The Best of the Lippard Blog Index

This is an index to some of the best posts of The Lippard Blog, which started in August of 2005.

Many posts on Network Neutrality
"Network Neutrality Index"

Many posts on Information Security
"Information Security Index"

Many posts summarizing conference presentations
"Index of Conference Summaries"

"Who are the climate skeptics?" December 16, 2009

A concise take-down of all three parts of "Zeitgeist: The Movie":
"Zeitgeist: The Movie" June 11, 2008

Posts on skepticism
"Arizona's homeopathic medical board" July 21, 2009
"Brian Dunning on debate" August 19, 2009
"Massimo Pigliucci on the scope of skeptical inquiry" October 21, 2009
"Skepticism, belief revision, and science" October 21, 2009
"What are the goals of Skepticism 2.0?" November 4, 2009
"Where is the academic literature on skepticism as a social movement?" November 4, 2009
"A few comments on the nature and scope of skepticism" January 6, 2010
"What to think vs. how to think" November 20, 2010

"Christian deception about The Art of Deception" June 23, 2007

David Paszkiewicz evangelizing to his public school classroom. The Lippard Blog broke this story to the blogosphere before the mainstream media picked it up.
"Public school teacher tells class: 'You belong in hell'" November 12, 2006
"Kearny High School students defend their teacher" November 15, 2006
"Embarrassingly bad arguments in support of David Paszkiewicz" November 20, 2006
"David Paszkiewicz makes the New York Times" December 18, 2006
"A Letter from Paul LaClair about David Paszkiewicz" December 18, 2006
"Kearny High School and David Paszkiewicz make the NY Times again" December 31, 2006
"David Paszkiewicz publicly displays his incompetence" January 14, 2007
"Letters to the editor about David Paszkiewicz" January 20, 2007
"Kearny Board of Education releases memo and statement" January 23, 2007
"David Paszkiewicz on global warming; Kearny High School bans recording" February 1, 2007
"Paszkiewicz has Matthew LaClair removed from his class" February 9, 2007
"ACLU, PFAW give notice of possible lawsuit against Kearny public schools district" February 19, 2007
"Recording proves Paszkiewicz denied making comments" February 24, 2007
"Kearny Board of Education and LaClairs settle case" May 9, 2007
"Kearny board of education member hasn't had enough controversy" May 15, 2007
"David Paszkiewicz takes students to Creation Museum" June 7, 2009

Matthew LaClair went on to generate more press by pointing out misrepresentations in a popular textbook.
"Faith-based U.S. history text exposed" April 9, 2008
"Matthew LaClair's speech from Freethought Today" April 10, 2008
"Matthew LaClair op-ed in Los Angeles Times" April 27, 2008

Answers in Genesis Schism: How Creation Ministries International split from Answers in Genesis.
"Answers in Genesis schism: U.S. group goes solo" March 3, 2006
"More from behind the scenes of the Australian/U.S. creationism schism at Answers in Genesis" November 20, 2006
"John Mackay and Answers in Genesis" November 21, 2006
"Answers in Genesis revenue declines by 50% in 2005" December 29, 2006 A huge mistake--this was a half-year financial report.
"Creation Ministries International gets into the UFO business" December 30, 2006
"Creation Ministries International sues Answers in Genesis" June 3, 2007
"Answers in Genesis responds to CMI" June 5, 2007
"Kentucky newspaper covers creationist lawsuit" June 17, 2007
"More disappearing content from the Answers in Genesis website" June 18, 2007
"Answers in Genesis hires Andrew Snelling" June 19, 2007
"NCSE on Answers in Genesis schism" June 21, 2007
"AiG/CMI reach verbal settlement" August 31, 2007
"AiG/CMI settlement seems to have fallen apart" November 13, 2007
"Creation Ministries explains settlement breakdown" November 15, 2007
"New summary of CMI-AiG dispute from CMI" January 8, 2008
"Update on CMI-AiG lawsuits" July 25, 2008
"CMI/AiG lawsuit update" August 9, 2008
"AiG/CMI: judge accepts, then withdraws mediation offer" August 12, 2008
"CMI responds to AiG dispute summary" August 15, 2008
"6th Circuit Court of Appeals tells AiG and CMI to go to arbitration" February 14, 2009
"AiG/CMI dispute settled" April 15, 2009

Creationist Finances
"Creationist finances: Some conclusions" January 8, 2007 Concluding post in a series of examinations of creationist organizations' finances.

