Posts Tagged skeptic
Question of the Week: Birds or Monkeys? (For Perry)
Posted by Marsh in Question of the Week on September 15, 2009
This Thursday we host our first ever guest speaker in our Skeptics in the Pub series. I’m sure you don’t need to be told we’ll be having the excellent Professor Chris French along to talk all things anomalous, psychological and experiency in his talk ‘The Psychology of Anomalous Experiences’. It promises to be a corker, and we’d love you to come along.
The speaker series will not, never fear, signal an end to our hitherto-successful social-only events though. I can almost hear the communal sighs of relief! Fret not, I for one love our agenda-less, unstructured and mildly alcohol-oriented chances to meet, chat and share influences and heroes. It was in fact at the last SitP that I got chatting (as we always seem to at some point) about the Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe and the influence of the skeptical rogues on getting us into skepticism. And, inevitably, the question arose: When did you hear about Perry Deangelis, and just how upset were you at the time?
The answer, for me, is late on (I began listening maybe a year ago and worked patiently through in order from episode one) and immensely upset. I felt I’d lost a friend, a friend who was gone before I ever even knew he existed. And everyone who I’ve spoken to tells me the same – such was the influence of the man. Last month marked the two-year anniversary of his passing, and the skeptical community will always miss Perry.
But, if there’s one thing Perry was about (as much as a humble listener and fan such as I could say), it was a great sense of fun and wit. So with that in mind I ask you not only for your thoughts of Perry but also to add your voice to the age-old debate, in which Perry’s knowledge was peerless:
Just who would win in a fight – a bird or a monkey? Would the monkey indeed give the bird an almighty beak-flip? Or would the avian beak prove too much for the simian? Your thoughts below.
Biodynamic Whine
Posted by Redwinelover in 10:23, Biodynamic Wine, Homeopathy, Skepticism on September 14, 2009
Last month, Jane MacQuitty MW, a respected wine critic who writes for the Times, mentioned biodynamic wines in her weekly column.
My skepticism extends beyond alternative medicine and religion, and in light of recent media stories about any perceived benefits from “organic food” I thought I’d share a bit of info with you, dear readers, on Biodynamic Wine. Many of you may find the world of wine mysterious enough as it. You might question when you hear wines described as tasting like wet dog, old moccasins, or boiled cabbage, and wonder if it was all a big con. Do you find it hard to believe in terroir, the way in which a wine can represent its specific place of origin, with its aroma, flavour, and texture? That’s nothing compared to the woo that is biodynamic farming and wine making.
If the term doesn’t immediately scream horseshit at you, trust me it should! Biodynamic viticulture is based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), an Austrian philosopher and scientist who’s life mission was to bridge the gap between the material and spiritual world… alarm bells ringing yet? Read the rest of this entry »
There Was A Pun In This Title, But It’s Been Diluted Out Of Existence…
Posted by Colonel Molerat in Homeopathy, Pseudomedicine, Pseudoscience on September 13, 2009
Greetings!
My last blog post deviated somewhat from the normal topics of science, pseudoscience and the skeptical movement, so here I shall attempt to remedy the situation, with one of our old favourites: homeopathy.
Over the last few days I have been involved in a lot of reading and writing, but it has almost all been about lawyers, teachers, union representatives and what-to-do-if-you-find-yourself-homeless-and-out-of-gin.
However, amongst all of the information milling around my brain, there lies a single nugget of interesting information. Like the mythological active ingredient in a homeopathic remedy, it has been diluted and succussed, shaken and stirred, among an ocean of dreariness, yet it is somehow still present, and somehow still active, and somehow still able to form the basis of this post.
Now, homeopathy isn’t really my strong point. When it comes to the evidence-free beliefs of the world, I prefer the downright-wacky to the pretending-to-be-scientific. I’d much rather debate with someone who was trying to tell me that donkeys used to talk and people lived to 900 than with someone who claimed that a vial of water would heal all of my ills – simply because, since both claims are ludicrous, I’d rather deal with the funnier of the two. I am by no means a scientist (only an interested layperson), and so find it more than a little tedious to have to not only explain how homeopathy has no scientific mechanism, but also root around for scientific papers displaying its inefficacy, and brush up on disciplines I know nothing of. On top of that, homeopathy discussions that I have witnessed invariably end with the homeopath claiming that, essentially, ‘it worked for me!’. Read the rest of this entry »
Question of the Week: What’s Your Price?
Posted by Marsh in Question of the Week on September 8, 2009
A few months ago we ran a question of the week which asked you what you would sell your soul to the devil for. You may remember it, we got some cracking responses, not to mention that it caused a little bit of a stir with a particular commenter. Fun and games.
The thing about selling your soul to the devil is that the devil isn’t real, and the chances of you selling your soul to him are therefore somewhat reduced. There’s magic involved, and it’s all rather silly – as it was intended to be. But there are worse things out there than devils, bigger temptations than a faustian pact. There’s real temptation, and real reward. We all have our price, much as we would like to believe otherwise, don’t we?
What would you ask in return for becoming the posterchild for homeopathy? What price would you demand to be the face of psychic mediumship? If someone offered you £10billion to front an anti-vaccination campaign, even if you were allowed to use that money to fund vaccination drives, would you take it? Could you turn it down?
In short, what’s your price? And what would you do for it?
A Fraud in a Cassock
Posted by Andy in Atheism, Religion, Skepticism on August 21, 2009
I cannot recall being a believer. I can recall not really having an opinion about things. Agnostic if you will. But I must have made my mind up early because I do remember joining St John’s church choir, simply because I fancied one of the choristers, to discover I had to pledge my love for and service to God each week.
This was difficult and I tried not to say “The Creed” out loud, mouthing it instead. I knew I was a fraud in a cassock. I was about 13.
Australian Skeptics vs AVN Propaganda
Posted by Marsh in Media, Public Health, Skepticism, vaccination on August 13, 2009
Immunization: Get the Facts (click to enlarge)
Businessman, aviator, and explorer, Dick Smith, has funded an Australian Skeptics’ advertisement to urge parents to access factual information on vaccination, in the wake of the country’s largest Whooping Cough epidemic.
The advertisement, placed in the Thursday, August 6 edition of The Australian newspaper, directly addresses the Australian Vaccination Networks’ stated position of being ‘pro-choice’ on vaccines – when realistically they’re actually very much anti-vaccine.
The AVN is headed up by Meryl Dorey – who says vaccinations are dangerous, who says no one dies of pertussis, who says that it’s better not to vaccinate and who insinuates that doctors only vaccinate children because it’s profitable for them. This, of course, is total bullshit – in fact this year alone three children in Australia have died of pertussis, some too young to vaccinate – such as Dana McCaffrey, the four-week old infant who caught pertussis and died due to vaccination rates in her home town of Lennox Head, New South Wales dropping too low and compromising herd immunity.
The advert from the Australian Skeptics is a great, emotive piece showing how to reach the public with real information – at a time when here in the UK herd immunity has been severely damaged due to the MMR hoaxes, with the most serious outbreak of measles in Wales since the time the MMR vaccine was introduced, there’s a lesson here for us in the UK too.
Well done to the Australian Skeptics and to Dick Smith for speaking out against this dangerous propaganda.
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