 |
 |
|
Keywords: book
I read this book, "Fads And Fallacies In The Name Of Science", by Martin Gardner, last year. I'd heard that it was a classic book on science and skepticism, and decided to buy the book and read it for myself.  You just don't see cover art like that anymore, do you?It's a fascinating exploration of many of the figures and ideas that contribute to the pseudo sciences. It's an excellent reference book to have on your shelf, and the pseudosciences it examines are absolutely engrossing.
I remember seeing that the original copyright date was 1952, and I sort of assumed that Mr. Gardner must already be deceased by now. I remember thinking that I wonder what contemporary issues he might be writing about if he were still alive.
But then a few months ago I found out that he actually was still alive, and has continued writing. Which means, of course, that I can explore that question that I thought was purely hypothetical.
Sadly, he just passed away at the remarkable age of 95. It kind of feels like I've come to terms with his death for the second time. But, of course, I now realize that I have the option of catching up with his more contemporary writings.
If you've never read anything by Martin Gardner, look up Fads & Fallacies, or find other examples of his work. The world needs more people who are willing to explore these issues critically and with a scientific mindset.
Keywords: woo, alternative medicine, acupuncture
I've commented before about how woo style medicine has weaseled it's way into the mainstream medical mindset. The Acupuncture study I mentioned yesterday contains a particularly depressing example of this. From the journal Nature: | Acupuncture is a procedure in which fine needles are inserted into an
individual at discrete points and then manipulated, with the intent of
relieving pain. Since its development in China around 2,000 B.C.,
acupuncture has become worldwide in its practice. Although Western
medicine has treated acupuncture with considerable skepticism,
a broader worldwide population has granted it acceptance. For instance,
the World Health Organization endorses acupuncture for at least two
dozen conditions and the US National
Institutes of Health issued a consensus statement proposing acupuncture
as a therapeutic intervention for complementary medicine. Perhaps most
tellingly, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service approved acupuncture as a
deductible medical expense in 1973. |
Is it any wonder that people are so confused about health and the human body when mainstream medical sources... and the IRS (which for some strange reason is "most telling" in this regard), are giving credence to a treatment that is just not backed up by the evidence?
Keywords: study, woo, alternative medicine, acupuncture
I just came across this article on Cnet News entitled " Think Acupuncture's A Hoax? Think Again" written by freelance journalist Elizabeth Moore. For the record, I don't believe that Acupuncture is a hoax. I think that Acupuncturists are fooling themselves, but for the most part I think they actually believe in what they do. Moore claims to have previously been a skeptic of Acupuncture, and I'm sure that she had her doubts. But reading her article, it strikes me that she's way too easily swayed by weak evidence to really have employed much critical thinking here. She calls the evidence "yet another pin in the proverbial coffin for skeptics like myself:" And what is this evidence? It's simply this: A study done on mice demonstrates that a needle puncture can release a nucleoside known as Adenosine into the surrounding tissue, which may help with pain relief. Sound's pretty simple and scientifically valid, right? What could I possibly have to say against that?
Keywords: link
There's a lot of humour to be had in making fun of religious beliefs. I came across this podcast, Irreligiosophy, a little over a month ago. Two ex Mormons, Chuck and Leighton, discuss issues relating to religion, and explore the details of many different religious beliefs, all the while adding a healthy dose of ridicule towards everything. They've got great on-air chemistry and are fun to listen to. I mentioned the podcast to Doug Delong of the Planet Japan podcast, who I know loves to make fun of religion, and he found them entertaining enough to give them a mention on his show. Of course, Doug has lately been mentioning on his show everything I casually tell him about. I choose to believe that it's because I have interesting things to say, rather than that he's just desperate for material..... but in either case, I believe you can tell that his endorsement of Irreligiosophy was genuine. So you can take it from me and fabled raconteur Doug Delong, along with his co-host Jennifer Edda, that this is a fun podcast. Give Chuck and Leighton a listen!
Keywords: link
I want to plug a great skeptical podcast by some fellow Canadians: The Reality Check. This podcast is produced by the Ottawa Skeptics, a skeptical group over there in our nation's capital. It's a group style discussion podcast where each member prepares a talk on some issue for discussion. They seem to have a lot of fun, and the deliberately awkward segues between segments are just great. The show often starts out with a parody song on skeptical matters, which is also pretty fun. A new episode comes out every Monday, and I highly recommend giving them a listen.
