About Me

I'm a medical student at a medical school in the midwest.  I started this blog because I wanted to have a place to discuss issues that are important to me -- personally, academically, and professionally.  As you can probably tell from my posts, that can include an awful lot of topics.  I'm not a very politically-correct person, and I also try to add some amount of humor to my posts, so please keep that in mind when reading my thoughts and opinions before you get too pissed off.

In January 2009, I read Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Harms the Planet and Threatens Our Lives by Michael Specter.  That book, along with some of the websites it recommended, got me interested in the skeptical movement.  I've always been interested in medical and scientific research -- learning more and more about how the body and the universe work.  This website gives me an even greater incentive to keep up-to-date on the latest science news and developments, and perhaps even educate or interest others in these subjects.  Even in medical school, it is alarming how many of my peers believe in silly pseudoscience and lack the skills, incentive, or desire to learn about these subjects by finding and interpreting legitimate scientific research.  These are skills that everyone -- especially doctors! -- needs if they want to make informed decisions in such an increasingly complicated society.  There is a lot of misinformation out there, and I like to think I'm doing my part to sort through some of it.  I just ask that you keep in mind the following when reading my blog:

  • What I write here is often my opinion/interpretation.  I try to provide source links to the research whenever possible so you can come to your own conclusions and judge for yourself whether or not I'm talking out of my ass.
  • I'm not a medical doctor, and I'm not giving you medical advice.  I blog about medical topics, but please remember to talk to your doctor if you have questions about some of these ideas.  I learn more and more every day, but I know that I'm far from treating patients in person, let alone giving medical advice on the Internet!
  • I don't know everything.  Please recognize that when I discuss many topics on here, I know I'm not an expert.  That being said, please keep in mind that just because a person claims to be an expert does not make it so.  The more research I read, the more I discover that there is so much low quality scientific research, interpretation, and dishonesty out there posing as "information."

You'll also note that I occasionally blog about politics, religion, literature, and technology.  These are all things that I have strong opinions about and I'm not afraid to discuss those opinions here.  I tend to lean toward the more liberal side of issues, but more often than not I'm just disgusted with the dishonesty and lack of rational thought and argument that I observe in politics on both sides.  I'm an atheist, which means that I do not belief in the existence of a god.  I'm not a "devil worshiper" or any such thing, and for the most part I couldn't care less about a person's religious beliefs.  The main exceptions to this are when people's religious beliefs disproportionately or unfairly affect the lives of those of another faith or no faith, or when one's religious beliefs are diametrically opposed to what is essentially scientific fact (i.e. creationism/intelligent design and evolution).  I spend way too much time reading on my Kindle instead of studying, and I'm also something of a technology geek.  I use Ubuntu on my computer and Android on my phone.  I support free and open source software and I think more people need to consider the importance and ramifications of who owns the software they use and how that affects their freedom to use it.

One last thing I'd like to point out is that often times when discussing a book or some other product, I'll provide a link to the Amazon.com page for that item.  If you purchase a product using that link, I do receive a small referral credit for that sale (something like 4-6% -- I think it depends on the item).  I don't expect to make very much money off of such sales, but I figure if it gives me a little extra money that I can spend on something fun, awesome!  I promise you that I will never recommend a product unless I honestly think it is worth your time and money.  I didn't start this site as a way to make a ton of money -- and realistically, I'm far from receiving the amount of traffic and revenue I'd need to drop out of medical school and become a full-time blogger anyway!