Can't tell if dumb bigots... or trolling (actually, I'm pretty sure it's trolling)

A few days ago while lurking around one of several skeptic Facebook groups that I belong too I came across this article from a website called Pink News.

The article was in concern over a flyer that was being posted around Clintonville, Ohio for... well, you can see for yourself:

Weirder things have happened, i suppose. Straight White Guy Festival, anyone? http://t.co/0mQKcItnOS pic.twitter.com/kib7tlx9hz
— Lauren Bagley (@TheREDison) July 18, 2014

Yes... you're reading that right. It's a flyer for a Straight White Guy Festival.

Now, I know many of you are probably thinking "this can't be real, right"?

Well it could be real because despite our society's advances in the field of race relations, there are still racist people in this country, but I don't think it's real, and I have several reasons why I believe this is so.

Lets take a look at what is not on this flyer that most would have had.

First, there's no contact information of any kind on these flyers.

Most racist groups would have placed on such a flyer either a mailing address, or a phone number, or an e-mail address. At the very least they would have put a website name on there inorder to help promote their group if they were unwilling to place on the flyer direct contact information.

The second thing that caught my eye is that the flyer doesn't say who is putting on and sponsoring this festival.

Any racist or bigoted group that was putting on and sponsoring such an event would not have left their name off. Most hate groups want people to know that they are sponsoring such an event in hopes of recruiting people into their group.

At the very least they would have put the name of a front group on the flyer in an attempt to hide who is really organizing this so called festival, while at the same time trying to recruit new members.

Now lets take a look at what the flyer does say on it.

First is the title of this "event" Straight White Guy Festival.

The name of this alleged festival looks more like something a dumb college frat boy would have created and doesn't realize that this sort of thing is racist and bigoted as hell, rather than a person that is part of a racist and bigoted group.

Now before anyone says it I'm very well aware that bigots are not known for their intelligence, but atleast they would try to come up with something a little more creative than that.

Second thing I noticed about the flyer was that it contradicted itself.

The flyer says "Come help us celebrate our enjoyment of being straight white and male" but it also says "Everyone welcome".

If this festival is intended for straight white males then how come the flyer is also saying that anyone who is not straight, white, or male can attend?

A racist and bigoted group would never have put "Everyone welcome" on such a flyer. They either would have put nothing on there, or they would have made it very clear that only straight white males would have been allowed to attend (or atleast straight white people).

The final thing about this flyer that leads me to believe that someone is trolling in real life is that while there is a location for this "festival", a date, a time, and that beer will be available, according to WBNS-10TV no permits have been taken for such a festival, and while I'm not sure of the local laws concerning festivals at local parks, most places would make you apply for a permit to hold such an event, and to sell beer at it.

Taking all these things into consideration I can only come to the conclusion that this is some kind of joke.

I'm not sure if the person that created these flyers intended on them being racist or anti-racist, but it's still pretty offensive either way.

Ofcourse it could be real and some racist group is intending to hold a festival without getting or knowing they have to get permits first, as well as not knowing how to make a proper flyer.

If they have their festival they'll find out the hard way that you need to have the proper permits.

17 years on Mars, or "How Daily Mirror fell for a fake story."

Recently the British tabloid Daily Mirror published an article online about this claim made by a alleged former US Marine (a claim that sounds more like a half decent science fiction novel rather than a true account) about how he allegedly spent 17 years on Mars...

The original story was published on a website called ExoNews TV (a UFO conspiracy theorist website) on April 3 of this year. Why the Daily Mail took so long to write up their own crazy story nearly three months after the original crazy story was published, who knows?

Maybe they just found out about it, maybe they were having a slow "news" day (ofcourse the Daily Mirror is not really known for publishing actual news or news that's truthful) maybe they thought that now was the time to publish it.

The original story from ExoNews TV is an account told by a person whom calls himself "Captain Kaye" or "Captain K" (you can listen to him recalling his story here) and whom claims to be a former Marine that spent 17 years of a 20 year military career on Mars.

Now such claims have been made before. Infact several people have claimed to have gone to Mars and back over the years, or claimed to have "knowledge" of bases on Mars. The problem with all of those claims are that the people who made them are either liars, seriously deluded, or both.

I believe this "Captain Kaye" is the first type, and for several reasons.

First he claims that our government has technology that is probably centuries ahead of our current technological level, and yet he gives an audio interview (he never shows his face) to a conspiracy theorist website.

Why the heck would he give an audio only interview and give a fake name and not have a video interview and a give out his real name, since giving a fake name and an audio interview would be useless in hiding himself from his former employers?

If the people whom he worked for are technologically advanced enough to get to Mars and set up a colony, in secret, then wouldn't they be advanced enough to have computer program that can analyze your voice and figure out who you are?

Heck, we have that technology now, so what would be the reason for this Captain Kaye person to hide whom he is?

He also claims to be a genius, yet he's not smart enough to even consider the fact that the people he worked for have the technology to find out who he is and that hiding whom he is would be pointless, and might even put himself in greater danger?

The only reason why I would think he would hide his identity is because he doesn't want people to find out whom he is, step forward and say "this guy is full of sh*t, and he's been on Earth the entire time".

The other reason why I believe this Captain Kaye person is lying is that he sounds like he's reading from an outlined script in his interview and that he's improvising from that script and trying to think up things to say rather than talking about things that he actually did. There's even a few times it sounds like he's shuffling some papers around.

Also, he offers no other evidence of his "experiences" or than his word, which we have no way of checking whether or not his word is good or not, or even if he was in the Marines, or any branch of the military.

The story is clearly fake, and I know the Daily Mirror doesn't have that much standards, but this is ridiculous even for them.

Whats next? Are they going to hire David Icke as a columnist?

5 Things I've noticed about... Autism cure promoters

Autism cure promoters are people who claim they "cure" people with autism.

The claims made by these people are very conversational, both in their claims about autism and it's causes, and what they say can cure autism.

Now there are a lot of different things I have noticed about autism cure promoters, but I've narrowed it down to five different things.

