Moving the blog

After spending much time in the blagosphere, I've realised that wordpress is a much better platform than blogger.com. It's easier to use, I like it's interface, lot's of nice themes and it's got built in LaTeX support. So, i've moved all the posts and comments there.

You can find the "new" blog at

http://parseval.wordpress.com

Fishy Medicine

It's time again for the annual "miracle fish cure". You've all probably heard of the amazing fish "medicine" that the Bathini Goud family offers to people who suffer from Asthma. This year's event has recently started in Hyderabad¹.

Asthmatics gather in Hyderabad for "miracle cure"

Thousands of asthmatics have lined up in Hyderabad to take the ''fish medicine'' that the Bathini Goud family has been administering since 1845.

It's a purported miracle cure, where patients swallow a live fish whole, to be cured of asthma.
...

One memember of the family which gives the "medicine", claims (emphasis mine)

Cheating means to cheat someone. Here the crowds have come themselves, ask them if they are being charged without getting cured. That would be cheating. These people do not even know what cheating is,''

That's the pity. But, I think he should know. Raising hopes with a false claim, whose efficacy has never been verified in any test, and potentially endangering the lives of asthmatics who move away from conventional (yet exteremly effective) inhalers and corticosteroids, is very much cheating.

It saddens me somewhat, that such rubbish is still being practised freely. How hard would it be to conduct a double blind experiment to see if the drug really works? And if it works, to analyze the ingredients and try understanding the chemical basis for it's efficacy, and improving it? Why doesn't any one in our government intervene to put an end to this nonsense²?

I long for the day when the majority of our society wakes up from a demon haunted world. IMO, public awarness of science can play a large role and serve as a candle in our dark, superstitous society.

Notes

[1] - Asthmatics gather in Hyderabad for "miracle cure"

[2] - Purely rhetorical. The answer, obviously, is votes.

Creation Museum

Imagine that you're visiting a museum for the first time on a bright sunny afternoon, perhaps with your family or kids. You say to yourself "Hey, this is going to be a great experience. It'll be wonderful to look at fossils, learn about the history of the earth, the time scale involved and about evolution".

But then, when you enter the museum, you notice something peculiar. A T-rex grazing in a meadow with human children playing around it? Museum guides calmly explaining that the Earth is 6000 years old? A Triceratops wearing a saddle? What's going on?

Well, It sure ain't Kansas anymore. Belive it or not, these are scenes from the recently opened, 27 million dollar, Creation Museum in Kentucky.

The Creation Museum proudly claims to present a "walk through history", and bring the pages of the Bible to life. In fact, the co-founder of the museum claims that "It's a great place for children who are in public school and haven't really decided what to believe yet". Really? Take a look at a photographic tour of the exhibits for yourself.

What's more astonishing is that museum opened to a full crowd, with more than 4000 visitors in the first day. A related survey conducted by the Princeton Survey Research Associates International, showed that 48% of Americans polled believed that "God created humans pretty much in the present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so" ¹.

The first time I read this, all I could think was

HUH?? IS THIS FOR REAL?

Passing of lies to young children as science is beyond shameful, it's criminal.

Although I'm sorely tempted to rant further about this atrocity, I'll simply end with the Wizard's First Rule

People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People's heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so all are easier to fool.

Notes

[1] -NEWSWEEK Poll,March 31, 2007: Conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International.