To all those who come here regularly for a dose of Insolence, Respectful or otherwise, skepticism and science, best holiday wishes for whatever end-of-year holidays you might celebrate. I’ll probably be on a less intensive blogging schedule until after the New Year, depending on things go (sometimes, even between Christmas and New Years, something happens that demands some Insolence, and I have a hard time resisting the call), but I’ll definitely be back after Boxing Day. In the meantime…one of my all time favorite Christmas performances, and, yes, heathen that I’ve become, I still enjoy it immensely every year. This …
Category: Music
Poppa was a Rolling Stone…who likes homeopathy?
Old fart that I am, I’ve been a fan of The Rolling Stones since the mid-1970s, when I was in junior high school. Over the years, I’ve accumulated pretty close to all of their studio albums—and even bought multiple remastered versions of classics like Exile on Main Street and Beggar’s Banquet—and got access to the rest when I discovered the joy of streaming through Apple Music. Granted, the Stones went through a rough patch, creatively speaking, in the 1980s (the less said about Under Cover and Dirty Work, for instance, the better) and nothing they’ve done since the late 1970s …
Has another celebrity embraced quackery?
I never in a million years thought I’d be writing a blog post involving Selena Gomez. Gomez, as many, if not most, of you are probably aware is currently a young pop star and actress who got her start as a child actress. Oddly enough, she was on Barney & Friends with Demi Lovato. These days, Gomez specializes in the variety of overproduced, lightweight pop that I don’t really listen to, although, ever since I subscribed to Apple Music, I’ve been known to listen to songs by performers like Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato just to see if I could …
Antivaccine cranks ask: Did the flu vaccine kill Prince?
I heard the news yesterday morning. I was in clinic seeing patients. It was a bit of a slow morning; there was time between patients. So I spent it, as is my wont when clinic is a bit slow, signing charts (OK, signing off on charts in the electronic medical record; I haven’t actually physically signed a chart in a while) and idly checking Facebook and Twitter when finished with that. Then I saw it: Authorities Respond to a Medical Call at Paisley Park, with a comment that Prince was dead. I read the article; it said that someone had …
You stay away from Ziggy Stardust and Severus Snape, Mike Adams!
I’ve been a big fan of David Bowie ever since high school. True, I didn’t appreciate his less mainstream stuff as intensely as I do now until I had been in college a couple of years, but it’s not an inaccurate to characterize the effect of David Bowie’s art on my life as significant. Basically, I own pretty much everything he ever committed to CD or vinyl and have seen him in concert every time he’s toured, starting with his Serious Moonlight Tour in 1983 and ending with his appearance at Madison Square Garden during his Reality Tour in December …
R.I.P., Mr. Bowie
I couldn’t believe it when I woke up this morning to the news that David Bowie had passed away. Because there had been so many celebrity death hoaxes, I started checking other news outlets. Not good. Then I checked the official David Bowie Facebook page and Twitter feed. Oh, no. No hoax: January 10 2016 – David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle… https://t.co/ENRSiT43Zy — David Bowie Official (@DavidBowieReal) January 11, 2016 And on his son Duncan Jones’ Twitter feed: Very sorry and sad to say it's true. I'll be offline for …
Russell Simmons: The latest celebrity antivaccinationist?
I hadn’t planned on writing about this again today. (How many times have I started a post with that phrase? I forget, but a lot. Sadly, developments frequently make me change my plans about blogging.) Here’s what made me change my plans It was a pair of Facebook posts on hip-hop and fashion mogul Russell Simmons’ Facebook page. Here’s post #1: And here’s post #2: This, of course, is the news report regurgitating antivaccine talking points broadcast in Atlanta late last week by Ben Swann, an all-purpose conspiracy theorist and, apparently, now antivaccinationist, who is anchor for the CBS46 news. …
Stanislaw Burzynski and the cynical use of cancer patients as shields and weapons against the FDA, this time with rock stars
I don’t know if it’s a sign that I’ve arrived as being a bit more influential than just a blogger or just dumb luck when reporters start sending me things, but I’ll take it. It’s like blog fodder being served to me on the proverbial silver platter. Unfortunately, as a result of receiving a press release, FDA Denies Treatment to Two Terminally Ill Young Women, from two different sources, after yesterday’s hilarious (if I do say so myself) bit of fun with a certain woman who fancies herself a “Thinker” when everything she writes shows that she is anything but, …
It's getting to be that time of year again, people…
…that’s right. It’ll soon be time to get your flu shot. Listen to ZDoggMD: I think I’ll ask for the thimerosol-containing version of the vaccine again this year.
Beware the Clostridiapocalypse!
C. difficile is an enormous clinical problem to which, unfortunately, we physicians can contribute, as ZDoggMD tells us in Dawn of the C. Diff: You go to the doctor to talk ‘em in To givin’ antibiotics for your coughin’ thing They explain that the pain in your throat’s a virus “Antibiotics are not desirous!” But you ain’t hearing this, you get all in they face “Why, this is malpractice, a total disgrace! I’m not leaving this place without a script, my man!” Frustrated and berated, doc throws up his hands The result? Well, let this video tell the tale: