My Toes. Let Me Show You Them.*

Pied billed grebe awesomeness #1: dinosaur toes!

The toes are not webbed; they're lobed. When the grebe pulls its foot forward through the water, the toes fold up. Then when it pushes back the toes open. Pretty good swimming idea. Yet it can't paddle as quickly as the ducks. It actually swims faster below the water than at its surface.

I'd love to watch the grebes during the breeding season. The male's call sounds like laughter. Sadly, they're endangered in my state due to habitat loss.

Stay tuned for more pied billed grebe goodness...
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*If this is your pic, let me know so I give proper credit.

Huffington Post Health News

U MUS HUFF IT 2 GiT IT!

Dr. Sears, WTF?

Telling Lies

A little art to refresh the pallet after so much science-mindedness.

US A-Cat Class

A-Cats at Ft Myers from Fly Rod on Vimeo.

Drool.

The Scientology Master Plan

A YouTube from 2007. But still amazing to see.

Coordinated marketing campaigns involving multiple seemingly independent sources of news are worrisome. They're disruptive to the wisdom of a healthy marketplace of ideas in the same way that a monopoly disrupts rational price setting based on supply and demand.

Scientologists are big on vitamins. I wonder if there are connections between the Church of Scientology and organizations like the Bravewell collaborative and others pushing for "integrative medicine."

I also wonder if there are meaningful connections between Scientology and the recent Federal actions against Lilly, Astra-Zeneca, Janssen, Forrest, and several child psychiatrists MGH.

From the brain's perspective, there are two ways to shape reality to suit:

1. roll up your sleeve and modify the actual, physical environment
2. create a consensus of belief among the tribe.

Both strategies result in convincing feedback to the brain regarding how the world is.

The second strategy has some advantages. It's sometimes easier and faster than the first, particularly for those of a sociable nature. The downside: if the consensus is too at odds with reality, it will eventually crash.

Poor Mr. Turkey

A turkey has an hypothesis: "Farmer John is a cool dude. He really loves me!"

Farmer John brings the turkey some nice grain. The turkey says, "See, this proves it!"

Next day, Farmer John brings the turkey more grain. Turkey says, "Even more proof!"

Next day, delicious grain. Turkey says, "His love for me is clearly an established fact!"

More than three hundred days go by as above. The turkey, who learned about the scientific method from a naturopath, says, "I was pretty sure he loved me after a few days of kindness. But now that I've enjoyed over three hundred days of tender care, I have so much more proof of his love."

The next morning, Thanksgiving.

Now, for ten internets, can you name poor Mr. Turkey's logical fallacy?

The Titmouse Law

People everywhere have been cranking out rules concerning Internet discourse. We have Godwin's law, Poe's law, and more that I'm too lazy to Google.

One more for the pile:

The Titmouse Law: Anyone who cites an article from a non-peer reviewed journal in order to create the appearance of scientific legitimacy for some speculative medical etiology, test, or therapy, is a fraudulent quack.

Quackery is no longer out on the fringes. It's become organized. It has PACs backed by supplement billionaires successfully campaigning for changes in scope of practice laws. It has "schools of medicine" and "residency training." It offers CMEs and "board certifications." It has its own specialized labs. It's promoted by the federal government through NCCAM and other agencies. It's also promoted by departments of Integrative Medicine at leading medical schools. The number of quack journals published increases daily.

Good doctors are busy. They don't have time for so much debunking and politics. They also don't donate to PACS. Consequently, they are totally screwed.

Where it can be applied, the Titmouse Law allows for rapid triage of tomfoolery, thus making the ordinary doctor's workload a little lighter.

The CAM Donut

Clerk: Would you like a donut?

Person: What do you have?

Clerk: Let me show you some donut-holes.

Person: Mmm tasty! (reaches toward display)

Clerk: (slaps hand) No! We don't sell these. We sell the part that is not a donut hole.

Person: So a donut is...

Clerk: Everything else, yes.

Person: Gosh. How big are your donuts?

Clerk: We don't get into that.
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From NCCAM: CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine.

Here's my question for you, NCCAM: What defines the outside edge of the CAM donut? Do CAM proponents have any rational method for rejecting therapies from their set?

If Oedipus recommends tearing out one's eyes as a means of treating overwhelming feelings of guilt and despair, might that be included in the CAM set?

How about ground up rhinocerous horn for male impotence?

How about faith healing for children with menningitis?

Exorcism for epilepsy?

"CAM" as a concept is meaningless without a rational method for rejecting some proposed therapies from the set.

Wow! I think we just wound our way back to science-based medicine. For science is the method for sorting plausible from implausible claims.

Common Mergansers

These mergansers stopped by for a few hours last Sunday.