Man Of Jackistan: Reason and Truth's Time and Place

The Vaccine-Autism Link...Or Lack Thereof Originally composed August 4, 2018 Editor's Note: The anti-vaxxer quandary will not go untouched, as I intend to devote a future article, possibly more, to dissecting the bizarre phenomenon. For now, this article explains the origins of the misconception and clarifies reality. All too often, many people-and smart ones, at that-speak as if factually about the link between vaccines and autism, citing a causal effect of the former on the development of the latter. In fact, 18% of Americans believe this link to exist, according to  a 2011 poll cited by  Time .  Meanwhile, virtually every major scientific organization has openly rejected this presumption. Googling "vaccine and autism" will quickly reveal this unified position among organizations ranging from: the federal government's Center for Disease Control (CDC); news outlets like  Discover Magazine , the  Washington Post , and  TIME ; online healthcare publi...

Garlic: Yes, Garlic Originally drafted August 5, 2018; refined January 19-20, 2019 The garlic plant, or  Allium sativum,  has a history of human consumption dating back as far as we've kept records. Our name for garlic stems from the Old English word  garleac,  which translates to "spear leek." Since the dawn of time, humans have enjoyed garlic for its flavor, regarded it with mystery, and noticed its medicinal qualities, a traditional anecdote confirmed by modern medicine in the relatively recent past.  Probably originating somewhere in Siberia or Central Asia, Egyptians regularly ingested the plant as far back as the 4th millennium BCE. All classes of people enjoyed the plant: workers ate it to boost strength and endurance, as they believed it did at the time; the  Codex Ebers , an ancient medical document, prescribed it for insect infestation, circulatory problems, and unusual growths; even the pharaohs found it an important crop, seeing as Kin...

Q&A: "How Intense Is Opioid Withdrawal?" Includes Subjective Opinions Originally composed January 14, 2019 From time to time, I will take and answer questions. Additionally, on occasion, I will also answer questions or write articles by throwing my personal experience into the mix (always labelled as editorials). Question: "How Intense Is Opioid Withdrawal?" Well, it depends. That’s like asking “how much does getting a body part chopped off hurt?” One could lose a finger or a whole limb, and both will really hurt, though one will bring more severe pain than the other. Likewise, with opioid withdrawal, consider it on a spectrum. Somebody who has taken 5 mg of Vicodin (hydrocodone) twice a day for two months will likely experience some symptoms when ceasing to take the drug, though not nearly as many symptoms or to the degree that will be experienced by an I.V. heroin user who has injected $100 of the stuff each day for two years. Regardless of...

Q&A: "Were The Dark Ages Actually A Time of Cultural Regression Outside of Europe?" originally composed January 14, 2019 Question: "Were the Dark Ages actually a time of cultural regression outside Europe?" Defining and then measuring culture is tricky. For this answer, let’s say that the hallmarks of a civilization include economic prosperity, trade and material wealth, urbanization, safety/security (no invading armies, no rebellions, lower rates of starvation, etc), scientific achievements and prowess, advanced construction and production (be it huge monuments, state-of-the-art boats, or whatever), and artistic achievement. So, based on that measure: No. Actually, while the eurocentric viewpoint teaches us that after the Fall of Rome—the Western part, containing Italy, France, England etc—marked a sudden decline in science, culture, commerce, art, that simply doesn't hold true across the entire globe. The Visigoths, under Alaric I, ...

SICILY Original draft composed August 10, 2018 Sitting between the shores of Tunisia in North Africa and the toe of Italy's boot, the island of Sicily sits in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea-a body of water the name of which already means "middle of the world." Thus, Sicily rests in the middle of the middle of the world. Based on the position that it has historically occupied among the nations of the Mediterranean, one could argue that strategically, it was exactly that at one point. But many people don't know much about this curious land beyond it having outsourced the mafia and the volcano that erupted two decades ago. To understand this unique place, we must look to the past. For millennia, any mind thinking politics in the Mediterranean Sea area knew the most important island in order to dominate all of its shores: Sicily. From the ancient Phoenicians to the Allied invasion of Sicily in World War 2, rulers have sought to secure this island in the Medite...