Quickies
Skepchick Quickies, 3.14
- A psychic sellout: pay no attention to ‘Dr. Oz’.
- Oregon House unanimously votes to end faith healing exception. (From Jacob.)
- Clergy perform exorcism on Chase Bank. (From Question Authority.)
- Are we ever going to use antimatter to drive a starship?
Happy Pi Day, kids!
Yay! Happy Pi day!
Also: Albert Einsteins birthday!
Dr. Oz wants to offer us a tool to deal with grief? Enter John Edward, “tool” extraordinaire!
Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven’t got a brain?
Scarecrow: I don’t know. But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don’t they?
I never did like Dr. Oz, but I never could quite figure out why. I guess I just subconsciously assume anybody associated with Oprah’s gonna start peddling woo at some point.
I don’t think the exorcism worked. My account is still overdrawn.
Didn’t do my 1500 shares too good, either. Down another 1% early in the trading day.
“Are we ever going to use antimatter to drive a starship?” — as soon as I read that, my brain became overwhelmed with remembrances of decades of Star Trek technobabble. Venting plasma from the warp nacelles now…
Re: the faith healing article:
Rep. Jim Weidner wins the contest for Biggest Strawman Ever. I mean, wow.
Some nice D&D comments on the Chase exorcism.
@Zyphane: I guess I just subconsciously assume anybody associated with Oprah’s gonna start peddling woo at some point.
My guess is every one gets caught up in the corporate machinery. Oprah likely has the power to choose her own subject matter, but I doubt anyone else does. When a producer schedules a segment like this I assume Dr. Oz’s choices are to do it or quit.
@davew:
Dr. Oz’s wife is a Reiki master.
Dr who?
Antimatter drive seems unlikely. Containment of and propulsion with antimatter are … astronomical.
AT&T is the Mordor of our times. Maybe some exorcisms there would be good.
I’m glad oregon finally removed its faith healing, several children in oregon have died from faith healing over the past few years.
catholic preists trying to dispell evil, isn’t that a case of the pot calling the kettle black?
@davew:
Dr. Oz is pretty credulous on his own, but I definitely agree some of his most extreme endorsement of woo comes from oprah cultists she set up as producers.
I guess this means Dr Oz isn’t welcome in Oregon or at his local Chase branch anymore.
SPOILERS
The whole Doctor Oz thing reminds me of this one scene in “Good Omens” (which I’ve recently had read to me a la audiobook) involving the seance and the ghost who actually did talk to his living “loved one”. Point being, why would ghosts tell us “I love you” or “I’m happy” or “I’m sorry” all the time, rather than “Go to bed on time” or “Shut up” or “Pull down that skirt, young lady!”
Therapeutic, sure. Talking to ghosts, my ass!