Denialism

Author: MarkH

  • Michael Moore’s Sicko (or why Orac should relent and go see this movie)

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    MarkH
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    I went to see Michael Moore’s Sicko last night and it is truly worthy of being seen by every American. I say that knowing how many feel about Michael Moore and his tendency towards spectacle. I hope that people can set aside whatever prejudice they have towards Moore and see this movie. This is a…

  • PZ and Rosenhouse are correct

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    We’ve had another framing fight on scienceblogs today. Here’s the timeline: Nisbet beats up a strawman of Atheists comparing themselves to women or blacks or gays in terms of civil rights struggle, and then asserts there are no violations of atheist civil rights – they’re just unpopular. The commenters find cause to disagree with him…

  • Police work works

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    The British have foiled another terrorist attack. This makes me think of two things. Using the military for what should be done with police and investigative work is nuts. And I really hope they weren’t planning to use some common item one might carry on an airplane. We’ve already had fluids banned despite the physical…

  • Chimps have souls!

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    Take that Egnor! Altruism — helping another with no expectation of personal reward — was once thought to be a uniquely human trait, The Times of London reported. However, in recent experiments, chimpanzees repeatedly helped humans who appeared to be struggling to reach a stick within the animal’s enclosure. The chimps, which were interacting with…

  • Friday Cat Blogging

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    Name this cat. She appears to be a a Russian blue with silver coat, green eyes and mauve footpads. Although being a shelter cat, this could be pure accident. Her first google search was RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. And so far names in the running go from the simple Gray to Lucia. It’s kitten season, and many more…

  • Sicko

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    Anyone want to go see sicko with me? It’s playing in Charlottesville tomorrow night and I plan on catching a 7:30 showing on the downtown mall.

  • How many studies does it take to satisfy a crank?

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    David Kirby asks us to move the goalposts one more time on the vaccines-cause-autism question. Epidemiologic studies have shown no link. The Institute of Medicine has looked at the evidence for the link between mercury and autism and found it to be specious. Thimerosal has been removed, to no effect. Throughout the Autism Omnibus proceedings…

  • Crank Magnetism

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    MarkH
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    Back when we wrote the Unified Theory of the Crank one of the main things we discussed related to crankery is their inability to recognize competence in others. As a result, cranks tend not to mind the crankery of others, since they see themselves as opposed to a scientific orthodoxy. Consistency be damned, they just…

  • Want to hear a dirty little secret?

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    The New York Times writes an editorial about hospital rankings based on mortality of medicare patients from cardiac disease, and not surprisingly, misses the point on metrics of patient survival comparisons between hospitals. Famed medical institutions like Johns Hopkins, the Cleveland Clinic and Massachusetts General Hospital are lumped into the broad national average category when…

  • CNN covers “the Secret”

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    MarkH
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    And actually doesn’t make a hash of it. If CNN actually dedicated this much effort to all their journalism, people might actually emerge from their site more informed than when they showed up – a rare occurrence. For those of you who haven’t heard of “the Secret”, it’s the latest woo-laden self-help nonsense that proposes…