New articles on RationalWiki, 14-20 April 2013.
0New stuff, we got new stuff! Well, a bit. A few more than last week. And do glance over the to-do list. Read more ›
How do you know? Were you there?
2“How do you know? Were you there?” is a summary dismissal of evolution and “Old Earth” science favoured by many creationists — who weren’t there either. It is a form of escape hatch. The idea is that if we cannot personally verify what we’ve inferred from evidence, then we cannot be certain of facts and theories when it comes to describing the world as it was millions of years ago, therefore the world must be young. Read more ›
Poe’s Law: the problem with parody on the Internet.
0Poe’s Law states: “Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won’t mistake for the real thing.” It is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish between parodies of religious or other fundamentalism and its genuine proponents, since they both seem equally insane. Read more ›
The Hare Krishna view of Hindu creationism.
0The Hare Krishna view of the creation of the universe takes a selection of the Vedic texts as literal truth. Its advocates call it Hindu creationism or Vedic creationism, although Hindu creation mythology, cosmology and legends are considerably more varied. The Krishna version is quite specific, detailed and coherent. Read more ›
Dowsing: the divining of water by the ouija board principle.
0Dowsing is the attempt to detect “hidden” things, such as water, gems, and gold, under various surfaces. It is most commonly associated with looking for water for drilling of wells. So called “water witches” make a living telling people where to drill for water wells. Read more ›
Synanon: a cult of drug rehabilitation. And rattlesnakes.
1Synanon was a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre turned cult in California, known for communal living, practices such as group “truth-telling” sessions they called “The Game”, and requiring married couples to split and take new partners and female members to shave their heads. It originally grew out of an Alcoholics Anonymous group led by Chuck Dederich. Read more ›
Benny Hinn. YOU’RE HEALED!
0Benny Hinn is a faith healer, televangelist, prophet, Sith Lord, minister and, most importantly, a purveyor of BS. He performs his anointments, called “Miracle Crusades”, in large stadiums which are televised on his programme This Is Your Day, netting an audience through false hope. Read more ›
New articles on RationalWiki, 7-13 April 2013.
0Only six new articles last week, oh no! (I plead fixing up old articles to blog them.) There’s a to do list, of course, if you want inspiration to start something afresh. Read more ›
Craniosacral therapy. Manipulate your skull! What could go wrong?
0Craniosacral therapy is a variant of osteopathy which claims all manner of benefits from manipulation of the head and neck. It is made entirely of woo. Even other chiropractors and osteopaths don’t think much of it. Read more ›
Aetherometry: the new science of massfree energy.
1Aetherometry is a form of pseudophysics described by its proponents Paulo and Alexandra Correa as “the experimental and theoretical study of massfree energy” or “the “science of the metrics of the massfree aether”. It’s composed of sciencey-looking words arranged in an order that makes no actual sense, as if SCIgen woke up and wanted to destroy humanity. Read more ›
Urine therapy: take the piss in confidence.
1Urine therapy is an alternative medicine that is precisely what the name implies: using human urine for medicinal or cosmetic purposes. These include drinking your own urine and massaging your urine into your skin. Read more ›
Scalar waves.
0Scalar waves are a purported type of electromagnetic wave that works outside physics as we know it. Free energy advocates have pushed the concept since the 1990s. In alternative medicine it is a universally-applicable sciencey handwave to support any arbitrary claim. Conspiracy theorists hold that it is behind weather-changing superweapons that brought down the space shuttle Columbia. Read more ›
Help fix stale links on RationalWiki!
0In the course of writing up articles as posts for this blog, I’m finding shedloads of dead and stale links. It turns out crank material is somewhat ephemeral. The estimable Nutty Roux has compiled a list and has started a project to spring clean the wiki and make it a better resource for the public good. Read more ›
Nebraska Man.
0Nebraska Man was a hypothetical ape indigenous to North America, proposed in 1922, soon determined to be in error and formally retracted in 1927. The only reason anyone has ever heard of it today is because the creationist community later latched onto it as evidence of the evolutionary conspiracy. Read more ›
New articles on RationalWiki, 31 March-6 April 2013.
0Not much new stuff this week. Where you all been? We have a to do list full of interesting things in need of followup, and of course these articles will need love too. Read more ›
The National Sunday Law conspiracy.
0The National Sunday law is a Seventh Day Adventist conspiracy theory that the US government will enact a national blue law making Sunday a day of rest and worship. And that the Pope is the Antichrist and the mark of the beast is worship on Sunday. And that this will trigger the fulfilment of the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. Read more ›