humor
oracknows | June 4, 2012Let me start right here by repeating yet again my oft-repeated assessment of reiki. Reiki is clearly nothing more than faith healing that substitutes Eastern mysticism for Christianity. Think of it this way. In faith healing, the faith healer claims to channel the healing power of God into the person being healed. In reiki, the reiki master claims to be able to channel "life energy" from what they refer to as the "universal source." Big difference, right?
Wrong. It's the same thing.
Let me also point out that, as much as I detest quackery, I'm particularly not a big fan of subjecting innocent…
sa smith | May 15, 2012As a resident of the state of Oklahoma, I am legally required to publish the following post:
GO THUNDER!!!!!! WHOOOOOOOO!! WHOOOOOOOOOO!!!
denialism | May 5, 2012In a brilliant parody of the HSUS shelter ads, humane watch has put sad looking lawyers in cages to emphasize that donations to HSUS do not fund shelters.
HSUS is like PETA but with deodorant and suits. Hah! I love it. HSUS is PETA.
It's upsetting that this fake charity has co-opted the reputation of our local humane societies, used ads depicting suffering animals in cages, then taken in millions of dollars from well meaning people to lobby for animal rights causes. Every time I see their ads I get furious. Less than 1% of their take goes to shelters. HSUS is not a humane society at…
oracknows | April 5, 2012I have a soft spot for pareidolia, as regular readers know. It amuses me to no end to see Jesus and Mary popping up on freeway underpasses, tacos, toast, pieces of sheet metal, Lava Lamps, and the like. I thought that I had seen it all--until now:
His image has been seen on rocks, windows - even a tortilla as recently as Ash Wednesday.
Now, in the days leading up to Easter Sunday, it appears yet another strange image of Jesus has emerged.
Erika Scheldt, 24, claims she photographed a stingray with a glistening depiction of Christ on its back after it washed ashore a South Carolina beach on…
sastyk | March 23, 2012...My laundry pile was empty. I mean, empty. Nothing more to wash.
This unprecedented state of affairs (in a working farm household with 6 people, four of them attracted to mud like magnets) didn't last long - then Asher dumped his muddy socks on the floor and Eli took a bath and pushed the towel into the tub and then the kids got out of the clothes bearing the day's accumulated grime - but I did briefly have no laundry to do. None.
Other people may think this is a weird thing to worry about, but you have to understand my life. There is ALWAYS laundry in the pile, there are ALWAYS…
sastyk | March 20, 2012Check out the celebrity cow tippers, of course. What else?
Harrison Ford owns a property out by me and he's out in the pastures ALL THE TIME. "Han Solo is messing with the cows again" is practically the neighborhood refrain.
I swear.
Sharon
oracknows | February 20, 2012
Like many geeks, I enjoy The Big Bang Theory. I know, I know, you're shocked to hear that, but it's true. I've seen nearly every episode since the first season. Over the last couple of seasons, the male-centric show has been considerably improved by its move towards more of an ensemble cast that includes two new female characters: Bernadette Rostenkowski, played by Melissa Rauch, who is Howard's girlfriend, and Amy Farrah Fowler, played by Mayim Bialik, who is Sheldon's girlfriend. Both characters are smart and in many ways as geeky as the guys, but in a different way.
Oddly enough, I…
pharyngula | February 14, 2012It truly does, and someone has caught us out and published a stunning exposé that reveals the horrible, awful behavior that our goddess, Nature, endorses. You must read "God Hates Checkered Whiptail Lizards!!!" and weep. This is but one page of a devastating revelation.
(Also on FtB)
tsmith | February 8, 2012Have two awesome announcements that I've been waiting to share. One will still have to wait a few more days as we're finalizing some details, I can now let you know that I just started a new position as an Advisory Board member of the Zombie Research Society. It's a pretty cool group, including THE George Romero (Zombie Godfather); Daniel Drezner, author of Theories of International Politics and Zombies, and Steven Schlozman, author of The Zombie Autopsies. Plus a bunch of other white guys.
