ENGL 0303 Guide To Thinking Straight and Shooting From the Hip

Cognitive Biases

2011-04-17T08:09:00.001-07:00

Guilt By Association

2011-04-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

http://www.fallacyfiles.org/guiltbya.html

Stereotypes

2011-04-17T08:05:00.000-07:00

"Stereotypes are generalizations, or assumptions, that people make about the characteristics of all members of a group, based on an image (often wrong) about what people in that group are like."

Good site:

"Hasty Generalization

Someone who makes generalizations on the basis of insufficient evidence is making a hasty generalization. "The first six people who voted all said they had voted Democratic. It looks like a big victory for Democrats this election." This fallacy can also be called stereotyping, a generalization that results from an oversimplification or a bias. For example, "Blonds are dumb" or "Chinese are clever." Still another name for this fallacy might be the inadequate data fallacy. The user of this fallacy has some data pertinent to the problem but not enough to form the basis of a sound conclusion. The media's rush to interpret early voting results out of Florida for the 2000 Presidential election was clearly hasty."

Endowment Effect

2011-04-17T07:55:00.000-07:00

Bandwagon Effect

2011-04-10T17:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.thadguy.com/comic/fear-of-the-bandwagon-effect/211/

http://digitalinsurgents.wordpress.com/2007/08/10/list-of-cognitive-biases-doh/

http://changingminds.org/disciplines/communication/diffusion/bandwagon_effect.htm

Illusory Correlation

2011-04-03T08:11:00.000-07:00

"An illusory correlation is the perception of a relationship between two variables when only a minor or absolutely no relationship actually exists. For example, people sometimes assume that because two events occurred together at one point in the past, that one event must be the cause of the other. These illusory correlations can occur both in scientific investigations and in real-world situations.

Stereotypes are a good example of illusory correlations. Research has shown that people tend to assume that certain groups and traits occur together, and frequently overestimate the strength of the association between the two variables. For example, let's suppose that a man holds a mistaken belief that all people from small towns are extremely kind. When the individual meets a very kind person, his immediate assumption might be that the person is from a small town, despite the fact that kindness is not related to city population."

http://psychology.about.com/od/iindex/g/illusory-correlation.htm

Confirmation Bias

2011-04-03T07:57:00.000-07:00

From Science Daily: "In psychology and cognitive science, confirmation bias (or confirmatory bias) is a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions, leading to statistical errors. Confirmation bias is a type of cognitive bias and represents an error of inductive inference toward confirmation of the hypothesis under study.Confirmation bias is a phenomenon wherein decision makers have been shown to actively seek out and assign more weight to evidence that confirms their hypothesis, and ignore or underweigh evidence that could disconfirm their hypothesis."

Your assignment: think of an example in your own life dealing with confirmation bias and write a paragraph on it; consider how knowing about confirmation bias now, you would work to avoid falling victim to it.

Poem Practice

2011-03-27T11:06:00.001-07:00

Fire and Ice

BY ROBERT FROST

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

availability heuristic

2011-03-27T09:52:00.000-07:00

What is availability heuristic and why does it matter?

2011-03-22T19:05:00.001-07:00

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21793

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20247

Both Campuses, Monday/Tuesday

2011-03-20T11:13:00.001-07:00

Please bring all Reporting Information paper materials and textbook to class with you.

EBSCO

2011-03-04T19:46:00.001-08:00

EBSCO

Posted by KWombles at 7:41 PM

Ignore how busy my bar is up at the top. I multitask. Alright, to get here you logged onto blackboard, selected the library, and then selected the Library of Texas. You entered the user name and password and bam, here you are; you've scrolled down until you see the All EBSCO databases.

You click it.

And there you are. Where you need to be. You click on choose databases if you need to add some in. Then you enter your search term. I've put in bullies

So here are my results. Gosh, that's a lot!

Here are the results from a different database:

Maybe I want to narrow it some more:

I select the pdf full text and this is what it looks like. I've moved my cursor over email so I can email it to me:

Here's the email page; I'm going to make sure I have selected MLA format:

Here's the detailed record if I want to go about it differently.

I'm going to click cite.

I'm going to scroll down and find MLA.

There's the first run through to get an article.

Attendance Woes

2011-03-01T15:14:00.001-08:00

A reminder to all students: four unexcused absences and a failing grade, and I WILL drop you from the course, so please get to class and do it on time. Thank you!

The Next Two Weeks

2011-02-26T06:55:00.000-08:00

ENGL 0303 Assignment for the week of Feb 28-Mar 3 and Mar 7-10

Your first paper is a reporting information paper in which you will use 2 database sources. In order to prepare you for this paper, you will be doing a one page paper in class over the next couple weeks. You will keep everything related to this paper and turn it in at the end of each class period for review and a daily grade.

I have provided an article on critical thinking and evidence-based practice, which relates to the medical field. I’ve chosen this field because all of us will need to receive medical care and how our clinicians choose to treat us and our ailments should be of concern. Critical thinking is the foundation for sound reasoning and the best way to avoid making poor decisions.

