Better Meetings with MyTurn

Better Meetings

Meetings can be notoriously difficult and unproductive

MyTurn is a meeting facilitation application that you can use to:

: stop domination of discussion by a single person (Microphone control in premium)

: stop intimidation by those not allowing people to finish their statements

: experience superior task performance and reach more favorable decisions

: ensure that people’s names are remembered

MyTurn for Mobile Phones works with most web browsers (http://MyTurn.mobi). 
It says “My turn" for you by projecting your name to other’s phones.
Your name is displayed until you release the “My Turn” button or until your Turn Time runs out. 

If there are conflicting requests to speak, the person who has spoken the least has their name displayed. 
No information is transmitted, if your name doesn’t appear. 
The transition from speaker to speaker is protected, since the responsibility for either cutting off an over-time speaker or rejecting a pending request is shared by the group.

Our motto: Promote, Protect, Perform

Promote participation: 

Participation is balanced through application of an Equal-time Resolution Rule. 

(This is a key feature.) 

Protect the speaker: 

Inappropriate requests to speak are never revealed. 

(There are several other protective functions).

Perform: 

Performance of groups using the Equal-time Resolution Rule is superior. 

(This is a published experimental result.)

The MyTurn Web application is available at: http://MyTurn.mobi/

The instructions and other documentation can be found at: http://doc.MyTurn.Mobi

The beneficial results from using this program were proven in rigorously-controlled computer-administered experiments at the University of California and at Stanford University.
The research was supported in both cases by US government agencies.

Julian Assange calls for a "new Christianity," rejects High-tech liberalism' ideology

Europe is Kaput. Long live Europe! 
- Slavoj Žižek, Yanis Varoufakis and Julian Assange - full event

There is no ideological alternative being proposed: Isis vs. the West. What can occupy the middle ground? There needs to be a new European left movement. A type of 'Christianity', a preaching of love and unification. 
When you speak to senior figures in Silicon Valley such as Google's Chairman they have frightening worldviews. There is a real 'poverty' there, in that respect. There is a 'High-tech liberalism' ideology, which you can see references to in Google's book mentioning a 'new digital age', with Washington already going to Silicon Valley for information and solutions. They, as corporations have great experience in managing sheer scale, and with competency. They even have influence in some local governments. When you go to India and China and ask young people about their futures they say they want to work for Facebook, or if they're radical, start their own Facebook. Beyond this, Silicon Valley also 'rebrands' when it's abroad. For instance, to be "Doing it the Chinese/Indian way", but there's no choice, there's no 'China/India' involved - it's just a rebranding of Silicon Valley's ideology. And there's no growing competition. 

Misconduct complaint against Niels-Erik Hansen DRC - Breach of confidentiality, dishonesty, frivolous behavior, misuse of resources

Advokatnaevnet (Attorney Tribunal)

Advokatsamfundet 

Kronprinsessegade 28

1306 København K

Re: Misconduct complaint against Niels-Erik Hansen, Dokumentations- og Rådgivningscenteret om Racediskrimination (DRC) - Breach of confidentiality, dishonesty, frivolous behavior, misuse of resources 

At the end of 2014 I met with Niels-Erik Hansen (NEH) at the DRC. I explained that comments in the Danish news media, such as Jews/Muslims “mutilate babies” were being promoted by the scientific dishonesty of several Danish sexologists. He agreed that this was a case for the DRC and said he would himself prepare the complaint to the UVVU. 

While he stated he would attempt to complete this before the end of 2014, I received no information from him even though repeatedly asking by email for copies, status of the complaint, etc. When I met with him a few months later, he explained that he had never filed a UVVU complaint before and didn’t feel he could do it. This seemed odd to me, since I had transmitted most of the information needed and a scientific evaluation of the article in question had already been done by the American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) Task Force. This evaluation showed that the target article’s claims were scientifically dishonest. 

I then agree that I would prepare the substance of the complaint and he could prepare a letter, in Danish, citing the legal grounds for the complaint. A draft UVVU complaint was sent to NEH in May 2014. After repeated meetings at the DRC, it became clear that no progress was being made. I terminated my visits there in September 2014, when he did not affirm that he would assist me in response to a direct question about the cover letter. 

