The Skepdoc no longer employed by Oprah

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Back in December, I reported that the Skepdoc, Harriet Hall, accepted a rather unusual job offer. It seemed that the new health and environment editor at O, Oprah’s magazine, wanted Hall to write a regular column for the magazine. And while I was very excited at the prospect of Hall introducing skepticism to Oprah’s audience, I had doubts, fearing this might inevitably lead to the apocalypse like when Angel took that job at Wolfram & Hart.

But I at least hoped that worst case scenario, I’d get to slay the dragon (Okay, I’ve gotten that pop culture reference out of my system). Sadly, Dr. Hall will no longer be working for Oprah. She explains why in an article at Science-Based Medicine as well as the ridiculous bullshit she had to deal with the entire time.

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• Bravo, Harriet Hall! (scienceblogs.com)

Great response to the “mosque” “at Ground Zero” controversy

I’m typically a fan of YouTube comedian Pat Condell, who notorious for his harsh rants against religion, particularly Islam. But lately, he’s been kinda off…off his rocker. The typically witty Brit has made several videos criticizing the alleged “mosque” “at Ground Zero” that as a matter of fact is not really a mosque and not really at Ground Zero. These videos are built on loads of right-wing misinformation and talking points that have been thoroughly refuted at this point and quite frankly come across as anti-freedom.

But while Condell has disappointed me of late, another YouTube atheist whom I typically dislike, The Amazing Atheist, has made a fantastic response video. It’s so good I’ve decided to share it. Let it never be said that atheists don’t defend the rights of the religious when they really are being challenged.

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• A Great Response to Pat Condell (friendlyatheist.com)
• The Amazing Atheist on The Ground Zero Mosque (infalliblefailure.blogspot.com)
• Pat Condell: Bad Faith at Ground Zero (milkandcookies.com)

Crucifixion goes electric

Yup, that’s right it’s time for another example of Jesus-inspired pareidolia. So where’s Jesus turning up now? On a power line pole:

I just thought this would be a great occasion to once again point people over to my hilarious (if I do say so myself) parody of this phenomenon over at The Gotham Skeptic.

Australian Vaccination Movement steals too

Arr! Why didn't any of you skallywags tell me stealing was wrong?

In addition to the charges brought against the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) by the Health Care Complaints Commission over their constant misinforming of parents about health information and harassment of families criticizing the organization, now the AVN has taking to stealing, or more specifically, to violating copyright law by selling newspaper and medical journal articles online without the authors’ permission.

The Australian Vaccination Network, which was the subject of a public warning issued by the Health Care Complaints Commission last month, withdrew 11 information packs from its website yesterday after complaints from authors.

The packs, which were selling for up to $128, included home-made books filled with articles photocopied from journals around the world, information on drugs taken from MIMS, the medical guide used by doctors and nurses, and copies of brochures inserted in medication boxes by pharmaceutical companies.

What’s that conspiracy theorists always say about following the money? Now you might wonder why the AVN would be interested in spreading real medical information from actual reliable sources, given how prone they are to lying to parents for the specific purpose of tricking them into thinking the real medical professionals are part of an evil conspiracy. Well this should explain that:

“‘That article is at least 15 years old so is not based on current information.”

See, the AVN isn’t anti-science. They love science, so long as it’s old, outdated science.

The network is also under investigation by the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing after reports it solicited donations without a fundraising licence. If found guilty, the network will no longer be allowed to operate as a charity.

The president of the network, Meryl Dorey, said she was unaware she had breached copyright but accepted there had been problems with her licence.

”We’ve made mistakes but they’ve been honest mistakes. They’ve been out of ignorance rather than fraudulence,” she said.

You see, Meryl Dorey didn’t mean any harm. How was she to know that being a pirate was illegal? Cause that never comes up in any pirate movie ever. Nor is it explained at the beginning of every DVD and VHC. For she’s been living on the moon for her entire life and never heard of such foreign concepts as intellectual property and copyrights. That’s a plausible defense. It’s like that time I ran over that kid with my car. I didn’t know that was a crime. Honest.

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• AVN now routinely getting publicly humiliated (blogs.discovermagazine.com)