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The problem is the research is all methodically skewed to show the drugs work.

A common and accepted trick was to use a sugar pill as a placebo. I can tell the difference between a sugar pill and prozac and I'm not attuned to SSRIs.
A ubiquitous and accepted trick is to never test the blind. In these multi-million dollar studies, nobody spends a few thousand asking the patients what they think they took. Why? Because the patients can nearly always guess [my own site] (Fisher and Greenberg 1993). One presumes the doctors know what they're prescribing.
Another common trick is to bury studies that don't show what the drug companies want them to do.
Yet another common trick is the placebo washout. The researchers run a placebo only stage - anyone who improves is removed. Needless to say, this exaggerates any difference between the drug and the placebo.
The last trick which springs to mind is ghostwriting - the drug companies write the paper and then look for anyone to put their name on it.

Ben Goldacre is writing a book about all this.

Lastly, SSRIs encourage suicidality in some young patients, hence the much publicised FDA warning.

Avatar was designed to be 3D from the start whereas Alice wasn't.

For some, this may be incredibly important.

Current technology is not true 3D - the actual distance of where your eyes are looking hasn't changed. All the current technology does is present a different 2D perspective to each eye.
So actually, it is your mind that is creating the 3D effect by extrapolating from those cues and ignoring others (focal distance, lack of physical movement, lack of tactile & smell cues).

Now some people's brains create a more immersive 3D effect than others'. Early cinema goers ducked to avoid oncoming trains. Remote tribes first encountering TV often have similar experiences.
All of us learn to distinguish between TV & reality (probably before our memory works around age 4) and use different brain modes for interpreting each. Books too.
Now, I'm the kind of person who likes to sit in the front row in the cinema and pretend I'm at an IMAX. So when it came to Avatar, knowing that it was my mind making the 3D effect, I hypnotised myself to make it as immersive as possible (yes, I'm a hypnotherapist)

So in the opening scene where you fly over the forest, my jaw dropped and I remember exclaiming “holy shit” out loud. Because I actually felt like I was there.

The concept of having an alternative Avatar reality is the perfect metaphor for coping with this. I felt it was more that my 'Avatar' that was a bit faulty rather than any flaws with my sensory interpretation.
However, I ran into problems about 20 mins in.
For 50 years or more, 2D filmmakers have been panning and cutting shots because they knew that their audience wasn't treating the camera as their own physical perspective. But if you're fully immersed with a 3D experience, it makes you feel like you're moving & teleporting every few seconds.

Avatar was designed to be 3D from scratch and does this much less. Still, after 20 mins I had major motion sickness. Alice in Wonderland was designed to be 2D, does a ton of cutting and panning, and would have been unwatchable for me in 3D.

In the future, I think many scenes will have to be shot twice, or perhaps with multiple, moving 2D cameras and a static 3D camera for the same shot.

Parent is not a troll. Psychology is not science. All they know is how to torture dogs and give people bad drugs for years.

OTOH, there are existing methodologies to fix people:

http://www.deep-trance.com/techniques/fast-phobia-cure.html

NLP is also not a science, but it has a "Do what works and shut up" kind of attitude, and also a great track record.

I hate Scientology as much as anyone here, but if there's one thing they're right about (or close to), it's psychology.

P.S. There ARE good psychologists. They're good precisely because they don't do what they've been taught. Can you imagine engineering today if you had to start out with analyzing the tree's childhood dreams if you wanted to make a table?

It should be pointed out that any research that indicates a problem (eg it turns you into a suicidal, homicidal maniac) is buried, deep. And you'll need a killing spree in Wyoming and a ton of money just so that one person can look at (some of) that research.

http://www.deep-trance.com/treatment/dr-david-heal y.html

I suspect framing is easy to detect since it's all subjective.

Method:
a) filter statement for assertions and presuppositions. The remaining proportion is 'dressing up'.
b) filter out which assertions and presups are testable. The remaining proportion is framing/hyperbole.

Newspapers should employ de-spinners. All major politicians' statements should be followed by testable assertions and presups, otherwise known as things they actually mean and thus are willing to put their reputation on the line for.

I wrote a page on this sort of thing tho it's a couple of years old:
http://www.deep-trance.com/political-spin.html

Sure thing...

I know it's hosted on the unreliable Infowars, but it's the only copy of The Independent's article I could find:
http://www.infowars.com/articles/terror/held_4_yea rs_never_even_questioned.htm

It took 3 years of being locked in a dungeon before our Law Lords ruled their imprisonment was incompatible with the HRA. The Govt's response was to push through the whole Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 in 7 days saying that if it took any longer, these dangerous terrorists would be free to strike again.

As subsequently happened on the ID Cards Act, the elderly House of Lords were forced to stay up into the early hours of the morning and luckily not one of them died. This 3rd draconian 'anti-terror' Act (which can lock any of us up in our own homes without access to family indefinitely) was passed after several ping-pongs and a sunset clause applied.

