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Skeptic Summary #191

Mommy fish, warming, frogamander, more fossils, laughing last and more!

Attenborough’s mother fish… - Way cool.

Global warming: True? So what if it is? - Well, we’ll tell you…

Editor’s Choice: The frogamander and some really lame apologetics - Yeah, but what would it sound like?

From the Archives: Favorite example of transitional fossils - Of course, if you don’t acknowledge that they exist then it’s hard to have a favorite…

The First Church of the Last Laugh - This site promotes one stupid religion. Honest! From the DO IT YOURSELF RITUALS page:

to acknowledge the power of stupid in your life

hold right hand palm up in front of face

say the words “that’s the way he would of wanted it…”

then smack palm to forehead

“had he thought of it”

I found the link at The Skeptic’s Dictionary. Robert T. Carroll may be stranger than I ever expected…

Sunday: Following the Phoenix Mission landing, Pi Approximation day. All sorts of berries, blurberries, lingonberries, cloudberries. Idiosyncrasies of the Scandinavian languages, and migration of its post-ice age people. …The report is in: THE PHOENIX HAS LANDED!

Wednesday: Chat was scattered around many small topics this week. There were math questions, bad puns and comics. Then a lot of talk on supernovas. Strangely enough, no Northern Virginia or PBS jokes were made. More on astronomy as the topic changed over to how our star would die and just how insanely awesome it would be. Getting away from astronomy, Kil got to brag once again about going to TAM this June. Bastard. A bit of a plug for Skepticality ended the night.

Come chat with us.

paiwan
jacksondbn

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Determined bloggers who blew whistle

Does Time Run Backward in Other Universes?

Phoenix touchdown on Mars!

What’s New by Bob Park

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

Bang!: The Complete History of the Universe, by Brian May, Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott.



“Who knows what Brian May was thinking when he wrote ‘We Will Rock You’ for Queen? As a lifelong astrophysics aficionado, he may have been thinking about the origins of the universe. He’s certainly been thinking about it lately. May, a freshly minted astrophysics Ph.D., joins forces with legendary astronomer Patrick Moore and astrophysicist Chris Lintott in Bang! to consider the history of the universe from the Big Bang to Heat Death.

Space, time, and matter were birthed 13.7 billion years ago and will continue on longer than we are able to comprehend. Infinitesimally small at first, the Universe is immense and ever expanding. Bang! explains how it all started, takes you on a tour of what is known about the evolution of the Universe, and posits how the end of time will come about.

This fascinating book includes photographs, short biographies of key figures, an at-a-glance timeline, a glossary of terms, and suggested resources for further exploration.

Based on the work of history’s most brilliant scientific minds, this amazing story features clear, straightforward discussions of the most perplexing and compelling aspects of existence — from the formation of stars, planets, and other galactic bodies to black holes, quasars, anti-matter, and dark matter to the emergence of life and the possibility that it could exist elsewhere.

Pick up a copy of Bang! It will, it will rock you.”

— Book Description

Forum Topics:

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2. Possum on the half shell (758 views)
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4. LiLo (Behe) is back! (616 views)
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9. N. 54, October 2004: Abortion, a Philosophical Approach (37 views)
10. Questioning the Validity of False Memory Syndrome (35 views)

There were 10,344 daily visitors this week.

Forum Topics:

1. We’d invite Hitler to speak, says Columbia dean (45,072 views)
2. PZ expelled from Expelled — Dawkins slips in! (10,946 views)
3. Hell, your final destination? (4,579 views)
4. What are your favorite words? (3,739 views)
5. Possum on the half shell (3,556 views)
6. LiLo (Behe) is back! (3,146 views)
7. 9/11 was an inside job! (3,129 views)
8. Stop laughing, dammit! This is serious shit! (1,351 views)
9. Rejoice Republicans, the Savior approacheth (1,178 views)
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11. New features? (1,017 views)
12. God is great? (864 views)
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17. What a strange shape on Mars (619 views)
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19. Cruel, but not unusual (581 views)
20. The water cooler, part 2 (543 views)

Articles:

1. Evolving a Venom or Two (7,527 views)
2. Fundamentalists Hate Noah’s Ark (6,770 views)
3. Skeptic Summary #152 (995 views)
4. Miracle Thaw — The Bogus Miracle (443 views)
5. Questioning the Validity of False Memory Syndrome (287 views)
6. The Bible’s Bad Fruits (221 views)
7. Evolution is a Lie (166 views)
8. Kent Hovind is a Big Phony! (165 views)
9. Cold Reading (165 views)
10. Miracle Thaw Tray (164 views)
11. The Bible Answer Man (149 views)
12. Evolution, Scientology Style (140 views)
13. Calorad (121 views)
14. More on the Polonium 218 Controversy (114 views)
15. Is the Speed of Light Slowing Down? (114 views)
16. Time Warner Cable: Trick or Treat? (98 views)
17. Preaching that Anti-Evolution Propaganda (95 views)
18. Evidence Cited as Hard Proof of the Existence of Satanic Cults (93 views)
19. N. 54, October 2004: Abortion, a Philosophical Approach (92 views)
20. Newton’s Third Law (89 views)

There were 64,428 daily visitors in May.