OT: Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) Bulbs Are Harmful

I thought this is important, so I'm posting it even though it's got nothing to do with Klarriet. These bulbs are becoming more and more widespread, and I thought you want to know that they're not harmless. SBU Study Reveals Harmful Effects of CFL Bulbs to Skin

STONY BROOK, NY [...] a team of Stony Brook University researchers looked into the potential impact of healthy human skin tissue (in vitro) being exposed to ultraviolet rays emitted from compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. The results, “The Effects of UV Emission from CFL Exposure on Human Dermal Fibroblasts and Keratinocytes in Vitro,” were published in the June issue of the journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology. The researchers, led by Miriam Rafailovich, PhD, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and the Director of the Garcia Center for Polymers at Engineered Interfaces at Stony Brook, conducted similar research to a European study on Light Sensitivity. Stony Brook researchers collected CFL bulbs purchased from different locations across Suffolk and Nassau counties, and then measured the amount of UV emissions and the integrity of each bulb’s phosphor coatings. Results revealed significant levels of UVC and UVA, which appeared to originate from cracks in the phosphor coatings, present in all CFL bulbs studied. "Our study revealed that the response of healthy skin cells to UV emitted from CFL bulbs is consistent with damage from ultraviolet radiation,” said Professor Rafailovich. “Skin cell damage was further enhanced when low dosages of TiO2 nanoparticles were introduced to the skin cells prior to exposure.” Rafailovich added that incandescent light of the same intensity had no effect on healthy skin cells, with or without the presence of TiO2. [...]

Harriet Klausner's Revenge!

In a galaxy far, far away, a creepy-looking alien was plotting the mass annihilation of literature. Its thoughts drifted back to the time when it was hastily shoved into a space shuttle. Its parents discovered that they were being persecuted for siphoning words from text books and regurgitating them into bowls of soup. They enjoyed the gibberish words that formed in the bowls of soup. As a result, library books held scores of blank pages! Retailers everywhere went bankrupt! The masses were indignant and demanded the execution of the perpetrators! The alien vowed to seek vengeance on the humans, particularly readers for slaughtering her `rents! They have taught her so much about indecency and fraud - she must carry out their legacy!

One day, she learned through one of her clairvoyant visions that Amazon was the largest online retailer on earth. The alien's powers could only influence humans that were amoral and had relish with their hotdogs! So she named herself Harriet Klausner and steered her fast-paced space shuttle to earth and landed ingloriously naked, reminiscent of The Terminator. Unlike the Terminator's vessel, the alien's vessel was a shuddering sight! Her super-speedy electro-magnetic field affected males' lower-heads everywhere! The nation suffered a case of impotence upon her arrival! She caused impotence within a 30 mile radius. This led to the unplanned exodus of Americans.

After terrorizing a homeless man into giving her his clothes (she must adapt to the human way of life), she teleported to Amazon and hypnotized all of its trolls in order to make them do her dirty bidding! The first order of business was the removal of the 1,2 ,3 stars in a review!
"They must become obsolete!" HK muttered. "My fake reviews are all 4 and 5 stars!"

She took over the website like a tsunami and began to post a gazillion fake reviews! She particularly loved posting fake reviews on erotica. Even though she didn't generate any feelings from her upper head down to her gnarled toes, she experienced something similar to sexual pleasure whenever she made a lower-head shrink in revulsion. It didn't require talent or super powers; HK was a natural at repelling men's third-leg.

Meanwhile, a group called the Anti-HK-Fraud-Society was formed. They were immune to Harriet's powers and vowed to take her down! They found out that the only way to kill it is to cut off its relish supply! HK cannot go a day without relish. By midnight, the group slipped into Amazon's inner sanctum and saw a sight that made them swear off relish indefinitely! HK was sucking relish from her toenails!
"Mmmmm RELISHHH," she moaned in ecstasy.

After recovering from their shock, Buck210 said, "Turn off the relish-making machine!"

Embee sprinted to the machine and flipped off the switch, but to her horror, HK didn't explode!

"Shoot for its limbs! In the Dead Space franchise, Isaac Clarke had to cut off the alien's limbs! It's the only way to kill it! Alan James shouted.

"It's bad enough we got to read her fake reviews, now we must cut off its limbs. Eww!"Dona said.