So here are five things I've noticed about autism cure promoters:

5. They're closely aligned with the anti-vaccination movement.

Autism cure promoters and the anti-vaccination movement are pretty much like peas in a pod. Anti-vaccers often promote these so called "therapies" that the autism cure promoters claim can cure a person with autism, and autism cure promoters also tend to publish on their websites anti-vaccination movement propaganda, mainly in the form of claims that certain chemicals in vaccines can cause autism.

Some of these promoters also like to use certain words that the anti-vaccination movement also uses inorder to sell their therapies to people with autism or have autistic children, such as "vaccine damage", "vaccine injury", or "autism epidemic".

They also ignore the fact that such words are not only incorrect and misleadinf, but very insulting to people with autism. Ofcourse they're not actually promoting their therapies towards people with autism, they're really promoting them towards parents of children who have autism and just want their kids to be normal.

4. They exploit the fears and desires of parents with autistic children.

For some parents when a child is diagnosed with autism it can be devastating to them, and the fact that there is no way to cure autism can make that devastation to them even worse. Then comes along someone who claims they can do things that the medical industry cannot do and can "cure" their child of autism, and if they don't know any better they may take that person up on their offer.

A person who is misinformed about what autism is and what causes autism, mixed with both the fear of what will happen to their child and how their life will turn out due to their autism, combined with their desire to have a "normal" child, would be very temped by someone whom claims they can cure their child of autism and give them a chance at a normal life and be willing to pay whatever price they can inorder to do so.

The people who are promoting these so called autism cures know this and know that they can exploit these fears and desires to sell people products and services that scientific research has concluded are useless at curing autism.

4. They're trying to give a simple solution to a complex issue.

Autism is a neurological disorder, and like all neurological disorders it's complex without any simple solutions.

Autism cure promoters try to make it look like autism is caused by toxins in the body, and that by removing these toxins a person whom has autism one can be cured of autism.

While some toxins can cause neurological disorders, all legitimate scientific research has shown that autism isn't one them.

While the actually cause of autism is still technically unknown, most scientists who study autism agree that it's most likely caused by genetics.

The therapies these autism cure promoters promote are just a bunch of quick fixes for something that can't be fixed quickly or entirely. There are legitimate therapies out there to give autistic people the tools they need inorder to thrive in society, but they don't cure people of autism, which is not something that many people can accept. This fact is exploited by autism cure promoters that claim that they can cure autism, but in reality they can't.

2. They promote therapies that are dangerous and abusive.

Not only are autism cure promoters promoting therapies that don't work (atleast for curing autism), the therapies they are promoting are considered to be dangerous if used improperly, or even used at all.

Chelation therapy for example, which is a legitimate medical treatment for treating people with toxic metal poisoning, is often used by autism cure promoters as a way to cure autism. Infact it has never been proven to cure any person of autism, and if done improperly could harm a person, and even kill them.

Miracle Mineral Supplement, another product that is said to cure autism (along with many other things) contains 28% sodium chlorite, a toxic industrial chemical, and can cause a person to become very ill, and possibly kill them. MMS is very dangerous and should never be used for anything and is approved by no one.

These are just two of the many useless so called "cures" for autism, but there are many other kinds out there that are not only useless, but also dangerous, and forcing any child to use one of this therapies, autistic or not, is viewed by many people to be child abuse, and could be legally considered child abuse too.

1. They try to make autism look like something that it is not.

Autism cure promoters try to make it look like people with autism are "damaged" and that autism itself is bad and that a diagnose of autism is the end of the world, and thus your child must be cured of autism no matter what.

Autism is not bad, nor is a diagnose of it the end of the world, and autistic people are not damaged, they just think differently than everyone else.

Most autistic people are considered high functioning, and can live relatively normal lives. Some are so high functioning that you couldn't even tell that they were autistic unless they told you.

Autism is not a problem. The real problem is with people who claim that autistic people are "damaged" and they can cure autism.

They are the ones who make autism look worse than what it is, all so they can exploit parents who just want their children to be perfect, when they can't see that their children are perfect just the way they are.

5 Things I've noticed about... Breatharianism

Breatharianism is a New Age Movement belief that asserts that people don't need food inorder to live, and only need clean air and sun light.

Now there are a lot of things I have noticed about this belief (mainly the body count) but I have narrowed it down to five main things.

So here are five things I've noticed about Breatharianism:

5. It's a typical New Age Movement belief.

Breatharianism is a belief that is apart of, or atleast viewed to be apart of the New Age Movement, and like most beliefs in the New Age Movement it's mess-mass of several different beliefs all rolled into one.

Practitioners of Breatharianism believe it is possible to live off of prana (which is according to Hindu beliefs is a vital life force energy) and that the best source of this prana is from light and air, and with enough skill and knowledge they can somehow manipulate this prana to the point where they can live off of it forever and never need any food or water.

Another part about Breatharianism is the attainment of spiritual enlightenment, which apparently involves not eating. This sounds an awful lot like fasting, which is something that Abrahamic religions tend to do.

Basically Breatharianism is a combination of certain beliefs from Eastern and Western religions.

Also, like with many other New Age beliefs...

4. It's Pseudoscience.

While Breatharianism is primarily based from Eastern and Western religious beliefs, everything about it is pseudoscience.

Like all pseudosciences it's based off of a tiny scientific fact, and that fact is that we do need air and light inorder to live (well, not so much light, but we do need air) and that there is energy all around us... it's just not prana. This energy is either in the form photonic energy from light sources, or radio waves, or electromagnetic fields from electrical sources, or kinetic energy from air movement and the movement of the Earth.

Yes, there are many forms of energy that surrounds us. Prana is not one of them, and even if it was, it's very probable that we couldn't manipulate it with our minds.

The main claim about Breatharianism, as I stated before (and the one that doctors and scientists and people with common sense have a problem with) is that humans can live off of this prana and don't need to ever eat or drink again, which is impossible.

I suppose with these beliefs it seems that...

3. They make it sound like humans are actually plants.

Now I'm sure that no person alive that claims to practice Breatharianism will actually say that humans are pretty much like plants, but it does sound an awful lot like that's what they're trying to get at with their insistence that people only need air and sun light to live, which is something that plants need inorder to live.

