- Prophet predicts Obama’s death – Thanks to DMS for sending in the quality crazy.
- BlackLight Power has buyer for ‘magical’ energy source – “BlackLight Power is a New Jersey company that has endured a great deal of skepticism regarding its claims to be able to convert water into a boundless source of cheap energy. Most scientists say that this technology violates the basic laws of physics.” Thanks Steve.
- Father’s Mannatech mania causes girl brain damage – Mannatech is a dietary supplement and the father was using it to treat his eleven year old’s heart infection. The girl, “… now uses a wheelchair and has reduced vision and severe, ongoing cognitive and fine motor skills.” From Michael.
- Equal pay commercial – Has some NSFW language.Â
- And once again one of my favorite blogs, A Repository for Bottled Monsters (the unofficial blog of the National Museum of Health and Medecine) disappoints me by  featuring a post advocating accupuncture. Ten points for every logical fallacy spotted.
Linked off the mannatech story was this: http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/people/kidman-upsets-aborigines-by-playing-instrument/2008/12/15/1229189533076.html
More woo. Sexist woo, even. Although, it’s literally stone age woo, so…
Rewritten to more clearly indicate the idiocy: “Acupuncture ‘worked’ for me and my husband, 2 people obviously inclined to believe such things, for the subjective experience of pain and a habit that can be overcome with willpower. Amazing! AND other people use it too, so that means we aren’t morons. I don’t like that someone called me gullible for using acupuncture, especially when he’s in the pocket of Big Pharma, because drugs are BAD mmmkay. Not to mention a bunch of anonymous people posted non-peer-reviewed opinion comments SUPPORTING this ancient Chinese (and therefore correct) practice so…there you go. They can’t ALL be wrong.”
Let’s see (maybe not exhaustive):
appeal to popularity
appeal to antiquity
appeal to consequences
bandwagon fallacy
post hoc ergo propter hoc
genetic fallacy
But then we know that their argument isn’t false simply because of their fallacies. It’s false because of the mountains of evidence saying acupuncture is garbage.
@Kimbo Jones: 60 points for logical fallacies alone, plus I’d say another 20 points for the break down. :)
“post hoc ergo propter hoc” – one of my favorites. I’d like a t-shirt with that and a big red circle and slash on it.
Re: Blacklight Power.
Ugh. Another “prepetual motion” type scam. Send them back to Physics 101 and remind them about the Laws of Thermodynamics. As Bob Heinlien so eloquently put it, “TANSTAAFL! There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch!”
“perpetual” Sorry. I hate these kinds of scams.
That equal pay commercial would have made me giggle if it weren’t so very true.
Great another cold fusion still crapfest. I still remember how excited I was by cold fusion when I was in jr. high in the 80’s.
Thousands of years of chinese medicene can’t be wrong? Why not?
@Gabrielbrawley: “Thousands of years of Chinese medicene can’t be wrong? Why not?”
By that logic, we should all like s–t sandwiches, as a million billion flies can’t all be wrong. :-D
@QuestionAuthority: cotw
Never heard of Mannatech, so I googled. Found this on the first page of results: Mannatech Sued for Fraud and Invasion of Privacy.
According to the complaint, their marketing claimed that it helped someone of Tay-Sachs and that they continued to make that claim 7 years after he died.
I also like the quote on here: “it doesn’t really do anything except increase flatulence.” Ah, well, I can see where that would be beneficial to anyone with Tay-Sachs, cancer or heart disease.
The “hydrinos” which supposedly lie at the heart of BlackLight Power’s amazing energetical machine are, of course, bunk. And this has been known for years.
— Randell Mills, hydrino advocate, in 1999
Re: Mannatech
Once again, the innocent suffer from the stupidity of others. When will it end? :'(
@Amanda: Yay! Me ftw!
Is someone allowed to ftw themselves?
Re Mannatech mania.
I have dealt with a number of cases of children being permanently disabled or nearly killed because of parents using herbal/natural/folk cures for real diseases. Any parent who does this needs to go to jail for looooonger than six months. However the parent in question has his own cognitive impairments because of a brain injury. Tough issues for all involved. Then again it appears the mother was given 12 months suspended sentence and parole. Not sure of the justice in that except if the mother needed to care for the child she was responsible for permanently disabling. I would think if you had done this to your child a second chance is not in order.
@Gabrielbrawley:
Why, because it’s thousands of years old. And because it has millions of followers. Sheesh, some people just refuse to understand simple fallacious reasoning.
(Funnily enough, I once ran across an astrologer who claimed astrology was true because of those very reasons, and all the while he disparaged the Catholic church, about which the very same things can be said. Is there a fallacy for using fallacies in a selective, inconsistent way?)
@Andrés Diplotti: Confirmation bias?
Oh jeez. That Mannatech story is just plain sadness. What a doof of a dad. ICk.
No matter how many times I come across claims that acupuncture can cure addictions, I’m still surprised at how easily people fall for that nonsense.
“Skeptic Predicts Loser Psychic Con Artist is Wrong About Obama’s Impending Demise.”
My prediction against his. Now taking bets. ;-)
@QuestionAuthority: What kind of odds are giving?
Nevermind.
The psychic has Winnebago with a giant sign on it. Seems credible to me.
@Andrés Diplotti: Fallacy of Compartmentalization?
Did anyone see the Three Sheets episode where Zane’s in Hong Kong?
He gets a traditional chinese/HKese hangover cure remedy, where they put massive suction cups on his back and give a bunch of diesel hickeys.
Great show.
Re:Mannatech
This is just so… so sad. How can those parents live with themselves?
Addendum: “[…] severe, ongoing cognitive and fine motor skills.
Is it just my English skills, or is something missing from that sentence? Severe skills?