Your assignment on Feb 28/Mar 1 (depending on what day your class meets) is to listen while I go over the article, then read the article, and begin the writing process. The writing process will first involve a pre-writing activity: you’ve got to get a feel for what you want to write about. You have your topic, critical thinking and evidence-based practices, but you need your take. You need to figure out how to structure your paper, what points you want to use to support your thesis. I would recommend a thesis somewhere along the lines of the bolded text above.

You need an outline.

After you have an outline, you can begin writing your paper. It needs to be neat and easily readable as it will be handwritten.

It needs an introduction and three supporting points and a conclusion.

You will cite the article as you write and use material from it. You should use Finn and provide the page number in parentheticals and use quotes appropriately.

For example, you would write:

According to Patrick Finn, “rational—or critical—thinking is an essential clinical skill and

important complement to EBP” in the medical field (69).

At the end of each class, you will place all your materials in the folder I give you and you will hand it in. I will review your progress and offer specific notes and suggestions. We will go all the way from prewriting to editing this paper in class over the next two weeks.

When you are done with your paper, you will carefully copy the works cited provided onto your own paper on its own page.

Works Cited

Finn, Patrick. "Critical Thinking: Knowledge and Skills for Evidence-Based

Practice." Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools 42.1 (2011): 69-

72. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.

Homework!

You will also have homework to do relating to your own reporting information paper and you will submit that material to me via email or on blackboard on the due dates I provide.

Homework assignment for Feb 28/Mar 1

On blackboard, you will find my paper on my expectations for this class. It is riddled with errors. You will download this paper, you will correct the errors, and you will upload it to turnitin by Wednesday March 2 at midnight. Use your grammar book to help you with the errors.

Homework assignment for Mar 2/Mar 3

You will email me at wombles@sbcglobal.net by Friday Mar 4 your topic for your reporting information paper and the work cited for one of your sources. You will provide a brief paragraph explaining what the article is about.

Homework assignment for Mar 7/Mar 8

You will email me your second source with a brief paragraph about it by Wednesday Mar 9 midnight.

Homework assignment for Mar 9/Mar 10

You will email me your thesis statement and outline by Friday March 11.

CISCO campus 02/24 assignment

2011-02-24T10:03:00.000-08:00

No class---please read the following article http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4037 and then write a paragraph providing examples of when you've run across a product or a claim that met some of these red flags. Knowing what you know now, how would you evaluate a product's credibility. Think magnetic bracelets or power bracelets, for example. Email me your paragraph to wombles@sbcglobal.net by Sunday, noon.

Reporting Information Paper

2011-02-21T14:46:00.000-08:00

Your first major writing project is a reporting information paper. There is a page of notes on the paper here.

You will use the database. Access the database through blackboard. Once you are logged on to blackboard, click Cisco College Libraries. The password is under announcements (Library of Texas). Once you have the password, please click on Library of Texas on the left, enter the user name and password. Scroll down and select All EBSCO databases.

Choose the appropriate databases for your search.

Email yourself the pdf or html and select citation MLA format to be sent as well.

You have to cite any information not your own.

Do so by writing

According to so-and-so, "blah blah" (page number).

So-and-so writes that "blah blah" (page number).

Your works cited goes on its own page. The sources go in alphabetic order by last name.

If you have any questions, please email me.

Blackboard Assignment Due Fri 18th.

2011-02-16T04:09:00.000-08:00

If you missed class [ABILENE campus] Monday (and because I will not be there on the 16th), you have a one page paper assignment due on blackboard on Friday 18th.

By Friday, one page paper on blackboard on your expectations for this class.
Create a thesis statement that incorporates the following “My expectations for this course and what I will accomplish by the end of it include.” Add at least three things to that sentence. Each of those things will be their own paragraph.

You will have a topic sentence for each paragraph.
“The first thing I hope to accomplish in this course is…” and so on.
You will have a conclusion. It will sum it up.

Failure to post this by midnight on Friday will result in a nondroppable zero.

Shermer: The Pattern Behind Self-Deception

2011-02-14T11:01:00.000-08:00

Shermer on Colbert

2011-02-14T10:59:00.001-08:00

One Page Paper Shermer vs Adams

2011-02-13T21:04:00.000-08:00

Please read http://skepticblog.org/2011/01/12/finding-patterns-in-random-noise/ and http://www.naturalnews.com/031076_USDA_bird_deaths.html and write one double-spaced typed page on Shermer's explanation and Mike Adams and who's explanation you find more convincing and why.

Abilene campus upload to blackboard by Feb 10 at midnight. Cisco campus Feb 10 at midnight.

Michael Shermer is a skeptic blogger, writer and instructor. He explains in his piece why we have a tendency to find patterns in randomness. So the recent slate of stories on fish and bird mass deaths are much more likely to be people paying attention where they weren't before. Mike Adams is someone who peddles pseudoscience and quack treatments. He thinks the USDA is poisoning animals.

You should come up with a thesis you can support. For example, you could write something along the lines of "Michael Shermer's explanation for the recent dead bird clusters are an example of human beings looking to find patterns where none may exist; Mike Adams is an example of this principle in action.

Then you would come up with some supports for this thesis, and you would use quotes from each piece to support your points.

