The Skeptical Surfer

RIP Don LaFontaine

2008-09-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

Net Neutrality

2008-09-02T08:50:00.000-07:00

The Skeptical Motorcyclist Goes Coast2Coast

2008-06-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

Between June 20th and July 21st 2008 I am motorcycling Coast2Coast and back from California to New York visiting Vegas, Moab, the Rockies, Mt. Rushmore, Sturgis, the Badlands, Canada, Punxsutawney, Indianapolis, Winterset, Silverton, Durango, Four Corners, and more.

My blogging energy is being channeled into documenting the trip. It's an 8000 mile journey and I encourage you to follow along!

I've already begun documenting my preparation, so click over and check it out.

Also, the electronic navigational equipment for my motorcycle is being generously sponsored by my good friends at Teradek. Teradek is a world class engineering and consulting firm. My marketing company, Off the Lip Marketing, designs all of Teradek's marketing material, including their web site. Please pay them a visit.

Oh and here's something to make you laugh while I'm out riding my bike!

Here's One For The Wife

2008-06-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

I love you honey.

Miller on Colbert.

We're Smarter Than You

2008-06-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

Study finds Intelligent People Less Likely to Believe in God

Here Be Dragons - A Skeptical Introduction to Critical Thinking by Brian Dunning

2008-06-11T23:24:00.000-07:00

I highly recommend to everyone that they watch this fascinating film. Brian Dunning hits the nail squarely on the head. This is a must see.

http://herebedragonsmovie.com/

Brian Cox at the TED Talks

2008-04-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

The scientific story of where we came from is sooooo much more compelling than the story told in the bible. That fact that there are people, today, in the year 2008, still clinging to the idea of young earth creationism by a divine creator is pathetic.

IonCleanse - A.K.A. The Rust Machine

2008-04-23T14:46:00.000-07:00

Detoxification. It's the cornerstone of woo woo new-age alternative medicine. Recently two friends of mine were attempting to detox using an IonCleanse foot bath. The basic premise is that toxins are leeched out from the soles of the feet and after about 1/2 an hour the water turns various colors, with the shade of color signifying which toxin was leached out.

Here's an example:

Here's the section from the instruction manual that tells you what color (in the water) is associated with which toxin.

Too good to be true? Yes

Here's how the IonCleanse machine actually works.

Take a look at the diagram. By connecting up the machine you essentially complete an electrical circuit. Energy flows from the IonCleanse to the wrist, through the body to the feet, through the water into the "array" and back into the machine, or vice versa.

By completing the circuit you allow energy to flow through the "array." The array is actually just a coil of cheap metal. And everyone knows that if you want to make metal rust immerse it in salt water and flow electricity through it.

Here's a used array. You can clearly see the rusty coil and the rust migrating to the plastic surrounding.

To test my theory (that it's just rust) we decided to take the human element out of the equation. The human element of the equation provides a considerable amount of resistance, and we didn't want to damage the machine by removing the human element completely. So we had to scratch our heads for a minute to figure out how to keep the human in the circuit, but take it out of the water. We finally accomplished this by having someone (in this case, me) take my feet out of the water and complete the circuit my holding a coat hanger in the water with my hand.

The circuit is completed, but there are no body parts in the water. So any coloring of the water must come from the coil or the coat hanger, but not the person.

Then we fired up the machine. And guess what happened. Almost immediately rust (er... I mean toxins) began pouring out of the array. Either that, or the coat hanger was unloading some serious toxins. :-)

How ironic. In an effort to remove nonspecific toxins from your body, you actually soak your feet in a nonspecific metallic toxin... rust.

And how much must one pay for the privilege of "detoxifying" this way? Between $220 for the unit we were using, all the way up to $2895 for a Premier model.

Here's an image of the unit we were testing.

So now you have to ask yourself a few questions:

Do the people who build this machine really believe it's detoxifying your body?
Do the companies marketing this machine really believe it's detoxifying your body?
Did the dealer who sold this unit to my friend really believe it detoxifies your body?

Let's take the questions in order.

Do the people who build this machine really believe it's detoxifying your body?

Absolutely not. There is a certain level of engineering that is required to produce this machine. It's basically the equivalent of a small stereo amplifier. The unit creates a current and actually modulates that current somewhat, as you could feel it pulsing when attached.

The array is designed to produce different colors of "toxin water" either one of two ways. Either the coil is built upon layers of different metals, so that the rusty color changes as the coil decays. Or more likey, the metal is of a single alloy and the differences in the water are due to agitation of the water due to movement of the feet.

As a side note, one of the toxins listed in the manual was "Bad Cholesterol" and it's identified by an "Oily substance on top of water." I have a feeling that the more lotion you use on your feet the more "bad cholesterol" the unit will remove from your body. Think about it.

Do the companies marketing this machine really believe it's detoxifying your body?

Absolutely not. Same scenario as above.

Did the dealer who sold this unit to my friend really believe it detoxifies your body?

I suspect that the answer to this question is "Yes." It could be said that the dealers are unknowingly or unwittingly defrauding their customers because of a lack of scientific understanding. The fraudsters who marketed and distributed this unit will of course know a few things that will allow them to prey on their potential dealers.

They know that their dealer network will be "new agey." Meaning it's sold through yoga studios, vitamin shops, new age spiritual centers, etc. Being part of the new age sect basically precludes you from scientific thinking. That might sound harsh, but it's true. If you were thinking scientifically... you wouldn't be caught up in new age.

These people know that the dealers will buy their pseudo scientific babel hook-line-and-sinker. So it's an easy sale. Thus, the dealers unwittingly pass along the fraud to their customers.

At this juncture, I'm going to say this... If you're a new age spiritualist reading this post. Rather than taking offense, you should just realize that a dose of skepticism would probably do you a bit of good. So let the buyer beware the next time you're offered supplements, detoxifiers of any kind, healing candles, magnet therapy, or any so called therapy that can treat and cure multiple nonspecific symptoms (like increasing your liver function and removing joint toxins).

So let's return for a minute to the hucksters who designed this contraption. They're obvious fraudsters. But who are they? I've figured that out actually. And here they are in their own words:

Shenzhen Sheng Yang Kang Technical Limited Company

Shenzhen Sheng Yang Kang Technical Limited Company., a professional holdings group, has been specialized in designing, developing, manufacturing and marketing in such as the instrument of managing and health-protection. Combined with more than 10 departments, which construct the perfect production and management modes. On the basis of strict enterprise management, taking the advantage of rich economic strength, acute market awareness and the prompt action, our company has doubled and ranked on the top list and taken the great reputation in the same reputation. Now we puts the emphases on the development of the R&D and the production departments and has established the all-round developing structure of the combination of industry, commerce and trade, based on the research and development of high-tech products. We have the confident that we are the potential group in both of economic, enterprise management, market research, and in itself technology and quality, which has strongly been proved by the steady benefits and increasing capital. Meanwhile, in the development and production of medical, sports, health-protection and hi-tech electronics products, our company has a large group of excellent specialists who master on Chinese medicine, Western medicine therapies and human body's nerves and a team of superior developers and engineers who have had many years' experiences in the fields. And surely they are also skilful on computer, electron, laser and mechanisms, etc, who make the great effort to constitute the high-quality products and the perfect image of our company. We have formed the integrative production in large scale such as the frame design, mechanism exploiture, programme by computer, hand-made model, mould development and the finished product assembling. But the innovative products always meet the market demands, follow up the fashionable steps, to get the good reputation and patents. Since being put into the market, our products have been very popular and loved. Meanwhile it has aroused the consumption upsurge. Nowadays with the increasingly stinging market competition, we stand still and up-hold our principle of providing the best quality and service, and offering

Our loyalty to the society in return so to exploit more good products, to seed the health and to benefit the human society. On the world plate, we are capable, confident and responsible to finish our promise of making our own contribution to the health field.

Score another hit for traditional Chinese medicine. And another hit for Chinglish. I love Chinglish!

I think the disclaimer on their sales page says it all:

The IonCleanse Premier is not intended to treat, prevent, cure, or diagnose any disease or ailment.

For once... we're in total agreement.

For more information see The Aqua Detox Scam

I wish I had written this...

2008-04-18T12:35:00.001-07:00

But I didn't. The credit goes to P.Z. Meyers. Check it out.

You Go Boy!

2008-04-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

Expelled Exposed

2008-04-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

Please check out this site exposing the lies and inaccuracies of the new creationist movie "Expelled"

Don't Judge a Book By It's Cover

2008-03-21T10:43:00.000-07:00

I haven't read most of these books yet, but this is a list of favorite skeptical and scientific books as compiled by the hosts of the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe in episode #136. I suspect that if you were to read them, It would likely have a positive and education influence in your life.

The Demon-Haunted World : Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan

Evan
Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions by James Randi
Sham: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless by Steve Salerno
Why Darwin Matters : The Case Against Intelligent Design by Michael Shermer
An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural by James Randi and Arthur C. Clarke (Online Version)
Case Closed by Gerald Posner

Rebecca
The Psychic Mafia by M. Lamar Keene
Quirkology: How We Discover the Big Truths in Small Things by Richard Wiseman
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) by Richard Feynman
Them : Adventures with Extremists by Jon Ronson
Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science by Martin Gardner
Stiff : The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Spook : Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach
Bad Astronomy : Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing "Hoax" by Phil Plait
The Ancestor's Tale : A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution by Richard Dawkins
The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice by Christopher Hitchens

Bob
Pseudoscience and the Paranormal by Terrence Hines
Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution : Modern Physics for Non-Scientists by Richard Wolfson
A Physicist's Guide to Skepticism: Applying Laws of Physics to Faster-Than-Light Travel, Psychic Phenomena, Telepathy, Time Travel, UFOs, and Other Pseudoscientific Claims by Milton Rothman

Steve
How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life by Thomas Gilovich
UFO's : A Scientific Debate edited by Carl Sagan and Thornton Page
Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time by Michael Shermer
Science : Good, Bad and Bogus by Martin Gardner
Crime Science: Methods of Forensic Detection by Joe Nickell and John F. Fischer
The Triumph of Evolution (and the Failure of Creationism) by Niles Eldredge
The Richness of Life: The Essential Stephen Jay Gould by Stephen Jay Gould
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

Vaccines & Autism: Myths and Misconceptions

2008-03-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

Here's a terrific article on the topic of vaccines & autism, by a favorite author of mine, Dr. Steven Novella.

Enjoy.

The Athiest Apocalypse!

2008-03-16T18:58:00.000-07:00

This is worth the click. Enjoy.

Egyptian Exorcism!

2008-03-10T14:46:00.000-07:00

How fun! I could exercise a few demons of my own. Well... maybe I could just use a little exercise. Either way, I tend to agree with Sheikh Ali Abdel Baki of the Islamic Research Centre, Al Azhar. It's all in your head.

Click Here to See the Viddy!

The Secret

2008-03-07T10:43:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite YouTube channels is shanedk. His Bogosity series is wonderful. I was hooked after watching his original video on creationism. Here's the latest episode of Bogosity, this time on "The Secret"

Expensive placebos work better than cheap ones!

2008-03-04T20:13:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting article. Apparently placebos marketed as expensive work better than placebos marketed as cheap, or discounted. It's pretty fascinating stuff.

Think about it.

Airborne Hucksters Forced to Pay Back!

2008-03-04T12:24:00.000-08:00

I've known for a long time that Airborne was a scam. First, you can't "boost your immune system." That's just something that people say because they can say it and it sounds like it means something. But it really doesn't.

So they've been sued by a consumer protection agency, via class action lawsuit, and now must pay back!

Here's more about it.

Video from ABC news

The scammers responsible for Airborne are forced to cough up $23.3 million by Orac at Respectful Insolence.

Unfortunately, this will probably not even put a dent in their sales. Hopefully other agencies will take the initiative to ding these guys a little more severely.

A new direction

2008-03-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

It's 11am on Tuesday March 4th 2008 and I'm beginning to outline what could turn into a book on autism quackery.

Wish me luck. (oh crap... this is a skeptical blog, so you know that luck has nothing to do with it.)

