Padre Pio: Wonderworker Or A Fraud?

I recently had a communication from a friend of mine who is a devout Catholic.  In the comment, she mentioned in passing the "Bilocation" ability of the "Saint"  Padre Pio.  For those unfamiliar with Catholic dogma, he died several years ago and was declared a Saint a few years later.  What Catholics do not, or will not, understand is that he was a fraud, and perhaps less than "Saintly."

Religious Diversity Is Not Related To Stronger Religious Participation

"Diversity is now simply a fact of American religious life. It does not signal the end of religion, but it may make it easier for Americans to abstain from religious involvement and encourage other types of spiritual and philosophical explorations. It may also make atheists more willing to “come out,” something that can be exceedingly difficult especially in very religious communities.

Religious Diversity May Be Making America Less Religious

Findings Of Science Trump Personal Experience

"One of the biggest challenges in science writing when discussing unproven or implausible therapies and products is that people tend to trust their own personal perceptions more than any other source of information. We tend to go by what we've experienced ourselves, rather than by what other people say they've experienced. Consequently, people are rarely moved by the results of testing and experimentation if the results contradict their own experience."

Don't Try It Before You Knock It

Low Back Pain Management

"Many people with lower back pain don’t manage it well because of wrong advice – and a lot of unhelpful myths about what back pain is and what you should do about it. Healthcare professionals all over the world speak to patients who think, for example, that back pain can damage their backs. This is not always the case. The weight of evidence shows that many assumptions made about lower back pain are wrong and, what’s more, could be harmful."

5 Myth About Lower Back Pain

Exercise Addiction

"Both men and women are equally likely to have a problematic relationship with exercise, Brewerton says. The primary difference is that women are more likely to have an eating disorder in tandem with their exercise issue. What may have started off as a love of sport or physical activity (what researchers call harmonious passion, when someone’s activity exists in harmony with other areas of their life) ultimately crosses the line into an obsessive passion, characterized by inflexibility in behavior and high levels of commitment, according to a study in the Journal of Behavioral Addiction."

When Exercise Becomes Too Much of a Good Thing

Genetic Risk Testing

"This ties in with my recent article about prevention. It will be valuable to have more reliable estimates of risk. But it would be far more valuable to find effective ways of persuading all patients to take preventive action, not just the patients we think are at the highest risk."

Genetic Testing: Does Knowing Risk of Disease Make a Difference?

Deaths In Alternative Cancer Clinic

"We will have to wait for the official investigation to see what was happening at Ross’s clinic, and I will hold my final judgement until then. However, if he were prescribing 3-Bromopyruvate to cancer patients, then in my opinion he should be convicted at the very least of practicing medicine without a license. If the treatment contributed to the deaths of any patients, then he is guilty in my opinion of manslaughter at least."

Deaths in Alternative Cancer Clinic Investigated

It's Pretty Bad When Even The Chiropractic Board Acts Against You

"Genene Prado, D.C. (also known as Genene Gonser-Prado, D.C.), who operates NutriMost Austin, has voluntarily surrendered her chiropractic license. Between 2007 and 2014, The Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners disciplined Prado three times.

Another "Cure-All" Quack Treatment Exposed

"Inventor of the BX Protocol, "Dr" Smith, also has a sideline in allegedly therapeutic electronic-devices, which he claims he has developed with assistance from Ex-NASA scientists.^[25] In reality the cure-all contraptions he sells,^[26] (at inflated prices), are manufactured in China.^[27] These devices emit the same K_a-band radio-frequency as a police radar speed gun^[wp], which unfortunately does not cure any cancer, or other serious illness, in the passing motorists, (although the sight of a police-officer wielding a radar gun could cure constipation in those who are speeding)"

BX Protocol

The Telephone Game And The New Testament

"You wouldn’t believe a supernatural story if it was claimed to have happened yesterday, but we’re to believe supernatural stories about Jesus passed on as oral history for decades before being written down when we don’t even have the originals but only copies from centuries later?"

How Long from Original New Testament Books to Oldest Copies?

John Oliver On Charter Schools

A serious question:  why is a comedian the most prominent voice for exposing this?

So you think Charter Schools are the answer to the problems with public schools?

A related article:  evidence shows clearly that public funds diverted to private entities is not going to improve education overall.

What the U.S. can learn from Canada on education

The Use Of The Hospital ICU And Its Value

"That greater utilization of ICU and invasive procedures increases cost without subsequent reductions in mortality is not an original conclusion, it’s really just a confirmation."

Why Use The ICU If It Doesn’t Improve Mortality?