Skepchick Quickies 1.14
- Your zodiac sign may have changed – Panic in the streets! Or maybe not, says CNN.
- CBC to air homeopathic overdose – Members of CFI Vancouver participated in a homeopathic overdose for the CBC show Marketplace. It will be airing tonight and should be available online soon after.
- Drunk scientists pour wine on superconductors and make an incredible discovery – “Wine makes superconductors better at their jobs. And apparently, it makes some scientists better at their jobs too.”
- Idaho pharmacist refuses anti-bleeding drug to woman because she may have had an abortion – “Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest has filed a letter of complaint with the Idaho Board of Pharmacy regarding the actions of a Nampa pharmacist.”
- Cute Animal Friday! Nowoo sent in these lovely bespectacled kitties. Corgis on a treadmill from Ellen. And Michael was conflicted as to whether Heidi the cross-eyed opossum counts as a cute animal.
I want an opossum now!
It seems to me that if one wanted to overdose on homeopathic remedies, taking too much would be pointless. You’d need to take _less_ than the recommended dosage.
I am ambivalent on the zodiac issue. On the one hand, it is pre-scientific nonsense based on Barnum statements and a bit of cold-reading, and designed to part the credible from their cash (and sense of personal responsibility).
On the other hand, I used to be The Virgin, now I am The Lion. That’s hard to dismiss outright.
Hi, I’m the pharmacist you just hired and I’m a strict form of Christian Scientist that believes that any kind of medication is highly objectionable. I’m going to go sit in the corner and do my sudoku and don’t ask me to do any work or I’ll sue your ass.
Hmmmm… I’m a programmer. I wonder if I can become Amish, then compete with B Hitt to finish the sudoku first?
The CBC Marketplace website is being inundated by pro Homeopathic comments.This site is organizing the assault: http://conscioushealthnaturaltherapy.weebly.com/war-on-natural-health-freedom.html
Titled “The War on Natural Health Freedom”,they issued this:
Thanks to BillyJoe over at Science based Medicine for his comment pointing this out.
I’m sorry, opossums are not cute. They’re vile, nasty-tempered creatures that I would not associate with unless forced to. I had one under the house and used a live trap to trap it and then relocate it to a more wild locale. When I got the trap the thing just hissed at me constantly. I put it into the trunk, drove into the woods and when I took it out it hissed more. I was afraid to let it go for fear it would turn and attack me. Instead it waddled away, hissing. It stopped, turned and looked at me and hissed again and then went off in the original direction. Can’t stand the things.
Unable to refrain – vbalbert, if you trapped me in a cage, then a car trunk, and drove me out to some woods – I’d be pretty darned hissy, too.
Ug. The homeopathic proponents are flooding the damn messageboard with the same tired crap… anecdotes, conspiracies, natural=safe, unidentified “energy”, old=correct, exotic = correct, scientists are arrogant so homeopathy works, special pleading (homeopathy defies studies – each case needs to be evaluated on it’s own merits),false dichotomy
AAAARRHG!
argh, please go over and leave a sensible comment on the CBC story. I think they may have censored mine.
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2011/01/14/f-homeopathy-naturopathic-marketplace.html#socialcomments
Does anyone know what Walgreen’s corporate policy is? It seems to me that irregardless of state conscience laws, they can still fire the guy and replace him with someone who will do the job.
BTW, was it explained in any earlier threads why the Skepchicks icons suddenly became so awful?
So now I’m a Lion *and* a Virgo.
I’m an ugly lion!
I just left this note at the Idaho paper:
In this instance, is the pharmacist not practicing medicine? If s/he is practicing medicine, is s/he properly licensed to do so? Is this method of evaluating a patient’s needs considered proper within the state’s approved standards of practice?
plumberbob
Definitely try and watch the Marketplace episode. The homeopaths came off as flighty at best, and arrogant at worst. My only complaint is that it wasn’t Wendy Mesley confronting the ones who claimed it as a treatment for breast cancer.
@vbalbert: You forgot to mention that they stink, too.
The CBC episode was fantastic. They were under some time restraints and couldn’t expand on all the points necessary, but they did a fantastic job.
They also noticed that homeopaths organized a comment blitz, and called them out on it. Check on the “Online Campaign” tab, here.
Hopefully, those of us in Canada can ride this momentum going into the overdose in a few weeks.
Stupid people used to really depress me. Then, I realized, that fundamentally, I hate homo sapiens and I support homeopathy, religious zealots, and astrology because it causes suffering and lowers the standards for everyone.
It’d be funny if they denied her the prescription for KY she needs in order to pull her head out of her ass.
I’m sorry I went with the pharmacist being a woman, not sure why, I think because I’ve read similar stories and it always seems to be a woman.
I will go attend sensitivity training now.