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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Surgery

Electroacupuncture: The bait and switch of alternative medicine

At the risk of repeating myself (but, then, since when did such concerns ever stop me before?), I’ll just start out by mentioning that, of all the non-herbal “alternative” medicine remedies out there, I used to give a bit of a pass to acupuncture. No, I never did buy any of that nonsense about how […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Entertainment/culture Humor Medicine Quackery Television

Stephen Colbert on the Zicam fiasco

Last week, I wrote about the FDA’s warning about the zinc-containing “homeopathic” cold remedy known as Zicam. Basically, Zicam was approved without testing to show it to be both safe and efficacious because it slipped in using an old 1938 law that allows homeopathic remedies to bypass the usual process for FDA approval. Too bad […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Why scientific medicine just can’t win in testimonials

Over the last month or so, I’ve written numerous posts about Daniel Hauser. Danny, as you recall, is the 13-year-old Minnesota boy who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma back in February, underwent one round of chemotherapy for it, and then decided that he wanted to pursue quackery instead of more chemotherapy. His mother supported his […]

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Cancer Computers and social media Medicine

What’s wrong with Steve Jobs, revisited

It’s no secret that, when it comes to computers, my preferred axe has been the Apple Macintosh. Indeed, back in the 1983-1984 school year I was in college living in a house with five other guys, and one of my roommates was a a total Apple geek. He had, as one might expect, an Apple […]

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Humor News of the Weird Religion

Where better to celebrate the Summer Solstice than Stonehenge?

This reminds me of my trip to England two years ago, when my wife and I did visit Stonehenge: However, what I’d really love is to have the title this guy has: Druid King Arthur Pendragon told the BBC shortly before sunrise: “It’s a very nice atmosphere and everything’s fine at the moment. “There have […]