Homologous Links

Dallas Morning News columnnist Steve Blow has a piece on the eyebeams guy who won a Pigasus Award recently.


Speaking of James Randi, here's a link to the JREF website. Chances are, you already know about it but just in case. :)

Skeptico has an excellent piece on the non-excellent Melanie Phillips.

And to celebrate The Perky Skeptic's recent trip to the Memphis Zoo, I present cute, baby meerkats!

.... ....

Homologous Links

Here's why Overcompensating is one of my favorite webcomics and why Timecube isn't.

Hey, doctoral candidates! PhD Comics is here to help you write that abstract.

Do you know why science is awesome? I'll tell you why! Because it brings us amazing satellite images like these from boston.com's The Big Picture.

. .

Yes, more links

I have some things to say about parenting an autistic child but lately I've been so busy helping to actually do that parenting (along with my day job) that I haven't had a chance to blog about it. The good news is that everything's going great and B loved the holidays. His mom and I did, too.

And now, some links:

If I can't talk about my personal experiences with an autistic kid, I can at least post a link to Orac's recounting of an awful episode of The Doctors which looks like it might just be an awful show. The subject was vaccines and they had that total douche Jay Gordon on there. Nuff said.

Mindhacks brings us news of a report on spurious correlations between behavior and brain activity. The report is amazing and the blog post does an excellent job of breaking it down. This is why Mindhacks is one of my favorite sites.

Finally, Pure Pedantry keeps us in the holiday spirit by talking about lying.

- -

Links and Lists

Skepchick's Rebecca lists 2008's top ten jackasses. As you may have guessed, I agree with all of them.

The awesome Elles from Teen Skepchick talks about Twilight.

From Transmissions from the Overmind: Earth's age pinpointed!

Give yourself a late holiday present and subscribe to WNYC's Radio Lab podcast.

- -

Homologous Links - Science!

Cat and Girl explore the scientific method.

XKCD has useful educational advice.

Statsblog talks about the science of parenting and the lack thereof.

My personal science rock star, Dr. Steven Novella, takes syndromes to school.

My favorite brain blog, Mind Hacks, points out a cool interview with David Chalmers about the extended mind hypothesis.

Finally, The Perky Skeptic goes insane and takes us along for the ride.

- -

Debunkings in the News! Mostly.

An international doctors panel appointed by the Roman Catholic Church is getting out of the business of determining whether visitors to Lourdes may have experienced miraculous healing. Good for them.! Though, some of the language the spokesman for the panel uses disturbs me.

Reynold Ducasse, a Haitian physician, has a new book out which debunks the zombie myths specifically the Wilfred Doricent case. The Doricent thing has been blasted several times before (scroll down to the Zombies section) but it's nice to see a Haitian doctor take it on.

Orac takes a recent meta-analysis of acupuncture apart letter by letter. Get some popcorn and watch the fun.

If you have kids and you're on the fence about getting them vaccinated, I urge you to read this article by Dr. Steven Novella. Related topic: Dr. Jay Gordon is not just a complete douche, he's actively dangerous because he's advising people not to get vaccinations. So, when the herd immunity for our species goes away and we have epidemics of measles and influenza sweeping the nation we'll know who to blame.

I know I've said this before but here we go again: My son is autistic but I don't blame vaccines. Why don't I blame them? Is it because Orac and Dr. Novella and others told me that vaccines don't cause autism? Hell no! It's because people like Orac and Dr. Novella and Dr. Andrew Offit pointed me towards credible, scientifc studies and actual resources where I could find the information and THINK FOR MYSELF by making an informed decision about the health of my child. Don't take my word for it. If you're reading this, you're sitting at a computer with internet access. Go find the information for yourself.

Science-Based Medicine and Respectful Insolence are both great places to start.

jessiemarion of Rational Moms provides some perspective on the The Myth of the Sugar High. She even includes references and stuff.

..

More things you should read

Hey everybody! Erich von Däniken is a loon! I've been following this guy's wacky career for a while now. If you're unfamiliar with his theories on how aliens have visited the Earth, you're in for a treat. If you are familiar with them, you can check out how he's still crazy after all these years. He's a wonderful, walking paradox. He uses ancient religious texts to "prove" his theories then chides religious figures for interpreting them in their own ways. It's like watching blind people fight.

