The Four Horsemen of Derp!

In most peoples everyday life, there are a few websites that they visit on a regular basis. Things like Facebook, Instagram, Pornhub, BuzzFeed. You know, normal sites. In the skeptical world, we have Wikipedia, Snopes, the C.D.C., and PubMed. In the dark realm of pseudoscience, conspiracy theories, and new age weirdness, they have their own flavor of preferred information. And the ones I'm going to talk a little bit about today could possibly be called

The Four Horsemen of Derp!

InfoWars

This site, along with AboveTopSecret, is one of the primary purveyors of conspiracy theories on the planet. Their tagline is "Because there is a war on for your mind" Rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it. If you go to the site, and I highly recommend you don't, one of the first things you'll see are ads for various liver cleaners, anti-fluoride campaigns, and very odd supplements, on top of links to brilliant articles like "Herbicide Resistant Insects are Destroying GMO Crops Like Never Before"(seriously, that one is on there, I thought it was an Onion article) There are also a bunch of conspiratorially flavored "news articles" blaming almost everything on Obama, atheists, and anyone that's brown. It's a deep rabbit warren of actual news stories with a seemingly slightly plausible conspiracy spin to them. (They should use that as the tag line) This site is part of the Alex Jones media empire, and he uses it, just like his radio show, to promote his particular flavor of crazy. It almost feels like an "End of Days" vibe, with everything going to pieces all around us. If you look at a lot of their advertisers, you'll quickly notice a common theme. They're trying to get your money. That and they tend to be geared more towards the survivalist type of consumer. You know the type, guys (and a few gals) with more guns and ammo than some small countries. They also normally have a bunker, which may be an actual bunker or a converted basement or tree-house, full of MRE's and canned food and water and they also seem to have a perpetual nervous twitch. These people also seem to tend towards the sovereign citizen brand of lunacy. I often see very large trucks with lift kits blowing past me on the highway with InfoWars stickers all over them, as well as people wearing their merchandise with slogans like "9-11 was an inside job!" If you hear about a crazy anti-government conspiracy, or that the world is about to collapse and the New World Order is going to take control, odds are, either InfoWars is covering it, or they started it. 

Mercola

This one is probably the grandaddy of the Alt Med sites. This one was started by Joseph Mercola, who is an osteopathic physician. He just happens to give advise on every other facet of health. His site tends to have articles that basically say "Don't listen to your doctor, listen to us instead!" All over the site you'll find ads for..wait for it....Dr. Joseph Mercolas health products. *gasp*. He sells a variety of supplements, vitamins, and books, all from his company. I know that it's his website and he can do whatever he damn well pleases,  But at least he could try and make it look like he was supporting other Woo-mongers. This is just greedy. He also has an ad that claims his is the #1 health website in the world. I'm not going into that one too much. The internet and search rankings is a finicky mess as it is. He has a sitemap at the bottom with a section called "Special Info Sites" that cover all of the following delightful topics:

• Aspartame
• Cancer
• Fitness
• Fluoride
• Fructose/Sugar
• GMO
• Mercury
• Nutritional Typing
• Pets
• Vaccines
• Vitamin D

Voice-over: No, I don't think these alt-med folks are trying to scare the shit out of people. These are just topics that are controversial and so people are looking for non-biased, informative and easy to understand data. 
No, they're trying to scare people. Plain and simple. On top of that, they're trying to make a profit doing it. Some of these guys make me think of the Ferengi from Star Trek. The site is kind enough to let you know that every purchase helps to fund a variety of charities and organizations. Charitable giving, wow! Ok, so maybe he's not as bad as I thought. Let's see, what are the groups that are getting a cut of the money. They include:

• Campaign for Mercury Free Dentistry
• FluorideAlert.org
• National Vaccine Information Center
• Institute for Responsible Technology
• Rabies Challenge Fund 

You get the general idea. The money from the sales of pseudoscience products are going to fund pseudoscience groups. What really makes me sick about a lot of the alt-med crowd is that they have a tendency to discourage their clients from continuing treatments from an actual M.D. and use whatever snake oil they're selling. This puts people in danger, both financially and physically. Financially because this shit isn't cheap, and you have to keep coming back for more (drug dealer business model) and physically because they aren't actually getting help. Sure, these websites will have anecdotes and testimonials from customers that they helped (the disease or problem either went away on its own, or wasn't there to begin with). The reason you rarely see any negative statements is because the dead don't have anecdotes.

Natural News

Mike Adams, Health Ranger!, is the purveyor of the Beautiful Sunshine that is Natural News. This one site has it all. Conspiracy theories, health claims, anti-government rhetoric, promotion of alt-med, phrases like Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big Brother, and on and on and on. One such headline claimed "The Department of Homeland Security still Controls what you Read" (Ironic, if it's true). There aren't as many ads on here as I've seen on other pseudoscience sites, but there are a damn lot of articles that try and make science sound evil and corrupt, and yet promote themselves as the only truly scientific authority on a variety of topics, ranging from women's health to genetics, and from nutrition to pharmaceuticals. However, this site, like so many others of its ilk, is just trying to scare people into buying their particular flavor of Woo. Mike Adams, Health Ranger!, tends to be a bit more vocal and aggressive than most other supporters of alternative medicine and organic food. As some of you know, not too long ago, Mr. Adams, Health Ranger!, made a comment basically saying it would be fine if someone were to kill proponents of GMOs. Then suddenly, there was a website, putting a hit on various scientists and skeptics. He claimed to have nothing to do with it, but a bit of internet detective work traced the site back to the same computer he used to manage the Natural News site. To be honest, I'm not sure what has been done about this, or if anything can be done. What I do know is, if you piss off Mike Adams, Health Ranger!, you might end up on an actual list.

There are so many flamin' bullshit loaded sites that choosing only 4 was not easy. I could have used MUFON, CryptoMundo, BFRO, or any number of other sites. I basically decided on my top 4 based on fitting with the 4 horsemen theme, popularity, influence, lack of scientific reliability, and danger. So based on all of this, and the fact that she really pisses me off, I present to you the last of the 4 Horsepeople of Derp!

Food Babe (Admit it, you knew this one was coming!)
Vani Hari is the Food Babe. Plain and simple. This woman lives the role. She famous for saying "If you can't pronounce it, don't eat it." Also, she has said that chemicals don't belong in food. Apparently, she doesn't realize that if you break anything down, at some point, it's all chemicals. That's basically what your body does. Her site has a lot of ads for her books (she has more than 1, what the hell!) and booklets, as well as a couple of ads for various supplements. It is basically her blog, which admittedly looks a hell of a lot better than mine. I'm not shy. She has a tendency to throw the word "toxin" around a lot. I don't know what toxin she's talking about. She never names it, just that it gets in your body. She is notorious for raising 9 kinds of hell about food additives that she thinks are bad for you, and bringing the full weight of the "Food Babe Army" (which makes me want a "Skeptical Okie Army". I'm sure we'd  be way cooler.) against any company and using public opinion to make them change their products, all because it scares her. At the top of her page, right below the picture of her holding a magnifying glass looking at a package of...something, she has a few selection for her readers. They include Investigations, Recipes, Travel, Eating Guides, and of course Shops. Her current front page has a recipe for raw coconut macaroons, This simple food can help Acne, Eczema, Digestive Issues and More! and 3 Things Doctors say You Should Do...But Shouldn't. Here again is that distrust of the medical field that seems to pop up in all these sites, except for InfoWars. I will bet you, if any of these yahoos were to break their arm (I'm not saying it should happen, and I don't wish them any harm), they would be at a hospital in no time asking for a doctor to help them. The Food Babe site is actually a lot cleaner and easier to navigate than a lot of the other pseudoscience pages I look at while doing research for the blog. It's not as cluttered with ads and links, and is pretty straight forward. However, it doesn't change the fact that she is pushing her own brand of B.S. on an unsuspecting public. Ms. Hari says that she researches her claims, and she might. But like most people, both believers and skeptics, she tends to let her bias get in the way. She doesn't want to listen to the other side of the issue, and if someone calls her out and backs up their claim with evidence, she seems to have a tendency to just pull the blog post instead of admitting she was in error. She probably isn't as dangerous as Mercola or Natural News, but due to her influence in main stream media, she does have a tendency to make relatively simple issues way more complicated and difficult than they need to be.