More Kirby Nonsense

2008-02-28T08:24:00.000-08:00

David Kirby and the government "concession that vaccines cause autism": The incredible shrinking causation claim posted by Orac at Respectful Insolence

-~- and -~-

Has the Government Conceded Vaccines Cause Autism? posted by Dr. Steven Novella at NeuroLogica

HBO Intro... still awesome 25 years later

2008-02-27T13:52:00.000-08:00

Richard Dawkins - Break the Science Barrier

2008-02-25T13:41:00.000-08:00

This is a six part series on youtube. You should be able to figure out the links on your own.

Oh wait... I'm giving my audience credit. That's probably a mistake. Here are the other links.

Part 1-2
Part 2-1
Part 2-2
Part 3-1
Part 3-2

Doctor who raised vaccine-autism alarm faces hearing

2008-02-19T08:10:00.000-08:00

Great news coming from the UK, as Andrew Wakefield faces charges for misconduct.

Happy Darwin Day Everyone!!

2008-02-12T09:27:00.000-08:00

Cow Tipping... Who Knew?

2008-02-09T09:02:00.000-08:00

6 Autistic Kids In One Family

2008-02-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

From TGV comes AGV

2008-02-05T13:16:00.000-08:00

France unveils next-generation fast train.

I've ridden the TGV and it's FAST. At speed, cars running alongside the train (going the same direction) are being left behind at well over 100 miles per hour.

The new unit will go 225 miles per hour.

SGU Summer Bash

2008-02-05T10:29:00.000-08:00

Last summer I went to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe (SGU) summer bash in New York city. I live in California, but I was vacationing at the Jersey Shore. So I took a train into NYC, went to this conference, then took a train that afternoon to Philly to meet up with Gwen and the boys.

I was in the second row here, just out of camera, and in the SGU Episode #108 I asked the question about autism. This meeting was one of the highlights of my summer.

Naturopathetic Medicine

2008-02-05T10:10:00.000-08:00

Did you know that you can become a naturopathic doctor in 18 months, studying from home via correspondence, and that naturopaths have an average C+ GPA in high school. They're not exactly the cream of the intellectual crop.

Note to self... naturopathic doctors are not actually doctors.

Study debunks personality link to breast cancer

2008-01-30T22:21:00.000-08:00

Study debunks personality link to breast cancer

Recent studies also show that belief/will/state of mind/etc have nothing to do with survival. This is great because people who were dying of cancer were being duped into believing they maybe we're loving thy self enough, or that they weren't positive enough, and that was the reason they were dying.

This, as it turns out is completely untrue. Mood does not effect getting or surviving cancer.

Unfortunately, bio de-stressing therapists, energy therapists, reiki, and other energy therapy woo woo nonsense practitioners have jumped on the cancer healing bandwagon and are snatching the dollars from the dying man's hands.

It's a damn shame.

Good Autism Awareness in the Mainstream Media

2008-01-30T13:28:00.000-08:00

For the most part Autism journalism in the mainstream media is completely credulous. But today I stumbled upon this video. These ladies have started an autism awareness organization and they're supporting evidence based treatment.

Unfortunately, a quick glance at their website shows that they also support "the DAN! protocol" and biomedical interventions (which are completely untested and total bullshit).

Damn! Just when I thought I had stumbled upon a good new Autism organization... my hopes were dashed.

Fortunately, they didn't mention any of this nonsense in the interview.

Paul MacCready

2008-01-22T22:06:00.000-08:00

On August 28th 2007 the world lost Paul MacCready. I was lucky enough to meet Paul a couple of years back, and to say that Paul was a hero of mine would be a huge understatement. Here's a photograph of me with Dr. MacCready.

I saw Paul give this speech at CalTech. It's definitely worth listening to. But be advised, he really understates his accomplishments. Paul is the father of human powered flight, he was also World Gliding Champion in sailplanes, a little fact he neglects to tell the audience.

Here's a link to TED, where the video is hosted.

I recommend highly that you read the book "More with Less" by Paul Ciotti. It's a narrative based on Dr. MacCready's life... A.K.A. a biography.

New Colors!

2008-01-22T21:55:00.000-08:00

Yipeee!

Skeptics' Circle #78 - The "Still High From The Chelation" Edition

2008-01-16T18:25:00.000-08:00

Our dearly beloved PBS is under attack! After doing a superb job of smacking the snot out of Intelligent Design, someone has managed to sidestep the science department and slip in a credulous Mercury Militia piece about the miracles and magic of alternative medicine in treating autism.

Fortunately for us PBS has an ombudsman, Michael Getler, who is there as a gatekeeper to ensure PBS’s broadcasts embrace logic, reason, science, and journalistic integrity. Please take a moment to drop him a line and ask that Beautiful Son, due to air in April, be reviewed thoroughly for scientific accuracy before being allowed on our precious public television station.

Whew. Now that we've got the serious business out of the way, let's have a little fun!

I’m a surfer, so I can tell you that the water is cold in San Francisco. But that doesn’t stop Greta Christina from dipping her toes into the ocean of credulity once in a while. Greta has created a astrological chart based on movie stars rather than on massive luminous balls of plasma. She calls it Oscarology, and it’s all good clean fun. (I’m not making this up!!) But Greta’s a skeptic too and she’s written this nice think piece about SCAM... that is Supplements, Complimentary and Alternative Medicine. Enjoy.

Next up is Seth Manapio broadcasting from deep within his fortified and armed anarchist/separatist compound. Seth has written this excellent piece on why the president should be a skeptic. I agree!

The milkman delivers! Zoo Knudsen delivers this healthy dose of skepticism in the form of a satire. It's beautifully written and I suggest you read it. But don't show it to your new age friends. They might think it's real!!

Next up is Andrea Ray Chandler broadcasting live from deep inside her hyperbaric oxygen tank. She recently underwent 350 “dives” and has been completely cured of her autism. With her newfound awareness on reality, she’s become a skeptic and has written this nice article about autism quackery. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you lose the ability to memorize telephone books.

After spending two years in prison for verbally brutalizing his colleagues with skeptical tirades, Daniel Kinsman writes articles about how to be a nice skeptic as part of his probation.

Still confused after his alien abduction (and anal probing), Sam Wise has written this article about the Roswell UFO Museum.

Want to rewrite creationist history? Here's your chance! Join Bing McGhandi over at Happy Jihad's House of Pancakes in his effort to create/submit/bullshit his way through creating creationist science!

My momma always said, don’t sit too close to the television. PodBlack Cat was sitting too close one day while watching Harry Potter, and with one misguided swing of the wand - poof! - he turned her into a skeptical black cat! Somehow, she’s managed to paw this excellent piece on why girls like me better with my eyeglasses.

Imagine being a skeptic... then imagine that your parents loved you so much they decided to name you Christian when you were born. I think I'd call myself Bob. Well, this lucky devil is named Christian Bachmann (Turner Overdrive not included) and he's written a skeptical article questioning health and obesity.

As a young boy, Greg was a fan of kung fo movies, that is until he nearly cut his arm off in a demonstration of ki. After recovering from his injuries he became a skeptic and has taken the time to write this article questioning kung fu woo.

Vampires Vampires Vampires Vampires Vampires!

Karen Stollznow calls herself Skepbitch, and this is probably true if you believe in woo. But she doesn't seem so bitchy to me when she reheats this old chestnut about hauntings vs natural explanations.

Thaddeus Nelson writes this article about why you should not buy Jesus' toilet bowl or Noah's deck mop at your local flea market, unless it's got legitimate provenance.

DAMN! I was just about to buy one of those magnetic bracelets to cure my insanity until I saw this article! A nice consumer protection piece to pass along to your woo woo friends.

The digital cuttlefish is a poet, don't you know it. Our little fishy friend has written this nice skeptical poem... read it to see how it ends.

I was hoping that people would submit good blog postings for this episode of skeptics' circle. But I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you a placebo instead.

Part of my job as the host is to adjudicate for you. But... this article is just too deep for my little brain. But, I'm posting it because it's interesting. You'll have to decide if it's right or wrong.

Who's your buddy? PAL M.D. is, that's who! PAL M.D. had a 123 degree fever and was completely delirious when he wrote this article on flu woo.

Will supplements make your kids smarter? I guess you'll have to read this article from Jon at Holford Watch to find out.

Eric is a newbie blogger. He's only got three posts. But he's got a nice little piece. Hopefully he keeps up the blogging.

I'm supposed to triage the posts with the most timely/pertinent postings appearing first... but I broke ranks and listed them in the order they were received. And since I'm not playing favorites...

...last, but certainly not least, we've got submissions from our very own Orac. He's recommended two blog postings from his very own blog. The first is a recent "Friday Dose of Woo" about Magical Water. The next posting is a sad tale of how alternative medicine is basically a death sentence when you have cancer. Sad sad sad.

Next, Orac submits two articles from Dr. Steve Novella's Science Based Medicine blog. Steve is a rock star in the skeptical world and he's putting in unbelievable amounts of time and effort to spread the knowledge. He's recruited only the best to contribute to this blog and the quality of the articles really reflect this. The first article is authored by Steve Novella and it's called Can Magnets Heal?. I'm guessing no.

The second article is by a relative newcomer to the blogging world, Dr. David Gorski. He's a noted surgical oncologist and he's written this article on Woo woo cancer cure claims.

Well, that concludes our little carnival. I hope you made some new skeptical friends this week and enjoyed the articles. Don't forget, in two weeks time, January 31, 2008
The 79th Skeptics' Circle, to be hosted by Podblack Blog. Email her your submissions at podblack@gmail.com

And don't forget to visit http://skepticscircle.blogspot.com

Blessed Art Thou Tap Water!

2008-01-14T09:35:00.000-08:00

Here's a nice easy reading piece about why you should be drinking tap water. Too bad Madonna doesn't read my blog! I could save her a fortune!

Tap Water Vs. Bottled from Yahoo!

Blessed Art Thou Kabbalah Water

2008-01-10T21:34:00.000-08:00

How cool would it be to be rich! I'm telling you, I would buy a warehouse here in San Clemente and fill it with cool motorcycles, maybe a Ferrari or two, and probably build a massive model railroad (because what the hell else would you do with your free time?).

I'd actually keep my life low-key. Small house near the beach, a couple of nice motorcycles, lots of free time to surf, exercise, hang glide, spend time with my wife and kids, etc.

I wouldn't get eccentric though...

But I hear of people who have. Here's a nice example. In Touch Weekly is reporting that Madonna only drinks specially blessed Kabbalah water and that she spends $10,000 a month to fill her and her family's bladders.

We have a Brita water filter in the fridge, and it's nice 'cuz it's cold. I'm really keen on sink water myself. Especially in the bathroom after brushing my teeth. Yum!

Here's a quote from kabbalahwater.com:

The Scientific Evidence

The Kabbalistic blessings and meditations that are used to create Kabbalah Water, for example, bring about elegant and balanced crystalline structures in water, while negative consciousness has an opposite effect. This is hugely important. In a very literal way, Kabbalah Water is life's original blueprint information brought into the modern world.

Just as it did at the first moment of Creation, the growth of every living organism should follow this blueprint. All the metabolic and regulatory processes of life require information -- and because of its unique crystalline structure and fractal design, Kabbalah water is an excellent information transmitter. Positive, health-giving information is defined by symmetry and high energy, while low energy and entropy -- like static in TV or radio reception -- characterize muddled information. Therefore, the condition of the water we take into our bodies determines the quality of the information being transmitted to our immune system, digestive system, circulatory system, and even to every atom of our bodies.

The scientific findings regarding Kabbalah Water are fascinating and important. But the essence and foundation of Kabbalah Water is the consciousness of sharing which infuses it. Once, all the waters of the world were imbued with this consciousness.

Wow... that's some pretty compelling scientific evidence there! Maybe you could just drop a AA battery in your glass of tap water. I'll bet that would have the same effect on the "molecule energy alignment" or whatever and save your a mountain of money!

But for me... I'm sticking with my tap water. It's just fine. Plus... everyone knows that it's the fluoride in my toothpaste that's going to kill me anyways.

