November 2009

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Paranormal sighting in Toronto

November 29, 2009 in Psychics by askeptic | No comments

How do you tell what is normal in Toronto anyway?

Okay, cheap shot. But not half as cheap as what passes for journalism in the story: Paranormal sighting in Toronto by David Bezmozgis in the Saturday Nov. 28 edition of the Globe and Mail.

Focusing on Ms. Nateliya Frolova, the story concerns Russian immigrants  bringing with them a fascination with paranormal clairvoyance and healing. In introducing the piece, Mr. Bezmozgis says, what distinguishes Ms. Frolova and many of her Russian counterparts from the regular Western clairvoyants are the Russians’ claims to supernatural healing abilities. Read the rest of this entry »

On Evolution: The Calgary Herald still evokes awe and outrage

November 24, 2009 in Evolution by askeptic | 3 comments

This year is Charles Darwin’s year. It marks the 200th Anniversary of his birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication On the Origin of Species.

On the Origin of Species is one of the most important and influential books of all time. In it, Darwin details his theory of evolution by means of natural selection, a crowning scientific achievement and one of the singular accomplishments of our species in the 200,000 or so years we have been around. Read the rest of this entry »

Chicago Tribune shows us what real journalism is like

November 23, 2009 in Health & Medicine, Skeptic News by askeptic | No comments

An article in published in the Chicago Tribune November 23 entitled Autism treatment: Science hijacked to support alternative therapies, is just too good to miss.  Click on the link to read it now.

Authors Trine Tsouderos and Patricia Callahan, provide a detailed account of how alternative and complimentary medicine practitioners and promoters, including groups such as Defeat Autism Now!, hijack and misuse legitimate scientific findings.  In so doing, they not only provide a good lesson  on the difference between real science, and the pseudo-science of hucksters, but they also give a lesson on what real journalism looks like.

God I wish we had a real newspaper in this city.