There's Too Many People (Putting Holes In Their Heads)

That's weird. While breaking down Katie Melua's hippie folk song, during an academic discussion of "alternative" medicine, Simon Singh stumbled into what's wrong with life, in general, right now:

"We're not '12 billion light years from the edge' - if that's an implication for the age of the universe, the universe is 13.7 billion light years old. 

It's not 'a guess,' in science we don't make guesses. 

'No one can ever say it's true'? That's fair enough, but in science we can get closer to the truth, that's the important thing. 

'But I know that I will always be with you': 

Well, at this point I can't trust a word this woman says,..."

 

And there you go - the whole world in a song. It's almost like he was watching my marriage or something. Following me around on dates. Listening in on conversations with friends and co-workers. Listening, not just to radio, but talk radio, politics and the news. Reading blogs, like Instapundit or Althouse. Watching the same TV shows. 

 From top to bottom, they're all so friggin' inconsistent, we simply can't trust what they say.

 

And the weirdest part is, like Katie Melua, they seem to be spreading their misinformation with abandon. Willingly. With determination. All of them. Even the professors. 

And it's not just that, they believe the wrong things, but they won't change them when faced with evidence. They hide and make excuses instead. That's when relationships break down, which they blame on others. But that's O.K. because they're making a profit off it - just like every other con man, guru, fraud, whatever, I cover. 

They, too, think that's the way Americans live. 

 

And - from all appearances - they'll do it 'til the day we die,...

 

Simon Singh Cracks Chiropractic's Spine

So it can happen. It did happen: one ordinary man, armed with evidence, won against the purveyors of solipsism.

"The British Chiropractic Association has dropped its defamation case against science writer Simon Singh, days after he won a legal battle for the right to criticise what he regarded as ‘bogus’ science."

It's over and he won. Against some of the most ass-backwards libel laws outside of Islam's discovery of cartooning. Against the entire British Chiropractic Association. Against various belief systems. Against NewAge:

"Having backed down and dropped the case, I expect the British Chiropractic Association to pay my legal bill of 200,000 pounds. I fully expect the BCA to argue that they should not pay all my costs, but I think it is the very least that they should do because this entire legal battle has been instigated by the BCA. I will never get back the two years that I have wasted on this case when I should have been writing a new book and I will never get back all the time I should have had with friends and family, which instead was replaced with continual stress, anxiety and ridiculously tedious legal documents. Fortunately the case has ended when my son Hari is only three weeks old, so I can now relax and enjoy being a father. My wife is a journalist and she been fully supportive throughout, and without her backing and the support of family, friends, scientists, bloggers and many others I suspect I would not have had the morale to keep fighting this case until the end."

A true inspiration.

He makes the rest of you look like pussies.

Reality Check: Yep, It's Still Here After All

"Science writer Simon Singh today took a major step towards defeating a libel action brought against him by a group of chiropractors.

The Court of Appeal handed him the right to use the defence of 'fair comment' over an opinion piece Mr Singh wrote in the Guardian in April 2008 suggesting there was a lack of evidence for the claims some chiropractors make on treating certain childhood conditions, including colic and asthma.

He was accused of defamation by the British Chiropractic Association (BCA), which alleged that Mr Singh had in effect accused its leaders of knowingly supporting bogus treatments.

In a preliminary ruling in the dispute at the High Court last May, Mr Justice Eady held that Mr Singh’s comments were factual assertions rather than expressions of opinion and, as such, he would have been forced to prove it was his assertion were true or use the defence of responsible journalism.

Today, however, the Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger and Lord Justice Sedley ruled that Mr Justice Eady had 'erred in his approach', and allowed Mr Singh’s appeal. The result means he needs only to prove that it was reasonable for him to hold the opinions he does, that the subject was in the public interest and they were based on fact.

Mr Singh described the ruling as 'brilliant'."

-- Jenny Booth, bringing scientists, skeptics, anti-quack activists, and those against England's libel laws, some welcome news - as this case proves, we're winning big time, on several key fronts - a just reward for the valiant efforts individuals are undertaking to confront and chronicle society's ugliest legal and philosophical excesses, in what no one should refer to as The Times Online.

And A Good Time Was Had By All (Thinkers)

"With the exception of an unhappy homeopath, the audience at the Seymour Centre on Wednesday evening gave Simon Singh an enthusiastic reception at his Sydney University’s ‘Sydney Ideas’ talk.

...The irony that people in the UK must be trained as vets to treat animals, but need not be trained as doctors to treat humans was not lost on the audience.

Our lonely homeopath, initially cheered on for her courage in coming forward, clearly had no understanding of the meaning of the concept of ‘meta-analysis’.

Quite failing to comprehend what this entails, she finally earned the derision of the audience as her ignorance unfolded through her interminable ‘question’ to Simon.

