Bixonimania is a fake disease, but artificial intelligence told people it was real

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wikipedia page says that:

 

“Bixonimania is a fake disease invented by researchers to examine artificial intelligence and its ability to utilize information in medical and healthcare applications. The disorder, with symptoms of sore eyes and darkening around them (‘periorbital hyperpigmentation’), is supposedly caused by blue light from screens.”   

 

One article about it by Chris Stokel-Walker at Nature on April 7, 2026 is titled Scientists invented a fake disease. AI told people it was real. A second article by Lucia Auerbach at Inc. on April 10, 2026 is titled Scientists Invented a Fake Disease Caused by Blue Light – Now It’s in Medical Papers. And it added:

 

“There were also dozens of easter eggs designed to clue readers in to the fact that the condition was made up. The lead researcher, Lazljiv Izgubljenovic, is a fake name and they work at a fake university, Asteria Horizon University, in a fake town, Nova City, California. One paper’s acknowledgements thanked ‘Professor Maria Bohm at The Starfleet Academy for her kindness and generosity in contributing with her knowledge and her lab onboard the USS Enterprise’. Both papers say they were funded by ‘the Professor Sideshow Bob Foundation for its work in advanced trickery. This work is a part of a larger funding initiative from the University of Fellowship of the Ring and the Galactic Triad.’ “

 

Sideshow Bob (also known as Dr. Robert Terwilliger) is a cartoon character - Bart Simpson’s nemesis in The Simpsons. A third article by Rebecca Watson at skepchick on April 15, 2026 is titled ChatBots are Diagnosing Diseases that Don’t Exist Based on Blog Posts.

 

The doctor cartoon was adapted from OpenClipArt.

 

 

Toastmasters International went back in time by reviving their Competent Communication manual

 

 

 

 

 

In July 2020 Toastmasters International discontinued use of their hard-copy Competent Communication manual, and the 15 Advanced Communication manuals described here at District 5. There is an online-only one-page news article by Paul Sterman in the October 2025 Toastmaster magazine titled Pathways Additions Arrive that includes:

 

“Vintage Paths: Two vintage paths are scheduled to be released in 2026, including one featuring foundational content designed by Toastmasters founder Dr. Ralph C. Smedley. One path will include the Basic Training Manual with original content from Smedley. The manual will be available on Base Camp with its original vintage look. The other path will consist of the Competent Communication manual and two Advanced Communication manuals, also accessed on Base Camp. The vintage paths will give members additional flexibility in the Pathways program while providing a window to the organization’s past.”

 

More detail is mentioned at the Pathways Updates web page:

 

April 2026 – Vintage Paths

 

“Two new Pathways paths are now available, allowing members to step into Toastmasters history. Basic Training for Toastmasters features a version of Toastmasters content first introduced by Ralph C. Smedley in 1943. The Communication Series: Entertaining + Storytelling includes the beloved Competent Communication manual along with The Entertaining Speaker and Storytelling Advanced Communication manuals. Both paths are available for purchase in English on the Choose a Path page after the completion of Level 1 in any other path. Members working on a vintage path will access the classic content on Base Camp, where they can navigate through the manual on Base Camp or download and print a copy. Members will earn Distinguished Club Program credit, along with new credentials and badges for every level in these paths.”

 

The revival reminds me of this song shown in a four-minute YouTube video titled The Rocky Horror Picture Show “Time Warp” (1975).

 

 

A blog post by David Murray on poor communication with a dental hygienist

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a blog post by David Murray at Writing Boots on March 12, 2026 titled A letter to the dentist: On communication and other issues. He wrote about dealing with his hygienist:  

 

“While she was actively grinding away at my teeth, she began saying—I could barely hear her muffled masked voice over the grinding and the sucking—that my gums were somewhat inflamed and that she’d have to do a special cleaning that was going to exceed my deductible, by an amount she didn’t specify.

 

I stopped her and told her in no uncertain terms that you do not negotiate money things with someone while your hands and sharp objects are in their mouth. She said, ‘Okay,’ and agreed to drop the issue of the special cleaning, as long as I came back in four months, rather than six.

 

Eager as hell to get out of there at any cost, I agreed to that. Then, a few minutes later, she scheduled me for the regular six months, without mentioning the four-month interval.”

