Swans on Tea

Are you a real skeptic? I doubt it.
Being a skeptic vs. being in the “skeptic camp”
False skepticism is a way station en route to Palinesque Orwellian antifactualism. Real skeptics need not toe a particular line with respect to facts or conclusions, but real skeptics are skeptical … meaning rational and thoughtful and fact-oriented … in [...]

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Tiger Woods has gotten himself into a little trouble the past week or so. But, no matter what Tiger has done in regard to fidelity of marriage, it has absolutely no bearing on whether or not he won the 1997 Masters, or 2000 U.S. Open, or any [...]

Science After Sunclipse: In Which I Am Less Than Courteous
[Chopra's] latest whine is typical of what passes for respectable commentary in less-than-critical quarters. Phil Plait aptly characterized it as “almost a bullet-pointed list of logical fallacies”; if you wanted examples to fill out your Baloney Detection Kit trading cards, Chopra would be a great [...]

Catching up with blogs after Thanksgiving travel. I saw this on Chad’s linked list. Zen Moments: My Favorite Liar
What made Dr. K memorable was a gimmick he employed that began with his introduction at the beginning of his first class:
“Now I know some of you have already heard of me, but for the [...]

I just ran across The 10 weirdest physics facts, from relativity to quantum physics, and as I just finished up an antiscience piece, I thought I’d just turn this into a little Friday rant-o-thon.
Zapperz also ran across this, and rightly notes that nitpicking the details probably won’t matter to non-physicists, because they aren’t likely to [...]

Saw this link on Kottke, described as “How to avoid an untimely death,” with the teaser quote
10. If anyone tries to force you into your car or car trunk at gun point, don’t cooperate. Fight and scream all you can even if you risk getting shot in the parking lot. If you get [...]

Live Granades: How To Generate Scientific Controversy
Four-point how-to list, and an example to make sure you’re clear on the concept.
Let’s see what we can do with this. I know: child safety seats! Properly used, they dramatically decrease kids’ injuries in car wrecks. They’re hella effective. So let’s claim that they really aren’t. In fact, [...]

weird things: and now for something completely ridiculous
[T]his is a video that may well have broken my brain if not for my built-up tolerance to the kind of sheer, unadulterated stupid it contains, so it took me a while to properly reply to the kinds of unholy things Werner did to physics. In the [...]

An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All
This isn’t a religious dispute, like the debate over creationism and intelligent design. It’s a challenge to traditional science that crosses party, class, and religious lines. It is partly a reaction to Big Pharma’s blunders and PR missteps, from Vioxx to illegal marketing ploys, [...]

Trial raises doubts over alternative pain therapy for arthritis
“It appears that any perceived benefit obtained from wearing a magnetic or copper bracelet can be attributed to psychological placebo effects. People tend to buy them when they are in a lot of pain, then when the pain eases off over time they attribute this to the [...]

Stone Age satnav: Did ancient man use 5,000-year-old travel chart to navigate across Britain
When did a chart become satellite navigation?
It’s considered to be one of the more recent innovations to help the hapless traveller.
But the satnav system may not be as modern as we think.
On the contrary. I think the satnav system is precisely [...]

Teenager invents £23 solar panel that could be solution to developing world’s energy needs … made from human hair
Color me skeptical. The story, of course, is very skimpy on the science, but let’s look at this. The claim of “9 V (18 W)” is really hard to believe, because P=IV means 2 [...]