Christopher Robin: a sad story

Jump to follow-up Today we went to see the film, Goodbye Christopher Robin.  It was very good. I, like most children, read Pooh books as a child.  Image from Wikipedia I got interested in their Author, A.A. Milne, when I discovered that he’d done a mathematics degree at Cambridge. So had [...]

DC's Improbable Science: Truth, falsehood and evidence: investigations of dubious and dishonest science

Read the rest at: Christopher Robin: a sad story

AVN now trying to access private information about nursing home deaths | reasonable hank

Stop the Australian (Anti)Vaccination Network was basically founded because of the callous antivax opportunism of Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network founder and current committee member, Meryl Dorey.

Back in March 2009, Dorey contacted the then-head of North Coast Area Health Service’s public health unit, Paul Corben, contending that baby Dana McCaffery did not die from whooping cough – she did – and sought access to confidential medical information surrounding Dana’s death. From Toni McCaffery (Dana’s mum)...

Read on: AVN now trying to access private information about nursing home deaths | reasonable hank

Naturopathic Cancer Quackery – Science-Based Medicine

Britt Marie Hermes is a former naturopath who had the requisite intellectual and moral integrity to realize and admit to herself that her chosen profession was a pseudoscientific fraud. Further, rather than just sulk away and go on with her life, she decided to share what she learned with the world, in the hopes of mitigating the damage caused by her former profession.

Of course, no good deed goes unpunished. For her trouble she has been harassed and legally threatened. She was recently sent another cease and desist letter from Colleen Huber, for a post in which she explains why she thinks Huber is cybersquatting on domains with Hermes’ name..

Read more: Naturopathic Cancer Quackery – Science-Based Medicine

Is Colleen Huber a cancer quack? And more legal thuggery - Naturopathic Diaries

A couple weeks ago, I got a second cease and desist letter. Bastyr University sent the first, but the latest was sent by a naturopath in Tempe, Arizona by the name of Colleen Huber. Just so you know right away the type of person I’m dealing with, she’s been claiming that “her clinic, Nature Works Best Cancer Clinic, has had the most successful results of any clinic in the world.”...

Read on: Is Colleen Huber a cancer quack? And more legal thuggery - Naturopathic Diaries

Introducing the antivax AVN’s odious new public officer | reasonable hank

...Appropriately, the AVN has recently appointed its latest public officer. Wayne Baird is a right-wing conspiracy theorist from Tintenbar, in the NSW Northern Rivers; residing not far away from Dorey...

Full story here: Introducing the antivax AVN’s odious new public officer | reasonable hank

Perspectives of Scientists Who Become Targets: Michael Mann - Climate Science Legal Defense Fund

This series profiles scientists who have been threatened with legal attacks or harassed by politically and ideologically motivated groups. What these researchers experienced, how they responded, and the lessons they learned provide valuable guidance for other scientists, and will help all readers understand the issues climate scientists may encounter because of their work.

Perspectives of Scientists Who Become Targets: Michael Mann - Climate Science Legal Defense Fund

American Loon #1885: Tim LeFever

Tim LeFever is a two-time Republican nominee for Congress in the Sacramento area, chairman of the board of the Capitol Resource Institute, member of the board of directors of The Pacific Justice Institute – both fundie anti-gay organizations, if you wondered – and occasional writer for Townhall...

Read the full lunacy: #1885: Tim LeFever Encyclopedia of American Loons

Inside the anti-vax cult: Cathering and Greg Hughes bombarded with vicious attacked 24 hours after their baby son Riley’s death | Herald Sun

WITHIN 24 hours of their baby boy’s death, Catherine and Greg Hughes were confronted with the ugliness that drives the misinformed anti-vax warriors.

The grieving parents were bombarded with vicious attacks claiming they were “baby-killers” and that their infant son Riley had died because they did not treat him with vitamins and essential oils...

Full exposé here: Inside the anti-vax cult: Cathering and Greg Hughes bombarded with vicious attacked 24 hours after their baby son Riley’s death | Herald Sun

Bastyr University sent me a cease and desist letter - Naturopathic Diaries

On Friday, July 21, 2017, I received a cease and desist letter from Bastyr’s lawyer, which alleges I have defamed the university by making willfully false statements that hurt its reputation. They are demanding that I remove purported defamatory material from the internet. You can read the letter below...

Bastyr University sent me a cease and desist letter - Naturopathic Diaries

Universal Medicine small town woes & GLOBAL gossip July 2017 | Universal Medicine SCAM Exposed

Unfortunately Tenterfield, a small town near the border of NSW and Queensland, will have to deal with the Girl to Woman Festival on August 27 and all the Universal Medicine/Esoteric Women’s Health cult parasites that come with it.

A reader found this poster in a local shop and the shopkeeper was happy for her to take it down. The shopkeeper had never heard of UM, or Esoteric Breast Massage and like most people, she didn’t want a bar of it...

Universal Medicine small town woes & GLOBAL gossip July 2017 | Universal Medicine SCAM Exposed

How Dr. Jen Gunter got on Gwyneth Paltrow's bad side

Last week, a dispute erupted between Canadian-born Dr. Jen Gunter and actor Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle site Goop, throwing pseudo-science and the role it plays in women’s health into the spotlight. In one corner there is Paltrow, a self-styled celebrity wellness guru and founder of the website featuring e-commerce, fashion, cooking and travel tips, with a side of highly dubious health-related advice. In the other corner is Gunter, an OB/GYN who is board certified in both Canada and the United States. Gunter recently landed on Goop’s Most Wanted list after crying foul over a number of the site’s most objectionable assertions and recommendations. Missed the media frenzy? Here’s what you need to know about the Gunter-Goop feud...

