Announcements
oracknows | August 19, 2009Time and time again, I've had requests from readers for good resources for countering the nonsense emanating from the anti-vaccine movement. Time and time again, I've pointed out sites like Every Child By Two and The Vaccine Education Center.
Now, thanks to the efforts of some friends of mine, especially Steve Novella, there is another handy dandy resource that was just announced today:
Vaccines and Autism on Science-Based Medicine
It includes a list of SBM posts about vaccines, an overview of the question, and a list of key studies. This page is a work in progress; so we appreciate any input…
oracknows | August 15, 2009Yikes! How did I forget to plug the Skeptics' Circle? This time around, it's the Skeptics Circle #117: The Chiropractic Edition and it's here to readjust your subluxated skepticism. Or something. Either way, it's a hoot.
I do fear one thing though. Mike Meadon referred to the Skeptics' Circle as "venerable." Back when a blogger named St. Nate started this whole thing and then a few months later handed it off to me, way back in 2005, I never would have ever thought that one day the Circle would be referred to as "venerable."
God, I'm so old. Or my blog is. Or something.
In any case, next up on…
jstemwedel | August 7, 2009For those of you who have been following the various online reviews of and reactions to Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum's book Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future, you may be interested in the Firedoglake Book Salon discussion of the book. The discussion takes place Saturday (tomorrow), 5-7 pm Eastern (2-4 pm Pacific; those of you in other time zones can probably calculate your local time equivalent better than I), will include author Chris Mooney, and will be hosted by yours truly.
Given that I'm pretty convinced I have the best commentariat in the…
thusspakezuska | August 5, 2009Dear Zuskateers, I feel I am letting you down by taking so long to bring you the next Gender Knot post. Personal life has just been immensely chaotic. (I actually intend to blog about a recent piece of that shortly.) I just haven't had the concentration it takes to produce a Gender Knot post. I'm going to give you a few smaller tidbits in the next day or so and, god willing and the creek don't rise, back to the Gender Knot next week.
thusspakezuska | August 5, 2009UPDATE: Pat Campbell has asked that if you did take the survey initially when it was returning 404 errors, and you subsequently re-took it, drop her an email and she will send you cookies! She has promised to send cookies to the first 10 of my readers who had to retake the survey, if you let her know by email. I've had her cookies. They are great! If you got the 404 error this is a nice incentive to retake - just do so and then drop Pat an email :
campbell AT campbell-kibler DOT com
UPDATE: If you took this survey right after I first posted this entry and got a 404 error when you tried…
oracknows | July 30, 2009It's that time yet again, time for another meeting of the Skeptics' Circle. This time around, Beyond the Short Coat hosts a nightmare. No, really, a nightmare. Remember Mitchell and Web's vision of what a Homeopathic A & E would look like? The 116th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle goes way, way beyond that. Here's hoping I don't get injured or sick or injured any time soon.
Next up is Ionian Enchantment on August 13. Help purge this horrific vision of the future of medicine by lining up posts now.
oracknows | July 30, 2009The last couple of nights, I guess, have proven that Orac is not quite as durable as his namesake. Having been up nearly all night working against a deadline for my Komen Foundation grant application and only gotten a couple of hours of sleep each of the last couple of nights, this morning, I've got nothing. I overslept by over an hour and came flying into work all late and discombobulated. (Fear not. Thursday is not my O.R. day. My patients are safe.)
So what does a blogger do in this circumstance, when he's all tired and has zero time to produce a substantive post? What else? Open thread!…
oracknows | July 26, 2009As hard as it is to believe, it's been a week and a half since the last time the skeptics of the Skeptics' Circle met. The next meeting will soon be upon it, but it can't happen unless you make it happen. This time it will be hosted at Beyond the Short Coat, and instructions for submission are here. Guidelines for what the Circle is looking for can be found here.
jstemwedel | July 21, 2009ScienceBlogs is getting a systems upgrade tonight. Among other things, this means that commenting is being turned off at 7:00 PM EST (although deceptively, the comment forms will still be visible), and new posts won't go up from about 7:00 PM EST until sometime tomorrow morning, when we hope the upgrade will be successfully completed.
If you have something to share that just can't wait until the comments have been re-enabled, feel free to email me.
I'll catch you on the flip-flop!
thusspakezuska | July 18, 2009Folks, I had expected to surely have my next Gender Knot post up by now but life isn't working out that way. Too much craptastic stuff going on.
Meanwhile, Mr. Z and I are taking off for a few days. They have wireless internet where we're going but...we're not taking a computer with us. There, I said it.
It's possible I may put a hold on my Unscientific America review, too, until I get back from a trip to DC the last week of July. The book authors will be speaking at Politics and Prose during the time I'll be there and I'm planning to stop in and listen. Probably won't post my review…
oracknows | July 17, 2009It may be a day late, but it was worth it. The latest installment of the Skeptics' Circle, that long-running blog carnival of skepticism and critical thinking (hey, four and a half years is a really long time in the blogosphere).
