I Fooled Millions Including Peer Review

      “Slim by Chocolate!” the headlines blared. A team of German researchers had found that people on a low-carb diet lost weight 10 percent faster if they ate a chocolate bar every day. It made the front page of Bild, Europe’s largest daily newspaper, just beneath their update about the Germanwings crash. From there, it ricocheted around the internet and beyond, making news in more than 20 countries and half a dozen languages. It was discussed on television news shows.
      And the statistically significant benefits of chocolate that we reported are based on the actual data. It was, in fact, a fairly typical study for the field of diet research. Which is to say: It was terrible science. The results are meaningless, and the health claims that the media blasted out to millions of people around the world are utterly unfounded.

Here’s how we did it.

http://io9.com/i-fooled-millions-into-thinking-chocolate-helps-weight-1707251800

Political Idiocy

     In 2003 we were among the very few voices the rallied against the idiocy that soon became the Iraq War, especially when it is a political decision made either in the "heat of the moment" and for self-serving purposes.  George W Bush took this country to a war justified by falsified facts. Some were knowingly falsified and some were the result of poor and less competent decision-making expertise.  The result will be his and America's legacy for all time.
     We should not be so quick to forgive and forget the others who pushed Bush to this decision.We should be quick to be wary of those who seem ambivalent about this black-eye on our history.  Most definitely, they should not be put in leadership positions to repeat this insanity.

Political Cartoons from THE WEEK

Is Christianity Fading in the US?

In its "Talking points" section The Week (www.theweek.com) commented on the recent survey by the Pew Research Center that the future of Christianity in America "looks bleak." It said

Clearly we are staring in the face of a European-style collapse in religious observance within a couple of generations.

David Usborne in Independent.co.uk  says

Hallelujah! The effect organized religion has had on American politics has been utterly toxic. The Christian right has tried for decades to impose its harsh, Old Testament views on the entire country.

He goes on to claim

Rather than ignoring fringe elements of intolerance, Republicans "pander to them."

And Tod Robberson in the Dallas Morning News says

In a modern world torn apart by medieval religious extremism who wants to be affiliated with intolerance

Unbiased Reporting

      Finding unbiased reporting is almost impossible.  The "mainstream" broadcast media such as CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, and CBS are often accused of being left-leaning.  FOX doesn't hide the fact that is way to the right.  In print media, such as daily newspapers and magazines, it is often more difficult to identify biases.  Often the biases are subtle through simply reporting news favorable and ignoring news unfavorable to an author's or to an organization's bias.
     However, we appear to have found print publication that makes a noticeable attempt to present multiple sides of a story using re-prints of statements from competent proponents. It is a weekly titled "The Week" (www.theweek.com)  and sub-titled "All you need to know about everything that matters." It is one of the few periodicals that I find myself reading from cover-to-cover.
    In the May 29'th issue they commented on a "bias" topic which we have been following for nearly a decade. "How Fox is Damaging the GOP."  in which they reference an article by James Fallows in "The Atlantic," "How Fox New is (Still) Hurting the Republicans" (read it here). They could as well have included certain prominent talk-show hosts as damaging to the Republicans.
     In his article he says

Religiously Unaffiliated Shows Significant Growth in America

Pew Research shows a significant decline in religious affiliation with Christian religions dropping from 78% to 70% in seven years

Pew found the problem exacerbated by age demographics with the young being the least religious.
http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/

22 Reasons Why Climate Apocylipse Is Wrong

According to the IPCC "The Science is Clear."  According to Al Gore "The Debate is Over."  However, according to Jean-Pierre Bardinet

But anyone with some scientific background who takes pains to study the topics at hand is quickly led to conclude that the arguments of the IPCC are inaccurate, for many reasons of which here is a non-exhaustive list.

Read his 22 Inconvenient Truths on Global Warming by clicking the following
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/05/12/22-very-inconvenient-climate-truths/