Brave, Brave Foodbabe (AKA the Making of a Martyr)

This week Vain Hair (self proclaimed 'Food Babe') waged her own little mini-war on social media against Boar's Head Meats (go ahead and give them a facebook like) originally because in her crack research she couldn't find their ingredient list.

Proprietary research tools

Seems Ms Hari is unfamiliar with the process of purchasing from a deli counter. At any rate, when she found that the ingredient list is readily available to customers, she then turned her sights onto the ingredients themselves. Of course, this is not unusual for her, this is her standard modus operandi to line her own coffers. So what makes this different? We'll show you.

This time, Vain asked all of her followers to harass the company on their facebook page. Yes, she's done this in the past, but this time she did a couple of video broadcasts, in which she publicly labeled people, and their facebook profiles, as 'paid shills' for dissenting with her 'researched opinions'. She requested that all of her followers ignore anyone that disagreed and simply call them a troll or a PR shill.  And so they did. However, her mission was a complete failure and ended up in the Boar's Head facebook page garnering thousands of additional page likes. You can't call a bunch of facebook groups and pages with tens of thousands of members, all 'paid PR trolls' without some backlash, after all.

So Vani reacted as only she can; she doubled down, proclaiming herself and all of her "army" as victims of harassment and abuse. Funny though, that according to Vani herself, she had her staff contact Boar's Head via email and her army harassed their public page while she remained in the background, never getting her hands dirty (except for cheering from the sidelines via her updates as though this were ongoing trench warfare and she was the commander watching through field glasses).

According to this recent post on Facebook, the only 'legitimate' customer concerns were from the winged monkeys she sent there to deluge (aka troll) their page in one of her ongoing attempts to blackmail a company. Her loyal following would never buy deli meats in the first place and many of them have publicly attested to that on her on page, whilst claiming to Boar's Head that they do purchase their products. That's not a 'legitimate customer'. That, my friends is the definition of a troll.

Reading this post however, I am curious as to what this astroturf facebook page is? According to Vain, any time someone posts something positive about genetic modification in crop production she claims they're being paid by Monsanto. Pro-vaccine posts are paid by 'big pharma' and liking Captain Crunch means you're paid by "big food". So where is this astroturf page that funnels millions of dollars to facebook users to post about myriad companies, technologies and sciences that aren't even related to one another? I'd love to know and sign up for some of this apparently free-flowing cash. Perhaps Vani doesn't really know what the word means though, it certainly wouldn't be the first time.

Next, we get to the martyr complex. In this post (subsequent to the one pictured above), Vain claims to be abused and threatened, though like everything else she shows no citations. If she was threatened, that's wrong. But I rather doubt there were any actual threats because in the past, she hasn't been reticent about sharing them publicly. The "bloodbath" she references is a ridiculous over characterization of facebook arguments, and how she can choose to use the word in reference to a few stupid facebook memes when there is actual bloodbath occurring in the world today is truly disgraceful.

While it's  extremely hypocritical of Vain to blame dissenting opinions on paid PR trolls, it's not so surprising. This past summer, Vain employed a brand strategist of her own, one who was formerly employed at Kraft as Senior manager of "Trend Activation". According to this strategist, who also counts among her  previous clients and employers; Frito Lay, Hagen Daaz, Nestle and McDonald's, she advised Food Babe on "how to convert her 800,000+ blog followers into evangelists and inspire them". So this particular onslaught has all the earmarks of a PR stunt.

You see Vain's credibility has been in the toilet this year, for good reason, after many mainstream publications such as NPR, Forbes and Salon have shown her tactics to be disingenuous at best and deceptive in practice. In fact, during one of her videos, prior to unleashing her army upon an unsuspecting meat company, she claimed that she wasn't a corporation, she was "just a girl". Sorry, had to regain composure there. Clearly she doth protest too much.

Food Babe LLC is a limited liability company registered in Delaware and Vani does nothing for free. Her speaking engagements are paid, her food guides will cost you a monthly fee and of course "buy my book'. She inspires fear with one hand while offering a product to subsume that fear on the other - of course that product always comes with a kickback for Food Babe LLC. I've no problem with a for profit business unless it masquerades as a non-profit, activist organization.

