Not quite yet

Written by | Posted on in kids, life, science

“What do you want me to do?” she asked. It was May 29 and Diane and I were debating two urgent issues. Would we let Nolan play baseball in the season that was about to start and would we attend my niece’s first communion that weekend? I’ve been furious at Kansas for opening up like […]

Magazine is broken iPad

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Big thanks to Eric Williams for pointing me to this video. I don’t completely accept the premise, but its interesting to think that my son may never have a print subscription of any kind.

Is nitrogen in tires a scam?

Written by | Posted on in science, skepticism

I was in Manhattan, Kan., waiting on my truck to be serviced about two years ago when the salesman at the service station brought me a brochure. It touted the benefits of filling my tires with nitrogen. I had never heard of such a practice, so I read the entire brochure with amazement. It seems […]

A letter to KMUW

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This letter was originally published to SkeptiKan. I’ve never been more disappointed (actually, I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed in KMUW) in KMUW than I was with this morning’s story on chiropractic and CAM. The story was one-sided and, quite frankly, misleading. From the story: “I don’t think it is really in dispute at […]

Comic takedown of global warming denial

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Image via Wikipedia Phil Plait ran this story yesterday on his Bad Astronomy blog. It’s a pointer to a great summary of the science of anthropogenic climate change and how it’s been attacked by the media more than it’s been explored. Enjoy. Darryl Cunningham Investigates Climate Change

Ancient and Oriental medicine

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Image via Wikipedia While it seems like an oxymoron, the concept of ancient medicine has always been a moneymaker for con artists and bamboozlers. I have no idea why, but for some reason, many of the more gullible among us can be convinced that older remedies are somehow more valid than modern medicine. A very […]

Kansas skeptical community finds a home at skeptikan.com

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Mason Powell’s been spearheading the creation of a skeptical movement in Lawrence. Late last week, we launched a new website at skeptikan.com. Here’s my introductory post. I read Carl Sagan’s “The Demon-Haunted World” when I was in high school. At the time, I wasn’t aware of any formalized skeptical movement, but the concept of using […]

What is homeopathy?

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Huge thanks to my friend Kevin Rutter for sourcing this video. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYqQ_n2vOOI[/youtube] hotauctioneering.com

Today’s quackery: osteopathic manipulative medicine

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Andrew Taylor Still lived near Baldwin City, Kansas, during the time of the Civil War. There, he founded the practice of osteopathy in the 1870s after his father and three children died from spinal meningitis. He founded the American School of Osteopathy in Missouri in the 1890s. Still believed that the bone was the starting […]

Castling

Written by | Posted on in life, science

Every now and then you enjoy something that you know that very few people in this world would enjoy as much as you do. Sometimes it’s bad, such as making customers or superiors suffer. Sometimes, though, it’s because you’re just a weirdo. I’ve just started listening to the physics lectures given by Richard Feynman at […]