1. Sincerity no substitute for evidence

Comment #235160 by virtual_void on August 22, 2008 at 1:36 pm

29. Comment #233518 by Bonzai on August 20, 2008 at 2:24 am
Then some guy told me I should try this Chinese herbal doctor. I went and got a cream and some herbal pills. The consultation and the drugs cost $10 (health insurance doesn't pay for that since he is not a M.D.). One week later I wasn't itchy any more. His cream and pills were made in China and sold over the counter, they probably hadn't been doubly blind tested ,but next time if I have an outbreak I know who I would see, (Now I don't think it was placebo because I didn't even believe him, my friends dragged me there.)

Most of the people go for alternative medicines when they have exhausted mainstream medicines, which seems you also did. The body in the meantime is trying to heal itself with or without medicine, and it probably would have healed itself without the chinese meds, sometimes meds take longer to work too. Had heard this on some npr program.

2. No credit for creationism

Comment #233260 by virtual_void on August 19, 2008 at 3:11 pm

I agree with Jesus86, the girl in the video is not a scientist, when she uses the word "theory" it is used as it is used in common language, of course she is wrong but you can't fully blame a teenager in a christian school for not understanding that evolution is an established theory while ID is repackaged creationism hypothesis.

On this site itself it has been said many times that scientists should try to explain it better to laymen what a scientific theory is.

It seems many of you fully understand this but still want to fight with Jesus86.

3. Male circumcision is a weapon in the sperm wars

Comment #189494 by virtual_void on June 6, 2008 at 11:06 am

Comment #189483 by m-man on June 6, 2008 at 10:45 am
It doesn't seem to me that male circumcision is equivalent to female circumcision, because it seems like from an anatomy point of view, that the foreskin is just an evolutionary leftover

No it has important functions like:
Keeping the glans moist, protecting the developing penis in utero, or to enhance sexual pleasure due to the presence of nerve receptors

The reason many people think that foreskin is useless is because they were deprived of it due to religious reasons at a very young age and have no understanding of its importance.

As usual religious people try to find reasons for why it is beneficial (circumcision)
Something similar to finding reasons for why wine or chocolate is good for you; you are going to eat/drink/cut it anyway, so as well feel good about it.