Sponsored by Glaxo is the key term there. 'SPONSORED' not organised by or associated with, merely sponsored. Ben Goldacre is one of the most sincere and well meaning guys that I know. (Not based on media representations but on personal interaction).
That's exactly how I spelt it... Anyway, I agree that it wasn't the best phrasing, but he immediately qualified what he said; his meaning was fairly clear.
Dear Adrian Chiles, "Balanced" and "Right" is not the same thing. Balanced often means allowing someone with no evidence for their personal belief to get their say too.
Chiles: "We're very proud of our science team, here, incidentally, on The One Show; they do all sorts of stories and they do actually make strenuous efforts to try to get things balanced - try to get things right." Not even ten seconds in and you already failed. "Balance"? What, like Fox News? "We spout various opinions, you decide"? You know what's good for determining whose views are right? It's science. Reality isn't balanced. Evidence tips the scales, and science is how you get evidence.
Allow me to point out a few design flaws of the study 1) Lack of statistical analysis. It only shows pictorial evidence, no stats to show statistical significance of overall effect of the compound. And There's only selective pictorial evidence showing efficacy in destroying some cells, nothing said in the wider context (i.e All cells). In other words, cherry picking 2) No peer review whatsoever. I could name more flaws but these two are ones that stand out and render the paper unreliable.
His eyebrows and his waving hands, especially in those fish-eye shots that The One Show thinks make things look dramatic. Forget about the theatricals, I say, and let his ever-fresh shirt/tank-top combo speak for itself. Um, that is, I mean: pay close attention to double-blind empirical trials, kids.
C'mon guys, isn't it obvious? Goldacre is the bastard son of Leo Sayer, 'Rain Man' and Nicole Kidman (after she was traumitised by the sexually 'confused' Tom Cruise).
This is great. I use it in my PhD class to get a discussion going and it works everytime.
Sponsored by Glaxo is the key term there. 'SPONSORED' not organised by or associated with, merely sponsored. Ben Goldacre is one of the most sincere and well meaning guys that I know. (Not based on media representations but on personal interaction).
Monday 8th September 2008
Oh my God, his eyebrows are almost as entertaining as his mind! =D Gotta love Ben :)
Goldacre is a gift for people who prefer facts to nonsense.
Because he was using those two nouns as synedoche for something on which he elaborates in the next sentence...
That's exactly how I spelt it... Anyway, I agree that it wasn't the best phrasing, but he immediately qualified what he said; his meaning was fairly clear.
Dear Adrian Chiles, "Balanced" and "Right" is not the same thing. Balanced often means allowing someone with no evidence for their personal belief to get their say too.
Ben Goldacre is made of win and curly hair. =D
he should be president of science
Is Ben Goldacre a Time Lord? I like to think he is.
Oh, my mistake, I did miss a "c".
Chiles: "We're very proud of our science team, here, incidentally, on The One Show; they do all sorts of stories and they do actually make strenuous efforts to try to get things balanced - try to get things right."
Not even ten seconds in and you already failed. "Balance"? What, like Fox News? "We spout various opinions, you decide"?
You know what's good for determining whose views are right? It's science. Reality isn't balanced. Evidence tips the scales, and science is how you get evidence.
Ben Goldacre is an absolute legend but I've got to say there's a lot of bursting through doors and cuts to different places -.-
Allow me to point out a few design flaws of the study
1) Lack of statistical analysis. It only shows pictorial evidence, no stats to show statistical significance of overall effect of the compound. And There's only selective pictorial evidence showing efficacy in destroying some cells, nothing said in the wider context (i.e All cells). In other words, cherry picking
2) No peer review whatsoever.
I could name more flaws but these two are ones that stand out and render the paper unreliable.
"just one newspaper"
Let me guess: The daily mail?
Sorry, spelling mistake. Daily *f*ail
His eyebrows and his waving hands, especially in those fish-eye shots that The One Show thinks make things look dramatic.
Forget about the theatricals, I say, and let his ever-fresh shirt/tank-top combo speak for itself. Um, that is, I mean: pay close attention to double-blind empirical trials, kids.
Also: eyebrows.
C'mon guys, isn't it obvious? Goldacre is the bastard son of Leo Sayer, 'Rain Man' and Nicole Kidman (after she was traumitised by the sexually 'confused' Tom Cruise).