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Entertainment/culture History Movies Science fiction/fantasy Television World War II

Hitler pans the Torchwood season finale

Ever since it appeared as an “adult” spinoff of Doctor Who, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with Torchwood. The first season was about as uneven as anything I’ve ever seen, ranging from a truly execrable (and, even worse, unforgivably stupidly and badly written) “homage” to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Countrycide) that ranks among the worst […]

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Blog housekeeping Cancer Medicine

On the Road Again: The Skeptics’ Circle, a possible meetup, and Other Administrativia

In a couple of hours, I’ll be en route to my favorite city in the world, a place where, although I lived there for but a brief three years, I felt completely at home. Chicago, baby! Yes, I’m on the way to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago. While there, I’ll […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Friday Woo Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Your Friday Dose of Woo: A “GEMM” of a bit of woo

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last couple of years of doing this little feature, it’s that there are a couple of kinds of woo. Actually, there are certainly more than a couple, but pretty much all woo can be divided into a couple of types. The first time is where the woo […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine History Medicine Quackery

The real appeal to ancient wisdom

As many who take an interest in this subject know, one of the most common arguments that advocates of various medical woo often make is the appeal to ancient wisdom. They seem to think that if a treatment is old (homeopathy, acupuncture, various “energy healing” methods), there must be something to it because otherwise it […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Accusations against skeptical physicians: 1. “You have no compassion”

Sometimes I wonder if subjecting myself to all this woo is going to my head. Why do I worry that this might be the case? Recently, I made the mistake of getting involved in an e-mail exchange with a prominent antivaccinationist. Perhaps it was my eternal optimism that led me to do this, my inability […]