Anti-vaxxers are just one aspect of the fight

Penn and Teller take on vaccines
[Via Bad Astronomy]

I have long beaten the drum against the antivaxxers: people who falsely claim that vaccines cause autism, or are loaded with toxins. These groups are loud, in many cases vicious, and all have one thing in common: they are wrong, wrong, wrong. The evidence is overwhelming that vaccines don’t cause autism, for example. We know they don’t.

Despite that, it’s clear that the emotional arguments of antivax groups have some traction among people, especially new parents who are understandably concerned and nervous about their children’s health. We here on the reality side of things can talk facts, statistics, and evidence all we want, but to penetrate through to reason we sometimes have to make our arguments more visceral. More demonstrative.

And that’s why I loved the recent episode of Penn & Teller’s show about vaccines. They used facts and figures, but they also use humor and emotion, and it’s really effective. In a brilliant move, they opened their show with a fantastic demonstration of just why we need to vaccinate our kids [very NSFW language]:

I love it! That is precisely right: even if vaccines caused the woes antivaxxers claim — and as Penn says clearly, they don’t — by sheer numbers it’s clear that vaccinations are still critical.

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It is pretty difficult to convince people that have retreated into their own Cargo Cult World to change their minds and re-enter the real world. But there are lots of people that can be reached and we must do that.

Because we are not just fighting this battle against one group. We can not solve the difficult problems facing us by retreating into Cargo Cult Worlds. All of us that believe in understanding the world around us are fighting a wide range of Cargo Cult Worlds, from anti-vaxxers to creationists to climate skeptics to truthers to birthers and many others.

Cargo Cult Worlds allow people to hide from the real world. But they also provide a place for people to launch attacks against our attempts to solve difficult problems, such as human health, energy usage, ecological damage, or economical failures.

We need to realize that these groups are actually just different aspects of the same foe – ignorance And we need to unite to battle them all.

Because they will not be any help as we act to solve our problems and will do their best to prevent us from achieving success.

Complex technology that does not serve mankind

by Elsie esq.

When IT Fails
[Via I, Cringely]

A friend of mine has been in an epic struggle with his mortgage processor and his experience tells us a lot about the state of IT. It started in October of last year when my friend met with his loan processor (Bank of America) to inquire about a loan modification. The loan is actually owned by Freddie Mac. He turned-in all the required paperwork and followed up with an income statement when requested two weeks later. The meeting took many hours mainly because all of the original documents were imaged and put into his electronic file. In late December he was told that his modification was completed, given a new mortgage payment and told to wait on the paperwork.

Nothing happened.

Fast forward to September and guess what? He has had to restart the process three times now. Exactly why the process broke no one can determine. So three times he sent in his tax returns, bank information, income information and forms totaling over 100 pages only to have them disappear, again and again. Each time the process was a little different but the end result was the same — nothing. Process improvement at work yet no change in outcome.

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PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD
[Via Balloon Juice]

I just want to say that PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD, AND I WILL KEEP SAYING THAT UNTIL THIS REGISTERS ON GOOGLE AND THEY CONTACT ME.

Some backstory:

I’ve had this paypal account for ten years. I also had a debit card associated with it. I lost my wallet in July, and being the responsible party that I am, I contacted everyone to let them know this. My bank and other accounts had no problem with this, but not fucking paypal. Upon trying to get a new card, I learned my account had been limited. Why? Who fucking knows? So now, for the past two and a half months, I have been trying to verify I am who I am. This just makes me full of joy:

I’m verified, but limited!

I’ve spent the last two months trying to verify that I am the person they did business with for ten years, each time to be told that “Yes, you have provided the information we asked for, but we can not verify who you are.”

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Both of these describe similar problems – the systems are now so complex that no one can fix some of them, even if they wanted to. Here we have companies performing disservice for their customers. The companies continue to attempt to fix the problem but have no real understanding of why it is broken or how to fix it. Months go by with no resolution, with lost revenue and lost time.

The corporations really have no solution to this problem. They can not fix it because they do not seem to have any real handle on what is actually happening with the IT.

They really are like the people of the South Pacific and cargo cults. ‘If they just push the right buttons on their terminals, then the technology would work’. All while having no understanding of the principles underlying the technology.

The organizations have no fundamental comprehension of the concepts behind their IT. So, if they keep entering data, in just the right way, the system will somehow work. Even as the data keeps disappearing.

Their only worthwhile recommendation is to start up a new account or start the process over again. Like a country of auto drivers but with no mechanics, the only real solution to bad battery is to tell you to buy a new car.

Would a wooden computer with blinking lights be almost as useful?

Some key Apple numbers put in context

by Abhijit Tembhekar

Is Apple stock cheap at the moment?
[Via Edible Apple]

With Apple’s stock price currently hovering under $245, Chad Brand of Seeking Alpha lays forth the argument that the stock is actually undervalued at the moment.

Despite my roots as a value manager, in recent weeks I have been a fairly aggressive buyer of Apple shares. Such an investment may not seem appropriate for a value investor but as the stock has steadily fallen, dropping below $250 per share, it has actually become quite undervalued. And not just relative to its growth rate, but the broad market as well.

Flush with $45 billion in cash and investments ($50 per share) and no debt, Apple sports an enterprise value of about $190 per share. Compare that to $15 of earnings this year and enough catalysts to make next year’s estimate of $18 seem easily attainable, and you have a stock that actually trades at a discount to the S&P 500. And therein lies the core explanation for my heightened interest recently.

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Fifty dollars of every share is actually cash that apple has. So the real value the market is placing on Apple in $190. So its Price to Earnings ratio is 13 for this year and 11 for next.

So, one of the largest corporations in America has a P/E ratio almost over 1/3 lower than the current market which is at 19.25. If Apple was valued at the market’s current average, its price should be about $340 based on this years earnings and $396 based on next year’s.

Now if iTunes would let us pick which 60 seconds to hear

Apple expected to boost iTunes song samples to 60 seconds
[Via AppleInsider]

Apple this week is expected to double the length of free song samples within the iTunes Store, from 30 seconds to 60 seconds, according to a new report.

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Having 60 seconds of a sample to listen to will be better. But so often, the sample does not really provide a good idea of the song. It will be something like part of the long lead in, without any vocals. Or a part of the chorus without the bridge. For a lot of my favorite music, the sample often provides little real value in deciding about buying the song. 30 random seconds out of an 8 minute song is not going to be helpful.

I often end up using the reviews to get a better idea of each song than the sample itself.

Wouldn’t it be great if Apple would let us select which 60 seconds of a song we could listen to?