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Anti-Semitism Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine History Holocaust Holocaust denial Intelligent design/creationism Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking World War II

Bishop Richard Williamson, Holocaust denial, and the problem of “recantation” by cranks

Because of the fallout from the revelation by Brian Deer that very likely Andrew Wakefield, hero of the antivaccine movement but, alas for his worshipers, one of the most dishonest and incompetent scientists who ever lived, had almost certainly falsified data for his infamous 1998 Lancet paper that launched a decade-long anti-MMR hysteria that shows […]

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Paranormal Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking

When the economy tanks, psychics prosper

I should have seen this one coming. After all, the economy’s been in the crapper for several months now. Things are bad and getting worse, with the bottom not yet in sight. So who could prosper in this environment, except for repo men and liquor stores? Psychics, of course: NEW YORK (CNN) — The housing […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Entertainment/culture Humor Medicine Music Paranormal Pseudoscience Quackery Religion Skepticism/critical thinking

Tim Minchin on confronting alternative medicine, postmodernism, and the paranormal

I love Tim Minchin. I also totally understand where he’s coming from when it comes to confronting woo, though, as I’ve described here. In any case, see Tim in action (parts may be NSFW due to profanity): Enjoy, as I’m running a bit late in producing my usual content for Monday. Fear not, it’s coming […]

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Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Let President-Elect Obama know that he should defund NCCAM!

P.Z. Myers turned me on to a phenomenal proposal at Change.gov, the website of President-Elect Barack Obama’s transition team: Defund the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Here’s a way to increase the available funding to NIH without increasing the NIH budget: halt funding to NCCAM, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

HIV/AIDS denialist Celia Farber on the death of Christine Maggiore: It was a “radical detox” regimen, not HIV

Yesterday, I commented on the tragic death of HIV/AIDS denialist Christine Maggiore, who was HIV-positive herself and refused to use antiretroviral drugs during her pregnancy to prevent maternal-fetal transmission of the virus and insisted on breast feeding even though the virus can be transmitted to the baby through breast milk. Her cultish clinging to the […]