It’s just so easy showing that homeopathy is junk, a pseudoscience, and nothing more than a placebo. But it bothers me that so many people think that homeopathy is real. The nonsense people believe! Anyway, Donald Prothero has recently posted a good article on homeopathy:
Worth a read, and quite funny.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2012
Further to a recent post on Steiner Waldorf schools, Quackometer has posted a couple of articles on the obfuscation practised by those schools, and the results of the investigations by the BBC et al:
The education of our children should not be left in the hands of those steeped in nonsense, superstition and the occult. There is enough unreason already in this world without more sewage being poured over the impressionable and the vulnerable. The level of indoctrination practised by these schools does not appear to be as overt as those of other religious schools but the nature of the risks needs to be understood.
An extensive resource is here for those wanting to research more:
This website deals with
- Waldorf schools, also known as Steiner schools;
- Rudolf Steiner, the occultist who established the first of these schools; and
- Anthroposophy, the bizarre religion promoted by the schools.
I, of course, have similar objections to other religious schools but the need to highlight the nature of the Steiner Waldorf schools required prioritising as not everyone is aware what these schools are all about.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2012
I think most of us know that homeopathy is nonsense, that it’s nothing more than a placebo. And I thought I’d heard all homeopathic nonsenses until I watched this:
It’s almost as if she’s had a dose of woo from Deepak Chopra!
This raises an interesting question: Why do people believe in nonsense? The great Carl Sagan explored this many years ago in his book “The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, and by Michael Shermer in several of his books such as “Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time”.
It seems to me that people want to believe in something fantastical regardless of the weight of evidence that show that their beliefs just ain’t so. Is this a result of their upbringing, a failure to use tools such as common sense and critical thinking? Education is always important but we are unlikely to be totally free of wackos.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2012
Great feature from io9 with links to six videos on the basics of critical thinking (which I like to call common sense or reason):
And here are the videos:
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2012
Saw this YouTube video a couple or so years ago, but was reminded of it by a recent Tim Minchin performance. So here is “Storm” by Tim Minchin (the video is audio with text overlay):
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011
I had originally posted my quick review of the iPad ebook/app version of Richard Dawkins book “The Magic of reality” in the iTunes store a few days ago (late October) but, for whatever reason, the review has not shown up there. I have therefore taken the opportunity to post that review here albeit with this preface. The review is not so much a critique of the message of the book (which I found brilliant) but more to do with the mechanics of the implementation of this ebook version.
The ebook/app was released on 23 September 2011, and is at version 1.
This is a fantastic book/app. I thoroughly recommend this for its primary audience, children, but also for the young adult in their mid-teen to late teen years. It is clearly written and has interactive media that engages a young person’s mind.
However, there are a few elements with regards to the implementation of this version (the first edition to hit the iPad) that could be improved upon, and I have listed these issues below in the hopes that the publisher takes action to improve the book/app in future editions.
- There is no dictionary or thesaurus look-up. Implementation of this feature would allow a young person to more easily explore new words.
- There is no bookmarking feature and I can’t seem to go directly to specific chapters. I sometimes like to bookmark certain pages or go direct to certain chapters so that I can read them again later. It is extremely tedious to scroll through the book’s contents to find something specific that you want to read again.
- There are no page numbers. On the iPad, page numbers should be easy to implement. I do like to make reference to chapters and page numbers.
- I found at least on section of text referring to a diagram “below” when the diagram was elsewhere. I assume that this is just an error (it probably is correct in the printed version).
- The interactive diagram illustrating the sun size and how it fits into the galaxy appears five pages before the text that refers to it. The two should be closer.
- The diagram with the two prisms, a slit, and red light at the second prism seems incorrect. I think the slit needs to be turned through 90 degrees.
- There was a section on the spectrograph which mentions a website; what website?
- The text uses a mixture of metric an imperial measurements for distances e.g. miles, kilometres, etc. It needs to stick to metric (although I can see that metric measurements might be an issue with readers from the USA).
- The interactive diagram for continental drift is great but, probably due to the projection used, the size of continents changes significantly when moving between equatorial and polar regions. For example, look at the sizes of Greenland and India; they change considerably! This can cause puzzlement to the young reader. I would suggest using a globe projection (such as used by Google Earth) to minimise these size distortions.
- The diagram of the cross-section of Earth says “tre-acle”. This needs to be corrected.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011
Why Evolution Is True describes the rather ludicrous theological ramblings of two “philosophers”. They are described as “mushbrained”. It is this lack of reasoned thinking that leads people into a state of self-delusion, lack of awareness and the intellectual compromises that they must make. What a waste.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011
More information on the bright story of Mason Crumpacker and Christopher Hitchens:
As well as the thoughtful actions of Hitchens, it was heart-warming to see a child being taught the skills of critical thinking and rationality; not being brainwashed and indoctrinated by the dogmas, irrationality and injustices of religion, but being taught how to think for oneself and to come to your own conclusions as to how the world works. Brilliant.
I was much older, perhaps about 13 years of age, before I consciously started thinking of rationality and critical thinking.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011
I came across this via richarddawkins.net…indoctrination and child abuse.
Disgusting. Children should be given the tools for critical thinking; tools that can be used to understand how the world really works. This "Jesus Camp" and other camps of whatever religion keep these tools out of reach and, instead, replace them with delusion, enslaving children to the irrationality and dogmas of religion.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011
This is just a quick snippet but something that should be easily quotable:
Religion is institutionalised delusion, a social grouping mechanism for the irrational. But for those within this group who dare to explore with open minds, with the tools of critical thinking, there is hope of a life free from the prisons and poisons of religion.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011