Friday, 3rd July
jdc325's Weblog
Unprincipled Healthcare: Part TwoNutribollocks special: you are deficient in fish oils, sugar tablets are essential for busy people, CoQ10 is a cure for a stressful lifestyle, homocysteine is a risk factor for circulatory disease and apple cider vinegar will detox you and make you thin and healthy.
Holford Watch: Patrick Holford, nutritionism and bad science
Patrick Holford, Shark Liver Oil and WalnutsHolford over-extrapolates the evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis to support his own, inconsistently-expressed views on nuts and seeds; neglects to mention appropriate caveats; is currently premature in promoting squalene as a “cancer preventive”; makes inappropriate comparisons of the ORAC values of substances that have very different water percentages ...
A canna’ change the laws of physics
In praise of chiropractic?
A Professor of Chiropractic appears upset with people questioning the safety of Chiropractic, as it really works for musculoskeletal disorders. The problem is with all the anti-democratic, exclusive, positivist scientists who have not made it into the post-normal age who are ontologically commited to only part of the knowledge ... the quackometer
Skeptics in the Field
DC's Improbable Science
Accident and Emergency: alternative style
Hilarious. SciencePunk
Animal Liberation Front vs Prof Tipu Aziz
Blog warz! Read their motions on animal testing, leave a comment... DC's Improbable Science
Schizophrenia: hoopla, disappointment and science journalism
On July 1st. the journal Nature, published three reports that described genetic differences between people with schizophrenia and the rest of us. Nature held a big press conference, at the World Conference of Science Journalists, Many of the individual institutions involved in the studies also issued press releases. As so ... Left Brain/Right Brain
Wakefield, distortion and the Sunday Times
Inside the Skeptical Blogging Conspiracy: Ben Goldacre’s Real History Revealed
In the aftermath of major blogging landmarks like the BCA Statement takedown and the Jeni Barnett affair, I've received numerous e-mails on the subject of how it is that we manage to coordinate so much action so quickly on these key issues. Many thoughtful alternative medicine practitioners and anti-vaccination activists ... jdc325's Weblog
Unprincipled Healthcare: Part 1
Are unlicensed herbal medicines being promoted via claims that would not be allowed under the Medicines Act of 1968? gimpy's blog
BCA plethora ? the previously unavailable Fallon paper
When I had a look at the papers in the British Chiropractic Association’s (BCA) ‘plethora’ for ear infection I noted that I could not access the Fallon JM (1997) paper of which the BCA claim ‘[t]he results indicate that there is a strong correlation between the chiropractic adjustment and the ...
Illustrating The Point
[BPSDB] Steven Connor, Science Editor of the Independent, spectacularly missed the point with this opinion piece, not to mention confirming many peoples suspicions as to the state of science journalism today. Many bloggers have criticised print journalists for their lack of fact checking. Let us see how well Connor does in ...
In praise of chiropractic?
A Professor of Chiropractic appears upset with people questioning the safety of Chiropractic, as it really works for musculoskeletal disorders. The problem is with all the anti-democratic, exclusive, positivist scientists who have not made it into the post-normal age who are ontologically commited to only part of the knowledge ... the quackometer
Skeptics in the Field
DC's Improbable Science
Accident and Emergency: alternative style
Hilarious. SciencePunk
Animal Liberation Front vs Prof Tipu Aziz
Blog warz! Read their motions on animal testing, leave a comment... DC's Improbable Science
Schizophrenia: hoopla, disappointment and science journalism
On July 1st. the journal Nature, published three reports that described genetic differences between people with schizophrenia and the rest of us. Nature held a big press conference, at the World Conference of Science Journalists, Many of the individual institutions involved in the studies also issued press releases. As so ... Left Brain/Right Brain
Wakefield, distortion and the Sunday Times
Thursday, 2nd July
The Lay ScientistInside the Skeptical Blogging Conspiracy: Ben Goldacre’s Real History Revealed
In the aftermath of major blogging landmarks like the BCA Statement takedown and the Jeni Barnett affair, I've received numerous e-mails on the subject of how it is that we manage to coordinate so much action so quickly on these key issues. Many thoughtful alternative medicine practitioners and anti-vaccination activists ... jdc325's Weblog
Unprincipled Healthcare: Part 1
Are unlicensed herbal medicines being promoted via claims that would not be allowed under the Medicines Act of 1968? gimpy's blog
BCA plethora ? the previously unavailable Fallon paper
When I had a look at the papers in the British Chiropractic Association’s (BCA) ‘plethora’ for ear infection I noted that I could not access the Fallon JM (1997) paper of which the BCA claim ‘[t]he results indicate that there is a strong correlation between the chiropractic adjustment and the ...
