Lance Corporal Robert Alexander Hood (1895 - 1917)

Robert Alexander Hood¹ was born in 1895 in a small village north-west of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He went to France in 1916 when he was only 21 years old. Robert fought with the 73rd Battalion and he was killed in action at Vimy Ridge on this day, April 12, in 1917.

Canadians "celebrate" the battle of Vimy Ridge as a great Canadian victory. It was part of the larger Battle of Arras, which in turn was a diversionary attack in support of the larger Nivelle Offensive carried out by the French Army. About 3,600 young Canadian men were killed during the four day battle and 7,000 more were wounded. This is just a small fraction of the casualties on both sides during World War I.

We need to be very careful not to glorify war while remembering all those young mean and women who died in a war that never should have been fought. I will eventually go to Arras and visit the large memorial erected by the Canadian government (see below) but I will do it in order to reinforce my view that war is folly and the deaths of soldiers like Robert Alexander Hood should never have happened.

There is never any glory in war and it's nothing we should ever be proud of.

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1. He was a cousin of Ms. Sandwalk's grandfather.

The "Science" Behind Homeopathy

 
Are all homeopaths and their supporters complete idiots? Do they all think they're practicing some form of black magic? No, they usually don't think that at all. Many of them honestly believe that there's scientific evidence supporting homeopathy. They actually believe that water can retain some magical properties after it has been exposed to certain chemicals. How is this possible? It's because of "nanobubbles."

Here's John Benneth explaining the "science" behind homeopathy. This is woo of the highest order. Read Orac's take-down at Your Friday Dose of Woo: The physics of homeopathy and "nanocrystalloids". There are no reputable scientists who believe what John Benneth claims. If he's implying that there's scientific support for homeopathy, then what he's saying is not true.

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Homeopathy Kills

 
Here's what can happen if a homeopath treats his own daughter. He ends up in jail, she ends up dead.

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Atheist Barbie

 
Here's the ideal present for all of you with young sons and daughters, or young grandchildren. It's atheist Barbie from Blag Hag.



I'm ordering one today for Zoë ... and two others for Jane and Gordon.

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[Hat Tip: Friendly Atheist]

Too Many Gods

 

Me and my Christian friends have a lot in common but I didn't realize how much until I found this site: Gods You Don't Believe In. It lists about 2,800 gods of various sorts. I don't believe in any of them and most Christians reject all but a handful¹. That makes about 2,795 gods whose nonexistence we agree on.

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1. I'm not sure how to count up the gods of Christianity. If you assume that the big guy, Jesus, and the ghost are all the same person then what about Satan and some of the senior angels like Gabriel and Michael? Do they count as gods? And what about the other gods mentioned in the ten commandments? The god of the Bible says not to worship them because he is jealous but he doesn't deny that they exist. Who are they?

A Message for Hillary Clinton from Canadians

 
From CBCNews [Don't extend Afghan mission, Canadians say: poll].

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If Water Has a Memory ....

Homeopathy

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Yes, I'm aware of the fact there's another, possibly better, version of this poster using another word for "crap."

What Is Homeopathy?

 
Homeopathy awareness week is coming up and scientists from all around the world are gearing up to explain why homeopathy doesn't work—that's why it's called "alternative" medicine. It's a part of quack medicine that's not "real" medicine. Real medicine is based on scientific evidence.

Many people don't know what homeopathy is all about. They confuse homeopathy with a host of other forms of non evidence-based medicine like naturopathy and herbalism. That's a big mistake. Homeopathy is a form of treatment where you drink water that supposed to contain the magical imprint of some chemical. The chemical is often quite dangerous but, don't be worried, it's not really present in the treatment you pay for.

Here's the Wikipedia description of homeopathy.

Homeopathy (also spelled homoeopathy or homœopathy) is a form of alternative medicine, first proposed by German physician Samuel Hahnemann in 1796, that attempts to treat patients with heavily diluted preparations. Based on an ipse dixit[1] axiom[2] formulated by Hahnemann which he called the "law of similars", preparations which cause certain symptoms in healthy individuals are given as the treatment for patients exhibiting similar symptoms. Homeopathic remedies are prepared by serial dilution with shaking by forceful striking, which homeopaths term "succussion," after each dilution under the assumption that this increases the effect of the treatment. Homeopaths call this process "potentization". Dilution often continues until none of the original substance remains.

