Science fiction/fantasy

It really sucks when a celebrity you like and admire screws up. Before social media, you might never have known whether stars were prone to bouts of excessive credulity when it comes to medicine, conspiracy theories, the paranormal, or whatever. Twenty years ago, for instance, few might ever have known that Jenny McCarthy was into "indigo child woo" or rabidly antivaccine, falling hard for the scientifically discredited concept that vaccines cause autism. That's just one example. Of course, some people, celebrity or not, are just prone to conspiracy belief. Unfortunately, sometimes people who…

I came so close. Yes, when I read the latest target subject of this piece of Insolence to be bestowed upon you today, I came so close to resurrecting a certain undead Fuhrer who used to roam this blog on a regular basis chomping brains and inspiring horrible Nazi analogies. Indeed, it’s been at least four years since the Hitler Zombie made an appearance on this blog; so the temptation was there, although there was trepidation too because four years is a long time. There are, of course, hard core long time Orac readers who no doubt would have cheered the Rotting Seig Heil’s return, but I’m…

Grant deadlines strike again, and there's no new Insolence for you to peruse today. (The problem with doing real science, as opposed to blogging, is that you actually have to apply endlessly for grant money, and, believe it or not, that comes first, before even Insolence.) Fortunately, I've been made aware of an endless source of entertainment for you, my readers. I've explained before from where I chose the pseudonym "Orac." It was from what was at the time a popular British science fiction series that ran for four years back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Unfortunately, the passage of…

Every so often I come across a news story relevant to the subject matter usually encompassed by this blog that makes me shake my head in disbelief at the sheer stupidity. OK, every day, if you count the antivaccine movement and its attacks on papers like the one I wrote about Monday and yesterday. True, the constant barrage of pseudoscience, quackery, and generalized scientific ignorance that the antivaccine movement floods me with constantly threatens to drown out everything else, even from other areas of medicine. This one, however, caught my attention. It was about a joke done by two…

As I mentioned yesterday, Orac is currently away at an undisclosed location that is someplace warm. He is there, taking a rare pre-solstice break, preparing for the Mayan apocalypse that is to come on the 21st of this month. (Actually, he's recharging his Tarial cell, the better to be prepared for the utter nonsense that is to come in 2013, given that there is, at the very minimum, going to be another Stanislaw Burzynski hagiography released early in the year.) In the meantime, as I mentioned yesterday, most, if not all, of the posts this week will appear...familiar. At least, they might be…

When I saw the latest screed from that very living embodiment of crank magnetism, Mike Adams, I chuckled. I sent it around to some fellow skeptics, including, for instance, the crew at The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, as well as acquaintances and friends of mine because I couldn't believe it. Adams, as loony as he is, had topped himself. In the meantime, I couldn't decide whether or not to write about it, particularly after Steve Novella took a swipe at it. After all, there are things that are so loony, so out there, that one seriously has to worry about whether they are the result of…

I'm sometimes criticized for referring to various people who are "anti-science" as, well, "anti-science." People, for whatever reason, have a hard time believing that anyone is anti-science; so when I point out how much, for example, antivaccinationists, alternative medicine believers, or creationists are anti-science, they have a had time believing it. This is particularly true because, just as antivaccinationists loudly protest that they are not "antivaccine," those who are anti-science equally loudly protest that they are not "anti-science." Such protestations are almost inevitably…

After a near all-nighter working on a grant and another day and night to try to get a talk together that I have to give tomorrow, somehow Insolence, Respectful or not-so-Respectful, fell by the wayside, at least for today. Nothing like two hours' sleep followed by a full day of work. It's a good thing I don't have clinic or the OR today. Of course, if I did, I wouldn't have pushed myself the way I did last night. I do have to admit, however, that this video I came across over at Runolfr's place cracked me up. We really do need a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: I wonder what the Guide says…

I just learned something that will sadden the heart of any Doctor Who fan. Elizabeth Sladen, who played longtime companion of the Doctor Sarah Jane Smith, has died of cancer: Doctor Who star Elisabeth Sladen, who was also in spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures, has died aged 63. Sladen appeared as Doctor Who assistant Sarah Jane Smith in the BBC television sci-fi series between 1973 and 1976, opposite Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker. The Liverpool-born actress appeared in four series from 2007 of The Sarah Jane Adventures on children's channel CBBC. Sladen had been battling cancer for some…

...is simple. Not only was he the original Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek (which if full of WIN to any long time Star Trek geek like myself), but he taped this PSA for the 2010 census: This is so much better than that commercial for Sharp Electronics Quattron quad pixel technology that's been on TV lately.

