Of course Valentine's Day is the right time for skepticism! What better time? If you don't believe me, visit Bug Girl's Blog for the 80th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle: Valentine Edition! She'll show you why there's no time like today for a healthy dose of critical thinking. Next up is (I think) Sorting Out Science on February 28. I would be remiss in my organizing duties, however, if I didn't inform you that it is quite possible that there might be a change in hosts before then. Don't worry, though. For now, just send submissions both to Sam Wise and me. If a host switch occurs, I'll make…

It figures again. I go a few days without Internet access again, and not only does Generation Rescue take out a full page antivaccination ad full of stupidity in USA Today, which I couldn't resist opening both barrels on earlier, but a study's lead senior author is someone I know (albeit not well) about three topics I'm very interested in: breast cancer, health information on the Internet, and so-called "complementary and alternative" medicine. Not surprisingly, in my absence blog stalwarts Abel Pharmboy and Steve Novella already beat me to it in fine form. You might ask if that would in any…

It figures. I'm deprived of full Internet access for a few days, and--wouldn't you know it?--the merry band of antivaccinationists over at Generation Rescue have to go and provide yet more evidence to back up what I've been saying all along about the mercury militia, namely that, once again, J. B. Handley's protestations otherwise, it really, truly is all about the vaccines, not the mercury. It always was. This new bit of confirmation of what I've said time and time again comes in the form of a full page ad taken out in USA Today on February 12 that I found about thanks to the credulous…

I'm baaack. Well, thanks to free WiFi at Panera's, I was never really truly away. Thanks to Comcast, I was away longer than usual. In any case, although between waiting for Internet access, running errands, and doing some snowblowing last night, I didn't have time to do the usual epic substantive posts that I'm known (and either loved or hated) for. That's unfortunate, because it figures that when I go three or four days without any Internet access other than that I can manage to find by having lunch or getting coffee at a place with free WiFi, lots of things that I would have liked to…

Oops, they did it again. You think the media would learn after the last time, but no.... There it was on Friday greeting me on the ABC News website: "Study: Acupuncture May Boost Pregnancy" in bold blue letters, with the title of the webpage being "Needles Help You Become Pregnant." Wow, what a claim! Naturally, I had to know more. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view) The story began: It sounds far-fetched sticking needles in women to help them become pregnant but a scientific review suggests that acupuncture might improve the odds of conceiving if done right before…

I hate you, Comcast. I really do. My hatred of Comcast also explains the paucity of activity on this blog over the last few days. You see, over the weekend, I moved to a larger house, and I've had no Internet access other than Panera's or Starbucks for the last three days. Before that, I had lined up a couple of brief posts over the weekend, as well as a rerun for this morning in anticipation of being back up and running this afternoon. Instead, here I am in Panera's having a tasty lunch but also posting a brief rant and explanation composed right after my encounter with Comcast. I went from…

As I mentioned, I was on the road over the weekend. Unfortunately, that means I didn't manage to come up with a new post for this morning. That's OK, though. Off to the archives we go. This post originally appeared on February 7, 2006. Holy crap! That's over two years ago! Enjoy (I hope). Fear not, new stuff will appear this afternoon or tomorrow. I just didn't manage to have time to finish today's intended post and bring it up to the high standards I demand. If I have time I'll tune it and post it this afternoon. Nonmedical people always seem to have a conception of surgery as being a…

Nooooo! Why do I do it? Why? It only raises my blood pressure and probably contributes to atherosclerosis, stress, and all sorts of other things likely to shorten my lifespan. But I do it anyway. In my interest in Holocaust denial, I keep an eye on a fair number of Holocaust denial and white nationalist (or, as I like to call them, white power rangers) sites. It's usually the vile stuff that you'd expect, replete nasty and vicious attacks on Jews, blacks, or any other race that is "destroying our nation" or race or worse, diluting it out with all sorts of horrific multicultural miscegenation…

I'm on the road for the weekend, and Internet access will likely be spotty until sometime Monday afternoon. Does that mean Orac has abandoned his readers? O ye of little faith! Of course not! There are scheduled posts in the meantime; that is, assuming that ScienceBlog's post scheduling feature doesn't let me down. Lately, it's been--shall we say?--rather less than reliable. So if my scheduled posts don't show up or, as seems to be more common, don't show up until hours after they were originally scheduled, it's not my fault. Really. They're there. First up, never let it be said that I've…

It's clear from the treacly ads that are clogging the airwaves that Valentine's Day is near. For those of us who tend to find Valentine's Day (and, even worse, that knockoff holiday Sweetest Day) annoying, it's a bad time of the year, particularly since in these parts February is the most depressing time of the year anyway. Fortunately, if you're a skeptic, another "holiday" of sorts falls on the very same date as Valentine's Day. Yes, it's yet another Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle, that blog carnival for skepticism and critical thinking. This time around, appropriately enough for Valentine…