All of these sites, as well as the thousands of others, have a few things in common. They have merchandise they want to sell. They have something they want to say, though I don't know if they actually believe what they are saying or if they are just trying to make an easy buck. They have a very devoted, almost to the point of rabid, following. They all promote some form of junk science or misinformation in a form that makes it easier for large numbers of people to grab onto it and believe it; If you want to keep a bit ahead of what the next weeks conversation at work or when visiting relatives is going to be, take a look at these sites. Just be sure not to read too much at one time. You've seen the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, right? When everyones faces melt. I'm pretty sure that may happen if you spend too much time that far into the Woo side of life. I just thought that I would introduce you to a few of the promoters of the crap that gives critical thinkers and skeptics such headaches. So with that pleasant thought, I shall take my leave. 

Until next time, Be Good, Be Skeptical, and Be sure your phone is charged.

The Skeptical Okie

Why the skeptical community is important.

Hey folks, I know it's been a while, but I'm back, at least for now. There's been a subject that I've heard come up occasionally in various conversations that I've been trying to put words to for a while. The topic basically breaks down to "Why do we even need a skeptical community?" It's been brought up in blog posts, podcasts, and even in casual conversation, so I thought I'd give my opinion on the matter.

 On episodes 3 and 4 of "The Blue Ball Skeptics" for example, Damion and Chas spoke to Matt and Sharon Madison, a couple that have been involved in skepticism for quite a while (before the founding of  the JREF or CFI). They seem to feel that there isn't really a need for a skeptical community, and during the course of their interview, they state the reasons they feel that way. (To hear the entire interview click this link). 

One of their main concerns deals with a "Cult of Personality" forming around a few key members in the movement (Randi, Shermer, Harris, etc), and dividing the community into various camps for or against various people. I actually agree with them on this fact. We've seen this happen with Rebecca Watson, Michael Shermer, and various other "Skeptical Leaders", for lack of a better term. They become popular in not only the skeptical communities, but also noticed by the various religious and pseudoscience groups, and even main stream media. These people have some very vocal opponents, so any indiscretion is quickly jumped on. By the same token, you have the proponents of these personalities that will verbally rip you to shreds if they think you've written anything disparaging about their favorite skeptic. All I'm going to say on this matter is that skeptics are only human, and we screw up from time to time. I'm not excusing any alleged behaviors, nor am I placing any blame. I do not know any of the major players in our community personally, nor do I have all the information to make an informed opinion one way or the other. I'm simply saying don't elevate someone above reproach, nor reprimand another for speaking their mind, without making sure you know all the details first. Even our heroes should be approached with a skeptical mindset. 

Another issue that they have is the term "skeptical movement", which they state, and I also agree, sounds like a politically driven group. However, I don't have a problem with skeptics being involved in policy making. We have as much right as any other group of people to have a say in the rules under which we live. Religious organizations, alternative medicine, and other such special interest groups have some very powerful lobbyists working for them to push their agendas to the politicians, so why shouldn't we? At least we have research, critical and rational thought, and science backing our claims, versus their wishful thinking and 2000 year old books. Unfortunately, we don't have the same level of financial backing that they do.

Back to the main point of my post, "Why do we need a skeptical community?" I know that people that are much better writers than I am have written on this topic, but I feel the need to add my 2 cents on the matter. I feel that we need a skeptical community, and a skeptical movement, to help show people that they aren't alone. Growing up in the middle of Oklahoma, where you can see a homeopath next door to a psychic, and both go to the same church across the street, you tend to feel very lonely, and slightly frightened if you would rather trust science than have faith. When  looking for others that share your views, you sometimes have to be very careful how you phrase things, especially if you live in a rural area. A skeptical community helps people find others that share common interests and ideas, without the constant fear of being isolated from society. Sometimes you just need to talk to someone that's been through, or is going through, the same things you are. A skeptical community or movement can also show a unified front when dealing with some of the bull that is currently being proposed in the various states legislatures. Normally, there may be a few random people writing to senators or congresspeople to complain about a certain bill, These are usually sent a pacifying form letter and promptly forgotten. However, if there is a group of people that write in expressing similar concerns, politicians will usually take notice. Awareness of the issue may be all that's accomplished, but it's a start, and this is much more easily achieved as part of a group than as a solitary person. 

Another reason for a skeptical community is the sharing of information. Yes, the internet, journals, and books are great sources, but sometimes just being able to talk to someone that knows information that you don't is the best way to learn it. This allows for the quick and instant exchange of ideas and information that message boards, blog posts, magazine articles, or Youtube videos just can't duplicate.

The community doesn't have to have a strict hierarchy, it can just be a loose association of people with a few common interests that sometimes get together to talk about various topics while enjoying a variety of beverages. A loose organizational structure can possibly prevent, or at least slow down, the development of the "Cult of Personality" that seems to have risen in the larger, more organized groups.

I personally feel that the skeptical community is a valuable part of society, and as time goes on, it will become more important and more influential. It also has a bit of an advantage over many other types of communities in that we aren't as driven for fame or recognition as other groups. If we were, more skeptical bloggers would be using their real names and flashier headline grabbing posts. Yes, fame and/or recognition is great, but from what I've seen, most skeptics do what they do out of a genuine love of humanity.

Until next time, be good, be skeptical, and be sure to finish your brussel sprouts.

The Skeptical Okie

Now taking requests. Please comment.

I'm still around folks, just trying to make a living, so unfortunately, the blog had to be put on the backburner for a bit.  I do have a question for anyone that is still reading this.  What topics are YOU interested in?  Cryptozoology, conspiracy theories, alternative medicine, urban legends, mythology, or something I've missed?  Let me know and I'll start researching and writing.  I've got so many ideas that they are just jumbling up and I don't know where to start, so I'm asking for your help.  Let me know what areas you're interested in, and I'll start covering them.  Thanks, and until next time, be good, be skeptical, and be rational.

Skeptical Okie

Cured by vibrating jewelry?

Hey folks, how have you been.  Yes, I'm still alive, just been very busy with work, and family.  The list of things  I want to talk about has grown to the point I'm having to cull a few items because everyone else has already covered them pretty thoroughly.  I do have a topic today that falls under the banner of Project Bullshit!  What I want to talk about today are the:

Tuning Element Bracelets TM  (dun dun dunnnnn).  (The story is a bit long, so if you want, skip down to the claims and background.)

During a local county fair, I saw this booth displaying a lot of bracelets.  It had a very nice background, a pretty display case, and was manned by an elderly couple.  I saw this booth for 3 days straight.  (I'm not a fair junkie, I was helping my wife with her civic group booth.)  By the last day of the fair, I had probably seen 50-75 people talk to these folks, and at least half of them bought things.  I went over there and took one of their brochures and looked it over.  (I'll go into the details of the pamphlet later)  The older gentleman saw me walking around and actually called me over to him.  Curious as always, I went to see what he was about.  He looked me in the eye and asked if I occasionally have pain in my knees, mainly my left.  I answered honestly and told him yes I do.  In my head, I was thinking, "Great, he's going to cold read me.  This could be fun."  Full disclosure, about 2 years ago, I broke my kneecap and femur in a bovine related accident (not like that!), and I've had problems and pain since then with my left knee, including a mild to severe limp. I had been helping my wife with her booth, which was next to the "healing bracelets" booth,  for the last 3 days, and my looks are a bit distinctive, so the people had plenty of opportunities to witness me limping around.  The fellow that ran the booth sat me down in a surprisingly comfortable chair and began his sales pitch.  He told me that both he and his wife suffered from arthritis pain for years until they discovered these bracelets.  They were so impressed with them that they became salespeople for the company.  I had noticed the woman wearing one, and I realized while talking to him that his watchband was actually one of these bracelets.  (I'm not going to include any images because the manufacturer wouldn't give me permission by the time I published this.)  These bracelets are "vibrationally harmonized with the Earth" to help with healing.  When I asked him what the rate of vibration was, he looked at me and informed me that he wasn't completely sure (honesty right off the bat? Wow!) and even if he knew, it was proprietary information.  I did try to find out what the Earths frequency is supposed to be, and most of what I was able to find comes from New Age sites, so they were full of word salad, so as of right now, I just have to saw I don't know.  While I was sitting there and this purveyor of Woo was giving me anecdotes and testimonials, he had his wife open the case, pull out a rather attractive black metal bracelet, and he set it right above my knee.  He informed me it would take about 10 minutes to begin to take effect.  I was fine with this because, as I said, I'm a curious person, so we started talking about the properties of the bracelets.  During this conversation, I noticed almost immediately that he was trying to get medical history from me by making statements like "Most people with knee problems have hip and back problems too." and "A lot of guys your age get muscle pain."  I'm familiar enough with these tactics that I went along with them to see what he would do.  And wouldn't you know it, he basically took the info I gave him and fed it back to me, saying this "scientifically balanced" bracelet could help with my problems.  He also mentioned it could help with cancer, but because of the "damned" FDA, they can't actually say it will cure anything. (I'll discuss the actual claims in a bit.)  I asked how the bracelets were harmonized with the Earth, how they stayed in this state, as well as asking if there was any documented evidence of efficacy.  He informed me, once again that the entire process was proprietary, and the only evidence he could offer was more testimonials. I asked him what they were made from and he told me they were stainless steel.  the ones that aren't silver are plated in other metals.  I then asked about the prices.  The cheap ones, the plain silver ones with no adornments cost about $75.  The more elaborate ones, with the different coatings and laser engraved images, cost up to $300.  I think I just blinked at him when he casually gave me the prices.  About this time, he seemed to feel that the sales pitch wasn't working, so he went the friendly route.  He began asking me about what I do for a living, if I have a wife and children, if I have any hobbies, etc.  I told him I do animal control, as well as farm work for a living. Yes, I have a wife and child, at which point he asked me if she worked.  I said yes, she's a bio-chemical researcher.  The look on his face at this statement was odd enough, I had a hard time not laughing.  He then asked me about my hobbies.  I said reading, writing a blog, outdoor activities, and I'm part of a skeptical group.  As soon as I said this, the 10 minutes suddenly finished. (It was actually closer to 20)  He removed the bracelet and asked if I had any pain.  I told him honestly no at that moment.  He then had me stand up.  Upon doing so, my knee popped loudly enough to be heard from several feet away ( a normal occurrence if I've been sitting or standing for a while.)  He told me that sometimes it takes a while for the effect to be noticeable, and I should go ahead and buy one.  I told him I'd have to talk to my wife first, and I left thinking I need to write about this.

