Thursday 29 July 2010

Darryl at Caption

As I may have said previously, in my day job I do care work with the elderly. It's agency work, which means I get sent all over the place to cover, when nursing or residential homes are short staffed. Summer is good to me, because it's the holiday season, and this means I'm getting plenty of shifts (days and nights). However, this also means that I've not had much time to do any comic book work recently (none actually). I'm tired from the long shifts and just want to flop down when I get home from work. This will change soon though, as I launch myself back into the four-colour world.

This weekend I'll be a Caption in Oxford. Where I'll be interviewed by the delightful Sarah McIntyre.

And now as promised ages ago, here are the main references I used to write the Moon Hoax strip.

Wikipedia. Moon landing conspiracy theories.

Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy blog. Fox TV and the Apollo Moon Hoax.

Nasa Science. The Great Moon Hoax.

The Guardian. Those hoax myths debunked.

FOX GOES TO THE MOON, BUT NASA NEVER DID. THE NO-MOONIES CULT STRIKES By Michael Shermer.

Moon Base Clavius. Photo Analysis Page.

NASA. Where No Flag Has Gone Before: Political and Technical Aspects of Placing a Flag on the Moon.

MythBusters Episode 104: NASA Moon Landing. 2008 Season. NASA Moon Landing.

Tuesday 20 July 2010

The Moon Hoax

Today is the 41st anniversary of the first moon landing. So I completed this strip just in time. Feel free to point out any errors and I'll correct them over the next couple of days. References will be in the next entry.

This strip is but one chapter in my book Science Tales, out now from Myriad Editions.

moon hoax 1

moon hoax 2

moon hoax 3

moon hoax 4

moon hoax 5

moon hoax 6

moon hoax 7

moon hoax 8

moon hoax 9

moon hoax 10

moon hoax 11

moon hoax 12

moon hoax 13

moon hoax 14

Thursday 1 July 2010

Homeopathy References

The reason, of course, that the homeopathy strip has upset so many people, is that when writing negatively about such a subject, you are inevitably tramping on people's deeply held beliefs. Such criticism can seem like a personal attack. I don't think for a minute that a comic strip on homeopathy is going to change the mind's of people who are really invested in it. That's not going to happen. Only some event in their own experience will do that (maybe). The strip is primarily aimed at readers who only have a vague knowledge of the subject, and think perhaps that there must be something to the practice, as why otherwise would the British National Health service divert funds to it, and why would so many celebrities, politicians, journalists, members of the royal family, etc, believe in it?

The strip has done extraordinarily well, having had over 30 thousand views in the first two days. By far the single most successful strip I've ever had online.

Thanks to all the many people who took the time to email me and leave me notes. Far too many for me to ever get back to. A special thanks to those who have sent me links.

My next science strip will be on the subject of the supposed Moon Hoax.

References for the homeopathy strip.

Wikipedia entry on Homeopathy

What is Homeopathy. The Society Of Homeopaths.

Homeopathy: What's The Harm by Simon Singh.

Homeopaths 'endangering lives' by offering malaria remedies, Alok Jha, science correspondent, The Guardian, Friday 14 July 2006

The Lancet – “Benefits and risks of homoeopathy by Ben Goldacre.

Death By Homeopathy. Steven Novella, Neurologica Blog.

Homeopathy pdf, Sense About Science.

Statement on homeopathic remedies for malaria, Health Protection Agency.

Learn From This Tragedy, Andrew Bolt of the
 Herald Sun on the death of Penelope Dingle.

Coroner questions why Dr Peter Dingle didn't confront homeopath, Chris Robinson From: PerthNow