You would conclude with a paragraph that sums it up, maybe has a catchy anecdote or a snappy one-liner..

Shermer's Baloney Detection Kit

2011-02-13T20:42:00.000-08:00

Cisco class: watched in class on Day 1
Abilene class: assigned as homework

Abilene Campus: Walk for Autism Information

2011-02-13T15:25:00.001-08:00

Here is the page to register to walk.

We have a modest goal for raising $500; we'll set up a table later in March a couple mornings in the foyer at the Abilene campus to collect donations; I will need a couple volunteers for that. We'll do puzzle pieces and sell bears.

We'll need some volunteers at the zoo on April 1 in the afternoon for setting up and some on the 2nd. I will have sign up sheets. You can both walk and volunteer; there will be 1 hour slots for volunteering starting from 7:00 am and running to 1:00 pm. The walk itself will start at 10:00am.

Thank you for your help.

1/31 2/1 How Do You Know if It's Too Good to be True?: Protocols Not Worth the Time

2011-01-30T09:11:00.000-08:00

We'll go over this together in class, and then you will write a page on things you should be on the look out for when looking on the internet for treatments and therapies.

Thelma and Kim: Tackling a Protocol, Woo Woo to You

Kim: I was alerted by a friend to this therapy some parents with autistic children are using and swearing by, and I dug right into it. Now, my good friend Thelma has a thing about woo-quacks, especially naturopaths and chiropractors, so I shared this information with her, figuring two snarky heads are better than one on this kind of stuff, you know?

What follows is a free for all where the snark flies and it’s critical of the dumbasses, so if you are one, you’ve been forewarned and forearmed with a trigger alert: Snarkfest by some of the best dumbassologists around. In fact, I’d venture to say, we’re the nation’s leading dumbassologists. So there. Prove we’re not. J

Thelma here, and godsamighty, after them fools who like to hook themselves up to them things like the Quantum SCIO and QXCI, you’d think I’d have seen it all. Nosirree, there is an endless stream of dumbasses, and don’t think I ain’t noticed Kim taking it upon herself to use my phrase. Shoulda trademarked it. This here Bioset thing is something else, that’s for sure.

The Bioset Protocol turned up no hits for the academic databases or on Pubmed. It’s not a protocol that has received any research. According to one site, “Bioenergetic Sensitivity and Enzyme Therapy, is an energy-based allergy elimination method that is based on Chinese medicine and acupuncture principles. Originated by Dr. Ellen Cutler, this allergy elimination method views the body holistically, similar to the Chinese approach. This view accepts the fact that there is an energy system in the human body that is separate from the cardiovascular system and nervous system. This system, which is comprised of “meridians,” has everything to do with the way the body maintains its overall health.”

The website explains Bioset further: “Bioset practitioners utilize Maridian (sic) Stress Assessment (MSA), for allergy testing, or they may use muscle testing (applied kinesiology), two non-invasive techniques that are both safe and reliable. MSA is computerized device that detects energy variations in the body.”

Thelma again. Yeah, folks, ya gotta remember that there’s a whole bunch of ~~dumbasses~~ folks buying into hooie, so what them smart entrepreneurs do is they just link into the woo folks is already buying. There’s just something so magical about energy flowing through your body and the whole idea that it gets clogged up, stick some needles into the skin and ya can clear them channels right up. Ya know, once ya have bought into that and the whole feng shui thing, ya can be sold just about anything, dontcha know?

Kim: Bioset advocates attempt to sound scientifically based, as many pseudoscience practitioners do: “Those who know a bit of biochemistry will understand that everything is comprised of energy. Every cell in a human body or even a physical building is in motion and part of a energy “wave.” The rhythms, frequencies, wavelengths, and electrical charges of vibrating energy waves are what creates the various forms of physical matter. Frequencies in the body, however, can become misaligned whereby energy blockages occur. Blocked energy, therefore, is responsible for allergies and illness.”

Reasonable people, if they’ve managed to follow along so far and buy into this theory surely, surely back up at this, though: “Muscle testing, another approach used by NAET practitioners, identifies blockages in a patient’s electromagnetic energy field when a patient is holding a specific allergen. During this test, patients may be lying down or sitting while they extend one arm out horizontally. In the other hand, a patient will hold a food, an allergen, or a vial containing the energetic vibration of a specific allergen. The practitioner pushes down on the wrist of the patient’s extended arm while the patient attempts to resist the downward pressure. If the patient is allergic to the substance he is holding, the indicator muscle (usually the deltoid muscle in the shoulder) will weaken and the patient’s arm will drop.”

Bless Kim, she thinks that most folks are reasonable people. Ain’t that cute? Kim, having watched her for awhile, I have noticed, questions every dang thing. Musta drove her parents crazy with the asking and the asking. Lookee here, if I done found folks selling these here Quantum readings who are willing to buy into the hairbrained idea that "The Quantum is reading your Super-Conscience mind. 90% of your Super conscience mind is not being used," don’t rightly see how we can be surprised by what this Cutler lady is aselling.

