Why is Homeopathy such a crap?

Well, I am feeling a bit weak today, so much work, or perhaps my new-born baby is making me sleep lot less than before, maybe I should stop by the homeopathic pharmacy, they must have something that could help me more than conventional medicine, after all, all those big pharmaceutical companies are just after my money, and homeopathy is nature right? I hear my grandpa saying it could even cure cancer, so I guess a tiny headache should be no challenge for this amazing natural science........... except of course, we are not talking about science at all but rather about pseudo-science. Actually of all the stupid "alternative medicine" (as if that term would hold any validity) homeopathy is in the number one stupidity-spot for the majority of REAL conventional medicine practitioners. You might say I am too harsh on the term, after all, what harm could it do to anyone right? Well, actually there are more implications than what you might think.

But let's give a bit of background as always. Homeopathy was first formulated at the end of the 1700s by a German physician named Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843). The word "homeopathy" comes from the Greek "homoios" (similar) and "pathos" (suffering or disease). Hahnemann was concerned about the medical practices of his time which were in turn doing more harm than good. These practices included bloodletting, bleeching, purging, etc. He thought those treatments were intended to balance the body "humors" by inducing opposite effects, so he came up with the idea of a "law" called the "law of similars". The idea was basically that any disease could be cured by administering extremely small amounts of substances that produce similar symptoms in healthy people when administered in larger amounts.

Hahnemann and his early followers carried out a series of "studies" where they administered to themselves and to other healthy people different herbs, minerals, etc, and took notes of the effects produced. Hahnemann believed that diseases were only obstructing the body's own capabilities to heal itself and that with only small stimulus a healing process could be started. He also claimed that chronic diseases were manifestations of a suppressed itch (psora), which meant a form of evil spirit. This already starts sounding like no-sense to me, but there is more.

He began by using smaller amounts of accepted medications until he started diluting substances massively thinking that the more diluted, the bigger the effect, which is of course a non sequitur. These logical fallacy is called the "law of infinitesimals" and goes against everything scientific medicine has demonstrated.

Homeopathic remedies do not come from modern scientific testing but rather from old (1800s) "provings" of thousands of substances that do not even identify themselves with particular symptoms or diseases, that is decided by the homeopath or manufacturer. Substances can be sometimes sooooo diluted that what they are basically giving you is water, along with the magical natural-remedy idea, something like a placebo. For instance, there are substances labeled as 30X. This means that the original substance has been diluted 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times. Assuming that a cubic centimeter of water contains 15 drops, this number is greater than the number of drops of water that would fill a container more than 50 times the size of the Earth (www.quackwatch.org). Does this really sound logic?

Homeopathy worked well back then because it was actually less dangerous than the medical prescriptions of the time. As medical science advance, more and more people started abandoning the idea until almost 100 years ago, the last Homeopathy school closed its doors in the U.S.

Moreover, there is something practitioners called "constitutional remedy" which is even more stupid than what mentioned earlier. This is an idea that works a bit like Astrology. The difference here is, we are talking about your health, not about how you think your week will develop love wise according to your horoscope. So this is in practice more alarming than Astrology. But let's go forward. So the idea is that certain remedies will work better with certain people, depending on your personality, physical features such as hair color...(??). There is for example a type of people called the "Sulfur Type" who are very independent people....? Yep, that's how they base the kind of treatment you should get, very reliable in deed.

Going back to the dilution problem, there are certain rules in chemistry that said that when a certain limit is exceeded, the dilution has lost its properties regarding the original substance, this corresponds to homeopathic dilutions of 12C or 24X (1 part in 10²⁴). Hahnemann himself realized that there is virtually no chance that even one molecule of original substance would remain after extreme dilutions. But he believed that the vigorous shaking or pulverizing with each step of dilution leaves behind a "spirit-like" essence—"no longer perceptible to the senses"—which cures by reviving the body's "vital force." Modern proponents assert that even when the last molecule is gone, a "memory" of the substance is retained. This notion is unsubstantiated. Moreover, if it were true, every substance encountered by a molecule of water might imprint an "essence" that could exert powerful (and unpredictable) medicinal effects when ingested by a person (www.quackcast.com).

There are plenty of other equally stupid examples regarding this practice, but I guess these are good enough. The scientific community is trying to eliminate this non-sense and potentially harmful practice by means of law, but perhaps starting from education could be a first step, because as I will talk on my next post, what we do as a society is vastly influenced by our environments, is important to start at the individual level. The problem with this pseudo-science practices is that they have become beliefs for plenty of people, and as I have exposed before, beliefs are hard to let go because it exposes our ignorance and therefore directly touches on the sensitive fibers of human ego and our and conceit. But once we learn that accepting our ignorance is a liberating step, not only do this process is made easier, but it also enhances us as a society. So before you get seduced by these practices, think first it they really make any sense. Remember, if it sounds magical, it's probably crap!!

