Goodbye, Christopher

News-wise, living on the west coast is difficult. All the TV shows, news programs, and political punditry is geared for an east coast time zone, so I feel like I'm learning about news after everyone else; unless of course something happens later at night. Unfortunately that has happened tonight, and just about an hour ago I found out that Christopher Hitchens has died from complications related to his esophageal cancer. He was only 62.

While in many places and to many people he is known for his literary and political writing and polemic, I have always loved him for his vigorous fight against superstitious believers. For some years now, it's been my dream to meet Christopher Hitchens - he fought tirelessly for human rights and for freedom from the tyranny of religion. He was a superb debater and had a wit matched by no one. It is sad to know that he is no longer with us to fight the good fight, but he lives on in his writing and in those of us who choose to carry the banner of science, skepticism, and critical thinking.

Almost every time I've seen a video of Hitchens he was smoking or having a stiff drink of whiskey. So tonight, this drink is for you. We'll miss you, Christopher.

Supplement Infographic

There's a lot of "woo" out there, especially when it comes to dietary supplements. Someone shared a great website with me that helps to cut through all the noise of company propaganda and get to the real issue of whether certain supplements do what they claim to do. This website at InformationIsBeautiful has done a great job at organizing the existing data for taking supplements and displaying it in an interactive chart so that you can see what works and what doesn't - and guess what? The majority of supplements out there don't make the cut.  Figures.

Take this screen shot from one of the latest editions of the chart:

The Y-axis represents whether or not the evidence is strong for the supplement in question. By simply scrolling the mouse over the circle you can see what the target effect is - for example, in the image above, the evidence is strong that garlic is good for lowering blood pressure.

The size of the circle around the supplement ID represents its popularity in Google's search engine. Green tea, folic acid, and vitamin D show the most hits, whereas peppermint oil, devil's claw, and melatonin show the fewest hits. The cool color of these circles represents strong evidence - the brown color indicates that supplement does not have much evidence for or against it, and continued surveillance is important.

Now let's look at what didn't make the cut:

Well, well, well - royal jelly, despite the many late night TV ads that have been put out, is probably one of the biggest flavors of snake oil out there. It bottoms out along with wheat grass, chamomile, papain, and certain anti-oxidants for having no effect.

The next time you see a commercial promoting the ingredient of some supplement for a desired effect, check this chart out to verify the claim - most likely the commercial is over-reaching its claims, and could even be distorting the data. If you want to read the science, just click on the circle the website directs you to peer-reviewed published articles that support the claim or refute it.

It's good to be in the know.

Hitchslapped!

As I've said in other places, I'm an agnostic because of science, an atheist because of probability, and an anti-theist because of religion. No one affirms my last position more clearly than Christopher Hitchens:

Theodicy*

From wiki: 

Theodicy is a theological or philosophical study which attempts to justify God's (largely in the monotheistic or Abrahamic sense) intrinsic (or foundational) nature of omni-benevolence (all loving), omniscience (all knowing) and omnipotence (all powerful), despite the existence of evil which, in the view of some, would otherwise stand to refute one or more of these qualities or God's existence altogether.

SMBC posted this fantastic illustration of how most people are satisfied with these justification attempts and suggests why a more reality-based alternative to belief in god just doesn't fly with most people:

STORM: By Tim Minchin

For everyone who knows me but has never understood how or why I feel the way I currently do about life, science, religion, politics, philosophy ... watch this.  This animated short is based on a performance by the talented comedian, musician, and skeptic Tim Minchin.  His poem is phenomenal and the illustrations are right on point.  Sit back, relax, and think for a change:

CRDIHP Institute

Grandaddy Bertrand

Too good not to re-share:



Via Pharyngula

Pop off already

Peter Popoff. Do you know who that is? His website is definitely something worth gawking at; go ahead and take a peek if you like. If you haven't heard of him, I'm sure you've heard about one of his colleagues in the profession - the profession of faith healing.

There are a few very twisted characters who have claimed to be faith healers: Benny Hinn, Oral Roberts, and (my personal favorite) Pat Robertson. Books have been written about the swindling these scumbags have carried out on poor, simple-minded folk. They claim to heal the sick using divine powers. Usually it's cases of arthritis or fatigue ... or interestingly cancer - these are either subjective pain symptoms which can be temporarily ameliorated by adrenaline rushes, or they can't be seen and causative effect be established. Instead of trying to write at great length about it, I'd rather share with you some of the story of Peter Popoff.

James Randi (one of my heroes) fought the good fight and exposed Peter Popoff for the charlatan that he was back in the 1980s. Take a look here:



Now, you might watch this and think about how great the world is that we have protectors who can dispel the archaic mysticism of witch doctors. But you'll be sorry to see what 'Rev.' Popoff is up to these days.



Who can use protectors (like James Randi) when people are foolish enough to get involved with the snake oil salesman all over again? And why is Entertainment Tonight doing the current expose? Where is the FTC?

And people say that nothing bad can come from believing in a god. All evidence is to the contrary. When your worldview is not based on evidence, but on feelings, then you use feelings to justify all sorts of things, and other people will use your feelings against you.

Blasphemy Day - September 30th!

On September 30th, 2009 the first 'Blasphemy Day International' will be celebrated. For freethinkers everywhere, and for a society based on reason and science, put it on your calendar! :-)

Here's the facebook link - spread it around.

Some of the pictures from their site are posted below. At least religion can be a constant source of laughter ... when they're not terrorizing or fear-mongering in the world at large.

It's a brewin'

Tim Minchin is a comedian/musician from Australia who knows how to rock out to the skeptical perspective. The following clip is from a live show in London just last year. It was taken down for a while, but he recently put a better quality copy back up for all of us to enjoy. This is an original, fictional beat poem, but as you'll hear, all stories are pulled from things we've heard kooks talk about every day. In this case, all the woo you can think of is rolled up into one paranoid hippy named Storm. As the woo gets thick, just listen to Mr. Minchin whittle it back down.



I'd like to throw a dinner party and invite Tim Minchin. I'll find a hippy for him to debate too.

Skeptics R' Us

I got my first issue of Skeptical Inquirer today!


There seems to be lots of good stuff inside. I can't wait to read the commentary on science and the new Obama administration. And there seems to be a fun one about the capacity of Enceladus (one of the moons of Saturn) to support some form of life as we know it here on earth.



But I'm sure that the most enjoyable article will be about science and antiscience in America: how lack of science informing the decisions we make leads to consequences where people suffer.

This is one of the best-late xmas presents I've gotten so far! (My awesome mom got a year's subscription for me)