So, why do something like this? Zombies obviously are huge in pop culture, and typically "zombieism"…
sastyk | January 31, 2012My fellow geeky Jewish goat-farmer Reb Deb sent me this, and I couldn't resist posting it:
oracknows | January 25, 2012Ha! I must admit, I've said probably about 50% of these things at one time or another, maybe more:
Hmmmm. Maybe I need to come up with new "shit."
Oh, and, by the way, I've been mentioned on PZ's blog more times than I can remember over the last seven years. So there! (Oh, wait. Does that mean PZ won't ever mention me again. Never mind. I take it back.)
sastyk | January 23, 2012
I try really hard to ignore the presidential election, I do, but this was too funny not to post! Yes, a hoax, but hey, shoulda been.
Sharon
sastyk | January 12, 2012Given that January is the season for regretting excesses and making new starts, I thought I'd offer Sharon's patented formula for losing 10lbs fast - absolutely guaranteed to take off the weight like lightning.;
Day 1: Spend most of the day getting ready for a weekend event - running errands, shopping at local markets, prepping to prepare lunch for 20+ people. Run into friends and acquaintances and chat about the upcoming event.
3pm Day 1: Get a call from your caseworker announcing that she has four children, 4, 3, 2 and 1 in need of an emergency placement - can you take them RIGHT NOW?…
oracknows | January 4, 2012Finally, I think I've found this blog's theme song:
As I've asked so many times before: Dammit! Where's all that filthy big pharma lucre I've been told by quacks, cranks, and antivaccinationists that I'm getting for toeing the big pharma line? After all, if I'm going to work so hard as a pharma shill, I gots ta get paid, yo. Come on, I still want to live the dream of sitting back in my sweatpants and sweatshirt behind a massive computer screen, pouring out anti-CAM screeds, and then waiting for all that cash money to roll in as I serve my corporate masters! Lord Draconis Zeneca knows.
Wait…
oracknows | December 24, 2011You knew it was inevitable. I'm just surprised it took this long. Then, via Stuff and Nonsense, I find this video:
Extra points for using a different scene from Downfall than the usual Downfall parodies use.
It also reminds me. There's a paper on just this topic that might require a bit of not-so-Respectful Insolence early next week. For now, though, Orac is going to chill with his family. (Ensor will be so ticked off if I don't visit this year.)
oracknows | December 2, 2011A while back I wrote a brief, snarky post about a bizarre hypothesis that I considered so risible as not to be worth applying my usual 1,500 to 3,000 words of not-so-Respectful Insolence to. My original post was in response to a press release announcing a book by Michael J. Dochniak and Denise H. Dunn entitled Vaccine Delivery and Autism (The Latex Connection). Basically, the book posits a ridiculous hypothesis that the Latex in some vaccine delivery systems is a cause of autism. Not long after I posted it, Mr. Dochniak himself showed up in my comments, and hilarity ensued. Boy, did it ever!…
oracknows | November 16, 2011I've written about the infiltration of quackery into military medicine, beginning well over three years ago when I first noticed battlefield acupuncture and noticing how it's infiltrating the military, thanks primarily to one Col. (Dr.) Richard Niemtzow. Today, I found someone who put it into a video form. Be forewarned, though, that the video contains things that might not be safe for work, such as blood and guts and swearing. But, hey, it is the military:
This video reminds me way too much of my little fictional interlude that I used to introduce my original post about battlefield…
oracknows | October 28, 2011It's a wonder no one ever thought of this before (at least, not to my knowledge), but Todd over at Harpocrates Speaks has. Over there today, what do we find?
A Quacktion Figureâ¢:
Ever wanted to enjoy the adoration of tens of others? Had an idea for a new product to patent, but had pesky competitors that needed discrediting? Have you ever dreamed of creating a controversy where there was none? Have you thought that violating research ethics would be a quick way to accomplish all this, but never had the narcissistic chutzpah to pull it off?
Well, now you can.
You'll have to click through to…