There. So, now you know what it looks like in North Dakota!

Did you know what Freethoughtblogs.com has a YouTube channel thingie? It is here.

Skeptics love to hate CAM. And often, with good reason. Alternative medicines or medical treatments, as is often pointed out, become “mainstream” when the available science suggests that they work, so it is almost axiomatic that “alternative” means “unproven” and it is probably almost always true that the kinds of things that end up as “alternatives” come from sources with poor track records. For instance, one of the most common forms of alternative medicine used over the last several decades is Extra X where X is some substance we know the body uses, and that we know a deficiency of is bad. The idea is that if something is good at a certain level, loading it on by a factor of anywhere from two or three to several hundred over the usually consumed amount must be REALLY good. If a substance is used in the body for something we like … an immune system function, tissue repair, muscle energetics, etc. … then consuming vast quantities of it MUST be good. And, in some cases, this turns out to be true. There are times when consuming huge quantities of potassium is medically indicated, for instance. But this does not mean that a daily intake of seven or eight hundred bananas is a good idea. It turns out that loading huge quantities of vitamins and minerals has very little or no positive effect and it can be rather harmful in some cases. (Though there may be some exceptions.)

Read the rest here.

Follow the adventures of Klaus the Forklift Operator. May not be work safe, depending on where you work:

Continue reading Staplerfahrer Klaus: On the job safety →

There was quite a discussion a while back on whether or not the identify of an internet troll known as Franc Hoggle should be revealed. It was generally thought that his identity should be revealed, but it wasn’t because no one wanted to sully their own hands over such an insignificant dit. However, PZ Myers as Pharyngula has decided to tell everyone that Franc Hoggle is Victor Ivanoff, which about fifty of us have known for weeks (because a “friend of his,” disgusted with his behavior, put it around a while back).

Apparently Ivanoff is easy to spot in a crowd because he smells very bad. Seriously, I am not making that up. Anyway, he made sufficiently threatening noises in PZ’s direction that PZ felt outing him now was the best thing to do. I am very disappointed with this turn of events because I wanted to be the one to reveal his identity. I’m sure many others feel the same way. Oh well.

Read all about it here.

This is actually outrageous. Some of your messages, perhaps many, have been hidden in a place you probably never thought to look. I just found out about it, and looked there, and in fact there were messages I needed to see. Facebook has majorly let me down with this cute little move of theirs.

The story about how bad this can get and how to find your hidden missives is HERE. Hat tip, Ana.

“I’ll end Rick Perry’s Campaign Eventually”

This is why, when I go to a school play, I always take a seat facing the door: Continue reading The Christmas Spirit →

Air France Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean (near here) some time ago. In the absence of much physical evidence, experts figured out that the crash involved a misunderstanding of air speed due in part to faulty air speed data from iced over sensors. Then, last April, the cockpit data and voice recorders were fished out of the sea, which is rather incredible. Since then, further analysis has confirmed the initial finding but added a twist: Yes, there was a problem with air speed, but the proximate reason for the crash is because the individuals piloting the plane (especially one of them) misunderstood, well, how to fly a plane because the things they needed to do were not part of their training.

The voice recording is transcribed and analysed in a new book, in French, , which is in turn reported and discussed here. Riveting.

And I’ll remind you of this post: Flight 447 and the ITCZ, which is more about the ITCZ than the flight or its demise.

First, the video:
Continue reading There are black people in my bathroom as we speak! →

That’s a large number of grants.

As of today, the National Geographic Society has issued 10,000 grants funding research and exploration since 1890–including ten National Geographic grant projects that, according to an internal panel, “have made the greatest difference in understanding the Earth.”

Barbara Moffet interviews Krithi Karanth, a 32-year-old conservation biologist based in Bangalore, India, the recipient of National Geographic’s 10,000th grant (since the first in 1890). Dr. Karanth, who grew up around the wild animals of India’s national parks, will use the funds to examine the conflicts that are occurring frequently between humans and India’s storied wildlife such as tigers and Asian elephants. As in many places around the world, wildlife are under increasing pressures in India, especially as they seek out food on farmland. Dr. Karanth answers questions about her pioneering research:

Interview is here.

People in New Jersey who watch Sunday Morning News Shows know more about stuff than the average person, and people who get their “information” mainly from Fox News know the least, according to a Fairleight Dickenson University poll.
Continue reading Fox News Makes You Stoopid, It Turns Out! →