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FSB sources are reporting to President Medvedev today that American pop icon Michael Jackson was “most assuredly” assassinated by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) after an examination of data transmitted by a Russian Military’s Kosmos 2450 satellite show “conclusively” that immediately prior to the music stars death in Los Angeles an electromagnetic pulse consistent in pattern to EMR weapons looted from the former Soviet Union by the United States was employed at the “exact coordinates” of the rock stars home.And why did the CIA fire an electromagnetic pulse which killed Michael Jackson but somehow left everyone else in the house unharmed, you wonder?
To the reason behind the CIA needing to assassinate Michael Jackson, these reports continue, was an out of court settlement the pop icon signed with son of the king of Bahrain, Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al-Khalifa, this past November in London, and which stated, in part, that in exchange for millions of dollars previously lent to Mr. Jackson by the Sheikh, Mr. Jackson would allow his sold-out United Kingdom concerts to be a “platform” for warning the World of a soon to occur mass genocide event.Of course! Michael Jackson was zapped with a CIA Death Beam to stop him from warning the world about impending genocide. It's all so obvious...
Suddenly an old woman breaks from the crowd, screaming for mercy. Three or four people go after her, beat her and drag her back, pushing her onto - what I can now see - is a raging fire. [...] Village youths who took part in the killings told me that the five victims had to die because they had bewitched a young boy. "Of course some people have been burned. But there is proof of witchcraft," said one youth.In the 21st Century. *sigh*
Denise Hall of East Arlington faces one count of wire fraud and one count of filing a false tax return after investigators with the U.S. Attorney's office say she stole money from self-proclaimed spiritual medium Rosemary Altea — using four credit cards to obtain cash advances, forging checks and giving herself unauthorized electronic paychecks all under Altea's name for the past seven years ... Prosecutors claim Hall is responsible for embezzling and diverting between $120,000 and $200,000 from Altea between early 2001 and the middle of 2008If someone was stealing tens of thousands of dollars a year from you for seven years, and you're an "internationally renowned spiritual medium", shouldn't you have noticed that this person was up to no good? Wouldn't the dishonesty create a ripple in the psychic auras, or something, that you'd pick up on?
High Street retailers have rejected security fears about giving them the job of fingerprinting and photographing people applying for identity cards.Ah yes, good decision. Because the best way of establishing a robust infrastructure of national security to protect us from terrorism and organised crime and other constantly changing reasons why we supposedly need this, based on the latest and strongest biometric technologies, is to get Boots and Snappy Snaps to capture the biometric data central to the system's integrity. That's certainly how I'd do it. Because Snappy Snaps is the lynchpin of any well-built security system.
The Home Office has axed plans to set up ID card enrolment centres and instead wants pharmacies, post offices and photographic shops to do the work.
Trade bodies representing chains such as Boots and Snappy Snaps told the BBC they can be trusted with the data.
"I couldn't leave [the patient] at such a delicate moment," Mr Vitale was quoted by La Repubblica newspaper as saying.Bravo, sir.
"I'm not a hero, I only did my duty," he said.
Saudi police say they are investigating a hoax that has seen people rushing to buy old-fashioned sewing machines for up to $50,000 ... In Dhulum, it was reported that people had broken into two tailors' shops to steal the machines.Very odd. Mind you, people going mad for "red mercury" in old sewing machines isn't as silly as the British law enforcement establishment putting people on trial for trying to buy the stuff, leading to the top comedy quote from the prosecutor that ""The Crown's position is that whether red mercury does or does not exist is irrelevant." ... sigh.
Duchy Herbals Echina-Relief Tincture & Duchy Herbals Hyperi-Lift Tincture, consumer advertising - January 2009In short: whether they work or not hasn't been assessed at all. That someone writing on Duchy's website would have claimed that they had been is disturbing. When the Traditional Herbal Registration Scheme was introduced, there was cricitism of it on the grounds that consumers would take a registration on grounds of "traditional use" for an illness as an endorsement of a product's effectiveness against that illness. If someone working for a company which has been through the registration process can make that mistake, surely regular consumers are more likely to fall into the same trap.