It seems that her PR strategy is to create a tremendous outcry about nothing (the ingredients used in Boar's Head Meats are perfectly safe and disclosed on the package according to FDA and USDA requirements), send the army to attack others on social media and then proclaim herself a martyr to the cause. The above photo is only one example of her recent claims to martyrdom.

Brave, Brave Martyr Vani

She's been building up to this over the past six months (about the time she hired the strategist) by sharing credit for non-existent 'victories' over such companies as Starbucks and Subway with her followers, telling them that 'they' did this and she's just a poor little activist. This has the psychological impact of imbuing her followers with a sense of accomplishment in a world where they feel increasingly powerless (plus, our current political climate plays well into increasing that need for control). While Vain didn't even contact Boar's Head herself, nor post on their facebook (she left her army to hang out to dry on that one) she still claims to protect her army and take the brunt of the awful and horrendous behavior that she claims occurred. 

Why would anyone want to be martyred as opposed to victorious on social media you might ask? It lends itself to her narrative of any big company being inherently evil. That's why she selects large companies to target with her campaigns of misdirection. She knows that she can better deflect the criticism of her lack of facts by playing the role of the underdog, especially when it comes to the organic food buyer who seems to still be completely unaware that the organic business segment is in the 10s of billions of dollars annually. What do you do when you want to save the little guy or the underdog? You scream and shout and you lend their business your support with your hard earned dollars.

Time will tell if this is an effective PR strategy or not. I'm betting that it may be successful but only for a very limited time. People, especially Americans, tire easily of having to defend the victim again and again and again. Ultimately they will start to ask themselves why she is always being denigrated and that perhaps there is a reason that is of her own making. I won't shed a tear when her house of cards comes tumbling down around her.

So getting out the pants on fire meter - this one is over the top, off the charts, get me the kelvin scale pants-on-fire. Vain knows that she hasn't been abused. She also knows full well that the companies she attacks provide safe products, she knows that she is extorting companies and she knows that she is misleading vulnerable people for her own gains. Stop the bullshit already Vani and get yourself a real job. Put your internet popularity to some actual good use like helping to feed kids that are hungry here in the US and around the world. Those kids are the true martyrs and victims in the war you've waged so stop it already.

Update: I edited this to show proof that she's knowingly deceiving people, or at least trying to. The person she's responding to has been banned on her facebook page and many others chimed in to agree that they too have been banned from all of her social media accounts (**note: this author has been banned/blocked on facebook, twitter, instagram and periscope). Thanks for proving my point, Vani!

Don't forget to stop in and give Boar's Head some support!


That's All for now folks!

Shocking New GMO Shedding Information

Guys, this is BREAKING news that you have to read and share and it is absolutely SHOCKING! Everyone knows that GMOs are poisoning us and the whole food system. They're killing the soil, the plants and the insects that fuel our delicate ecosystem. They're probably responsible for climate change too and I have my whole team researching that now. They're calling the Monsanto CEO to ask. More about that later.

Anyways, we all know that about GMOs. What I'm not sure you know is that people who ingest these deadly toxins are also shedding them and can infect the whole population as well as all the crops across the country. Read on for all the juicy details after my ad for an affiliate product. Click and use the promo code  [SUCKA] for a small increase in regular price to support all the work that we do here at Blazing Pants to keep you safe.

Shedding occurs when the body's defense system ejects toxins from the body through sneezing, coughing, physical contact or defecating. Recent Studies show that GMOs infect the entire organism and as such can be shed from the infected individual or insect onto a pure snowflake like YOUR child! In the past it's been shown that insect bites can spread GMOs to people who live in the proximity of toxic factory farms but this totally new information on shedding is SHOCKING. 

Researchers went into some local daycare centers to observe the effects of GMO shedding amongst pre-school children who are callously exposed to GMOs. They observed clear signs of intentional infection from children whose bodies have been infected and whose brains have been mutated by trolls who think GMOs are safe.

