#QEDcon – random notes – Day 2

Yep its day two … I do wonder how many folks are so sleep deprived that they think the religious “conversion” on offer by the bible guy at the front door is a rather good idea right now.

First some links

• I’ve updated yesterday’s posting with a few pics (click here) … don’t get too excited, they are fuzzy iPhone ones. I see a few folks snapping away with impressive looking devices, so I suspect some far better pics will turn up at some point. When time permits I should go back and clean up the text as well.
• Live stream of the main conference room at #QEDCon is here http://bambuser.com/v/2458374
• Livestream of #BHA Room at #QEDCon is here http://bambuser.com/v/2458354

Now … on with Day 2 (yea). It’s a 10am start … (er…perhaps not, it’s already 10:10 … perhaps we are going for a 10.23 start) … Anyway, they anticipated a late start would be best, but how did they know that many would stay up so late – (gasp!!, is this evidence for psychic abilities at a skeptic conference?).

First question of the day … who kidnapped the Dalek? (Yep, it has mysteriously vanished).

10:12 … room darkened, slides now playing … did a quick count, quite a few folks stayed up late.

First speaker is Edzard Ernst “Good morning fellow Homoeopaths”

• You can be a homeopath, but you might not be very good at it (but they aren’t very good at it either)
• He is telling us about himself and his background … his family were Homoeopaths, he has also had similar training
• Emeritus professor at Exeter (Chair in Complementary Medicine)
• h-Index = 73 (double of anybody else in Exeter)
• Things he did not know before coming to Exeter – huge interest in CAM within UK
• Pic of him with Queen “She is charming” … does not think the same for her son(I wonder why)
• Slide with long list of AM research they conducted (it’s a long list of stuff you don’t want to know about)
• 1,000 peer-reviewed articles published – 40 clinical trials – dozens of books – 600 lectures
• List of trials on slide
• “Trick or Treatment” book for public
• Focus on Alternative and complementary Therapies – behind pay wall (ugh!) – “look for “CAM for Skeptics”
• Blogs
• Pulse – for GPs
• Guardian
• BMJ (Just started)
• Pic of him in times – “The Quackbuster” – “If I had a £1 for every misquote …”
• “Six years ago when Ernst left his native Austria …”!!! not 6 years and best way to insult his is to call him a native Austrian
• Slide – list of treatments that do more good than harm
• Some alternative treatments seem to work … BUT … far too many that don’t are promoted  (pic of Prince Charles)
• Charles does not discuss things, he makes statements.
• “Integrated Medicine – Is their “Disintegrated Medicine”?
• Integrated Medicine institutions
• Lobby for alternative medicine on the NHS
• Pay lip service to research
• His book: The desktop guide to CAM
• He has a slide from 7 CAM books that list treatments … 133 treatments for cancer
• Bogus claims in your bookshop
• List of treatments that don’t work
• slimming aids, detox, healing, etc…
• Slimming aid
• Trial …Chitsan tested and does not work … this was his first real confrontation … it went to court. He published the neg results, the manufacture did not like it
• Pic of Dr Dixon …
• very fond of spiritual healing and persuaded them to do a clinical trial (Spiritual healing for chronic pain
• explaining how they tested 5 healers – used actors who looks the same as a placebo and pretend (they were told the actors had healing powers!!)
• without or without healer … no difference (Has slide with details)
• Cherry Picking! what about other trials? – they did a systematic review 57% were positive .. but 3 years later (with sham healers) … shown to be a placebo and nothing more
• Talking about quack cancer cures …
• pic of article on Rosy Daniels – wild claims for a herbal cure
• Simon Singh …
• BCA sued by Chiropractic
• Have they learned anything? Nope, – shows us Canadian list  – they are still making same bogus claims
• Detox
• Duchy herbals – Dodgy detox – made the papers – bit of a storm – but it was declared illegal.
• pic of Christopher Smallwood – real trouble
• Charged by prince of Wales to do analysis on cost effectiveness of CAM in the NHS
• Draft of Smallwood’s paper was the worst paper he had ever seen – to be deployed into hands of decision makers
• Claimed £480 million if 10% GPs used homoeopathy was used (but you would also kill many)
• He had a duty to prevent the worst – talked about it
• Times article on Princes alternative treatments for the NHS – Prince of Wales was upset
• letter from Prince of Wales to his university putting pressure to get Ernst investigated – his university treated him like dirt. He was declared innocent in the end.
• A small survey with big consequences (he has not talked about this before)
• Pretended to be a mother asking about MMR via e-mail
• 104 asked … 27 withdrew they reply, 77 responses evaluated
• 3% advised to use MMR
• 40% advised not to use MMR
• Published in BMJ
• The Future
• Hopes he is a decent scientist
• Sows use website that claims he is a quack professor who retired in shame
• It had been decided to have no more funding for his unit and to close it when money ran out
• New dean appointed – a really good guy – convinced him to keep unit going
• He is still in employment until May
• main challenges
• Single standard
• Less emotions … its healthcare, not religion
• More scientific expertise
• Less “Royal Interventions”
• What do we want – Evidence-based change” – when do we want it – After peer review

