Denialism

Month: October 2008

  • Health priorities

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    MarkH
    in

    I made a mistake. First, I got a little worked up during last night’s debate because, when discussing health problems, both candidates gave shout-outs to relatively rare conditions rather than to the big killers. My second mistake was more grievous. I read something in HuffPo written by Deirdre Imus. No one brings the stupid quite…

  • Why should I trust you?

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    by

    MarkH
    in ,

    On call one night as a medical student, I was presenting a case to my intern. As I recounted the patient’s ER course, the intern stopped me and said, “Pal — trust no one.” That sounded a little harsh to me, but the intern was nice enough to explain further. “Look, you’re going to be…

  • Tissue is the issue–revised version

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    MarkH
    in

    NB: images in this post are thought to be in the public domain, but were not well labeled, so if you feel they have been posted without proper attribution, please email me or leave a comment. Thanks. Also, this is a revision of a post from yesterday which I’ve pulled secondary to ethical concerns. I’ve…

  • Here Comes the Downturn Denialism

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    Chris
    in

    We have not played with the Denialists’ Deck of Cards for some time! Let’s pick them up again, because the economic downturn gives all sorts of businesses the opportunity to play the “Bear Market” card. Stephen Power brings it in today’s Wall Street Journal: “We know something needs to be done [to cut emissions], but…

  • Hmm…ethics…

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    MarkH
    in

    Ok, I pulled my post while considering ethical issues, viz this conversation: Dianne, PAL: I’m out of my depth here, so could you address what the ethical boundaries are for describing a case (even without personal identification) on an open board? I’ve always dealt with that one by Just Don’t — and I know it’s…

  • Breathing 102—bringing the woo

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    MarkH
    in

    (This one is cross-posted over at Science-Based Medicine. FYI. –PalMD) If you’ve been a regular reader of SBM or denialism blog, you know that plausibility plays an important part in science-based medicine. If plausibility is discounted, clinical studies of improbable medical claims can show apparently positive results. But once pre-test probability is factored in, the…

  • Who broke ScienceBlogs?

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    MarkH
    in

    Yeah, we know things aren’t working right. Comments are timing out, but that’s the least of it. Our techies aren’t sure yet what’s going on, but they are putting extra hamsters on the treadmill working extra hard trying to get things moving smoothly again. Meanwhile, if you comment and it times out on you, don’t…

  • Breathing 101

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    MarkH
    in

    A letter from a reader (thank you, Mr. “Smith”) got me thinking—could the fight against improbable medical claims be aided by a better knowledge of science? In another attempt to bring complicated science to the masses, today we will learn a bit about how we breathe. The first thing we need to understand is what…

  • Is this for real? Racist attacks on Obama from all sides

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    MarkH
    in

    I hate having to repost this but there’s a reason. If you watch the GOP rally’s lately, they are becoming filled with hate, with near-violence, with hyperbole calling Obama as terrorist. McCain isn’t my candidate, but that’s it—I may not agree with him, but I know he’s no terrorist; I know he’s not evil. But…

  • [UPDATED] GG Bridge Suicide Net: Nanny State or Smart Intervention? (Or Both?)

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    by

    Chris
    in

    It seems as though officials have been arguing forever about whether to erect an anti-suicide net along the Golden Gate Bridge. On Friday, the bridge directors voted 14-1 in favor of creating such a net: …the stainless-steel net system, which would be placed 20 feet below the deck, and would collapse around anyone who jumped…