In the year and a half or so that I've been doing Your Friday Dose of Woo, I must admit that I've come across some truly weird stuff. Stuff so weird that, after reading it, you wonder either, "How on earth could someone seriously think something like this is true or would work?" or "How can anyone be so unscrupulous as to scam people like this?" Not infrequently, both questions come to mind simultaneously. Other times, I realize that it's fundamentalist religion of some sort or bizarre spiritual quasi-religious beliefs that are behind the woo. I've also started to notice recurring themes,…

Nooooo! I thought I might be safe. It's been a really long time since I've had to hang my head in shame and contemplate covering it with a paper bag because of creationist pontifications of a fellow physician bringing shame upon our shared profession. It had even been longer since I had dealt with Dr. Geoffrey Simmons, a particularly clueless "intelligent design" creationist. And don't even get me started on the whole "Physicians and Surgeons Who Dissent from Darwinism" silliness started by the Discovery Institute. Now P.Z. Myers informs me that Dr. Simmons is back and dumber than ever…

I was perusing my newsfeeds last night looking for topics for Your Friday Dose of Woo this week when I came across what, initially at least, I considered to be primo material for my weekly bit of fun at the expense of the more far out excursions into woo. Then I thought about it some more. Early in the history of YFDoW, I admit that I did a couple of misfires. Perhaps the most notorious misfire was when I decided to take on the German New Medicine. Certainly the woo was there and it was good, but I quickly regretted taking such a lighthearted approach to this topic because it quickly became…

...when it comes to "9/11 Truthers": (Click on the picture for the rest of the cartoon.) You know, the same thing could be said about creationists, HIV/AIDS denialists, and many "CAM" mavens.

I sometimes feel a bit guilty beating up on homeopathy. It just seems like beating up on a blind man. The feeling passes quickly, of course, but it's at least somewhat understandable. Homeopathy is so patently ridiculous from a scientific standpoint that watching homeopaths try to justify and defend a therapy that consists of substances that are usually so diluted that there is not a single molecule remaining by invoking the "memory" of water or even quantum theory is, in a perverse way, entertaining to a skeptic like me. I'm always waiting to see what sort of strange analogy or explanation…

I love it when advocates of "alternative" medicine start combining their therapies. Well, I don't "love" it because they are combining two wildly improbable therapies so much as I love it for the entertainment value. Here's one that didn't quite reach the level of craziness needed for Your Friday Dose of Woo but that I can't resist mentioning. It's the combination of the ultimate woo with one of the most popular forms of woo. I have two words for you: Homeopathy and acupuncture. What an excellent combination! They call it "acupoint injection therapy" because they inject homeopathic remedies…

I hadn't planned on blogging about vaccines again for a while. Really, I hadn't. Even I realize the risk of beating the proverbial dead horse just one time too often. Also, It seems that I've been writing about antivaccination loons a lot lately, even more than usual. However, aside from a prime time spot for antivaccinationist propganda, the news has been mostly good, with study after study poking holes below the waterline in the hull of the rickety rustbucket of a boat that is the whole antivaccinationist belief that vaccines cause autism. Here's another one. This time, in yet another in a…

...posterior: MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russians visiting a health resort received a rude shock when a nurse used hydrogen peroxide instead of water to give them enemas. Itar-Tass news agency reported Thursday that 17 tourists in the Caucasus spa town of Yessentuki had to be treated in hospital after the mix-up. All I can say is...ouch! It's a wonder none of them burned a hole in the colon and needed an emergency operation. What would EneMan think? But what's really funny is the excuse for the mixup: Sources at the sanatorium said the mistake was explained by water and hydrogen peroxide looking the…

I did not watch Eli Stone last Thursday. I didn't really need to, given that prerelease descriptions made it clear that the show's pilot episode was nothing more than a load of antivaccination propaganda. Indeed, it was so bad that the American Academy of Pediatrics actually took the step of drafting a public letter to ABC asking it either to can the show or run a disclaimer stating that science does not support the contention in Eli Stone that mercury in vaccines is a major cause of autism. In response, David Kirby, the Energizer Bunny of the mercury militia, posted a predictable screed…

It's Superbowl Sunday. Even someone who's not much of a football fan and who doesn't really care much one way or the other about either team can't help but get caught up in the hype a little bit. In any case, there seems little point to doing any serious blog posts today, given that (1) it's a weekend and traffic plummets on the weekend and (2) it's Superbowl Sunday, which leads me to expect that traffic will be even lower than a typical Sunday. Oh, and also because I just learned that Hitler was a Cowboys fan: I've posted a parody of this particular scene from the German movie Downfall…