The meetings between May and September covered several issues, but not the cover letter that was supposedly being prepared. Often the issues raised concerned other cases at the DRC. He repeatedly mischaracterized my case, for example, stating that there was a lot of opposition to “ritual circumcision” in Denmark. However, my case was not about ritual circumcision or even medically recommended circumcision, it was a scientific dishonesty case. The subject matter of the article in question was irrelevant to whether, for example, the article required a Conflict of Interest statement. 

He repeatedly tried to discourage me from proceeding with the Complaint. For example, he explained to me that while the “good parent” in the USA was expect to circumcise the male child, the good parent in Denmark was expected to not circumcise the male child. He also assured me that a ban would be passed by the Parliament. 

On the other hand, he repeatedly indicated directly or indirectly that he was interested in promoting the case. For example, he told me that his teen-aged son had developed a painful foreskin infection. I believe this story was manufactured for my benefit. While about half of all uncircumcised men have a foreskin problem at some point in their lives, the likelihood of this problem occurring during the six months in question is exceedingly small. As part of a fact finding process for this complaint, an investigation of medical records, an interview with the mentioned son, or a sworn statement from NEH could clarify this.

Finally, on the 20th of February 2015 I encountered NEH and the two leading figures in my UVVU complaint, Dr. Morton Frisch and Dr. Christian Graugaard, at a reception for a newly installed sexology professor, Annamaria Giraldi:

<https://www.psykiatri-regionh.dk/presse-og-nyt/pressemeddelelser-og-nyheder/Nyheder-og-pressemeddelelser/Sider/Sexologiprofessor---Vi-skal-turde-sp%C3%B8rge-til-patienternes-sexliv.aspx>

While this could have been a chance event, it does make it appear that NEH, Dr. Morton Frisch, and Dr. Christian Graugaard move in the same social circles. These people appear to have had a common interest in stopping or, at least, delaying the filing of my complaint. The high point of the year, in terms of the male circumcision debate, was: Folketingets Tværpolitiske Netværk for Seksuel og Reproduktiv Sundhed og Rettigheder afholder i samarbejde med Folketingets Udenrigsudvalg en høring den 22. oktober kl. 13-16 i Fællessalen på Christiansborg.

http://www.tvaerpolitisknetvaerk.dk/arrangementer/2014.aspx

Dr. Frisch was one of the speakers on the program and the delay of my UVVU complaint ensured that he would not be subject to challenges concerning his scientific findings. The effect of my complaint was demonstrated by the fact that Dr. Frisch terminated his opposition to male circumcision on Facebook after that complaint was filed:

http://cosmism.blogspot.dk/2015/01/scientific-dishonesty-complaint-against.html

A post from that Facebook page is contained in my email to NEH (14 6 10 June 2014 Foreningen SOS mod Racisme i fælles kamp for rituel omskæring). There is a saying that “Justice delayed is justice denied.” This appears to be a valid observation here. 

It is likely that NEH informed the Doctors of his involvement in my case, thereby breaching professional confidentiality. I doubt if Niels-Erik Hansen could have resisted relating his “little joke” on me at a chance meeting. By calling Dr. Frisch and Dr. Graugaard before the Tribunal, this question could be answered. 

NEH acted in a frivolous manner. He repeatedly stated he would assist me, while clearly not intending to do so. This was dishonest in an indirect manner and explicit dishonesty may have been involved, as I suggest above.

Finally, NEH made use of the resources of the DRC to further interests in conflict with the goals of the Center. He used DRC email, office space, and reputation for his own purposes. 

While some of these events occurred more than one year ago, they form part of a whole, which deserves to be treated as a single unit. I ask the Tribunal to extend the deadline for submission of these earlier events, so that they can be included in this investigation. 

(Interested persons can request the cited attachments)

Established couples and prostate cancer

The average amount of sex reported in established relationships is approximately once a week (Blanchflower & Oswald, 2004; Call et al., 1995; Laumann et al., 1994), so perhaps this tends to be the average because engaging in sex more frequently is no longer associated with well-being. (Muise, Schimmack, Impett)

This rate is below that judged adequate for optimal avoidance of prostate cancer in men. "Men who ejaculated 21 or more times a month enjoyed a 33% lower risk of prostate cancer compared with men who reported four to seven ejaculations a month throughout their lifetimes."

