Misadventures in Ghost Hunting

Woman falls to death while 'ghost-hunting' in T.O.

A woman has fallen to her death after attempting to jump across a gap in the roof of a historic building at the University of Toronto while out on a first date.

A male friend was with her at the time of the incident, which occurred on Thursday morning at around 1:45 a.m. local time. The pair, who had been drinking, were reportedly in the building because they thought it was haunted.

Well, that certainly will make her ghost hunting a whole lot easier!

Kevin Trudeau's Appeal

The following is from the excellent Consumer Health Digest #09-36:

The U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld a contempt ruling against Kevin Trudeau but ordered the lower court to reconsider its penalties. Since 1998, the FTC has charged Trudeau with false advertising and obtained consent agreements several times. In 2006, he began using infomercials to market The Weight-Loss Cure "They" Don't Want Your to Know About. The supposed "cure" was centered around the use of injections of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). However, scientific studies demonstrated that HCG injections didn't cause weight loss and regulatory actions by the FTC and FDA have curbed their use in the United States. In September 2007, the FTC charged Trudeau with violating a 2004 consent agreement by misrepresenting the book's contents and asked the Illinois Federal Court to hold him in contempt. The court did so, banned him, for three years, from involvement in any infomercials for publications in which he has a financial interest, and ordered him to disgorge $37,616,161, which the judge said was a reasonable approximation of the loss consumers suffered as a result of Trudeau’s deceptive infomercials. In 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals agreed that Trudeau had misrepresented the book's contents. However, the appeals judge said that the lower court judge had failed to explain how he had calculated the penalty and that a three-year ban without an opportunity for reinstatement upon good behavior was too harsh for a civil contempt ruling. The lower court still has wide discretion in setting penalties and could consider a criminal contempt finding if Trudeau is given an adequate opportunity to defend himself against such a charge. Casewatch has posted the relevant documents.

$37.6 million? Doesn't seem high enough for the likes of Kevin Trudeau. This guy should be living on the streets!

Walter and The Skeptic

Sir Walter Raleigh wrote an essay called "The Skeptic" in which he said

The skeptic doth neither affirm nor deny any position but doubteth of it, and applyeth his Reason against that which is affirmed, or denied, to justify his non consenting.

He was beheaded in 1618.

I'm Lost

Well...not really...but maybe...

I've been taking advantage of a (no longer advertised) deal with BlockBuster. Pay $10 and get as many videos or games as you can stand for a week (as long as you take only one out at a time). After a few movies, I decided to watch the T.V. show Lost, starting with season 1. Last night I started on season 2. So far, it's been intense, and I bet it's a little different experience than watching it week by week. For one, I don't have to worry about commercials. The shows are only 42 minutes long. And their widescreen. But there are some minor annoyances which makes this show as much a soap opera as a drama. For example, the lead character (Jack) cries in every other episode!

For fans of the show, my take must sound like it's coming from decades in the past. They're so far ahead of me. What, is the show into it's 7th season now? 6th? Something like that. The rep. at BlockBuster is also a fan and said she loved seasons 1-3. In her words, there was an interesting story behind them. Now, she says, they're just on the island, doin' it.

Yeah, I get it. Guess the novelty has worn off. It's like being on this blue marble floating in the hostile black. I'm just doin' it.

Anyway, that's why this blog has lapsed recently. I've been lost.

Update on Psychic Psuit in Montgomery County, MD

Nick Nefedro is a 'gypsy' suing Montgomery County Maryland on their ban against

Every person who shall demand or accept any remuneration or gratuity for forecasting or foretelling or for pretending to forecast or foretell the future by cards, palm reading or any other scheme, practice or device.