BREAK: Some Administrivia from Andy … then a 10 min break. [Parting Andy quip – “When discussing Prince Charles, the ONLY font to use is Comic Sans”]

Its Ian Ridpath with “UFOs: Fact or Fantasy”

(Apologies … got caught up in conversation missed the start)

• Ian is talking about George Adamski … showing really silly flying saucer pics … (Audience is laughing at it).
• Cedric Allingham (who claimed he met a martin on the Scottish coast).
• Betty and Barney Hill – telling us the famous story of their abduction. Planet Venus “followed” them … but later Betty had dreams later … apparently remembering with the aliens had done.
• The Condon Report -66-68 scientific report “Further extensive study of UFOs probably cannot be justified”
• J.Allen Hynek and the UFO experience … from skeptic to believer – his book “The UFO experience”
• This chap sparked Ian’s interest
• He invented the classification … “close encountered of the first, second, third kind” … hence the movie in 77 … that reduced it all to a Disney attraction
• Roswell in 47
• Shows us paper report
• Bits gathered … it was a balloon … and that was it for 30 years
• The suddenly we get a series of books
• Air Force went back … looks at records … confirms “yep, a balloon, but not a weather balloon” … but they could not admit it at the time, so a cover up to keep Russians in the dark
• Crash Test dummies caused downed alien stories “So who are the dummies now?”
• 95 we get the “Alien autopsy” film – lost of divergent opinion at first – later on admitted to be a hoax
• One big change in UK – freedom of information Act
• Interesting government docs have emerged
• The Flying Saucer Working party set up in 1950 to look into it all – concluded it could all be explained and recommended that until better evidence, not to bother (This is what they kept secret and what they really knew)
• Internal memo from 1995 – few people that are lightly to believe the truth that due to lack of funds they have not investigated
• 2000 3 year study looked at 30 years of UFO reports – conclusion: it’s not aliens and can all be explained. [no signals, or artefacts … ] This was a highly secret report, not for public consumption, only a few copies for the top. —- and yet the believers still believe
• facts and figures
• every 15 mins somebody claims to have seen one
• How many are really unidentified
• majority 42% astronomical
• Aircraft 37%
• balloons, kites 9.6%
• Unreliable data 2.8%
• unexplained 8.6%
• Believers argue this 8.6% is evidence
• So lets take a look …
• YouTube generation … everybody now has a camera so we can see what was seen.
• 2007 Glowing UFO’s passing overhead
• Yep – Chinese sky lanterns (cause of biggest upsurge)
• We even have somebody we admits launching them from a nearby park
• Folks reject this … “You can’t tell me what I saw” … ah but we can, we have the clip.
• 1997 string of lights in Phoenix, Arizona (shows us clip)
• Military range in that same direction … parachute flares where being dumped at that time … but the believers don’t accept this
• Venus, the queen of UFOs
• Shows us the clip from 2009 in California … of light in sky in exact position of Venus
• As he zooms in he looses focus and you get weird effect.
• It’s a real mistake, not a fraud
• Heavy dependence on police sightings
• 1967 story of two police chasing a bright light (shows us a clip of them telling us it was under control)
• Timing makes it clear it was Venus they were chasing
• Fireball
• shows us 1992 clip … yep its meteor and breaks up into a cigar shape
• Artificial satellites
• some catch and flash sun at us … shows us a video example of one flaring up like this – you might well think it is coming towards you rapidly and then recedes again
• www.heavens-above.come website tells you what you can see – folks look up and watch … they seen no aliens
• Shows us Sun video of Gray cylinder
• Yep it is the science museum solar balloon – increasingly common
• You will always find some UFO nut to confirm it is aliens
• Pic of UFO
• er no, it is a bird flying when photo taken
• Ian personally investigated the Rendlesham Forest UFO incident – UK’s most famous
• Triggered by base commander writing letter to MOD that came to light under freedom of information act
• Happened in east Anglia – showing us a map of the area … its near the coast (used to be front line NATO bases)
• Shows us Orford Ness lighthouse nearby
• 2 security guards saw light descending into nearby forest – thought it was a crash went to have a look
• later they found what appears to be a landing area
• 2 nights later – they came back – base commander went out with two men to investigate – saw lights
•  Now lets take a look
• initial security guard sighting ties up with a known meteor
• shows us map where they went …when they went to investigate and saw lights
• Vince, a local, explains the light  they saw through the trees was the lighthouse
• landing site – three indentations and burns on nearby trees – police who looked said it is rabbit diggings and damage to trees was axe cuts to indicate treats ready to be harvested
• Two nights later group, including Lt Col Halt, goes out with radiation counter (what they measured was background radiation you find anywhere). Yep, bright light flashing … we get timing from their recording … it flashed every 5 seconds … the exact same rate as the lighthouse.
• One of the world’s greatest UFO cases … easily explained.
• The truth
• UFO’s are products of bad human perception
• Go here for more info
• www.ianridpath.com

