Ewan's Corner

Archive for the ‘Local’ Category

This re-posting was inspired by Simon Dingle’s great opinion piece “Cellphones and Cancer” posted on Fin24 today, and all the stupidity surrounding the recent media-hyping of the announcement by the WHO.

Written by Dr. Milton Mermikides, Tuesday, 14 June 2011 00:00, originally from Swift

The skeptic community often provides, most commendably, the calm voice of reason during periods of public scares (and outright panics) such as the MMR and vaccine ‘controversy’, fears surrounding fluoride, mobile phone and Wi-Fi usage, the perils of Facebook, overblown drug risks and the impending doom from microwave ovens. Although opposing false fears is admirable work, it is important that we don’t become blasé and, through habit, allow genuinely concerning public health issues to escape our criticism. By way of a demonstration I would like to share some genuinely alarming information that I recently discovered about a supplementary nutritional practice. It is conducted by a sub-culture of adults for personal use and by (presumably well-meaning) parents in an effort to enhance their children’s performance. It seems, that this has been happening for years and has as yet escaped critical examination, so in this brief time please allow me to present an overview.

The substance is known as Ba-2Na (not barium disulphate – it is in fact an organic mixture) and can be found in green-form, black-form and yellow-form. The latter state being highly desired among users. As it is consumed all over the world, there are numerous names for Ba-2Na (depending on the method of production) including mauz, musala, musa and even, believe it or not, superbum. The latter conjuring up images of a superhero rushing into a phone booth not to don a costume but simply to urinate.

Dosages are bought (sometimes in the street in plain view) in individually ingested units of approximately 200 grams each, consolidated in to ‘bunches’ of 4-7 units. The reported effects include a rush of energy and a sense of contentment and satisfaction. In fact some are so enamored with the substance, that they believe it to be a proof of the existence of God. However, as far as I can discover, there have been no safety testing of this substance, rather worrying considering the following facts, one starts to wonder who is protecting the interests of the dealers.

Ba-2Na is highly genetically modified – often synthesized using a tissue culture – and is virtually unrecognizable from its wild natural counterpart.

This sugary concoction of chemicals includes phenylalanine (a component of aspartame and found in diet drinks, the possible dangers of which are well discussed), threonine (which can be absorbed directly into the human heart), extremely toxic phosphorus (used in matches of all things) and particles of ash. This toxic cocktail is also cut with mind-numbing dopamine and serotonin (which can cause endomyocardial fibrosis) – hence the sense of gratification reported by users- and other biogenic components. The substance can also spread infectious diseases if handled unhygienically, which is sadly often the case.

Parents are forcing their children to consume this gunk under the impression that they will give them a burst of energy and strength – an edge over their peers – however Ba-2Na interrupts the natural digestive function, appetite response and formaldehyde levels in the blood, and no-one really knows the cumulative effect of all these chemicals in the absence of adequate testing. Not to mention the fact that Ba-2Na emits over a 1000 times the ionising radiation of a mobile phone, the health effect of which doesn’t bear talking about. Allergic reactions (bizarrely from users who are allergic to latex) have also been noted but for some unknown reason have not made it to public knowledge.

Finally, the discarded casing of this substance can potentially cause physical harm to others – and most shocking of all – this can even be a source of amusement to the addled brains of users.

It is appalling that we haven’t highlighted these dangers and I suggest an imminent large-scale response. We need to peel back the outer layer to get to the centre of the issue, and then we might have a ray of comfort. If we don’t take this sort of thing seriously, we’ve all slipped up.

A large haul of uncut street Ba-2Na in its highly desirable yellow-form:

Postscript 

Ok so that’s very silly, but other than the ill-concealed name, all the statements I’ve made about the humble banana are basically true, deceptive, but true. Any old nonsense can be supported on a foundation of carefully-selected – and omitted – truths- All this can of course be achieved completely unconsciously. The alternative medicine, pro-homeopathy/anti-‘allopathy’ community, nutritionists, ‘wellness’ ‘experts’ and the anti-vaccination crowd are all deeply guilty of this massaging and careful compilation of truths and the use of scary science-y terms to convince themselves and others of whatever agenda to which they’ve formed an allegiance. Of course, these can be supplemented with a healthy dose of toxic lies – a level to which I haven’t needed to stoop in order to make a case against Ba-2Na.

Son of a CERN nuclear physicist, Milton was raised with wide artistic and scientific influences, an eclecticism that remains with him today. He has a BSc from the London School of Economics, a BMus (Berklee College of Music) and a PhD in music (University of Surrey), and holds commendations for his education and charity work. Milton now lives in London (UK) where he enjoys teaching, performing, composing, producing and writing about music. To learn more please visit miltonline.wordpress.com

The total lunar eclipse last night was beautiful and awe-inspiring. I was lucky enough to be in Durban with perfectly clear Winter skies, and far enough from the city lights to have a perfect view of the whole show.

