EoR reports that in Australia, legislation has been passed that allows people other than doctors to issue medical certificates for absences from work, including pharmacists, nurses, acupuncturists, and physiotherapists. Quite naturally, he wonders when the "the reikiists, the homeopathists and the therapeutic touch" practitioners will want the same privileges and imagines the sorts of letters they will produce: This is to certify that Joe Bloggs is suffering from Stagnant qi Liver toxins Mercury poisoning He will be unfit for work for two weeks while he strengthens his immune system. Heh. I…

Here's an appropriate one for St. Patrick's Day: You Are Guinness You know beer well, and you'll only drink the best beers in the world. Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them. When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don't know well. But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around. What's Your Beer Personality? Although I do like Guinness, it's not my favorite beer. Personally, I prefer Magic Hat No. 9, Goose Island Honker's Ale, Newcastle Brown, and various brown ales…

The latest History Carnival has been posted at History:Other. Enjoy.

MarkCC is really making a name for himself pretty fast with Good Math, Bad Math, a blog dedicated to "shredding bad math and squashing the crackpots who espouse it." (And to think that a post of mine had a small role in getting him going and promoting him in the blogosphere; it almost makes me tear up to see him doing so well so fast.) This time, Mark's turning his mathematical skills to deconstructing the dubious mathematics in a paper entitled Fitness Among Competitive Agents by that icon of and tireless propagandist for "intelligent design" creationism, William Dembski. The result is--…

Since I've found myself drawn into blogging about vaccines and the antivaccination movement so much, I was interested to learn of a new project dedicated to discussing the ethical issues involved with vaccination being launched at the University of Pennsylvania: The Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine announced the beginning of an 18 month project to examine the field of vaccine development and use. Plans call for providing an ethical framework to help guide researchers, pharmaceutical companies, public-health agencies, health-care providers, and…

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a link to a rather humorous video that asked what would happen if Microsoft had designed iPod packaging. (The old link seems to be dead, but the video can be found here.) It turns out that the Microsoft was responsible: Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla on Tuesday confirmed with iPod Observer that his company initiated the creation of the iPod packaging parody video that was first reported last month. "It was an internal-only video clip commissioned by our packaging [team] to humorously highlight the challenges we have faced RE: packaging and to educate marketers…

It's that time again! The 30th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle has been posted over at Paige's Page, and it's a big one, chock full of skeptical bloggy goodness, delivered in a straight-up style: Welcome to the 30th Skeptic's Circle, the first one with a theme song! Come and listen to my story about a man named Jed ... Okay, I didn't say it was an original theme song, nor did I say it was relevant, but it is kinda catchy. But, to move on to the main subject of tonight's symposium, come on in, set a spell, take your shoes off, and to phrase things as Jed Clampett would, "let's commence to…

Evolgen and I both wrote about this earlier, when the Genetics Society of America urged people to contact their Senators. Now the biggest organization dedicated to cancer research, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), has weighed in. Received in my e-mail today: To: All AACR MembersFrom: Dr. Margaret Foti, Chief Executive Officer; Dr. William G. Nelson V, Chairperson, Science Policy & Legislative Affairs CommitteeDate: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 by e-mail Re:'Please Contact Your Senators TODAY or TOMORROW in Support of the Specter-Harkin Budget Amendment and the Feinstein-…

Excerpts from an e-mail to Professor Deborah Lipstadt criticizing her for taking Holocaust denier Arthur Butz to task during an interview on FOX News: Although I am not anti-semitic, your Jewish greed is overbearing and crippling. The world is beginning to see the collective Jewish attempt to control the world economy and world media. [...] Another example: the recent killing of the French Jew raises interesting questions. There is no doubt that the world is beginning to feel the oppression of Jewish greed. Why have attacks on Jews been increasing in Europe and Russia? Why is the Jewish media…

