God Only Seems To Not Exist

Religious satire does not really get any better than this. Edward Current has produced a plethora of videos on YouTube in which he tackles the big questions plaguing Christians about their god. Following in the footsteps of Ray Comfort (link, link), he also does a wonderful job of making himself look like a nitwit as he tries to discredit the arguments against the existence of god. He does all of this from a Christian perspective, allowing bystanders like me to witness the inanity of some of the arguments first hand.

Enjoy.

Superstition Kills

An enlightening video on the power of superstition (at an extreme) to control the lives of those who are ill-equipped to see the faults in their own reasoning. The cultural aspect cannot be ignored. It is difficult for people to break free of something that seems (to me) so obviously unnecessary. To a much lesser degree, the same questions that apply to the above video can be applied to those shackled by western religion and its tenets of unbreakable laws, that can condemn you to the underworld for eternity.

It is an intense video to watch, but I highly recommend it. If you are squeamish, I will warn you that there as some parts of the video that may be considered graphic. A short synopsis:

The dalits (the "untouchables") are usually the first victims of superstition in India. This film was recorded in India 2009 by the Swedish film maker Henrik Thomé. It shows how people become victims of superstition, and follows the battle against superstition during a few days.

Over 200 million people are still classified as "non-human". Superstition is the glue that makes it possible to keep this ancient tradition alive.

For more information about the work done against superstition, visit www.iheu.org

Enjoy.

(via Friendly Atheist)

Flight of the Conchords

Recently, I have been introduced to a television series that has now taken over what little free time I have (mostly late nights). Flight of the Conchords follows the misadventures of two New Zealand band-mates that are trying to make it big in New York city with their off-beat style of music. No show is complete without at least one song that features astounding lyrics such as the ones showcased in the above clip:

My rhymes are so potent,

That in this small segment,

I made all of the ladies in the first two rows pregnant.

Go out and rent the first two seasons. Now. (I hear they are also all over these so called "torrent" sites, but I wouldn't know anything about that). Go!

Leamington Triathlon - Part VI

The official results are in. Again, the triathlon consisted of a 750m swim, 30km bike ride and a 5km run, done consecutively.

• Overall Place - 76/76
• Bib - 187
• Name - Konstantine Palanski
• Total Time - 1:52:14
• Class Placing - TM20-24 5/5
• Swim Place - 76/76
• Swim Time - 37:08
• Pace/100m - 4:57
• Bike Place - 67/76
• Bike Time - 48:20
• Average Speed - 24.8 km/h
• Run Place - 48/76
• Run Time - 26:46
• Pace/km - 5:22

As is quite obvious, the swimming winded me. However, by the time I was biking and running, I was back up at a competitive level. Swimming lessons, here I come.

Religious Death Sentence - Part III

Just an update on Daniel Hauser, the boy who's family refused chemotherapy to treat his cancer on religious grounds, opting instead for alternative medicine treatment modalities that were more in line with their beliefs.

The court order that made it impossible for the parents to prevent treatment of their son seems to have done the trick, the tumor is "shrunk significantly," just as predicted by the doctors. Emphasis is my own:

A 13-year-old boy with cancer who fled Minnesota to avoid chemotherapy said he was angry about a judge’s ruling today he must continue getting the treatment after court documents showed his tumor has shrunk significantly.

Daniel Hauser was not at the court hearing but later told The Associated Press he had hoped he would be able to stop chemotherapy, which he said makes him ill.

“I get really sick when I do it,” the teen said during an interview at his family’s farm at Sleepy Eye. “You get so dizzy and I get a headache right away.”

Daniel said he believes his tumor’s improvement comes from alternative treatments he’s doing such as supplemental drinks and pills.

Colleen Hauser told the AP at her home that doctors said it would take six months to treat her son’s Hodgkin’s lymphoma when he was first diagnosed, but they’ve now seen improvement in the past few weeks.

“Wow,” she said. “Something’s working.”

But when asked if she credits the chemotherapy, she said, “I’m not going to say it’s not, but I just want to make it clear that I would like a better plan, a better treatment plan, for Danny.”

