Both kinds of stories regularly find themselves in the “Science” section of mainstream news sites far more often than they should. As I researched further, however, I found myself in the odd situation of being slightly alarmed that the various sources echoing the news had not distorted a thing and this wasn’t coming out of a fringe center. It was coming out of Oxford University:

The Oxford-Lausanne Collateral Hominid Project invites institutions and individuals with collections of cryptozoological material (cryptozoology: the search for animals whose existence is not proven) to submit details of the samples they hold, and then on request submit the samples themselves, particularly hair shafts, for rigorous genetic analysis. The results will then be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Professor Bryan Sykes, who is leading the effort, explains that modern techniques of DNA analysis offer an opportunity to test samples for their species of origin that was previously unavailable to those collecting “Yeti samples”… and this is where I become torn.

Bigfoot. Or a guy in a gorilla suit. Whatever is more plausible. (Via: Wikipedia)

On the one hand, I think that real science has a necessary role in keeping pseudoscience and general insanity at bay. If testable evidence is being offered in favor of a claim that seems ridiculous, it would be irresponsible to not take the chance to disprove it — or, in a much less likely turn of events, accept it. This sort of testing is what lets us say without wavering that there is no link between autism and vaccinations, and that homeopathic medicine is ultra-diluted snake oil.

Some people will never be convinced, of course, but we owe it to those who can be convinced to put claims to the test and not give ammunition to conspiracy theorists who will take a refusal to test as a “sign that the mainstream scientific establishment is afraid of this.”

On the other hand, the mere sight of a press-release by the excellent Oxford University making serious reference to “cryptozoology” makes me cringe.

Yeti sightings belong in the realm of crackpottery. I wonder about the wisdom of wasting limited research funds on extremely unpromising research and whether putting the weight of a world-class university behind the Yeti myth — even if only to finally disprove it — will only contribute to its credibility.

When all the tests come back negative, I doubt a single believer will be convinced. But they will be able to add “Oxford has taken this seriously!” to their list of arguments in favor of this silliness.

(Via The Thinking Atheist)

Of course, NASA and Caltech have a very different version of the story. They say Coppedge was confrontational, aggressive, and refused suggestions for retraining when it became apparent his position was in danger due to reductions in the project. There is also the matter of just how his Creationism manifested itself. It appears Coppedge frequently advocated so-called “Intelligent Design” to his co-workers, and even handed out free DVDs (produced by a company on whose board he sits) discussing the scientific evidence for Creationism which, if the DVDs were accurate, is at least a nice gesture, since you can always use another blank DVD.

This matter will be resolved in court. I know where my suspicions lie in the matter of Creation Safari Master Coppedge. However this does beg the question: Is it ever appropriate to fire someone due to his Creationism?

My tentative instinct is to say no, it’s not, even in cases where evolution is a central aspect of the subject matter, like a biology research lab. As long as a person is carrying out their responsibilities, being productive and cooperative and causing no strife with co-workers, there should be almost no belief that warrants dismissal on it’s own. I do think that Creationism, insofar as it shows an ignorance or disdain of the methods of science, can and should be used as a negative factor when considering hiring, promotion, and extension of a scientist. I don’t think you should hire a physicist who doesn’t accept gravity, either.

What would you do, if you worked for a scientific institution and learned that a prospective hire was a Creationist? Would you hire that person?

(Click to enlarge)

Also, I don’t know how to make those images.

CFI also wants to help anyone in America who has suffered because they took homeopathic medicine:

CFI is willing to assist individuals who believe they have been defrauded or otherwise harmed through the marketing of homeopathic products. If you are interested in discussing the possibility of pursuing legal remedies, please contact Steven Fox, CFI’s Legal Director.

…

“People are unconscionably being misled in their time of greatest vulnerability: when they’re sick,” said Ron Lindsay, President and CEO of CFI. “We intend to stand up for consumers and their right to be told the truth about the medicines they spend their hard-earned money on. We will take the fight to the perpetrators of homeopathic fraud in the media, in legislatures, and yes, in the courts.”

