Homologous Links

From The Onion AV Club: Dan Aykroyd spouts woo-woo bullshit in the name of selling vodka. WTF? Not only do they mention crystals as part of the filtering process, the guys at the distillery are apparently taking advice on how to do their jobs from an actor. Once I heard a supposed expert on booze-making say the words "No one can explain why..." I realized that I only thought it could get more preposterous. Scroll down a bit on the AV Club page for a quote from the company's website. Or visit it yourself. WARNING: It plays the wacko video immediately upon loading.

A half-assed Google search yielded no hits for the company's website. Also, the site that the AV Club page links to contains no ordering information or anything else that one would expect to see on a corporate site which leads me to believe hope that it is a practical joke or some sort of marketing weirdness for Ghostbusters 3. So, Aykroyd is either buying into the woo or he's using it in a clever manner. If you have any further information on this, let me know.


In sadder but no less absurd news: a 16 year-old died of complications from a urinary-tract blockage on June 17. He didn't have to die. His family prayed for him rather than taking him to a doctor. Now his parents have been arrested and face charges of criminally negligent homicide.

I picked up my local, free, alternative weekly The Nashville Scene today to find this chilling cover story about Mercy Ministries whose headquarters is down the road from where I work. They are now worldwide and they are extremely dangerous. Also, check out this blog which exists to let the world know what goes on at Mercy.

From Mindhacks: Feeling out of control sparks magical thinking. I know it does for me.

Finally, The Rogue's Gallery has the following advice at the end of this article about the Paleo Diet:

The basic rules of skepticism apply to this book - be wary of anyone claiming to know the hidden truth, be suspicious of simplistic reasoning applied to complex questions, or simple answers to complex problems, and of course critically analyze all claims made by someone who wants to sell you something.

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