The infected children intentionally target the pure

The research photos show typical symptoms of infection due to GMO shedding amongst preschoolers (our most vulnerable!):

Lethargy, especially in the afternoon

Obstinance, particularly at meal times

Irrational crying and Poor listening skills

Combativeness,  Aggressive behavior

Guys, these are serious symptoms that must be dealt with immediately upon realizing that your child may suffer from GMO infection simply due to irresponsible behavior on the part of Monsanto and their paid trolls who are SHEDDING. They want us all to become infected and addicted to the GMOs and GMOs have been specifically engineered to induce shedding in the pre-pubescent population. After all, what do you think the 'M' in GMO stands for?

We must fight back. The first thing we MUST do, is have these troll children labeled. I'm proposing the DORK TM act (Defend Our Rich Kids) to require labels on all preschool children who are shedding GMOs. It's our right to control the behavior of people who won't conform to our standards. Please share this post with everyone you know, call your  school principals, your teachers, your congressperson, your senator, visit the white house, petition Monsanto and distribute these labels NOW! All children of the corn should be required to wear these labels as a first step.

Infected child label

Now you and I both know that won't solve the problem and eventually we will have to completely ban these children, but in the meantime YOU can be a DORK - read on and I'll tell you how you can be a member of the dork army in just a few minutes.

You must act now to cleanse your child who may have been infected by a GMO shedder. I recommend the following from my sponsors:

• 90 day juice cleanse from CLEANSE RIGHT
• Breakfast with pistachio milk and COLON BLOW
• Try using COLLOIDAL SILVER
• Buy a 10 day detox from my advisor Dr Mark Hyman

Once you've clicked through and purchased all of these (please have a credit card handy and don't forget to increase your credit limit so you can pay at checkout) You can rest assured that your child will be detoxed. You can also buy my monthly detox plans to maintain your special snowflake. If you do, you are eligible to download this one of a kind button label that shows you are a DORK and part of my #dorkarmy (good only as long as your subscription to my monthly guides stays current).

To use your DORK army identifier simply download the image (AFTER you've paid) Print using a color printer, cut into a circle and glue to an existing button

Remember Be a part of the movement, fight BIG GMO, fight for the DORKTM (Defend Our Rich Kids) act - because you deserve to be called a DORK. 

xo

Bunny.

The Fear Babe - A Review

Hey y'all, I just got done reading a book called The Fear Babe. In the interest of full disclosure, I approached the authors; Kavin Senapathy, Marc Draco and Mark Alsip to get an electronic advanced copy so I could review it. No Shill Bucks exchanged hands. I don't know any of the authors personally and other than a few exchanges on social media, we really know nothing about one another.

If you've read any of my blog posts, you know that I harbor great disdain for anyone who spreads misinformation or outright deceit, especially if they are lining their pockets at the expense of those they are duping. Add in the potential for real physical harm and I'd like to rent a giant dumpster into which I could throw them all together. Vani Hari aka the Food Babe, ranks right up there close to the top of my worthless list and I fully expected this book to be some rolicking good fun at tearing her down off of her self-styled throne of woo. I was wrong.

This book has finally demonstrated to me, the intrinsic value of the Food Babe, of course not as an aspiration or a beacon of truth but as a valuable teaching tool for anyone with a remote interest in their health or nutrition. The authors; Kavin Senapathy, Mark Alsip and Marc Draco combine their talents in a way that turn this book, which addresses complex and serious topics, into something that is easily grasped even by those who don't speak "chemicalese"; like myself.

When I first cracked open the book, I did something I don't normally do: I read the foreword. It was penned by Dr. Kevin Folta and certainly set the tone for the entire book that follows. It introduced the topic of food fear-mongering factually and with humor. In fact, my introduction to the food terrorism ring, called "Al Quesadilla", still makes me chuckle at the mere thought. I would love to see an entire satirical piece dedicated to this pernicious cult and their leaders!

