Over brekkie I read
something which went some way to restoring my faith in humanity. A
German crackpot has been put
firmly in his place.
Anti-vaccination
campaigner Stefan Lanka (who describes himself as a biologist !)
had declared that measles is actually all in the mind. He was on
record as saying that "It is a psychosomatic illness,"
to a local newspaper Suedkurier. "People become ill after
traumatic separations." He even went on to offer a cash
prize of one hundred thousand Euros to anyone who could prove that
measles was caused by a virus.
People who *aren't*
completeley stupid have claimed the prize, and fortunately for my
nerves a German court has ruled that the evidence submitted by these
non-stupid people has proved what we've known all along. Measles *is*
caused by a virus; and this twit has been ordered to hand over the
prize money.
This fool is now trying
to appeal the decision. I would guess that the reason is that he
hasn't got one hundred thousand Euros to give. I hope the court
enforces this ruling and this twit is bankrupted. I might sound
harsh, but people like him are dangerous. With just the teensiest bit
of science and a good dose of bullsh*t people like this do untold
harm. Let's be clear on this; measles kills. Trying to actively stop
vaccinations might not *actually* be cold-blooded murder, but
is it that far off?
With brekkie scoffed we
rallied the troops and set off to darkest Sussex where we met Dave at
the Sussex village of Gotham. It really exists; it is alledged that
the tales of the Mad Men of Gotham (based on where we were in
Sussex) formed the basis of the Gotham in "Batman".
Once together six of us
(and two small dogs) went for a seven-mile geo-stroll. I was
in two minds about wearing wellie boots. I hadn't needed them for
Friday's walk; I needed them today. It was very muddy; "er
indoors TM" went base over apex in the mud
at one point. I did laugh. Both dogs ate dung as we went (I wish
they wouldn't do that), and we even found our signature on an
archived cache we'd found down there two years ago.
Despite the poorly marked
footpaths we had a good stroll. And a couple of geo-milestones were
acheived today. Dave found his five hundredth cache; I found find
#4444.
As I often do, I
took a few photos whilst we were out too.
We took a rather
circuitous route home to pick up a puzzle cache that I'd solved a
while back and had been waiting to collect for some time. And with
the geo-stuff done I then dozed for the hour's journey home.
Once home I bathed "Furry
Face TM" who then went staright to sleep.
We then had a rather good bit of tea, and with "er indoors
TM" off bowling I settled down in front of
the telly. I spent half an hour with needle and thread stitching up a
split seam on my jacket, and then (having found a magnifying
glass) had another go with my dog-cam. Now that I can actually
read the instructions I can see that they have been translated into
English rather badly. I've had another go with the thing; at first
sight it looked like it was money down the drain but I have got
videos out of it... after a fashion. I shall test it for real
tomorrow...
Poldark is on telly in a
minute...
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