oracknows | December 27, 2006While I am on vacation, I'm reprinting a number of "Classic Insolence" posts to keep the blog active while I'm gone. (It also has the salutory effect of allowing me to move some of my favorite posts from the old blog over to the new blog, and I'm guessing that quite a few of my readers have probably never seen many of these old posts, most of which are more than a year old.) These posts will be interspersed with occasional fresh material. This post originally appeared on January 24, 2006
I was made aware of a most interesting study today appearing in the journal Cancer, which is the official…
oracknows | December 27, 2006While I am on vacation, I'm reprinting a number of "Classic Insolence" posts to keep the blog active while I'm gone. (It also has the salutory effect of allowing me to move some of my favorite posts from the old blog over to the new blog, and I'm guessing that quite a few of my readers have probably never seen many of these old posts, most of which are more than a year old.) These posts will be interspersed with occasional fresh material. This post originally appeared on January 26, 2006, which means that more of you are likely to remember it. However, given the discussion from last week, I…
oracknows | December 27, 2006While I am on vacation, I'm reprinting a number of "Classic Insolence" posts to keep the blog active while I'm gone. (It also has the salutory effect of allowing me to move some of my favorite posts from the old blog over to the new blog, and I'm guessing that quite a few of my readers have probably never seen many of these old posts, most of which are more than a year old.) These posts will be interspersed with occasional fresh material. This post originally appeared on April 27, 2005.
Since I've started blogging, I notice things that I probably wouldn't have noticed before. I suspect it's…
oracknows | December 26, 2006While I am on vacation, I'm reprinting a number of "Classic Insolence" posts to keep the blog active while I'm gone. (It also has the salutory effect of allowing me to move some of my favorite posts from the old blog over to the new blog, and I'm guessing that quite a few of my readers have probably never seen many of these old posts, most of which are more than a year old.) These posts will be interspersed with occasional fresh material. This post originally appeared on January 21, 2006.
I know I'm a bit of a stickler, a curmudgeon, if you will, when it comes to medicine. Call me crazy, but…
oracknows | December 26, 2006While I am on vacation, I'm reprinting a number of "Classic Insolence" posts to keep the blog active while I'm gone. (It also has the salutory effect of allowing me to move some of my favorite posts from the old blog over to the new blog, and I'm guessing that quite a few of my readers have probably never seen many of these old posts.) These posts will be interspersed with occasional fresh material. This post originally appeared on March 7, 2005 after I arrived home from a meeting.
I'm back at home. The meeting went fairly well and my talk was well-received.
Surgical meetings are odd beasts.…
oracknows | December 26, 2006While I am on vacation, I'm reprinting a number of "Classic Insolence" posts to keep the blog active while I'm gone. (It also has the salutory effect of allowing me to move some of my favorite posts from the old blog over to the new blog, and I'm guessing that quite a few of my readers have probably never seen many of these old posts.) These posts will be interspersed with occasional fresh material. This post originally appeared on July 20, 2005.
Today in Washington, there will be a march, called (with unintentional irony) the Power of Truth march. Its organizers claim that it will be to "…
oracknows | December 26, 2006While I am on vacation, I'm reprinting a number of "Classic Insolence" posts to keep the blog active while I'm gone. (It also has the salutory effect of allowing me to move some of my favorite posts from the old blog over to the new blog, and I'm guessing that quite a few of my readers have probably never seen many of these old posts.) This post originally appeared on December 12, 2004 and could be considered the first "substantive" post that wasn't an introduction that I ever did for this blog. See what you think as far as the evolution of my writing style. And, of course, feel free to chime…
oracknows | December 25, 2006I posted this once before a long time ago, but since no one was reading my blog then, I figured I'd post it again.
You know, nothing says Christmas like kids sitting on Santa's lap asking for presents. Too bad some kids are scared of Santa.
You know, there are some pathetic Santas in that collection.
oracknows | December 25, 2006I'd just like to take this time to wish everyone out there Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Hannukah, and all the rest. And our blog mascot wants to show he's in the spirit as well:
Here's hoping you're having fun with family and friends!
oracknows | December 24, 2006Found on the Internets via e-mail:
With with the holidays fast approaching, please accept -- with no obligation, implied or implicit, on behalf of the wisher or wishee -- my best wishes for an environmentally-conscious, socially-responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice, practiced within the traditions and/or within the religious or secular belief(s) of your choice and with respect for the traditions and/or religious or secular beliefs of others or for their choice to not practice traditions and/or religious or secular beliefs at all; and for a…
oracknows | December 24, 2006This one's too good for me to ignore even on vacation. It's the perfect gift for the skeptical.
