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Hey…heeeeey… JSTOR, Springer, Sage, and Elsevier…frack you and your paywalls.
This is from Sci-Hub’s main page.
“We fight inequality in knowledge access across the world. The scientific knowledge should be available for every person regardless of their income, social status, geographical location and etc.
Our mission is to remove any barrier which impeding the widest possible distribution of knowledge in human society!
We advocate for cancellation of intellectual property, or copyright laws, for scientific and educational resources.
Copyright laws render the operation of most online libraries illegal. Hence many people are deprived from knowledge, while at the same time allowing rightholders to have a huge benefits from this. The copyright fosters increase of both informational and economical inequality.
The Sci-Hub project supports Open Access movement in science. Research should be published in open access, i.e. be free to read.
The Open Access is a new and advanced form of scientific communication, which is going to replace outdated subscription models. We stand against unfair gain that publishers collect by creating limits to knowledge distribution.”
Knowledge, available to the plebs? What is heresy is this??
Of course the fascists are up in arms –
“That’s all well and good for us users, but understandably, the big publishers are pissed off. Last year, a New York court delivered an injunction against Sci-Hub, making its domain unavailable (something Elbakyan dodged by switching to a new location), and the site is also being sued by Elsevier for “irreparable harm” – a case that experts are predicting will win Elsevier around $750 to $150,000 for each pirated article. Even at the lowest estimations, that would quickly add up to millions in damages.
But Elbakyan is not only standing her ground, she’s come out swinging, claiming that it’s Elsevier that have the illegal business model.
“I think Elsevier’s business model is itself illegal,” she told Torrent Freak, referring to article 27 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits”.
She also explains that the academic publishing situation is different to the music or film industry, where pirating is ripping off creators. “All papers on their website are written by researchers, and researchers do not receive money from what Elsevier collects. That is very different from the music or movie industry, where creators receive money from each copy sold,” she said.
Elbakyan hopes that the lawsuit will set a precedent, and make it very clear to the scientific world either way who owns their ideas.
“If Elsevier manages to shut down our projects or force them into the darknet, that will demonstrate an important idea: that the public does not have the right to knowledge,” she said. “We have to win over Elsevier and other publishers and show that what these commercial companies are doing is fundamentally wrong.”
To be fair, Elbakyan is somewhat protected by the fact that she’s in Russia and doesn’t have any US assets, so even if Elsevier wins their lawsuit, it’s going to be pretty hard for them to get the money.”
[Sci-Hub]
Hey, lets stuff burning stuff into our orifices, think magical thoughts, and *poof* feel better. Let’s go along with Concordance as he takes a bit more time to explain exactly inane ear candling is and why, at the same time rational people still do it.
The last big bump has been before the long yawn that is January and February has just been crossed. Happy New Year everyone.
Just like using Vitamin C to treat cancer…
“It’s a case that has Canadians and the legal community buzzing.
Earlier this month Ontario Judge Gethin Edward ruled in favour of a First Nations girl and her family, who stopped chemotherapy to treat her acute lymphoblastic leukemia, choosing traditional medicine instead.
The judge rejected an application from McMaster Children’s Hospital that would have required the Children’s Aid Society to intervene in the case.”
Buzzing indeed. Let us be clear up front – evidenced based medicine works. Anything else is just a fine grade mixture of bullshit and the placebo effect that happened to work in that specific case on that specific day. We can safely assume that “Traditional Medicine” falls into the later category and most definitely not the former.
“Edward ruled that it was the mother’s aboriginal right — which he called “integral” to the family’s way of life — to allow her to choose traditional medicine for her daughter.
While many hailed the decision as a victory for aboriginal rights, others call it a failure in the protection of child welfare”
While others like myself would be calling this a death sentence for the child in question. Treating cancer with magical mumbo-jumbo almost always ends in tragedy.
“I’ve never seen a judge recognize a broad right for a First Nation like the Mohawk Nation to have their medical practices — their traditional ways of life regarding health and healing — protected by the Constitution under Section 35,” said Larry Chartrand, professor at the faculty of law.
“Chartrand specializes in aboriginal governance and health, and while he states that this decision is positive in terms of aboriginal rights, “the unfortunate circumstance is that it revolved around a fact situation where a little girl’s life is potentially at stake. So that makes the decision very difficult to appreciate.”
The ‘decision very difficult to appreciate my ass’ – Leave it to lawyers to miss the point. We have this thing called medical science, it is the justified, tested and reviewed methods of saving lives. Denying a child access to life saving treatment is neglect.
“McMaster doctors said she has a 90 to 95 per cent chance of survival on chemotherapy, but that they didn’t know of anyone who had survived acute lymphoblastic leukemia without the treatment.”
Traditional methods of healing in this case means death for the child.
“I understand the mother’s decision. I have a 12-year-old son, and I’m not sure I would make that decision myself under the circumstances. But I understand why, because of the impact of colonization, the distrust of the mainstream system, and the need to protect Mohawk culture — sometimes at all costs.”