Don't confuse it with anything else. There's absolutely no evidence that homeopathy works. The scientific data, taken as a whole, is conclusive. Be wary of those who believe in homeopathy because their advice on other forms of treatment may not be based on evidence either. Homeopathy is bad enough but it often keeps even worse company.

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Should creationism be taught in British classrooms?

 
As most of you know, the citizens of the United Kingdom do not obsess over the separation of church and state and they do not use their constitution to keep creationism out of their schools. That's why the question posed by Michael Reiss in New Statesman is a valid one in that country, "Should creationism be taught in British classrooms?". The answer might surprise many people in other countries.

Why schools and universities should encourage debate on evolution -- and how this could benefit science.
.... When teaching evolution, there is much to be said for allowing students to raise any doubts they have in order to shape and provoke a genuine discussion. The word "genuine" doesn't mean that creationism and intelligent design deserve equal time with evolution. They don't. However, in certain classes, depending on the teacher's comfort with talking about such issues, his or her ability to deal with them, and the make-up of the student body, it can and should be appropriate to address them.

Having said that, I don't pretend to think that this kind of teaching is easy. Some students become very heated; others remain silent even if they disagree profoundly with what is said. But I believe in taking seriously the concerns of students who do not accept the theory of evolution while still introducing them to it. Although it is unlikely that this will help them resolve any conflict they experience between science and their beliefs, good teaching can help students to manage it - and to learn more science.

My hope is simply to enable students to understand the scientific perspective with respect to our origins, but not necessarily to accept it. We can help students to find their science lessons interesting and intellectually challenging without their being a threat. Effective teaching in this area can help students not only learn about the theory of evolution, but also better appreciate the way science is done, the procedures by which scientific knowledge accumulates, the limitations of science and the ways in which scientific knowledge differs from other forms of knowledge.

I agree with this point of view. I think the main arguments for creationism, and against evolution, should be discussed in science class. It's an excellent way of showing what real science is and how it should be practiced.

The problem with ignoring the main criticisms of evolution is that students are going to hear about them from other sources and they won't know what to think about those points of view unless we teach them how to reason. The goal of science education is to teach students how to think, not just fill them with facts. It's our responsibility as teachers to teach critical thinking. One of the best ways to do that is to give them some popular examples to discuss and debate.

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[Hat Tip: RichardDawkins.net]

Advertising 23andMe

 
Some bloggers are huge fans of genetic testing. They frequently post articles promoting one of the private companies that charge you for doing these tests. ScienceRoll recently posted this video of Anne Wojcicki making a pitch for her company. Wojcicki is one of the co-founders of 23andMe. It's interesting to see how she mixes various rationales for genetic testing with a pitch for 23andMe.

Imagine this was a talk by the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company about the importance of their drugs and why you should buy them. We would probably be more skeptical than we seem to be about Ann Wojcicki. Why is that?

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World Homeopathy Awareness Week

 
World Homeopathy Awareness Week takes place next week (April 10-16). This is a week devoted to making people aware of homeopathy and our local Centre for Inquiry and the Committee for Advancement of Scientific Skepticism (CASS) is planning to take full advantage of the opportunity. We'd like everyone to know there's no scientific evidence that supports homeopathic "cures" and, furthermore, the fundamental principle behind homeopathy conflicts with everything we know about modern science.

I urge all bloggers to post something next week in order to let the public know about this scam.

The Canadian Society of Homeopaths also has a number of events planned but I don't think they're talking about the same kind of "awareness."

HOMEOPATHY AND MENTAL WELL-BEING:
BODY AND MIND IN BALANCE
The theme of the 2010 Homeopathy Awareness Month is Homeopathy and Mental Well-being: Body and Mind in Balance. As in previous Awareness celebrations, Registered and Associate members of the Canadian Society of Homeopaths will sponsor events, displays, and special promotions in their communities across Canada.

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[Photo Credit: The Guardian: MPs criticise science adviser for defending government on homeopathy]

Time to Leave

 
Canadian troops and support personal have been in Afghanistan for the better part of ten years. The goal was to create a stable democratic state that could offer security to its citizens and promote the rights and values that we cherish in Western democracies.

We aren't any closer to achieving that goal than we were ten years ago. Should Canadian forces remain in Afghanistan after 2011?

There are two main options ....

