oracknows | September 30, 2008After all the recent blogging about John McCain's health and whether his melanoma will recur or his left ptosis is anything other than from benign causes, probably relating to aging, you just know I couldn't pass this story up:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- If John McCain is elected and goes on to win a second term, there's as much as a one-in-four chance America could see its first woman president -- Sarah Palin.
It's actuarial math.
The odds highly favor either McCain or Barack Obama completing a first term in good health. After that, McCain's odds still are still fairly solid, but his chances of…
oracknows | September 30, 2008Yesterday's post was a result of the feeling that I had been getting too snarky for too long a time without doing some serious science or medical blogging. Not that there's anything wrong with being snarky, but a continuous diet of snark eventually gets dull--and not just to readers. However, science blogging is hard. Posts like that take a lot of work (which is why I have a propensity to write such posts over the weekend and post them on Monday). After I do a serious, thoughtful post like that, sometimes I just need a diversion. Sometimes I need to examine something that allows me to deliver…
oracknows | September 29, 2008Ever wonder how it was determined that 98.6° F is the "normal" human body temperature? Ever wonder how that number was determined and how accurate it is?
The Inveterate Persiflager explains.
Not surprisingly, it turns out that "normal" body temperature is more variable and less clear-cut than is commonly thought.
oracknows | September 29, 2008More than two-thirds of breast cancers make the estrogen receptor. What that means is that these tumors have the protein receptor that binds estrogen, which then activates the receptor and causes all the genes that are turned on or off by estrogen to be turned on and off. That's how estrogen acts on normal breast epithelial cells and on breast cancer cells. The significance of this observation is that estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancers respond to estrogen. Indeed, estrogen contributes to their growth, and blocking estrogen is an effective treatment against them. Indeed, that most…
oracknows | September 28, 2008At least when it comes to politics, Saturday Night Live has been pretty funny so far this season:
The resemblance is uncanny. I have to admit, also, that SNL did a pretty good job parodying the first Presidential debate, too, given that the writers and comics had only a little more than 24 hours after the end of the debate to whip up a sketch:
I can't wait to see what The Daily Show and The Colbert Report do with this. Actually, though, given how much both candidates, including Barack Obama, dodged answering direct questions, I think the pie-eating contest mentioned in the sketch would be…
oracknows | September 27, 2008I realize I've been a bit remiss in my usual monthly feature, in which I have until recently featured a photo of our blog mascot from the infamous Fleet Pharmaceuticals calendar. This year's been the most bizarre one of all, a radical departure. One might wonder why I've missed August.
Here's why:
That's one scary image of EneMan. However, I do see some utility to it here. I think I may adopt it as the logo for any post in which Orac applies some serious not-so-Respectful Insolence to someone who is so full of crap that he or she requires our mascot's "little friend" to clean it out.…
oracknows | September 26, 2008You know, I'm really, really beginning to like this Dr. Rahul Parikh guy.
Yesterday, he delivered an absolutely delicious smackdown of that chief propagandist for the mercury militia and antivaccine movement, David Kirby. It was at least seven kinds of awesome, and I was truly grateful to Dr. Parikh for doing it so that I didn't have to. This time around, Dr. Parikh's done me another favor. You see, on Wednesday David Kirby gave a talk to Congressional staffers and a few Congressmen. He was also kind enough to include a link to his slides on the Age of Autism blog, and, indeed, such a huge,…
oracknows | September 26, 2008It figures.
I know, I like to start posts with "it figures," and maybe I do it too often, but this time it really fits. For a moment I thought I was going to have a lot of egg on my face over this, but just for a moment. Yesterday, I wrote a rather extensive post about how some left wing bloggers are going into fits of paranoid conspiracy-mongering frenzy, claiming that John McCain's melanoma was more extensive than advertised and that he is supposedly dying of recurrent melanoma and hiding it from everyone. I spent a lot of effort, not to mention verbiage, explaining why that scenario is…
oracknows | September 25, 2008It's finally here. Once again, the Skeptics' Circle has landed at another skeptical blog, to spread the joy of reason and critical thinking hither and yon throughout the blogosphere. This time, the 96th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle is at Endcycle, and it's another fine addition to the growing list of previous meetings. Go forth and enjoy.
Then be ready for two weeks hence, when once again the Circle will land, with the host for next time scheduled to be Evolved Rationalist at Evolved and Rational. Bloggers, get your skeptical material read to submit and join us here again on October 9.
oracknows | September 25, 2008Less than a month ago, I got a bit perturbed by some vile rhetoric written by a left-wing blogger named Matt Stoller, who referred to John McCain as a "crazy, cancer-ridden dishonest madman." As you recall, I administered a bit of not-so-Respectful Insolence to him. It wasn't so much because I like John McCain. Indeed, I've pretty much decided that McCain is a lost cause, a shadow of his former self. I would have voted for him in 2000, but in the last eight years he's let his ambition to become President utterly destroy whatever honor he had left, a truly sad thing to see given his previous…
oracknows | September 24, 2008I've written about their antics, both silly and vile, many times before.
