Online ads

I came across an interesting article, it notes an online game called Evony. An online game of some sort. They started out with a standard ad.



As the article notes it didn't stop there.

They began putting out upgraded ads. (You can see the others at the article site.)

Next has a young woman in fantasy dress, with the text, "Start your journey NOW, my Lord!"

Okay, not so bad. Attractive female getting attention, the car companies approve.

Then the next with two women, dressed and looking alike standing oddly against the other. The text, SAVE YOUR LOVER! Play Now, My Lord!"

Okay...starting to look like the cover of a romance, and not sure how twins convey saving a lover...are they asking?

So onto the next, attractive women on her knees with a sword dangling over her cleavage. The text, "Help! Save the Queen!"

Yeah, basic fantasy trope, queen endanger and all...really the sword seems to be more acting as a pointer to say look here.

Now to the next, with a lady, head back, cleavage out fully, sunlight against here and taking up half the image. Text says, "Play DISCREETLY on your browser NOW!" Then some more text about building an empire and ruling the world.

...The hell! Picture of cleavage, blond with her head back and eyes closed with the word discreetly displayed prominently...Are you getting the trend the ads are going for yet?

And the last one, which I don't think was an add for this game, or any game. In fact I thought it was one of the infinite multitude of dumb ads I see online. In it...a woman's chest in a black bra. The text at the top, "Best Free Web Game". Also written above the bra PLAY. Right beneath PLAY in tiny text, "Evony Free Forever."

Are they fucking kidding us? With the breast sitting there and all the other bold text, I keep missing the bit about Evony. Are they selling the game anymore?

More to the point who is there audience? If I went online to play who would I end up having around me? If I was a parent would I be warning my kids off this? And then again who is coming for the black bra and staying when they see a fantasy game? What is there niche?

I would also note in the trend we see in this line of ads I remembered in reading the article I had seen one other ad. It is like the first of the DISCREET ads. It is pretty much the same, but cropped. The effect is that at first glance that you see little or none of the low cut dress the character is wearing in it, so it amplifies the sense with the word discreet to make you think it is a sleazy ad using unclothed women.

It is all the lowest common denominator of marketing. Why can't we in this day take it up a notch.


Of course, all of this is also getting the game talked up...

Looking at the Post

So let us look at the ledger of the grand old liberal bastion, the Washington Post.

Dan Froomkin, popular and critical, is out.

Bill Krystal, Charles Krauthammer, and George Will stay on, being apologized for, given ombudsmen defenses, etc.

And now along comes Sarah Palin.

...really?

And I prayed

PZ Myers notes a witty animation looking in the life of believers, particularly 'lil Suzie.



Think of it. Someone isn't well and going in for tests. You pray that all is well. They have a severe illness and need to go into the hospital. You pray they will get better. They get worse. You pray. They die. You pray and give thanks they are in a better place.

How fucked up is this? What was the impact of praying? What kind of justification is going on here, in this hypothetical...which is actually all too common, for the failures and final mortal result. No matter, good news, good news.

Makes me want to do a write up on some thoughts I have had about religious views on literature and TV.

Republicans, Christians, and Moral Superiority

It is cute to watch Republicans these days, and to an extent Christian's self-apologizing. And TPM has done a good job of covering it all.

They have up both a slide show of the scandals of the conservative movement, and also a flowchart to explain what is going on with there reps and leaders.

But there reactions on the right to events says it all.

From Limbaugh blaming the SC sex scandals on Obama...

To the decision of the pious and true, declaring those in the social conservative who ever fail or falter were never really on the team (he was never my friend/my champion/my ally)...

To Gov. Sanford himself. The man who has built a career on ending the careers of those with moral failiings declares that he is immune. If King David kept his job after an affair, he gets to keep his...


Isn't that nice?

Thanks Christians. After all the talk of moral absolutes, the unchanging rules, the unending certitude...When it hits too close to oneself, it is different.

If the hypocrisy of Sanford in cheating while spouting as he did was not enough, then he goes about forgiving himself. And how often have we seen that? In the RNC? In churches?

Moral superiority must be really cool.

Addendum to the last post...Or, we should be nicer...and LOUDER!

