AT&T just limited my unlimited data plan

AT&T lost a lawsuit but the fight is still going on. I hit my limit the day before my vacation, so my business plan to work from the road on my large music files via box.net is shot. I also now can’t listen to Internet radio on the road or send free texts or use Voxer to keep in touch during my trip… Unless I stop at a wifi hotspot.

Even some AT&T reps were baffled. How can an unlimited data plan get limited? I fought with them for 3 hours and couldn’t get it removed for even ten minutes to finish downloading my work to my phone. The lies are what made me absolutely livid. I was told that the restriction was automated and that it will come off automatically in a few weeks. Makes sense, but when I asked for an exception I was told that no one can remove the restriction. I was told that no human can remove the restriction! Did a human program the restriction? Evasive answer. Restatement that I can pay more to get access. Why the hell should I pay more per month not to be throttled when I already pay for unlimited data? As i see it, AT&T failed to anticipate bandwidth growth and failed to invest as needed in infrastructure, so now they are trying to wiggle out of their contracts with some of their most loyal customers.

Merck Accused of Lying About Mumps Vaccine

Things aren’t going so well lately in the litigation department for Merck, which stands accused of lying according to not just one, but two class-action lawsuits.

In the first case, two former Merck virologists accuse their former employer of overstating the effectiveness of the mumps vaccine in Merck’s combination MMR shot, which may have cost the US government hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade.

Merck’s mumps vaccine was originally licensed 45 years ago. Since the 1970s, it’s been part of the trivalent measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which is part of the recommended childhood vaccination schedule. The case, which was initially filed in 2010, was unsealed late last month. As reported by the Courthouse News Serviceii:

“… Stephen Krahling and Joan Wlochowski were Merck virologists who claim in their unsealed complaint that they “witnessed firsthand the improper testing and data falsification in which Merck engaged to artificially inflate the vaccine’s efficacy findings.”

… As the largest single purchaser of childhood vaccines (accounting for more than 50 percent of all vaccine purchases), the United States is by far the largest financial victim of Merck’s fraud,” according to the 2010 False Claims Act complaint.”

According to Nasdaq.com:

“Merck–which stressed that none of these allegations relate to the safety of its product–said the lawsuit is “completely without merit”, and that it plans to “vigorously defend itself.”

… Merck responds by saying that none of the lawsuit’s allegations relate to the safety of its products. Such evasive maneuvering certainly gives the appearance of an admission of guilt.

Second Lawsuit Filed

A mere week after the first case was unsealed, a federal antitrust class action lawsuit was filed by Chatom Primary Care. According to Courthouse News Service:

“Merck has known for a decade that its mumps vaccine is “far less effective” than it tells the government, and it falsified test results and sold millions of doses of “questionable efficacy,” flooding and monopolizing the market, a primary caregiver claims in a federal antitrust class action.

… Chatom says in its antitrust complaint that Merck falsely claims its mumps vaccine is 95 percent effective. That claim “deterred and excluded competing manufacturers,” who would enter the risky and expensive vaccine market only if they believed they could craft a better product…

Merck is the only manufacturer licensed by the FDA to sell the mumps vaccine in United States, and if it could not show that the vaccine was 95 percent effective, it risked losing its lucrative monopoly… That’s why Merck found it critically important to keep claiming such a high efficacy rate, the complaint states. And, Chatom claims, that’s why Merck went to great lengths, including “manipulating its test procedures and falsifying the test results,” to prop up the bogus figure, though it knew that the attenuated virus from which it created the vaccine had been altered over the years during the manufacturing process, and that the quality of the vaccine had degraded as a result.”

According to these two lawsuits, Merck began a sham testing program in the late 1990′s to hide the declining efficacy of the vaccine. The objective of the fraudulent trials was to “report efficacy of 95 percent or higher regardless of the vaccine’s true efficacy.” This program was initially referred to as “Protocol 007,” the Chatom claim states, and instead of testing the vaccine’s efficacy against a wild mumps virus, as is the norm, Merck used its own attenuated strain of the virus—the identical strain with which the children were being vaccinated!

That’s as brilliant as it is devious, and a perfect example of how medical research can be manipulated to achieve desired results. … The two virologists bringing the lawsuit against Merck claim they witnessed firsthand this deception and were asked to directly participate in it.

As reported by the Courthouse News Service:

“That “subverted” the purpose of the testing regime, “which was to measure the vaccine’s ability to provide protection against a disease-causing mumps virus that a child would actually face in real life. The end result of this deviation … was that Merck’s test overstated the vaccine’s effectiveness,” Chatom claims.