LUNCH:

13:00 We are back … its D.J. Grothe, former magician and psychic entertainer, and also JREF president …”How to be a Bad Skeptic”

• Telling us about the JREF latest news
• The are starting to publish e-books … out of print and current to reach a new audience
• To get up to speed subscribe to their podcasts
• they run TAM … sponsored 100 people to attend … its 4 days (we are also seeing pics from TAM)
• They are also going after the big-name psychics … for first time is TV history … they did live $1 Million dollar test live
• Celebrate psychic Van Praagh only talks to dead people … so they (the JREF) brought some folks dressed up as zombies to talk to him … the media loved it.
• They have started issuing free education modules to teach critical thinking
• On with the talk [Least you wonder … DJ is being ironic in what follows – they was lots of laughter as he proceeded]
• real title is “How to be a rad skeptic” … so think about it in these terms … “How to be a perfect skeptic” – this is the inside scoop on how to be as good a skeptic as he is
• Realize skepticism is best used on other people!!! – since you are already a skeptic you don’t need to apply it to yourself :-)
• Foster the “Mensa” effect … I’m a skeptic, I’m really smart, so I’m right and you are smart so you should know you are right
• Use a purity test … use phrases like “You are not a true skeptic”
• Refuse to empathize with the credulous … our enemies … show no mercy. Refuse to coddle the weak-minded
• Refuse to evangelize … since we are skeptics, we don’t have any good news to spread … (It only works for cults and sects, not science and reason)
• Eschew marketing  … social science is soft science and not hard science … and of course skepticism is above that
• Use skepticism to arrive at the true ideology … “so you will agree with me”
• Realize skepticism is the most effective way to advance your Marxism or libertarianism …
• Pay no attention to the recent history of the worldwide skeptics movement – pay no attention – you don’t need to know why leading skeptics have avoided politics
• Realize there is no meaningful difference between scepticism, atheism and humanism … pay no attention to anybody who tells you there is no difference … and so folks like Randi, is not true skeptic :-) – if you are not an atheist, you are not a true skeptic.
• Do not aspire to become skeptifamous – we don’t need any more writers … so just consume our product
• Realize it does not take any special expertise to advance skepticism, just ambition and a commitment to the truth –
• make skepticism the club for your epitemological minority – skeptics of the world unite
• Don’t be distracted in your skepticism by all this talk of diversity in the skeptics movement
• Key Point: Do the exact opposite of all the above.
• Q&A

Another fantastic talk.