While we do need air inorder to live, we don't actually need sun light inorder to live (although it is better for us in the long run to get some sun light). We do infact need water and nutrition (in the form of food) inorder to live, just like every other lifeform on this on this planet.

So many of you are probably wondering by now how exactly can these Breatharians live without water and food, if it is impossible for them to live without water and food? Well there's actually a couple of explanations for that, the first one being...

2. Those that try to go all the way tend to die.

With a belief that encourages people to do things that can kill them, such as not eating or drinking anything, eventually some people who try doing what the belief says you're suppose to do will end up dying. Breatharianism is no different.

Lots of people have tried Breatharianism, most of which give up in the end and start eating and drinking after they realize that they just can't do it, and this is either because the pains of hunger and thirst is getting to much for them, or they realize that what they are doing to themselves is killing them.

Unfortunately there are a few people who have tried to go all the way with living off of sun light and air and choose to ignore what their own body is trying to tell them. Unless someone intervenes and forces them to stop, what ultimately ends up happening is that they die.

Now some of you are probably wondering if Breatharianism is impossible, and that it will kill you if you really try to do it, then how come there are people out there that claim they can do it?

There's a very simple explanation for that. It's because...

1. Those who claim to be able to do it are lying.

Those that claim to practice Breatharianism and do it successfully have either been shown to be frauds, or are greatly suspected of lying, and have people help them cover up the fact that they eat and drink just like the rest of us.

Wiley Brooks, probably one of the most famous Breatharians there is, has been caught numerous times eating and drinking stuff. He also admits that he "occasionally" eats a Double Quarter-Pounder with Cheese from McDonalds, and drinks a Diet Coke, although he claims this to add balance to one's self...

Jasmuheen, another famous Breatharian, actually agreed to take a challenge by the Australian television program 60 Minutes to test her claims that she can live off of air and light alone by allowing the television show to supervise her and make sure she didn't eat or drink anything. The test was stopped after those who were observing her realized that her health was declining and that if they didn't stop the experiment, she would die.

The fact remains is that no one can survive without food and water. Those who claim you can and that they can do it are either lying or deluded.

And down goes the DMCA hammer... or does it?

As many of you are probably aware of one of my favorite skeptics and debunkers, Myles Power, is being harassed by the creators of the HIV/AIDS denialist film, House of Numbers, by filing false DMCA takedown notices on Youtube concerning a set of five videos that Myles has made criticizing and debunking that film and showing the world just how deceptive it is.

Now, the creators of House of Numbers have made the killing blow and filed a forth DMCA takedown notice that will get his channel deleted in about a week from now.

This is wrong on so many levels. It is censorship of the worst kind. The makers of this film are trying to suppress the truth about their film and this can not be allowed!

Fortunately one of his friends, Science of Sarcasm, has uploaded all five videos on another video sharing website.

Now you can go to SoS's website and watch the videos there, or you can watch all five videos right below:


Debunking House of Numbers Part 1 by scienceofsarcasm



Debunking House of Numbers Part 2 by scienceofsarcasm


Debunking House of Numbers Part 3 by scienceofsarcasm


Debunking House of Numbers Part 4 by scienceofsarcasm


Debunking House of Numbers Part 5 by scienceofsarcasm

You if have a program that will allow you to download these videos (I'm using YTD Downloader myself, just incase you don't have a program that will let you download from Dailymotion, I recommend this one) please do so and reupload these videos on ANY of the popular video sites.

Do not let these people get away with this! Let them find out what the Streisand effect is, and let them find out just what happen when you try to silence free speech on the internet, or anywhere.

I hope that Myles fights this, and that he continues making more videos debunking House of Numbers, and Myles if you are reading this on behalf of the skeptics community we are with you!

Update: Petition asking Youtube to lift the DMCA takedown notices against Myles Power

A petition has been started on Change.org asking Youtube to lift the DMCA takedown notices. I ask everyone here to please it and tell Youtube to lift these notices against Myles and to stop these false DMCA takedown notices being brought against him!

https://www.change.org/petitions/youtube-lift-the-dmcas-filed-against-myles-power-powem1985-by-knowledge-matters-llc

Update: Parts 1, 2, & 3 are back up

I just check out Myles's Youtube page and parts one, two, & three are back up. Part five is still down, but you can still find that everywhere on Youtube, just search for "debunking House of Numbers" and you should easily find it.

Hopefully part five will be back up soon and that Myles will be able to finish what he started, but atleast his page is no longer in danger of being taken down.

Update: Part 5 is back up

Part Five of Debunking House of Numbers is finally back. All five videos are back up for all to view.

5 Things I've noticed about... Alternative Cancer Cures

Alternative cancer cures.

These so called cures have been around with us for as long as science based cancer treatments have been around with us. Infact some of them have been around even longer than that.

These so called cures, while different, also have many things in common, which I have narrowed down to five different things.

So here are five things I've noticed about alternative cancer cures:

5. There's a lot of them.

One of the biggest things that I've noticed about alternative cancer cures is that there are a lot of different types of "cures" floating around the internet and alternative medicine communities, and that there seems to be a new one that comes out every few weeks.

I've seen claims that balancing your ph levels, vitamins, organic foods, "detoxing" your body of chemicals, breathing in pure oxygen, and soursop can cure cancer, and in ways and speeds that would make conventional treatments obsolete.

The most recent claims I've seen concern cannabis oil. Along with doing all sorts of other stuff, the rumors spreading around the internet is that either cannabis oil can cure or atleast stop the growth of cancer cells.

While there are a lot of different alternative medical treatments that are claimed to cure cancer, there are a few things that they all have in common, such as the fact that...

4. Many of the claims are exaggerated and dubious.

Of all the alternative cancer cures that I have seen floating around the internet they all just sound blatantly exaggerated, and when I do some research into these claims I find out that they are often times full of half truths, or are outright false. Examples of this would be Soursop which is claimed to be 10,000 times more effective than chemo (both exaggerated and false), and vitamins are often claimed to kill cancer cells because it can kill them in a petri dish (that doesn't mean it can kill them in the human body).