The Claims:

The overall claim of this particular type of product is that can help "bring our body back to it's natural frequency"  The manufacturer states that electromagnetic radiation  disrupts our bodies natural frequency, which in turn pulls the protons in our cells  out of their natural alignment and causes cellular dysfunction. (Waiter, I'll have the word salad with the house dressing, thank you.)  The brochure says that the bracelet will realign the protons so they spin or resonate in harmony.  It also claims that our "electronic technology" (and I have no idea why they have that in quotation marks) has hidden "pollutants" (More quotation marks) and our bodies absorb these.  Care to guess the pollutants that the maker of these bracelets is concerned about?  EMF's(Electrical magnetic fields) and ELF's (Extremely low frequencies).   According to the brochure, these are emitted from different tech, and when the body gets hit by these waves, to paraphrase them,it just completely fu!&s us up.  The top of the paper has the words Got Pain?  in 21/2 inch letters, with the following conditions:

• Arthtitis                                            
• Carpal Tunnel
• Muscular Pain
• Stress
• Hip Pain
• Knee Pain
• Back Pain
• Insomnia
• Colds/Sickness
• ADD/ADHD
• Joint Pain
• And many More

Under this, it has Need help with? followed by:

• Quality of Sleep
• Range of Motion
• Better Athletic Abilities
• Balance
• Flexibility
• Less Snoring
• Coordination
• Better Golf Average
• Faster Recovery Time
• Strength
• Energy
• And Much More

And of course at the bottom, it has the usual disclaimers about going to your doctor for health issues, this product has not been evaluated by the FDA, and results may vary.  As someone with knee pain and ADHD, if one product could take care of these, I would be overjoyed.  The problem is, to quote the Sawbones podcast, "If it sounds like a cure-all, it cures nothing".  A lot of the various pains that they list have to do with joints or muscular damage, while balance is controlled by the inner ear, and ADHD is a neurological issue.  No single thing can treat three very different systems.

How it works:
This product is supposed to work based on the principles of harmonic balance.  According to their website,(and no, I'm not going to link to them)  these ideas were created by Georges Lakhovsky and  W.O Schumann.  Lakhovsky created a machine called the Multi Wave Oscillator in the 30's and Schumann is know for Schumann Frequencies.  Both of these men's ideas are popular in alternative medicine as a means to treat people of various problems.  They both have too much history to go into here.  The companies description of what their product does is overly vague and almost magical sounding.  The problems it is supposed to treat, as well as their supposed initial causes are extremely similar to the  T-28 3G/4G Whole House Protection device I wrote about a while back.  It's supposed to protect you from EMF's and ELF's, which in turn are supposed to slowly damage every part of your body at the cellular level.  Every description of how this item works is so vague I can't tell if they are talking about a bracelet or pasta salad.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's supposed to work by magic and wishful thinking.  And your money.

The Problems:
The main problem with this product, much like the infamous Power Band and the  T-28 3G/4G Whole House Protection device, is that they just DO NOT WORK!  No one item can have a beneficial effect on every system (skeletal, nervous, muscular, cardiovascular, respiratory, etc.) at once.  If you look at actual medication, or medical therapies, while they have a beneficial effect on the given system that they treat, if you look at the possible side effects, they normally effect other systems that have a direct effect on each other..  Wearing something on your wrist will not have a effect on ADHD, unless it's shiny and can actually help you keep your focus.  The same product won't help with a cold and give you a better golf average. Another problem is how the hell do they know what frequency the human body is supposed to have, and who determined what is in harmony with the planet?  Do things in nature have the same frequencies?  Does pumice vibrate at the same rate as uranium, and does that vibrate at the same rate as wood?

Conclusion:
Do I really need to say it?  Okay, you asked for it, so I'm duty bound to do it.  This bracelet, while it actually is good looking, and I wouldn't mind wearing one for aesthetic reasons, it doesn't treat anything except for a heavy wallet or purse.  A piece of metal on any part of your body, unless it's a brace for a joint or back, won't treat a single medical issue, let alone everything under the sun.  When you consider that in 3 days I saw 30-40  people buying these at a minimum of $75 each, and I found very similar looking items at Wal Mart for $10 the next day, someone made out like a bandit.  Granted, I don't know the companies business model, and I'm not 100% positive what the markup is on these, but it's probably still a good chunk of money.

Until next time, Be Good, Be Skeptical, and Be sure you turned the stove off before you leave.

The Skeptical Okie

WTF natural medicine?

How has everyone been?  As usual, it's been hectic here at the Skeptical Okie headquarters, between the strange weather (thanks climate change), work (thanks needing to eat and pay bills), and just life in general (thanks?).

Now on to the main topic.  A few days ago, during the course of my normal day at work, I had to take an animal to a local emergency veterinarian.  While I was there waiting on them to determine the course of action for the kitten, one of the vet techs escorted a family back to see their dog, a schnauzer I believe.  While two of them were talking to the schnauzer, the third one in the group, a rather elderly lady, began looking at the other animals in the recovery area.  She noticed a couple of pups that were in essentially incubators.  The vet came out and told the family what the schnauzer had been doing while in his care.  Then the older woman asked what was wrong with the pups.  The vet informed her that they had a virus, which had already killed 2 other litters that morning. (I don't know what they had because the vet never said)  She looked at him and said "You need to go to a health food store and get some oregano oil.  You rub it on their bellies and they'll absorb it.  They'll be right as rain."  The other 2 people with her were standing there, nodding their heads like it was common knowledge.  The vet looked at the three of them and said that he didn't think it would work on a virus.  She said to do it and he would see it would work.  The vet sort of blinked, said okay, and went back to his office.  The 3 folks were just saying he'll see, and the natural cures work the best.   About this time, the vet tech that was working on the kitten I had taken in was looking at me sort of oddly, and she finally said "You want to say something, don't you?"  Yes, I did, but I couldn't because it wasn't directly related to my job, and I need the paycheck.  One thing I wanted to say was the vet blew a perfectly good teaching moment.  Granted, it probably wasn't the first time he'd heard it, and he may have just given up.  Secondly, I wanted to ask the 3 people, "If natural cures work the best, why is your dog at an emergency vet?"

Looking on the ever trustworthy interwebs for the efficacy of oregano oil, the first site I looked at states that it can be used to treat arthritis, allergies, and wounds, but nothing about viruses. The best sentence of the article says "Though there are no known side effects when using oregano on dogs, make sure to consult your vet immediately in case you encounter any problems."  Then at the bottom of the page, it goes on to talk about a couple of other herbs that are good to use on dogs, including slippery elm, basil, milk thistle, and hawthorn.  Another site only states that it will kill parasites, and yet a third says that it is "Antifungal, antiviral, anti-aging, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiparasitic, immune stimulant and antiseptic."(http://www.experience-essential-oils.com/benefits-of-oregano-oil.html).  So feed your dog lasagna, it never needs to see a vet?  The reason that this pissed me off, aside from the fact I really couldn't say anything to the owners, is that, like many people who rely on "natural cures and treatments" they wait until it's too late before seeking actual medical treatment.

