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Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science and co-founder of The Panda's Thumb. He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations and conferences, and appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows and on C-SPAN. Ed is also a Fellow with the Center for Independent Media and the host of Declaring Independence, a one hour weekly political talk show on WPRR in Grand Rapids, Michigan.(static)
Ed Brayton also blogs at Positive Liberty and The Panda's Thumb
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Posted on: August 21, 2010 10:47 AM, by Ed Brayton
The news that Lou Gehrig may not actually have died from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the disease typically referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, has me reconsidering much of what I thought I knew. Nihilism may be setting in soon.
Next you'll tell me that Grant isn't buried in Grant's tomb and that all those kids aren't really Jerry's. I'm depressed.
Orac 02.13.2012
Tim Lambert 02.01.2012
Tim Lambert 09.12.2011
Orac 02.09.2012
ERV 11.26.2011
Comments
Grant isn't buried in Grant's tomb as his sarcophagus is above ground.
Posted by: Alan B. | August 21, 2010 11:22 AM
@Alan B.
Smart-alec
Posted by: GoatRider | August 21, 2010 11:36 AM
I hate to break it to ya, but Joe Jackson wore shoes.
Posted by: Reverend Rodney | August 21, 2010 12:06 PM
Since Gehrig was cremated, the whole did he or didn't he argument is sheer speculation.
Posted by: Romeo Vitelli | August 21, 2010 12:11 PM
Those kids, though? Jerry's, every last one of 'em.
Posted by: Squiddhartha | August 21, 2010 12:20 PM
Reverend Rodney
I can confirm that. I saw him in concert and he was definitely unshoeless. Steppin' Out is one of my all time favs.
Posted by: heddle | August 21, 2010 12:25 PM
Heddle - that you consider crappy 1980's style muzak your "all time fav.", strangely, is not at all surprising. = Dingo
Posted by: DingoJack | August 21, 2010 12:37 PM
DJ,
Crappy! Joe Jackson's New-Wave (for me) jazzy mixes--why they rock! Of course, you're from the nation who glorified Olivia Newton John and Helen Reddy, so I do need to bow to your cultural superiority!
But all joking aside I concede that my music tastes aren't so sophisticated. But I still love Joe Jackson.
Posted by: heddle | August 21, 2010 1:04 PM
Right. And next you'll be telling me Caesar wasn't born by means of a Caesarian ...
Posted by: Fifth Dentist | August 21, 2010 1:05 PM
Heddle - Which says a shit-load about you and nothing about me, congratulations :) - Dingo
Posted by: DingoJack | August 21, 2010 1:13 PM
White rhinos aren't white, black rhinos aren't black, Thomas Crapper didn't invent the toilet, and most bats aren't actually blind.
Posted by: Kapitano | August 21, 2010 1:14 PM
DJ,
Whatever. Geez, it was a lighthearted comment about a different Joe Jackson. It wasn't meant to start something dark. Buzz off.
Posted by: heddle | August 21, 2010 1:17 PM
heddle, for what it's worth, I'm with you on this one. DingoJack, pistols at dawn!
Posted by: Squiddhartha | August 21, 2010 1:41 PM
Yeah...joe jackson...saw him in concert in Dublin in 1979.Before the event i went to a nearby pub and he was in there having a few pints of beer with the support band...Rocky Devalera and the Gravediggers since you ask...Good rockin show but he went more soulful after that and seemed to disappear.
Posted by: Dublinbay | August 21, 2010 1:58 PM
Australia also gave us the Bee Gees and Men at Work--almost worth violating ANZUS just so we can retaliate for that!
But of course it also gave us the Little River Band, AC/DC, Midnight Oil, and Nick Cave (Boys Next Door, the Birthday Party), so I guess the good far outweighs the bad.
I'm still not sure what side of the balance INXS falls on, though. Great hooks, inane lyrics.
Posted by: James Hanley | August 21, 2010 2:40 PM
I've also got to give the Aussies credit for the Wiggles. My daughter loves them, and they are not nearly as annoying as a lot of other preschooler music.
Posted by: Ted H. | August 21, 2010 3:06 PM
Hot Potato
Posted by: 386sx | August 21, 2010 3:24 PM
If Lou Gehrig didn't die of ALS Ithink we should stsrt calling it Woody Guthry disease.
Posted by: Paen | August 21, 2010 3:47 PM
@ 18, we have a winner in this thread.
