When tea bags and science collide! I would be more interested in the Tea Party if they talked more about science.
Month: February 2010
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Pet Acupunture – Grrrrr! Ruff!
Last Saturday’s Stribe (Star Tribune) included an article called “On Paws and Needles“, which described the growing practice of pet acupuncture in the Twin Cities. I have very little faith in acupuncture for humans and about the same amount of faith in anecdotal evidence, but that’s what author Kristin Tillotson asks us to accept when she writes
“Whether or not you’re ready to embrace the concept of chi flowing through your body, it’s tough to argue with pet owners who have seen their beloveds go from listless and limping to perky and playful.”
Tillotson does let us know that there is some controversy surrounding pet acupuncture with her section entitled “Not enough proof?” (here, I fixed it for you: “Not enough proof?.), but the quote from Dr. Craig Smith is brief, and I get the impression that the author included it so she could argue that she has presented a fair and balanced look at the issue. She quotes Dr. Smith:
Most studies that have shown benefits have been for muscular-skeletal pain. But for seizures and asthma, we do not have the evidence at this time that it’s as beneficial as drugs can be.
However, she follows this logical assertion with a description of ONE CASE that begs to differ. And she also lists an extensive group of local veterinary practices where one can find pet acupuncture.
Dr. Smith reasons that there probably isn’t a push by Big (Vet?) Pharma to incorporate acupuncture sessions into mainstream veterinary practice, as needles are inexpensive. However, at $75 a session and an ability to prescribe as many sessions as an owner will let you get away with, I can see where there might be other financial incentives that could help select for an increase in the occurence of pet acupuncture.
One statement in the article that interests me is a quote by Dr. Keum Hwa Choi, a practitioner of veterinary CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) who started a Vet CAM service at the University of Minnesota eight years ago:
“Dogs don’t experience any placebo effect like humans can. Their brains don’t tell them, ‘Gee, I got these needles stuck in me so I must be better.’ They either feel better or they don’t.”
Hmmm…placebo effects in animals…??? Interesting thought exercise. Although, if not placebo effect, perhaps another variable? I imagine that an acupuncture session is fairly relaxing for the pet – the article indicates that the animal is the center of attention during these exercises – they are petted, nuzzled, spoken to in calming adult-cooing baby language, placed on warm blankets with candle light and soft music, perhaps? One woman reported that her cat’s bp dropped from 220 to 169 by the end of a 10-minute HEAT LASER treatment (apparently, cranky 17 year-old Annie isn’t having any of that sharp sh*t poked in her head, so the vet uses heat lasers rather than “dry needles” to complete the treatment. But don’t worry, I have a very strong suspicion that the two treatments do exactly the same thing…that is…nothing). Apparently, giving your pet attention – petting it, being nice to it, keeping it warm – encourages a calm and happy demeanor. Do needles or frickin’ lasers really add anything to that experience?
And just for fun, here’s a picture of a puppy with pins in his head. Poor little PinHead.source: http://www.habitatboise.com/custom_content/5558_acupuncture.html
PZ Myers wants you to know…
…about Christopher Maloney, and about how WordPress is treating Michael Hawkins and his blog, For The Sake of Science.
Michael Hawkins has/had a blog called For the Sake of Science, which has been shut down by WordPress for violation of terms of service. This interests me because – like Michael Hawkins – I have a WordPress blog, and I like to express irreverent views on topics such as alternative medicine and “controversial” science. And since I don’t have 1/100,000th of Michael Hawkin’s proported readership, my teensy blog would have no problem being shut down if I were to offend the wrong wack-a-loon.
But I get ahead of myself – you need background.
I read about the situation on Pharyngula, and have copy-pasted a relevant section below. Please visit PZ Myer’s incredible blog for the entire post, including more ripping on Christopher Maloney and his quack-ishness.
There’s another way you can tell he’s a quack. When a student, Michael Hawkins, dared to criticize him, pointing out that “Naturopathic medicine is pure bull” and stating that naturopaths are underqualified and do not deserve the title of “doctor,” Maloney took action to silence him. After all, we can’t have people questioning quacks — that just makes them look even more ridiculous, which could lead to a loss of business.
So Maloney complained to WordPress, where Hawkins blog was located, and got them to shut it down. This does not speak well of craven WordPress; if you’re using WordPress hosting, you might want to reconsider it and move elsewhere. You know, to someplace that respects reality.
Now not only is Maloney a quack, but he’s a stupid quack. Shutting down blogs that criticize him? That never, ever works. In fact, it tends to backfire rather severely — because now a much bigger blog is going to spread the word that Christopher Maloney is a quack. I’m also going to ask all of you out there who reads this to echo the message: Christopher Maloney is a quack. Won’t that be fun? Poke the net, and the net pushes back.