I first wrote about this case in July 2008 here. On his syndicated radio program Culture Shocks, Barry Lynn, the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, examined the law banning fortune telling in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Part of the county's argument is that this law protects its citizenry against fraud. Nefedro's argument is that fortunetelling is his gypsy heritage and he is being discriminated against because he can't practice his heritage here in Montgomery County. Conveniently, Nefedro disregards the wandering nature of nomadic gypsies in his application for a business license to set up shop in Bethesda, MD. Nor do we know the status of his application for licensing a caravan to carry him up and down Wisconsin Ave. to ply his trade, sell his wares, dance some jigs...

Nefedro, through the discrimination aspect of his suit, stereotypes the gypsy culture. Today, many psychics, fortune tellers, palm readers, and astrologers have adopted the gypsy mystique to lend an aura of mystery about their craft. Claiming discrimination, Nefedro also leans on the centuries of persecution that gypsies suffered:

He said the law is nothing more than persecution of Gypsies, who have long been stigmatized as nomadic thieves and con artists.

"Gypsies do exist, and they are not criminals," he said, adding that fortunetelling is "something we've been doing for thousands of years."

Far from practicing fortunetelling for thousands of years, the earliest gypsies, known as the Romani people, show up in history around the 11th century. Their heritage stresses the separation of pure and impure. For example, the genitals and lower body are impure, so underwear and lower body clothing must be washed separately from other clothing. Giving birth is impure and must be done outside the home. After giving birth, the mother is considered impure for forty days. However, gypsy fortunetelling is has become a stereotype promoted in romanticized novels and movies, even though there is some basis in fact (e.g. see Rom and Romnichels here). Regardless of the extent of fortunetelling in the Romani past, the practice of fraud in one's heritage does not give license to continue that fraud in today's society - at least not in Montgomery County.

Under the same Montgomery County law, a New Jersey astrologer, Gerry Stevens, was denied a permit to open up shop on Wisconsin Avenue. The Gazette covered the story:

But Rockville attorney Jody S. Kline, who is representing Stevens along with attorney Robert F. Dato of New Jersey, said Stevens Astrology Readings does not violate county code.

"Astrology is not fortune telling," said Kline, who said his client's business would not violate county code. Kline also said he plans to argue the fortune telling law is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment regarding freedom of religion.

Kline said the astrologer received an OK from the County Attorney's Office in 1996 when Dato corresponded with senior assistant county attorney Alan M. Wright. Since then, Stevens has leased space in Bethesda, but is not able to operate his business because of the permit denial.

In correspondence with the County Attorney's Office, Dato said astrology "interprets the proximity of stars, planets, the sun and moon, thereby providing clients with information that may be of value in determining anticipated courses of action."

But that constitutes fortune telling, said Clifford Royalty, the associate county attorney who is handling the case.

"When Alan wrote his letter, I think he misunderstood what they did," Royalty said. "It seems to me any astrologer is a fortune teller."

It seems like the county attorneys argued that the law was in place to protect the citizens from fraudulent behavior. According to Clifford Royalty,

...the law was most likely passed because "fortune telling is rifled with fraud and the potential to be ripped off."

He said fortune telling is analogous to businesses like adult book and video stores and strip clubs that can have a negative impact on a neighborhood.

In 2001, Monica Mitchell, a 19 year old psychic, lost her case to overturn the fortunetelling ban in Aberdeen City, MD. Walter Stevens, her father-in-law, provided the newsworthy comment:

"Such places of business as she wants to open up are legal across the United States of America, some successful, some not successful. She would like to have the opportunity to either succeed or fail, without being interrupted by local authorities," her father-in-law said.

"We feel that is prejudicial because this business cannot harm anyone, cannot influence anyone, cannot damage anyone and there's nothing criminal about it. It's not like it was a place that sells drug paraphernalia or a nudity bar," Walter Stevens said.