"What if it bleeds relish and it doesn't remain as still as her fans and readers?" piped L. Donner.

"I think it's the books! Coherent words act like poison in her system so we must force her to read! It's worth a shot! Quick, tie her up!" Sneaky exclaimed. "And it's less messier than cutting off its limbs, she added.

"I'll do it," Mr. J Ryden said.

After tying her up, Beachmama grabbed a book and tried to force Harriet to read the first page!
"Read you dumb twit, READ!", she yelled! After a long pause, Beachmama smacked HK over the head with the book."I've always wanted to do that," she admitted.

"This isn't getting us anywhere, " Strong Coffe Lover bemoaned. "Harriet's trolls will seize us any minute now!"

"We've come this far - we shouldn't give up now! I've always dreamed of vanquishing this charlatan and I won't go down without a fight!" THE TRUTH said.

"How about we READ a passage? Surely it will work. HK has waged war against the English language, so listening to a passage would likely have the same effect." MJN76 offered quietly.

"For a potent effect, let's read a book for the sub-genre fans! N.Brett said.

"I'll do it," GTG said. He took the book from Beachmama and began to read, HK style. He took a deep breath and zipped through the passage without stopping at any commas, semi-colons, or periods. The fast-paced, non-stop torture caused HK's artificial brain to explode into smithereens, over the top of Mt. FraudHattie!

HK's brain made a GUUURGGLE sound - the relish shot from her head like a cork!
"EWWWW, " they all yelled in unison.

"Run for cover!" Cindy yelled!

The group ducked behind the teetering, towering 28,000+ books.

"At least the new, non-read books served as a shelter from the onslaught of regurgitated brain relish, "Embee said dryly.

"And look! "THE SYSTEM OVERLOAD" message has stopped blinking! Joe Zika enthused.

The group whooped in joy at the realization that the alien and its 28,000+ fake reviews were gone! The reign of literature terror by this Crass and Crude Charlatan was over! FINALLY!

As the victorious group walked away together, an HK troll tiptoed to the grisly scene. He stuck his hand into the splattered brain mass comprised of gibberish, relish and more gibberish and retrieved a chip. He decided to salvage the data and then create a time travel machine so he could bring HK back!

To be continued....

Alan James's Deleted Amazon Comment

This comment got deleted multiple times from an Amazon comment thread yesterday.  The comment's author, Alan James, has been so kind as to send it to me so that it can be preserved for posterity.  Thanks, Alan!

****HK BOOK CLEARANCE SALE****

*1000's of titles available (all titles are in mint (unused) condition).
*Many titles available before official release date.
*Sub-genres a speciality.
*ALL titles thoroughly enjoyed by the proprietor.

*Online orders welcome at www.hk/fraud.com


(All titles subject to availability. Hurry while stocks last).



(Deleted by Amazon 35 seconds ago)

Fraud Hattie Readers and Fans

Also posted on her latest fake review.

Fraud Hattie has posted 39 fake reviews so far this month, 12 of them posted just today.

Again, today's topic will be Readers/Fans:

Here are some of the most common:
"fans will appreciate" "fans will enjoy Ms. Plaidy's saga as the enjoyable storyline enables fans" "fans will enjoy this fun whodunit" "Fans will enjoy this gritty tale" "Fans will enjoy" "Fans will enjoy" "fans will enjoy" "readers will appreciate" "Readers will appreciate" "readers will appreciate" "Series fans will enjoy this entry" "readers who enjoy a gritty extended family Scottish street lit drama will appreciate"

Then we have to not so common:
"Fans will keep reading in one sitting" "provides readers with" "The cast makes fans feel Welcome to Harmony" "Character driven fans will enjoy" "Character driven readers will remember"

Let's see, what can we call this category? Bazaar: "contemporary fans from the moment" "hooked readers will wonder" "inanely cutesy fans will enjoy"

Still, there are the motionless and fast-paced fans:
"Still fans will enjoy" "Fast-paced fans of the series will enjoy" "Fast-paced readers will wonder" "Fast-paced series fans will appreciate"

Fraud Hattie cannot go a month without Relish:
"fans will relish" "readers will relish" "sub-genre fans will relish" "historical fans especially of the Grail Quest series will relish"

All from this month's 39 fake reviews posted by Fraud Hattie of books that she did not read.

