This week's Arrow discusses the Durham report and cognitive dissonance resolution along with James Comey's novel a new weight loss pill, statin 'misinformation, and a woke anthropologist's ramblings on the Paleo diet.
Thank you. Regarding the LDL-C not being casual section of your post. It strikes me as so odd that researchers were surprised that this is one very well talked about reason to not take statins. Do they really live in such a narrow reality or is it just stunning levels of arrogance/ Dunning Kruger?
Who knows? The more prestigious the institution, the more likely Big Pharma is entwined. Big Pharma underwrites a lot of the research, so those doing the research tend to keep the funds flowing. Best way to cut them off is to say the drugs don't really work.
Mike - another terrifically fun read. Regarding Matt's review of Comey's novel - I watch Racket News with Taibbi and Walter Kirn every week (I think they come out on Friday) and part of the reason I watch them is to see Matt duck under his desk laughing at something Walter has said. They've taken to reading fiction and explaining some of the current news in terms of that fiction (Catch 22 anyone?) - truly fascinating stuff.
For a really fun and hilarious take on some feminist scholarship, everyone should check out Michael Nanya's video on The Grievance Studies Affair (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVk9a5Jcd1k) - you are spot-on with your assessment of this sort of scholarship.
I do wish someone (you, perhaps?) would check out a rumor about the new iteration of Weight Watchers, which I believe has something to do with the new oral wegovy . . . perhaps not true at all, but - just curious.
Only one typo I noticed - but it was such a fun read I might have missed some things - until that final video which I've seen before but watched again. Total fury at all of them - but what will happen to any of them? Sort of like the Durham report . . . . crickets. Sigh.
I keep thinking that the best way to deal with the woke problems (along with the vaccine problems, and all the other problems we find as our democracy falls apart faster and faster etc.) is to make fun of those who are taking themselves so bloody seriously and changing things "for the better" - which of course they aren't. Those guys writing the papers certainly enjoyed doing it too.
OUTSTANDING VIDEO... I especially enjoyed Bill-iam Gates groveling in apology trying to sound like an elder who just discovered he was completely wrong...but for the wrong reason - so its not his fault. Worse than George Romney running for president saying he was BRAIN WASHED!! Bill said we did not know...and the death rates we so low.....huh? Death rates so low that... why did they care? Or why lock everyone up? Why threaten their lives? Why take their JOBS away? Why threaten to take away their right to medical services..etc, etc... In the end Gates STILL DOES NOT GET IT. He calls it a disease of the old. It is a disease that preys on the sick. Age PER SE is not the main factor in the data I have seen. Its about having the wrong medical co-morbidities...and as people age they tend to have more than when they are young- but its much more about the Co-morbidities than about age. Control for Co-morbidities and the correlation with age is weak... Most who DIED of COIVD had 4 or more Co-morbidities. (Ouch!) <<or were vacccinated...>> Apparently Gates STILLL does not know that. I loved OAC kvetching about masks then dressing up and not wearing one--masks are for peons...Speaking of 'peons' Fauci says if you wear two swimming suits you can pee in a swimming pool ( not really - but it's a great joke). My GOD!! all these spokes people all these TV-anchors and 'personalities' all these high profile people -- all of them DEAD WRONG and sanctimonious as can be. They reek of misplaced superiority. Do not do you own research??? What was that about. NO CRITICAL THINKING ALLOWED. It is 1984 and Animal Farm is the model. Everyone is created equal but the pigs are more equal... and we all know who the pigs are... Watch the video!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI3yU5Z2adI
I thought you had posted a new video, so I clicked on the link. I ended up watching it yet again (for about the fifth time) and got pissed off all over again. It is a great video. A ton of time went into its making.
Mike, amazing this wokewash baloney is now permeating anthropology. Even when you suspect it's bs, it's like a car wreck, hard not to look, right?
