War is hell. I know, I know I know. There were many reasons to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the context of all that evil in World War Two; Japanese barbarity and inhuman treatment of prisoners, their willingness to fight to the bitter end, payback for Pearl Harbour, the number of Allied lives that would be saved, a swift close to the war, and perhaps warnings to the Soviet Union.
But even so, the stories of the people caught in the Hiroshima blast was moving; the tale of a 6 year old girl crying out for help as she burned whilst her mother was unable to do anything was particularly distressing.
Having read Ben Goldacre “Bad Science” book and blog, and having read other websites dedicated to the need for evidence-based decisions and the need for proper trials, I agree with Ben Goldacre’s article “Boris Johnson and his innovative trial methodology” that Johnson may be harming our kids with his “tacit” endorsement of the Centre for Policy Studies hair-brained idea for a competition between schools to determine if “phonics” as a teaching aid works. I say “tacit” as, although Johnson talks about “controls” in his forward, I’m afraid that any “controls” will be meaningless in such a competition.
If Johnson allows this “competition” to determine the future of education then he is risking educational harm to a generation or more of children. C’mon Johnson, enough with the political short-termism; drum up support for long-term and large-scale randomised trials. It’s the ethical thing to do. Read “Bad Science” and understand; become a better Mayor, and champion for our kids future.
As for the Centre for Policy Studies, well, I’m not sure that such an organisation has demonstrated much competence here. What were they thinking?
Michael Shermer describes how Deepak Chopra, whilst transplanting medieval theology into “New Age” theology, has misused and abused quantum effects; “quantum woo” as someone once called it.
Thanks to Randi’s article, I came across this video. This is great stuff debunking all those scams out there. Brilliant!
Now, look at this video below for a product called “iRenew”. These “iRenew” folks must be having a joke, right? Wait, I can see that this product actually appears to be on sale…
