Citing media “intolerance and bigotry”, anti-science Canadian MP James Lunney has quit the government caucus to sit as an independent. Among Lunney’s claim to the crown as Canada’s least scientifically literate MP are: He doesn’t believe in evolution He’s a chiropractor He’s claimed there’s a link between vaccines and autism
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Terahertz: Got DNA evidence of Bigfoot? Don’t peer review, write a book!
Science Editor Jonathan Leake skewered Bryan Sykes in The Sunday Times today [paywalled] over bigfoot claims. Sykes is publishing a new book in which he’ll present the DNA evidence he claims to have for the existence of yetis and bigfoot. This claim comes despite the lack of any good photographic evidence in the
Continue readingTerahertz: Edmonton Journal grants space to debunked anti-WiFi conspiracies
Some parents in Alberta are trying to get schools to ban wi-fi on baseless fears and scare-mongering. The kicker: these same parents are fine with wifi in their house. It’s not so much the parents who bother me in this story as the Canadian Teachers Federation, the local school councils,
Continue readingTerahertz: I get email – Human rights and Climate change
Recently, I wrote about a ruling against APEGA, Alberta’s professional association for engineers, by the province’s Human Rights Tribunal. Low and behold, the defendant in the case, Ladislav Mihaly, emailed me with a follow up request for help. My name is Ladislav Mihaly, and I am the Engineer who won
Continue readingTerahertz: Woo and health charities
Charities and non-profits operate under tough conditions. There is never enough funding, staff, or expertise to achieve perfection and the demands from clients, donors, and funders often force the charity to be more flexible than it might otherwise. Because of these limitations, you can wind up with articles like “Energy-based
Continue readingTerahertz: Brits and the Devil
Since moving to England, I haven’t been able to participate in Angus Reid surveys (their site only allows Canadian IPs to participate), so instead I’ve been getting my polling participation fix through YouGov. The most recent one I completed was just released and is part of a UK-USA comparison of
Continue readingTerahertz: Important Issues, Sound Science, Real Change
I was asked at a talk I gave at Leeds Skeptics in the Pub on Monday what lesson I would import to the UK from Canadian skepticism. My answer was an effective science lobbying group like Bad Science Watch, which I helped announce last summer (and was initially involved until
Continue readingTerahertz: Skeptic with an Eh?
Seeing a gap in the Leed’s Skeptics in the Pub event for September, I volunteer to give a talk on the skeptical movement in Canada. Here are the details if you want to come stalk me in person: Monday, 23 September 2013 19:00 at the Victoria Hotel (28 Great George
Continue readingTerahertz: A pox on (some of) your houses
Recently, numerous allegations have flown throughout the blogosphere (at least, the portion that I read), identifying numerous high-profile skeptics/atheists/scientists as varying degrees of creepy to rapist. Others have jumped to their defense, crying that we ought to be skeptical of anonymous accusations and that women ought to just drink less.
Continue readingTerahertz: A note on “Skepticism and Gypsy Stereotypes”
Hopefully you took the time to read the article I just posted entitled “Skepticism and Gypsy Stereotypes.” I want to give some backstory to this piece, separate from the article itself. After attending Imagine No Religion 3 this past spring, I had wanted to challenge the trope of Gypsy Fortune-Tellers
Continue readingTerahertz: Skepticism and Gypsy Stereotypes
By Ian Bushfield and Edwin Hodge At a recent skeptics conference and during a discussion of the sorts of charlatans and frauds that are best known for peddling woo, a couple of speakers drew upon the image of the ‘conniving Gypsy fortune-teller,’ a stereotype that has frequently been used to
Continue readingTerahertz: California Rejects GMO Labeling, and why I approve
You may have missed it, but Barack Obama won re-election Tuesday in what the media wrongly called a very close race. While Mitt Romney was able to score over 70% of the vote in Utah, he failed to achieve either the popular vote nationwide or the only one that matters
Continue readingTerahertz: I get email
I don’t get much email (perhaps luckily) but I still get the occasional crank. Floride is poison to ingest and bath in.What part of” fresh, clean water” do they not understand. Mike I’m not entirely sure what provoked this. I only have two posts that mention fluoride – an article
Continue readingTerahertz: Announcing Bad Science Watch
The promoters of science-based policy in Canada have a new defender. Bad Science Watch, a new Canadian science advocacy group, has issued a challenge to the Canadian government: stick to the science in the development and implementation of important policy decisions. This group will work diligently to ensure Canadians are
Continue readingTerahertz: Vancouver’s Freethought Movement Grows
Today was a very good day. This morning the trend of increasingly successful BCHA meetings continued, with just over thirty humanists gathering at the Oakridge Seniors’ Centre for a discussion on Neuroscience and Memory. Four-year-old Addysen was perhaps one of the youngest attendees to one of our meetings yet –
Continue readingTerahertz: Quacks invade Richmond City Council
Richmond’s city council recently approved a motion to ban genetically-modified crops from being planted in their municipality. Richmond is likely the largest municipality in BC to pass such a ban and is one of the few with a large area of agricultural land. The motion was largely symbolic, as crop
Continue readingTerahertz: No, I don’t
Look at this photo. What do you see? I see the moon, some clouds, a tree, and an over-exposed light post in the foreground. The Calgary Herald wants to know if you’re as pareidolia-susceptible as their reader L. Wolanski and see Jesus in the clouds. Nevermind how angry this story
Continue readingTerahertz: Teach safe sex
I was sent this neat info-graphic that discusses the need for comprehensive sex ed in the USA. We can be a bit more smug here in Canada, but we must remain eternally vigilant that our education system relies on the best available information. Created by: PublicHealthDegree.com
Continue readingTerahertz: Canada is screwed in the long term
I’m not found of believing in miracles, but imagine for a second that one happens and after 2015 we have either a NDP or Liberal majority, or even some coalition arrangement of the two. Either case will be better then what we have now, obviously, but in either case we’re
Continue readingTerahertz: Brand politics
Dan Gardner’s latest article compares the success of the Conservatives and failure of the Liberals in terms of their basic branding message. He argues that one of the keys to the success of the Conservatives is that they have identified and sold their brand as “small government and individual liberty.”
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