This started as a quick, cute addendum, then it got a mind of its own.

Addendum:

It is also interesting to read through the comments on the fan site and on YouTube. You get to learn that the cast are all believers, except for Brian "Mr .Deity" Dalton. But it is a reminder that, just like Atheist, religious folk are not some caricature. They are professionals, enjoy good comedy, and appreciate the valid points being made.

Just as do a lot of Christians who comment on YouTube. It is sometimes hard to remember as you read comments on science blogs, or see attacks from various self-appointed leaders and experts on faith, that in various religious groups there are those that are actually sane.

There are many that are open and inclusive. Dalton goes with his wife and kids to a Lutheran church, for material, and his wife (Lucy) suffers through this. We have a long list of interfaith marriages that work fine. And as an ex-Lutheran every sermon I heard was rather tame, middle of the road, and about being a better person...though I took a lot of naps and day dream trips. Still, there is humor there. Sometimes even self aware humor for the pious that can enjoy what work like Mr. Deity can bring out.

It is just something to bare in mind. Sometimes in describing Christians, Muslims, or just religious folk, a broad brush is not truly warranted. There are Muslims that don't want to destroy America and make it a caliphate, or stone there daughters for wearing makeup, or refuse to let you bring a dog in there home. And there are Christians that don't shun science, appreciate secular governance, have respect and love for homosexuals, and don't want to ban dancing (Yes, that even counts for some Muslims.). People can be complicated, but still be good neighbors and friends. But we have out troubles.

The trouble remains that the loudest voices in many of squares ends up being the worst of these groups. Whose louder, the Christian who appreciates the complexity of abortion, or the one who demands it be banned in any form? Who's louder the Muslim who thinks Sharia law is outdated, or the one that demands it be enforced in a given country? You can bring into this the question of which gets time more often on the news?

I have no trouble with people being Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. I have a problem when people decide there tenets need to be used to impinge on me, on countries, on society. We can all have are little beliefs, but society is so much more of a complicated beast, through which we synthesize out certain key rules we use to live with one another. We aren't nomadic groups, we aren't small villages strewn across vast wastelands, we just don't need this strong armed garbage like, perhaps, a more primitive and ancient society felt it needed. We have grown up (Yes, I have been watching Star Trek TOS this weekend, why?). We can be quite diverse, and even multicultural, yes I said it, I don't care if some want to whine about the term.

We can be a diverse society, that develops certain rules all must adhere to. We just need to stand up and be loud and clear when things are not right. When the human rights arm of the UN is used to try and quiet descent on religious practices and abuses, we need to be heard. When sharia law is being applied in a country, we need to be heard. When evolution is being shoved out of science classes, we need to be heard. Internationally done to the local level, activism is important. Too often the loudest voices in general discussion of matters is the pious and close minded one. This is also true of science matters. Who chimes in the loudest to PBS when they do shows on evolution? Who writes in or phones the papers about science texts, ten commandants monuments, etc.? Not us. Compared to Muslims or Jews, secular Americans are a far larger percent of the populace, yet we are so much more quiet.

Are we truly as apathetic as they say?

I think not.

Finding one's deity.

I have been remiss, but Mr. Deity Season 3 has started up, as have further episodes of Words.

So far...Mr. Deity and the Virgin. And you thought the virginity rules were just spurious.



And...Mr. Deity and the Book, Part Deux. Because a book with this many bad ideas can't be contained by a single webisode.



Add to this the hilarious trailer that is out for Larry/Deity...finally the Big Cheese gets the grilling He's deserved...hmmmmmm, grilled Cheese.



They also are noting the updates to their main site, Mr. Deity. Where you can catch up on old episodes, and other offerings. Did I also mention that they have an extended cut of the new show there?

I ran for cover, you ran for trouble.

It is something to watch Republicans these days. I remember the days of "support the troops", "my country right or wrong", "we should all follow the presidents lead". My, those days are gone for sure.

But it just gets zanier for them. I mean, look at Iran. They curse the president for not speaking out enough and not saying things he did say. They want then want threats, anger, and to be a rallying point (for people who aren't THAT crazy about us). How rich is it to see Mr. Bomb Iran, bemoaning the fate of Iranian people. So rich. Watching Chambliss gives a good taste of this.