Merck also added animal antibodies to blood samples to achieve more favorable test results, though it knew that the human immune system would never produce such antibodies, and that the antibodies created a laboratory testing scenario that “did not in any way correspond to, correlate with, or represent real life … virus neutralization in vaccinated people,” according to the complaint.

Chatom claims that the falsification of test results occurred “with the knowledge, authority and approval of Merck’s senior management.” …

Considering the extent of the allegations here, it is really shocking that the conventional media has not picked up on this story. About the only major media source reporting on it was Forbes Magazine.

Interestingly, Forbes stated that this case gives “vaccine foes” new ammunition for their argument that drug companies are more interested in money than protecting consumers’ health. And rightfully so.

While vaccine makers often claim there’s not a lot of profit to be had in vaccines, you have to remember that vaccine patents do not expire like drugs do. Vaccines continue to make profits as long as they’re in use, so risk of future losses due to competition is virtually nonexistent. So of course there’s profit in vaccines—especially once it’s placed on the childhood vaccination schedule because that guarantees the vaccine will have a stable, guaranteed annual market as a new cohort of babies are born every year. And of course vaccine makers will protect those huge profits—even, apparently, when it means putting children’s health at risk.

There is also the issue of immunity from prosecution. Merck lost many billions when their drug, Vioxx, killed tens of thousands of people and was taken off the market in 2004. If any of their vaccines killed similar numbers, or even more, they would not be held liable in damages for a single cent because Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court have completely shielded big drug companies like Merck from civil liability for vaccine injuries and deaths.

…IF a vaccine is indeed highly effective, and avoiding the disease in question is worth the risk of the potential side effects from the vaccine, then it could be said that the benefits outweigh the risks. However, if the vaccine is ineffective (and/or the disease doesn’t pose a great threat to begin with), then the vaccine may pose an unacceptable risk… At the very least, an ineffective vaccine will certainly skew the benefit to risk ratio toward greater risk, unless the vaccine is guaranteed harmless, and this, I’m afraid, cannot be said for the MMR.

It’s not so much about determining whether or not the reduced effectiveness of this vaccine allowed the mumps outbreaks of 2006 and 2009 to occur, both of which occurred in highly vaccinated communities, but rather it’s a question of: “Have millions of children taken an unnecessary health risk by being injected with an ineffective vaccine?”

“Nothing Matters More than Safety,” Merck Says

“Nothing is more important to Merck than the safety and effectiveness of our vaccines and medicines and the people who use them,” Forbes quotes a Merck spokesmanvii.

Really?

Then WHY did they heavily promote Vioxx and keep it on the market until it had killed more than 60,000 people? I warned my readers that this pain killer might be a real killer for some people, five years before Merck made its $30 billion recall! Five years they let it go, and they undoubtedly would have kept it on the market longer had the lethal dangers not become so shockingly obvious to other scientists.

After Vioxx came the HPV vaccine Gardasil—perhaps the most unnecessary vaccine ever created, and likely one of the most dangerous to boot. Merck claims their main concern is safety… They must be speaking about some parallel Universe, because ever since Gardasil’s approval in 2006, reports of life-altering side effects and sudden deaths of otherwise healthy teenagers have stacked up into the thousands, yet Merck steadfastly refuses to acknowledge or address these health risks.
…
Read the rest here.

Can spending less time sitting down add years to life?

Limiting the time we spend sitting to just three hours a day could add an extra two years to our life expectancy, scientists calculate.

Similarly, if we cut daily TV viewing down to two hours we could add on 1.4 years, they say in a report for the online journal BMJ Open.

But experts say the US estimates, which are based on five separate population studies, are too unreliable to predict personal risk.

Plus the targets are unfeasible.

Prof David Spiegelhalter, an expert in risk calculations at the University of Cambridge, said: “This is a study of populations, and does not tell you personally what the effect of getting off the sofa might be.

“It seems plausible that if future generations moved around a bit more, then they might live longer on average.

“But very few of us currently spend less than three hours sitting each day, and so this seems a very optimistic target.”

via BBC News – Can spending less time sitting down add years to life?.

It would be challenging to have a desk or computer job and be on your feet for 5 of the 8 hours per day. I’d like to try it. I’ve said for years that we are not intended to sit and type. Computers need to function with us as we move around.

And therefore, I’m going on vacation. Starting tomorrow, no more work. No more desk. I’m going to hike, walk and jog for at least 6 hours a day for the entire next week. Well, I’ll probably sit down here and there to blog from the road.

