If It Looks Like a Quack, Duck!

clipped from scienceblogs.com Quack Miranda Warning “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.” This “Quack Miranda Warning” is on every just about every woo-meister’s website. I see dozens of patients every day, and I never Mirandize them, so whats the deal? There are three ways to look at this: the truthful way, the sinister way, and the bat-shit insane way. Truth: Anyone who wants to sell you something that’s a load of crap must use this statement to cover themselves legally. Bat-shit insane: The FDA and Big Pharma are in cahoots with the AMA to keep you from learning all the simple ways to treat diseases. They want your money, and they’ll do anything they can to get it from you, including suppressing the knowledge that anyone can learn to heal cancer.

Norman Corwin – Poet for All Ages

ON A NOTE OF TRIUMPH (Prayer)

Lord God of trajectory and blast
Whose terrible sword has laid open the serpent
So it withers in the sun for the just to see,
Sheathe now the swift avenging blade with the names of nations writ on it,
And assist in the preparation of the ploughshare.

Lord God of fresh bread and tranquil mornings,
Who walks in the circuit of heaven among the worthy,
Deliver notice to the fallen young men
That tokens of orange juice and a whole egg appear now before the hungry children;
That night again falls cooling on the earth as quietly as when it leaves your hand;
That Freedom has withstood the tyrant like a Malta in a hostile sea,
And that the soul of man is surely a Sevastopol which goes down hard and leaps from ruin quickly.

Lord God of the topcoat and the living wage
Who has furred the fox against the time of winter
And stored provender of bees in summer’s brightest places,
Do bring sweet influences to bear upon the assembly line:
Accept the smoke of the mill town among the accredited clouds of the sky:
Fend from the wind with a house and hedge, him whom you made in your image,
And permit him to pick of the tree and the flock
That he may eat today without fear of tomorrow
And clothe himself with dignity in December.

Lord God of test-tube and blueprint
Who jointed molecules of dust and shook them till their name was Adam,
Who taught worms and stars how they could live together,
Appear now among the parliaments of conquerors and give instruction to their schemes:
Measure out new liberties so none shall suffer for his father’s color or the credo of his choice:
Post proofs that brotherhood is not so wild a dream as those who profit by postponing it pretend:
Sit at the treaty table and convoy the hopes of the little peoples through expected straits,
And press into the final seal a sign that peace will come for longer than posterities can see ahead,
That man unto his fellow man shall be a friend forever.

This was the only prayer in my only sermon delivered at the height of the Vietnam War. It works as well now, I think, when we are once again in tatters as a nation.

If This Is On the Menu Please Don’t Tell Me

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Suri Cruise as Sex Object

Forbes magazine has pronounced Suri Cruise “hot”. How many Republicans does it take to fill a sex offenders unit?

Credit: Iowa Liberal

I’ve Waited A long Time to See This

Your wish is my command.

Credit: The Daily Weird

Survival of the Fittest

And other interesting concepts.

Credit: Village of Joy

Those Recently Gone From Our View

A review of species now extinct that were still on the planet with our grandparents.

Credit: Amazing Facts

Top Ten Irritating Expressions

1 – At the end of the day
2 – Fairly unique
3 – I personally
4 – At this moment in time
5 – With all due respect
6 – Absolutely
7 – It’s a nightmare
8 – Shouldn’t of
9 – 24/7
10 – It’s not rocket science

A Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare

Amazing 3D Street Art

Kurt Wenner

Kurt Wenner’s ability to transform Renaissance classicism into 3D street art is unparalleled and has made him the top anamorphic street painting artist of our time. Kurt aims to reinvent classicism for a new age, bringing his talent for realism to the streets, literally, having invented a pictorial geometry that corrects the specific distortion caused by viewing his street paintings at an oblique angle. A former NASA illustrator, Kurt has had his work featured in a lengthy list of articles, television features, ads, and documentaries.

Credit: Amazing Facts

More Anti-Intellectual Hypocrisy

A great four-part series on the dangers posed by the Trojan horse of “intelligent design”.

Credit: Live Science