Cutler sure thinks highly of herself, too: “Dr. Ellen Cutler, Enzyme Empress, as she is being called by her patients, is the bestselling author of four books, an internationally recognized teacher, an eminent public speaker and a distinguished media spokesperson, and she is on a holistic healing mission.”

Oh, she can go on, too: “Dr. Cutler is a well-spoken, media savvy professional who is passionate about her work. She is author of: MicroMiracles, Winning the War Against Asthma and Allergies, Winning the War Against Immune Disordersand Allergies and The Food Allergy Cure.”

She even has a set of ready-made questions for media folks to ask her, too. No need for any pesky questions like what her credentials are, what scientific evidence does she have. No, no, no. No need for that.

She’s happy to sell you some stuff, too, but if you want her really good stuff, you’re gonna have to find one of her practitioners to get that. For $450, you, toocan be one of her practitioners, though. She’ll train you right up on the muscle testing trick, too, for a wee spot more. Ya gotta buy her books, though.

Of course, she says she’s a medical doctor and a chiropractor, but she ain’t big on the details of when and where. She assures ya she’s got 25 years of clinical practice and she’s a patient, too. First she healed herself and now she wants to heal you, too. For a price. Read her books, chew up her enzymes, get yerself to one of her practitioners so they can do some energy readings on ya.

Ooh, she’s got a pdf catalog of her special products ya have to get from a professional, too, cuz folks die for the exclusivity thing, and ifn they can’t buy it themselves, the whole idea of it being restricted just adds the allure to it, ya know? So many pretties that folks cain’t get their hands on. Shewey, does she know the game or what?

Kim: There is absolutely no empirical evidence for the validity of Bioset. The underlying theories girding Bioset are rejected by the scientific community (see muscle testing paragraph above—what self-respecting scientifically minded individual wouldn’t double over laughing at the thought of this being anything other than woo?).

Chinese medicine is not based on an understanding of microbiology, anatomy and physiology, or pathology. Instead it is based on “the understanding of the human body is based on the holistic understanding of the universe as described in Daoism, and the treatment of illness is based primarily on the diagnosis and differentiation of syndromes.” According to the Traditional Chinese Medicine Information Page, “The clinical diagnosis and treatment in Traditional Chinese Medicine are mainly based on the yin-yang and five elements theories. These theories apply the phenomena and laws of nature to the study of the physiological activities and pathological changes of the human body and its interrelationships. The typical TCM therapies include acupuncture, herbal medicine, and qigong exercises.”

Thelma: I tell ya what, there’s a sucker out there for every kind of woo. There sure is, and ya know that dumbasses and their money are soon parted. And there are plenty of folks out there waiting to help you. Why, even though it don’t appear that Cutler thought to milk the autism community out of their money, some folks using her woo have. Even autism organizations are linking to the woo: Autism Canada sends folks right to Cutler’s site.

Kim: Here’s a description of the assessment: “A BioEnergetic Assessment (BEA) is a non invasive computerized method of testing. BEA measures energy imbalances in the body by utilizing an electronic instrument called the Avatar to examine acupuncture meridians. BioEnergetic testing is founded on the principles of vibrational medicine. Once the imbalances are determined, a customized program of nutritional, botanical and homeopathic remedies is formulated to meet your individual needs.”

Thelma: How’s it work with autism, ya are asking?: “BioSET’s success lies in the fact that BioSET heals the child from the inside out. Children who suffer from these and other issues are highly sensitive individuals with overly reactive immune systems. Because they are so reactive, their immune systems become easily overloaded simply fighting off everyday foods which are misperceived as foreign antibodies.”

Why look at all the things Bioset fixes right up:

“What conditions does BioSET™ effectively treat?

§ All forms of allergies / Chemical / Environmental sensitivities

§ Autism/Arthritis /Asthma

§ Attention Deficit Disorder

§ Bronchitis

§ Candidiasis

§ Cardiovascular Disorders

§ Childhood illnesses / Recurrent infections

§ Chronic fatigue syndrome

§ Chronic Vaginitis

§ Colitis / Crohn's disease

§ Ear infections

§ Eczema and other skin problems

§ Fibromyalgia

§ Headaches and Migraines

§ Herpes

§ Infertility

§ Lupus

§ Menopause symptoms / PMS

§ Rheumatoid arthritis

§ Sinus conditions

§ Thyroid disorders

§ Vaccination reactions”

Good gods in the cosmos, ain’t that something? There is something there for everyone. It’ll even fix herpes, ain’t that something, and help ya breed. Thank the heavens and this brilliant woman who figured it all out. Thelma’s right sorry, but I gots to tell ya, ifn ya fall for this woo, ya surely deserve a smack with my purse. Done spent enough time with the woo and the nuts, gonna let Kim tone it down some, offer up some nice closure on this.

Kim: It never ceases to amaze me at just how much woo is out there, how easily people can market it, and how quickly we can fall for it. Make it splashy, make it sound even somewhat plausible, or cloak it in mysticism and the ancient arts and we’re suckers. We want to feel good, we want to fix every little hurt, every bit of gas. We’re quick to pathologize everything from behavior to bodily discomfort. We want our cake and to eat it, too, even if we just can’t digest some foods the way we think we should be able to.