US Gov. 2006: Increase 'Paranoia' And 'Frighten', Cause The Assad Regime To Overreact

Assange: Wikileaks has discovered documents going as far back as 2006 which detail the US's plans to overthrow the Syrian government, to increase 'paranoia' and 'frighten' (words used in documents), cause the Assad regime to overreact, and to prevent foreign investment and cooperation. In 2010 Syria requested assistance to stop terrorists entering from Iraq. Assange stated that Libya was 'Hillary's war', and that Generals had written in documents that she pushed 'over and above' what was necessary. He then displayed footage of the moment Hilary Clinton was told of Gaddafi's sodomy and subsequent murder. The video showered her throwing her head back laughing, cackling, with a large satisfied grin. The reporter who she was with during an interview repeatedly asked, "Was that to do with your visit recently?" which prompted further laughter. 

Assange, cont: There is a spiritual dimension to this issue that we have to consider - there is something in Hilary, and in her reaction, that personality, that has an 85% chance of entering, and embedding itself in, the White House after the election. That is something to think about: how a Western head of state reacts to another head of state being over thrown and killed in such a manner, and that person becoming the most powerful individual on earth.
- Rather than look for stability, France has also roused community fear by requesting everyone run to their local hospital to donate blood; there is talk of 'borders', 'crackdowns' and the British have already highlighted surveillance. This plays directly into ISIS's crackdown of the 'grey zone' between devout muslims and those Muslims embedded in Western ways, with increased Islamophobia and disunification in multicultural states.
- There is no ideological alternative being proposed: Isis vs. the West. What can occupy the middle ground? There needs to be a new European left movement. A type of 'Christianity', a preaching of love and unification. 

Stodolsky's law of organizational behavior

You can not overestimate people's stupidity.

Stodolsky's law of organizational behavior (circa 1979)



"The mediocre 'need' the really inept (Goode, 1967:11)."
Cited in Matejko, A. (1975). Dilemmas of hierarchical organizations and of industrial democracy.

A week off from Facebook? Participants in Danish experiment like this

the group who had abstained reported higher levels of life satisfaction and better concentration, as well as feeling less lonely, less stressed and more sociable.

Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: Overlooking the obvious? (unfinished article)

Carnahan and McFarland (2007) present new results that help to explain the abuse that occurred in the Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE). They found that those volunteering for "a psychological study of prison life" were significantly higher on measures of aggressiveness, authoritarianism, Machiavellianism, narcissism, and social dominance than those who responded to a parallel ad that omitted the words "of prison life," and they were significantly lower in dispositional empathy and altruism. They argue that the abusive behavior occurring in the SPE could have resulted from a self-selection bias. This bias, they argue, could have had effects both on the individual and group level. That is, individuals may have tended toward abusive behavior and when a group of such individuals were assembled they may have "mutually weakened each other’s constraints against abuse and reinforced in each other their willingness to engage in it" (p. 614). 

They also note that both the prisoners’ and guards’ authoritarianism scores in the BBC study increased as the study progressed (Haslam, 2006).

In their introductory remarks, Carnahan and McFarland (2007) comment "When the SPE was conducted in 1971, the situation versus personal disposition debate loomed large. To its authors, the SPE results required a situationist rather than a dispositional explanation (Haney et al., 1973). Because prisoners and guards were assigned randomly to their roles, and because personality measures did not predict behavior in either role (with the exception that five prisoners granted early release due to extreme emotional distress were quite low in authoritarianism), certainly the power of the situation must explain the guards’ cruelty and the prisoners’ passivity and depression" (p. 604).

The mentioned "exception" is reported in the section "Initial personality and attitude measures" of Haney, Banks, and Zimbardo (1973, p. 81). However, this finding is, of course, from the experiment itself. Haney et al. (1973) report that a rank-ordering of prisoners on the F-scale correlated highly with duration of their stay in the experiment (r = .898, p < .005). This is most statistically significant finding in the study. 

By the second day of the study, these "exceptional" prisoners began leaving. Since there were only ten prisoners in the study, half of them left prematurely. We also know that abuse escalated as the study progressed. Thus, the escalation of abuse parallelled the loss of half of the "prisoners" from the experiment. If the Carnahan and McFarland (2007) results are correct, then there was likely a self-selection bias operating not only prior to the study, but also in the study itself. It seems likely that the selection bias would operate more powerfully in the study, than in reading of an ad. This effect is dramatic, in that half of the "prisoners" left and also because it was the most significant finding of the study. If the Carnahan and McFarland (2007) conclusion that there was mutual weakening of constraint against abuse due to group processes of reinforcement, then the removal of the less authoritarian prisoners would have had a disproportionate effect. This would have been further exacerbated by the tendency for authoritarianism to increase as the study progressed (Haslam, 2006). Thus, we have both an increase in individual authoritarianism and removal of those who scored lower on this scale, simultaneous with an escalation in abuse.

