Prince Myshkin

What was the fight about?

Predictable biters :)

Don't shoot the messenger.

I will copy and paste this as you may need a password to read the article. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26859-how-science-tells-us-to-ignore-celebrity-endorsements.html?utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=SOC&utm_campaign=hoot&cmpid=SOC%257CNSNS%257C2014-GLOBAL-hoot#.VMfdRP7kdcR How science tells us to ignore celebrity endorsements [ATTACH=CONFIG]31923[/ATTACH] Other sources of health advice are available (Image: AKM-GSI/Splash News/Corbis) Popular culture assigns guru status to those who are famous for being famous, yet why does entertainment expertise grant celebrities wisdom in matters of health and beauty? It's an odd phenomenon, and in Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything? Tim Caulfield of the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta in Canada takes this fallacy of expertise, and our delusional hunger for fame, to task. As he ransacks star-studded endorsements for any shred of scientific validity, dissecting celebrity health and beauty claims as he goes, Caulfield also subjects himself to celebrity-endorsed "treatments" and reflects on his own failed ambition to be a rock star. The result is both funny and fascinating. "Celebrity culture has emerged as one of the most significant and influential sources of pseudoscientific baloney," says Caulfield, whose personal journey included a year-long reading of People magazine, signing on with a modelling agency, embarking on a Gwyneth Paltrow-endorsed "detoxifying" cleanse, getting a ruby rub facial and adopting a multi-step anti-ageing skin-care regimen. Science-free zone What does he discover along the way? That "detoxification" is bunkum, cleanses are more likely to harm than help and most beauty regimens, no matter how expensive, are quackery, he says. "Beauty advice is a science-free zone," says Caulfield. The "Caulfield Cleanse", he mockingly advises, consists of cleansing your system of pseudoscientific babble, supplementing with scepticism, detoxifying your system with scientific evidence and adhering to a diet replete with fruits and vegetables. Caulfield also peers analytically into the lives of celebrities, celebrity wannabes and the thriving spin-off industries that prey on our delusions. Is fame really within our grasp if we just dream big enough, invest in our training and never give up? Nope. The dream-crushing Caulfield shares insights from psychologists, anthropologists, unemployment statistics, struggling actors, underemployed musicians and his own talent agency exploitation, letting us in on the cold harsh reality that becoming a "star" is less probable than being hit by an asteroid. "A modeling class… cannot teach you to be tall, beautiful, photogenic and rail thin," says Caulfield. "That requires, in descending order of importance, genetics, genetics, genetics and, if genetics don't do it, a diet of water and lettuce." So is Gwyneth Paltrow really wrong about everything? When it comes to the science of health and beauty, the answer, according to Caulfield, is yes. If there's one weakness to Caulfield's entertaining tale, it's that he falls into the same trap he tells us to avoid. "Anecdotes and personal testimonials – no matter how compelling and belly-button revealing – are not good science," he says. Yet, to my secret delight, this book is full of them. Lesley Evans Ogden is a writer based in Vancouver, Canada; @ljevanso on Twitter

After becoming a fan of a musician or a band that is still active, the next album they put out is, I think, very personally significant. It's a big landmark: it's the first time you're actively anticipating music and it's the first time you can make your own predictions on the direction it may take, whilst also heaping tonnes of pressure on the artist. Your interpretation of what they release is then a little different from what it would be if you'd stumble across something already produced without your own anticipation colouring your reaction. A few examples for me: Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest Started listening to them during a quiet period of theirs and there was such a wealth of music there to explore which was pretty different from other music I had previously listened to, aside from Aphex Twin. The experience wasn't the same as the kind you get with Coldplay or Radiohead, where people talk and talk and talk for a few years and get all impatient. As far as anybody knew, there might never be another release. The website had been inactive for a long, long time. When the announcement came that new material was coming, it came very fast, so there wasn't a great deal of anticipation time to mull over what was coming but it really was exciting knowing it wouldn't be long. Portishead - Third I'd heard the other albums and liked them when I was a kid but I was very young and didn't particularly know who they were. I'd gone probably half a decade presuming they had broken up and then they dropped this. Once again, not much anticipation time with this one as it came not long after the announcement (my favourite way, I think, as it stops you from over-thinking what could be coming). Bjork - Volta and Connan Mockasin - Caramel Probably the two albums that have both disappointed me the most for a first release after I've started following an artist. Fortunately Bjork has twice returned to form with her more recent follow ups but I still find the Caramel overly sleazy. Still, there will be future re-listens. You guys got any that spring to mind? I have many more but can't list them all.

Oooooooooo double post.

He's got a weird nod. Like one of those nodding dogs on the back of a car. A bit unbalanced, like his neck is broken. I watched Ex Machina the other night, so maybe I'm just overly creeped out about weird humanrobots? Watch that film Bat, you'll like it.

He's got a weird nod. Like one of those nodding dogs on the back of a car. A bit unbalanced, like his neck is broken. I watched Ex Machina the other night, so maybe I'm just overly creeped out about weird humanrobots? Watch that film Bat, you'll like it.

It's more the term 'investment' that annoys me. They are using it to make money, not simply promoting an idea or technological advancement. Also, judging by the artists involved, I don't imagine this is going to be some super plan for those at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to the creative industry (though I may of course be wrong).

Just ordered three Board of Canada records. Very excited.

I'm gonna be scouring this thread for the next few days methinks.

I take it they aren't part of the academic and cultural boycott of Israel then. Not when money becomes involved, anyway. Nice 'investment', boys.

Now on to Guantanamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi which is certain to be a disturbing read.

I have just finished reading 'This Changes Everything: Capitalism versus the Climate'. Possibly the best non-fiction I've ever read and I recommend to all.

Looks like Blackburn Rovers are gonna win the FA Cup if you ask me...

OK, so 24-26 has been a continuation of psychedelic music then more recently moving back to electro and IDM. Recently been into Modeselktor (looked into him much more than in the past), Kiasmos, RYKARD and Jon Hopkins, new Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Bjork and Thom Yorke's projects (none of those new artists for me). As for psychedelic I've been looking into Melody's Echo Chamber, Can, Connan Mockasin, Mac DeMarco. Really got into modern classical and ambient again too, with the likes of Max Richter, Philip Glass, Goldmund and Nils Frahm. Been listening to a lot of new music and plenty of individual songs as opposed to full albums. I have also got a record player so I listen to the things I own quite a lot.

Perhaps the reason I get it (from being drawn) is down to bonding?

They will be looking similar again tonight... :wideeyed:

I had to use a search engine but Indonesia!

I can't help but feel that this is something Thalia would experience.

American Samoa?

That's fine. Like I said, I'd never tried describing it before as it seemed too difficult to properly convey the feeling without sounding like a weirdo, though now it seems I'm not the only one it seems easier to discuss and not just a figment of my imagination.

Where are you heading to?

Nah, it's cool.

I've still yet to go but I'm sure I will at some point. My friends sister is there pretty often.