Copyright
"Derivative musical works and copyright" March 20, 2007

History of the CIA
"CIA employee identities discoverable via web searches" March 12, 2006
"Libby says Bush gave him permission to out Plame" April 6, 2006
"How planespotting uncovered CIA torture flights" October 20, 2006
"Redacted Iran op-ed shows Bush administration insanity" December 26, 2006
"CIA and White House block Cunningham investigation" January 12, 2007
"White House involvement in Duke Cunningham scandal" March 27, 2007
"BAE, Bandar, and Bush" June 12, 2007
"Abolish the CIA" August 1, 2007
"A Brief History of the CIA: 1945-1953 (Truman)" August 11, 2007
"The CIA in Venezuela in 2002" August 15, 2007
"A Brief History of the CIA: 1953-1961 (Eisenhower)" August 27, 2007
"Secret U.S. endorsement of severe interrogations" October 4, 2007
"CIA head investigates CIA Inspector General" October 13, 2007
"If you think waterboarding isn't torture..." November 4, 2007

InfraGard
"Tinfoil hat brigade generates fear about Infragard" February 8, 2008
"FBI responds to 'shoot to kill' claims about InfraGard" February 15, 2008
"More InfraGard FUD and misinformation" February 23, 2008
"New Mexico InfraGard conference" February 24, 2008
"Of course I'm right" February 26, 2008

Scientology
"Scientology Sampler" March 4, 2006
"Arizona legislators sponsoring bills for Scientology front group" March 11, 2006
"Antony Flew on advisory board of Scientology front group" March 11, 2006
"Matt Stone calls Isaac Hayes on his double standard" March 13, 2006
"Comedy Central pulls Scientology episode from reruns" March 17, 2006
"'Industry sources' confirm Cruise role in 'South Park' controversy" March 20, 2006
"Fox News: Isaac Hayes did not quit South Park" March 21, 2006
"CBS series pilot based on Scientology?" March 28, 2006
"Scientologists pay another web visit" May 30, 2006
"Welcome, Church of Scientology visitors!" September 23, 2006
"Scientology-friendly Foley in rehab in Clearwater, Florida" October 2, 2006
"The Bridge: Attacked by Scientology" October 17, 2006
"Scientology 'Industry of Death' exhibit in Missouri capitol" January 11, 2007
"State legislator who supported Scientology also supports global warming denial" January 27, 2007
"Karen Johnson trying to become Arizona's dumbest legislator" February 1, 2007
"Keith Henson arrested in Prescott, Arizona" February 4, 2007
"Thayer Verschoor's latest attempt at censoring academia" February 17, 2007
"Christian ministers partnering with Scientology" November 4, 2007
"Andrew Morton's Tom Cruise tell-all" January 6, 2008
"'Anonymous' launches 'war' against Scientology" January 22, 2008
"Hoax white powder sent to Scientology" January 31, 2008
"Scientology protests" February 10, 2008
"Niece of David Miscavige speaks out against Scientology" February 12, 2008
"Dave Bird, RIP" February 13, 2008
"Michael Shermer on Anonymous protest of Scientology" February 20, 2008
"Scientology critic Shawn Lonsdale dies" February 20, 2008
"Millennium reruns" March 22, 2008
"Scientology sucks at JavaScript" March 25, 2008
"Scientology OT levels leaked through Wikileaks" March 28, 2008
"Mike Rinder left Scientology" March 28, 2008
"Scientology celebrity escapes" April 17, 2008
"Ex-Scientology Kids" April 24, 2008
"YouTube's double standard on Scientology" May 2, 2008
"A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant" December 3, 2008
"Jeff Jacobsen article on Anonymous protests against Scientology" December 17, 2008
"A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant" December 19, 2008
"Diskeeper sued for Scientology indoctrination" December 21, 2008
"Scientology v. the Internet history lesson" January 4, 2009
"Bart Simpson shilling for Scientology" January 29, 2009
"Scientology and religious visas" March 5, 2009
"Former high-ranking Scientologists speak out in SP Times" June 21, 2009
"SP Times Scientology article on Lisa McPherson" June 22, 2009