Fraud Hattie Stats for 2012

Also posted on her latest fake review

Fraud Hattie Stats Update for 2012. She posted 2279 fake reviews for an average 189.9 per month and 6.24 per day.

The past (or as Hattie would write "passed") 2 months have seen quite a drop in her posting fake reviews, Are the ARC's running out Hattie? Are some of the publishers finnally getting wise to your fake reviewing?

Votes/etc for the year:
Date Fake Reviews . Avg ... YTD ... Votes . Helpful . % . Not Helpful . % . Relish . Fans . Rank
Jan 2012 .... 214 ... 6.90 ... 6.90 ... 1044 ... 506 ... 48% ... 538 ... 52% ... 25 ... 2555 .... 873
Feb 2012 .... 203 ... 7.25 ... 7.08 .... 599 ... 423 ... 71% ... 176 ... 29% ... 16 ... 2555 ... 1053
Mar 2012 .... 219 ... 7.06 ... 7.07 .... 730 ... 509 ... 70% ... 221 ... 30% ... 17 ... 2555 ... 1069
Apr 2012 .... 195 ... 6.50 ... 6.93 .... 730 ... 514 ... 70% ... 216 ... 30% ... 15 ... 2555 ... 1077
May 2012 ... 214 ... 6.90 ... 6.92 .... 733 ... 485 ... 66% ... 248 ... 34% ... 17 ... 2555 ... 1075
Jun 2012 .... 189 ... 6.30 ... 6.82 .... 646 ... 374 ... 58% ... 272 ... 42% ... 20 ... 2555 ... 1069
Jul 2012 ..... 215 ... 6.94 ... 6.84 .... 617 ... 358 ... 58% ... 259 ... 42% ... 22 ... 2555 ... 1106
Aug 2012 ... 213 ... 6.87 ... 6.84 .... 583 ... 310 ... 53% ... 273 ... 47% ... 12 ... 2555 ... 1200
Sep 2012 ... 200 ... 6.67 ... 6.82 .... 460 ... 246 ... 53% ... 214 ... 47% ..... 9 ... 2592 ... 1266
Oct 2012 .... 229 ... 7.39 ... 6.88 .... 590 ... 290 ... 49% ... 300 ... 51% ... 23 ... 2606 ... 1375
Nov 2012 ... 117 ... 3.90 ... 6.61 ... 183 ...... 87 ... 48% ..... 96 ... 52% .... 12 ... 2617 ... 1463
Dec 2012 .... 72 .... 2.32 ... 6.25 .... 242 .... 83 .... 34% ... 159 .... 66% .... 3 .... 2633 .... 1666

Tuesday Dump Days for the year (average is 34.6):
Fake Reviews Date
67 ... 1/3/2012
13 ... 1/10/2012
14 ... 1/17/2012
19 ... 1/24/2012
67 ... 1/31/2012
66 ... 2/7/2012
26 ... 2/14/2012
22 ... 2/21/2012
64 ... 2/28/2012
63 ... 3/6/2012
28 ... 3/13/2012
22 ... 3/20/2012
66 ... 3/27/2012
64 ... 4/3/2012
22 ... 4/10/2012
20 ... 4/17/2012
54 ... 4/24/2012
72 ... 5/1/2012
13 ... 5/8/2012
20 ... 5/15/2012
40 ... 5/22/2012
39 ... 5/29/2012
65 ... 6/5/2012
14 ... 6/12/2012
27 ... 6/19/2012
38 ... 6/26/2012
64 ... 7/3/2012
24 ... 7/10/2012
19 ... 7/17/2012
12 ... 7/24/2012
58 ... 7/31/2012
84 ... 8/7/2012
16 ... 8/14/2012
27 ... 8/21/2012
46 ... 8/28/2012
59 ... 9/4/2012
6 ..... 9/11/2012
26 ... 9/18/2012
37 ... 9/25/2012
80 ... 10/2/2012
11 ... 10/9/2012
30 ... 10/16/2012
12 ... 10/23/2012
47 ... 10/30/2012
25 ... 11/6/2012
16 ... 11/13/2012
12 ... 11/20/2012
28 ... 11/27/2012
18 ... 12/4/2012
5 ..... 12/11/2012
3 ..... 12/18/2012
10 ... 12/25/2012

