Categories
Politics Skepticism/critical thinking

President Straw Man

Now here’s something you don’t see every day: a news analysis article pointing out a politician’s love of a logical fallacy: WASHINGTON – “Some look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude that the war is lost and not worth another dime or another day,” President Bush said recently. Another time he said, “Some say […]

Categories
Science fiction/fantasy

More on the new Doctor Who

Based on some comments on my previous post complaining that the first episode of the new Doctor Who was a bit uneven and the stories not so great, I thought I’d mention my overview of the season. I have one thing to say: Patience. I agree that the first couple of episodes were uneven and […]

Categories
Bioethics Medicine

New project: The Ethics of Vaccines

Since I’ve found myself drawn into blogging about vaccines and the antivaccination movement so much, I was interested to learn of a new project dedicated to discussing the ethical issues involved with vaccination being launched at the University of Pennsylvania: The Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine announced the beginning […]

Categories
Entertainment/culture Science fiction/fantasy Television

Battlestar Galactica blogging: Season finale

I have mixed feelings about the season finale of Battlestar Galactica, which aired Friday night. Overall, the second season has been a lot less consistent than the first. Some episodes (Downloaded, for example) were as good or better than anything in the first season, while a couple (Black Market, for example) bordered on being downright […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

The Geiers go dumpster-diving yet again

Mark and David Geier, the père et fils duo of antivaccine pseudoscientists once again go dumpster diving in the VAERS database, using it for purposes for which it was not intended to “prove” vaccines cause autism.