 

I had an opposite easy communication experience here in Boise with Summit Dental. That was almost two decades ago, when they were on Latah Street. We started going there just because they were walking distance from our house on the Bench.

 

Previously I also had lots of tartar buildup and difficult cleanings done at the usual six-month interval. But the second time I went there, the hygienist asked me if I would like to switch to a four-month interval. I replied that no one ever had bothered to ask before, and of course thereafter things became much more pleasant. More recently they moved to a new building on Americana Boulevard. And usually they are ranked as one of the top three dentists in the Best of Boise annual rankings by Boise Weekly magazine.

 

The dental chair image came from Wikimedia Commons

 

 

A thoughtful book by David Brooks on how to know a person

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a thoughtful book from 2023 by David Brooks titled How to Know a Person: The art of seeing others deeply and being deeply seen. A Google Books preview goes to page 35. There is a seven-minute discussion by Geoff Bennett on the PBS NEWS HOUR for October 25, 2023 titled David Brooks writes about the art of seeing others in new book ‘How to Know a Person’. This book contains three parts and seventeen chapters (starting on the listed pages):

 

PART 1: I SEE YOU

Chapter 1: The Power of Being Seen 3

Chapter 2: How Not to See a Person 18

Chapter 3: Illumination 28

Chapter 4: Accomplishment 43

Chapter 5: What is a Person? 55

Chapter 6: Good Talks 71

Chapter 7: The Right Questions 82

 

PART 2: I SEE YOU IN YOUR STRUGGLES

Chapter 8: The Epidemic of Blindness 97

Chapter 9: Hard Conversations 107

Chapter 10: How Do You Serve a Friend Who Is in Despair? 122

Chapter 11: The Art of Empathy 134

Chapter 12: How Were You Shaped by Your Sufferings? 160

 

PART 3: I SEE YOU WITH YOUR STENGTHS

Chapter 13: Personality: What Energy Do You Bring into the Room? 175

Chapter 14: Life Tasks 190

Chapter 15: Life Stories 212

Chapter 16: How Do Your Ancestors Show Up in Your Life? 228

Chapter 17: What is Wisdom? 246

 

Starting on page 72 he discusses conversation as follows:

 

“The subtitle of this book is ‘The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen.’ I chose that specifically because I wanted you to immediately get what I was writing about. But it’s not quite accurate, if I’m being honest. If what we’re doing here is studying how to really get to know another person, it should probably be ‘The Art of Hearing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Heard.’ Because getting to know someone else is usually more about talking and listening than about seeing.

 

Being a mediocre conversationalist is easy. Being a good conversationalist is hard. As I’ve tried to understand how to become a better conversationalist, I’ve found that I’ve had to overcome weird ideas about what a good conversationalist is like. A lot of people think a good conversationalist is someone who can tell funny stories. That’s a raconteur, but it’s not a conversationalist. A lot of people think a good conversationalist is someone who can offer piercing insights on a range of topics. That’s a lecturer, but not a conversationalist. A good conversationalist is a master of fostering a two-way exchange. A good conversationalist is capable of leading people on a mutual expedition toward understanding.

 

Arthur Balfour was a British satatesman renowned for, among other things, the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which announced British support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. ‘Unhesitatingly I should put him down as the best talker I have ever known,’ his friend John Buchan once observed. Balfour’s particular skill was not that he was capable of uncorking brilliant monologues or spewing strings of epigrams. Instead, he created ‘a communal effort which quickened and elevated the whole discussion and brought out the best in people.

 

Balfour, Buchan continued,

 

would take the hesitating remark of a shy man and discover in it unexpected possibilities, would probe it and expand it until its author felt he had really made some contribution to human wisdom. In the last year of the War, he permitted me to take American visitors occasionally to lunch with him in Carlton Gardens, and I remember with what admiration I watched him feel his way with the guests, seize on some chance word and make it the pivot of speculations until the speaker was not only encouraged to give his best, but that best was infinitely enlarged by his host’s contribution. Such guests would leave walking on air.

 

A good conversation is not a group of people making a series of statements at each other. (in fact, that’s a bad conversation). A good conversation is an act of joint exploration, Someone floats a half-formed idea. Someone else seizes on the nub of the idea, plays with it, offers her own perspective based on her own memories, and floats it back so the other person can respond. A good conversation sparks you to have thoughts you never had before. A good conversation starts in one place and ends up in another.”

