Parliament really does follow its own little set of rules, doesn’t it? Where else could one broadcast that your boss can’t do his job and insist that he be fired and then be allowed to take sick leave? I have had patients come to me asking for a week or two of stress leave, but [...]

Indeed, there is an enormous amount of hot air coming from Martyn “Bomber” Bradbury over at Tumeke! today. Bomber has challenged all of us paid shills of Big Oil (if only!) on our silence around the “exoneration” of Phil Jones and CRU. I can’t speak for my fellow shills, but I find the Science and [...]

The recent stunt by the New Zealand Skeptics Society might be very amusing, but it fails to add much to the debate on homeopathy. The skeptics swallow large amounts of homeopathic remedy to attempt to show its overall uselessness. Unfortunately, this demonstration is no more significant than an atheist demanding that God strikes him dead [...]

In what has to be the most bizarre over-reaction I have heard in a long time, the Herald reports that a 12-year-old girl was arrested for scrawling on her desk. That is: properly arrested in handcuffs and dragged off to the police station and given eight hours of community service as her sentence. Wow. I [...]

Apparently, Mr Obama would now like to talk to to Republicans about health care. The man is really a laugh riot. After trying to ram a highly divisive, partisan health bill through the senate and failing, Mr. Obama would like a televised bipartisan summit for half a day to break the impasse. I suspect you [...]

Teen sells virginity for $45,000 online So that’s the going price on the open market is it? I did wonder (academically speaking of course). I know many will find my sentiments archaic, but I find that very, very sad. And Lisa Lewis is no longer the most expensive prostitute in New Zealand… Add a Comment

I was thinking about the placebo effect the other day, and it reminded me of this excellent article on the matter at Wired Magazine. The article points out that: It’s not that the old meds are getting weaker, drug developers say. It’s as if the placebo effect is somehow getting stronger. And that seems to [...]

I don’t know about you, but I find the Atheist ad campaign amusing on many levels: There is the almost evangelist zeal shown by the rapidity with which the money for the ads has been raised. Now if only us religious zealots could be that zealoty… Then there is the whole delicious irony of displaying [...]

Over at SciBlogs, Gareth Renowden and Ken Perrott are commenting on my post Global Warping. As the comments are interesting and should not be missed, I have pasted them here. You are welcome to go over to SciBlogs and add your comments. Gareth Renowden 1 day ago Jim, I think you are giving far too [...]

Ahhh, only the Japanese… Man marries virtual girlfriend In a bizarre story reminiscent of the film Lars and the Real Girl, the man, known by his nickname SAL9000, fell in love with a fictional character from the Nintendo DS “love simulator” Love Plus. Popular in Japan’s geek subculture, the game invites players to pick a [...]