The above observation of within-study self-selection would have significantly strengthened the Carnahan and McFarland (2007) argument. However, they apparently failed to notice it, since it was relegated to "Initial personality and attitude measures". Considering that half of the prisoners left the study, saying they represent an exception, is hardly justified. Perhaps if Haney et al. (1973) had given this finding more prominence, Carnahan and McFarland (2007) would have included it in their analysis. Given that the "situation versus personal disposition debate loomed large" (Carnahan and McFarland, 2007, p. 604) at that time, it is indeed odd that the most dramatic finding in the study is only mentioned in passing and that it is not even mentioned in Haney, et al.'s (1973) conclusion.

In their summary of "an interactionist analysis", Carnahan and McFarland (2007) state, "This analysis does not discount the power of a prison simulation, or of a real prison, to induce abusive behavior. The SPE certainly showed that it can do so" (p. 612). Given the observations above and BBC Prison Study (Reicher & Haslam, 2006), which didn't induce abusive behavior, we must question this widely held assumption about what the SPE showed.

The question can be addressed on several levels, and if we are to understand the SPE and the impact it has had, we must go beyond the traditional academic arguments, since it was exceptional in many ways. First, we will look at it from the traditional scientific standpoint and ask what is shown by the results. Next, we will place it in its historical context, like Carnahan and McFarland (2007) have done, but with a wider scope, since this is necessary to understand its origin and impact.

The primary characteristic of a structural crisis is chaos.

Premise No. 4 is the description of what happens in a structural crisis, which the world-system is in at the present time, has been in at least since the 1970s, and shall continue to be in until probably circa 2050. The primary characteristic of a structural crisis is chaos. Chaos is not a situation of totally random happenings. It is a situation of rapid and constant fluctuations in all the parameters of the historical system. This includes not only the world-economy, the interstate system, and cultural-ideological currents, but also the availability of life resources, climatic conditions, and pandemics.

Occupy Wall Street's information technology: A Facebook for the 99%?

Here is a PDF of my slides for the 2012 Open Source Days conference in Copenhagen.

Leaders love war.

 It’s an opportunity for them to do whatever they wanted to do before, but couldn’t get away with. It’s an opportunity for them to smear anyone who criticizes them as disloyal. It’s an opportunity for them to become much more powerful than they ever could be in peacetime, to implement whatever their favorite shock doctrine is. Leaders love war. That’s why there’s so much of it.

Diminishing solar activity may bring new Ice Age by 2030

There is no strong evidence, that global warming is caused by human activity. The study of deuterium in the Antarctic showed that there were five global warmings and four Ice Ages for the past 400 thousand years. People first appeared on the Earth about 60 thousand years ago. However, even if human activities influence the climate, we can say, that the Sun with the new minimum gives humanity more time or a second chance to reduce their industrial emissions and to prepare, when the Sun will return to normal activity”, Dr Helen Popova summarised.

Greenpeace accused of crimes against humanity

Even Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore now supports Golden Rice (a "GMO") and has accused Greenpeace of crimes against humanity for opposing it, but no one cares.

The Corporate Climate Coup: Carbon Colonialism

In January, 2007, USCAP issued “A Call for Action," a “non-partisan effort driven by the top executives from member organizations.” The "Call” declared the "urgent need for a policy framework on climate change;" stressing that "a mandatory system is needed that sets clear, predictable, market-based requirements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” USCAP laved out a “blueprint for a mandatory economy-wide market-driven approach to climate protection,” which recommended a "cap and trade" program as its "cornerstone,” combining the setting of targets with a global carbon market for trading emission allowances and credits. Long condemned by developing countries as “carbon colonialism,” carbon trading had become the new orthodoxy. 

Some Big Lies of Science

The maintenance of the hierarchical structures that control our lives depends on Pinter’s “vast tapestry of lies upon which we feed.” Therefore the main institutions that embed us into the hierarchy, such as schools, universities, and mass media and entertainment corporations, have a primary function to create and maintain this tapestry. This includes establishment scientists and all service intellectuals in charge of “interpreting” reality.