The boy's refusal to believe that chemotherapy as what is curing him is at least understandable in his inability to comprehend the treatment modality (along with its side-effects) and, in all likelihood, his attempt to dislike it as much as his woo-inspired parents. However, the ignorance here is what makes me shudder most; "Wow," she said. "Something's working." After months of avoiding chemotherapy and feeding her son alternative medicine bullshit (with no results), the court ordered resumption of chemotherapy and the subsequent tumour shrinkage is still not enough to illicit a eureka moment in these imbecilic, obtuse parents. For shame.

Ringtone To Increase Breast Size?

That baloney detection kit? Apply it here.

I do not know whether I should file this under skepticism or science, so I will do both for now. In reality, this is most likely pseudoscientific nonsense, but until a scientific double-blind test can be administered to verify its (non-)efficacy, the door remains open (however slightly) to this being at least slightly true, even if it is due to a placebo effect.

Subliminal messaging is nothing new, read up about it. It really is not as efficacious as most think, so don't go reaching for that Japanese Yellow Pages and Visa just yet.

The Baloney Detection Kit

This goes along well with the skepticism explained video I posted before. A very useful resource for the skeptical thinkers out there, both in training and seasoned:

With a sea of information coming at us from all directions, how do we sift out the misinformation and bogus claims, and get to the truth? Michael Shermer of Skeptic Magazine lays out a "Baloney Detection Kit," ten questions we should ask when encountering a claim.

For a more thorough baloney detection kit, as per Carl Sagan, click here.

Michael Shermer does a wonderful summary job in the above video, watch and absorb.

Origin Of Species: Abridged By Creationists

The title of the post really says it all, but this little excerpt from the ordering page may elucidate the inanity of this abridged work slightly more thoroughly than the awed look on my face ever could:

This special 280-page edition not only contains an abridged Origin of Species but also has a 50-page Introduction that reveals the dangerous fruit of evolution, Hitler’s undeniable connections to the theory, Darwin’s racism, and his distain for women. It counters the claim that creationists are “anti-science” by citing numerous scientists who believed that God created the universe—scientists such as Einstein, Newton, Copernicus, Bacon, Faraday, Pasteur, and Kepler. It has many original graphics and (as it says on the back cover) is designed for use in schools, colleges, and prestigious learning institutions. The back cover lists the above information as well as saying the book contains “Information on Intelligent Design vs Evolution.” We want to get one million copies into the hands of students and professors in colleges and universities throughout the U.S. Let’s see if they try to ban Darwin’s Origin of Species. That would be interesting.

The introduction is written by Ray 'Bananaman' Comfort (click on that link if you don't know what the bananaman nickname pertains to, you won't be sorry). The stark juxtaposition of the introduction and the main text of Darwin are as incongruent as one can hope to get, in a comical sense.

At least the worth of this abridged edition is reflected heavily by its 99c price.

Windsor Riverfront Jesus Promotion

While riding my bike along my usual 40km route through Windsor's riverfront, I was greeted by a gentleman with an outstretched hand holding a water bottle. Instinctively, I grabbed the water bottle and said thanks as I rode away. Slowing down to examine the bottle more closely, I discovered a sticker affixed to the bottle containing the following verse:

Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drunks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:13-14)

Apart from giving out these bottles at numerous stations along the downtown Windsor riverfront, the groups of individuals (who were predominantly Hispanic or Mexican), were also handing out brochures to those willing to take one. Unfortunately, I did not get my hands on one of these, although I would be most interested in reading through the contents of one. I can only hope they will do something like this next weekend, so that I may acquire a brochure. The verse chosen for the sticker was appropriate and the gesture kind, especially on a hot day.

Times for the religious folk must be getting difficult though; they are resorting to recruiting new followers through midday handouts of water and brochures offering everlasting life and quenched thirst. Go figure.

Leamington Triathlon - Part V

Die I did not! For the first time in my life I can honestly say that I am happy about coming in last place, approximately 52 minutes behind the top finisher, who completed the triathlon in just under one hour.

As expected, the swim portion (750m) was what slowed me down. Apart from being underprepared for that portion of the triathlon, the open water at Leamington harbour (murky, seaweed ridden, unfamiliar) did not do much in the way of facilitating an easy swim. Excuses aside, I concede to needing swimming lessons; I am a weak swimmer at this point, but I know that I can improve vastly given the right training. I will be looking into them soon, as I wish to participate in the next Windsor-area triathlon, taking place in late August. The biking and running portions were a piece of cake, especially with the short distances involved (30km bike, 5km run) and I enjoyed them to a much larger degree.