Many people who promote these so called alternative cancer cures also claim that there is a "conspiracy" by "big pharma" to suppress these so called "cures" (which they have done a terrible job at) and is the reason why doctors won't even mention these alternative "cures". This is ofcourse made up nonsense and BS conspiracy theories. The real reason why doctors don't recommend alternative cancer cures is because...

3. They don't work and are dangerous.

As the old saying goes "You know what they call an alternative medicine that works? Medicine."

The fact is that these so called alternative cancer cures don't work. They have been tested in scientific laboratories, and have been shown not to work and do nothing to reduce or stop the spread of cancer cells. The only thing that has been shown when a person purely uses alternative cancer cures is that a person will die of cancer just as fast as if they had used no cancer treatments at all. This is why no legitimate medical doctor would ever recommend any alternative cancer cures.

Worst yet is that some of these cancer cures are actually harmful. Soursop for instance has neurotoxins in it that can cause a person to develop symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease, and cansema, another so called alternative cancer cure is corrosive and destroys your skin. There are also many different herbs that are floating around that are said to cure cancer, but in reality are poisonous and can kill you.

Ofcourse no one who believes that alternative cancer cures work would know this, nor would some of them really care primarily due to the "statistics" that the profiteers... I mean promoters of alternative cancer cures often times use. And speaking of those statistics...

2. The statistics alternative cancer cure promoters use are exaggerated and flawed.

Many times accompanying articles about alternative cancer cures (especially on websites that promote these "cures") and are some kind of statistics and information about how many people have been cured of cancer by taking whatever it is they are promoting. What many of these so called statistics and information may or may not tell you is how many of those people were using conventional cancer treatments during, or before, or after they took the alternative cancer cures. To most people this would create a cross contamination in the data as it could be argued that it is just as likely (much more likely actually) that the conventional cancer treatments are what cured a person of cancer and not the alternative cancer treatments.

Now when you remove all the people who admit they used conventional cancer treatments and only include those that claim to have purely used alternative cancer cures, the number of people who believe that they successfully rid themselves of cancer is shockingly small, and can be explained as either the body healing itself (it's rare, but it does happen) or the person was given a false diagnosis (which is why a second diagnosis is always needed after a first positive diagnosis is made inorder to confirm if a person has cancer), or that some of the people questioned could be outright lying and actually did have conventional cancer treatments, or have never been diagnosed with cancer, they just claimed they had it.

What these statistics do not tell you is how many people actually died while using these alternative cancer cures, either indirectly as a result of foregoing conventional cancer treatments, or directly as a result of being poisoned by some of these "cures".

Also another thing that the promoters of alternative cancer cures tend to do...

1. The promoters of alternative cancer cures love to talk about the negatives of conventional cancer treatments, but never the positives.

As a way to help promote alternative cancer cures the promoters of these so called cures love to talk about all of the bad stuff about conventional cancer cures, primarily how harsh some of it can be, and how expensive it can be, and that sometimes conventional treatments do not work. While this is true it's still fear mongering that's done inorder to scare people into foregoing conventional cancer treatments and use the alternative ones.

What's almost never mentioned is how conventional cancer treatments have consistently increased the life expectancy and survivability of people who were diagnosed with cancer for over the past 50 years, and that there are new treatments for cancer that are based off of science based research that are coming out all the time. Infact I know a person who recently was completely cured of a type of cancer that ten years would have meant a death sentence, and this is all thanks to science based medicine. His story is just one of millions of examples of how science based cancer treatments have prolonged peoples lives, or rid people of cancer!

Ofcourse you'll never hear that from a person whom promotes the non-science based "cures".

Frankenbull: GMOs run amuck, or a deception of the Anti-GMO movement

Recently I saw an article on a conspiracy theorist website concerning what they claimed was a genetically modified bull called the Belgian Blue (read the article here).

As you can clearly see that is one right big bull (although most bovine species do tend to be big creatures) and looks like a result direct genetic manipulation. Also, the way the article is worded (and the fact that the title of the article is "FRANKENBULL: GIGANTIC GMO BULLS Are Now A REALITY") makes it sound like the species was only recently developed, and that is was the result of direct genetic manipulation. This is not true for either one.

While the species is the result of a kind of genetic manipulation, it is not however the result direct genetic manipulation (which involves directly manipulating a life form's DNA) but instead indirect genetic manipulation through the use of selective breeding.

Infact the breed itself was first identified in the early 19th century, and the modern beef breed was developed in the 1950's through the use of artificial insemination. So it is not a new breed, and was not developed by messing with it's DNA (which is technology that scientists did not have back then). The article ofcourse doesn't mention any of this.

Heck, one of the photos in the article is also clearly not a modern photo either, and appears to be from atleast from either the 50's or the 60's:

Now by the standards of the Anti-GMO movement this freakish looking bovine is not a GMO animal because it's genetic manipulation is not the result of manipulating it's DNA, but the result of genetic manipulation through selective breeding (which almost all other species of domesticated plants and animals that are used for food are the result of in one form or another) and by their standards is okay to eat (which apparently it is).

The article is clearly being deceptive, and was only posted inorder to scare people away from GMO foods by making it appear that if scientists are willing to create something like that through direct genetic manipulation, then who knows what they are willing and able to do with the rest of our food. Infact you'd pretty much have live off the land and eat nothing but wild plants and animals inorder to have a diet that consisted of no foods that are the result of genetic manipulation of one form or another.

If the anti-GMO movement is so blatantly willing to lie about something like this that was so easy to find the truth about and debunk, then who knows what else they're willing to lie about inorder to make GMO foods look dangerous?

9 Reasons why people use Alternative Medicine

Why do some people continue to used alternative medicine?

Despite all the information there is about alternative medicine and how not only does it not work, but that infact it can even be harmful, people still use it and believe that it really does work.

So why is it that people still use alternative medicine? Well, I've been thinking about that, and I've come up with quite a few reasons why:

Desperation

Science based medicine is an incredible thing and can cure many diseases and fix a lot of things that can go wrong with the human body, but unfortunately it can't cure every disease, or fix everything that goes wrong with our bodies (not yet atleast). So when science based medicine can't fix or cure what ever is wrong with us (or atleast not doing so in a way that is fast enough for us) some people, even rational people, might become desperate enough to use alternative medicine.