Chairman Professor David Day, Dean of Science, thankfully stepped up to the mike and put a stop to the rowdy exchange which had ensued.

The meeting concluded with (almost) unanimous acclamation for Simon.”

-- Croakey, giving us a very nice re-cap of events in Australia - which sounds like they had a lot of fun - on Croakey, The Crikey Health Blog.

The Macho Response: Simon Singh

"Homeopathy is unproven and its products should not be sold, a visiting critic of alternative medicine says.

British physicist Simon Singh, who was sued by the British Chiropractic Association for saying their therapies for children were bogus, said yesterday it was 'obvious' that homeopathy 'shouldn't be allowed' and couldn't be regulated by a code of ethics. 'I take a fairly hard line,' he said. 'If anyone is making claims that can't be supported by evidence, these claims should be halted and these practices should be prevented.'

He said recent cases showed that homeopathy — which relies on the principle of 'like treating like' and diluted ingredients — can be dangerous.

Two weeks ago in the US a homeopathic remedy called Zicam, which claimed to treat the common cold, was withdrawn from sale after it was discovered the zinc it contained may have caused more than 900 people to lose their sense of smell.

Critics said the over-the-counter product's side effects had gone unnoticed because of less strict rules for marketing alternative medicine.

Last month a Sydney couple whose baby daughter died after they treated her with homeopathic remedies instead of conventional medicine were found guilty of manslaughter.

'Some homeopaths won't encourage parents to vaccinate children because they take other views on immunity,' Dr Singh said. 'You would think that homeopathy should be safe because there's nothing in it, but the indirect side effects can be severe.'

In an investigation in Britain, he found homeopaths willing to let people travel to West Africa, where malaria is endemic and can kill in days, with only unproven homeopathic protection. 'I don't think people recognise that the vast majority (of homeopathic remedies) is devoid of any active ingredient. It's seen as exotic, traditional, alternative in a lifestyle sense. Celebrities use it. But 200 clinical trials over 200 years later, there is still no good evidence (that) it works.'"

-- Nick Miller, covering one of the few scientists adopting The Macho Response - taking "a fairly hard line" for the exact same reasons I am - in The Age.

Convincing Thinking People Is Tougher, Ducks

"This goes from a simple libel case to one where an entire sector of garbage "alternative medicine" has to prove what it does is actual medicine.

...The entire skeptical community will be watching this case very closely, I assure you. This could potentially be huge, bigger than the Dover creationism trial. I would so dearly love to see medical quackery get the justice it oh-so deserves. Most pseudoscience has subtle ramifications, but alternative medicine quackery hurts and even kills people."

-- Phil Plait, on the whole Simon Singh Vs. The Chiropractors broohaha, and revealing he understands the deadly ramifications behind this "nice" nonsense (even though very few others do and, instead, cultishly choose to protect it) though Phil's only using Bad Astronomy.

Spinal Manipulation Is STILL Manipulation

"Manipulation of the neck can damage the vertebral arteries, which supply blood to the brain. So-called vertebral dissection can ultimately cut off the blood supply, which in turn can lead to a stroke and even death. Because there is usually a delay between the vertebral dissection and the blockage of blood to the brain, the link between chiropractic and strokes went unnoticed for many years. Recently, however, it has been possible to identify cases where spinal manipulation has certainly been the cause of vertebral dissection.

Laurie Mathiason was a 20-year-old Canadian waitress who visited a chiropractor 21 times between 1997 and 1998 to relieve her low-back pain. On her penultimate visit she complained of stiffness in her neck. That evening she began dropping plates at the restaurant, so she returned to the chiropractor. As the chiropractor manipulated her neck, Mathiason began to cry, her eyes started to roll, she foamed at the mouth and her body began to convulse. She was rushed to hospital, slipped into a coma and died three days later. At the inquest, the coroner declared: 'Laurie died of a ruptured vertebral artery, which occurred in association with a chiropractic manipulation of the neck.'

This case is not unique. In Canada alone there have been several other women who have died after receiving chiropractic therapy, and Professor Ernst has identified about 700 cases of serious complications among the medical literature. This should be a major concern for health officials, particularly as under-reporting will mean that the actual number of cases is much higher.

Bearing all of this in mind, I will leave you with one message for Chiropractic Awareness Week - if spinal manipulation were a drug with such serious adverse effects and so little demonstrable benefit, then it would almost certainly have been taken off the market."

-- Simon Singh, strengthening the spine against the crooked back crakers (with lots of links to documented evidence) on Gimpy's Blog.

Victory In England

"On Saturday night, perhaps for the first time in history, there was a round of applause at the announcement of a hospital closure,...I had just explained that the Tunbridge Wells Homoeopathic Hospital is due to close next year,..."

-- Simon Singh (above) co-author of Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial, writing for The Times Online