Vitamins Schmitamins

As an open skeptic, I sometimes have a reputation among my friends and family as a chronic naysayer who doesn't believe in anything. And to that I say nay. I believe in some things. I just doubt I'm correct in those beliefs. But I really get some eye rolls when I publicly poo-poo the flagrant use of vitamin supplements. Everyone seems to be popping these pills, simply because they hear that vitamins are good for them. But what they don't realize is that even though certain doses may be good for them, that doesn't mean any dose will do. Science, it turns out, backs this up. Several major studies recently have revealed that vitamin supplements often don't do what they claim to and can even hurt you if abused. Vitamin E, for example, was found to do nothing to prevent cancer or heart disease. In fact, those taking excess amounts of vitamin E via supplement pills were found to have increased instances of various cancers. Turns out too much vitamin C, which people take thinking it will stave off cancer and other illnesses, can also increase your cancer risk. And vitamins aren't the only potentially useless pills cluttering up your medicine cabinet. The popular herbal supplement ginkgo biloba, which is touted as helping with memory loss and fighting off dementia, doesn't do squat to keep your mind sharp. And it can raise your risk of internal bleeding. Read all about these studies and more here.

Florida: A Little Less Crazy After All

Sometimes it seems like Florida is nothing but a malignant tumor of ignorance and hatred dangling off America's chin. But then there's good news like this. A circuit court judge has ruled that Florida's ban on gay adoption is unconstitutional. No, not the adoption of gays, silly. Gays adopting kids. After testimony from numerous experts in child psychology and social work, Judge Cindy Lederman ruled that there was no rational or scientific basis for denying gay people the same adoption rights as straights. Indeed, any infringement on gay rights should be ruled unconsitutional, since the primary arguments against state-recognized homosexuality are religious and, therefore, a violation of the Establishment Clause. Weirdly, gays in Florida have always been allowed to act as foster parents, which was another issue Judge Lederman raised in her ruling. In fact, this legal challenge against Florida's gay adoption ban came from a gay man who wanted to legally adopt the two children he's been fostering since 2004. Hopefully this will be a kick in the pants for the two other states with anti-gay adoption laws. In Utah, no unmarried couples are allowed to adopt, be they gay or straight. And Mississippi bans gay couples from adopting, but not single gay people. Truly, family values at work. More details here.

Anti-Scientology Swordsman Killed

A bald, tattooed gentleman dual-wielding a couple of samurai swords was shot and killed by a security guard at the Cult of Scientology's Celebrity Centre in Hollywood after charging the building in some kind of crazy rage. A cult spokesperson said the man had a "relationship" with the cult a while back, but no further details were available. Since the guy wasn't wearing a ridiculous mask, it's probably safe to assume he had nothing to do with the anti-Scientology group Anonymous, though he may have been a member of the international terrorist organization known as Cobra. But he obviously had some kind of beef with the cult. Could he have been one of the unlucky few chosen to service L. Ron Hubbard aboard his international waters pleasure yacht? Perhaps. More likely, he was just insane. But let this be a lesson to everyone that the best way to protest oppressive cults is with the pen, not with two samurai swords. More details here.

Chinese Anti-"Chinese Democracy"

Chinese Democracy, the long-awaited new album from what’s left of Guns n’ Roses (mostly just the Rose at this point), is a lot of things: surprisingly good, late ‘80s rocking without sounding like a relic of the late ‘80s, chock full of bewildering musical decisions that even more bewilderingly took fifteen years to make. But a “venomous attack” on China? Not so much. However, that’s just what the Chinese government is claiming in their state-sponsored media as both a general rebuke against the album and as a sort of backdoor explanation for why the thing will never be allowed to be legally imported into the country. Of course, that won’t stop intrepid Chinamen (can we call them that anymore, or is that term now considered so retro it’s not racist?) from torrenting the thing from behind anonymous proxy servers. After all, the Chinese have continued to enjoy this very site even though it’s sometimes banned in some places in the country with no apparent reasoning or method. While the title track from the album does engage in a little gentlemanly prodding at China’s disastrous history of human rights abuses between the serpentine wails from what’s left of Axl Rose’s throat, I’m sure that Mr. Rose would love to have his album sold in the country. If only to recoup the expenses of whatever the hell he’s been doing these past fifteen years. More details here.

Our Elected Officials are Ignorant and Other Things You Already Know

According to a recent survey by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, many of our elected officials here in the U.S. are sort of idiots when it comes to civil knowledge about their own country. It should be noted up front that these results probably need to be taken with a grain of salt, since the survey only included a sample group of 2,500 people, and only some of those identified themselves as “elected officials”, which could mean any variety of things. But still, of those elected officials, 31% couldn’t identify both of the U.S. enemies during World War II. Only 54% knew that Congress and only Congress has the power to declare war (unless, of course, they give that power up because the president asked them nicely). 20% believed the electoral college was set up to supervise the first televised presidential debate. Even if this survey is an accurate reflection of the civics knowledge of our elected officials, that still doesn’t excuse the fact that we’re the ones electing these people. Nearly half the electorate in this past presidential election were apparently comfortable with supporting a vice presidential candidate who didn’t know what the vice president does, and until that statement becomes absurdly realistic, I don’t think we have much room to complain. More details here.

Brain Speak

Scientists from Boston University have discovered a way to interpret speech from the brain signals of an almost completely paralyzed patient who is unable to talk. Dr. Frank Guenther studied the particular signals produced in the brain when a person thinks about certain vowel sounds. He then implanted electrodes in the brain of a patient with locked-in syndrome, a type of paralysis that prevents all movement save for flutters of the eyelids. The patient has an otherwise healthy brain, and the electrodes were tuned to register the specific signals associated with certain vowel sounds. Now, a computer can interpret those vowel sounds verbally, and the hope is that this technology will eventually allow people who can’t physically speak to communicate with their brains. Meanwhile, some researcher in some part of the world is currently in the eighteenth month of an intensive study into whether a self-proclaimed psychic can move a matchbook with his mind. Ah, priorities. More details here.

Yogatwa

Malaysia’s National Fatwa Council (your donations, of course, are tax deductable) has issued a fatwa against Muslims practicing yoga, claiming the Indian contortions are a gateway drug into Hinduism. Like the rest of the world’s yoga enthusiasts, most of Malaysia’s don’t delve into the spiritual aspects of the exercises. Although I’m not sure if, like the rest of the world’s yoga enthusiasts, Malaysia’s are also self-absorbed douchebags. Still, the council of clerics have decided that yoga can corrupt a Muslim’s religion despite any absence of Hindu imagery. Regardless, not all of Malaysia’s Muslims give a crap about the National Fatwa Council, in which case they’ll probably just continue to lug around those ridiculous mats and harass all their friends with stories about how much more energy they have. Or they’ll track down a copy of Wii Fit and do their yoga at home to avoid any instance of public douchebaggery. More details here.