This sort of situation especially happens when someone has a terminal disease and they are told by their doctor that there is nothing they can do to cure what ever it is that is killing them. Some people will not accept this and will seek out anything that is claimed to be able to cure them (even if all the evidence says otherwise).

They think it's cheaper

Because alternative medicine isn't manufactured by the pharmaceutical companies (who are for profit businesses) it is assumed by some people that alternative medicine must be cheaper than science based medicine because they believe that the people who are manufacturing these alternative medical products are not doing it for a profit, plus when a person is told about a product that is suppose to be cheaper and work better than the conventional product, people tend to buy the supposedly cheaper product.

Now if you seriously believe that alternative medicine is cheaper than science based medicine, and that people who make these alternative medical products are not doing so for a profit, then I know a Nigerian prince that wants to give you $15,000,000.

A friend told them it works

Probably the best form of advertising there is is word of mouth. You don't do have to pay for anything, and people tend to trust the opinion of a friend or family member over a creative ad in a newspaper or a TV commercial. Same thing holds true with alternative medicine.

Lets say you've been sick for a while and you have been taking some medicine for what ever has been ailing you, but so far it has had little to no affect. You tell a friend or a family member about your health issues and they might recommend that you take some herbs, or to go see this "doctor" that they recommend (who turns out to be an alternative medicine practitioner and not a real doctor) because they claim that it helped them, or it helped someone they know. Because you trust the person whom is recommending this "doctor" or this product, you might be more willing to see this "doctor" or try this product than you would if some stranger had told you.

Science based medicine can be harsh

Science based medicine (or modern medicine, or real medicine as some people like to call it) is a great thing. It has cured a lot of stuff, and has extended our average life expectancy by years, but it can also be pretty harsh at times as well. Because of this some people might either choose to stop using a science based medical treatment because they feel that it has become to harsh on them and that they believe that it might kill them if they continue to use, and so they decided to use alternative medicine instead because they believe it will help them without any side effects, or they might already know (or atleast believe) that the medical treatment that they've been recommend that they do could or will be harsh on them, and they decide to forgo it and use alternative medicine instead.

It goes with their beliefs

Whether is be religious, or cultural, or even personal, our beliefs in whatever form it may be shapes our thinking and what we do and what we trust, and if there is something about an alternative medicine that appeals to a person's beliefs, or if there is something about science based medicine that person considers taboo, the person might be far more willing to use alternative medicine even when it clearly doesn't work and that science based medicine clearly does work.

They believe that science based medicine is dangerous

Some people might chose to use alternative medicine rather than science based medicine not simply because they believe it is better than science based medicine, but because they believe that science based medicine is actually dangerous.

It shouldn't be to surprising that many supporters of alternative medicine also tend to be conspiracy theorists who believe that pharmaceutical companies are greedy and are only putting out products to make money without care of whether or not a product is dangerous, or intentionally putting out a product that will make us sick so that they can make more money off of us that way, or are part of some "New World Order" and are putting out dangerous products as a way to either control us or slowly kill us.

It should also not be surprising that many people who believe such conspiracy theories also believe that pharmaceutical companies are also trying to suppress information about alternative medicine, and are even going so far as to try to outlaw alternative medicine. Because of this belief it can make many people believe that alternative medicine is not only the right choice, but the only choice.

They used alternative medicine before and believed that it worked

One of the main reasons why some people use alternative medicine is because they already used it before for something else and as far as they are concerned it worked.

Now the two biggest reasons why someone might think that alternative medicine actually works after they already used it and it appeared to cure what ever was ailing them is either because they took it along with the real science based medicine and they simply assumed that the alternative medicine either helped cure them, or was what really cured them. Or they might not have used any science based medicine and that their body simply healed itself, but because that they used alternative medicine they assume that it was the alternative medicine that healed them and not their own bodies.

Because some people who have taken alternative medicine and believe that it really did work they might forgo using any science based medicine and use only alternative medicine, or atleast continue to use it along with science based medicine.

They read information about it that makes them think it works

There are a lot of websites and books out there about alternative medicine and it's alleged "benefits". Many of these books and websites contain "information" mostly in the form of positive stories about alternative medicine and how it's "helped" certain people by telling you their stories of how it's supposedly cured them while at the the same time bad mouthing science based medicine by claiming it wasn't working, or that it was killing the person, or by putting in information that makes science based medicine look harmful, or just insert a bunch of pharmaceutical industry conspiracy theories.

Sometimes these books and websites will take it a step further and have a real doctor claim that some kind of alternative medicine really works, or perhaps the book was written by a real doctor, or the website is run by a real doctor, and because something is written or run by a real doctor, it might cause some people to believe that there is something to this alternative medicine.

They got scammed into it.

Despite all that we've learned from snake oil salesmen of the 19th century, people still get scammed by con-artists and quacks who get people to buy useless products because they have been lead to believe that said product works and will cure what ever is ailing them when all it is is really junk.

Be either through an ad on the internet, or directly from the mouth of the person selling what ever they are selling, people to this day still get suckered into buying stuff that does not work. The fact that alternative medicine even exists today and that there are companies that manufacture and make billions off of this stuff is proof of that.

5 Things I've noticed about... Alternative Medicine

Alternative Medicine.

It's a multi-billion dollar scam industry that millions of people around the world use the products and services of year after year.

Many people who use alternative medicine will say it works, while many, many others will say otherwise.

Now there are a lot of things that I have notice about alternative medicine, but I have narrowed it down to five different things.

So here are five things I've noticed about alternative medicine:

5. It has a lot to do about nothing.

Alternative medicine products and services basically comes in two different forms: does nothing and uses nothing.

Most alternative medicine just doesn't work at all (such as homeopathy), and the few that actually does do something, the effects are minor and no where near as effective as real medicine, and could even be harmful if done improperly.

Then there are some that not only does nothing, but uses nothing as well. Reiki healing is a prime example of this as practitioners of Reiki healing practitioners claim that they use "energy" from some unknown source to "heal" people. Sometimes they will use crystals to harness this power. Sometimes they'll just use their hands. Regardless of how they "harness" this energy, they all do the same thing: nothing.

