Pay attention, read carefully: Homeopathy does nothing.

Ah, fellow New Zealand (and world wide) skeptics for the win!

You can read the full article here: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE1001/S00073.htm and read about the ten23 project here: http://www.1023.org.uk/

Some amusingly applicable passages:

A public mass overdose of homeopathic remedies has forced the New Zealand Council of Homeopaths to admit openly that their products do not contain any “material substances”. Council spokeswoman Mary Glaisyer admitted publicly that “there´s not one molecule of the original substance remaining” in the diluted remedies that form the basis of this multi-million-dollar industry.

The NZ Skeptics, in conjunction with 10:23, Skeptics in the Pub and other groups nationally and around the world, held the mass overdose in Christchurch on Saturday to highlight the fact that homeopathic products are simply very expensive water drops or sugar/lactose pills. A further aim was to question the ethical issues of pharmacies, in particular, stocking and promoting sham products and services.

I feel like I am repeating myself a lot today, but here goes again: there is no controversy, homoeopathy is not science, it doesn’t work, it has no effect and if you think about it just a little, makes no sense. It, is, a, sham.

Look, I would be the first to admit that I will happily sell you a litre of water for $100 any day of the week but you must realise, that is exactly what a homeopath is doing, even if he firmly believes his exceedingly clean water, lacking in everything but water,  is going to cure you of anything except, possibly, dehydration.

My special water is very good for you, and it has extra dihydrogen monoxide that is exceptionally good for you. Without the proper amounts of dihydrogen monoxide you may die, in three days or less. It is essential to life and my product contains plenty of it.

Buy my dihydrogen monoxide enriched water instead of homoeopathic remedies; My product is guaranteed to work if used for the purpose for which it was intended. Seriously.

According to Juan Ignacio Molina the Dutch captain Joris van Spilbergen observed the use of chiliquenes (a llama type) by native Mapuches of Mocha Island as plough animals in 1614

Ich, bin, ein, Nerd!

But first, let us establish the exact extent of the Nerdity:

I was thinking about starting a series of posts on programming an evolution simulator, about how I am going to go about it this time (I’ve started a couple of times but some of the details eluded me in the past). But then my ThinkGeek order arrived and now I can’t concentrate properly on what I wanted to write about before, my mind clouded with the geekly awesome currently in the air.

So, I’m going to show off the Nerd!(tm) gear that arrived today instead.

The shirts I got for myself (ok, I may have gone a bit overboard, but that is entirely besides the point):

Go away or I will replace you a small shell script

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/frustrations/374d/

Do or Do Not

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/itdepartment/9e4a/

user error

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/frustrations/59fe/

Killer Coding Ninja Monkeys

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/itdepartment/5e89/

Arrgh

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/generic/7666/

You are dumb v2.0

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/generic/38db/

And for my wife:

GeeKISSexy Babydoll Tee

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/womens/5c8f/

Geek Love Poem Babydoll

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/womens/724f/

Pixel Angel

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/womens/ccb7/

Can you feel the awesome? Can you? No doubt that you can.

Many sheep and goat producers indicate a special bond quickly develops between lambs and their guard llama and that the llama is particularly protective of the lambs. Guard Llamas. Cool.