Normal Is Boring

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

In "Dependent" Study!

"A new study links cell phone use to cancer"
"Danish study finds no link between cell phone use and cancer"
"Hyperactivity in young linked to smoking during pregnancy"
"Smoking in first four months of pregnancy 'does not harm the baby'"
"Study: Drinking Coffee Has Health Benefits"
"Coffee can kill your unborn child: Study"

Don't these studies drive you crazy sometimes? These are supposed to be 'independent' studies but I strongly feel they are very much 'dependent' on who conducts them and who backs them up. Even when someone conducting such a study tries to be fairness personified, the circumstances may result in a totally misleading outcome. Who to believe and who not to? What to believe and what not to?

Pretty much anything and everything can be interpreted and presented in different ways conveying different meaning without a need to distort the truth. Unfortunately this is what leads to multiple studies on the same subject conveying varied messages. It is not that fair and simple though. There definitely have been situations where the outcome of research was tailored to the advantage of the researcher / sponsor. One of the best examples, I know of, is the drug ecstacy. I got this information from one of the Discovery Channel's episodes on ecstacy. I won't be surprised if your immediate question is "why should we trust Discovery's study?". Well, first of all I don't think it was a study. Instead, they took the facts associated with the drug and presented them as a documentary. Assuming whatever Discovery Channel presented was true, there were a million contradictory statements about the drug. While one group finds it non-addictive and wanted to use as a genuine drug for patients, another group wanted to ban it. Eventually the drug was banned from legal use based on a 'study' that linked the drug use to cause neurotoxic damage to the central nervous system. According to the program, there was no substantial scientific proof for this though. So, who sponsored this research? Eventually a million other researches proved this wrong.

Without going that far back into history, one can look at the recent exposure of tobacco companies influencing the studies on smoking. All I want to say is that most of these independent studies may not really be 'independent'. Even if they are, they might not be self-sufficient. I mean, they might cover a very tiny portion of the big picture and hence can not be depended upon on their own.

Labels: cancer, cell phone, cellphone, coffee, conservatives, democrats, ecstacy, health, independent, liberals, politics, polls, pregnancy, republicans, research, smoking, study, teenagers

posted by bachi 05:35 0 comments

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Friday, November 30, 2007

Cameras and Recorders Not Allowed

A few weeks ago I have been to a live concert of The Police in MSG (Madison Square Garden, NYC). Obviously, it was a totally kick ass show. The intention of this conversation now is not really the concert though. Instead, it is pertinent to something at the concert that grabbed my attention and threw me into a vortex of time travel. It took me into the age where people compete for smaller and smaller devices. An age where electronic gadgets converge and everything ranging from satellite phone to personal computer will be squeezed into a matchbox. Suddenly I realized I'm actually a part of that world now. All that is remaining is to be able to use your phone/music player/gps/... as toilet paper. Who knows, maybe our buddy Steve is already working on it given his ambitions and creativity.

Coming back to the point of interest, while entering the hall I saw a sign that said "cameras and recorders not allowed". I wanted to walk up to the nearest show organizer and sincerely surrender my cellphone (PDA might be a more appropriate term). I also wanted to say "I'm sorry dumb ass but how many people are carrying their cameras and recorders now a days?" It is not his fault. I really wonder how these things will turn out to be in the future. Just imagine the "disliked by everyone" record companies trying to stop people from recording live shows and security personnel aiming to curb potential criminals from taking pictures. What are they going to do, start confiscating everybody's cellphones? I'm sure these "converged devices" pretty soon will come with radar detectors and jammers to zoom by cops at 150 miles an hour and leave them wondering what just hit. So, we won't be allowed even to carry a cellphone while driving. Forget about talking on the phone while driving.

In any case, it is fun to imagine and also to witness how devices get smaller and smaller and will be able to handle everything from making a call to wiping one's bottom.

Labels: camera, cellphone, gps, internet, madison square garden, music player, pda, radar detector, recorder, rock concert, the police

posted by bachi 16:36 0 comments

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