03 February 2011 by Kim Hebert
Earlier in January, CBC Marketplace investigated homeopathy. Now that there has been some time for people to react, here is a summary of some coverage around the Internet. Please also feel free to share relevant links in the comments. Favourable Reactions Digital Journal’s opinion section covered the topic of homeopathy in several articles the week [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Canada, Pseudoscience9 Comments
17 January 2011 by Kim Hebert
As it was last year, and likely will be again next year unless the Reptilians get us, it’s December. Unsurprisingly, psychics in late 2008 made their various predictions about 2009 and I examined the claims of two: self-proclaimed psychic Sylvia Browne and Nostradamus fanboi John Hogue. I wonder if they did any better for 2010, [...]
Posted in Paranormal, Pseudoscience0 Comments
14 January 2011 by Kim Hebert
Benefiting from the Atlantic Time Zone, I got to be one of the first to watch CBC Marketplace on Friday night (darn you, Newfoundland!) where they covered the topic of homeopathy. Here are my impressions. First, I want to praise Marketplace for not offering false balance on the issue. Homeopathy is not something about which [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Canada, Featured, Health, Media, Pseudoscience, Reviews37 Comments
14 January 2011 by Mitchell Gerskup
Tonight at 8pm, CBC Marketplace will air a review of homeopathic medicine entitled “Cure or Con?”. This hotly anticipated episode is expected to critically examine the practice of homeopathic medicine, in the name of consumer protection. As a skeptic, I know it can be dangerous to get my hopes up over stories of this nature [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Canada, Culture, Health Policy, Media, Pseudoscience, Skepticism15 Comments
08 December 2010 by Michael Kruse
*Update: See Michael Shermer and Bernard Leikind’s post in eSkeptic this week. They are responding to the boat-load of email they received about their articles in Scientific American and Skeptic magazine concerning the lack of evidence to cancer to cell phone use.* On Monday, we published the first half of a critique of a new book by [...]
Posted in Critical Thinking, Pseudoscience, Skepticism76 Comments
06 December 2010 by Michael Kruse
Over the past several months, Skeptic North has been publishing various critiques of the movement to ban WiFi and limit microwave radiation in the 2.4 GHz range used in cellular telecommunications. Despite the continued insistence by this fractious bunch that our children (and even our rose bushes) are in danger, they have failed to offer convincing evidence [...]
Posted in Critical Thinking, Pseudoscience, Skepticism5 Comments
29 November 2010 by Mitchell Gerskup
This will probably be my last year attending the Whole Life Expo. Last year, I had a lot of fun, took some great photos, tried some foods (some great; some not-so great) and learned a lot about the field of alternative health and its practitioners. This year, if I had to sum up my experience [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Diet and Nutrition, Events, Medicinal Advertising, Ontario, Pseudoscience6 Comments
29 October 2010 by Steve Thoms
This ridiculous farce of an invented controversy got way out of hand way too fast. My apologies for sleeping on this one. I thought that sanity would prevail, and everyone would surely see the perpetrators for the fools they are. It seems that I over estimated the Canadian media’s ability to be dedicated to journalistic [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Canada, Cognition, Critical Thinking, Health, Logic and Fallacies, Media, Ontario, Pseudoscience271 Comments
26 September 2010 by Scott Gavura
Today, like thousands of others, I ran a half-marathon (21.1k) as part of the Toronto Waterfront Marathon weekend. One of the fun parts about running in a huge race (besides the race itself) is going to the race expo. Now, the non-runners might think a running expo would be pretty boring: shoes and some clothing, [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Ontario, Pseudoscience, Skepticism6 Comments
16 August 2010 by Erik Davis
Ethan’s recent article on the best way for skeptics to dialogue with non-skeptics definitely hit home, and is something I’ve struggled with. Being confrontational is tempting — after all, who doesn’t love to prove how right they are? I am certainly sympathetic to the view presented in the comments by some readers that good manners [...]
Posted in Alternative Medicine, Cognition, Critical Thinking, Pseudoscience, Skepticism7 Comments