The book itself is presented with an even hand towards Hari, something that I admire, given that the authors have been personally (and unfairly) maligned by the self-styled Food Babe. Rather than tear down the Food Babe for who she is, they often give her motivations the benefit of the doubt, something I was not inclined to do prior to reading this. Instead they present the actual facts behind the science she typically misrepresents and go on to explain how she could potentially have misunderstood the actual facts as opposed to intentionally misconstruing them. Then they go one further and use the nuggets of fear that Hari extracts from her misinterpretation to instruct us on how to evaluate the facts for ourselves. Lest they fall into the trap with which Hari ensnares her readers; "My Opinion", the book has an exceptional amount of footnotes and cited research so that the reader can verify and validate - a good practice for all of us.

The Fear Babe also covers topics beyond just the food that Hari espouses and delves into areas such as alternative therapies and lifestyle advice that may put people at risk. It also explores the technology and psychology that may attract and hook those predisposed to blindly adhere to advice that is clearly not in their best interests, such as the alternative cancer therapies. (side note: as a cancer survivor, I would love to see a subsequent book devoted to the topic of cancer woo, and the book does hint at it!). While Hari is guilty of pushing these alternatives and perhaps scaring people away from life-saving diagnostics (along with her woo-natic advisory council) she's not the worst offender. The authors again, are using Hari simply as a teaching tool so that readers can be aware of key words, phrases and caveats that signal either deception or a complete lack of understanding of the topic at hand. You will learn to extrapolate these methods of critical thinking to apply them to anyone who presents their opinion or study as fact.

And finally, the book does not dig itself so deeply into the realm of the scientific that it loses the lay person in the details. It's is sprinkled throughout with examples and well drawn parallels to describe concepts, and enough humor to keep you turning the pages well past the point that you intended to turn off the lights and go to sleep!

All in all, the book has caused me to look at the Food Babe Army in a different light. Some may indeed just be searching for answers and swayed by irrational fear adeptly instilled by Hari and her ilk. Thus, I need to treat them with respect, knowing that all of us just want to be healthy and happy at the end of the day. I've even decided that perhaps Hari has good intentions but buries them in clickbait to improve the bottom line of The Food Babe LLC.

This book is a good read, in fact I devoured it so quickly that I'm going to go back and read it again, more slowly, since the facts and concepts presented deserve thoughtful consideration. If you are one of the "banned by Food Babe" (as am I;) then you will thoroughly enjoy the book. If you've never heard of the Food Babe but have seen memes claiming that XXX insert organic plant here cures cancer, MS, "leaky gut" and autism; then you should read this book. If you've ever thought that one of these miracle cures might work; then you should read this book.

A huge thank you to the authors whose extensive time and research is evident in this book and who maintain professionalism in the face of unwarranted accusations on a regular basis from the food babe army. I truly hope that the army reads this and understands the difference between evidence and cult charisma. Kudos and happy shilling ;-)

The Book is due out on October 29th - you can pre-order your copy from Amazon.

The Seven Deadly Spins: Part II

The second deadly spin, from Vain Hair's 'advisory council that I'd like to address is Sloth. For the first installment, click here: http://blazingpants.blogspot.ca/2015/08/the-seven-deadly-spins-part-1-lust.html When we think of sloth, we we think of laziness, slow movement, etc. Today we'll address sloth in one that wants fame and fortune but is far too lazy to get an actual education in nutrition and so, opts for online diploma mills that spend more time educating students on how to start and run a scam business than about human biochemistry or actual nutrition.

Meet Christa Orecchio, self proclaimed "co-author" of a pamphlet of recipes called "eating for wellness" written by Ms Orecchio and Cheryl Tiegs - because you know a paid supermodel knows everything about nutrition. Of course, our slothful O'wrecker doesn't call it that; she calls it the "The Anti-Inflammatory Diet" which was actually a subtitle to the original e-publication that is no longer available. Perhaps it's because it was pushing a product that Tiegs was endorsing through infomercials that the FTC had a significant problem with. TriVita was sued by the FTC for making false health claims about their 39.99 (plus shipping and handling) bottle of miracle elixir cactus juice. No, I'm not making this up - read it for yourself here: FTC on TriVita

But O'wrecker likes that narrative of 'anti-inflammatory' because it pushes her concept of Candida being the root of all physical ailments, which of course, she has a cure for. But I won't get ahead of myself here. Let's take a look at O'wrecker's educational claims and we can see where the deception starts.

