Jack Dini

The Ongoing Fluoride Wars- Once Again Portland Votes Against Fluoridation of Their Water Supply

Drinking water fluoridation was first introduced in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1945. Calls began coming in to city offices from people complaining of sore gums and peeling tooth enamel. One woman even claimed that all her teeth had fallen out. These calls arrived in early January, when some press reports had stated that fluoridation would begin, but some weeks before the actual advent of fluoridation on January 25. (1)

Worrying Ourselves Sick With the Nocebo Effect

Have you ever gotten sick just thinking about something? If so, you possibly have experienced the nocebo effect. The nocebo effect is the negative stepsister of the placebo effect, where we feel good after eating foods, taking a remedy, or doing something we believe is healthy.

Coal Reigns as the King Global Powerhouse

While President Obama has vowed to keep ratcheting up the regulation of coal-fired power plants in the US, forcing hundreds to close, nations from Europe to the Far East are hungry for coal, and their demand is only going to get stronger in the years ahead as more nations turn to coal as a primary source of power. (1)

San Jose State University professors burn a skeptic’s book

Here's a recent original caption from the San Jose Department of Meteorology website; “This week we received a deluge of free books from the Heartland Institute. The book is entitled, “The Mad, Mad, Made of Climatism.” Shown above, Drs. Bridger and Clements test the flammability of the book.” (The actual title of the book is “The Mad, Mad, Mad World of Climatism”--not sure where the word Made came from. By design intent? ) Regardless, here is the access to a version of the photo before it was eliminated from the San Jose web page: (1)

Eat Your Apples in Spite of Scary Media Coverage

Once again apples get rotten press coverage from the Environmental Working Group (EWG). This year, like the past two, EWG perpetuates its myth of this dangerous fruit.

1. Why dangerous? Because of trace amounts of pesticides. How high the amounts? For the 2011 scare, the amount of pesticide detected was 2.5 percent of the EPA tolerance dose.
2. YES- its worth repeating—2.5 percent of the EPA tolerance dose. Is this reason to alarm folks? Well, one reason might be the zeal to convince folks to buy organic.

Tattoos- What About Health Concerns?

Scary health items include: chemicals and metals in household products, apples contaminated with pesticides, lipstick filled with heavy metals, carcinogens in water, sperm counts that don't add up, items that cause hormone disruptor issues, problems with lymph glands, etc. A variety of folks and organizations- scientists, NGOs, activists, politicians, journalists, media outlets, cranks and quacks continually harp about potential health threats like these and many others.

Efficiency of Solar vs Coal Power

The Cardinal Mine in western Kentucky is among the most productive underground coal mines in the United states. It's the thirty-fifth largest in American and produces about 6 tons of coal per miner work-hour.

Coal Consumption on the Rise Except in the United States

“Worldwide, almost 1,200 coal-fired plants are in the planning stages, and over three-quarters are to be built in China and India. To put this in perspective, China and India are planning to build over 60% more coal-fired capacity than the coal-fired generating capacity that currently exists in the United states,” reports Daniel Kish. (1)

More Cell Phones Than Sanitation

The number of mobile telephones worldwide is set to catch up to the globe's population next year, the United Nations' telecommunications reports. More than half of all mobile subscriptions are now in Asia, which remains the powerhouse of market growth. By the end of 2013, overall mobile penetration rates will have reached 96 percent globally, 128 percent in the developed world, and 89 percent in developing countries. (1)

Species Extinction Not As Bad As Claimed

The claim of impending mass extinction of the Earth's species is a never-ending drama. In 1979, the biologist Norman Myers declared that a fifth of all species on the planet would be gone within two decades. In the 1990s, E. O., Wilson popularized various numbers ranging from 4,000 to 100,000 species a year being lost, and these numbers were repeated over and over again in environmental groups' fund raising literature, in congressional testimony and in speeches by Al Gore.

Record warm and cold weather: but overall a standstill

“Not even close: 2012 was hottest ever in US,” The New York Times, (1) “2012: hottest year on record for continental US,” National Geographic Daily News, (2)

Polar Sea Ice: Not Nearly as Bad as You’ve Heard

Which of the following headlines have you read or heard about? Which would you believe?

California Waste Recycling- A Cash Cow For Scamsters

Recycling is central to environmental consciousness because reusing material is superior to throwing it away. It echoes the praise we give to tribal cultures that use every part of an animal carcass, or to people who find a way to do more with less, or to those who keep their planetary footprint as small as possible. (1)

China’s Copper Fixation

While the United States spends hundred of billions of dollars fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, China is securing raw material for its voracious economy. The world's superpower (US) is focused on security. Its fastest rising competitor (China) concentrates on commerce, observes Michael Wines. (1) One person has said, “We do the heavy lifting, they pick the fruit.”

Cookstoves and Toilets for Developing Countries: Non-Trivial Tasks

Wood smoke kills 1-1/2 to 2 million people annually according to the World Health Organization. Cooking is the fifth biggest killer in developing countries. (1)

United States Universities Top China and India

Higher education is America's best industry says Fareed Zakaria. The reasons for the US supremacy are clear: For one it spends the most money on education, disbursing $980 billion annually, or twice as much as China and five times as much as India. It is also the most engineer-intensive country, with 981 engineering degrees per million citizens, compared with 553 for China and 197 for India. (1) In India, universities graduate between 35 and 50 Ph.D's in computer science each year; in America, the figure is 1,000. (2)

Worldwide Road Deaths- A Major Epidemic

Very few people realize that traffic deaths are one of the leading causes of death in the world and the number one cause of death for young people. This is because they happen one by one, here and there, and not in mass events, so they get less attention. (1)

Medical Mistakes and Jumbo Jets

Medical mistakes are the fifth leading cause of death in the United States. The number of patients killed by preventable medical errors every year is equivalent to four jumbo jets crashing every week, says Marty Makary in his fascinating new book, Unaccountable. (1)

Copper in Organic Foods?

Most people who buy organic produce wouldn't like the idea that they are getting quite a bit of copper (technically a heavy metal) as part of the bargain. Why copper? Because fungicides based on copper (copper hydroxide, copper sulfate pentahydrate...) are some of the limited options that an organic farmer has to control plant diseases caused by fungi and bacteria, reports Steve Savage. (1) The reason to bring this up is to point out that: 1- pesticides are used on organic foods, and 2- some of the pesticides that are used on organic are not necessarily safer than those used by 'conventional' growers.

Killing Animals to Save Animals: A Conundrum

The claim of the impending mass extinction of the Earth's species is a never-ending drama. In 1979, the biologist Norman Myers declared that a fifth of all species on the planet would be gone within two decades. Subsequently, an attempt was made to give these made-up numbers a patina of scientific respectability that was in many ways an even worse abuse of scientific logic and evidence.