If protecting Mohawk culture means sacrificing your child to woo, it may be time to rethink that aspect of Mohawk culture. If the child dies because of this fanciful foray into neglect the parents should be charged with child endangerment and neglect causing death. Welcome to the other end of the legal system – the one where murdering children, even for cultural reasons is against the law.
“A Florida health resort licensed as a “massage establishment” is treating a young Ontario First Nations girl with leukemia using cold laser therapy, Vitamin C injections and a strict raw food diet, among other therapies.
The mother of the 11-year-old girl, who can not be identified because of a publication ban, says the resort’s director, Brian Clement, who goes by the title “Dr.,” told her leukemia is “not difficult to treat.”
Vitamin C? Raw Food?… To treat lymphoblastic leukemia? *shakes head* Using woo to treat cancer, this is going to end badly for everyone.
Orac over at Respectful Insolence says it best:
“My view is that what matters the most is the life of the child and making sure that child is given her best shot at life by being treated with the best science-based medicine has to offer. Everything else is secondary and, to me, important only inasmuch as it helps or hinders achieving the goal of saving the life of the child. I don’t care much about whether I offend by criticizing a religion that would allow a child to die. I don’t care much if it bothers anyone that I criticized a racial, ethnic, or cultural group that facilitates the medical neglect of children. And I don’t really care that much, in the context of this case, about the historical grievances native peoples have based on past transgressions of the Canadian government. That’s not to say I don’t recognize them as important; rather, it’s that I do not accept them as valid reasons to let a child die.”
[Source 1: cbc.ca – Aboriginal right to refuse chemotherapy for child spurs debate.]
[Source 2: cbc.ca –‘Doctor’ treating First Nations girls says cancer patients can heal themselves.]
Ah yes, purveyors of Woo this is your fault. This isn’t Big Pharma, this isn’t biased studies, or any of the mendacity that you preach – the death of this child is squarely and completely on you. The CBC reports:
“Criminal charges are pending against a Calgary mother who police allege relied on holistic treatments instead of getting medical help for her seven-year-old son’s strep infection.”
Holistic treatments to treat a bacterial infection? Are you frakking kidding me – how much nonsense did the woo pedlars have to feed this parent to make her eschew effective medical treatment and treat her son with fucking potions and positive energy?
“On the morning of March 2, emergency crews were called to a 17th Avenue S.W. basement suite where a young boy was having a seizure. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.”
“An autopsy found the cause of death was a strep infection, which would have been treatable with penicillin.”
What a way to go – from the CDC on strep infection…
“Severe, sometimes life-threatening, GAS disease may occur when bacteria get into parts of the body where bacteria usually are not found, such as the blood, muscle, or the lungs. These infections are termed “invasive GAS disease.” Two of the most severe, but least common, forms of invasive GAS disease are necrotizing fasciitis and Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome. Necrotizing fasciitis (occasionally described by the media as “the flesh-eating bacteria”) destroys muscles, fat, and skin tissue. Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS), causes blood pressure to drop rapidly and organs (e.g., kidney, liver, lungs) to fail. STSS is not the same as the “toxic shock syndrome” frequently associated with tampon usage. About 20% of patients with necrotizing fasciitis and more than half with STSS die. About 10%-15% of patients with other forms of invasive group A streptococcal disease die.”
Speculation here, but the boy’s organs were being destroyed by the bacteria, he most likely was in severe pain for 10 days.
“Police allege the mother did not take the boy for treatment, giving him holistic remedies instead.”
Holistic fucking remedies? This is why alternative medicine is so dangerous, people die because they believe in weapons-grade bullshit.
“The treatment rendered at home was homeopathic in nature. This would include herbal remedies. The mother refused to take the child to a medical professional. No excuse given — just her belief system,” said Staff Sgt. Mark Cavilla.”
Her belief system? Believing in stupid shit gets people killed(bonus points if you can draw a parallel to religious belief). Holistic alternative medicine ranks high on the list of stupid shit to believe in.
“The boy was bedridden for 10 days prior to his death, police allege. Charges are pending against his 44-year-old mother. Those charges include criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessaries of life.”
I’m waiting for the proud Alternative Medicine Community to stand up and own this child’s death, for teaching a mother not to trust evidence based medicine, for letting a child suffer for 10 days with a curable affliction.
I know what response we’ll get from these charlatans. Frakking Crickets.
Why oh why do people still want to normalize the use of magic and illusion into the practice of medicine?
We’ve spent decades codifying and rooting out the bullshit practices and have steeled ourselves against ‘good common sense’ notions and looked where the evidence points us. There is no mystery to evidence based medicine it has been shown empirically to work. Contrast that with ‘alternative or integrative‘ or ‘whatever term the quacks are using now to sound legitimate and authoritative‘ which is not evidence based, not rigorously tested and not frakking effective. What is most saddening is that professionals who have been well-educated can fall into the woo-trap just as easy as the common bloke. The CBC reports on a quack siting here in my home town:
“An Edmonton doctor who recently won a major medical prize says the only way to bridge the divide between traditional medicine and alternative methods is to listen to the needs of patients.”