According to Orecchio's own linkedin resume, she posts this:

I contacted University of North Carolina and they know nothing about the CN or HHC designation, nor do they offer classes in nutrition outside of a nursing program nor do they have anything related to "wellness". Nope, instead her CN, HHC come from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN), which will start you on your new business for the low, low price of $5,995. along with about 25,000 other quacks. Don't worry about the rigors of academia though, it's an online school with all open book tests and in order to satisfactorily complete your education you need only do a few simple tasks. for nearly half of the required points, you need only attend a few "coaching circles" and if you complete and submit your required "health history" (potential new clients) you need only score a 50% on one of 4 tests to graduate! So much less stressful than a real education don't you think? Then you can hang that HHC off the end of your name to make it appear as though some certifying body thinks you know what you are talking about. There is no body that certifies a holistic health coach (HHC) by the way. I'm going to dedicate a whole post to IIN, after all, how many actual higher institutes of learning have rich CEOs instead of deans or chancellors? This "school" not only teaches you to create your own scam business (and recommends you charge $125/hr) but sells you all the tools to do it along the way. You can even buy your "integrative" web site from them. Sorry, I couldn't resist that! Nor is there any certification for a 'clinical nutritionist' (CN).

It seems that O'wrecker wanted a more lucrative career than her degree in business was providing for her so she gave up selling yoga pants and went on into woo instead. Her website shows lots of videos that make it seem like she's an in demand TV personality when, in truth, most of them are infomercials that she paid a pretty penny to make to the "Wellness Hour". These shysters specialize in helping quacks health care providers attract and keep suckers  clientele.  They even have a video on "gummy bear breast implants". I swear! I cannot make this shit up!

Anyway, O'wrecker hangs out her shingle in the greater San Diego area and tells people that they have an overgrowth of Candida yeast but sells a ton of supplements to solve the issue. In fact, going back to TriVita, they sell a line of supplements (probably about as effective as their cactus juice) and have a newsletter for which O'wrecker is a regular contributor. So please tell me how food is medicine (one of her favorite lines) but as a consultant she recommends lots and lots of pills, drops and books? Guess that crack education pays off because she offers a whole store for her "whole journey" through woo, and the products don't come cheaply!

But before you can start to recommend your crap, you have to have a backstory. You have to have overcome some life threatening ailments due to your eating habits, right?It doesn't even have to be very original, since that would be too much like work. I mean The Food Babe had appendicitis, right? O'wrecker has to go one better:

Now that she has you convinced that you can be healthy and attractive like her (sound like the food babe?) you'll need to follow instructions. First you need to enrol in a "gut thrive program because everyone in the who's who of woo has to say 'gut' these days. Her program can be yours for the low, low cost of:

Of course she must have been doing crystal math when she proclaimed the value of this "program" at $3800.00! But wait, you have to purchase the supplements FIRST.

And of course it doesn't end there - you need a transition and maintenance supplement plan for the low, low price of:

And be prepared to keep forking over the cashola, because she's a "nutritionist" after all, it says so on several of her many websites.  She also makes some claims about closing her 'successful' private practice to go with her new online program, because I'm sure that it's much more profitable to suck in a couple of thousand people at a time, charge them 700 bucks and sell them a bunch of supplements. Additionally she claims to have co-authored a book about fertility called ""Whole Baby, Whole Mama". An online search for the title of this book, however, only results in one hit. Her website. But you can get her "cookbook" which is available only for sale on her website as a non-refundable digital download only. Yeah, that sounds legit.