We think we should be able to knock down 4,000 calories in a meal and suffer no discomfort, except at Thanksgiving when it’s a rite of passage to back away from the table overstuffed and uncomfortable.

Bioset was new on my radar until a couple days ago, and fortunately it doesn’t appear to be that huge a factor yet in the autism community, but the sad fact is there are nearly 67,000 hits for Bioset on the internet. People are hawking it, Cutler is selling books and products on Amazon, and yet again we see where marketing and style can gloss right by substance. Somehow, according to theblurb on one of her books, “Ellen W. Cutler, M.D., is the nation's leading authority on enzyme therapy and founder of BioSET, an innovative healing system that combines the use of enzyme supplements with other complementary medicine disciplines to treat a variety of chronic illnesses and achieve optimum health. Author of The Food Allergy Cure, among other books, Dr. Cutler resides in Marin County, California.”

Who decides who the leading experts are? I mean Lanza and Ullman have decided they’re leading experts, too. Gordon and Sears think they are as well. Unfortunately, labeling like that impresses folks who don’t question, who don’t ask, who don’t think for a minute about the validity of the claims.

First Written Assignment

2011-01-24T07:30:00.000-08:00

“If science were explained to the average person in a way that is accessible and exciting, there would be no room for pseudoscience.” Carl Sagan

Do you think this is true? Write a paragraph defending your stance.

Day 1 Ten Characteristics of Pseudoscience and an Invitation to Set a Spell

2011-01-17T20:45:00.000-08:00

Crafted for your viewing consumption by KWombles on Thursday, August 19, 2010

Carl Sagan, bless him, had a great deal of faith in humanity. He must have or he'd have never written this:

"If science were explained to the average person in a way that is accessible and exciting, there would be no room for pseudoscience."

If that isn't optimism about the ability of man to think rationally, I don't know what it is. I also wonder whether that's realistic. I think science is fascinating and the endless questions, the fact that we'll never know it all, never get it all figured out is sheer bliss. But that is a hard road to walk, with no certainty except that all is uncertainty, all is subject to correction, and if you do it right, an ability to admit error. In other words, the chance to eat humble pie each and every day if you get too cocky, and a commitment to do that, because a commitment to scientific principles and discoveries trumps ego.

Of course, Carl Sagan may have realized that this quote was unlikely to truly reflect human nature. Sagan wrote in The Demon-Haunted World that people choose pseudoscience "in exact proportion as real science is misunderstood." He concluded that "the world would be a more interesting place if there were UFOs lurking in the deep waters off Bermuda and eating ships and planes" so he must at this point have realized making science accessible wasn't going to get rid of people's need for the fantastic and escapist.

Sagan explained the predilection for pseudoscience in this way:

"Naturally people try various belief systems on for size, to see if they help. And if we're desperate enough, we become all too willing to abandon what may be perceived as the heavy burden of skepticism. Pseudoscience speaks to powerful emotional needs that science often leaves unfulfilled. It caters to fantasies about personal powers we lack and long for (like those attributed to comic book superheroes today, and earlier, to the gods). In some of its manifestations, it offers satisfaction of spiritual hungers, cures for disease, promises that death is not the end. It reassures us of our cosmic centrality and imortance."

Pseudoscience, to put it another way, is like Chinese food, filling in the short term, but you're hungry an hour later.

John Ruscio defines critical thinking as "striving for a proper blend of open-mindedness and skepticism: All claims are given a fair hearing, but only those that meet high evidential standards are retained."

Too many people have no evidential standards at all, and they end up with closets full of infomercial junk and drawers filled with pills and supplements promising thinner bellies, bigger ahems, and longer, well, you get the point.

Ruscio points out that the "reasoning of those who promote pseudoscience is often flawed." We need to understand how we reason, how that reasoning can be short circuited by our minds, like visual illusions often do to us or how anchoring alters our estimates. It is so easy to be fooled by the workings of our own minds. No wonder it is even easier to be fooled by others who are aware of those blindspots we have.

Ruscio lays out ten characteristics of pseudoscience. According to Ruscio, "the line between science and pseudoscience is not always crystal clear." The nice thing is that the more tools you have in your tool box, the better at it you will be. These ten contrasts between science and pseudoscience should help you do the trick:

"Pseudoscientists may use language that sounds scientific, but they cannot back up this language with substance Scientists' technical jargon is actually a concise language that facilitates communication among experts." Pseudoscience example: Lanza writes: "Choices you haven't made yet might determine which of your childhood friends are still alive, or whether your dog got hit by a car yesterday. In fact, you might even collapse realities that determine whether Noah's Ark sank."

"Both sciences and pseudosciences confer degrees, hold conferences, and publish journals. In all these activities, scientists exercise a degree of skepticism that often surprises nonscientists...By contrast, although there are journals, conferences, and degrees in pseudoscience, often there is only token or nonexistent skepticism." Pseudoscience example: Autism One kicked Ken Reibel out one year and a California state employee last year.