Oh FFS! Alternative Medicine … has either not been proved to work, or been proved not to work. Do you know what they call “alternative medicine” that’s been proved to work? Medicine. “Bridging gaps” with quackery results in dead people. It is that simple.
“Dr. Vohra was recently awarded the 2013 Dr. Rogers Prize for Excellence in Complementary and Alternative Medicine. At $250,000, it’s the largest prize of its kind in North America.”
Quack wins quackery prize. This just in, earth still orbiting the sun ONCE every 365 days. Let’s take a peek into history and dude behind the Dr.Rodgers Prize (many thanks to askepticrtn.com)
Dr. Hoffer’s obituary mentioned that he had won the Dr. Rogers Prize for Excellence in Complementary and Alternative Medicine in 2007. I never knew such a thing even existed. It does though.
Dr. Rogers is another individual who appears to have dedicated his life to helping people but probably did just the opposite. He worked in family practice for over 30 years and was a clinical instructor at the University of British Columbia. He founded the Thera Wellness Centre in 1977, a not for profit organization devoted to complementary and alternative practices in medicine. Later he created The Centre for Integrated Therapy which evolved into Centre for Integrated Healing in the late 1990′s which later evolved into Inspire Health. A quick review of Inspire Health’s website reveals it is an organization that promotes all sorts of pseudo-scientific nonsense as benefiting cancer patients — from Reiki to therapeutic touch to acupuncture.
According to the Dr. Roger’s Prize website, Dr. Rogers was appointed to the Order of British Columbia, the province’s highest honour, for his pioneering work in alternative and complementary cancer care. In other words, BC awarded him the provinces highest honor for selling worthless cures to desperate cancer victims. Not something that immediately comes to mind as worthy of an award, but then again, I have never won the Order of British Columbia, so I am certainly no expert on what it takes to win a medal. I do know there was a time when, good intentions notwithstanding, we threw snake oil salesmen in jail. Now we give them the Order of British Columbia.
The Dr. Rogers Prize for Excellence in Complementary and Alternative Medicine was established in recognition of Dr. Rogers contribution to complimentary and alternative medicine and his tireless efforts to gain widespread recognition for – and acceptance of – complementary and alternative cancer treatments in this country.
I don’t know what alternative universe the folks at the Dr. Rogers Prize are living in, but back here on planet earth we instinctively know that recognition and acceptance of medical practices shouldn’t come from phony awards awards funded by those pursuing an agenda. It comes from sound scientific evidence that the health practices or modalities being promoted actually work.
Regardless of how well intentioned or tireless Dr. Rogers efforts (and I don’t doubt either), they amount to little more than the promotion and sale of snake oil to some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Now in his eighties and suffering from Alzheimer’s, it is sad to reflect on a another man who desperately wanted to help but probably did just the opposite.
Ah, it must feel good to win the snake-oil award for selling cures to desperate people, it must be so gratifying on many levels; how can profiting from the misery of others be anything but?
“Dr. Vohra is the founding director of Complementary and Alternative Research and Education (CARE) at the University of Alberta, the first academic pediatric integrative medicine program in Canada.”
Write down the name and avoid this person at all costs because this sort of medical mendacity gets you dead and impoverishes your family.
“For the sake of her patients, she set about becoming fluent in alternative treatments.”
What a nice way of saying – has stopped listening to Reason and embraced all the magical woo available to the detriment of her patients. Awesome!
“Now she has credibility in both worlds – as a leader in both conventional and complementary and alternative medicine – […]”
Oh LOLfovever. The-fuck-you-don’t get credibility for embracing woo. You don’t get medical credibility for embracing non-evidence based medical practices. Not now, not ever, young padaquack. All you should rightly receive is scorn and derision for making the decision to abandon the scientific method and starting to peddle woo.
“She says studies indicate that 70 per cent of Canadians use complementary therapies, and a significant percentage of them mix traditional and non-traditional remedies without knowing what impact one will have on another.”
Could I get Argumentum ad populum, with a side citation-fucking-needed?! Ring-Ring!! Rationality is calling, Dr. Vohra; and it would, most desperately, like you to return to the fold.
Go to Quackwatch.org for more information on “alternative and integrative” therapies and the harm it causes people.
*Update* – Mother faces criminal charges as she let her son die of a strep infection –
Criminal charges are pending against a Calgary mother who police allege relied on holistic treatments instead of getting medical help for her seven-year-old son’s strep infection. Police allege the mother did not take the boy for treatment, giving him holistic remedies instead.
“The treatment rendered at home was homeopathic in nature. This would include herbal remedies. The mother refused to take the child to a medical professional. No excuse given — just her belief system,” said Staff Sgt. Mark Cavilla.
The boy was bedridden for 10 days prior to his death, police allege.
My defence rests. :(
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