Doctors have released a new wonder drug today which they state has a 60% effectiveness against all known illnesses. The drug known as the Placebo is a little white pill which doctors claim has the same impact as homeopathy and other alternative medicines. A leader doctor had this to say.
The great thing about this new drug is that there are no side-effects, unless needed, it is extremely cheap to make, will reduce the dependency on antibiotics that people have and it is based upon observable medical trials. Currently we are advising doctors in the best ways in which they can present the medicine in order to assist the success rate.
The drug's ingrediants are being kept under strict secrecy at the moment, but from the display of different products, it seems that it has a wide variety of uses as well as being able to be dispensed in a variety of ways. However, some alternative medical practioners have other ideas.
This is mocking our ideas and concepts. They are using our own methods and practices but merely using sugar to try and treat people. It is outrageous they would do this.
Good evening and I thought I would start this post with a reminder that the preceeding article is not real. This is due to reports that yet again someone has actually mistaken my blog for the real thing. I can definitely assure people that Gavin Schofield is not in a coma although I do find the fact he described stomach pumps as rocking slightly disturbing, however, this might be due to excessive alcohol consumption after the event if this is true.
I've been following the 10:23 campaign recently and it looks very interesting.
Yesterday, tragedy struck as 500 protestors against homeopathy were rushed to hospital after suffering from the massive overdose they took.
The 10:23 campaign was designed to protest against the selling of homeopathic remedies at the pharmaceutical store, Boots. In order to demonstrate that these pills were apparently non-functional, the campaign managers suggested that the protestors should down a bottle of homeopathic pills each at 10:23, a symbolic note of the Avagadro's constant, the number of atoms that make up one mole.
The campaign was organised by Michael Marshall, head of the Merseyside Skeptics Society, a branch of Skeptics in the Pub and was carried out, outside Boots stores across the country in Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, etc.
However, tragedy struck, as a few minutes after the videos were took, the protestors started to feel unwell.
"Well a few minutes after I took the medicine, I started to feel very nauseous, and promptly threw up. Thankfully I did because it stopped me from absorbing most of the effects" one protestor said.
Currently, Gavin Schofield, leader of the Greater Manchester Skeptics as seen on the video, is reported to be in hospital in a coma, whilst Michael Marshall, the head of the campagin is said to be recovering in his bed, but still in a critical condition.
Paula Ross, chief executive of the Society of Homeopaths, stated:
"This ill-advised stunt shows the dangers of skeptics becoming closed-minded in the effects of alternative medicines. I feel sorry that people are stupid enough that they overdosed on these medicines in an attempt to prove these ineffective. I hope the survivors will have more sense in future."
Ben Goldacre, author of the book Bad Science, doctor and journalist for the Guardian column "Bad Science" commented:
"I've commented several times on homeopathy being ineffective from clinical trials. After seeing the results first hand from yesterday I am shocked I ever thought homeopathy was harmless."
James Randi, the famous magician cum skeptic has also been criticised for his part in this misadventure. Years ago, Randi was noted for including in his act, a description of how he overdosed on a bottle of homeopathy pills in front of an audience and suffered no side effects. This account, along with the later attempts by Belgian Skeptics is thought to be the inspiration for Michael Marshall's foolish attempt.
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Hello again,
Firstly I would like to draw people's attention to this campaign.
I've signed the petition, and just for you lucky people, I'm going to link back my favourite homeopathy article from when I started this blog. Homeopathy Kills
Over on Greater Manchester Skeptics, Gav brought my attention to it. I recommend signing it as it as Chemists such as Boots shouldn't really have expensive crap on their shelves, it should be real medicines.
Also, I did this overview of Human Evolution, 101, setting out the reasons why experts know that Human Evolution happened from the fossil record. Next week, I'll discuss the genetics......
The Journal of Imaginary Sciences, Volume 22, 2009
Man dies from Strychnine poisoning in Homeopathic remedy
An unknown man was admitted to hospital today after suffering from Strychnine poisoning caused by a homeopathic remedy which he had recently taken. The remedy was a new drug, being tried out for the first time in order to treat convulsions.
Homeopathy relies on the idea that by diluting the causes of symptoms (e.g. strychnine for convulsions) it would cure the problem. This is done by diluting the substance in water about 30 times and shaking it (succusation). This apparently creates a memory in the water in which the remedy uses to work upon. Unfortunately this caused the patient to suffer from the same convulsions that the remedy was trying to prevent.
The man was later reported to have died in hospital.
Good afternoon and welcome to another sunny weekend. For once, I have not one but 4 news articles which have attracted my attention this week. Let's look at the all.
Firstly, my attention was brought to this amusing site Election Meter
If you notice, it has the all too predictable poll on Evolution vs Creationism. I would like to also draw your attention to the part of the graph which marks the 2nd of May.
This my friends, is what happens when PZ Myers encourages people to vote on an issue. I'm glad it shows quite a nice bias to a scientific theory. As a result it brightened up my day a little.
Onto some more sober news, the Saudi Gazette has published a story which detailed the arrest and trial of a 70 year old man, accused of witchcraft. Now I don't know about you, but 840 lashes and a 3 year prison sentence for having different beliefs is fucking inhumane. I'm seriously glad that I live in the UK where this thing is not supported by law (with the humorous exception of the Stockport Witches, which I might add, only includes barring them from worshipping in another religious place). Its shocking that some people are so closed minded that they can't accept people examining other options. I would advocate more on this subject, but it seems rather tricky to comment upon, considering the nature and the tensions in the area.
Onto faith healing now and another trial is taking place in Oregon, where a couple have been accused of manslaughter. Again we've seen another trial, which suggests an increase in common sense on these issues. I'll be glad if people finally see that conventional medicine actually does work.
And finally, a more peculiar article. Apparently, some homeopathic remedies may have side effects. Now I'm rather confused with this idea. Somehow, someone isn't diluting them like they apparently should be doing........ I'm rather confused here......
And hello again on this blog. My apologies for last week, however, I was busy and since I am starting to prepare for my big move to York to live with my girlfriend, there may be problems occasionally putting up posts.
As you can see, I've started a new post relating to hilarious pseudo-scientific methods of debate made by those wacky pseudoscientists. I made a draft of some points last night, however, I feel it is incomplete and as a result, each month I will update the post with new and funny posts I have found on the net. Let's just hope that "Dr" Davison (apparently he's very keen to have people refer to his title despite his retirement) whose blog wall I wrote on recently, comes over here to debate with me as he hinted. However, I think this may be an empty threat as I see a certain apathy when it comes to debating the problems with his objections to modern science.
Onto reviews. I've been able to watch a further 2 episodes of Dr Alice Robert's series: The Incredible Human Journey and I'm still fascinated. I've heard from people that the show is often too "poppy" and using non-peer reviewed material, but I'm not entirely certain. The show I watched on Europe fits into my archaeological knowledge (and what I know as standard archaeological ideas) and the series also has the excellent Chris Stringer helping research it. Trawling through the net I'm hard-pressed to find any negative reviews by the tv critics either. If anyone knows of any critical reviews, I would love to see them so that I can understand where I may have missed something. But so far, I'm glad series like this are present on the BBC.
The other day I also found this article on a friend's facebook account. Now this story really pissed me off. Now let me outline something Thomas Sam, I have eczema. Your point you made in your speech that:
"Conventional medicine would have prolonged her life ... with more misery. It's not going to cure her and that's what I strongly believe."
Is fucking stupid. Of course conventional medicine doesn't cure us, its a disorder which is genetic. What you could have done, is use conventional medicines to prevent her scratching. I use E45, a salve in Britain which helps moisturise. This child could have been living if you, her parent had kept her skin moist! Just taking care, ensuring this child had the right clothing/soaps/moisturisers/food, etc could have kept her alive and prevented your stupidity.
Conventional medicine would have indeed prolonged her life and as a sufferer I can say it can make it livable. I probably didn't have the same problems or the same severity of this child (my eczema is mild at this present time), however, I've had infected cuts from scratching in my sleep, which was treated thanks to a good doctor.
People like this just sicken me with their inability to comprehend that modern medicine works.
Well another week has been and gone and so far I must thank the people that have visited the blog. It is gratifying to know people are enjoying the articles. As a result, I have decided to post two articles a week, instead of the one. Hopefully this should keep people entertained.