Our connected world meant I could simultaneously follow the eclipse from multiple viewpoints around the world in real time, including getting photos from friends and strangers with far better photographic equipment than mine. Events like this make Twitter truly come alive for me – watching the constant stream of excited tweets (and photos) with the #eclipse hashtag made me appreciate how wonderfully connected our little world is.

My little blog also went ballistic, setting a new all-time record of 1,240 views yesterday for my humble eclipse post, people were clearly searching for information.

My favourite eclipse media as I find it:

• Yannick’s first Eclipse shot as the moon was slowly devoured – http://yfrog.com/khudryaj
• I expect some more amazing shots from him once the post-processing is done and he has some spare time. No pressure.
• Top twitter images for #eclipse – https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23eclipse/grid/photos
• The always amazing Flickr Astrophotography pool (also see Moon Shots)
• Longest Total Lunar Eclipse in 11 Years Thrills Skywatchers (space.com)
• Also Total Lunar Eclipse of June 2011: First Photos (space.com)

A total lunar eclipse is visible from South Africa (actually most of Africa and Central Asia) tomorrow night, Wednesday 15th June – starting at 20h22, with the full eclipse lasting from 21h22 to 23h02 SAT, and the show over around midnight. This is a fairly rare event – the last one visible from SA was in 2008, and the next will only be in September 2015.

Visible across South Africa (weather permitting, but looks good) the full moon will be due East and about 55 degrees above the horizon (see the image to the right – courtesy of the brilliant Stellarium).

Thursday is a public holiday, so encourage your family to get outdoors and look upwards, it will be quite a sight!

• Total lunar eclipse for SA (News24)
• Watch the Flickr Astrophotography group for photos from people with some serious equipment
• Twitter, of course (although you’ll have to ignore the astrologers who will likely jump at the opportunity to spout their own brand of crazy)
• Johannesburg Planetarium

I (or rather my wonderful wife) ordered my Kindle on November the 30th 2010, only to sadly discover that due to stock shortages the delivery ETA was between January 21st and February 7th 2011. Understandable (Amazon is said to have sold over 8 million Kindle units in 2010), so I settled in for the wait and enjoyed Christmas.

Happily on January 8th they emailed me with a new ETA of January 17th.

On January 10th my kindle shipped, and I tracked it as it travelled the 16 thousand kilometre journey from Kentucky US to Durban, South Africa:

To my delight it arrived this morning, January 14th – so in total 4 days with only a few hours to clear customs in Johannesburg. Others had reported delays of several days in the past, but Amazon’s new expedited customs tactic (you pay up-front for customs duties, which are refunded if not used) seems to have made all the difference.

I bought the 3G version, for those interested the price breakdown is:

• Item Subtotal:    $189.00
• Shipping  and handling:     $20.98
• Import Fees Deposit:     $29.11
• Total:    $239.09 (ZAR 1,780.92)

Recommended resources:

• Simon Dingle’s post “how to buy a Kindle” is well worth the read for existing and prospective Kindle owners
• if you own a Kindle, you *need* Calibre.
• Instapaper is also a fantastic free tool

Following on from my previous rant informative post on the subject, numerous people (including my lovely wife) let me know about some great Power Balance related news:

• Power wristbands a dud, says ACCC (news.smh.com.au)
• Sports band slammed in Australia (www.news24.com)

as well as much happiness in the skeptic world (scepticsbook.com, Vic Skeptics, Skeptic Money).

In summery Power Balance Australia, when approached by the OZ Competition and Consumer Commission, couldn’t provide *any* credible evidence of their claims that the hologram-powered rubber bands helped the wearer in any way. What a shocker.

The best part is that they are now forced to refund anyone who asks, as well as modify their advertising / packaging to remove false claims – and their website now includes the following statement:

We admit that there is no credible scientific evidence that supports our claims and therefore we engaged in misleading conduct in breach of s52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974.

If you feel you have been misled by our promotions, we wish to unreservedly apologise and offer a full refund.

That should hopefully hammer their Christmas sales.

Feeling a little silly now are we Mick Fanning, Benji Marshall, Brendan Fevola, Damien Oliver, David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Leonardo diCaprio, Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Pietersen, Rubens Barrichello, Kate Middleton, P Diddy etc?

For all you South Africans (thanks James) a link to a petition (update: OK Caroline, it’s not a petition, it’s a formal complaint by the FSI) preparing for a formal complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASASA). Go sign up.