THE BEST WAY TO STOP IS TO STOP

All in all, the best way to not pollute and destroy the environment is to not pollute and destroy the environment. The best way to not exploit others is to not exploit others. I am not talking only about personal lifestyle choices, alternative information sources, and volunteer work. I am talking about taking back control from undemocratically run corporations and illegitimate concentrations of power, by all the effective means we can muster and as though our survival depended on it. I am talking about activism.

Dialogue management

This is an abstract with a summary of the experimental results (they are near the end and included below):

Stodolsky, D. (1987). Dialogue management program for the Apple II computer. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 19, 483-484.

Persons in groups which used the equal-time resolution rule showed superior task performance and experienced less frustration as compared to persons in groups using a first-in first-out resolution rule. Also, in groups using the equal-time resolution rule, persons who were fearful of speaking in groups were felt to be group leaders just as often as persons who were not fearful (Zimbardo, Linsenmeier, Kabat & Smith, 1981). Teams working in the telecommunication settings made better decisions, enjoyed themselves more, experienced less frustration, and viewed their teams' decisions more favorably as compared to face-to-face groups (Linsenmeier & Zimbardo, 1982). These preliminary results are unusual when compared with other work on telephone meetings. Such meetings typically result in greater dissatisfaction and inferior performance as compared to face-to-face interaction (Weston & Kristen, 1973; Weston, Kristen & O'Connor, 1975).

This is a short version discussing a more advanced management procedure:

Stodolsky, D. (1988, September). Self-management of Criticism in Dialogue. Fourth European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics, Cambridge, UK: European Society for Cognitive Ergonomics.

A long version, which includes equations, is:

Stodolsky, D. (1984, December). Self-management of criticism in dialog: Dynamic regulation through automatic mediation. Paper presented at the symposium Communicating and Contracts between people in the Computerized Society, Gothenburg University, Sweden.

Direct democracy / Computer-network based democracy

Extended abstract (5 min. read):

Stodolsky, D. S. (2002). Computer-network based democracy: Scientific communication as a basis for governance. Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Knowledge Management in e-Government, 7, 127-137.

https://sites.google.com/a/secureid.net/dss/curriculum-vita/computer-network-based-democracy

Comprehensive

Stodolsky, D. S. (1995). Consensus Journals: Invitational journals based upon peer review. The Information Society, 11(4). [1994 version in N. P. Gleditsch, P. H. Enckell, & J. Burchardt (Eds.), Det videnskabelige tidsskrift (The scientific journal) (pp. 151-160). Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers. (Tema NORD 1994: 574)]

https://sites.google.com/a/secureid.net/dss/consensus-journals

The latest (includes citation to an implementation attempt):

Stodolsky, D. (2002). Scientific publication needs a peer consensus. Psycoloquy, 13(2).

https://sites.google.com/a/secureid.net/dss/curriculum-vita/scientific-publication-needs-a-peer-consensus

Discussion of organizational impacts of the system:

Stodolsky, D. (1994). Telematic journals and organizational control: Integrity, authority, and self-regulation. Interpersonal Computing and Technology, 2(1).

http://www.helsinki.fi/science/optek/1994/n1/stodolsk.txt

PS: My e-domocracy "review":

https://groups.io/g/yellowvests/wiki/eDemocracy-and-Athenian-democracy

Ownership and the Body

Public Ethics Radio: Anne Phillips on Ownership and the Body

Phillips identifies a fatal flaw underlying what is called Libertarianism in the USA.

Her analysis suggests why it became most popular among male teen agers.

"Global Warming" - A new age religion for the 21st Century

From my in process book:

Bray and von Storch (2007) report the result of asking over 500 climate scientists to respond to the statement, "Climate change is mostly the result of anthropogenic causes." The mean of 3.62 for their 2003 data was in the middle of their scale, where 1 indicated “strongly agree” and 7 indicated “strongly disagree.” The nearest rating to the mean score was 4, indicating ambivalence or impartiality. 

Similarly, there appears to be a large amount of disagreement in the joint conclusions of scientific advisory bodies. Holland (2007) notes the lack of support by the US National Research Council for the alarming conclusions of the IPCC. He states that two exhaustive and independent peer-reviewed studies by professionals, reporting under oath to the US House of Representatives have contradicted the findings of the IPCC. We conclude from this that the scientific bodies are not in agreement about climate change and its causes.