Overall the experience was priceless and I can honestly say that I am proud of myself for not giving up, even when given ample opportunity to do so. I cannot wait to try my hand at another one of these events, especially when I know there is so much room for improvement.

Leamington Triathlon - Part IV

The Leamington Spring Triathlon is tomorrow and there's no two ways around it; there is a good chance I may die tomorrow during the swim portion of the triathlon. I feel remarkably unprepared for swimming 750m and have been caught off guard by this, considering the generally good shape I am in and the training I have been doing. I did not consider the time scale since the Bike Trek, thinking a month would be enough time to train, or the necessary inclusion of a swim coach. Lessons learned for next time! The good thing is that I have whet my appetite for swimming, a sport that I will undoubtedly be pursuing in my attempt to lead a fit lifestyle.

I am still looking forward greatly to tomorrows event and will do my best. Finishing somewhere in the middle of the pack is the goal at this point, winning is not.

Wish me luck!

Public Displays of Atheism - Part II

An incredibly kind reader of my blog, who I met a few months ago at the Richard Dawkins lecture, was kind enough to mail me a few extra decals that he had. These included a large and small silver Darwin fish as well as the above pictured Flying Spaghetti Monster (wiki) decal that now adorns the rear of my motorcycle helmet. Silver on silver isn't much of a contrast, but the non-reflective surface of the decal stands out on the glossy helmet like a sore thumb, just the way I want it to.

I think this may be the start of a feature on my blog; whenever I spot some kind of PDA (public display of atheism), I will do my best to capture a photo and post the spotting on the nook. In fact, if any of the my readers have any kind of PDA they would like to share, I would be more than happy to post images and/or stories that are submitted. Submit them here.

How exciting!

Public Displays of Atheism

An atheist shirt on a bus would have a more deterrent effect, I gather. One would be more inclined to be accepting of a shirt depicting someone's religion, rather than someone's lack of religion. This was always a wonder for me, since the whole notion of having faith and flaunting it is considered a virtue, while having a grounded interpretation of reality and questioning things related to faith is frowned upon. This is in line with the general viewpoint of atheists lacking some kind of necessary puzzle piece, such as morality, which can only be supplied through a deity (entirely untrue), making them a form of monster relegated to the same corner of society as nazi-sympathizers.

I procured my very own Atheist Bus Campaign shirt (see above) and have worn it only (sadly) thrice in public thus far. Two out of three times resulted in discussion with random individuals about the topic of theism, one of which was entirely unfriendly and none of which were initiated by me (unless you count the shirt as being an initiator).

I do believe that it is important to bring attention to the presence of atheists in our everyday lives. We are constantly bombarded with advertisements and displays of faith, why not make known the presence of those who are faithless as well? This is precisely why I put Darwin fish on both my scooter and car (with nothing but positive feedback thus far), and also why I will make a conscious effort to wear my Atheist Bus Campaign shirt on a more regular basis. Apart from having an awesome message on it, the shirt is just pretty damn cool.

Oh, and because I can I will now deem the acronym PDA to be the short form for 'public displays of atheism' and not 'public displays of affection.'

Christopher Hitchens vs William L Craig: Does God Exist?

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI, Part XII, Part XIII, Part XIV, Part XV

Christopher Hitchens in all his brilliance; there are lots of parts, but they are more than worth the view (specifically parts II through XV, to skip over the rather lengthy introduction). Hitchens is an atheist wolf cast amongst religious lambs, constantly reasserting his dominant rationalistic worldview that knows no valid evidence for a god and has no necessity for him either.

Enjoy.

*6/19/2009* Corrected for Ambiguity

"Is A Degree In Homeopathy A Sick Joke?"