When I was looking for the efficacy of oregano oil, and a few other "natural treatments", I kept running into the same websites, namely naturalnews.com, mercola.com, curingherbs.com, a lot of them using some variant of "wellness" "natural" or oregano in their page title.  As soon as I see anything promoted by mercola or naturalnews, my skeptisense begins tingling.  I have discussed these two several times in the past, and I think I'm just going to have to write an article on them, and several other people and start referring people back to that.  Quick rule of thumb kiddos: When doing research on any medical treatment, if they claim something works, say oregano, or Antimonium crudum (no, that's not a Harry Potter spell) and strangely enough, why lookie there, a link to buy what they just said works!  What a coincidence! Yeah right.  The reason that there are links to buy whatever miracle cure you just read about is because it was an ad trying to entice you to buy whatever they're selling.  While looking into this lovely bit of Woo, I did find 2 articles on the first page of Google (using the keywords: Efficacy of oregano oil for dogs) from sciencebasedpharmacy.com.  The articles are Oil of Oregano: All anecdotes, no science and Oil of Oregano – No substitute for the pertussis vaccine.  I couldn't find anything published through the World Health Organization.  The CDC has about 3 pages of published material mentioning oregano.  These seem to consist mostly of articles about rates of exposure, studies about the rates of CAM(complimentary and alternative medicine) used by different ethnic groups, and a cookbook.  In Pubmeds, there are quite a few articles mentioning oregano, but they include ones concerning extending the shelf life of rainbow trout and the chemical components and character of oregano oil.  Yes, there are some talking about it having antibacterial or anti-cancer traits, but I could only read the summary, not the entire article, nor can I find anywhere that these results have been reproduced.  As far as I can tell, the main benefit to Oregano oil is to make a grilled piece of tuna taste even better.

I hope that my slightly ranty article shows that skepticism and critical thought aren't relative to only people, but can be helpful to the various animals that many of us share our lives with.  When I was young, a common treatment for mange was to cover the dog with motor oil.  Need to worm your dog or horse, feed them cigarettes (My grandfather insisted the Camel brand unfiltered worked best).  Your female dog was bred by an undesirable male?  Give her an entire clove of garlic (Just watch out if she tries to lick your face afterwards).  After I got older, and learned a bit of science, I realized that not only were a lot of the hedge doctor cures I grew up with ineffective, but a lot of them were also dangerous. (I guess if the patient dies, you can consider them cured of the problem?)  Now that I'm nearly 40, I'm mildly pissed, and a bit frightened that this crap is still being used.  As I've said in the past, I work for animal welfare, and we often see animals come in that have been covered in oil or paint to "cure" skin issues, cinnamon or sevin dust put on the animal to prevent or kill parasites, and various other "treatments" that people will swear works, yet they are dropping them off at the shelter because the animal has either gotten worse or it died.  I got particularly upset and argumentative with a woman that brought in several adult dogs, 2 litters of puppies, and 2 carriers of kittens and adult cats.  The puppies had parvo, which without medical treatment, is fatal to dogs, the adults were emaciated due to a worm infestation combined with nursing the puppies, and the felines had a variety of illnesses.  When I asked her how long they had been ill, she said a couple of months, and the puppies started showing signs of parvo the day before.  I asked her why she hadn't taken them to a vet and she informed me she had.  When asked what the vet told her to do, she said she didn't like the treatments suggested because they involved "harmful man made drugs".  She finally found a naturopathic/homeopathic veterinarian (do they actually come in that flavor?  WTF!) that prescribed activated charcoal for the parvo, and parsley for the worms. For the cats, the owner had several vials with cheap labels and fake latin sounding names hand written on them.  I won't go into detail, but needless to say, I was asked to step back and go help someone in the back, and let the supervisors take care of it.  On a side note, we had to euthanize everyone of those animals, as well as the others that she brought up later. She had more animals that she was treating for a variety of illness in a similar manner. As I said, Woo is dangerous, not only to humans, but to our fuzzy, furry, scaly, and feathered companions.  So the next time you're tempted give your animal something that claims to be All Natural, or some form of a cure-all, do a little research, consult your veterinarian, and remember, cure-alls cure nothing.

As usual, feel free to leave a comment here. Until next time, Be good, Be polite, and stay warm!

The Skeptical Okie

Sweet sweet death?

Hello kiddos, how has everyone been?  I know it's been a while, and I sort of cheated in December by reposting my rant against the war on christmas, which I will rewrite and hopefully improve, but around the holidays it gets busy, even for us secular humanist atheist skeptic types. (I think that's enough labels for now.)  There has been a lot that's happened in the world of science and skepticism.  New exo-planets, Sylvia Browne and Duane Gish passing away, new biotech coming on line, Burzynski being investigated, again, (Yes!), and Kevin Trudeau going to jail (double Yes!!).  And that's just the tip of the iceberg.  So many things I want to talk about, and nowhere near enough time to research them.  Unless I quit my job, find a way to make money blogging and doing skeptic work, and never leave the house.  Or sleep. I'm open to suggestions, if anyone out there has any ideas of how to pull this off.  So, for now,  I'm going to reach into my critical thinking cap and pull out one of the many topics that I've seen pop up on FaceBook....And the winner is:


Aspartame
     This is a subject that comes up pretty regularly in my news feed from people I know and after the article, there is the obligatory message that generally paraphrases into "OMG, I'm never putting that crap into my body again!  Why are they trying to kill us?" Next to GMO's, chemtrails, and "miracle cures", this is one of the most common threads I see and that I am asked about.  I know that others , including the SGU (skeptics guide to the universe) included, have already covered it, but because it constantly shows up, I've decided I'm going to take a look at it as well.

History
     For those that don't know, aspartame is an artificial sweetener developed in 1965 by James Schlatter.  Like a great many other discoveries, this one was accidental.  Schlatter was actually working on an anti-ulcer medication when he licked his finger and discovered something sweet was on it. (I have always wondered who the hell licks their fingers in a chem lab?)  Because it's a food additive, it's regulated by the FDA, so aspartame had to go through a lot of regulatory testing to prove it's safety before it could put into food products.  In 1975, 10 years after its discovery, the FDA began reviewing studies on the safety of aspartame.  In 1980, 15 years after Schlatter discovered it on his finger, it was approved for use in dry foods, and 3 years later, it could be used in carbonated drinks. Another 10 years, and in 1993, it was approved to be used in baked goods, other drinks, and candies.  3 years after that, all restrictions were lifted. That was 1996, 31 years after it's discovery.  31 years of research and studies by numerous groups and governmental agencies before it deemed safe enough to be used with no restrictions. Yet people claim it's going to basically destroy everyone that consumes it.
    Initially, there were some problems, namely with the lab procedures used by G.E. Searle, the company that Schlatter worked for, during their testing.  In 1984, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) studied reports of health issues that people believed were due to consumption of aspartame.  You can read a synopsis of the study here.  Basically what it says is that there is no real link between aspartame and the complaints people were making.  Apsartame has also been studied by the WHO (World Health Organization), UK Food standards Agency, Health Canada, and the European Food Safety Authority, making it perhaps the most rigorously studied food stuff ever.  It's approved for use in over 90 countries as of the writing of this article.

What is it?
Aspartame is actually a fairly simple compound made up of 2 amino acids.  You remember amino acids, right?  The basic building blocks of life?  I am not a biochemist, so I am not going to attempt to describe their exact make up in great depth.   Aspartame is made up of L-phenylalanine and L-aspartate.  and it looks like this:

(image from Google Images)


Like I said, it's a fairly simple compound.  It is also 200 times sweeter than sugar, so a little goes a very long way.   The main purpose of an amino acid is to build proteins. The arrangement of the amino acids determine the shape and function of the protein, and life is driven by proteins.  Without proteins, there would be no structures such as skin and bone, hormones couldn't be transported through the body, and no antibodies to fight infections.  And that is only the beginning of the list that proteins do.  And it all starts with a few amino acids forming a chain.  Aspartame rapidly breaks down in the digestive system into it's component parts, which are aspartic acid (an amino acid), phenylalanine (another amino acid), and methanol (methyl alcohol, a normal product of the metabolic process).  And, yes, it does further break down into formaldehyde and formic acid, but before you get worried about that diet coke you've been sipping while reading this, it's fine.  Production of fomaldehyde and formic acid are normal products of the break down of foods into usable components.  As a matter of fact, formic acid is excreted  faster than it's produced by consuming aspartame.  And as for formaldehyde, there can be higher levels of it in your system after consuming all natural fruit juice!