Finally, Essex et al. (2007, p. 1) state, "there is no physically meaningful global temperature for the Earth in the context of the issue of global warming." They argue that "any physical meaning is born by changes in energy instead of temperature" (p. 10). They conclude, "A given temperature field can be interpreted as both 'warming' and 'cooling' simultaneously, making the concept of warming in the context of the issue of global warming physically ill-posed" (p. 1). In effect, they argue that the key term, "temperature" being used in the climate debate has no meaning in this context and that "global warming" is an oxymoron.

Bray D., von Storch, H. (2007). The Perspectives of Climate Scientists on Global Climate Change. Geesthacht, Germany: Institute for Coastal Research. (GKSS 2007/11) URL: <http://news.heartland.org/sites/all/modules/custom/heartland_migration/files/pdfs/21803.pdf>

Holland, D. (2007). Bias and Concealment in the IPCC Process: The “Hockey-Stick” Affair And Its Implications. Energy & Environment, 18(7-8), 951-983. URL: <http://www.klimarealistene.com/Holland%282007%29.pdf> (Downloaded Dec. 16, 2010)

Essex, C., McKitrick, R., & Andresen, B. (2007). Does a Global Temperature Exist? J. Non-Equil. Thermod., 32, 1-27. URL <http://www.fys.ku.dk/~andresen/BAhome/ownpapers/globalT/globalT_JNET2007.pdf>

 (Downloaded 3 April 2015)

Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State

It is Professor Wills' thesis that acquisition of the bomb gave the president vast power—not only to use the bomb, but it also became the model for the covert activity and overt authority of the government we now have. And this, writes our speaker, upsets the balance of powers as set forth in the Constitution by giving the president more authority than originally intended by the Founding Fathers. He argues that, whatever the justification for its manufacture and use, the bomb was built unconstitutionally and the precedent which this set endures to the present day.

In the last few years, increasing battles against centralized power have erupted from many quarters. George W. Bush left the White House unpopular because of what many saw as his abuse of power. And although Barack Obama has promised change, the momentum of an expanded executive bureaucracy is not easily reversed.

The powers given to the president since World War II, followed by the needs of the Cold War and the war on terror, all make a vast and intricate structure that may not be easy to dismantle.

Casualty Figures after 10 Years of the “War on Terror”

This investigation comes to the conclusion that the war has, directly or indirectly, killed around 1 million people in Iraq, 220,000 in Afghanistan and 80,000 in Pakistan, i.e. a total of around 1.3 million. Not included in this figure are further war zones such as Yemen. The figure is approximately 10 times greater than that of which the public, experts and decision makers are aware of and propagated by the media and major NGOs. And this is only a conservative estimate. The total number of deaths in the three countries named above could also be in excess of 2 million, whereas a figure below 1 million is extremely unlikely.

Sex-Political analysis Denmark 2015

This was prepared for an International Women's Day Event:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1610779672489550

Progress towards women’s equality appears to have stalled after major gains in the 1960s.
An existential analysis suggests that the patriarchal cultural framework supported by the church-state complex must be challenged.
Difference feminism may provide an option. However, this would require changes in law, political economy, and the medical/sexological knowledge accepted in Denmark.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sex-Political analysis Denmark 2015 

(links, etc. for political discussion)

(Source articles for blog posts are reached by clicking the title of the post.)

Scientific foundations:

Psychophysiology of Love

http://cosmism.blogspot.dk/2011/06/does-long-term-relationship-kill.html

http://cosmism.blogspot.dk/2010/04/scientists-discover-true-love.html

Kærligheden hæmmer sexlivet

http://pol.dk/2495597

Monogamy: An Evolutionary Perspective

http://cosmism.blogspot.dk/2010/01/monogamy-evolutionary-perspective.html

Existential Psychology:

http://cosmism.blogspot.dk/2010/05/existentialism-today-terror-management.html

Relational spirituality defines itself in contrast to the vertical spirituality that focuses on inner transformation alone

http://cosmism.blogspot.dk/2010/05/relational-spirituality.html

http://p2pfoundation.net/Relational_Spirituality

Church regulation of sexuality:

Promoting monogamy and reducing honesty, closeness, happiness, communication, and relationship satisfaction

http://cosmism.blogspot.dk/2014/10/consensual-non-monogamous-cnm.html

Also in older US adults:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14681994.2014.976997

Vi vil stadig gerne være den eneste ene

http://pol.dk/2495452

Tvind (communal lifestyle) persecution

Intolerance of the single lifestyle for Danish women

95% of victims of sexual exploitation by clergy are adult women

http://cosmism.blogspot.dk/2010/04/95-of-victims-of-sexual-exploitation-by.html

Protestantism and the direct relationship to god -> problematizing the love/sexual bond.

