March 13, 2011

Health-Giving Jewellery and Air Travel

The extraordinary claims of health giving jewellery and Australian’s best known airline.
Modern international jet travel is about the most technologically sophisticated thing that a person of modest means can experience. We  might gripe about the meals, the timetable or being squashed in with disagreeable people; in fact, we’re totally reliant on an almost incomprehensible mix of Applied Sciences to keep us alive and safe and to get us there very fast.
Sue, a Melbourne suburban mum took an international Qantas flight. Whilst feeling satisfactorily smug about the technology that surrounded her, Sue decided to peruse the bargains on offer in the Qantas duty free catalogue.
The plane wasn’t falling but Sue began to get an awful sinking feeling in her stomach when she spotted the jewellery shown below.
Thus the Australian Skeptics have once again been asked to look into fashion accessories marketed with health benefits.
Introducing these cringe-worthy items:
The OREGON i.Balance Negative Ion Necklace in Black, A$70 (Duty Free)

click full size

View More Health-Giving Jewellery and Air Travel

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March 8, 2011

The writings of Samuel Hahnemann

I admit to a certain curiosity about old homeopathy books. What do they contain? Is there any science in these books?  Exactly what did Samuel Hahnemann write that gained him such a dedicated following?
If you’re unfamiliar with Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, or the alternative medicine practice of homeopathy, you might like to read this introduction before reading any further with this post.
Generally, Hahnemann’s writings about homeopathy were translated into English not long after the publication of the original German versions. In all my reading about homeopathy, I’ve seen almost no comments taken from these translations of Samuel Hahnemann’s work.
My approach to this material will be: just because a book is old, that doesn’t mean I’ll ignore poor reasoning and throw away everything learnt in the last 200 years.  I’m looking for good evidence and logical reasoning to back up any claims.
Critics might suggest I’ve only looked into Hahnemann’s writings with the idea of cherry picking it and then dismissing it. Not so: if I find good science I’ll change my mind.  Hahnemann claimed to have done experiments. View More The writings of Samuel Hahnemann

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March 7, 2011

"Mixed Bag" March 2011 Answers

1. a) berates / rebates;  b) waste/sweat;  c) claimed/decimal
2. a) band;  b) will
3. Tamworth NSW
4. quire
5. Bugs Bunny
6.  Royal Routine Flush
7. Paris
8. C. 20th Century
9. Royal Coat of Arms
10. Four
11. Melanie Griffiths
12. Nepal
13. Anthropology
14. prayers
15. Aramaic
16. A butt (or barrel) of wine
17. Starlight Express
18. Rainy days and Mondays
19. Ronald Reagan
20. Indonesia
21. Jenny
22. 1992
23. He was a fictitious character – a hoax on the publisher
24. chicken
25. 24
26. So
27. saint
28. newspaper
29. pierces, precise
30. Tasmania

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March 7, 2011

Vic Department of Health's "Better Health Channel"

by Graeme Hanigan

This is the background to a petition addressed to The  Minister of Health, David Davis MLC, calling for a review of the Victorian Department of Health’s Better Health Channel. 

Penelope Dingle was 45 years old when she died of colorectal cancer on the 25th of August, 2005. Had her cancer been detected and treated when symptoms were first observed 4 years earlier, she may still be alive today.  Instead of seeking medical treatment, Penelope put her health into the incompetent hands of a deluded Homeopathic quack.
At the conclusion of the inquest into the sad death of Penelope Dingle, the W.A. State Coroner made two recommendations. View More Vic Department of Health's "Better Health Channel"

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March 4, 2011

A Skeptic's Guide to Bible Codes

This article first appeared as a Vic Skeptics discussion pamphlet.
The full range of our discussion pamphlets can be downloaded here: http://www.skeptics.com.au/resources/educational/
or by clicking on the “Useful Info” link at the top of this page.

 by Peter Barrett, Canberra Skeptics

In the late 1990s, a book called “The Bible Code” was published. Its author, Michael Drosnin, claimed that a high-powered computer program had uncovered a large number of secret messages in the Jewish Bible (the Christian Old Testament). The most amazing claim was that a few years before the book’s publication, this program had discovered that the then Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzakh Rabin, faced assassination. Several months after Drosnin and his partners warned him, Mr Rabin was assassinated. View More A Skeptic's Guide to Bible Codes

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February 20, 2011

Homeopathy is safe?

One of the main comments by homeopaths on the 10:23 overdose campaign is that skeptics have yet again demonstrated that homeopathy is safe.
That’s one possibility. Another possibility, and I think a more likely one; is that homeopathy is safe because there isn’t anything in it.

10:23 comments

Skeptics would also argue that homeopathy is unsafe precisely because it has nothing in it. If consumers are convinced enough to treat life-threatening conditions with homeopathy, results can be tragic. Take, for example, the case of Penelope Dingle: the coroner’s report in relation to her death in 2005 was recently released. [PDF]
Warning: this is a coroner’s report; it’s a very graphic and distressing account of her death and the role of homeopathy in the events leading up to her death.
Returning to the broader question of homeopathy being safe, I’ve found the view that homeopathy is safe, and that you can’t overdose on it, is not a universal opinion in the world of homeopathy. View More Homeopathy is safe?

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February 8, 2011

The 10:23 Event in Melbourne

On Saturday, the Victorian Skeptics joined forces with the Melbourne Skeptics and the Young Australian Skeptics to take part in the worldwide 10:23 Campaign.
The campaign was launched last year by the Merseyside Skeptics, as a public education stunt to demonstrate the ineffective nature of Homeopathy.
A video of the Melbourne event was posted a couple of days ago, and as I write this, it’s had over 1,000 views on YouTube.
(If you’re keen, there’s also a great video playlist of 10:23 events around the world).
We also had John, a good friend of the Victorian Skeptics, busily snapping some great stills while we were overdosing.
[slideshow]
Of course while it’s all fun and games in retrospect (and there’s a message in there somewhere too), it almost didn’t happen.
Torrential rain and flash flooding had hit View More The 10:23 Event in Melbourne

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February 6, 2011

10:23 in Melbourne, the video

The 10:23 overdose event in Melbourne went off very well yesterday.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvgRMcfo0Yk&w=448&h=252&hd=1]

The deluge of rain stopped minutes before 10:23am.

This is just a quick post to show you the video. A more detailed blog post about the Melbourne event will go up in the next few days. Thanks to the willing participants that came along from three skeptical groups in Melbourne. I think you’ll agree, great work done by our brilliant cameraman/editor/director Doug Hubbard.

Mal.

————-

UPDATE:

The Great Ocean Road Skeptics were also launched on Saturday, and decided to celebrate the launch with a 10:23 demonstration on the beach.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhDA07jYncU&w=448&h=252&hd=1]

Nice work guys!

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