Besides the fact that it is down right infuriating to listen to the likes of Saxby Chambliss now feigning concern about fair and free elections anywhere, the Senator also thinks that the Iranian people, if asked, would not remember what the CIA and the United States government did to their democracy back in 1953.

Reza Aslan pointed out that the opposite is true during his recent appearance on Hardball:

ASLAN: You know, he mentioned the CIA coup of 1953, which most Americans don't know anything about, but which, I got to tell you, is like the core event, the ur-event of the 20th century as far as Iranians are concerned. It's their revolutionary war, civil war all wrapped up into a single thing. And to hear a president even mention it, let alone acknowledge it in that way, had a huge effect in the cafes in Iran.

The Republicans continue to use the events in Iran as a game of political football, with little care as to how our actions here, if we're looked at as meddling again in their politics, could make things worse.

...

Yes. Now, suddenly, Republicans are citizens of the world. Yeesch.

Ensigns of Commandment

The story of Sen. John Ensign and his misdeeds has been darkly enjoyable. This guy cheats on his wife, gets the woman's family jobs, presumably to keep things quiet, then just as word is about to get out, outs himself. But better yet is the fact he has been such a moralizer for so long attacking Clinton and Craig among others for their activities all the while doing just the same.

The only thing that makes it all the more lovely is how it all came together. Promise Keepers. Seems he is a member of this righteous group. He met a fellow there that had a wife he was interested in. So...Promise Keepers...not just about fidelity and piety? Also for the swingers?

Homeopathy Awareness Week

Apparently the British Homeopathic Association, in BRITAIN, is calling June 14-21 as Homeopathy Awareness Week. Sounds good to me. People should be aware, but in the sense they were looking for hacking their wares.

Dr. Novella:

According to the British Homeopathic Association (does that mean the fewer members they have the more powerful the group?) June 14-21 is Homeopathy Awareness Week. I would like to do my part to increase awareness of homeopathy.

I would like people to be aware of the fact that homeopathy is a pre-scientific philosophy, that it is based entirely on magical thinking and is out of step with the last 200 years of science. People should know that typical homeopathic remedies are diluted to the point that no active ingredient remains, and that homeopaths invoke mysterious vibrations or implausible and highly fanciful water chemistry. I would further like people to know that clinical research with homeopathic remedies, when taken as a whole, show no effect for any such remedy.

...

Ah, make sure everyone you know, knows the know of homeopathy.

Being critical of Obama on gay rights.

I really liked the criticism of Obama on promises to act on inequities affecting the homosexual community. It does not stop me from being supportive of the president. I have a number of areas I am in disagreement, but like most liberals, I differentiate and prioritize. But that doesn't mean we are obliged to just look the other way, to not question, or to not speak out and challenge. We have a right to expect more and push for more, without being on the opposite side. Conservatives seem to have some problem with that.

When did hating America become patriotic?

When did it? As I have been watching conservatives mouth off and rant in the last month they have veered further and further into attacks they once called unamerican and traitorous. But now it is all virtuous and true.

You have the John Voight's declaring the president a new Caesar (w/ vid). Apparently Bush's marching the legions into 2 countries, and cracking down on liberties in this one don't count that way. Then he says he is too weak and naive. He makes no sense. But this guy is a tool, and an actor, so who really cares.

But you have Orrin Hatch who reminds us how we can all get along. Just do as he and the rest of Republicans demand. How nice of him.

Cause as Glenn Beck likes to remind us, progressives are the problem with the country.

And as Dr. Tiller's murderer promises, more violence is coming. How nice of the conservative nut jobs.

And the Secret Service seems to be quite busy dealing with a number of ongoing threats to the President...and conservatives love America...?

So why are they angry. Apparently Newt knows. Gingrich has warned the pious...those PAGANS are everywhere...LOOK OUT!!!

As Crooks and Liars, among others, have been chronicling, the right wing has been passionately decrying day after day march to socialism. They seem to love to announce and decry it time and again, as Chris Wallace was on his show (w/ vid).