Earlier this year, I was dealing with a trademark issue, and the infringers were a university sponsored club publishing self described "intersectional feminist literature". The publisher, staff, etc identified as pretty much anything except normal, and curious to understand what intersectional feminist literature was, I started reading and realized it's longhand for bs. I would be fine if this was labeled fiction but it's supposed to be serious academic writing!
The problem is that everyone is trying to doctor up their work as scientific to give it more street cred. If you really want some hilarious reading you should read the paper authored by James Lindsay and Peter Boghossian exposing the fraud and lack of science in these "science adjacent " subjects like gender studies. That paper was about dogs in Portland attempting homosexual acts. It was fake but was accepted for publication and was peer reviewed too! There is a famous video of these guys being interviewed by Joe Rogan, and that's a real hoot to watch. You get the sense of two college kids playing a prank and getting away with it. The paper is so preposterous, I can see why they were amazed it was taken as legit. There is literally a paper to support anything, peer reviewed too. With the fake scientific paper mills in china cranking out stuff, who knows what's real anymore.
So it is not wrong to use common sense. Total bs that the women were taking down big animals. Did that paper note the men shared chestfeeding duties too? I am amazed she admitted they ate meat, but a stopped clock is right twice daily, so she stumbled onto a fact. Lord help us.
I watched one of their videos about the entire process. Shows the conformation bias in full form. If you're trying to make a field of study that is totally irrational, then there are no guidelines, so you are primed to get duped by anything that rings your chimes. Speaking of fields of study, I just read an article about a major university (can't remember now which one) that is redoing all its literature to remove the word "field" from everything. Their rationale is that some people might be offended by the use of the word in such phrases as "field work," or "field of study," because it could remind them that slaves worked in the fields. If this keeps on, how long will it be before we are prohibited from wearing cotton.
Never thought about the cotton issue - although I too have seen the criticism directed at people using the word "field." Somehow I thought it was from Stanford University - along with the rest of this language nonsense from that august institution:
We are doomed. I don't know how to protect me and my family from this insanity, let alone how to save this nation. Is there no other solution other than shoot them in the head? I'm at a loss. Winter is coming.
Sorry, I was in a cranky mood last night. As you said the insanity does pass, but the revelations of the characters of these people, that remains. Who will trust these people the next time they say we are in emergency? And without trust of our fellow citizens, at least of their good intentions, how do we go on as a country?
These days I think that's a forlorn hope. Once I thought any collapse would happen after I died, maybe in 25 or 30 years. But now, like Hemingway's description of his bankruptcy, I think it will come gradually and then suddenly.
You know something? That is a paraphrasing of a Chinese proverb. That's how that culture has endured. My hope is that enough of us will not fall for this nonsense and the crazies will Darwin themselves out, like all bad ideas.
I enjoyed the read. Sorry for the tedious chore of records destruction (been there, don that) -days of my life I'll never get back. Thank you for all you do.
First on statins, note our friend Malcolm Kendrick with Zoe Harcombe has started legal action for defamation by a newspaper on this issue. I am hoping the defence will bring on Prof Sir R C, who will then be forced to open his data for others to analyse.
There was a tweet by Thomas Dayspring that I had to comment on. I like him even though I have the other view but this lack of perspective stunned me.
Another icky fact is that only XX women can be pregnant and spend time suckling children. Ignoring the unfairness to men that also makes it difficult to go hunting. What’s wrong with division of labour so long as everyone is doing their bit? Also expertise comes with specialization and it is extremely important to be an expert hunter, and probably an expert gatherer too to avoid poisonous plants. I would think the women also got to know which plants had useful medicinal properties.
I confess Doctor Eades that I am medication hesitant – for my entire life. I find ‘hesitant’ patronizing. Seeing the Rybelsus warnings I would be more than hesitant, it looks like – what kind of death would you prefer?