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CoffeeLovingSkeptic ‏ @TPRyan007 – Recommendations for people to follow from #QEDcon:@PaulaSKirby @maryamnamazie @EdzardErnst @psweetman@Therematrix @Tannice_ @Brum_Skeptics

 BREAK: (Time for my double dose caffeine fix)

14:00 It’s the fantastic Maryam Namazie  – “Secularism, Social Cohesion and Citizenship”

• Secularism is a pre-condition for true freedom of religion. Religion is harmful when it is part of the state
• Religion needs to come with a health warning, it kills
• Warsi’s message to the pope (Does he need to be convinced) – Militant secularism at its core and in its instincts is deeply intolerant and demonstrates traits similar to totalitarian states
• That describes religion, not Secularism
• Warsi gives example of prayer at council meeting – does not say you cannot pray, just not on public funds
• B&B owners who ban gays – you can hold such views, you just can’t discriminate
• Religion is like a big dog, you love it but keep it away from my kids
• secularism is the framework that gives us an even playing field
• Islam hangs people from cranes in city centres for being gay …
• Dozens of Iraqi teens stones to death for their haircuts
• 23 year old Hamza Kashgari facing execution in Saudi Arabia
• Karzai pardons Gulnaz from 12 year prison sentence in Afghanistan to marry her rapist
• Sharia law discriminates against woman
• This is a human rights scandal and been denied rights … Just trivial family matters in UK? Nope it attacks basic rights.
• Islam claims woman are inferior and emotional
• Yemeni Cleric: testimony of woman being half that of a man
• Religion more interested in attacking Richard Dawkins and not dealing with real issues
• Secularism is the enemy of religion in power, not the religious
• The claim that Secularism is intolerant …
• we are not the ones hanging people in city centres
• There is a right to be free from religion … to be free to criticise religion
• Not everyone does religion is the same way
• what happens impacts Muslims as well as non-Muslims
• There are many Muslims who are more secular than many others in the UK
• Secularism … when you have multiple beliefs … you must have it
• Ban Faith Schools and Madrasas
• showing us picture of what happens
• they are very bad for children
• school is supposed to level the playing field and enable children to think critically
• The Burka is a like a prison … it should be banned, it is not just a form of clothing
• One secular law for all
• onelawforall.org.uk

14 March 2012: International Day of Action to Defend Blasphemers and Apostates

Q&A

Tweets

Steven Sumpter ‏ @latentexistence – Food for thought from Namazie. She believes multiculturalism has created a falsely homogeneous community which suppresses views.#QEDCon
Ian Teeling ‏ @quietman2266 – Wow, Maryam Namazie @ #QEDcon incredibly inspirarional
Matt Brown ‏ @Matttskimo –  “The right to have a religion is not the same as a right to a religious state” – Maryam Namazie #QEDCon
BenWarsop ‏ @BENWARSOP – Religion and education are antithetical – education should teach critical thinking – Maryam Namazie’s powerful talk at #QEDcon
Pauline Sweetman ‏ @psweetman – Having listened to @maryamnamazie I am more certain than ever that UK should move to disestablishment of church & to secularism#QEDcon
Claire E Smith ‏ @Clairepie – So moved by Maryam Namazie talk I’m close to tears #Qedcon. Reaching out to fellow HUMANS is what we need more of.
Martin L Poulter ‏ @mlpoulter – Sharia law overview: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia #qedcon
BenWarsop ‏ @BENWARSOP – I am so glad you are shocked, I am always shocked when people are not shocked – Maryam Namazie #QEDcon
Lee Symes ‏ @Lee_Symes “5 cases of child marriage between the age of 5 and 10 in the UK” I have no words that can express my outrage #QEDcon
stuart rubenstein ‏ @sturubenstein – Best talk at #QEDcon by Maryam Namazie. Content challenging and delivered with charm.
Martin L Poulter ‏ @mlpoulter Namazie: Men with restraining orders for violent behaviour are taking ex-wives to Sharia courts to “renegotiate” child access etc. #qedcon
Kevink ‏ @kevink75 – Good article on how sharia law works in the UK #QEDconindependent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…

Break:

15:06  Andy is auctioning a T-Shirt (signed y all the speakers) … and it went for £75

Tonight they have “Skeptics in the Curry house”.

