Denialism

Author: MarkH

  • Eulogy

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    MarkH
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    My father-in-law wore his nickname without irony. His was the kind of nickname that would be tough to bear on the playground, but despite being a teacher for decades, any juvenile thoughts wouldn’t have crossed his mind. I don’t think he knew how to be insulted. And while he may not have been easy to…

  • Merry Xmas!

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    MarkH
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    As many of you may know, I’m not a Christian. That’s right, the whole Jesus thing kinda passed my by. It’s not that I have anything against your Lord, I just don’t give him much thought. Except now. This is the time of year when people wish me a Merry Christmas, then back peddle, embarrassed,…

  • Science-free holiday post–FOOD!

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    MarkH
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    OK, this is a meme that I’ve always wanted to do (at least since this morning). It will involve no tagging, no involuntary contributions, just some cool info sharing. We all have favorite restaurants, places we can drop in for a favorite meal. What I’m interested in is not the best gourmet places, but the…

  • Smackdown, please (yes, Egnor, I’m talking to you)

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    Arrogance. It’s always about arrogance. Arrogance is the Great Distractor in science. It is a half-a-dozen logical/rhetorical fallacies rolled into one—argumentum ad ignorantium, non sequitur, tu quoque, ad hominem, straw man (yes, that’s not six yet, but I gotta give myself some flexibility here). These fallacies aren’t just rhetorical toys to play with in the…

  • Hi, Mom!

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    MarkH
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    It’s another cold, snowy day in Michigan, and while I was busy stamping out disease, PalMom was looking out her window at the snow. Perching on a branch was this beauty, which I believe to be a red-tailed hawk. Please correct me if I’m wrong. This raptor is no dummy. There’s a bird feeder a…

  • Podcast update

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    MarkH
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    OK, we’ve got a second episode up, with much better ones to come, including, hopefully, some rather heated discussions with a few interesting guests. Interestingly, if you click on the link above in Firefox, you are taken to the rss feed. If you do it in IE, you get an error. So, either use iTunes…

  • What is an internist, and why should you care?

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    MarkH
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    A (long) while back, I gave you a brief explanation of what an “internist” is. I later gave you a personal view of primary care medicine and some of the challenges involved in creating an infrastructure of primary care (only 2% of American medical grads are going into primary care). We also had a little…

  • Skeptics’ Circle 102 at Happy Jihad’s House of Pancakes

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    MarkH
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    Please check out this week’s skeptics’ circle at Happy Jihad’s House of Pancakes. Of note, I liked Dr Austs’ post on the human toll of HIV/AIDS denialism, it is stirring. I also found the Skeptic’s field guide particularly interesting. I would have two suggestions. One would be to prioritize by frequency of use or rhetorical…

  • Doctoring in real life

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    There’s been a lot of talk about the work hours of resident physicians. Given that sleep deprivation has been shown to impair various aspects of human performance, it certainly seems reasonable to limit the level of “resident impairment”. But we have surprisingly little data to work from. And, for better or worse, physicians post-residency don’t…

  • It’s back! Get ready for the flu

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    MarkH
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    Yes, it’s that time of year again. Last year, I gave you weekly flu updates from the CDC and from my position on the front line. So far, it’s still quiet. I haven’t personally seen any cases yet, but I’m sure to soon enough. It’s not too late to get vaccinated. Wash your hands frequently.…