Controversies
There have been controversies surrounding aspartame almost as long as it's been available.  Some of these include that it's not natural, it causes various cancers, hyperactivity in children, problems with various organs, neurological problems, and on and on.  Lately, Mercola has been calling it the most dangerous substance on the planet, never mind that there is more testing and research on aspartame than anything that Dr. Joseph Mercola tries to sell on his site.  After looking around, most chemists and biologists seem to agree that Clostridium botulinum tops the list. I didn't see aspartame on anyones list, except for some natural health sites. (C. botulinum is botulism. The same thing that causes food poisoning and is used for Botox treatments.) He makes a long series of claims, all of which have been disproven by multiple studies from multiple agencies. In his article, he takes the breakdown components of aspartame, lists their percentages of aspartame, and the dangers of consuming them. The way it's written, aside from trying to frighten people, is misleading.  I will agree with him that each of the components is deadly, but the caveat is that it is dependent on the dosage!  If you drink straight formaldehyde, yes, you will more than likely die.  Same for methanol.  The amounts that you would ingest in your everyday, normal diet, however, are no where near the lethal amounts.  He names a great many health problems, ranging from headaches, migraines, depression and anxiety attacks to rashes, tinnitus, and vision problems.  He also says that Alzheimers, epilepsy, and brain tumors can be aggravated by the consumption of aspertame.  Now, I've talked briefly about Mercola, and sites like his before.  For the most part, these "natural health" sites are designed to scare the hell out of people and then get them to buy their alternative products that are supposed to be safer.  (As a side note, Dr. Joseph Mercola is actually a doctor...of Osteopathy.  Take that as you will.)  If you go to any of these sites, and I don't recommend it, look at the navigation bar.  Everyone of them is going to have a "store" heading where they sell al sorts of pseudoscientific bullshit.  If you go to the about pages, almost everyone of them will say something along the lines of "Big Pharma doesn't want you to know this, don't trust "western" medicine or allopaths, don't believe the media hype, don't be a sheeple" and so on.  What he never acknowledges is that, as I've stated, aspertame is one of the most studied food stuffs on the planet, and very few problems have ever been found.  Even Cancer.org had no research saying that there is a link between aspertame and any form of cancer.  Every last damned thing he lists as a problem caused by aspertame has been studied multiple times, and the findings have shown aspertame is not the culprit.  A lot of what he does falls directly into the realm of the conspiracy theorists and their tactics.  All in all, like many other Woo subjects, most of the "controversies" that are brought up by people are actually created by people with either a lack of knowledge in that particular area or they have something to sell.

Dangers
I was able to find 1 main problem with aspertame.  People that suffer from PKU (phenylketonuria) are unable to process phenylalanine.  PKU is a genetic disorder which can lead to a series of neurological disorders including seizures and mental disabilities.  This can be controlled through diet, and avoiding phenylalanine.  Children are tested for this condition at birth, just so their parents will know to monitor their diets.  Otherwise, looking through the WHO, CDC, and Pubmeds, I couldn't really find anything to substantiate any of the claims on the Mercola site.

Conclusion
I would say feel free to enjoy that diet soda, just, like all things, do it in moderation.  With all the research behind it, I have no problem with aspartame, except I personally don't like the taste of diet foods.  Like anything else, when you hear a claim, look into it and see what is going on.  Check the sources, make sure they are reputable, and don't have an agenda.

Until next time, be good, be reasonable, and be sure to hug your favorite skeptic.

The Skeptical Okie

Conspiracy theories for the beginning skeptic.

Hey kiddos, how has everyone been.  Not too bad here, just trying to avoid getting run over by the truck called life.  A lot of interesting things have been happening in the world of science and skepticism.  Comet Ison, the death of Sylvia Browne, the  Burzynski Clinic back in the news, and the "Dueling Dinos" fossil going up for sale. I'm not going to talk about any of these. Lately, a lot of people have been asking my opinion on a particular topic about an event that happened before most of them were born. And no, I wasn't born yet either, and I wouldn't be for another 13 years. Due to the fact it's the 50th anniversary of the assassination of J.F.K.(Kinda weird what some people celebrate, isn't it?) I've decided to dive into the topic.  Not the with J.F.K in particular, but the larger field of conspiracy theories in general.

What is a Conspiracy Theory?
 Before I get any farther, let me state now that I will never say conspiracies don't exist or happen.  They do.  People work together to get other people fired or arrested, They may form a conspiracy to throw someone a surprise birthday party.(the only benign form of a conspiracy I could think of off the top of my head.)  But one thing to remember about conspiracies is this: humans are involved, and humans suck at keeping secrets.  No matter how much you pay people, or what oaths you make a group take, at some point someone is going to tell,  due to their conscience, accidentally talking about it while inebriated, or wanting a bit of fame that goes along with being part of whatever the act was.  And the more people that are involved, the higher the odds that someone is going to talk.  Now I can come down from my soap box and get back to the topic at hand.
First off, a conspiracy is defined by The Free Online Dictionary as:
1. An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act.

2. A group of conspirators.

3. Law An agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime or accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action.

4. A joining or acting together, as if by sinister design

Basically it means people working in secret to perform an act, normally an immoral or illegal one.
A theory, also from The Free Online Dictionary is:

1. A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena.

2. The branch of a science or art consisting of its explanatory statements, accepted principles, and methods of analysis, as opposed to practice: a fine musician who had never studied theory.

3. A set of theorems that constitute a systematic view of a branch of mathematics.

4. Abstract reasoning; speculation: a decision based on experience rather than theory.

5. A belief or principle that guides action or assists comprehension or judgment: staked out the house on the theory that criminals usually return to the scene of the crime.

6. An assumption based on limited information or knowledge; a conjecture

The last definition is the one that is related when most people use the term "theory".  In common language, it means a guess, while when using it in the scientific sense, it is an idea or concept that has been tested and proven to be accurate.  So when you break down the term "conspiracy theory" it means "I think people are secretly working against the common good of an individual or group."  When the conspiracy theorists use the term theory and try to make it sound like they have used the scientific process to come to their conclusions, they are still using the the common language form of the term.  They are making a guess, and then finding the information that seems to fit their personal ideas.  The reason that understanding conspiracy theories is important to the burgeoning skeptic is that they tie into almost all other areas of WOO, from alt med (the government and Big Pharma are working to keep this cure a secret), to climate change (the scientists are creating global warming so we have to depend on them for an answer), to the obvious example of government and politics (I really don't have to put an example here, do I?  Okay, fine for you in the back, but next time, be here on time.  How about... The government created A.I.D.S. to hurt the gay/african american/other affected minority groups.)  Often WOO aficionados will use a conspiracy theory to rationalize what they do, and to make what they are doing seem even more legitimate.  Even ghost hunters and those that believe near death experiences will use the scientific community as an evil organization hellbent on keeping information secret.