However, Stevens ignores the many scams perpetuated by alleged psychics, with people (particularly elderly women) losing their life's savings due to fraud. By banning fortunetelling for gain, the city and county and state governments can prevent these scoundrels from preying on weaker minds. According to Ben Radford posting on Live Science,

Repeated studies over the course of decades have failed to show strong evidence for the existence of psychic powers. The failure of psychics to predict or prevent tragedies such as the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, or the Sago mine collapse—or to locate missing persons such as Natalee Holloway—suggest that such powers, even if they exist, are not reliable enough to be useful. While many self-professed psychics claim that what they do is entertainment, each year hundreds of thousands of dollars are stolen in confidence swindles involving phony psychics.

But back to Nefedro. In December 2008, he lost his case against Montgomery County. In the following from the Washington Examiner, you can get a hint at the way the judge's mind works:

Clifford Royalty, an attorney for Montgomery County, told The Examiner the court upheld the law and he expected a judge to return a signed copy of his written order this week.

“Insofar as the county law does regulate speech, it is narrowly drawn to serve the county’s compelling government interest in protecting its citizenry from fraud,” Royalty’s order said.

“The judge said he agreed with my argument, that this was a proper exercise of police power and would survive scrutiny under the First Amendment,” Royalty told The Examiner. “The judge also asked counsel for Mr. Nefedro if he’d predicted that outcome.”
Nefedro’s attorney, Ed Amourgis, said he was surprised by the decision.

This was an interesting win for Montgomery County. There are similar laws written into city and county codes across the nation and, within the past decade or so, they have come up against First Amendment challenges and have lost (e.g. see here, here, and here). To judge 'free speech', the law takes into account the content of the speech and generally allows it to be sold (just check out all the books in the New Age section of Barnes & Noble). There are further arguments to be made about the fraudulent intent of said speech as well as the detriment to society, especially when there are other laws on the books that deal with fraud. One of the best resources I've seen to navigate through these weighty issues is an article on the Law and Magic blog, May a Municipality Ban Fortune Telling.

That the Montgomery County law has survived so far is testament to the superb job done by Clifford Royalty, the county attorney who has been down this road before. However, his skills are about to be put to the test because Nefedro has appealed his case and is bringing the ACLU onboard. He's still pushing the gypsy discrimination issue, but I think the ACLU will focus on the First Amendment issue. They are well versed in this arena and have had their success in the past regarding a ban on fortunetellers. Also, there's this:

But the clear modern trend in the United States is to strike down such ordinances and statutes, generally on the grounds that they violate Freedom of Speech and are unconstitutionally vague and overbroad. [See Trimble v. City of New Iberia, 73 F.Supp.2d 659 (W.D. La. 1999); Angeline v. Mahoning County Agricultural Society, 993 F. Supp. 627 (N.D. Ohio 1998); Rushman v. City of Milwaukee, 959 F. Supp. 1040 (E.D. Wis. 1997); Argello v. City of Lincoln, 143 F.3d 1152 (8th Cir. 1998); Psychic Science Church v. City of Asusa, 703 P.2d 1119 (Calif. 1985).]

In the City of Asusa case, the court noted:

The City assures us that the ordinance is aimed only at communications that purport to predict future events. Assuming that such a bad would be permissible, however, the ordinance contains no words to this effect. Thus the prohibition against “spiritual reading” would encompass Bible lessons, the bar against “hypnotism” could include hypnosis as an accepted technique of the psychotherapist, the banning of “magic” could prevent numerous popular theatrical performances, and the prohibition against “prophecy” could interfere with many religious services. The ordinance is clearly overbroad, applying to many activities that are protected by the California Constitution.

So, unless Clifford Royalty is a law-god, I think...nay, I predict!...the forces behind the ACLU in an appeals court setting will establish the Montgomery County law as similarly overbroad and that it will be ultimately struck down. However, look for them to make silly arguments like 'if you ban fortunetelling, you must likewise ban weather forecasting, commodities predictions, and medical prognoses." Out of these four, can you guess which one gets pulled out of the butt?

----------
Update 9/2/09: See ACLU of MD's press release here. Legal brief here (pdf warn). Also deleted mp3 download link - it pointed to an episode about Waiter Rants!

