# we Have A New Freak On The Board, & Is He A Dilly! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 21, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445 "2004-10-21T17:44:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![legion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/838e76/32.png) [@legion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legion)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/21 "2004-10-21T20:50:51Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I don’t care about his point. As I said before, I don’t know squat about the science in this area, and I don’t care. But holding his own in a debate doesn’t give him license to be a jerk. But it gives you license to call him “Dickless” in the pit? Classy. :rolleyes: > [@Ravenman](#): > > …Dickless **phybre** responds: “The things you are unaware of could probably fill volumes.” ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/22 "2004-10-21T20:52:18Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > But holding his own in a debate doesn’t give him license to be a jerk. That may be true, but just for fun let’s look at the facts here: is it _true_ that what you don’t know could fill volumes? I’d have to go with yes. Simply because that’s true of all of us. It’s not like he called you a child molester or said rude things about your mother. He stated a fact. One that was a bit obvious and inconsequential, but it was a fact nonetheless. Chill the fuck out. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/23 "2004-10-21T20:58:51Z")
Are you kidding? This is the best prepaired newbie of all time. Sure, maybe he’s crazy (if he is, he’s crazy in a way I’ll never really comprehend 🙂 ) but damned if he can’t go at it like a champ. Beats the garden variety loony toons that usually find us. I say let any discretions pass, Phybre could prove fun to see in action. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/24 "2004-10-21T21:12:00Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I don’t care about his point. As I said before, I don’t know squat about the science in this area, and I don’t care. But holding his own in a debate doesn’t give him license to be a jerk. Oh c’mon, it wasn’t that bad. And it’s factually true. Sure he could be nicer but that could be said of a lot of posters here. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/25 "2004-10-21T21:41:51Z")
Yes, Bosda- phybre is whupping you so badly I can hardly bear to watch. It’s like watching Woody Allen vs Ali. 🆒 And then coming here and Pitting him- well, that’s like …like… no, I can’t come up with an example foolish enough. Ok, maybe Pratchett has - it’s like standing on a mountaintop in a thunderstorm, wearing a large copper nose ring, with your feet in a basin of water and shouting that the ThunderGod is ugly and so is his mother. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/26 "2004-10-21T22:25:20Z")
> [@Chairman Pow](#): > > If you pit someone, aren’t you supposed to link to the pit thread? I thought it was just good manners. I’ve posted a link to this thread in the original one. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/27 "2004-10-21T23:05:54Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yes, Bosda- phybre is whupping you so badly I can hardly bear to watch. It’s like watching Woody Allen vs Ali. 🆒 And then coming here and Pitting him- well, that’s like …like… no, I can’t come up with an example foolish enough. Ok, maybe Pratchett has - it’s like standing on a mountaintop in a thunderstorm, wearing a large copper nose ring, with your feet in a basin of water and shouting that the ThunderGod is ugly and so is his mother. 😃 Well, if I can last out 3 more rounds, he may drop dead of his “health treaments”. And it’s odd that there are no links to any of his “cites” on the WWW. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/28 "2004-10-21T23:22:40Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > And it’s odd that there are no links to any of his “cites” on the WWW. Not really, it’s not like many books and studies of scientific nature are available on the web, except for maybe a pay site associated with a journal. Heck, how many books in general are available free on the net? Sometimes the library is a much better place to research than the web. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/29 "2004-10-22T00:03:14Z")
“Ever been to Utah? Ra-di-a-tion. Yes, indeed. You hear the most outrageous lies about it. Half-baked goggle-box do-gooders telling everybody it’s bad for you. Pernicious nonsense. Everybody could stand a hundred chest X-rays a year. They ought to have them, too.” –J. Frank Parnell, _Repo Man_ ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/30 "2004-10-22T00:15:32Z")
> [@](#): > > But holding his own in a debate doesn’t give him license to be a jerk. That’s going to be really bad news to a number of regular posters, here. ---