Science Bloggers on Autism

2008-01-10T00:08:00.000-08:00

More and more evidence is pouring in (we're drowning in evidence here) that points to a genetic cause of autism and refutes the mercury/autism hypothesis. Of course, the believers will keep believing. But, there have been some very compelling blog entries of late from some very notable science bloggers, so I wanted to highlight a few.

One More Nail in the Mercury-Autism Coffin by Dr. Steven Novella on the Neurologica Blog

Mercury in vaccines as a cause of autism and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs): A failed hypothesis by David H. Gorski, MD, PhD on the Science Based Medicine blog.

Reactions to the Schechter and Grether vaccine/autism study on Mothering.com
and...
Another very bad day for antivaccinationists: Yet another study fails to find a link between thimerosal and autism.
and...
Arrogance: The mercury militia responds to the NEJM article on thimerosal-containing vaccines by Orac on the Respectful Insolence blog

The Autism Gene

2008-01-09T23:58:00.000-08:00

Here's another (emphasis on ANOTHER) study the finds the mercury/hypothesis null and void, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Here's a layman's breakdown of the study from Yahoo! news.

Basically, mutations in chromosome 16 increase your likelihood of of getting autism by 100 times.

As my friend Kris (who sent me the article) says:

"I don't think chelation or gluten free (btw pain in the ass) diets are going to have much effect on chromosome 16."

Dakar Rally Canceled Due To Religious Fundamentalism

2008-01-04T09:12:00.000-08:00

Here's just another reason to promote secularism. The Dakar Rally has been canceled this year due to terrorist threats directly against the race itself. Religious fundamentalism is at an all time high. The right wing nut bags in the US have selected Huckabee in the Iowa caucuses, and Islamic terrorists are now threatening to kill racing drivers and/or their families, friends, and supporters... all in the name of God.

Calling All Bloggers!

2008-01-03T21:31:00.000-08:00

The time is near for me to host the next skeptics circle! Please submit your posts by no later than Tuesday January 15th, midnight (where ever you are in the world).

I look forward to hearing from you skeptical brainiacs!

All the best,

rod@rodclark.com

A Great Day!

2007-12-30T20:58:00.000-08:00

Here is some amazing feedback I've just received from Kristina Brown. To know that my efforts on this blog have touched even a single person makes it completely worth the effort. So thank you Kristina for your excellent letter!

Hi Rod,

I was googling about autism and stumbled into your site. Your recent blog on Autism was especially helpful to me. My 3 yr old is Autistic and I fell deeply into the trap that has been set for many "newbie" parents of ASD. I appreciate your efforts at exposing TACA and other organizations for what they are...FRAUDS!

We were litterally 2 weeks away from traveling out of state to one of those Autism clinics. We have spent unheard of amounts of money trying to purchase special "diet" foods for my son. Don't even get me started on the supplements.

I was skeptical from the beginning but after reading no less that 6 books about Autism, I stumbled (pattern??? lol) onto an article by James Laidler, MD. I don't know why this one 3 page article woke me up after spending a small fortune of all those books (DAMN U AMAZON.COM!!!) but somehow I was able to go back to the forums I had stalked, like TACA, GFCF, among others and see the light. The parents were trying anything and everything without regard to any scientific approach. It broke my heart because I wanted so badly to find a "cure" for my son so he could realize all the dreams I had for him.

We are now working on more proven techniques to help him. He is doing well with Speech therapy, OT and PT as well. We are working on developing an IEP for him and maybe even ABA in the future.

I cannot get onbaord the no religion wagon with you as I am a Christian. But I can appreciate a logical and thoughtful thinker such as yourself. I hope you keep up the good work you and so many others are doing. When something smells rotten, chances are...it IS rotten!

Thanks,
Kris

It's Global Orgasm Day!

2007-12-21T23:09:00.000-08:00

Don't forget to get yours!!

www.globalorgasm.org

The "science" behind this is complete and total bullshit. But since there's an orgasm involved I'm going along with it!

No Excuses... Shave Your Legs!

2007-12-21T07:22:00.000-08:00

I'm always complaining about the failure of the mainstream media. But today there was actually a decent piece! It was genuinely skeptical. And kind of fun too.

Enjoy.

7 Medical Myths Even Doctors Believe

More Dawkins Fun!

2007-12-10T13:07:00.000-08:00

I've been surfing YouTube again. Surprise surprise.

Fuckabee

2007-12-08T08:53:00.000-08:00

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Mike Huckabee once advocated isolating AIDS patients from the general public, opposed increased federal funding in the search for a cure and said homosexuality could "pose a dangerous public health risk."

This is how you're supposed to think when you're a card carrying member of the religious right and the "moral" majority.

Nice morals Mike.

Read more here.

Yeti? Not Yeti?

2007-12-01T00:21:00.000-08:00

Not even a hint of skepticism in this credulous fluff piece.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071130/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_nepal_yeti

Remember folks... the media is in it to make money. Truth and reason are secondary.

Have Music Videos Failed?

2007-11-26T21:40:00.000-08:00

We were over at a friend's place this evening and they had music playing on one of the cable TV music stations when it occurred to me... Why don't they just play music videos on these channels?

Every logical reason in the world would tell you that you should just play music videos. Think about it. Nearly all singles are supported by videos. All of the songs played on these channels are singles. So logically the video is the first choice. Is bandwidth an issue? Absolutely not. Cable TV was designed to stream audio and video. So again, music video. How about ease of programming? Well, on the cable music channels they have photo slide shows of the artists with trivia posted on each side. To create these slide shows takes effort! It would be WAY easier to just play the video.

So why aren't they just playing the videos? What the hell is going on here?

Well I think I have the answer. People just don't want to watch the damn videos!

Music takes it's shape in many forms, from thrashing heavy metal to sultry jazz. But in all forms the effect is essentially the same. Music takes you away. Music transports you somewhere mentally. I'm both an audiophile and a music lover. I'm only an audiophile because I love the music so much that I want total involvement in the experience. But that doesn't really answer the question, why not watch music videos?

First off, playing the music only creates music as a background. Having the video playing would be distracting. Say for example you have friends over for dinner and wanted background music playing. You use the cable channel to pipe in the tunes and all is good. But if the TV were on playing music videos that would be distracting from the event.

Plus... have you seen some of these bands? They might make great tunes, but dude... they're wankers on film. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. MTV has moved completely away from the music video format. MTV2 has too in some sense. VH1 no longer plays videos either. Music videos are essentially dead.

But I'd be willing to bet money that every one hit wonder on the planet in the past 10 years has been forced to create a video to support their tune. Film production ain't cheap these days, and one hit wonders really have only one shot at making the bucks to pack away for retirement. I wonder if it's still worth it to spend the money? Is it a gamble or an insurance policy? In the overall cost/benefit analysis, where does the music video stand in 2007?

I wonder.

But I can tell you this. I WAS watching music videos over the weekend and it sure seemed to me that the music industry is putting the cart before the horse. Music today seems to be just a vacuous soundtrack tune designed to go along with it's video counterpart. I don't have a TV, so I judge all of the music I hear solely based on the music itself and I can tell you this... the music that the music industry is promoting in 2007 is shit. Absolute shit.

Wouldn't it be great if the videos died off and musicians were promoted for their craft rather than their looks. Hang on! The someone is knocking on the door. Oh it's Mr. Myspace and Dr. MP3 Download!

Maybe there's hope after all.

Sometimes...

2007-11-23T01:36:00.000-08:00

Sometimes people think they know what they're talking about.
Sometimes people act like they know what they're talking about.
Sometimes people look like they know what they're talking about.
Sometimes people sound like they know what they're talking about.

But sometimes people have no fucking clue what they're talking about.

So just beware when someone sounds like they know what they're talking about and they start telling you about homeopathy, biomedical treatment for autism, new age quantum bullshit, conspiracy theories, creationism, and especially...

Dick.

Possibly (Actually) the Most Important Information in the Whole Universe

2007-11-16T10:19:00.000-08:00

Surfer stuns experts with simple theory of everything

Physicists around the world are trying to discover the grand unifying theory of the universe. Time and space were created in the big bang 12.7 billion years ago. In the last two hundred years humans have come to better understand the universe. We have developed theories to describe gravity, strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force, and electromagnetism. Electricity and magnetism used to be two theories until they were unified into a single mathematical equation that represented both forces, and thus, now we have electromagnetism.

But, since the universe is "one thing" (it's "a" universe) all of the forces in the universe must be connected (simply because all of the individual forces of the universe are just part of the complete manifestation of the universe itself). So there must be a theory to unify all of the forces of nature into a single mathematical model to describe our beautiful universe.

I haven't read this guy's work, but he may be onto something. After his paper is properly vetted, peer reviewed, and published in a scientific journal, we'll have a better idea of how good his theory really is. And I'm curious to hear what the prominent string theorists such as Edward Witten and Brian Greene have to say about his work. Their commentary just might add validity to his theory, and then, we just might have discovered the theory of everything.

Until then, stay tuned.

Possibly the Most Important Information in the Whole Universe

2007-11-15T15:15:00.000-08:00

In-n-out Burger's Secret Menu

I like my double-double "spread, lettuce, and grilled onions" which is also know as "no tomato with grilled onions"

Why Bother Writing??

2007-11-15T11:40:00.000-08:00

I'm a lazy SOB sometimes. I could write a really nice blog posting, or I can just cherry pick funny videos off of YouTube. Today is one of those days my friends! But, I've got a few very good articles in the works, especially one for my Skeptics Circle debut in January. Until then, enjoy these very nice Ricky Gervais clips.

Radiohead Part Two - Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams!

2007-11-13T13:13:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the long delay between posts. My computer died. But the new one is up and running so I'm back in business!

A recent report shows that over half of all people who downloaded the new Radiohead album chose to pay nothing for it. But this isn't really true. And, it's just another reason to basically ignore headline news.

The facts are this... Half of the people who downloaded the album chose not to pay more than the 90 cent processing fee. The other half chose on average to pay about 4-5 bucks.

Artists represented by record companies typically receive about a dollar for each CD sold. They only receive a mere dollar because the rest pays for the CD pressing, cover art, materials, marketing, overhead, etc, and the record label likes to make a profit. Radiohead, operating with an huge existing fan base, "gave" the album away because the don't need to pay for marketing or publicity. But really, the credit card processing fee nearly equals the royalty they would have received. So in essence, those who chose to pay nothing paid full price (from the band's perspective) and those who chose more probably made Radiohead's "free" album the most profitable album in history... unless you're a record company.

But don't worry Mr. Record Company Man, we still need record companies to discover new bands and create publicity for them. An undiscovered band could have never pulled this off without you.

Save Second Base!

2007-10-23T10:26:00.000-07:00

If ever there was a cause worthy of supporting, it is this one. These girls have come up with a clever slogan and a few cool t-shirts to raise awareness and funding for breast cancer.

Give them a click, and maybe pick up a few holiday gifts.

www.save2ndbase.com

Education in America

2007-10-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

She's the yin to Edward Witten's yang...

A Major Disaster Coming To A PBS Station Near You In April - A.K.A. Beautiful Son

2007-10-10T14:11:00.000-07:00

I first caught wind of the autism film "Beautiful Son" through the surfing community. Surf filmmaker Don King has an autistic son. Being a filmmaker, Don always has a video camera at hand and has documented his "journey" of discovering that his child has autism. This, along with other footage and interviews, have become a film about autism called "Beautiful Son."

As a way of promoting the film, Don has enlisted Laird Hamilton (probably the greatest surfer to ever live) to perform various stunts to garner media attention for the cause.

It pains me to write this entry for several reasons. First, I don't like to turn against people in the surfing community. I typically find surfers to be amongst the finest people on earth. But second, it pains me to write this simply because one of the families in my tribe, the surfing tribe, has been duped by the mercury militia into believing the whole biomedical treatment nonsense supported by the DAN! doctors.

But I feel that I must do this. So here we go.