A wonderful article (link) I came across in my daily blog readings was published by Financial Times a little while ago and asks the very simple question of whether degrees in alternative medicine are just a gigantic sham. The tone of the reportage is indicative of the distaste that the author has for the pseudosciences and quickly distinguishes what real science is from what it isn't:

A big difference between conventional and alternative medicine is that the former is predominantly evidence-based: its gold standard is the double-blind randomised controlled trial, in which half the patients are given an experimental treatment and half are given a placebo, and neither doctor nor patients know who is getting which. In contrast, wide areas of complementary and alternative medicine remain untested, and, even where evidence does exist, it is often thin or disputed. Where evidence is absent, advocates tend to cite patient testimonials. Such anecdotes may be persuasive, but they are not evidence. There is no way of knowing whether these people would have recovered anyway, whether something else cured them, or whether it was the placebo effect – often quite powerful – of being given a treatment they believed in.

I was also thrilled to see the following correlation made between the non-science of alternative medicines and the non-science that is creationism:

In a sense, it is a mirror image of the debate that has raged in the US over whether intelligent design should be taught alongside evolutionary theory. But, except among scientists and academics, the row over degree courses in alternative medicine has attracted far less attention. It is largely a war that has been waged over the internet – notably through Colquhoun’s Improbable Science website, but also via Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science blog and others such as The Quack-ometer, which sets out to debunk quack cures.

The article signs off beautifully with the following glossary of Magic Medicine by Improbable Science, information that everyone should be privy to:

Mumbo-jumbo and barmpots: A glossary of Magic Medicine

Homeopathy: giving patients medicines that contain no medicine whatsoever.

Herbal medicine: giving patients an unknown dose of an ill-defined drug, of unknown effectiveness and unknown safety.

Acupuncture: a rather theatrical placebo, with no real therapeutic benefit in most, if not all, cases.

Chiropractic: an invention of a 19th-century salesman, based on nonsensical principles: shown to be no more effective than other manipulative therapies, but less safe.

Reflexology: plain old foot massage, overlaid with utter nonsense about non-existent connections between your feet and your thyroid gland.

Nutritional therapy: self-styled “nutritionists” making untrue claims about diet in order to sell you unnecessary supplements.

Spiritual healing: tea and sympathy, accompanied by arm-waving.

Reiki: ditto.

Angelic reiki: the same but with added “angels, ascended masters and galactic healers”. Excellent for advanced fantasists.

Colonic irrigation: a rectal obsession that fails to rid you of toxins which you didn’t have in the first place.

Anthroposophical medicine: invention of the mystic barmpot, Rudolf Steiner, for whom nothing whatsoever seems to strain credulity.

Alternative diagnosis: kinesiology, iridology, vega test, etc: various forms of fraud, designed to sell you cures that don’t work, for problems you haven’t got.

Any alternative “therapist” who claims to cure Aids or malaria: agent of culpable homicide.

Hilarious and oh so true.

Who Goes To A Creationist Museum?

Some of you may remember Ken Ham. Ken Ham, is the president of Answers in Genesis, a United States based center for the spread of this ignorance through many forms of media and entertainment, including a 'museum' which presents humans and dinosaurs as having co-existed among other outrageous claims.

A recent article by BBC News seems to do a good job of glorifying the creation 'museum' built up by Ken Ham. They allow the creationists to have full control of the conversation, with no input from the scientific community to rebut the awful misconceptions that are presented in the article by the snippett biographies of recent visitors, for isntance:

Scott Rubin, 42, says he turned to God late in life. The father-of-three, from Chicago, was a business consultant when he "had an encounter with Jesus" and became a youth pastor. "Evolution is a good theory, I don't believe in it, but parts of it are sensible and parts of creationism are sensible," he says. [...] "I never intended to be the church guy. It makes sense why people believe in evolution, especially if they've not had the encounter with Jesus I've had."

The BBC then goes to make an exceptionally egregious error:

Mr Rubin's sign-off sentiments could be taken as a conciliatory gesture to those who would beg to differ with his views. But what do creationists make of the scientific evidence that claims to undermine their theories?

How infuriating! To equate the theory of evolution by means of natural selection to mean the same thing as a creationist story is despicable and shows the lack of attention given to this story by its author. If you are not aware what the word 'theory' means in scientific terms, please familiarize yourself thorughly; it will save you an astounding amount of breath if you happen to decide to use it as a linguistic argument against evolution.

I cannot bear to ridicule this article much further; it is clumsily written and poorly researched. Nonetheless, one can expect that the credence afforded to the 'museum' by the BBC will be exploited to its full potential by the ham-handed (pun intended) creationists.

