A hoax revealed

As a skeptic, like it or not, I’ve gotten something of a reputation in my family as the go-to person for “is this real?” queries regarding Internet memes.  I spend way too much time doing other people’s Google-searches and Snopes-checks.  So I’ve gotten something of a nose for an Internet hoax when I see one.  Of course one of the biggest clues is that one of my relatives sends me the thing as part of a chain of forwarded e-mails.  If it contains the text “forward this to five friends” or similar, it is hard to wipe the scent of hoax off of it.

But Tuesday of this week something a bit astonishing started happening.  My facebook feed became full of the same link being forwarded by dozens and dozens of people.  After who knows how many times, I finally clicked on it to see what the fuss was about.  It was there that I met “Jenny” the girl who quit her job with a white-board.

It was a funny pictorial essay about a girl who quits her job by revealing to everyone at the office that the boss is a bit of a douche.  Very amusing, but for a few reasons it didn’t ring true to me.  First of all, it looked like a staged photo shoot to me.  Second, and not to insult the many beautiful people out there who are not models, but the girl in the shot looked too much like a model or actress to me.  That was reinforced by the fantastic job she did of wordlessly explaining her emotions.
So in my mind it looked fake.  I didn’t have time to do any further research and I thought it was funny so I forwarded it to my friends with this caveat:

“This is funny. It looks completely fake to me – but it is funny. Also the website is probably NSFW even though the picture series itself is tame enough.”

I was surprised at how many people thought it was real although it seemed pretty obviously meant to entertain even if it was faked.  Things like this are like a comic version of The Blair Witch Project.  Fake things with an air of verisimilitude can be funnier than just a straight up piece of fiction.

But if I’d done my homework the answer was out there.  The site that posted the photos, thechive.com, had done a casting call for a “girl-next-door” type model (see that on Boing Boing). Perhaps more importantly, the guys behind the site had already done to previous hoaxes of some magnitude, the Donald Trump $10,000 tip hoax and the Texting Virgin.  Skeptics advise you to be careful about believing anything, but I don’t think I need to bring up boys, crying and wolves here.

So does it matter that only a few of my Facebook friends seemed to think this story was fake?  Nope.  I haven’t heard anybody complain much.  The story made people laugh, and the actress involved, Elyse Porterfield, didn’t hurt many people’s eyes.  And will the guys behind this hoax again?  I’m sure they’ll think of something.

And what was the point of the hoax?  Oh there’s been speculation that they’re mocking the media for their lack of research.  That sounds like James Randi and the Carlos experiment.  But I suspect it’s something not quite so noble – the ad revenue of millions of eyes.  Either way, I’m sure everyone will benefit from this hoax, especially Ms. Porterfield.  But will it actually remind the media to be more cautious in their exuberence?  I think not.

Ironically, at the same time this hoax was going on a real world drama involving a flight attendant was unfolding that was just as entertaining in its own way.  But Ben Radford has explained that this story too wasn’t quite what it seemed to be. Is nothing amusing and unusual going on in the word?  Well this morning I saw a man wearing urban camouflage riding a large unicycle down Barrett Parkway.  Yes, technically I didn’t get photos and I didn’t forward those photos to my friends, but it was a great reminder to me that there are plenty of unusual things going on out there that are both amusing and real.  I just had to get off of the Internet for a few minutes to see it.

This event is in honor of Jeff Medkeff, the Blue Collar Scientist, astronomer, skeptic and friend to many of us. Jeff succumbed to liver cancer in 2008. All proceeds will go toward the Light the Night Fund: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in Jeff’s name.

Food, drinks and conversations with astronomers. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah, star gazing!

We have a bit more space than we did last year but tickets will sell out. Get them while you can!

Bruce Hood sounds very smart.  He’s talking about the brain and how it works.  He seems very well informed, though my first meeting with him was last night in the hotel bar when he was wearing a fake moustache and singing the theme music from Star Trek in an impromptu barber-shop quartet.  It’s amazing – and yes, I can tell you that this conference lives up to its name.