Dark Energy or God?

We've known for a century that the universe is expanding. We've known for just over a decade, that not only is it expanding but that the expansion is accelerating - at least that's what observations seem to be telling us. The Big Bang theory was sufficient to account for simple expansion, but to have accelerated expansion, there must be something more, something we have called Dark Energy. While the name is ominous, it seemed to be nothing more than adding a correction to Einstein's equations of General Relativity, akin to adding an exertion of pressure which happens to get larger as the density of the universe decreases.

However, a new model published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)(abstract free, article free after a few months past publication date), proposes a "simpler" explanation: that we are in the midst of a density wave caused by the Big Bang. As often happens with modern physics theories, the concept is not so easy to visualize, even though the equations work out. Essentially, it boils down to where and when galaxies form in high and low energy densities. If the Milky Way forms in the center of a low-density trough, distant galaxies will be forming at higher-density peaks. The outward expanding wave will 'push' these galaxies away from us with a rate of expansion that appears to be accelerating.

This theory had been proposed early on as a means of explaining away dark energy, but the PNAS article is the first time equations have been solved to show that the theory can be made consistent with observation.

The biggest criticism so far is that, for the theory to hold water, we (the observer) must be in the center of the density wave. The density wave is like the outward expanding wave we see from a pebble being dropped into the pond. We might think of the Big Bang as the pebble - the source of the ripples in space and time. However, the observer must be at the center of the ripples in order for observations to be consistent. That is, in the simplest case, the Milky Way galaxy must have formed right at the center of the Big Bang. This, of course, runs counter to all the lessons we've learned in the past which tell us there is nothing special about our location in time and space. It would be an extreme coincidence for us lowly observers to inhabit the most "special" place in the universe - which naturally leads one to believe that there is purpose behind all this. In other words, taking the theory in the most simple case is an argument for God or some intelligent design agent.

To be fair, the authors say that there may have been multiple ripples with different locations throughout the universe and we may be at one of these minor sources. And they aren't saying this is truth - only that this theory may be an explanation. I, however, have no doubt that this will be quickly latched onto by believers as further "scientific evidence" for the existence of God. They will quickly abandon whatever interpretations and creative constructs they've developed from their reading of the bible to find new passages that support humans as the center of all creation. They will ignore the possibility of existences in some lowly side ripple - what's the point in that? They will ignore that the theory isn't even fully vetted. As a model, it has to explain many other observed characteristics of the universe - not just accelerated expansion.

I, for one, am grabbing the popcorn and ready to watch them spin.

Other sources:
National Geographic
Space.com
USA Today

ScienceDaily Headline Gives More Ammo to the ID Crowd

Stephen Meyer of the Discovery Institute has been going around hawking he new book, Signature In The Cell, torturing analogies as needed to support Intelligent Design. For instance, he claims the cell has information storage scheme similar to the files and folders we use on computers today. Now, ScienceDaily News gives Meyer a juicy headline, seemingly made just for him:

Scientists Find Early Evolution Maximized The 'Spellchecking' Of Protein Sequences
As letters of the alphabet spell out words, when amino acids are linked to one another in a particular order they "spell out" proteins. But sometimes the cell machinery for building proteins in our bodies makes a mistake and the wrong amino acid is inserted. The consequences can be devastating, resulting in a garbled protein that no longer has the correct function, possibly leading to cancers and other diseases.

Such is the risk when trying to make complex subjects more accessible to the public.

P.Z. Myers Rides A Dinosaur!

P.Z. Myers and some 250 atheists visited the Creation Museum yesterday. I'm looking forward to his take. While no live blogging took place, you can find the various twitters here and more photos of the event here.