Tales Of Mere Existence - What Would Penis Do? - Part II

A continuation of my promotion of Tales of Mere Existence by Lev Yilmaz.

Leamington Triathlon - Part III

A continued update to the Leamington Sprint Triathlon in which I am participating. Just over one week to go! Training is going well, although I definitely underestimated the importance of being prepared for the swimming aspect of the triathlon.

I always knew how fit one had to be to swim, but I have gained a new level of respect for the individuals who practise swimming as a regular sport. It is one of the most taxing forms of exercise that I have ever encountered. I hope to continue swimming regularly after this event as I can hardly remember a time where my body hurt more then after 25 laps in a 75ft pool.

More to come.

MCA Chiropractors: Take Down Your Websites

If an introduction to the quackery that is chiropractic medicine is in order, read here.

A large independent chiropractic college in England, known as The McTimoney Chiropractic Association, has come as close to an admission of pseudoscientific guilt as any such organization has done to date. The organization has sent out mail to its members urging them to immediately shut down all of their websites due to an effort by Simon Singh to "target ... any claims for treatment that cannot be substantiated with chiropractic research."

Read on, it is quite entertaining (bold emphasis is my own, capitalization is original):

Date: 8 June 2009 09:12:18 BDT

Subject: FURTHER URGENT ACTION REQUIRED!

Dear Member

If you are reading this, we assume you have also read the urgent email we sent you last Friday. If you did not read it, READ IT VERY CAREFULLY NOW and - this is most important – ACT ON IT. This is not scaremongering. We judge this to be a real threat to you and your practice.

Because of what we consider to be a witch hunt against chiropractors, we are now issuing the following advice:

The target of the campaigners is now any claims for treatment that cannot be substantiated with chiropractic research. The safest thing for everyone to do is as follows.

If you have a website, take it down NOW.

When you have done that, please let us know preferably by email or by phone. This will save our valuable time chasing you to see whether it has been done.

REMOVE all the blue MCA patient information leaflets, or any patient information leaflets of your own that state you treat whiplash, colic or other childhood problems in your clinic or at any other site where they might be displayed with your contact details on them. DO NOT USE them until further notice. The MCA are working on an interim replacement leaflet which will be sent to you shortly.

If you have not done so already, enter your name followed by the word ‘chiropractor’ into a search engine such as Google (e.g. Joe Bloggs chiropractor) and you will be able to ascertain what information about you is in the public domain e.g. where you might be listed using the Doctor title or where you might be linked with a website which might implicate you. We have found that even if you do not have a website yourself you may still have been linked inadvertently to a website listing you or your services.

CHECK ALL ENTRIES CAREFULLY AND IF IN DOUBT, CONTACT THE RELEVANT PROVIDER TO REMOVE YOUR INFORMATION.

CHECK OUR PREVIOUS EMAILS FOR SPECIFIC ADVICE AND KEY WORDS TO AVOID.

KEEP A LOG OF YOUR ACTIONS.

If you use business cards or other stationery using the ‘doctor’ title and it does not clearly state that you are a doctor of chiropractic or that you are not a registered medical practitioner, STOP USING THEM immediately.

5. Be wary of ‘mystery shopper’ phone calls and ‘drop ins’ to your practice, especially if they start asking about your care of children, or whiplash, or your evidence base for practice.

IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW THIS ADVICE, YOU MAY BE AT RISK FROM PROSECUTION.

IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW THIS ADVICE, THE MCA MAY NOT BE ABLE TO ASSIST YOU WITH ANY PROCEEDINGS.

Although this advice may seem extreme or alarmist, its purpose is to protect you. The campaigners have a target of making a complaint against every chiropractor in the UK who they perceive to be in breach of the GCC’s CoP, the Advertising Standards Code and/or Trading Standards. We have discovered that complaints against more than 500 individual chiropractors have been sent to the GCC in the last 24 hours.

Whatever you do, do not ignore this email and make yourself one of the victims. Some of our members have not followed our earlier advice and now have complaints made against them. We do not want that to happen to you.

Even if you do not have a website, you are still at risk. Our latest information suggests that this group are now going through Yellow Pages entries. Be in no doubt, their intention is to scrutinise every single chiropractor in the UK.