Common Conspiracies
The reason I started with the assassination of JFK is that pretty much from the day it happened, people have been coming up with various hypothesis' as to why it happened and who did it, And they continue to be debated to this day.  Every time there is a tragic event, some people automatically start coming up with alternative theories.  Think back to the Twin Towers in New York, the Sandy Hook school shooting,  or even Hurricane Sandy.  In each event, some people decided that the official story couldn't be the truth, so they came up with an alternative hypothesis that they felt was closer to the truth, at least as they see it.  With JFK, the ideas are that there were multiple shooters, Oswald was just a scapegoat, the CIA did it, the KGB, or even Vice-President Johnson was responsible.  With the towers, yes there was a conspiracy, but it is unlikely that G.W. Bush was in on it.  The conspiracy was between Al-Qaeda operatives that wanted to cause physical, emotional, and moral damage to the U.S.  With Sandy Hook, the idea is that the Obama administration set up a false shooting event to promote gun control legislation.  With Hurricane Sandy, some people actually believe that Obama caused it using the H.A.A.R.P. facility.  Some other theories that you may have heard of are :

• The moon landing
• The Oklahoma city Bombing
• Pearl Harbor
• The Boston Marathon
• The Holocaust never happening
• Perpetual motion or free energy machines
• Several over the cause or purpose of H.I.V.and A.I.D.S.
• Suppression of the cures for cancer or A.I.D.S.
• Suppression of various advanced technologies
• Weapon testing
• Fluoride in the water
• Suppression of natural, traditional, or alternative medicine
• RFID chips
• Aliens
• pretty much any war or assassinations
• The Templars, Illuminati, or various other shadow groups
• Cloud seeding
• Climate Change
• Subliminal Advertising
• Genetically Organized Organisms
• Princess Diana was killed by the monarchy
• Princess Di, Elvis, and JFK are alive and in hiding
• False flag operations

 How conspiracy theories are created and countering them

It seems to be fairly easy to come up with a conspiracy theory about any given event.  All that you have to do is look at an event, do some research on it, find a detail that you think doesn't sound right, and then do what's called "cherry picking" through the information to find details that fit your personal views.  Cherry picking is when you look at data and pick out the few facts that fit what you want to prove.  What many conspiracy theorists do is they find anything anomalous and build their sandcastle from there.  One example is the infamous Tower 7 during the 9/11 crisis.  This building was used to store federal investigation records. The conspiracy nutters claim that fire alone couldn't have destroyed the steel building, and it was never hit by a plane. While the building wasn't hit by a plane, it was hit by part of the twin towers as they fell.  Also, fire doesn't have to "destroy" a building in order for it to fall, it just has to cause enough structural damage to the building for it to no longer be able to support its own weight. (and as a happy note, this is the first time when I've researched a topic, and the skeptical side of the argument has been the majority of web hits that I got on Google.)  I'm not going to go into detail on each and every point of all the conspiracies that are floating around.  Some people have spent their entire career working on just one conspiracy theory, trying to show how and why the official story is the most likely truth.  The thing to keep in mind is that when all the "anomalies" analyzed and put into the bigger picture instead of taken separately, they are no longer an anomaly, but a critical part of the narrative.  You can debate with the conspiracy theorists, but  normally, they do have a lot of in-depth knowledge on the topic that only an expert would have. When talking to them on their topic of choice, they may use the "Gish-Gallop" technique.  This is when a lot of points are thrown out in a rapid-fire manner that doesn't give you a chance to rebuke any of them, let alone all of them.  They may also use the "Galileo" fallacy.  This is when they compare themselves to the famous astronomer and his persecution by the church.   Ad Hoc, Strawman, and Ad Hominem attacks are also very commonly used.  They also tend to use terms in a derogatory manner, such as "official", "truth", and "they" to denote that the official truth of the matter is simply a story that they want the sheeple to follow.  The fans of various conspiracies will also insist that "they know the truth and everything from main stream media is a lie." They can be so devoted to their "cause" that even if you are able to successfully debate every one of their points, they will simply claim that you are being blinded by the government lies, you're on the payroll of whatever shadow group, you need to be skeptical about what you're being told, or only they know what's going on.  Not to say that having a dialogue with these folks is a complete waste of time.  On the rare occasion, you can actually get them to accept reality and let go of their delusions.  The real value of debating these folks, especially in a public forum, is that some people that are on the fence may be pushed into looking into more information, and not just looking at infowars or listening to Coast to Coast AM.  

Why they persist

I am not a psychiatrist or psychologist, so I do not have a professional opinion as to why these won't go away.  In my lay-person opinion however, I feel that the main reason people continue to create and believe in conspiracy theories is that they are trying to find a way to make sense of everything going on around them.  In their minds, there has to be a reason why things happen.  Hurricane Sandy couldn't have done the damage it did without someone guiding it.  Kennedy couldn't have been shot by a single disturbed individual on his own, there had to be a larger power backing him.  To a lot of these people, there just has to be someone in charge, otherwise the world is a chaotic, dangerous place where stuff happens for no reason.  Another reason that these conspiracy theories are going to continue to exist is that humans are pattern seeking creatures.  We see faces in power outlets, rabbits in clouds, and gunmen behind picket fences.  This is probably an evolutionary trait developed to keep us from becoming a larger predators brunch.  We may not be able to completely get rid of conspiratorial thinking, partly due to the way our brains work, and partly due to the fact that there are real conspiracies, but hopefully, we can work to lessen there influence and the problems they cause.  The key to defeating or at least countering conspiracy theories is to use, and urge others, reliable sources.  The hard core theorists will simply say that these are dis-information tools used by whatever flavor of secret cabal is out there, but in all honesty, they are the best we have.

Why are they dangerous?

Conspiracy theories are dangerous for several reasons.  Some people become so obsessed with their pet theory that they tend to lose touch with a little thing called reality.  One day they are talking about how Monsanto is trying to use GMO's to control the sheeple(a lovely term a lot of conspiracy theorists use)and a couple of weeks later, the squirrels are attempting genocide against humans by jumping out in front of their cars to make them crash.(and yes, I have heard that from a fellow that actually believed it, he even had documentation.)  They also dilute and distort the real facts behind an event, which causes distrust in any official sources.  Granted, on occasion, there have been real conspiracies that have cropped up.  Can you say Iran-Contra and Oliver North?  How about the NSA (which just got me entered into their database of subversives by golly) and Snowden?   Who out there remembers the WMD's in Iraq?  Yes events like these do happen, but if you compare the number of actual conspiracies to the number that are reported all the time, just a minuscule fraction of a percentage are true.  This brings up another point.  If you'll notice, all of these events became major news after being reported and researched.  The other conspiracies are still met with derision due to the fact that they can't be corroborated and proven.  The lines of evidence have been reviewed and found to be lacking.  Some of the theorists insist that there is a shadow government run by lizards, aliens, the Templar Knights, Colonel Sanders, etc., that is capable of hiding anything or anyone they want to.  Keep in mind they are including the same government that was unable to hide the fact that a president received oral sex in the oval office.  And I don't mean Grover Cleveland.  Besides, do you realize how much power any single organization would have to wield to keep something off of the internet?  If they really had that much power, and the ability to make people disappear, then why are there still conspiracy theorists out there, and not just new ones, but the same ones that have been doing this shit for years?

What can be done, and should we do anything?

There are a few things that we, as skeptics, can do.  First is to TAKE BACK THE WORD SKEPTIC!!!!  The last few years, I have noticed an increasing trend of these folks on the fringes to claim that they are "skeptics" and "skeptical"  about the "official" story.  They claim that they look at more evidence than the official sources, and therefore, they have a special insight into the reality of events.  What they really tend to do is follow a single line of evidence that will lead them straight back to their conclusion.  They don't listen to the actual experts, they listen to people who, at best, may have a personal anecdote to share.  As members of the skeptical community, whether you call yourself a skeptic, free thinker, rational thinker, critical thinker, or realist, we need to take this term back from the lunatic fringe!  They have made it to where the phrase "I'm a skeptic" means that no information will change your mind.  A true skeptic will change their mind with the evidence.  (Sorry about the rant folks, but my news feeds under "skeptic" nowadays have people decrying evolution, climate change, vaccines, and the like.)  Another thing that can be done is to point people towards non-partisan, non-biased sources of information.  These would be websites such as Snopes.com, which is pretty good for quickly taking apart some of the Facebook urban legends that pop up all the time, and Wikipedia.com.  I know people complain about Wikipedia and the fact that anyone can write on almost any article, but they really do have some good controls, and the fact that anyone can write means that bad information will be called out and fixed quickly, provided they can cite and document their sources.  Most of the time newspapers such as the New York Times and newsgroups such as CNN, MSN, and Google News are fairly reliable, but you still have to check the sources, so point them towards any relevant topics at these places as well.  Finally, be reasonable about when and how to approach someone.  If they think that the cat next door is working with the Rottweiler across the street to make their life a living hell, it might be best to point out cats and dogs normally don't work together well and leave it at that.  If someone thinks that the manager at Walmart is secretly putting Illuminati secret pictographs in the bar codes and they need to be taken out before the New World Order can take over, then it might be time to really step in and show them why it is likely not a real scenario, and that they might need psychiatric help.  If they continually post things from InfoWars, Mercola, and the like on FaceBook, find the corresponding article on Snopes and post it as a reply.  Most of all, as long as they aren't posing a danger to themselves or others, deal with them in a calm thoughtful manner.  Find out why they think the way they do, and try and use that reasoning to show them the "other side" of the evidence and let them make a decision from there.  You would be surprised how often people come to a , and because I really don't want to use the word proper, more accurate interpretation of reality

I hope that you found this article at least somewhat entertaining and informative.  I also hope that my American readers have a happy and safe Thanksgiving. If anyone gives you the line about tryptophan putting people to sleep, to keep the peace, just say "yes Uncle Mikey, of course."  As a disclaimer, I actually enjoy listening to conspiracy theories and the people that promote them, such as Jesse Ventura and the Conspiracy Uncovered show that used to be on TV here in Oklahoma.   Alex Jones, I can do without.  That man is such a right wing conservative nutjob, I can only listen to 25 seconds of him talking before I want to facepalm my self, with both hands, balled up into fists, holding boughs of poison oak, while they're on fire.  As usual, you can leave any questions, comments or limericks in the comment section.  Until next time, remember to be reasonable, be kind and rewind.

