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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Don and Deirdre Imus deliver a hunk a hunk o’ burnin’ stupid about vaccines and autism (with apologies to Elvis)

Someone sent me a transcript of part of the appearance of Deirdre Imus on her husband’s radio show that’s been making the rounds in various discussion groups. I’m glad I don’t listen to the show, as this segment might have made me take a baseball bat to my radio, if I had enough neurological function […]

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Announcements Skepticism/critical thinking

Don’t forget: The Skeptics’ Circle is fast approaching

Well, 2008 is off to a great start with the Skeptics’ Circle. It’s fast approaching the time to see if the momentum can be maintained. Yes, it won’t be long before the next Skeptics’ Circle comes around the pike. Indeed, the next meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle will appear on Thursday, January 17 and will […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Friday Woo Medicine Religion Skepticism/critical thinking

Your Friday Dose of Woo: Holy Koranic Dr. Emoto, Batman!

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about woo in the more than a year and a half that I’ve been doing this regular Friday feature, it’s that there’s definitely a religious element to virtually all woo. In essence, it requires believing in something that cannot be demonstrated scientifically, often despite science outright refuting it. For […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Another example of the arrogance of ignorance

The other day, I mentioned what Prometheus termed the “arrogance of ignorance,” in which people with no training in a complex, scientific issue have the hubris to think that they know enough to be able to lecture medical scientists on shortcomings of their research. Here’s another example of just such arrogance by antivaccinationist Barbara Loe […]

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Medicine Surgery

Surgery: Past performance is no guarantee of future results

In recent years, there has been a lot of interest in improving surgical outcomes. One strain of research tends to examine the “volume-outcome” relationship, which in essence asked the question if the volume of cases that a surgeon or hospital does has a relationship outcome. In other words, are mortality rates lower, survival rates better, […]