Political Impacts:

Male Circumcision and Racism

http://cosmism.blogspot.dk/2013/11/male-circumcision-facts-myths-racism.html

http://cosmism.blogspot.dk/2015/01/scientific-dishonesty-complaint-against.html

First professor of Sexual Health Epidemiology promotes sexual disfunction, disease, and racism

The Mythology of Prostitution

http://cosmism.blogspot.dk/2010/05/mythology-of-prostitution.html

Giv sexarbejderne rettigheder

http://modkraft.dk/artikel/giv-sexarbejderne-rettigheder

Equality feminism -> thick waists -> higher cancer rates

Equality feminism -> continuing wage deficits for women

Sexual violation as a common initiation into adulthood for women

Survey: 40% of women in Denmark “want more sex”

The Falsehoods of Addiction and The War on Drugs

Billions of dollars are funneled into federal drug programs to keep our children away from drugs and our cities safe from crime and economic turmoil.

Hari talks to host Josh Zepps about how he discovered the troubling beginnings of drug war riddled with corruption and ulterior motives, and argues that everything we thought we understood about drug addiction appears to be wrong.

MyTurn available as an Apple Macintosh application

MyTurn is now available as a browser-based Apple Macintosh application.

The first time it is launched, a window will appear stating:
"Google Chrome is ready to complete your installation"
Click the "Start Google Chrome" button, in order to proceed.

For direct download, a Zip compressed file is available: MyTurn.
Most computers will automatically decompress (unzip) this file.

Ayn Rand vs. the Pygmies

 Among the Mbuti, as with most hunter-gatherer societies, altruism and equality are systems that enhance individual freedom. Following these moral rules helps prevent any one individual from taking advantage of others or even dominating the group as a whole because of unequal privileges.

Are Danish women the most abused women in Europe?

“We simply don’t want to hear that we’ve got a problem with abuse and violence in Denmark. And this is despite the fact that as recently as last Christmas we ran out of places at our women’s shelter due to the surge in violent domestic disputes. These stories never make it into the media. In the same way, girls have to put up with being groped by boys at school whose actions are simply dismissed of as mere ‘messing about’. Even though we have good action plans to tackle violence against women, the European study is confirmation that we’ve become blinkered with our blind belief that equality has been sorted out once and for all,” tells Ulla Tornemand.  

Scientific Dishonesty complaint against Frisch et al. (2013)

Scientific Dishonesty

The above linked PDF is the actual complaint.

Find below my statement of interest to:

The Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty (Udvalgene vedrørende Videnskabelig Uredelighed [UVVU])

The Education and Research Ministry (Uddannelses- og Forskningsministeriet)

The scientific product for evaluation:

Frisch, et al. (2013). Cultural Bias in the AAP’s 2012 Technical Report and Policy Statement on Male Circumcision. Pediatrics, Volume 131, Number 4. URL <http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2013/03/12/peds.2012-2896.full.pdf+html>

Authors from Danish public institutions:

Morten Frisch, MD, PhD

Department of Epidemiology Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen and Center for Sexology Research, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

Christian Graugaard, MD, PhD

Center for Sexology Research, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

Gorm Greisen, MD, PhD

Department of Pediatrics, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark

Poul Jaszczak, MD, PhD

Ethics Committee of the Danish Medical Association, Copenhagen, Denmark

Niels Qvist, MD, PhD

Department of Surgery, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark

Other authors:

While a total of 38 authors are listed for this article, it appears that only those from Danish public institutions fall under the jurisdiction of the UVVU. However, all authors share responsibility for publication of the article, and therefore all should be judged to have engaged in scientific dishonesty. (This assumes that the UVVU doesn’t conclude that only the lack of a statement of Conflict of Interest by Dr. Frisch is a valid complaint.)