 

If you have a computer job and manage to be on your feet while getting your work done, let us know how you do it.

US kayaker’s close encounter with great white shark

A kayaker is counting his lucky stars after a close encounter with a great white at a popular US resort.

Walter Szulc was paddling near a Cape Cod beach at the weekend when he saw the shark’s dorsal fin just behind him.

Mr Szulc, 41, said he “paddled very fast” to shore in the eastern Massachusetts holiday spot.

Experts say the ocean predator was probably drawn by an increased local population of its favourite snack, seals.

“I saw the fin out of the water. I looked down and saw the body and realised that part of the shark was underneath me, and I just proceeded to paddle,” Mr Szulc told the Associated Press news agency on Monday.

Beach briefly closed

Mr Szulc, who arrived with his family at Nauset Beach in Orleans on Saturday, said it had been his first time kayaking in the ocean.

His teenage daughter had mentioned recent local shark sightings, he added, although he did not expect to see one of the feared predators at such close quarters himself.

The beach was closed on Saturday after Mr Szulc’s brush with the shark, about 45 metres (150ft) from shore.

It reopened on Sunday, and local officials said there had been no more shark sightings.

“There have been reports of sharks in the past, but usually they are farther out, not this close to the bathing beach,” said town beach director Lee Miller. …

via BBC News – US kayaker’s close encounter with great white shark.

Geezus! I guess today’s theme is stuff that will eat your balls if you go in the water.

Evidence for ancient life on Mars could be just below surface, new study finds

… researchers report that the chances of finding organic molecules roughly 0.8 inches (2 centimeters) below the surface are close to zero. The top layer of the Martian surface has absorbed so much cosmic radiation over the past billion years that all organic material is likely to have been destroyed, the scientists said. Past rovers on Mars collected and analyzed only loose soil from the topmost layer of the Martian surface. …

Yet only inches deeper — within reach of Curiosity — simple organic molecules could still exist, the researchers said.

Even if Curiosity detected these molecules, the discovery wouldn’t necessarily mean ancient life existed on Mars. Simple organic molecules could have originated from other sources, such as meteors and interplanetary dust particles, the researchers said.

Complex organic molecules, such as those made up of 10 or more carbon atoms, would be more reliable indicators of past life on the planet, since they could closely resemble building blocks of life as we know it. These structures, however, would be much harder to find, and they would have been more vulnerable to the radiation that mercilessly bombards the Red Planet. …

via Evidence for ancient life on Mars could be just below surface, new study finds (+video) – CSMonitor.com.

That’s just part of a rock, not a Martian bigfoot.

Pacu, Testicle-Eating Fish Species, Caught In Lake Lou Yaeger In Illinois

A close-up of the pacu caught in Lake Lou Yaeger in Illinois.

When biologists say the pacu fish eats nuts, they may be correct in more ways than one.

The pacu, a toothy fish that can weigh up to 55 pounds, has been spotted in Lake Lou Yaeger in Illinois, KSDK reports.

Responding to a report that a fisherman had reeled in a piranha on June 7, lake superintendent Jim Caldwell brought the fish to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, where it was identified as a pacu. Some reports say another pacu was seen a couple of weeks later.

Caldwell said he is still swimming in the lake nearly every day. Pacus primarily eat nuts, aquatic vegetation and snails, he told KDSK, and pose no real threat to humans.

Residents of Papua New Guinea may beg to differ. There, according to British fisherman Jeremy Wade, the pacu is known as the “ball cutter.” In 2011, Wade said locals informed him that two fisherman had died from blood loss after something in the water had bitten off their testicles, according to the Metro.

“The locals told me that this thing was like a human in the water, biting at the testicles of fishermen,” Wade said.

Wade determined that the perpetrator was the pacu, which is known for having human-like teeth. The angler did note that such attacks are uncommon, the Daily Mail reports.

Though pacus are native to the Amazon Basin, they were released into Papua New Guinea waters in the 1990s as part of an initiative to boost fisheries.

Biologists say any pacus in the Illinois lake are most likely former aquarium pets, according to the Journal-News. Anyone caught dumping the fish in the lake could face criminal charges. ….

via Pacu, Testicle-Eating Fish Species, Caught In Lake Lou Yaeger In Illinois.

Geezus! Here is some new essential fishing gear: Shock Doctor Supporter with Titanium Steel Cup

Warning: Not useful for shark attacks.

How to have Psychic Powers

Esther Inglis-Arkell  – … The Ever-Shifting Game of Cold Reading

There are a lot of important techniques in cold reading, and they each have their own names.