A member of the public complained to the MHRA about the advertising of Duchy Herbals Echina-Relief Tincture and Duchy Herbals Hyperi-Lift Tincture which appeared on the Duchy Originals website from 24 January 2009. The complainant alleged that the advertising suggested that the products had been assessed for efficacy and was therefore misleading.
The MHRA upheld the complaint. Nelsons, the registration holder, on behalf of Duchy Originals agreed that they would amend their advertising and remove claims of efficacy from their website and all future advertising. Following delays in implementing the changes, Nelsons provided additional training to Duchy Originals staff on the legislative requirements.
MHRA advice
These two products have been registered under the Traditional Herbal Medicines Registration Scheme as required by Directive 2004/24/EC on Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products. The MHRA, as UK regulator, is required to assess applications for traditional herbal medicinal products for safety, quality and evidence of traditional use. Efficacy of the product based on scientific data is not assessed, although the MHRA is required to refuse registration if efficacy on the basis of long established traditional use is not plausible.
Professor Ernst of Peninsula Medical School said Prince Charles and his advisers appeared to be deliberately ignoring science, preferring "to rely on 'make-believe' and superstition".That's got to hurt.
Duchy Herbals Echina-Relief Tincture and Duchy Herbals Hyperi-lift Tincture are the first UK produced herbal tinctures to be approved under the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive laid out by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) ... The directive means that the two tinctures have been assessed - in terms of their safety, quality and efficacy - by the UK regulatory authorities.(My emphasis). This surprised me because under the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive, as the MHRA describes it, there is no assessment whatsoever of whether a licensed product is effective:
Under the Directive, a company needs to demonstrate the safety of the herbal medicine by providing bibliographic evidence of a minimum of 30 years of traditional use for the product. At least 15 of the 30 years must have been within the EU. This replaces the requirement to demonstrate efficacy and serves as the basis for permitting minor therapeutic claims(My emphasis). I've written to Duchy Originals and the MHRA asking what assessment of efficacy was conducted, but while they're getting back to me the excellent David Colquhoun tracked down the PDFs of the MHRA's approvals of the St John's Wort and Echinacea tinctures which Duchy Originals are selling. Here's what the MHRA says about the efficacy of Duchy's St John's Wort elixir:
This registration is based exclusively upon evidence of traditional use of Hypericum perforatum L. as a herbal medicine and not upon data generated from clinical trials. There is no requirement under the Traditional Herbal Registration scheme to prove scientifically that the product works.That's perfectly clear - the St John's Wort tincture was licensed entirely because people have used it for a long time, rather than there being any evidence that it works. Let's see if the MHRA says anything different in its approval of the Echinacea tincture:
Duchy Herbals Echina-Relief Tincture is used to relieve the symptoms of the common cold and influenza type infections, based on traditional use only. This medicine is an oral liquid containing the active ingredient dried Echinacea purpurea L. Moench root tincture.So, the same thing. A clear statement that the UK regulator specifically didn't consider these products' efficacy. I think I might have to write personally to Prince Charles to ask him why his company is saying the regulator has assessed these medicines' efficacy, when the regulator clearly says they've done no such thing.
This registration is based exclusively upon evidence of traditional use of Echinacea purpurea as a herbal medicine and not upon data generated from clinical trials. There is no requirement under the Traditional Herbal Registration scheme to prove scientifically that the product works.
Precautions: Do not take if you are under 18 years of age, you are pregnant or breast feeding, you are allergic to any of the ingredients, your skin is very sensitive to light (photosensitive) or you have been diagnosed with depression.This warns people about one side effect - photosensitivity - but makes no mention of the fact that St John's Wort can interfere with how a wide variety of medications - including contraceptive pills and anti-clotting drugs - operate, making them less effective. Surely it might be wise to include something along the lines of "Do not take if you are on any medication, including contraceptives, without first consulting your doctor". I've pointed this out to Duchy Originals. We'll see if they do anything about it.
"These witchdoctors are big liars," he said at a rally in the northern Shinyanga region.* And before you snigger at the idea of licensing witchdoctors, remember that we're doing exactly the same thing in Britian with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council - rather splendidly dubbed "Ofquack".
