Bad Science x2

[BBKing]

Two stories that anyone interested in science and the public realm ought to know about:

First, the DWP and Harrow Council apparently bought a system designed by a chap who claimed he could tell if benefit claimants were lying or not over the phone. On being examined by actual scientists, this didn't stand up:

http://yorksranter.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/snake-oil/
http://www.ministryoftruth.me.uk/200...n-and-the-dwp/

The inventors are threatening to call in the lawyers.

Meanwhile, on the MMR subject, Dr. Ben Goldacre, who specialises in debunking nonsense scienciness, is in trouble over an interview on LBC which he put on his website. In it, the usual MMR drivel is trotted out under the subject of 'concerned parent', where 'concerned parent' is evidently code for 'reckless moron'.

http://www.badscience.net/2009/02/le...caremongering/

LBC are threatening to call in the lawyers.

Spot the connection between the two?

[bmxbandit]

Sadly, I think you could fill this forum with examples such as these

[downquark1]

With the internet its getting harder and harder for these things to stay out of academic criticism and now they are throwing tantrums when they can't.

In related news here is my new invention

Covered second issue here: http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/22...scientist.html

[Stuart]

Not really bad science, but one company I worked for bought an off-the-shelf system for a project. The system nominally did do what was required, but was designed for a much smaller operation. As such, it frequently crashed. My employer's response? To sue the company into bankruptcy, thus ensuring that the system they had spent tens of thousands of pounds on was not only useless for their needs, but also would not be upgraded or supported in the future, thus requiring them to spend the tens of thousands of pounds on a custom designed system that they should have bought anyway.