Month: January 2011
Tales of the unexpected
Sometimes nature is just so unpredictable and amazing that it takes your breath away.
Today’s tale comes from a recent episode of the ‘Radio Workshop’, a radio series about science, made in New York, and often replayed on our own Science Show.
The episode in question was about the ‘oops’ factor – mistakes humans have made in an honest pursuit of some advance or outcome. As I’ve said before, this is a key characteristic of the method of science – we don’t bury mistakes, we learn from them. Anyway, to the story. Initially this story is about the mess left behind by mining operations (that’s the ‘oops’ bit), but the story takes a fascinating twist, decades after the mine closed. Please try and stay with it – it’s worth the wait!
God and earthquakes
What’s the connection between earthquakes and god? I bet your answer is nowhere near what I have in mind.
Climate Change – the simple facts
As I mentioned in an earlier post, climate change is one of those topics on which it’s hard for the layman to make a judgement. Whom do you believe? Do you trust the pollies to know all about it and therefore feel comfortable following their lead?
About Research Transparency
Further to my recent spray about the TGA accepting gifts, and Elmore Oil’s dubious research offerings, there has been a lot of chatter recently regarding conflicts of interest in research settings – and specifically, research sponsored by drug companies.
When ‘balanced’ reporting just won’t do
I guess I shouldn’t complain when reporters try to do the right thing by going for ‘balance’ in their reporting, reflecting viewers’/readers’ belief that there are two sides to every story. Otherwise, we end up with puff pieces which can be nothing more than advertorials (see earlier writings on Elmore Oil here and here – and stand by for some new developments in my investigation of it!). Read the rest of this entry »
Applied Kinesiology Anyone?
Applied Kinesiology (AK) is practised throughout the world, mainly by chiropractors, and involves diagnosing your ills by finding and fixing imbalances in your muscles. They don’t all do it, but in Australia it’s around 60%, NZ 72% and the US 43%. Read the rest of this entry »
Musings on the Afterlife
While being chauffeured back to Melbourne from Corryong in Victoria’s north east, where we spent a lovely Christmas with all the family at my daughter’s place, I found myself pondering the afterlife. I think this was brought on by the ‘elephant in the room’ at Christmas lunch, or rather the absence of something in the room – my dear dad who passed away in July.
It would be no surprise to readers of this blog that I don’t believe in the afterlife – at least, not as commonly understood as ‘life after death’ or the ‘hereafter’. Read the rest of this entry »
Lions 1 – Christians 0
It’s a bit embarrassing to see the other side struggle to maintain their dignity in the face of overwhelming odds.
Here we have the pope making it crystal clear to his flock that, yes, there was a big bang, albeit one that god created, by a wave of the hand, or whatever performance art one uses to create universes. He also went on to discuss the role of the bible, relegating its contents to being allegorical, rather than a historical record: Read the rest of this entry »
More on the paranormal and Daryl Bem
Subsequent to my earlier article on Bem’s precognition studies, Steve Novella has written an excellent piece on Bem’s research, which explains the issues far more eloquently than I did. This report also reports the concerns of the science community over the publication of his findings.
An important extra dimension raised by Steve is the general issue of how these studies turn up seemingly positive results – and refers to an editorial on the subject entitled ‘Why Psychologists must change the way they analyse their data‘. The gist is worth repeating:
When research finds positive results for an apparently impossible phenomenon, this is probably not telling us something new about the universe, but rather is probably telling us something very important about the limitations of our research methods.
In my opinion, Steve’s post and this last reference tell us everything we need to know about ‘psi research’ and why I believe Randi’s million dollars will never be collected.
Meta-blasphemy: More tales from the dark side
Yes, I know. Atheists do bad things too. But not in the name of atheism.
Here’s another case of ‘we’re too sacred for you to criticise us, so why not just kill you’.
This man was killed for supporting the removal of the death penalty for blasphemy against Islam.
So, you can be murdered for blaspheming, or even for just saying that people shouldn’t be murdered for blaspheming. It’s sort of meta-blasphemy. I suppose that means even I could be murdered for saying that someone shouldn’t be murdered for saying that someone shouldn’t be murdered for blaspheming.
The things people do in the name of their imaginary friend.
Should the TGA accept gifts?
This article on the TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration) caught my eye. Apparently they haven’t been keeping a register of gifts, but now that they’ve been reminded, of course they will do so.
Firstly, surely a simple ‘oops’ isn’t all that’s required here is it? Surely this a major breach and sanctions must be applied? Or is it a guideline only?
rationalbrain 