Be A Cool Dude(ette), Join The Skeptics Society

We here at Richmond Skeptics probably wouldn't rock and rule as hard as we do if it wasn't for two main organizations- The James Randi Educational Foundation, and the topic of today's blogpost, The Skeptics Society.

BREAKDOWN:

THE 411: The Skeptics Society, like the JREF, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization dedicated to investigating controversial claims (i.e. vaccines cause autism), promoting science (physics rules!), and promoting critical thinking (ruling out other options than "magic" when discovering how something works).

SKEPTICAL PEEPS: A "skeptic" as defined by the Skeptic Society, is anyone who adapts a provisional approach to any claim, applies reason to any and all ideas, and consistantly uses this method despite any temptation towards any sacredly held beliefs. Skeptics want tangible, testable proof that can be repeated in a variety of controlled settings. The Skeptics Society's head brainiac is a guy by the name of Dr. Michael Shermer, who is freakin' everywhere nowadays (here he is with me!)!!! Dr. Shermer is the author of some dozen books on skepticism, belief, evolution, and critical thinking. He travels constantly and is often the Skeptical Go-To Guy when media interviews and fluff pieces on psychic stuff are written. Dr. Shermer, despite being a busy bee, is very congenial, and remains a valuable resource for any skeptic. The main publication of the Skeptic Society is Skeptic Magazine, which features many skeptical writers, bloggers, artists, and average joes like me who do their small part for the promotion of science in our spaceship Earth. A very fun and extremely hip feature of Skeptic Magazine is Junior Skeptic (featuring the fabulous Emily "TT Busta" Rosa, the gorgeous drawings of Pat Linse and the ultra-clever Daniel Loxton at the helm- according to a recent interview, Loxton said the mini-mag was inspired by a fave fictional read of animated dynamo Lisa Simpson!) which is geared toward school-age kiddies who are starting out on the right foot by thinking critically. The Skeptic Society also has a semi-regular podcast, Skepticality (hosted by the awesome Derek and Swoopy) and a weekly email newsletter, eSkeptic.

WHY A BLOGPOST TODAY? Glad you asked, Sillybeans-it's because today my husband and I received in the mail our pre-membership renewal packet as a result of sending in a small amount of moolah for membership renewal fees (we became members in 2008- FYI: Skeptics Society members also receive Skeptic Magazine). Enclosed was a letter from Dr. Shermer as well as a pamphlet entitled "Learn to Be Psychic In 10 Easy Lessons" which outlines the cold reading and slight-of-hand tricks a lot of con artists pretending to have paranormal ability use on the unsuspecting public. The pamphlet totally rocks (and has that yummy thick paper-y smell), but the important thing is how much the Skeptic Society is contributing to society. According to Dr. Shermer's letter, 2008 was the biggest year that the Skeptics Society had in getting their message out. The small amount of moolah you send, along with all the other gargantuan tasks the society undertakes, goes toward funding science education projects in schools as well as to the general media (anyone here in RVA knows our local media could really benefit, n'es pa?). The Skeptics Society has just completed a contract to put 10,000 evolutionary science books in European schools and hopes that goal could be achieved here in North America. The books were developed by Junior Skeptic and The Junior Skeptic Baloney Detection Book Series. Speaking of, Junior Skeptic has just launched their own website with hopes that it will eventually become a universal resource for teachers. And, last but not least, the really cool (at least, in my opinion) project for 2009 is a documentary on belief- it's power, it's psychology, it's construction, and how to distinguish between true and B.S. belief systems. Wowsa.

KEWL. I WANT IN TOO; WHAT DO I DO NOW? If you have a small amount of moolah and want in on this too, you can visit the Skeptics Society by clicking on any mention of it in this blogpost (do yourself a favor and join- Junior Skeptic ALONE is so totally worth the cheap fees it takes to obtain membership!).

The Healthy Weight Network and The Slim Chance Awards 2008.

John and I have been seeing a registered dietician for about 2 years now, and with her help we've lost a combined weight of over 160 pounds. No special tricks, just good old fashioned nutrition and exercise. It was important for us to not only lose the weight but to learn better health habits. Over the years we've encountered a lot of get-thin-quick schemes and have been asked at many a party what our "secret" was, and when we've told people we simply stopped shoveling food and ate more veggies and got up off our asses thirty minutes 4 to 5 times a week, the reaction was a bored "oh." (John says there was one time where he encountered a woman who walked away from him almost defeated. "It was as if I'd punched her in the stomach.")


Skepticism and nutrition pretty much go hand and hand. Two of my favorite fitness magazines have good advice mixed in with ads for pills or mixtures guarenteed to "get ya cut." It seems you have to have good critical thinking skills to take care of yourself properly. Frances M. Berg, M.S., who operates the Healthy Weight Network has issued the 20th annual set of "Slim Chance Awards" to weight-loss scheme promoters. Freakin hilarious! Special thanks to Dr. Steven Barrett from Quackwatch for the link and the story!