Scientists have started understanding the presence of advanced life forms in the form different phases of ice in Mars and other planets. [...] According to some scientists ice life forms have complex helical ICE DNAs and RNAs just like conventional life forms. As a matter of fact, some scientists now are keen to believe that the single cell organisms actually evolved from Ice life forms in the asteroids. [...]If 'Ice Creatures from the Asteroids' wasn't the title of a 1960s B-movie it certainly should have been.
Many scientists believe type zero life forms (like us) actually evolved from ice life forms that are abundant in many planets and asteroids.Note this is "according to some scientists" and "many scientists believe" but the article doesn't name a single one.
More people need to donate their brains to medical research if cures for diseases like dementia are to be found, UK scientists say. ... Professor James Ironside, of the Human Tissue Authority, which regulates the donation process, said as well as a shortage of diseased brains to study, there was a bigger problem of getting hold of healthy donor brains for comparison.I am definitely signing up for up this, and encourage others to do so. I'm already an organ donor, and it would be great if someone can find a use for those parts that can't be used as spares. Besides, in a strange way I quite like the idea of spending some time as a brain in a jar.
What is "Big Astronomy"'s motive in falsifying data about black holes? Their existence has little, if anything, to do with the theory of the Big Bang and presents no problem for Creationism.A reasonable question. This is where it gets funny, as none other than Conservapedia founder Andrew Schlafly answers with possibly the single silliest allegation of conspiracy I've ever seen:
Outrageous claims about black holes sell lots of magazines to lots of naive people. And let's not forget that liberals get a thrill out of deceit for its own sake alone.I'll let that sink in. Astronomers are pretending black holes exist in order to boost the sales of astronomy magazines. Never mind that most astronomers have never sold a magazine in their lives. Never mind that astronomy is probably more open, more verifiable and less vulnerable to fraud than any other endeavour; because anyone can point a telescope anywhere in the sky it's sort of difficult to lie about what you've seen up there. Never mind that all the world's physicists and mathematicians would have to be complicit in the Great Black Hole Pretence. Astronomers have invented black holes as a marketing ploy for magazine publishers: so says the founder of "the reliable encyclopedia".
LAHORE: Two women were killed while one sustained burn injuries after being thrown into a fire by an exorcist on the pretext of exorcising demons in Mirpur Khas, a private TV channel reported on Friday ... Police said the three women had been taken to an amil (exorcist) by their in-laws to get evil spirits possessing them expelled, the channel said. One woman was injured. According to the channel, police had requested the magistrate to order exhumation of the women’s bodies. The exorcist had not been arrested so far.[Despairing sigh]
It goes without saying that nothing contained on this website or in any SHAC publication is intended to encourage or incite illegal acts. ... SHAC does not encourage or incite any illegal activities.
SHAC does not encourage or incite repetitive, threatening or abusive communications with these companies.
Every culture throughout the world has a historical understanding of the reality of this energy and it is known by many names, e.g Prana, Chi, Qui, Life Force, Orgone......or, to be strictly accurate, "made-up crap". And you can buy some truly astounding tat to repair your aura. Oh yes. For the low low price of £50 you can be owner of a ghastly "7 Sided Power Pyramid" - a moulded lump of resin decorated by a staunch believer in the "Lots Of Glitter!" school of design. Those with £250 to spare can buy a "Power Wand" ("A very powerful psionic tool for healing or personal protection... It has been demonstrated that this device employs no black magic techniques."), or a wide range of astoundingly tacky pedants can be yours.
This is the absolute, unquestionable proof of extraterrestrial life in the most astounding detail which you can download directly from official sites and verify for yourselves. ... Massive thriving colonies, city structures, water sources and hundreds of crafts within our own solar system which our government has been covertly observing by satellites for nearly 4 decades.What they've actually got irrefutable proof of is the fact that if you take a digital picture, greatly enlarge it and then tinker with the brightness and contrast, you will see all kinds of blocky rubbish which isn't really there in the original. This is true of any digital picture, in exactly the same way that a film photograph would always look grainy if blown up too far. For example, here's a picture of one of my cats, who I assure you is devoid of any extraterrestrial constructions. On the right is the picture at full resolution, cropped to show only the face.