"Science is based on systematic empiricism...in the absence of such empirical evidence, scientists regard a hypothesis only as speculation, never as fact. Pseudoscientists, in contrast, sometimes fail to follow even the most basic principles of research design, can be unconcerned about rival explanations for the claims they make, and are not always willing to invest the necessary time and energy to perform valid experiments." Pseudoscience example: Wakefield's monkey studies and Haley's OSR#1.

"A good scientific experiment is set up in such a way that it is extremely unlikely to yield positive results unless the hypothesis is indeed true...When a pseudoscientist does present evidence, it is often of little value because it is based on a very weak test." Pseudoscience example: Haley's OSR#1, the Geier's Lupron.

"Science is a method for uncovering principles of the natural world...In contrast, many pseudosciences resort to supernatural explanations when their claims are shown to be false." Pseudoscience example: Facilitated communication fails verification and is asserted to be ESP (thanks Jim Todd).

"A major task of science involves making increasingly specific distinctions among events to generate increasingly useful theories...Pseudoscience, on the other hand, often rebels against such distinctions in the name of holism." Pseudoscience example: Dana Ullman, pretty much anything Dana Ullman writes.

"Scientists subscribe to a handful of principles of formal logic, chief among them the notion that contradictory statements cannot both be true. Pseudoscientists are noteworthy for their tolerance of logical contradictions within and across disciplines." Pseudoscience example: the contradictory notions that both the measles virus and thimerosal could cause the same symptoms.

"Science is based on empirical data...Pseudoscience, however, has little data to offer. In its place, practitioners urge others to believe in their practices based on their say-so." Pseudoscience example: naturopathists who hook you to a banned machine to tell you all that's ever been wrong with you and how you can fix it all for 600 bucks or so in ten sessions.

"Science involves respect for the limitations of present knowledge and current technological capabilities. By contrast, pseudoscience is unbounded by reality and often profits by making grandiose promises that it cannot fulfill." Pseudoscience example: UFOs.

In science, there is a "rapid rate of change," "demonstrable progress in accumulating knowledge." In pseudoscience, not so much. It's the wisdom of the ancients. Pseudoscience example: homeopathy, 10% brain myth, astrology.

Like a horse and the proverbial water, though, no one can make you pick these tools up and use them. And I guarantee you the more woo clinging to you, the harder it will be to use those tools to chip it away. That's your choice. If your woo ain't eating no hay, so to speak, wear it with grace. As Thelma would say, it's no skin off her nose, nor fat off her ass, if ya are armored in some harmless woo. We all gotta believe in somethin, that's for damn true, and not everyone's gotta fine friend like Louise, a strong-armed mamma like Mamma H, nor a goodly supply of cheap Kentucky whiskey to pass the time with. In other words, I'm not raring to go on over to your blogs and pee in your cheerios, nor rile you up none. I can live and let live on a fair amount of stuff if you aren't trying to take advantage of folks in need of a friendly shoulder and some hope. Selling people a bill of good and delivering nothing is wrong.

It sucks a fair amount that science doesn't have all the answers. Yes, it does. But, and this is a big but, I share Carl Sagan's ridiculous optimism that most of the folks out there are perfectly capable of pulling on their big girl panties and big boy underroos and shouldering the heavy load the real world can be. After all, with Kathleen and me, Thelma and Louise, Mamma H and her raisin, and the raccoon thrown in for good measure, you got plenty of folks willing to walk with you shoulder to shoulder and spearhead some of that heavy load. Why not think on it some? We don't have all the answers, but we've got some wicked good tools in the box, and Kathleen and I've got cake and chocolate to share, while the ladies and the raisin of Stink Creek have ample booze and ample bellies for those belly laughs they love to share with the world. Come and set a spell, and see if leaving go the woo can't be full of excitement.

Beckian Woo

2010-11-14T08:11:00.000-08:00

Glenn Beck on Climate Change

2010-11-14T08:04:00.000-08:00

Take notes on points you find worth discussing. At the end of the viewings, you will use the notes to generate a thesis statement on the quality of Beck's arguments, and how well or not Dylan Ratigan rebuts Beck.

Maher vs Stewart: HuffPo Commenters and Crappy Comments

2010-11-07T05:27:00.000-08:00

Huff piece

Thelma's take on it:

Turn the Other Cheek, Keep Goin, and Take a Swing: Lordy, He Sure Missed the Point!

Ah, for pity sake, I had a point, but I took a break, had some libations, dealt with an emergency chicken call from Luther, and when I came back here, well, shoot, it took me a minute to figure out what it was about this here thing I stole from Kim that had me tickled.

Don't ya just love it when someone of faith takes a guy who writes Jesus Christ in his post and comes back at him with a line like this "So you may appreciate what that sounds like to me, may your mother be @#$%& by a pack of wild dogs. Have a nice day! :)"?

Ain't that a kick in the pants? That ain't turnin the other cheek, that's for damned true. That's deckin a guy instead.

Sure, it gets funnier, in that this was posted on a piece about how Bill Maher called out Colbert and Stewart for their Restore Sanity rally last week; seems Maher thinks the left ain't equal to the right in the nastiness and nuttiness. Ah well, who can tell on the internet? Course, he was speakin of folks that are up in Congress; ain't a one of em worth being there representing the people's interests.

