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Is this the first double-blind acupuncture study? I'm sure I've read about people using retractable needles in double-blind acupuncture study before.
Maybe they were referring to this one and the results hadn't been released yet? Hm.
Finally a sensible acupuncture write-up
Reader Wilson sent me a link to this acupuncture study write-up - No difference in pain intensity from penetrating acupuncture needles: study – suggesting I might actually like this one. Well, just look at the headline! For once a sensible headline and write up of an acupuncture study: The pai...
So this religion of "Science" as you call it
No, you call it a "religion". And you're a dumbass for doing so. Next.
with your pious little "Science Priests" in their little white lab coats (men of the white cloth?)
...have you ever met a scientist? Is all your knowledge of science based on TV?
they sure know the truth, don't they?!
Science doesn't work on 100% truths, no; and no, scientists don't know everything. But scientists actually provide evidence for their hypotheses (if such evidence exists). But the ID crowd doesn't do that and, strangely, neither do you.
It's in their Holey Scriptures
You know, you'd think someone decrying science in favor of creationism could at least spell "holy" correctly.
the Journals of Science!
Scientific journals aren't "holy scriptures", you imbecile. Holy scriptures are made-up nonsense that's declared to be "revealed truth", which people then agree to believe to be true no matter how much reality contradicts it.
Articles in science journals, on the other hand, provide evidence for their assertions (remember evidence?), explain how they come to their conclusions, etc. And these results are not declared inviolable truth--other scientists will try to replicate these results and confirm or invalidate them. Exceptionally different from religion.
Where's the empirical evidence? There is none.
Say what? Evidence is presented in hundreds of thousands of journal articles over the ages, and you pretend that it doesn't exist?
Now let's ask you the same thing (well, I'll actually specify what I want evidence for): where's the evidence for intelligent design creationism? We'll wait.
So how about YOU hang with your little religious sect and stop bashing people that have a different faith than you do?
Yawn. Again with the "science is a religion". Like Skeptico said, grow up.
I don't think I've seen a stronger example of bias, intolerance and hypocrisy in years.
Probably because you don't even read the writings of the creationists you're defending.
Melanie Phillips Wrong Again
One of the most consistently stupid “journalists” writing on the subject of science and intelligent design has to be Melanie Phillips. I commented two years ago on another horrendous anti-science piece of hers: Idiot Journalist is the new enemy of reason. Now she’s back again writing in the Spe...
Circular logic is always funny very entertaining. You're good at it!
*re-reads Jimmy_Blue's comments*
...I don't think you're actually aware of what "circular logic" is.
Christians Justify Torture
Several bloggers have commented on the recent Pew Survey on whether or not different religious groups support torture. Interestingly, the question they asked was unequivocal – there were no euphemisms such as “enhanced interrogation” or yes it is / no it isn’t terms like “waterboarding”. The qu...
What is my biological mother's name?
Hortense.
If you think otherwise, then clearly the person you think is your biological mother is not, because my choosing a random name--I mean, astrology--couldn't possibly be wrong.
Astrology's (lack of) Provenance
Back to this again. I’ve written before about Provenance – how most scientific discoveries didn’t just appear fully formed, but were derived from earlier experimentation. As an example, I described how the discovery of radio waves by Heinrich Hertz was based on earlier discoveries of electricit...
If you prefer chocolate that is an opinion. It is not a truth claim. I’ll agree that it might be objectively true that that is your opinion, but you are just playing semantics. I’ll agree that it might be objectively true that that is your opinion ... .
All right, then. We're in agreement.
Qi is a Human Construct
Qi is a Human Construct. It’s also an assumption. That is to say, it’s just made up. Of course, we always knew that. But now we’ve had it confirmed by Howard Choy, a Feng Shui practitioner, and practicing Feng Shui Architect. Howard turned up in the comments to my last Feng Shui post - Feng ...
When you say you prefer vanilla, you are just expressing your opinion.
True, you are expressing your opinion. The fact that you have this opinion is an objective truth which has just been expressed. It is only the opinion itself that is subjective, not whether or not you have it.
An opinion cannot be objectively correct or incorrect.
Agreed. But whether or not one has opinions can be objectively correct or incorrect.
Qi is a Human Construct
Qi is a Human Construct. It’s also an assumption. That is to say, it’s just made up. Of course, we always knew that. But now we’ve had it confirmed by Howard Choy, a Feng Shui practitioner, and practicing Feng Shui Architect. Howard turned up in the comments to my last Feng Shui post - Feng ...
"I prefer vanilla to chocolate” is you expressing an opinion. It cannot be correct or incorrect.
Of course it can be correct or incorrect. It is correct if I do, in reality, prefer vanilla to chocolate. It is incorrect if I do not prefer vanilla to chocolate. Even though one's preferences cannot themselves be "correct", one can make statements about one's preferences, and these statements can be correct or incorrect.
Qi is a Human Construct
Qi is a Human Construct. It’s also an assumption. That is to say, it’s just made up. Of course, we always knew that. But now we’ve had it confirmed by Howard Choy, a Feng Shui practitioner, and practicing Feng Shui Architect. Howard turned up in the comments to my last Feng Shui post - Feng ...