  

And starting on page 177 there is a discussion of personality traits and their assessment:

 

“Personality traits are dispositional signatures. A personality trait is a habitual way of seeing, interpreting, and reacting to a situation. Every personality trait is a gift – it enables its bearer to serve the community in some valuable way.

 

Unfortunately, our public conversation about personality is all messed up. For example, sometimes when I’m giving a public talk, I ask people to raise their hands if they are familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality assessment. Usually 80 to 100 percent of the people raise their hands. Then I ask them if they are familiar with the Big Five personality traits. Somewhere between 0 and 20 percent of the audience members raise their hands. This strikes me as a ridiculous situation.

 

The Myers-Briggs test has no scientific validity. About half the people who take it twice end up in entirely different categories the second time around. That’s because human beings just don’t fit consistently into the categories the Myers-Briggs people imagine are real. The test has almost no power to predict how happy you’ll be in a given situation, how you’ll perform at your job, or how satisfied you’ll be in your marriage. Myers-Briggs relies on false binaries. For example, it divides people into those who are good thinking and those who are good at feeling. But in real life, the research shows, people who are good at thinking are also more likely to be good at feeling. As Adam Grant, who writes about organizational psychology, once put it, the Myers-Briggs questionnaire is like asking someone, ‘What do you like more, shoelaces or earrings?’ and expecting that question to produce a revealing answer.

 

On the other hand, over the past decades, psychologists have cohered around a different way to map the human personality. This method has a ton of rigorous research behind it. This method helps people measure five core personality traits. Psychologists refer to these as the Big Five.

 

The Big Five traits are extroversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness, and openness. Psychologists have devised a series of questionnaires to help you discover how high or low you score one each of these traits – whether, for example, you are extremely extroverted (like George W. Bush), or not so extroverted, or, like most of us, somewhere near the middle.”

 

I mentioned the Big Five in a blog post on February 4, 2020 titled The Toastmasters Pathways Level 2 project on Understanding Your Communication Style says there are four communication styles. Where did they come from?

 

The cartoon was adapted from one by Steve Brodner at the Library of Congress.

 

 

Can crystals protect you from psychic attacks?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Probably not. There is a paranoid article by Deborah King at Psychology Today on February 9, 2011 titled Are You Under Psychic Attack? and subtitled Is someone out to get you?

 

Crystals are claimed to be useful against such attacks. A recent Coast to Coast AM radio show on April 14, 2026 discussed Operation Fishbowl/Crystals & Self-Defense in the second half:

“In the latter half, author Nicholas Pearson shared insights into the mystical and energetic properties of crystals, and how they can be used for protection and to counter negativity. He described crystals as ‘cells and substances with a regular composition and a periodic and symmetrical structure,’ emphasizing their inherent order and coherence. This structural perfection, he continued, allows crystals to influence human energy fields by bringing ‘clarity, structure, organization’ to otherwise irregular human psyches, which can lead to tangible effects on mood, perception, and overall well-being.

Highlighting the symbolic qualities of crystals, he noted their enduring nature as ‘ancient parts of Mother Earth’ that have been used for spiritual and ritual purposes across cultures for millennia. Crystals can shield individuals from ‘discordant, intrinsic, and outright malevolent’ energies, he said, and can act as a form of psychic self-defense to filter out these undesirable elements, whether worn as jewelry or carried with you. When asked about a single protective crystal, Pearson chose labradorite, describing it as a ‘broad spectrum protection tool’ that reflects away harmful energies while enhancing one’s natural radiance.

According to Pearson, psychic attacks occur due to three factors: openness of the recipient, a power imbalance, and a connection between attacker and target. ‘Crystals can eliminate any one, or hopefully all three of these causes,’ by reducing sensitivity, severing connections, or balancing energetic power, he suggested. Signs of psychic attack include persistent bad luck, insomnia, unexplained illnesses, and even physical marks. Pearson cautioned against jumping to conclusions without ruling out medical causes and recommended divination or consulting reputable practitioners for diagnosis. On interacting with crystals, he advised mastering selection, cleansing, and programming of stones to imbue them with purpose, after which their applications are ‘just about infinite,’ including manifesting abundance and supporting healing.”

