Heated debate: global warming - does it matter?

Probably no controversial subject involves more vested interest than that of global climate change. I've seen the (subsequently discredited) Channel 4 TV programme "The Great Global Warming Swindle" and I also have in my ever-increasing 'to read' pile the special issue of Skeptical Inquirer on global warming, as well as the issue of New Scientist covering the subject.

Then I read Stephen Fry's blog entry on the subject (impressing me enough to send a link to Josh Timonen at RichardDawkins.net). Stephen Fry's approach is of one who does not have the facts, but nevertheless is prepared to act on probabilities. His reference to Pascal's Wager was particularly neat. And one of the commenters, milkyman, posted a link to a video, which I embed below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zORv8wwiadQ

There's also a follow-up video (plus related videos on other aspects of the controversy):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF_anaVcCXg

How long before Richard Dawkins appears in Hell?

Last Wednesday's episode of Old Harry's Game on BBC Radio 4 almost features Professor Richard Dawkins as a character - but he's there in spirit, as it were.

The episode (number 3 of 6) is currently available on the BBC's 'listen again' service:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/shows/rpms/radio4/old_harrys_game.ram

Info for this episode is here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/oldharrysgame/pip/xg5aa

Here's a 5-minute (mp3) clip of the relevant section (the link takes you to RapidShare, from where you can download the file):

http://rapidshare.com/files/341866773/Old_Harry_s_Game__excerpt_.mp3

(Edith is in Hell after being murdered by person or persons unknown. She's struck a deal with Satan - she will write his biography in return for him finding out who murdered her. As the clip begins, she's doing a bit of background research.)

Baptist minister converts to Judaism, says "Thank God for atheists"

Chris Miller's "Unquiet Desperation" is an occasional podcast on eclectic subjects. Recently he aired an interview with an old friend of his, Bill Carter, who converted from Southern Baptist to Judaism. In Chris's words:

• There are endless tales out there about folks who have converted to Christianity from some other religion, but you rarely hear about someone converting away from Christianity, unless it’s to atheism. In this episode of Unquiet Desperation, we meet Bill Carter, and old friend who has, after much thought and soul searching, converted from Christianity to Judaism. He tells us about his thought process, his reasons for doing so, and how his life has changed because of his conversion.

In the last five minutes of this 80 minute interview Bill Carter makes an odd comment, "Thank God for atheists," using a strangely incongruous example of giving help to a homeless street-person. It's almost a direct inverse of the "atheists have no basis for morality" argument.

Unquiet Desperation:
http://unquietdesperation.com/

Audio here (83'42", 76.6 MB).

What is it with spammers? (repost from other blog)

Am I missing something here?

I get lots of spam. Most of it is efficiently filtered out by Gmail, but nonetheless I do check it regularly, just in case some false positives get caught.

But I'm at a loss to understand what the spammers are hoping to achieve. They appear to go to great lengths to defeat my spam filters. Why? Do they think I'll reward their ingenuity by buying stuff I don't need? Don't they realise why I have spam filters? Because I don't want their stuff!

Here's my advice. I offer it free, gratis, and for nothing.

Make your subject header actually relevant to the content of your email. Don't use obfuscation in the body of the email (such as peculiar graphics, or unconventional spelling). Use an honest email address.

This way I can easily trash your email if it's not relevant to me, my wants or needs. But it also makes it easy for me to identify if I may actually desire to do business with you - because your email will not have been consigned to my junk folder.

You never know - you might actually get more business this way.

Denial in action: "Acupuncture works"

A recent report (see Bad Science for full details) shows that acupuncture is no more effective than a placebo. This, however, didn't prevent a representative of 'complementary' medicine claiming that the report showed that acupuncture 'works'.

Nothing much unusual here, you might suppose. But David Tredinnick made his claims in the face of the placebo evidence, on BBC radio. Ben Goldacre related the facts of the case to Eddie Mair, on the BBC's PM programme, and David Tredinnick completely ignored the central point of the report - that acupuncture is a load of hooey.

Audio of the PM programme here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio4_aod.shtml?radio4/pm_tue
Clip starts at about 37 minutes. (This link will probably expire by next Tuesday.)

Download RealPlayer here

Edit: Ben Goldacre's Bad Science podcast now has the clip available for download (also includes some of the mail responses to the broadcast):
http://badscience.net/files/whydoctorsdonttalktothemedia.mp3

Light relief - a YouTube selection

Just thought I'd gather together a couple of favourites, plus a new find:

Pat Condell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPAC_cGVnUg


George Carlin (warning: strong language)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o


Marcus Brigstocke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY-ZrwFwLQg

My latest appearance... (repost from other blog)

'Appearance' in the title of this post is metaphorical - you can't see me, but you can hear me reading Stephen Gaskell's story "Everyone Carries a Shadow" in the 50th episode of Pseudopod, the weekly horror podcast.

I enjoy reading for other people, especially short stories, but I appreciate that my voice is only appropriate for some. This is my third reading for Pseudopod, and I'll be interested in the reaction this story garners. My previous two readings were Michael Stone's "Sacred Skin" and Eugie Foster's "Oranges, Lemons and Thou Beside Me" - both of which were extremely creepy (the Foster was also highly disturbing).

I've also read in the past for Pseudopod's elder sibling Escape Pod, my first being Scott Janssens' flash story "Paradox", and subsequently a two-hander with Tee Morris, "Are You Ready For the End of the World?" by Danny Adams. But the story I had most fun with was Steve Eley's "The Malcontent" which he asked me to read for Escape Pod's 50th episode.

(I like stories that operate on more than one level, and "The Malcontent" was one of those - lots of fun, but with deeper meaning evident as the story progressed.)

I've also read for The Time Traveller Show, and for its offshoot Wonder Audio, whose stories are now available for purchase from Audible and iTunes.

And in a fit of enthusiasm I read three chapters of Jules Verne's A Journey to the Interior of the Earth and one chapter of Bram Stoker's Dracula, both for LibriVox.