinformation about himself just like ( he claims) Dr Offit did **
whilst he is listed as living with his mum in Ponte Vedra, FL his LINKED IN listing says he is in the Austin area.

First changing names of commenters, now this. SHAME!

For other hilarity, his blog and twitstream provide lots-
a senator who said she was pursued is not believed because the man had polio.
Secondly, he disputes her stated ethnicity.

Jake, let me fill you in-
people with polio can move AND

just because people have lighter hair, eyes or skin doesn't mean that they are not Native American, African American, Jewish, Chinese, Hispanic, Japanese or Samoan-
people can be more than one group.

He seems to only parrot ultra right memes.

In other news...

Mike Adams claims that the Pharmatocracy (tm) is now about to come crashing down.

Null is perseverating about the history of depopulation and genocide due to the oil-igarchs/ pharma lords ( Rockefellars)

I sincerely hope that Orac will soon get the show on the road because steeping myself solely in woo is not healthy.

** he didn't update his position at CHOP- see Autism Investigated

our local freebie arts paper

I use the term "alterno-rag."

And if there was any doubt Jake has gone fully ‘round the u-bend (as our friends across the pond would say), he’s now regurgitating Breitbart.

I’m sure it has something to do with investigating “the who, what, when, where and why of the autism epidemic (in that order!), particularly the role vaccines play in causing it as well as the government’s role in covering up that cause”, but I’m not able to see it.

Orac, have you given any thought about making your new website mobile-friendly? Have you tested the website on different devices (iPad, Android, tablet, laptop, etc) and on different browsers such as Firefox and Safari?

When I was studying for a degree in Interactive Media, I learned that websites must be accessible to most browsers and to most devices. A website must be just as functional on a mobile device as it is on a laptop. A website must be just as functional on Safari as it is on Firefox or Internet Explorer.

In my computer classes at college, I learned about the importance of responsive web design and adaptive web design.

From my observations, the new site looks good on a phone, bad on a tablet, and almost unreadable on a desktop (I don’t laptop after getting a tablet).

My rule of thumb would be ‘the smaller the screen, the better it looks’. The only way I can stand to read the new site on a desktop is to zoom out to the limits of the software.

I suspect that this is temporary, and that the migration is the primary concern at this time (as it should be).

Denice,

I sincerely hope that Orac will soon get the show on the road because steeping myself solely in woo is not healthy.

Trust me, we're hard at work to move the show on the road for yesterday, if not last week :)

Alain

Dear Melissa,

I can't speak (write?) for Orac but, in my case, this will be done in due time. First priority is to get it to run and second, look good. Sadly, there are 168 hours in a given week and I'd personally need double that to manage my usual workload.

Alain

Mobile is where at least half of readers come from now these days. That's just a fact.

Even with my glasses on I don't like reading stuff on my mobile. If I enlarge the text I have to constantly move the screen around in order to read it. I want a nice big screen. I don't have a tablet and I don't want to get one. So take your time.

KIm ( AoA), noting the end of science blogs, says " good riddance" to those who would harm her children and colleagues.

-btw- it's all facebook now. The right place for her efforts.

Angus says we may be trying to bury evidence or suchlike.

Johnny (#156) writes,

From my observations, the new site looks good on a phone, bad on a tablet, and almost unreadable on a desktop (I don’t laptop after getting a tablet).

MJD says,

I visited the new RI site today and it looks practically perfect in every way.

Just continue feeding the birds and move forward, Orac.

"Now that he’s kicked out of UT..."

Wait. The Kid got kicked out of school? I missed that bit of news. The administration must be relieved, insofar that they were even aware of him.

From http://www.autisminvestigated.com/about/

Jake Crosby is editor of Autism Investigated. ... He was dismissed from the Ph.D. Epidemiology program of the University of Texas School of Public Health, due to academic misconduct by the school’s administration.

Jake has yet, to my knowledge, to clarify exactly who has committed exactly what act of misconduct, but I would suspect that a comma has intentionally been left out of that sentence.

@Johnny #165:

Has he just libelled them? I mean, more seriously than usual?

and almost unreadable on a desktop

It's fine on a large monitor* with images blocked, but ABP for some reason is being difficult about this, viz., not showing all of them as blockable items, meaning that I have to add the rules by hand.

* As compared with commenter Dagian, I want a nice large keyboard even more.

^ The text size is awfully large (as is the header text, which, as I've noted, should be a trivial CSS tweak), but it's worse with CSS turned off entirely.

Johnny@165: I hadn't heard the news either, but I also spotted that dangling modifier. I expect that Mr. Crosby will provide the relevant details approximately when Hell freezes over.

Angus says we may be trying to bury evidence or suchlike.

And John Stone remains conspiratorially clueless.

^ Hey, did they delete this, or is the machine I'm at just flaky?

^^ "Insidious Pharma Shill #1: Dr. Paul Offit, a.k.a. 'Skeptical Raptor'"

It's a thing of beauty.

@ Narad:

Oh I know.

The quality of their detective work illustrates precisely how to regard their other investigations into various malfeasance of governments, corporations or media outlets..
Heh.

It’s fine on a large monitor...

27 inch iMac here, and the text "The future home of" in the title of the first post stretches across a full 5 inches of the screen, and the text "Right now, Orac is busily transferring content from the old blog to this shiny new" in the body of the post takes 6.5 inches. A full page of text in the main body of a post displays 38 lines.

Easy to read from the next room, sure, not so easy if you're in arms reach. 'Zoom out' is is going to be my new best friend.

27 inch iMac here, and the text “The future home of” in the title of the first post stretches across a full 5 inches of the screen

The images do smallify if one shrinks down the window. Y'know, like to phone size. But still with too much leading.

^ Lotta gas on the sides of the text as well, because the wrapper is bigger than the content area.

^ The leading is in style.css line 137, BTW, as 'line-height'.

^^ The margin gas is going to be a problem for so long as one thinks it's cutesy to have the image wrap around the top of the text, of course.

"KIm ( AoA), noting the end of science blogs, says ” good riddance” to those who would harm her children and colleagues.

-btw- it’s all facebook now. The right place for her efforts."

If (as she claims) only Facebook and other social media count, then it doesn't matter if AoA is "going strong" - no one is paying attention. :)

Yow, that's huge. Looks okay at 80% though.

^ Hey, did they delete this, or is the machine I’m at just flaky?

Archive.is is good for rescuing material that the authors thought better of so only a cached version remains.
http://archive.is/fmeLs