Boiron and Oscillococcinum: fairy dust diluted out of (non)existence

You know the details of how homeopathy is supposed to work, right? If not review this and come back when you're done...

James "the Amazing" Randi on the subject of homeopathy/homoeopathy

That was the serious version, this is the not so serious version...

via Luke Surl Comics

Boiron, a company that sells homeopathic nostrums, has threatened Italian blogger Samuele Riva who dared point out that there is no active ingredient in Oscillococcinum (which anyone can see by understanding basic chemistry, how homeopathy works, and reading the back of the package).

Many people don't know what homeopathy is or say "What's the Harm?" and it is showing up on more and more pharmacy shelves, like Walmart, CVS, Target. So I'm posting this not only to contribute to the Streisand Effect, but also to raise awareness of the fact that there are major retailers selling homeopathic products.

And to the people at Boiron... if you want me to link to your site instead of the other sites when I'm talking about Oscillococcinum, then that would be advertising and I expect a large sum of money. If you want bloggers to give up our free speech rights, and not say bad things about you when it's in the public interest, then you can take all that money, put it in a blender and grind it up to dust. Then put a ml of it into 99 ml of water (hope that water doesn't have any memories of money that might have been in it before), do the magical shake-shake-shake...take 1 ml of that put it into a different 99 ml of water, repeat the shaking... repeat that about 200 times and send that last 100 ml to me...I'll be the richest person in the Universe!

* The thing in the title about "fairy dust diluted out of (non)existence" comes from Steven Novella's article at Science Based Medicine about Oscillococcinum.

** Time Magazine seems to agree. Homeopathic flu remedies is the #1 thing they say you should stop buying. I didn't mention that Oscillococcinum is being sold to treat "influenza-like symptoms". Many people might mistake that to mean that it treats influenza, which isn't what it's claiming. There are homeopaths who claim there are homeopathic treatments for influenza, which should be a crime. It can be dangerous to lead people to believe that it treats the flu...people die from the flu.

Thank you very much...

"China 'to overtake US on science' in two years" - BBC, 28 March 2011

<sarcasm>
Thank you...thank you very very very very very much young earth (and old earth) creationist wackaloons.
</sarcasm>

And I shouldn't forget to mention the moderate/liberal Christians who don't speak up when they see fundamentalist Christians trying to sabotage science in our country, and worse see it as a personal attack when atheists speak up about it.

Skeptics say what about the LHC?

I have noticed many news reports about the Large Hadron Collider refer to those who think that it will cause the world to end as 'skeptics'. [or in some places 'sceptic']

Here are the skeptics I know that are saying anything about the LHC... Skeptics Guide to the Universe says it's safe, Skeptoid says it's safe, Skepchick says it's safe (along with Teen Skepchick)... I can't find one skeptical blog/podcast/magazine etc worth paying attention to that is saying that the LHC cause any problems.

I'm not sure if the media is using the word skeptic as a slur, or the people who are supporting the idea that the LHC will destroy the Earth/Universe are appropriating the term and referring to themselves as skeptics.

Imagine what people will be saying when the next accelerator gets built.

http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/

Here is the webcam of the LHC to prove it!

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This post is currently the top result when searching for LHC Skeptic. Are there any other good "Skeptic" sites out there that have something to say about the LHC? I'll add them so people can find more info in one spot. BTW...what someone was doing searching for "LHC Sylvia Brown" is to scary to contemplate...

Expelled the Movie

I'm sure you've all heard the story of PZ and Dawkins going to see a movie by now... I want to make sure I get a link in to the site about Expelled the Movie with Ben Stein somewhere.

lol's

Most people have heard of I Can Has Cheezburger?, now there's also lolcats can has science, and LOLTheist: Blasphemy is Teh Funneh... but don't forget lolhistory....

(This one was so good, I thought I'd save the punch line for the original posting. Check out the title and the tags, if you don't get it right away)

The reason for the season...

Holiday card idea...

Thanks to Phil.

2007 Nobel Conference

I'm at the the 43rd Nobel Conference at Gustavus Adolpus College. The topic this year is "Heating Up: The Energy Debate". We have heard about peek oil, bio-fuels, and global warming from scientists. Now we are about to hear from an economist. Tonight Will Steger will speak during the banquet (which is sold out, but I JUST managed to get a ticket to). There are 6,500 people here (not including the Gustavus students).

The message everyone is saying..."There are things we can do...it isn't going to bankrupt us...call your representative today!"

Next years topic...."Who Were the First Humans?"...

"Who were the first humans? Where did they come from? How did they live? These questions have traditionally been the domain of paleontologists and anthropologists studying fossils and pottery shards, More recently, molecular biologists, population geneticists, evolutionary biologists, evolutionary psychologists, paleoclimatologists, and even cognitive archeologists have added their unique scientific views to these questions as well." (first paragraph of the description of next years topic).

This weeks science lesson - Physics

The 1964 Messenger Lectures
"The Character of Physical Law"
Richard Feynman
I was just made aware of these newly available Feynman lectures by Blake at Science After Sunclipse. I thought it would be nice to put them together in one place and in order...

Lecture 1 - The law of gravitation, an example of physical law
Lecture 2 - The Relation of Mathematics & Physics
Lecture 3 - The Great Conservation Principles
Lecture 4 - Symmetry in Physical Law
Lecture 5 - The Distinction of Past and Future
Lecture 6 - Probably and Uncertainty - the quantum mechanical view of nature
Lecture 7 - Seeking New Laws