Month: June 2007

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DDT is not a wonderful chemical and Rachel Carson was NOT Hitler

The number of ridiculous things I encounter on mail lists and web sites is truly astounding. A little over a year ago I first encountered DDT misinformation on an engineering mail list. The misinformation was coming from some of the members who believe in popular conspiracy theories, don’t seem to grasp the basics of science and, generally don’t seem to want to look at evidence before jumping to conclusions. I generally ignore their wacky posts after learning my lesson long ago that I won’t change their minds regardless of how much evidence I present refuting their claims.

Fast forward to this year and I see that the DDT misinformation is proliferating and some people are equating Rachel Carson to Hitler and Stalin. This is way over the top, so I figured I had better start investigating the situation in greater detail. What I’ve found is that there is no logical basis for the allegations. The best places to start researching for yourself are DDT posts at Deltoid (Tim Lambert’s blog) and, DDT Posts at Bug Girl’s Blog. They both link to the allegations and refute them with links to actual evidence.

More Information:

Latest entries on this at Deltoid and Bug Girl’s blog:
Reaction to Tierney’s bad science
DDT, Junk Science, Malaria, and the attack on Rachel Carson

Short Biographies of Rachel Carson:
Rachel Carson
TIME 100: Rachel Carson

WHO report on DDT:
DDT and its derivatives: environmental aspects (EHC 83, 1989)

Info on Raptors and DDT:
Patuxent Science Notes, DDT and Birds of Prey
Conservation of Raptors

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Crazy web sites

I’ve encountered a number of very weird web sites this week, not the good kind of weird either. Be careful if you visit them your IQ might plummet. 🙂 I’ve intentionally not linked the [crazy sites] because I don’t want to improve their search rankings. If any of the owners or supporters of the crazy sites wants my opinion, here it is, seek professional psychiatric help, sooner rather than later.

Barcodes are evil, as in Satan (echoing like the Church Ladies voice) – Warning: 666 Is Coming – [www.av1611.org/666.html] and [www.av1611.org/666/barcode.html].

These people think theocracy is good – Society for the Practical Establishment and Perpetuation of the TEN COMMANDMENTS – [www.tencommandments.org].

Too crazy to describe – 11:11 O’Clock Explained – [www.1111spiritguardians.com].

Wow they have an professional organization – the American Society of Dowsers – [www.dowsers.org], and a local chapter in my area – Greater Boston Chapter of ASD – [susantom.com].

On the way home from the office today I listened to this weeks The Infidel Guy Show a totally NOT crazy site and one of the fine “The Triad of Reason” podcasts. I’ve only been listening for a little while but so far I’ve liked the podcasts, in particular the Massimo Pigliucci interviews are excellent.

This weeks show is an interview with Glenn Borchardt [www.glennborchardt.com], Director (and possibly only member of) the Progressive Science Institute [www.scientificphilosophy.com]. Glenn has written a book, “THE SCIENTIFIC WORLDVIEW, Beyond Newton and Einstein: Understanding the Universal Mechanism of Evolution”, that he talks about on this weeks The Infidel Guy Show.

I can’t find words to describe the craziness but, I did find another blogger, Damian Guerra, who found the words: Glenn Borchardt and the Scientific Worldview and, The Scientific Worldview .

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FCC says not yet for cell phones in airplanes

Since December 2004 the FCC has been investigating a change in the rules that would allow cell phone usage on airplanes. Their concern is the impact the change would have on the terrestrial cell phone network. In the Memorandum Opinion and Order the FCC says:

It is apparent that it is premature to decide the issues raised in the Notice. The comments filed in this proceeding provide insufficient technical information that would allow the Commission to assess whether the airborne use of cellular phones may occur without causing harmful interference to terrestrial networks.
…
Further, because it appears that airlines, manufacturers, and wireless providers are still researching the use of cell phones and other PEDs onboard aircraft, we do not believe that seeking further comment at this juncture will provide us with the necessary technical information in the near term. Accordingly, we conclude that this proceeding should be terminated. We may, however, reconsider this issue in the future if appropriate technical data is available for our review.

Keep in mind that the FCC is not responsible for the issue of potential interference to onboard instruments and equipment, the FAA and the airlines are responsible for deciding those issues. The FCC’s responsibility is to make sure that the licensed cell phone networks are not adversely impacted by cell phone signals originating from airplanes. This seems like the wise course of action, in my opinion cell phone signals have a low reliability already and further lowering of reliability would be very bad.

Tip of the hat to Conformity for pointing me to this notice. FYI -the announcement of the order is here.

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Blogroll Update

I limit my blogroll to blogs that I actively follow, in the past few months the following blogs have become part of my reading addiction so, they have been added to the blogroll.

In alphabetic order:

Deltoid by Tim Lambert

Denialism blog by brothers Mark and Chris Hoofnagle

Dispatches from the Culture Wars by Ed Brayton

RichardDawkins.net The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science

Science After Sunclipse “A blag for math and physics on the Wobosphere” by Blake Stacey
Here’s a recent post that I feel hits the nail on the head, and his closing sentence, “All we’ve got is the truth and each other.” sums it up beautifully.

The Bronze Blog by Bronze Dog, Ryan and, Crystal

The Red Notebook by Richard Carter, FCD
If you don’t know what FCD stands for, go to Join the Friends of Charles Darwin and sign up today if you qualify.