And, of course, he has a 2025 book titled Crystals for Psychic Self-Defense: 145 gemstones for banishing, binding, and magickal protection. There is a preview at Google Books.  

 

There also is a 2018 book by Ethan Lazzerini titled Psychic Protection Crystals: The modern guide to psychic self defence with crystals for empaths and highly sensitive people. He also has an article on August 12, 2019 titled 7 Crystals for Protection from Psychic Attack.

 

I think crystals are questionable even for healing. On October 4, 2009 I blogged about Crystal therapy for stage fright. And on February 5, 2017 I posted on Can turquoise and other crystals heal fear of public speaking? Also, on October 2, 2019 I blogged that Crystal healing is still questionable.

 

RationalWiki has an article on Crystal Healing and another on Crystal woo which has a section on Protection crystals. Wikipedia has an article on Crystal healing that includes pointing out:

 

“In 1999, researchers French and Williams conducted a study to investigate the power of crystals compared with a placebo. Eighty volunteers were asked to meditate with either a quartz crystal or a placebo stone, which was indistinguishable from quartz. Many participants reported feeling typical ‘crystal effects’; however, this was irrespective of whether the crystals were real or a placebo.”

 

There is an article by Steven Novella at Science-Based Medicine on September 18, 2019 titled Crystal Healing. He says:

 

“Crystal healing has many of the hallmarks of alternative medicine pseudoscience, and is just another manifestation of many common themes. It is a form of energy medicine. Proponents claim that different types of crystals either contain, amplify, attract, or repel different kinds of energy. Like energy medicine in general, we are not talking about any kind of real energy that can be identified or measured by physicists. This energy is not predicted by the standard model of particle physics, and don’t expect the Large Hadron Collider to find any force carrying particles related to crystal energy. There is no Higgs Boson of energy medicine.

The ‘energy’ referred to in energy medicine is purely metaphorical and mythical. Proponents generally claim that it is ‘spiritual’ energy, which is just a way of saying that the energy has no physical properties that can be detected, and is therefore outside the realm of scientific discovery. But at the same time they claim that this mysterious ‘energy’ can affect living things, which is the inherent contradiction at the core of this belief.

Invoking undetectable ‘energy’, without defining it in any testable way, as an explanation is a common tactic of pseudoscience. Types of energy medicine include straight chiropractic, Reiki, acupuncture, therapeutic touch, healing touch, and is a good fallback position for any other treatment lacking a plausible mechanism.

How do you know which kind of crystal to use for which problem you are having? You can find many guides, which use the typical CAM standard – ‘It can be used’, ‘Is often used’, or ‘Is known to’. That’s it. There is no supportive framework in theory or in evidence. This is the equivalent of parents saying, ‘Because I said so.’ What this illustrates is the human tendency to develop explanatory systems and elaborate on them. We are good at finding patterns and inventive at making stuff up. The history of pseudomedicine is full of such systems, complex and detailed, but ultimately based on nothing. These systems then take on a life of their own, they become culture, and then authoritative knowledge – but again, it is ultimately vaporware.

Some of the claims are based on another common theme in some alternative systems – the superstition of sympathetic magic. This is the intuition that something will have effects suggested by what it looks like. So walnuts must be good for the brain because they kind of look like a brain. One tradition of homeopathy is entirely based on sympathetic magic. Many traditional remedies make this connection as well.

In crystal healing, rose quartz ‘is commonly used for attracting and keeping love, as well as protecting relationships’. Of course it is – it’s pink, so it must be infused with the energy of love. Whereas, ‘Obsidian crystal stone also protects you from shadow traits — addiction, fear, anxiety, and anger– by acting as a mirror to your inner self.’ It’s black, so it must have to do with negative energy. This is metaphor, not reality.” 

An image of healing crystals came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

In 2025 Rosie Grant published a book titled To Die For: A cookbook of gravestone recipes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back on May 28, 2011 I blogged about How will you be remembered? I showed eight examples of gravestones at the Morris Hill cemetery. Some thoughtfully included a bench or seat.

