I Speak of Dreams

Update to Jenny McCarthy's Body Count

April is Autism Awareness month.  The anti-science curebies will be out in force.  See what a person with autism thinks.

An ordinary picture is worth a thousand words. Bev makes images worth milllions.

More posters at Asperger's Square 8

Jenny McCarthy's Attacks on Science Rebuffed

Update: Phil Plait on Jenny McCarthy's Body of Work

. And at Bad Astronomy:

I see. So injecting kids with scientifically-proven medicine that can save their lives and the lives of countless others is bad because of a fantasy-driven belief that it causes autism, but injecting a lethal pathogen — in fact, the most lethal protein known — into your face to help ease the globally threatening scourge of crow’s feet is just fine and dandy.

First up, Jenny McCarthy's Body Count, a new site:

Jenny McCarthy has a body count attached to her name. This website will publish the total number of vaccine preventable illnesses and vaccine preventable deaths that have happened since June 2007 when she began publicly speaking out against vaccines.

Is Jenny McCarthy directly responsible for every vaccine preventable illness and every vaccine preventable death listed here? No. However, as the unofficial spokesperson for the United States anti-vaccination movement she may be indirectly responsible for at least some of these illnesses and deaths and even one vaccine preventable illness or vaccine preventable death is too many.

Second, Vaccine Denial = Scientific Illiteracy by Jacob Dickerman at the Huffington Post

The science is in. Children are exposed to more new pathogens on a daily basis than the entirety of what they're given in their vaccination schedule, you get more formaldehyde into your body from the paint on your walls, and even if it was still in the childhood vaccination schedule (which it's not), the amount of mercury in thimerosal is orders of magnitude below what it would take to actually damage your brain. Vaccines do not cause autism. Measles, Mumps, and Rubella are not diseases we should let come back. Allowing these "green our vaccines" Evidence of Harm "Mercury Militia" people to have their pre-scientific crap pollute our public discourse is retarding our nation's health, and we can't stand for it anymore.

Third, StopJenny.com:

Why Stop Jenny McCarthy?

She talks trash about autism

She talks trash about immunizations

She talks about trash treatments

Stop the trash talk Jenny McCarthy!

Fourth, Keep Tabs on the Consequences of Jenny McCarthy’s Ignorance

Fifth, Antivaxxers and their trouble with truth

Some antiscience is a pain in the neck, and some kills. Think, people.

Think.

Weekend Report

Went to the Pebble Beach Spring Horse Show to observe Jumper Girl and Claudius. 

As usual, we stayed at the Beachcomber in Pacific Grove

Saturday she had one good round and one oopsie -- Claudius stumbled and JG fell off, landing on her feet.  No harm, no foul -- but no ribbons either.

Saturday night dinner was at the Rio Grill.  When we went there several years ago, they had a grilled Romaine salad.  I was disappointed that it was not on the menu any more.  The smokehouse chicken was excellent.

Sunday morning JG rode first thing.  The sun was just peeking out of the fog and the white tents were terrifying to Claudius (again).   This time he stopped instead of zooming away.

Even though Sunday was disappointing, I see huge improvements in JG's riding. 

This Make Me Sick: Gingi Edmonds Is a Moral Cesspit

Update: Pharyngula describes Gingi's unhinged response.

As seen at Pharyngula. 

Edmonds publicized her view that the plane-crash deaths of Irving Feldkamp's family -- two daughters and their husbands and five of his grandchildren -- was a form of divine retribution on Mr Feldkamp.

PZ calls Gingi Edmonds a "moral cretin"  but I reject evaluative language based on physical disabilities.

Edmonds is a moral cesspit.

And the Christian News Wire is right down in the pit with her, for publicizing her loathsome essay.  Joining in the cess: Debra Moore, Exposing Liberal Lies,  parroting Edmond's line,  Andrea Shea King of the Radio Patriot and Jill Stanek.

My deepest condolences to the Feldkamp family.

John Snyder: Where Is the Outrage Over Vaccine-Preventable Deaths

John Snyder has just joined the group blog, Science Based Medicine.