Remember the Friday Dose of Woo in which I had a little fun with the whole concept of trepanning (drilling a hole in your head to "improve blood flow")? Well guess what?
The trepanation guy (Randall W. Haws) has shown up right here in the comments of that post. And he thinks that I (and those of you who chimed in) are truly, truly misguided, not to mention hypocrites. He's also pointing out how he is "free" and we're all still "imprisoned."
I can't think of a better blog Christmas present. Well, OK…
oracknows | December 24, 2006Via the Internets...
Christmas Carols for the DSM-IV
Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I Hear?
Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Kings Disoriented Are
Dementia --- I Think I'll be Home for Christmas
Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Busses and Trucks and Trees and.....
Paranoid --- Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me
Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire
Personality Disorder --- You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I…
oracknows | December 23, 2006Take a look at this image:
At first glance, it looks as though it's supporting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, doesn't it? But it's not. Not really. If you haven't figured out why yet, you'll see below the fold:
From MSNBC:
COPENHAGEN - A Danish art group that pokes fun at world leaders targeted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday by placing an advertisement in a Tehran newspaper with an insulting hidden message.
Beneath a picture of the president, a series of apparently sympathetic statements were arranged such as "Support his fight against Bush" and "Iran has the…
oracknows | December 22, 2006Like many, I'm heading out of state today to visit family and friends and celebrate the season. Just like the last time I took a vacation, because my Internet access will be sporadic, I've scheduled some new material to appear over the next couple of days, but for the most part while I'm gone I've scheduled the reposting of a bunch of material from the old blog, this being the perfect excuse to move it over to the new.
However, blogging being what it is, an obsessive activity, time and Internet connection allowing, I'll almost certainly find an excuse to post a bit of new material to save you…
oracknows | December 22, 2006Heh (I can't resist one last tweek):
Poor old David Irving, he must be kicking himself after being released early by the Austrian authorities.
Had the discredited Holocaust denier been set free just a few days earlier, he would have been able to shoot off for a few days to sunny Iran, in the company of David Duke and an assorted rag-bag of other dangerously deranged Jew-haters.
Of course, whether the anti-semitic revisionist would have taken centre stage or would have been forced into the shadows by the arguably more abhorrent Aaron Cohen of the Neturei Karta is a moot point.
But don't worry…
oracknows | December 22, 2006Another week in the can.
It's been an eventful one, with prizes won, memories revived, and a couple of pesky Holocaust deniers descending to spew their bile. Hard as it is to believe, the year's almost over and the holidays are upon us. You're probably like me, tired of the Christmas carols, commercials urging you to buy, buy, buy since late October, coupled with the frenzy of preparing for the season. After all that, Christmas is only four days away. Perhaps, like me, you would like to take a little break. And, as always, I know just the thing.
It's time once again for a little bit of tasty…
oracknows | December 21, 2006With the impending release of David Irving, my mind turned to wondering about what he'll do when he gets out. His finances are a ruin. He's ticked off his fellow Holocaust deniers by saying that there were indeed homicidal gas chambers at Auschwitz. This discussion led to a question, which led to some prognosticating by me and others on a discussion board:
When will Irving show up in the U.S. to give speeches before far right wing groups to try to replenish his depleted bank account? Current favorites range from around two weeks after his release to around a month after his release. What do…
oracknows | December 21, 2006Sure, I know The Jesus Lizard is a band, but scientists have now found a lizard worthy of the name.
Well, not exactly. Perhaps this particular lizard would be better considered the Mary Lizard.
oracknows | December 21, 2006Yes, it's that time again, time for another Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle.
Given that yesterday was the 10th anniversary of the death of Carl Sagan at the too-young age of 62, this edition of the Circle, posted at Humbug! Online, is a tribute to the man and his dedication to science and skepticism. Theo has decided to arrange it in a similar fashion to the chapters in what is arguably Sagan's greatest book: The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark.
Next up to host the first Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle of 2007 is See You At Enceladus. If you're a blogger trying to follow…