I once overheard a conversation between a couple of friends about how to know what medications to take. They were musing about how in an ideal world there would be a council of elders who would be the custodians of that sort of knowledge and if you were sick you'd go to them and they'd tell you. The assumption seemed to be that there was some innate wisdom required and somehow this council would know what to do - better than trained...
Better for the Environment Well, now we're getting onto firmer ground. It's pretty widely acknowledged that there is little, if any, taste or health benefit to organically grown food. While that is at odds with popular belief and personal experience (a friend wrote to tell me that "oohs" and "aahs" only happen when the food is organic and local and never when purchased through a supermarket), this seems to be a case of confirmation bias. When...
Dr. Tenpenny on Vaccines is back on Facebook. If you don't partake in Facebook I suppose you won't be able to see what she's up to, but she has websites as well. Feel free to look her up on the innerwebs. Tenpenny Integrated Medical Centers, the page for her business where she offers up all manner of unscientific therapies, has also returned. They are both up and running, though feeling just a bit more sedate than usual. At the same time...
I just saw the following in a Facebook post. I just got a call at work from the FBI. The agent asked me if I knew who Dr Tenpenny was and if I was "trolling" her page. I explained the best I could and offered full cooperation. If that was me I would be describing a moment of shitting myself. The FBI. Is calling me. Why is the FBI calling me? Shit. But it turns out that writer went by the name of Craig Egan. Yesterday I suggested...
Image from http://www.cover4face.com/ Not long ago, say about 6 weeks, there was a Facebook page called Proud Parents of Unvaccinated Children (PPUC). Its purpose was to celebrate having children who were unvaccinated so as to trade suggestions and advice about how to keep kids unvaccinated. That advice ranged from merely misinformed to utterly bizarre. It was a hotbed of conspiracy theory, new age, libertarian, pseudo-science, outright lies...
I was at a workshop this last weekend. One of the attendees had a cold and announced that anyone who believed in contagion might want to avoid hugging her. And I thought, what???? Is that a joke? Can she be serious? Who could not "believe in contagion"? It's not like it's a concept that originated in the last couple of centuries with the advent of science. It's been around a long time. Doubting that diseases are communicable would...
I've been playing with a thought experiment. I don't think it's very original, but I think it's an interesting exercise so I'm going to share it with you and ask for your input. This is an outgrowth of a Global Warming conversation I had the other day with my book club. (Yes, I live in the country and am [semi-]retired. We do that sort of thing.) Most of the table accepted the science and was in agreement with with the proposition that...
I spent a while last night and this morning making this up. Please take the poll and please pass it on. There's a facebook share button at the bottom of this post. If you click on it you'll share this blog post on Facebook. If you don't use Facebook (and I know there are a few holdout reading this), please pass on the poll any way you like. Getting this message out is an interest of mine, which you already know if you've been reading my...
I've been working on two causes at causes.com. The first one was The Anti-Anti-Vaccine Campaign. The intention was and is to encourage people to challenge anti-vaccine propaganda that shows up on their Facebook newsfeed. It's still alive but I haven't worked out how to promote it very effectively. The people at causes.com said it was too negative and appealed to too small a segment of the population for them to add it to their featured...
Please click on the image below and take the quiz. And while you're at it why not take the pledge and get a flu shot this year (and every year).
Natural News isn't the only website that attacks science and reason on a regular basis. They are legion. I could provide long lists, but I won't. The site that appears most often as "evidence" for questionable health claims is mercola.com. Dr. Joseph Mercola is not as vile as Mike Adams of Natural News, but he's very much an anti-science, anti-health and pro making-things-up-for-money kind of guy. When I see anyone using his website to back...
Natural News is a website put together by someone by the name of Mike Adams who calls himself the Health Ranger. It is very popular. I see references to Natural News stories, usually implausible and often ridiculous, on Facebook on a regular basis. It is often used by anti-vaccine crazies to back up their claims. According to rationalwiki.org "Adams is a flat-out opponent of modern medicine and opposes any medication or doctor visits. Adams...
If you've been reading this you know that I started a "Cause" on Facebook last week called the Anti-Anti-Vaccine Campaign. I had no idea what I was doing, but I'd seen Causes on Facebook, had a thought and acted on it. It's been an interesting experience. I've dipped my toe into a highly charged pond and have gotten my first glimpse into how it works. It's very early days but I'm starting to develop some ideas about the concept behind what...
One of the advantages of having a blog is that I don't have to submit to a debate. There might be one in the comments when I'm done, but the post is mine and mine alone, so I can just tell it like I see it. So, what is true? The person who made the comment states that for her Acupuncture and Bowen therapy are true. What I assume she means is that she's had positive experiences with both, they both appeared to help with the problems she took...
Been away for a couple of day. I suppose it's time to catch up. First off I thought it would be good to mention that the morning after writing my post about starting a diet I weighed myself. I weighed 81.6kg, which was down around a kilo from the day before. My weight varies that much on a daily basis, depending on what I ate the night before or my exercise decisions or something. I know it means nothing. However. I'm 181cm tall. When...