Wednesday, 1st July
Letting Off SteamIllustrating The Point
[BPSDB] Steven Connor, Science Editor of the Independent, spectacularly missed the point with this opinion piece, not to mention confirming many peoples suspicions as to the state of science journalism today. Many bloggers have criticised print journalists for their lack of fact checking. Let us see how well Connor does in ...
Thinking Is Dangerous
MHRA publish public assessment of homeopathic arnica, admit it does nothing, but license it anyway
Dr Aust's Spleen
Rank? in more ways than one
In which Dr Aust considers his lack of promotional prospects, but does attain rank in the “Anti-CAM brigade” Dr Aust is feeling very sheepish about his lack of blog activity, and even more so since the much-appreciated plug (combined with a bit of gentle chiding) from ace legal blogger Jack of ...
jdc325's Weblog
Excess Woo ? Reduce, Reuse and Recycle?
Far too much energy is being expended on producing and consuming the bullshit of the counterknowledge industry. Let's see if we can do something about that.
Hawk/Handsaw
I get my name in the Veterinary Record
SciencePunk
Taliban “opium” haul turns out to be food crop
The Ministry of Defence has been left with egg on its face after a much-vaunted seizure of 1.3 tonnes of poppy seed turned out to be mung beans. The food crop was taken during Operation Panther Claw, breathlessly reported as a major strike at the heart of ...
Bad Science
Steve Connor is an angry man
Tuesday, 30th June
SciencePunk
“Boys Hardwired to Like Trucks”
Apparently truck-preference genes evolved 9900 years before real trucks
Monday, 29th June
jdc325's Weblog
Chiropractic Dirty Tricks. What of the Repercussions?
It's an incredible way for someone who is presumably either a medical professional (or a member of a regulatory body for medical professionals) to behave. How can these people possibly expect to be taken seriously if this is the way they respond to criticism of their making unsubstantiated claims?...
SciencePunk
Big Tobacco given just 38 years to live
Persistent legislation has metastasised into full-blown FDA regulation
Sunday, 28th June
What the hell is this?
Jesus’ blood never failed me yet
It's on the news that a priest was stopped at the exit of the Milano-Torino autostrada with a blood alcohol level of 0.08% (the legal limit in Italy is 0.05%) and had his licence taken off him. He had to call “friends and family” to come and take ...
Left Brain/Right Brain
Time for a cordon sanitaire?
Saturday, 27th June
SciencePunk
‘Waterless’ washing machine cleans using nylon beads
Hmm... Dirt not washed away, so kinda like washing your clothes in the same water over and over.
The Lay Scientist
Rock Stars of (White Male) Science
Seeing GQ's Rock Stars of Science campaign for the first time gave me the same sort of instinctive reaction that I got when I saw OK Magazine's Jade Goody Tribute Edition released before she'd actually, y'know, died; or when I boarded the train to Windsor & Eton a few ...
Friday, 26th June
jdc325's Weblog
Ignoreland: A Refusal To Engage
I’ve been attempting to communicate with various people and institutions recently and I’ve been having a little trouble. I don’t seem to be getting responses to my emails. Let’s see if we can figure out where I’ve been going wrong. The University of Westminster have been less than forthcoming with answers ...
Left Brain/Right Brain
Autism and aspergers are essentially the same
Thinking Is Dangerous
Say goodbye to colic the easy way!
Thursday, 25th June
Letting Off Steam
Unclean, Unclean!
[BPSDB] The H1N1 pandemic seems to have caused over-reaction in some quarters. A colleague on a training course was greeted with all the enthusiasm one would expect for a leper turning up at a society wedding. Background: two students and one member of staff at my workplace have swine flu. My colleague ...
What the hell is this?
Another happy customer
BPSDB There's a plethora of a letter at A Case of Chiropractic Manipulation Immediately Relieving Depression with Chronic Pain: Patient A, a 41-year-old Taiwanese male, suffered from intermittent dysthymia which presented with minor low mood, insomnia, anxiety, chest tightness, back pain, and subjectively mild occupational difficulty... patient A received a single ...
jdc325's Weblog
GCC and the Privy Council
Having read on David Colquhoun’s blog that the GCC wanted to “waive the rules” regarding complaints, I noted a suggestion that those not in favour of the GCC doing so contact the Privy Council. I did so, concentrating on my opinion of the GCC’s ability to provide accurate and meaningful ...
Left Brain/Right Brain
Rethinking Autism