Emily always does a great job of capturing what it's like for parents of autistic kids. Here's an example.

Alan Boyle wrote an excellent article about science in the Obama era. He's got high hopes for the next president and I share them. As long as he doesn't make RFK Jr. the head of the EPA, that is.

On a related note, a bunch of scientists are all up in Obama's grill saying "Appoint a science advisor! Now!" I kinda agree.

..

Autism Links

If you've been reading this blog much you've noticed that Autism Awareness is kind of a big deal for me. If you're just joining, "Hi! Welcome aboard. Autism Awareness is kind of a big deal for me."


Here are some links to help spread the word:

Dave Angel from the Parenting Asperger's blog has some excellent advice for teens who want to explain Asperger's to their friends.

Casdok describes herself as a "single parent of C a 20 year old non verbal autistic young man". Her blog Mother of Shrek contains beautiful, honest writing about what that entails. She also runs the Faces of Autism blog which is comprised of pictures of autistic people (mostly kids) from all over the world.

I can't pick a single post from A Life Less Ordinary? because they're all good. Emily's posts are well-written, slices-of-life with which I identify. Her experiences are a lot like mine.

Then there's Hammie. Her blog is so much fun to read. One of my favorite things she's done is her series which interprets AA's twelve-step program in terms of being the parent of an autistic child.

John Elder Robinson, the author of Look Me In The Eye talks about his trip to the TMS lab.

A Photon in the Darkness has a post called Secretin Rises from the Grave just in time for Halloween.

Orac keeps bringing the truth with posts such as David Kirby admits that mercury in vaccines is no longer the smoking gun.

. .

Mind Links - Advertising and Religion

Actual, factual content is on the way but until then, enjoy these two stories from Mind Hacks:

Towards a neuropsychology of religion focuses on Pascal Boyer's essay in Nature in which he explores the cognitive restraints on religion and how the need for spiritual belief may have come from the way our brains evolved.

Then they discuss advertising statistics and how they're all a load of crap. Millie would be proud.

EDIT: This just in: Dumbass Creationists try to use neuroscience to prove that souls exist.

..

Revenge of Homologous Links

Stephen Geddes' exhibition at the Sandra Small Gallery in Covington, KY will feature a piece called "Jurassic Ark," (pictured to the left). It just so happens that it's down the road from the creation museum. Go, Stephen!


I've been meaning to link to What's the Harm? for a while now. If you've ever had anyone ask you what the harm could be in believing in some bit of woo-woo or another, point them to this site.

Peter Lipson and Orac have lots to say about Jenny McCarthy and Dr. Jay. No, not the awesome basketball player, the lame anti-vaccination apologist.

Finally: Maybe Jesus was a snail.

..

Son of Homologous Links

Wow. Dennis Leary really IS an asshole.

Hey, creationists! I got your transitional fossil right here!

National Geographic Online has a spread of the winners of the 2008 Small World Photomicrography Competition. Spectacular!

I don't usually get political here but since John McCain is pandering to the anti-vaccination crowd, I have to say that's one more reason not to vote for him.

Finally, The Friendly Atheist posts a list of atheist and secular organizations that could use donations along with a sickening list of how much the top Religious Right organizations rake in.

. .

How To Argue With A Creationist and other links

The radically awesome Dr. Steve Novella of The Rogue's Gallery and Science-Based Medicine (which just added two new bloggers) tears apart three lame arguments against evolution.

(See also: How to argue with a creationist)

Orac of Respectful Insolence has an excellent post discussing the anti-vaccination crowd and why they have been able to gain such a strong foothold in the public discussion. He also has some good ideas for things that those of us with more rational minds can do to combat them.

EDIT: There is a follow-up post which addresses even more concerns and solutions regarding vaccines. Orac is not only very knowledgeable about the subject of vaccines and their actual side effects, he is one of the best writers I've run across.

Chanson from Rational Moms dives in and helps instill a love of learning in her child. That rocks.

. .

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.

.