The film has not yet premiered, but there is enough supporting evidence via a web site and film preview to draw a few conclusions. Let's start with the preview, which was available - but seems to be no longer available - at www.beautifulson.com.

The preview goes something like this: the family record the birth of their son with their video camera. As he reaches two years old and his cognitive abilities begin to develop, the parents notice that something is wrong. They take the child to various doctors until a neurologist finally determines that the child is somewhere on the autistic spectrum.

The parents, who are devastated and completely unprepared for this, begin looking for answers. Unfortunately, mainstream medicine says "there's no cure" so they begin looking elsewhere when they find the DAN! conference. They attend the DAN! conference and are convinced that mercury and vaccinations caused their child's autism, and begin "the journey" to finding a cure.

The scenario will sound completely familiar to the millions of families with autistic children who have done the exact same thing.

Before I go any further, let's discuss why this occurs.

My best friend's child has autism, and on numerous occasions his wife has said to me "I hate neurologists, neurologists are the enemy." From her perspective this is understandable. Neurologists are the ones who diagnosed her child, so she obviously dislikes them. How could you like someone who tells you something bad? The logical fallacy here is of course the fact that they "told her something bad", but "they did not cause something bad." The human mind loves to confuse these things.

Also, the neurologists told her "there is no cure." This is not what anyone wants to hear. But if someone else tells you there is a cure (which of course there is not) it makes it appear as if the neurologist is (a) withholding information and (b) ignorant of "the cure." The neurologist is right in this situation, there is no cure, but the other side claims there's a cure... so the neurologists look like fools (in the eyes of fools, ironically).

Why would any parent believe mainstream medicine when the Autism Research Institute claims on their home page "Autism is treatable! Recovery is possible!"?

So, almost by default, parents of autistic children fall into the trap of ARI, TACA, and the DAN! conference.

During the preview (that no longer exists) Don filmed himself exploring the vendor area of the DAN! conference. I was not surprised in the least that the majority of vendors were pushing wacky untested cures such as HBOT, Laser saunas, Vitamin mega doses, Gluten free foods, and more. My impression was that the DAN! conference would allow ANY charlatan selling snake oil to be a vendor. But why would a reputable organization allow that sort of thing to happen? Ahhhhh... Now I'm getting it! They're quacks!

Later on in the preview (that no longer exists) they show Don and wife Julianne reading through the literature provided at the DAN! conference including (again no surprise here) propaganda from SafeMinds claiming that mercury in vaccinations has caused their child's autism.

When you're new to autism, and your mind is soaking up what people tell you, especially when those people claim to be experts, you will believe what they tell you.

Later on in the preview (that no longer exists) Don and Julianne are seen administering shots (of who-the-hell-knows-what) at home. They also show another parent administering a white liquid to their own child that obviously tastes like hell, because the poor child dreads the idea of consuming it, and then stims heavily once he's received it. Yuk.

To my eyes, it looks like they're basically torturing these poor, emotionally fragile children in order to "cure them."

Then the torture of the parents begin. In one scene, they're arguing furiously over a dosage issue and you can see the fracture (the same fracture that tears apart 80% of couples with autistic children) beginning to form. They're arguing over how much snake oil is needed to "cure" their kid.

This brings me to my next point; the "journey" of autism.

I hear this term used a lot with autism, and it infuriates me more every time I hear it. Autism is not a journey. Autism is a spectrum of neurological disorders, brought on genetically, for which there is no cure. Period. End of story.

Do you want to wreck somebody's home? Try telling a parent that there is a cure for an incurable disease and then send them on a "journey" to find the cure by visiting quacks and charlatans, all of whom have differing opinions and expensive (unproven, untested, and often dangerous) treatments. And then let the parents argue about these treatments until they ultimately divorce.

Point - Counter Point

I think there are two possible endings to this film. One where they realize that they've been duped by the DAN! doctors and ARI, and the other where they continue down the path of trying to cure their child by raising awareness for ARI, DAN!, SafeMinds, and others.

I haven't seen the entire film, just the preview that doesn't exist anymore, but I'm going to draw the conclusion that they will choose the later, and continue down the path of trying to cure their child by raising awareness for ARI, DAN!, SafeMinds, and others. I say this because I've seen the list of links available on the Beautiful Son website. They are ALL links to the mercury militia.

For fun, I've cross checked the links on Beautiful Son, with the list of Nonrecommended Information Sources on autism-watch.org. It's quite comical. Here's the complete list from Beautiful Son. Entries that also appear on the Nonrecommended Information Sources are followed by triple asterisks ***

- A-Champ***
- Autism One***
- Autism One Radio (see above)
- Autism Research Institute (see DAN!)
- Autism Society of America***
- Autism Treatment Network
- CoMeD
- Cure Autism Now
- CHEC children's health environmental coalition
- Defeat Autism Now (DAN!)***
- F.A.I.R. Autism Media
- Generation Rescue***
- Ladders
- MIND Institute
- Moms Against Mercury***
- National Autism Association***
- National Vaccine Information Center***
- Safeminds***
- United Methodist Church
- Unlocking Autism

Half of the links from Beautiful Son are to credulous, nonrecommended information sources.

I know that Don and Julianne King are trying to do the right thing by bringing awareness to autism, but unfortunately this film is going to deliver another disastrous blow to those interested in the truth about autism. This film will ultimately turn out to be another propaganda piece for the mercury militia. They will tout it as a great success. But ultimately in the long run, they're only hurting themselves. Because if you support the mercury militia, you're not supporting autism. Every dollar wasted on DAN! could have been put to meaningful use by the geneticists who are honestly trying to find the cause and cure for autism.

Oh, and let's not forget PBS. They're going to broadcast this! Hopefully someone will talk some sense into the people at PBS before they air Beautiful Son next April.

Hillary Clinton Endorses Science

2007-10-08T10:57:00.000-07:00

To be clear; this is NOT a political blog. I find discussing politics to be a colossal waste of time. But, I would like to point you to a press release from Hillary Clinton's website.

I think we can all agree that Bush is about as scientifically literate as a chimp. He is a creationist after all. Hillary seems to have a more "reality based" understanding of the world around us.

I don't typically believe what politicians say, but this seems genuine to me, largely because it's an antidote to the stupidity that Bush has perpetuated for the past 7 years.

Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, has more to say about this.

Enjoy.

Why I Don't Do Comments

2007-10-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

I know people like to be interactive with blogs, but it seems to me that comments quickly degenerate to the lowest common denominator. I'd say better than 90% of blog comments are not worth reading, and since we live in a society over saturated with mass media, I figured I'd save you the time and trouble of reading them.

If you really want to comment, you can email me.

Now, here's a video, that states my point quite eloquently. Enjoy.

More Fodder For the Antivaccination Crowd

2007-10-05T12:36:00.000-07:00

I picked up this story on the web about an outbreak of polio in Nigeria caused by vaccinations.

Officials say drug caused Nigeria polio

I wont go into the details, but essentially, yes there was a small outbreak of polio due to the vaccinations. However, the local Muslims have spread rumors in Nigeria - perpetuated by the local governments - that vaccines are purposefully tainted by westerners to include HIV (among other things, including some element that causes infertility) and have discouraged families from vaccinating their children.

Of course, cases of polio had dropped to almost zero until this recent wave of non-vaccinations when there have been outbreaks in the thousands.

But the fodder lies here... a small outbreak was caused by the vaccinations, and that outbreak paralyzed 69 children (which really sucks). The tragedy is of course the children, but the real damage will be done when the anti-vaccination propagandists in Africa - and here in the United States - get a hold of this story and run with it. "Vaccines kill!" they'll say.

Of course, they'll politely ignore the millions of human lives saved by vaccines every year. But, the public at large is so easily duped, and the media frenzy churns out stories for money (not reality), so the gullible public will continue limping along claiming that vaccinations are evil because the news says so, the the government is covering up the truth, and so on and so forth.

Don't let the truth get in the way of telling a good story, I say!

If you want to know more, check Steve Novella's take on the whole situation.

Ciao.

The Moons of Saturn

2007-10-04T22:16:00.000-07:00

Please, enjoy this video of Carolyn Porco discussing the discoveries of the Cassini mission to Saturn.

At the end of the talk she shows this amazing image of Saturn fully eclipsing the Sun, and our little planet is clearly visible as a small blue dot near the upper left side of the rings.

Earth feels pretty big when you're sitting in your armchair, but on the cosmic level, we're just a wee speck of dust. Ewen and Charley did a whole lap of our little planet on BMW motorcycles in a little over three months. When looking at this picture it's hard for me to imagine some all-knowing, all-powerful deity giving a shit about our little planet (or existing for that matter. We should be able to see heaven floating above Earth from 1,513,325,783 kilometers away right?)

But my main thought is this... why are humans fighting against one another? Because of religion. Why are we squabbling about whose god is right or who are the chosen people? Because of religion.

Let me tell you this, when someone tells you "east vs west, Christianity vs Islam are like two world colliding", you make sure to correct them and tell them this...

It's not. It's one world colliding.

Bigfoot Sighting!

2007-10-03T00:09:00.000-07:00

Cryptozoology is the search of mythical animals and creatures. Kidozoology is the act of photographing your child wearing giant slippers whilst also flipping you the bird.

Indeed I Am a Surfer

2007-10-02T23:49:00.000-07:00

Last night I surfed T-Street on my longboard. Tonight, I surfed the web. Gwen fell asleep on the couch twenty minutes into Return of the Jedi, so a' surfing I went! And here's what I came up with. These videos appear to be created (or intelligently designed) by youtube user Potholer54, and are from the same series as the History of the Universe posting I published earlier this evening.

The Story of the Earth Made Easy

The Origin of Life Made Easy

God and DNA Made Easy (Viewers beware - Yucky birth defects)

Richard Dawkins

2007-10-02T23:03:00.000-07:00

I've read Richard Dawkins' book "The God Delusion." It was, without a doubt, the longest book I've ever read. I'm not saying it had the most number of pages (I think Executioners Song holds the distinction), but rather it just seemed to go on forever and ever.

Dawkins is unbelievably brilliant, however his tone his overly brusque to the point that it can diminish the effectiveness of his message. So I came away from the experience largely unimpressed, but I do intend on reading another of Dawkins' books to give him a second chance. This is not saying I disagree with his take on religion vs. atheism, but rather that I agree, but the story could have been told a little more dispassionately.

But the Dawkins of the lecture podium is a different creature all together. His points are well made and terse, and often quite elegant.

So let's take a minute to examine both sides of Richard Dawkins. The following videos show Dawkins' "on his good behavior"

But, here's a video to reinforce my belief that Dawkins can be brusque. The brilliant astrophysicist and educator Neil DeGrasse Tyson shares my opinion about Dawkins' tone, and shares that opinion with Dawkins himself.

History of the Universe

2007-10-02T22:41:00.000-07:00

Part One

Part Two

How Much Would You Pay For the New Radiohead Album?

2007-10-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

Here's something to think about. Radiohead are releasing their seventh studio album "In Rainbows" on Oct 10, 2007. The album is available exclusively on radiohead.com in digital download format only, with CD and Boxed Set versions to be released later.

So what's the big deal you say?

The big deal is this... You choose how much you wish to pay for the album. It is completely up to you. If you'd like to pay one penny, or one dollar, or ten dollars, or even 100 dollars, you can choose to do so. If you choose to pay nothing, well you can do that too.

This initially seems completely absurd right? But, think of it this way; there's a high likelihood that a copy of the album would have been stolen from the record pressing plant and been leaked onto the internet. So why not beat the thieves at their own game. Release the album digitally on your own site. The people who would have chosen not to purchase the album can do so. The people, like me, who would have chosen to purchase the album may also do so.

So... how much to pay? Well, that's a tough call. Especially for an American in 2007. President Dick Head has driven the value of our dollar into the ground, so the Pound Sterling has better than twice the value of our buck-a-roo.

But also, this is Radiohead's seventh full length album, and they're arguably the greatest band of our generation, so the scales tip heavily in their favor. So why pay anything at all? Also, what if you choose to purchase the CD at the later date, how much should you have to pay today for the privilege of listening for 6 extra months of your life?