**Author:** ![mischievous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mischievous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mischievous)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/31 "2004-10-22T01:35:34Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > Hormesis is an apparently real phenomenon that has been demonstrated to occur in some studies, but it is still highly controversial and not yet widely accepted by the medical community. The argument seems to be that low doses of ionizing radiation set off repair systems in cells, thus acting as a sort of prophylactic against carcinogens and thus lowering one’s chances of cancer. What he said. **Science** magazine, one of the most respected journals in the world, did a special issue about hormesis last year, and it looks quite valid. (Note: it has nothing to do with the crock of shit called homeopathy.) I’d link to the articles, but it’s a pay site. Some snippets, though: > [@](#): > > The incidence of solid cancers in the {Hiroshima radiation} survivors rises in a straight line with dose. This suggests that any increase in dose delivers an increase in risk, with no safe level of radiation. But at the lowest doses, there are too few cancers to calculate the actual risks. > > In this zone, there are hints that a little radiation could even be beneficial. The Japanese bomb survivors who received the lowest doses are living longer than controls, for example. Some studies have found a slightly lower incidence of cancer in people living in places such as western China and Colorado, where natural background radiation levels are three to four times higher than the global average of 2.4 millisieverts per year. Hormesis seems to work for some other toxins, too. > [@](#): > > Dioxin and its chemical cousins are among the most deadly compounds on Earth. Spike a rat’s water with 10 parts per billion–the equivalent of 7 teaspoons of dioxin dissolved in an Olympic-sized swimming pool–and there’s a 50/50 chance that the rat will die of liver cancer. Yet even tinier concentrations of dioxins fed to rats inhibit tumors. The seemingly paradoxical findings have some scientists suggesting what would have been unthinkable not long ago: testing modified dioxins as an anticancer agent in humans. The real challenge, I think, is to figure out what types of toxins this applies to - obviously we don’t want chemical companies letting out _anything_ and defending it with claims of hormesis. mischievous ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/32 "2004-10-22T02:07:05Z")
Throughout this discussion, I keep thinking of the character J. Frank Parnell’s rant in [Repo Man](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087995/): > [@](#): > > Ever been to Utah? RADIATION! Yes, indeed. You hear the most outrageous lies about it. Half-baked goggle-box do-gooders telling everybody it’s bad for you. Pernicious nonsense! Everybody could stand a hundred chest X-rays a year. They ought to have them, too! ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/33 "2004-10-22T02:13:51Z")
Personally, I find this new person engaging. It takes a Caine Mutiny-sized set of steel ball bearings to cite a study from 1909 in defense of your pet radiation theory. Seeing as how he or she has seen fit to call Cecil out on numerous claims from the archived columns, I wonder if it’s too much to hope that the big guy himself might deign to weigh in on the issue. Probably it is. Me, I learned everything I ever needed to know about the health benefits of ionizing radiation from: **Lee and Ditko,** _Spider-Man!_ Amazing Fantasy 15, Aug 1962. ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/34 "2004-10-22T03:54:32Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > Me, I learned everything I ever needed to know about the health benefits of ionizing radiation from: > > **Lee and Ditko,** _Spider-Man!_ Amazing Fantasy 15, Aug 1962. To be sure, it didn’t do much for the spider… ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/35 "2004-10-22T03:56:29Z")
Well, at least nobody is turning text purple, so I’m inclined to believe he’s an acceptable nut. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/36 "2004-10-22T04:28:41Z")
Oh, live and let live. Give phybre all the ionizing radiation he wants. There are Darwinian forces at work on this individual, and it’s best not to interfere, if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/37 "2004-10-22T04:40:10Z")
I am a scientist and a long-time, devoted lurker. I know nothing about hormesis (though it sounds plausible) and I do not have the time to go and read all his cites or to find contradictory evidence. One thing I do know from lurking here for over 5 years is that **phybre** ’s thread is a thing of beauty. Good show. Of course YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/38 "2004-10-22T04:46:10Z")
> **["Hormesis"--an inappropriate extrapolation from the specific to the universal...](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15473091/?dopt=Abstract)** > > Although it is generally accepted that some chemicals may have beneficial effects at low doses, incorporating these effects into risk assessments generally ignores well-established factors related to exposure and human susceptibility. The authors... ---
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/39 "2004-10-22T05:21:07Z")
I’d be willing to donate for his membership. He made a perfectly reasonable and well-written post that was then attacked in a manner befitting 6 year olds. After being slapped down, the babies ran here to whine. A very good showing. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445/40 "2004-10-22T10:13:48Z")
Another vote for Phybre here. Fights his corner like a champ, provides cites, well-stuctured arguments, no more than the appropriate amount of sarcasm, despite a great deal of provocation, and spelling, punctuation and grammar all of a high standard {hey, I’m an English teacher, and the lack thereof is often a clue to loondom. As, of course, is green or purple text}. Ya did good, kid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-new-freak-on-the-board-is-he-a-dilly/270445.md?page=3)