4. It works off of anecdotal evidence

Some of the best "evidence" that practitioners of alternative medicine have about how effect the products and services they offer works is anecdotal evidence. In fact it's not just best evidence they can give, it's also often the only evidence they can ever give (besides the stuff they make up) mainly because scientific experimentation and testing have proven that their products and services are useless.

Most practitioners of alternative medicine will tell you that their products and services does make people feel better, what they often don't tell you is how long it took to fix or cure whatever was ailing those who used their products or services, or whether they were using real medicine and medical services along with the alternative medicine, or how many people it didn't work for and ended up having to go and get real medicine and medical services when the alternative medicine failed to cure any thing but perhaps a heavy wallet. And that's another thing about alternative medicine...

3. It gets expensive.

Some alternative medicine is cheap (or at least it seems that way) but a lot of it is either over priced and even cost to much for some to use (which can be a good thing in a way, because the expense forces that person to go get real medicine). Even for people with health insurance it can still get expensive because most health insurance companies will not pay for alternative medicine, so a person who wants to use alternative medicine will have to pay for it out of pocket.

Even for the alternative medicine that isn't expensive, and can still get expensive because you have to keep buying and using it over and over again until either whatever is ailing you heals up on it's own, or you wise up and get real medicine, or you just keep buying the same useless stuff and forgo real medicine because you've been tricked into believing it works, even when it is obvious it doesn't.

Now being expensive for either a product or service that either doesn't work, or hardly does anything at all is a very negative part about alternative medicine, but it is not as bad as the fact that...

2. It is dangerous.

If you're taking an alternative medical treatment for either a cold or a cough then really the only damage your causing is to your wallet, but if you're taking alternative medical treatment for either cancer, or HIV, or anything that can kill you, then it becomes dangerous because you are forgoing proven medical treatments for something that doesn't work, and could possibly make it worse.

Besides just being dangerous because the belief that alternative medicine works can cause a person to forgo getting real medicine and medical treatments and instead get alternative medicine and medical treatments, some of this stuff can be dangerous if improperly done (like chiropractic) or overused (like colloidal silver) or if to much is taken at once (like Laetrile) and even outright used at all (like Cansema).

1. It's legally questionable.

Besides just coming in the forms of doing nothing and using nothing, alternative medicine also comes in another two other basic forms: doesn't work, and harmful. Because of this many forms of alternative medicine are in legal gray areas (besides the ones that are illegal) due to the fact that for the most part they don't work, many people believe that all forms of alternative medicine should be viewed as fraud and made illegal, and that all products that has shown to be dangerous should be made illegal because they are a dangerous fraud.

Besides the fact that alternative medicine is legally questionable, there have already been some ramifications when concerning alternative medicine. Some products have been made illegal because they are either dangerous, or just don't work. Insurance companies have no legal obligation to pay for alternative medicine, and often do not. Some people have even had their children taken away because they refused to get their children real medical treatment (often times for stuff that's life threatening) and use alternative medicine as a "substitute".

Many practitioners of alternative medicine have also been sued by their clients, either for fraud because they were sold a product or service that did not work, or because their product or service injured their client and actually increased their medical bills, or even left them disabled.

Many practitioners of alternative medicine have also been fined by the government, forced to shut down their operations, and in some extreme cases, sent to prison for fraud and practicing medicine without a license.

Why do people lie about their belief in a Conspiracy Theory? Part 1: Fear

Why do some people continue to express belief in a conspiracy theory when they actually no longer believe in that conspiracy theory?

Yes, as hard as it might sound to some people, their are people out there that do in fact lie about their beliefs in a conspiracy theory, and there are actually several different reason why someone does this, but one of the main reasons why someone does this is fear.

In fact not only is fear a major reason why someone would claim to believe in a conspiracy theory that they no longer believe in, there are actually several different reasons (or excuses) for that fear.

What if?

Probably one of the most common reasons why a person says they believe in a conspiracy theory, even when they do not actually believe in it is the question of "what if?" as in "what if I'm wrong?"

The fear of being wrong about something is often times one of the biggest reasons why someone claims to believe in something when in their minds they actually don't (or at least question themselves) because they think it might save them in some ways if they turn out to be wrong and it actually is true...

They don't want to look stupid.

For some people whom believe in a conspiracy theory, but have since stopped believing but continue to claim to believe in a conspiracy theory, they may be continuing to claim they believe in a conspiracy theory due to the fact that they, in a way, would be admitting that they were being stupid, and maybe in their egotistical minds, would look stupid in the process.

Because of this fear, combined with their own ego, it can cause a person to continue saying that they believe in a long after they actually stopped believing in a conspiracy theory, and can cause them to continue to try to prove a conspiracy theory that they no longer believe in is real to other people.

They can also be very sensitive as well and blow up when someone questions their claims, or intelligence, or sanity.

They're afraid losing relationships.

Some people might claim to believe in a conspiracy theory not because genuinely believe in it, but because someone they are close to, or a group of people they are close to, believes in that conspiracy theory.

This relationship could be with a family member they are close to, or their entire family, and they're afraid that if they speak out and say that they do not believe in the conspiracy theory that the family member (or members) believes in, or do not even express any of the same beliefs in said conspiracy theory, they may lose what relationship they have with that family member, or their family.

The relationship lose might not come from a family member either. It could be a fear of a lose of friends.

Lets say a person has a friend, or a group of friends, who believe in a conspiracy theory. Or, maybe they even joined an organization that promotes a certain conspiracy theory, and they made friends with some of the people in that organization. Some people might continue to claim they believe in that conspiracy theory long after they stopped believing in it simply because they don't want to lose their friends.

They're afraid of being harassed and retaliated against.

While some people's fear based reasons for continuing to believe in a conspiracy theory they no longer believe in (or never really did) might be a selfishly based fear, some people's fear might be a legitimate fear, such as the fear of being harassed and/or retaliated against.

This fear is a very legitimate in fact, not only because conspiracy theorists have been known to harass skeptics and debunkers who express doubt in a conspiracy theory, or actually prove a conspiracy theory to be false, but also because it has happened before to other former conspiracy theorists too.