More links to visit:
Expelled from the Creation “Museum”
A little taste of the strangeness
Creation Museum Highlight
Photos from the trip
Secular Student Alliance Conference and Creation “Museum” Trip: After the Visit
Atheists Invade Creation Museum
PZ Myers and Hemant Mehta at the Creation Museum

CreoZerg! PZ Myers and 285 Atheists Visit Creation Museum
Quick Random thoughts on the Creation Museum
The Creation Museum visit
Pharyngulates at the Creation Museum
I CreoZerg’d all day today
I Went to CreoZerg
Makul insanlar yaratılışçı müze gezisinde

HuffPo Rips Into Dembski

Barrett Brown, author of Flock of Dodos: Behind Modern Creationism, Intelligent Design, and the Easter Bunny, can be found on the Huffington Post ripping into ID proponetist William Dembski:

Consider William Dembski, the mathematician and theologian who rose to the top of the nascent intelligent design pack in the late '90s after claiming to have proven that certain aspects of biology can be attributable only to the intervention of one or more intelligent entities. As for who or what those entities might be, Dembski is coy when addressing a potentially secular audience, claiming that there "are many possibilities." Among these possibilities, we may determine, is that Dembski is lying; in a 1999 interview with the Christian magazine Touchstone, Dembski stated unambiguously that "[i]ntelligent design is just the Logos theology of John's Gospel restated in the idiom of information theory."

More rips here.

Mass Hysteria of 2009

Throughout the U.S., democrat Representatives are being assailed at their town-hall meetings by organized groups of angry conservatives. Like the closet confederates who could never concede they had lost the civil war, these citizens are still in denial that their party has lost the election - and lost it in a big way, at that. The base of the republican party is now exhibiting signs of mass hysteria, similar to the Dancing Plague of 1518. If you don't like 'mass hysteria', how about mass psychogenic illness, collective obsessional disorder, or collective hysteria? These are described as

...the sociopsychological phenomenon of the manifestation of the same or similar hysterical symptoms by more than one person. A common manifestation of mass hysteria occurs when a group of people believe they are suffering from a similar disease or ailment.

Symptoms first start appearing following a period of stress, as when a black man finally becomes president of the United States. These symptoms include manifestations of conspiracy theories - like the President is not a U.S. citizen, he is leading the country into socialism, he wants to kill your grandma, and he wants to take your guns away, among many others. None of these have any basis in fact, yet talking heads like Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck foster and perpetuate these myths. Corporate lobbyists also create campaigns to organize so-called 'grass roots' movements, loosely known as the 'tea-baggers'. Besides buying and hording guns at an unprecedented pace, these groups are descending onto local town-hall meetings with the sole purpose of disrupting the events by shouting down their elected representatives. Although a minority, they have been successful at gaining media attention. Their manic hysteria is cheered on by the conservative talking heads in an endless feedback loop.

But is it just the extreme right wing of the republicans suffering from this illness? From the title of a Politico article, Town hall trouble from both sides now, you might think democrats are also joining in with the rabble republicans. The article quickly clears up the misconception, though the headline is clearly misleading:

But Democrats — especially those who have expressed anything less than full-blown support for the legislation before Congress — are getting back-home pressure from the left, too.

It’s just usually a bit more civil.

On Tuesday, about two dozen activists gathered in front of Democratic Rep. Eric Massa’s office in Pittsford, N.Y., to deliver close to 5,000 petitions from New York voters urging him to support the House health care bill.

Obviously, the democrats are operating from a more traditional playbook on conducting protests, one that tells them to leave their pitchforks and torches at home. The behavior from the right, however, is increasingly uncivil and irrational, to the point that one democrat congressman has been threatened that he may lose his life over the health care bill.

While saner voices on the right still exist (example), their audiences are smaller and they are easily shouted down by 'right wing opinion media' (which is about as respectful as I can be to them). These demagogues rule over malleable minds which makes it all the more easy to perpetuate the hysteria. A recent FoxNews headline reads "Conservatives Vow No Letup in Health Protests", following with

Activists are vowing to keep up their fight against President Obama's health care plans, even as the Democratic Party pushes back hard, accusing Republicans of organizing angry mobs.