You are confusing truth statements with opinions. You like vanilla. I like chocolate. Neither are objectively correct – they are not truth statements, they are opinions. A truth statement would be “qi is real”. It is either objectively true or it isn’t. “I prefer vanilla to chocolate” is neither correct or incorrect – it is just an opinion.
I have to disagree with that. Saying "I prefer vanilla to chocolate" is an objective statement about one's subjective preferences. It has a truth value--one can prefer vanilla to chocolate, or one can not. That statement can be true or false.
On the other hand, saying "vanilla is better than chocolate" would be just an opinion, a subjective statement whose truth value can't really be determined.
What that has to do with the fantasy of qi is anyone's guess.
Qi is a Human Construct
Qi is a Human Construct. It’s also an assumption. That is to say, it’s just made up. Of course, we always knew that. But now we’ve had it confirmed by Howard Choy, a Feng Shui practitioner, and practicing Feng Shui Architect. Howard turned up in the comments to my last Feng Shui post - Feng ...
To the people minimizing how much of a sacrifice the crucifixion would have been -- there aren't a whole lot of ways to die that are more drawn-out and agonizing than that. And why would you presume that Jesus would have known he'd be resurrected a few days later?
Simple: because Jesus supposedly is/was God. And God supposedly is omniscient, omnipotent, and eternal. Therefore he (A) knew the future and/or (B) planned the whole thing himself, including the resurrection. Plus, (C) since Jesus/God is all-powerful, he couldn't really be killed anyways. Going through the motions of a crucifixion when you're all-powerful is not an action of sacrifice.
If we take the Christians at their word that Jesus is God--and I should remind you that most Christians would find it blasphemous to claim that he isn't / wasn't--then the crucifixion was nothing but an elaborately staged event. There was no sacrifice involved.
Easter and God the Victim
A little perspective on Easter (which is today). Yesterday, PZ reported on the “debate” between Christopher Hitchens and radio host Todd Friel – a labored exercise in Pascal’s Wager. Freil basically says, if we assume the Christian story is true, don’t you agree that atheists will go to hell? It...
What really gets to me is the belief that some people have that Jesus being crucified was somehow a noble act of sacrifice on his part. But he supposedly comes back just three days later. Is giving someone your life's savings a sacrifice on your part if you know you'll get it back three days later? If you could save someone by donating a vital organ, knowing that it would regrow good as new three days later, wouldn't you? Would that be a sacrifice on your part? It would be a temporary inconvenience, I'm thinking.
And if Jesus is God, then all this is madness. A supposedly omnipotent, omniscient, eternal, immortal being is nailed to a plank of wood, and we're supposed to be in awe at this "sacrifice"?
Easter and God the Victim
A little perspective on Easter (which is today). Yesterday, PZ reported on the “debate” between Christopher Hitchens and radio host Todd Friel – a labored exercise in Pascal’s Wager. Freil basically says, if we assume the Christian story is true, don’t you agree that atheists will go to hell? It...
These are called "reversible destiny houses"
Holy crap that's awesome!
I want one of those now!
Feng Shui Hooey
From this thread at JREF I learned of a recent post at a blog called Fengshui Forward (“We aim to gather fellow Chinese Metaphysics enthusiatics to discuss and promote Chinese 5 arts”), entitled United we stand, Divided we fall!. The author, ken, is bothered by the Penn & Teller Bullshit episod...
Incidentally, if y'all are tired of the posts all being in italics, I discovered something. Instead of clicking on a link to the most recent comment, click on the link to this post. Then at the bottom, click the "Show more comments" link. All the comments that are displayed after you click that won't have the italics problem.
Feng Shui Hooey
From this thread at JREF I learned of a recent post at a blog called Fengshui Forward (“We aim to gather fellow Chinese Metaphysics enthusiatics to discuss and promote Chinese 5 arts”), entitled United we stand, Divided we fall!. The author, ken, is bothered by the Penn & Teller Bullshit episod...
So why not have a jury instead of one judge?We do. They're called scientists.
Apparently Howard has never heard of peer review.
Feng Shui Hooey
From this thread at JREF I learned of a recent post at a blog called Fengshui Forward (“We aim to gather fellow Chinese Metaphysics enthusiatics to discuss and promote Chinese 5 arts”), entitled United we stand, Divided we fall!. The author, ken, is bothered by the Penn & Teller Bullshit episod...
Yakaru: Mr. Ferrets? C'mon, that sounds stupid.
Hmm... if you're the King of Ferrets, who's your queen?
If you don't have one, I nominate Ferretina, the Weasel Queen.
Designed To Confuse
Someone called rbullock posted a classic piece or poor reasoning at The ID Report. It's entitled Darwinists on Design: Jumping to Confusions. Get a load of this and guess where it’s going (no prizes): What if you were lied to all your life that a square was a circle? Oh yes, you were told, it...
