For Melbournites - Birth Choices Meeting

Wanna bet I'll be moderated off the AVN blog?

Below is my response to AVN's blog post that jumped on the Sunday Express front page "Jab 'as dealy as the cancer'"!!! Headline. I'm betting it won't make it past moderation, because the AVN won't be at all interested in what Dr Diane Harper actually had to say about the HPV vaccine.

That's because this 'woman' - Dr Diane Harper - was contacted for comment by Ben Goldacre and it turned out she did not say any of the things above. She made a complaint and the article was removed from the Sunday Express website. Obviously, however, the damage it caused remains.

To read what she actually thinks of the HPV vaccine and to learn some important distinctions between the UK vaccine and the US vaccine, try:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/oct/10/ben-goldacre-cervical-cancer-jab
This was published in the Guardian. You will note that Dr Diane Harper has not asked the Guardian to remove this column.

Prochoice Comfort Food

A great interview demonstrating why any religious body should steer clear of interfering with the state - They have NO idea how legislation enforcing their moral codes would work. Enjoy.

Large Hadron Rap. Making physics funky.

Ever wonder what the Large Hadron Collider did? Also check out Marty's blog for photos of the Gordan Freeman look alike :)

Women Deserve Better

Thanks to Leslie Cannold for passing this on. As she said, strap in, and hold on. Folk using readers may have to visit to see...

I think I really am two people.

I'm getting more than I bargained for with this multi-disciplinary thing. Whenever I read medical or scientific papers my philosopher persona continually shakes its head in disbelief at the all too frequent internal contradictions and ambiguity caused by sloppy choice of words. Yet if I try to read philosophy my scientist persona thunks its head on the desk in frustration at subtle distinctions it sees as time-wasting bickering over definitions or processes that can't be tested.

I just wish they would talk to each other for a bit and leave me alone!

Letter to Essential Baby re AVN link

Sent this a few minutes ago. It would be so nice to get a reasonable response! We'll see:


Dear Editor,

I write regarding the article in Essential Baby entitled "Vaccines and Your Child".

I have no complaint about the article, but I am gravely concerned that it links to the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN).

The AVN are currently under investigation by the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission for providing misleading information to parents who are researching vaccination.

I am deeply worried that if this link to AVN is provided by Essential Baby it will give the AVN a credibility that I am convinced they do not deserve.

They are demonstrably anti-vaccination and it would be extremely difficult to find a doctor in NSW (where they are based) who would recommend them as a balanced or reliable source of information on vaccines.

I have personally gone through their claims and found most of them to be outdated or cherry-picked. (I have a BSc/BA Hons and have worked in an industry where we create anti-bodies for research.) I published my (long) findings on my otherwise uninteresting blog - http://emervents.blogspot.com/2009/06/critique-of-avns-10-reasons-to-think.html

I recommend you change the link to the Victorian Government's information page which also has vaccine information available in languages other than English and has links to recent data on vaccine coverage etc. http://www.health.vic.gov.au/immunisation

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Extension vs Intension

If you have arrived here hoping for a clear explanation of extension and intension I would read no further and go to Garth Kemerling's page on Meaning and Definition which is excellent. In this post I'm just having a play with the words and I'm likely to muddy the waters rather than enlighten you. (Also, it's very probably false.)

The extension of the term ‘extension’ consists of every word that could be said to be extensional.

Whereas the intension of the term ‘extention’ is the criteria for extension which is that the word be extensional.

The extension of the term ‘intension’ consists of every word that could be said to be intensional.

Whereas the intension of ‘intension’ is the criteria for intension which is that there be criteria a word must meet before the word intension applies.

OK?