MEASURING GHOSTS A recent article in Science Translational Medicine asks the question “Can We Measure Autism ?” To my mind this begs the question, “is there really something called “autism” that we should be trying to measure ?”. The authors Isaac S. Kohane and Alai Eran inadvertently make the case
Continue readingTag: superstition
Molly'sBlog: Measuring ghosts
MEASURING GHOSTS A recent article in Science Translational Medicine asks the question “Can We Measure Autism ?” To my mind this begs the question, “is there really something called “autism” that we should be trying to measure ?”. The authors Isaac S. Kohane and Alai Eran inadvertently make the case
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Anti-Intellectualism: The New Elitism
There’s a growing – and disturbing – trend in modern culture: anti-intellectual elitism. The dismissal of art, science, culture, philosophy, of rhetoric and debate, of literature and poetry, and their replacement by entertainment, spectacle, self-righteous self ignorance, and deliberate gullibility. These are usually followed by vituperative ridicule and angry caterwauling
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Why Creationists Don’t Win the Nobel Prize
Looking at the list of Nobel prizes awarded in 2013 for science, we see three prestigious entries: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2013 François Englert and Peter W. Higgs “For the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Why do so few Canadians get a flu shot?
That’s the headline for a recent Toronto Star story. It suggests that as few as one third of Canadians get a flu vaccine, and in some place the number may be as low as 20 percent. This despite Ontario having the world’s first universal free flu shot program, introduced in
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Chemtrails redux: the attack of the tin-foil hat brigade
My earlier post on the nonsensical chemtrail conspiracy has generated quite a lot of activity recently (more than 1,000 views in a few days – thanks!). So much so that I decided to look online again to see why – had this silliness abated? Were people waking up and laughing
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Hell 2.3
Before I carry on with my exploration of Miriam Van Scott’s Encyclopedia of Hell, I wanted to note that I just got my copy of her other book – the Encyclopedia of Heaven, from Abebooks. It’s dated 1999, so it’s a year later than her book on Hell. Yet it
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Hell 2.0
I left you last time after finishing the letter D, in Miriam Van Scott’s Encyclopedia of Hell. I’m back in book form to take you through a few more entries in her exploration of the afterlife. But first a couple of additions to your reading material. First on the list
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: What if you’re wrong?
Great visualization of the now-famous response from evolutionary biologist, author, and well-known atheist, Richard Dawkins, when asked in 2006 about his argument that there is no god, “What if you’re wrong?” “Anybody could be wrong, ” he replies. “We could all be … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Creationism’s stench still lingers in American education
Creationism (and it’s dressed-up-in-drag younger brother, “intelligent” design) is the black mold of education. It’s an insidious infection of the mind, an intellectual parasite. And like real-life black mold, it creates a toxic environment – for learning and critical thinking. … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Religion, Logic, and Tornadoes
What has a tornado in common with prayer in schools and US President Barack Obama? Rhonda Crosswhite. Yes, the Oklahoma teacher praised as a hero for saving several children when a massive tornado ripped through her town of Moore, earlier … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Quackery and Big Bucks Infect Health Canada
Health Canada has allowed an increasing number of useless “alternative” healthcare (alternative TO healthcare in most cases) products to be sold in Canada over the last decade, despite the lack of proper (or in some cases, any) research data to … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: The Dreamtime
I don’t dream very much, Susan once said to me. We were having a talk about some crazy dream I was recalling. They’re always crazy, of course. But the conversation was about whether we dream – all of us – … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Speaking with the dead
Can the dead speak to us from beyond the grave? No, of course not. But that doesn’t stop literally millions of superstitious people from believing they do. And some think they can use technology to facilitate the conversation. Of course, … Continue reading →
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The First Step in Deprogramming the Religious – Superstition
Superstition, and it’s ugly codified twin brother religion, rely on the suspension of one’s critical faculties. When someone is going on about how jeebus talks to them or they are feeling the power of god or <insert prurience for inane godbaggy here> or whatever, the topics covered in this video by
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: The other conspiracy theories….
After writing about the nonsensical “chemtrail” conspiracy theory and its tin-foil-hat brigade believers, I amused myself by reading up on some of the other conspiracies-du-jour on the internet. And no, I don’t mean your garden-variety secret-mushroom-farm, PRA dome, lobbyists-and-rec-facilities, aliens-in-disguise-running-the-library, … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Four words about the Mayan Apocalypse
For all of you New Agers who expected something momentous to happen, December 21, because an obscure, millennium-old calendar ended on that date, and are disappointed that the world didn’t end, I have four words for you: I told you … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Someone is wrong on the internet
I discovered an entertaining site recently called Skeptic North. It’s a Canadian equivalent to several similar sites and blogs I read that are mostly American-based. It challenges popular assumptions, ideas, trends and pseudoscience and other claptrap. In a Canadian way, … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: How to Survive the Mayan Apocalypse
How will anyone survive the “end of the world” predicted for December 21, 2012? Easy: by breathing. That’s because it won’t happen. That the Mayans never predicted it would seems to have bypassed a few of the tin-foil-hat brigade. The complex … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Another popular myth debunked: moon doesn’t make crazies
“Myth Debunked: Full Moon Does Not Increase Incidence of Psychological Problems,” says the headline on a story on Science Daily. I was amused by the notion that, in 2012, anyone would seriously believe that the moon affected human psycholog…
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