A new Tangled Bank is up at fellow ScienceBlogger grrlscientist's Living the Scientific Life. Time to catch up on the world of science as reported in the blogosphere over the last two weeks. While you're perusing the science, you might also want to wander over to Evolgen and join him and the Genetics Society of America to protest the retreat from support of biomedical research that the President's proposed budget for FY 2007 represents. As I pointed out not long ago, the total NIH budget is flat, without even an adjustment for inflation, and the budget of the National Cancer Institute has…

After yesterday's all-out frontal assault on a dubious scientific journal (which, by the way, you should still read if you haven't already), how about some lighter fare for today? A couple of months ago, when the fury of fundamentalist Muslims was directed at Denmark for the publication by one of its newspapers of cartoons portraying the Prophet Mohammed, I wrote articles arguing that freedom of speech demands that religion not be exempt from criticism or satire. Indeed, religion is such a powerful and pervasive influence on so many people and societies that freedom of speech almost demands…

I'm feeling a bit envious right now. Kevin Leitch has something I haven't. He's acquired his very own blog sockpuppet: Someone (and it's really not hard to guess who) has created a little sockpuppet site for me. Whomever (ahem) it is has also started sprinkling the blogosphere with spicy comments from 'me'. How cool is this? Someone (ahem) is worried enough about what I say to start a whole new blog to sockpuppet me! I could get annoyed about such a thing but really, we have to look at it this way - I must be making a much bigger impression on someone (ahem) then I thought I was. Enough for…

The 30th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle is scheduled to appear at Paige's Page on Thursday, March 16. It's less than two days away. But, even more importantly, the deadline is less than 24 hours away. Submissions are due Wednesday night. Get them to Paige by tomorrow night if you want your skepticism to be included in this week's Circle!

Grand Rounds, vol. 2, no. 25 has been posted over at GeekNurse. It's time once again to enjoy the best medical blogging from the last few weeks.

I'm beginning to fear for Kathleen Seidel. No, I don't fear for her safety, but I do fear for her sanity. You see, she's spent way too much time delving into the house organ of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), namely The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (with the unfortunate abbreviation JAPS, which is why they probably insist on using JPANDS), formerly known as Medical Sentinel. I've written about JPANDS before, pointing out that its claim of peer review is a sham and that it has an explicitly antivaccine agenda, not to mention its far right wing…

The Carnival of Bad History #5 has been hosted at Ahistoricality. Of course, the carnival features a number of posts about ultimate in bad history, Holocaust denial. How could it not, with the recent trial of Holocaust denier David Irving in Austria?

He'll build a glass asylum With just a hint of mayhem He'll build a better whirlpool We'll be living from sin, then we can really begin Please savior, saviour, show us Hear me, I'm graphically yours Someone to claim us, someone to follow Someone to shame us, some brave Apollo Someone to fool us, someone like you We want you Big Brother Song: Big Brother. Album: Diamond Dogs (1974) Why this song? Given what's going in over the last few years, you have to ask?

A new RINO Sightings: Monday the 13th Horror Edition is up at Searchlight Crusade.

{NOTE: Here is the post that was delayed last week due to my announcement of arson at the Holocaust History Project.} It occurs to me that I haven't done much straight science blogging lately. Yes, debunking pseudoscience and quackery is fun, useful, and has the potential to educate people about how science is misused, but this is ScienceBlogs. Since arriving here four weeks ago, I haven't fulfilled my quota of science blogging, and it's time to remedy that. Fortunately, while perusing a recent issue of Cancer Research, I found just the ticket, something that would let me discuss science and…

I have mixed feelings about the season finale of Battlestar Galactica, which aired Friday night. Overall, the second season has been a lot less consistent than the first. Some episodes (Downloaded, for example) were as good or better than anything in the first season, while a couple (Black Market, for example) bordered on being downright stinkers. Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II contained elements of both the best and the worst of the second season. At the very least, this episode confirms that Battlestar Galactica is surely one of the most exhiliratingly and infuriatingly adventurous shows on…