Shotgun statements are things like, “A female relative of yours has had a brush with breast cancer; it could be an aunt, a mother, a sister, or a grandmother.” These statements are made while watching the person for any visible reaction, taking wider and wider shots until they sit up.

Surefire Tips and Tricks to Convince People You Have Psychic PowersRainbow statements carry the entire range of the behavior spectrum: “You try to be a hard worker, but if you admit it to yourself, you often delay work longer than you should, and sometimes you can even be very lazy.” By the end of the statement. anyone in the world could identify with it.

Trivia statistics use the common ground that everyone shares, to come up with things that feel personal to the onlooker. “You have an item of clothing at home. It was expensive, but you’ve never worn it once. Why is that?” Another example is to ask people if they’ve played a musical instrument when they were younger, if they ever tried to go vegetarian, and so on.

Vanishing negatives are an ever-popular technique. “You don’t happen to work with computers, do you?” This phrasing can allow a psychic to nod their head and either say, “I thought not,” or “I thought so,” no matter what a person answers.

The reason vanishing negative statements are so important is, they mimic the style of the entire exchange. They give the psychic the ability to shift from subject to subject, building the momentum of the conversation.

“Do you know an Emily? A mother, a sister, a friend.”

“No, I don’t.”

“You will. When you meet her, you’ll probably need to set aside the fact that you usually tend to be stand-offish to people you meet. At times, I think, you can be very outgoing, but most of the time you hold back more than you should, am I right?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“When you meet Emily, I think you should mention that box of old clothes that you haven’t gotten a chance to give to Goodwill yet. I’m sensing that you have one of those. Or maybe it’s old electronics equipment. You don’t happen to have a lot of that, do you?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“I thought so. You’ll meet an Emily before you donate that stuff, and you will want to mention it to her. She’ll probably know a place.”

Cold reading is about shifting and shifting until there is some common ground to get to. From there it’s easy to spin out a narrative that feels specific to the person, especially if they’re cooperating. …

Read the rest: Surefire Tips and Tricks to Convince People You Have Psychic Powers.

What you get with these techniques are occasional amazing hits that validate the entire experience. Even if there were zero psychic powers, Psychics, like astrologers, psychologists, priests, counselors, coaches and anyone else who listens to and talks to a large number of people can be worth your time. If you pay for the advice, you just might listen when they tell you that you must change your lifestyle or you will die.

Or try this: be your own psychic. Use tea leaves, draw cards, open a book at random, or free associate. Give yourself some valuable psychic advice, and then follow through and make positive life changes.

Jesus statue oozing holy water? An Indian skeptic debunks miracle, faces possible jail

Sanal Edamaruku faces a Catholic backlash after insisting that the “holy” water dripping from a statue of Christ in Mumbai, India, came from a leaky drain. Edamaruku is the founder and president of Rationalist International, president of the Indian Rationalist Association, and honorary associate of the U.K. Rationalist Association.

What was the so-called miracle you recently investigated in Mumbai?

The priest and the very active Catholic laity organizations associated with the Our Lady of Velankanni Church in Mumbai were promoting the idea that water dripping from the feet of a statue of Jesus was a sign from God. Hundreds of believers flocked to the dripping cross, collecting and consuming “holy” drainage water that they believed would cure all ailments.

What prompted you to intervene?

I was invited to the Delhi studio of TV9, a Mumbai-based national channel, to comment. During the program, I rejected the possibility of a miracle but of course could not give scientific explanations without an investigation. The channel then invited me to come to Mumbai. The church authorities agreed.

What did you find?

I had a close look at a nearby washroom and the connected drainage system that passed underneath the concrete base of the cross. I removed some stones from the drain and found it was blocked. I touched the walls, the base, and the cross and took some photographs for documentation. It was very simple: Water from the washroom, which had been blocked in the clogged drainage system, had been transmitted via capillary action into the adjacent walls and the base of the cross as well as into the wooden cross itself. The water came out through a nail hole and ran down over the statue’s feet.

You now face possible arrest. Why?

Leaders of two Catholic laity organizations have launched charges against me under Section 295A of the Indian penal code. This charges a person with “deliberately hurting religious feelings and attempting malicious acts intended to outrage the religious sentiments of any class or community.” It is absurd to claim that I did anything of the sort.

What do you fear might happen to you?

If it comes to a trial, I have nothing to fear. I would welcome the opportunity to throw some light on the role that the Catholic Church played and is still playing today here in India. The possibility of arrest is threatening, however.

Do you have any regrets about intervening?

