Salmonella-contaminated peanut products have caused quite the uproar of late. 6 people have died. 486 have gotten sick at latest count.
Will I get sick? Let’s calculate the odds. U.S. population is currently about 300 million people. Odds of death? 1 in 50,000,000.
Let’s assume 600 people get sick before the outbreak ends. Odds of illness? 1 in 500,000.
Pardon me while I continue to enjoy delicious peanut-based snacks.
Comments Off on Peanuts: EVERYBODY PANIC
Posted in Mankind's Doom, Science
The New York Times asks, apparently without irony, “How much does your morning glass of orange juice contribute to global warming?”
I’m supposed to feel bad about drinking orange juice now? Really? Even Catholic guilt has nothing on the New Religion.
Comments Off on Orange Juice: Mankind’s Doom
Posted in Mankind's Doom, The New Religion
Madison, WI wants to reduce the number of parking spaces and garages in the city. The aim is to discourage people from using their cars, which cause global warming.
Madison is well known for being a profoundly religious city. This report (pdf) is full of ideas to compel citizens to practice the new faith.
Comments Off on Parking Spaces: Mankind’s Doom
Posted in Mankind's Doom, The New Religion
An environmental activist frets that using Google’s search engine increases greenhouse gas emissions.
One more item to catalogue from the New Religion’s post-reductio phase.
Comments Off on Google Searches: Mankind’s Doom
Posted in Mankind's Doom, Technology, The New Religion
Dr. Ronald B. Herberman is convinced that cell phones raise cancer rates. This man is no scientist, whatever his credentials may say; scientists use the scientific method. Instead, Herberman has The Certainty. MSNBC reports:
[Herberman] says it takes too long to get answers from science and he believes people should take action now — especially when it comes to children.
The article also notes that over a dozen studies have found no cancer-cell phone correlation, let alone causation. But Herberman knows he is right, no matter what the data might say. He is Certain.
Posted in Certainty, Mankind's Doom, Philosophy, Science
An Australian firm says that tv commercials are accelerating global warming.
Sometimes the new religion is its own reductio ad absurdum.
Comments Off on Commercial Breaks: Mankind’s Doom
Posted in Mankind's Doom, The New Religion
Madison, WI is considering banning restaurant drive-throughs. Why? Global warming, of course.
Sometimes the new religion is its own reductio ad absurdum.
Comments Off on Restaurant Drive-Throughs: Mankind’s Doom?
Posted in Mankind's Doom, The New Religion
An environmental group just ran a study that says that shower curtains, of all things, are bad for your health. They “may lead to adverse health effects including respiratory irritation, central nervous system, liver and kidney damage, nausea, headaches and loss of coordination.”
I was surprised to see this. Maybe it’s because I haven’t heard of shower curtains causing any of these symptoms in people. Anywhere. Ever.
ABC News was kind enough to call their bluff. “only one shower curtain — not one brand; one curtain — was subjected to complete testing for chemicals in its composition, as well as those it released into the air.”
The study also neglects the cardinal rule of toxicology: it is the dose that makes the poison. As it turns out, the chemicals detected in the curtains “could be toxic if swallowed or inhaled only in quantities thousands of times greater than those found.”
Usually media outlets eat up this kind of scaremongering with a spoon. Kudos to ABC News for taking the time to check the facts.
Self promotion: I’ve written on a similarly baseless scare story before.
Hat tip: Fark.com
Comments Off on Shower Curtains: Mankind’s Doom
Posted in Mankind's Doom, The New Religion
Seattle might ban beach bonfires because they contribute to global warming.
The new religion practices its faith in strange ways.
Comments Off on Beach Bonfires: Mankind’s Doom
Posted in Mankind's Doom, The New Religion
Fields made of artificial turf are being investigated as health hazards because some of them contain lead. New Jersey has taken an early lead in overreacting by closing two fields.
This would be a cause for concern if there were signs of lead poisoning in people using the fields. But there is no evidence of even a single player getting lead poisoning.
It’s the dose that makes the poison. That dose just isn’t there in the fields.
A spokesman said, “In the 40 years that synthetic sports turf has been in use in the United States and around the world, not one person has ever reported any ill effects related to the material composition of the fibers.”
It really irks me when media outlets frighten people with scare stories like this. Now a government investigation is wasting peoples’ time and tax dollars because of it.
Comments Off on Astro Turf: Mankind’s Doom
Posted in Certainty, Economics, Mankind's Doom, Science, The New Religion
Inertia Wins! 