I chose 5 pounds. Now, this doesn't really work out in my favor. I thought CDs cost about 12-15 bucks, so a digital file with no packaging is worth about 5 bucks, and I would feel cheap paying anything less. But, the currency exchange is so poor for the US that my five quid sterling purchase price is actually more than 10 bucks! Gaa. But I chose to give 5 to the cause, and I accept that it will equal more than that when pulled from my credit card.

But, ultimately, it's not going to break my bank and I can sleep at night knowing that I paid 5 quid for the privilege of listening to the best band in the world. They've been in the studio for two years, it's the least I could do.

So how much will you pay?

Chinese Farmers Grew Rice 1700 Years Before Earth Was "Created"

2007-10-02T16:35:00.000-07:00

Looks like the Chinese were cultivating rice 7700 years ago. But where? I thought Earth was only 6000 years old? These silly young earth creationists are so confused.

Or maybe... China existed before earth. Hmmmm... I may have to run this one past leading scientific experts like Neal Adams.

Looks Like Science. Smells Like Science. NOT SCIENCE

2007-10-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

OK kids. Here's a nice example of how people can make wild and completely unsupported claims appear to be "real science." This is an important lesson today class. So please pay attention.

Neal Adams is a cartoonist of some note. He's also a diagnosable nut case who believes that he has singlehandedly discovered that the earth is growing, and has been growing for millions of years. Unfortunately for him science doesn't support this (not even a little bit). But as always... don't let the truth get in the way of a good story! So, with the proliferation of self-publishing tools such as YouTube, blogs, web sites, etc. comes the good with the bad.

Even though the consensus of scientific opinion is against him, he can still tell his story (as nutty as it may be) and make it appear as if it were true.

So, let's apply some critical thinking to this nonsense and see what we can come up with;

#1 - Other nuts who tell nutty stories and make them appear to be true - Mercury/Autism anti-vaccination groups, homeopaths, chiropractors, "The Secret", "What the Bleep", new-age "quantum physic" healers, Intelligent Design proponents, Young Earth Creationists (all creationists for that matter), Acupuncturists, Scientologists, Iridology and more.

#2 - Neal claims "There is a conspiracy of silence among scientists" about the upper tectonic plates. A conspiracy among scientists?!?! Come on Neal! Scientists spend their entire careers searching the natural world to solve the unknowns. If any one scientist, or any group of scientists discovered actual evidence that the earth is growing, and that data "would change everything in science, from the smallest particle to the whole universe" that scientist (or scientists) would be considered the greatest scientist to have ever lived.

Why would any scientist pass up the opportunity for wealth, fame, peer recognition, and so on?

But... Neal is not a scientist. He's a cartoonist! And he thinks he knows how the scientific method works. But as you can see, he willingly indulges in misinterpreting data, and then publishes the information himself or pitches his claim directly to the media without peer review.

So the next time someone tries to tell you about something that "scientists just don't understand", or is contradicting the consensus of scientific or medical opinion, take a minute to think about it. You might just save yourself the pain of having someone stick burning needles in your arse to unblock your meridians (and the even greater pain of having to pay them for the pleasure).

Sunday Fun with Roy Zimmerman

2007-09-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

It's sinday, so let's have a little fun.

Listing of Studies That Do Not Support the Vaccine-Autism Connection

2007-09-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

A Listing of Articles Which Do Not Support the Vaccine Etiology of Autism Theory from Interverbal: Reviews of Autism Statements and Research

This looks like a nice resource for people looking for the actual studies, so that they can evaluate them themselves.

Curb Kirby Links As Promised

2007-09-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

A mere 8 hours ago I claimed in my previous blog post:

"I'm going to make a prediction. In the next two days, the science and medicine blogging community are going to pick up on this and absolutely slaughter this loser. And when they do, I'll post the links."

Here's the first of them:
More Evidence for the Safety of Vaccines - By Dr. Steve Novella on the NeuroLogica Blog

I'll update with revised posts as they come in.

UPDATE #1:

Here's another link regarding the CDC report and the non existent mercury vaccine autism connection, but in this case it's Sallie Bernard of SafeMinds being intellectually disingenuous.

UPDATE #2

More on Kirby, but not about his CDC report.

More on the morons, Kirby and Sallie Bernard regarding the CDC report.

Update #3

Here's the antidote, via the Huffington Post to that steaming pile of shit that Kirby posted the other day.
Thimerosal Vindicated in Another Study, Yet ... the Show Must Go On - Arthur Allen on the Huffington Post

Update #4

Months later... David Kirby is still an idiot!

I used to like the Huffington Post

2007-09-27T22:53:00.000-07:00

CDC Mercury in Vaccines

This is pretty sad. David Kirby is the author of Evidence of Harm. He wrote a book (and made millions of dollars) trying to convince people like you and me that vaccinations cause harm. But, the evidence repeatedly strongly refutes his beliefs. Even in this report from the CDC, it clearly states:

"Our study does not support a causal association between early exposure to mercury from thimerosal-containing vaccines (and) deficits in neuropsychological functioning at the age of 7 to 10 years"

But, his back is against the wall, and his paycheck is in question. (Oh my God...what if no one buys my book! I'll have to get a job!) So what does he do? He writes an editorial piece where he cheaply misinterprets the data to make it appear as if there are inconsistencies and contradictions that discredit the report.

And the autism community, who are completely brainwashed into believing his and ARIs, and SafeMinds crap go "See! See what he said!"

But let's look at what he really said. He said "The CDC is a big government conspiracy who are trying to either (a) intentionally harm the children of the world or (b) are covering up for the big pharmacy companies so they can keep selling mind-killing drugs.

It's nothing more than paranoia and conspiracy, in a cheap tuxedo.

I'm going to make a prediction. In the next two days, the science and medicine blogging community are going to pick up on this and absolutely slaughter this loser. And when they do, I'll post the links

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Look, i've been thinking about this a ton lately. I'm going to write a little analogy for y'all.

Imagine you grew up in the deep south and you were raised in an evangelical Christian church, and everyone in that church believed that the earth was created 6000 years ago. Imagine that this story of "young earth creation" was all you ever knew about the subject, for your whole life.
And then one day... along came a scientist and he said "oh no silly, the earth is 4.7 billion years old, and here are the fossil records and radiocarbon dating to prove it." Well of course, your whole life, you've been told it's 6000 years old, not 4.7 billion. So what do you do? You go ask all the people at your church how old the earth really is. And what do they say? Well, 6000 years of course!

Why? Well, it's because they've been taught to believe that by the people in their church. But, it's based on ancient scripture, not really on science, and in the past 4 centuries scientists have discovered a ton about the origins of the earth, and so on and so forth. But, the 6000 year belief persists, mainly because that's what the community has been told for two millennia, so they're not about to change.

So off you go happy as a lark knowing that the earth is 6000 years old, because everyone told you so, and that's good enough. Too bad no one in your church was a paleontologist! Because, of course the earth is much older than 6000 years.

Now, let's rewrite the story for autism.

Imagine one day you found out that your child has autism, and it's probably the worst day of your life. So you go looking for answers and find a group of organizations that promise they can cure your child with biomedical intervention, because they know that vaccines caused your child to be autistic.

And then one day... along came a scientist and he said "oh no silly, you child's problem is genetic, and there are scientists out there who've actually located the genes that cause the symptoms of autism, and that it's been proven over and over and over and over and over again that vaccines don't cause autism. So what do you do? You go to the people you're familiar with (in your community of autism) and ask them what the cause of autism really is. And what do they say? Well vaccines of course!

So you go off happy as a lark knowing that autism is caused by vaccines, because everyone told you so and that's good enough. Too bad no one in your community was a molecular geneticist! Because they would have told you that autism is caused by genes, not vaccines.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

I've come to realize is this... the entire autism community has been duped by something awful. As a parent of an autistic child, who do you believe? Do you believe science telling you that biomed is bullshit, or do you believe the guys telling you that there is a cure? Of course you believe the guys telling you there is a cure!

And, in the case of the autism community, EVERYONE BELIEVES IT! It's the natural course of action. The parents want to believe in the cure, so the perpetuate the mercury myth, even in the face of overwhelming science. The mercury myth has become like an urban legend, and everyone is trapped in it.

It is the greatest injustice to ever be perpetuated on the autism community.

But I can't blame the parents for getting caught up in it. Everyone has. The entire autism community, at this point in time, is totally caught up in this crap, and their political influence on the community is very strong.

But it still doesn't change the fact that the vaccine/autism connection just doesn't exist.

Parents are seeking answers and help for their autistic children have been caught under the blanket of the largest medical misconception of our time.

Just yesterday, I was watching a video of a guy who went to a DAN! conference. At that conference, he videotaped himself in the vendor area. There were dozens and dozens of vendors peddling their "miracle cures", from HBOT, to B mega-doses, to infrared saunas, vitamin smoothies, and dozens of other untested (and highly profitable) so-called treatments.

But, let me pose this question to you. DAN!s web site says:

"is our strong commitment to bring only the most credible and forward thinking researchers and clinicians to speak at the conferences"

If their commitment is to bring the most credible people, why are they letting any kook with an unknown treatment modality sell stuff at their conference? If they're so credible, shouldn't they discriminate carefully amongst prospective vendors? Well, yes! Of course they should. But they don't.

When you figure why... you'll know the answer I've been trying to tell you all along.

TAKE THAT! Mr. Creationist Guy

2007-09-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

Holy crap! It's been more than 50 years since Stanley Miller and Harold Urey simulated the hypothetical conditions present on Earth way back yonder by creating a chemical primordial soup out of water, methane, ammonia and hydrogen.

They put 4 chemicals into a system of sterile glass flasks and added electricity to simulate lightning and bada-bing! Amino acids! In one week they had created 13 of the 22 amino acids used to make protein, not to mention sugars, lipids, and nucleic acids too.

They made organic compounds out of chemicals, and it only took a week.

I'll bet Yahweh was pissed when he found out that Earth could create the origins of life without him.

Terminology - Aggressive vs. Conservative

2007-09-27T15:29:00.000-07:00

I was recently speaking with a friend about the wide array of doctors she sees for her autistic daughter. During our conversation I became clued into the terminology that the mercury/vaccination people have developed to describe doctors. Aggressive and Conservative.

The context of the conversation was essentially this; aggressive means the doctor recommends biomedical treatment, conservative does not. And it is implied that aggressive is good and conservative is bad.

I find this very interesting. Here's the way I see it:

Aggressive doctors are basically DAN! doctors. They are physicians who, somehow made it through medical school, and along the way didn't learn how to evaluate medical evidence. If you are a DAN! doctor, or in a wider context, any doctor who recommends biomedical treatment for autism you must share some combination of the following traits:
- You are unable to discriminate between the consensus of unqualified, heavily biased opinions (anti-vaccination conspiracy groups and mercury moms) and blinded, controlled, FDA approved clinical trials and epidemiological studies.
- You choose to believe the anti-vaccination groups because you commit the argumentum ad populum logical fallacy.
- You are "new-agey" and have some personal bias against scientific medicine (which should essentially disqualify you from continuing your medicine practice)
- You consciously ignore the consensuses of medical opinion because you believe you are enlightened about the subject in a way that others aren't (which makes you not only a megalomaniac, but also a quack)
- You unconsciously ignore the consensus of medical opinion because you're a poor physician.
- You unconsciously ignore the consensus of medical opinion because you're lining your pockets with the hard earned dollars from the parents of autistic children (which makes you a totally greedy scumbag)
- You are unaware or unable to understand (or acknowledge) that autism is genetic, and therefor cannot and will not respond to biomedical treatments (try curing your down syndrome patients with HBOT or chelation)
- You can't discriminate between medical double-speak (gobbledygook) and real science.
- You are reckless and willing to expose your patients to potentially harmful treatments even if they show no possible mechanism for efficacy.

