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Anti-Semitism History Holocaust Holocaust denial World War II

Surprise! Surprise! Holocaust denier David Irving is trying to make a comeback

I knew it! I knew it was just a matter of time until arch-Holocaust denier David Irving emerged from whatever rock he’s been hiding under ever since he was released after his prison term in Austria for having denied the Holocaust, decided he wanted to be in the limelight again. Back in December, I made […]

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Bioethics Cancer Clinical trials Medicine Science

Drug safety versus a “Constitutional right” to access to experimental drugs, part 2

[Note: Part I is here.] I tell ya, I stay up all night putting the finishing touches on a grant, and what happens? Mark Hoofnagle over at Denialism.com finds a real hum-dinger of stupidity published in the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal. Unfortunately (or fortunately, given the rampant stupidity that appears to be […]

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Blogging Personal

This rating sounds about right

This one’s been floating around ScienceBlogs and the blogosphere in general; so I thought, what the hell? (Oh, wait, did my use of the word “hell” affect my rating?) In any case, this sounds about right: Mingle2 – Online Dating You’ll be happy to know that I don’t really plan on trying to “evolve” to […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Hitler Zombie Quackery Religion Skepticism/critical thinking

Scientology and psychiatry: Even the Hitler Zombie wouldn’t touch this one

When I learned of this, I had been highly tempted trot out everybody’s favorite undead Führer for a little fun with the Church of Scientology‘s latest antics. Indeed, when you find out what I’m about to discuss, you’ll see why it was a candidate for the loving chomp of his rotting jaws. Heck, I even […]

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

If randomized clinical trials don’t show that your woo works, try anthropology!

A common refrain among practitioners and advocates of alternative medicine is that the reason randomized clinical trials frequently fail to find any objective evidence of clinical efficacy for their favorite woo is because, in essence, science is not the right tool to evaluate whether it works. In essence, they either appeal to other ways of […]