The MCA Executive has worked tirelessly over the last week keeping abreast of development and contacting at risk members. We have decided that this is our best course of action to protect you and the Association at this time of heightened tension. This advice is given to you solely to protect you from what we believe is a concerted campaign, and does not imply any wrongdoing on your part or the part of the Association. We believe that our best course of action is simply to withdraw from the battleground until this latest wave of targeting is over.

Finally, we strongly suggest you do NOT discuss this with others, especially patients, Firstly it would not be ethical to burden patients with this, though if they ask we hope you now have information with which you can respond.

Most importantly, this email and all correspondence from the MCA is confidential advice to MCA members alone, and should not be shared with anyone else.

Please be aware that the office phone lines are likely to be busy, so, if you need our help, please send an email to the office and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Yours, Berni Martin

MCA Chair.

Best wishes, Nicki

In essence, a plethora of websites, including the McTimoney Chiropractic Association's own website, have been taken down in order to prevent litigation of their members who are peddling non-research-based therapies through their websites and physical advertisements, as well as taking on the title of Doctor without proper certification. Astounding isn't it?

One can only hope that the rest of the chiropractic world is feeling a rather large shiver down their spines as they watch these events unfold in the British isles. Perhaps North America will follow suit.

'Jesus Christ Was My Co-Pilot Today'

Front page material of the yesterday's Windsor Star included an article in which an American pilot gave thanks to Jesus Christ for an emergency landing he had been ardently preparing for over his 25 year, 24,000 hour pilot career:

A Missouri pilot conducting aerial pipeline inspections above Essex County is grateful to be alive after a power failure Tuesday forced him to glide to an emergency landing in a Lakeshore cornfield. "I'm doing good thanks to Jesus," said William 'Chuck' Wilson, standing beside his Cessna 182 Skylane at Rochester Town Line and Concession 3. "Jesus Christ was my co-pilot today, no doubt about it."

Wilson, who has 25 years and 24,000 flying hours under his belt, said this was his first forced landing but that gliding a Cessna safely to a stop in a flat field was a relatively simple manoeuvre for an experienced pilot. "As far as textbook emergency landings go, it doesn't get any better than this -- beautiful day, perfect, flat cornfield with two-inch corn," said Wilson. "It was like landing in a runway."

I give the man full credit for his safe landing and skill in knowing what to do at a time where most would undoubtedly panic. However, I also believe he shouldn't belittle his own efforts by ascribing them to an invisible Jesus Christ co-pilot who didn't stop the airplane malfunctioning in the first place.

These types of stories, as often as they appear, still annoy me to no end. It would be just as appropriate to attribute horrific airplane accidents to an omnipotent and omniscient being, but no one seems to be doing that.

God Is Merciful, But Only If You're A Man

God thinks little of women. An interesting article I came across in the world of religious media sums up this main argument very well in the final two paragraphs:

The God we have in the Big Three monotheisms is a God who originated in a period when male superiority was absolutely taken for granted. That time has passed, but the superior male God remains and that God holds women in contempt. That God is the one who puts "His" imprimatur on all those tyrannical laws. That God is a product of history, but taken to be eternal, which is a bad combination. That is the God who hates women.

So why do so many women put up with it? Partly because God gives with one hand what "He" takes away with the other - God consoles people for the very harshness that God creates. It's the sad, familiar, heartrending bargain in which the victim embraces the perpetrator, in some complicated, confusing, all-too-human mix of appeasement, need and stubborn loyalty. The fact that the embrace is all on one side is resolutely ignored.

The real question, after all, is why anyone should put up with a self created, self serving supreme being that segregates our society into groups that are then labelled as subordinate, less-than-human or otherwise as dictated by archaic ideas written in ridiculously inconsistent texts that are oh so revered by the religious. Despicable on every level.

Controlling The Quackery?

The full story can be found here, an excerpt:

At one of the nation's top trauma hospitals, a nurse circles a patient's bed, humming and waving her arms as if shooing evil spirits. Another woman rubs a quartz bowl with a wand, making tunes that mix with the beeping monitors and hissing respirator keeping the man alive.

They are doing Reiki therapy, which claims to heal through invisible energy fields. The anesthesia chief, Dr. Richard Dutton, calls it "mystical mumbo jumbo." Still, he's a fan.