OK, now let's consider so called "conservative" doctors:
- You are fully able to discriminate between the claims of anti-vaccination groups and blinded, controlled, FDA approved clinical trials and epidemiological studies, and thus, you do not recommend biomedical treatments to your patients.
- You choose to believe the scientific evidence rather than the anti-vaccination propaganda.
- You have no bias against science based medicine.
- You follow the consensus of medical opinion and carefully examine evidence before recommending treatments to your patients.
- You'd rather do the right thing for your patients, rather than get-rich-quick on bogus treatments, because you know that (a) it's the right thing to do, and (b) in the long run your practice will be healthier for it.
- You understand the true cause of autism is genetic, based on reports from prestigious peer reviewed journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine or Nature and therefor have concluded that biomedical treatments for mercury poisoning have no efficacy.
- You can discriminate between medical double-speak (gobbledygook) and real science.
- You are not willing to expose your patients to potentially dangerous treatments, when there is no possible mechanism for that treatment's efficacy.

So here's the rub.
- First, DAN! doctors are telling the parents what they want to hear.
- DAN! doctors appear to know what they are talking about because they agree with the anti-vaccine groups, and since you know only what you've been told by ARI, TACA, SafeMinds, etc., you are inclined to believe that the DAN! doctors are right.
- Aligning oneself with a group such as the DAN! doctors falsely implies expertise because of a group association.
- Because the parents have been indoctrinated with the anti-vaccination nonsense from the very beginning, they are inclined to continue believing this nonsense, because first impressions are very strong. Of course, this makes the legitimate "conservative" doctor appear to be unqualified in the eyes of the parents.

"Conservative" doctors want to ensure the best for their patents. Knowing that the parents (a) are seeking out potentially dangerous treatments and (b) looking for a doctor to tell them what they want to hear, the conservative doctor must walk a delicate tightrope. If the conservative doctor is strongly against the DAN! doctors, two things may occur. First, the parents will perceive that the doctor is telling them there is no cure for their child and will leave the physician for a physician "who can cure their kid." This is obviously bad for the physician because, they will rightly perceive, that out of their care the child is now in harms way.

And second, the parents will perceive that the conservative doctor is:
1. "conservative" meaning not open minded about new treatments
2. misinformed or uninformed about the true cause of autism
3. not aggressive enough in "finding a cure" for their child.

Of course, this is completely insane! Discussing each point in order:
1. These doctors are open minded to treatments that show efficacy.
2. These doctors are not misinformed about the true cause of autism. If indeed they are uninformed (not every doctor is an expert in autism) then they are wisely choosing not to recommend alternative treatments until which time that they can research the topic further. In which case, you will see that your doctor will have "no argument either for or against" alternative treatments, which is basically is an admission of ignorance on the subject which should also cause you to seek a new physician.
3. You can't just walk down the street and "find" a cure for something. Even if you're really aggressively doing so.

The point really is this...

"Conservative" doctors are completely mislabeled by the autism community in an attempt to disqualify them. Basically, as I see it, there are three kinds of doctors for treating autism:
- DAN! doctors, who are complete quacks who willingly or unknowingly ignore the scientific evidence and deliberately put their patients in harms way.
- And poorly educated physicians, mislabeled as "conservative" doctors who "have no opinion one way or the other" about biomedical treatments for autism because they are simply unqualified.
- Well educated physicians, also mislabeled as "conservative" doctors, because they choose, based on scientific evidence, to not put their patients in harms way.

My recommendation is this. When choosing a physician for your autistic child, choose the one with strong arguments against biomedical treatments and the mercury myth. This will disqualify DAN! doctors and unqualified doctors and put you in the hands of the best physicians.

Orac on the Mercury Militia

2007-09-27T15:02:00.000-07:00

No surprise here. There's still no connection between vaccines and autism.

A bad day for antivaccinationists: Yet another study fails to support an association between vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders - from Respectful Insolence

Lemmings

2007-09-25T09:11:00.001-07:00

Just when you think you know everything! Turns out that Lemmings don't actually commit mass suicides.

Is anything sacred!?!

Books To Read

2007-09-24T20:46:00.000-07:00

In the Can (Recently Read)
Letter to a Christian Nation - Sam Harris (Excellent. Short)
The Making of the Atomic Bomb - Richard Rhodes (Excellent. Pulitzer winner)
Dark Sun; the Making of the Hydrogen Bomb - Richard Rhodes (Excellent. Pulitzer finalist)
The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins (Excellent philosophically. Excessively passionate in its delivery)
Why Darwin Matters - Michael Shermer (Good. Easy reading)

Reading
An illustrated brief history of time - Hawking

On Deck
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene
A Castle in the Forest - Norman Mailer
The Bible - Yahweh's followers
The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene
iWoz
The end of Faith - Sam Harris
Arsenals of Folly: The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race - Richard Rhodes

In the Queue (Not Yet Purchased)
Jupiter's Travels - Ted Simon
Unweaving the rainbow - Richard Dawkins
The Bible Against Itself: Why the Bible Seems to Contradict Itself - Randel McCraw Helms
God A Biography - Jack Miles

The Cult of Autism

2007-09-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

Autism has been a hot topic in my life as of late. My best friend's daughter was diagnosed with autism, and she's now about 4 years old.

Being a parent is tough enough. I have twin boys, 1.5 years old, and they're like Tasmanian Devil #1 and Tasmanian Devil #2. It's quite chaotic around here. I love them dearly, and I can't imagine how unbelievably painful it must be for a parent to find out that their child has autism. I suspect that nearly all parents are unprepared for something like that. Every time I hear about a child with autism, the parent's story always seems the same:
- Around the age of two, my kid was diagnosed with autism.
- Our neurologist told us there was nothing we could do.
- We began to look around on the web for a cure and we found the Autism Research Institute and the Defeat Autism Now (DAN!) conference.
- We attended a DAN! conference.
- We've been convinced by the DAN! conference that mercury in vaccines causes autism.
- We're now trying various biomedical therapies based on the recommendations of the DAN! conference.
- I hate my neurologist

If I were to venture a guess, this probably tells the story of the vast majority of autistic parents.

So where's the problem? The parents are trying to do the best for their child, what's wrong with that? Well, nothing. The problem lies with the Autism Research Institute (ARI) and the DAN! conference. The problem started with Dr. Bernard Rimland, founder of ARI, and the story goes a little something like this...

In the 1950s, as a freshly graduated psychologist, Dr. Rimland determined, correctly, that autism is a neurological disorder. Until that time, autism was believed to be the product of pad parenting. This was his shining moment, but for the remainder of his career, Dr. Rimland personified the character of a bad scientist.

Indeed, Dr. Rimland correctly theorized that autism is a neurological disorder. However, his major failing was in determining the cause of autism. His belief, based on anecdotal evidence, was that autism was caused by environmental factors, specifically mercury and thiomersal (also spelled thimerosal). Even as late as April 6, 2000, while testifying to Congress he said “parents say their children were normal until getting the MMR – another triple vaccine.”

Exhaustive studies epidemiological studies have been completed in the area of the mercury, thiomersal, vaccines, and autism and all have shown conclusively, that there is no link between autism and vaccines.

Here are a few links to those studies:
- FDA's Ongoing Response to the Issue of Vaccines and Autism
- autismwatch.org - Thimerosal Is Not Responsible for Autism
- autismwatch.org - Thimerosal and Autism: Reviewing the Evidence (2007)
- autismwatch.org - Thimerosal: Updated Statement. National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI). Canada Communicable Disease Report

Dr. Rimland based his beliefs purely on anecdotal evidence. Not only that, but he also chose to disregard the data from valid, FDA approved, double blinded clinical studies which proved conclusively that there is zero causal relationship between mercury/thiomersal and autism. His own hubris, personal incredulity, stubbornness, or ignorance kept him from admitting that he was wrong.

Let’s examine the basis of his belief in mercury poisoning for a second. His claim is that signs of autism occurred right after the child was admitted a triple vaccine – such as MMR or DPT shot.

Well, signs of autism do occur at around the same time as children receive these shots. However, autism is a genetic disorder. You are born with it. But, it is also a cognitive disorder, and guess what... infants haven’t developed their cognition yet. Therefore the symptoms don’t really begin to manifest until the child’s cognition develops, around 1-1/2 to 2 years old. This coincidentally is about the same time as the triple vaccines are administered. But the timing is just a coincidence. And remember, correlation doesn’t mean causation.

Also, have Dr. Rimland’s methods of collecting data been clearly published? There is a huge opportunity for error and bias in data collecting. Consider the following - During the collection of data, how were the questions asked? “Did the symptoms occur about the same time as the shots?” This obviously leads to insinuation on the part of the researcher and could bait the parents into believing in a causation. Even two separate questions such as “When were the shots given?” and “When did the symptoms begin?” could be misleading.

Misleading data collection could easily bias the parent's recollection in several ways, including but not limited to false memory syndrome

A more valid way to collect the data might have been to ask the parents when the symptoms began, and the independently verify with the child’s physician as to when the vaccinations occurred. This would likely show that there was a range of time when the symptoms were onset, and would likely show that symptoms occurred before the vaccinations. I’m speculating here, but seriously, where are his data collection methods? I’ll bet they show a ton of bias. The bottom line is that Dr. Rimland did not stick to accepted clinical research methodology to determine his findings.

In Robert L. Park’s excellent article The Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science, bogus science warning number one reads “The discoverer pitches the claim directly to the media.” It continues “The integrity of science rests on the willingness of scientists to expose new ideas and findings to the scrutiny of other scientists. Thus, scientists expect their colleagues to reveal new findings to them initially. An attempt to bypass peer review by taking a new result directly to the media, and thence to the public, suggests that the work is unlikely to stand up to close examination by other scientists.”

Does this sound familiar in the context of Dr. Rimland’s research? All of his pleadings and publications have been directly to the media, or published via his own organizations.

How many times have the ARI and DAN! people been on Oprah? I'm not even going to discuss the Jenny McCarthy on Oprah train wreck here today.

But, Dr. Rimland’s views have been derided by his colleagues. At the time of this writing, Dr. Rimland’s wikipedia entry (published 12:51, 3 September 2007) approximately one third of the entire entry is devoted to criticism of his conflicts with the consensus of medical opinion. (and no, that does not make him a forward thinking visionary that no one else is smart enough to understand). His criticism section is longer than his bio section!

Here’s a quote from Dr. Rimland’s site.

“The effects of mercury on autistic children has come to light only in the past 18 months, after it was realized that the amount of mercury preservative in many vaccines (although not the MMR vaccine) is grossly in excess of the permissible standards.”

Is it really? I’ve heard people say that the mercury/thiomersal levels are three times the legal limit. Is that true? Is the government letting the big pharmacy companies slide by turning the other cheek?

ARE YOU JOKING!

Here’s an interesting bit of information you might enjoy... MMR vaccines never actually contained mercury or thiomersal, ever. And, for reasons due to public misunderstanding, mercury and thiomersal were removed from other vaccines in 2001. And no... there were not stockpiles of the supposedly tainted drugs sitting on shelves for years after the change went into effect. That’s just ridiculous. The last mercury containing vaccines were produced in 2001, with expiration dates no later than 2003. Most doctors do not stockpile vaccines. They use them frequently and replace their dwindling supplies. Can you imagine any physician purchasing a stockpile of vaccines? Why would they do that? Improvements in scientific medicine are constantly taking place. So why would any physician risk keeping a vaccine on hand in large quantities when that vaccine could be replaced for a better one, or worse, removed from the market? I doesn't add up does it.

Let’s go back to “The Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science” one more time. This time, we’re going to look at number 4. “Evidence for a discovery is anecdotal.” This time I will simply just quote directly, because it’s been firmly established at this point that Dr. Rimland’s evidence is in fact anecdotal.

“If modern science has learned anything in the past century, it is to distrust anecdotal evidence. Because anecdotes have a very strong emotional impact, they serve to keep superstitious beliefs alive in an age of science. The most important discovery of modern medicine is not vaccines or antibiotics, it is the randomized double-blind test, by means of which we know what works and what doesn't. Contrary to the saying, "data" is not the plural of "anecdote."