I am in a bit of trouble. Someone whose writing on economics I am a big fan of also commented recently that the Great Barrington Declaration was obviously absurd. I commented that it seemed to me essentially correct and gave Sweden as supporting proof, all polite with other information. After many supporting comments on his work over years I have now become a troll. I don’t have a problem with disagreement and I may be wrong. I think it is the cognitive dissonance you mention.
Finally, as you have already mentioned, both Trump and Biden are too old for the POTUS job. I am older than Biden and from what I see a lot fitter but don’t think that I should be in any executive position. Give the younger folks a chance – that’s both fair and sensible.
Thanks for the comprehensive comment. It will be interesting to see how the Malcolm/Zoe lawsuit pans out. I've got my fingers crossed for them. I agree re Dayspring. He's a nice guy, but when you're a lipidologist, you've got to believe lipids cause everything. True about the pregnancy and child rearing bit. I'm curious as to the name of the economist bashing the GBD. I, too, am medicine hesitant. I take zero regular meds. Don't get me started on Biden v Trump and age. I wish with all my heart that Trump were president right now. He couldn't possibly be any worse than Biden, and he would be gone permanently in under 1.5 years. As it stands now, he's going to be a player or a spoiler for God only knows how long.
Are you and your bride still making the Sous Vide Supreme? If so you might be interested in a blurb in the WSJ (Off Duty, page 12) about the newest model with built in WiFi and Alexa voice control. I use my older model to make 36 hour yogurt in quart mason jars.
We're still part owners in the company, but are not involved in the day to day operations. I did see the bit in the WSJ. Nice coverage. And, best of all, free. We use ours for everything, including making yogurt, which it is doing right now.
Thank you. Regarding the LDL-C not being casual section of your post. It strikes me as so odd that researchers were surprised that this is one very well talked about reason to not take statins. Do they really live in such a narrow reality or is it just stunning levels of arrogance/ Dunning Kruger?
Who knows? The more prestigious the institution, the more likely Big Pharma is entwined. Big Pharma underwrites a lot of the research, so those doing the research tend to keep the funds flowing. Best way to cut them off is to say the drugs don't really work.
Mike - another terrifically fun read. Regarding Matt's review of Comey's novel - I watch Racket News with Taibbi and Walter Kirn every week (I think they come out on Friday) and part of the reason I watch them is to see Matt duck under his desk laughing at something Walter has said. They've taken to reading fiction and explaining some of the current news in terms of that fiction (Catch 22 anyone?) - truly fascinating stuff.
For a really fun and hilarious take on some feminist scholarship, everyone should check out Michael Nanya's video on The Grievance Studies Affair (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVk9a5Jcd1k) - you are spot-on with your assessment of this sort of scholarship.
I do wish someone (you, perhaps?) would check out a rumor about the new iteration of Weight Watchers, which I believe has something to do with the new oral wegovy . . . perhaps not true at all, but - just curious.
Only one typo I noticed - but it was such a fun read I might have missed some things - until that final video which I've seen before but watched again. Total fury at all of them - but what will happen to any of them? Sort of like the Durham report . . . . crickets. Sigh.
in come capacity for the CIA.
in some capacity . . .
Wow! What a great video. Unless I can come up with something better, it will be my Video of the Week next week.
Thanks for finding the typo. It's fixed.
I keep thinking that the best way to deal with the woke problems (along with the vaccine problems, and all the other problems we find as our democracy falls apart faster and faster etc.) is to make fun of those who are taking themselves so bloody seriously and changing things "for the better" - which of course they aren't. Those guys writing the papers certainly enjoyed doing it too.
Ridicule is always the best offense.
Drat - now I'm finding my own typos; that should be Michael Nayna - he's done several very good videos - worth searching out.