Share the message. Let the whole world know that Christopher Maloney is a cowardly quack.
He’s also tasteless. This is possibly the ugliest youtube video ever.
I don’t know much about Christopher Maloney, except that he’s a naturopath, and supports the use of black elderberry and garlic over more efficient, conventional flu vaccines to confer resistance to flu viruses. *shudder* So I looked him up, and found his response to Michael Hawkin’s original article. reading response….and done! Yup, still not liking the jump to prescribing berries and garlic from the reasearch he’s provided. And thank you, Mr. Maloney, ND…we don’t need any more fear-mongering about the flu vaccine.
If Mr. Maloney indeed has had a hand in the closure of FTSOS, shame on him.
***************
2/18/10 – 13:30 CST
There’s now a rousing response to PZ Myers from Christopher Maloney!
Also, here’s a great write-up on the subject from another blogger-hero of mine – Steven Novella on Neurologica.
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2/19/10 – 15:40 CST
Update: Andreas Moritz did it!
The interwebs respond!
Pharyngula
Respectful Insolence
Ionian Enchantment
horsegoeswest
Stuck Somewhere in the Middle
Thinking is Real
Obviously not a comprehensive list, but I’m calling it quits at page 6 of the google search. BTW – There are a TON of awesome science-minded blogs out here! Yeah!
And it appears that FTSOS is back up at a new host: “For the Sake of Science – Because Christopher Maloney is a Quack” Michael Hawkins is also updating us with some info about the status of the Wordpress shutdown of FTSOS at Without Apology.
***************
2/23/10 – 07:33 CST
FTSOS is back up! Thank you WordPress for giving Michael his blog back!
Review of "Creation"
The vote is in: I was mesmorized by John Amiel’s Creation. I mean sure, I may be guilty of liking the movie because I wanted to like it. And certainly, the dragged-to-the-movie-by-his-woman dude in front of us who fell asleep and started snoring (followed quickly by being elbowed in the gut by the aforementioned lady-friend), may disagree with my assessment of the movie. But, the music was haunting, the set and camera work was beautiful, and as predicted in my earlier post, I cried.
Below are a list of my personal take-homes:
Note: These are my thoughts from the movie. I haven’t read Darwin, His Daughter and Human Evolution or Emma Darwin’s diaries, so I’m not going to attempt to draw a line between the movie and actual events.
1) “What’s popular isn’t always right, and what’s right isn’t always popular”. This is a well-known aphorism, but Creation did an excellent job of showing us what it might be like to actually be put in this position. However, in the movie Darwin appears to be swayed more by his wife’s reluctance for him to publish Origin, than by any external, peer criticism. It would have been interesting to have seen the academic push-back that was alluded to by the Joseph Hooker character (paraphrase: “you have many enemies, but you also have friends, Charles”)
2) Losing a family member sucks, and it’s really too bad that Darwin didn’t have access to modern psychotherapy.
3) Hydrotherapy was a crock back then, too.
3) If you can convince a theist to read a good book on evolution, they can’t help but “see the light”. Oh sure, maybe Emma didn’t burn the manuscript because it was the culmination of twenty years of her lover’s work and life…but I prefer to believe she was swayed by the evidence Darwin presented.
4) It’s a wonder On the Origin of Species made it to the publisher. Seriously, the scariest moment of that whole movie for me was when Darwin tossed the papers – wrapped in brown packaging paper – on the back of the open-air horse-drawn mail carrier. Did he back up his work? I didn’t see any photocopies of Origin laying around! What if it had rained? Agh!
I knew going into the movie that it was going to mostly be focused on Charles Darwin’s relationship with his wife, Emma and daughter, Annie. But as I hinted above, I would have liked to have seen more of the public drama surrounding the publication of the book. So, whenever John Amiel gets around to making the sequel, I’m sooo there.
All in all, Creation was a very good movie, and I’d see it again. But next time I’ll remember to bring Kleenex.
Review of “Creation”
The vote is in: I was mesmorized by John Amiel’s Creation. I mean sure, I may be guilty of liking the movie because I wanted to like it. And certainly, the dragged-to-the-movie-by-his-woman dude in front of us who fell asleep and started snoring (followed quickly by being elbowed in the gut by the aforementioned lady-friend), may disagree with my assessment of the movie. But, the music was haunting, the set and camera work was beautiful, and as predicted in my earlier post, I cried.
