January 03, 2005

• Tachyons & Takionics oh what fun fun fun
• Oo. Thanks, islander This is piquant.
• harumph.
• I just came from game evening at the local comic store where I was exposed to Steve Jackson's Burn in Hell card game; in it you collect the souls of those who have gone to hell or will go to hell, and L. Ron. Hubbard was one of the cards. The first thing I looked up on this site was "scientology," and I was happy to see it there. I have no point except that the superstitious side of me is glad to see the night come to a close in such a complete way.
• YOu realise how ironic that is?
• Indeed, I may as well be explicit this ONE time and admit that my very being is fueled by irony (and the search for it) even at the expense of little truths. In this case I lied (only) about being superstitious, but I do get giggle fits out of making little mostly-meaningless connections. Now please, never ispire me to be so clear with what I intend ever again.
• *inspire not *ispire
• I promise never to inspire you to be free with your thoughts.
• Oh, the irony!
• You'll never convince me that this isn't real. I'm not sayin' why. I'm just sayin'.
• I love this site. It was great to find a reference that states exactly what I've always thought about acupuncture.
• Actually, I'm a bit skeptical of the Skeptic's Dictionary -- or, at least, of its author's motives. All too often, the entries wander from true Skepticism and venture into simply making light of certain beliefs. In some cases, the author goes so far as to speculate about the psychology behind certain beliefs ... without a shred of concrete evidence to back up what he has to say. An example: the entry on "Tarot cards" used to be one of the worst of the lot: "Tarot cards are used mainly in fortune telling ... [and] Tarot cards are usually read by fortune tellers ... [People using Tarot cards suffer from] the need to be guided, to have assistance in making decisions, to be reassured, [and this] may have their roots in unfulfilled childhoods ... Perhaps the many adults seeking occult guidance represent generations of children not guided and directed but tyrannically commanded, not reassured but demeaned, not taught to be masters of their own destiny but taught to be insecure and dependent." I know a bit about historical and contemporary Tarot, so I dropped the author a note, challenging his two unsupported assertions (Could he prove Tarot cards are used *mainly* in fortune telling and *usually* by fortune tellers?) and asking him to justify the extended pop-psychology analysis of people he'd never met. I never received a reply, and my detailed comments never made the comments page ... but the entry was edited, quickly and quietly, to remove the assertions and bizarre psychological speculations. So it goes.
• Thankyou for that, MadeByMark. I too have an interest in Tarot, contemporary & historical. I don't like to be tarred with the loony brush simply because I have an interest in an interesting system of psychological exploration. Another issue: acupuncture works. I know this, as a chronic pain sufferer, it is one of the only treatments that has ever worked to relieve pain & inflamation. God knows why it does, but it seems to. Skepticism is to be lauded. Sadly, skeptics are often armchair researchers who are guided by personal belief and presumption quite as much as the crazy paranormal believers, imho. And James Randi is a Kook.
• I was interested in the article on prayer. While the author takes some logical shortcuts (though I'm willing to give the BOTD and say it was for conciseness), it does raise a point that I, while an atheist, hadn't thought of in regards to prayer--i.e., that if God is perfect and all-powerful and moves in mysterious ways to the betterment of His glory and all that, that intercessory prayer is logically absurd. Think about it...what's the good of praying? If God has decided that it's time to call Grandma home, presumably He has His reasons, which are far and above more compelling than anything you in your mortal selfishness could convince Him of. Therefore, no matter how hard you pray that Grandma will survive, God's got better reasons to bring her up to heaven. The same would hold true for anything. Humans cannot logically know better than God how things should work out, by definition. Therefore, trying to convince God to change His plans for your own reasons is doomed to failure. If He does do things the way you want, it's only a coincidence that you wanted what He was going to do anyway. Furthermore, do you really want to posit a God who would do bad things to you unless you had the foresight to ask Him really nicely not to? That seems kind of mean and childish, doesn't it? I had a friend in jr. high who prayed every night during her Grandmother's illness that she would recover. One night out of exhaustion the girl fell asleep without saying her prayers, and it just so happened that THAT night, Grandma died. Now, that DOES look like the machinations of a malevolent God, or at least one with a sick sense of humor. But it didn't do much for her faith, I can tell you.
• You can take scepticism too far if you're just doing it to make a point that you're sceptical though. For example, the osteopath entry focuses on the original claims for osteopathy (that it can counter disease, etc) to dismiss it whilst ignoring that manipulation as it is practiced can have positive and easily recorded benefits.
• There's a difference between being skeptical and dismissing something outright. All of the entries I have read so far simply point out that these practices and beliefs don't hold up when subjected to controlled scientific tests. I think they were more than fair in their treatment of "accepted" alternative treatments like osteopathy and chiropractic, and borderline treatments like accupuncture (anecdotal reports notwithstanding). Personally, I'm a natural skeptic, and don't believe much without a rational explanation, even to the point of questioning my own experiences if they don't make rational sense.
• rocket88: I don't believe you.
• Chiropractors are different from Osteopaths because they're Hispanic. < /izzard>