#ten23 comes to Perth

As many of you may already know Australia is taking part in the Homeopathy ten23 campaign to raise awareness about Homeopathy and the fact that there is nothing in it. Perth Skeptics will be one of seven skeptical groups in Australia taking part. http://tokenskeptic.org/ten23/

The plan is to meet in Forest Place by 12pm on Saturday the 5th of Feb. We then plan to hand out a Homeopathic solution containing arsenic to the general public along with a flyer explaining why it is ok to overdose on ANY Homeopathic substance, and why Homeopathy is ineffective and cannot work beyond the placebo effect.

We will also overdose on Homeopathic remedies ourselves to show that there is nothing in them. We did this last year however no one got sick. It’s just sugar after all.

More information on Homeopathy:
http://www.1023.org.uk/what-is-homeopathy.php
https://www.drstaceywood.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/SenseAboutHomeopathy.pdf

Join the Perth Skeptics #ten23 event here: Homeopathy ten23 Perth

Vaccination is the equivalent of child rape.

Vaccination is the equivalent of child rape. At least according to Meryl Dorey of the Australian Vaccination Network. Just when it seems that the Anti-vaccination crowd couldn’t get more absurd. The AVN and it’s supporters appear to excel in all area’s of stupidity.

A MOTHER has been ordered by the Family Court to have her five-year-old daughter immunised.

The girl’s father, who has remarried and has another child, wanted the girl vaccinated against preventable diseases for her own wellbeing, and for the health of his other children.

But the girl’s mother said her daughter was healthy and the risk of vaccine-preventable diseases was very small.

The couple separated before their daughter was born, and the father initially consented to her not being immunised because, he claims, he was desperate to establish a relationship with his daughter. But the father now wants her vaccinated and produced medical evidence that immunisation provided no unacceptable risks for his daughter. –Herald Sun

It’s a good thing the father of this child took the mother to court to get this resolved. It can’t have been easy but at least it is one more life that may now be protected from preventable disease. Parents who refuse to protect their children from disease are unfit to raise kids. It’s ashame the father wasn’t awarded full custody, one step at a time I guess.

NSW Parliment; a safe harbour for paedophiles?

An audit of internet usage has been conducted in the NSW Parliament. The audit has found that members of parliament used their computers to access suspected child pornography.

NSW MPs or their staff have allegedly visited child pornography sites on parliament house computers.

The revelation that nine sites featuring “young people of indeterminate age” were visited comes in an independent report into parliamentary internet use by Ernst & Young.

The report was commissioned by house speaker Richard Torbay and upper house president Amanda Fazio after an unauthorised audit by a parliamentary internet staffer found 35 sites visited between November last year and September this year appeared to contain adult related content. –The Australian

After such a finding it is reasonable to expect that a further investigation would be underway followed by some disciplinary action. However such expectations turn out to be wishful thinking.

THE NSW Parliament will not discipline or even identify staff members or MPs who used the parliamentary computer system to access websites that contained ”sexually explicit images of young people”.

The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Richard Torbay, and the President of the Legislative Council, Amanda Fazio, have declared the matter closed despite confirmation that nine inappropriate websites were accessed.

In a statement yesterday, they confirmed that advice from the Crown Solicitor was that there was ”no legal obligation to refer the information in the report to the NSW Police Force”. –The Sydney Morning Herald

So there you have it. If you want to access inappropriate content and be protected, become a member of the New South Whales Parliament. When questionable content is found; no questions asked.

Although the term “Young People” doesn’t specifically mean children. The responsible thing to do would be to pass the matter onto the police. Not cover it up.

Anonymous Script Kiddies are not defending the internet.

If you’re following the WikiLeaks debacle you have no doubt heard of the group being called “Anonymous” although they are more of a phenomenon than an actual group or organisation. Anonymous have been launching Distributed Denial of Service Attacks against Mastercard, PayPal. Dubbed “Operation Payback” this loosely connected band of idiots are attempting to bring down websites and services that have refused to do business with WikiLeaks under the misguided view that they are standing up for Freedom of Speech and ‘Defending the Internet’.

However nothing could be further from the truth because Anonymous have even attempted to bring down Amazon for refusing to host WikiLeaks. Of course with Amazon being one of the largest service providers in the world Anonymous failed miserably, although they still attempted to bring down a service that hosts tens of thousands of servers. Such an attack on so many innocent people is not standing up for Freedom of Speech. Knocking someone’s service provider offline has the same effect as adding them to a government censorship filter; they are silenced.

Amazon has been lined up as the next victim of a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack by the group of online vigilantes known as Anonymous, which has already taken down the web sites of MasterCard, Visa and PayPal, as the WikiLeaks controversy continues.