John Snyder, M.D., is Chief of the Section of General Pediatrics and Medical Director of Pediatric Ambulatory Care at Saint Vincent's Hospital in New York City. He is also Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at New York Medical College. Since 1994 Dr. Snyder has been active in pediatric resident and medical student education with a particular interest in evidence based pediatrics. His main area of interest is medical myth and the ways in which parents utilize information in making medical decisions for their children.

In his first post, Snyder comes out swinging, writing about the loss of life due to parents refusing or delaying vaccines. His particular example is Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib).

Parental vaccine refusal endangers lives. Here we have a situation in which an unavoidable shortage of a vital vaccine, has combined with an irrational parental mistrust of expert scientific opinion to create a critical mass of vulnerable children. The result, so far, is four dead children. But in the absence of any shortage, vaccine myth and the poor parental decision making it breeds has already had a profound impact, with the potential for more to come. In the never-ending wake of Wakefield, measles outbreaks have occurred in pockets of under-immunized children in areas of New York, San Diego, and Milwaukee.

Commenter Gwen wrote:

HiB was one of our ‘bread and butter’ diseases in the PICU where I began my career a long time ago. It left a devastation of brain damaged children in its wake. We were all so very happy when a vaccine was developed. I can’t imagine ever voluntarily going back to those awful days again!

Commenter Tsu Dho Nymh wrote

I was working in large hospitals before the vaccine. Knowing that of every 10 babies you admit with HiB, 1 will leave through the morgue and of the 9 that go out the door with their parents, 3 will be starting first grade in the classes for the handicapped (blind, deaf, retarded or any combination of those) really sucks.

Take that to parents who refuse or delay vaccination.

I So Want This Mirror (Fabulous Marquetry from Hudson River Inlay)

It wasn't just garden stuff at the San Francisco Garden Show.

Hudson River Inlay had a booth -- I covet the Floral Garland Mirror and the Stargazer Console Table I'd covet the The Koi Pond table if I had a different house.

Cool Living: A Display Garden at the SF Garden Show by Fiddleleaf Gardens

I am new to small-space gardening.  This garden was mostly vertical -- the designers, Fiddleleaf Gardens like to work in small, urban gardens.  I also liked the vertical water feature.

11:44 am, Friday: An Accessible, Affordable Garden

This was a display garden developed by the team from G. Anders Gardens, Terra Natura Design, and Laural Landscapes.

The title of the garden refers to the vernal equinox, which occured on Friday March 20th this year, and refers to hope.  The garden was created as a tribute to "those who must come home bearing the heavy burden of physical challenges," and was designed for accessibility and affordability. 

I liked it.  It was both lovely and modest.

Garden Accents from Indonesia (more from SF Garden Show)

More with the SF Garden Show I stopped by the Gardensia booth, who had also supplied some accents for other gardens.

Gardensia Art and Accents from South-East Asia for Garden & Home

Our mission is to bring the timeless beauty and spiritual richness of tropical South-East Asia to our customers' gardens and homes by providing a collection of the region's finest artistry and craftsmanship.

Gardensia owner Sekti Artanegara, hopes to bring the essence of his Indonesian homeland to gardens and homes in the US. With the help of college-friend Handri, Sekti and his wife, Lisa C. Ho, fill their 6,000 foot Berkeley, California showroom with fine ornamental carvings, art stone statues, fountains, old teak architectural elements and furniture from workshops and villages in Java, Bali and other tropical getaways.

Another adventure field trip. I would like to be inspired.

If You Need Succulent Plants

I do.  I have a living wall set sitting in the garage, waiting to go up.  But I haven't had the time to round up an interesting collection of succulents.  I went to the San Francisco Garden Show today, and rediscovered Succulent Gardens (www.sgplants.com).  The growing grounds are at 2133 Elkhorn Road in Castroville, CA.

I'll make an adventure day of it and go to Elkhorn Slough  (I'll even kayak) and the Elkhorn Native Plant Nursery