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05 Jan 2011 20:06

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World: Report: Retracted autism/vaccine study “elaborate fraud”

  • It’s one thing to have a bad study, a study full of error, and for the authors then to admit that they made errors. But in this case, we have a very different picture of what seems to be a deliberate attempt to create an impression that there was a link by falsifying the data.
  • British Medical Journal editor-in-chief Fiona Godlee • Explaining that the findings in an infamously retracted autism study in 1998 were not only false, but fraudulently made-up. BMJ claims that the Lancet study’s author, Andrew Wakefield, misrepresented or altered the histories of the twelve people used in the study. The result was a sharp drop in vaccinations, leading to a significant increase in measles cases in the ensuing years. Wakefield’s medical license was revoked las year as a result. He apparently received over $674,000 from a law firm that wanted to sue vaccine-makers, which was not made public until years after the study first came out. He does have some supporters who question the allegations, but if this is true, he’s an evil mother(#&@)!#. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Jan 2011 11:01

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World: Queensland flooding: By the (insanely depressing) numbers

  • 200k people have been affected by the recent Queensland floods
  • 10+ people have died in the prolonged flooding in the region
  • 9.4m the expected crest of the wide-ranging floodwaters today source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Jan 2011 10:25

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World: Outspoken Pakistani governor Salman Taseer assassinated

See this guy with the weird look on his face? He just admitted to killing his boss, Pakistani governor Salman Taseer, because Taseer opposed Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. This look is eerie. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jan 2011 21:57

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World: Archeologists in Greece discover that cavemen used boats

  • The results of the survey not only provide evidence of sea voyages in the Mediterranean tens of thousands of years earlier than we were aware of so far, but also change our understanding of early hominids’ cognitive abilities.
  • The Greek Culture Ministry • Regarding some primitive tools found recently on the island of Crete. Scientists date the tools as being at least 130,000 years old, implying that our ancestors developed the ability to migrate by sea way earlier than we’d thought. “Up to now we had no proof of Early Stone Age presence on Crete,” one official said. They’re currently performing more tests to determine which continent the tools came from.  source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jan 2011 12:15

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World: Did mob attack on Ivory Coast’s Alassane Ouattara fizzle out?

  • Everything is calm at the hotel, we’re very serene.
  • Alassane Ouattara spokesperson Patrick Achi • Expressing relief that the planned mob attack of the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, where the Ivory Coast’s should-be leader is staying, seems to have fizzled out. We’re glad it did too, because it could’ve led to fresh civil war in the country. Fingers crossed it doesn’t happen. In other news, current leader Laurent Gbagbo unsurprisingly ignored a deadline to quit on New Year’s Eve. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jan 2011 12:12

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World: Protip to Zimbabwe: Don’t screw with Anonymous or Wikileaks

  • lawsuitZimbabwe president Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace, sued a Zimbabwean newspaper that printed Wikileaks reports that suggested she was profiting from the controversial diamond trade.
  • retaliation In the wake of the $15 million lawsuit, 4chan did its thing, attacking numerous government Web sites, and even defacing Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Finance with Anonymous slogans. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jan 2011 10:50

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World: VOA’s “Daily Show”-styled “Parazit” strikes chord with Iranians

  • See this clip right here? It’s from a “Daily Show”-styled program for the Iranian market called “Parazit.” The show, created by Voice of America and tough to come by unless you have an illegal satellite, nevertheless has a huge fan base – over 200,000 Facebook followers and thousands more YouTube visitors. And, considering the country, the tone of the show isn’t nearly as lighthearted as “The Daily Show.” “We have to walk a fine line,” said Saman Arbabi, one of the show’s DC-based hosts. “We come from that generation of kids who got up in Iran and protested the government. We share their politics, so we echo their voice.” But that doesn’t mean they don’t get a kick out of making fun of Ahmadinejad. “His bloopers are fantastic,” he said. The show is so popular that Iran has had to create an anti-“Parazit” show which reportedly isn’t as funny. Awesome. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

01 Jan 2011 10:04

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World: Egyptian bombing attack targeted minority Christian sect

  • We heard a thunderous sound of explosion. I fell on the ground. I saw a car burning. You cannot imagine what we have seen there. … It was a horrible scene.
  • Eyewitness Nermin Nabil • Describing the scene near a church where a blast went off on Saturday, reportedly caused by a suicide bomber. The blast claimed at least 21 deaths and 79 injuries. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak expressed rage and retaliation at the bombing: “I would say with confidence, that we will chase the people who planned and committed this terrorism act, and we will chase the people involved with them.” The victims of the attack were Copts, who follow an Egyptian sect of Christianity. They make up nine percent of the country’s population – versus 90 percent Muslims. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Dec 2010 17:19

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World: Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo blames his problems on the West

  • The man of the hour: Here’s an interview Euronews got with Laurent Gbagbo, the Ivory Coast leader fighting for his political life and consequently pushing a civil war. Warning: The interview is in French (with translation). Key thing to take from this: “It’s not open to debate. What the West is arguing for is not legal. It’s imposing the will of the powerful on somebody else. I don’t agree with it.” So in other words, because the West (i.e. the United Nations) noticed that your electoral results are questionable, it’s all of a sudden invalid? Yeah, right. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Dec 2010 11:26

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World: Anna Chapman: The undeniably hot, female Vladimir Putin

  • In general, I am a very good shot. I have a passion for it.
  • Russian spy Anna Chapman • Expressing her love of shooting. Based on a recent interview she did with the Russian talk show “Let Them Speak,” she’s well on her way to becoming the hot female Vladimir Putin. She even has her own lion cub! Russian culture = impenetrable. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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