Better yet we have Rep. Kirk of Illinois. He is advising the world to not trust the government financial numbers...so...he is warning the world away from doing business with the US...WTF?

Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) now appears to have taken a bold step in the debate over the budget deficit: Openly telling a foreign government not to trust the administration in Washington.

The Straits Times reports that Kirk spoke to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, and discussed a meeting he had with Chinese leaders. ...

He's telling the Chinese our number are not to be trusted, particularly if we make changes to health care. Nice. Remember when a female politician wearing a scarf while visiting the Middle East was a betrayal of American ideals?

And then there are others in Congress, actually have been disclosing dribs and drabs of our intel secrets. What patriots. Remember when this stuff was supposed to be wrong?

What further damage could these America loving patriots do to the country? Oh yeah! Rush and others are calling for boycotts of GM and its cars and services. So they want to destroy one of the countries large businesses...

Geez, these people are such tools. Let us see, disrupt the economy, reveal intel secrets, foment revolt and violence, disrupting our diplomacy with other nations, and we are supposed to be more worried about an old man in a cave on the other side of the world? I mean, really, conservatives in power the last eight years and out of power now seem far more capable and active doing far more damage.

Anything else? Oh right. Republicans want to keep the Supreme Court seat held up for a couple of years.

Republicans are now suggesting that they need a pro-rata allotment of days before Sonia Sotomayor's hearings based on the time she's served on the bench. Which, we did the math, would come out to waiting 610 days before the senate can hold hearings on her confirmation. How does that make sense? Eric Kleefeld got their spokesman on the phone to see if they're really going to hold out for the full two years.

Seeing your system.

Bad Astronomer, Phil Plaitt has been pointing to a number of interesting vids of the solar system.

From the Japanese vessel, Kaguya, video of the moon's surface.

Here's one.


Kaguya is soon to meet it's end, slamming into the moon's surface.


Then a shot of Mercury. from Messenger.

Going sour on Oprah

It is nice to see some criticism of the Oprah empire in the media. Going after how she puts out pseudoscience and alt medicine is long over do.

Daily Dish:

Earlier this week, the Dish pointed to Newsweek's battle against the daytime TV demigod. Here's the money quote:

[T]the truth is, some of what Oprah promotes isn't good, and a lot of the advice her guests dispense on the show is just bad....Some of the many experts who cross her stage offer interesting and useful information (props to you, Dr. Oz). Others gush nonsense. Oprah, who holds up her guests as prophets, can't seem to tell the difference.

Dr. John Grohol wonders if Oprah will respond:

A very interesting controversy. It would be even more interesting to see Oprah address this controversy directly on a future show, inviting the Newsweek authors and some of the science bloggers on to discuss how this sort of media promotion can ultimately be a great disservice to her loyal viewers.

Sounds good. If Oprah wants to seriously rehabilitate her image and ways bringing on serious science and cut through the bull and crap would be of value.

Skeptic's Circle #112

Hey it is another Skeptic's Circle! And it is a skeptic party.

And it is all happening at Cheshire.

Credit Crunch

And the crunching sound will be coming from where they set there teeth into your backside.

Crooks and Liars:

I have to laugh at this transparent ploy: Let us keep our usurious interest rates, Senator, or your American Express card is gonna get it! Apparently the fine folks of the credit card industry seem to believe they have an inherent right to obscene profits. Uh, ixnay, fellas. Usury is not only a sin, it's bad economic practice. Legislators have a right to control your out-of-control industry because credit has become something akin to a necessary public utility - especially when people can't even get a job due to a poor credit rating.

Seems to me it's time these companies learned to trim their expectations to fit current reality. I wonder if credit card executives have been asked to take off one day a week to save their company a day's pay?

Credit cards have long been a very good deal for people who pay their bills on time and in full. Even as card companies imposed punitive fees and penalties on those late with their payments, the best customers racked up cash-back rewards, frequent-flier miles and other perks in recent years.

Now Congress is moving to limit the penalties on riskier borrowers, who have become a prime source of billions of dollars in fee revenue for the industry. And to make up for lost income, the card companies are going after those people with sterling credit.