These are more than mere 'protests' and accusations of rabble-rousing is not 'pushing back hard'. It's closer to journalism - reporting the facts.

Perhaps when the country regains its economic footing, an important stressor will be relieved and rational heads prevail. But until that time, fomented irrationality may turn to hate - and we all know where that leads.

The Loch Ness Monster Disproves Evolution

If you think the Loch Ness monster disproves evolution, then you're well on your way to mastering science in the U.K. Here's how it goes:

“Nessie appears to be a plesiosaur. Could a fish have developed into a dinosaur? As astonishing as it may seem, many evolutionists theorize that fish evolved into amphibians and amphibians into reptiles. This gradual change from fish to reptiles has no scientific basis. No transitional fossils have been found or ever will be discovered because God created each type of fish, amphibian, and reptile as separate, unique animals.”

If you believe this, then the U.K.'s National Recognition Information Centre (NARIC) says your knowledge is comparable to that gained in some of the most respected universities and schools in Britain. That's because NARIC finds that those who hold the International Certificate of Christian Education (ICCE) are as well-educated as anyone else. The problem is that the ICCE curriculum is based on the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) curriculum, which hails from the good old U. S. of A. and, not surprisingly, provides for a very fundamentalist brand of teaching:

If, as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, you believe that the Bible is the Creator’s reliable and trustworthy handbook to the whole of life, then you will be glad to hear that the ACE curriculum is written from the literal Bible creation base.

In other words, we believe that God says what He means and means what He says.(ref)

One might as well teach from Grimms' Fairy Tales. In fact, the Brothers Grimm may even be more historically accurate. But suppose you have some overly inquisitive student who asks, for example, how the use of a non-existent creature disproves evolution? I get the feeling that such a question would never come up because:

ACE pupils are able to work with minimal supervision because they have learned the godly lesson of self-discipline.(ACE core curriculum)

Which is to say 'don't ask questions', followed by ruler smacking outstretched palm.

(see also The Telegraph and The Guardian)

Bobby McFerrin and the Pentatonic Scale

Straight from the 2009 World Science Festival, Bobby McFerrin has a little fun:

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

(seen at The Rogues Gallery)

Dr. Collins - What About Dog Butt Jesus?

Over at the Pharyngula blog, P.Z. Myers directs our attention to a talk given by Francis Collins two years ago at a conference of AAAS Science and Technology Fellows. Eventually, Collins brought the discussion around to his ability to accommodate both faith and science under one temple. The twists and turns of logic needed obviously makes this temple something more like a carnival fun-house, complete with distorting mirrors and spinning rooms. As an example, he notes the similarities between an end-view of the DNA helix and a stained-glass rose window. He says

"What I want to do is first to give you a snapshot of some of the new discoveries that for me as a physician-scientist studying the human genome are enormously exciting and provide a real glimpse into how life works," Collins said. "I'm also going to make the argument that, for me also as a believer, research in genetics is an occasion not just of scientific enjoyment, but an opportunity to appreciate the grandeur of God's creation, and in effect, to worship."
[...]
"I'm not trying to say that there's something inherently religious" in the DNA image, Collins emphasized. "But, I think it is emblematic of the potential here of the topic to both interest people and to make them unsettled. Can you, in fact, admire both of these [images]? Can you do it at the same time? Is there an inherent problem in having both a scientific world view and a spiritual world view?"

My first thought was Spirograph. But I guess that's one of the few reasons I wasn't picked for director of NIH.

So what was Collins' point? That it's obvious just by looking around to see God's signature in all things? Or did he just want to show how silly his mind can be at times? Describing his journey to faith, Collins recounts:

As an undergraduate, Collins said, he considered himself an agnostic; as a graduate student in chemistry, he was an atheist. But as he began to appreciate biology as "beautiful stuff that made sense," and later, genomics, he also began to struggle with questions of faith. Then, in his third year of medical school, as he visited with an elderly patient who was facing death, Collins said, he experienced a crisis of faith as she asked him, "What do you believe, doctor?"