Friday was really a packed day of intellectual discussions and delightful talks. It’s such a thrill for me to be able to hear these well informed experts get up and talk about big ideas, and to be able to get up after the talk and have post-talk discussions with well informed attendees from around the world.  The value of TAM exceeds the value of any single talk – and perhaps even the cumulative information from all the talks.  These lectures spur on the minds of all the audience members and then they get new ideas and the ideas branch and flower and take new paths.

Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, gave a talk about the importance of civility.  He quoted Wil Wheaton and his talk could be summarized in four words, “Don’t be a dick.”  For some people that idea is counter-intuitive.  When you know that something isn’t so it is often difficult to find a nice and constructive way to share it.  It’s an important idea for pro-reality advocates since science, which many of us claim to support, shows that simply telling people they are wrong is likely to make them more certain they’re right!  Well said, Mr. Plait.

Joe Nickell, one of my personal heroes, gave a lovely lecture on his many “in disguise” investigations.  I’ve heard a lot of Joe’s talks before, but every time I learn something new or hear a new story.  I hope he’s around for many years to come.

One of the highlights of the day’s events was a talk consisting of Ray Hyman, Paul Kurtz, Ken Frazier and James Randi.  It was all about the origin of the skeptics movement, and in the end it culminated with Randi presenting a lifetime achievement to Dr. Kurtz.  I hope the JREF is getting all of this stuff successfully recorded because there are many historic moments taking place here.  I saw Paul Kurtz meet science journalist Simon Singh in a hallway – for the first time.  It was a private, brief meeting between two people I respect very much and I only got to see it because I happened to be in the right place in the right time.  In Las Vegas at TAM 8.

Adam Savage of the Mythbusters gave a fantastic and enthusiastic speech coming in just days after his show was nominated for an emmy, and he gave us the news that Mythbusters has been signed on for 5 more years!  There are many myths to be investigated, and many more things to be blown-up.

Women had a lot to say yesterday on skepticsim, science, feminism, and more.  There is a really great mix of people here of known and unknown champions of truth.  For one brief moment we got to see Eugenie Scott, another hero for the advancement of science education.  Little cameos like that of unadvertised awesome abound here.

It will take me some time to parse through all the information I’m getting here.  And to keep in touch with all the people I’m meeting.  And to calm down and get back to real life when I leave.  BUT, I don’t have to because there’s two more days!

The best counter protests I’ve seen involve peaceful demonstrations that collect money for charities like this one.

Others take a more surreal approach:

http://laughingsquid.com/san-franciscos-answer-to-westboro-baptist-church/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94878257@N00/4540981479/

Anyway, we are rallying the troops at the last minute. Details of what to do below the fold!

WHO: Anyone who can make it. Please email me at masala (dot) skeptic (at) gmail (dot) com if you can make it and I’ll get you in touch with the primary contact at that venue.

WHERE & WHEN: Check out this spreadsheet for a list of the protests they are going to be at and when. The spreadsheet has a primary contact, who is in charge of coordinating with the other participants. It also has a list of the other protesters who will be there. Our numbers are small but please come if you can!

WHAT TO BRING: A sign. Ideas for signs are all over the Internet. Be silly, be funny, be serious. Just make sure your sign is made out of appropriate materials. Use the Absurd Sign Generator if you need some ideas. If you are a primary on the demonstration, bring something to collect donations. We are collecting donations for AID Atlanta, a local AIDS charity.

HOW TO ACT: Be polite. If you are told to do anything by the police, DO IT. Do NOT interact directly with any of the Westboro folks. Do NOT engage them. Stand across from them, where appropriate, hold your signs up, chant if you can think of something appropriate to chant. (“Love Not Hate” is always a good one).

DON’T BE SURPRISED IF: They don’t show up. I looked at this schedule. If this is a single group driving across town to each of these demonstrations, they have severely underestimated Atlanta traffic. There’s a good chance they won’t make it.  Of course, it’s possible they are breaking up into different groups for different protests.  ALSO, they have been known to stop or call off demonstrations at the last minute. So, don’t be disappointed if you show up, with all your signs, all raring to go and nothing happens.