Now let’s look at another root of Dr. Rimland’s problem. He’s the parent of an autistic child. This in itself immediately disqualifies him from being a trustable expert on the subject of autism. Like any other parent of an autistic child, he’s more likely to make decisions purely on emotion or conjecture rather than rational, critical, or reasonable thinking. Clinical research must be carried out by unbiased individuals.

How about Dr. Rimland’s Autism Research Institute (ARI). Turns out, they’re not even a research institute! They’re a marketing organization developed to further spread his credulous claims.

Evidence Based Medicine

Let’s take a break from our criticism of Dr. Rimland and his DAN! Doctors, and the Autism Research Institute. Let’s talk about medicine.
Medicine is developed using the scientific method. When a new modality of treatment is theorized it is subjected to a battery of testing before it is allowed to be tested on humans. This testing is called Pre Clinical Trials.
Anyone who is interested in performing a clinical trial must submit a request to the FDA. All exploratory, first-in-human trials are conducted in accordance with the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) 2006 Guidance on Exploratory Investigational New Drug (IND) Studies, and they are documented carefully according to a Clinical Trial Protocol.

Clinical trials start small and in the first phase typically only have 25 or so people. If the treatment shows efficacy they proceed onto larger studies, called phase 2, phase 3, and finally phase 4.

How Clinical Trials Work

The key to the success of clinical trials is to remove any bias. Therefore, studies are “blinded.” This works as follows:
Blinding is a basic tool to prevent conscious and unconscious bias in research. For example, in open taste tests comparing different product brands, consumers usually choose their regular brand. However, in blind taste tests, where the brand identities are concealed, consumers may favor a different brand. (think about the Pepsi Challenge)
Single blind describes experiments wherein information that could introduce bias or otherwise skew the result is withheld from the participants. Unlike in a double blind experiment, the experimenter will be in full possession of the facts.
In a double-blind experiment, neither the individuals nor the researchers know who belongs to the control group and the experimental group. Only after all the data are recorded (and in some cases, analyzed) do the researchers learn which individuals are which.
For a complete primer on blind test methodology, I highly recommend that you read:
Wikipedia Double Blind
Wikipedia Clinical Trials

Why Pseudoscience Does Not Do Clinical Studies

In the United States, supplements and therapies are not specifically required to undergo biomedical testing. Knowing this, why would an alternative medicine practitioner undergo biomedical or clinical testing? It’s a lose/lose situation for them. Basically, clinical testing is expensive and time consuming, and the probable outcome to the testing is that all of the money they spent on clinical testing will prove that their therapy lacks efficacy.

A perfect example of this is homeopathy. It has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it cannot work, and yet, the marketing of this and other alternative medicine continues even in the face of negative evidence.
Something that you might want to keep in mind... if it was proven to work, it wouldn’t be alternative medicine. It would be mainstream.

But There’s So Much Information Out There...

I want to take a second to express my extreme disappointment with the TACA organization. As a parent/peer support group, I should expect that an organization would perform the task of sifting through the mountains of information and disinformation regarding autism and provide a clear picture of the landscape of treatment options available, and provide links to the latest research. Unfortunately, they do not do this.

Here are a couple of examples.

This page is completely unfounded for several reasons. First, there is no link now, nor has there ever been a link between the mercury in vaccinations and autism. Zip. Zero. Nada. None. This has been thoroughly disproven by multiple independent sources.
Here's one from autism watch.
Here's another from autism watch
Here's one from the Canadian government
FDA's Ongoing Response to the Issue of Vaccines and Autism
Association for Science in Autism
New York Times
Institute of Medicine of the National Academies
Another one from Institute of Medicine of the National Academies

Another claim from the TACA page:

“Many doctors still have mercury/ thimerosal vaccines sitting in the refrigerators!”

I highly doubt that. Thiomersal as a preservative was removed from childhood vaccines by 2001 and the last lots of thiomersal preservative-containing vaccines expired in January 2003.

TACA also state:

“mercury / thiomersal containing vaccines (especially flu) are still being made!!”

It doesn’t state that it's only certain flu vaccines, and none of them are legal for use on children under the age of 6. If this is the case, how come TACA is still using scare tactics about vaccines? And also, if the scientific evidence is overwhelmingly in agreement that mercury/thiomersal has no effect on autism, why are they even publishing this information? Why isn’t TACA publishing the truth?

Further down in the article, (number 2), they recommend against vaccinating newborns. Did you know that immunizations account for the single largest jump in the average human life expectancy, jumping from between 20 and 35 years at the turn of the 20th century to 78 years at the end of the century. Why would anyone in their right mind recommend against it, especially in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary? It’s egregiously irresponsible if you ask me.

And Now For the Stupidest Thing Ever

We’re talking about Chelation Therapy. Chelation Therapy is so completely unfounded scientifically, and so completely ridiculous, it makes my head spin. But, even worse... it’s totally unsafe! As a matter of fact, you can actually kill your kid by doing it!

So let’s talk about Chelation Therapy. In order for a therapy to work, there must be a plausible mechanism defining why it should work. Chelation therapy lacks that mechanism.

Why are people chelating? To remove heavy metals and toxins from the body. Sounds like a great idea right? Apparently, it works for lead poisoning. But, autistic kids don't have lead poisoning. Autistic kids have autism. But now you’re saying, “but what about mercury poisoning?” Well, first, chelation works for lead poisoning, not mercury poisoning. Second, your kid doesn’t have mercury poisoning.

As a matter of fact, If your kid is under the age of 6, your kid never received vaccines containing mercury, because they were born after the drugs were outlawed. And even if they had gotten vaccinated with mercury containing vaccines, they were trace levels (.001%). At that minuscule level, your child’s body would have processed out any mercury contained in the vaccine. How much mercury is .001%? That’s one-millionth of the little vile. And, it was years ago, there would not be, and could not be any remaining in your child's system.

My kids like to stick their fingers in the tracks of the sliding glass door then stick their fingers in their mouth. I try to discourage it, but kids are kids. Each time they do, the receive millions of times the amount of metal contained in a vile of vaccine. It's probably not the healthiest thing for them, but their body processes it out just fine. Autistic kids are no different, no matter what medical double-talk gobbledygook the DAN! doctors try to tell you.

So let’s recap... You chelate to remove metal that your child didn’t actually receive (imaginary metal) and that is proven not to cause autism anyways. So why chelate? Because Dr. Rimland and his quack band of DAN! Doctors say so!

This might surprise you, but chelation is so bad, that www.quackwatch.org, the internet’s leading medical watchdog organization has devoted an entire website just to chelation, www.chelationwatch.org

Their opening line reads:

“Chelation therapy is a series of intravenous infusions containing EDTA and various other substances. It is falsely claimed to be effective against cardiovascular disease, autism, and many other diseases and conditions. Because chelation has valid use in some cases of heavy metal poisoning, many practitioners falsely diagnose lead, mercury, or other heavy metal toxicity to trick patients into undergoing chelation. This Web site explains why doctors who advocate the general use of chelation therapy should be avoided.”

Another independent chelation debunking resource is www.asatonline.org

I consider ASAT a leading resource when seeking the truth about autism therapies. I also recommend www.autism-watch.org They are another subsidiary wing of quackwatch.org.

Medical Watchdog Groups

I remember a friend saying “This doctor quackery guy is stirring up a lot of shit in the autism community, everyone is really pissed at him.” Good. Actually Great! Stand up and take note. Watchdog groups are advocates for you. They are there to watch your back, and to sift through the volumes of information and misinformation and give you the straight answer.

A while back, I was having a conversation with a friend (who is the mother of an autistic child). I pointed out to her that a watchdog organization was making claims against the efficacy of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT). I should note, she was doing HBOT at the time with her child.

Here are the HBOT debunking links.
- healthwatcher.net
- Orac - Respectful Insolence

A few days later she responded “I spoke with the President of TACA and she is telling me that the "quackery" guy has an autistic son that none of the treatments worked on so he is bashing the treatments.”

Hmmm… that’s funny, in my email to her, I didn’t reference the name of the watchdog groups, so how could the president of TACA know that he or she had an autistic son? This is a perfect example of either deliberate misinformation from or total ignorance of anti-mercury autism groups.

Turns out that it’s not “a” quackery guy, but literally hundreds of independent watchdog organizations across the world that are independently saying the same thing.
And wait a second... is she saying that having an autistic son reduces the validity of the source because of the emotional attachment? I think for once, we are in total agreement. I’m sure you can smell what’s coming next... Oh yeah! Rimland has an autistic son!

I think you’re getting my drift.

Here’s a general rule; when a watchdog group talks... listen.
- www.quackwatch.org
- www.autism-watch.org
- www.chelationwatch.org
- www.quackcast.com
- www.ncahf.org
- www.sram.org
- http://autismdiva.blogspot.com
- http://scienceblogs.com/insolence
- http://www.srmhp.org/online-articles.html
- http://www.srmhp.org/0401/media-watch.html

Being a good skeptic, I like to be fair. So I will do so here. To my knowledge there are two watchdog blogs that are run by the parents of autistic children. They are:
- http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk
http://bartholomewcubbins.blogspot.com

If I strictly adhere to my own policy of not referencing sources created by biased opinions - especially those who are parents of autistic children - then I should not reference these blogs elsewhere in this blog. Thus far, I have not. But, you've now been fairly warned of that caveat, so I will tell you this... I think left brain right brain is terrific. Spot on. Right on the money. My favorite link is the one exposing dozens of DAN! doctors as the frauds that they are.

I could tell you to take it with a grain of salt, but instead I'll do this; be skeptical about it yourself. Read it, then apply your own critical thinking and free inquiry skills to the information presented. After all, as a skeptical educator, I'm not telling you what to think. I'm teaching you how to think.

Think about it.

Let’s Return to TACA

At the bottom of the main page on tacanow.org, under “Check out our friends” there is a list of 6 links to associated autism sites. I cross referenced this list with the list of Nonrecommended Information Sources available on www.autism-watch.org, and guess what… 5 of them are on there. Here are the nonrecommended Information Sources for autism:

Friends of TACA
- Autism Research Institute
- Autism One
- Generation Rescue
- National Autism Association
- Safe Minds

The complete list:
- A-CHAMP
- Autism Recovery Network
- Austism Society of America
- Autism Treatment Trust (formrly Action Against Autism)
- AutismOne
- Defeat Autism Now (DAN)
- Forum on Alternative and Innovative Therapies (Lewis Mehl-Madrona, MD, PhD)
- Generation Rescue
- Genetic Centers of America (Mark R. Geier, MD, PhD)
- Institute for Chronic Illnesses
- Moms Against Mercury
- National Autism Association
- National Autistic Society (United Kingdom)
- National Vaccine Information Center
- Neuro Immuno Therapeutics Foundation (Hugh Fudenberg, MD)
- NoMercury
- Safe Minds
- The Autism Autoimmunity Project (TAAP)
- Whole Child Network

I could literally spend days and days debunking the misinformation on TACAs web site. But I just can’t spend that much time in this post. I will point out one more instance from this page on tacanow.org

This entire page is a propaganda page. After telling a number of lies about mercury, thiomersal, and chelation, they use a leading question to make you agree with their position. Here it is...

“Q: OK, I'm convinced my child is mercury toxic. What do I do now?”

TACA gets you to agree by convincing you that you’ve already agreed. Then, they ask you to challenge the (correct, I might ad) diagnoses of your pediatrician regarding mercury poisoning.

“Q: My doctor says that my child is not mercury toxic because his blood and urine mercury levels are "within normal limits." What do you think?”

Then they try to disqualify your doctor’s knowledge with this ridiculous and assumptive argument stating that your doctor doesn’t actually know anything.

“Most MDs are more familiar with lead poisoning than mercury poisoning.”

How the hell can they assume that? You might have the best and brightest pediatrician on the planet, and he or she just might be an expert in many things, including lead poisoning, mercury poisoning, oh and probably the fact that biomedical treatments for autism are complete and total quackery.

The Genetic Connection

Another complaint I have about TACA is the very premise. “Talk about a cure.” What is there to talk about? A bunch of unqualified parents getting together to “talk about a cure” is the equivalent of me trying to discover the origins of the universe from my living room... without a telescope.

