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Skeptic Summary #91

Noah, 419ing, plastics, science, pseudoscience and more!

Fundamentalists HATE Noah’s Ark! - A classic piece of filth.

Nigerian 419 Scam e-mails - The lack of forethought displayed is astounding.

Editor’s Choice: Plastic - I have just one word for you: phenols.

“Distinguishing Science and Pseudoscience,” by Rory Coker, Ph.D. - This should be a part of any skeptic’s toolkit.

Sunday: Computer hardware, never good enough; Penn on Free FM; traditonal Finnish mead; a nice house for Marfknox; taxes; non-religious holidays - 1st of May in Sweden, Cinco de Mayo in Mexico; BBQing with different kinds of volcanic rocks?; Marf’s graduation, congrats!; in the eye of the beheld; Geography: “map-of-Tassie,” South Park; playing with sock-puppets.

Wednesday: Looks like I will have to do this from memory. Needless to say, my memory isn’t what it used to be. Perhaps I should try some of that ginko biloba or something. I dunno. Does that stuff work? Frankly, I have my doubts. Also, I am taking a blood thinner, and like many “dietary supplements” there is probably no warning on the bottle that it may interact with those kinds of meds. As trees go, being one of the oldest species and living for up to 1000 years, it is of some interest to botanists. Anyhow… chat. There were lots of geology puns and math puns and, well, lots of punning going on. The rest of chat was fun, even if I can’t actually remember why…

Come chat with us.

Original_Intent
HIMAGIRI
Archimedes
Compassion

Note that we had another few new members who registered in order to send Nigerian Scam emails. They aren’t members anymore.

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High Powered Prosthetics

What’s New by Bob Park

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

The Plausibility of Life: Resolving Darwin’s Dilemma, by Marc W. Kirschner and John C. Gerhart.



“Since its publication a century and a half ago, Darwin’s revolutionary theory of evolution has explained very well how natural selection winnows out the mutations most helpful in fitting a species to survive. Now two neo-Darwinian biologists have boldly extended the original paradigm by showing how the deep molecular biology of the cell actually fosters biological novelties when plants and animals need them most, not merely when random chance generates them. Surveying the latest genetic research, Kirschner and Gerhart adduce evidence that nature has preserved and compartmentalized those core innovations that maximize the adaptive flexibility of species from yeasts to humans. The dynamics of protein chemistry and the plasticity of embryonic cells combine to make creatures capable of assuming many different forms in a wide range of environments. The deepest and most stable processes in biology, thus, are those that prime species for further evolution. It is this biological priming for evolutionary change that Darwin’s great rival Larmark was groping toward when he stumbled into error…”

— Booklist

Forum Topics:

1. Anyone for 9/11? (496 views)
2. I’ve got some questions about the ten commandments (464 views)
3. Fundamentalists HATE Noah’s Ark! (429 views)
4. favorite example of transitional fossils (368 views)
5. Another transitional fossil… (232 views)
6. Nigerian 419 Scam e-mails (209 views)
7. The Da Vince Code as a movie? (168 views)
8. unwanted mail (156 views)
9. Questions for a hypnotist (154 views)
10. Who was you? (134 views)

Articles:

1. Evolution, Scientology Style (74 views)
2. Miracle Thaw — The Bogus Miracle (66 views)
3. Cold Reading (60 views)
4. Kent Hovind is a Big Phony! (59 views)
5. The Bible Answer Man (57 views)
6. Why Do Creationists Fear Evolution? (52 views)
7. Dr. Dino doesn’t like our Jack Chick spoof! (48 views)
8. Miracle Thaw Tray (44 views)
9. You’re an Idiot (43 views)
10. Skeptic Summary #90 (37 views)