If I had watched Oprah and used the Secret and thought happy sunshine-filled thoughts I might have stepped outside and slipped on that check for $1000000 that I new-age-magic sent myself and cracked my head open on the front porch! THEN I'D BE DEAD!
Yes, but it'd have been your own fault for attracting your death with your thoughts.
Secret Write Off
File this one under, if I made this up you wouldn’t believe it. I was reading “The Secret” promoter Joe Vitale’s recent blog post What To Do When the Law of Attraction Doesn’t Work, and it struck me how his blog posts all seem to have the same format: Short sentences. All starting on a new line...
As I have been saying for some time, the rate of change, shown in that second graph, and for a much longer period here
Akasofu does indeed show that the world is warming.
Well, then we're in agreement. Your assertion that global warming has ceased is false.
Fake Experts
In my recent post on global warming denial, I included a list of denier tactics, of which # 3 was “fake experts”. Right on cue, I can report that today is the start of the Heartland Institute’s International Conference on Climate Change" – the “world’s largest-ever gathering of global warming s...
Do the slopes of the temperatures, from the two main data bases shown on the linked graphs, really look positive to you?
Well, it looks more to me like trying to fit eight years of climate data to a linear model is pretty foolish, and proclaiming that this manufactured slope is negative and therefore global warming has ceased is just contrived nonsense. The second graph of your own source seems to make it fairly clear that global temperature is fluctuating but the overall trend is one of warming. The fact that we have been in a down-turn of that fluctuation doesn't change that.
Fake Experts
In my recent post on global warming denial, I included a list of denier tactics, of which # 3 was “fake experts”. Right on cue, I can report that today is the start of the Heartland Institute’s International Conference on Climate Change" – the “world’s largest-ever gathering of global warming s...
Explanation of why global warming has ceased for almost ten years despite the increase in CO2 levels
Simple: it hasn't ceased. Global warming has continued.
Fake Experts
In my recent post on global warming denial, I included a list of denier tactics, of which # 3 was “fake experts”. Right on cue, I can report that today is the start of the Heartland Institute’s International Conference on Climate Change" – the “world’s largest-ever gathering of global warming s...
That's a myth? O.o
Yes, assuming that he meant "golden shower" literally and not as a euphemism. Zeus was into weird sex:
Zeus came to [Danaë] in the form of golden rain, and impregnated her. Soon after, their child Perseus was born.
Atlantis Not Found
Much of the media has been abuzz recently with excited reports that the lost city of Atlantis might have been found using ocean in Google Earth. See the picture below of the finding – a grid like image supposedly resembling a city’s roads, covering an area “the size of Wales.” Unfortunately...
Woah, I meant no disrespect!
Oh no no no, I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm sorry if I came across that way.
I do feel it's important to point out the existence of advanced sub-Saharan (read: black) cultures, though, so I burst in here.
Atlantis Not Found
Much of the media has been abuzz recently with excited reports that the lost city of Atlantis might have been found using ocean in Google Earth. See the picture below of the finding – a grid like image supposedly resembling a city’s roads, covering an area “the size of Wales.” Unfortunately...
If Atlantis was such a great power, where are the archeological remains of its trade with other nations and empires? We find well travelled trade goods and fragments at dispersed archeological sites all over Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
Hey, it's not just North Africa. There were major civilizations in south Africa that also traded internationally.
Atlantis Not Found
Much of the media has been abuzz recently with excited reports that the lost city of Atlantis might have been found using ocean in Google Earth. See the picture below of the finding – a grid like image supposedly resembling a city’s roads, covering an area “the size of Wales.” Unfortunately...
Isn't this taking human denialism and contempt for science to the ultimate extreme?
That does seem to be an accurate assessment of your comments thus far, yes.
Global Warming Denial
Sometimes I worry that I’ve run out of new things to blog about, but then out of the blue up pops something that proves me wrong. I recently received an email from Joanne Nova, who writes a blog where she claims global warming isn’t caused by human created greenhouse gas emissions. In her firs...
Have you got some evidence that could justify this "global warming" racket?
Surely you would have something if you were being true to the stated aims of this blog.
I guess you just skipped over the part at the end that was headed "Evidence for AGW"?
Global Warming Denial
Sometimes I worry that I’ve run out of new things to blog about, but then out of the blue up pops something that proves me wrong. I recently received an email from Joanne Nova, who writes a blog where she claims global warming isn’t caused by human created greenhouse gas emissions. In her firs...
And so is Sylar! He kills because evolution tells him to!
Explain that "code of conduct" thing
Religious people - explain that “code of conduct” thing for me again. You know, how the bible and the ten commandments is supposed to be: the historical foundation of American law, moral values and code of conduct. And then explain this: A 24-year-old ski lift operator who fatally shot the g...
I just noticed... in the "Bulleted Lists" section, you correctly state that the "codes used here are 'ul' and 'li'", but your example uses 'ol' instead of 'ul'.
How To Format Comments
The purpose of this page is to show you how to use some basic html to format your comments. If you have any html skills you won’t need to read this page as you probably already know more html than I do. But if you’re new to this, I hope the following will help. So why would you want to format y...
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