Posted by: Dr X | August 21, 2010 3:51 PM
Sorry to rain on your parade, Paen, but Woody Guthrie died of Huntington's chorea (now called Huntington's disease), which is something different.
Posted by: Chris Winter | August 21, 2010 4:32 PM
We could still call it Stephen Hawking's Disease, though!
Posted by: Squiddhartha | August 21, 2010 5:22 PM
Re "Shoeless" Joe Jackson
Interestingly enough, after he was permanently kicked out of baseball, Mr. Jackson and his wife went beck to North Carolina where they opened a laundry service and made considerably more money in that profession then he ever made as a baseball player, showing what a cheap goat fucking piece of filth Charles Comiskey was.
Posted by: SLC | August 21, 2010 6:02 PM
To quote National Lampoon: "Remember, they're all Jerry's kids. 'Cause I like to fuck retards."
Posted by: Ian Gould | August 21, 2010 6:39 PM
Maybe. I seem to remember that his first symptom was falling down some stairs and hitting his head. What if cause and effect were mixed up?
Posted by: Twewi | August 21, 2010 7:14 PM
I saw Little River Band at our local Harborfest, Oswego NY 2010, a few weeks back. Their music was never my first choice but they were pros--as was Kansas, the next night--and the crowd loved it. My favorite Australian musician these days is Geoff Acheson/Achison (it appears to be spelled both ways):
http://www.geoffachison.com/Home/tabid/36/language/en-US/Default.aspx.
I think he's from Melbourne.
Posted by: democommie | August 21, 2010 9:33 PM
"Lou Gehrig Probably Died of Lou Gehrig's Disease" http://neurocritic.blogspot.com/2010/08/lou-gehrig-probably-died-of-lou-gehrigs.html
Posted by: Michelle Dawson | August 21, 2010 11:22 PM
Sqid - you really don't get the whole duelling thing do you? You challenged me, I decide the weapons to be used.
I choose barleycorns! :)
Haddle - Don't forget (or forgive) ABBA, if not for Australia they would have been obscure Eurovision winners. :D - Dingo
Posted by: DingoJack | August 21, 2010 11:51 PM
But was Kenesaw Mountain Landis really 17 feet tall?
Posted by: Benjamin Geiger | August 22, 2010 2:15 AM
Sorry, don't know about Grant or Jerry. What I do know is there never were any towers at the WTC site. They were the holographic projections, maintained 24x7 by increasingly elderly orbiting holographic projectors, which were starting to fail. So Mossad decided it was time to end the hoax, and hired Halliburton to fly some explosive-laden planes into the projected images, carefully timed to detonate just as the plane “crashed” into the non-existent tower. Ancient scrolls buried alongside Shakespeare's original manuscripts beneath the Great Pyramid not only confirm this account, they also reveal where Nostradamus is hiding and that Elvis is Obama's secret love-child. The mother, however, remains a mystery.
Sorry to have depressed you.
Posted by: blf | August 22, 2010 9:07 AM
blf @ #29:
The mother's identity was revealed when Haley's comet passed the Big Dipper, temporarily rearranging the stars into a Mayan glyph representing her name. How many saw it?
Posted by: Reverend Rodney | August 22, 2010 9:42 AM
Rev Rodney, no-one yet, because the signal doesn't reach Earth until December 21, 2012. Actually, it already has reached Planet X (Nibiru), whose inhabitants realise the danger and are flying their planet Sun-wards to warn the mice. The dolphins have already figured it out and will be departing soon.
Posted by: blf | August 22, 2010 11:53 AM
This news point up the distinction between science and religious superstition. All conclusions in science are tentative and are always subject to falsification, upon the discovery of more information. In the case of Lou Gehrig, the current knowledge and diagnostic procedures for ALS are far in advance of what was available in 1939 (CT scans, MRIs, PET scans, etc.). Thus, it should not be surprising that a diagnosis made in 1939, using the tools that were available at that time, might possibly be found to be wrong.
Posted by: SLC | August 22, 2010 11:57 AM
So if Lou Gehrig didn't die from Lou Gehrig's Disease, does that mean he's still alive?
Posted by: Tim H | August 22, 2010 1:22 PM
They shoulda froze his head; then we'd a knowed for sure!
On second thought, maybe not: http://www.newser.com/story/70835/ted-williams-frozen-head-treated-like-a-baseball.html
Posted by: SharonB | August 23, 2010 2:20 PM