Why We Do, What We Do

The Royal Society's motto 'Nullius in verba' roughly translates

as 'take nobody's word for it'.

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In the UK (and Elsewhere), in These Days, We Live in Dark Times, Getting Darker ...

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"Enlightenment philosophy tends to stand in tension with established religion [i.e. social control - Law], insofar as the release from self-incurred immaturity in this age, daring to think for oneself, awakening one's intellectual powers, generally requires opposing the role of established religion [i.e. social control - Law] in directing thought and action. The faith of the Enlightenment – if one may call it that – is that the process of enlightenment, of becoming progressively self-directed in thought and action through the awakening of one's intellectual powers, leads ultimately to a better, more fulfilled human existence."

Immanuel Kant

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The Origins of the Royal Society  

https://royalsociety.org/about-us/history

The Royal Society of London

http://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/exploration_and_endeavour/take_no_ones_word_for_it

Enlightenment 

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/enlightenment

Age of Enlightenment 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment

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Monday 2 February 2015 

Free speech? Not at four in five UK universities 

"The concept of a new 'endarkenment' is starting to become scarily accurate."

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/feb/02/free-speech-universities-spiked-ban-sombreros

2 February 2015

Exposed: the staggering scale of censorship on campus 

"The first UK-wide analysis of illiberalism in our universities."

http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/exposed-the-staggering-scale-of-censorship-on-campus/16658#.VM-X3yxJ0dV

February 8, 2015 11:02 pm

British MPs Recommend Prevention Orders Used for Sex Offenders to Tackle Antisemitism on Social Media [false-flag]

"The orders could also prevent them from hiding behind fake identities online."

http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/02/08/british-mps-recommend-prevention-orders-used-for-sex-offenders-to-tackle-antisemitism-on-social-media/

9th February 2015 

MPs call for 'internet Asbos' for abusive social media users 

"Archbishop of Canterbury backs calls for 'internet Asbos'."

http://www.itv.com/news/story/2015-02-09/mps-call-for-internet-asbos-for-abusive-social-media-users/

Sunday 1 March 2015 13.07 GMT

Government row over ban on extremist speakers on university campuses

"The dispute centres on the content of an advisory note to be sent as part of a new statutory requirement on universities to draw up strategies to combat radicalisation on campus. The broad issue has been a running sore for years, with some accusing vice chancellors of being too liberal. "

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/01/government-row-over-limiting-free-speech-on-university-campuses

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First they came for the 'sex offenders', but ... then they came for the 'terrorists', but ... pic.twitter.com/l6wWNcHmBn
— The OSC (@OSC______P) February 9, 2015

(Embedded Tweet - click date)

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September 12, 2016

Academic Freedom Dying Because Profs Too Scared to Use It: Report

"Academic freedom in the UK will wither and die thanks to a generation of lecturers too scared to challenge the status quo, a major new book claims today.

Universities are trapped “worshipping at the altar of progressive [sic] opinion”, and individual scholars self-censor to avoid the wrath of their peers, according to the publication by Civitas, an independent think tank."

http://heatst.com/world/academic-freedom-dying-because-profs-too-scared-to-use-it-report/?mod=sm_tw_post

http://www.civitas.org.uk/reports_articles/on-academic-and-other-freedoms

Jim Gamble (INEQE) Cannot Let Go Of The Lies, Myths And Disinformation

https://twitter.com/JimGamble_INEQE

Talkback With Wendy Austin

LISTEN: US Marshals psychologist Dr Michael Bourke on links between indecent images and child abuse

https://audioboo.fm/boos/1590748-listen-us-marshals-psychologist-dr-michael-bourke-on-links-between-indecent-images-and-child-abuse 

https://twitter.com/ineqegroup

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23GlimpseCSA&src=hash

https://twitter.com/ShyKeenan

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Have You Learned Nothing? - Causality and Correlation of Owning Images - The OSC

http://therealosc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/have-you-learned-nothing.html 

Greater Than 30% Of IIOC Viewers Are 'Hands-On Paedos' - How Did This Mythology Arise?

http://therealosc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/greater-than-30-of-iioc-viewers-are.html

Child 'Protection' Industry Circle Jerk In Full Swing - But, What's This All About, Mark Williams-Thomas?

http://therealosc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/child-protection-industry-circle-jerk.html 

Identifying and Dealing with "Child Savers"

http://criticalestoppel.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/recreated-in-full-for-later-reference.html

The Fallibility Of Memory

14 August 2013

Evidence-based justice: Corrupted memory

"Elizabeth Loftus has spent decades exposing flaws in eyewitness testimony. Her ideas are gaining fresh traction in the US legal system.

In the early hours of 9 September, 1984, a stranger entered Mrs M's California home through an open living-room window. Finding Mrs M asleep, he tried to rape her, but fled when other people in the house awoke. Mrs M described her assailant to the police: he was black, weighing about 170 pounds and 5'7” to 5'9” tall, with small braids and a blue baseball cap.

Officers cruising her neighbourhood spotted someone roughly matching that description standing beside his car a block away from the house. The man, Joseph Pacely, said that his car had broken down and he was looking for someone to jump-start it. But Mrs M identified him as her attacker and he was charged ..."

http://www.nature.com/news/evidence-based-justice-corrupted-memory-1.13543 

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Posted: 10/26/2013 11:00 AM: Updated: 10/26/2013

The Urgent Need to Reform Police Collection of Eyewitness Evidence

http://content.intweetiv.com/view?title=The+Urgent+Need+to+Reform+Police+Collection+of+Eyewitness+Evidence&iframe=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tara-lai-quinlan/the-urgent-need-to-reform_b_4164848.html?utm_hp_ref=tedweekends&ir=TED+Weekends

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Filmed May 2012 • Posted Sep 2012

Scott Fraser: Why eyewitnesses get it wrong

http://www.ted.com/talks/scott_fraser_the_problem_with_eyewitness_testimony.html?utm_source=twitter&source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ios-share

Fallacious?

