It's that time again, the time that comes around once a fortnight for skeptical bloggers and blog readers to gather together to celebrate that best that skeptics have had to offer since the last time they gathered. It's time for the 92nd Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle. This time, it's hosted by Martin over at The Lay Scientist and it tells the tale of Team Skeptic at the Ideology Olympics, starting with a press conference:
Team Skeptic Manager Martin gave a rousing press conference today as his team moved into their training centre in advance of the Ideology Olympics, but concerns remain over the novice skeptic's lack of managerial experience.
"I've been in the game for four... no hang on, what date is it? The 31st? Nearly five months, and I'm more than confident in my ability to lead us out against the assorted mystics, evangelists, conspiracy theorists, quacks, and celebrity spokespeople. Even Jenny McCarthy."A BBC reporter asked the coach what his strategy was. "We're going to use logic and reason, plain and simple." When informed of a recent MORI poll showing that more than 72% of people believe that logic is a conspiracy invented by rogue mathematicians working for the Bush administration, the rookie coach unconvincingly responded "AHA!!! That's an appeal to popularity, which is a logical fallacy... I win!!"
Next up is City of Skeptics, who will take up the challenge 14 days hence; so start writing to provide them with the great material that we've generally come to expect from this blog carnival. Also, if you're a skeptical or scientific blogger and think it might be fun to host one of these (and fun it is!), then check out the schedule and guidelines for hosts before dropping me a line to ask to be put on the schedule. You'll be glad you did.
That Orac guy, he's just a shill for Big Skeptic. Don't believe anything he says.
Dear Orac:
Totally off thread, but I don't recall you posting on this one, and it'd be an easy Friday Woo column. See "Mercury Must Be Bad - If Not in Vaccines, In Teeth" (June 10, 2008) at www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=138
in which the following is stated:
"Just when you thought the mercury/autism scare was finally subsiding, another mercury scare has resurfaced. The alarm has been raised (again!) about the mercury in amalgam fillings.
The Consumers for Dental Choice have published an exultant statement claiming "We have won our ten-year battle to get the Food and Drug Administration to comply with the law and set a date to classify mercury amalgam....A 180-degree reversal from FDA's 30-year policy of protecting mercury fillings... recognizing the serious health concerns posed by amalgam in particular for children and unborn children, for pregnant women, for those with mercury immuno-sensitivity or high mercury body burdens.
You can read the FDA's statement for yourself. It gives a rather different impression. They haven't said they recognize a danger; they are simply calling for public comment during a 90 day period prior to considering a regulatory change to "reclassify" mercury amalgams."
There are several good links and videos in the post, so you can go to the source material. The post also reviews Dr. Barrett's deconstruction of that particularly bad 60 Minutes program asserting that mercury in fillings causes autism. I don't know what the status of the FDA comment period is (it may be closed) -- but that could be interesting to follow, and worth alerting people to be on the look out for action by the FDA.
Best regards