Thursday, February 25, 2010

Jack Chick's 'Crazy Wolf'



Based on a story of Native Americans, this is a classic head-to-head battle between God and Satan. Guess who wins?
Satan?  Can't be God, that's too cliché.
Welcome, friends, to an evening around the campfire with that master of horror, Jack Chick! From demons to black magic to witches and warlocks, Jack Chick knows it and writes it like only the greatest author-artist can!  Chill in that most sublime of terrors - an omnipotent being that will condemn you eternally for failing to follow an arbitrary and nonsensical rule!  Terrifying!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

How Do I Know God Exists?

I wouldn't call it one of the most important questions I'd ever ask, but it is an interesting one.  Brought to you by Ray Comfort, the man renowned for his impassioned speech some time ago about the Atheist's Nightmare: the banana!  Now, that's not the entirety of his speech - and I say this because he got a bit riled up about people missing the first half - where he shows off a soda can and points out how it's got a tab for opening and the like, and how it's proof of a creator.  Well, that's fine and dandy, but if you watch the linked video with a horticulturist, they might have something to say -  that delicious yellow fruit we eat today was, in fact, selected and bred by man to make it more palatable - easier to grip, and the like.  The original banana was a rather distasteful looking thing.
So, what does this mastermind have for us now?  Well, we shall just see.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Regression Toward The Mean

Just a little something regarding a concept a lot of alternative medicine practitioners and their faithful never seem able to grasp.

Human beings are in their natural state, healthy.  You feel good, you work well, nothing is wrong.  Then, you get sick.  Maybe you develop a cough.  After a little while of having the symptoms of a cough, you'll probably do something about it.  Maybe you'll take some conventional medicine (a cough tablet), maybe you'll take a homeopathic remedy, and maybe you'll do nothing.  In all cases, the end result is the same - you get over your illness as the body naturally deals with the problem.  You end up feeling healthy again.  So in those three cases, this is what's happening:

Conventional Medicine: The cough tablet soothes your throat, and perhaps suppresses the cough itself.  You feel okay, and while the cough tablet is working, your body is healing itself.  If you're lucky, by the time the tablet wears off your cough will be done with.  You're grateful for the cough tablet for making you feel better during that time.

Homeopathic Remedy:  You drink a tiny amount of water, which via the placebo effect may trick you into believing your cough is a bit better.  Gradually, your cough gets better on its own.  You're grateful for the remedy 'curing' your cough.

Nothing:  You cough for a while and then it goes away.  You didn't take anything, and so you aren't grateful for the assistance of anything.


Now, try substituting influenza for cough.  It's generally a much more serious deal, with bed rest and lots of water and sleep, and no exertion.  You'll be recommended to take the bed rest and water and not exert yourself no matter who you ask, so that's a constant.  If you take conventional medicine, it'll be something to lower your fever (like aspirin), and otherwise mask your symptoms.  You'll be more comfortable while getting over your flu.  If you take a homeopathic remedy, the placebo effect might make you feel better, but your fever will stay the same, since homeopathic remedies are just water.  You'll feel worse, guaranteed, than if you took something conventional.  Your flu will eventually subside anyway, and you'll thank your homeopathic remedy for 'curing' you.  If you took nothing, you'll keep your fever and eventually the influenza will end.

So the end result is that when you take something at the height of an illness, you'll be thankful for it when the illness subsides, and since naturally taking something at the height of an illness means it will only get lower from there, a homeopathic remedy is guaranteed the same effect as anything else.  The danger comes when, armed with this faith in homeopathic remedies from personal experience curing temporary problems, you use them to combat serious things.   

Homeopathy kills more people than Marijuana.

The statement contained in the title of this entry, "Homeopathy kills more people than Marijuana.", is one of my favourite responses to someone who would both endorse the use of homeopathic products and condemn the use of marijuana products simultaneously.  It's not hard to imagine someone who quite likely thinks in terms of 'bio energy' and 'toxins' to be horrified at the idea of inhaling a mood altering chemical.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Water Diluted in Water: A Short Definition of Homeopathy

You've probably heard of homeopathy. Yet another alternative medicine, promising fast and effective treatment with none of the nasty side effects of conventional medicine. Well, so long as you don't count 'buying water at ridiculous prices' as a nasty side effect, they're half telling the truth.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

A Rather Unique Sense of Justice

Here's something I was handed by someone in the city recently. Brought to you by www.operations513.com, this tract has finally brought me over to the light of the lord Jesus Christ. Let's have a look, in the style of a chick tract dissection.

Natural Botox

Ah, Botox.  What a wonder drug!  Miracle of modern science, a triumph of chemical engineering and finely honed procedures, brought to perfection by the best scientists in the world, the ultimate solution to the problem of aging!

The First Post

Things that are wrong begins here.


Wrong:


incorrect: not correct; not in conformity with fact or truth; "the claim that homeopathy is helpful is incorrect"
contrary to conscience or morality or law; "it is wrong for alternative medicine practioners, the religious, and commerical enterprises to take advantage of the ignorant"


This site shall touch on some of these things.