OUTSTANDING VIDEO... I especially enjoyed Bill-iam Gates groveling in apology trying to sound like an elder who just discovered he was completely wrong...but for the wrong reason - so its not his fault. Worse than George Romney running for president saying he was BRAIN WASHED!! Bill said we did not know...and the death rates we so low.....huh? Death rates so low that... why did they care? Or why lock everyone up? Why threaten their lives? Why take their JOBS away? Why threaten to take away their right to medical services..etc, etc... In the end Gates STILL DOES NOT GET IT. He calls it a disease of the old. It is a disease that preys on the sick. Age PER SE is not the main factor in the data I have seen. Its about having the wrong medical co-morbidities...and as people age they tend to have more than when they are young- but its much more about the Co-morbidities than about age. Control for Co-morbidities and the correlation with age is weak... Most who DIED of COIVD had 4 or more Co-morbidities. (Ouch!) <<or were vacccinated...>> Apparently Gates STILLL does not know that. I loved OAC kvetching about masks then dressing up and not wearing one--masks are for peons...Speaking of 'peons' Fauci says if you wear two swimming suits you can pee in a swimming pool ( not really - but it's a great joke). My GOD!! all these spokes people all these TV-anchors and 'personalities' all these high profile people -- all of them DEAD WRONG and sanctimonious as can be. They reek of misplaced superiority. Do not do you own research??? What was that about. NO CRITICAL THINKING ALLOWED. It is 1984 and Animal Farm is the model. Everyone is created equal but the pigs are more equal... and we all know who the pigs are... Watch the video!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI3yU5Z2adI
I thought you had posted a new video, so I clicked on the link. I ended up watching it yet again (for about the fifth time) and got pissed off all over again. It is a great video. A ton of time went into its making.
Sorry. but yeah I sent it around... I thought I'd I'd make it easy in case anyone did not watch it.
Mike, amazing this wokewash baloney is now permeating anthropology. Even when you suspect it's bs, it's like a car wreck, hard not to look, right?
Earlier this year, I was dealing with a trademark issue, and the infringers were a university sponsored club publishing self described "intersectional feminist literature". The publisher, staff, etc identified as pretty much anything except normal, and curious to understand what intersectional feminist literature was, I started reading and realized it's longhand for bs. I would be fine if this was labeled fiction but it's supposed to be serious academic writing!
The problem is that everyone is trying to doctor up their work as scientific to give it more street cred. If you really want some hilarious reading you should read the paper authored by James Lindsay and Peter Boghossian exposing the fraud and lack of science in these "science adjacent " subjects like gender studies. That paper was about dogs in Portland attempting homosexual acts. It was fake but was accepted for publication and was peer reviewed too! There is a famous video of these guys being interviewed by Joe Rogan, and that's a real hoot to watch. You get the sense of two college kids playing a prank and getting away with it. The paper is so preposterous, I can see why they were amazed it was taken as legit. There is literally a paper to support anything, peer reviewed too. With the fake scientific paper mills in china cranking out stuff, who knows what's real anymore.
So it is not wrong to use common sense. Total bs that the women were taking down big animals. Did that paper note the men shared chestfeeding duties too? I am amazed she admitted they ate meat, but a stopped clock is right twice daily, so she stumbled onto a fact. Lord help us.
I watched one of their videos about the entire process. Shows the conformation bias in full form. If you're trying to make a field of study that is totally irrational, then there are no guidelines, so you are primed to get duped by anything that rings your chimes. Speaking of fields of study, I just read an article about a major university (can't remember now which one) that is redoing all its literature to remove the word "field" from everything. Their rationale is that some people might be offended by the use of the word in such phrases as "field work," or "field of study," because it could remind them that slaves worked in the fields. If this keeps on, how long will it be before we are prohibited from wearing cotton.
If you know of a Galtville, let's all go there with our sous vides and steaks and wait this madness out.
I'm in.
Never thought about the cotton issue - although I too have seen the criticism directed at people using the word "field." Somehow I thought it was from Stanford University - along with the rest of this language nonsense from that august institution:
https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/stanfordlanguage.pdf
We are doomed. I don't know how to protect me and my family from this insanity, let alone how to save this nation. Is there no other solution other than shoot them in the head? I'm at a loss. Winter is coming.