This fear of harassment might not even come from people in a conspiracy theorist organization. It may come from the whole community, especially if the whole, or at least many in the community actually believes in a certain conspiracy theory and you do not. Expressing disbelief in a conspiracy theory in such a community could result in some people trying to run that person out of town.

Because of this fear of harassment and other, perhaps more violent forms of retaliation, this may keep a person claiming to believe in a conspiracy theory long after they no longer do.

They're afraid of being abused.

While most people believe in a conspiracy theory because they want to, some people only say they believe in a conspiracy theory out of the very real and legitimate fear of being assaulted by someone close to them that does.

This fear can be very real and could be the result of a spouse, or a boyfriend, or a girlfriend, or even a parent whom is either intimidating, authoritarian, and/or abusive. Combine this with a belief in conspiracy theories that person might have, and it might make a person whom is on the receiving end of the abuse feel like they have no choice but to say that they believe in a conspiracy theory simply to stay safe.

Sometimes they claim to believe in a conspiracy theory not out of the fear of possibly being abused, but because they have been told by the abusive party that they will be beaten if they defy them, or actually have been beaten for defying them.

Fear of financial lose.

The final fear based reason why some people claim to believe in a conspiracy theory even when they no longer do (or never did) is because they have a real financial incentive to claim to believe in a conspiracy.

First, the person could own a business that has clientele that not only believe in conspiracy theories, but believe in it them so much so that they might not do business with someone whom doesn't agree with them (this could be based off of their own fear that a person could be a shill if they don't agree with them).

Because the owner might not want to lose that person's business, they might claim they also believe in that conspiracy theory, why in reality they really don't.

Now the other type of fear of financial lose might not come from the fear of the lose of clientele, but the fear of losing your job, either by getting fired by a manager or owner who believes in a conspiracy theory and doesn't want anyone working for them that doesn't, or a co-worker whom believes in a conspiracy theory, and retaliates and does anything they can to get a person fired because they don't believe in the conspiracy theory that they believe in.

Aura Cleanser: Another WTF Item

Sometimes you can find some really strange products on the internet. Some of these products honestly make me wonder how these things can even legally be sold, and why the website companies that these products are being sold off of would even allow these items to be sold using their websites in the first place. Recently I came across such a product on Amazon.com called Aura Cleanser, and the only thing I could think of when I saw this is, "why is this allowed on Amazon?"

In the product description of this spray, it first claims to do this:

• AURA CLEANSER is a highly effective patterned recipe formulated to erase negativity in and around you on many energy levels.

Okay, how exactly can a spray, whom's contents are unknown, erase "negativity" (as if that's a real thing rather than just how you perceive the world and how you allow it to affect you) and effect energy levels on any scale?

The second claim goes as this:

• This Essence was especially created to help neutralize and cleanse areas where it is sprayed.

Again, how is some simple spray going to "cleanse" an area of something that really hasn't been proven to exist, more or less yet been proven to actually affect a person's mind?

Now the third claim made says it can do this:

• This powerful essence encourages energetic responses from multi-levels of consciousness, clearing any negative threat, psychic or otherwise.

There's no such thing as psychic powers, and thus no such thing as psychic threats, negative or otherwise. Also, what exactly is this so called "energetic responses" that it is said to encourage? In my opinion that is sort of vague.

The final claim made says this:

• It also helps to heal damaged human electromagnetic energy fields (aura that have holes) resultant from destructive lower frequencies (cell phones, computers, etc.) and assists in healing, preventing or alleviating serious imbalances.

It has never been proven that humans actually have auras (and yes, this has been studied, multiple times in fact) and thus can't actually be damaged, and that low frequency waves (which is what I believe is actually being refereed to) from things like cell phones and computers are not strong enough to hurt you. If you're feeling any type of "imbalance" from sitting in front of a computer all day, it's probably not because of the computer, but probably because you've been sitting in front of a computer all day and not getting any fresh air and exercise.

Now the Aura Cleanser was invented by someone going by the name of Anthony Cooper, whom is claimed to be a "famous European alchemist", yet when I do a Google search for him, I can find nothing about him, and the only results I come up with are some New Age websites selling his products, a line of English Earls (although it appears that the first one did dabble in alchemy, which wasn't that uncommon back in the 17th century), and a character from the TV show "Lost". This lack of information about this "famous" Anthony Cooper, plus the fact that there was a famous Earl of the same name who did dabble alchemy, has led me to believe that perhaps this Anthony Cooper isn't even a real person.

In conclusion, even if it could proven that auras exist, it's highly doubtful that outside sources can even harm it, and for that matter, help it either, and that your own mind is more likely to help heal your alleged aura, rather than being sprayed with, whatever. On that note, it's also unknown what this bottle of "Aura Cleanser" contains. For all you and I know it could contain just water, or it could contain some actual harmful ingredients.

This is, in my opinion, just a big waste of money.

How many people really do believe the government committed the 9/11 attacks?

How many people actually believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks, or at least allowed the attacks to happen? This is a question that I sometimes wonder about.

What I mean by people who actually believe the government committed or allow the 9/11 attacks to happen, I don't mean simply people who say they believe that the government committed the 9/11, I mean people who actually mean it when they say that they believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks.

Now there are multiple surveys that have been conducted over the past decade that have asked people whether or not they believe the government was involve in the 9/11 attacks, but there are a couple of problems I have with these surveys:

One, they are often vary in percentages of how many people actually believe the government was involved in the 9/11 attacks. This can be because of where the surveys were taken, when they were taken, and how the questions were actually worded.

And two, there is no realistic way to filter out the people who just say they believe from the true believers.

Now many of you are probably asking "why would someone claim they believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks but not really mean it?"

Well, one reason might be for political purposes.

It's very well known that conspiracy theories are often time used for political and propaganda purposes, and the conspiracy theories surrounding the 9/11 attacks are no exception.

A person could be claiming this because they have anti-government beliefs, or anti-American beliefs, or anti-Israeli beliefs (for those that are antisemitic), or they could be a person who hated President Bush so much that they say they believe the government committed the 9/11 to (in their minds) further delegitimize his presidency.

