Announcements
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Category archives for Announcements
Idiotic comment of the week
Posted by Orac on November 8, 2009 In a nod to fellow ScienceBlogger Ed Brayton, with his hilarious Dumbass Quote of the Day, I hereby inaugurate the “Idiotic Comment of the Week,” culled from this very blog. I don’t guarantee that I’ll do it every week, but when I see neuron-necrosing idiocy below and beyond the usual call of pseudoscientists and quackery…
The 123rd Congregation of the Skeptics’ Circle…
Posted by Orac on November 5, 2009 The 123 Congregation of the Skeptics’ Circle will now come together over at Blue Genes, in which Simplicio is schooled in skepticism. Sort of. Go. Read. Don’t be like Simplicio. Next up to host the Skeptics’ Circle will be Beyond the Short Coat. Start getting your skeptical blogging skills wound up to participate in this…
A brief time out for self-congratulation and thanks…
Posted by Orac on November 1, 2009 I just looked over my statistics for the month of October 2009, and I was shocked. Pleasantly shocked, but shocked nonetheless. Why do I say that? I say that because traffic from October 2009 is more than twice the traffic from October 2008. Moreover, it’s not an anomaly. Although there have been fluctuations in traffic…
Submit! Submit to the Skeptics’ Circle
Posted by Orac on October 31, 2009 It’s almost here, and it’s almost time! The 123rd Meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle is fast approaching. This time around it will be here on Thursday, November 5. That means skeptical bloggers out there don’t have much time to get their best recent work to Colin at Blue Genes for inclusion. Guidelines for what we’re…
This must go. Now.
Posted by Orac on October 22, 2009 Apparently, some of my readers in Canada are getting this when they look at any of my Suzanne Somers posts: No other country seems to be affected; at least, no readers from other countries have reported the problem to me. This will not do. The Overlords have been informed. In the meantime, if you are…
Oops I did it again! The 120th Meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle
Posted by Orac on September 25, 2009 Damn them Europeans and their being five or six hours ahead! They screw me up when it comes to plugging the Skeptics’ Circle. Oh, wait. This time around I’m a day late. Rats. My excuse doesn’t work. Never mind… In any case, longtime commenter at RI (who also has his own most excellent blog), Kristjan…
It’s baaaacck…
Posted by Orac on September 24, 2009 Hurt, but not defeated, the humongous giant clam…. Wait. Wrong story. Actually Science-Based Medicine is back. Finally. Go. Read. Enjoy. Particularly a bit about crank conferences.
And Science-Based Medicine is still down…arrrrrgggh!
Posted by Orac on September 22, 2009 Science-based Medicine, a place where sometimes a “friend” of mine pontificates, is temporarily down. Recently, the SBM crew moved the blog to a new server. Beginning over the last two or three weeks, the blog became buggy. Very buggy. Response times became painfully slow, and then last Friday SBM went down and stayed down nearly…
It’s almost here: The 120th Meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle
Posted by Orac on September 21, 2009 The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Lengend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. Or something. What I do know is that the Wheel has turned once again and a new meeting of the Skeptics’…
Science-Based Medicine is down…again
Posted by Orac on September 21, 2009 Given how many of you read this blog and Science-Based Medicine, I thought I should make an announcement. Sometime this morning or early this afternoon, the Science-Based Medicine blog went down, returning only a cryptic message saying that the site has been “suspended.” This is the second time it’s gone completely down, the first being…
Science-Based Medicine is down
Posted by Orac on September 18, 2009 Given how many of you read this blog and Science-Based Medicine, I thought I should make an announcement. Sometime earlier this morning after 7 AM but before around 10 AM, the Science-Based Medicine blog went down, returning only a cryptic message saying that the site has been “suspended.” The SBM team is aware of the…
We’re #1! We’re #1! How is this possible? Or is it?