Month by month Fraudulent reviews for the year:
214 fake reviews in Jan 2012 6.90 per day 6.90 YTD 5.91 Overall 26340 Reviews to date
203 fake reviews in Feb 2012 7.25 per day 7.08 YTD 5.92 Overall 26543 Reviews to date
219 fake reviews in Mar 2012 7.06 per day 7.07 YTD 5.93 Overall 26762 Reviews to date
195 fake reviews in Apr 2012 6.50 per day 6.93 YTD 5.93 Overall 26957 Reviews to date
214 fake reviews in May 2012 6.90 per day 6.92 YTD 5.94 Overall 27171 Reviews to date
189 fake reviews in Jun 2012 6.30 per day 6.82 YTD 5.94 Overall 27360 Reviews to date
215 fake reviews in Jul 2012 6.94 per day 6.84 YTD 5.95 Overall 27575 Reviews to date
213 fake reviews in Aug 2012 6.87 per day 6.84 YTD 5.96 Overall 27788 Reviews to date
200 fake reviews in Sep 2012 6.67 per day 6.82 YTD 5.96 Overall 27988 Reviews to date
229 fake reviews in Oct 2012 7.39 per day 6.88 YTD 5.97 Overall 28216 Reviews to date
117 fake reviews in Nov 2012 3.90 per day 6.61 YTD 5.96 Overall 28333 Reviews to date
72 fake reviews in Dec 2012 2.32 per day 6.25 YTD 5.93 Overall 28405 Reviews to date

A Reviewer with a Masters Degree in Library Sciences, Part 1

As an avid watcher of Hattie’s reviews, I’ve experienced a lot of obstacles in finding information that matches up to much more than her name, her husband’s name, and her city of residence.   Like peeling back the layers of an onion, I’ve instead discovered one misstatement after another.  The stunning array of conflicting misinformation that she has authored is the backbone for the blog “The Lies that Bind Klausner”.  That piece discusses the fake profiles that Klausner has created for herself.  It also compares one quote to another and one profile to another, revealing contradictions and misrepresentations.

Sometime later, I got curious about what else Harriet has said that might be untrue.  I began to think about her Masters in Library Science.  But why would that be the thing that kept raising its head?

With the exception of a profile that says she was born and raised in Europe, Harriet’s profiles reveal that she held only two librarian positions, both for short periods of time—one in Pennsylvania and one in Georgia.  She provides approximate time periods for that employment as well as working part-time and and/or full-time at used bookstores in those locations.  Immediately, I wondered:  Why would a person who has a Masters in Library Science work in a used bookstore?   Who spends that much time, effort, and money obtaining such an advanced degree only to squander it as a clerk in a bookstore?  I don't know the answer, but I sure do have the question.

Library Sciences is an English and math intensive field.  It’s a customer service oriented discipline.  At its heart are logic, communication, and organization of information.  Within its core competencies are ethics; values; human communication; intellectual property laws; and effective verbal and written communication techniques, principles, and methods of advocacy used to promote and explain concepts and services.

Naturally, to enter a masters program, one must first have graduated from an accredited bachelors program by completing the appropriate coursework.  There are many different kinds of classes required, but within them can frequently be found coursework with on reading and cognition, information literacy, technique of storytelling, and ethics.  The curriculum is typically described as reading and writing intensive.

Does Harriet demonstrate the requisite communication skills, reading skills, and writing skills?  Does she have a practice of ethics.  Does she have a firm grasp on simple math?

Well, it’s not a far jump from there to examine her reviews for the answers.  Let’s take a look at what they tell us:   (1)  Her punctuation, grammar, and spelling skills are substandard.  (2)  She misrepresents the books she reads.  (3) She is practically incapable of writing a coherent sentence.  (4)  She is mathematically challenged.  (5)  She is ethically challenged.

How does a person earn a masters degree when they don’t have the math skills needed by a second grader (e.g., 1 + 1 = 3), when they don’t have the basic English skill set required to graduate from middle school, when they don’t display the kind of ethics as required by the field, and when they disregard intellectual property law in spite of the their training?

Whatever the answer is, I surely hope it isn’t a reflection on the efficacy of our educational system.

In several subsequent parts to this article, each one of the above areas will be addressed, along with references.  Some of the source materials and examples are so extensive that it is apparent the problems are widespread and not isolated.