Ha! So true, although in academia we aren't so much concerned with getting products into consumers' hands; so the exact times may be different: Via xkcd, of course!

Regular readers here know that I'm a long time Doctor Who fan. That's why it's with some sadness that I await the approach of the two-episode finale for David Tennant's tenure as the Tenth Doctor. Over his three full seasons and multiple specials in 2009, Tennant redefined the role and even began to rival Tom Baker for my favorite Doctor. This time, fortunately, BBC America will be showing these episodes one day after they air in the U.K.; so I don't have to choose between waiting several months to see them or getting them by BitTorrent. In any case, there are some tantalizing clues about…

I'd say this is definitely a contender: ADDENDUM: Sorry, I just assumed everyone knew what these guys are. If you don't, here are a couple of classic Sesame Street videos to demonstrate the Yip Yip Aliens in action:

Before 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…

I've noticed that a hilariously literal-minded parody of that 1980s chestnut "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler has been making the rounds in the blogsophere. I was suitably amused, but I also found this new tidbit amusing. I haven't seen the latest Terminator movie yet, but I've been a big fan of the Terminator movies since the very first one back in 1984. I even kind of liked Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. At least, it wasn't as bad as I had feared, and parts of it were pretty entertaining. However, what the Terminator movies have always lacked is one thing. That's right: A…

Sorry, all. I'm all tied up putting the finishing touches on a grant application. However, via Behind the Sofa, I did come across this trailer for the next Doctor Who special, to be aired on Easter: I suspect I'll have to fire up BitTorrent.

Damn, wouldn't it have been cool to have been the guy who found this? A Dalek, lost from Doctor Who since the 1970s or 1980s: Workers were baffled how the Dr Who relic ended up there, but it may have been in the murky water for more than 30 years after being dumped during location filming in the '70s. Marc Oakland, 42, who made the discovery, said: "I'd just shifted a tree branch with my foot when I noticed something dark and round slowly coming up to the surface. I got the shock of my life when a Dalek head bobbed up in front of me. "It was covered in mould and weed, and had quite a bit of…

Unfortunately, as we have been dreading for the last four months or so since her relapse was diagnosed, my mother-in-law passed away from breast cancer in hospice. She died peacefully, with my wife and the rest of her family at her side. As you might expect, I do not much feel like blogging. Because I foresaw this day coming, however, I did set up a series of reposts to autopost for you while I am in mourning. Some, I have even updated and spiffed up. If you've been reading less than a year or two, they're new to you. If not, I hope you enjoy them again. I don't know when I'll be back, other…

Back in December, I pointed out a Norwegian movie that the Hitler Zombie definitely approves of: Dead Snow (or Død Snø in Norwegian). After all, how can you go wrong with Nazi zombies in a remote, snow bound area in Norway attacking the usual bunch of hapless but beautiful young people? I don't know about you, but that's all I ask for in a movie, even if I have to read subtitles or put up with dubbing. Good news, fans of Nazi zombies! After a successful run at Sundance, Død Snø has a U.S. distribution deal: U.S. rights to Tommy Wirkola's "Dead Snow" have been acquired by IFC Films.…

Having recently learned that David Tennant plans to give up the TARDIS at the end of the next abbreviated series of Doctor Who (we Yanks tend to be a bit late on the uptake for news like that from across the pond), I just found out who the 11th Doctor will be after Tennant leaves: Matt Smith. Forgive me, my UK readers, but before I found the BBC press release, I'd never heard of this guy before. (Of course, I had never really heard of David Tennant before he was chosen and only later realized that he had played Barty Crouch, Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and he turned out OK…