John Oliver: Scientific Studies

CapelDodger said:
Don't include me in that "we". I have been in the belly of the beast and it's even worse than you think.
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It was more of a rhetorical 'we'. I've become quite jaded and cynical of the news media over the last couple of years.
 
Corsair 115 said:
It was more of a rhetorical 'we'. I've become quite jaded and cynical of the news media over the last couple of years.
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I hear that!
In 2001 a passenger jet crashed into Queens , NY. This was the result of heavy over correction of rudder when the craft encountered wake turbulence from the heavy that preceded it off the runway.
OK, the NTSB calls a "Technical Briefing". Note that first word, "technical". Its carried live, probably CNN and I was watching. My recollection is:

The NTSB spokesman described the g forces the FDR recorded, "xg's starboard, wg's up" that kind of thing.
One reporter asks what a "g" is. I yell at the TV, "why are you at a technical briefing if you don't know that?". The answer is calmly put forth. "OK" I think to myself, perhaps the reporter simply wanted to get a correct definition, a corroboration of what he understood a "g" to be. A different question is asked and answered,,,, THEN several more reporters ask variations on "what's a "g"?" and the spokesman becomes increasingly testy and frankly I could not blame him. Finally when it looks like he's about to let loose on the gathered doofus news people, another NTSB person steps in to relieve him, followed by more question about what "acceleration", is and what a "g" is, and what "deflection", and "inverted" means,,,etc.
Is it just me or should a reporter attending a "Technical Briefing" have at the very least, an understanding of the technical jargon? This is grade 11-12 science, or at least it was when I went to high school. If you are a reporter because you read Chaucer and Dickens then perhaps you should be on the art and leisure beat.
 
bonzombiekitty said:
Coffee at least has a decent amount of studies indicating some health benefits. At the very least, my wife, who works with liver disease, says coffee is really good for your liver.
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yeah, about that,, when I see reports proclaiming such things I have to ask, "in what way?". IOW, what actual process is occurring that aids the liver in its functioning(and which function)? If the answer is simply that less cirrhosis is noted in alcoholics who drink coffee, I am a bit skeptical on how, or if, it could help me.

Reminds me though of an alcoholic friend on mine in the 80s. His hangover remedy was coffee, a roll of TUMS, and 4 or 5 Tylenol. The TUMS, ok, however he had just walloped his liver with alcohol and was now following that up with a large dose of acetaminophen, also metabolized in the liver. I just shook my head.
 
Gord_in_Toronto said:
Is that what the famous TV doctor, Dr Ben Dover, told you?



Made from a real Labrador retriever? :confused:
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Well, the only Ben Dover I was aware of was a film producer of short films - 8mm and Super 8mm - usually sold through the mail or later in Porn Stores (aka Adult Book Shops). They were on that topic. I had not heard that Ben ever actually ever got his doctorate. There was another company that produced worse (more, umm, blatant than Ben's). And it is interesting that you mention Labrador Retriever but we will just skip over that one.......
 
Corsair 115 said:
It was more of a rhetorical 'we'. I've become quite jaded and cynical of the news media over the last couple of years.
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What took you so long?

You might be surprised how many journalists are unsuccessful authors. The bitterest of them become sub-editors. Drink is the pink elephant in every newsroom. And as for the shagging, don't get me started.
 
jaydeehess said:
Is it just me or should a reporter attending a "Technical Briefing" have at the very least, an understanding of the technical jargon?
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You'd think, wouldn't you?

This is grade 11-12 science, or at least it was when I went to high school. If you are a reporter because you read Chaucer and Dickens then perhaps you should be on the art and leisure beat.
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The art beat, performing and otherwise, is fought - and shagged - over more than any other. Free tickets, celebrity schmoozing, goody bags, and the chance that your deathless prose will appear un-shredded by the subs and with your original headline. On a features page. Oh joy.

On a general run page your deathless prose enters a general pool, not to say pond, from which a required number of column-inches of copy will be extracted by embittered people who also generate headline from randomly selected phrases, which are later excised anyway. The will to live declines in Mirror image (see what I did there? It would never survive the subs) to the will to drink.

And the truth? They really don't want to handle the truth.
 
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CapelDodger said:
What took you so long?
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I'm always late to the party. :D

Does anyone remember the name of the fellow who was, if I recall correctly, a scientist who remarked that he found it interesting how folks like himself would read a news article on some scientific discovery or development, shake his head at how poorly or even inaccurately the article covered it, then turn to read the other news items without really questioning why those would be any more accurate than the science article?
 
jaydeehess said:
yeah, about that,, when I see reports proclaiming such things I have to ask, "in what way?". IOW, what actual process is occurring that aids the liver in its functioning(and which function)? If the answer is simply that less cirrhosis is noted in alcoholics who drink coffee, I am a bit skeptical on how, or if, it could help me.
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I'm not an expert in the field, so I couldn't tell you. From what I have been told by my wife, who specializes in liver disease, it's pretty well accepted by all the hepatologists that she works with, that it's good for your liver. People who drink coffee tend to recover better Hep-C, for example, and that is regardless of whether or not they drank coffee in the past. IIRC, the effects aren't seen in other sorts of caffeine intake, e.g. tea, and is not seen in decaffeinated coffee.
 
Distantly related to the topic, but I came across a Twitter account which, according to its description, "A collection of real abstracts from peer-reviewed journals/PhD dissertations in the humanities and the social sciences."

From the ones I've happened to see listed there... well... one is often left shaking one's head in amazement.

Here's the account: https://twitter.com/real_peerreview
 
Corsair 115 said:
Distantly related to the topic, but I came across a Twitter account which, according to its description, "A collection of real abstracts from peer-reviewed journals/PhD dissertations in the humanities and the social sciences."

From the ones I've happened to see listed there... well... one is often left shaking one's head in amazement.

Here's the account: https://twitter.com/real_peerreview
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What a vacuous but foul and wasted gathering of fecal matter on paper/electrons/screens.
 
Joey McGee said:
Obvious joke!

In reality, it's a beer and a bacon sandwich.
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Glad to meet a Brother Member of Those Chosen. But I am sure that you are aware that I now must extinguish with extreme prejudice your existence for having revealed Article 2L-A1/2 of the immortality minifesto 《typo noticed but leaving it because assumed humour (opinion of others may differ)》. But because I am in a good mood, you won't even feel it.
 
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Susheel said:
Glad to meet a Brother Member of Those Chosen. But I am sure that you are aware that I now must extinguish with extreme prejudice your existence for having revealed Article 2L-A1/2 of the immortality minifesto 《typo noticed but leaving it because assumed humour (opinion of others may differ)》. But because I am in a good mood, you won't even feel it.
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If I die prematurely and dont login to my death site within 72 hours emails will be sent to every news organization in the free world exposing the movement and it's secrets. Yes I broke rank and my oath, but that's what happens when you refuse to release the truth about how the order is responsible for why all the good rock and roll happened in the 60s and 70s and nothing good since. I'll even tell the truth about Bon Scott. The world isn't ready, on this we agree, so just stay cool brother!
 
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