The food babe has a bio on her 'advisory council' that states O'wrecker had a private practice for 10 years, though Christa claims 8 on her own site (which she began while still enrolled in that crack, intensive nutrition program). Food babe also touts a "nationally syndicated" radio show, which is really the paid programming from the folks at the Wellness Hour that we mentioned above. Someone has some disposable cash apparently.

While I could go on for hours about her dubious credentials and online practices, I'm going to go ahead and call this one a big fat, five alarm, get the bucket brigade fire, fire!

If you buy into any of this quack's line of BS about your gut, candida (which by the way, she refers to as a disease as opposed to a common yeast that we all have present in and on our bodies) overgrowth or anything that requires you to buy expensive supplements, think about her lack of qualifications and endorsement of the food babe. Those two are peas in a pod. Both are too lazy to get a real education about their topics, they just want to cut to the paydirt.

I'll just leave you with a set of her qualifications in her own words: The Whole Journey are not acting in the capacity of a doctor, licensed dietician, psychologist or any other licensed/registered professional. Christa Orecchio and The Whole Journey will not diagnose, treat, or cure in any manner, any disease, condition, or other physical or mental human ailment.

Thanks for coming along with our queen of sloth; O'wrecka.

Rap Your head around this!

I write about frauds, scammers and catfish but why is it that people fall for the woo these people sell and what can we do to stem the flow of sheer nonsense and pseudoscience? We can counter it using the very same tools that the charlatans employ to get their snake oil out to the masses - via social media. As I was tweeting about a previous post using the hashtag #pseudoscience, I came across a very special and enlightened person who is fighting fire with a big fat fire hose aimed where it will do the most good; our young people.

I would like to introduce you to Mr. Lund, a science teacher at St Johns public high school in St Johns, Michigan who is using charlatans as a teaching tool, and using it in a way that engages his students like nothing I've seen before. I don't usually wish I were a writer for the New York Times or Washington Post, but today, I do wish that, because people need to know about this man and his colleagues. Lots of people. Mr. Lund agreed to answer some questions for me so that I can bring you his story and I encourage you to share it with as many people as you can!

I introduce Scientific Method Man of the Tungsten Clan!

Rich Lund has a love of all things science and as his moniker implies, things provable and repeatable with the scientific method, which he teaches to his students in grades 9 through 12. Mr. Lund (I'll call him that in case his students are taking a peek here) pursued a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Michigan State University (go Spartans!) but wanted to embrace all of the disciplines of science that he had come to respect, so he went on to obtain a teachers certificate and is now working towards a masters in education. That said, this man is a master of education. Let's take a gander at why.

Lund starts out his science classes by, of course, teaching what the scientific method is but he goes one further by also teaching what pseudoscience is. This is the crux of the difference between the two, in my mind. Pseudoscience and hucksters never encourage you to question their claims and tend to completely discount opposing views without ever producing a valid shred of evidence. The scientific method, on the other hand, encourages you to explore all alternatives and either prove or disprove them before forming your theories or reaching conclusions. What Lund is doing, quite brilliantly, is instilling kids with the concept of critical thinking. A concept that will have implications well beyond the science classroom. Now it's all well and good to stand in front of a classroom of young adults, who would no doubt rather be texting their pals, and explain these concepts but Lund goes way beyond the chalkboard and textbooks to bring these concepts to life in a way that kids can relate.

Check out this video, conceived, written and produced by Mr. Lund, all on a shoestring budget he calls "the teacher budget" called "Pseudoscience (you can't get my money)". Go ahead, I'll wait.

It's brilliant, right? In it he hits the key points for kids (and many adults) about how to spot scams and cast a critical eye upon them. He also spent time in making these videos of a quality that kids have come to expect, and it pays off. His kids love the videos, they learn something and they share them. What also strikes me here as important that Lund quite modestly did not point out to me, is that by using this method, he becomes a real person to the students he teaches and not just a stuffy science guy with a lab coat and a pointer. By dispelling the notion that scientists are bespectacled nerds with no social skills closeted in some lab, he opens up the world of science to a new generation of possible scientists.