This, too, shall pass. At least I hope it does.
Sorry, I was in a cranky mood last night. As you said the insanity does pass, but the revelations of the characters of these people, that remains. Who will trust these people the next time they say we are in emergency? And without trust of our fellow citizens, at least of their good intentions, how do we go on as a country?
These days I think that's a forlorn hope. Once I thought any collapse would happen after I died, maybe in 25 or 30 years. But now, like Hemingway's description of his bankruptcy, I think it will come gradually and then suddenly.
Press on
You know something? That is a paraphrasing of a Chinese proverb. That's how that culture has endured. My hope is that enough of us will not fall for this nonsense and the crazies will Darwin themselves out, like all bad ideas.
I enjoyed the read. Sorry for the tedious chore of records destruction (been there, don that) -days of my life I'll never get back. Thank you for all you do.
Yep, it's a pain. Especially the sorting. But it has to be done.
First on statins, note our friend Malcolm Kendrick with Zoe Harcombe has started legal action for defamation by a newspaper on this issue. I am hoping the defence will bring on Prof Sir R C, who will then be forced to open his data for others to analyse.
There was a tweet by Thomas Dayspring that I had to comment on. I like him even though I have the other view but this lack of perspective stunned me.
https://twitter.com/Drlipid/status/1664616046597140480
Another icky fact is that only XX women can be pregnant and spend time suckling children. Ignoring the unfairness to men that also makes it difficult to go hunting. What’s wrong with division of labour so long as everyone is doing their bit? Also expertise comes with specialization and it is extremely important to be an expert hunter, and probably an expert gatherer too to avoid poisonous plants. I would think the women also got to know which plants had useful medicinal properties.
I confess Doctor Eades that I am medication hesitant – for my entire life. I find ‘hesitant’ patronizing. Seeing the Rybelsus warnings I would be more than hesitant, it looks like – what kind of death would you prefer?
I am in a bit of trouble. Someone whose writing on economics I am a big fan of also commented recently that the Great Barrington Declaration was obviously absurd. I commented that it seemed to me essentially correct and gave Sweden as supporting proof, all polite with other information. After many supporting comments on his work over years I have now become a troll. I don’t have a problem with disagreement and I may be wrong. I think it is the cognitive dissonance you mention.
Finally, as you have already mentioned, both Trump and Biden are too old for the POTUS job. I am older than Biden and from what I see a lot fitter but don’t think that I should be in any executive position. Give the younger folks a chance – that’s both fair and sensible.
Thanks for the comprehensive comment. It will be interesting to see how the Malcolm/Zoe lawsuit pans out. I've got my fingers crossed for them. I agree re Dayspring. He's a nice guy, but when you're a lipidologist, you've got to believe lipids cause everything. True about the pregnancy and child rearing bit. I'm curious as to the name of the economist bashing the GBD. I, too, am medicine hesitant. I take zero regular meds. Don't get me started on Biden v Trump and age. I wish with all my heart that Trump were president right now. He couldn't possibly be any worse than Biden, and he would be gone permanently in under 1.5 years. As it stands now, he's going to be a player or a spoiler for God only knows how long.
I always tell my kids that a family is like a baseball team. We all have roles and they're not the same but all are vital for our team to win.
Are you and your bride still making the Sous Vide Supreme? If so you might be interested in a blurb in the WSJ (Off Duty, page 12) about the newest model with built in WiFi and Alexa voice control. I use my older model to make 36 hour yogurt in quart mason jars.
We're still part owners in the company, but are not involved in the day to day operations. I did see the bit in the WSJ. Nice coverage. And, best of all, free. We use ours for everything, including making yogurt, which it is doing right now.
I just finished reading this at 7:47 pm on Friday evening and it now says “video unavailable”.... hmmm.... censored??
Mine works just fine. Try the one in the link below. I checked it, and it works.