The Skeptical Okie

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We're still here, just busy as hell.

Hey folks, just thought I'd put in a quick note to let everyone know that I'm still here and haven't been grabbed by the Men in Black and fed to a Bigfoot shortly before Melba Ketchum tests it for human DNA.  You know how you make plans, set aside time to work on various projects and spend time with the family and then life kicks you square in the ass?  That's been the way it's been for the past few weeks.  Hopefully the dust should be settling done pretty soon and writing can resume as usual.  Currently, I am trying to research the Sea Band product, which is an acupressure wristband that is supposed to help with nausea, especially in pregnant women.  (Makes me think of a scene in Xena, Warrior Princess where Xena and Gabrielle are on a ship and Xena shows Gabrielle a pressure point on her wrist to help her with her nausea, but the side effect is that you will eat anything.)  I am also researching a multi marketing company called Waiora.  Both of these are reader requests, and I will admit that they have taken me quite to get to them, and I apologize.  On top of trying to look into these topics, and trying to keep a look out for other interesting bits of news or Woo to write about, I am trying to get the Oklahoma Skeptics Society up and going and more active in the state as well as looking at building a website for the group as well.  I am also trying to do regular Skeptics in the Pub type meetings.   Keep checking in, and I promise that new posts are coming.  Once again, if you have anything that you want me to look into, or if you have any knowledge of the topics I'm currentlyresearching,  let me know.  You can leave a message on FaceBook on the Oklahoma Skeptics Society page, on Twitter @SkepticalOkie, or email me at skepticalokie@gmail.com, or post a comment here on the blog.  Thanks for sticking with me, and stay skeptical.

The Skeptical Okie

The Skeptical Okies first requested investigation!

I have received several replies to my shameless pleading for help on my little activism project. (I'm still trying to come up with a title for it, so if anyone has any suggestions, let me know)  There will be a bit of a lag between each post, due mostly to the research involved, so bear with me.  First off, I would like to say thanks to Martin Leonard, who suggested this product to me. It is called the T-28 Whole house protection from iHealth.  Here in the U.S., it's sold under the name T28w 3G  or P.S.T 28 by green8usa.com .   I was unable to actually test it, mostly due to the fact that here in the U.S., it costs $597, which is a considerable chunk of change.   That price is for each unit, and they recommend using multiple units.  Martin alerted me to the New Zealand Retailer of this wonderful pile of Woo, and I contacted them trying to learn more about it.

This is a copy of the message that I sent.

I am interested in your T-28 3G/4G Whole House Protection device, but I do have some questions.  Does it need to be hard wired into my electrical system, or does it use batteries?  How Does it harmonise and neutralise electromagnetic radiation?  Does it use some form of jamming signal or electro feedback loop?  Does it completely prevent electromagnetic radiation from entering the location that it is installed?   And  is the same method that blocks man made EMR also prevent natural background radiation, or is that a different method?  Will my cell phone work inside the protective area, or do I need to leave the 66 metre radius to use it?  How does it help with headaches, sleep disorders, and other physical problems?  Finally how long do I need to use the device before I begin to see improvements?  Thank you for your time and reply.

I used the same spelling for some of the words that they use on their page.  I don;t know if it's colonial spelling or the "z" key on their computer doesn't work.  Any New Zealand readers let me know if this is how you normally spell these words and I'm just being pedantic about them.  I received several e-mails from them within a day or 2, trying to figure out where I was from.  I told them I live in Oklahoma, in the United States, and they sent me a link to a States-side retailer.  This company is called, as I stated earlier, green8usa.com .  Their website has more information concerning the item than the N.Z. one does.  I have tried to contact them, but as of today, I haven't received a reply, so all the information I have is coming straight from their website.   According to them, it works by:
The TRANSFORMER P.S.T. 28 is energized utilizing a highly specialized processing. The

mode of action is based on a combination of numeral codes and systems and is
scientifically verifiable.

• TRANSFORMER P.S.T. 28 – W is designed for a house or building and covers a radius
  of up to 33 meters/ 216 feet.
• The operational radius of 66 meters/ 216 feet can be increased correspondingly by
  installation in additions of 2 – eg:
  2 P.S.T.28 = 66 m/216 ft. protection4 P.S.T.28 = 132 m/432 ft. protection
  6 P.S.T.28 = 198 m/648 ft. protection
  Enlargements are possible in a 2- step mode only.

The bottom line is that if you need to protect larger areas you don’t want a Transformer 28W you want to start with a Transformer 28H and combine multiples of 28H units to increase the area. This is a more economical way to protect very large areas.

• TRANSFORMER P.S.T. 28 protects permanently and safely against electromagnetic
  radiation from transmitters and satellites.
• TRANSFORMER P.S.T.28 neutralizes any output of gas and pollution created by
  Transmitter mast
• TRANSFORMER P.S.T.28 works effectively if installed correctly and exactly.
  Advice for installation

It is informative and helpful to determine the so called BOVIS-UNIT before installation. In
most cases BOVIS-UNIT measures below 3000. The absolute minimum rate should be 6.500
BOVIS- UNITS. Energy losses are caused, among other things, by electromagnetic
radiation. You can calculate the BOVIS-UNIT by means of radiaesthesia or pendulum.

Another measurement should be done a couple days after installation. You will
immediately see the decisive difference.

Installation inside houses or apartments/flats

1. Choose a protected place where the TRANSFORMER P.S.T. 28 is out of the way and will
   not be moved. This can be on a cupboard, wardrobe, or somewhere on the floor – you
   can determine best. There must not be any cover above the TRANSFORMER P.S.T 28.
   Nothing must be placed on it.
2. Place the TRANSFORMER P.S.T. 28 horizontally. Use a compass and determine which
   direction is North. Align the TRANSFORMER P.S.T. 28 so that the North arrow on the
   TRANSFORMER P.S.T. 28 coincides with the North position on the compass.
3. After aligning the TRANSFORMER P.S.T. 28, mark its position by drawing a line all
   around or by pinpointing its corners.
4. It is recommended to fix the TRANSFORMER P.S.T. 28 with a double sticky tape.
5. Right after installation the TRANSFORMER P.S.T. 28 starts working. You will immediately
   be able to feel the favorable effect.
6. At 2 or 3 hour intervals you can measure the increasing BOVIS-UNITS.
   What you should feel or discover
   After the TRANSFORMATION in an apartment/flat or house has been completed, you will
   feel a soft fresh waft, as if the windows are open. Overall you should feel better. The energy
   inside has been increased considerably.

Installation outdoors – houses, barns, buildings, warehouses

1. Choose a protected place where the TRANSFROMER P.S.T. 28 is out of the way and
   cannot be moved. This can be in the open, on the ground, or on a higher platform.
   There must not be any cover above the TRANSFORMER P.S.T. 28. Nothing must be
   placed on it. If dirty, clean occasionally. The TRANSFORMER P.S.T. 28 is weather proof.
   The effectiveness of its surface with 28 measuring points will be guaranteed for 5 years.
2. Place the TRANSFORMER P.S.T. 28 horizontally on suitable ground.
3. Use a compass and determine which direction is North. Align the TRANSFORMER P.S.T.
   28 so that the North arrow on the TRANSFORMER P.S.T. 28 coincides with the North
   position on the compass.
4. After aligning the TRANSFORMER P.S.T. 28, mark its position by drawing a line all
   around or by pinpointing its corners. It is recommended to secure the TRANSFORMER
   P.S.T. 28 so that it cannot be blown away.
5. Right after installation the TRANSFORMER P.S.T. 28 starts working. You will immediately
   be able to feel the favorable effect.
6. At 2 or 3 hour intervals you can measure the increasing BOVIS-UNITS within and around
   the object.

