Denialism

Month: April 2008

  • Cult of Scientology update

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    MarkH
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    There are a few news items worth mentioning. The daughter of a Norwegian politician killed herself after taking a “personality test” at a Scientology cult office near her dormitory. Given the cult’s history, I can see why folks would like to draw a causal connection here, but there aren’t many details in the news reports.…

  • Syphilis!

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    MarkH
    in

    Southeast Michigan’s Genesee county is experiencing an outbreak of syphilis. The largest city in the county is Flint, made (in)famous in Michael Moore’s film Roger and Me. Syphilis is a nasty sexually transmitted disease with an interesting history. It may have originated in the New World. It was the subject of the infamous “Tuskegee Experiment”.…

  • Mike Adams – Hysterical Luddite of the Natural Food Movement

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    MarkH
    in

    Sometimes I just can’t get too angry about some particularly insane rant from a denialist. In this case, HIV/AIDS denialist, scientific medicine denialist and all-around crank Mike Adams rants about the prospect of food sterilization by irradiation: Let’s be blunt about this: The corporations running this country (which also run the U.S. government) want the…

  • Expelled makes me sick, or it would if I were allowed to see it

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    MarkH
    in

    If you haven’t been keeping up, let me give you a quick heads up about this whole Expelled brouhaha. A bunch of lying Creationist cultists decided to make a film whining about how oppressed Creationist “scientists” are. Ben Stein got involved somehow. They hoodwinked a bunch of real scientists into talking to them. They excluded…

  • National poetry month

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    MarkH
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    It’s all the buzz around here, so it’s my turn to share some interesting verse with you. Death and dying is a common topic of discussion with my patients and colleagues. Some of these are well-known to all, some of them aren’t, but I enjoy all of them.

  • Read intelligently because the next crank you read may be your last

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    MarkH
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    A reader of ours ran into a questionable book ad, and being a good citizen, sent it on to me. I glanced at it, and it seemed to be the usual silly book purporting to cure all that ails, but on deeper inspection, it was much uglier. The book says that it “renders insulin and…

  • Women physicians—a waste of a good education?

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    MarkH
    in ,

    Think about your own experiences—you’re at a party or a restaurant, and someone you’re with says something obviously racist. You cringe, but given the setting, you can’t decide how to react; after a pause, you probably decide to say something. Now imagine you’re at meeting for work, and a senior partner says something racist. You…

  • Homeopathy Awareness Week?

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    MarkH
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    Skepchick has apparently discovered that, as of yesterday, this is World Homeopathy Awareness Week. (Yes, starts on a Thursday…they were going to start on Monday, but the succussion took a while.) Well, I can get behind a public service like this. My contribution will be a side-to-side comparison of a homeopathic treatment and a real…

  • Alternative medicne and the straight line to AIDS denialism

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    MarkH
    in

    In order to bring you your daily dose of science, the Great Seed Overlords must pay the bills. Like any other medium, one of the ways this is done is by selling ad space. Internet ad engines generally have some sort of algorithm that choses ads based on the page content, thereby targeting readers’ interests.…

  • Skeptics’ Circle #84—read it today!

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    MarkH
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    The new Skeptics’ Circle is up at Archeoporn. Never miss an episode!