My Wife warned me not to read Dilbert today!

Since she believes in certain pseudo-science things like psychics and ghosts, I can see why she might not want me to read it. Actually she knew I would read it sooner or later, she just made sure it was sooner. Here, take a look:

It always does lead to discussions on the value of homeopathy, the validity of psychic powers, the role of man in climate change, and this time even the original of AIDs. She launched into that one to disparage science in general. That one was new. Apparently the entire scientific community is banned together to prevent the world from finding out AIDs and HIV is a result of a failed Polio vaccine done with chimpanzee tissues. This is officially called the "OPV AIDS hypothesis".

Of course she doesn't seem to accept that science isn't some big club where everyone teams up and toes some party line. When that idea was floated it was INVESTIGATED by a number of separate scientific groups -- groups separated by geography and nationalities -- the evidence from medicine, biology, and epidemiology says the odds of this being true are pretty slim. In fact here are the words of evolutionary biologist Edward Holmes of Oxford University:

"The new data may not convince the hardened conspiracy theorist who thinks that contamination of OPV by chimpanzee virus was subsequently and deliberately covered up. But those of us who were formerly willing to give some credence to the OPV hypothesis will now consider that the matter has been laid to rest."

It won't make much headway, I know, but it's fun shooting holes in pseudo-scientific ideas. Thank God she isn't an anti-evolutionist! There are some things even avowed pseudo-scientist won't stomach :-)