It's as if the problems suddenly became too big with no immediate answers at hand. He took the easy way out. He read the last page of the book without slogging through the whole thing. He copied off someone else's paper. He peeked at the answer to the puzzle. He took the Christian shortcut.

Despite his appointment, Collins has not shirked from publicly expressing his faith. He has gained more notoriety today for his glass half-full of faith and half-full of science than he has for his work on the Human Genome Project. Still, it's surprising to find him singing the praises of design on air. Caution to the listener: it's a scientist singing - and it sounds exactly like that. (Trivia - Collins' guitar is emblazoned with both a DNA helix, and the Christian fish.)

I have to wonder - what would Collins make of Dog Butt Jesus? Would he say it's "emblematic of the potential" to hold two contradictory views and "admire the image" as well as the concept it represents? Or would his sciency disposition kick in and compel him to say, "It's just a dog's ass!"

Liverpool Cathedral Bells - Behind the Scenes

On the heels of my last post, I found this video which gives a nice behind the scenes look of the Liverpool Cathedral Bells in action.

Altogether now...one two three four...one two three four...

Well...Imagine That!

Can you guess the song?



With Cathedral bells, no less! Some background info on the obvious sensitivity issues, as well as the technical challenges, can be found here, here, and here. There's even rumor that the group performing may bring this to New York.

Simon Singh Appreciation

The following post is my little part in supporting Simon Singh, an author who published the following article and subjected himself to a libel lawsuit by the British Chiropractic industry. See Orac's post for more details on what those wacky doctors found offensive.
--------------------------------------
Beware the Spinal Trap

Some practitioners claim it is a cure-all, but the research suggests chiropractic therapy has mixed results – and can even be lethal, says Simon Singh.

You might be surprised to know that the founder of chiropractic therapy, Daniel David Palmer, wrote that “99% of all diseases are caused by displaced vertebrae”. In the 1860s, Palmer began to develop his theory that the spine was involved in almost every illness because the spinal cord connects the brain to the rest of the body. Therefore any misalignment could cause a problem in distant parts of the body.

In fact, Palmer’s first chiropractic intervention supposedly cured a man who had been profoundly deaf for 17 years. His second treatment was equally strange, because he claimed that he treated a patient with heart trouble by correcting a displaced vertebra.

You might think that modern chiropractors restrict themselves to treating back problems, but in fact some still possess quite wacky ideas. The fundamentalists argue that they can cure anything, including helping treat children with colic, sleeping and feeding problems, frequent ear infections, asthma and prolonged crying – even though there is not a jot of evidence.

I can confidently label these assertions as utter nonsense because I have co-authored a book about alternative medicine with the world’s first professor of complementary medicine, Edzard Ernst. He learned chiropractic techniques himself and used them as a doctor. This is when he began to see the need for some critical evaluation. Among other projects, he examined the evidence from 70 trials exploring the benefits of chiropractic therapy in conditions unrelated to the back. He found no evidence to suggest that chiropractors could treat any such conditions.

But what about chiropractic in the context of treating back problems? Manipulating the spine can cure some problems, but results are mixed. To be fair, conventional approaches, such as physiotherapy, also struggle to treat back problems with any consistency. Nevertheless, conventional therapy is still preferable because of the serious dangers associated with chiropractic.

In 2001, a systematic review of five studies revealed that roughly half of all chiropractic patients experience temporary adverse effects, such as pain, numbness, stiffness, dizziness and headaches. These are relatively minor effects, but the frequency is very high, and this has to be weighed against the limited benefit offered by chiropractors.