COMMUNICATE: Email me, please, with whatever information you can before, during and after the protest. Also, follow @atlantaskeptics on Twitter. I’ll post whatever information I have on that feed.  If you are on Twitter, Tweet about the event, with pictures, if you can. Use the hashtag #wbcATL

DOCUMENT: Take photos and video if you can. Take photos of YOU with the signs. Also, please keep your signs when you’re done. I’d like to showcase them at Skepticamp, since I’m sure they’ll be funny and interesting!

Good luck!

We’re crazy excited about this. Brian is one of my favorite podcasters and the last time he did a live podcast in Atlanta, it turned into one of the best parties I’ve been to in years.

I hope that if you’re in or near Atlanta, you’ll join us. Brian will be interviewing Atlanta’s own Blake Smith (co-host of the Monster Talk podcast), and Lindsay Starke (writer and conspiracy expert). We are also expecting some exciting visitors who are coming into town for the event. Nothing is confirmed yet but there may be sightings of loud astronomers and flora-dwelling crustaceans… you never know

Plus, PRIZES. And not shitty Kevin Trudeau books like we had last year (although I think I still have a couple that may show up…) I’m talking really cool prizes, donated by the Atlanta Skeptics, Surly Amy, Tree Lobsters and others.

I hope you’ll make it. We’re charging a small fee for the event ($5) – it is, after all, a fundraiser but for the cost of a cup of coffee, you can be a part of what will inevitably be, the most talked about Skeptic event in Atlanta this year (at least until Dragon*Con).

I hope to see you there!

Details:

What: March Skeptics in the Pub featuring the Live Amateur Scientist podcast. RSVP at Meetup. NOTE: This will be an adult show. Bring kids at your own risk.

When: March 13, 2010, 7 p.m.

Where: Manuels Tavern, 602 N. Highland Ave, Atlanta, GA 30307

There are two stated reasons for this extra fine: the first is that Georgia lawmakers want to reduce the amount of speeding in the state. If you’ve ever been on any part of I-285 you know what I’m talking about; it’s a frakking racetrack. The second reason stated that this extra money will go fund trauma centers, but (fine print) the legislature can do whatever they want with it.

I don’t want to talk about Georgia politics, (but I will if given half a chance); instead I want to focus on the idea that higher fines will decrease speeding. Surely, other states have tried this approach. There should be a mountain of data out there confirming or unconfirming this idea. Can we move this from an idea to a testable hypothesis?

First:

• The data has shown that police presence does nothing to deter speeding outside of the immediate area.
• Automatic systems for red light enforcement and speed enforcement don’t generate self-sustaining revenue, meaning that they are a victim of their own success. They do their job so well at deterring drivers from running lights and speeding that the city is unable to cover the costs and require subsidies; the only other option is the discontinuation of the program
• Speed monitoring displays that show a driver’s current speed have been shown to reduce speeds, but this is not feasible for a highway.
• A number of overseas studies DO find that increased fines and the threat of losing a license ARE effective, but the fact that the number of licensed US drivers is many times that of most studied countries muddies the waters.
• Signs noting the threat of double fines at construction sites has increased awareness and decreased speeding, but only by a third.

While there is no direct evidence that points to whether or not higher fines do deter speeding, we may be able to infer some conclusions from a number of other psychological studies on deterrence by increased penalties. Georgia lawmakers are hoping that the fear of punishment will deter illegal behavior in potential offenders. Is this borne out in the research?

The short answer is that we just don’t know for sure; we know that a deterrence effect does exist but its significance and magnitude have been difficult to measure. What it boils down to is that lawmakers want to penalize unsafe driving. If this is all this is, then I suppose I can’t complain. But if this is being billed as a method of saving lives, it will fall flat on its face. The only real ways to reduce speeding, and ergo traffic deaths, is to either step up enforcement or find a way to get drivers off of the road. Maybe the legislature could spend that money on a better mass transit system?

I mean its 2010, why can’t we teleport? Or should we wait five years for hoverboards and flying cars?

Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads!

“Mom? HeadOn? Really?”