Read on: How Dr. Jen Gunter got on Gwyneth Paltrow's bad side

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop calls criticism from scientists “dangerous” - Salon.com

Gwyneth Paltrow — the actress most famous for her alternative lifestyle practices — has always brushed off the criticism she has faced for promoting unconventional remedies on her wellness blog, “Goop” (even after admitting she has no idea what she’s doing).

But now, Paltrow and the Goop team are fighting back their toughest critics and defending their more controversial treatments.

In a post titled, “Uncensored: A Word from Our Doctors,” the wellness site defends its contributing doctors and calls the criticism they receive “dangerous.”

“As goop has grown, so has the attention we receive,” begins the overtly passive-aggressive post. “We consistently find ourselves to be of interest to many — and for that, we are grateful...

Read on: Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop calls criticism from scientists “dangerous” - Salon.com

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Issues a Rare Response to a Critic | Vanity Fair

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly why Jen Gunter was the one to face the unusual ire of Goop and the Goop-adjacent. It could be because, unlike Colbert or even Caulfield, Gunter, as an unknown target, was easier to lash out at...

Read on: Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Issues a Rare Response to a Critic | Vanity Fair

Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop tries to hit back at doctor critic | The Independent

Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness brand Goop has fired back against their vociferous critics in a post defending their products such as the infamous vaginal jade egg.

On Thursday, Goop took aim at gynaecologist Dr Jen Gunter in the first of a new series of posts in which the company plans to discredit their critics...

Read on: Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop tries to hit back at doctor critic | The Independent

Goop expert Dr Steven Gundry mansplains to critic Dr Jen Gunter in open letter

Earlier Maria covered the goop open letter that challenged Dr Jen Gunter and whether or not it was good business strategy. I name-checked Dr. Gunter in my write-up of the In Goop Health event held last month, as she has been one of the most vociferous and articulate critics of goopology. The goop/Gunter feud kicked off when Gwyneth Paltrow said in an interview that “if you want to f*ck with me, bring your A game”. Dr. Gunter responded with “we’re not f*cking with you, we’re correcting you”. And now we have rebuttals written by two goop experts, Dr. Steven Gundry—the one who said “don’t eat” at In Goop Health—and Dr. Aviva Romm, author of The Adrenal Thyroid Revolution.

Goop expert Dr Steven Gundry mansplains to critic Dr Jen Gunter in open letter

GOOP’s misogynistic, mansplaining hit job | Dr. Jen Gunter

GOOP and Gwyneth Paltrow have a case of GOOPitis, which according to Dr. Steve Gundry is due to my potty mouthed facts. Or tomato skins. Or something. I find it all very disjointed, inadequately researched, bloated, and mainsplainy.

I first saw this GOOP letter thing on the train back from a wonderful day in Manchester visiting with family (I’m over in the U.K. on holiday) when my phone almost blew up with Twitter notifications, partly because GOOP dedicated their first ever fighting words to little old me (apparently I have some gall suggesting women should not listen to second hand health advice from a ghost) and partly because even High Priestess Paltrow had descended from her bespoke, wooden vagina steaming throne to tweet among the mortals....

GOOP’s misogynistic, mansplaining hit job | Dr. Jen Gunter

Gwyneth Paltrow’s quack empire goop strikes back against Dr. Jen Gunter – Respectful Insolence

You know how you know when you’ve been effective deconstructing quackery or antivaccine pseudoscience? It’s when quacks and pseudoscientists strike back. It’s when they attack you. As much as Mike Adams’ near daily tirades against me last year caused problems and poisoned my Google reputation (which was, obviously, the goal), I could reassure myself with the knowledge that his attacks meant that I had gotten to him. When Steve Novella was sued by a quack, as much as I didn’t want to be sued by anyone, I knew that the fact that someone would sue him was testament to his effectiveness. Basically, counterattacks, character assassination, and, occasionally, legal threats are the price skeptics pay when they are effective...

Read more: Gwyneth Paltrow’s quack empire goop strikes back against Dr. Jen Gunter – Respectful Insolence

Gwyneth Paltrow's 'Goop' Attacks Doctor Who Doubted Vagina Jade Eggs | Inverse

Gwyneth Paltrow is gaslighting America.

A post on Paltrow’s lifestyle website and expensive nonsense shop Goop published Thursday argues that Jennifer Gunter — an OB/GYN and evidence-based medicine advocate who has criticized the company’s potentially dangerous recommendations — disrespected women when she told them not to put Goop’s $55 crystals in their vaginas. Below’s the advertorial for “beauty guru/healer/inspiration/friend” Shiva Rose’s jade eggs...

Read on: Gwyneth Paltrow's 'Goop' Attacks Doctor Who Doubted Vagina Jade Eggs | Inverse

More on bullying at Imperial College London. What’s being done?

The last email of Stephan Grimm has had more views than any other on this blog. “Publish and perish at Imperial College London: the death of Stefan Grimm“. Since then it’s been viewed more than 210,000 times. The day after it was posted, the server failed under the load.

Since than, I posted two follow-up pieces. On December [...]

Read the rest at: More on bullying at Imperial College London. What’s being done?

DC's Improbable Science: Truth, falsehood and evidence: investigations of dubious and dishonest science

The need for anonymity when you speak out

I got an interesting message on Facebook a few days ago. It was from “Sherri Kane” a woman from Hawaii who is very involved in conspiracy theories: 

When the film ended, Sherri grabbed the microphone. Her face had turned into a grim, ugly mask, the corners of her mouth pulled downward as if by strings. […]

Read more at: The need for anonymity when you speak out by Reuben