Of course they could also be saying that the government committed the 9/11 attacks not because they have a anti-something beliefs, but because they wish to further their own political agendas, and they're just using and exploiting the 9/11 Truth movement to do it.

Of course, political reasons are not the only reasons why some people claim to believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks and not really mean it. It could be that they are, or fell like they are being pressured into saying that they believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks.

Perhaps a person joined a group of people who believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks because they themselves were once curious about the conspiracy theories about the attack, but now no longer believe in the 9/11 conspiracy theories. They might continue to claim that they believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks simply because they made friends in that group, and they don't want to risk losing them.

Another reason is because they are feeling pressure from their family to believe in these 9/11 conspiracy theories. Perhaps they even feel threatened by a spouse or a parent to "believe" in these conspiracy theories.

This happens all the time with things like religion and politics, and so it really would not surprise me if it happened with things like conspiracy theories (since conspiracy theories are sometimes a mixing of religion and politics).

Then there is one more group that has to be taken into consideration: people who have severe mental illness.

While a person who is severely mentally ill, and believes that the government did commit the 9/11 attacks, probably sincerely does believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks, there is the question about whether or not their belief should be considered a legitimate belief or not. The reason why I question if their belief that the government committed the 9/11 attacks should be consider legitimate or not is because it is questionable whether or not they would still believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks if they were either not mentally ill (sometimes severe delusional disorders will make a person believe in anything), or if their mental illness was under controlled to the point where they were considered sane. Because of this it should be taken into consideration whether or not we should even count those beliefs as being sincere because their minds might not be allowing them to see clearly the facts when presented to them, rather then just simply ignoring the facts.

Because of all these factors I truly do wonder how many people actually believe that the government caused the 9/11 attacks, and honestly, I don't think it's as high as what many people think it is.

5 Things I've noticed about... Psychics

Ever watched a psychic on TV, or met one in real life? Well other than meeting one in real life, I sure have, and I have noticed certain things psychics that they tend to do a lot of.

So here are five things that I've I've noticed about psychics:

5. They apparently don't play the lottery.

Despite the claims of many psychics that they can predict the future and that they can use that power to help guide other people in a positive way, none of them apparently plays the lottery so that they can win lots of money and not have to charge people $50 so they can talk to their dead relatives for 20 minutes.

(Author's note: that last part is just a guess. I don't have any clue what the average going rate for speaking to a psychic is.)

4. They make lousy detectives.

There have been hundreds, if not thousands of criminal investigations in which psychics came in and either volunteered, or were actually asked by an officer on the case to use their powers to help solve a case. Currently not a one has ever solved a case.

In fact the total success rate for psychic detectives isn't even zero, it's actually in the negatives because sometimes the psychic leads the investigative officers to the wrong person, and this has even lead to some innocent people being arrested.

3. They ask a lot of questions.

For people who's powers are suppose to let them know everything, they sure do ask a lot of questions before they start to give a person answer to the question that they originally asked.

Why the heck would a psychic need to ask a bunch of questions for in the first place? In fact why would anyone need to ask a psychic a question? Shouldn't they already know what question you want to ask them?

2. None of the celebrity psychics want to be verified.

It seems that none of the famous, or celebrity psychics, ever bother to go and get their powers verified by a scientific institution that offers to test a person to see if they actually have psychic powers.

One of the most famous of these verification programs is the James Randi Educational Foundation's One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, where upon verification of your powers, you will be awarded one million dollars!

So far the only celebrity that agreed to take this challenge was Sylvia Browne, and she backed out.

1. Anyone can be a psychic!

Yep, that's right! Anyone can be a psychic!

No, not everyone (or anyone for that matter) has the power to talk to the dead, or to see the future. What I mean is that everyone has the ability to use a technique that most (if not all) people who claim to be psychics use. That technique is called cold readings, and is basically a combination of deception and observation to make a person think that a psychic knows more than what they really do.

Embarrassing Conspiracy Theories: Shape-shifting Aliens control the Earth

While there are a lot of strange conspiracy theories out there, perhaps one of the most bizarre conspiracy theories out there is one that the primary promoter of is David Icke: that the leaders of the world (and just about anyone who is famous) are actually shape-shifting aliens.

The aliens are often times described as being humanoid reptilians that are from either another planet or universe (although some claim that they are actually the offspring of alien-human hybrids from thousands of years ago) and have actually been in control for thousands of years, and are using their technology to take on a human form and secretly control the human race.

There are several videos on the internet that claim to show some famous person or politician showing some type of reptilian features for a split second, and the reality is that they do not. Many of these videos allegedly shows a person "revealing" some kind of reptilian features are actually the result of camera angle and light reflection, or even or even natural human bodily actions, such as pupil dilation, and just licking lips with one's tongue. Some of these video are even the result of some special effects put in to the video by someone who wants to prove that shape-shifting aliens are real.

Taking into account the wide scope that many conspiracy theorists believe this to be, many people have been accused of being a shape-shifting alien (this includes David Icke as well, and possible even myself). There are even people who actually claim to be one of these aliens. Of course they never actually turn into an alien, they just act very strange when they are in what they claim to be in their transformation. These "transformations" seem more like acting, or psychosis.

Besides considering the scope of such an alleged conspiracy (in both time and number of people involved) and the sheer lack of any evidence what so ever that any of this is true, it makes no logical sense that any technologically advanced conquerors would even bother to do something like this.

Many skeptics believe that the shape-shifting alien conspiracy theory is actually a modernization and rehashing of the many Jewish conspiracy theories (both of which just so happen to be very similar in their accusations), and have actually accused David Icke of being anti-Semitic and that he uses the reference to shape-shifting reptilians as being a code word for "Jews". While Icke does deny this, he does believe that the book The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion (which was proven to be a hoax as far back as 1921) is true, and has apparently been flirting with Holocaust denial.

Regardless of the reasons behind David Icke's allegations (whatever those true reasons may be), many people (both conspiracy theorists and skeptics alike) consider this to be complete nonsense, and have accused Icke of being everything from a scam artist to being outright insane (although some conspiracy theorists have also accused him of being a disinformation agent as well).