See the folks who are the loudest are generally the ones on the edges. Most reasonable folks don't give a shit enough to go out and call people out over stuff. I ain't decided if that means me and Louise are extremists or not, since we occasionally stir up a mess. Truth be told, it may be that reasonable people take one look at some these things and reasonably conclude that running into a brick wall with their head would be a better use of their time instead of messing with the folks that think the world's flat, the world's less than 10K old, that evolution aint real, that vaccines are the root of all evil, that the moon landin was faked, and crazier shit than we got going on here in Stink Creek.

Cain't blame em, none, neither. It's hard to read some of the nonsense out there and not fear that we're in the end times, that sanity, reason, and logic are dying breeds. I just remember, we gotta take a long picture view of this stuff. We always gonna be fightin to get people to think instead of going with their gut. Best to gird up for the long haul and find a way to laugh as we work to light the fire of reason in folks.

Woo Fighting Example: Lanza

2010-10-26T04:05:00.001-07:00

What Are You? A Lanza Counter

Crafted for your viewing consumption by KWombles on Thursday, July 01, 2010

Ohmmmmm... Oh my gods!

I don't know. Color me bored. Lanza's on over at Huff again and I can't seem to get a comment on his post. Hee. Don't know why. So, I'm going to veg out this evening, eat some popcorn and drink some root beer and write. This latest woo-fest is by Robert Lanza, mystical guru god, he who hath heroically created the theory of biocentrism, except damnit, he needs a new name now that he's decided we're not physical and hence not biological.

"The world was once wondrous."

The universe is indeed wondrous, as is this world, and all the people in it, including fatuous dumbasses.

"As a boy I remember mounting the stairs that led to the legendary Harvard Medical School. The huge granite slabs were worn by past generations of scientists."

Hee, he said mounted. He mounted the stairs? Sorry. Had to. Were the slabs worn because they'd been mounted?

"Here, I fancied, the greatest minds on the planet busied themselves around electron microscopes and ultra-centrifuges, working in their laboratories on secret experiments."

I'm still stuck on the mounting.

"But I'm older now, and my colleagues tell me we're just the activity of carbon and some proteins; we live awhile and die."

Yeah, and wooier. What does the previous sentence, fancying and experimenting have to do with reality: we live and then we die.

"And the universe? It too has no meaning. They have it all worked out in the equations -- no need for woo."

No wonder you went wacky-woo; you thought you'd get definite answers, all the mysteries solved, but you didn't like what you discovered? The universe is incredible; meaning is subjective and something we place on our realities. You could have remained at awe at how trillions of cells work together to create an organism with a consciousness, but you felt the need for woo.

"But a series of new experiments suggest this may be all wrong, and that part of us exists outside of the physical world."

What? What series of new experiments? Why do all your posts go this way? Vague references and woo. Part of you exists outside of reason and rationality, that's for sure.

"We're trapped in an outdated paradigm. A few more equations, we're told, and we'll know it all -- any day now."

What planet do you live on? That's such crap. Who believes this?

"There's no adventure left, no lost gardens in far away lands."

Oh my gods. Yeah, all the knowledge of the universe is already at our fingertips. We know it all now. Crap. Somebody needs a therapist and some help.

"But we all intuitively know there's more to existence than our science books grant. It's the same nostalgic yearning that gives religion its persistent power over humanity."

There ya go. Woo, woo, woo. I'm gonna sell you some woo. Get ready for it. Dude, I get it. You're bummed on the science. You're bummed because you figured out there might not be anything after this. I totally understand.

"It was this search that lured me into science."

I don't know why you got all bummed out, other than losing your sister, but plenty of people don't feel the need to completely butcher quantum theory.

"It was startling to realize, after studying neurobiology, that objects, indeed our own bodies, are nothing but representations in our mind -− that we can't see anything through the bone surrounding the brain."

Objects and bodies are "nothing but representations"? I don't think so. They're rendered as representations but they exist outside of our experience of them.

"We assume there's a universe "out there" separate from what we are, and that we play no role in its appearance. Yet since the 1920s, experiments have shown just the opposite; results do depend on whether anyone is observing. This is most vividly illustrated by the famous two-hole experiment. When you watch a particle go through the holes, it behaves like a bullet, passing through one hole or the other. But if no one observes the particle, it exhibits the behavior of a wave and can pass through both holes at the same time."

These sentences don't stack up the way he thinks they do. And if you think he's explaining the two slit experiment well, here's a neat site that looks at the experiment from Colorado.edu.

"This and other experiments tell us that unobserved particles exist only as "waves of probability" as Max Born demonstrated in 1926. They're statistical predictions -- nothing but a likely outcome. Until observed, they have no real existence; only when the mind sets the scaffolding in place can they be thought of as having duration or a position in space. Experiments make it increasingly clear that even mere knowledge in the experimenter's mind is sufficient to convert possibility to reality."

Somebody's been reading The Secret! If we're not physical and we create reality as we go, what are we? Sounds like a fast way into a diagnosis of some sort, doesn't it? Lanza drones on about how all this proves his biocentrism is the wave of the future. Considering last week he decided we reboot when we die, it's no wonder now we're not even physical. Next week, he'll probably decide we're not even quantum and don't exist outside a snow globe.

