lb-lee:

kumquatwriter:

divineirony:

Penn & Teller kill the anti-vaccination argument in just over a minute.

This is why Penn & Teller are personal heroes

Probably the educational comic I’ve had to link to most is The Facts in The Case of Dr. Andrew Wakefield, by Darryl Cunningham, which is a total deconstruction of the bullshit that STARTED this whole idea.  It’s a fascinating read!

The “vaccines causes autism” lie was research sponsored by a company wanting to discredit their competitors (you know, the Big Pharma anti-vaxxers are so het up over), issued horribly painful, invasive procedures on children against guidelines, and was generally Very Bad Science that did NOT actually care about the well-being of children.

However, it plays into people’s fears about autism, science, and vaccines, and so people risk the health of CHILDREN AROUND THEM to satisfy their completely irrational fears. (This is why the “they’re just trying to protect their children!” argument holds no water with me.  You want to protect children?  You ain’t doing it by purposely denying vaccinations to your healthy child, thereby exposing immune-weakened kids, the ones who really CAN’T get vaccinated, to possibly fatal, crippling diseases.  You’re sacrificing other people’s children FOR YOUR SELFISH DESIRES.  You fucking prick.)

Despite being taken down and proven wrong again and again, people continue to BELIEVE this bullshit because it FEELS real, because it’s been around so long it MUST be true.  They knew this autistic kid once who became autistic after their vaccinations, so correlation MUST be causation, and also autism is totally worse than fucking measles. (Cluebat, people: it ain’t.  Not even CLOSE.)


Tags:

#vaccines #lying bastards #as it happens I got my annual flu shot and my decadal tetanus shot yesterday #both of my upper arms are sore but it’s *completely* worth it

chikaderp:

wildunicornherd:

thinksquad:

Here is a Science fair project presented by a girl in a secondary school in Sussex . In it she took filtered water and divided it into two parts. The first part she heated to boiling in a pan on the stove, and the second part she heated to boiling in a microwave. Then after cooling she used the water to water two identical plants to see if there would be any difference in the growth between the normal boiled water and the water boiled in a microwave. She was thinking that the structure or energy of the water may be compromised by microwave. As it turned out, even she was amazed at the difference, after the experiment which was repeated by her class mates a number of times and had the same result.

It has been known for some years that the problem with microwaved anything is not the radiation people used to worry about, it’s how it corrupts the DNA in the food so the body can not recognize it.

Microwaves don’t work different ways on different substances. Whatever you put into the microwave suffers the same destructive process. Microwaves agitate the molecules to move faster and faster. This movement causes friction which denatures the original make-up of the substance. It results in destroyed vitamins, minerals, proteins and generates the new stuff called radiolytic compounds, things that are not found in nature.

So the body wraps it in fat cells to protect itself from the dead food or it eliminates it fast. Think of all the Mothers heating up milk in these ‘Safe’ appliances. What about the nurse in Canada that warmed up blood for a transfusion patient and accidentally killed him when the blood went in dead. But the makers say it’s safe. But proof is in the pictures of living plants dying!

NO, YOU PIG-IGNORANT ASSWIPES.

SOME KID’S CLASS PROJECT IS NOT REAL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. YOU’VE HEARD OF “DOUBLE BLIND”, RIGHT? CALL ME WHEN IT’S PUBLISHED IN NATURE.

the structure or energy of the water

what the fuck does that even mean you realize that a water molecule is made up of three fucking atoms and if you rearrange it it isn’t water anymore and you would fucking notice

the problem with microwaved anything is not the radiation people used to worry about

Here is a handy diagram I drew of all the different types of radiation:

Electromagnetic Spectrum Cheat Sheet (oh noes microwaves)

Microwaves != nuclear reactors, so calm your tits.

it’s how it corrupts the DNA in the food so the body can not recognize it

…do you understand what DNA is and how eating works? DNA is a jumble of protein in the middle of each cell and it tells the cells in that particular organism how to make more cells. Your body does not care about whether your food has any DNA in it or not. The chemicals it cares about are things like vitamins and sugars, as well as inorganic shit like salt.

(You can denature DNA by heating it or using chemicals like urea. It is like what happens when you fry an egg, which is basically a big glob of protein—the strands break apart and it looks like tiny white strings. Very cool.)

Microwaves agitate the molecules to move faster and faster.

I…just…that is the fucking definition of heat, whether you’re heating something over a flame or in a microwave or using the Sun. The difference is that microwaves mostly affect the water molecules in your food and they don’t need to use as much heat. Water boils at 100°C, which is just about as hot as water can get before it just turns into steam; but that’s like the lowest setting on your oven. Oven- or stove-cooked food tastes different partly because it uses higher temperatures and partly because heat is transferred in a different way.