Watching a video is always funnier than reading stuff, so check out James Randy talking about this, very educational.

Rode

The Crap...I mean...Secret...

Well hello again!

Ok so after some criticism and interesting chatting in Facebook for expressing some of my anti-religious ideas, here I am again about to do the same with another "sweetheart" of many out there, I'm talking about Rhonda Byrne's (Australian writer and producer) book and movie "The Secret".

Well, where should I start from......? Really a hard task, not that there is nothing you can criticize, in fact that's the problem, that book is full of soooooo much non-sense and dangerous pseudo-science crap, yes, dangerous, that it makes it a pain in the ass to figure out where to start from. Anyway, I must do this because it's been in my system for long enough and I feel the need of spitting it out.

So let's talk about the tirelessly mentioned and main propel of the book, the "Law of Attraction". Rhonda seems to be very fond on that fancy-sounding term which is nothing else but.... how can I put it nicely?......?... bull shit!!! (that's the nicest I could do). So she says that by making use of this law, we can attract all the positive stuff that surround us only by using our positive thinking... and also the other way round with the negative stuff... right, ok, let's suppose that, as unreal and childish as this sounds, this wouldn't harm anyone, actually it might be good if people take on a positive approach to most of the things they do right? Well, this is actually true, but the problem with this crap is that its stuff gets actually more complicated and even alarming and as I said before, DANGEROUS!! Because she goes on to say that if you wish hard enough, you can actually be cured of serious illnesses such as cancer tumors or things like that.

She bases this obnoxious claims using the term "quantum physics", of which Rhonda Byrne has a Ph.D...oh no! sorry, she doesn't.... I bet almost 100% (if not that) of you who are reading my rant, don't understand a damn about quantum physics (not that I do either), because it's really a hard one to grasp. There is a saying, "if you say you understand quantum physics, that means you don't understand them" (though there are different versions of the saying). But anyway, quantum physics, as chaotic as they are, are still science, yes, science, meaning they have absolutely nothing to do with metaphysical shit, which is nothing else than an invention from philosophers and I would say nowadays an industry itself.

Quantum physics deal with the small world, the extremely small world in deed, the sub-atomic particles where everything gets really chaotic, where electrons start interfering with themselves and not making any sense, they become extremely unpredictable and governed by probability mostly, the possibility of infinite parallel universes where all the different alternatives of what happens in this one actually exist. Actually it gets much more complicated than that, imagine that we are all made out of atoms, that for some reason stay together and stable enough so that we don't suddenly become something else or just vanish in the blink of an eye. But at the same time, the smaller particles that compose those atoms, get extremely unstable, unpredictable and chaotic, now put them together and make sense out off it..

Nice try Rhonda! But now, could anybody explain me how the hell can you relate that to the "Law of Attraction"? Well, actually very easily, because since it is a branch of science (quantum physics) very few people in the World understand thoroughly, you can basically make any impressive-sounding crap up and very few will dispute it, moreover, by using that fancy word (quantum physics) you sound as you would really know your shit.

Well, she doesn't. Actually she has no fucking clue what she is talking about. Similar forces attract each other...? Like..where? I thought opposite poles are the ones that attract each other. Anyway, if that is not enough argument, I have a lot more, I'm just warming up.

So the "Law of Attraction" was mentioned for the first time (James Allen) at the beginning of the last century (1902), which take us to more meaningless claims from the book such as the important people in history who were supposed to

know (and use) this law and therefore, became crucial figures of human history. Well, the thing is, most of the people sh

e mentions were already death when the law came to existence for the first time i.e, Leonardo Da Vinci, Buddha, Aristotle, Plato, Sir Isaac Newton just to mention a few.

Nevertheless, what a crap that is, really, you wish it and you get anything you have ever dreamt about, without an effort, just ask the Universe and dara!! There you are! So the Universe is supposed to hear YOU over billions and billions of galaxies which might host billions of different intelligent lives which might be also "wishing" to it (all at the same time)..... that sounds unbearably self-centered, even megalomaniac!! Don't you think? There's by the way a similar phenomenon followed by millions which begins with "R"...

