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Skeptic Summary #266

Trolltheism, archeological drunks, Santa lies, deeper and deeper, climate consensus, resolutions, Tyson talk and more!

Atheism is DEAD… FOREVER & EVER!!! - That’s what he thinks…

Imbibing archaeologically - A high-spirited discussion on archaeological beer.

On Santa and other harmless fibs - Which version of Santa should we tell our children?

Editor’s Choice: Dennett answers NY Times on Dawkins’ book - Watch matt dig himself deeper and deeper.

From the Archives: Consensus falling apart by the day - Jerome talks climate change. ’Nuff said.

Be resolute! - And let us know about it.

Beyond Belief ’06 — Neil deGrasse Tyson, First Talk — Neil deGrasse Tyson discusses intelligent design and the reality of what we see when we examine the universe itself.

Tyson is as always, smart, funny, thought-provoking and educational. If you have never heard him speak, or even if you have, watch this video.

There are other Tyson videos available at the above link. I can heartily recommend any and all of them.

SkeptiQuote: …each of us time travels into the future, one year, every year. — Carl Sagan

Wednesday: There were a surprising number of chatters this week, given that it was New Year’s Eve eve. Among the topics were funny names (Judge Lawless, Dr. Rotter D.D.S.) and large denominations of US currency, as well as the accuracy of Wikipedia. LizW complained about some bovine puns which created a stamped of wordplay. Then a little math talk scared most out of chat. The discussion recovered by moving on to comedians Patton Oswald (not safe for work), Jim Gaffigan and Louis CK (NSFW). This continued with clips from a now canceled show Lucky Louie (NSFW). The night ended (at 3am!) with popular Internet memes, forum talk and some Java coding.

Come chat with us.

Andromeda
PJJ

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The 127th edition of the Skeptics’ Circle

Atheist Ireland Publishes 25 Blasphemous Quotes

Freshwater: 2009 (but not the hearing) drags to an end

Friday Sprog Blogging: taking physics for a spin.

Ginkgo doesn’t work: Are there better ways to save your brain?

God Delusion - Markella Hatziano

Happy last few days of the second last year of the first decade of the new millennium

Moon hole might be suitable for colony

Somali shot after allegedly attempting to attack Danish cartoonist

Telling apes from humans

What Cats Are Really Thinking

What’s New by Bob Park

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

Onward Christian Athletes: Turning Ballparks into Pulpits and Players into Preachers, by Tom Krattenmaker.



“It may not be entirely unfair to accuse Tom Krattenmaker, the author of Onward Christian Athletes, of wanting to have it both ways.

On hand number one, he’s uncomfortable with home run hitters who point at the sky while circling the bases and quarterbacks who answer the first post-game question — no matter what it is — by thanking Jesus for his help. Krattenmaker points out that lots of the athletes who behave this way ‘are fruits of a campaign by well-organized, well-financed evangelical sports ministries committed to leveraging sports to reach and change the broader American culture.’ He worries that since the agendas of the evangelical sports ministries to which he refers are politically and socially reactionary, the athletes receiving the word from them tend to also swallow a lot of rot. He sites the case of a young ballplayer who asks his baseball chaplain if the ballplayer’s ex-girlfriend, who is Jewish, will go to hell. The chaplain solemnly assures the young man that she will. Tom Krattenmaker doesn’t approve of ministering like that.

But on hand number two, the author figures that a good dose of Christianity would remedy a lot of what’s sinful in our games: the outrageous partying of some of the players, for example…

It’s a short but ominous step from reasoning like that to the notion that pro athletes (and the rest of us) can’t be expected to behave well without religious instruction, and it’s too bad that Tom Krattenmaker doesn’t examine in his book the proposition that an individual’s religious beliefs or lack of same might best remain his or her private concern…”

— Bill Littlefield

Forum Topics:

1. The Supper
2. New World Order happening right now!
3. Atheism is DEAD… FOREVER & EVER!!!
4. Funny FAILS
5. Dennett answers NY Times on Dawkins’ book
6. On Santa and other harmless fibs
7. Moon-walker claims alien contact cover-up
8. The shallow end of the gene pool…
9. ‘Big Farmer’ condemned for disease, suffering
10. Beelzebufo ampinga

Articles:

1. Fundamentalists Hate Noah’s Ark
2. Evolving a Venom or Two
3. Miracle Thaw — The Bogus Miracle
4. N. 32, January 2003: Human Instincts and Virtue Ethics
5. TAM5
6. Miracle Thaw Tray
7. Skeptic Summary #265
8. Cold Reading
9. The Bible’s Bad Fruits
10. Kent Hovind is a Big Phony!

There were 16,322 daily visitors this week.

Forum Topics:

1. The Supper
2. New World Order happening right now!
3. PZ expelled from Expelled — Dawkins slips in!
4. Funny FAILS
5. Nazi Christmas
6. Dennett answers NY Times on Dawkins’ book
7. The shallow end of the gene pool…
8. Quote Mine warning propaganda poster
9. Dracorex hogwartsia
10. Beelzebufo ampinga
11. Federal Reserve Act of 1913
12. Evolution vs. ID: 6 Bones of Contention
13. ‘Big Farmer’ condemned for disease, suffering
14. Documentary: 1983 ‘Moonwalk’ was staged
15. Moon-walker claims alien contact cover-up
16. James Randi’s current take on Global Warming
17. What is photorealism?
18. What, If Anything, Can Skeptics Say About Science?
19. Atheism is DEAD… FOREVER & EVER!!!
20. Scattershots: gargoyles & grotesques

Articles:

1. Fundamentalists Hate Noah’s Ark
2. Evolving a Venom or Two
3. Miracle Thaw — The Bogus Miracle
4. Scientific Truth
5. TAM5
6. Miracle Thaw Tray
7. The Bible’s Bad Fruits
8. Cold Reading
9. SkeptiCamp Atlanta: A Personal Overview
10. Evolution is a Lie
11. Kent Hovind is a Big Phony!
12. N. 32, January 2003: Human Instincts and Virtue Ethics
13. A Review of "Leaving the Land of Woo"
14. Is the Speed of Light Slowing Down?
15. N. 48, April 2004: Intellectual Midwifery
16. Mesmer, Casino Monkey, and Video Sex
17. Come & Receive your Miracle: A Sunday Afternoon at a Robert Tilton Crusade
18. More on the Polonium 218 Controversy
19. Quantum Age Water
20. Preaching that Anti-Evolution Propaganda

There were 89,823 daily visitors in December, 2009.