Balance Bracelets Deconstructed

2010-10-26T03:56:00.001-07:00

Science-Based Medicine tackles the balance bracelets.

The company has to eat its words: http://www.powerbalance.com/australia/CA.

"

CORRECTIVE ADVERTISEMENT

POWER BALANCE WRISTBANDS

In our advertising we stated that Power Balance wristbands improved your strength, balance and flexibility.

We admit that there is no credible scientific evidence that supports our claims and therefore we engaged in misleading conduct in breach of s52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974.

If you feel you have been misled by our promotions, we wish to unreservedly apologise and offer a full refund.

To obtain a refund please visit our website www.powerbalance.com.au or contact us toll-free on 1800 733 436

This offer will be available until 30th June 2011. To be eligible for a refund, together with return postage, you will need to return a genuine Power Balance product along with proof of purchase (including credit card records, store barcodes and receipts) from an authorised reseller in Australia.

This Corrective Notice has been paid for by Power Balance Australia Pty Ltd and placed pursuant to an undertaking to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission given under section 87B of the Trade Practices Act, 1974."

And yet the site is still advertising the following:

WHAT IS POWER BALANCE?

Power Balance is Performance Technology designed to work with your body’s natural energy field. Founded by athletes, Power Balance is a favorite among elite athletes for whom balance, strength and flexibility are important.

•HOW DOES THE HOLOGRAM WORK?

Power Balance is based on the idea of optimizing the body’s natural energy flow, similar to concepts behind many Eastern philosophies. The hologram in Power Balance is designed to resonate with and respond to the natural energy field of the body.

Would you buy these?

Power Bracelets

2010-10-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

2010-10-23T06:19:00.001-07:00

Cleansing

2010-09-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

http://www.naturalnews.com/029888_Oxy-Powder_Livatrex.html
http://www.infowars.com/listen.html
http://www.infowars.com/google-bans-dvd-critical-of-obama-administration/
http://www.prisonplanet.com/is-glenn-beck-for-real.html

Is this an appeal to authority?

2010-09-21T06:40:00.001-07:00

“As a researcher and author of several books on nature-based illness prevention, I (and others) have come to the conclusion that nature did not evolve humans, nor any other primate, to perform long-duration exercise other than walking at a leisurely pace. In fact, vigorous exercise, if performed long-term, can wreak havoc on the skeleton and immune system. Back, knee, foot, and neck pain, sciatica, and arthritis may well be your reward, along with hip and knee replacements, and chronic illness. Pain is an important clue that you are damaging your body - ignore it at your peril."

Full comment here.

What about this comment?

More Woo

2010-09-21T06:35:00.001-07:00

Both this Huffington blogpost and this particular comment should provide some nice examples of key words that should signal woo and pseudoscience.

Chemtrails and WooWoo to You

2010-09-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

What better way to get introduced to woo then by being dropped in, fully immersed, and deep fried into it to give you a heads up on some of the more preposterous ideas out there than to link you to this site?

Text Readability

2010-09-19T12:09:00.000-07:00

Have to give a sound out to Emily of A Life Less Ordinary for pointing out this site, that you might want to run your papers through for fun.

2010-09-15T14:02:00.001-07:00

Reincarnated Pets for the Low, Low Price...of Your Critical Thinking Skills

2010-08-16T18:53:00.000-07:00

As an easy start into woo, here's a wonderful post from Mrs. C.

One of the things critical thinkers are on the look out for are folks trying to make a dime off them. We've all seen infomercials and those sham-wow commercials. What about the internet? There's an endless supply of folks looking to help you part ways with your hard earned dollars. Mrs C. points out in her post Mrs. C's Pet Business just how easy it would be to make some fast money.

Mr. Morton

2010-08-15T14:57:00.001-07:00

Adverbs

2010-08-15T14:51:00.005-07:00

Adjective

2010-08-15T14:51:00.003-07:00

Nouns

2010-08-15T14:51:00.001-07:00

Verbs

2010-08-15T14:50:00.003-07:00

Prepositions

2010-08-15T14:49:00.003-07:00

Pronouns

2010-08-15T14:49:00.001-07:00

Interjections

2010-08-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

Appeal to Authority

2010-08-13T09:24:00.000-07:00

For an in-depth look at Appeal to Authority, please see here.

ad hominem

2010-08-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

Ad hominem

Example: Jenny McCarthy bared her boobs for Playboy; therefore you shouldn't listen to her about vaccines.

A good argument:
Jenny McCarthy's stance on vaccines and autism is inaccurate; she contends that there is antifreeze in vaccines, but there is not and has never been. You should not buy into her argument that vaccines cause autism because there are numerous studies showing that there is no link between thimerosal or the MMR and autism.

Appeal to Pity

2010-08-11T10:43:00.000-07:00

Appeal to Pity

Examples

Anytime someone tries to get you to agree with them because they've been through the ringer rather than through a well-thought out argument, you've got an appeal to pity.