What TACA is really talking about are unproven, untested, dangerous therapies that have no realistic basis for efficacy. And when they’re not talking about that, the conversation turns into a “big pharma conspiracy.” Don’t believe me? How about the Autism Omnibus trial. It’s classic “big pharma did it conspiracy” brought on by the misbeliefs spread by Dr. Rimland’s DAN! Doctors, ARI, and TACA. And mark my words, they’re going to lose, and lose big.

Do you really want to talk about a cure? A better choice is to listen. I’ve been listening.

The most prestigious peer-reviewed scientific publication is Nature. They do a podcast on Neuroscience, and on that podcast they discuss the discovery of three separate symptom specific genes, each of which has a corresponding relationship to each of autism’s three major symptom sets; social difficulties, communication, and nonsocial behaviors.

This should be quite fascinating to anyone interested in autism, for several reasons:
- Correctly identifying the cause of the disorder is very exciting. This provides us with the knowledge that autism is both congenital and genetic.
- This also disproves the mercury/thiomersal controversy.
- This also rules out the possibility of efficacy for treatments such as HBOT, Chelation, Glutathione, the Gluten Free diet, Vitamin mega doses, and so on.
- It also calls to attention that the cause of autism has been identified by molecular biologists, and that the published results are widely available.
- It also shows that even though those results are widely available, DAN! Doctors, ARI, and TACA choose to either reject them or ignore them so that they may continue to spread their lies about mercury, and continue raking in your valuable dollars.
- It also shows that in the long run, “Talking about a cure for autism” is pointless for the layperson. We should be “listening for a cure for autism”

To hear the complete podcast, go to The Neuroscience Podcast from Nature, 12 October 2006 in iTunes. Or click here.

And Now For the Part You Don’t Want to Hear

There is no cure for autism. Nor is there any biomedical intervention that will alter or lessen the symptoms. The genes of the child are the way they are, and no amount of pure pressurized oxygen is going to change that.

So what can you do? Leave biomedical therapies behind. Focus on cognitive therapies. The only thing you can really do is to spend time with your child, play, communicate, and ensure that he or she receives as much cognitive therapy as they can. Basically, as much Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and ABA as you can.

Beyond that, save your time and money for vacations and family outings so that travel and new experiences can richen all of your lives.

But There is Good News

The disease is self limiting. Meaning, that the symptoms will lessen over time. There’s an old saying “If you take medicine for a cold it will be gone in a week, if you leave it alone it will be gone in seven days.” Most diseases are self limiting. Sometimes they’re progressive, like cancer. But fortunately, autism regresses as your child grows, and as their intellect and cognition grow, they learn to cope with and minimize the symptoms.

Some day, there’s a likelihood that genetic testing to identify and possibly correct autism will be available to pregnant mothers, but at this time, there is not. Will they ever be able to change your kid? I’m sorry to say, but the honest truth is almost certainly no.

A perfect analogy is this; Do you think you could cure Down Syndrome with chelation therapy, HBOT, vitamin megadoses, or any other biomedical therapy?

The answer is obviously no. But it is completely analogous, because both disorders are genetic and congenital.

Work to reduce the symptoms. Work on speech and ABA.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy - HBOT

I just want to cover the pretzel logic surrounding HBOT briefly before moving on. First, let's talk about the mechanism for efficacy. Because for a treatment to work, it must have a reason it should work. Does HBOT have one? No. There is no basis for which increasing the oxygen levels in the body could have any effect on the development of the hypothalamus, or any other part of the brain for that matter.

OK, let’s talk for a moment about anecdotal evidence surrounding this autism treatment. My main point of reference in this discussion is a mother who has subjected her son to 350-500 dives, and claims a reduction in symptoms, and also claims regression when they stop the sessions for a few days.

First, let me address the reduction in symptoms. To subject your kid to more than 350 dives would take at least a year, possibly years right? For arguments sake, let’s say that administering 350 to 500 dives takes between 1-2 years to complete. During that time, will the autistic kid show improvements? Yes. With or without this therapy, your child, or any child will grow and learn, and the symptoms of autism will decrease during that time. The logical fallacy here is called Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc, or “After that, therefore because of that.” Basically, because there were improvements during the course of the treatment, the parent wrongly assumes that they were due to the treatment rather than the natural self-limiting course of the disease.

OK, but the kid regresses when you stop the treatment for a few days. Of course they do! Autistic kids thrive on repetition. If you take ANYTHING away from the daily habits of an autistic child you will see an increase of symptoms. If the lady with the HBOT dive tank had just devoted the same amount of time to swimming lessons, the kid would have had a lot more fun, learned how to swim, and would have likely had more opportunities to interact with other children than they would sitting in “oxygen jail.” And guess what, the day she stops the swimming lessons, the kid freaks out and regresses.

Maybe instead of oxygen jail, she should consider piano or violin lessons. Autistic children often find comfort between the mathematical, rhythmic, and repetitive nature of music, and often are quite good at it.

So, just for thoroughness, I will include the watchdog debunking of HBOT with regards to autism.
- Health Watcher
- Orac

Failure of the Mainstream Media

Let’s take a moment and view this video of the doctor who “believes” in HBOT.

First, understand that newscasters are typically not very skeptical. News agencies are in a free market, for profit. They make money by pulling in viewers for advertising. So they must play both sides, and they love bleeding heart stories that tug at the heart strings. Heart strings sell.

So, in the first two sentences of the introduction to this video, you hear the following:
- He “believes” – medicine is not based on belief. It is based on evidence.
- “And though some still question his medical beliefs” – Gee I wonder why?
- “The doctor is taking a miracle cure to the public” – Practicing physicians don’t just “find miracle cures.” They claim to and make tons of money. These people are call quacks.
- “A woman blinded by a stroke regained vision” – OK, two things here. Post stroke symptoms such as vision loss and fine motor coordination heal themselves through a process in the brain called plasticity. Again, the symptoms are self limiting. And second, anytime someone claims to “cure the blind” you should throw up a red flag and protest. This is one of the most obvious signs of quackery.
- Also, do you notice that this doctor is appealing directly to the media (quack sign #1), the evidence is anecdotal (quack sign 4), the discoverer is working in isolation (#6)
- “you’ll do anything for your child, and that’s what it comes down to”
- “took a guy off the liver transplant list” – I guess there are no other factors that could have been involved... yeah right. How many diseases does this guy cure? All of them? I wish someone sold a pill for his magical cure. Take it before bed and wake up cured of obesity, cancer, tooth decay, gas, body odor, colds, flu, heart disease and more!
- “there are some neurobiologists and neurologists who don’t believe there is enough science to support it, that’s why he wrote a book to the public, because he believes...” – hey, that’s #1 on our sign of a quack list again! Skipping the peer review.
- Just remember, the plural of anecdote is “anecdotes”, not “data”. Anecdotes lead us to conclusions that we wish to be true, not to conclusion that are true.
- Need I go on?

Watch Out For Weasel Words

May, might, could, should, believe. If someone makes a claim that a treatment “may” help, they’re not making a claim at all.

Clinical Trials Part 2

If you are interested in untested therapy for your child, I recommend clinical trials. Historically, clinical trials for autism have had an extremely high dropout rate. This is because when the parents realize that there is only a 50% chance that their child will receive actual treatment (remember, 50% receive placebo) they tend to leave the study. This obviously is very short sighted on their part, because clinic studies are for the greater good of humanity, because the aim to provide answers and treatments for the next generation.

Also, clinical trials are regulated and closely monitored. Which means that they are much safer than an alternative therapy offered up by a quack physician. And, often times the treatments are free, and you can even be compensated for attending. An example would have been if you joined a clinical study for HBOT, you would have probably been compensated for your time and effort rather than having to pay an HBOT quack thousands. And, at the end of the study, you would have helped to determine the efficacy of the treatment. So clinical trials are a win/win. If you’re interested in clinical trials, you can look on this web page and see where they are recruiting so that you may join.

By the way, Autism Research Institue is not a clinical trial organization.

Gluten Free Turds

The gluten free diet is another mindless concoction of the DAN! network. Here’s a little background.

It was hypothesized in 1991 that there was a link between urinary peptide levels and autistic behaviors. This hypothesis was not proven in clinical studies. Here’s a quote from asatonline.org

“One well-designed but small study on the gluten-free casein-free diet found no improvement in cognitive, language, or motor skills with the diet; however, there may have been a reduction in autistic behaviors such as repetitive statements (Knivsberg, Reichelt, Hoien, & Nodland, 2002). A second well-designed but small study found no evidence of benefit (Elder et al., 2006).
Additional study of the theoretical basis and efficacy of the GfCf diet is warranted (Millward, Ferriter, Calver, & Connell-Jones, 2004). There is a risk that removing gluten and casein from an individial’s diet will lead to inadequate nutrition, therefore, dietary counseling is important for families who place their children on the diet (Hyman & Levy, 2003).”

Would I deny my child the pleasure of ice cream for the duration of their childhood because some quack physician groups said so? No.

So Let’s Unweave The Rainbow One Last Time

- There is conclusive evidence to prove that autism is genetic and congenital
- There is conclusive evidence to prove mercury or thiomersal does not cause autism.
- Rimland was a quack, who ignored evidence to support his biased and untested opinions.
- Autism Research Institute is not a research institute. They do not perform FDA approved clinical trials. They are a marketing organization to support Rimland’s solidly disproven opinions.
- DAN! Doctors are to be avoided at all costs.
- Chelation shows no efficacy and is extremely dangerous.
- HBOT shows no efficacy, and it basically a waste of time.
- Mega vitamin doses are also bunk
- SafeMinds are not autism advocates, the are a big pharma conspiracy group who deny the proven evidence that shows there is no mercury/autism connection. Why they exist 6 years after mercury was removed from vaccines seems completely incredulous.
- TACA are either denying the evidence or too ignorant to properly evaluate the evidence about mercury/thiomersal.
- Multiple independent medical watchdog (anti quack) groups independently call ARI/TACA/DAN! quack organizations.
- Clinical trials are available to anyone who wishes to safely participate in the testing of new, alternative, and untested therapies.
- Anyone who supports ARI and TACA are not supporting autism. They are perpetuating and advancing the lie. And any dollars spent on or donated to these people are dollars taken away from legitimate clinicians and scientists (molecular biologists) working to find a cure.
- I highly recommend carefully reading the following sources:
- www.asatonline.org
- www.autism-watch.org
- http://autismdiva.blogspot.com
- www.chelationwatch.org

The Cult of Autism

What do you call an organization that preys on people in need, brainwashes them into believing their lies, categorically denies evidence to support their position, then starts taking your money? I’d call it a cult. ARI/TACA is literally the cult of autism.

Let’s look at how it starts. Parents of young autistic children are stunned to discover their child has autism. They go looking for help. Unfortunately, clinicians and neurologist don’t give them the information they want to hear. So where do they turn? They turn to the two organizations that promise that your child is treatable with miracle treatments, even though mainstream medicine disagrees with them. Then the brainwashing begins. The organizations tell the parents to not trust their physicians. They tell them lies about the cause and cure of autism. They deny the evidence to the contrary. They try to discredit their critics by telling ridiculous lies like “oh, that Dr. Quackery guy has an autistic child and bashes us because the treatment didn’t work on his kid”, when the truth is that there are multiple independent critics, none of which have autistic children. And now that they’ve got you on the hook, they send you to their “preferred vendors” where the parents of autistic children literally give up billions of dollars every year.

But they’ve got you. You feel bound to a duty as a parent to do everything for your child, and they know that. They exploit your weakness. They exploit you. But ultimately they exploit your autistic child and autistic children everywhere by denying them real treatments, and denying real researchers the valuable dollars the need.

So Here’s My Gift To You

Take your life back. Get away from these people. Do your Speech, OT, and ABA. Take back your evenings, and weekends and start doing what you really want to do. Spend time with your family. Play on the floor. Eat ice cream. Enjoy your children. Spend your money on vacations. Visit your friends. Be a family again.

My gift to you is taking your life back...

...from the cult of autism.