Below are a list of my personal take-homes:
Note: These are my thoughts from the movie. I haven’t read Darwin, His Daughter and Human Evolution or Emma Darwin’s diaries, so I’m not going to attempt to draw a line between the movie and actual events.
1) “What’s popular isn’t always right, and what’s right isn’t always popular”. This is a well-known aphorism, but Creation did an excellent job of showing us what it might be like to actually be put in this position. However, in the movie Darwin appears to be swayed more by his wife’s reluctance for him to publish Origin, than by any external, peer criticism. It would have been interesting to have seen the academic push-back that was alluded to by the Joseph Hooker character (paraphrase: “you have many enemies, but you also have friends, Charles”)
2) Losing a family member sucks, and it’s really too bad that Darwin didn’t have access to modern psychotherapy.
3) Hydrotherapy was a crock back then, too.
3) If you can convince a theist to read a good book on evolution, they can’t help but “see the light”. Oh sure, maybe Emma didn’t burn the manuscript because it was the culmination of twenty years of her lover’s work and life…but I prefer to believe she was swayed by the evidence Darwin presented.
4) It’s a wonder On the Origin of Species made it to the publisher. Seriously, the scariest moment of that whole movie for me was when Darwin tossed the papers – wrapped in brown packaging paper – on the back of the open-air horse-drawn mail carrier. Did he back up his work? I didn’t see any photocopies of Origin laying around! What if it had rained? Agh!
I knew going into the movie that it was going to mostly be focused on Charles Darwin’s relationship with his wife, Emma and daughter, Annie. But as I hinted above, I would have liked to have seen more of the public drama surrounding the publication of the book. So, whenever John Amiel gets around to making the sequel, I’m sooo there.
All in all, Creation was a very good movie, and I’d see it again. But next time I’ll remember to bring Kleenex.
They're bringing "Quack" back
Hahaha – look out, all you medical skeptics: A group in Oregon is taking back “Quack”!
At the American Quack Association (AQA), Quack stands for QUAlity Care with Kindness. I sh*t you not. It appears that all of us of the close-minded perpetually ignorant persuasion are going to have to come up with new ways to torment these serious practitioners of alternative medicine.
As the South Coast QUACK Center website proclaims:
A Quack may be a Doctor, either of medicine, dentistry, osteopathy, chiropractic, naturopathy, or naprapathy, or a nutritionist, massage therapist, light worker, or of some other persuasion.
Ummm…No argument here. I do have to give them this: I’ve never seen such refreshing honesty in advertising in alternative medicine.
They’re bringing “Quack” back
Hahaha – look out, all you medical skeptics: A group in Oregon is taking back “Quack”!
At the American Quack Association (AQA), Quack stands for QUAlity Care with Kindness. I sh*t you not. It appears that all of us of the close-minded perpetually ignorant persuasion are going to have to come up with new ways to torment these serious practitioners of alternative medicine.
As the South Coast QUACK Center website proclaims:
A Quack may be a Doctor, either of medicine, dentistry, osteopathy, chiropractic, naturopathy, or naprapathy, or a nutritionist, massage therapist, light worker, or of some other persuasion.
Ummm…No argument here. I do have to give them this: I’ve never seen such refreshing honesty in advertising in alternative medicine.
I'm going to see "Creation"!
I am so thrilled to be seeing Creation tonight. Darwin, Evolution, Paul Bettaney, Jennifer Connelly – hooray! Oooo…the previews look great. I think I’m going to need kleenex for this one; what little I head of the musical score was haunting and giving me that tight chest, breathless feeling. I’m a big crybaby sucker when it comes to dramas, though.
I heard Richard Dawkins giving his thoughts about Creation on Freethought Radio podcast (2/6/10), and was interested to hear him disagree with what appears to some of the main elements of the movie – namely, the degree of tension between Darwin and his wife, Emma, and the portrayal of Thomas Huxley. Others reviewers have questioned the reality of the over-the-top anguish and inner turmoil about the existence of god that has been written into the Darwin character, as Darwin was raised in a manner that allowed allowed him to critically analyze religion.
Creation is based on Randal Keynes’ book, Darwin, His Daughter and Human Evolution, which tells the story of the years Darwin spent writing On the Origin of Species. There’s another trip to the bookstore! I also want to pick up Charles and Emma: The Darwin’s Leap of Faith, and maybe reread Michael Keller’s On The Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation *sigh* I should just have my paychecks delivered to Barnes and Noble and save myself some effort.
I’m going to see “Creation”!
