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Here is a rundown of the weird and maddening claims made this past week that you may have missed in the news, but shouldn't. People really believe this stuff. 

For a start this week, a couple of bad guys got their comeuppance in court. Kevin Trudeau, serial informercialist, is ordered by the court to reveal the money "they" don't know about.

Gary Bolton, a former associate of Jim McCormick, suffers a similar outcome - found guilty of selling fake bomb detectors.

A psychic scam in Florida is busted after taking a victim for $800,000. Pass the word around that these people and these activities are scammers. 

 

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Here is a recap of the stories that appeared last week at Science-Based Medicine, a multi-author skeptical blog that separates the science from the woo-woo in medicine.

Stanislaw Burzynski: The Early Years, part 1 (David Gorski)  http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/stanislaw-burzynski-the-early-years-part-1/ Two pro-Burzynski books reveal damning information about the early career of the dubious cancer doctor. He refused to play by the rules, declared his research exempt from the usual requirement for preclinical studies on animals, and evaded regulations intended to protect human subjects. His lawyer boasts about how they cynically put together fake clinical trials to cleverly evade FDA regulation so Burzynski could remain free to keep treating his clinic patients any way he wanted with his experimental antineoplaston treatments.

 

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As a girl growing up in Australia I always wanted to visit the strange house with the stairway that ends at the ceiling and the door that opens to an eight-foot drop. When I finally visited the Winchester Mystery House I encountered even more strange features, including windows in floors, doors that open onto walls, tiny doors and steps. Sarah Winchester, the heiress to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, designed and built this legendary mansion in San Jose, California. The Winchester Mystery House was once seven stories high and had an estimated 500 rooms, while today it still has four stories and 160 rooms, including 40 bedrooms, 6 kitchens, 19 chimneys, 40 staircases, 47 fireplaces, 52 skylights, 950 doors, 3 elevators, 2 ballrooms and 10,000 windows.

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Back in episode #401 of the SGU we talked about a recent survey of “smart people” who were asked, “What Should We Be Worried About?" In our discussion we each gave our own answer, and mine was this – I worry that nonsense, pseudoscience, and mysticism will become institutionalized in such a way that it will take literally decades or even centuries to undo the damage. It’s like a toe fungus; once it is established, it is almost impossible to get rid of.

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For George Spencer, the legal woes that led to his execution began with the birth of a piglet in 1642.  

Life in 17th century New England was hard enough for servants, but Spencer’s odd physical appearance made him even more suspect. Described in historical accounts as ugly and balding, he also had “butt one eye for use, the other hath (as it is called) a pearle in itt, is whitish & deformed” which gave him an even more sinister appearance. Spencer was also notorious for his use of profanity, vulgar behaviour, and generally being a “habitual troublemaker.” Perhaps even more unforgivably for the time, he was also an open atheist and only read the Bible when ordered to by his employer. Still, despite being charged with assorted crimes, the worst punishment he ever got was a flogging. It was this flogging that likely led to his moving to the New Haven Colony in what is now Connecticut.

  1. BOO!
  2. Black cats, black crows and snail facials -- This Week In Doubtful News
  3. Last Week At Science-Based Medicine
  4. BULLETIN….