Pakistan and YouTube
"Pakistan takes out YouTube, gets taken out in return" February 25, 2008

Housing Bubble: Einzige's series on Maricopa County's preforeclosure rates.
"Maricopa County's Trustee's Sales Notices" September 30, 2006
"A Steep Cliff--Phoenix Notices of Trustee's Sales" December 12, 2006
"Update on Maricopa County Trustee Sale Notices" January 31, 2007
"Phoenix Foreclosure Update" March 1, 2007
"Latest Real Estate Market Info for Maricopa County" March 31, 2007
"Where Are We Headed?" April 30, 2007
"Maricopa County Trustee's Sale Notices for May 2007" May 31, 2007
"The Trend Continues" July 4, 2007
"Words Fail Me" July 31, 2007
"This is getting ridiculous" September 6, 2007
"September's Fall" September 28, 2007
"Back with a Vengeance" October 31, 2007
"Have things finally peaked?" December 2, 2007
"December's Phoenix Housing Stats Update" December 31, 2007
"February Maricopa County Notices Update" March 5, 2008
"March's Market Update" April 1, 2008
"April Trustee's Sale Notices" May 4, 2008
"Phoenix Trustee's Sale Notices for May, 2008" June 7, 2008
"July's Pre-foreclosure Numbers" August 3, 2008
"August's Notices of Trustee's Sales" September 14, 2008
"Phoenix-area foreclosures" November 30, 2008
"Maricopa County Notices of Trustee's Sales for October 2009" October 30, 2009

Atheism: Einzige's parable.
"The Parable of the Roommate" November 1, 2005

Antony Flew's new book

Today's New York Times has the story about how Roy Varghese wrote Antony Flew's new book for him, titled There Is A God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind.

Break-in at CI Host colo facility

The Register (UK) reports that C I Host, a webhosting provider, has now had a fourth break-in at its Chicago colocation facility. Someone cut through a wall with a saw and stole customer equipment (and the DVRs or tape recording devices for the CCTV system). C I Host apparently took days to inform its customers of the break-in, and some have voiced suspicions that it was an inside job.

UPDATE (February 4, 2007): There was some followup discussion.

Christian ministers partnering with Scientology

CNN reports that the Church of Scientology is partnering with ministers of low-income Christian churches to provide free tutoring, using L. Ron Hubbard's "study technology." More at the Secular Outpost.

If you think waterboarding isn't torture...

...read this description of it from Malcolm Nance, former chief of training at the U.S. Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) school in San Diego:

I have personally led, witnessed and supervised waterboarding of hundreds of people. It has been reported that both the Army and Navy SERE school's interrogation manuals were used to form the interrogation techniques employed by the Army and the CIA for its terror suspects. What is less frequently reported is that our training was designed to show how an evil totalitarian enemy would use torture at the slightest whim.

Having been subjected to this technique, I can say: It is risky but not entirely dangerous when applied in training for a very short period. However, when performed on an unsuspecting prisoner, waterboarding is a torture technique - without a doubt. There is no way to sugarcoat it.

In the media, waterboarding is called "simulated drowning," but that's a misnomer. It does not simulate drowning, as the lungs are actually filling with water. There is no way to simulate that. The victim is drowning.

Unless you have been strapped down to the board, have endured the agonizing feeling of the water overpowering your gag reflex, and then feel your throat open and allow pint after pint of water to involuntarily fill your lungs, you will not know the meaning of the word.