The JREF announces AB Kovacs as Director Of Operations

Woot. Whadda cool Holiday present for skeptics worldwide:

http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/jref-news/353-the-jref-welcomes-a-b-kovacs-as-new-director-of-operations.html

AB is an energetic skepchick who will serve the JREF well!

Pooh Bear Knows Best...

"People who don't Think probably don't have brains; rather, they have grey fluff that's blown into their heads by mistake." A.A.Milne.

Sci-Fi Loses One Great Nurse: Jamma Party and A Doubting Florence Remember Majel Barrett Roddenberry

In the hubbub that has become my unfortunate existence known as the holiday season, I completely missed the connection when John told me last night that Gene Roddenberry's wife had passed away from leukemia that he was indeed speaking of Majel Barrett Roddenberry, one of the stars of the original Star Trek series. Star Trek is a good show not only for the delightful spirit of one-man show Leonard Nemoy, but for the groundbreaking idea that both men AND women (of any race, creed, or color) could boldly go where no man has gone before. Majel Barrett portrayed the voice of the computer, but more importantly (in my humble nurse opinion) the provocative Nurse Chapel, who, along with Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan from M*A*S*H, made me wanna become the R.N. I am today. After Gene's death, Majel made a point of being a presence at many Star Trek conventions, keeping the legacy alive, and, maybe secondarily promoting science to future generations of kids. Live long and prosper in our hearts and memories, oh great healer of the Starfleet!

Skeptic Jenn's Favorite Things for 2009...

...Because Oprah shouldn't have all the fun....(especially since she helps promote that crappy Secret book and Jenny McCarthy's antivaccination prattle)

Criteria: Things that, when I think of them, I smile. Honorable mentions are going to things I really don't know so much about them to call them favorites, but they are off on a good start. (View the whole list on my blog, Jamma Party)

Skeptic Jenn's Favorite Things for 2009

The Flu Shot Props to "Big Pharma" for making a bad arse flu vaccine this year. At a rate of 70 percent to 90 percent effectiveness, it's one of the things we need to stay healthy and not pass flu boogers to those who may not be able to fight it off- the elderly, babies, and people with weak immune systems. They are predicting a nasty flu season this year folks. And, contrary to urban legend, getting the flu shot does not give you the flu. It's a deactivated version of the virus that is in the vaccine. It should be avoided if you are allergic to eggs. Don't forget also to wash your hands before and after you go potty, and use hand sanitizer to combat germs as needed. You don't wanna kill babies and grandmothers, do you? DO YOU?????


Death From The Skies by Phil Plait The book came out in 2008, sure, but the buzz will still be going strong in 2009. Phil Plait, who I like to refer to as The Jonas Brothers of skepticism (three times the awesomeness in one package), has been newsworthy for a few reasons in 2008- In late summer/early fall of this year, Plait accepted the very honorable position of President of the James Randi Educational Foundation. There's also an online petition circulating a suggestion for Phil to be Obama's science advisor. Most importantly, he was interviewed in a recent issue of Geek Monthly. Although I have yet to read Death as well as it's predecessor Bad Astronomy (yeah, I know, I know), I already feel it's going to be a bit hit in many skeptical book clubs.

The Skepchick Podcast Sigh. So good for so many reasons. Here are a few: Rebecca. Bug Girl. Elyse. A. Stacey. Carrie. Maria. The girls dish candidly to each other, and although it's a podcast where in reality everyone is sitting in front of their computers and communicating via the 'net, the vibe is so cozy you almost can convince yourself that they are all sitting in one room together sharing a bottle of good tequila and a few laughs (in my image there are bean bag chairs and some knitting going on as well- but that's just me) about crap based medicine, Sylvia Browne, and creationism. Smarter than Cosmo, a bit more entertaining than Bitch, and always about the truth. Brainsbodyboth!!!


Nursing Students I started precepting clinically about three months ago, after a fluke encounter with a frazzled student turned into something very cool. Since then, I've precepted three very cute, intelligent and professional future nurses. I try to work on stress management and critical thinking along with home health skills and the importance of time management. Projects have included flu shot saavy and transitioning a patient from home health to hospice. Nursing students are really awesome and they don't get enough cred. Hug a student you love today!

Playing Gods with Ben Radford In the day, I was an amazing board game player. I could accuse Miss Scarlet of bludgeoning Mr. Boddy in the Billard Room with the lead pipe and whooped when my oppponent landed on my hotel laden Marvin Gardens. Back in the days, I could give you Trouble, catch a mouse with Mouse Trap, and could always retrieve the funny bone without The Operation Patient without the nose of defeat lighting and honking loudly. But the sixth grade ended far too quickly, and then the teenage years gave way to collecting makeup tips vs. chess moves. My gamer skills are rusty at best. But I'm ready to play Ben Radford's newest game, Playing Gods. Ben had a great low key marketing campaign at TAM 6 (we still get comments on our "My God is Better Than Your God" bumper sticker. The game came out in September, and with predictions of a wicked winter in Virginia, we are looking forward to many a snowy evening battling as powerful dieties. My husband, a hardcore gamer, calls this a great beer [or mer-faux] and pretzels game. But we're ready to get tough if we need to! Be prepared to be God-served in many fun nights over at Casa De Feefer and Bob. We're waiting for your diety to bring it.

