On Sunday April 5th the IIG is putting on a lecture called “Feng Shui for Nurses?”

“The Independent Investigations Group investigates fringe science, paranormal and extraordinary claims from a rational, scientific viewpoint, and disseminates factual information about such inquiries to the public.”  They also have a $50,000 dollar challenge for anyone who can demonstrate paranormal ability. 

 The California Board of Registered Nurses (CBRN) certified the teaching of “Therapeutic Touch”   – a method in which the hands are said to “direct human energies to help or heal someone who is ill.” The IIG lobbied the Nursing Board to stop giving credit for Therapeutic Touch classes and to certify only classes based in evidence-based medicine. The Nursing Board ignored them. In response the IIG make up their own magic-based class, “Feng Shui for Home Care Providers.”  and got it certified by the CBRN.

» Continue reading ““Feng Shui for Nurses?””

First of all I want to announce that I am 5 1/2 months (22 weeks today,  Thursday March 26^th,2009) pregnant with our first child! It’s a boy, and my belly is getting bigger by the day.  My husband has been sweet and wonderful and has decreased his teasing of me to a bare minimum. 

As you may know, pregnancy attracts advice. Most of my friends have been fantastic and have only given me the good and welcome sort of advice, meaning, the advice is either based in scientific fact or admittedly anecdotal and offered as something that helped them and I should take or leave as I see fit. The annoying advice has come from acquaintances and strangers. 

» Continue reading “Smile and Nod”

Hi skeptical parents, and welcome to the sixth edition of skeptical parent crossing! Sit back and get ready for a healthy dose of parental skepticism as parents like you question common wisdom and other claims. » Continue reading “Skeptical Parent Crossing #6″

There was a very rational, science-influenced article on the debate between breast-feeding and bottle feeding recently in The Atlantic.

The Case Against Breast-Feeding

» Continue reading “Article on Breast-Feeding vs. Bottle Feeding”

I know it’s off topic, but since I was just posting about the aquarium, well, this thing is just so incredibly odd that I had to share it. I’m sure anyone reading this blog has maybe seen this article, but can you get enough of the Psychedelica fish? I think not! Take a peek.

And this fish has a transparent head. I swear that sounds like a line from a Dr. Seuss book.

Whoo hoo–weird fish!

I guess this could count as our first Rational Dad guest post. We went to the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific with the boy a few weeks back. Just getting around to posting this now, however, due to some annoying issues with posting pictures. Since the temporary solution seems to be simply copying and pasting HTML from our family blog, I am actually just taking the easy route and copying and pasting my husband’s entire post. We are very into the idea of taking the lad on many science related outings, and this was a great place to start. There were many babies there the day we went. Babies dig fish!

Here is Jeff’s post. Enjoy.

A few weeks ago we took Zack to the The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA. We’ve taken him to the tropical fish store in town a couple of times, and he digs watching those little dudes swim around.
» Continue reading “The Long Beach Aquarium”

Since organic baby food has been discussed here lately, I thought I’d post a link to an interesting article that appeared in the New York Times:

The ‘Organic’ Stamp–Does It Mean That Food Is Safer?

It’s about the foods labeled as “organic” and how they achieve that status. You know the peanut butter contaminated with salmonella that has killed nine people and caused almost 700 people to become ill? The peanut butter, from Peanut Corporation of America, had the official organic stamp on it.

From the article:

Organics has grown from an $11 billion business in the United States in 2001 to one that now generates more than $20 billion in sales, so the stakes for farmers, processors and certifiers can be high. But the agency overseeing the certifying process has long been considered underfunded and understaffed. Critics have called the system dysfunctional.

I think people are led to believe that organic food is safe and pure. If only that were true.

Before I went back to work, we knew we would have to buy another car for my husband. Believe it or not, he had been living in Los Angeles with only a bicycle and public transportation for a year. We were sort of proud of that, but having to do daycare drop offs and pick ups put an end to our environmental living.
» Continue reading “Third Hand Smoke–How Much Do I Worry About This One?”