This movement causes friction

That’s not what friction is.

It results in destroyed vitamins, minerals, proteins and generates the new stuff called radiolytic compounds, things that are not found in nature.

Let’s take these one at a time.

  • Vitamins are classified as water-soluble or fat-soluble. So cooking things in water will dissolve the water-soluble vitamins (C and all the B’s). Just plain heat doesn’t do that, so microwaving veggies—which keeps the water in—is actually a healthier option.
  • Proteins: Breaking the chemical bonds in proteins (denaturing) is a part of any cooking. However, denatured protein is still nutritious—that’s why you can meet your protein intake with foods like fried eggs and baked chicken.
  • Minerals are just chemical elements, like off the periodic table—sodium, iron, potassium. (Vitamins and proteins are very complex combinations of elements.)

Which brings me to the “radiolytic compound” bullshit. When you talk about breaking apart, say, iron—you’re talking about breaking down the iron atoms themselves. Which is a whole lot different than breaking the bonds between atoms. It takes hella radiation. You need shit like gamma rays—the OOOH SCARY NUCULAR radiation—which we’ve already established do not come from your microwave.

things that are not found in nature

What the shit does that even mean? You all know radioactive elements occur in nature, right? In rocks and also in living cells. That’s right, you have this radioactive kind of carbon INSIDE YOU. You get it by eating those delicious plants. We can tell how long ago something died by how much of it is left.

Tons of shit that occurs naturally is horribly bad for you. And tons of shit that never existed until we cooked it up is great for you—like the chemical compounds in a lot of medications.

PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THIS SHIT ARE WHY CHILDHOOD DISEASES THAT CAUSED SERIOUS ILLNESSES AND/OR DEATH THAT WE NEARLY ERADICATED WITH VACCINES ARE NOW COMING BACK AND WHY CONSPIRACY THEORIST TWATS ARE ASKING CITY COUNCIL NOT TO FLUORIDATE THE WATER AND WHY GLOBAL WARMING WILL WRECK OUR FUCKING PLANET.

LERN 2 SCIENCE. Think before you reblog. And microwave your veggies.

This was incredibly amusing to read. Thank you so much for sciencing.


Tags:

#the power of science #yes this #(the rebuttal I mean) #also the thing about anecdotes is there are pretty much always equal and opposite anecdotes #like for example the Mythbusters did this one and their microwaved-water plant did *better* #so once you start arguinng using anecdotes you are never going to win #because there will inevitably be counterarguments that your own rules say you cannot defeat

{{not completely certain that the first and second posters are actually different people}}

hoodsos-aus:

 

magconbabe-matt:

This shit better work

 

sansaspark:

HAH I REBLOGGED THIS LAST NIGHT AND LOOK WHAT I GOT FROM MY DAD TODAY OUT OF THE BLUE

 

hellabitcoins:

what if we all got paper lol

 

tokitoide:

TOO DAMN SUPERSTITIOUS WHEEEEEEE

 

plantmandotexeretired:

Wow…wtf, I hadn’t noticed this month had 5 weekends O3O

 

verilidaine:

(All this requires to happen is a month with 31 days to start on a Friday.  This will happen May 2015, January 2016… and on and on.)

 

justice-turtle:

*backreads post notes* Ooh, thanks for the math, verilidaine. I figured there had to be some kind of “it won’t happen again in August till blah de blah” thing going on, but couldn’t quite figure out the specifics.

I also figured it was specifically August, but even that has a next-occurrence date of merely 2025. (Source: my computer’s calendar function. It has a “move forward one year” button, which I clicked repeatedly until I found an August ending on Sunday. Feel free to find a calendar program with the same button if you want to double-check.)

(I feel a little bad about reblogging this, because I recently saw someone make a blog comment along the lines of “look, this total-bullshit Tumblr post has 20,000 notes, lol stupid teenagers” and reblogging this is providing more fodder for that sort of thing (it wasn’t the first time I’ve seen that type of post, and I doubt it will be the last). I’m trying to tell myself it’s their own fault for basing their ageist insults on a critical misunderstanding of how the note system works. Not sure how much it’s helping.)


Tags:

#reply via reblog #Orientalism #ageism #lying bastards

you-are-another-me:

 

eponymous-rose:

dubpron:

alovinglittlelady:

thesecretkeith:

“A friend took this pic in Arizona USA. The meteorologists don’t have a name for it. 
Seems to be high energy to be in a Rainbow and a tornado!
 ”

Perhaps the Dorothy Effect?