Banks are expected to look at reviving annual fees, curtailing cash-back and other rewards programs and charging interest immediately on a purchase instead of allowing a grace period of weeks, according to bank officials and trade groups.

[...] As they thin their ranks of risky cardholders to deal with an economic downturn, major banks including American Express, Citigroup, Bank of America and a long list of others have already begun to raise interest rates, and some have set their sights on consumers who pay their bills on time. The legislation scheduled for a Senate vote on Tuesday does not cap interest rates, so banks can continue to lift them, albeit at a slower pace and with greater disclosure.

“There will be one-size-fits-all pricing, and as a result, you’ll see the industry will be more egalitarian in terms of its revenue base,” said David Robertson, publisher of the Nilson Report, which tracks the credit card business.

...

I love how they go quickly into egalitarianism. We want to quietly screw over people honestly paying their bills, but it is because we want to be fair...and screw them like we screw the rest of our customers.

It is a business. But trickery isn't. These companies have already started shifting payment dates without notice, and also made other changes knowing customers will be caught unaware. Is that the way to treat customers?

We are addicted, as a country, to credit, and often abusing it. Will this get people to seriously push back?

Going after Elizabeth Warren?

I have to admit I was not clear on who Warren was. Part of my mind was thinking Rev. Warren which made me suspicious, yet I wasn't thinking if the Warren's of the Amityville Horror...what a relief. Still, I caught Real Time this weekend and Bill Mahr was interviewing her. So I got to know here a bit. Seems like a nice and forthright persons. A good person to have in government today.

So I have a little better understanding of the story Crooks and Liars ran about the media's distaste for her.

I listened to this Planet Money interview yesterday and it wasn't even close. Elizabeth Warren, a class act in every sense, totally destroyed the host's argument that concerning herself with the economic health of the American family was somehow her liberal "pet cause" and outside her bailiwick as TARP oversight chair. Not that it made any difference in his evident scorn!

NPR may have some nice little essays, but the only time their hosts show anything resembling teeth is when they attack... people who attack corporate interests! From the Columbia Journalism Review's "So That's Why The Press Won't Cover Elizabeth Warren!" by Ryan Chittum:

A couple of times in the last few months I’ve taken the press to task for ignoring the Congressional Oversight Panel and its report on the TARP. I’ve talked to reporters in the biz since and got the impression that many of them don’t really take it seriously because its chairwoman Elizabeth Warren is a liberal who, they say, pushes her agenda.

So it’s worth listening to this entire Planet Money podcast from NPR, where Adam Davidson badgers Warren for more than an hour to justify her existence, so to speak.

If you want a peek inside business-press mentality, and why certain stories get reported and others don’t, you can do worse than start here. It sees Warren as an outlier whose views, based on decades of research, are suspicious. It would never, ever have badgered a former bank exec, say, like this if one had been chairman of the panel. Davidson, like the reporters I referenced above, has been talking to too many bankers and insiders who sneer at someone not inside their bubble. Perhaps he’s trying to prove his objective journalist bona fides at “liberal” NPR by taking it to a liberal.

Warren isn’t legitimate in the eyes of the press, so it just pretty much ignores her—even though she and her co-panelists were selected by Congress to oversee whether the Treasury is spending the $700 billion we gave it in a way that’s best for the economy.

This interview is really cringeworthy stuff from Davidson, who comes out looking pretty bad (which makes it all the more admirable that NPR runs the entire tape). Warren takes this fight going away.

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In the movies, is it just business?

Hathor Legacy has a good article on the double standards in movie making.

O.W. at Poplicks recently found my post, Why film schools teach screenwriters not to pass the Bechdel test the Hathor Legacy and had the following to say about it:

To use her example, if Hollywood has traditionally catered its products to white male moviegoers, it builds an expectation amongst audiences - and executives - that the only successful movies are those that cater to…white male moviegoers. Thus, there is no financial incentive to break the cycle and the very bias that exists helps to perpetuate that bias into the future.

In class, I talk about the relationship between ideology and structure and how ideological bias - the idea that women are inferior, for example - influences structural inequalities - say occupational segregation - that then can be used as “evidence” to support the very ideological bias that helped produce the structural inequality!