Animal rights activists in general and PETA in particular. In doing so, I've come to the conclusion that they are so far off their rockers that they are simply impossible to parody. Just yesterday, to reinforce that point, PETA wrote an open letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. It has to be read to be believed:
September 23, 2008
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Cofounders
Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc.
Dear Mr. Cohen and Mr. Greenfield,
On behalf of PETA and our more than 2 million…
oracknows | September 24, 2008As you may have guessed, I'm tired of David Kirby. I've slapped down his nonsense so many times before, but, like the Energizer Bunny, he keeps going and going and going, spewing his pseudoscientific antivaccine nonsense, all the while asking that we really, truly believe that he isn't "antivaccine." He just repackages standard antivaccine tropes in clever and dense verbiage to make them somewhat less obvious--but not to those of us familiar with them.
Most recently, he attacked Dr. Rahul K. Parikh, a pediatrician who wrote an excellent and largely favorable review of Dr. Paul Offit's latest…
oracknows | September 24, 2008Here we go again.
Tuesday night and yesterday, you probably saw it, plastered all over the media, in the newspapers, on ABC, on the radio, in press releases, and around the blogosphere. Yes, it was another bit of science by press release, with news outlets practically falling all over themselves to hype the results of an acupuncture study reported earlier this week at the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO). Leading the pack was ABC News:
A new medical study finds that acupuncture, an ancient form of healing that has been around for thousands…
oracknows | September 23, 2008Thanks to our "friends" at the Age of Autism, I've learned something interesting.
I knew that antivaccinationist "mother warrior" and Indigo Child Supreme Jenny McCarthy was slated to appear tomorrow, September 24, on the television show that arguably serves as the most powerful and pervasive promoter of woo, magical thinking, and dubious health advice in the world, The Oprah Winfrey Show. I hadn't actually planned on watching it (I'm never home when it's on anyway), and setting the DVR to record it for later viewing seems more than I'm willing to do to expose my brain to the neuron-…
oracknows | September 23, 2008If there is one difference that defines scientific medicine compared to "alternative medicine" it is the application of the scientific method to health claims. Science and the scientific method require transparency: transparency in methodology, transparency in results, transparency in data analysis. Because one of the most important aspects of science is the testing of new results by other investigators to see if they hold up, the diligent recording of scientific results is critical, but even more important is the publication of results. Indeed, the most important peer review is not the peer…
oracknows | September 22, 2008Every blogger encounters a post that he wishe he or she had written. Here's one such time, as Prometheus schools us on how alternative practitioners manage to be so persuasive and convincing:
How they do the voodoo that they do so well - Part 1
How they do the voodoo that they do so well - Part 2
oracknows | September 22, 2008Oddly enough, I'm more tired this morning than I was on Friday.
That's the sort of thing that happens when I actually do as much work over the weekend as I often do on two typical weekdays. The reason is that I've suddenly found myself with an unexpected promotion, and--oh, by the way--there's stuff that needs to be done on Monday. Consequently, my originally intended topic for Monday will have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday, mainly because it might require a bit of thought. That's OK. It'll wait. Besides, it'll be much more useful and educational if I have a little time to think about it…
oracknows | September 21, 2008As hard as it is to believe, it's almost here: The 96th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle, which will be appearing on Thursday, September 25. This time around, it's set to land at Endcycle. If you're a skeptical blogger, don't forget to get your best stuff ready by Wednesday.
Now, I've heard from a few of you that there's no contact information for Jeremy at Endcycle on the blog. I've sent him a gentle reminder to post some contact information. In the meantime, if you can't wait, feel free to send me your entries and I'll forward them on.
oracknows | September 21, 2008No, it's not Pink Floyd, but I needed surgery, I'd want these guys trying to wake me up after it was over:
They don't have to sing about it while they're doing it, though. After I'm safely awake and in the recovery room would be fine.
oracknows | September 20, 2008When it rains, it pours (so to speak).
Not wanting to be upstaged by that upstart Sarah Palin making an appearance on a piece of toast, prompting the observation that Sarah Palin is toast, the One True God has decided it is time to show who's really the King of All Pareidolia. I have to admit, though, He's chosen a strange way to do it and a strange place to appear:
That's right. It's Jesus on a ceiling tile:
ARKANSAS CITY, Kan -- He's popped up on trees, sandwiches and even a Cheeto and now Jesus is leaving his mark, so-to-speak, on a ceiling in Arkansas City, Kansas.
The image appeared…