Last night the ABC TV show The 7:30 Report ran a piece on the Natural Medicine fallacy. In a nutshell, the fallacy is that because something is natural, it is good. There are many things wrong with this claim, but before I get in to them and the dangers of natural/herbal medicine, take a few moments to watch the video yourself.
25/02/2010
The Natural Medicine fallacy.
Posted by Bastard Sheep under Skepticism | Tags: Alternative Medicine, Fallacy, Herbal Medicine, Natural Medicine |Leave a Comment
23/02/2010
Scientology exposition.
Posted by Bastard Sheep under Atheism | Tags: Scientology, Today Tonight |Leave a Comment
The cult of scientology just can’t get a break, and to be honest it doesn’t deserve one. They’ve been lampooned and exposed on South Park, received a lot of publicity for people they’ve directly or indirectly killed, had tom cruise make an arse of himself, had the online circlejerk known as anonymous go after it, and we’re losing count of the number of people who have managed to escape to tell their tale.
Yet somehow despite all the bad publicity, they still somehow manage to grow. Apparently the cult are on the verge of another surge here in Australia.
The current affairs show Today Tonight decided to follow up on their numerous stories on the cult of scientology, and managed to get an interview with one of their upper cult members as well as a tour of their Californian offices. The videos are after the jump. (more…)
23/02/2010
Homeopathy: useless and unethical.
Posted by Bastard Sheep under Skepticism | Tags: Homeopathy, Podblack, Ten23 |Leave a Comment
Something that those of us who took part in the global Ten23 campaign already knew has now become official: Homeopathy has been declared useless and unethical.
The Science and Technology Select Committee in the UK has delivered its verdict on homeopathy, calling for the withdrawal of NHS funding and official licensing for homeopaths.
For those who do not know what Homeopathy is, there’s a few good quick summaries here and here.
Podblack also has a VERY impressive collection of news stories and blog posts on this story, I highly recommend checking out her blog to see what other bloggers who have had more time than myself have to say on the subject.
21/02/2010
Rom Houben wasn’t communicating after all.
Posted by Bastard Sheep under Skepticism | Tags: Facilitated Communication, Rom Houben, Young Australian Skeptics |Leave a Comment
Three months ago I wrote a blog post both here and at Young Australian Skeptics about the case of Rom Houben, a man who was left in a vegetative state after a car crash. Some uncouth attention seekers decided to abuse this man, his family, and their dignity for their own 15 minutes of fame by claiming he could communicate with the outside world. They used a common scam trick known as Facilitated Communication, and the media fell for it hook line and sinker.
Three months later it appears they have FINALLY run some very very basic tests. The results are just as expected by the skeptical community – it wasn’t Rom communicating after all, it was all the work of the facilitator. Of course, barely any media companies are covering this and letting the public know, so most people will continue to believe it was true. (more…)
21/02/2010
Christopher Maloney is a quack.
Posted by Bastard Sheep under Skepticism | Tags: Andreas Moritz, Christopher Maloney, Naturopathy, Pharyngula, Quack, Streisand Effect |[4] Comments
Christopher Maloney is a quack. It’s that simple really. He’s an N.D. (Naturopathic Doctor / Not a Doctor) from Maine who doesn’t seem to understand the concept behind the Streisand Effect.
What happened is a student dared to criticise him on his blog and referred to Christopher Maloney as being a quack. Rather than ignore it as most people would do, or dispute it in the comments as many others would do, Christopher Maloney and his friend Andreas Moritz (a cancer quack) instead went to wordpress (the hosts of this blog) and threatened them with legal action if they didn’t completely shut down the blog in question. (more…)
21/02/2010
I am not SeanDBlogonaut.
Posted by Bastard Sheep under Misc | Tags: Monkey, SeandBlogonaut |[2] Comments
I am not SeanDBlogonaut. I do not protesteth too much. I do not even protest too much. I have only attended three protests in my entire life, surely that is not too much, is it? I do not know where these silly rumours started, though some say they were born in an egg on a mountain top. That would just make the rumour Monkey though, and unlike this rumour, Monkey is irrepressible. (more…)
28/01/2010
Another apple release, another lovers vs haters battle.
Posted by Bastard Sheep under IT | Tags: Apple, Fanboy, Linux, Microsoft, Srsly |[4] Comments
The cult of mac have released another product today, and as expected the news sites are filled with information about it as though it’s the only thing that has happened in the past month. It’s amazing how Apple seem to be the only tech company who can drum up the attention normally reserved for celebrities and drama queens. Even massacres and natural disasters struggle at times.
Along with all the media attention, the public has also gone in to a frenzy. Once again tied between the fanboys who think it’s the greatest thing since the last Apple release/the previous Apple release/the previous Apple release/rinse, repeat/sliced bread, and the Apple haters who like to counter the rabid Apple fans with equally rabid opposition.
What neither side seems to understand is that Apple products, like just about all products (IT and non-IT) have their place. They all have their purpose. When the MacBook Air came out we had the same thing, many people saying it was too limited, others saying it suited them perfectly. I’m in the camp of it being too limited for me, but just because it doesn’t suit me doesn’t mean I should be running around all but trolling those to whom it does suit. (more…)
21/01/2010
Shorty Awards.
Posted by Bastard Sheep under Misc | Tags: #nopants, Mike Adams, Rachael Dunlop, Shorty, Twitter |1 Comment
If you’re on Twitter at all (and if you’re reading this, chances you are) it would be hard to not know that the Shorty Awards are currently taking place. These are awards for twitter users across pretty much any category possible. There’s some good news and some bad news, though.
Currently in the #health category we have more quacks and snakeoil salespeople than anything else. Fortunately we’ve managed to get @DrRachie in to first spot, but it’s a tight race between legitimate votes for her and bot votes for the second place quack @HealthRanger who runs the misinformation, antivax and anti-science-based-medicine site naturalnews.com. So jump on over now and vote for @DrRachie asap to help keep her in the clear (and legitimate) lead!
Keep in mind that only one vote (the most recent) per category counts, and you must put a reason in for your vote to make it.
Secondly, I’m putting out a personal request for self pimpage. I am not ashamed. I am also not wearing pants. Vote for me in the #nopants category, now. Please! At this point in time I only need 24 votes to get the number one spot.
14/01/2010
Get Naontiotami on the SGU Podcast.
Posted by Bastard Sheep under Misc | Tags: Jack Scanlan, Naontiotami, Skeptics Guide to the Universe |[2] Comments
It all started off, as the best things in life do, as a little joke. This is not how it is going to end however. We will succeed. We must. For the good of mankind, and also as a little warmup and pimpage for TAM Australia (Coming late November 2010).
I have started a petition to get Naontiotami interviewed on the SGU podcast. Please go there and sign it. Your mother will thank you.
25/12/2009
Merry Christmas to one and all.
Posted by Bastard Sheep under Misc | Tags: Autism, Tim Minchin |Leave a Comment
Just a quick post to say merry christmas to everyone, and I hope you all have a wonderful day with family and friends. I know how I’ll be spending it, pretty much exactly as described in the following song.
Don’t forget you only have until the 26th to purchase this from itunes and have 50% of the payment go towards Autism research, so grab it now before it’s too late!
