2002-11-05»
more on the bogdanov twins»
This story – about a seemingly fake set of scientific papers that managed to get published in reputable scientific journals – just gets more and more weird. Apparently the twins appear quite sincere in their belief that their paper has legitimate merit (rather than just being the Anti-Sokals that I thought they were initially). And they even have bodacious fans!
The sociological milieu of the affair is rich in color and personalities. The Bogdanovs have been described as “charismatic” and and “persuasive.” One of the juicier details is that the Bogdanov twins actually have FANS – scores of beautiful, nubile young women – who attend their seminars thereby delighting the other physicists – distracting them from theoretical to applied pysics. The Bogdanovs have political cachet – even the support of the French Minister of education. In addition to this, because of their prominence, the Bogdanov brothers have brought various publishing houses into the fray, making for a general circus-like atmosphere in the normally subdued and monkly Ivory towers of science.
Mind you, the site that’s from also talks about a COINTELPRO conspiracy to hold back science. We appear to be entering the really dark, conspiracy-laden corners of sci.physics here. Or at least slightly more French than I’m accustomed to.
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<oliver>who will buy my personal data?</oliver>»
Josh’s friend Chris got hold of his marketing data under the Data Protection Act. Now he’s selling it to the highest bidder on e-bay.
Lloyds TSB: Approximately 500 pages of personal data including an analysis of banking products they believe I might be interested in. Also includes overdraft limit maintenance history (hand written), risk management history data (93 pages) and a full list of letters sent over the previous 5 years (completed by hand). All data and codes come with explanatory notes provided by Lloyds TSB. Original cost £ 10.
Sainsbury’s: Dated 12 July 2001, this data is split into five separate reports. Report 1. Operational report (name and address etc.) Report 2. Operational report again, with summarised details and the last 31 transactions on the card. Report 3. Drawn from the main data repository and includes the ‘Acorn’ standard marketing categorisation. Includes the assumption that we are ‘better-off inner-city executives living in a partially gentrified multi-ethnic area’. Report 4. Shows the transactions made using our reward card. Report 5. This is a list of EVERYTHING we bought from Sainsbury’s over a 3 year period – where we bought it and how much we paid. This data has been co-produced with my partner whose individual data has been removed.
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