 

Rosie Grant’s book To Die For: A cookbook of gravestone recipes shows another delicious way to be remembered – via almost 40 recipes on the back (or top) of gravestones. There is an article by Michele Hermann at Smithsonian magazine on October 10, 2025 titled A Recipe Engraved on a Gravestone Helps to Remember the Dearly Departed and Keep Part of Them Alive. It begins by showing a recipe for Spritz Cookies on top of a gravestone for Naomi Odessa Miller-Dawson in Brooklyn, New York. (Spritz cookies are extruded from dies on a cookie press).

 

There is another article by Sharyn Jackson in The Minnesota Star Tribune (and The Union Democrat) for January 10, 2025 titled Taking their beloved recipes to the grave which shows the Easy Potato rolls from page 104 of book and in my cartoon.

 

An earlier article by Todd Tanner at East Idaho News on May 29, 2021 is titled Family shares story behind fudge recipe on Utah headstone. It has Kay’s Fudge, which is shown beginning on page 84 of the book.

  

Another earlier article by Sam O’Brien at AtlasObscura on October 31, 2023 titled The Family Recipes That Live On in Cemeteries includes Bonnie June Rainey Johnson’s No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies, shown beginning on page 13 of the book. And it also includes Ida Kleinman’s Nut Rolls recipe (from Rehovoth, Israel) shown beginning on page 96 of the book and originally written in Hebrew.

 

The gravestone cartoon was adapted from one at OpenClipArt.

 

 

Did a Gallup poll find that Americans feared public speaking more than death? No, not ever!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some surveys about fear of public speaking have been misquoted repeatedly for many years. There is a post at the SpeakUp PUBLIC SPEAKING PRACTICE blog on April 2, 2026 titled Fear of Public Speaking Is More Common Than You Think. The second paragraph gave a nonworking link and claimed:

 

“A Gallup poll found many Americans reported fearing public speaking more than death.”

 

But that survey actually looked at two surveys from 2001 and 1998 on what more people feared, which is a completely different question than what people feared more. And death was not on those fears lists. The quarter-century old article by Geoffrey Brewer at Gallup News on March 19, 2001 is titled Snakes Top List of Americans’ Fears. For 2001 the list of 13 fears and their percentages is as follows:

 

Snakes: 51%

Public speaking in front of an audience: 40%

Heights: 36%

Being closed in a small space: 34%

Spiders and insects: 27%

Needles and getting shots: 21%

Mice: 20%

Flying on an airplane: 18%

Crowds: 11%

Dogs: 11%

Thunder and lightning: 11%

Going to the doctor: 9%

The dark: 5%

 

And for 1998 the list of 13 fears and their percentages is as follows:

 

Snakes: 56%

Public speaking in front of an audience: 45%

Heights: 41%

Being closed in a small space: 36%

Spiders and insects: 34%

Mice: 26%

Needles and getting shots: 21%

Flying on an airplane: 20%

Thunder and lightning: 17%

Going to the doctor: 12%

Crowds: 11%

Dogs: 10%

The dark: 8%

 

Another earlier article by Roxine Kee at CollegeInfoGeek on September 17, 2018 titled 5 Tips for Crafting Great Speeches and Presentations stated:

 

“If you’re like most people, you probably would rather die than present in front of a classroom. I’m not exaggerating: in this Gallup poll from 2001, the fear of public speaking is ranked #2, ahead of the fear of death (#6).”

 

There is an undated article by Kathy Varol titled The secret that turned my public speaking anxiety into excitement which also claimed:

 

“A 2001 Gallup poll found that 40% of Americans cited public speaking as their top fear – more than double the number who feared death.”

 

But Kathy confused the Gallup poll with the 1973 Bruskin survey I had blogged about in a post back on October 27, 2009 titled The 14 Worst Human Fears in the 1977 Book of Lists: where did this data really come from? It found 40.6% feared speaking while 18.7% feared death.

  

Another undated article from Eileen Hopkins titled Are you afraid to speak in public? said that:

 

“Public speaking is one of the greatest fears people face; in fact, according to a Gallup poll, 40% of people are more scared of giving a speech than they are of dying!

 

Also, on July 18, 2025 I blogged about Spouting nonsense – a YouTube video from Amrez with fairy tales about two surveys on public speaking fears. One was the Gallup article but they incorrectly claimed it included death, illness, old age, running, losing a loved one, or other.  

 

The skull and crossbones cartoon came from here at Wikimedia Commons.