denialism | January 6, 2008This new year is shaping up to be pretty exciting, and part of the changes in my life will be reflected in what I write about on the blog. First let me explain how the MD/PhD program I'm in works, and where I am in it.
The Medical Science Training Program (MSTP) or MD/PhD program is designed to promote bench-to-bedside or translational research. The idea is that if you take medical students and give them a PhD as part of their education they will be more likely to take science from the basic literature (bench research) and translate it to medical care (bedside research) or at least do…
choofnagle | January 4, 2008One last note on my trip to Guatemala--as part of it, we traveled to Tikal, to see the ruins. Here's the view from one of the temples early in the morning.
Okay. So, our tour guide is relating various facts of dubious veracity on the ride to town. And then he says that a new religion has been invented, making my ears perk up. Very earnestly, he says:
It's a combination of science, astrology, and one's own ideas. It is called New Age
I almost fell out of my seat! What a great definition!
denialism | January 4, 2008After ten years the James Randi Educational Foundation is discontinuing its 1 million dollar paranormal challenge.
The James Randi Educational Foundation Million-Dollar Challenge will be discontinued 24 months from this coming March 6th, and those prize funds will then be available to generally add to our flexibility. This move will free us to do many more projects, which will be announced at that time.
I'm disappointed, because that means in two years we will lose one of the best anti-woo tools in the arsenal. That is, the offer of 1 million dollars to any woomeister who can prove their…
denialism | January 3, 2008White Coat Underground has the overmedicalized edition. I'm pleased to see Happy Jihad House of Pancakes arguing for more skepticism in the humanities as part of the circle. And a great post on epidemiology and autism from Andrea.
Orac had some important things to say about consensus, and just to clarify my position on how a skeptic should regard consensus it's simple. It is a sign of crankery to attack consensus as a concept, for example see this nonsense from creationist John West whining about consensus on evolution. However, a big part of being a scientist is challenging various…
choofnagle | January 2, 2008Today's WSJ picks one of Dennis Kucinich's old scabs: just what happened with this whole UFO sighting claim that he made? Remember that back in October, Kucinich mentioned the incident in a debate, but he has smartly kept the matter quiet since. Well, apparently, this incident happened when Kucinich was staying at Shirley Maclaine's house (Maclaine was away at a performance), with Maclaine's security guard, Paul Costanzo, and Costanzo's anonymous ex-girlfriend:
The day was strange from the start. For hours, Mr. Kucinich, Mr. Costanzo and his companion noticed a high-pitched sound. "There…
choofnagle | January 1, 2008Just returned from an excellent trip to Guatemala, where I spent some of my time at Late Atitlan, near San Marcos. So, San Marcos is known as a hippie town, and I thought you'd love to see the various services offered at local businesses. They include (click for full size):
Past-Life Regression, "Introject," Soul Agreements...
Emotional stress release (hmmmmm)
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT, for those of you who use this term frequently), and Neuro-Lymphatic Massage...
choofnagle | December 31, 2007Glenn Simpson reports in today's Journal on how lenders lobbied against state anti-predatory lending laws, with the result of worsening the subprime crisis. While the federal government was asleep at the wheel, or worse, worshiping the "miracle of instant credit," states were trying to protect their residents from being harangued by jackals promoting risky or questionable lending plans. $20M in donations, however, made it possible to roll back protections:
During the housing boom, the subprime industry succeeded at more than just writing mortgages. It also shot down efforts by some states…
choofnagle | December 31, 2007All, I'm sorry for being AWOL on the Denialism Blog. I've just returned from a longish trip with Dr. Girlfriend to Guatemala, where we visited Guatemala City, Lake Atitlan, Antigua, and Tikal. I'll blog soon with some of the outrageous woo we encountered in San Marcos. But for now, enjoy the view from our place on Lake Atitlan!
denialism | December 31, 2007I see that I'm in good company in my curiosity about why Ron Paul enjoys so much crank magnetism. And his crank magnetism and appeal to racist groups can't be denied. Here for instance, is Ron Paul posing with Don Black, culled from the neo-nazi Stormfront website:
Now, I think its unlikely Ron Paul knew who this was when he posed for this shot, but between this and their endorsement of Paul on Stormfront radio, I think it's pretty well confirmed who their candidate is. Also note, this picture was taken at the "Values Voters Presidential Debate" just as a reminder of who "Values Voters"…
denialism | December 31, 2007Bill Kristol will soon have a weekly column in the New York Times. I have to admit, I'm really excited.
You see, Bill Kristol, or as we like to call him Krissandra has a nearly supernatural ability to be wrong. While some might think that the NYT has lost all credibility by hiring someone as unrepentantly incorrect as Kristol, I think they're providing a valuable service.