Published: 10 hrs ago

Jeopardy law rapist gets life

"Coward ... rapist WB

A MAN who raped an OAP 16 years ago was jailed for life yesterday — after the double jeopardy law was overturned.

WB, 56, beat and raped a mum of one, 66, in her home in Stratford, East London, in 1997.

He was cleared in 1999 after a judge ruled DNA evidence against him could not be used against him.

Back then, a person could not be tried a second time for the same crime and builder B thought he had got away with it.

But changes to the law in 2005, to allow those cleared of a serious offence to be put on trial for the crime again, meant B could be retried for the rape.

Jurors at London’s Old Bailey were told a one-in-a-billion DNA match linked the grandfather of six, of Walthamstow, to the attack.

Coward B refused to come up from the cells to be sentenced.

Ordering he serve a minimum 10½years, Judge Peter Rook said he had committed a crime of “extreme violence and depravity”.

B beat his victim so badly she was unrecognisable. She died in 2002. Her family said: “She never got over it.”"

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4989218/Jeopardy-law-rapist-gets-life-in-prison-after-being-originally-cleared-in-1999.html

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Prosecutor's fallacy

"The prosecutor's fallacy is a fallacy of statistical reasoning, typically used by the prosecution to argue for the guilt of a defendant during a criminal trial. Although it is named after prosecutors it is not specific to them, and some variants of the fallacy can be utilized by defence lawyers arguing for the innocence of their client.

At its heart the fallacy involves assuming that the prior probability of a random match is equal to the probability that the defendant is innocent.

For instance, if a perpetrator is known to have the same blood type as a defendant and 10% of the population share that blood type; then to argue on that basis alone that the probability of the defendant being guilty is 90% makes the prosecutors's fallacy, in a very simple form.

The terms "prosecutor's fallacy" and "defense attorney's fallacy" were originated by William C. Thompson and Edward Schumann in the 1987 article Interpretation of Statistical Evidence in Criminal Trials, subtitled The Prosecutor's Fallacy and the Defense Attorney's Fallacy.

The fallacy can arise from multiple testing, such as when evidence is compared against a large database. The size of the database elevates the likelihood of finding a match by pure chance alone; i.e., DNA evidence is soundest when a match is found after a single directed comparison because the existence of matches against a large database where the test sample is of poor quality may be less unlikely by mere chance.

The basic fallacy results from misunderstanding conditional probability and neglecting the prior odds of a defendant being guilty before that evidence was introduced.

When a prosecutor has collected some evidence (for instance a DNA match) and has an expert testify that the probability of finding this evidence if the accused were innocent is tiny, the fallacy occurs if it is concluded that the probability of the accused being innocent must be comparably tiny.

If the DNA match is used to confirm guilt which is otherwise suspected then it is indeed strong evidence. However if the DNA evidence is the sole evidence against the accused and the accused was picked out of a large database of DNA profiles, the odds of the match being made at random may be reduced, and less damaging to the defendant.

The odds in this scenario do not relate to the odds of being guilty, they relate to the odds of being picked at random."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecutor's_fallacy

The Prosecutor’s Fallacy

http://buchanan.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/the-prosecutors-fallacy/?_r=0

When A Few Anecdotes Sell More BS

24 Jun 2013 12:27

Inside the mind of a murderer: Forensic psychology expert reveals key tools to solving crime

"DR Kathy Charles explains how analysing what's going on in suspect's head gives psychologists vital clues in the approach to securing a conviction.

Dr Kathy Charles has studied hundreds of brutal cases

UNDERSTANDING what makes a person commit murder or a sex crime is never an easy task but forensic psychologist Dr Kathy Charles knows exactly how their minds work [hahahahaha].

She has worked alongside police to profile criminals and dedicates her time to helping young offenders understand the reasoning behind their actions.

Now Dr Charles, 34, from ­Edinburgh, is passing on her expert knowledge to Scotland’s next generation of forensic psychologists. She is set to host a series of fascinating lectures detailing her experiences on a number of cases.

She said: “I’ve always wanted to know why some people commit crimes and others don’t.

“It’s important to know how the mind works, especially if the focus of a police investigation is a serial killer, rapist or stalker.

“I worked on profiling Ipswich prostitute murderer Steve Wright and have profiled rapists and stalkers, too.

“Committing the offence is one thing but understanding why is completely different.

“That’s where logic [hahahahahahaha] comes in and I often say it’s like piecing a jigsaw together.

“In some cases there is no obvious suspect and that’s where profiling becomes useful.

“By looking at the type of crime, the way it happened and the timeline, you can profile the type of person likely [figures?] to be responsible.

“In many cases [and there lies the proof of your errors - mere chance], when the suspect is caught the profile is almost spot-on.”"

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/real-life/inside-mind-murderer-forensic-psychology-1987828

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Dr Kathy Charles

http://www.napier.ac.uk/fhlss/slsss/staff/pages/kathy_charles.aspx

http://napier.academia.edu/KathyCharles

http://www.beltanenetwork.org/discover-beltane/fellowship-programme/beltane-fellows/dr-kathy-charles/

Facebook stress linked to number of ‘friends’

http://www.napier.ac.uk/media/Pages/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsID=187

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-12479660