Honorable Mention
Baxter Infusor Portable Elastomeric Infusion System (known here as the INFUSIOR)
Why it makes me smile: The BIPEIS main purpose is to help make the crappy regimen known as chemotherapy a bit easier for the patients at Big Bad Cancer Kickin' Doctors Practice (not it's real name, obviously), one of our newest group of doctors using our home health services. With their practice came the INFUSOR, which is a portable medication delivery system that uses a balloon resivoir that is designed to very very slowly push medication (or chemo) into your body at a specified rate, which is controlled by a flow restrictor. It resembles a small baby bottle and is made of pretty tough plastic. The tubing connects to the patient's IV catheter and is kink resistant. They're portable as heck (I got to discreetly troubleshoot one at a patients office).
Why it didn't make the Big List: Like any medical procedure or medication, there are pros and there are cons. At times, the rate is sooo slooow that at times, it doesn't look like it's working, which results in some false alarm calls for troubleshooting for the agency (it's okay though- better safe than sorry). And if your math is off, you could end up at a patient's home a few hours too early to remove the INFUSOR, which is not a happy feeling on a busy day. Also, I don't want to Big List something I have only worked with a handful of times. This might be a future topic for A Doubting Florence.

A Doubting Florence Presents: Vaccines and Autism- A Skeptical Nurse Perspective

"I was nine when my childhood ended...my mother had taken me to a number of doctors, but they could find no reason for the fatigue or the insomnia that now plagued me...[at my ninth birthday party] I pushed myself off the wall [where I was sitting] and a surprise pain, a bad one, shot through my legs, back and neck as I dropped straight down onto the pavement...I was mortified. It was my birthday and I couldn't even get up...I forgot which nanny carried me to bed, where I lay flat and quiet, listening to my party outside my window...After entering the hospital, I was abruptly taken away from my parents, without explanation, and wheeled into an elevator. That was when I came apart. I screamed all the way upstairs to a big room where there were curtained cubicles and lots of children, all on gurneys, all screaming, just like me. A nurse wearing a mask over her nose and mouth hissed, Be quiet you're only making things worse for everybody, but I was beyond terror. I threw up. Everything hurt- my back, neck, legs, arms, and chest; it even hurt to breathe...It was 1954 and polio was sweeping the country. Nobody knew how it was spread, so you didn't go to movies or swim in public pools because of germs...it was supposed to be a children's ward, but the iron lungs that lined the halls must have contained some adults too. I could hear men's voices wheezing and shouting in the night. When my turn came to be in the iron lung, I kept calling out, I'm okay, I feel fine now, please. But nobody came, and you can't even scratch your own nose...[in my room there was] a crib in which lay a little girl about two years old with brown curls, a quiet little thing who never made a sound, except for an occasional soft whimper, but I don't remember seeing her move. One night the lights went on and the curtains were pulled around her crib, and doctors and nurses all crowded into that corner in a hurry, talking loudly. I pulled the covers over my head and tried to pretend I was somewhere else, but that's not so easy when terrible voices fill the room. The next morning the crib was empty, and then I had to put that quiet little girl out of my mind."
This quote is from Chapter One of Mia Farrow's autobiography, What Falls Away. Farrow was nine when she contracted a mild case of polio, from which she made a complete recovery after several months. According to the CDC, polio has had a 100 percent reduction in morbidity as a result of adminstering the polio vaccine to children.
I admit that I just committed a logical fallacy. I used an appeal to your emotions verses a rational argument to try to explain why you should vaccinate. This blogpost was originally going to be about how disappointed I am about the recent coupling of World Wrestling Entertainment and autistic parent group Generation Rescue (board member Jenny McCarthy will be a guest on the WWE broadcast of Saturday Night's Main Event). But I realized that I'm too high-strung on this topic to look at it objectively.I love pro wrestling. The banner on WWE.com shows the attractive McCarthy, and her cherubic smiling son Evan. At the same time, Mia Farrow's story also breaks my heart. Either side of this debate involves kids and the potential harm that could come to them. Needless to say, it's very easy to latch onto emotion. I don't have any kids, nor am I in any hurry to procreate. But I live next door to a couple of 'em and they seem really likeable. I don't wanna think about them having to deal with the scary diseases that Evan and Mia dealt with. There were appeals to your emotions all over the nine or so revisions I've been working on since 9 yesterday morning. I'm done. Instead, I would like to focus on how nurses are involved with the adminstration and safety of vaccines. That is a lot easier on my psyche and most likely will be a bit more informative for you, gentle reader. Part 2 will appear in the next blogpost.
Resources for this blog entry
1) Farrow, Mia. 1997. What Falls Away. New York: Nan A. Talese Doubleday
2) Shermer, Michael. 1997, 2002. Why People Believe Weird Things. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
3) Judelsohn, Richard G. Vaccine Safety: Vaccines Are One of Public Health's Great Accomplishments. Skeptical Inquirer 31, no. 6:32-35.