Printer Friendly

Bookmark

Skeptic Summary #120

Madness, swearing, humor, compatibility, pranks and more!

The SFN would like to send Kil back to the Amaz!ing Meeting next January, and you can help!

The madness of Ken Ham… - As member Neurosis concisely puts it, “Evolution is a religion and religions are stupid and illogical, therefore you must believe in MY religion!”

Swearing on the Quran - When the Good Book ain’t good enough.

And perhaps as a backlash to all the political talk a month ago, our Humor Folder has had over 20 active threads this week.

Editor’s Choice: Are skepticism and Buddhism compatible? - That will depend on whether you listen to the answers.

“Pranks, Frauds, and Hoaxes from Around the World,” by Robert Carroll - “It’s pretty easy to hoax people. We all want to be deceived, but only up to a point. Some hoaxes are fun and pleasant, others malicious and unpleasant. We’d like a way to tell the difference.”

Sunday: Siberia’s graduation thesis passed! Congratulations! More discussions around programming and programmers. Sleipner, the 8-legged Norse god Oden’s horse, and how it’s pronounced. Isaac Asimov’s untimely demise on someone’s birthday. Humour reviews. Scottish accents on TV, like StarGate Atlantis.

Wednesday: Problems with Skepticality’s server. Mac vs. PC, as the battle rages on between Kil and all other SFN members. Militant agnostics, Richard Dawkins, and South Park. Chat ended with Lego robots and Guild Wars.

Come chat with us.

sandraben
Pachomius
perrodetokio
alexlife
an_atheist

(Not a member? Become one today!)

Bad Science

Skepticality #041 - Naked Skeptics and The Amazing Meeting

What’s New by Bob Park

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

Don’t Believe Everything You Think: the 6 Basic Mistakes We Make in Thinking, by Thomas E. Kida.



“Do you believe that you can consistently beat the stock market if you put in the effort? That some people have extrasensory perception? That crime and drug abuse in America are on the rise? Many people hold one or more of these beliefs although research shows that they are not true. And it’s no wonder since advertising and some among the media promote these and many more questionable notions. Although our creative problem-solving capacity is what has made humans the successful species we are, our brains are prone to certain kinds of errors that only careful critical thinking can correct. This enlightening book discusses how to recognize faulty thinking and develop the necessary skills to become a more effective problem solver…”

— Booklist

Forum Topics:

1. Free for all — science & religion (1,563 views)
2. Interesting atheist web site (349 views)
3. Caesar’s Messiah (part 3) (238 views)
4. Looks like a job for… the ACLU! (236 views)
5. George Orwell strikes again (235 views)
6. Kitty Hawk flight was faked in film studio (182 views)
7. This year’s cynical holiday humor (144 views)
8. A 500 million dollar… WTF? (137 views)
9. I don’t get it… (136 views)
10. The water cooler (134 views)

Articles:

1. A Brief History of the Skeptic Friends Network (101 views)
2. Kent Hovind is a Big Phony! (88 views)
3. Miracle Thaw — The Bogus Miracle (85 views)
4. Skeptic Summary #39 (59 views)
5. Miracle Thaw Tray (55 views)
6. Cold Reading (48 views)
7. More on the Polonium 218 Controversy (42 views)
8. Skeptic Summary #119 (35 views)
9. Preaching that Anti-Evolution Propaganda (32 views)
10. Evolution, Scientology Style (32 views)

There were 4,552 daily visitors this week.

Forum Topics:

1. Free for all — science & religion (2,003 views)
2. Big Bang (1,928 views)
3. What did cause the Towers to collapse? (1,250 views)
4. Ruminations on three types of woo-woo (1,098 views)
5. Depending where you live… (980 views)
6. What I don’t get (part 2) (971 views)
7. Calling all agnostics (907 views)
8. Okay then… (783 views)
9. Speaker Pelosi… It’s sad, sad, sad… (762 views)
10. Anti-gay gays (708 views)
11. Caesar’s Messiah (part 3) (692 views)
12. What I don’t get… (673 views)
13. The water cooler (640 views)
14. Interesting atheist web site (616 views)
15. The real problem (595 views)
16. Evangelist arrested on tax evasion… Guess who! (531 views)
17. False Memory Syndrome (523 views)
18. Cool on many levels (515 views)
19. Biblical archaeologists really dig Jesus (416 views)
20. Owl on the dollar bill… (413 views)

Articles:

1. Miracle Thaw — The Bogus Miracle (383 views)
2. Kent Hovind is a Big Phony! (323 views)
3. A Brief History of the Skeptic Friends Network (313 views)
4. Cold Reading (213 views)
5. Miracle Thaw Tray (190 views)
6. Why Do Creationists Fear Evolution? (146 views)
7. The Bible Answer Man (146 views)
8. Skeptic Summary #39 (144 views)
9. Kent Hovind is a Kwazy Kweationist (137 views)
10. Preaching that Anti-Evolution Propaganda (133 views)
11. Dr. Dino doesn’t like our Jack Chick spoof! (122 views)
12. Evolution, Scientology Style (118 views)
13. Evidence Cited as Hard Proof of the Existence of Satanic Cults (116 views)
14. The Bible’s Bad Fruits (108 views)
15. Tommy Debates the Bible Answer man (96 views)
16. Evolution is a Lie (90 views)
17. You’re an Idiot (86 views)
18. Is the Speed of Light Slowing Down? (83 views)
19. Evil Skeptic and a Visit to Awareness 2000 (79 views)
20. More on the Polonium 218 Controversy (78 views)

There were 19,345 daily visitors in November.