I asked Lund how he came up with the idea and why he chose rap. He told me that the rap/hip hop genre lends itself very well to conveying a lot of information via lyrics, since lyrics, word play and double entendres are endemic of the style. He also plants quite a few little Easter Eggs (my term, not his) that students "get" once they learn the science info behind the videos. For instance he uses the phrase "You can't touch me, I'm like Kelvin zero degrees - that's how I live."  which the kids will get if they understand the concept of absolute zero. (I have to say, this one really tickled my funny bone!). So not only does rap/hip hop lend itself to this type of educational content, it does it in a way that's fun, lively, engaging and something that likely fits right into the genre of what his students are already enjoying. I picture pulling up to a stoplight next to a car full of kids, hearing the bass rumble and then hearing all these kids rapping along explaining what a mole is! (check out this video to see what I mean)

Lund has done quite a few videos but the reason I chose these two is that the pseudoscience video (which is how I was introduced to Lund) is near and dear to my heart. The mole video on the other hand, shows the breadth of techniques that Lund employs to continue to surprise and reach kids. In "The Mole", Lund gets his fellow teachers, as well as students and the Assistant Principal involved in the video. If you remember back to those days in high school, the last person you expected to see having fun and being cool was your principal and according to Lund, the reaction was cheers, hoots and applause! Always keep them on their toes! I give Lund kudos for getting the other teachers involved as well as involving the students. 

Lund has taken quite a bit of time and energy to create these incredible teaching tools. He writes the lyrics, gets his colleagues involved, at times even teaching some of hip hop's colloquialisms to his fellow teachers. Imagine a bunch of science teachers hanging green plastic table cloths all over a classroom, practicing these routines and knocking them out. Lund then painstakingly edits these videos (having done a fair amount of video production myself, I can tell you this is no small amount of work) adds the music he's created, all the appropriate background imagery and voila; brilliance on youtube! By investing so much of himself and producing these on his "teacher budget" he also displays to his students that if you want something, if you believe in it enough, you can achieve anything.

He's got quite a few videos on scientific topics, so if you are looking to brush up yourself or share with your own kids, please do subscribe to his Youtube channel: Mr Lund Science and give him a follow on twitter too: Scientific Method Man and Mr Lund

There is so much more I could say about what Lund is doing, but I want to also add that he has had the support of the school officials and school board, which I would guess was not the case at the outset. Lund has proven that scientists can be, altruistic, creative and extremely talented in ways that one doesn't expect from the stereotpyical chemistry professor. I am a huge fan and am wishing him luck on a project in the works that involves a partnership with Backyard Brains which is trying to help the very important, yet under-represented area of neurology break its way into the classroom setting. 

Do me a favor, share this with as many people as you can. These folks are training the future of America. By his own account, Lund is a true patriot and told me this; "I would say that feeling the need for critical thinking in the populace in general just comes from loving this country.  A patriotic society will show you its patriotism hand in hand with its skepticism."  

Today's truth meter reading is the far other end of the blazing pants spectrum. We award Tungsten Clan and Scientific Man with the ultimate award of Elemental Truth! Keep up the good work guys and thank you for restoring my faith in truth.

That's all for today folks!

Ads by KickAssTeachers

Pirate of the Caribbean

I've posted before about the self proclaimed "Food Babe" aka Vani Hari, aka Vain Hair. Whelp, truth is always stranger than fiction, or so the old saw goes, and this food barbie makes a good case for the truth of that.

Whilst her vast "army" was out marching against Monsanto and GMOs, Vani was happily posting pics of her West Indies vacation on Instagram, never once considering that she should be leading this fight against the enemy that she claims is the root of all ills (literally). It seems like basking in the sun (sans effective sunscreen of course) was a much better use of her time and the money she earned from her "army" purchasing the overpriced products she promotes on her pages. A pirate is a thief and this one loves the Caribbean.

From Vani's Instagram

Many of her followers excused her obvious absenteeism, claiming that she works so very hard that she deserves to be on vacation spending her shillbucks on expensive private bungalos and sailboats in the Caribbean. But, many of those of us who aren't necessarily enthralled by the brand of woo she peddles wondered if she had kept to her strict dietary regimes, while enjoying the fruits of her pseudoscience.