“Don’t start. I know it doesn’t work, but it works for me.”

Well. There you go. The power of the placebo illustrated in one short sentence. It effectively stopped the conversation. Could I argue against it? Should I? I just changed the subject.

A placebo, as defined for clinical trials of medicine, is an inert version of the medicine tested. It allows the experimenter to “blind” the patient, and the person who administers the drugs, from whether the patient is receiving the drug or not. This allows the experimenter to know that any effect would come from the drug itself, not whether the patient knows he’s getting the drug.

Placebo testing can lead to an ethical dilemma, if the medicine is the sole cure for the disease or condition. You can’t use a placebo to set a bone or remove a tumor; that would just be wrong. In the case of pain relief, however, it can be useful – precisely because it has been shown that self-reported results, such as lessening of pain, can largely depend on the patient’s thoughts and feelings.

So in my mother’s case, she knew intellectually that the stick of wax really has no way of deadening pain nerve endings, or attacking the cause of the headache, but she also knew that when she used it, she felt better. It could be, at least in part, the feeling of control she gained over something going on in her body, with the added benefit of no side effects.

I’ve known people who have used magnets in the same way. Their chronic pain was not helped by the medicine their doctors prescribed, and the medicine had very real side effects. The magnets seemed to help, and there were no side effects. So, based on their own experience, they have a very powerful bias against any information that shows that magnets could not help. And in the case of self-reported pain, I always return to that same question: Should we push science-based medicine in this case?

Dr. Harriet Hall, in today’s Science-Based Medicine blog, asks the same question regarding acupuncture and chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome: “Since medical science has little to offer for CP/CPPS, is recommending acupuncture ethically justified; and if so, should patients be told it is evidence-based?” Should these patients be given placebos and told they are not placebos? Studies have shown that these patients will report less pain, even though there is no real reason for the lessening of the pain.

What’s the answer? I don’t really know, but it’s obvious what my answer has been so far. When faced with the statement “I know it doesn’t work, but it works for me”, my response has been “So…how’s the Christmas shopping going?”

However, I was able to relax once I saw an article today that made me realize that I could cover nearly any subject that raises my skeptical hackles, because it’s all related. Perhaps I can take you through my thought processes that led to that conclusion.

The article was on Holocaust denial. Eric Hunt filed a lawsuit in Florida that called an Auschwitz survivor’s memories “vicious lies”. Now, Holocaust denial is not really a subject that interests me; I like looking into alternative medicine. Holocaust denial is like belief in a flat earth – most people dismiss it out of hand, and there’s really no reason to “come out” against Holocaust denial. But a quote at the end of the article caught my eye.

Hunt had earlier been convicted of assault against Elie Wiesel, a famous Holocaust survivor. He made a statement after the trial: “’I had been sucked into anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on the Internet,’ Hunt said in August 2008. ‘I don’t believe any of that garbage now that I’m taking my medication.’”

Well, he’s off his meds now, obviously, and that sparked a connection in my mind with a group that’s in the news in Atlanta lately – Scientologists. This group does not give any credence to psychiatry or to medicines prescribed for mental health. If it were up to them, there would be thousands more Eric Hunts roaming around, a hair away from physical assault on those who don’t agree with them.

Now, this is not to say that all Holocaust deniers should be on psychoactive drugs, or that all Scientologists are anti-semitic. It also doesn’t mean, in this specific case, that Hunt is a Scientologist and is off his meds for that reason. However, it does show that unexamined beliefs which are innocuous on the surface, like Scientology, can lead to dangerous consequences. In Eric Hunt, the denial of the evidence of the usefulness of his medication is directly related to his denial of the Holocaust.

As skeptics, we are (or should be) willing to go wherever the evidence leads. And I would opine that denial of evidence is part of most of the subjects we’ll be discussing here.

Mark is also publishing all the Atlanta Science Tavern talks as podcasts and that feed is here, and includes the event we did in partnership with the Science Tavern for Ginger Campbell’s talk.

Many thanks to Mark and LaVerne who provide all their A/V equipment to us free of charge for our events!