More worryingly, the hallmark technique of the chiropractor, known as high-velocity, low-amplitude thrust, carries much more significant risks. This involves pushing joints beyond their natural range of motion by applying a short, sharp force. Although this is a safe procedure for most patients, others can suffer dislocations and fractures.

Worse still, manipulation of the neck can damage the vertebral arteries, which supply blood to the brain. So-called vertebral dissection can ultimately cut off the blood supply, which in turn can lead to a stroke and even death. Because there is usually a delay between the vertebral dissection and the blockage of blood to the brain, the link between chiropractic and strokes went unnoticed for many years. Recently, however, it has been possible to identify cases where spinal manipulation has certainly been the cause of vertebral dissection.

Laurie Mathiason was a 20-year-old Canadian waitress who visited a chiropractor 21 times between 1997 and 1998 to relieve her low-back pain. On her penultimate visit she complained of stiffness in her neck. That evening she began dropping plates at the restaurant, so she returned to the chiropractor. As the chiropractor manipulated her neck, Mathiason began to cry, her eyes started to roll, she foamed at the mouth and her body began to convulse. She was rushed to hospital, slipped into a coma and died three days later. At the inquest, the coroner declared: “Laurie died of a ruptured vertebral artery, which occurred in association with a chiropractic manipulation of the neck.”

This case is not unique. In Canada alone there have been several other women who have died after receiving chiropractic therapy, and Edzard Ernst has identified about 700 cases of serious complications among the medical literature. This should be a major concern for health officials, particularly as under-reporting will mean that the actual number of cases is much higher.

If spinal manipulation were a drug with such serious adverse effects and so little demonstrable benefit, then it would almost certainly have been taken off the market.

Simon Singh is a science writer in London and the co-author, with Edzard Ernst, of Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial. This is an edited version of an article published in The Guardian for which Singh is being personally sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association.

(prodded by Skepchick)

This Must Make Perfect Sense to Someone

Somewhere in the world, someone must see this and think "Why didn't I think of that?"

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Yeah...what she said. Wait - what did she say?

Atheist Meetup Location

(found at randompictures posted by krushisabitch)

Brad Pitt: Inglourious Glistening Atheist Basterd

In an interview with BILD,

BILD: Do you believe in God?
Brad Pitt (smiling): "No, no, no!"
BILD: Is your soul spiritual?
Brad Pitt: "No, no, no! I'm probably 20 per cent atheist and 80 per cent agnostic. I don't think anyone really knows. You'll either find out or not when you get there, until then there's no point thinking about it.

Say...doesn't that put atheism in the running for Sexiest Non-Belief System of 2009?

Of course, right after that, he had this to say about getting older:

BILD: Are you scared of ageing?
Brad Pitt (smirking): The grey hairs on his beard glisten: “No I like it. I think it’s good.”

So, there you have it. He's ath/agnostic, doesn't mind getting older, and has glistening gray hairs. Actually, Brad and I aren't that far apart, other than there is absolutely nothing about me that glistens. And the whole world-famous actor thing.

Embarrassing the gods?

This is a new one on me:

Farmers in an eastern Indian state have asked their unmarried daughters to plow parched fields naked in a bid to embarrass the weather gods to bring some badly needed monsoon rain, officials said on Thursday.

Witnesses said the naked girls in Bihar state plowed the fields and chanted ancient hymns after sunset to invoke the gods. They said elderly village women helped the girls drag the plows.

It must be a very surreal culture for them to think this embarrasses only the gods. You have to wonder what these naked, plowing, singing girls are thinking.

"See me, O Weather Gods. Do I not shame you? I shall shame you some more with my nakedness. And my singing. And my plowing. I might even repair the roof and fix the tractor. I will do the work of my fathers and brothers, naked, until you give us rain. Or until they get bored with their new X-Box and 40" Sony HDTV. Until then, my bare buttocks will continue to embarrass you!"

Someone should take a poll in India as to how many men are praying for rain - and how many are not. Especially when Kareena and Jasmine take to the fields!