I’m quoting and sharing this because I think it states the case better than I stated it myself. The problem is not the demographic numbers; the problem is how the people in charge selectively interpret them, and the circular rationalizations they employ to support the existing ideas. ...

As I have seen pointed out numbers are thrown out about female leads in films, then when the conversation turns to males, it is different. Why use Jack Nicholson in a film, for example? Why make a vehicle for him? Well he is good for box office. Really, look at his returns over the past decade or more and say that. Down the line, it is less a ready excuse to just run with guy flicks, and dump on the chick flick, as it were. Even when you have success for women it is a fluke, it is not a trend. Ignore it.

Bandwidth

In going online, we all get very relaxed with how are service works. Crooks and Liars has a good story noting the trouble. Like downloading? Like watching online videos? Are you rich? Bandwidth, how much?

...

When they announced yesterday that the Department of Justice was beefing up the antitrust division, the first likely target I thought of was cable TV. How about it, guys? We can't take much more of these monopolies' skyrocketing prices:

Last month, the nation's No.2 cable company Time Warner Cable announced plans to test a new billing system known as "metering" that charges Internet customers depending on how much they download. Customers who exceed their limit--say, by viewing online videos--would face steep penalties on top of their subscription rate.

Time Warner Cable's usage penalty would take the unlimited service we enjoy today (albeit slow compared to other nations), and make Internet more like cell phones, where you get overcharged by companies making record profits. It is the latest version of the Net Neutrality debate: should the companies that deliver Internet be allowed to block it, slow it down, or in this case, overcharge for it?

Here's why this issue threatens the Internet as you know it: Cable companies Time Warner and Comcast, and phone giants AT&T and Verizon sell the vast majority of high-speed Internet service in the United States. Phone and cable companies like these have no other competition in 97% of US markets, thanks to corrupt policies passed by the Bush Administration at the companies' behest.

These duopolies are betting on the future of their "triple-play" phone-Internet-TV service, so that you'll pay them more than $100 per month and they can keep earning record profits. They know that if you start downloading video from online innovators like Hulu.com and Roku.com, eventually you won't need their expensive, advertising-ridden television service. If you decide to use online phone providers like Skype, you won't need their expensive phone service. The answer? Jack up the cost of Internet, and once again eliminate the competition. This is exhibit A for when we need government to establish and enforce consumer protections; the same brand of policies we needed to prevent the financial meltdown and protect New Orleans.

Fortunately, Time Warner Cable's pricing scam was met by fierce opposition from consumers, public interest groups and members of Congress. Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) spoke out against the scheme, and Time Warner Cable scuttled the plan in four of the five test cities. Beaumont, Texas, was the city left as the lone petri dish, and Congressman Massa has promised legislation to curb the price-gouging. Yesterday, Rep. Massa told the Philadelphia Inquirer he is looking for a Republican co-sponsor for the bill: "This is bigger than a college kid surfing the Internet. Anything that limits access to the basic Internet is a threat to the economy."

Time Warner Cable is regrouping, and says it is planning a "customer education process" to teach the public that high prices and Internet caps are good for us. And while the company tries to get its messaging right, other phone and cable companies are dipping a toe in the metering pool. AT&T is already testing a billing scheme that caps Internet use, and other Internet service providers are preparing to do the same.

...

... Time Warner's pricing plans would put the Internet even further out of reach for tens of millions of Americans.

Time Warner Cable and other Internet providers say they need to penalize users to slow down an impending "Internet brownout"--a day when we run out of bandwidth. That bandwidth doomsday, however, isn't about to happen anytime soon. Even one of Time Warner Cable's own executives offers evidence that bandwidth scarcity is a ruse: "Cable is like the Federal Reserve of bandwidth...we can practically print the stuff!" said Mike LaJoie, the company's chief technology officer. LaJoie has also said that supplying consumers with more bandwidth is "basically free" for his company.

Ending the Tesla dream.

Not the car, the man, Nikola Tesla.

The massive lab and tower he built at the turn of the century to try and invent wireless electricity and radio seems doomed to be cleared away.

i09:

...Tesla sparked the tower up only one time in 1903, shooting enormous bolts of electricity into the air. Then he sold it off along with its environs, called Wardenclyffe, to pay his debts.