Keywords: link
I thought I should mention here one of my favourite blogs, Skeptic North. This is a Canadian blog on science and skepticism. Back in January they accepted one of my articles as a guest post As a Canadian, I enjoy having a Canadian source for my skeptical news and analysis. They have a very good staff of regular contributors, and a weekly segment of skeptical fails and wins from the media. Check them out!
Keywords: aliens, ancient alien theory
I was looking through a book that I bought a few years ago from Time Inc. called "Exploring The Unexplained". I found a really nicely lighted close up image of the so-called "Golden Flyer" from the "Ancient Aliens" documentary (See my analysis so far here and here, and watch the show here) I scanned the image to post it here because it provides a beautiful close-up view of the artifact that you just don't get from the documentary. And guess what? You can clearly see two eyes, a nose, and a toothy, claymation-esque grin: 
Click For Larger View
The documentary shows the artifact mostly at an angle and in lighting conditions that don't allow you to see the face as easily: You can barely see a hint of the mouth, and since the nose and eyes are a bit fanciful, at this angle you can easily mistake them for random designs. And, of course, they completely removed the face from their scaled up propeller plane version. I suppose it's possible that they sculpted the hull of the aircraft into a face.... but there's absolutely no reason to expect that's what's going on here.
Keywords: health, statistics, study
I've talked before in this blog about how alternative style thinking about health has become dismayingly commonplace. It even creeps into public policy by official medical bodies, take for example this statement by the surgeon general of the United States: | Scientific evidence indicates that there is no risk-free level of
exposure to secondhand smoke. Breathing even a little secondhand smoke
can be harmful to your health. |
I'm not a smoker, and I certainly don't like breathing in other people's smoke. But the thing is, I searched through the surgeon general's report in which these conclusions are made. It's listed as a "major conclusion" of the report, but no part of the report is referenced as evidence for this conclusion. In fact, no part of the report seems to back up this extreme statement. The reason that this alarms me is because I've spent a lot of time arguing against woo concepts which contend that we're constantly subjected to tiny amounts of "toxins" that are responsible for every form of ill health. I'm always explaining to people that it's the dose that makes the poison. People often have knee-jerk reactions to ingredients in substances like vaccines, foods, and medicines that aren't informed by the state of current scientific knowledge. It's harder to explain to people, for example, why we've concluded that mercury in vaccines is safe because of these reasons when the Surgeon General is actively feeding this kind of paranoia by stating that even the smallest exposure to a substance in passing can endanger your health. There's a good excerpt available from audible.com ( also available in mp3 format) of a book called "Hyping Health Risks" by Geoffrey Kabat. Kabat is a researcher who is fully in favour of restrictions on secondhand tobacco smoke, but he clearly demonstrates that the hyperbole surrounding the issue takes the risk out of all proportion with reality. I believe that this is a symptom of an alternative health type mindset that has made it's way into mainstream medical discourse. Related to this symptom is the current intense focus on "healthy lifestyles" and "wellness" as a means of ensuring greater health. I may have just lost some of you with that last statement. Let me explain myself in more detail.
Keywords: aliens, ancient alien theory, link
Being the dumbass that I am, I only just realized that this Ancient Aliens show that I've been criticizing ( part 1, part 2) is probably on YouTube. The thing is, I realize that these kinds of videos can often be deleted from YouTube without notice, leaving all blogs that have embedded them with broken links. So it's not ideal for writing articles that you hope to be accessible well into the future. But, at least while it's available, I'll display these videos for your viewing pleasure. You can make sure that I'm being fair in my analysis and criticisms of the show, and make comments on statements that I have yet to cover. UPDATE: The clips have been deleted from YouTube. As an alternative, use this link to view the show instead.
Keywords: aliens, ancient alien theory, conspiracy, historical
Time to tackle the next section of evidence presented in episode 1 of Ancient Aliens!  It's another 10 minutes dealing with the kind of evidence that these guys find compelling as reasons to believe that ancient man was visited by beings from the stars. If you haven't already, go ahead and read my review of the first 13 minutes, which looks at their evidence for ancient flying machines. And if you're all caught up, then let's get started!
|
|
 |
|