After all, if we see what Bill Kristol has to say, we always will know that we should do the opposite. He's not a worthless idiot, he's actually a very useful one, simply because he's so consistently incorrect.
denialism | December 26, 2007I'm so confused. I've got Ed telling us that the neo-nazis are claiming them as one of his own, which I would usually dismiss since they're usually just lying about everything. But then I see Ron Paul supporters blame a Jewish Cabal for the allegations? That, and David Duke coming to his defense? I prefer my brother's explanation better, that Ron Paul is really the Drizzle.
I don't have time to piece this together, I've got to drive down to C-ville today. I want a full report on what the hell is going on with all these cranks by the time I get there.
denialism | December 26, 2007Why the Washington Post decided to devote space to libertarian crankery from the Pacific Research Institute, I'll never know, but today's op-ed from Sally Pipes on the evils of governmental interference in diet is a bit much.
The way I see it, obesity cranks recycle 3 arguments over and over. It usually goes: (1) BMIs don't fit everyone (2) the stupid government has arbitrarily changed the definition of overweight to make more people fat and (3) exercise is all that matters anyway and overweight doesn't hurt you.
First, we have BMI's are inaccurate:
The standard metric for this measurement…
denialism | December 25, 2007I had an interesting X-mas week, hanging out with the parents, seeing patients at my mom's general practice and a very different set of patients in clinical studies at the NIH with my father. That, studying, and fulfilling the role of the good son by fixing every piece of technology in the parents' house has been keeping me busy.
And then there was the fun of helping deliver my mom's portuguese water dogs. This further reinforced my feeling that the human reproduction could be improved after watching this dog deliver puppy after puppy about twenty minutes apart with, on average, about 5…
denialism | December 22, 2007Dan Solove brings up some privacy issues with using sitemeter on blogs:
But Site Meter also lists the IP address of each visitor, something that the public really doesn't need to see. An IP address is a unique numerical identifier that is assigned to every computer connected to the Web. It doesn't reveal your name, but it can be used to trace back to the specific computer you used or be linked to your account with an ISP. In other words, your IP address can be used to find out who you are.
...
So all this made me realize that we do have some data about you and we need to construct a privacy…
denialism | December 21, 2007I want to point out two things about the anti-consensus report the anti-AGW denialists are spreading as if it is an actual scientific document. For one, if the first place I read about it is when it's promoted on Uncommon Descent, you immediately lose about 99.9% of your credibility. I'd be a little embarassed if my staunchest allies were people who historically denied the link between cigarettes and cancer - like Milloy and Singer - or those who deny evolutionary science - like the cranks at UD. Maybe they need to stop, try developing some insight into why this is happening, and maybe…
denialism | December 21, 2007Orac alerted me, based on my recent obesity writings, of a new crank obesity attack on science.
This latest is in the form of a rebuttal to Morgan Spurlock's excellent film Supersize me. Comedian Tom Naughton, who has all the charisma of a wet sponge, is making his own documentary Fathead: You've been fed a load of bologna. Here's the trailer:
Aside from the shoddy production, noncharismatic host, and general crankery, I guess it's not so bad. But I am growing concerned about the continual assault on what little good nutritional data is out there, and the misleading tactics of those…
denialism | December 20, 2007Good for Martin Hosting the Skeptics' Circle and keeping out the cranks.
I'm fond of Whiskey Before Breakfasts' entry on just whether the 20th century truly was the bloodiest, and Knudsens News straight-faced description of the failure of doctors to meet chiropractic standard of care.
Enjoy!
denialism | December 20, 2007Except this time it's from the right! Richard Dolinar of the Heartland Institute (a crank tank) writes in TCS Daily that evidence-based medicine (EBM) is bad for patients.
A new buzzword entered the medical lexicon in 1992 when the Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group published one of the first articles on the phenomenon in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). In the years since, the role that evidence-based medicine (EBM) plays in medical care has increased exponentially. Some now question whether it should play such a prominent role.
"[EBM is not] medicine based on…
denialism | December 20, 2007While I can't say for sure the new guy will be any better on HIV/AIDS denialism, it's hard to image he'd be worse than South African President Thabo Mbeki, who just lost power.
The new guy sounds like a nutbag, but maybe we can see this issue, which negatively affects the lives of millions of South Africans, improve under new leadership. The LA Times coverage suggests Zuma will be more assertive on AIDS, but at the same time, there are serious criminal allegations against him and some really disgusting behaviors and actions which diminish enthusiasm.
Time will tell.
denialism | December 20, 2007Recently, it seems there has been a backlash against medicine and the current knowledge of the relationship between diet, weight and overall health. I don't actually believe this is directly the fault of scientists or doctors, who react to the trashy mainstream reporting of science with little more than the occasional raised eyebrow. However, many people in response to all these silly health pronouncements, which seemingly come from on high but really are from press coverage of often minor reports in the medical literature, have lost their trust in what science has to offer as a solution to…