He's still a fan for reasons that are not fully understood by me. However, I do see good in what he is doing for the patients; generally speaking, the patients are no longer going out of the care of an actual doctor to find alternative methods of care that amount to "mystical mumbo jumbo." Instead, they are kept in a health care institution that appears to be doing everything in their grasp to care for the ill, including offering treatments that work on those most gullible and naive. This amounts to nothing more than taking full advantage of the placebo effect while lining the pockets of quacks and is an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" strategy that is sadly going to be increasingly common.

All in all though, I would much rather see these things being employed in controlled environments such as a hospital, alongside conventional treatments, then entirely relegated to the shady underworld that is the "Holistic Clinic", where you are more likely to opt out of chemotherapy treatment for cancer, rather than seek actual professional help.

Apes Laugh Like Humans

Many don't really give it much thought, but because of our close ancestry with the Apes, we share many things in common. Behavioural attitudes that may seem more arbitrarily learned as humans tend to be shared amongst our wild cousins in the most outstanding examples of evolution.

Apart from clapping, one of the strangest things we do as apes is laughing, something that has not been conclusively previously associated with any of the other apes, until now with the publication of a study in the Journal of Current Biology.

After measuring 11 traits in the sound from each species, they mapped out how these sounds appeared to be related to each other. The result looked like a family tree. Significantly, that tree matched the way the species themselves are related, the scientists reported online Thursday in the journal Current Biology.

They also concluded that while human laughter sounds much different from the ape versions, its distinctive features could well have arisen from shared ancestral traits.

Science never fails to amaze.

Tales Of Mere Existence

There are many hidden gems throughout the YouTube world; one of them is definitely Tales of Mere Existence by Lev Yilmaz. An exquisitely candid and earnest look into a life that is, in many ways, not unlike your own. 

Leamington Triathlon - Part II

Training has officially commenced as of last weekend. The main thing that concerns me is the swimming portion of the event with a rather short, but nonetheless looming, 750 meter swim in Leamington Harbour:

View Leamington Tomatoman Tri/Du - Swim in a larger map

I have access to the University swimming pool on most days, which has a 22 meter length and allows for a good technique to be ironed out for the big swim. I have to swim what amounts to 35 laps in the swimming pool to without rest to consider myself even remotely ready for the actual event; so far I can do approximately 15. I consider myself to have very good cardiovascular endurance, but after swimming a few laps in the pool, it is easy to understand why technique is just as important as physique. Breathing is of paramount importance.

Oprah Called Out

It is a rare occasion to see a well informed, well written article in the mainstream media take on something as grandiose as the pseudoscience and outright snake oil that people like Oprah peddle to the general public in their TV shows. That rare occasion has come in the form of a suitably lengthy article published in Newsweek with a fittingly sarcastic title and subtitle:

Live Your Best Life Ever!

Wish Away Cancer! Get A Lunchtime Face-Lift! Eradicate Autism! Turn Back The Clock! Thin Your Thighs! Cure Menopause! Harness Positive Energy! Erase Wrinkles! Banish Obesity! Live Your Best Life Ever!

How refreshing to see something other than tripe being reported on, with actual references and proper research. The two authors take on the pseudoscience being peddled on Oprah's show by the likes of Suzanne Somers and Jenny McCarthy.

To get you started, I will post the first paragraph of the news article that you must promise you will read—you will be better off for it:

In January, Oprah Winfrey invited Suzanne Somers on her show to share her unusual secrets to staying young. Each morning, the 62-year-old actress and self-help author rubs a potent estrogen cream into the skin on her arm. She smears progesterone on her other arm two weeks a month. And once a day, she uses a syringe to inject estrogen directly into her vagina. The idea is to use these unregulated "bio-identical" hormones to restore her levels back to what they were when she was in her 30s, thus fooling her body into thinking she's a younger woman. According to Somers, the hormones, which are synthesized from plants instead of the usual mare's urine (disgusting but true), are all natural and, unlike conventional hormones, virtually risk-free (not even close to true, but we'll get to that in a minute).

How's that for attention grabbing? Have a read or a listen.

Backwards Alberta - Part III

Last month I wrote about a proposed new legislation in Alberta, which would allow for the exclusion of children from learning subjects pertaining to "topics that deal explicitly with religion, sexuality or sexual orientation". This entirely inane piece of legislation has been officially passed into law as of Tuesday, June 2nd:

Alberta legislators passed legislation early Tuesday that will give parents the option of pulling their children out of class when lessons on sex, religion or sexual orientation are being taught.