Sonic Rainboom

#lesbian territory fight

Summoned in the tags—it’s a rare and unusual phenomenon known only in scientific communities as “Photoshop”. ;)

Fictional, but pretty.


Tags:

#rainbows #pretty things #tornadoes

taracynara:

onelonelydalek:

martymcflyinthefuture:

Today is the day that Marty McFly goes to the future!

wow. this is actually very important.

So where the hell is my hover board?

#wait I thought he went to 2015 (nenya-kanadka)

He did. Look at the source blog. It’s a series of faked pictures of the time machine’s destination board, one per day.


Tags:

#lying bastards #Back to the Future #one day I will actually watch those movies all the way through #despite how much trouble I have focusing on audio input for longer than about an hour #maybe I will watch each of them in multiple chunks

necrophilofthefuture:

when girls say “i was born in the wrong decade!!” “i belong in the 20’s!!!” “i wish guys were still old fashioned gentlemen!”

image

image

image

image

are u sure about that 

Wilbur Hardee opened the first Hardee’s Drive-In Restaurant on Fourteenth Street on September 9, 1960.

Everyone seems to agree that that particular logo came into use around 2006.

(Plus the suspiciously large quantities of self-deprecation that pinged my bullshit alarm in the first place.)

“The 1920’s had too much sexism to be a good place to live” is a perfectly decent point. Not only that, you don’t even need to invoke bigotry at all to make the greater point of “the 1920’s would not be a good place to live”. No Internet, no food inspection, shadow of the Great Depression hanging over your head (from the perspective of the people talking about wanting to live there). Why undermine your argument by using blatant lies to support it?


Tags:

#I tagged the last debunking #lying bastards

witchlingfumbles:

GUISE

GUISE

IF YOU HIT “X+C” IT SHUTS OFF EVERY GIF ON YOUR DASH

EVERY SINGLE ONE TURNS TO A LITTLE GREY BOX WITH A LOCK

GUISE

TUMBLR HAS MADE ITSELF SAFE FOR EPILEPTICS

PASS IT ON

 

ramon-salamander:

I BRING FORTH THIS KNOWLEDGE TO ANY FELLOW TUMBLRITES/SEIZURE-PRONE PEOPLE THAT MAY FOLLOW ME

KINDLY THANK THE OP FOR THIS KNOWLEDGE

I AM A HUMBLE MESSENGER

 

mistress-laufeyson:

oh i thought this would be useful for when your parents walk by but ok

 

slepaulica:

…it doesn’t work?

 

naminia:

I noticed (and then somehow forgot to write it? I reblogged this to comment on that. *sigh* well, this time, then)

 

slepaulica:

it’s okay — maybe you did comment but tumblr lost it? that happens sometimes too. I have seen this on my dash a couple times recently, so i just wanted all my followers to know that this is a thing that doesnt work.

Well, the last time I saw a post like this going around it worked for some people and not others. Both times I’ve been one of the people it didn’t work for.

(I never did try it with Windows. Last time I logged into my Google account under Windows, Google freaked out afterward, saying my account had been compromised and forcing me to change my password right that moment. Considering the antivirus on my Windows system isn’t actually very good (I mostly just use it for video games), I figured it was probably best not to type any more passwords into it.)


Tags:

#reply via reblog

yourspookyginger:

 

gipsiidanger:

basilton:

In the early years of space flight, both Russians and Americans used pencils in space. Unfortunately, pencil lead is made of graphite, a highly conductive material. Snapped graphite leads and particles in zero gravity are hugely problematic, as they will get sucked into the air ventilation or electronic equipment, easily causing shorts or fires in the pure oxygen environment of a capsule.

After the fire in Apollo 1 which killed all the astronauts on board, NASA required a writing instrument that wasn’t a fire hazard. Fisher spent over a million dollars (of his own money) creating a pressurized ball point pen, which NASA bought at $2.95 each. The Russian space program also switched over from pencils shortly after.

40 years later snide morons on the internet still snigger about it, because snide morons on the internet never know what they are talking about.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU YOU WONDERFUL HUMAN

I’VE HEARD SO MANY PEOPLE GIVE AMERICA SHIT ABOUT THIS AND LAUGH BECAUSE THEY THINK AMERICA IS SO FUCKING STUPID FOR SPENDING A MILLION DOLLARS ON A PEN WHEN THEY COULD’VE USED A PENCIL, LIKE THEY WERE TOO STUPID TO THINK OF THAT CONCEPT

THAT PEN WAS AN IDEA THAT PROBABLY LITERALLY SAVED LIVES AND THIS DAMN POST HAS BEEN CIRCULATING WITH PEOPLE LAUGHING AT NASA AND TREATING THEM LIKE IDIOTS 

SHUT THE FUCK UP AND SHIT THE FUCK DOWN


Tags:

#because you know there had to be more to it than that #history #the power of science

jtotheizzoe:

Shark Weak

Discovery Channel, we need to talk. 

