Douchebaggery!
sa smith | August 27, 2014You all might remember, Judy Mikovits and Age of Autism contributor Ken Heckenlively, were releasing a book on 'their side' of the XMRV fiasco (the scientific side of the XMRV fiasco).
Plague: One Scientist’s Intrepid Search for the Truth about Human Retroviruses and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Autism, and Other Diseases
Yes, that is really the title.
Stop laughing.
*snicker*
Anyway, that book was supposed to be released May 6th, 2014. But that date got pushed back to the summer. And then to September. And now the date is October 7th.
I positively cannot take the anticipation.
Thankfully, they…
sa smith | July 7, 2014Quick recap--
An HIV Denier, Clark Baker, starts a web group, the 'HIV Innocence Project' to defend people accused of HIV-related crimes. Name-change to 'HIV Innocence Group' after the Innocent Project complained.
An HIV advocate, Todd Deshong, started a different website, 'HIV Innocent Group Truth' to address and expose Clarks activities.
DeShongs coverage is rather innocuous-- What cases is Baker involved in? To what extent? What is the attack-angle Baker is providing to the accused/defense team?
Here is an example I picked at random from 2011.
I have said much more aggressive things about…
sa smith | February 10, 2014YouTuber MylesPowers1985 has got an in-depth analysis of the HIV Denier movie, 'House Of Numbers', going. Of the episodes I saw, it is really good. Its not the usual boring 'person talking to a camera' video-- it is serious investigative journalism.
I say 'of the episodes I saw' because MylesPowers1985s videos are being taken down by DMCA claims:
But you know, the easiest way to eliminate any kind of criticism on the internet is to BAWWWW DMCA.
My coverage of 'House of Numbers' has been minimal because its more fun writing about actual science. But my few interactions with them have not…
sa smith | November 30, 2012Lets say you are a professional/expert on Topic X.
One day, you get a call from an Emmy winning, top day-time talk show. They want you to come on their show to talk about Topic X! "OMG!!! YAAAAAY!!!" you would surely be thinking. "A platform to educate the public about Topic X! Millions of people via TV, internet, just the exposure for Topic X, this is FANTASTIC!!!"
Now, lets say that Emmy winning, top day-time talk show is "Dr. Oz".
That 'opportunity to educate millions of people'?
If you are a regular reader of SciBlogs, you know that Dr. Oz utterly wasted our Pam Ronalds time when he had…
sa smith | October 9, 2012There are some HIV-woo ideas that I cannot believe we are still dealing with in 2012.
1. 'Condoms dont stop HIV' - Actually, they do. Really, really well. Better than any 'prophylactic antiretroviral' (with no side-effects). Virus cant evolve resistance to condoms. Virus cant swim through the tiny holes in the structure of latex. Condoms work, whether the Pope or abstinence-only educators or that guy who REALLY wants to bare-back-it wants to believe it or not.
2. 'Magic potions cure HIV!' - Really? Literally the best minds of three decades worth of scientists have been actively working…
sa smith | August 20, 2012Via Coffee Loving Skeptic-- The laziest example of peddling snake-oil I have ever seen.
Revealed: Gorton church sells olive oil and blackcurrant squash as miracle 'cure' for cancer and HIV
M.E.N. reporter: After just 15 minutes I was offered church's ‘miracle cure’
Pastor: We are trying to help ... we aren’t hurting anyone
See, normally when people are scamming desperate people for money, the scammers put in quite a bit of effort on the front end, concocting a story for why their 'alternative treatment' is so fabulous. A good back-story can up your profit by orders of magnitude.
Its not a…
sa smith | August 6, 2012There has been a ton of hilarious drama going on with the XMRV fiasco, but I havent been writing about it because I dont actually care. I 'cared' about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome because it was associated with a retrovirus. Turns out it was all a mirage-- The retrovirus known as XMRV is not infecting humans, and wouldnt be able to even if it wanted to.
So Judy Mikovits hiding on a boat and the Whittemores pissing of the Feds and the Mob, while fun for day-time soaps, is not real interesting for me as a science blogger (Note to Mikovits-- your shit was contaminated by XMRV plasmid or…
sa smith | April 30, 2012February 2009--
Republican senators, led by a Susan Collins (R-ME) stripped Obamas stimulous package for funding to the CDC and pandemic flu preparedness:"Everybody in the room is concerned about a pandemic flu, but does it belong in this bill? Should we have 870 million dollars in this bill? No, we should not."
Stimulus bill headed for passage minus pandemic fundsThe sums removed included $420 million for pandemic flu and $430 million for biomedical advanced research and development, he reported.
March 2009--
Swine flu is born in La Gloria, Mexico. It quickly travels to the US, with entire…
sa smith | February 24, 2012Posted without comment:
Anti-abortion "personhood" bill clears Oklahoma senate
The bill offers no exceptions in the case of a pregnancy resulting from rape or incest and could mean some forms of contraception such as the "morning after pill" would be unavailable, she said.