Turns out she's a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to that. She'll happily grill the staff about their food products and preparation even going so far as demanding to tour the kitchens and have special meals prepared based on her daily whims. However, according to Vani herself, she can't seem to resist "croissants and the most delicious breads". Now hold on there a moment! I thought that gluten, GMOs and non-organic foods were poison? At least that's what Vani tells her followers every chance she gets. So, tell me why would a poisonous concoction of these foul ingredients be even remotely tempting? Seriously, I hear that antifreeze tastes sweet but I am never, ever, tempted to swig the stuff just to please a temporary sugar craving.

From Vani's Instagram - Echire butter is the most expensive in the world.

So why does Vani claim that it's human to crave desserts and breads? She has also stated that when you go through her juice cleanses and start eating strictly from her $17.99 per month food guides, that your body will crave only good foods. Are you seeing the hypocrisy here? Oh wait, if you look at Vani's real goals, there is no hypocrisy. Vani is in this game to build herself an empire of fame and fortune. The more her army harasses companies like Monsanto, Kraft and Subway, the more she can claim personal victory for any changes those companies do in fact make. Of course, even when they make changes, Vani still won't relent, it only fuels her hunger (pardon the pun) for more fame based on fear 

Take for instance Kraft foods. In particular Kraft Mac & Cheese. She claims a personal victory for Kraft announcing that they would change their formulation for their popular Mac & Cheese to remove the artificial color - that orange color that kids around the world have come to equate with their after school Mac & Cheese treat. But was that enough to appease Vani and her army? Nope. She's like a food terrorist, once she sees that she has a little power, she is unwilling to let it go. In fact, she is demanding that people who purchase from her line of over-priced guides and partner products, NOT purchase Mac & Cheese from Kraft. Honest. This is a screen shot of the Vani's checkout page on her website:

Theoretically these statements are legally binding agreements. Now, I'm not an attorney but that statement sure doesn't seem legal to me. Seems to me that it violates competition/anti-trust laws that prohibit agreements that prevent fair trade between competing businesses. And this, after Kraft bowed to her ridiculous demands?

But back to Vani's perceived hypocrisy. Vani eats whatever the hell Vani wants. Her goal is to make the rest of us follow her rigid guidelines because it brings her more fame and wealth. That's the bottom line. So if Vani gets caught with butter running down her chin and croissant crumbs on her billabong top, she twists it into a way to make more bucks from her army.  She sent an email to her army (full disclosure: she has banned me from her facebook army, her page and even receiving her email newsletters) telling them of her "slip" and proclaiming that as a result, she was doing a webinar; but only for those who would order her juicing guide within 24 hours, to get back on track. Of course, they weren't the ones eating croissants in St Barths, but they should have to pay the price anyway, apparently.  It was when I went to see how much her juicing guide cost, that I found her not-so-legal insistence that you could have her or you could have Kraft but not both. Never both.

From Vani's Instagram; she captioned it: "My ride for the next 2 weeks"

So for Vani's indiscretion, it will only cost you an extra $24.99 and with it you'll get even more pitches to purchase partner products, but hey, your money will help get Vani back on track. Won't you be so proud? I'm guessing that some fan - or not fan - must have snapped a pic of her stuffing her face with foods on the Vani unapproved list, so she took the opportunity to turn a fault into some more big fat dollars for Mr & Mrs Food Babe. After all, 2 week vacations to the Caribbean aren't free you know! But according to Vani. she's personally cheering you on...between dives, sails and croissants. For real, she cares and I guess all  that expensive French butter she's using makes her hair shiny in the Caribbean sun. Don't you wish you could afford some?

So for these reasons, I once again award Vani Hari with our highest honors. The 5 brigade, Too hot to get near, Pants-on-Fire award. (she doesn't buy her own garbage any more than I do)

That's All Folks!

Ads By StealingYouBlindinParadise