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I'm still on a temporary hiatus, but I will return soon.

Is it just me or are some of the mainstream media outlets becoming somewhat aware of observable reality?  After Newsweek trashed Oprah for her encouragement of dubious pseudo-scientific health claims, it seems others are coming out of the dark with respect to alternative medicine.  The associated press has recently written an article showing that after 10 years of research and the collective tax payer cost of 2.5 billion dollars the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) has produced no alternative medical cures that work better than placebos; the one minor exception being that ginger capsules may help chemotherapy nausea, according to preliminary research.   

One thing the article did get wrong was an assertion that acupuncture can treat certain conditions, when in fact it does not hold up any better than "sham acupuncture" (i.e. placebo)--which they do state later in the article with respect to a study done specifically on knee arthritis.

NCCAM's research is an empty, financially vacuous entity that pulls finances from research with scientific plausibility.  There was a vote held back in January (through the citizen's briefing book idea) to defund the NCCAM.  Let's hope the motion passes.


I know I said I'd be on hiatus for a little while, however, I pulled some of the tendons in both my knees (I tried to double the usual number of miles I run), leaving me unable to attend to some of the real world obligations I thought would keep me away from xanga for the next week, so I will probably be on a little more than I had originally anticipated.