My interest:

I have a direct personal interest in this case, because I have published in the area of sexually transmitted diseases (Stodolsky, 1997). (Prepared with assistance by Dr. J. Hilden of the Dept. of Bio-statistics at Copenhagen University.) I have also made presentations in this area to the public via radio broadcast and Internet media (Stodolsky, 1989). Stodolsky and Zaharia (2009) evaluate system acceptability, and show how this approach can be extended to airborne and location-specific infectious agents. Finally, I have published a comment on research methodology in medicine (Stodolsky & Comins, 2000).

Furthermore, I am a member of the Danish Planned Parenthood Foundation (Sex og Samfund [SoS]). After I attempted to present a resolution on male circumcision (MC) at a recent annual general meeting (AGM) of SoS, I was publicly denounced by Dr. Frisch for daring to question “the child’s right to bodily integrity.” Additionally, the leadership of SoS has prevented me from fully presenting such resolutions at two consecutive AGMs by not putting them on the agenda. One explanation for this breakdown of democracy was that SoS had decided to promote a ban on male circumcision, based in part on Frisch et al. (2013). I was also banned from a discussion forum of another Danish NGO, due to my position on MC. Yet another Danish NGO failed to place my resolution on MC on their agenda as a direct result of the publication at issue in this case. Informed public discussion on this issue has been prevented by a one-sided opposition by Dr. Frisch and his compatriots (Stern, 2013).

As a member of SOS against Racism (SOS mod Racisme), I have an interest in promoting good relations among ethnic groups in Denmark. Comments by Frisch et al. have encouraged statements in the public debate, such as “Jews/Muslims mutilate children.” Dr. Frisch is apparently popular with Danish Nazis as a result of his work in this area:

http://blog.balder.org/?p=1268

While the Frisch et al. work may not be explicitly racist, it is, at best, an expression of cultural imperialism. The position has been termed unethical and immoral (Banerjee, et al. 2011).

Dr. Frisch has been urged by other researchers to not publish misleading results that contradict well established findings in this area (Morris & Krieger, 2013; Morris & Waskett, 2012). Unfortunately, he has chosen to disregard this advice. Therefore, it now becomes the responsibility of the UVVU to evaluate this scientific dishonesty. If Frisch et al. continue their campaign against male circumcision, it will contribute to 300,000 preventable deaths over the next 10 years (Williams et al., 2006).

References:

Banerjee J, Klausner JD, Halperin DT, Wamai R, Schoen EJ, Moses S, Morris BJ, Bailis SA, Venter F, Martinson N, Coates TJ, Gray G, Bowa K. 2011. Circumcision Denialism Unfounded and Unscientific. Am J Prev Med 2011;40(3)e11– e12.

Morris BJ, Krieger JN. Does male circumcision affect sexual function, sensitivity or satisfaction? ­ A systematic review. J Sex Med 2013;10:2644-57

Morris BJ, Waskett JH, Gray RH. Does sexual function survey in Denmark offer any support for male circumcision having an adverse effect? Int J Epidemiol 2012: 41: 310-312.

Stern, MJ. 2013, Sept. 18. How Circumcision Broke the Internet: A fringe group is drowning out any discussion of facts. Slate. URL <http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/09/intactivists_online_a_fringe_group_turned_the_internet_against_circumcision.html>

Stodolsky D. 1989, August 10. Personal Health Security System. Sci.med [Usenet]. Broadcast in part 1989, August 12 [Shortwave Radio]. Hilversum, The Netherlands: Radio Netherlands International, English Section.

Stodolsky, DS. 1997. Automation of Contagion Vigilance. Methods of Information in Medicine, 36(3), 220-232.

Stodolsky, DS & Comins, JD. 2000. Chiropractic patients more satisfied with chiropractic treatment. In British Medical Journal (Ed.), bmj.com eLetters for Vickers and Zollman, 319 (7218) 1176-1179. URL <http://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/28/chiropractic-patients-more-satisfied-chiropractic-treatment>

Stodolsky, DS & Zaharia, CN. 2009. Acceptance of Virus Radar. The European Journal of ePractice, 8, 77-93. URL <http://epractice.eu/files/European%20Journal%20epractice%20Volume%208.7_1.pdf>

Williams BG, Lloyd-Smith JO, Gouws E, Hankins C, Getz WM, Hargrove J, de Zoysa I, Dye C, Auvert B. 2006. The potential impact of male circumcision on HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. PLoS Med 3:E262.