Anyway, the real danger of this crap, is that some people might actually believe that if they wish hard enough, they can be cured from dangerous illnesses, they might prefer to do that over looking for medical professional help which could in deed save their lives, once they realize that there is no magic in the Universe and look for that professional help, it might be too late!! This might sound stupid for many of you, because we are more or less educated, but think about the people who are not, who could be more vulnerable. This kind of shit shouldn't be tolerated!! I am absolutely in favor of the freedom of expression, but there should be limits,

difference should be made crystal clear about what is fantasy and what is reality to avoid putting people in danger , and that is why the skeptic community raises its voice against these charlatans, and I am not talking only about her only but about any pseudo-science form, because they put many lives in danger!! That's is why is so important to promote critical thinking, is not about you believing in me, is about you not believing in anyone, but making your own research, looking at the big picture and drawing your own conclusions. Is really not that hard.

I like how Brian Dunning (Skeptoid.com) expresses why the Secret has been a best seller, he says:

1. It's based on ancient wisdom, which is always popular
2. It sells the same motivational self-help pitches that are always popular
3. It teaches that you're already a winner because you didn't fail like those people who died in New Orleans.

And talking about that last point, Rhonda also writes that all the big sad tragedies that strike the World such as the Tsunami of 2004, are the result of massive negative thoughts........???...??...So does that mean that more than 200,000 people in 11 different countries die because of their negative thoughts and so the Universe decided to wipe them off the face of the Earth? Were the exact number of victims the exact number of negative people that deserved to die? Or were there any innocents among the victims? The great majority maybe? Well, I guess you got the point of that non-sense garbage. And if you haven't had enough, just listen to what these two clowns have to say about it.

Because of people like these, using the media to misinform others, is that pseudo-science still stands strong, but that would be another topic. Anyway, if you really need this motivational books kind of thing in your life, go ahead, but make sure you recognize between reality and fantasy, evolution has given us brains that are able to solve extremely complex problems, more than what any other animal could ever achieve, yet, sometimes it seems as if we are using them against ourselves. Just remember to follow YOUR OWN critical thinking...out of my system, time to move on..

Living la vida loca??

Well finally back "blogging" after this last crazy month which saw the birth of my first child, a beautiful baby girl. And what a better catalyst for keeping the writing of critical thinking. During that month news have come and gone as they always do. One that called my attention, however, was the "confession" Ricky Martin made about his sexual preference. I mean, what's with that? Should that even be a topic of discussion? A headline? Should we even care? Should I write about it?

Giving the World we are living, I think I should. But think about it, why did Ricky have to deliverate for so long about letting everybody know that he likes guys instead of girls? Would he also have to deliverate for so many years telling us he prefers to eat apples rather than oranges? Or that he enjoys more by looking at an orchid instead of a peony? I use Ricky deliberatly here because it's a case most of us are familiar with, but it applies to any homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, asexual or any other label you want to use.

Preference for the same sex is widely common among the wild, figures are said to go as high as 40% (evolution 101 podcast). If this is the case, homosexuality must play an important role in evolution, whatever that is (think of a natural birth control). It doesn't surprise me then that the Pope along with the vast majority of religious leaders and followers, consider homosexuality as a sin and even as an illness, giving that most religious people are creationists themselves and really don't pay attention to evidence.

But whether homosexuality is relevant to evolution or not (most likely it is), it still blows my mind that so many people don't know that one is born with an already given sexual preference, meaning is not something you choose as you develop. So why should we care more about it than about the food one likes or dislikes? How worst or better does that make that particular person? I am glad an artist with such a big projection as Ricky Martin finally opened up, on the other hand, it astonishes me how hard that road had to be and how people keep talking about the topic.

I really hope I can do my job by teaching my daughter how irrelevant it is for me to know whether she will like boys or girls and rather focusing on being happy even if she prefers the oranges over the apples, so she doesn't have to sweat and waste energy the way Ricky did but instead brings the partner(s) she chooses to be part of her life to share valuable moments with her family. That would mean that at least in my family, which is the only one I can protect, we won't have to make this a topic of extraordinary importance because it really is not, or should at least not be, so if you see your male dog pumping another male dog, think about oranges!!!

A tattooist's best (and worst) friend..

Well, today I'll focus again on tattooing, this time writing a bit about the tattooist's best friend, though in some cases it can turn in your worst nightmare, especially when experience and/or the right training are not on your side. I'm talking about tattoo machines, which come in all different shapes, colors, frame details and coating, functionalities, weights, brands, some are hand-made while some are massively produced, all these different aspects having a huge influence on the quality of the machines. Quality in a tattoo machine means you won't be struggling with it but you will be tattooing with it.