How much of this the victim is to endure depends on the desired result (in the form of answers to questions shouted into the victim's face) and the obstinacy of the subject. A team doctor watches the quantity of water that is ingested and for the physiological signs that show when the drowning effect goes from painful psychological experience, to horrific suffocating punishment to the final death spiral.

Waterboarding is slow-motion suffocation with enough time to contemplate the inevitability of blackout and expiration. Usually the person goes into hysterics on the board. For the uninitiated, it is horrifying to watch. If it goes wrong, it can lead straight to terminal hypoxia - meaning, the loss of all oxygen to the cells.

(Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars.)

Most of the media discussions of waterboarding have completely omitted the part about the subject's lungs filling with water and made it sound like it's no more than having your head dunked under water, like bobbing for apples at Halloween.

UPDATE (November 14, 2007): Some doubts have been raised about Nance's reliability and whether waterboarding actually involves water filling the lungs (as opposed to triggering the gag reflex and some drops of water entering the lungs), though it's clear that the psychological effects are extremely strong, with the average CIA Officer able to withstand 18 seconds before begging for it to end. For the doubts on Nance and the details of waterboarding, see the comments on these posts at Positive Liberty and Captain's Quarters.

UPDATE (December 31, 2007): Here's a guy who experimented with waterboarding techniques on himself, and vividly explains the results.

Mikey Weinstein vs. Chuck Norris

Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation responds to criticisms from Chuck Norris.

Scary number quoted: Campus Crusade for Christ's 2006 annual revenue, $497,516,000.

(Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars.)

Max Blumenthal attends the Values Voters Summit

And boy, are they crazy.

(Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars.)

Foreclosure rates double, one-third of Phoenix homes for sale vacant

U.S. foreclosure rates are double what they were last year, and the top states for foreclosures are:

1. Nevada
2. California
3. Florida
4. Michigan
5. Ohio
6. Colorado
7. Arizona
8. Georgia
9. Indiana
10. Texas

36% of homes for sale in Phoenix are vacant, either due to speculators getting caught holding the bag or people who have bought and moved to new homes without finding a buyer for their previous home. Average time to sell (for those houses that are actually selling) is 94 days, versus 73 days a year ago.

Zillow seemed to have stopped updating Phoenix-area home prices on September 11, but they've now given an update with October 25 data, and my home's "zestimate" value has dropped by 3.6% since the September 11 data.

Back With a Vengeance

Maricopa County's Notices of Trustee's Sales continued their record pace in October, totaling 3459...

...and finally we're seeing the effects of this downward pressure on the metro Phoenix median home price (data courtesy ARMLS)...


I might be persuaded to buy a place again in six months or so.

Jon Ronson on Sylvia Browne

Jon Ronson, the author of the excellent books Them and The Men Who Stare At Goats, went on a cruise with Sylvia Browne. He tells the story at the Guardian Online, and it's a good read.

An excerpt:

Famous anti-psychics, such as Richard Dawkins, are often criticised for using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Dawkins' last television series, The Enemies Of Reason, was roundly condemned for making silly, harmless psychics seem too villainous. This criticism might be true were it not for the fact that, when the likes of Sylvia Browne make pronouncements, the police and desperate parents sometimes spend serious time and money investigating their claims.

In 2002, for instance, the parents of missing Holly Krewson turned their lives upside down in response to one of Sylvia's visions. Holly vanished in April 1995. Seven years later her mother, Gwen, went on Montel, where Sylvia told her Holly was alive and well and working as a stripper in a lap-dancing club on Hollywood and Vine. Gwen immediately flew to Los Angeles and frantically scoured the strip clubs, interviewing dancers and club owners and punters, and handing out flyers, and all the while Holly was lying dead and unidentified in San Diego.

Ronson also links to Robert Lancaster's stopsylviabrowne.com.

(Hat tip to Jeremy Goodenough on the SKEPTIC list.)