This time around, let TechSkeptic take you on A Skeptical Journey Through the Universe, complete with pretty pictures!
Next up will be Beyond the Short Coat, a skeptical medical student who wants to take a shot at this blog carnival on Thursday, July 30. Be sure to send your best skeptical blog posts!
Finally, I notice that the waiting list for hosts is getting a bit…
jstemwedel | July 15, 2009Today Americans for Medical Progress has announced three recipients for academic year 2009-2010 of the Michael D. Hayre Fellowship in Public Outreach, designed to inspire and motivate the next generation of research advocates. From the AMP press release:
The importance of animal research to medical progress will be highlighted in projects by three graduate students selected as Michael D. Hayre Fellows in Public Outreach, Americans for Medical Progress announced today.
Gillian Branden-Weiss and Breanna Caltagarone, students the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, and…
oracknows | July 14, 2009Before I close the book on the Science-Based Medicine Conference and TAM7 for 2009, I have a quick request of you, my readers. Specifically, I'd really appreciate it if any of you who were at the SBM Conference and/or TAM7 and took pictures, to send me copies, preferably full resolution. As you might guess, at the SBM Conference I didn't have time to take more than a handful of pictures myself, and obviously I couldn't take pictures of the Anti-Anti-Vax Conference at TAM7 because, well, I was participating in it. The e-mail address is orac@scienceblogs.com.
And thanks to everyone who reads my…
oracknows | July 11, 2009I'm back from the Penn & Teller Show at the Rio. It was, as usual, highly entertaining. I haven't seen P&T since sometime in the late 1990s in Chicago, but they're just as good as I remember them.
Next issue: Shy and retiring putz that I am, it never occurred to me that any of my readers might want a meetup until one reader asked me about it yesterday. Perhaps my thoughts were colored by the memory of the couple of times before when I tried to do this with embarrassingly minimal to nonexistent responses. Judging from Twitter, though, there are at least a handful of you out there who,…
thusspakezuska | July 9, 2009Ed Yong has started a "who the heck are you, dear reader?!?!" meme that is floating around with my Sciblngs. If you haven't already visited a thousand other blogs and read it a million times, here's what he posted:
1) Tell me about you. Who are you? Do you have a background in science? If so, what draws you here as opposed to meatier, more academic fare? And if not, what brought you here and why have you stayed? Let loose with those comments.
2) Tell someone else about this blog and in particular, try and choose someone who's not a scientist but who you think might be interested in the…
oracknows | July 9, 2009TAM or no TAM, Vegas or no Vegas, I can't help but mention that one of my favorite bloggers from years past, who shuttered up his blog back in 2007 back when he was with us here at ScienceBlogs, has reopened his Examining Room. Please take a moment to welcome him back to the blogosphere.
Now...back to TAM.
thusspakezuska | July 8, 2009If you've seen this post over at Isis's place, you have already read this:
A few minutes ago I received this email from the Overlords:
Hi Isis,
As far as I can tell they finally corrected it- they halted all ads from that network. I haven't seen any bad ads last night or this morning andfriends I've been clicking around for awhile. Our ad VP suggested that if some readers are still seeing bad ads, they may need to clear their cache for them to stop showing up. Otherwise, all looks good!
- The Overlords
That was yesterday, around noon. Nevertheless, in the afternoon and near midnight…
oracknows | July 2, 2009Well it's here, just in time for the Fourth of July weekend holiday, a brand spanking new Skeptics' Circle. Given how many of our Founding Fathers were freethinkers, I like to think now is a perfect time for a shot of skeptical blogging. And our host this week has just the thing: On the Tendency of Skeptics to form Circles; and on the Perpetuation of Circles and Skeptics by Natural Means of Selection. Be sure to check it out.
Next up in two weeks is Effort Sisyphus. Be sure to start firing up your keyboards to provide the raw material, namely great skeptical blogging, to make next week's…
thusspakezuska | July 2, 2009While I've been away from the blogiverse, it appears that you've had the misfortune to be treated to all manner of disgusting ads popping up here at ScienceBlogs. Mail Order Brides, Naughty Singles, and I don't know what all else. Isis has some details here. She says:
...if you've been visiting me for any length of time then you know how I feel about the exploitation of women, especially racial minorities and women from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. That's the entire point of the Letters to Our Daughters Project and the Silence is the Enemy Project, right?
That said, I cannot in…
thusspakezuska | July 1, 2009Hi folks. I had kind of a rough visit home to mom at the end of last week/weekend that took a lot out of me, followed by several days in a row of pretty bad migraines. I had hoped to post my next Gender Knot installment today but it just ain't happening. Rather than promise another date I will just say - ASAP. Between the trip and the migraines I am just worn out. Please bear with me. Thanks.