Why would one not intervene when somebody gives gullible people sewage to drink? But my reason is broader. The promotion of superstition and belief in paranormal phenomena dulls people’s minds and establishes dangerous misconceptions about reality in our society. Such efforts have to be countered. …

via A statue of Jesus oozing holy water? An Indian skeptic debunks miracle – Slate Magazine.

Don’t underestimate the danger of showing zealots their false beliefs. Instead of feeling stupid and changing their ways to become more rational, they will attempt to break the mirror and kill the person holding it so they don’t have to look at their foolish enraptured faces drinking contaminated bathroom water from an old statue. Devil! Devil!

Roswell UFO Was Not Of This Earth And There Were ET Cadavers: Ex-CIA Agent Says

Happy anniversary, Roswell, N.M. It was 65 years ago today that the Roswell Daily Record blasted an infamous headline claiming local military officials had captured a flying saucer on a nearby ranch. And now, a former CIA agent says it really happened.

“It was not a damn weather balloon — it was what it was billed when people first reported it,” said Chase Brandon, a 35-year CIA veteran. “It was a craft that clearly did not come from this planet, it crashed and I don’t doubt for a second that the use of the word ‘remains’ and ‘cadavers’ was exactly what people were talking about.”

Brandon served as an undercover, covert operations officer in the agency’s Clandestine Service for 25 years, where he was assigned missions in international terrorism, counterinsurgency, global narcotics trafficking and weapons smuggling. He spent his final 10 years of CIA service on the director’s staff as the agency’s first official liaison to the entertainment and publication industries. It was during this time, in the mid-1990s, that he walked into a special section of CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., called the Historical Intelligence Collection.

“It was a vaulted area and not everybody could get in it,” Brandon told The Huffington Post. “One day, I was looking around in there and reading some of the titles that were mostly hand-scribbled summations of what was in the boxes. And there was one box that really caught my eye. It had one word on it: Roswell.

“I took the box down, lifted the lid up, rummaged around inside it, put the box back on the shelf and said, ‘My god, it really happened!’”

What exactly did the box contain that had such a powerful impact on Brandon?

“Some written material and some photographs, and that’s all I will ever say to anybody about the contents of that box,” he said. “But it absolutely, for me, was the single validating moment that everything I had believed, and knew that so many other people believed had happened, truly was what occurred” …

via Roswell UFO Was Not Of This Earth And There Were ET Cadavers: Ex-CIA Agent Says.

I just saw the Men in Black III last night. It was great. Well, there is a “Roswell” box in a special section of CIA headquarters in Langley, VA in the Historical Intelligence Collection. Cool. I always figured the CIA knew the truth if anyone did since countintelligence agents were among the first MIB on the scene.

Osama bin Laden WAS NOT buried at sea, but flown to US for cremation, leaked emails reveal

The fate of Osama bin Laden’s remains have been called into question after emails leaked from an intelligence analysis firm say the body of the terror leader was actually sent to the U.S. for cremation.

According to the emails, the Al Qaeda boss was shot and killed during the famous Navy SEAL Team Six raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, was transported back to the U.S. and cremated.

The emails were allegedly obtained by the hacker group Anonymous from Stratfor, an organisation dealing with analysis of intelligence and geopolitical analysis.

It’s also known as the ‘Shadow CIA’.

Last week, Anonymous announced that it had gotten access to 2.7million of the firm’s confidential correspondences, and said they could provide ‘the smoking gun for a number of crimes’.

The hackers said Stratfor, based in Austin, Texas, were ‘clueless’ when it came to database security.

After bin Laden was killed in the famous raid in Pakistan on May 2 2011, the Obama administration said his body was buried at sea off the USS Carl Vinson – in accordance with Islamic tradition.

But in a particular set of emails given to WikiLeaks, the firm’s vice president for intelligence, Fred Burton, says he doubts the official White House version of what happened to bin Laden’s body.

Stratfor’s vice-president for intelligence, Fred Burton, says the body was ‘bound for Dover, [Delaware] on [a] CIA plane’ and ‘onward to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Bethesda [Maryland]‘.

The claims are sure to stoke conspiracy theorists, especially since the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology that Burton refers to closed its doors on September 15, 2011, four months after bin Laden’s death.

In another email, Burton said: ‘If body dumped at sea, which I doubt, the touch is very Adolf Eichmann like. The Tribe did the same thing with the Nazi’s ashes’….

via Osama bin Laden WAS NOT buried at sea, but flown to US for cremation, leaked emails reveal | Mail Online.

The plot thickens.