Printer Friendly

Bookmark

Skeptic Summary #95

The trip, the date, the art, the clones, the asteroids, the worms, the conspiracies and more!

The informal East Coast SFN get-together was a blast of Smithsonian-inspired nerdity, although staff outnumbered members by 4-to-1 for much of the day. At some undetermined time in the future, there may be a more detailed description of this outing, but don’t hold your breath…

Having lunch at the Washington, D.C., Hard Rock Cafe are, from left to right, H. Humbert, Ricky, Dave W., Boron10 and Cuneiformist.

Mark it Down: June 6, 2006 - Seems like everyone came through okay.

self promotion - look, mom, I'm an artist! - SFN member marfknox shows a sampling of her work.

Two cloned mules in dead heat - Behold the awesome power of changing the subject!

Editor’s Choice: Skepticality Asteroids - This is waaaaay cool.

From the Archives Common Misconceptions about the Bible - Hippy4Christ opens a can of worms!

“Conspiracy Theorists” is a page from this site dedicated to debunking myths about Freemasonry, while also doing a fine job of looking at the mindset of the conspiracy advocate and other conspiracy theories. The page opens with this quote:

“If we are on the outside, we assume a conspiracy is the perfect working of a scheme. Silent nameless men with unadorned hearts. A conspiracy is everything that ordinary life is not. It’s the inside game, cold, sure, undistracted, forever closed off to us. We are the flawed ones, the innocents, trying to make some rough sense of the daily jostle. Conspirators have a logic and a daring beyond our reach. All conspiracies are the same taut story of men who find coherence in some criminal act.”

— Don DeLillo (b. 1926), U.S. author. Libra, pt. 2, “In Dallas” (1988).

Of course, none of this will impress believers like verlch…

Sunday: Communication problems happen when words are missing or otherwise lacking; X-Men 3: The Last Stand, good but not adhering to canon; Ricky being Internet-stalked by Cune, John, and Boron10. Also: Cune hints at his own second coming; more Marvel Comics discusisons; egg-rolls; Lost World Museum rants; hot Monicas; light and food in submarines;

Wednesday: Some final talk about the SFN D.C. trip before the big day. Ricky gets his new moderator title, “Skid Mark.” Dave and Kil talk about updates for the site. There seems to be a pattern to that. Almost like a weekly pattern. A quick discussion about some upcoming article ideas followed by what else but… horse puns. It was the puns which seemed to end chat so quickly, but no need for me to complain about them now. That would just be kicking a de… Ugh. Nevermind.

Come chat with us.

staplegun45
iqbal007
Grumpy_Bear
RonPrice
j_zafar
Excito Silenti
SeanSinjin
galgitron

(Not a member? Become one today!)

6-6-6: Is our number really up?

Ancient rock art may depict exploding star

Bad Science

European mission pries Venus from her cloudy shell

What’s New by Bob Park

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

Are Universes Thicker Than Blackberries?: Discourses on Godel, Magic Hexagrams, Little Red Riding Hood, and Other Mathematical and Pseudoscientific Topics, by Martin Gardner.



“Gardner is a revered figure among science buffs for his long tenure at Scientific American, The Annotated Alice and his many other publications. This latest collection brings together recent columns and introductions to new editions of neglected gems like Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday. The first two sections cover familiar Gardner topics: science and games. In the third section, Gardner (who bills himself a philosophical theist) muses on religion and religious figures and ties in with the last section on Freudians and psychics.”

— Publishers Weekly

Forum Topics:

1. Masons created and perpuated Evolution (1102 views)
2. Interesting atheist web site (627 views)
3. Mark it Down: June 6, 2006 (625 views)
4. Banana Ignorance (392 views)
5. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is dead (330 views)
6. Which came first? Answer at last! (315 views)
7. Fun with Anagrams (303 views)
8. Two cloned mules in dead heat (300 views)
9. Hey verlch, dig this (288 views)
10. Are you ready for tomorrow? (271 views)

Articles:

1. Miracle Thaw — The Bogus Miracle (117 views)
2. Cold Reading (77 views)
3. Kent Hovind is a Big Phony! (74 views)
4. Why Do Creationists Fear Evolution? (61 views)
5. Evidence Cited as Hard Proof of the Existence of Satanic Cults (58 views)
6. Skeptic Summary #94 (50 views)
7. Evolution, Scientology Style (47 views)
8. Is the Speed of Light Slowing Down? (44 views)
9. Dr. Dino doesn’t like our Jack Chick spoof! (43 views)
10. Mesmer, Casino Monkey, and Video Sex (40 views)