This week I posted an article on homeopathy. If anyone is interested, there is a great video of James Randi, a magician and sceptic who shows how illogical Homeopathy is (see links). This inspired the use of the Homeopathy article and combining it with the DHMO spoof shows how ignorant people are of chemistry. Thank you to Gavin Schofield, a close friend of mine, who showed me James Randi’s humorous and enlightening video.
The second article deals with the amusing tale of Adnan Oktar who stole photographs from a fly fishing website. For more details see the references.
As this is the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth along with the 150th anniversary of Origins of Species, the past few months has resulted in some great programmes on Evolution. During this week I have downloaded 4 programmes from the BBC iPlayer about Darwin and Evolution. The 3rd instalments of Jimmy Doherty and Andrew Marr, “What Darwin didn’t know” and “Our World: Darwin’s footsteps”.
So far, during this year, I have seen this amazing response in promoting understanding of evolution. I would love to have recorded properly, Jimmy Doherty’s three programmes as they would be ideal for school teaching. The programmes make me realise how truly amazing this world is, with how things behave as they do, explained by a scientist who never gave up asking questions, wanting to know more and inspiring millions in their work. In a way this makes me pity those who do not accept this scientific knowledge as it might damage their belief in their deity. For those creationists that do not push this agenda, trying to censor this theory, I sincerely beg you to please read some books on Evolution. For Christians, I recommend the work of Kenneth Miller, a Roman Catholic Evolutionary Biologist who has written many books on the subject. I would say that I have read the Bible, I have understood it and I think there are some lessons to be taken away from it. But please, do me a favour and just learn where Darwin was coming from and why. I don’t ask you to accept it, just to understand it.
For those that do push the issue, such as Creation Scientists from Answers in Genesis and the Discovery Institute, I will continue to ridicule and attempt to humiliate you in this blog. Every claim you make against Evolution I will attempt to satirise for your lies, deceit and censorship. Figures such as Ken Ham, VenomFangX and Adnan Oktar are clearly criminals who are so scared of people thinking independently that they have to try and bribe, scare, lie, blackmail them in every unethical way to get what they want.
To be honest, religion isn’t the problem here. Its moronic fundamentalist stupidity.
NB I have just checked James Randi's youtube account and found that the account has been suspended. I will update as I find more information about it, but currently its a big mystery.....
http://www.richarddawkins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=613864#p613864- One of the posters from this site actually wrote a letter to the person who Adnan Oktar stole the photographs from. May need to be registered on the site.
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Journal of Imaginary Sciences Vol 4 (2009),
Homeopathy banned as high levels of dangerous chemicals found in drugs.
The homeopathic drug industry collapsed today as high levels of a dangerous drug were detected in their products.
A recent review of the preparation processes found that the industry regularly used this dangerous chemical to dilute their medicines. The homeopathic industry expressed their shock when they learned of the dangerous properties of the chemical, dihydrogen monoxide.
“We had no idea about the dangerous properties of this chemical” said the spokesman for Homeopaths Against Regular Medicine (HARM). “We believed it was completely safe and we were shocked to find out that we were using it to dilute the medicine not once or twice, but at least 20 times. As a result, we’re ruined, the regular practitioners of medicine have won….”
Dihydrogen Monoxide is known to be extremely deadly indeed. Scientists have already noted its presence in acid rain and the contribution it makes to global warming. In a solid form, it is known to cause severe burns and induce radical changes in the landscape. It is a corrosive substance, causing the accelerated oxidisation of many metals too. Besides this, it has been found to cause electrical faults and decreased efficiency in car brakes. It is also noted that only 2 inches of the chemical is required to kill a person.
Dihydrogen Monoxide has been noted for being a dangerous chemical for at least 20 years. In 1994, the webpage www.dhmo.org was created to attempt to inform the public on the dangers of this chemical.
Due to the dependence of the homeopathic industry on this chemical it has led to the industry being warned that it must withdraw the products with the chemical. As this has involved all of their products, this has resulted in the collapse of their industry. As the homeopathic industry grinds to a halt, it looks like regular medicine is now the only regular product in pharmacies.
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