But despite all the differences, tattoo machines keep the same basic system they used to have about 100 years ago, it hasn't really changed that much, why would it? It's still the best way to put ink on your skin. There have been some attempts to replace it, the so called rotary machines, but the coil ones still seem to do the work better, though the work to keep the latter tuned up is similar to that of keeping your sweetheart happy. Now, I know the majority of people reading my blog are not tattooist/tattoo artists themselves, but my own customers ask me plenty of questions about the equipment very often, so I thought posts like this now and then could be of interest to some of you out there, or perhaps even to tattoo apprentices.

But just to give a bit of boring background, a tattoo machine works this way: You press a footswitch, afterwards, electricity passes through the machine's coils, causing electromagnetic charge to build up in them. Within a short fraction of a second, enough charge has accumulated to make the magnetism in the coils powerful enough to put the so called "armatu

re bar" (which is a little bar on top of the coils which holds from the front end another round thinner bar to where the needles are soldered) and into contact with the coil cores. In doing this, the machine's main circuit is broken and the charge in the coils is allowed to empty out, causing them to lose their magnetism. Without the magnetic pull, the spring tension (springs are small pieces of usually steel stock bended in a way so that they create tension between the armature bar and the contact point, affecting force, speed, stroke length, etc.) immediately pulls the armature bar back up toward the contact screw, where the cycle can begin again. In most machines this will happen several thousand times per minute. - Refer to Guy Aitchison's book Reinventing the Tattoo, chapter 6.5 -

So anyway, this sounded maybe like I was talking Mandarin (unless of course you speak Mandarin), which is ok if you are reading my blog out of curiosity, but the incredible thing is that I have met tattooist with over a decade in tattooing which don't have a clue how the hell they work!! Seriously, is like having a guitar player who has no clue on how to tune the guitar up nor the names of the strings, order, etc, yet, these people are out there "tattooing". A tattoo machine is the main tool for a tattooist/tattoo artist, and as the whole process itself, knowing how it works is imperative when it comes down to our responsibility. It just blows my mind how some people out there believe they can get really good without knowing at least the basics of it.

Generally, there are 3 types of machines (or set-ups) in terms of functionality, liners, shaders and color packers, though basically any machine can be tuned up to carry out any of these functions, they usually come "out of the oven" with a particular set-up already on place. I'm not going to explain the differences between the three of them nor how they should be tuned and why because I don't want to give "easy access" to this information to any scratcher wanna-be out there coming across my blog. The reason is, I consider very important to get educated on the subject of whatever you are claiming you are!!! I don't consider tattoo apprenticeships as the only way to get there (though it is in my opinion the best one), I know some incredible artists who got there without one, but all of them spent hours and hours of self research on the matter (this includes hygiene!!!), experimenting many times on practice skin, oranges, pig skin or themselves and now and then even in friends (and I make clear that I don't suggest you do that last one), asking the right questions to the right people, watching closely top-notch artists during conventions, reading books, participating in tattoo forums, etc, you name it.

Giving this kind of info "for free", which doesn't necessarily relate to money, is opening the door for people to start tattooing before being ready. Getting to the point of understanding a tattoo machine is like making that hot cheerleader going out with you for dinner, taking her home and having sex doggy-style. And it might be even harder than that! Each skin, each needle configuration, each tube, grip, rubber band, ink consistency, electric current just to mention a few, are variables that play a determinant role on how a tattoo machine runs, and these are all variables that change every single time you tattoo, some of them even change several times during the same session!! Meaning you really have to know how to deal with it, you get them in a good day, they can be your best buddies, get them in the wrong one and they can be your worst nightmare. That's why tattooing is not like grabbing a crayon and making scribbles on your child's notebook, but rather an intense job, fucking intense in deed!! And a tattoo machine is only one stuff of that whole process, though probably one of the toughest ones (if not the toughest) to master, whatever that means.

So yeah boys and girls, don't start tinkering with your 90's walkman to make a cheesy rotary piece of crap to "scratch" your best buddy in your kitchen table but rather go and contact an artist you look up to (don't just send messages randomly, do research, make sure the artist knows what she is doing), if you have the right attitude and talent (though I still struggle to clearly define that last word), you might get the chance of knowing the intimacy of this craft from her, and if it doesn't go on the first try, keep looking, relocate if necessary, there is an immense amount of quality out there, it will be all worth it at the end. If you have the right instruction in whatever you really want to do, it will save you years of suffering to yourself and unnecessary damage (at least in this case) to others, you won't get into bad habits that will be hard to get rid off later on and you will surely have the best shot at becoming good, because in this industry you have to aspire to be fucking good, otherwise, you better find something else to do!!

Rode