I am so thrilled to be seeing Creation tonight. Darwin, Evolution, Paul Bettaney, Jennifer Connelly – hooray! Oooo…the previews look great. I think I’m going to need kleenex for this one; what little I head of the musical score was haunting and giving me that tight chest, breathless feeling. I’m a big crybaby sucker when it comes to dramas, though.
I heard Richard Dawkins giving his thoughts about Creation on Freethought Radio podcast (2/6/10), and was interested to hear him disagree with what appears to some of the main elements of the movie – namely, the degree of tension between Darwin and his wife, Emma, and the portrayal of Thomas Huxley. Others reviewers have questioned the reality of the over-the-top anguish and inner turmoil about the existence of god that has been written into the Darwin character, as Darwin was raised in a manner that allowed allowed him to critically analyze religion.
Creation is based on Randal Keynes’ book, Darwin, His Daughter and Human Evolution, which tells the story of the years Darwin spent writing On the Origin of Species. There’s another trip to the bookstore! I also want to pick up Charles and Emma: The Darwin’s Leap of Faith, and maybe reread Michael Keller’s On The Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation *sigh* I should just have my paychecks delivered to Barnes and Noble and save myself some effort.
Journeys: Back from Madison
Warning: Some sappiness and underlying Meaning of Life themes may appear in this post. But don’t worry: there’s at least one fart joke.
Journeys are an underlying theme of a life. Invariably, we learn new things about new or familiar places and people, or about ourselves. One of the interesting things about journeys is how unpredictable they can be: A journey to the grocery store can be life-changing, while a well-planned vacation to a coveted destination spot may turn out to be boring, “touristy”, and over-anticipated.
In the big scheme of things, my weekend jaunt to Madison hardly ranks up there with conquering Kilimanjaro, but nonetheless, it was a journey that taught me several things about myself, my friends and a new city.
I should always carpool in the winter when traveling through the American Midwest. Seriously, for a tank of gas that I would have spent either way, I get to sit back and either entertain the driver, nap or read a book. The drive back from Madison SUCKED, and my only responsibility was to keep my eyes off of the road – so as to avoid transmitting my terror to the driver – and to ignore the occasional teensy swerve as he negotiated the snow-covered, white, line-less highway. I love carpooling; It’s like taking a train but a heck of a lot cheaper, faster, and cleaner (there’s usually – usually – fewer cushion farts to worry about).
People are very willing to share on road trips. Apparently, my buddy has a loose tooth that is PERFECT for capturing particles of chinese food. To avoid breaking confidences, I won’t share their stories here, but I did enjoy learning more about my driving companions and sharing my own stories.
A free hotel room in a no-brainer. One of the reasons I went on this trip is because the room was paid. And I LOVE that. Aside from being free, it was also private; the couple with whom we were sharing the room decided to splurge for their own space, and so the Hubby and I were left with two Queen beds and a private room. We were able to distribute our crap all over the sink, shower, the now-spare Queen bed and the chest of drawers. There were no thermostat wars, and we didn’t have to have the awkward “so, what kind of PJs do you wear to bed even if you don’t normally wear PJs to bed because you will soooo be wearing PJs to bed while we’re sharing a room” moment.
Getting back to the free room part: For me, one of the biggest barriers to traveling is the getting there and staying there – aka, paying for transportation and boarding. If I can wiggle out of paying for one of these – or both of them! – I WILL find the time to travel.
I can’t write a lot about the actual destination, because I didn’t see much of Madison, Wisconsin. Most of the time there was spent in the hotel pool and hot tub, the movie room, the restaurant and friends’ rooms. It was neat to make new friends-of-friends, and the weekend was mostly about relaxing and sharing new stories.
In the theme of journeys, here are two interesting blogs that I found via the wordpress.com front page. I don’t know much about the ideologies or backgrounds of the bloggers, but the posts I have read so far appear to be observations of their experiences without having ulterior religious or political motives for posting.
Dj’s Travel Blog – Dude’s in Iraqi Kurdistan right now, posting about his experiences in the village of Suli. I like this blog because he has posted a lot of pictures of the area, and because he’s writing about a very different side of Iraq from the one I know.
Dispatches from a fragile island – Impressions from Haiti by a former Financial Times journalist living with his wife in Haiti. This blog also has a lot of photos, and I’m going to enjoy staring from the earliest post (Day 1 in Haiti) and traveling along with him through his adventures.
As a side note, but related: I’m finding that one of the reasons I enjoy blogging is because it gives me a chance to journey without trying to be everywhere at once. The world is so big, and one of my disappointments with this life is that I won’t get to see nearly as much of it as I would like in the time that I have. As a blogger I get to share my journeys, and in exchange, I get to partake in the journeys of others.