Good on them. Get these fake pills off the shelves before they do more damage.

Carrie called Boiron Laboratories, the company that makes ColdCalm, and this is what happened:

Now, there’s at least a slightly happy ending. Carrie got a refund from the company:

There’s even better news: Due to an uproar from customers tired of getting hoodwinked, Boiron will “set aside $5 million to refund customers who are not happy with the sugar pills they bought.”

In addition:

Boiron will be adding a disclaimer to say that their claims have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and, importantly, an explanation of how their active ingredients have been diluted. This re-labeling is likely to cost Boiron about $7 million.

So, they’re doing some PR that costs them millions of dollars.

Unfortunately, they’re not about to pull their product from the shelves, and odds are they’re pulling in far more money from unsuspecting (or incredibly gullible) ColdCalm customers who don’t know how to read labels.

This fight won’t be over until they stop scamming customers. So we’ll keep pushing back.

(Thanks to @WCK604 for the link!)

I love how Edamaruku laughs during the entire exchange

For Edamaruku’s latest debunking, he went to the site of a “miracle cross” where water was seen trickling down Jesus’ feet…

Turns out there was a perfectly logical explanation:

Sanal Edamaruku identified the source of the water (a drainage near a washing room) and the mechanism how it reached Jesus feet (capillary action). The local church leaders, present during his investigation, appeared to be displeased.

It sounds funny, but this is very serious. Edamaruku has been charged with blasphemy:

Yesterday (10th April,2012) Sanal received a phone call from a Police official of Juhu Police Station in Mumbai directing him to come to the said police station to face the charges and get arrested. He also said that FIRs have also been filed in Andheri and some other police stations u/s 295 of Indian Penal Code on the allegations of hurting the religious sentiments of a particular community. Mumbai police has announced that they were out to arrest him. It is apprehended that he can be arrested any moment.

I’m still waiting to hear if there’s anything we can do on his behalf. I’ll keep you all updated if I find anything out.

Instead of displays featuring volcanos and plants, participants will exhibit various forms of flim flam, explain why they are wrong, and show judges how to prevent getting scammed. It’s an excellent way to promote critical thinking.

The icing on the cake? The event will be judged by James Randi

The event takes place at the St. Cajetan Church (yep) on Monday, April 2^nd and it’s free to the public. The Fair goes from 10:00a – 4:00p. Randi will give a talk at 5:00p. More information is right here.

(Thanks to Joel for the link!)

When Dear Abby gets them, she reinforces their lunacy.

Like yesterday, when someone wrote in to talk about her psychic powers:

DEAR ABBY: I will graduate from college in June and be a social worker. I am psychic, although I dislike that word because it conjures up visions of crystal balls, quacks and scams. For legitimate psychic individuals, it can be overwhelming to live this way.

I first noticed my ability when I was young, but I repressed it because my folks thought I was imagining things. It began to resurge in college. This school is haunted, so I have become used to daily interactions with ghosts — often in the dead of night. I also notice that during client counseling sessions images will pop into my head. I once gave a classmate the “willies” by perfectly describing the garden in her backyard having never laid eyes on it. My adviser says I must never tell my clients the things I “see” in them because it will frighten them.

It’s hard to separate my own thoughts and emotions from those of spirits around me. I’m concerned about my psychic ability in relation to my clients. If I pick up on abuse in the mind of a child, for example, am I obligated to report it?

Being psychic is as natural to me as my having blue eyes. It will never go away. I must now find the means to manage it. I don’t want a career as a medium. I’m dedicated to the profession I have chosen. Can you offer me advice? — GIFTED IN NEW YORK

“Legitimate psychic individuals”? There’s an oxymoron for you…

He's a psychic because TLC said so.

And if you think children are being abused, here’s a thought: Ask them about it!

So the proper response would be to let her down gently. There’s no such thing as psychic powers. You’re counting the hits and ignoring the misses. Etc.

