Ramblings, Offcuts, Purgations
From the Guardian: Romanian court tells man he is not alive A Romanian court has rejected a man’s claim that he is alive, after he was officially registered as dead. … Continue Reading Dead man walking. And breathing. And appealing (unsuccessfully) against being declared ‘dead’
The Starbucks I go to is now selling magic beans. Well, matcha tea lattes actually, which are like magic beans in the sense that they possess special powers: Detox the … Continue Reading Um Starbucks, could you not?
How can you ensure the success of a toilet? Maybe…call it a ‘Superloo‘? Well maybe not. In the news today is one such ‘super’ toilet which cost my hometown over … Continue Reading Argument over toilet breaks down on (civil war) political lines
Speaking as a Brian, I can confirm that this is true… In my 1970s childhood, everyone got chicken pox sooner or later. Whenever I felt unwell, I would eagerly look for … Continue Reading Brian thinks chicken pox is normal, Harper is confused
Alright, there really is no humble way of putting this. My new book [*blush*], having been trailed as “imminent” for several months, is now officially available. In all good booksellers, as … Continue Reading ‘Rethinking Psychology’ is now available
I’ve posted a piece at Psychology Today on the methodological problems surrounding Britain’s new alcohol consumption guidelines: The UK government has published new guidelines on healthy alcohol consumption and, yes, as might be predicted, … Continue Reading On alcohol guidelines and social desirability
The challenge: You know the drill. Waldo appears in different places in different scenes. There are 68 locations, therefore 68 places. The simulation: Let’s pretend Waldo is not a guy in … Continue Reading Where Waldo is (or, The science behind why journalists now think there is a science to be had behind everything)
It’s early January. That time when other people’s New Year’s resolutions mean that you get lots of emails. About really important stuff that you simply must deal with, like, immediately. … Continue Reading Some pieces and bits
Exhibit A: 1989 and Pons and Fleischmann announce cold fusion — an “inexhaustible source of energy” — at a press briefing in Utah, before they had applied for patents or published … Continue Reading What ‘Science By Press Conference’ looks like
Like a good sharknado, Susan Greenfield is (a) ridiculous and (b) back for more. We all remember this defence of her claim that internet use causes autism, don’t we? I point … Continue Reading I’m not saying Greenfield’s a pseudoscientist. I point to her pseudoscientific reasoning. That is all
Readers might remember that I got nice new frames for my spectacles lately. Of course, the same visit to the optometrist revealed me to have ‘dry eye’, a condition associated with … Continue Reading My battle against dry eye: I never thought things would get *this* bad…
Hat tip to c*nty_mc_sh*tb*lls over on Reddit for this one. Irish patients warned ‘miracle cure’ from US church is bleach A CONTROVERSIAL American Church which is coming to Ireland this … Continue Reading ‘Miracle’ cure removes cancer, HIV, autism. By killing you
Today, I had my head examined. Well, part of my head. Okay then, my eyes. I had an eye test. The usual results transpired. My macular degeneration continues to degenerate … Continue Reading I like TBUTs and I cannot lie
Yesterday morning I watched an interesting breakfast TV show here in Accra, on Ghana’s GTV. Interesting for three reasons: (a) because it illustrated the passionately articulate and comfortably personable nature … Continue Reading Marriage causes germs (kind of)
So, last week I had the pleasure of enjoying this delicious meal while exploring some backstreet neighbourhoods in Muscat, Oman. See can you guess what the green stuff is… Here’s … Continue Reading Results being “due to” causes somehow doesn’t imply causality
Greetings from Riyadh Airport. Saudi Arabia is, well, different. And, moving on… Here in Riyadh the government have been having to deal with mass panic over an outbreak of Middle … Continue Reading Keep away from camels; crowds (of humans) okay