All information from green8usa.com

Urg...this all seems rather questionable to me.  First off, lets talk about the Bovis units.  When you put Bovis units into your search engine of choice, The Wiki article is the first followed by a lot with New Age feel to them.  According to Wikipedia, the Bovis Scale is "a concept used by dowsers and adherents of geomancy to quantify the strength of a postulated "cosmo-telluric energy" inherent in a location."  Just the words dowser and geomancy should tell you you're dealing with some serious Woo.  I don't even know what the hell "cosmo-telluric energy" is.  Like most pseudoscientific ideas, the Bovis Scale can't be measured by science, and hasn't been recognized by the scientific community.  It's a short article and I recommend you read it for yourself.  If it makes sense to you, please let me know what it's even supposed to do.  I saw references to fruits and vegetables, but nothing about cell phones and laptops.  According to Perfectwaters.com, the Bovis Scale is a measurement of spiritual energy (insert your own DragonBall Z reference) in a person, place or idea.  Once again, how this related to modern technology, green8usa doesn't say.  I guess they claiming your Iphone doesn't have a soul?  To measure Bovis units, you hang a pendulum and watch how it swings.  Can you say ideomotor effect?  I knew you could.  Then it says that there can be no cover over the P.S.T. 28.  Does that mean that your roof doesn't count as covering it?  Or are you supposed to knock a hole in your ceiling so the thing can work?  And then you align it with North.  Why?  I couldn't find an explanation as to why.  My assumption is that they are playing on the New Age belief of the cardinal points, and that everything should be lined up relatively to North.  I spoke to an electrician, and showed him the website and asked him if it could possibly, by some slim chance work and his reply was "No F$^&ing way!"  His reasoning was that there generally has to be a structure that completely surrounds an item to block it from any kind of electromagnetic radiation, sort of like a Faraday Box.  The structure normally has metal to, as he explained it," bounce the signal back where it came from."  Placing a small square with what looks like a circuit board printed on it and expecting it to block all electromagnetic radiation is sort of like putting a piece of Kevlar in the middle of a battlefield and expecting all the bullets to bounce away.

They also slipped in a weasel phrase in case the product doesn't work and someone wants a refund.  I'll give you a moment to find it..... Did you see it?  It was "works effectively if installed correctly and exactly."  The installation instructions a slightly vague and if you call them up to complain about it not working, I would imagine that they will say, "Sorry to hear that, but you must have done something wrong when you put it in."   Though how you would actually know if it's working or not is a mystery to me.  The measurement is either subjective (how you feel)  or can't be measured by any known scientific means.  Before I discuss some of the problems with how these things are supposed to work, I want to talk a bit about their website.  At the top, they have 4 sections labeled Home, Proof, Testimonials, and Contact Us.  I wanted to see what research they had, which labs had done it, and who had verified the results.  What I got was a video of a British man named David Furlong, who is apparently a therapist in the UK.  It doesn't say what kind of therapist, or how he would be qualified to talk about electromagnetic radiation.  He starts off by talking about what the green 8 products can do for you.  (If you want to impress an American, oddly enough, get someone with a British accent to sell it.  Weird how well that works.)  In the video, he has a woman sitting there and puts a probe in her hand.  It made me immediately think of the e-meter that Scientologists use.  Then he says he is going to test one of her acupressure points.  There is a chart on the computer screen and a line that goes up to the middle, which means that she is in balance.  (funny that this is a product to protect against the electromagnetic radiation emitted by technology, and there he is using a computer.  He must have one on it.)  Then he puts a "mobile phone on her body, which with the angle, you can't quite tell if he's actually placing it on her lap or the table.  This time when he does a reading, the line goes above the middle and you hear a really crappy alarm sound.  He says that her body has immediately gone into a stress load. (WTF?)  Then he calls the phone and has the female subject (victim, accomplice?) hold it while he does another reading of an acupressure point.  This time the line on the chart goes a wee bit higher.  Then he turns the phone off, basically places what looks like a sticker with a circuit board pattern on the phone and tries again.  If you've got quick eyes, you'll see a message go flying across the bottom of the screen that says that this is for demonstration purpose only, the product should be placed inside the phone case.  This goes back to the weasel phrase of "if installed correctly and exactly"  Keep on mind he didn't install it properly.  Upon the next reading with the product stuck to the outside of the phone, her line on the chart has returned to the center green area.  He then repeats the "test" with her listening to the phone, and what do you know, the line stays in the middle zone.  She says she's going to talk to friends and family about it, and he does his little sales spiel and the video ends.  Now right above the video there is the sentence "Healthy blood has blood cells that are free flowing and don't stick together."  They're right, but I believe that when they do, it is called coagulation, or else the person suffers from sickle cell anemia.  That is the summation of their proof.   Except for the "Add to Cart" banner that seems to appear on every page of the damn site.

 Then comes the testimonials.  A lot of them mention feeling heat coming from their phones (and all of these seem to be for the phone version, not the full house version that initially started me down this rabbit hole).   One even mention developing blisters from using a phone without the green 8.  Another one describes himself as developing  "strange electronic queasiness", which I guess if your queasiness feels electronic, it would be strange.  There are a couple more, but they all basically the same thing, over and over again.

On the home page, you have the option to "read more", and so I did.  Someone owes me a couple of pints of Guinness for this.  Seriously, someone does, this hurt.  There is a video, which is basically a batch of word salad saying electromagnetic fields (EMF) are responsible for weakening immune systems.  They through out the phrase "bio-field" and claims that the green products can change EMF to a bio-field.  Ummm, sure.  Scroll down a bit and you see that they proclaim we are entering a new age of science!  Yeah, about time, the old science was boring.  Guess what the science is.  Not particle physics, no, not quantum physics.  It's Hyperdimensional Physics!  The same line of shit that Richard Hoagland has been promoting for years.  For a better idea of what Richard Hoagland is about, listen to The Exposing PseudoAstronomy podcast.  Or Coast to Coast.  I like Stuart better personally.  Then they go on to say that to get a better feeling about their products, listen to what their customers have to say.  Not researchers, not scientists.  Their customers.  How much will you bet that any negative comments didn't make the cut.  It only makes sense because they are trying to sell this stuff, but really guys, not even trying to say "And now hear what this person in the white coat has to say about our expensive sticker."?  (These cost $37 U.S.)  And then you have the "Add to Cart" banner once again.  And then they have the exact same testimonials at the bottom that they have on the testimonial page.  I think someone was being paid by the word.  And at the bottom of the page, where you can normally leave a comment, the comments are closed.  I also found a Q&A section and after perusing it, the final one caught my eye.  It is:

Q: Since I have the Transformer 22-100 in my home office, do you still recommend getting the Green 8 Gold for my landline cordless phone, which is in the same room?

A: Yes, while the Transformer 22-100 and Transformer 22-30 will protect you from the WiFi radiation from a wireless LAN – if you use a cordless phone it is still important to install a Green 8 Gold inside the handset and another Green 8 Gold on the base station for the cordless phone.

From green8usa.com

So even though you have a relatively expensive system already in place, you should really pop for the $37 one for everyone of your wireless phones too.

I know I started this investigation looking at the whole house model, but the entire website seems to be geared to pushing the single cell phone model, and the rest is either an afterthought or an add on purchase.  From what I can determine, the concept behind them is the same.  You put what looks like a microchip pattern on something and then stick it on something else and it will either block or change EMF.  After looking through their website, I found numerous warning signs that this products claims are completely unfounded and that it is nothing more than Woo.  One is the use of acupressure points in the video to determine the amount of a "stress load" the subject was under.  Another is the jumble of technical sounding phrases used in the video under the "Read More" section.  The overabundance of "testimonials" (some of which may have been written by folks that work for green8) and a lack of laboratory evidence is another warning sign.  The general vagueness in their description of how it's supposed to work, barring manufacturing techniques, doesn't bode well either. Just invoking Richard Hoaglands name sets off skeptical warning bells to most people in the skeptic community.  For the most part, anything that promises to block EMF's and doesn't encase either the source or the recipient doesn't work.  These items seem to be just a techno form of snake oil promising to cure you of lots of different things while only draining your bank account.  To be blunt, don't buy them, and anyone you know that has, hit them with a copy of A Magician in the Laboratory or The Demon Haunted World to knock some sense into them.

This was actually fun to look into, though there were times I was face-palming myself with both hands, and I do have others lined up for the future, so stay tuned.  If you liked it, or if you have pointers, let me know.  Until next time, be good, be reasonable, and don't forget to floss.

The Skeptical Okie