In fact, Abby starts out well enough, bypassing the bluntness and suggesting that the writer get concrete evidence for her thoughts:

DEAR GIFTED: Instead of using your visions to form judgments about your clients, use them to guide you during interviews. If you do, you will then be better equipped to provide concrete proof of the need for an intervention than revealing you “saw” something that others can’t see or wasn’t disclosed to you.

Then Abby gets weird:

Many people have psychic abilities to a greater or lesser degree than you do, and those “vibes” can be invaluable. It is possible that your gift will give you insight into the individuals you will serve. I wish you success.

Ugh… there’s Abby’s mistake. She’s confusing “gut feelings” with psychic powers. In the process, she’s just feeding the letter writer’s ignorance and making the situation worse.

People do not have varying degrees of psychic abilities. They have only one degree: None. Anyone who believes otherwise is delusional.

(Thanks to James for the link)

He and Representative Pete Stark (D-California) represent the only politicians courageous enough to “speak” at the large gathering of atheists:

Said a Harkin spokesperson, “Just like the rest of his colleagues in Congress, Senator Harkin, a lifelong Catholic, strongly endorses the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech. It was out of this conviction that he agreed to the invitation to send a video welcome to those exercising their Constitutional right on the national mall.”

Senator Harkin has served in the United States Senate for 27 years, serving an additional 10 years in the House of Representatives before that. The Secular Coalition for America, a sponsor of the Reason Rally, gave Harkin an “A” on their 2009 Senate Scorecard, a mark of how well his legislative votes defended secular values.

Based on the quotation from the spokesperson, Harkin isn’t really interested in our message. He supports our right to hold a rally and speak out, but that’s about the extent of his support.

Harkin doesn’t appear without some controversy, though. The Buffalo Beast‘s Josh Bunting explains:

[Harkin] tried to get alternative medicine covered under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka OBAMMERCARE. Harkin’s amendment ultimately failed, so fortunately none of us are going to be compelled to subsidize the quackery industry. But if Harkin had his way, we would.

Remember, this is the Reason Rally. I thought the point was to advocate for reason-based policy in our government. That’s why it’s taking place in Washington, DC.

The Center For Inquiry even issued a press release against Harkin’s bill in 2009:

[Sen. Harkin and others] are sponsoring an amendment to the health care reform bill which would support funding for alternative medicine, and also require all insurance companies to cover state-licensed alternative medicine providers, under the guise of prohibiting “discrimination” against such providers.

“Our report seeks to sound some alarm bells: we are coming dangerously close to having lawmakers legitimize quackery by putting the government stamp of approval on these unproven treatments,” said Ronald A. Lindsay, President and CEO of the Center for Inquiry. “We call upon the legislative branch to follow President Obama’s lead and insist that public policy be informed by sound scientific evidence.”

In other words, Harkin isn’t exactly a strong proponent of critical thinking and relying on scientific evidence.

That brings us to the salient question: Would you rather have more politicians pander to us like Harkin is doing or would you rather they ignore us altogether?

Considering that most people are unaware of Harkin’s views on alternative medicine, I think most atheists would be thrilled to even get lip service from a sitting senator.

Before you start organizing protests against Harkin’s video appearance, though, keep in mind that a *lot* of atheists wanted Bill Maher to speak at the rally, despite his speaking out against western medicine and questioning the efficacy of vaccinations. It seems like Maher’s outspoken atheism outweighed his sillier/more harmful views. But Maher’s a performer and Harkin’s a politician. We have a number of atheist celebrities. We don’t a lot of atheist politicians.

So do you give Harkin the benefit of the doubt and say, “Cool, we appreciate your willingness to send us a message at the Rally; that takes a lot of political courage” or “Thanks, but no thanks; your views are antithetical to ours and we don’t want your support”?

One more thing to keep in mind: President Obama has said things about the importance of religion in our country that many atheists have problems with. He has attended prayer breakfasts. He expanded the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Many atheists oppose all of those things.

Still, I think everyone would *love* it if Obama agreed to send along a message saying essentially the same things Harkin plans to say.