1. cut and run (withdraw all military forces)
2. soldier on, perhaps with no combat troops

I favor option #1. We've given it our best shot and it's time to admit defeat. Afghanistan is not going to become a respectable member of the world's democratic community.

My resolve was strengthened by a hard-hitting article in last week's issue of Newsweek [The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight].

America has spent more than $6 billion since 2002 in an effort to create an effective Afghan police force, buying weapons, building police academies, and hiring defense contractors to train the recruits—but the program has been a disaster. More than $322 million worth of invoices for police training were approved even though the funds were poorly accounted for, according to a government audit, and fewer than 12 percent of the country's police units are capable of operating on their own. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the State Department's top representative in the region, has publicly called the Afghan police "an inadequate organization, riddled with corruption." During the Obama administration's review of Afghanistan policy last year, "this issue received more attention than any other except for the question of U.S. troop levels," Holbrooke later told NEWSWEEK. "We drilled down deep into this."

The worst of it is that the police are central to Washington's plans for getting out of Afghanistan. The U.S.-backed government in Kabul will never have popular support if it can't keep people safe in their own homes and streets. Yet in a United Nations poll last fall, more than half the Afghan respondents said the police are corrupt. Police commanders have been implicated in drug trafficking, and when U.S. Marines moved into the town of Aynak last summer, villagers accused the local police force of extortion, assault, and rape.

It's time to leave—the sooner the better. The people of Afghanistan have to want change bad enough to fight for it and that's ain't happening.

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[Photo Credit: Defense Industry Daily]

[Hat Tip: Canadian Cynic]

Here We Go Again

 
You've been following the battles in the Accommodationist Wars for several years. If you've been paying attention you will by now have acquired a good understanding of the main arguments on both sides. You should be able to recognize which arguments are valid and which ones are false—in terms of their logic.

Now it's time for the test.

Read the following passage by Michael Zimmerman¹ on The Huffington Post. He is defending the proposition that the evolution/creation controversy is not a conflict between science and religion [Redefining The Creation/Evolution Controversy]. Your task is to identify the logical flaw(s) in this argument. For the purposes of this test, we're not interested in who's right and who's wrong in the Accommodationist Wars. I'm just interested in knowing whether you can recognize a good argument and a bad one.

The mere existence of the Clergy Letter Project, an international organization I founded that is comprised of thousands of clergy members and scientists, demonstrates that religious leaders and scientists are not inherently at odds. After all, more than 12,400 Christian clergy members from all across the United States have signed the Christian Clergy Letter, a powerful, two-paragraph statement promoting a shared understanding and acceptance of evolution and Christianity.

What could be clearer than these sentences from that Letter? "Religious truth is of a different order from scientific truth. Its purpose is not to convey scientific information but to transform hearts[...]. We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge. We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth."

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1. Michael Zimmerman is an ecologist at Butler University in Indiana (USA). He started The Clergy Letter Project.

Happy Easter

 
... from my granddaughter Zoë in Brussels, Belgium.

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Saturday Comics

 
This is the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Denyse O'Leary—your favorite Toronto science writer—tries to lighten your day with a very funny posting on Post-Darwinist and Uncommon Descent [Coffee!! Evolution in action! Check with your local humane society!].

She's responding to the idea that Lenski’s long-term experiment with E. coli has led to bacteria that have "changed shape, changed size, changed metabolism and changed food source."

Denyse replies ...

So the claim is, “changed shape, changed size, changed metabolism and changed food source. How much more MACRO do you expect an organism to evolve?”

Hmmmm. Kittens do this all the time.

Change size? You bet. Goes from a couple of ounces to five lbs in half a year.

Change shape? Sure. The average newborn kitten is just a little bag of mewing metabolism, blind and probably deaf, whose only real talent is using its sense of smell to get control of a teat.

Changed metabolism? Sort of. Kittens must be weaned onto something other than cat milk after about six or seven weeks. I am not a vet, but surely some changes in metabolism accompany this transition.

Changed food source? Yes! From mom cat to local rodents, birds, frogs, and eggs that can be cracked by being pushed off the branch or table. Or, if the cat is under human management, a science-based diet for growing felines. Or otherwise, scavenging a local dumpster. Or whatever an obligate carnivore* like the cat can stomach.

Okay, so where are we now? We have explained how a kitten gets transformed into … a cat.

And this is “evolution”?

Thanks for the comic relief, Denyse. But aren't you worried that someone might think you're serious?

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[Image Credit: PTET]