Prof. Naismith’s Letter

Recently, The Not Fake News reached out to Prof. James Naismith concerning what we believed to be deliberate misrepresentations of his work that were made by alternative media. Following is the complete text of his response to our query. We ask anyone who shared the disinformation to share this too:

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Is It Safe To Travel 2: COVID and Air Filtration

OPINION — ANALYSIS

by John Simpson, Editor In Chief

It’s been a month since I posed the question: “Is it safe to fly to Florida?“

It was a few days later that I did the math — very rough math, mind you; I’m no statistician, and The Not Fake News is a long long ways from The New England Journal of Medicine. (On the other hand, toss dice against me at your peril. Wargamers take note.) And, in the intervening weeks, the answer has changed a bit.

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Debunking Bad Science: Masks?

HEADLINE: Official Data Shows Face Masks “Made No Difference”, Says Oxford Professor

Yes, he actually said this, and yes he’s a real Oxford professor, and yes the data is real. The story still isn’t what you probably are starting to think it is.

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Once More With Rhythm

It’s like a bad divorce, and we’re the kids.

Mommy and daddy are sitting in the courtroom, contentiously splitting up the old Lionel Ritchie records and bickering over every meaningless detail. Two lawyers are each buying a new Porsche out of our college funds before this is done. And our only purpose for being in the room is to act as another token to be battled for.

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The Not Fake News Update, 25 November 2021

Happy Thanksgiving! If the return of the Macy’s parade doesn’t interest you, and if you’ve lost track of what’s been happening in the world — the real news, that is, rather than who’s been found guilty and who hasn’t in the new sport of Televised Trial Infotainment — feel free to read on.

And if you’re not interested in what’s happening in the world around you, what are you doing here?

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If You Can’t Question Science, It’s Not Science

It’s a meme. It’s true… to an extent. But it’s also true, and rather more applicable, to observe that memes are not science.

Here’s how it works: If scientists are unable to question science, it’s not science. If you are not able to question science, it’s still science; you’re just having your freedom of speech infringed.

Because you’re not a scientist.

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For A War Memorial

(SUGGESTED INSCRIPTION PROBABLY NOT SUGGESTED BY THE COMMITTEE)

The hucksters haggle in the mart
The cars and carts go by;
Senates and schools go droning on;
For dead things cannot die.

A storm stooped on the place of tombs
With bolts to blast and rive;
But these be names of many men
The lightning found alive.

If usurers rule and rights decay
And visions view once more
Great Carthage like a golden shell
Gape hollow on the shore,

Still to the last of crumbling time
Upon this stone be read
How many men of England died
To prove they were not dead.

G. K. Chesterton, 1919

Lest We Forget