There’s nothing as tragic as seeing an old friend destroy their life, putting trash in their body, a ruined shell of their former self filled with nothing but wasted junk. They chase a drug that they don’t want to get a buzz they’ll never get again. For one old friend, that high is ratings, the drug is Shark Week, and the part of Lindsay Lohan is played by the Discovery Channel.

Since 1987, Discovery has been bringing sharks into our living rooms for one week a year. Exploring their incredible biology, misunderstood behavior, and terrifying image through a scientific camera lens. Well, they have thrown that mission away. It’s official. With this year’s fake-but-disguised-as-real mockumentary about the definitely-extinct Megalodon shark, they have officially jumped their own programming.

Last night, to kick off Shark Week, Discovery aired a program full of supposed home video footage that allegedly captured an enormous, never-seen shark. Could it be the terrifying prehistoric Megalodon, haunting the deep this whole time, right under our noses?

No, of course not. That thing’s extinct as extinct can be. Failing to make that clear to your audience, and interviewing actors as scientists is as bad as Animal Planet’s Mermaids fiasco. Discovery Channel now stands solely for entertainment, not science. So it goes, I guess.

We’ve lost science in our newspapers, on our radios, even in a good number of our schools. Discovery was founded to use the creative freedom of cable television to bring science to the airwaves. Now they have thrown it away, with a fantasy story presented as reality, lying to viewers for the sake of ad dollars. 

Here’s some collected reactions:

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” you might say. “They’re just trying to make something entertaining, who cares?“ you may think. This is a big deal. This means that dozens of people, when designing their flagship programming week, made a deliberate choice to present a lie as truth, because they don’t think you are smart enough to be entertained by the truth

Tell Discovery what you think by visiting their Facebook page and Twitter page. Do not give them another dollar/minute of your TV time until they apologize, and even then think twice because you know how addictions go. It’s time to tell them that you deserve better.

Want real, truthful, respectful shark science this week? I suggest checking out NatGeo Wild’s SharkFest programming (made with real science!) and my friend and marine scientist David Shiffman’s sharktastic Twitter feed

Discovery Channel … this is an intervention. We’re here as friends, we’re concerned that you’re going to do damage to yourself that you can’t undo, and we want our old channel back. Stop insulting the intelligence of the audience you claim to serve, and get your shit together. If you chum the water with crap, this is what swims to the surface.

Do you agree to check into scientific rehab today?

2013-08-06-sharkweek


Tags:

#saw the show #didn’t realise it was fictional #thought the Megalodon hunters were cryptozoologists: they believed it was real but it wasn’t #and that the show should have made their Bigfootishness more clear #it’s worse than I thought

nonicakesss:

 

dduane:

mercuriesrising:

vantasticmess:

w-for-wumbo:

I am so glad someone made this cuz I’ve always wondered how the movement of the solar system might look as a whole….

BUT LOOK HOW EPIC THE SOLAR SYSTEM IS GUYS

PEOPLE DON’T BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY WE’RE NEVER IN THE SAME PLACE ONCE.

I WASN’T FUCKING KIDDING.

Dairine’s frame of reference suddenly became huger than the whole Earth and the space that contained it, so that her planet seemed only one moving, whirling point plunging along its path through a terrible complexity of forces, among which gravity was a puny local thing and not to be regarded. …Earth spins at seventeen thousand miles an hour, plows along its orbital path at a hundred seventy-five thousand; and the Sun takes it and the whole Solar System off toward the constellation Hercules at a hundred fifteen thousand miles an hour. Then the Sun’s motion as one of innumerable stars in the Sagittarius Arm of the Galaxy sweeps it along at some two million miles an hour, and all the while relationships between individual stars, and those of stars to their planets, shift and change.

It all meant that any one person standing still on any planet was in fact traveling a crazed, corkscrewing path through space, at high speed: and the disorientation and sickness [of personal worldgating travel] were apparently the cause of suddenly, and for the first time, going in a straight line, in a universe where space itself and everything in it is curved….

(High Wizardry, 1990)

Oh right, it’s that thing that people were tearing apart recently.

It is pretty, I must admit.


Tags:

#space #lying bastards #the more you know