Owning the printing press

ISP Netcetera has closed down Quackometer, on the basis of a frivolous lawsuit threat.

I call upon anyone who cares about free speech to boycott Netcetera, and move any sites they may host for you to another service.

I'm not the only blogger to think this way.

The blind leading ...

A Texas woman is asking for state accreditation as an acupuncturist, despite her blindness. During her training she has already treated over 500 patients. She argues that she can place needles just as effectively as a sighted person.

It's a horrible article. First of all, how can Mary Ann Roser not even mention that medical doctors are often licensed despite blindness? Does the Texas State Board of Acupuncture Examiners think being an acupuncturist is more demanding?

Of course, the real scandal is that such a Board exists. Because acupuncture doesn't work. Yeah, yeah, millions of people believe in it. When it's studied carefully there's nothing there. There's some good evidence that sticking people with needles and calling it "therapy" makes them feel better--even when the needles are fake and don't penetrate the skin. There's zero evidence for "chi" or "meridians" or the rest of acupuncture's ancient, basis-free foundation.

The equally bad scandal is that Ms. Roser never even thought to question the idea of licensing professional acupuncturists, so they can then fail to help anyone.

Feh.

Astrology demonstrated

A fine example of how astrologers make money