The moment I heard these so-called terrorists were released without being even put under House Arrest, I knew this Govt would tell any lie to pass their totalitarian laws.

More recently, the sunset clause of PoT was renewed without even a vote. And Control Orders were ruled incompatible with the HRA by a High Court judge.

Let me know if you need any other sources.

Sure thing...

I know it's hosted on the unreliable Infowars, but it's the only copy of The Independent's article I could find:
http://www.infowars.com/articles/terror/held_4_yea rs_never_even_questioned.htm

It took 3 years of being locked in a dungeon before our Law Lords ruled their imprisonment was incompatible with the HRA. The Govt's response was to push through the whole Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 in 7 days saying that if it took any longer, these dangerous terrorists would be free to strike again.

As subsequently happened on the ID Cards Act, the elderly House of Lords were forced to stay up into the early hours of the morning and luckily not one of them died. This 3rd draconian 'anti-terror' Act (which can lock any of us up in our own homes without access to family indefinitely) was passed after several ping-pongs and a sunset clause applied.

The moment I heard these so-called terrorists were released without being even put under House Arrest, I knew this Govt would tell any lie to pass their totalitarian laws.

More recently, the sunset clause of PoT was renewed without even a vote. And Control Orders were ruled incompatible with the HRA by a High Court judge.

Let me know if you need any other sources.

I'm guessing it's far worse than you think. Here's my earlier comment on Tuesday's Dictatorship Bill.

If it says what we think it says, I'm writing to the Queen and telling everyone (in my position as a respected therapist/human rights defender) to make plans for emergency emigration.

Thing is, if an evil government did get into power at some time in the future, the fact that ANPR wasn't introduced now wouldn't stop them. They'd implement ANPR themselves.

At least that would give us some warning before the boots started stamping on your face, forever.

And what makes you think our current Government isn't evil?

> May I suggest that anyone in the UK who finds these plans... disturbing... lets someone know about it.

Additionally, sign up for No2ID's newsletter. I also suggest we vote tactically.

My Plan

Simple. The Democrats would rather have Bush now and another chance in 4 years. I suspect the Clintons.

Simple - this was a threat to those who use the internet to criticise the US government.

There IS no terrorist threat. At least not on the scale insinuated by Bush & his neo-cons.

The disparity points to nearly 600,000 extra Bush votes in Florida where Kerry lost by 377,216.

That's pretty significant. Ohio may be more significant, but we'll never know unless you guys demand the information.

The e-touch optical scan comparison referenced as 'strange anomaly' may be explained if one considers that counties with small populations used optical machines and those with large populations used the e-touch machines.

Then I'm not sure you're aware of the degree of the disparity. With these trends, if your district uses an e-voting system, 2% more swing & independent votes would go to Republican than Democrat. If however your district used optical scanning, the difference would be 45%!

That's very strong evidence that something went seriously wrong. While certain people would like to sweep this under the carpet, I hope and expect that this will be in the courts and newspapers for months.

In the very article referenced by commandantTaco one reads (if on is able) ...Palm Beach County appears to have accounted for the discrepancy...

No, Palm Beach used e-voting machines.

The disparity is consistent amongst all Opscan machines, not just Diebold machines.

At least 2 different types of systems show the same disparity.

Nobody takes the guardian seriously anymore. Especially after they tried to influence the election and called for the assassination of the president.

Actually, the Guardian is the most respected paper in the UK amongst people with an IQ more than twice their waist measurement.

Trying to influence your election seems like a good idea to me. I tried it myself. Bush has deceived us Brits into 2 unwinnable wars, 1 against a against a fanatical guerilla enemy, the other against a non-existent enemy.

He probably also wrecked the ecosystem (Kyoto) and stopped the Microsoft breakup (which I take personally).

I'd also like to point out the difference between a journalist and a columnist. Ronson is a columnist and so is the guy who humourously called for assassination.

Fair points about the currency though, can't tell except in the long term.

Clickable version of parent's link

Given the national embarrassment, never mind the hypocrisy demonstrated in killing thousands & spending billions exporting your laughable democratic process...

Can anybody seriously believe that the fact that these problems still haven't been fixed after 4 years isn't deliberate???

When you look at the extensive funding involved in electing a candidate, it's obvious that some people really have a vested interest.

Are the OSCE being asked to ensure the fairness of (and will they have access to) the whole process? Us Brits are becoming quite used to fake authorities apparently sanctioning Blair's deceptions.

Of course, we didn't even start on why the Democrats put forward John Kerry - an unelectable candidate.

There's a nice computer game based on this year's presidential election. Buy it, play it and then make sure someone else plays it.

Clickable version of parent's link

Given the national embarrassment, never mind the hypocrisy demonstrated in killing thousands & spending billions exporting your laughable democratic process...

Can anybody seriously believe that the fact that these problems still haven't been fixed after 4 years isn't deliberate???