George Ellerby ‏ @gellerby – KINDLE USERS! You can get all of Douglas Adams’ books for £2ish today to celebrate his birthday. DO IT. #DouglasAdams60th#QEDcon #kindle

MedTek ‏ @medtek amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.htm… Hitchhikers at Amazon #QEDcon

We have a surprise 10 min slot … Colin Wright

• Calculating distance to horizon
• Is taking us through the maths …
• Has just calculated the precise distance to the moon

15:21 Ah what a fabulous way to end … it’s the fantastic Joe Nickell, one of the most widely respected and experienced paranormal researchers of all time. – “Investigation the Paranormal”

• Plug for his book: Adventures in paranormal Investigation (Amazon UK link here)
• he has been doing this for over 40 years
• he has lessons for us … the guidance is based upon all the mistakes he has made
• Should us pics of the stuff he has done …
• fire walking, stigmata, undercover,
• First big case in 1972: The Ghost at Makenzie House
• Historic house … with all sorts of weird sounds .. footsteps when nobody was in the house – multiple witnesses. Ghostly figure seen.
• Printing press in basement was a flat-bed … does not make that sound … next door was a publishing company … ah but no presses (You jumped to a conclusion). However, that is the source
• Staircase in building is matched by same next door … they were hearing folks next door
• Cleaning folks in basement next door moving carts made the printing press sound
• The Ghost: It was a waking dream
• Photo: we can see it’s a flash photo, its a reflection of the flash coming back
• Ghosts only show up in pics when we get glass plates and the ability to do double exposures (In the 1860s … it was very popular)
• Notice primary subject is off centre (to make room for 2nd image)
• Lady getting weird images in photos
• Asked her to bring camera and negatives
• Took her camera and took pictures … then turned flash on … picture of camera strap as a spiralling vortex
• Spirit percipitation
•  Pictures of spirit guide apparently made to appear
• The images look like ordinary photos
• An analysis was done … tried ultraviolet, infra-red … nope … then tried argon light
• With this evidence police warrants were obtained to arrest the fake medium
• In the end … only got him on misdemeanour count
• John Edward – The infamous US psychic
• Dateline show asked Joe … he gave them an earful
• On the show … did an apparent hit on a camera man … apparently they had talked earlier … Joe confronted him on camera … it was a great moment.
• Camp Chesterfield
• Joe went undercover to see if they were still doing their trickery
• Told all who would listen about the death of his mother
• When doing readings – he wrote “Mother will you be with me always” – apparently you had to fold these only in half (Why all folded the same way? – Joe explains the trick)
• People were crying talking to their dead loved ones
• Joe got a message from his mother – except at that time his mother was alive and just fine.
• He wrote it all up and exposed them
• Lake Monster Mysteries
• Most sightings are from intelligent people … not stupid … treat the claimants with respect
• So what was it … they went out with Nat Geo … Yep otters playing follow the leader gets you the humpbacked lake monster …
• Are all lake monsters otters … nope some are beavers, or logs, or …
• Joe also checked … lake monster sightings align with Otter populations in lakes
• Roswell
• Rancher in original paper story … paper, sticks etc… it was a US government spy balloon array – Joe talked to guy who ran the project to confirm it
•  shows picture of a simulation
• the video of the alien … from the planet latex (that’s now a matter of record)
• Joe should Alien time line … poster of how images of aliens changes over time
• Crop circles
• Pic of Joe in a field doing field research in the UK
• Looked at what happened over the years … as the media reported more, more happened … they also got more complex each season
• Shows us one of a bicycle
• Pics of joe faking a crop circle
• Nazca drawings in Peru one of (Joe’s favourite project)
• How were they done and why? Joe looked into it
• They used a very simple procedure … knotted cord and recreated it
• Nat Geo wanted him to make one for them … and film it … shows us the finished giant image
• He might do another . he has figured out a really simply way
• But Why did they do this?
• He noted its a continuous line and the figures also have extra lines
• The lines are in fact ritual walking paths … start one end you end up at the other end
• Spontaneous Human Combustion
• Shows us a pic (English case)
• She simply fell in the fireplace
• We can see the grate has been knocked to the left where she fell
• Human body contains a lot of fat … the wick effect works … it’s never a big fire

And so that the end of a fantastic weekend with a fantastic talk.

16:17 Andy is on the stage now wrapping things up and issues thanks to all those that made this work so well.

16:18 Mike hall on stage giving thanks to all the speakers … and lots of others.

And we are done.