The Skeptics Club

Welcome to another edition of the Skeptics Club newsletter, motto ‘Why is this lying liar lying to me?’ It’s been quite a while since we posted but there’s been a fair bit of personal stuff going on that is way more important than the frivolous fluff we blather on about here. Hope you and yours are all hale and hearty. The last few weeks have been extremely rich in satire, frankly most of the daily news is beyond parody or satire. My recent favourites have been ‘Let’s go, Brandon’ and indirectly linked to that, South West Airlines and Hurricane Brandon. Those of you who know what I’m referring to are already sniggering away. For those who don’t, you need to find the clip of a NASCAR driver called Brandon Brown being interviewed by NBC news. You need to know that spectators at public events in the US have taken to hailing the most popular president in the history of the United States by chanting FJB. Hard to believe, I know. A man so beloved by his people that he needed 25000 National Guardsmen to protect him from the adoring crowds. The guards themselves needed to be vetted by the FBI in case they took a potshot at the C-in-C. 🙂 In the interest of truthfulness, the NG are usually called in for inaugurations, but fewer than 10000 usually suffice, even for the Orange Man. I digress. Watching that clip, I can only imagine someone was holding that reporter’s puppy for ransom. I mean, yikes! I actually felt sorry for her.

Now to SWA. They cancelled over 2000 flights this week, for reasons as yet unknown. After days of speculation, the airline announced that the flights were cancelled due to bad weather. Bad weather which didn’t affect all the other airlines criss-crossing the US. Hence: Hurricane Brandon, targetting only South West Airlines planes.

Meanwhile in sunny Canada, the Quebec health minister has decided to extend the deadline for making vaccines mandatory for healthcare workers by a month. Faced with the prospect of losing an estimated 20000 front line staff in less than a week, they issued a final, final warning. That really made me chuckle. Do you remember getting a final, final warning from your Mum or Dad? That was a sure sign that you were home free. The government consultation on mandating vaccines for NHS staff reports this coming week. They may indeed go ahead and mandate it. In that case, remember our advice – don’t get ill, and don’t get old. When we figure out how you can comply with that advice, we’ll get back to you. What I find interesting is why front-line staff who have never quibbled about having other routine vaccinations as a condition of service are now willing to lose their livelihoods rather than have this one. Are they mad antivaxxers? Clearly not, they have had the required routine vaccines and boosters regularly. Two possibilities : it’s a civil liberties issue for them, or they feel having the vaccine is too risky considering what they have seen on the job. What really intrigues me is that no one seems to be asking them. Pourquoi? I’m a libertarian, have the vaccine, don’t have the vaccine, live with the medical consequences. Some interviews with frontline staff would be extremely interesting for me.

I have always said the totalitarian nonsense piggybacking on the Covid issue will never hold. It’s a busted flush, and I still maintain that stance. And while we are following the science, here are some things that potentially worsen society that logic dictates we should look at:

Pregnant women must be forbidden from drinking coffee or alcohol. Yes, I know that advice changes with the wind but this week …….. They must also get 8 hours mandated sleep, not get stressed, give up working and eat prescribed meals only. Think of the baby!!!!! In fact, why not extend it to all parents? Think about the children!!!!!

Drinking alcohol should be illegal. Look at the NHS stats for alcohol-related illnesses

Being overweight should be illegal. It’s a sign that you’re overindulging in limited resources and not partaking of the mandated exercises

One hour of daily exercise should be mandated. Anyone too ill to carry this out should be assessed for their value to society by a team of actuarists

All illegal drug-taking or drug-dealing should be punishable by death. That includes drugs like nicotine and alcohol

Spreading STDs is very bad for society. Any extramarital sex should be a civil crime. If it involves transmission of a life-threatening STD, it should be coded as attempted murder

Well, who doesn’t wish to live in such a …. brave new world 🙂 I’m not going to disclose how many of these rules I break…… but have no doubt I’d be in prison right now, several times over. And that’s the crux, right there. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. Easy to go along when the issues don’t impact you but sooner or later, those chickens will come home to roost. We are all human, none of us is perfect. Society means that we all have to learn to get along with one another.

For our eye candy this week, I leave you with some more amazing buildings and artwork. These buildings may or may not have been built with the aid of the the most basic tools 200-700 years ago, with supplies delivered by horse and wagon. I couldn’t possibly comment…… Have a good one.