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
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
Ancient and Oriental medicine
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
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?
Citizen journalism
My friend Carl Carter, over at overcoffeemedia.com, wrote yesterday that citizen journalism is a myth. Writing correctly that journalism is hard work, he points out the expense and overhead inherent to the filtering that permeates modern professional journalism. This filtration, he and others reason, is the reason consumers prefer to source their news from professional […]
Today’s quackery: osteopathic manipulative medicine
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 […]