A Twitter update from one of the accounts used by the group, @Op_Payback, read an hour ago: “TARGET: WWW.AMAZON.COM LOCKED ON!!!”. Subsequent updates gave followers instructions on how to turn their computers into part of a mass botnet set to launch the DDoS attack in two hours.

It is unclear whether the attack is in retaliation for the actions of Amazon Web Services last week in booting WikiLeaks off its servers, or due to the appearance on Amazon.com today of the WikiLeaks cables for a £7.37 charge. –V3.co.uk

I decided to briefly point out this hypocrisy in the IRC channel:

If the screencap is hard to see click here.

I had expected to receive at least some half baked ideology in response to justify the DDoS attacks but instead it seems these Script Kiddies are not interested in discussion.

 

As I type this the IRC has come to life; they are gearing up for another attack. I will be watching this out of interest but I refuse to assist any of these idiots. Because these morons are not defending the internet. Instead they are crippling it and stamping on the Freedom of Speech that they claim to protect. Despite what the media tell you these are not hackers because all these individuals are doing is abusing the core fundamentals of the Internet. Packets of information are routed indiscriminately to their destination so a DDoS attack requires no expertise to carry out. All you need to do is send traffic to a target and the Internet does the rest.

 

If like me you support WikiLeaks but condemn Operation Payback and the idiots behind it then say something on Twitter, Comment forms or the Anon-ops IRC (But don’t expect a warm welcome.)

 

Wikipedia: What is a Denial of Service Attack?

 

Anon-Ops IRC: 91.121.92.84 Port: 6667 #OperationPayback

 

#TAMoz Karaoke Night

There were so many great moments at The Amazing Meeting: Australia that it’s going to take me some time to put it all together. But in the meantime I wanted to share this, karaoke with George Harb at the crown hotel.

It’s not related to Skepticism but just shows what a great time we all had. Especially at the pub.

James Randi on Homeopathy

 

James Randi mathematically demonstrates the implausibly of Homeopathy. This video really sums up the fallacy of Homeopathy and why anyone with even a basic grasp of science knows that it’s a scam.

With the rapid approach of TAM Australia I am planning to host a mass overdose of Homeopathic remedies in Sydney to raise public awareness. The overdose in Sydney is a rare opportunity in Australia because it’s the first time that so many Skeptics have gathered in one city. So this is your chance to join in and help raise public awareness of Homeopathy.

Click here for the #TAMoz mass overdose; I offer 100% safety guarantee. My knowledge of Homeopathy conforms with the laws of Chemistry and Physics I can assure everyone that what we will be doing is perfectly safe. Just watch the video or email me: Dan@danscomp.net if you have doubts.

TAM Australia draws nearer

Tam Australia or #TAMoz is almost upon us and in addition to the main event we have many great side events being planned on the TAM Australia meetup group. If you haven’t already done so you should check them out because we have something for everyone; thanks to Bastard Sheep for taking the initiative to setup the group.

As you can see we are just under 10 Days from TAM Australia at the time of this post.

 

 

Fitna

 Fitna: The Movie by Geert Wilders

In 2008 a short but highly controversial film produced by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, was released. The purpose of the film was to show how the Qur’an acts as a motivative tool for Islamic terrorism. Due to the nature of this film there are many attempts to have it censored.

I am self hosting it because it’s too long for YouTube and other services keep deleting it. If there are any issues with streaming this video I can be contacted at Dan@danscomp.net You can also download the .avi here.

Will the AVN ignore OLGR

Calling all Skeptics. We know that Meryl Dorey of the Australian Vaccination Network likes to ignore government authorities and likes to claim that she is beyond their jurisdiction. With the recent Office of Liquor Gaming and Racing decision to revoke the AVN’s charity status, forbidding them from collecting donations coming into effect tomorrow (20th). The AVN will not legally be allowed to collect donations from members of the public from tomorrow onwards.

I propose that we keep a close watch on the AVN and if they do not remove their donations page tomorrow we should all send in donations and then immediately report the AVN to the OLGR for unlawful collection of donations. You can email the OLGR here: charity.inquiries@olgr.nsw.gov.au

It’s time to put this watchdog to sleep.

Perth Atheist Entertainment Night

The Perth Atheists are holding an entertainment night to take place on the 6th of November 2010 at Cups Cafe in Subiaco.

The night involves:

  • Quiz Night
  • Topical discussion by a panel of experts and comedians
  • YouTube
  • Live Science demonstration
  • Great Italian Food
  • BYO Alcohol
  • Bring your friends

For those who have not visited Cups Cafe (http://www.cupscafe.com.au/) it is one of Perth’s premier cafes. With some great food on the menu. This entertainment night is free to attend (although you will need to pay for your own food) so feel free to bring people with you.

Please RSVP on the Perth Atheist’s official event page. (You can signin with a Facebook or Meetup account) or visit our Facebook event page.