PartIIA:  CPR Needed for the English Language

Part IIB:  Plurals and Singulars, Verb Tenses, and Redundancies

Part IIC:  A Mess of Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, Adverbs, Verbs, and Possessives

PartIID:   Prepositions, "Ases", and Weird and Wacky

Part III:   Killing Me Softly With Your Review

Part IV:   Harriet’s Mad Math and Logic Skills

Part V:    What's Ethics Got to Do With It?

Killing Me Softly With Your Review

In Part 1, we discussed some of what it takes to earn a Masters’ Degree in Library Sciences and we touched on some of Klausner’s work as a librarian.

In Part 11, we looked at Klausner’s punctuation, grammar, and spelling errors.

This section examines Klausner’s English communication and writing skills based on her Amazon reviews.  Before being accepted into a masters’ program for Library Sciences, participants are required to demonstrate that they have taken instruction in literacy, writing, and communication.  This education is required as part of the underlying Bachelors Degree.  Communication, both written and verbal, is crucial to the degree.  Literacy, storytelling, and writing skills are basic to passing the course and they have to be demonstrated before moving on to a masters’ course of work.

What do Harriet’s reviews say about her writing skill, literacy, and ability to communicate?

To communicate effectively, you must know your audience, understand their level of knowledge, and then speak at the level of understanding. When writing reviews, you write to people who know nothing about a book but want to learn.  Providing that information with simplicity and clarity designed around what the reader needs to know and the best way to deliver that information should be the communicator's focus.  Instead, what we see with Harriet is that:

1.   Her grammar, punctuation, spelling, and misuse of words make it very difficult, even impossible, to understand the meaning of a sentence.

2.   She doesn’t explain key information that will help a reader to understand either the context for a statement or the statement itself.

3.   She often uses obscure, secondary word meanings for common words that don't ring true.

4.   She often uses obscure words or cultural idioms that trip readers up, thus clouding the meaning of a sentence.

5.   She combines too many thoughts and ideas in sentences, many of which are frequently conflicting or have no bearing on each other, rendering her sentences unintelligible more often than not.

6.   She does not meet readers' needs in her writing; she writes for expediency and not clarity.

7.   She doesn’t address her audience appropriately.  (E.g., she makes 60’s and 70’s cultural references, and obscure leadership studies, when writing reviews for children and young teens).

8.   She writes mysteries in her reviews by identifying key players as “he”, “her”, “the man”, “the changeling” and not stating their names until later in her reviews.

9.   She frequently changes the name of a character midway through a review confusing readers.

10. Her sentences are too wordy.         

In evaluating Klausner’s written style, it seems like she’s having fun making people jump through hoops in futile attempts to understand her writing.  She doesn’t write sentences with clarity and logic.

Literacy is more about the process of internalizing written information, processing and understanding it, and  then spitting it back out sensibly.  At first, I asked, how would you measure literacy in this case?  It turns out the answer was easy.  Read a book and then read Harriet’s review to see how she interpreted the book.

I took my own advice and began to read Harriet's reviews after reading a book.  What did I find out?  I discovered tons of misinformation from wrong storylines, locations, main characters, side characters, names, to even book titles.  I also discovered recitations of events and things that never happened in the books.  But the biggest problem wasn’t what was wrong so much as what was left out.  Often main characters aren’t even mentioned, nor are the main storyline, character relationships, and the elements that cause tension.  Most of the big stuff is always missing.

There are two reasons that this reading problem could occur:  (1) a not very high literacy and reading comprehension level, or, more likely,
(2) Klausner doesn’t read the books she reviews.  Neither option is pretty.  But, there are plenty of discussion and a mountain of proof that support the conclusion in Option (2).

Ability to communicate is closely tied to the ability to take in and process information, as well as express oneself orally and in the written form.  We have seen that, for whatever reason, Klausner is not processing and writing book information accurately and that her writing is unintelligible.

Given these factors, I’ve asked myself whether or not there are other intervening causes since obtaining a masters degree that would have caused Klausner’s English abilities to fall below a high school level.  I don’t know.  But the evidence so far tends to lean away from that direction.

Go on to Part IV:  Harriet's Mad Math and Logic Skills
Return to A Reviewer with a Masters Degree in Library Sciences