Furthermore:

A clause in the bill, which is an amendment to the province's human rights legislation, requires that school boards give parents written notice when controversial topics are going to be covered in the curriculum. Parents can then ask for their child to be excluded from the discussion.

This is not in the United States' infamous Bible Belt. This is in a Canadian province. It is entirely graceful that the ability to perpetuate the ignorance of parents to their children is not only allowed, but now facilitated, through legislation. The ability to shield one's child from discussion of anything 'controversial' does nothing but limit them, suppress them and deny them of the one thing every normal parents wishes for their child: a life that is better than their own.

I am wondering how far this legislation will be stretched and abused before someone realizes what an atrocity it really is. Backwards Alberta truly deserves moniker.

Epicurus On God and Evil

"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?

Then he is not omnipotent.

Is he able, but not willing?

Then he is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing?

Then whence cometh evil?

Is he neither able nor willing?

Then why call him God?"

- Epicurus

Epicirus was an ancient Greek philosopher that, to my knowledge, was the first to write down the problem with the idea that God may be both omniscient and omnipotent, yet allow for the presence of evil in our world.

It may be rather difficult to explain away this argument from a religious standpoint without having to one's own interpretation of God's actions as having a greater purpose, although this is precisely what every religious person does in their attempt to cherry-pick moral good amongst moral atrocities from the apocryphal religious writings.

Think the above argument over, it is rather eloquent.

Atheists on Homosexuality

I subscribe to many newsfeeds on my Google Reader, including those pertaining to atheism. There is a common thread that runs through most of my 20 atheism-related subscriptions in that they generally give updates on any significant news pertaining to the rights of homosexuals in a positive light. An alliance of sorts has been accidentally created between the atheist and homosexual communities in their common support to have their voices heard, their numbers revealed and their rights protected. 

The bigotry and bias that run deep within the religious community is absent from the atheist mindset, allowing for general unreserved support of the homosexual rights movement on grounds of morality that are not rooted in archaic teachings. Parallels between the suppression of the gay rights movement and those of the women's rights movement and the civil rights movement are evident on many levels, including the general opposition that the church has/had towards them.

I believe that one will have great difficulty in finding an atheist who opposes homosexuality on anything other than a personal preference. It is a rather tall task to condemn homosexuality on anything other than the teachings of the church; when modern self-imposed morality and social responsibility take hold, the idea that homosexuals should not be afforded the same rights as every other citizen in their respective nation (whether it be through marriage or otherwise) becomes ludicrous.

I would be willing to wager that the vast majority of North Americans will have the same mindset in about 50 years time, when gay marriage is nothing extraordinary and people will be left wondering how it wasn't always so. Much the same way we are left wondering why women's suffrage (amongst other things) was ever a contentious issue.

A Visit To A Church

So an an atheist friend, who had been raised a Catholic, decided to surprise me yesterday and take me to an 11 o'clock mass at Assumption church near my University. 

A beautiful church that has been taken care of very well since its opening in 1767, I am happy to have been inside it. To be able to compare it to the other churches I have been to throughout my lifetime, specifically the churches of Ukraine and France, was a real treat. 

The mass was just over an hour long and included all things standardly Catholic, memorized word for word by my friend over the years of being raised in a Catholic surrounding and attending these services weekly. The ritualistic tendencies of the procession had me appreciating some of the finer things being taught by the church, specifically a portion in which people shook the hands of those immediately surrounding them while repeating a sentence that has now escaped me. A great sense of community was present within the church that may very well be appealing to some, an exclusive club of sorts.

Communion, through the consecration of bread and wine, was done near the end; I crossed my arms and was blessed, along with my friend, in order to avoid ingesting the body of Christ, in the form of a wafer. The entire experience was enlightening, seeing as I am from a Russian Orthodox background and many of our rituals and traditions differ greatly from those of the Catholic faith. I was glad to leave, however. The same feeling of community can be achieved through much better means that worshipping an anthropocentric God for who there is no proof; a social club, perhaps.

Now I am seriously considering sitting in on the processions of all three major religions. I am not there to disturb or judge, just to absorb.