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Skeptic Summary #49

Two notable events for our forums, hominids with attitude, and more!

The real highlights of the forums this week were two things.

First, all four of the new SFN members this week posted in our forums. This seems to be a first in our “recorded” history (or at least as long as we’ve been doing this Summary). Though nobody who registers as a member should feel obligated to post — we welcome everyone who registers, regardless — a small “thank you” goes out to those who make our forums a more active place.

Second — and this is the real “newsmaker” — one of our new members truly outdid himself. HYBRID joined on Monday, and by Thursday had posted 186 times, in four different topics, which total (as of this writing) 34 pages of material (480 posts, total). At least two of the topics appeared to be, at times, nearly as active as our chats, with posts arriving at a lightning pace (relatively speaking). Without further comment, those four threads are:

• Battle for Science’s Soul
• If it is possible that some people can do some…
• A thread for hybrid to debunk evolution for us
• What are you guys all skeptical of exactly

SmirkingChimp.com - “Ask not at whom the chimp smirks — he smirks at you.”

Sunday: Computer troubleshooting; roleplaying games: 2300AD, one of the most hardcore science-based games there is? science fiction; *#^$!ing hypocritical church trying every legal trick they can to escape paying damages for their child-molesting priests. Also: feeling cold during tropical winters, fiction, movie-star gossip, and Scientology.

Wednesday: Our regular host was unavailable. Nobody else seems to have taken notes. Maybe next week.

Come chat with us.

Dreamer
SkepticalSlayer
HYBRID
Alea

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Bad Science

Military’s energy-beam weapons delayed

Report: China aims for second manned launch in October

Skepticality #12 - Dr. Michael Shermer, and Whimsicality #5 - The Number 5

What’s New by Bob Park

Got some skeptic news items? Send them to us, and we’ll think about adding them.

A Treatise of Human Nature, by David Hume



“David Hume’s comprehensive attempt to base philosophy on a new, observationally grounded study of human nature is one of the most important texts in Western philosophy. The Treatise first explains how we form such concepts as cause and effect, external existence, and personal identity, and how we create compelling but unverifiable beliefs in the entities represented by these concepts. It then offers a novel account of the passions, explains freedom and necessity as they apply to human choices and actions, and concludes with a detailed explanation of how we distinguish between virtue and vice.”

— Book Description