Categories
Paranormal Pareidolia Skepticism/critical thinking

A little pareidolia, anyone?

Ya gotta love it. Whether it be the Virgin Mary under a freeway overpass on W. Fullerton Avenue in Chicago or on a window in Perth Amboy, NJ, or the face of Jesus on a shell, on the wall of a shower, on a sand dune, a potato chip, or (my personal favorite) a pierogi, […]

Categories
Clinical trials Medicine Science

Impressive science failing to impress patients

One of the greatest challenges in medicine can sometimes be to convince a patient that the results of scientific and medical research apply to them, or, at the very least, to explain how such results apply. A couple of days ago, in an article the New York Times, Dr. Abigail Zuker, proposed one reason why […]

Categories
Announcements Autism Pseudoscience

Why not just castrate them?

There are many quack treatments for autism, ranging from the benign and ineffective to the harmful and ineffective. Mark and David Geier have come up with one that’s definitely harmful, chemical castration. I thought I’d seen it all, but this is the vilest quackery I’ve seen yet.

Categories
Holocaust denial Politics

Stomping free speech flat in Austria

Austrian prosecutors think Irving’s jail term is too short: Austrian prosecutors have filed an appeal against the three-year prison sentence handed to the British historian David Irving, arguing that he escaped too lightly for the crime of Holocaust denial. Irving was left stunned and open-mouthed when the sentence was handed down after a one-day trial […]

Categories
Holocaust denial

Shooting free speech in the foot: David Irving sentenced to three years in jail for denying the Holocaust

Well, that was fast. The trial took less than a day. David Irving, as expected, pleaded guilty. As expected, he was found guilty of Holocaust denial. What was not expected was the severity of the sentence: VIENNA, Feb. 20 (AP) — The British historian David Irving on Monday pleaded guilty to denying the Holocaust and […]