When you look at the extensive funding involved in electing a candidate, it's obvious that some people really have a vested interest.

Are the OSCE being asked to ensure the fairness of (and will they have access to) the whole process? Us Brits are becoming quite used to fake authorities apparently sanctioning Blair's deceptions.

Of course, we didn't even start on why the Democrats put forward John Kerry - an unelectable candidate.

There's a nice computer game based on this year's presidential election. Buy it, play it and then make sure someone else plays it.

As it stands most footage is erased after a month, and is stored on hundreds of individual unconnected systems. Hardly Big Brother.

I agree that WHILST they are unconnected, we don't have much to worry about.

But I'd like to point out that this same government is introducing a compulsory national database to keep track of your suspicious activities, containing your photograph, fingerprints and a unique National Identity Number which corporations can use to link up every bit of information about you already stored on computer (banking, phone, internet & shopping records).

Whilst the USA at least has an individual's freedom protected by their Constitution, this government is also proposing to bypass its own Data Protection and Freedom of Information Acts to introduce this database. Needless to say, the government's own watchdogs are horrified.

This same government is also granting police powers to take DNA samples from you without you ever knowing. How long before the technology is available to track people's movements through these CCTV cameras?

At what point will you become concerned?

Well, the trick of PTSD is that, for most people, the daily struggle to not remember (and avoid things that remind them) is much more traumatic.

Struggle to not remember a purple caterpillar wearing sunglasses. Really try not to remember that caterpillar.

Imagine walking down a street, and a certain type of tree or smell in the air sets you off. Between having that and having one extremely painful session of emotion-dulling via reliving the experience, I'll take emotion dulling. At least it will bring a somewhat permanent conclusion.

Sensible - however, there are much better, faster, cheaper and painless treatments eg Fast Phobia Cure, EFT, EMDR.

Who is going to program the virtual reality machine for individual trauma reliving? What about rape cases? How are you going to program in that smell?

This is, of course, assuming that it actually WORKS. =)

How would you know if it did? Would you trust the same people who tell you frying your brain WORKS?

And don't remember that caterpillar OK?

A lot of people feed into the problems by anticipating a terrible withdrawal.

I guess I wasn't clear because you just agreed with me. ;)

This is exactly what I mean by placebo addiction.

Again in my professional opinion, I estimate that 90% of addiction to cigarettes, caffeine etc comes from such expectations, which is why hypnotic suggestion works well as a treatment. The reverse is true of medications such as Paxil which was stated to be non-addictive. Consequently, fewer people suffered withdrawal symptoms, but those who did were thoroughly unprepared for them.

It is also said that the addictiveness of Valium was manufactured by bad publicity. In France, where such publicity wasn't widespread, they don't have much of a problem with Valium. It is also true that Valium is now widely prescribed under a different name (diazepam).

There is a bit more on the unscientific nature of medicine on my website here. At some point today I will try to update it with information from that 1993 paper by Fisher and Greenberg.

There are two separate fields exploring this phenomenon. The synaesthesia described by Ramachandran and Cytowic (The Man Who Tasted Shapes) generally researches the kind that is both involuntary and consistent (eg the taste of mint always feels like cold glass columns). These synaesethesias are quite elementary: a particular pitch appears blue as opposed to some blue-winged fairy flying past. The taste of chicken feels spiky. Mint feels like glassas opposed to

One of the most famous synesthetes was S, a photographic memory expert.

The other field is part of Neuro-Linguistic Programming which already provides a lot of useful applications for the non-synesthete.

One example would be an automatic lie detector, based on the voice tone (and body language) someone used. In response you could automatically see the word LIE emblazoned across their forehead, or if you had a really good imagination, you could even see their nose growing...

Here is a website that seeks to bring the two fields together.

There are two separate fields exploring this phenomenon. The synaesthesia described by Ramachandran and Cytowic (The Man Who Tasted Shapes) generally researches the kind that is both involuntary and consistent (eg the taste of mint always feels like cold glass columns). These synaesethesias are quite elementary: a particular pitch appears blue as opposed to some blue-winged fairy flying past. The taste of chicken feels spiky. Mint feels like glassas opposed to

One of the most famous synesthetes was S, a photographic memory expert.

The other field is part of Neuro-Linguistic Programming which already provides a lot of useful applications for the non-synesthete.

One example would be an automatic lie detector, based on the voice tone (and body language) someone used. In response you could automatically see the word LIE emblazoned across their forehead, or if you had a really good imagination, you could even see their nose growing...

Here is a website that seeks to bring the two fields together.

There's one called Eclipse, featured in an excellent documentary called In Search of a Safer Cigarette. They found that the standard drying process created 99% of the carcinogens in the tobacco.

But burning any organic substance produces lots of carcinogens.

Eclipse contains no tobacco, yet looks, works and supposedly smells & tastes like a cigarette.

For those of you lacking willpower, I've made freely available a method that will make becoming an ex-smoker much easier.

Dave.