Posted by Orac on September 16, 2009 This can’t be right. As I was perusing the blog a little while ago, I noticed this: That can’t be right, can it? This blog can’t be number one by any measure, be it the Healthcare100.com or anything else. It has to be a bug in the software. Top ten, I can believe. Number one,…
Reading the entrails: The 119th Meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle
Posted by Orac on September 10, 2009 It’s that time again, time for another meeting of that–choke!–”venerable” blog carnival known as the Skeptic’s Circle. Sorry, it just bugs me that the Circle I took over four years ago is now counted as “venerable.” Oh, well. In any case, this time around, it’s at Cubik’s Rube (great name for a blog, BTW), and…
Send a Grrl to Antarctica
Posted by Orac on September 9, 2009 I can’t help but have noticed that one of our own, GrrlScientist, is in the running to be selected as the blogger to go on a trip to Antarctica and blog from there with the Quark Expedition in February. As of my checking, Grrl is in third place. I have no doubt that She’d do…
Fast approaching: The 119th Meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle
Posted by Orac on September 6, 2009 Here in the U.S., it’s smack dab in the middle of a three day holiday weekend. Given that, I’m chilling for a while. There’s some new material tomorrow, but today I have to head out for a celebration of my father-in-law’s 70th birthday and, between that , to work on a talk I have to…
Grassroots skepticism
Posted by Orac on September 4, 2009 Now here’s one thing we skeptics could use more of: Imagine you’re moving to a new city, and you want to see what skeptic-themed events or groups are available. Wouldn’t it be awesome if there was one central place you could go, plug in the destination, and get a list of skeptical stuff to do?…
Skeptical Blog Anthology 2009: Start nominating, people!
Posted by Orac on September 2, 2009 As the person entrusted with the skeptical bloggy goodness that arrives every other week in the form of the Skeptics’ Circle, how could I refuse to hawk something like this e-mail: Inspired by the annual The Open Laboratory, the Skeptical Blog Anthology is a printed anthology of blog posts voted the very best of 2009,…
Skeptics in the Pub, Michigan style
Posted by Orac on August 21, 2009 I realize that this is a little late, but for those of you in southeast Michigan who might be able to make it, there’s going to be an attempt at an inaugural Skeptics in the Pub. Thanks to fellow ScienceBlogger and skeptical rogue PalMD and even more so thanks a couple of his similarly skeptical…
More ammunition against the anti-vaccine movement
Posted by Orac on August 19, 2009 Time and time again, I’ve had requests from readers for good resources for countering the nonsense emanating from the anti-vaccine movement. Time and time again, I’ve pointed out sites like Every Child By Two and The Vaccine Education Center. Now, thanks to the efforts of some friends of mine, especially Steve Novella, there is another…
Holy crap, I’m slipping a subluxation and need a readjustment: The 117th Meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle
Posted by Orac on August 15, 2009 Yikes! How did I forget to plug the Skeptics’ Circle? This time around, it’s the Skeptics Circle #117: The Chiropractic Edition and it’s here to readjust your subluxated skepticism. Or something. Either way, it’s a hoot. I do fear one thing though. Mike Meadon referred to the Skeptics’ Circle as “venerable.” Back when a blogger…
The 116th Meeting of the Skeptics Circle: One emergency room you really, really don’t want to
Posted by Orac on July 30, 2009 It’s that time yet again, time for another meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle. This time around, Beyond the Short Coat hosts a nightmare. No, really, a nightmare. Remember Mitchell and Web’s vision of what a Homeopathic A & E would look like? The 116th Meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle goes way, way beyond that. Here’s…
Up all night
Posted by Orac on July 30, 2009 The last couple of nights, I guess, have proven that Orac is not quite as durable as his namesake. Having been up nearly all night working against a deadline for my Komen Foundation grant application and only gotten a couple of hours of sleep each of the last couple of nights, this morning, I’ve got…
Fast approaching: The 116th Meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle
Posted by Orac on July 26, 2009 As hard as it is to believe, it’s been a week and a half since the last time the skeptics of the Skeptics’ Circle met. The next meeting will soon be upon it, but it can’t happen unless you make it happen. This time it will be hosted at Beyond the Short Coat, and instructions…
The 115th Meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle: A Skeptical Journey Through the Universe
Posted by Orac on July 17, 2009 It may be a day late, but it was worth it. The latest installment of the Skeptics’ Circle, that long-running blog carnival of skepticism and critical thinking (hey, four and a half years is a really long time in the blogosphere). This time around, let TechSkeptic take you on A Skeptical Journey Through the Universe,…
One last TAM7 request…
Posted by Orac on July 15, 2009 Before I close the book on the Science-Based Medicine Conference and TAM7 for 2009, I have a quick request of you, my readers. Specifically, I’d really appreciate it if any of you who were at the SBM Conference and/or TAM7 and took pictures, to send me copies, preferably full resolution. As you might guess, at…