-----
Oklahoma State Representative Gus Blackwell, whos educational and employment qualifications appear to be composed entirely of "JESUS! YAAAY! I CAN MANAGE NOT TO CONTRIBUTE ANYTHING USEFUL TO SOCIETY FOR MY ENTIRE LIFE JUST BY SCREAMING JESUS ALL DAY!!! YAAAAAAY!" just reintroduced our Blog Buddy Sally Kerns anti-…
sa smith | January 30, 2012Im glad none of you accused me of joking or exaggerating when I told this story:A *very* common exchange I have with the general public regarding HIV-1:
Person-- Where did HIV-1 come from?Me-- HIV-1 is related to a virus we can find in African primates, SIV. SIV crossed over from chimpanzees to the human population to make 'HIV' sometime in the late 1800s, early 1900s. This event happened at least three times, giving us the three groups of HIV-1, Groups M, N, and O, however it most likely has occurred numerous times over the course of human evolution, it just never lead to a pandemic like…
sa smith | January 26, 2012Just, turn off your brain before you read this post, folks.
If you try to to think about this, Im pretty sure your entire brain will hemorrhage, and I dont want to be responsible for that.
You think I am joking.
I am not.
I actually heard rumors about what Im going to type here today a week ago, but I didnt write it because I thought it was just an internet rumor. It was too stupid to be real life.
And yet, after verifying the info, here I am. It is true.
*blink*
*deepbreath*
Okay.
Companies like Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Trident-- they take their food flavor/food additive/food everything very…
sa smith | January 23, 2012Readers of ERV know the basics of how breast feeding affects the immune system of breast-feeding babbies:Fetuses (fetii?) and babbies are protected from pathogens, even though their own immune systems have not matured yet. How do they manage this feat? They steal antibodies from Mommy!
Remember yesterday I said the same antibody can have lots of different butt-ends? The same 'business end' that recognizes tetanus toxin or a variant of influenza, but different back-ends-- each different butt has a different skill set.
... Newborn Babbies steal Moms antibodies a different way! IgM and IgA…
sa smith | January 11, 2012Last fall, a bizarre but interesting paper was published in Nature Cell Research:Exogenous plant MIR168a specifically targets mammalian LDLRAP1: evidence of cross-kingdom regulation by microRNA
(subsequent correction after they duplicated images in their figures LOL!!!! Nature/Science, you so crazy!)
What they suggest, is that when humans eat Oryza sativa (Asian rice), a microRNA highly expressed in that rice is secreted into vesicles during digestion, which are absorbed into the human bloodstream, and taken up by liver cells, where the rice microRNA can then have a physiological effect on…
sa smith | November 11, 2011BlogBrother Ethan Siegel just caught (yet another) scientist manipulating data to generate the conclusion they want... not the conclusion the data actually supports.Exposing a Climate Science Fraud
Yeah, thats how we roll on SciBlogs.
But in my example, the scientists actively hid relevant data from other scientists they were speaking to/the journals they were submitting to/the patients they were preaching to.
In Ethans case, all of the data was happily and knowingly laid out for anyone and everyone to mess around with themselves. So either this Judith Curry character is a fantastic idiot,…
sa smith | November 9, 2011Im sure you all have heard this story--Chickenpox parties--just a Facebook friend away
"Pox packages," child abuse, and the violation of federal law
I dont have much to add other than a question for the parents doing this:
I mean, lets ignore the ethical and legal implications of what they are doing. Lets just focus on the 'logic' behind what they are doing.
They do not want to vaccinate their children, because they are worried about their children becoming 'contaminated' from 'chemicals' or 'toxins' or 'voodoo spirits' or whatever and get sick.
Vaccines were developed by hundreds of…
sa smith | November 1, 2011This post is going to be a touch of a stretch for ERV. I normally dont write about theology. Mostly, because I dont care. I think the cultural phenomena surrounding 'theology' or Harry Potter or Twilight is far more interesting than the ins-and-outs of the magical creatures at the center of the phenomena itself.
But I do enjoy learning new things about anything, so I was *very* much looking forward to seeing the video of Jerry Coynes exchange with a Muggle Twihard 'Systematic theologian', John Haught.
They 'debated' earlier this year, and video was taken under the understanding that it…
sa smith | October 18, 2011Sorry, guise. A cold that has been circulating around the department finally got me this weekend. So instead of writing posts this weekend, I was a sneezy snotty mess :(
BUT I would like to thank the 'Occupy ERV' gang for giving me a laugh Sunday morning, as did this SNL skit* (original):
Hell, its no worse than getting dating advice from a middle-aged man who married straight out of college and hasnt dated since well before I was born who strictly and unthinkingly approaches 'dating' from a heteronormative perspective, or a 30-year-old divorcée!
Or the Pope!
Whatever you do, though, dont…
sa smith | September 25, 2011Wow.
WOOOOW.
You know, people should be legally forbidden from saying "Dr. Oz cant drop any lower than this!"
Pimping snake-oil salesmen? CHECK!
Taking 'creative liberties' editing the comments of scientists on his show? CHECK!
Playing 'scientist' with rock-stars just to get his face in the media? CHECK!
Constant, apparently pathological fear mongering? CHECK!
Just read anything about 'Dr. Oz' at Oracs place.
Do you all want to know what hes done now?
Do you *really* want to know?
The sexiest woman alive, Dr. Mehmet Oz has teamed up with the second most sexiest woman alive, Dr. Michael…
sa smith | August 23, 2011I have some surprising news for my homosexual ERV readers: In the state of Florida, youre all virgins!The judges found that because the law referenced 'sexual intercourse' that it could only be applied to heterosexual activity since intercourse is only defined as "the penetration of the female sex organ by the male sex organ."
Why the hell am I writing about this? Some stupid backwater judge or politician trying to regulate sex? Nope...
Because the wording of this law is being used to overturn convictions of individuals who did not disclose their HIV+ status to their sexual partners:An…