Eventually parts of the tower were demolished and used for scrap, but a hulking chunk of it remains, along with the lab and possible tunnels beneath. Some of Tesla's massive, bizarre equipment is still in the buildings, and the purpose of some unimaginably huge batteries there remains a mystery.

Unfortunately, as the New York Times reports this week, the Wardenclyffe property is up for sale by its current owner Agfa. The company spent millions cleaning up toxins on the site, and with the economic downturn can no longer afford to keep it. They promise potential buyers that they'll deliver the property "cleared," meaning they'll destroy what's left of Tesla's research facility. There will be no chance for anyone to study its remains, to see if the man really had invented wireless electricity a century ago.

This would be a tremendous loss for science history. Luckily several groups are lobbying to turn the area into a museum for Tesla. You can find out about their efforts in the NYT article here. Let's hope the push for a museum succeeds.

Giving a dummy a show.

No it isn't Howdie Doodie Time. But it is damn close.

No Jenny McCarthy goes to TV, again. Now she is going to host...Really...Great.

Sure she spouts bad science on Larry King, she makes unproven claims on Oprah, but now she's like Dr. Phil...Really.

But, she, really, is a smarty. Orac looked at her twittering.

...

Now, when I first saw it, I thought it had to be a spoof, someone pretending to be Jenny. No one could be as inane as to Tweet things like:

Im inside a hyperbaric chamber. This thing makes me feel amazing.

About to fly to jersey. Security stole my sugar free jelly out of my purse. Boo hoo. I miss evan.

Now Im on the plane. they asked me if I wanted a cinnabun. Im so sad. The chubby guy sitting next to me is slobbering all over his. boo hoo.

Apparently I was wrong.

...

Marcotte looked at the trouble McCarthy is bringing science, medicine, and child care.

...

This is a complete disaster. For reasons I can’t quite understand, Jenny McCarthy is dedicated to fighting medical science on multiple fronts on the theory that she, as a celebrity who has given birth, understands way more about disease and biology than mere doctors and scientists, with their facts and their evidence. I know that there was some hope expressed that now that Dr. Andrew Wakefield, who published the study that supposedly showed a link between autism and vaccines, has been exposed as a fraud, the anti-vaccination movement would wither away and die. Unfortunately, I’ve been watching the anti-choice and creationist movements for a long time, so I know that cranks not only don’t care about the facts, scientific evidence against them just redoubles their enthusiasm for the cause, because now they can feel like they’re fighting reality itself. Overcoming a foe like that is a feather in your cap indeed. And McCarthy’s acquisition of a TV show demonstrates that I was right---if they can’t win on the facts, they’ll dominate the media discourse.

The first three blog posts at McCarthy’s blog are the sort of thing that give people who promote healthy eating a bad name. It’s not that she’s wrong to suggest that eating a bunch of sugar isn’t good for you. But this is coming from McCarthy, who actually claims to have cured her son of autism through obsessively monitoring his diet.

...

Oprah has a lot to answer for for bringing so much of this woo to the forefront, giving it all so much legitimacy. She has gotten rich and famous spouting and promoting, UFO's, crystals, ghosts, mediums, psychics, anti science, pop religion, the Secret, etc. Larry King does much the same. But he doesn't get people there own shows, to begin exponential spreading of this fertilizer. You can only hope Oprah comes to realize how much trouble she has wrought an tries to make things right.


Orac looked further at Oprah's complicity.

...

And Oprah is about to catapult her to the next level.

Still, when celebrity gossip rags start ragging on you for supporting antivaccine lunacy, you know you have a problem. Oprah has a problem. Not that Oprah cares. She's rich, and she's Oprah. Why on earth should she care if more kids become ill from vaccine-preventable diseases and if some of them even die because she gave a platform to an anti-vaccine loon like Jenny McCarthy to spread her poison about vaccines and frighten parents with pseudoscience, misinformation, and lies? There's money to be made! And if there's one thing Oprah is very, very good at, it's making money.

If the price is a few more dead kids, well what are a few more--or even many more--dead kids to her? She's Oprah, after all.

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